William Hovious. Son of William HOVIOUS and Sarah HARDING. Born in Adair Co., KY around 1806.

The second William Hovious in our family is one of its most mysterious members. He is believed to have been born in 1806, or at any rate after his sister Nancy and before his brother Silas. William Hovious is mentioned in Adair County court records for September 1821 as being bound out as an apprentice to James & Joseph McCrasky "to learn the art and ministry of the hatting business." Silas signed court papers certifying that he was free of the indenturement on 25 August 1826. William, as the older of the two, was presumably already free. Until now, nothing further was known of William save a cryptic reference in a letter written by his nephew John in 1888, to the effect that William died "in Miss." in 1850. It was not known if John meant Missouri or Mississippi, and no descendants of William's have been identified.

Research by John Richard Hovious Jr. of Tennessee has uncovered the fact that William Hovious, a white male over 21, is in the tax lists for Livingston County KY in 1833 - the same period during which his brother Silas is there. This strongly suggests that the two brothers went to Livingston together after leaving their boyhood home. In 2008, R. Steve Hovious found the evidence that finally proves what John Hovious meant regarding William's eventual destination is correct: a William 'Hooveous', aged 30 to 40, appears on the census in that year in DeSoto County, Mississippi. No one else was listed in his household, and William did not appear on the 1850 census for this county.


Thanks to John R. Hovious, Jim Hovious and R. Steve Hovious for contributing to this research.

12:53 10/01/2009