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Description
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Hamilton C. Williams and his brother Larkin Wiliams both owned land on the southern side of what would become Tyson Research Center. They were both a part of the large Williams family that had a significant presence in Missouri during the early 1800s. This family was also known to have sympathy toward the Confederacy during the Civil War and were likely enslavers.
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Bio
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Hamilton C. Williams was born in 1806 to Thomas Williams and Jemima Carter of Greene County, Tennessee. He had an older brother, Larkin, and several younger siblings. In 1819, when Hamilton was 13, the family moved to St. Louis, Missouri. Jemima died in 1828 and Thomas remarried in 1828 to Ruth Todd, with whom he had at least nine more children. Other members of the Todd family were enslavers.
Williams married Jane Hildebrand in 1825. Jane’s brother, Peter Hildebrand, also held land at Tyson, as identified on an 1838 plat map. The Hilderbrand family are not confirmed enslavers, but they had been involved in violence against Indigenous communities since their arrival in Missouri during the mid-18th century.
In 1832, Hamilton Williams purchased a plot of land on the site that would become Tyson Research Center. His older brother, Larkin Williams, also owned land on Tyson’s property at this time. Hamilton Williams went on to purchase other plots of land in the St. Louis area.
In 1840, Hamilton Williams signed a petition involving the claim of another landholder, William Triplett, who held a tract of land just north of Tyson’s property.
Hamilton Williams died in 1851. He was buried in the Byrnes-Stuart cemetery, which is located on the southern side of present-day Tyson Research Center.
Williams was a common last name at the time, and due to this, records of enslavement for the family have not clearly been identified. In 1850, a “Master Williams Estate” enslaved two girls aged 15 and 17, and a 9-year-old boy. Additionally, family records state that “the Williams leaned to the side of the South during [the] Civil War”.
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Birth Date
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1806
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Death Date
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1851
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Child of
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Thomas Williams
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Jemima Carter
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Spouse of
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Jane Hildebrand
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Enslaver
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No records of relation to enslavement yet identified.
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Dates of Tyson Land Ownership
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1838
