Williams Family Cemetery |
During the years 1930 to 1934 George Roscoe Williams dictated a history to one of his daughters, which he called "The First Fifty Years." A copy of the history is in the Bancroft Library at the University of California. The history is a recollection of things George remembered of his boyhood home and family life. We are indeed grateful for his keen mind; otherwise the record of the Williams Family Cemetery would be eternally lost.
George tells of going to Buzzell Bailey's place at Montsweag where his great-great-grandfather, Captain John Bailey, was buried (see Bailey Cemetery). During the spring at Montsweag he dipped smelts that had come up to spawn. On his way home he passed the spot where his other great-grandparents (on his fathers side) were buried. He lists Timothy's two brothers, Nathaniel and Lemuel, among those interred there (their spouses are probably also buried there). His most vivid recollection was when his father had George's grandfather, Capt. James Williams, removed from the Williams Burying Ground and interred in Grover Cemetery by Grover's Tavern.
Following is George's description of the cemetery location: "The burying ground is about one fourth mile south of Grover Corner on part of the original land taken up by Timothy Williams on the Montsweag Brook. It is about 400 hundred feet off the road on the left hand side traveling to Montsweag. There used to be a smooth field adjoining the road,and the graves, marked only with field stones, are on the further end of the field among bushes (now trees). It was within a few feet of the southerly boundry line of the Grover Place." George concludes his Williams cemetery identification by saying that Jess Bailey, if still living, could locate the burial plot. Jesse was George's contemporary, being only three years younger, and lived in the same neighborhood.
Editor's note: My names is Roland S.Bailey. I am the grandson of the above-mentioned Jesse Bailey and can identify the Williams Burying Ground. As a student at the Mountain School, many recess and noon hours were spent roaming over the fields and woods described above by George. The stone markers were pointed out to us and we were told that Indians were buried there. George's description is very precise. Elta Brookins Robson, an elderly former Woolwich resident, went to the Mountain School and knows of the Williams cemetery. She thinks there are other people buried there besides Williams. Some burials predate the start of Grover Cemetery. Nathaniel Williams, mentioned above, died in 1799.
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