The Williams Families of Muscatine County, Iowa

JUDGE JOSEPH WILLIAMS.

Joseph Williams was born in Huntington, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, December 8, 1801. Of his boyhood and youth but little is known. He was one of the fortunate few. While he made no pretentions to extensive reading, he managed to secure a knowledge of principles and his quick intelligence and phenomenal memory supplied what else was lacking.

He was distinguished above all others in the early territorial days for his humor, his wit and for his musical talent, which in spite of himself and the dignity of his office, led him to mingle in all crowds as a "hail fellow;" yet we must not judge from this part of his history that he was dissipated, or that he encouraged dissipation in others, — far from it. He allowed no man to surpass him in the practice and dignity of a gentleman or in his support of those principles of temperance and morality, which: are the ground work of a well ordered society. He was not a profound lawyer but he had the quickness and sagacity to see the right of every question, as well as the courage and manhood to seize upon it, and to declare his convictions irrespective of parties and favorites. It was these qualities that made him a most popular judge, for during his judicial career, which was coeval with the territorial period, he was the most popular of the three judges upon the supreme bench. His memory calls up the universal popularity with which he was regarded by those who knew him as a man and judge, as well as those whose knowledge consists only of the stories that have been told of him by his old-time associates.

The judicial duties of the supreme court of Iowa and of the circuits to which the three judges were assigned were not so onerous and engrossing as to preclude other activities. The pioneer communities were ambitious and sought to branch out in all directions. Men ckMnpetent to direct these budding energies and enterprises were few, and each had of necessity to play many parts. Our subject seemingly entered with enthusiasm into the plans of his fellow citizens of Bloomington. Here was he located, as most convenient to his district In December, 1838, the territorial legislature granted to Joseph Williams and Charles A. Warfield authority to operate and maintain a ferry across the Mississippi at Bloomington, and for one mile above and below the town. It was provided that horse or steam power should be used, and that individual property rights at points where landing might be established should not be disturbed or violated. In securing this concession, however, the ambitions of the projectors evidently outran their abilities. The ferry was not established and the privilege lapsed.

In the same year the genial jurist joined with the handful of Christians who had established the Methodist church in Bloomington, and proved a strong support in the days of feeble fortune. He is named as one of the stewards in Ac roster of 1840, and was one of the board of trustees in 1845. He was also one of the organizers of the temperance society formed in his home village.

During the summer of 1839 Judge Williams purchased a farm a few miles west of Muscatine and deserved the gratitude of the settlers by putting up and opef2Lting a horse power mill. In a speech made before the Old Settlers' Association in 1880, J. P. Walton said: "We recollect taking a bushel of com on the back of an Indian pony and going eight miles to this mill. We paid twelve and a half cents for the privilege of grinding. Our pony was small and the mill ran quite hard and ground slow, so that it took all day to go to the mill, do the grinding and get back. We had to furnish the com and the power, pay twelve and a half cents toll, and then do our own grinding."

[This passage is too damaged in the scanned book to reproduce. See the original book.]

The three supreme court justices. Mason, Wilson and Williams, served through the entire territorial period from 1838 to 1846. During these years there were brought before the highest tribunal many issues of importance, and decisions were given and precedents established which had marked influence upon the after current of events. In the case of a fugitive slave, brought on habeas corpus proceedings, the territorial court held that "where a slave with his master's consent becomes a resident of a free state or territory, he could not thereafter be regarded as a fugitive slave, nor could the master under such circumstances exercise any rights of ownership over him. When the master applies to our tribunals for the purpose of controlling as property that which our laws have declared not to be property, it is incumbent upon them to refuse their cooperation."

This clear toned enunciation of the doctrines of free men upon free soil fixed the place of Iowa through the succeeding years of agitation and struggle. "When it is remembered," says Benjamin F. Gue, "that the three judges (all democrats) thus early enunciated the doctrine of humanity and equity, that slavery was local and freedom a natural right, the liberty loving people of Iowa will forever honor these pioneer judges, who, in their sturdy manhood and love of justice, immortalized their names in an opinion in direct conflict with the infamous later decision of the national tribunal in the case of Dred Scott"

The appointment of supreme court justices in 1838 was for a term of four years. John Tyler had succeeded President Van Buren when this period had expired. The appointees were democrats, while the national administration was whig. It was naturally expected that the "spoils system" would prevail, and that officials from the dominant party would be chosen to replace these men. Certain interested politicians in Bloomington had prepared a statement, purporting to voice the sentiment of the district, asking the removal of Williams. This was sent to Washington and came to the knowledge of General Dodge, who

