William M. “Bill” Freeman & Sarah Ann Davis Freeman
William, 1836–1922 · Sarah Ann, 1838–1910
A Family Biography · Chesterfield County, South Carolina
Meet William and Sarah Ann
Some couples leave a thin paper trail. William and Sarah Ann Freeman left us a pretty good one. Census pages, a tombstone survey, a Confederate pension application, a 1916 will, a letter tucked into a neighbor’s estate file, and a newspaper notice all help us follow this Chesterfield County, South Carolina, couple across nearly a century of change.
William M. “Bill” Freeman was born in 1836 and Sarah Ann Davis in 1838. They married in 1860, the same year South Carolina left the Union, and went on to raise a family that the 1900 census counts as nine children (eight of whom we can name). Both are buried at Zoar United Methodist Church Cemetery at Brocks Mill, and so are most of their children.
Because both William and Sarah Ann are our relatives, this is a family biography in the truest sense. We’ll tell their story the way the records give it to us, and where the records disagree with each other, we’ll say so rather than smooth it over.
At a Glance
William’s birth | 9 Aug 1836, Chesterfield, Chesterfield County, South Carolina |
William’s death | 27 Jul 1922, Chesterfield, Chesterfield County, South Carolina (age 85) |
Sarah Ann’s birth | 5 Jun 1838, Chesterfield, Chesterfield County, South Carolina |
Sarah Ann’s death | 16 Feb 1910, Chesterfield, Chesterfield County, South Carolina (age 71) |
Married | 1860, Chesterfield County, South Carolina (about 50 years together) |
William’s parents | Jesse Freeman (1804–1881) and Sarah Jane Davis (1805–1870) |
Sarah Ann’s parents | Michael Davis (1806–1888) and Hulda Rivers (1816–1881) |
Occupation | Farmer (1880 census) |
Military service | Company E, 21st Regiment, South Carolina Infantry, Confederate States Army, 1861–1865 |
Children | Eight known: six sons and two daughters (the 1900 census says nine were born) |
Resting place | Zoar United Methodist Church Cemetery, Brocks Mill, Chesterfield County, SC (Find A Grave #10852213 for William, #10852218 for Sarah Ann) |
How They Fit Into Our Family Tree
The family connection William M. Freeman is my 1st cousin 4 times removed. Sarah Ann Davis Freeman is my 2nd great-grandaunt. Both husband and wife are our kin, which is what makes this a true family story. The Davis name shows up on both sides of this marriage: William’s mother was Sarah Jane Davis, and he married Sarah Ann Davis. Our records don’t say whether those two Davis families were connected to each other. |
William’s Roots: Jesse Freeman and Sarah Jane Davis
William was born on 9 August 1836 in Chesterfield County, South Carolina. That date comes from his tombstone at Zoar United Methodist Church Cemetery, as recorded in James C. Pigg’s 1995 Chesterfield County Cemetery Survey. His parents were Jesse Freeman (1804–1881) and Sarah Jane Davis (1805–1870).
The world he arrived in: Andrew Jackson was in his last year as president, and earlier in 1836 Texas had declared its independence from Mexico. Back in Chesterfield, the records show a farming family.
Our first look at William at home comes from the 1850 census. He was 14 and living in his father Jesse’s household. The enumerator listed Jesse (46, farmer), Jane (45), and then Lewis (18), Jane (16), William (14), Jesse (12), Christian (11, female), John (8), Effa (2, female), Sarah A. (2, female) and Ann E. (2 months). The 1850 census did not record how people were related, so that page alone can’t tell us who is who, but it paints a busy, full farm household. (Jesse Freeman has his own biography in this series if you’d like to read more about William’s father.)
A quick geography note In William’s youth, South Carolina’s local units were called districts, not counties. The 1868 state constitution switched them to counties. That’s why older records may say Chesterfield District while modern indexes say Chesterfield County. |
Sarah Ann’s Roots: Michael Davis and Hulda Rivers
Sarah Ann Davis was born on 5 June 1838 in Chesterfield County, the daughter of Michael Davis (1806–1888) and Hulda Rivers (1816–1881). Harry Alexander Davis wrote about her in his 1927 book, The Davis Family (Davies and David) in Wales and America (pages 125–126), while many of her children were still living.
