| William Newton and Laura (Rosser) Hilliard |
| William Newton Hilliard was born April 21, 1859 in Tennessee to John Lafayette and Harriett (Lemons) Hilliard. His nine brothers are George Washington, Jefferson Davis, Columbus Taylor, Robert Megg, John W., Lee, Charles L., Isaac and Harvey, and his sister is Margaret Ann Allie Josephine, named for her mother Harriett's four sisters.. Laura Alice Rosser was born in 1852 in Alabama to Isaac Rosser and Rosannah (Blocker) Rosser. Her six brothers and sisters are Francis Marion, Thomas James, Rosannah, William, Joseph Warren, and Diana. William and Laura were married November 30, 1880 in Jefferson, Marion County, Texas, and in the next 18 years, they had nine children, Hattie, who died in infancy, William Isaac, John Wesley, who also died in infancy, Horace Bell, Mary May, Taylor Hudson, Marvin Edgar, and Earl Bingmann (Pete) and Anne. The copies of the birth and death pages of the Bible of William Newton Hilliard lists Sarah Josephine Nixon, born in January of 1880, prior to the marriage date listed for William and Laura. It is assumed that this was Laura Alice's daughter from a previous marriage. Hilliard history indicates that she was ultimately adopted by William. Those pages do not list the birth of Anne, however. William's occupation has been related to me as everything from banker to butcher to freight runner, but I have not been able to confirm this. William died August 16, 1914 of a carbuncle of the head. According to his obituary, he had been taken to the Alexander Sanitarium in Abilene for surgery, where he died. He was buried in the Haskell Cemetery. Laura died July 25, 1935, cause unknown, in Haskell, Texas, and is buried in the Willow Cemetery. This would seem to indicate that they are not buried in the same cemetery, and I am currently trying to verify whether or not Haskell Cemetery and Willow Cemetery are one and the same. |
| The Family of William and Laura Hilliard taken about 1905 |
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