Spectacular Pictures and description of the Villa Valentino, in the Hollywood Hills, 1940

Tom Lyle Williams and Emery Shaver at the Villa Valentino

The white house is a beautiful contrast to the various vivid colors all around the house. The swimming pool is grand! And has all colors in lounge chairs, pillows, tile with lots of colors and varieties of colors in flowers.

My dad, Bill Williams at the pool with his uncle TL Williams

Then came the house. Everything is lovely. After seeing his movie pictures, we had some idea of the layout of the gardens and the house, but not one part in the pictures was as lovely as the actual gardens and home. The whine house is a beautiful contrast to the various vivid colors all around the house. The swimming pool is grand and has all colors in lounge chairs, pillows, tile with lots of colors and varieties of colors in flowers.

Next came the interior of Villa Valentino. You enter the house from the drive on the second floor. George's bedroom and bath are just off the beautiful little patio as you enter the front door. The two bedrooms upstairs, one for Emery and one for Tom Lyle, are furnished beautifully. Emery has a pretty bathroom adjoining his bedroom, but Tom Lyle's bathroom is the most beautiful I have seen, equipped with every imaginable convenience. From the hall upstairs you descend to the library with the dining room to the right of the library, down three steps.

Maybelline founder Tom Lyle Williams at entry to Villa Valentino

The carpeting on the stairs and in the library is almost an American Beauty shade of red. The banister is white wrought iron. The chairs in the library are light wood with light blue upholstering. Magazine rack and tables are hand carved and white. The desk is right by the window in the library, with a large white chair in front of the desk for Tom Lyle while he dictates. The linoleum on the dining room floor is a light blue and the furniture is light wood, modern in design. The wall opposite the large bay window is mirrored, so you can sit facing the window getting a beautiful view of the valley, garden and homes, and you can sit facing the mirror and get the same view reflected in the mirrors. The kitchen is small, compact, orderly and all done in red and white. The small bedroom next to the kitchen is a single bedroom with bath intended for a guest room, but used by Herbert, the cook. The living room is quite large, has a large bay window and a big door opening on the badminton court and gardens.

Emery Shaver and Tom Lyle Williams at the Villa Valentino 

The rug is the same as Tom Lyle had at Wabash Avenue, light rose in color. The grand piano takes one corner. The opposite corner has a Capehart radio and record playing combination. This piece of furniture is very light wood. The radio can be controlled or regulated from two or three different spots in the house and garden. One couch is a light tan with red design. In the by are two beautiful easy chairs with table, lamp and coffee table. To the side of the fireplace is a Duncan Pfyfe loveseat in light blue, with a beautiful coffee table in clear glass. The coffee table in front in front of the other couch is ebony wood with a gold mirror top.

Badminton Court

The drapes in the living room and library are gold, and such beautiful material. They are hung so well that they look like spun glass. In the corner of the living room is a very small door opening into the Rumpus Room. The Rumpus Room is one of the most attractive rooms I have ever seen, and certainly the cutest bar. The decorations are all South Sea Island, with grass rug, wicker furniture and even tall stools to sit at the bar. The room is also equipped with a bathroom. Every night before dinner, we went to the Rumpus Room. George came in dressed in white coat to mix us a cocktail.

Tom Lyle Williams at the Villa Valentino with his 1940 custom Packard Victoria

After our tour, Annette and I had time to unpack and rest before dinner. After dinner the round of entertainment started. First, we went to the theatre to see Victor Herbert's “The Red Hill”. Very good and the tunes were catchy and enjoyable. From the show we went to a night club called “Bublichki Russian”. This club was all Russian both in decorations and music. Celebrated with several Vodka cocktails. Spent a couple of hours listening to the music and sipping our drinks. Got to bed around three, and did we sleep.

Taken from Tom Lyle Williams niece, Jane Allen while visiting the Villa Valentino with her cousin Annette Williams

Beauty And The Dirt review.

