Just reading this seems to me like Lightfoot Williams could have fathered Mary Ann Williams. I was reading his will and he does not address her as adopted but addresses her as the child he is raising. Sometimes when men had affairs on their wives they cover it up and don't actually admit they had an affair and dont claim those children from the affairs outright but sometimes still mention them in a will and other times not. We have record of many affairs in our lines. Some claim their out of wedlock children and some dont but we can still prove something happened though DNA results and circumstantial paper. It is interesting that your Mary named her son after Lightfoot. Always possible he was named after his actual father. Your lightfoot was a court official and could have easily gotten away without having a bastardy bond if he fathered a child out of wedlock. On your Lightfoots will I noticed C Hidldebrand was a witness. C Hilderbrand/ Conrod/Conrad Hidebrand was a court Official in Burke/Caldwell Counties. I believe he lived in that part of Burke that became part of Caldwell county in 1842. Around same area where our Martin/Smith/Shells are from. We were never in Lincoln County.

Also your Martin by any chance related to George Martin son of John Martin and Sarah McCoy. Same George martin that was bound out to Lightfoot Williams?

Our Robinson connections tie into the Shells. Their mother was a Shell. She married a Robinson and then a Spencer and she moved from Lincoln to Burke/Caldwell. We have not located ties to our specific Martins in Burke/Caldwell to the Robinsons early on.