In 1850, 11-year-old Sarah A. appears in her father’s household along with Michael (43, farmer), Huldy (33), William A. (15), Elizabeth (9), Thomas F. (8), Nancy (5), Charley W. (3) and Elisha B. (1). By 1860 the household had changed. Michael (54, farmer) and Hulda (45) were at home with William (26), Sarah (21), Thomas (20), Charles (18), Elisha (12), Jane (10) and Mary Eliza (7), plus Mary Davis, age 50, whom our family group sheet identifies as Michael’s sister.
Put the two censuses together and Sarah Ann had at least eight brothers and sisters: William A., Elizabeth, Thomas F., Nancy, Charles W., Elisha B., Jane and Mary Eliza. She grew up in a big, lively household.
A Marriage in 1860, on the Eve of War
William and Sarah Ann married in 1860 in Chesterfield County. We know the year because the 1900 census records that they had been married for 40 years. No marriage record or exact date is in our file, so 1860 is as precise as we can be for now. Sarah Ann was still counted in her parents’ household in the 1860 census, at age 21.
It was quite a year to start a marriage. Abraham Lincoln won the presidential election in November, and on 20 December 1860 South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union. On 12 April 1861, the first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. William’s military service is dated 1861 to 1865.
William’s Civil War Service
Our family group sheet lists William’s service as Company E, 21st Regiment, South Carolina Infantry, Confederate States Army. A record transcribed from Fold3 lists him in Co. E of the 21st Regiment, paroled at Wilmington, North Carolina, on 7 April 1865 by Capt. Alfred W. Davis, and notes that he enlisted in October (the year didn’t make it into our notes).
Where the 21st South Carolina fit in Our source for William’s unit is Johnson Hagood’s Memoirs of the War of Secession (page 408). The 21st South Carolina served in Hagood’s Brigade. In broad strokes, the brigade spent much of the war defending the South Carolina coast around Charleston, went to Virginia in 1864 and fought in the Richmond and Petersburg area, and returned to the Carolinas in the war’s final months. Those are the brigade’s outlines, not a day-by-day account of William. His compiled service record would tell us where he actually was, and when. |
The war came to Chesterfield County, too. In early March 1865, Union troops under Gen. William T. Sherman marched through this part of South Carolina, and Cheraw, not far from Chesterfield, was occupied on 3 March. Whether William was anywhere near home at that moment, we can’t say.
By April the fighting was ending. Wilmington had been in Union hands since late February, so the circumstances of William’s 7 April parole there are an interesting open question for his service and pension records. Lee surrendered at Appomattox on 9 April, and Gen. Joseph E. Johnston surrendered the Confederate armies in the Carolinas on 26 April.
More than half a century later, on 10 November 1919, William filed an application for a South Carolina Confederate pension for his service in Company E, 21st Regiment (SC Department of Archives and History, Series S126088, Item 02473). South Carolina had begun paying pensions to Confederate veterans in the late 1880s, and by 1919 William was 83. The index notes that images are available online, so the full application is worth pulling.
Sarah Ann’s Act of Kindness (1863–1865)
While William was away in the army, Sarah Ann’s own name turns up in a surprising place: the estate papers of Carroll Washington Davis (Estate #66), who died on 28 February 1863. Comments in that file note that soon after the death of Carroll’s wife, Mary Boatwright Davis, Sarah Ann took charge of a two-week-old baby, Mary Eliza Davis, who was in a very critical state of health. Sarah Ann cared for the little girl from 6 March 1863 to 1 March 1865, a full two years.
A letter from Sarah Ann is part of that file (Probate File #66, image 34 of 482, available through FamilySearch). It is one of the few places where she steps out of the census columns and into the story, and it is a good reminder that the home front, where women like Sarah Ann kept households and neighbors going, was part of the war, too.