The Maybelline Story starts out with fire and ends with fire and the fierce love Evelyn had for the two brothers burned in her until her untimely death in 1978. 

                 Author of The Maybelline Story, 
                                Sharrie Williams

This sounds more like a movie than a real life story, but I guess all the best stories are based on truth. I knew about Mabel and her coal dust and petroleum jelly mix that was the inspiration for mascara. That is where the name Maybelline came from but for all the family drama that ensued well that is now in a book that looks like a must read to me.

Book Synopsis:

One of the first Maybelline posters

In 1915 sister Mabel Williams burned her lashes and brows, Tom Lyle Williams watched in fascination as she performed what she called ‘a secret of the harem’—mixing petroleum jelly with coal dust and ash from a burnt cork and applying it to her lashes and brows.Mabel’s simple beauty trick ignited Tom Lyle’s imagination and he started what would become a billion-dollar business, one that remains a viable American icon after nearly a century. He named it Maybelline in her honor. Throughout the twentieth century, the Maybelline company inflated, collapsed, endured, and thrived in tandem with the nation’s upheavals—as did the family that nurtured it.

Tom Lyle Williams—to avoid unwanted scrutiny of his private life—cloistered himself behind the gates of his Rudolph Valentino Villa and ran his empire from the shadows. Now, after nearly a century of silence, this true story celebrates the life of an American entrepreneur, a man forced to remain behind a mask—using his sister-in-law Evelyn Boecher—to be his front.

Stories of the-great-man-and-how-he-did-it serve as a traditional mainstay of biographies, but with the strong women’s book-buying market, a resurgence of interest in memoirs that focus on relationships more than a single man and his accomplishments are more likely to be discussed in women’s book groups. The Maybelline Story combines the best of both approaches: a man whose vision rocketed him to success along with the woman held in his orbit.

 Evelyn, her son Bill, Sharrie and Tom Lyle)

In the way that Rhett Butler ignored the criticism of his peers to carve his own destiny, Tom Lyle Williams shares similar grit and daring. But Rhett without Scarlet wouldn’t be much of a story. Evelyn Williams provides the energy of an antagonist. Like Scarlet, we sometimes hate her and want to shake her, but sometimes, we must admit that we hold a grudging respect; we get a kick out of her and even occasionally, love her for her guts and tenacity, and certainly because she carved out a life for herself and insisted on having a voice, even if she was a fly in the ointment for others.

The Maybelline story provides other kinds of classic literary satisfaction. We are especially fascinated to slip vicariously into the lives of the rich and privileged yet cheer for the underdog who overcomes obstacles to astound doubters with his success. We are enthralled with the historical sweep of events whose repercussions live on to the present, all elements of The Maybelline Story—which reads like a juicy novel, but is in fact a family memoir, distilled from nine hundred pages of family accounts from the 1920’s to present.

An engrossing and captivating saga that spans four generations and reveals the humanity, the glamour, and the seedy underside of a family intoxicated by the quest for power, wealth, and physical perfection. It is a fascinating and inspiring tale of ambition, luck, greed, secrecy—and surprisingly, above all, love and forgiveness, a tale both epic and intimate, alive with the clash, the hustle, the music, and dance of American enterprise.

Sharrie Williams: The Maybelline Story is one I am buying now.

Click here for more beauty

MAGIC WAND: BY MOVIE STAR MAKEOVER, Maybelline Story interview with author Sharrie Williams

Every single girl in my high school had a tube of Maybelline mascara. It was, to us, the ONLY mascara; plump with promise that your newly enhanced lashes could waft a date your way. There’s a powerful amount of witchcraft in that small magic wand.

When I discovered there was a tell-all memoir about the family dynasty responsible for Maybelline, I dropped everything and read it cover to cover. It’s a compelling page-turner for anyone who loves make-up, Hollywood history, rip-snorting family drama, passionate love stories, and redemption.

