The Evidence that William Rountree was the son of Richardson Rountree

We cannot be absolutely certain that William Rountree (c1765-1836) was the son of Richardson Rountree without examining the circumstantial evidence.  Below I’ve tried to summarize the significant elements of the proof.  Specific citations can be found within the individual pages on William Rountree and Richardson Rountree.

·       First, we know from two sources that Richardson Rountree had a son named William.  A William Rountree “of Alabama” was paid a full share of the estate ($725) in 1820.  Further, a grandson of Richardson Rountree, writing in the 1890s, said that Richardson Rountree had two sons named Thomas and William. 

·       That same statement by Andrew J. Rountree says “Thomas went to reside near Huntsville, Ala., and William somewhere in Tennessee.”  This alone is strong evidence, for we know Thomas Rountree lived from about 1815 until his death in Lincoln County, Tennessee and that William Rountree of Madison County lived on the northern outskirts of Huntsville from about 1812 until his death.  (The author must have mixed up Thomas and William.)

·       The 1820 estate settlement established that Thomas was living in Tennessee and William in Alabama in 1820.  Without an 1820 census for Alabama we can’t be sure how many William Rountrees there might have been in the state at the time of the estate settlement.  However, we can connect the William Rountree of Madison County to Union District, South Carolina where Richardson Rountree lived from before the Revolution until the 1790s.

o        We can establish that our William Rountree was living in Union District in 1789 when he applied for a tavern license, and that he resided in Union District in 1790 when he purchased land in Laurens District.   We know Richardson Rountree and his son James were living in Union District in 1790.     

o        Richardson and his son James Rountree are the only Rountrees in the 1790 Union District Census.  William Rountree, listed in neighboring Laurens District (as “Rouentree”), is the only William Rountree in South Carolina.  Thus we know that Richardson’s son William was either that person or the second son under 16 in his 1790 household.   The same facts apply to the 1800 census, when William Rountree is again the only William Rountree in South Carolina.

o        William Rountree’s wife Sally declared in 1823 that they were married about 1793 in “the District of Lawrence in South Carolina”.  (William himself testified they were married in 1790 or 1791.)   Isaac Gray, an adjoining landowner of the 1790 land purchase, later named a daughter Sally Rountree in his will.  This seems sufficient proof that William Rountree of Madison County, Alabama was the same William Rountree found in the records of Laurens District from 1790-1806.

·       We also have some evidence of associations between William Rountree and other members of the family.  These don’t constitute proof, but are at least indicators.

o        In 1794, William Rountree of Laurens District sued one Dudley Red.  Among the witnesses on his behalf was James Rountree, who was paid for 46 miles as he “lived outside the county”.  This was almost certainly James Rountree, son of Richardson, who was living in adjoining Union County at the time.

o        William and Thomas Rountree both appear in the records of Lincoln County, Tennessee and William and Woodson Rountree both appear in Marshall County, Alabama.  In neither case do they appear with one another, but the proximity suggests the possibility of some relationship.

·       Perhaps the most important genealogical point is that he is the only candidate to be the son of Richardson Rountree.  There are no records in South Carolina of any other William Rountree who could have been a son of Richardson.  [We know that there were two other William Rountrees, one the son of Turner Rountree, who served in the War of 1812 and remained in Union County through about 1830, and the younger William Rountree, son of James, whose movements can also be traced.]