Google was friendly to the Judge. He secured a copy and returned it to the supporters of Williams in Iowa. These resented the secret work thus revealed and found no diflBculty in securing a numerously signed counter petition. As it happened, of the three judges Williams was the only one to whom the position was important Both Mason and Wilson had other resources and were not anxious for reappointment To Williams his place on the bench was a congenial occupation, to which he was accustomed, and was his sole means of livelihood. He therefore thought his chances might be improved by a personal visit to Washington, and armed with the enthusiastic endorsement of his friends started on his long journey east "In these days," says one who has written variously of the episode, "he had to travel by steamer to St. Louis, up the Ohio to Maysville (which was then the terminus of the great 'National Pike commencing at Cumberland, Maryland.) Taking the stage at Maysville he found himself seated in front of a lady, pretty, brilliant and entertaining. The Judge was, both by nature and practice, a ladies' man and sought to ingratiate himself into her favor by making himself as agreeable as possible, which was no difficult task, for he was a gentleman of Chesterfieldian manners. He communicated to the lady his name, his rank and the purpose of his journey eastward; but, strange to say, for the Judge was not a bashful man, he did not learn the lady's name nor anything of her social position. Reaching Baltimore, the travelers separated. Williams stopped in that city for a few days to visit friends and then completed his journey to Washington. There, having freshened himself from the effects of travel, he called upon President Tyler. Upon his name being announced he was received, much to his surprise, with unusual kindness and courtesy of manner. The President entered into familiar conversation with him as though he had been a life-long friend. Many questions were asked of Iowa, of the Judge's associates in office and of other men in the territory until the office-seeker almost forgot the purpose for which he had gone. Rallying, however, he ventured to suggest the matter of his reappointment. 'Oh!' said the President, 'that matter is all fixed to your satisfaction, Judge,' and immediately commenced to talk upon other subjects. After a little, Williams renewed his attack, when the President said: 'Your appointment has been made and the secretary will furnish you with your commission when you are ready to return home.' 'But,' ventured the Judge, 'I could not think of going back with a reappointment for myself and with my associates left out in the cold.' 'That matter you will also find arranged satisfactorily,' replied the President; 'I have reappointed all three of you. And by the way Judge,' added the chief executive, 'there is a lady in the adjoining room who I know would be greatly pleased to meet you, and would request that you join me in a call upon her.' The Judge had the courage to say it would afford him great pleasure to meet the lady, though he had no idea who she was. Accompanying the President into another room, a lady beautiful in appearance, graceful in manner, and with an earnestness quite unusual among strangers, rushed to the Judge, seized him by the hand and cordially greeted him. 'Judge Williams, this is Mrs. Tyler, my wife,' said the amused President to the astonished Judge, and lo! it was the woman with whom the latter had traveled three days and as many nights over the mountains and through the valleys from the Ohio to the Potomac. 'I hope

Judge/ said the lady, 'that you have found everything to your satisfaction. I spoke to the President when I returned home and told him of your kindness and asked him to reappoint you and your associates/ Whereupon the three joined in familiar conversation as though they had known each other for years."

In December, 1846, Iowa was admitted as a state into the Union, and the terms for all territorial officials ceased with the appointive powers of the general government. Upon adjournment of the first state legislature the governor, Ansd Briggs, appointed Joseph Williams as chief justice of Iowa to succeed Judge Charles Mason. In 1848 he was succeeded by Seranus C. Hastings, but the next year he again gained a seat on the supreme bench and retained the same until 1855.

We have a glimpse of Judge Williams in another role in 1846, when a St. Louis paper thus described him: "Judge Joseph Williams of Iowa, distinguished for his great versatility of talent, paraded with the (Texas) volunteers of Burlington, Iowa, and marched at their head, playing the fife. The Judge is a perfect specimen of a happy man. He is a devout member of the Methodist church and attends scrupulously to his religious duties. He is also one of the best temperance lecturers we ever heard; is judge of the second district of Iowa; associate justice of the supreme court; a fine poet; a superior musician; fifer for the Texas volunteers; the tallest kind of a companion we ever met at the social board, and he tells the best story of any humorist of the day."

With his qualities of head and heart. Judge Williams acquired a fame that was almost national. In 1857 he received appointment from President Buchanan as one of the district judges for the territory of Kansas, and was soon as much at home among the people and as much of a favorite with the bar as in Iowa. In this new location he made some fortunate land purchases in the vicinity of Fort Scott. This property soon increased in value and in the investment, wisely held, fortified the owner's later years against the results of earlier improvidences.