When I put it down, I wanted to know MORE! So, being me, I contacted the author, Sharrie Williams (the grand-niece of Tom Lyle Williams, Maybelline’s inventor), and begged her to allow me an interview. And voila! She not only agreed, this dear lady went out of her way to offer me access to any images she could provide to (in her words), make my blog post “fabulous!”

I think you’ll agree that the peek into the world of cosmetics her loving memoir and this very generous interview provides is fascinating. PLUS, I hope you’ll all avail yourselves of an AMAZING offer on Amazon.com that only lasts until the end of the month (June 2012): to celebrate Gay Pride Month, this juicy read is selling for LESS than $2.00! Yes, you read that right. So, scamper over there, snag a few copies (they make GREAT gifts), then come back and read the interview. I’ll wait. Ready? Let’s go!
The little red box that could

K: Your book details so much about the hard work your great-uncle Tom Lyle did to link Maybelline with Hollywood. Let’s follow Maybelline’s timeline and see how Tom Lyle’s vision kept pace with American women and Hollywood’s changing cast of characters.  Right after the Stock Market Crash of ’29, Maybelline ads featured a slinky vamp in white fox furs that encouraged women to “take these easy three steps to instant loveliness”…can you describe those steps? What are the modern equivalents for today’s vamps?

S: Not much has changed as far as what makes a 1929 vamp or a 2012 hottie irresistible…It’s all in the eyes…. The three steps to instant loveliness was, and still is, Mascara, Eyebrow pencil (or powder) and Eyeshadow.  It only takes a few minutes to change from a plain Jane into a Rock Star with Maybelline… a brand your great-grandmother, grandmother, mother and you still trust.

K: Maybelline was always innovative in so many ways, including knowing how to stay aware of social trends and what American women were craving. When society started frowning on the sultry look, Maybelline’s ad campaigns featured a more wholesome, more demure model with Main St. appeal. Tell us a bit more about the evolution of advertising looks used and the stars who were featured in them.

S: Yes, the flamboyance of the 1920′s ended and with it the vamp/flapper look. Maybelline gave the original Maybelline girl a new look, still demure, but now with a marcel wave. 

  
K: You say that Tom Lyle believed that Maybelline’s gorgeous full color ads kept the “spark of glamour alive” during the dark days of the Depression. One of that era’s Maybelline models was Natalie Moorhead, a “statuesque, sophisticated comedian who wasn’t afraid to be her own woman.” Can you tell us anything about how he came to choose the models he did? Was it reputation of the actress, or was he going for a certain type of woman or style?

S: Both, of course. You see Maybelline was the only eye beauty enhancer on the market at this time and because of its flawless reputation received the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, thus he wanted models who emulated that kind of purity. Yet Maybelline also wanted to hold onto the glamour and sex appeal that women wanted as well. Jean Harlow was the blond bombshell of the early 1930′s and her characters did appeal to the hard-boiled working girl who wanted to make it in the world but in the end hoped for the rich man to save her. That was where the working girl of the 1930′s fit into society and Tom Lyle used that knowledge to bring her into the dimestores to buy Maybelline.  He wanted every branch of society to come in and buy buy buy, so he played to every aspect of the female market.  Natalie Moorhead had sophistication and sex appeal and that too was a now- kind of women emerging during the Great Depression.

K: It seems to me that Tom Lyle (his stunning early profile is below) had a “vision” of the potential enhancement of the women he beautified before he even applied the makeup. Can you talk about that a bit?

S: Yes he was a genius when it came to beauty and perfection. He was almost too much of a perfectionist actually. Every photograph had to be flawless even if he had to retouch until he got what he was looking for. When he looked at anyone, male or female, he envisioned them at their full potential.  It would excite him to realize what could be done with a little mascara, shadow and pencil. Even me at 5-6 years old became a subject of potential perfection. Do you remember reading about how my grandmother Evelyn made me up and paraded me in front of him so he could examine my eyes? He said, “You will someday be a beautiful women Sharrie.” He could see past my chubby cheeks and see my bone structure. That was the secret to real beauty–bone structure–as far as he and my grandmother were concerned.

