Ann and Eliza joined the Methodist church as adults. 12 Eliza’s husband Thomas W. Williams, after his marriage, became an active Methodist layman who served in various positions: class meeting leader, trustee of the church school in M OUNT A RIEL , the village where they lived, and circuit steward, the collector of members’ tithes. 13 A few years after Eliza and Thomas were married, Chesley died near where they lived. Thomas was appointed administrator of the estate. Chesley had means but also debts. He had pledged slaves as collateral for loans. After satisfying creditors and paying other debts, the heirs apparently had little personal property to divide. The administrator made no distributions to them. 14 On the other hand, Chesley’s real property likely was handled differently with a different outcome for Ann, her mother and sisters. But real property was missing entirely from his estate file. Ann married Rev. Thomas D. Turpin, a South Carolina Methodist traveling preacher, 3 January 1833. 15 He was born 30 June 1805 in Somerset County, Maryland. He had converted to the Methodist church in Baltimore in 1823. 16 Moving south, he attended Mount Ariel Academy, in Abbeville District, when Rev. Joseph Travis was schoolmaster and teacher. 17 The Academy did not 12 “[Ann] Turpin,” obituary, p. 7, col. 2. Also, “Sister Eliza Thomas Williams,” obituary, Southern Christian Advocate (Charleston, South Carolina), 31 October 1861, p. 4, col. 4; microfilm, South Carolina United Methodist Collection, Wofford College, Spartanburg. Rev. Stephen Olin converted Ann to the church and Rev. Robert L. Edwards baptized and received her into the church. Rev. L.Q.C. DeYampert married Eliza and Thomas. 13 “Sister Eliza Thomas Williams,” obituary, p. 4, col. 4. Also, “Thomas W. Williams,” obituary, Southern Christian Advocate (Charleston, South Carolina), 20 February 1846, p. 148, col. 1; microfilm, South Carolina United Methodist Collection, Wofford College, Spartanburg. 14 Abbeville District, South Carolina, Court of Ordinary, Administration Bond, 20 November 1828, Chesley Daniel Estate; Box 28, Pkg. 638, Abbeville County Probate Court, Abbeville. Also, Abbeville District, South Carolina, Court of Ordinary, Inventory & Appraisement, 20 January 1829, Chesley Daniel Estate; Box 28, Pkg. 638, Abbeville County Probate Court, Abbeville. 15 “[Ann] Turpin,” obituary, p. 7, col. 2. 16 Albert M. Shipp, The History of Methodism in South Carolina (Nashville: Southern Methodist Publishing House, 1884), 642-3; digital image, Internet Archive (https://archive.org : 1 December 2018). Also, “Paper on the Death of Bro Thos [Thomas] D. Turpin,” South Carolina Methodist Conference Papers, Methodist Conference Archive, Sandor Teszler Library, Wofford College, Spartanburg. 17 Summers, ed. Travis Autobiography , 250.
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