LOUISA COUNTY, IOWA

The Republican Centennial Edition, Wapello, Louisa County, Iowa
Thursday, July 12, 1956, Section Two, Page 12
Transcribed by Shirley Plumb, June 29, 2019

8 GENERATIONS LIVE IN COUNTY
By Mrs. Kate Baker

    Louisa Co. has the distinction of having, in the Robert Williams family, the only family in the state of Iowa and probably in the entire United States, where the eighth generation has been born and remained in the same county.

    It is believed on good authority that the William Baker and Joiner and Mac Yakle grandchildren, who are living today in this county, are the only ones in the State still living in the same county where their ancestors have lived and are buried.

    Some facts regarding the Robert Williams family, early settlers of Louisa County who came to settle here in the Spring of 1836, have been gathered from records and papers by Dr. Wright Williams of Harris, Mo., and Kate Baker of Wapello.

    It has been the belief of the family member in the vicinity, that their genealogy could be traced back to the Revolutionary ancestors of Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island.

    Recently, Mrs Kate Baker obtained these facts while visiting Mrs. Ada Hurley Murdock, the grand-daughter of Gus Jones, who was a grandson of Robert Williams.

    The facts have been accepted by the Daughters of the Revolution after carefully tracing back the family record and awarding membership as the family definitely does go back to the original Roger Williams, of revolutionary fame.

    For the interest of the many descendants of the Williams family still living in this vicinity we give a list of the direct descendants denoting the eight generations living in the same county where their ancestors once lived.

1. Robert Williams, married Elizabeth Wright and Elizabeth Hart. (The Hicklin branch). They had twenty children – a good start for the Williams family.

2. Sara Williams married George Jones.

3. Gus Jones married Charlotte Rouse.

4. Matie Jones married Wm. L. Baker.

5. Horace W. Baker married Kate H. Pierce. Abby Baker married George Yakle.

6. Wm. H. Baker married Velma Clites. Mac Yakle and Joiner Yakle are sons of George and Abby Yakle.

7. Mary Jo Baker married Fred Barrick.

8. Becky J. Barrick.