Rebuilding and Raising a Family (1865–1884)
The Freeman family grew steadily through the war and Reconstruction years: Barzilla (1864 per our group sheet, though see the research notes), Mical (1866), William John (1868), James Henry (1869), Elisha Randolph (1872), Thomas Benjamin (1874), Hulda Jane (1877) and, last, Edgar Clarence (1884).
These were not easy years in South Carolina. The 1868 state constitution replaced districts with counties, and the disputed 1876 election brought Wade Hampton to the governor’s office. In 1877 federal troops withdrew, which marked the end of Reconstruction in the state.
By 1880 the census taker found the family at the Court House in Chesterfield (“Court House” is how the census labeled the village of Chesterfield, the county seat). The household: Wm. Freeman, farmer, 45; Sarah, 42; and their children Michael (13), William (11), J. Henry (9), Randolph (7), B. Thomas (4) and Hulda (1). Barzilla had married and left home the year before, in September 1879.
On 31 August 1886 the Charleston earthquake shook much of the eastern United States, and the Freemans’ youngest, Edgar, was two years old. The family’s first documented heartbreak came three years later: on 14 July 1889, Mical died at age 22. He was buried at Zoar that same month.
Their Eight Known Children
The 1900 census says William and Sarah Ann had nine children, with seven still living. Our group sheet names eight, so there is one child still waiting to be identified. Here is the roster for the eight we know. (In the table, “Chesterfield, SC” means Chesterfield, Chesterfield County, South Carolina.)
Child | Born | Died and Buried | Spouse(s) |
Barzilla Freeman | 18 Jul 1864 Chesterfield, SC (see Research Notes) | 27 May 1937, Chesterfield, SC Buried Zoar UMC Cemetery | Lewis Boatwright Davis (1857–1937) m. Sep 1879, Chesterfield, SC |
Mical J. Freeman | 30 Sep 1866 Chesterfield, SC | 14 Jul 1889, Chesterfield, SC Buried Jul 1889, Zoar UMC Cemetery | None recorded |
William John Freeman | 15 Oct 1868 Chesterfield, SC | 22 Apr 1950, Florence, Florence Co., SC Buried 23 Apr 1950, Zoar UMC Cemetery | Sarah Catherine Boatwright (1862–1947) m. abt 1891, Chesterfield, SC |
James Henry Freeman | 23 Dec 1869 Chesterfield, SC | 17 Dec 1952, Chesterfield, SC Buried 18 Dec 1952 (cemetery not listed) | Annie Irene Smith (1877–1928) Lidia E. Curlee (1886–1943) (marriage dates not recorded) |
Elisha Randolph Freeman | 22 May 1872 Chesterfield, SC | 29 Jan 1951, Chesterfield, SC Buried 31 Jan 1951, Zoar UMC Cemetery | Sarah Frances Adams (1876–1916) m. 1895 |
Thomas Benjamin Freeman | 15 Dec 1874 Chesterfield, SC | 29 Nov 1942, Columbia, Richland Co., SC Buried 30 Nov 1942, Zoar UMC Cemetery, Brocks Mill | Sarah Ann White (1881–1911), m. 1901 Martha Eliza White (1890–1973), m. 27 Jan 1917 |
Hulda Jane Freeman | 12 Jun 1877 Chesterfield, SC | 18 Oct 1936, Jefferson, Chesterfield Co., SC Buried 19 Oct 1936, Zoar UMC Cemetery | Alexander Franklin Bittle (1873–1951) (marriage date not recorded) |
Edgar Clarence Freeman | 3 Mar 1884 Chesterfield, SC | 3 May 1928, Raleigh, Wake Co., NC (burial not recorded) | None recorded |
Barzilla Freeman Davis
Barzilla was the oldest, and the records spell her name every way imaginable: Barzilla, Barcilla, Barzila, Barcilia, and Barzell in her father’s will. She married Lewis Boatwright Davis (1857–1937) in September 1879, and the Davis household appears at the Court House in the censuses from 1900 through 1930. The 1900 census lists eight children, all living: Carroll W., James F., Luther C., Cary H., May R., Henry B., Thomas B. L. and George R.
