Sharren,
Yes... he is the Henry who married Catherine Colebourn. I have that marriage and have viewed the original registers. The Colebourn's are a nightmare in themselves, but have managed to trace them at least back to 1891... and probably to the 1700's... The problem is Henry Williams himself. He died many years ago, before my partner's birth, and very few people remember much about his life details... possibly he was one of these people who didn't talk about his life much.
Although he was my partner's grandfather, he was much older than one might expect, as my partner's mother was such a late child (born about 30 years after their marriage).
I do have a little on Henry... he was a fireman on the ships, and according to his marriage entry he was 23 in 1915. His father was John Williams, a carpenter.
There are some Williams details on IGI which could be this family, but I have no means of establishing proof at present.
Our reading up on Sierra Leone has explained early confusion about why a native African would have a name like Williams, but this is because of Sierra Leone being a place of repatriation for former slaves and their descendants, primarily from British colonies.... so Henry Williams family will also have been on the plantations.
I did find an interesting advert from an American newspaper in wanted ads for lost relatives, 1865-1867:
SAMUEL WILLIAMS of Nashville, TN - Looking for SYLVIA WILLIAMS, my mother, formerly belonged to JAMES MAXWELL of Augusta, Georgia. Before him, she was owned by DR. DeGARR. I formerly belonged to JAMES MAXWELL. My father is HENRY WILLIAMS, now in Liberia.
This would bear out the Liberia connection, and it's quite possible that our Henry Williams was named after his grandfather. I also found some Liberian census returns for the same period, and found a couple of possible Henry Williams'... but it's all conjecture.
I have checked out the Moving Here pages, and, although they contain some interesting information, they haven't led to any positive internet links to either family.
