Family Legend

Week 34 #52ancestors52weeks

Reginald Murray WILLIAMS is a South Australian icon. His leather goods and bushman outfitters business has become a world wide business. My father always told me that we were related to RM Williams, although I could never see what the link may have been. The RM Williams factory was at Percy Street in Prospect and many of the HALL family lived in the area, and family rumor has it that some even worked in the factory. RM Williams established the factory in 1832 in the shed at the side of his parents property. He himself was a drover and started making stock-mans equipment that would last and was of good quality.

One of the questions as i began my family history research was to see if he was related and where and how this was possible. Certainly the more I looked along the LOADES line of the family tree there were no links to the WILLIAMS family. The link comes through marriage.

In May 1929 Reginald Murray WILLIAMS married Thelma Ena CUMMINGS. Thelma was the daughter of Joseph Benjamin CUMMINGS and Susan Eliza HALL. Susan was the last daughter born to Benjamin HALL and Ann SCOTT. Susan’s brother William married Matilda Hibberd SCOTT who were parents of my paternal grandmother Jessie May HALL. So RM Williams wife is my first cousin twice removed. Certainly, he is not a blood relative of the family but he is still a member of the extended family.

This is one of the few times family legends have been correct. I have written in the past about other family rumours and stories, including “Valentine” and “Black Sheep – is he or isn’t he?”

[1] Sharma, Abhi (2006) Books HD. This image was originally posted to Flickr by Abee5 at https://flickr.com/photos/45256566@N04/8314929977. It was reviewed on 2 April 2017 by FlickreviewR and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0

[2] http://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/collections/information-resources/archives/williams-reginald-murray-aa-623

[3] R M Williams Museum, 5 Percy Street, Prospect. http://www.toursa.com.au/listing/category/r-m-williams-outback-heritage-museum