Bedford H. Williams papers, MSS.3683

Abstract: Legal documents, financial records, correspondence, and other personal papers of this Tuscaloosa County probate judge in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.Scope and Content Note: The majority of the papers consist of legal documents issued by Williams while serving as probate judge, along with financial records, correspondence, and other miscellaneous materials. Surveying notes of Searcy, along with financial records of his and his father, and records from the construction of the Warrior River Bridge are included.Biographical/Historical Note: Bedford H. Williams (1822-1917) owned and operated a cotton gin and served as probate judge of Tuscaloosa County in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He married Elizabeth Shepherd on 17 February 1845, and they had five children (Sarah, James, Mary, Emeline, and Dock). Elizabeth probably died before 1880, as the 1900 U.S. Census shows Penina as his wife of twenty years.When Williams died in February 1917, Joe A. Searcy became guardian to Williams' wife, Pennina E. Williams. Searcy was a surveyor and ran for Probate Judge in 1928. The relationship between Searcy and his father, Reuben, to the Williams remains unclear