Greene County NCGenWeb News   "Tar Heel Widow Becomes Richest Woman In South"

From Washington Progress Sept. 4, 1913 Contributed by Roger Kammerer.(c) Sept. 2, 1999

Kinston, Aug. 28. --Mrs. Jesse P. Williams, of Atlanta, formerly Miss Cora Taylor, of Bullhead, Greene county, has succeeded to the princely estate of her late husband, who was a noted southern capitalist. Mrs. Williams becomes the largest landowner of her sex in the world, and the richest woman in the south. Captain William died several weeks ago, and leaving no children and no will, his wife became the sole heir. His great estate is variously estimated at from $5,000,000 to 10,000 [sic]. She is the only woman in the Southern states to control a 200-mile interstate railroad, with its trains, stations, shops, terminals, docks and a steamboat line. She owns a quarter of a million acres of farming and timber lands in Georgia and Florida. Mrs. Williams is well-fitted to manage the property, having acted as the closest counsellor of her husband and virtual manager of his extensive interests during the last few years, when he was an invalid. Captain Williams has a brother at Mt. Olive, N.C. Mrs. Williams is connected with leading families of this section.