Volume 35, Number 2 - Fall 1995
Pioneer Families and a Missing Son
by Margie Garr
The winter 1972-73 White River Valley History Society Quarterly, pg 1, has the story of the Herndon Family; on page 2, #704 a William W. Herndon, born 3 December 1823, is listed. A book kept by William’s brother Stephen lists the births of his siblings and proves William’s birth date to be 3 September 1823, as does the obituary of William.
In research my Herndon family, I placed a query in the Kentucky Genealogical Quarterly where my ancestor Margaret Herndon, wife ofAnthony Williams, lived and died. I suspected George Herndon to be the father of Margaret and Stephen Herndon on whom I had found records in Kentucky. My query in the Quarterly was quite a few years old when it was found by a man in the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. He was continuing work on another book on the Herndon family and wondered if the Herndons in Ozark County, Missouri, might be the ones I was looking for. (He has since then finished his book.) I then ordered the War of 1812 papers on George Herndon and was very surprised to find my Sanders Thompson signing George’s papers as a witness. George and Sanders grandchildren: John Wesley Williams and Francis Elizabeth Thompson, he, the son of Anthony Williams and Margret Herndon, and her the daughter of William A. Thompson and Sarah M. Ballard, married in Willamson County, Illinois on 30 April 1868 by Elias Tabor, another Ozark County pioneer. Elias had married a Thompson, but I do not know if she was related to Sanders. Elias was licensed to preach in April 1867 by the Mt. Lebanon Baptist Church of Ozark County, Missouri.
William A. Thompson lived in Ozark County, Missouri until November 1858 when he and Sarah were granted a letter of dismission from the Mt. Lebanon Church.
After reading the story in the WRVHQ I puzzled over what could have happened to William and through another query received the answer. William Washington Herndon was born 3 September 1823 at Lincoln County, Tennessee and died at Chambers County, Alabama on 10 February 1887. He married on 10 July 1843 at Benton County, Alabama to Mary C. Renfro, she born 7 September 1821 at Lincoln County, Tennessee and died 8 January 1876 at Chambers County, Alabama. She is the daughter of Bartlett Renfro! Renfroe and Cloe Parker.
The children of William Herndon and Mary C. Renfro are:
1) Chloe Elizabeth Ann Herndon, born 10 April 1844 married to George P. Sutherlin
2) Martha Jane Herndon born 1847 married a Smith
3) Hannah Quintina Herndon born 1849 married James Edwards
4) Charles Lewis Herndon born 1851 married Willie F. Varner
5) William Francis Herndon born 24 August 1853 married Solemma Elizabeth Crook
6) Jemima Caroline Herndon born 1855 married Felix S. Johnson
7) Emma Delilah Herndon born 1857 married B. H. Mitchem
8) Mary Florilla Herudon born 1860 married M. L. Ammons
9) Susan Marie Herndon born 31 July 1863
10)Electa Elena Herndon born 1866 married William Florence
Margie Garr, 1505 Mistletoe, Mountain Home, AR 72653 (Phone 501-425-0405)
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