Her obituary in The Messenger-Intelligence of Wadesboro, North Carolina (1 June 1937), says Lewis died on 23 April 1937 and Barzilla followed on Thursday, 27 May, at 2:30 in the morning. It names seven sons (James, Cary, Claude, May, Henry, Ben and Robert, as spelled there), calls her a life-long member of Zoar Church, and says she had been in failing health for about eight years. The funeral was held at Zoar at 5 o’clock that afternoon with Rev. D. S. Dunbar in charge.
Mical J. Freeman
Mical appears as “Michael” in the 1880 census at age 13. Find A Grave, which notes him as the son of “WM & SF Freeman,” gives his dates as 30 September 1866 to 14 July 1889. He is the only one of the eight known children who died before 1900, and no spouse or children are recorded for him. His father’s 1916 will does not mention him.
William John Freeman
William John married Sarah Catherine Boatwright (1862–1947) around 1891. The 1900 census finds them at the Court House with five children: Laura (born 1892), Michael (1894), Georgia (1895), Allie (1896) and John W. (1900). By 1910 the census says nine children had been born, six of them living, and a son named Jim (8) had joined the list. Will was still farming in 1940, when the census lists him as a farmer at 72. He died on 22 April 1950 in Florence, SC, at 81, according to his death certificate, and was buried at Zoar the next day.
James Henry Freeman
James Henry (“J. Henry” in the 1880 census) married twice: first Annie Irene Smith (1877–1928), then Lidia E. Curlee (1886–1943). He shows up in the 1900 and 1910 censuses and lived until 17 December 1952. At 82, he was the longest-lived of the eight children.
Elisha Randolph Freeman
Elisha appears as “Randolph” in the 1880 census and as “E. Randolph” in his father’s will. He married Sarah Frances Adams (1876–1916) in 1895, and in 1900 his household was enumerated in dwelling 328, right beside his parents in dwelling 329. Find A Grave lists six children for Elisha and Sarah Frances: William C. (1898–1969), Atha Louis (1900–1972), James Ross (1903–1947), Notie Freeman Gaddy (1903–1963), Ray T. (1904–1992) and Lee Roy (1905–1987). Elisha died on 29 January 1951 and was buried at Zoar two days later.
Thomas Benjamin Freeman
Thomas (“B. Thomas” in 1880) was still in his parents’ home in the 1900 census. He married Sarah Ann White (1881–1911) in 1901 and, after her death, married Martha Eliza White (1890–1973) on 27 January 1917. He appears in the census from 1910 through 1940. He died on 29 November 1942 in Columbia, SC, and was buried the next day at Zoar at Brocks Mill.
Hulda Jane Freeman Bittle
Hulda Jane was just a year old in the 1880 census, and she shares her first name with her grandmother, Hulda Rivers Davis. She married Alexander Franklin Bittle (1873–1951). In her father’s will she appears as Hulda Jane Bittle, and she was left $5 (the will doesn’t say why). She died on 18 October 1936 in Jefferson, SC, and was buried at Zoar the next day. Our group sheet notes that an obituary exists for her, and tracking it down would be a great next step.
Edgar Clarence Freeman
Edgar was the youngest, born 3 March 1884. He was 16 and living with his parents in 1900, and he is named in his father’s will. He died on 3 May 1928 in Raleigh, North Carolina, at age 44. Our file doesn’t list a burial place or a spouse for him.
Close to Home: The 1900 Census
The 1900 census is a treat for this family. It lists William M. (61) and Sarah A. (61) at the Court House with their sons Thomas B. (22) and Edgar C. (16), and notes that they had been married 40 years with nine children, seven living.
Look at the family numbers, too. Lewis and Barzilla Davis are family 333, Elisha Freeman is family 334, and William and Sarah Ann are family 335, so a daughter, a son and their parents were counted one right after another. Elisha’s and his parents’ dwelling numbers (328 and 329) are consecutive as well. That isn’t proof of exactly who lived next door to whom, but census takers walked their routes house by house, so it’s a strong hint that the family lived close together.
