At the southwest corner of Cedar Hill and Snow Hill lanes in northern Anne Arundel County, Maryland, is the Williams family cemetery. It consists of eight marked graves, and there likely are unmarked graves present as well, given the possible traces of grave fossae (depressions) on the surface. A map of the cemetery appears below, as does a table of inscriptions. The inscriptions indicate that the cemetery was used largely for George W. Williams and his children between 1899 and 1926. Other Williams descendants probably lie in the Mount Calvary cemetery, a few hundred feet to the east.

The Williams family had lived in the area since at least the 1820s, the matriarch Matilda Williams listed in the 1830 census as a free colored woman with a household of eight. The 1830 federal census noted the presence of a free colored woman, Matilda Williams, head of a household of eight. The 1840 census listed a number of free colored men in the neighborhood of Charles Hammond, scion of a prominent white family in Maryland, including William Williams, Isaac Benjamin, Daniel Matthews, and Milty Jackson. William Williams also appears on the 1860 Martenet map of the area (see below), just below Cabin Branch. ( Accuracy of name placement on the Martenet map is suspect.)

Martenet atlas of Anne Arundel County (1860).

In 1860, the census marshal documented the mulatto household of farmers George (aged 34) and Matilda (aged 23) Williams, including their sons Urias (5), Rudolphus (4), and Richard (2), and farmhands William, Edward, and a third Jackson whose first name is illegible. The entry also noted that George received his certificate of freedom on October 15, 1849 (he was in his early 20s at the time). The 1870 census marshal added 13 to 14 years to George and Matilda’s ages, and added sons William, George, Rezin, and Milton. At least five of their sons had a part in the history of Cedar Hill into the 1930s. Names of some of the Williams family members resident in the community, the data drawn from federal censuses (1860-1930), data recovered from the Williams family cemetery, and land records.

Six of the eight marked graves bear stones with inscriptions. The markers were mapped and photographed, and their inscriptions recorded.

Williams Family cemetery