Williams Siblings

Williams Siblings

Williams, Philip Jr. (1918-1955)

Dodd, Rebecca Paxton Williams Ehrlich (ca 1925-2000)

Williams, John P. (ca 1923-2018)

Williams, Margaret Paxton

Williams, William Thomas

Nelson, Sarah Williams

Portrait of six siblings, all of whom have been identified. Standing, (l to r): Philip Williams, Jr., Rebecca Williams, John P. Williams. Seated (l to r): Margaret P. Williams, William T. Williams, and Sarah (Williams) Nelson.

These were the children of Philip (1888-1942) and Rebecca Crenshaw (Paxton) (1891-1986) Williams. He was a lawyer and had a private practice. He and his family lived in Woodstock.

Philip Williams, Jr. was a student at Washington & Lee University in Lexington when he registered for the WWII draft. He enlisted in the Navy in 1942. After his military service, he became a Professor of English at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He died unexpectedly there at the young age of 36 years.

Rebecca Paxton Williams married William V. Ehrlich, Sr. (1922-1982), and lived in Delaware with him. They parted ways, however, and in 1964, she was a teacher at the Gibbs School of Georgetown when she married for the second time. Her second husband was Ronald Frederick Dodd, who worked at “Dodd Carey Funeral Home”. She died in Georgetown, Delaware.

John received his appointment as an Ensign in the U.S. Navy in July 1941, during WWII, and was wounded in action shortly afterwards while stationed overseas. It’s possible this photograph was taken just before he shipped out. In 1955, Lieutenant John Williams was still in the Navy and stationed in Madrid, Spain. He retired as a Commander and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

In 1946, Margaret Paxton Williams lived in Washington D.C. and married John Gibbons Adams (1912-2003) a lawyer raised in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. They stayed in Washington for fifty years as her husband rose to prominence after he publicly questioned Senator McCarthy’s actions against the U.S. Army. Adams recalled the experience in his 1983 memoirs "Without Precedent: The Story of the Death of McCarthyism." They retired to Texas in 1996. They had a daughter, Rebecca (Adams) Cavner.

The 1950 census found William T. Williams living in a student dormitory at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. A year later, he was pictured in the 1951 UVA yearbook with his fellow Gamma Delta fraternity brothers. After college, he joined the Army and was stationed as a Private at Fort Hauchuca, Arizona.

Sara B. Williams attended the State Teachers College in Farmville and was a member of Gamma PSI there. After school, Sara enlisted in the U.S. Navy. When her older brother died in 1955, Sara was stationed at Camp McClellan, Alabama, and her rank was Lieutenant (WAC). In her later years, she lived in Indian Harbor Beach, Florida, and her married name was Nelson.

Morrison Studio

Morrison Studio Collection - Shenandoah County Historical Society

Shenandoah County Library

Undated

Identified by Sarah Williams Nelson who is in the photograph.

Additional biographical information was pulled from public records including an obituary for Philip Williams, Jr., published in the Richmond Times Dispatch on March 18, 1955.

IN COPYRIGHT - NON-COMMERCIAL USE PERMITTED

Same subjects as in Morrison photos 12959, 13091, and 16507.

004942

Glass Negative