Rebecca Crow was not the mother of William Shannon (1844-1917)

Rebecca Crow is often listed as the mother of John’s son William.   However, William was born in 1844.   Deed records from as late as 1847 in Winston Co., MS prove that John’s wife at that time was named Elizabeth.  Elizabeth was most likely the daughter of James Chambers, based on family oral history (from Hattie Reed), genetic matching (strong genetic matches to other descendants of James), and simple proximity (John was closely associated in his early life with James).   Elizabeth died sometime before 1849 (probably the victim of an epidemic that swept through the lower Mississippi river region at that time), and then John remarried to Rebecca Crow.   She is probably the mother of the 1 year old on the 1850 census, and certainly the mother of Jacob from the 1860 census.   There is no information on what became of Rebecca or the two younger sons. They do not appear to have migrated to Texas with the rest of the family in 1881.