EDWARD D. WILLIAMS.

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         Edward W. Williams, who died May 3, 1891, leaving a well improved farm of two hundred and forty acres on section 9, Columbus City township, is remembered as a substantial citizen, who assisted materially in the development of this section of the county. He was born in Wales, July 12, 1835, a son of Morgan D. and Jane (Price) Williams. The father came to America with his family in 1843, taking up his residence for a number of years in Wisconsin, where he engaged in farming under much more favorable conditions than he could have expected in his native land. In 1866, after the close of the Civil war, he joined the great movement to the country west of the Mississippi river and selected Louisa county, Iowa, as his permanent home. Having prospered in his work in Wisconsin, he purchased two hundred and forty acres of good Iowa land and engaged in general farming and stock-raising upon a much larger scale than he had before attempted, meeting with a goodly measure of success. Here he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives. In their family were ten children, Edward D. being the youngest. The others were: Thomas, John, Richard, Margaret, Jane, Elizabeth and Price, all of whom are deceased; Catharine and Mary.

         Mr. Williams of this review crossed the ocean to the new world—which proved to him, indeed, a world of opportunity—when he was a boy of eight years and he soon became closely identified with America, which was to be his future home. He remained with his parents in Wisconsin and he came later to Iowa, locating permanently in Louisa county. He was an active and in- . . .

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. . . dustrious man, fully awake to the importance of labor, and applied himself to such good purpose that he became the owner of two hundred and forty acres, which he improved by the erection of buildings and fences and by drainage and rotation of crops so that it became one of the desirable properties of the township.

         On January 23, 1868, Mr. Williams was married, in Louisa county, to Miss Catherine Davis, a daughter of Evan H. and Elizabeth (Evans) Davis, both of whom were born in Wales. Mr. and Mrs. Davis were the parents of eight children: Hugh, Evan and John, all of whom are deceased; Edward, who resides in Elm Grove township; Joseph, who makes his home in Louisa county; Robert, who died in the United States army; Elizabeth, the wife of W. V. Davis, of Louisa county; and Catherine, now Mrs. Edward D. Williams. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Williams, namely: Elizabeth J., who is at home; Augusta, who is also at home; Morgan, who is living in Elm Grove township; Margaret, the wife of John Humphrey, of Louisa county; and Sarah Edna, who for nine terms has been teacher of the Lincoln school in Columbus City township. She received advantages of education at the Columbus Junction high school and is known as one of the most capable teachers in the county.

         Mr. Williams was a man of frank and kindly nature and easily won the friendship of those with whom he came in contact. As an intelligent and public-spirited man he took special interest in education and in the election of competent man to represent the county and state in public offices, although not himself a candidate for political honors. He was a republican and in religious belief gave his adherence to the Presbyterian church, of which he was an earnest supporter. Temperate in all things, he commanded the respect of his associates and neighbors and left to his family not only a comfortable property but the priceless heritage of an honored name.