The Later Years (1900–1922)
Sarah Ann’s Passing (1910)
Sarah Ann died on 16 February 1910 at age 71, according to her tombstone, and was buried at Zoar. The Cheraw Chronicle ran a short notice on 24 February 1910 saying that Mrs. Sarah Freeman, wife of Mr. William Freeman of the Snow Hill section, had died, and extending sympathy to the husband and surviving children. (The paper gave her age as 73 and the date of death as the 14th, which we’ll flag in the research notes.) She and William had been married about 50 years.
A Widower in His Eighties
In the 1910 census, William, 78 and widowed, was living at dwelling 159 at the Court House, and his son Will (William John) was at dwelling 158, right next door.
On 21 August 1916, William made his will. He signed with his mark (an X), and D. F. Brock, A. P. Rivers and Fred Miller witnessed it. His wishes were simple. His property, personal and real, was to be sold and the money divided equally among six of his children: Barzell Davis (Barzilla), William John, James Henry, Thomas B., E. Randolph and Edgar Clarence. The one exception was Hulda Jane Bittle, who was to receive $5 out of the proceeds. The will is in Estate Folder #1396, Chesterfield County probate records (FamilySearch images 1435 and 1449).
In 1919 came the pension application described above. By the 1920 census William was living at the Court House with his grandson Lee H. Freeman (23) and Lee’s wife Mary L. (23), listed simply as “Grand Father.” The census recorded his age as 89, but going by his tombstone he was about 83.
The world around the later years The Spanish–American War came in 1898. In 1910, Halley’s Comet put on a show in the spring sky. The United States entered World War I in April 1917, the influenza pandemic struck in 1918, and women gained the right to vote nationally in 1920. |
Remembering William and Sarah Ann
William died on 27 July 1922 in Chesterfield at the age of 85 and was buried at Zoar United Methodist Church Cemetery at Brocks Mill. Sarah Ann rests there too, along with at least six of their eight children (Barzilla, Mical, William John, Elisha Randolph, Thomas Benjamin and Hulda Jane). James C. Pigg recorded the cemetery in his 1995 survey, where William and Sarah Ann appear on page 829, and Find A Grave has memorials for them (#10852213 for William and #10852218 for Sarah Ann).
Think about the span of William’s life. He was born when Andrew Jackson was president and died while Warren G. Harding was. In between came the Mexican War, secession and a civil war, Reconstruction, the Spanish–American War, the first airplane flights, World War I and the vote for women. Through all of it, the records place this couple in Chesterfield County, raising a big family and leaving behind enough paper for us to get to know them.
Timeline, 1836–1922
Year | In Our Family | In the World Around Them |
1836 | 9 Aug: William M. Freeman is born in Chesterfield. | Andrew Jackson is in his last year as president. Texas declares independence from Mexico. |
1838 | 5 Jun: Sarah Ann Davis is born in Chesterfield. | The Cherokee removal known as the Trail of Tears begins. |
1850 | William (14) is in Jesse Freeman’s household; Sarah A. (11) is in Michael Davis’s household. | The Compromise of 1850 is passed. South Carolina statesman John C. Calhoun dies in March. |
1860 | William and Sarah Ann marry. | Lincoln is elected in November. South Carolina secedes on 20 December. |
1861 | William’s Confederate service period begins (Co. E, 21st SC Infantry). | Fort Sumter is fired on, 12 April. |
1863 | 6 Mar: Sarah Ann begins caring for infant Mary Eliza Davis (until 1 Mar 1865). | The Emancipation Proclamation takes effect on 1 January. Union forces press their campaign against Charleston. |
