Chesley Williams was born July 22, 1809 in Williamson County about two miles west of College Grove, to the Rev. James and Sarah (Allison) Williams who were both born in North Carolina. Sarah was the daughter of Robert Allison Jr. and Sarah Ogilvie. Chesley was the eldest of five boys and five girls. By 1812 the Williams family resettled two and one half miles north of Chapel Hill on what is now 31A and established their home Civil Order. That name was coined after a permanent house was built and James declared, “Here I will have law and order.”

In addition to being a Methodist minister, James Williams was a farmer, skilled tailor and merchant. Civil Order had many activities that were not the usual farming operations of that day. It had a sawmill, tannery, gristmill, blacksmith shop, cotton gin, church, tailor shop, post office, store, wine cellar and silk worms to produce that fiber.

James would ride horseback to Cincinnati to order new goods for his store and have them sent by riverboat to Nashville. Slaves would then haul them the remaining distance. The Methodist Conference met at Civil Order one year and James went to the church conference in Baltimore in 1814. It was from this latter trip that he introduced a new poem to the area that would become our national anthem – the Star Spangled Banner.

It was undoubtedly this varied production and merchandising environment that Chesley learned and honed his business acumen. During his youth he had ample opportunity to observe numerous business activities in which he engaged throughout his lifetime.

One story survives from Chesley’s boyhood. John Weakly Covington told of a young Triune couple, William Demonbreun and Mary Adaline Patton, who decided to elope and get married at Sister Charity Allison’s near Unionville. It was decided that Rev. James Williams perform the ceremony. Young Chesley accompanied his father to the wedding.

As the wedding began with everyone in place, the best man could see out a side window that two boys were in a spirited fistfight. The two scrappers were Chesley and his first cousin, James P. Allison. Following the nuptials as the reception began; the sweaty and bruised boys came in for pound cake and cider.

*“This rivalry between the two cousins was to be instilled into the people of the two villages that they would sponsor. Chesley Williams has often been referred to as ‘the daddy of Eagleville’ and James P. Allison deserves the same title at College Grove. This rivalry continues until the present day as the annual Christmas Eve basketball game attests.”* (Tales My Grandmother Told Me”, by John Weakly Covington, 1963 Triune: Two Centuries at the Crossroads, 2004).

Elizabeth Jordan Williams

Chesley Williams married Elizabeth Jordan, daughter of Thomas Jordan and Sophia Reevy Hyde of Triune, on December 10, 1830. They had ten children – three boys and seven girls.

The center of Chesley’s business ventures was the Williams Store, which he started in 1832 in Eagleville. He also became a partner in the Hawkins Store in Triune with Tom Perkins and Edward L. Jordan. After a short time Chesley resigned from this partnership in the Triune community.

The Williams Store operated under Williams’ ownership for 135 years until it closed in 1967. Many will remember the store as more than a retail outlet. It was a spot where the community could gather to chat and hear the news and gossip of the day. Tobacco was allowed as the spittoons attested.

Chesley passed the store on to his sons, James Chesley (JC) and Robert Edward about the time of his death in 1892. But Robert soon left Eagleville, so JC assumed ownership until 1910 when he gave it to his son, Edward Lesley Williams who became the last proprietor. As the façade on the building indicates, the store was remodeled in 1936. During the Civil War the store was burned on an Eagleville raid by Union troops, and Chesley attempted to be paid reparations from the federal government. It is not known whether he was successful.

For such a small outlet the Williams Store sold a wide range of goods. A 1909 inventory valued all the merchandise at $8,368, or about $170,000 in today’s dollars. Mainstays were dry good and clothing, including foot ware. House wares and flat ware were also inventoried, as well as such foods as coffee and tea. Hardware and farm implements were available for sale.

As the local pharmacist Chesley sold a wide range of medicines and chemicals. Inventory records show that many of the substances available for sale would be illegal today. Such narcotics as codeine, morphine, cocaine and opium were stocked. How many of these products were purchased without a doctor’s prescription is not known, but addictive substances were widely used in the last 19^th century.

Another area of sales was to the Greenwood, Vernon, Little Rock, Williams, and Eagleville Public Schools. The Eagleville Academy also had an account. Schools did not buy and inventory their supplies as they do today. They bought them as needed. Expendables such as crayons and chalk were bought at a dime a box on a weekly basis. The Williams Store also stocked textbooks.

Schools also made other seasonal purchases. A number of brooms were sold at the beginning of each school year, and when they were worn out. This was also the peak sale of buckets and dippers, indicating public water supplies were truly public at local educational institutions. In addition, the Williams Store sold the school ropes and well buckets.

Records show Chesley sold regularly to the Eagleville Baptist Church, but there are no records that he sold to other local churches. They may well have made cash purchases, while the Baptist’s maintained a credit account. The most frequent sales were coal oil and lamp chimneys. From time to time new windowpanes were needed.

Sales activity at the store can be gleaned from the collection of Chesley Williams’ records that have survived. First, cash sales show that business was highly seasonal, mirroring activity in the local agricultural community. A small increase in sales in the spring coincides with the higher spending to meet the needs required for planting, while the larger increase in sales at year-end reflected annual harvest income by farmers.

The percentage of cash sales to total sales is not known, but credit sales were significant to overall operations of the Williams Store. Accounts receivable records show most local families, including the Williams, purchased most goods on credit. Interestingly by today’s standards, Chesley did not charge interest on outstanding balances and no minimum monthly payments were required.

Chesley Williams was the second postmaster in Eagleville, succeeding William Nunn in 1836. He held the office 30 years, longer than any other person. John W. Christopher assumed the office in 1866, and was replaced by Robert S. Brown, a Republican, in 1870 that ran the post office until 1885. Then Chesley’s youngest son Robert held the office for four years and was succeeded by James W. Brown and then Robert S. Brown again until 1891. The Williams held the office once more from 1893 to 1897 with James C. Williams at the helm. From 1897 to 1909 the Republicans again got the job, Robert S. Brown, Jr., holding the office.