The Munsons of Texas — an American Saga
Inset 10
THE MANY WILLIAM MUNSONS
William was the most common name for men in the early Munson families of the South. The next most common were Samuel and Robert.
A William Munson was a resident in North Carolina in 1745, and a William Munson was recorded in the Natchez District of New Spain in 1781. A William Munson was recorded in South Carolina in 1801 (but not in the 1800 census), and again in the census of 1810. In the 1820 census there was a William Munson and a William Munson Jr., and in 1830 a William Munson (assumed to be Jr.) In the 1840 census there was only a Robert and a Jane Munson, but this Robert Munson's will shows that he had a son named William, and this William is recorded in the 1850 census. Also there was a William Munson in the 1820 census of Kentucky.
Our Henry William Munson was born in the Natchez District in 1793, and it is assumed that he was named for one of these other William Munsons. The name has continued in both the Munsons of Texas and the Munsons of Louisiana.
Henry William Munson named his first son Samuel, but he named his second son Henry W. Munson (II). This son did not survive childhood. He then named his fourth son William Benjamin. Henry William's son Mordello named his first son Henry William Munson (III), and this man's brother, George Caldwell Munson, named a son Henry William (IV). This Henry's son, George McCauley Munson, named his son Henry William Munson (V), living today in Angleton, Texas.
In the Munsons of Louisiana, Robert Munson had two grand-children named William, William W. Munson and William H. Johnson. William W. Munson named a son William Ruffin Munson, and William Ruffin had a grandson named William Warren Munson, living today in Baton Rouge, Louisiana — and there well may have been others.
