William Ernest Medders
Date of Birth:	August 18th 1898
Place of Birth:	Alma, Bacon County, Georgia
Date of Death:	November 1st 1973
Place of Death:	Fruitland Park, Florida
Burial:	November 1973 Big Creek Cemetery, Alma, Bacon County, Georgia
Marriage  (1): Bef 12 September 1918 Divorced	Sara Williams 1900-1979
Children:	1 Eris M Medders 1919* 2 Ernest M Medders 1920*
Marriage (2): Abt 1931 Divorced	Betty Ruth Eskew 1905-1981
Children:	1 Betty R Medders 1932* 2 W. E. Medders, Jr. 1934*
Marriage (3):	Beulah Pitman 1906-1998
Religion:	Baptist
Political party:	Democrat
Sources:	A Ancestry.com GEDCOM 1 Social Security Administration Death Index SSN# 256-12-3302, issued in Georgia   2 Biography by, R.M. Medders 11/1/1999   3 WWI Draft Registration 4 Bacon County, Chamber of Commerce 5 Fruitland Park, Chamber of Commerce 6 1900 US Census, Appling County, Georgia  7 1910 US Census, Louisville, Appling County, Georgia 8 1920 US Census, Louisville, Bacon County, Georgia 9 1930 US Census, Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia
Direct Line Paternal Ancestors of William Ernest Medders starting with Father;	1 William J Medders 1868* 2 John S Medders 1836 3 Benj. B Medders 1809 4 William W Medders 1785
Direct Line Maternal Ancestors of William Ernest Medders starting with Mother;	1 Betty L Deen 1873  2 Milliard R Deen 1851  3 Henry Deen 1827 4 Martin Deen 1802 5 Nathan Deen, Sr. 1752 6 Philip Deen, R.S. 1730
* Direct ascent to Seth, son of Adam and Eve This page was last updated 02/11/2009
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William Ernest Medders*, Sr. 1898-1973  

William Ernest MEDDERS, Sr. was born ^1,318 Aug 1898 in Alma, Bacon County, Georgia and died ¹1 Nov 1973 in Fruitland Park, Florida. He was the 6^th of ten children of William Jasper MEDDERS and Betty "Lou" Luvicus DEEN. He died in Fruitland Park, Florida after an unsuccessful battle with Colon Cancer.

William Ernest MEDDERS, Sr. is the grandson of John Smith "Meadows" MEDDERS, a Confederate Civil War Soldier, who fought at the Battle of Jonesboro, 31 Aug 1864 to 1 Sep 1864, where he was wounded and lost his right arm above the elbow.

William Ernest MEDDERS is the grandnephew of James Riley MEDDERS, a Confederate Civil War Soldier, who fought at the Battle of Nashville/Nashville Station.  

William Ernest MEDDERS, Sr. is the 4^th grandson of Phillip DEEN, R.S. an American Revolutionary War Soldier.  

Political Family Members

William Ernest MEDDERS and George WASHINGTON, the 1st President of The United States of America, are 16th cousins 5 times removed. Their common ancestors are Allan La' ZOUCHE and Eleanor SEGRAVE.

William Ernest MEDDERS and Stephen Grover CLEVELAND, 22nd & 24th President of the United States of America are 18th cousins 4 times removed. Their common ancestors are 1st Lord Baron, Nicholas de' SEGRAVE and Maud de' LUCY.

William Ernest MEDDERS and William Howard TAFT, 21st President of the United States of America are 21st cousins 3 times removed. Their common ancestors are Alan La ZOUCHE and Eleanor SEGRAVE.

William Ernest MEDDERS and James Earl "Jimmy" CARTER, Jr., the 39th President of the United States of America, are 7th Cousins. Their common ancestors are  Moore CARTER and Jane KINDRED.

Birthplace ⁴History-Future 

Early Life 

²As a young child and young man, ^6,7William Earnest Medders, Sr. grew up in and around Bacon County, Georgia. His mother and father gave William Ernest MEDDERS, Sr. his namesake; his first name was given of his father’s first name. He married his first wife Sara Williams in 1918. Before he married Sarah he had obtained a job at the Sawmill in Appling County, Georgia.  

William E Medders registered for the ³World War I draft on September 12^th 1918 in Alma, Bacon County, Georgia. The registrar was a C. H. Medders whom I have not been able to connect yet. William registered the same day as his cousin Jesse Estelle Medders whose registrar was V. E. Miles, who I believe was also a cousin of his by the name of Valine Estelle Miles. William and Jesse Estelle Medders his cousin, registering in late 1918 with the War coming to a close was never called to active duty.

William Ernest Medders is living in Louisville, Bacon County, Georgia on ⁸20^th January 1920 as a Sawmill worker with his wife Sara and family. The children living with them at this time are; Eris Merle age 6months. William is recorded on (page #52, line 10, household #281).

William moved to Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia in about 1927. Him and his wife Sara Williams whom he married in 1918 traveled together to the big City. However they divorced not long after arriving in Atlanta.

William Ernest Medders is living in Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia on ⁹11^th April 1930 as a boarder in the household of his future father-in-law Lawrence Eskew. William is recorded on (page #19B, Line 58, household #1009).

William got a job as a Street Car Operator and Bus Driver with the then Georgia Power Company/Atlanta Transit Authority, now know as “MARTA”. However misfortune befell him after being with them for about 15 years, when he had an accident while operating a bus. The accident caused the unfortunate death of some bus riders. He was found to be at fault for the accident and was dismissed from the bus company. He fought for many years after it to get re-instated with the company, and after many reviews the company finally re-instated him. However he was not allowed to work as a bus driver anymore. He was assigned to the maintenance shop, which was located off of Monroe Drive in Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia. He spent the remaining years with the company until his retirement doing maintenance work. During the time that he was working at the maintenance shop he lived not far from his place work, it was just a couple of blocks from his home (walking distance). During this time in the mid 1960’s he had already been married for the third time.

William Ernest Medders, Sr., after losing his job with Georgia Power Company, tried his luck in the restaurant business for a couple of years. This restaurant was known as the Medders Café, which was located at 51 Butler Street in downtown Atlanta, Fulton County Georgia. He opened the café about 1946, the first waitress that worked for him happened to be his new daughter-in-law Mildred Louise (Couch) Holtzclaw-Medders, wife of his son Ernest Millard Medders. The Café business was not very good to Ernest, it only lasted about 2 years before he was forced to close (see picture below).

(Medders Cafe above, right front, William E. Medders, center, Mildred Louise Couch-Holtzclaw-Medders his 
daughter-in-law, and (mother of the Founder of The Medders Family Life Foundation & Research Center), far
back unknown cook)

 

Death-place ⁵History-Future

William late in life, somewhere about the age of seventy-three (1971), had developed health problems which had been determined to be Colon Cancer. At this time he was living in Fruitland Park, Florida with his third wife Beulah Pittman. He was not comfortable with the medical care in Florida at that time, so was traveling back and forth to Atlanta to receive medical care at Crawford Long Hospital, located in Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia. Our medical system at this time did not know how to treat these problems as they do today. After spending many months in the hospital (back and forth) they finally released him to go home. He was to far advanced and the doctors could not do anything for him. He returned to Florida where he died a few months later.