 K: Maybelline, Revlon, Max Factor, Helena Rubenstein, and Merle Norman were rivals in the 30’s and are all still in business today. What do you think has kept these companies alive when other cosmetics companies (like Lydia Pinkham) failed?

S: Maybelline never ever had a rival while Tom Lyle owned it.  Even when he sold it in Dec of 1967 it owned 75% of the market share. However you must remember Maybelline in those days was strictly devoted to Eye Beauty. The other companies didn’t have a chance because Tom Lyle spent more money on advertising than all companies combined. He didn’t squander money like so many young companies do when they see a little profit. He was the most conservative man I never knew. That’s why Maybelline always survived the ups and downs of the economy. The other companies like Maybelline had quality products and of course spent money on advertising so survived. But even today Maybelline New York which now competes in all product areas has a tremendous advertising budget and it shows. Advertising is the secret to success. Today it’s Social Media but still the idea is the same. Reach the greatest amount of people possible and get your message out. Keep the quality and make it affordable to the average customer. Maybelline’s product was quality, yet sensibly priced.

K: In the mid-30s, when frumpiness receded and flirting was back in style, Maybelline partnered with Lilly Dache, the fascinating Parisian-born milliner famed for daring, darling hats. Please share what you know about that wonderful collaboration. LOVE Dache!

IS: It was my grandmother Evelyn Williams who made Tom Lyle realize the potential of Eye Make-up combined with fashion was the modern direction for Maybelline, because young women were becoming fashion-conscious and more discerning than their mothers. Tom Lyle contacted Dache and collaborated on an ad campaign that worked out to be a win-win for them both. My grandmother was delighted to score a couple of beautiful Dache hats in the deal and I remember playing with them as a child.  I have no idea what happened to them (there were terrible fires, you know).

K: One of the loves of Tom Lyle’s life was Alice Faye—what was the appeal of her particular look?

S: She was The All American Girl and Adorable. He liked that personally more than sex queens. But, Alice Faye had an issue with the studio and Betty Grable took the spotlight. Tom Lyle wanted to use Alice Faye’s image in Maybelline Ads, but when the studio announced “Down Argentine Way” and Betty Grable, this is the ad that came out.

K: You quote Dorothy Lamour as saying “Glamour is just sex that got civilized,” and say that Tom Lyle would have agreed, since his “dream was that all women, maiden or matron, would discover glamour through Maybelline.” Can you tell us a bit more about Tom Lyle’s ideas of how an older woman could achieve glamour through makeup?

S: Here’s a portrait of “Dottie” Dorothy Lamour, signed for my great-uncle. My father remembers going with his uncle Tom Lyle Williams to her home to sign a Maybelline contract.  

Older women shouldn’t rely on as much make-up as they did in their heyday youth.  Subdued make-up, tastefully applied is much more attractive than trying to keep up with young girls.  For my taste, having a good hair cut and color, soft make-up and simple jewelry is beauty as we age.  Also the confidence we gain as mature women is sexy–don’t you think? When I walk into a room now, people still look at me, not for my make-up but the air of confidence I exude.  It is ageless and powerful. (Editor’s note: We agree! See Sharrie’s publicity picture below.) 

K: Maybelline never forgot the youth market; they used contests and giveaways to attract “maidens.” Do you have any insider info on one such contest winner: Eleanor Fisher–“Miss Typical America”?

S: Eleanor Fisher won a small part in the film TRUE CONFESSION with Carole Lombard.  She never went on to do much more! 

K: How did Maybelline advertise during WWII? What is the idea of “patriotic beauty?”

