Vera Braxton, Raymond Williams

It is with great sadness that I announce the deaths of two members of the Williams-Rivers Family. Vera Braxton and Raymond Williams, both well-loved Descendants of Mandi

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Raymond H. Williams, son of R T Williams, died on 03/01/09. Raymond was the grandson of Dennis Williams and Luella Short and great grand son of Harriet Elizabeth Rayner and great great grand son of Mandi Williams.

Here is the announcement that was published after Raymond's death:

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Raymond Harold Williams
Born in St. Louis, Missouri on Dec. 10, 1942
Departed on Mar. 1, 2009 and resided in St. Louis, MO.

Raymond Harold Williams was born on December 10, 1942 in St. Louis, Missouri. He was the ninth child born to the union of R.T. and Ina Elizabeth Williams. Raymond was educated in the St. Louis Public Schools and specialized in auto mechanics, and related fields. He also dedicated his work to the Terminal Railroad for 17 years.

Raymond accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour at an early age at Cleaves Chapel C.M.E. Church, now know as Murchison Tabernacle. He was also a member of the youth choir.

On August 25, 1973, Raymond married Delores Thompson. To this union a daughter was born, Joy. Raymond was a loving husband and devoted father to Joy, Franklin, Gerald, and Sharman. Raymond enjoyed spending time with his family and traveling.

The Lord called Raymond home early Sunday morning, March 1, 2009. His parents, three brothers, Roy, Wilbert, and Ronald Williams; and three sisters, Geraldine and Helen Williams, and Mildred Williams Mosley all preceded him in death.

He leaves to cherish his memory: a devoted and loving wife of 35 years, Delores; two sons, Franklin (Veronica) Terry of Arlington, TX; Gerald (Crystal) Terry of St. Louis, MO; two daughters, Sharman Terry and Joy Raenell Williams of St. Louis, MO; four grandsons, Joshua (Loriann), Jerald (Shemekia), Caleb, and Jerome; three granddaughters, Ashlei (Brandon), Harmony, and Frangelica Christina; four great grandchildren; two sisters, Eloise Tolbert of Atlanta, GA, and Ethel Brown of St. Louis, MO; one aunt, Albertha Williams of Tennessee; a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends, as well as his church family.

Everyone loved Raymond. He was a very kind, loving outgoing man. He will be truly missed and remembered by all who knew and loved him.

Services were held at the
Austin A Layne Mortuary in St. Louis, Missouri

Layne Renaissance Chapel
7302 West Florissant Avenue St. Louis, MO US 63136
314-381-6900

Visitation to be held on
Sunday, Mar. 8, 2009
4:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Service to be held on
Monday, Mar. 9, 2009
12 Noon

Friedens Cemetery
8941 N. Broadway St. Louis, MO US 63137
314-867-5126

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Vera Braxton, daughter of Cullen Caldwell died on Thursday February 10, 2009 in Saint Louis Missouri. She had a daughter Valerie Braxton. Vera is the grand daughter of Albertine Williams, great grand daughter of Dennis Williams and Ella Woodson, and great great grand daughter of Harriet Elizabeth Rayner and great great great grand daughter of Mandi Williams.

Here is the announcement that was published after her death:

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Vera Celestine Caldwell
 was born on March 30, 1945 to Cullen and Greetel Caldwell in St. Louis, Missouri.

She received her education in the St. Louis Public Schools graduating from McKinley High School. Vera retired from Southwestern Bell Telephone Company and was employed part-time as a Tax Professional at H & R Block.

Vera was born of the spirit of God on April 4, 1954 under the leadership of the late Rev. Sherman Glover. She joined the Rising Star M. B. Church and was baptized in the Mississippi River in August of the same year. She sang with her sisters in a group called The Caldwell Sisters and in the Young Adult and Junior/Intermediate Choirs. Vera was a very lively and talkative person and met no strangers. She always had a smile and was willing to help a person in need. She was well loved by her family and friends. She was preceded in death by her father, and sister, Sharon Gilmore.

Vera passed away at her home Tuesday evening, February 10, 2009 after a lengthy illness. She leaves to cherish her memory: a daughter ~ Valerie Braxton; her mother ~ Greetel Caldwell; one sister ~ Marilyn Jordan; two brothers-in-law ~ Conrad Jordan and Jimmie Gilmore; two aunts ~ Alfreda Burtis and Thelma Caldwell; four nephews ~ Michael Jordan, Darryl Gilmore, Anthony Gilmore and D-Juan Gilmore; one niece ~ Celeste Jordan; two grand-nephews; three grand-nieces; two play sisters ~ Valerie Farwell and Derilyn Williams; five God-daughters ~ Lana, Sue, Mattie, Kim, and Pam; and a host of other relatives and friends.

