WILLIAM C. WILLIAMS, ATLANTIC.

Postmaster Williams comes of good New England blood, his father being a native of New Hampshire and his mother of New York, but his grandparents on both sides of the family were born in the Granite State and Mr. Williams, himself, seems to have inherited a character somewhat akin to the quality of that mineral itself. Although bred as a farmer, he has received a thorough business education and consequently was amply qualified to discharge the duties of the public positions to which his fellow citizens have called him. He was born in De Kalb county, Ill., on the 4th of July, 1864, the son of George E. and Mary E. (Oakes) Williams.

The father is a native of Grafton county, N. H., where he was born September 6, 1830, and lived in his native State until he was twenty years of age, when he removed with his parents to Genoa, DeKalb county, Ill. He was married in that State, during 1857, to Mary E. Oakes, his wife being a native of Potsdam, St. Lawrence county, N. Y., where she was born in August, 1838. Her parents, Asa and Hannah Oakes, were born, raised and married in New Hampshire; removed to New York and thence to Illinois, where they passed the balance of their lives. George E. Williams; parents removed with him to this county in 1864, both dying in this State. They were the parents of nine children: Charles H.; Alice C., who became the wife of Isaac C. Russell; William C. and Katie W. (twins)--the latter becoming a teacher and a student in an advanced course at the State Normal School, Cedar Falls, Iowa; Luana S. and Lavina M. (also twins); George E., Horace D. and Bertha D.

William C. Williams was reared and educated in Cass county and pursued a thorough business course in the Davenport College. Later, he engaged in farming in Benton township, was thus employed until 1900, when his splendid business qualifications and popularity were the cause of his election to the county treasureship and his reelection to that office in 1902. He had already served as township trustee and clerk and had represented his party as a delegate to various county and State conventions. Mr. Williams is now serving as postmaster of Atlantic, having been appointed to that position in June, 1906, being the first of that office to occupy the new Government building. It is therefore evident that his standing as a Republican is high and promises continuous future advancement.

Postmaster Williams was married, in 1892, to Hannah Millward Turner, a native of this county. They have had a family of seven children--Maxwell M., William C., George E., Phillip T., Cecil W., Roger W., and Mildred Myrle. In fraternal circles he is known as a member in good standing of the Knights of Pythias, Elks, and M. W. of A.


From "Compendium and History of Cass County, Iowa." Chicago: Henry and Taylor & Co., 1906, pp. 557-558.