Mary B. Williams

Marks 91st Birthday2 With Peace Prayer

Atlanta Journal Constitution
October 19, 1938

Waycross, Ga. Oct 10 – Mrs. Mary Bullard Williams3, who is celebrating her ninety-first (birthday) Monday at her home, Alma, Route 3, is thankful most that war has been averted.4

The wrinkled little old lady, with eyes as bright as though she were 18, has lived through “three awful wars,” and she prays fervently that the world will be spared another. “I can’t see any sense in fighting, “ she declares, recalling the horrors and suffering of the War Between the States, the Spanish-American War, and the World War.

The conflict which came closest home to the pioneer South Georgia woman was the War Between the States, which prompts her declaration that “that was the worst war of ‘em all.” As a young girl, whose sweetheart was in the Confederate army, she endured many hardships and heartaches. “I had to plow in the fields, and cut oak trees from which we burned ashes and made soap,” she recalls.

Aside from the world’s efforts to maintain peace, there are other things for which Mrs. Williams is grateful. “All five of my children are living, and I thank God for that,” she says fervently. Her oldest child is 72, her youngest 52. There are many grandchildren, a number of great-grandchildren, and four great-great-grandchildren. Every one of them, she declares, is a reason for hating war.

Mrs. Williams, originally a member of the Bullard family (from Robeson County, NC), was born October 10, 1847, at old Tuten’s Ferry, on the upper Satilla River, in Ware County5. She married Noah Williams6, a Confederate soldier, in 1865, near the close of the war.

Her husband died in 1920, at the age of 82. Mrs. Williams’ four (sic) children, all of whom are living, are:

Mrs. Lorena Aldridge7, 72, Jacksonville; J M (sic) Williams8, 70, Alma; Mrs. Mary Bullard9, 64, Bacon County; Reppard Williams10, 58, Jacksonville; (and) John A. Williams11, 52, Bacon County.

Mrs. Williams and most of her children and grandchildren live in the New Lacy section, five miles from Alma (Bacon County), within a short distance of the place where Mrs. Williams was born nearly a century ago.

1 Noah Williams’ mother is Mary Ann DeLoach Williams, daughter of Abraham DeLoach, so the photographer may have been a cousin.
2 Mary Bullard was first enumerated in the 1860 census of Holmesville, Appling County, GA. when she was 8 years old (i.e. DoB 10 Oct 1851). In the 1870 census of Appling County, GA, Mary, now married with 2 children aged 4 and 2, gives her age as 23 vs. 19. This 4-year “boost” in age continued until her death. So, the title of this article should read “Marks 87th Birthday…” not “Marks 91st Birthday…”.
3 Mary Bullard-Williams, b. 10 Oct 1851, m. Feb 1865, d. 03 Jan 1939
4 A reference to “Munich Agreement” signed Sept 30, 1938 by German Chancellor Adolph Hitler and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, which delayed the start of World War Two by a couple of days.
5 Mary Bullard was the first (and only) Georgia-born child of William Bullard & Martha Thompson of Robeson County NC. The Bullard family’s first Georgia census was in the 1850 enumeration of MD 436 of Appling County GA, and in 1860, they were enumerated in the old county seat of Holmesville, Appling County, GA, essentially the same location (Rockingham/New Lacy) for both censuses. Ware County had no part in her birth.
6 Noah Williams, b.15 Feb 1839, m. Feb 1865, d. 27 Jun 1920
7 Lorena Frances Williams Aldridge, b. 08 Jan 1866, d. 10 Jan 1950
8 James Newton Williams, b. 17 Jun 1869, d. 06 Jun 1959
9 Mary Ann Williams Bullard, b. 18 Feb 1874, d. 25 Jun 1970
10 William Reppard Williams, b. 08 Jan 1880, d. 24 Dec 1942
11 John Asa Williams, b. 14 Jan 1886, d. 08 Jan 1967

Submitted by Joseph J Carter