S: In my book, I share how President Roosevelt was advised by the Pentagon that there must not be a “shortage” of glamour; that such a loss of beauty “might lower national morale.” So, the effect of pretty pin-up girls on the morale of the G.I.s was part of Maybelline’s ad campaigns of that era. It was a repeat of the idea of “Patriotism Through Beauty,” coined in 1917. 

K: Tell us a bit about what you learned of Joan Crawford and her dedication to looking her best at all times—she switched from Max Factor to Maybelline, during the 40s, right?

S: Joan Crawford was Tom Lyle’s favorite model in the late 1940′s. She actually was Maybelline’s spokesperson until the 1960′s. She did do Max Factor ads up until she contracted with Maybelline and yes, she was fanatical about looking perfect. I don’t want to give the book away but, I will say, she had all her teeth pulled and had dentures made to make her smile perfect
. 
K: I love that Maybelline recognized the need to appeal to different demographics with different spokesmodels—Crawford for the mature sophisticate, and 1947 Tournament of Roses Queen Norma Christopher for the youthful, all-American girl type. Please share some of Tom Lyle’s thinking on that subject.

S: Tom Lyle’s genius was to target all aspects of the female market, teenage to mature.  He also knew when the trends were changing, especially in photography, going from super-glamorous to natural lighting.  When Maybelline ads were seen on TV in the 1950′s, he went back to black and white ads because TV was in black and white. It was all based on impulse buying.  He knew the psyche of the female mind and what they wanted.  

K: In the 50s, Maybelline used a stunning exotic ad campaign model—how did they feel this cool beauty would appeal to the new television audiences?

S: After WWII, the Asian market was ripe for marketing. As you know their car industry grew bigger than our own after the war because America began allowing importing as well as exporting to foreign countries. Tom Lyle capitalized on this…and the fact that Grace Kelly was the cool blonde in films and the bouncy All American girl image didn’t have as much international appeal in the grand scheme.

K: 1950s TV beauty queens like Loretta Young and Lucille Ballintroduced the concept of Hollywood glamour to “everyday housewives”…how did that impact Maybelline?

S: The 1950′s brought in Dior fashion, The Loretta Young Show, and of course, “ I Love Lucy”. This killer combination created a ripe market for Maybelline to explode with the cultural need for glamour even in the kitchen.  Remember Leave it to Beaver’s Mrs Cleaver and how she wore pearls and heels while making dinner? Or Mrs. Nelson dressed to the teeth when Ricky came home from school? Well most likely they were wearing Maybelline, because Maybelline was the most advertised and the most sensibly priced.  Maybelline was everywhere internationally and the # 1 eye beauty product in America, bar none.

K: Rebellious 50s gals wanted heavy makeup, society women and housewives wanted to look like Grace Kelly—how did Maybelline cater to both segments?

S: From the beginning in 1915 when Maybelline was first called Lash-Brow-Ine, Tom Lyle catered to whatever segment of society that was willing to make up their eyes. By the 1950′s, every teenage girl could afford to buy mascara, pencil and shadow for a couple of dollars, for the money she earned for a night of babysitting. That was the trick, making Maybelline affordable to everyone. That’s why Maybelline is still # 1 all over the world today. Incredible advertising and reasonable priced product. The ads targeted both markets and included print and TV ads–to see a charming early TV ad; click here.  
K.You tell a darling story about how you discovered the power of makeup…can you tell us here what happened when your grandmother did a makeover on you at 5 years old? What’s your most vivid memory of that?

S: I hope people will buy the book and read the whole story but in a nutshell, my grandmother Evelyn, took me into the bathroom at Tom Lyle’s home with all the Hollywood lights around the mirror and transformed me into a diva right before my eyes. Tom Lyle wanted to see his mascara on a child’s eyelashes and said when he looked at me, “There’s nothing like Maybelline on virgin eyelashes.”  (Meaning eyelashes that had never been mascaraed.) 

K: How do you feel about the importance of women to feel beautiful? What’s your heritage about women, makeup, and beauty? Do you think your Nana’s philosophy is true: Beauty hurts?