1864 | 18 Jul: Barzilla is born (per our group sheet). | The siege of Petersburg, Virginia, begins in June. |
1865 | 7 Apr: William is paroled at Wilmington, NC. | Sherman’s army passes through the Chesterfield area in March. Lee surrenders on 9 April and Johnston on 26 April. |
1866 | 30 Sep: Mical is born. | The Civil Rights Act of 1866 becomes law. |
1868 | 15 Oct: William John is born. | South Carolina adopts a new constitution; districts become counties. |
1869 to 1877 | James Henry (1869), Elisha Randolph (1872), Thomas Benjamin (1874) and Hulda Jane (1877) are born. | The disputed 1876 election; federal troops leave South Carolina in 1877. |
1879 | Sep: Barzilla marries Lewis Boatwright Davis. | — |
1880 | Census: William, a farmer, is 45, with six children at home. | — |
1884 | 3 Mar: Edgar Clarence is born. | — |
1886 | — | The Charleston earthquake, 31 August. |
1889 | 14 Jul: Mical dies at 22. | — |
1895 | Elisha Randolph marries Sarah Frances Adams. | South Carolina adopts the constitution of 1895. |
1898 | — | The Spanish–American War. |
1900 | Census: William and Sarah Ann, both 61, with Thomas B. and Edgar C. at home; nine children born, seven living. | — |
1901 | Thomas Benjamin marries Sarah Ann White. | — |
1910 | 16 Feb: Sarah Ann dies. In the census, William is a widower living next door to son Will. | Halley’s Comet is visible in the spring. |
1916 | 21 Aug: William makes his will. | — |
1917 | 27 Jan: Thomas Benjamin marries Martha Eliza White. | The U.S. enters World War I in April. |
1919 | 10 Nov: William applies for a Confederate pension. | Aftermath of the 1918 armistice and influenza pandemic. |
1920 | Census: William lives with grandson Lee H. Freeman and wife Mary L. | The 19th Amendment is ratified in August. |
1922 | 27 Jul: William dies at 85. | The Lincoln Memorial is dedicated in May. |
Research Notes and Open Questions
Things to sort out
|
- Sarah Ann Davis Freeman is my 2nd Great GrandAunt
- William M. "Bill" Freeman is my 1st Cousin 4X Removed
Sources
Family Group Sheet for William M. Freeman and Sarah Ann Davis, prepared by Charles Purvis, 30 September 2026.
U.S. Census, Chesterfield County, SC: 1850 (Jesse Freeman household, M432 roll 851, p. 134B/135A; Michael Davis household, p. 179B), 1860 (Michael Davis household, M653 roll 1217, p. 94), 1880 (T9 roll 1225, ED 5, p. 326B), 1900 (T623 roll 1523, ED 21, p. 102B), 1910 (T624 roll 1455, ED 37, p. 135B) and 1920 (T625 roll 1690, ED 40, p. 160B). Davis family censuses for 1900 to 1930 and William John Freeman’s for 1900 to 1940 as cited on the group sheet.
James C. Pigg, Chesterfield County Cemetery Survey (Chesterfield County Genealogical Services, 1995), pp. 829, 846 and 851.
Find A Grave memorials: William Freeman #10852213, Sarah Ann Davis Freeman #10852218, Mical J. Freeman #10852212, Elisha Randolph Freeman #10852139, Barzilla Freeman Davis #83316097.
Johnson Hagood, Memoirs of the War of Secession (Jim Fox Books reprint, 1997), p. 408; Fold3 record for William Freeman, Co. E, 21st SC; SC Department of Archives and History, Confederate pension application, Series S126088, Item 02473.
“South Carolina Probate Records, Files and Loose Papers, 1732–1964,” FamilySearch: William Freeman estate, Folder #1396 (images 1435, 1449); Carroll W. Davis, Estate #66 (images 23–158; letter at image 34).
Harry Alexander Davis, The Davis Family (Davies and David) in Wales and America (Washington, D.C., 1927), pp. 125–126 and 223.
Obituaries: The Cheraw Chronicle (Cheraw, SC), 24 Feb 1910; The Messenger-Intelligence (Wadesboro, NC), 1 Jun 1937.
Will J. Freeman, death certificate no. 004572 (22 Apr 1950), SC Department of Health and Environmental Control.
Prepared by Charles Purvis 714 W. Holly Hill Rd., Thomasville, NC 27360 CPurvis1@gmail.com |
