Elerie Donnie Williams, Sr. was born to John and Carrie Brinkley Williams on July 5, 1894 in Bickley, Georgia (Ware County). His siblings were Nola, twin brother Bill, Ulysses, Freddie Pino and Willie Pino. "Tom Pino", as he was nicknamed, set out on his own after a squabble with his step-father, Julius Pino. Determined to make a way for his future, and while his own, he found and lived in an abandoned shack. On February 2, 1913 he married Leola Baldwin in Telmore, Georgia. Lee, or "Pal" as Tom affectionately called her, was born on February 15, 1895 in Haywood, Georgia to George and Mary Baldwin. Her siblings included two sisters, Jon and Lula, and two brothers, Sam and Jerry.
"Daddy Tom" and "Ma Lee" Williams are the parents of 13 children including one child who deceased shortly after birth: Rosa, Princetta, Elerie, Jr., Marie, Lorene, Bill, Carrie, Mary, Isaac (I.G.), Ocie, Alexander, and Martha. The family lived in Telmore, Georgia until 1940-1941 when Ma Lee, tired of sharecropping, made the "suggestion" to Daddy Tom to become an independent farmer. The family bought land, moved to Waycross, Georgia and began their new lives as independent farmers. The family turned their own soil, raised their own livestock, employed workers, fed community members of all races, and never returned to sharecropping.
Each year on July 26, family members made an annual celebration of Great Grandma Carrie 's birthday beginning in the 1930's. Once Great-Grandma Carrie passed, Daddy Tom decided to continue the tradition and bring the entire Williams and Baldwin families together on his birthday. Our family reunion has been held the first weekend in July every since.
Adapted from Eric Slaughter, Author
"Daddy Tom" and "Ma Lee" Williams are the parents of 13 children including one child who deceased shortly after birth: Rosa, Princetta, Elerie, Jr., Marie, Lorene, Bill, Carrie, Mary, Isaac (I.G.), Ocie, Alexander, and Martha. The family lived in Telmore, Georgia until 1940-1941 when Ma Lee, tired of sharecropping, made the "suggestion" to Daddy Tom to become an independent farmer. The family bought land, moved to Waycross, Georgia and began their new lives as independent farmers. The family turned their own soil, raised their own livestock, employed workers, fed community members of all races, and never returned to sharecropping.
Each year on July 26, family members made an annual celebration of Great Grandma Carrie 's birthday beginning in the 1930's. Once Great-Grandma Carrie passed, Daddy Tom decided to continue the tradition and bring the entire Williams and Baldwin families together on his birthday. Our family reunion has been held the first weekend in July every since.
Adapted from Eric Slaughter, Author