William Womack, son of Thomas Womack and Sarah Owen

[Robert Burke]

Several years ago, I wrote this about 4 William Womacks who are often confused: https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/womack/2007/

"B" in my list was William Womack son of Thomas Womack and Sarah Owen of Rowan Co, NC.  Many online genealogies have him married to Rebecca Parker (that was actually "A" in my list, William Womack of Halifax Co, VA) and fathering Green Womack and dying in Gallatin Co IL (actually "D" in my list, William son of Abraham and Elizabeth Stubblefield Womack).

William Womack son of Thomas Womack and Sarah Owen of Rowan Co, NC has been accused of being a Tory during the Revolutionary War.  See https://sites.google.com/site/womackgen/womack-records/us/north-carolina/rowan-county for my argument that is probably not true.

This William Womack was likely born circa 1758 in Halifax Co, VA.  He appears to have never married or had children.  He lived with his family in the area of Rowan Co which became modern Davidson Co, NC.  Around 1805, William and most of his brothers moved to Warren Co, KY, where they were on tax lists until 1818, after which most of them disappeared.  I only recently picked up their trail again in Missouri.

A "William Warmack" left a will in 1825 in Howard Co, MO.  See here for https://sites.google.com/site/womackgen/family/abr/abr/tho for abstract.  In his will, this William left everything to his friend John Hardeman, including 3 slaves.  No other person is mentioned in the will, so I was unsure who it was, until I found court records from Howard Co, MO where Eppah Wommack took John Hardeman to court to challenge the validity of the will.  This was Eppy Womack, William's brother.  Eppy lost the case.

I am not sure why William left everything to John Hardeman, but perhaps because he wanted to keep his slave family intact.  If William had died without a will, or left his estate to his living siblings, the slaves would have been sold and the money split.  John Hardeman appears to have been the father of John Locke Hardeman who made a will in Saline Co, MO in 1850 (Will Book A:373).  John Locke Hardeman apparently had no children, but several slaves, and in his will he tried to keep slave families together by giving entire families to his siblings.

If William Womack had a wife or minor children (under 21) when he made his will, it would have been invalidated, because in all states, it has always been illegal to exclude a wife or minor children in a will.  Even excluding adult children could be grounds for invalidating a will, which is why in many wills, the testator gives certain children a nominal sum, like one dollar.

In summary, William Womack son of Thomas Womack and Sarah Owen of Rowan Co, NC had no known wife or children and almost certainly died with no living descendants.  Which means we was not the father of Green Womack.