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Claydene Miguel

Roots Essay

English 102

6 November 2017

Splash of Irish

I was named Claydene Lee Williams, and I always wondered where did I get my

name from, who are my ancestors and how did they live before I came along into this world, and

before my mom was born and before my grandfather and grandmother were born? Who are my

ancestors because at one time they did exist and thats how I was created, their blood runs through

my veins so as I got older I started to figure things out on my own. I was always taught and grew up

as knowing I am Native American. My family resides on the Gila River Indian Community which

lies adjacent to the south side of the City of Phoenix, within the Phoenix Metropolitan Area in Pinal

and Maricopa counties. The Gila River Indian Community Reservation was established in 1859, and

the Gila River Indian Community was formally established by Congress in 1939. (DISCOVER

THE. Gila River Indian Community, www.gilariver.org/.) My community is home for members of

both the Akimel O'Otham (Pima) which means the River People and the Pee-Posh (Maricopa)

tribes, in which Im a member of the Pima tribe. My ethnicity consists of Hispanic from my

biological father's side and I have Akimel O'Otham, Tohono O'Odham and a splash of Irish from my

moms side.

From an early age I was always told that my maternal grandfather's grandfather was a

Caucasian (White) man, and I was very interested in finding out where he came from how he

looked and if my grandfather, my aunts, uncles, and my mom resembled him. My great-great
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grandfather name was Cyrus Williams he was born on November 9, 1857 to Oliver Perry

Williams and Mary Ann McFarlane. Cyrus mom Mary Ann her father Hugh McFarlane came

from a farm just outside of Plumbridge, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, in the Glenelly Valley.

Patchin, Sean. My Roots Essay. 23 Nov. 2017.

Hughs older older brother, John, sailed to the United States several years before he did,

becoming a physician in Ohio. His childhood friends, Sam & Andrew Dunn, sailed to the United

States a couple years before Hugh and found work in the lead mines of Illinois. Hugh sailed

from Londonderry, County Derry, Northern Ireland, on the ship Earl Kellie, for 13 weeks before

arriving in Philadelphia in July 1835. Shortly thereafter, he moved on to Illinois Territory,

meeting up with his friend Andrew Dunn and settled first near Mineral Point, in Iowa County (in

modern-day Wisconsin), where they worked in the lead mines. Before Hugh left Ireland he left a

wife behind and her name was Sarah.

Sarah left Ireland 22 June 1835. Before leaving, she told a friend that she had secretly

married Hugh. They officially married shortly after their reunion in Illinois Territory (modern-

day Wisconsin). Sarah was probably about 4 months pregnant at the time. In 1837, Hugh read in

The Congressional Globe (to which he was a subscriber) that Congress had authorized funds to

build a canal between the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers at the Portage. He and his wifes brothers,

Andrew & Samuel, started staking claim on land along the Wisconsin River. Much of the land

they bought was first up for sale in 1835, at a price of $1.25 per acre. About 1840, Hugh &

Andrew moved to Portage City, Columbia County, Wisconsin Territory, being among the first

white, civilian settlers there. Hugh and Sarah had eight children, 3 died in infancy and a son

(Andrew J. McFarlane) died at home from wounds received at the Battle of Vicksburg in the

Civil War. Patchin, Sean. My Roots Essay. 23 Nov. 2017. Hugh was one of the founding
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fathers of Portage; and McFarlane Road has been so named in his honor. Andrew Dunn, Hugh

McFarlane, Clark Whitney, J. Garrison, Archibald Barker, Jonathan Cole and others came in

1838-the first three to stay, as the future was to develop (A History of Columbia County, 1914,

pg 185). Mac, Dunn and Armstrong streets had those names applied to them in honor of Hugh

McFarlane, Andrew Dunn and William Armstrong, the proprietors of McFarlane, Dunn and

Armstrong addition to the City of Portage (A History of Columbia County, 1914, pg 196).

The first school in Portage and the county to provide instruction to the children of actual settlers

was established in 1843.

On 7 September 1846, he was elected to the Wisconsin Territory House of

Representatives on the Democratic ticket (this was the last territorial legislature for Wisconsin

Territory). He also served in the first legislature of the State of Wisconsin. He was tasked with

taking the first census of Columbia County in June 1848. Around 1848, he went into business

with his brother-in-law, Andrew Dunn, who had built a saw mill in Clearfield, Juneau County,

Wisconsin, on the Lemonweir River. They put two men in charge of the operation of their mills

and eventually sold the mills to the men. Hugh was granted a land patent for 80 acres in Section

27, Town 12 North, Range 8 East (Caledonia Township) on 1 JUN 1858. On 2 MAY 1859, he

was granted a patent for 23.17 acres in Section 8, Town 12 North, Range 9 East (City of Portage,

along the Wisconsin River). This is likely what was developed into the McFarlane-Dunn-

Armstrong Addition to the City of Portage. This was developed by Hugh, Andrew Dunn (his

brother-in-law), and William Armstrong. This subdivision extended from Marion St on the

North to the Wisconsin River on the South and from Mac St. (now McFarlane Rd.) on the East to

six lots West of Pierce St. Hugh moved his family to Arlington Township, Columbia County, in

1859 and started farming there. My great-great-great grandmother Mary Ann McFarlane was
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born 16 JAN 1836, in Mineral Point, Iowa County, Illinois Territory; in which she married

Oliver Perry (O.P.) Williams 14 FEB 1857, Portage, Columbia County, Wisconsin.

My great-great grandfather Cyrus McFarlane (Cy) Williams came to Arizona in 1887,

there he joined his brother Perry Williams in Maricopa, Pinal County, Arizona, where they

owned and managed a hotel Williams House. According to Reflections of a Desert Town (by

Patricia Brock, 2007), they had a prosperous business in the hotel industry and his brother Perry

Williams was the first Mayor of Maricopa and the first Justice of the Peace. Perry held a close

friendship with the first governor of Arizona, George W.P. Hunt. (Brock, Patricia. Maricopa.

Arcadia Pub., 2011).

Cyrus would often greet the passenger trains and travel the local railroads selling store

supplies there is where he met a local Native American woman named Mollie Kisto and married

her. Out of this marriage Mollie and Cyrus conceived a child name Andrew Williams (my

grandfathers father). According to his obituary (Pinal County, Arizona, Archives), Cyrus was

tending the bar in the hotel on Sunday afternoon, 3 MAY 1896, around 5:30 PM, when he

ordered an overly intoxicated bar patron, named George Williams (no relation), out of the hotel.

The intoxicated customer had a verbal altercation with Cyrus and made some remark as he was

leaving that angered Cyrus.

Cyrus came out from behind the bar with a knife and, by the time he reached the

front of the hotel, the other Mr. Williams shot him with a revolver. A telegram was sent

for a surgeon, who arrived from Tucson that night. Cys injuries were severe the bullet

penetrated his intestines and liver and the surgeon did all he could, but Cys condition

continued to deteriorate until he died around 3:30 PM, 4 MAY 1896, less than 24 hours

after he was shot, he was buried in Tucson, Pima County. My grandfathers dad Andrew
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was only two years old at the time and never got a chance to remember his father. Today

a splash of Irish runs through the veins of myself and my children, I will cherish each

moment of this and hopefully get a chance to see where my great-great grandfathers roots

came from.