Rowland Williams of Mears

Slave-owner in Jamaica. Joint tenant in common of Mears estate in Clarendon.

1. Co-owner of Mears estate in Clarendon as tenant in common with Samuel Ashurst. His will dated 10/12/1716 left £300, a riding horse and an enslaved person at aged 18 to his three daughters Elizabeth, Mary and Frances Williams. His sons John and Thomas received £300 at age 21. All residue to his son Rowland Williams at age 21, he to be sole executor. His brother Edward Pennant Esquire and Thomas Peters gentleman, and his wife Frances Williams, to be trustees and guardians of the minor children. An appeal to the Privy Council was made in 1734 by John Humphrey gentleman, administrator to Elizabeth his late wife, who was one of the daughters of Rowland Williams. The respondents were Samuel Smith and Mary, his wife, the only surviving daughter of Rowland Williams. The outcome of the case is not known. The notes to the case include that Rowland Williams died in August 1718; Rowland Williams died a minor; Thomas, John and Frances died under the age of 15; so Elizabeth and Mary are the only two surviving legatees; John Humphrey married Elizabeth Williams 02/08/1722, and Elizabeth died November 1722 aged over 21 years, Humphrey being the administrator to her estate. Humphrey lodged a bill in Chancery in 1722 for payment of legacies of £798. Frances Williams had married to John Nairn, and Mary Williams had married Samuel Smith after 1732.

1. Vere Langford Oliver, Caribbeana being miscellaneous papers relating to the history, genealogy, topography, and antiquities of the British West Indies (6 vols., London, Mitchell, Hughes and Clarke, 1910-1919) vol. 6 p. 66.