So successful had been the judicial career of our subject in Kansas that President Lincoln requisitioned his legal services during the war of the rebellion. In 1863 the Union general in command at Memphis, Tennessee, urged the establishment of a court in that city, operations of the war having disrupted all the regular civil functions. Judge Williams was offered and accepted the position of judge and served in that capacity until the close of the war. It was an arduous position and difficult because of the peculiar conditions. Yet it is of record that the strong sense of justice, the constant exercise of common sense and the kindliness of temper which always characterized the man, won from even those who were enemies for the time, respect and regard.

At the close of the war Judge Williams returned to Iowa and for a few years resided at the old home near Muscatine. In February, 1870, he left for Fort Scott, Kansas, to look after matters connected with his property interests at that place. Within a short time of his arrival he was taken ill. His sickness developed into pneumonia and his death occurred March 31, 1870.

Judge Williams was married at Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, in 1827, to Miss Mary Rogers Meason. His family followed him to Iowa in 1839 and mode their home in Muscatine until the departure of the Judge for Kansas.

Husband and wife are buried side by side in the cemetery at Muscatine, the latter passing away September lo, 1870.

It will not be out of place here, as showing the versatility of the man and the depth of his sentiments to append here from an article entitled Judge Williams as a Poet, which appeared in the Iowa Historical Record for April, 1896, and which was contributed by the late T. S. Parvin:

"I think I have stated elsewhere that Judge Williams was a poet of no mean order. I have just come across two of his effusions in this line, one humorous and the other sad, for he was a man equal to every emergency in life. On one occasion when visiting his old home in Pennsylvania, he called at the law office of his old friend and fellow student, Jerry Black. Not finding him in, he left this card as follows:

'Oh, Jerry, Jerry, I've found you at last. And memory goes back to the scenes of the past. As I think of old Somerset's mountains of snow. When you were but Jerry, and I was but Joe.' "

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

ROBERT WILLIAMS, City Recorder and Police Judge of the City of Muscatine, was born in Greensburg, Westmoreland Co., Jan. 26, 1809; he is a brother of Judge Joseph Williams, formerly Chief Justice of Iowa; Robert was brought up in Pennsylvania; he and Hon. Jere Black, who studied law in his brother's office, were boys together; after reaching manhood, he engaged in the mercantile trade, the firm being Williams, Bingham & Co.; Hon. Hiram Price, Member of Congress, used to clerk in his store. He was appointed and served as Foreman of the first grand jury ever impaneled in Blair Co., Pcnn.; in April, 1855, he came to Iowa and located in Muscatine; he was appointed by Gov. Lucas Deputy Recorder of this county; in 1860, he was appointed Pos-master of Muscatine under President Buchanan; he was elected Police Judge of this city in 1871; has held that office every year since; he was appointed City Recorder in 1872, and since then he has filled that office. July 7, 1840, in Philadelphia, he married Miss Julia A. Lincoln; she is a native of the city of Philadelphia, and is a stepdaughter of Richard Penn Smith; they have three children — Elinor M., Robert B. and Sarah B.; they have lost two children — William L. and Richard C.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

D. WILLIAMS, a pioneer settler of Museai tine County, of 1842, residing on section 12, Cedar Township, is a native of Union County, Ind.,born Feb. 16, 1821, and is a son of Anthony and Eleanore (Fourdice) Williams. His parents had a family of twelve children: William and Jane, who are both deceased; Hepzibah, widow of Lot Duvall; Samuel, Joshua, James and Aaron, deceased; J. D., of this sketch; John, a resident of Logansport, Ind.; B. F. is also living in Indiana; David, deceased; and Eliza, wife of William Cunningham, of Miami County, Ind. The death of Mr. Williams occurred at his home in Indiana, in 1846, at the age of seventy-four years, and his wife departed this life in 1855, at the age of sixty-six years.

As printed in the source³. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

JOHN FRANKLIN WILLIAMS.

A leading farmer of Cedar township, John F. Williams owes his success to a worthy ambition which he has wisely fostered so that today he owns a fine farm of two hundred and sixty-three and one-half acres in one of the richest agricultural belts of the state. He is justly entitled to his reputation as one of the substantial men of the county. Born in Union county, Indiana, October 28, 1857, he is a son of Joseph D. and Lucy A. (Burgess) Williams, also natives of Union county.

