The Williams were a farm family from the Haw Branch section of Onslow County, North Carolina. At the time of the 1860 Census F. H. Williams (b. ca. 1810) and his wife, Marian (b. ca. 1817) had six children living at home, the oldest of whom was John Wesley Williams (b. ca. 1843). John Wesley Williams enlisted as a private in Co. A, 35th NC Inf. on September 6, 1861 and died of pneumonia at Smithfield, Virginia on October 20, 1862. John lingered for nearly a month in the house of a private citizen, John B. Gruber, before his death. He was buried at the cemetery of a nearby Freemason's Lodge.