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Hi Mary!
I was sorting through one of many boxes of genealogy files I've had in storage, and lo and behold, I find two our field notebooks from 1979 and 1980 respectively, in which we had recorded some of the markers from Bethel Methodist Church Cemetery in Montgomery County, Mississippi. A few years later I took photographs of many of the tombstones that remained, but regrettably those photographs are in storage as well, but I think I can say that the William H. Wilson buried at Bethel is probably your man!
On both of the trips in which the above mentioned field notes were taken I was being rushed. During one of the trips it had begun to rain on me <grin> and during the second trip I had been delayed earlier in the day by car trouble and did not reach the cemetery until late evening, and actually finished up using a flashlight <grin>, but I had especially wanted to make it by and make sure I had recorded the markers of the graves of my Curtis relatives as I had heard that there had been vandalism to markers in some of the area cemeteries and I wanted to be sure I had recorded the info for my known kin before any more were lost and as I believe I may have mentioned in my previous posting, I was also aware that many of the tombstones were deteriorating as well, and that many in fact had already been lost. On both trips it had been my intention to record all of the gravestone markers, but the rain prevented that in 1979 and my car trouble prevented it in 1980. However, in both cases I also did make note of a few other markers as well, and both times I recorded the tombstone for William H. Wilson! I suspect the reason I did so was because of his "early" date of birth, 1787. UNFORTUNATELY, I'm rather embarrassed to write that the notes from the two trips, respectively, do not quite match up! In any case, my memory is that I did NOT make either "rubbings" of the markers, nor did I use either the "shaving cream" method, "Charcoal method" or "blackboard chalk method" and so this could also account for the differences in readings. Considering the conditions at the time and the differences, I can see where the discrepancies could easily have been made, but that's no excuse.
Here's what I recorded though, but of course you'll want to get by yourself if you're able and verify which readings are the correct one. Again, that is embarrassing!
"WILLIAM H. WILSON," born November 27 (or 22), 1787, died May 13 (or 18th), 1870
and
wife Mary E. Wilson [sic], born November 23 1810 and died August 18, 1882.
Considering the conditions at the time, I can see where I could have misread a 7 for a 2, or visa versa, and likewise misread a 13 for an 18, or visa versa. <grin>
A bit more checking confirmed what I had thought I had remembered, and that is that this William H. Wilson buried at Bethel is the great-great-great-grandfather of my late Uncle (my mother's brother-in-law)! I'll try to reach one of my cousins and see what they might know, but my Uncle passed away only last year (2004) and I'm not sure if his genealogy notes will be handy or convenient for them to look at. My Aunt is in her 80's and after her husband's death she moved into a new place.
However, I believe I remember his telling me that he had traced his Wilson family back even further. (I have Wilson's in my lineage too, but apparently a different group of Wilsons. My lineage came to Alabama from South Carolina and possibly Virginia prior to that.)
I also located some of my notes from my readings of the microfilm of the Choctaw County census that I did back in the 1970's. At the time I made these readings, I wasn't being so careful as to copy the records verbatim. In otherwords, the place of birth may have been fully spelled out, or may have been abreviated. For this message I went ahead and spelled out each state name completely. Also, I don't know if the census record showed each individual with the surname spelled out, or if it were the more common "ditto mark" method used. Also, I don't know if the record simply didn't show if whether children were in school, or if I simply didn't copy that for this reading. Again, as with the cemetery readings, I would suggest you reading the records for yourself, but perhaps the following can at least aide you nevertheless. I found the following:
For 1860 Choctaw County, Huntsville PO, July 3, 1860 at number 175/172 (The numbers refer to the dwelling number and the family number):
WILLIAM H. WILSON 72 male farmer $1200/$3625 Georgia
MARY E. WILSON 49 female South Carolina
WILLIAM H. WILSON 24 male Alabama [I've made the notation that his middle name is "Howard"]
MARY J. 21 female Alabama [I've made the notation that her middle initial stands for JANE.]
BRYANT WILSON 17 male Alabama [I've made the notation that Bryant's middle name is CALVIN]
ANDREW J. WILSON 14 male Alabama [I've made the notation that his middle initial stands for "JACKSON" and that he married Mary Nations and was later a soldier in the Confederate Army.]
MILTON A. WILSON 10 male Mississippi [I've made the notation that his middle name is AMOS]
WALTER R. WILSON 8 male Mississippi [I've made the notation that his middle name is RALEIGH].
Most of the above notations I would assume came from information from my Uncle, but I'm not sure. I also noted in the margins of my census notes that Andrew Jackson Wilson was born 10 July 1845 - died 31 December 1926 and that he married Mary Nations who was born 16 December 1844 and died 26 June 1933.
The 1860 slave schedules for Choctaw County, showed William H. Wilson as owning 3 slaves.
Based on the names, number 123, also in the Huntsville Post Office along with number 138 may also be kin.
#123 is MEREDE[I?]TH WILSON 44 male farmer $2800/$3272 Alabama
[I made notations that his middle initial is "W." and that he died in 1861, born Jan? 14, 1816, died Aug. 18, 1861 - the dates I would guess were found from his tombstone]
JOSEPH [sic] ANN WILSON 30 female Mississippi [Oct 7, 1830, died Jan. 25, 1891]
ALBERT A. WILSON 9 male Mississippi [b. Oct. 29, 1851-d. Feb 10, 1884]
CALVIN C.[?G?]WILSON 8 Male Mississippi [B. December 8, 1852 - d. August 15, 1884]
JAMES A. WILSON 5 Male Mississippi
JOHN M. WILSON 3 male Mississippi [1856-1906]
WILLIAM M. WILSON 1 male Mississippi
Slave scheduled listed Merede[?i]th Wilson having 2 slaves.
#138 JOHN WILSON 23 Male $800/$500
ELIZA WILSON 20 Female South Carolina
MARY WILSON 2/12 (2 months) Mississippi.
In the 1850 census for "Choctaw County, Western Division, November 1850," I recorded the following:
Page 25, Dwelling # 173, Family No. 173
WILLIAM J.(?) WILSON 29 Male farmer $400 Alabama
EMILY WILSON 28 female "cannot read and write"
COLUMBUS WILSON 8 male Mississippi
MARSETT WILSON 6 Male Mississippi
ELIZABETH WILSON 5 Female Mississippi
PENELOPE WILSON 1 Female Mississippi
VIRGINIA WILSON 1 Female Mississippi
Mary, note the name of the wife of this William Wilson is "Emily." I mention this because you mentioned your William Howard Wilson had a wife Emma Zella White where as William buried at Bethel and born in 1787 had a wife named Mary J. in the 1860 census and on his tombstone.
---- Jay
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