S: Nana always said “Beauty hurts” when I complained about anything. In my family, looking as beautiful as possible was very important, especially around Nana, who was old-school about it. I even made up to go to the beach in the 1960′s and my hair was camera-ready. Nana was so obsessed with beauty and perfection it finally killed her.  After her death I came out of the spell and began to search inside myself for the real Sharrie.  It took years of 12-step programs to finally accept myself, warts and all.  Now when you meet me, you see and feel a real person who feels good about herself, not a mannequin who wants to keep you at a distance and feel lonely and isolated inside.
  
K: As you looked back and researched to write this fascinating book, what did you learn about women and beauty?

S: Beauty is inner confidence. It’s like Maybelline New York says today: “Maybe it’s Maybelline.”  To me that means, maybe that beautiful glow is her healthy Spirit, but it could be her Maybelline as well. I used to be like my great-uncle Tom Lyle and my grandmother Evelyn, meaning when I met a person, all I could see is how they could look if they did this or that to themselves: a little nose job, an eye lift, a face lift, the perfect haircut, lose some weight, get your brows waxed, etc. Now I am able to see the beauty of a person’s Spirit and that is true beauty. We are all beautiful, but society has brainwashed us to think we don’t deserve love and respect unless we are perfect model material. Very sad to grow up feeling inferior just because we are told we are. Even inrelationships, we allow others to make us feel bad because we can’t live up to their expectations of what they think they deserve to have, based on perfection, air-brushed ads and ultra-thin models.  It’s all a lie, but the society is now too sick to get it. That’s how I see it, now that I have lived it all my life. I now have confidence based on being authentic, not cocky or arrogant but real and present.

K: Tom Lyle believed that “no matter how bleak the economic outlook, women would never lose their desire for beauty and sex appeal, and would always pay for an affordable cosmetic product of good quality.” Do you believe that’s true? We’re in a pretty serious recession right now, but the cosmetics and fashion industries seem to be doing well.

S: I absolutely believe women will still spend their last dime on products that make them look good. The Cosmetic industry is thriving as other industries are dying out.  It’s crazy, but what Tom Lyle started in 1915 is still being sold every 1.3 seconds somewhere around the world.

Many, many thanks to Sharrie Williams for taking the time and effort to discuss her intriguing heritage and share so much with us. Please buy her book and visit her picture-and-information-filled site to learn more: http://www.maybellinebook.com/

I'm so lucky to have met Kay...a talented Stylist with an amazing blog called...Movie Star Makeover...Please check it out at http://moviestarmakeover.com/blog/ and leave a comment. She did an incredible job don't you think... 

Maybelline family's relation to Benjamin Franklin

  

Marriage to Anne Child

In 1677, Josiah Franklin married his first wife, Anne Child, and had 7 children: Elizabeth, Samuel, Hannah, Josiah Jr., Ann, Joseph (I), and Joseph (II). The first Joseph died soon after birth, and the next child was named for him. In 1689, Anne Child Franklin died of complications while giving birth to her seventh child in Boston

Ann Franklin is our family's direct descendant

Marriage to Abiah Folger 

1. In November 1689, Josiah Franklin married his second wife, Abiah Folger, and had ten children: John (1690), Peter (1692), Mary (1694), James (1697), Sarah (1699), Ebenezer (1701), Thomas (1703), Benjamin (1706), Lydia (1708), and Jane (1712).

Josiah Franklin married Anne Child

Ann Franklin Harris ,    (half sister of Benjamin Franklin) 

                      l                   

Grace Harris (Williams),
                      l                    

 General Jonathan Williams.lll 
                      l                              
Josiah Williams
                     l       
Jonathan Williams
                     l            
Thomas Jefferson Williams - married Susan Ana Alvey
                                                          l                              
Pearl, Noel, Mabel, Tom Lyle, Preston, Eva Williams
                                                          l                               
                                                  Bill Williams                  
                                                          l                               
                                              Sharrie Williams                

                              


Excerpt from Emery Shaver's genealogy 1932 As a youth Jonathan lll, visited his grand-uncle Benjamin Franklin in England and through him secured a berth on several cruses to the West Indies.

