Anson Ancestors Extended Families
 William
R. Douglas, not to confuse him with his 2nd cousin William R. Douglas, was also
born and raised in the Gulledge township of Anson County and was sometimes called
Bill or Willie by his immediate family. He met and married Carrie Flower(s) who
was one of Wax Jr. and Julia Flower(s)' many children. William and Carrie had
two daughters, Willie Clella Douglas whose name might have been Violene and Edna
Glaise Douglas whose name might have been Gatha. I don't know what happened, but
sometime between 1920 and 1923 William walked out on his wife and two daughters
just as his father Henry did to him, his brothers and his mother Sarah. I think
William left on a work crew that ended up in Bladen County NC. He changed his
name to Willie Thomas and made Bladen County his home. Shortly after he met and
married Sophie Jane Powell who was the
youngest child of 17 children. They lived together in the Colly township of Bladen
County which is seven miles north of Elizabethtown for the rest of their natural
lives. The only talk that I ever heard about his first wife Carrie was that "she
was a mean woman". That was only my grandfather's opinion and I don't know what
his reasons were for saying this. This was heard from him by another family member
who passed it on to others in the family.
After Willie started his
family in Bladen County he and his family began taking an annual trip to Anson
County on the second Sunday in August. The second Sunday marked the beginning
of Revival at the Gatewood Station church. He started making this annual trip
a few years after he fled Anson County and continued until just before his death
in the mid 1970's.
My aunt Virginia's memories of these annual trips to Anson County are
still very vivid. She has told me that back in the late 1920's, Willies mother
Sarah Ann Clemons-Douglas and his sister Elouise made several trips to Bladen
County and stayed weeks at the time. She also remembers Willie's uncle Abraham
Clemons being a visitor to the Thomas homestead and she remembers very well the
one and only time Willie's brother Joseph came and stayed about a month.
My uncle LeRoy Autry who married another one of Willie's daughters,
Willie Mae Thomas-Autry, mostly carried Willie on these annual trips to Anson
County. He knew all of Henry and Sarah's Douglas family that were living at the
time and all of them knew him. He has kept up with that part of the family very
well. Just the other day he was telling me about the ones who had children living
in Charlotte, Greensboro, Wadesboro and West Virginia's coal mining towns. How
amazing! He's an elderly man and god bless him and his family.
My
grandfather and grandmother partly raised me and three other grandchildren, Ricky,
Theresa and Gregory Melvin. There was never a word mentioned to us about his past
life or his family from Anson County. I remember his brother Joseph from the annual
trips to Anson County, Joseph's house would be the first place he would stop to
after arriving in Anson. His next stop would be his brother John Frank's house,
but for some reason I can't remember him. I do remember meeting uncle John Frank's
daughter Laura Ethel, uncle Jay C's son James Nash Douglas of Greensboro NC and
aunt Ellouise at my grandfather's funeral. Of all the bloodlines from Anson County
those are the only relatives that I have personally met. I have corresponded via
telephone and e-mail with my great uncle John Frank's granddaughter Vegella Douglas-Smalls
and her mother Emmie Caison-Douglas, Deborah Morales who is a very dear friend
of another cousin and Marjorie Kersey-Cole, a cousin that still resides in Anson
County.
I PRAY AND I WISH Out of all of this research
I have done in the last two years I wish by some miracle I could meet my mother's
two half sisters if they are still alive. I pray nightly that they are still alive
and well. But if they are not, I would enjoy just as much meeting any of their
descendants. I pray that some of their relatives will see this site and make contact
with me. This is really the sole purpose of this site. I am anxiously awaiting.
PEACE!
Anson Ancestors Extended Families
|
