Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

Lewis Williamson (b. circa 1805 - d. circa 1841)
MSA SC 5496-051239
Slaveholder, District 1, Queen Anne's County, Maryland

Biography:

Lewis Williamson was born around 1805, and lived near Sudlersville, Queen Anne's County.1 In 1831, his slave William fled with two slaves of Williamson's neighbor, Thomas Hewitt.2 Emory Williamson actually placed the ad, but his exact relationship to Lewis Williamson is currently unknown.3

On March 23, 1839, Williamson married Catherine Ann Smith, nicknamed Kitty.4 In September of that year, they sold a tract of land called Pryor's Chance to James Rolph. The land stood "on the north side of the road leading from Dudley's Chappel to Dixon's old Taverns."5 Dudley's Chapel stood west of Sudlersville.6 James Rolph's widow appears on J.G. Stong's map of Queen Anne's County, on the land that had once belonged to Williamson.7

Although the 1830 census for Queen Anne's County no longer exists, the 1840 census showed Williamson still living in Queen Anne's County. The 1840 census recorded each household by the name of the head, and then by marking the number of free and enslaved people in each age group. So, Lewis Williamson's household included one white man between thirty and forty (who would have been Lewis himself), and two white women: one between fifteen and twenty (his wife Catherine, who was born around 1818), and one between forty and fifty. Williamson owned seven slaves that year.8 Lewis and Catherine's son, John Emory Williamson, was born on November 27, 1841.9

Lewis Williamson died intestate sometime between 1840 and 1843.10 In 1843, the Queen Anne's County Circuit Court inventoried his personal property, which included farm equipment, livestock, and crops.11 The following year, the widowed Catherine Ann Williamson married Joshua Walls, who was running a hotel near Dixon's Tavern by 1860.12
 

1.      U.S. Census Bureau (Census Record, MD) for Louis Williamson, 1840, Queen Anne's County, Districts 1 and 2, Page 19, Line 3 [MSA SM61-115, M 4723-2].

2.      "100 Dol. Reward." Centreville Times and Public Advertiser 22 October 1831: 2.

3.      U.S. Census Bureau (Census Record, MD) for Louis Williamson, 1840, Queen Anne's County, Districts 1 and 2, Page 19, Line 3 [MSA SM61-115, M 4723-2].
         U.S. Census Bureau (Census Record, MD) for Emory Williamson, 1840, Queen Anne's County, Districts 1 and 2, Page 19, Line 13 [MSA SM61-115, M 4723-2].

4.      QUEEN ANNE'S COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT, (Marriage Licenses), 1817-1858 [MSA T1702-1]. Lewis Williamson and Catherine Ann Smith, March 25, 1839.
         DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH BUREAU OF VITAL STATISTICS, (Death Record, Counties), [MSA S1179-3124]. John Emory Williams, August 31, 1921, Queen Anne's County.

5.      QUEEN ANNE'S COUNTY COURT, (Land Records), 1839-1843, Liber JT 3, Folio 17, [MSA CE 143-39]. Lewis Williamson and wife to James Rolph, September 30, 1839.

6.      J. G. Stong's Map of Queen Anne's County, 1866, MSA SC 5080-1, Courtesy of the Queen Anne's County Historical Society.
         Emory, Frederic. Queen Anne's County, Maryland: Its Early History and Development (Baltimore, MD: Maryland Historical Society, 1950) 58.

7.      J. G. Stong's Map of Queen Anne's County, 1866, MSA SC 5080-1, Courtesy of the Queen Anne's County Historical Society.

8.      U.S. Census Bureau (Census Record, MD) for Louis Williamson, 1840, Queen Anne's County, Districts 1 and 2, Page 19, Line 3 [MSA SM61-115, M 4723-2].
         U.S. Census Bureau (Census Record, MD) for Catherine Walls, 1850, Queen Anne's County, District 1, Page 302, Line 14 [MSA SM61-144, M 1500-1].

9.      DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH BUREAU OF VITAL STATISTICS, (Death Record, Counties), [MSA S1179-3124]. John Emory Williams, August 31, 1921, Queen Anne's County.

10.   QUEEN ANNE'S COUNTY, REGISTER OF WILLS, (Inventories), Liber LR 1, Folios 71, 194, [MSA C1412-33]. Estate of Lewis Williamson, December 2, 1843.

11.    Ibid.

12.    QUEEN ANNE'S COUNTY, CIRCUIT COURT, (Marriage Licenses), 1817-1858, T1702, [MSA T1702-1]. Joshua Walls and Catherine A. Williamson, September 3, 1844.
          U.S. Census Bureau (Census Record, MD) for Catherine Walls, 1850, Queen Anne's County, District 1, Page 302, Line 14 [MSA SM61-144, M 1500-1].
          U.S. Census Bureau (Census Record, MD) for John E. Williamson, 1860, Queen Anne's County, District 1, Page 108, Line 10 [MSA SM61-215, M 7224-1].
          J. G. Stong's Map of Queen Anne's County, 1866, MSA SC 5080-1, Courtesy of the Queen Anne's County Historical Society.
 
 

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