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William Carroll Witt, the fourth son of Silas and Susannah Randolph Witt, was born on February 3, 1820, in Jefferson County, Tennessee. He was named for a leader of Tennessee militia in the War of 1812, General William Carroll. When he was about thirteen years of age the family moved to Alabama, settling in Cherokee County.
On September 19, 1843, William Carroll Witt married Joicy Hollingsworth. The wedding ceremony was performed near Jacksonville in eastern Benton County, Alabama. Joicy, a daughter of Henry Hollingsworth and his wife Rachael Jones, had also been born in Tennessee.
William and Joicy's first five children were born in Cherokee County, but sometime in late 1852 or early 1853 the family moved to adjoining Benton County, which was renamed Calhoun County in 1858. In 1863, during the Civil War, they moved on to Randolph County, where their last two children were born. Then before 1870 they moved on to Morgan County.
William Carroll Witt was briefly a Confederate soldier. When the Civil War began, he was already 42 years old, but the Confederacy instituted a draft that included men up to 45 years of age. William Witt saw a son, brothers, cousins, and neighbors leave their homes to join the ranks, yet he did not serve until 11 October 1863, when he enlisted in the 19th Alabama Infantry with his brother Robert Wesley Witt. After the Battle of Chickamauga, the Alabama units from the northeastern part of the state had been greatly reduced and needed reinforcement to bring them back up to fighting strength to help defend against the Union advance toward Atlanta and the coast.
William and Robert's younger brother Silas Witt Jr. had been a private in the 19th Alabama since March 1863. It is believed, and a family tradition, that John Witt also served with his brothers, but no records have been found for him. The three (possibly four) brothers, along with their cousin, James L. Witt, were in the Confederate lines along Missionary Ridge north of Chattanooga, Tennessee, about eighty miles north of their homes in Alabama, when Federal forces stormed the ridge and forced the Confederates to retreat on November 25, 1863. Silas Jr. was mortally wounded in the fighting, and William Carroll was captured. Robert Wesley (and presumably John) and cousin James escaped capture.
In the year 1872, the greater portion of the Witt clan moved to McClennan and Bell Counties in Texas, and William Carroll and Joicy and their children (except for their oldest son, Thomas Gentry Witt, who had already settled and married in Pike County, Arkansas) were in the wagon train.
William Carroll Witt and Joicy Hollingsworth Witt in late middle age,
possibly about the time they came to Texas. This photo was passed
down through the family of Thomas Gentry Witt.
William Carroll Witt followed his father, Silas, into the ministry, as did younger brother John. Before moving to Texas they had begun preaching in Alabama. In Texas, William Carroll Witt preached at numerous churches in the central part of the state, but he eventually moved to Hamilton, Texas, and much of his ministry appears to have centered in Hamilton County. One of his churches was rural Evergreen Baptist Church in Hamilton County, and another was at Jonesboro just across the county line in Coryell County.
At the time of his death, William Carroll and Joicy Witt were still living in Hamilton County, Texas. In the spring of 1892 he visited his numerous relatives in Bell and McLennan Counties in Texas. While on that visit, he was invited to preach at the Willow Grove Church a few miles southwest of Moody in Bell County. He accepted the invitation, and in May or June of 1892, at the Willow Grove Church, he preached what proved to be his last sermon. Alice Hill Martin and her sister Mary Tallulah Hill of Waco, Texas, his granddaughters, along with other relatives were present and heard his last sermon. Children at the time, they were impressed by their grandfather's text, which was taken from Matthew 23:37: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stoneth them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!"
Before his visit was completed, Reverend Witt contracted typhoid fever and died at the home of his brother Isaac Martin Witt at Moody on July 14, 1892. Alice Martin remembered being present at his funeral and recalled that one of the songs used in the service was "We Shall Know Each Other There."
Evergreen Baptist Church meets in the white frame building in the background. The small stone building in the foreground may have been built at the time of the original church. The site is just north of Texas Highway 36 on County Road 305. Not long after the photograph was made in the early 1990s, the stone outhouse was removed.
William Carroll and Joicy Hollingsworth Witt in later years.
William Carroll Witt was buried near his father in Old Perry Cemetery. His tombstone inscription is
REV. W. C. WITT
Feb. 3, 1820 - July 14, 1892
At his side is the grave of his wife, Joicy. Her tombstone reads:
JOICY WITT
Dec. 1, 1822 - Oct. 23, 1913
Return to Descendants of Silas and Susanna Witt
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