Williams, Hugh

WILLIAMS

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 7/3/2021 at 11:51:12

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.432

HUGH WILLIAMS
Hugh Williams, an energetic and enterprising business man of Ackworth, Iowa came to this state in 1866, and has made his home in Warren County since 1872. His early home, however, was on the other side of the Atlantic, for he was born in Wales, September 3, 1842, but he was only four years old when brought to this country by his father, Daniel Williams, who was also a native of Wales. The family located in Jo Daviess County, Illinois, where Hugh Williams grew to manhood.
When the country became involved in the Civil War, he enlisted August 11, 1862, in Company F, Ninety-sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, which regiment was assigned of the Army of the Cumberland. Going south, he participated in the battles of Franklin, Chickamauga, and Resaca, and in the last named engagement he had part of the index finger of his left hand shot off, and being thus disabled he was sent first to the hospital at Jeffersonville, Indiana, where he spent about two months, and later at Louisville, Kentucky. He was later detailed to help guard the arsenal at Louisville, and on the expiration of his term of enlistment was honorably discharged June 12, 1865, and returned to his home in Illinois.
During the summer of 1865, Mr. Williams worked in a mill, and in April 1866, he was married in Knoxville, Illinois, to Mrs. Mary J. Elliott, the widow of James Elliott, who was a member of the One Hundred and Second Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and was killed in the battle of Resaca. In the fall after his marriage, Mr. Williams came to Iowa and located near Red Rock in Marion County, where he purchased land and also bought a half interest in a sawmill, being engaged in the manufacture of lumber for two or three years. He then traded his property there for land in Warren County and here he engaged in farming for a time. Later he removed to Sandyville, where he bought two places, and there continued to farm for several years or until his removal to Ackworth in 1893. For some years he had been engaged in the live-stock business and he now buys and ships stock on quite an extensive scale and also deals in grain. In 1900 he embarked in the lumber business, opening a new yard in Ackworth, and during the fifteen years of his residence here he has done much to promote the welfare of the town by advancing its business interests.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Williams have been born ten children, those still living being: William, who is now in partnership with his father; Robert, who is engaged in the grain business in Ackworth; Roy, who operates the home farm of one hundred and ninety acres; Effie, the wife of Benton Hornaday, a farmer of this county; Fannie, the wife of J.E. Ford, a business man of Indianola; Anna, wife of Frank Robertson; and Maud, wife of Rev. Henry Stewart, who is now a student in a Free Methodist Institute at Greenville, Illinois. Those of the family deceased at Daniel, who died at the age of three years; and Mary and Johnnie, who died in infancy.
Mr. Williams had aided in the improvement of Ackworth by the erection of a new store building, and was a generous contributor toward building the Methodist and Friends Churches. He never withholds his aid from any enterprise which he believes will prove of public benefit. The Republican Party finds in him a staunch supporter and he has served as a delegate to various county conventions; filled the office of township trustee while living on his farm; was school treasurer for eleven years; justice of the peace one term; and has also served as a member of the city council and as mayor of Ackworth. He is preeminently public spirited and progressive and the reins of city government were never in more capable hands. He and his wife are members of the Christian Church, and are worthy the high regard in which they are uniformly held.