Nathaniel Chase Williams, Sr.

June 6, 1829 - December 27, 1904

The eldest surviving son of Willis and Dorcas Credle Williams, Nathaniel Chase, Sr. was born 6 June 1829 in the Bragg's house on Ocracoke Island, Carteret County, North Carolina. On 14 March 1837, his father Willis was murdered on Ocracoke Island by a cousin, Jacob Gaskill. The gravesite of Willis is supposed to be on the North Pond of Ocracoke Island, but was washed out by a hurricane in later years. According to the Nathaniel Chase Williams, Sr. Family Bible, Nathaniel Chase wrote the following inscription for his father's tombstone (the date written was not included):

On 27 May 1839, Nathaniel Chase Williams, Sr. was apprenticed to his mother's brother, John Credle, Jr. of the Hyde County mainland to learn the art and mystery [mastery] of farming. I say mainland because Ocracoke Island was in Carteret County until 1845. Since Nathaniel had lived most of his life on Ocracoke Island where the main occupations were water-related or merchandizing, his mother must have believed he needed to "learn a living."

On 25 March 1851, Nathaniel Chase, Sr. (known to the majority of the family in this day and time as "Grandpappy Nat") married Emalous Gibbs, daughter of Jesse Gibbs and wife Dorcas. Nat was a farmer and was appointed Justice of the Peace for the area in which he lived; it was apparently after this appointment that the people in the Tiny Oak area started calling him "Squire." He and Emulous were the parents of the following children:

After the death of Emalous on 15 April 1873, Nat married on 10 September 1873 Margaret Brown, daughter of Thadeus Brown and wife Elizabeth Dunbar Brown. Nat and Margaret were the parents of:

Nat died 27 December 1904, just a month and fourteen days after the deaths of two of his children and a great grandson; perhaps the blow of their deaths was too much for this 75 year old gentleman. He was buried in a graveyard on his home lot with his sons George Hodges Williams and Charles Morton Williams. His tombstone is carved from marble and shows clasped hands within a circle at the top of the stone. It reads: "Nathaniel C. Williams, Born June 6, 1829, Died Dec. 27, 1904, Age 75 yrs, 6 mos, 21 dys. Tho' lost to sight, to memory dear."

(See Nathaniel Chase Williams homestead.)

(Photo and information kindly submitted by Ellen A. Williams of Swan Quarter, NC)

� 1999

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