Frances "Fanny" Wills Williams (born March 26, 1831; died December 17, 1864) was wed to Robert Bailey Freeman (born September 18, 1831; died February 2, 1892), a Baptist minister organizing El Bethel Church before the Civil War in 1855. Robert was El Bethel's first pastor. Frances was killed by Civil War soldiers who were taking horses from her and her husband's property.
Frances "Fanny" Wills Williams and Robert Bailey Freeman had five children:
Hardin Wills Freeman and Henry C. McQuiddy had five children:
Richard Russell Freeman and Ida Massey had two children:
The "awful accident" happened in 1864 when Frances' daughter, Hardin Freeman McQuiddy, was six years old; Frances' son Richard was 18 months old. In 1940, Hardin wrote her recollection of the day:
Aunt Elvina and her children were at our house. Tom (who worked for the family) came in and said, "Miss Fanny, the bush-whackers got Mr. Bob out there." Ma threw down her sewing and ran out through the yard gate and threw her arms around Pa's neck. The men were pointing their gun at Pa, one fired his gun, a bullet tipped his cheek on the right side, went through his hat brim, cut a little half moon, on into Ma's body. The men demanded his horses. He handed them the keys, they went to the smoke house, got a fine stable horse named Bald Eagle and a sorrel mare named Victoria. One of the men helped Pa to bring Ma into the house. Some of the neighbors had come, they pulled out the little trundlebed, laid Ma on it. Brother Richard woke up, I took him out of the cradle, some one took charge of him. So much confusion.