William Pearce Munson

     William Pearce Munson was born at Oakland Plantation, Gulf Prairie, Brazoria County, Texas, between 12 June 1860 when he doesn't appear with his parents in the census, and 2 August 1861 when he is mentioned in his father's will. He was the son of Gerard Brandon Munson and Ann Elizabeth Westall. He died of heart disease on 30 September 1924 in Columbia, Brazoria County, Texas, at about age 63.^1,2 He was buried on 1 October 1924 in Munson Cemetery, Bailey's Prairie, Brazoria County, Texas.^3,4,5
     
     By all accounts, Willie lived his entire life in Brazoria County, yet only on the 1880 census, in the household of Mordello S. Munson, can he be positively identified. It has always been told that Mordello and Sarah Munson raised all of Gerard's children after they were orphaned, but only Lizzie and Mary appear in their household in the 1870 census. Why (approximately) nine year old Willie and six year old Geddie are not listed is a mystery. Every page of the 1870 federal census of Brazoria County has been searched again and again, and they are nowhere to be found. A possible solution to the puzzle may be that Willie and Geddie were living with George P. and Agnes (Davis) Munson in 1870. They are also nowhere to be found in the 1870 census, and considering Gerard named both Mordello and George as guardians of his children in his 1861 will, it is a reasonable guess. It is also interesting that George and Agnes' son George maintained a close relationship with Willie, while Mordello's descendants had little to do with him.

     Writer's note: My father (Joe Munson) had fond memories of 'Marse' Willie who he always said "added a little color" to the family. He lived at Bailey's Prairie, part of the time at the home of his cousin, George P. Munson Sr. (II) (when the family was living in Columbia). He always wore a bandanna around his neck secured by an empty shot shell, and Daddy especially remembered his big bony hands that looked like claws, and the smell of cheap cologne he put on his handkerchief when he went courting a black woman by whom he had children. Daddy said she was a sister of 'Uncle' Burrell Rivers whose father or grandfather was a slave owned by George P. Munson I.

     Cousin Willie hated Yankees, barbed wire and cars, all of which he thought belonged at the bottom of the Brazos River. He was fond of sitting on the porch at Bailey's Prairie sipping strong black coffee, and when the occasional car passed by, he always exclaimed, "Keep on down the road, Blue Belly (Yankee); ain't got nary a cup a coffee for ya today!" (if not exact, a close quote to the best of my recollection as it was related to me). Once when Daddy was about six (c1918), he was riding horseback behind Cousin Willie on the road between East and West Columbia. The river had been on an overflow and the ditches were full of silt and mud, almost indistinguishable from the road. They came across an old man who had wandered off the road and was thoroughly bogged down. Willie called out to him, "Hang on there ol' timer, I'll throw ya a rope." The old man, probably feeling a little embarrassed, lamented that he was old and no count and allowed that he might as well just cut his throat right then and there to put an end to his misery. Willie shot back, "In that case podna, I'll loan ya my pocket knife!" The old man accepted the help.

     A certified affidavit dated July 1948 (documenting several generations of the Munson family) sworn and subscribed to by Milam Stephen Munson, George McCauley Munson, and George Poindexter Munson Jr. (III), states that William P. Munson died before reaching his majority. Whether this misinformation was intentional or simply a mistake is not known, but all, with the possible exception of Cauley who was younger than the others, knew him well. Stephen grew up with him on Ridgely Plantation, and George was the older brother of Joe and could not possibly have avoided knowing him.

     Although it appears that he was a family outcast, it should be noted that Joe's parents George and Louise (Underwood) Munson took Cousin Willie into their home when he became old and sick, and Louise nursed him until his death in about 1925 at their home (the "little house") in Columbia. Some in the family were concerned about how to pay for his funeral, suggesting that perhaps they could sell his horse. Louise told them not to worry; she would take care of it. She and George arranged for and paid for his burial in the Munson Cemetery at Bailey's Prairie. The stone that marks his grave is modern, and the estimated year of death inscribed thereon is inaccurate, it being a year before Joe Munson was born, and therefore, years before Marse Willie died.