Montmorenci Plantation

MONTMORENCI PLANTATION
Warrenton, Warren County, North Carolina.

Researched & transcribed by Deloris Williams.

PLANTATION NAME: MONTMORENCI PLANTATION

ASSOCIATED LINK(s): White Rock Plantation

ORIGINAL OWNER: General William Williams, a.k.a. "Pretty Billy" (1771-1832)

BUILT: 1822

ASSOCIATED SURNAMES: Williams, Alston, Kearney, Davis, Haywood

HISTORY: General William Williams, b.Feb. 2, 1771,nicknamed "Pretty Billy" was the son of Joseph John Williams (ca 1727-1818) and Elizabeth Alston (1753-bef 1818).

He was married 4 times: 1st) Elizabeth Alston (dau/of Samuel Alston & Elizabeth Faulcon);
2nd) Elizabeth Matilda Alston (1791-1813; dau/of William Alston & Martha Hardy);
3rd) Melissa Jane Burgess (1797-1823; dau/of Lovatt Burgess & Sallie Lucas);

and 4th) Delia Haywood (1807-1876) the daughter of Sherwood Haywood and Eleanor Hawkins of Wake County, North Carolina; Delia was a granddaughter of Philemon Hawkins, who had died in 1801 at Pleasant Hill Plantation.
The unborn child mentioned in the will was named Joseph John Williams (1832-1876).

Montmorenci was a plantation between Lickskillet and Highway 401 in the Shocco community. It was built by General William “Pretty Billy” Williams in 1822.

Family history claims that General Lafayette stayed at Montmorenci during his 1825 tour of the United States.

Montmorenci no longer exists. It was dismantled with portions of the house, including its spectacular staircase, placed in the Dupont family museum, Winterthur, in Wilmington, Del.

A large stone from Montmorenci is in the back yard of the Polk House. It was used to hold up a column at Montmorenci.

One of the Executors appointed in the will was William's nephew, Joseph John Williams (1800-1833), son of his half-brother, also named Joseph John Williams (1775-1808;son of Joseph John Williams & Rosanna Conner) who had also died relatively young. Joseph's widow, Mary Kearney Davis-Williams (1802-1887; daughter of Archibald Davis & Elizabeth Jane Hilliard) lived at Montmorenci after her husband died in 1833, where she lived for many years.

General Williams' son, Joseph John Williams, born a few months after his death in 1832, got married to Eliza Helen Thompson, had a daughter, Margaret C. in 1856 North Carolina, and moved to Leon County, Florida by 1860.

He established one of the largest cotton plantations in the area, La Grange Plantation, which had 4150 acres, and he became a very wealthy man.
He had 232 Slaves, some of them, no doubt, were those he'd inherited from his father and his sister, Eleanor Williams (she had died in 1844), estates. J. J. Williams had a total of 5 plantations in 1860 Florida, including Hickory Hill and Betton Hill.

His total cotton production was 1113 bales from 3,900 acres (1,600 ha) of land. The total value of Williams' holdings was $121,000 and his slaves were worth $150,000.

In today's value (2022), his holding would be over $4,000,000 and slave valued at well over 5 million dollars.

On November 19, 1876, Williams died from a heart attack in Raleigh, North Carolina while on a visit to see his mother, Delia, who had remarried to George E. Badger after the death of William Williams. She had died the day before.

Some have attributed him as being a voter in the first Florida State Election in 1845, however, that is erroneous since J. J. Williams was only 13 years old at that time, certainly not of an age to vote, and not even residing in the State of Florida. It's likely that he was confused with another who was Joseph Williams, b. 1820, who lived in Leon County during those years.
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SLAVE POPULATION:
Slaves in the Will of GEN. WILLIAM WILLIAMS, 1832:
To son SAMUEL A. WILLIAMS:
HOUSE
CHARLES
DAVY
BURT and his wife
BRISTER and his wife
old Uncle SAM

To be sold:
BOOKER and SAM HILL, the blacksmith

To wife DELIA:
SALLY
ELIJAH and his wife CYNTHIA and her two children

To son SAMUEL:
YELLOW NANCY and her family (who live at Union Hill)
HARRY and his wife LILLY & his family
boy ROBERTSON

