Query: Laura Williams Vallette, Dearborn County

            Laura V. Williams Vallette was supposedly born in Dearborn County, Indiana, on April 8, 1828.  Her obituary says that her parents died when she was young and she was raised by her grandparents. In the obit of Laura (who died in 1928 at the age of 100), it also says that both her grandparents lived to be 102. Her parents were apparently John P. Williams and a Laura, possibly Roberts.  The only other mention of John P. Williams is his being listed on the 1850 census, living in the household of Laura Williams Vallette and her husband, William P. Vallette. 

            The census says John P. Williams was born in 1778 in New York, but I have also seen Pennsylvania listed as his birth state.  He passed away in 1851.  The census lists his age as 72,
with both Laura and William being in their 20's on the census.  Here are the questions this "mystery" holds:

1. Was John P. Williams actually Laura Williams Vallette's grandfather?  If her obit states that her parents died when she was young and she was raised by her grandparents..then really who is this John P. Williams?

2.  If her obit says that her grandparents lived to be 102, and we know that John P. Williams died at the age of 72...then who are her grandparents?

3.  There seems to be a lot of cross over with several families who came in contact with the Vallette's.  Many of the Siefert family and the Hallam family moved to the same spots as the Vallette's...many of them ending up in Edwards County, Illinois.  Sieferts and Hallams married Vallettes and so on.  Very interesting how the families seem to intertwine.

4.  Laura Williams Vallette was apparently born in Dearborn County, but Franklin County, Butler Township, and eventually Hamilton, Ohio, are mentioned in her story.  As I said, the entire Vallette family eventually wound up in Edwards County, Illinois.

Any help, advice, or guidance is so appreciated.

Mark A. Tullis
854 Meadowview Lane
Columbia, IL 62236
tullis.mark@columbia4.org