   |
|
|
|
|
| ||||||
|
William R. Douglas
 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.
Clarence Allen AKA "Allen Omega" AKA "Flick" died on Friday July 14, 2006. The above is from his research
This article forms part of our Slave Trade series.
See also:
Any contributions will be gratefully accepted
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The content of this website is a collection of materials gathered from a variety of sources, some of it unedited. The webmaster does not intend to claim authorship, but gives credit to the originators for their work. As work progresses, some of the content may be re-written and presented in a unique format, to which we would then be able to claim ownership. Discussion and contributions from those more knowledgeable is welcome. Last modified: Friday, 02 August 2024 |
