To: Teddy Noye
From: Bruce Howard
Dear Teddy: I am quite familiar with the family of Ben Langford and Thomas J. Gardner of Arkansas and Texas. I can not tell you if there was a family connection between the Gardner and Williams family, but I can tell you that there was none between the Langford/Pace bunch you are researching and the Williams family. I would, however, suggest that you might want to concentrate your search on both Pope and Johnson Counties in Arkansas for the Williams family.
Here is what I can tell you about the Langford, Gardner and Pace connection in a brief outline. All that I am going to state to you are proven facts from many years of research on this family, backed up by record evidence. You already know that Thomas J. Gardner married Miss Sinia Langford, daughter of Ben and Patsy Langford, and that Patsy Langford was a Pace. You correctly identified the children of Sinia Gardner. She died in Pope County, Ark. on July 11, 1836. Thomas J. Gardner then married a second time, either in Pope or Johnson County to a young woman identified only by her given name, Susan S. Her maiden name has never been discovered. No marriage record could be found in Pope County and the early marriages of Johnson County were lost or destroyed, and I have been to the courthouse at Clarksville to see for myself. She was the mother of his next three children: William M. Gardner, Sarah Gardner and Thomas J. Gardner, Jr. The last one born January 30, 1843 in Fannin County, Texas. Susan died in Fannin County shortly after the birth of this last child.
Thomas J. Sr. left his children in the care of relatives and returned to Arkansas. He went to Johnson County and married Miss Elizabeth Elena Pace, daughter of Francis and Mary Pace of that county, and brought her back to Texas to live. She is the mother of the last six children. They stopped off in Fannin only long enough to gather his children and possessions and went to Williamson County to live. Their first child, John Pace Gardner was born in that county May 14th 1845. The rest of the children were also born in that county.
Now, as to William B. Pace of Fannin County. He is the older brother of Elena. He as born in Greenville District, South Carolina, August 3rd 1814. He married Miss Elizabeth Ann Johnson in 1838 in Johnson County, Arkansas. They never had any children. They lived in Fannin, Rusk and lastly in Lampassas County where they both died and are buried.
Alfred Elkins Pace of Fannin is the oldest son of Twitty and Susan Pace, formerly of Johnson County, Arkansas. Both Twitty and his brother Francis Pace were brothers of Mrs. Patsy Langford. Most of the Twitty Pace family came to Fannin to live. As to why Alfred would witness a deed transaction for James Williams in Bell County is really not a mystery. Alfred was a member of the Texas House of Representatives during that time period and quite often travelled from Bonham, where he lived, to the Capitol in Austin and the old Dallas to Austin road ran right through Bell County and it was quite cumtomary for travellers in those times to stay the night with either friend or stranger along the way. I'm sure Alfred knew right where to find the Williams household and a short visit with an old friend would not have been uncommon. If I were you I would not assume that the second wife of Thomas J. Gardner was a member of the Williams Family, but I wouldn't discount it either. I would look into every Williams family in both Pope and Johnson Counties to see if you can find if any one of them had a daughter Susan S. as one of the children, old enough to have been married during the time period of his second marriage and then follow the trail to Fannin County, Texas. Secondly, I would look to see how many of the Williams family were residing in old Fannin County and check that against those in Arkansas. It is possible that, if she was in fact a Williams, her father may have also come to Fannin and died there, in which case it should be easy enough to find estate and settlement records in that county as all of their records survive and there is a lot of history in that county. I hope this helps some. Bruce.
Important links:
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Golden Love site at
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Golden Love site on SchnakeNet
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~schnake/goldenlove.htm
Golden Love site on Pace Network
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~pace/goldenlove.htm
Golden Love on FortuneCity
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Rick's main
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Mirror site on Schnakenet at
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~schnake/HistoryInInk.htm
Mirror site on Pace Network
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~pace/HistoryInInk.htm