To daughter MELISSA:
MARINA


Estate of GEN. WILLIAM "Pretty Billy" WILLIAMS, Warren County, North Carolina, 1832.
Pursuant to the Will of the late GEN. WILLIAM WILLIAMS dec'd we, the Executors have proceeded to divide and set apart, the Slaves belonging to the Estate of said decedent, among the Heirs, respectively entitled to the same, and at the following valuation, viz:

LOT No. 1 to SAMUEL A. WILLIAMS:

NAMES: VALUATION:
HARRY 300
HAYWOOD 500
SOLOMON 375
OSBOURNE 375
RALPH 300
LEWIS 300
MARY 300
PEGGY 350
PATIENCE 75
NANCY 250
WILLIAM 210
SPRIGG 170
LAFAYETTE 110
CINDERILLA 50
ROBERTSON 425
RICHARD 375

PLUMMER 250
MATILDA 245
VIOLET 210
LILA 300
HENDERSON 170
NED 140
NANCY 140
ANDERSON 100
ALPHEUS 50
MARTHA 325
PHIL 400
CHARLES JR. 300
BLOUNT 350
CHARITY 250
OLD JUDY 1
Aggregate Amount: $$7696.00

LOT No. 2 to MELISSA WILLIAMS:
TRINKET $275
ANTHONY 500
NELSON 300
HENRY 300
MARY 245
HANNAH 325
FRANCES 210
ALLEN JR. 170
NANCY JR. 115
ANGELINA 85
MARTHA ANN 65
FRANK 500
SAMPSON 475
MARIA, wife of PHIL 325
JULIANNE 110

MADISON 85
JIM 475
JOHN 375
CARTER DAVY 215
CLARINDA 275
JACOB 425
CAROLINE 340
GEORGE 400
NORFLETT 165
MADISON 100
ALSTON 50
PATTY 300
BETSY 210
MERINIA 245
OLD CREECY 1
Aggregate Amount: $7661.00


LOT No. 3 to MRS. DELIA WILLIAMS:
HENRIETTA $300
BURTON 500
TOM 250
JOHN BOXTON 300
MINERVA 245
CHINA 300
HARRIET 195
VIRGIL 165
MILLEY 325
PRECILLA 140
CHERRY 90
ANTOINETTE 65
BEN. WILLIAMS 500
MILBRY 325
MAJOR 150
AMEY 50

RANDOLPH 475
LARKIN 475
BEN BURGESS 400
ANTOINETTE 300
NELSON JR. 350
ANNIS 175
DAVY JR. 240
BECKY 155
SANDY 140
SALLY 325
ELIJAH 275
CYNTHIA 350
RUFUS 150
OLD RHODA 1
Aggregate Amount: $7711.00

Lot No.4 to ELEANOR WILLIAMS:
DICEY $325
ORIN 500
ALLEN 250
JERRY 300
HILLIARD 170
JOHN BLOUNT 140
MATILDA 325
CORNELIUS 170
ALTIMORE 150
SUSAN 100
BILLY 65
SAM, the Blacksmith 650
GREEN 475
LETTEY 350
WYATT 175

RALEIGH HARRY 475
MATTHEW 350
DAVY WILLIS 250
ELIZA 275
WASHINGTON 350
POLLY 350
THOMAS 165
AILSEY 110
SUSAN 85
BOATSWAIN 475
JACK 150
LOUISA 275
HARRIET 195
OLD PHILIS 1
Aggregate Amount: $7651.00

LOT No.5 to JOSEPH JOHN WILLIAMS:
LUCY ANN $ 45
WILEY, Carpenter 750
AUGUSTINE 200
PETER 250
WATSON 150
JENNY 320
POLLY JR. 140
BRINA 140
EVERET 100
SEYMOUR 50
HENRY 475
MASON 475
EMELINE 350
OLIVE JR. 85
HILLIARD 50
HINTON 475
RANSOM 475