Services Entrusted To:

Granberry Mortuary, Inc.
8806 Jennings Station Road
Jennings, Missouri 63136
(314) 867-8837

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Please remember our beloved family members and their immediate families in your prayers tonight.

A Biography for Mandi Williams

One of the oversights that we have been meaning to fix since the launch of this website, was the lack of a biographical sketch for Mandi Williams, our family matriarch and our ultimate common ancestor. We have now corrected this oversight. See the new biography for Mandi Williams.

Updating the Family of Cullen Caldwell

This month at Descendants of Mandi, we have done extensive updates to the family records of the descendants of Cullen Caldwell, son of Albertine Williams, who is the daughter of Dennis Williams and Ella Woodson. We have added spouse information for all three of Cullen's daughters (Marilyn, Sharon and Vera Caldwell) and adusted offspring names to reflect the correct surnames. Thank you very much to the Caldwell Family for taking the timeto fill out the genealogy worksheet...as cousins fill in the gaps and return the information, the family tree continues to grow in accuracy. Check out the new family info page for the Cullen Caldwell Family.

Tributes to family members

As we continue the process of gathering information on the Williams-Rivers Family, and filling out the branches of our family tree, we'd like to ask everyone to think of a family member for whom you can write a tribute or provide a three or four paragraph historical biography. It can be detailed or based memories and recollections. It can be someone living or someone who has passed on...but contributions like these will help our family site come to life--and stress our family's many contributuons.

Searching and Finding

With our new search engines, it's easier than ever to find yourself or your branch of the family in the Descendants of Mandi Website. If you are trying to remember that cousin you met at the last reunion, try putting in whatever information you know about them and watch the results-- you'll be surprised.

Making contact with distant cousins

While I was creating the Descendants of Mandi Genealogy Website, I did some searching on the Web based on key family names. One day as I entered some family names and browsed the results, I was stunned to find an exact match on what appeared to be someone else's family tree site. I made a mental note that as soon as I got our site up and running, I would contact the other site's webmaster and let him know that there was family on the Web.

Today, three days after lauching the new website, I kept my promise to myself. I sent the following note to Lamont Beauregard of the Short/Austin Family Tree Website-- Subject Line: My Website, Your Website, Our Family:

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Hello cousin Lamont!

Your website-- http://www.shortaustinfamilytree.com/The Short Austin
Family Treeis fantastic!!! ...and I am your distant cousin. Our Common relative is Silla Short.

My name is Eric J Williams and I live in Chicago IL. I came upon your
website a while back, and realized that our families overlap to a
considerable degree. I am the great-grandson of Luella Short and the
great-great-great-grandson of Silla Short.

I also have a family tree website charting the Williams and Rivers
Family of Haywood County Tennessee. Our website
( http://www.descendantsofmandi.com/ ) is very new...just
launched last week...though I have been building the Gedcom files for
several weeks from paper charts the family has done for family reunion
booklets and conversations with family members. I would love to hear
what you think about our new website.

If you click the link below, you can see and trace my relationship to
the Shorts who appear in your Short/Ausitin website.

http://www.descendantsofmandi.com/Records/INDIs/II0965.html

My grandfather, Lemuel Williams was the son of Luella Short. I was
very happy to find your webite as I was in the process of launching
our Williams-Rivers Family Tree website-- called Descendants of Mandi.
Your site will allow me to fill in many blanks about my
great-grandmother's family.

In the spirit of your message on the Short Austin website, I've
included a few notes which point out some missing or inaccurate spots
in your family tree--specifically charting our branch the Henry Short
family.

Here is a family record for Luella Short and Dennis Williams--my
great-grandmother and great-grandfather... notice the third child (my
uncle Donald), who your family tree identifies as Darner...which was
his nickname, click Donald's link for the note on his nickname).

http://www.descendantsofmandi.com/Records/FAMs/FF010.html

your page is:

http://www.shortaustinfamilytree.com/lueellashortpage.html

Here is a family record for Alversa Williams and Robert Edward Lee
(you'll find there are two missing children for them in your page for
Aunt Alversa). Click the link and you will find them here---Sandra
Faye and Lewis Edward) the correct place for these two is between
Wesley Gene and Brenda Aleece.

http://www.descendantsofmandi.com/Records/FAMs/FF279.html

your page is:

http://www.shortaustinfamilytree.com/alversawilliamepage.html

You'll also find that our new site contains considerable additional
info on offspring for the children of Dennis Williams and Luella
Short...enough to keep you busy for quite some time.

I would, however, be open to sending you a gedcom file which you could
merg into your existing file to pick up the additonal info...but we
can talk about that later. I will be picking up considerable info from
your site as well. Maybe we could swap files at some point and save
each other considerable typing.

Anyway, Lamont, I was glad to find you, and I hope to meet at some
point in the future.

Sincerely

Eric J. Williams
http://www.descendantsofmandi.com/
ericjw33@gmail.com