Biography of William and Mary Henderson Small Family
          Surnames: SMALL, HENDERSON, MCNEELY, HAM, DINWIDDIE

William Small was born about 1760 in Albemarle / Amherst County Virginia to unknown parents. He lived in Amherst County
 until 1785, last appearing on a tax list there on that date. in the first census of Kentucky in 1789 he is listed in 
Madison Co., KY, apparently moving there with his wife Mary and small children, and accompanied by his brother-in-law 
John Henderson Jr. and his family. In the early history of Logan County, William, his wife Mary Henderson Small, and 
sons, John, Henry, William, Joseph and James, along with other younger siblings arrived and settled near Russellville.
 This pioneer family was to meet with unfortunate circumstances very quickly, in 1805-6 William was killed accidentally,
 and apparently so suddenly as to have died intestate. Two of his sons, John, who married Nancy McNeely, and Joseph, who 
married Martha Ham, had only begun families of their own, John having married in 1802, and Joseph in 1804. Their mother 
Mary, with teenage boys, managed to hold the family together and work the family farm for almost 5 years before resources
 failed her. Being a widow with small children in what could still be called wilderness areas in 1811, she finally succumbed
 and through the likely urgings of her son Joseph, took what belongings she had, and with her young children ventured into 
South Union, the community of Shakers who were just beginning to organize there religious order in the area. Her young sons
, James, Henry and William joined her, but apparently only stayed for a short time. Joseph, wife Martha Ham and their small
 children joined also, and remained the rest of their lives. The younger ones took upon themselves the challenge of another
 new area being opened up to settlement, John and Nancy McNeely Small with their small children, Henry and brothers James 
and William all ventured north to Spencer County Indiana. Henry married Polly Dinwiddie, and they remained in Indiana only
 a short time, returning to the Shaker community at the urgings of brother Joseph, who made several trips to the upper
 counties to visit, finally bringing Polly and her children back with him, and Henry only reluctantly a short time later.
 Mary, with the remaining children, mostly the girls, stayed and became one of the elders of the community, allowing the 
Shakers to disband her brood and assimilate them into the larger family. Mary passed away quietly on 15 June, 1831, her
 family spread to the winds; 25 years a widow and almost 20 years a resident at South Union. What she left behind is a 
mystery for her descendants, owing to the beliefs of the Shaker religion, she left no will naming her children; as did
 her husband so many years earlier. And because of early census records, her unnamed children still escape us. No family 
Bible marks her place in history, or those of her husband, his family or siblings. Where he came from is conjecture, all
 facts lost to fires in unnamed courthouses in counties unknown. Only through a diary kept daily by another member of the 
Shaker community do we know she even was there. And through his writings, have been able to piece parts of her family 
together. Thanks to her great-granddaughter Abbie, who remembered some of the stories her father and grandfather told her,
 and put down on paper, are we to know of William and Mary's existence, and how to have found them. We, who know of them now
, thank them for their pain, suffering and loss, and continue to search them out to know their names.

         Submitted Sun Jan 20 17:43:01 2002 by:Jim Small