Mrs. Henrietta Sloan, 220 Beach Place, Tampa, submits this interesting history of her grandfather, Rowland Williams, and his descendants. Mr. Williams served in the Florida Indian wars, enlisting in a company of Georgia volunteers, and at the termination of his enlistment located in Florida.

A Real Pioneer

Mrs. Sloan records with evident pride: "My grandfather, Rowland Williams, was a veteran of the Indian War and a pioneer of Florida. His service record shows he was born February 16, 1812, in Bryan County, Ga. A report from the war department shows that he was enrolled Nov. 14, 1839, in Captain Bird's company of Georgia volunteers, and that he was discharged May 14, 1840. The report also shows that he was enrolled in Capt. William Haddock's company, Georgia volunteers, June 17, 1837, and that he was discharged Sept. 18, 1837, at Jacksonville, Fla.

"He was married to Annie Sweat in old Columbia County, near the present site of Lake City. About the time he was discharged from the service, while Florida was still a territory. They had 14 children: John, James, George, Rebecca, Mary Ann, Martha, Sarah, Andrew, Nathaniel, *Simon, Ida, Jasper, Thomas and Meridion.

"Ida and Jasper died when they were children. The rest lived to maturity, and some of them to real old age. They had four sons old enough to serve in the army during the War Between the States on the Southern side, John, Nathaniel, James and George.

"At the close of the war the family moved to South Florida to the little town now called Brownsville, where they lived until his death in 1867. His widow, Annie Sweat Williams, was paid a pension from July, 1892, until her death in April, 1908, in Fort Ogden, Fla.

"ONE SON, JAMES, lost his life when he was a young man. He was living in Orlando with his wife and small children and was sheriff of the county, when he was shot and killed by a man he was trying to arrest. His wife, Clemmie, died of heart failure when she was told of his death. They were buried the same day in Orlando, in 1876.

"The rest have passed on, one by one. The last one, Mrs. Meridion Smith-widow of Griffin Smith, joined the heavenly host April 11, 1958, at the age of 92. She was the youngest of the family and the last one to go, thus ending the earthly abode of a family that had its beginning in territorial Florida."
 

Notes: *Simon is actually Simeon
Donald McKay had a Sunday column in the Tampa Tribune called Pioneer Florida which appeared from 1946 - 1960.