Benjamin Franklin

Later, during the Revolutionary War, he was entrusted with several important commissions by Benjamin and was finally appointed Commercial Agent for the Colonies in Nantes, France, at the time that Franklin was Ambassador to France.  Later, through enemies of Franklin, Namely John Adams and Henry Lee, he was accused of dishonesty in an attempt to discredit Franklin, but he cleared himself, although it caused him the embarrassment of having to go into
bankruptcy.  

General Jonathan Williams lll

Political enemies of Franklin rejoiced when they succeeded in humiliating him and his grand-nephew, however, it did them no good as Jonathan Williams lll,  became famous as first Major, then Major General and finally Colonel Williams, organizer and first superintendent of West Point Military Academy. 

I have a Photostat of an engraving made from his portrait that I shall also give you.  While Jonathan lll, was Commercial Agent at Nantes, he fell in love with Marianne Alexander, the daughter of William and Christian (Aitchison) Alexander, of noble family and very rich. A It seems William Alexander did quite a bit of select spying for Benjamin and was one of his closest friends, so you may be sure that it proved a brilliant match when Franklin’s grand nephew and Alexander’s daughter were married at the home of the Dutch Ambassador in Paris, in and Franklin was present at the ceremony of course.     

Jonathan lll,  and  Marianne (Jonathan was not then an officer, you understand) lived at Nantes, where your great-great grandfather Josiah Williams in seventeen seventy five.

 Later when Col. Jonathan took command of West Point, they lived in Philadelphia,  Pa. and it was there that Josiah was raised along with his brothers Henry J., Alexander J., an sister Christine.  This is incorrect...

This information was researched in 1932 by our Great uncle, Tom Lyle Williams partner, Emery Shaver.  However,  It wasn't until recently after applying to the DAR, that our cousin Karen Bowser, discovered the truth about  General Jonathan Williams lll,  illegitimate son Josiah Williams, our link to Benjamin Franklin.


Excerpts from my cousin, Karen Bowser's book:

General Jonathan Williams lll,  father of Josiah, sowed his wild oats in France while working as an assistant to his uncle Ben Franklin.  This produced a son, Josiah for whom he shipped off to U.S. to be taken care of by Uncle Ben’s  illegitimate son, William Franklin.

 I was able to prove his line by finding his personal papers which are stored in the Lily Library of the University of Indiana.  I asked for copies of all correspondence with Josiah..  From that I found out why he came to Kentucky, how he came to move to Union County and the connection was proved by Josiah saying he had named his son, Jonathan after his esteemed grandfather!

I have the letter that Josiah wrote to William “Billy” Franklin asking him to care for Josiah.  It was found in Ben Franklin’s papers sponsored by The American Philosophical Society and Yale University.  Letter dated April 4, 1782 in Nantes, France.

Letter from Josiah to Jonathan dated July 21, 1812 tells that Josiah is living in Woodford County but wants to move to Union County to follow his father in law, James Finnie.  Josiah is asking Jonathan for money as well as telling him that he has a grandson named after him.  That grandson, Jonathan John is the ancestor to the Maybelline family and the brother of my second great grandmother, Ann Williams Houston

I wanted to clear this  up, because over 4,000 people have looked at my family history. and the discrepancy was misleading. The truth is my family isn't related to Marianne Alexander, who was from a very rich, noble family and considered Royalty, because of  her father was the  Sheriff of Edinburgh Scotland.

We will never know who gave birth to Josiah Williams, our many times over great grandmother, but we can prove out direct line to General Jonathan Williams lll, Benjamin Franklin's, Great nephew.