The Macon (Ga.) Telegraph, 24 May 1885.
A recent email inquiry has made me take another look at the singing Williamson siblings, whom we met here and here and here.
The Charlotte Observer, 28 July 1881.
Edmund and Bethania “Thaney” Williamson and their oldest children were enslaved in Wilson County. (Edmund Williamson was enslaved by Hardy H. Williamson.) The family is not found in the 1870 census of Wilson County, but in 1880 they appear in Cross Roads township. The enumerator noted nine children at home — William, 25, Nicie, 23, Eliza, 22, Eddie, 21, Ally, 19, Pollina, 17, Dolly Ann, 15, Isaac, 12, and Raiford, 7. Six of the children — William, Eddie, Ally, Pollina, Isaac, and Raiford — were described as blind, and the occupation of the elder four was “gives concerts.” We know those four attended the North Carolina School for the Deaf, the Dumb, and the Blind, whose “colored” division opened circa 1869. Into the 1890s, the Williamson siblings toured the Southeast, singing and performing musical mimicry.
The Tarborough Southerner, 17 October 1878.
The Monroe (N.C.) Express, 22 July 1881.
Per an asylum enrollment book, William Williamson was born August 1853 in Wilson County to Edmund and Thanie Williamson. He was born totally blind. Two second cousins on his father’s side were also blind.
In May 1867, the Wilson County sheriff identified to a local Freedmen’s Bureau the names of “unfortunates,” including Wm. Williamson, 8, Edward Williamson, 12, Allice Williamson, 4, Pauline Williamson, 5, and Aquilla Williamson, 7. All were described as blind. (Aquilla apparently was a seventh vision-impaired Williamson sibling and likely died before 1870.) This identification may have led to the placement of four of the Williamson children in the North Carolina Colored Deaf and Dumb and Blind Asylum.
In the 1870 census of Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina: at the North Carolina Colored Deaf and Dumb and Blind Asylum, pupils included Ally, 9, Pauline, 6, William, 15, and Edward Williamson, 11.
William Williamson apparently toured with his siblings for decades. I have not found him in census records subsequent to 1880.
On 12 October 1903, Edmund Williamson drafted his last will and testament. Per his wishes, his “two blind sons William Williamson and Edmund Williamson” and his “blind daughter Leany Williamson” were to equally divide a life estate in all his real estate and then to successive heirs “to remain in the Williamson family forever.”
On 18 October 1891, David Barnes, 32, of Cross Roads township, son of Joshua and Maria Barnes, married Nicy Williamson, 35, of Cross Roads township, daughter of Edd and Bethany Williamson, at Edmund Williamson’s in Wilson County.
Nicie Williamson Barnes is not listed in her father’s 1903 will and apparently died before it was written.
Eliza Williamson is not listed in her father’s 1903 will and apparently died before it was written.
Per the enrollment book, Eddie J. Williamson was born June 1859 in Wilson County to Edmund and Thanie Williamson. He was born totally blind.
He is named as “Edward Williamson” in the 1867 sheriff’s letter.
In the 1870 census of Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina: at the North Carolina Colored Deaf and Dumb and Blind Asylum, pupils included Ally, 9, Pauline, 6, William, 15, and Edward Williamson, 11.
Edmund “Eddie” Williamson apparently toured with his siblings for decades. I have not found him in census records subsequent to 1880. He was alive as late as 1903, however, when he was named in his father’s will.
Per the enrollment book, Allie A. Williamson was born January 1861 in Wilson County to Edmund and Thanie Williamson. She was born blind, “totally or nearly so.”
She is named as “Allice Williamson” in the 1867 sheriff’s letter.
In the 1870 census of Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina: at the North Carolina Colored Deaf and Dumb and Blind Asylum, pupils included Ally, 9, Pauline, 6, William, 15, and Edward Williamson, 11.
Allie Williamson is not listed in her father’s 1903 will and apparently died before it was written.
Per the enrollment book, Pelina M. Williamson was born September 1862 in Wilson County to Edmund and Thanie Williamson. She was born blind, “totally or nearly so.”
She is named as “Pauline Williamson” in the 1867 sheriff’s letter.
In the 1870 census of Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina: at the North Carolina Colored Deaf and Dumb and Blind Asylum, pupils included Ally, 9, Pauline, 6, William, 15, and Edward Williamson, 11.
Pelina Williamson apparently toured with her siblings for decades. I have not found her in census records subsequent to 1880.
Pauline Williamson died 7 March 1925 in Griffin, Spalding County, Georgia. Per her death certificate, she was born “sometime in 1859” in Raleigh, N.C., to Edd Williamson and an unnamed mother; was single; worked as a musician; and was buried in the city cemetery. Mary Ella Moore was informant.
I have found no record of her in Georgia prior to her death.
On 20 April 1884, Jesse Seaberry, 25, married Dolley Ann Williamson, , at Ed Williamson’s in Wilson County.
On 22 May 1899, Bristow Brownrigg, 52, of Wilson County, son of Reddick Brownrigg and Annie Barnes, married Dolly Ann Seabury, 35, of Wilson County, daughter of Edmund and Thaney Williamson, Cross Roads township, Wilson County. S.H. Vick applied for the license, and Burket Woodard, Stephen Hadley, and Nellie Barnes were witnesses to the ceremony.
Per Edmund Williamson’s 1903, daughter Dollie Ann Brownricks [Brownrigg] was to receive a life estate in all his personal property, money, stock and crops, with her children Timothy, Bethania, and Lizzie Seabury [Seaberry] to receive the remainder.
On 24 December 1919, Madison Barnes, 64, applied for a license to marry Dollie Barnes, 54.
In the 1920 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: farm laborer Madison Barnes, 70; wife Dollie Ann, 53; and granddaughter Annie V. Vick, 8.
Dollie Ann Barnes died 19 January 1928 in Cross Roads township, Wilson County. Per her death certificate, she was 67 years old; was born in Wilson County to Edmond and Bethune Williamson; was married Matherson Barnes; worked as a common laborer; and was buried in Williamson Cemetery, Wilson County. Timothy Seabury, Lucama, N.C., was informant.
Elizabeth Edmundson died 21 November 1970 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 13 January 1887 to Jessie Seabury and Dollie Ann Williams; was a widow; lived in Lucama, N.C.; and worked in farming. L.V. Edmundson was informant.
Isaac Williamson died 1 September 1895 in Norfolk, Virginia. Per an index of death certificates, he was born about 1868 in North Carolina; was single; and worked as a musician.
Isaac Williamson is listed in the 1887-1889 Annual Report of the North Carolina Institution for the Deaf, the Dumb, and the Blind.
Raiford Williamson is not listed in his father’s 1903 will and apparently died before it was written.
Raiford Williamson is listed in the 1881-1883 Annual Report, but I have found no evidence to date that he, like his musical siblings, performed for a living.
From page 367 of the 1881-’83 Annual Report.
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The Norfolk Virginian, 5 June 1879.
The News and Advance (Lynchburg, Va.), 21 July 1880.
The Daily Journal (New Bern, N.C.), 14 July 1891.
Enrollment Book, Negro Deaf 1873-1893, Negro Blind 1869-1893; Student Records; Box 1; General Records; State School for the Blind and Deaf; North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, N.C. (Thank you, Amanda Stuckey!)
