No. 7.
GENEALOGY OF THE WILLIAMS FAMILY.
The family of the Williams’ trace their colonial descent from
— Williams, Esq., who was supposed to have emigrated from England under the auspices of William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, and, by tradition, is said to have been the first Englishman who set foot in the Island of Antigua. He planted and settled the family estate at Old Road, and dying, left a son,
Rowland, colonel in the army, and the first white child born in the colony, about the year 1632. He fulfilled for some time the office of governor of Antigua, and in the attack upon the French, to recover St Christopher’s, in 1690, he gallantly distinguished himself, having under his command a body of eight hundred Antiguan troops. He died in 1713, at the advanced age of eighty, universally lamented by all who knew him, and was interred in the parish church of Old Road, of which edifice he was the principal founder. His will is now to be seen in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. He left issue, by his wife, two sons, Thomas, his heir, and Samuel, student of Christ’s College, Oxford, of which university he was a distinguished member. He is honourably mentioned by Oldmixon, in his “British Empire.” He died at an early age (probably in his father’s lifetime) s. p.
Thomas, son and heir of the above Col. Rowland Williams, was a colonel in the army, of Old Road estate, Antigua, and of Newlands, co. Surrey, m. in 1705, Mary, dau. of Edward Byam, (then fulfilling the government of Antigua,) by his first wife, Mary, dau. of Samuel Winthorpe, Esq., and granddau. of John Winthorpe, first governor of New England, and of Groton Hall, co. Suffolk. The likeness of this lady (Mary, the wife of Col. Thomas Williams) was in possession of the late Rowland-E. Williams, at Newlands. Col. Thomas Williams dying, left issue, by Mary, his wife,
i. Edward, son and heir.
ii. Rowland, died s. p.
iii. Samuel, entered at University College, Oxon, 3 November, 1737, died s. p.
iv. Sarah, died s. p.
Edward, son and heir, of Old Road. Antigua, and Newlands, in the parish of Thames Ditton, co. Surrey, born 9 May, 1710, m. in 1747, Mary, dau. of — Bennet, of Penryth, co. Cumberland. He, dying 6 April, 1784, was buried at Thames Ditton, aforesaid, leaving issue by his wife,
i. Rowland-Edward, son and heir.
ii. Samuel, who possessed an estate in Hampshire, and dying s. p. in 1825, was buried at Lyndhurst, in that county.
Rowland-Edward, as eldest son, inherited the family estates of Old Road, Antigua, and Newlands, co. Surrey, born 18 Dec 1784, m. Mary, dau. of Robert Symes, of the Island of Jamaica, Esq., and dying 28 Nov. 1826, in the seventy-eighth year of his age, left issue two sons,
i. Rowland-Edward, son and heir.
ii. Samuel Williams, captain in the Royal Navy, and two daus.
Rowland-Edward Williams, as eldest son, possesses the family estates in England and Antigua, the patrimonial domains of his ancestors, who came in among the first settlers; member of her Majesty’s privy council in that island, and late captain in the 10th regiment of Hussars, m. Mary-Anne, dau. of Sir Patrick Ross, K.C.B., (then captain-general and governor-in-chief of the Leeward Caribbee Islands,) who, dying at the early age of thirty-two, left issue by him two sons, one of which only survives.