What a great surprise. I had about given up
hope that there were any other descendants of
William's working on this so your note was a
thrill. My full name is Walter Lee Hampson Jr.
and my father was Walter Lee Sr. His father
was Thomas Dawson Hampson who was the son of
William Hampson and the brother of your William
Benjamin Hampson, son of William. We have got to
to be some kind of cousins, right? Do you have
any idea of who might be William's parents or
where were the Whitaker (sp?) girls were born?
or where he married Sarah? There is a family
story that he had a livery stable somewhere in
Illinois. Have you heard of that? Again, I
am so glad you responded. You are welcome to
anything I have. I have a nice picture of Molly
(Mary Ellen) and a picture of William B. and
Sarah Modelia's gravestone you might want.
Feel free to e-mail direct to whampson@uswest.com
We had heard of the stowaway story so it must
be true if you heard it too.