ABRAHAM 400
BRYNA 300
TONEY 450
MARIA 270
ANN ELIZA 195
HUBBARD 150
ANDREW JACKSON 110
BOOKER 65
MOSES 215
OLIVE 340
MILES 120
MARGARET 100
LINNEY 65
NED, a dwarf 50
LIZA, a burnt child 50
OLD SAMPSON 1
Aggregate Amount: $7611.00

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William's daughter, ELEANOR, died in 1844, and her Estate was settled as follows:
To the Worshipful, the County Court of Warren
In pursuance of an order from your worships, to as directed, the undersigned, Commissioners, on the 30th day of Dec'r 1844, in the town of Warrenton, proceeded to divide the Negroes of the late ELEANOR WILLIAMS, among those entitled to them according to the Will of her father, the late GEN'L WM. W. WILLIAMS of this County; and have allotted them as follows, to wit,

To JOSEPH JOHN WILLIAMS,
LOT No. 1 consisting of the following slaves, to wit:

NAME AGE
POLLY 38
ANN ELIZA 12
SAM (burnt) 10
DAVY 8
GEORGE 6
MARY JANE 4
ALFRED 1/2
HARRIET 19
HENRY 2
THOMAS 17
DAVY WILLIS 62
MATTHEW 27
AILSY 15
BOSON 28
JOHN BLOUNT 15
ALLEN 52
ATIMORE 16


To SAM'L A. WILLIAMS,
LOT No. 2 consisting of the following Slaves, viz:

MATILDA 41
BILLY 13
DANIEL 11
ALTIMEGA 9
MARIA 6
WILLIS 4
ELEANOR 2
CORNELIUS 18
SAM (Blacksmith) 39
LOUISA 24
MELISSA 6
SERENA 3
WASHINGTON 24
RALEIGH HARRY 36
SUSAN (daughter of Matilda) [age not included]


To MELISSA, Wife of JOS. JNO. LONG, LOT No. 3, consisting of the following Slaves:

LETTIE 39
WIATT 18
THOMAS 11
MARY ANN 9
RANDOL 7
GRAN 5
EMELINE 6 mos.
HILLIARD 17
GREEN 38
SUSAN 14
ELIZA 24
ORRIN 33
JERRY 24
DICY 27
OLD JACK & OLD PHILLIS - No age listed


There are many additional details that can be found in the complete transcription of the Estate of Eleanor Williams-1844 - https://www.ncgenweb.us/.../wills-indv/war-wills3.htm...


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In 1856, there was a court action concerning the disposition of some slaves supposedly "loaned" to Pretty Billy Williams from the Estate of his father-in-law, Sherwood Haywood, d. 1829.
A complete listing of the Haywood Slaves can be found in the Slaves of Sherwood Haywood, died 1829 on the Warren County NCGenWeb site.

From that list, these are an accounting the ones received by Williams, note that I believe the ages were as of the 1829 Inventory:

MILLY 9 years
MATILDA 20 years
MATILDA's child 1 month
MATTHEW 14 years
CHARITY 16 years
HARRY 18 years
EASTER 21 years
JOHN 18 years
EDWARD 20 years


See the entire listing of the Slaves of Sherwood Haywood, died 1829- https://www.ncgenweb.us/.../wills-indv/war-wills8.htm...

See the entire Will of William Williams, 1832 for additional details - https://www.ncgenweb.us/.../wills-indv/war-wills3.htm...

RESEARCH NOTES: Children of William Williams:
With 1st wife Elizabeth Alston:
Samuel A. Williams (ca 1811-1883)

No children with 2nd wife Elizabeth Matilda Alston.

With 3rd wife Melissa J. Burgess:
Melissa Williams (1820-1902)

With 4th wife Delia Haywood:
Eleanor Williams (1828-1844)
Joseph John Williams (1832-1876)

MISCELLANEOUS:
Will & Estate of Gen. William Williams 1832 ; Estate of Eleanor Williams 1844 ; Slaves Sherwood Haywood 1829 ; Montmorenci Ruins, Library of Congress, Carnegie Collections ; The Williams Family ; Preservation Warrenton ; LaGrange on Wikipedia.

Source: https://www.ncgenweb.us/.../montmorenci_plantation-warren...