Relationship 8: Theodore John Williams & Myrtle A. Bird

Relationship Record 8

Male/Husband} Williams, Theodore John (John T.)

Family History} Hancock

Female/Wife} Bird, Myrtle A.

Relationship Type} ?

Marriage: Date} Cir 1895/1896

Place}

Ended: On Date} Exa 2 Nov 1933
By} Death of husband

Source 1}	9 = Biography
Source 2}	110 = Newspaper
Source 3}	26 = 1910 USA cen
Source 4}	304 = 1920 USA cen
Source 5}	853 = 1930 USA cen
Source 6}	675 = Photographs
Source 7}	676 = Photographs
Source 8}
Source 9}

1st Household No.} 190 = Detroit, Michigan

Photographs} The Williams circa 1908

Last Updated
by} Dan Hancock

Date Updated} 3 Jan 2006
Date Created} 17 Jun 1994

Notes: Their son Simeon said "My parents were married in about 1896, and lived for awhile in a religious commune in Pennsylvania. About that time, a religious movement swept over the county. My parents left Pennsylvania when they became disillusioned with religion and with their relatives. They wanted to get away from 'the whole mess'. Their 60-acre farm in Pennsylvania was sold at a sacrifice. My father did believe in the 'golden rule', but contrary to 'church' teachings, felt that churches were too hypocritical.

My family then came to California in about 1904. We moved from Michigan to San Francisco by train. It went through the Grand Canyon area.

We were in San Francisco for a short period. All of our worldly possessions were contained in one trunk. We had very little money to live on. In 1904, San Francisco storekeepers still looked with suspicion on paper money. They wanted gold or silver coins.

Fortunately, my father found a job immediately at Atlas Peak in Napa County. My parents moved to and worked at the 'Knight ranch' — about 14 miles up Atlas Peak Road. My father worked as a ranchhand with the grapes, sheep, and oak wood on the ranch. My mother cooked for all of the ranch hands. (Knight could have been the name of the renters, rather than the owners.) There was no school available for me in the Atlas Peak area, however. So after less than a year there, my family moved from the ranch to the town of Napa.

My father rented a house at 120 Main Street. My mother worked as a dressmaker out of their rented house. My father made knicknacks — such as in-and-out signs — and sold them door-to-door. When he approached Judge Gesford, the judge said 'its nobody's damn business when I'll be back.'

During 1905, Napa had one of its worst floods. I remember seeing the wooden walk in back of 120 Main floating. People were rowing boats on Main Street as far north as the Catholic Church."

Dan Hancock's comments: Theodore and Myrtle were probably never legally married, given that they didn't believe in the validity of church-based marriages. The "commune" definitely existed in Michigan and may have earlier existed in Ohio, Kentucky, and/or Pennsylvania.

Children:

Total # of Children} 2

Seq. # of Primary} 1

1st Child}	Williams, Simeon Clyde (Si)
2nd Child}	Williams, David Theodore (Dave)

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