W. B. WILLIAMS.

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Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Chandler         Mr. & Mrs. J. w. Williams         W. B. Williams

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         W. B. Williams, a retired agriculturist of Oakville, was successfully identified with farming and stock-raising interests throughout his active business career, owning at one time nine hundred and three and a half acres of valuable land. His birth occurred in Des Moines county, Iowa, on the 9th of September, 1851, his parents being J. Wilson and Julia A. (Robison) Williams, who were natives of Vermont and Ohio respectively.

         There were not many men in Iowa who had a more general acquaintance with the people of the state than J. Wilson Williams. He was born in 1816 and grew to manhood in his native state. After receiving a good academic education he adopted civil engineering and then came west, landing in Chicago in 1836. The following year he traveled through Wisconsin and Illinois and later served as deputy United States surveyor and also as county surveyor of Hancock county, Illinois. He rendered valuable service to the government in the surveying of the Mississippi river bottom. He removed to Des Moines county, Iowa, in 1838 but subsequently made a number of trips back and forth between this state and his old home near Nauvoo, but finally located permanently in Des Moines county in 1848. He was elected to the house of representatives in 1852 and again in 1856, 1861, 1865 and 1874. In 1878 he was elected a member of the senate but two years later returned to the lower house, serving much longer than most men in the state legislature. In politics he was a strong republican, and in his religious views was liberal. He continued to make his home in Des Moines county until called to his final rest on the 29th of August, 1893. It was in 1847 that he was united in marriage to Miss Julia A. Robison, who has now attained the age of eighty-nine years, and resides at Oakville. She has lived on the Mississippi river since 1819 and was acquainted with all the old Indian chiefs of the different tribes. By her marriage she became the mother of six children, as follows: Herrick, who is deceased; Lelia, who died in infancy; W. B., of this review; another who died in infancy; Julia Eliza, the wife of David Waddle, of Missouri; and Minnie M., who has passed away.

         On attaining his majority W. B. Williams rented a farm of one hundred and sixty acres from his father, being busily engaged in its operation for three years. On the expiration of that period he bought a tract of two hundred and . . .

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. . . forty acres from his father, gradually augmenting his holdings by additional purchases until he owned altogether nine hundred and three and a half acres. The pursuits of farming and stock-raising claimed his attention until 1903, when he purchased a handsome residence in Oakville, where he has since lived retired in the enjoyment of the fruits of his former toil. In 1905 he disposed of his farming property.

         On the 20th of February, 1873, Mr. Williams was united in marriage to Miss Amelia Chandler, a daughter of Andrew and Caroline (Fisher) Chandler. Her parents were both natives of Germany but were married in New York and came west in 1863, first locating in Des Moines but removing to Louisa county in 1876. Her father engaged in farming until his retirement from active labor in 1897, when he removed to Oakville, Iowa, where he passed away in 1899. His wife died in 1903. Mrs. Williams was one of a family of five daughters, the others being as follows: Hortense, the deceased wife of Henry Allward, of New York; Bridget, the wife of William Coonrod, of North Dakota; Elizabeth, who is the wife of Ezra Kurtz and resides in Knoxville, Iowa; and Annie M., the wife of S. D. Gates, of Artesia, New Mexico. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Williams were born eleven children, namely: John W., who is a resident of Missouri; Carrie E., the deceased wife of Ben Luckenbill, of Des Moines county, Iowa; George H., living in Oakville, Iowa; Fannie A., the wife of Albert Hamilton, of Des Moines county; James Albert, who is a resident of Oakville, Iowa; Maud C., the wife of Marion Bailey, of Oakville, Iowa; Lyman C. and Warren Selden, who also reside in Oakville; Gladys, the wife of Marshall Thompson, of Oakville; Bessie L., at home; and Norma E., who is deceased.

         Mr. Williams is a republican in politics and has held most of the township offices. In religious faith he is a Presbyterian, while fraternally he is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Such in brief is the life history of W. B. Williams. In whatever relation of life we find him he is always the same honorable and honored gentleman, whose worth well merits the high regard which is uniformly given him.