From the cemetery diagram created by Fred Burdick in 2001, I have drawn this chart of the placement of the monument and the burial positions of Col. John Williams and his three wives.
You can see the monument in this photo of this section of Whitehall cemetery that I have blogged about at a previous date. The stones are all in a row but some are leaning forward due to the settling of the ground of the past two hundred years.
Wheeler's History of Stonington, states that John's second wife was Mary HELMS of Kingston, RI. It may be that her maiden surname was HELME as there was a family of that name in that area. Mary's gravestone reads, "In Memory of/ Mary ye Wife of/ Col. John Williams/ died Decemr ye 20th/ 1740 in ye 39th year/ of her Age. If she was 39 in 1740, that would calculate her birth year as 1701. She and John have no marriage date but it was after Desire died in 1737 and before 1740 when he and Mary had their first child Edward. They had another child Mary, who was baptised after (25 Jan 1741) her mother's death. Mary died 20 Dec 1740, her son Edward had been born that July and it is possible that he was Mary's twin as she has no birth date.
Edward married Mary5 Stanton (Daniel4, Daniel3, Samuel2, Thomas1) and had children but little is know of Mary.
Col. John married a third time (notice he is buried between the two first wives) to Prudence POTTER. Wheeler's History of Stonington, states she was of Portsmouth, RI. She outlived him as he died 30 Dec 1761 and she died 25 Sept 1762 after marrying him on 21 Nov 1761.
Her gravestone reads, "In Memory of Mrs. / Prudence, wife to/ Col. John Williams/ she died Sept. 25th/ 1762 in ye 62d /year of her age"
3 comments:
Apparently Prudence Potter married Col. John Williams in 1741 (not 1761), thus they had been married for 20 years by the time of their deaths. Wheeler's published dates for both their marriage and her death were incorrect.
You are correct. The Vital Records of Rhode Island do give the correct date. Thank you for your correction.
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