Joseph D. Williams was born in Union county, Indiana, on the 16th of February, 1821, and was one of a family of twelve children, his parents being Anthony and Eleanore (Fourdice) Williams. The grandfather of our subject died in the Hoosier state in 1848, at the ripe old age of seventy-four years. Until twenty-two years of age Joseph D. Williams remained with his parents, but in 1842 and 1843 made a trip through Illinois and Iowa and finally purchased eighty acres of land in Cedar township, this county. Returning to his old home in Indiana, he then took charge of a pottery which had been left his widowed sister, Mrs. Durvall, and he remained in charge of the same for eight years. He subsequently engaged in the mercantile business for some time and on selling out in 1850 came to Iowa and bought forty acres of land adjoining his first purchase. Upon this farm he then continued to reside, devoting his time and energies to agricultural pursuits, until his death, which occurred February 16, 1892.

On the 28th of October, 1852, in Indiana, was celebrated the marriage of Joseph D. Williams and Miss Lucy Ann Burgess, a daughter of Joseph and Adda Eliza (Johnson) Burgess and a granddaughter of William and Caroline A. Burgess. Eleven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Williams. Mary E., born August 13, 1853, married David E. Kerr, who died May 24, 1877, and for her second husband she wedded Isaac Shellabarger, of Louisa county, Iowa. Of the four children born of the first marriage three are living and one by the second marriage. Florence E., born October 3, 1855, died November 29, 1870. John F., the subject of this sketch, is next in order of birth. Samuel C., born February 19, 1860, is a resident of Illinois. Kate M., born June 9, 1862, is the wife of George Hawkins, of this county, and has one child. Ida May, born May 19, 1864, and Jessie F., born September 16, 1866, were playing in a building when it caught fire and both burned to death July 13, 1874. The other members of the family are: Edith A., born June 17, 1868; Delia J., born April 17, 1871; Ida E., born December 2, 1875; and Monroe C., born September 2, 1882. The father of these children was a member of both the Masonic and Odd Fellows fraternities.

John F. Williams continued under the parental roof until he reached the age of twenty-four years, when he began farming on his own account by renting land and two years later purchased forty acres in Cedar township, Muscatine county. By the exercise of energy and good judgment in his calling he was able largely to increase the size and value of his property and the farm which he now owns is one of the very desirable landed possessions of the region. He has made many improvements and in his work uses the best improved machinery. He has been especially successful in raising and marketing a good grade of hogs but he also gives attention to other farm animals and in addition to this he is a large raiser of grain. He is interested in town property at Muscatine and at Letts and is a stockholder of the Muscatine State Bank.

On the 6th of March, 1881, Mr. Williams was united in marriage to Miss Williametta Epperly, who was born in Muscatine county, March 28, 1863, a daughter of William and Lucretia (Fry) Epperly, the father being a native of Indiana and the mother of Wisconsin. The parents were married in Muscatine county, where Mr. Epperly for many years was actively interested in farming. He retired in 1900 and now lives at Muscatine. His first wife passed away in June, 1870, and Mr. Epperly was again married, the lady of his choice being Elizabeth R. Shellebarger, of Ohio. Three children were born of the first union, namely; Williametta, now Mrs. Williams; Jared J., of Oregon; and Margaret Ann, now the wife of John Schulte, of Quincy, Illinois. By the second marriage of Mr. Epperly two children were born: Harry G., now living on a farm in Cedar township; and Ethel, the wife of Bruce Jackson, of Muscatine.

Mr. and Mrs. Williams have three children. Edith Estella, born November 8, 1883, was educated in the high school and is now the wife of Cornell Uhr, a carpenter of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. They have three children living: Williametta May, born May 11, 1903; and Marvin and Mabel, twins, born in December, 1907. Harley Edwin, the second child of Mr. and Mrs. Williams, was born September 29, 1886. He received a business-college education and was married in December, 1905, to Miss Isola Wadkins, of Nichols, Iowa, a daughter of Charles and Hattie (May) Wadkins, who are natives of Iowa and Michigan respectively. One child, Howard Noal, whose natal day was November 4, 1906, has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Harley E. Williams. The father now has charge of part of the family homestead. Isaac, the third child, was born September 4, 1 89 1. He received the advantage of a course in a business college and now lives in Muscatine. He was married April 27, 1909, to Miss Mildred Heller, who was born in Muscatine in 1891 and is a daughter of Charles and Fanny (Mathews) Heller, who were parents of six children, four of whom are now living, namely: Martha, Harriet, Adelaide and Mildred. One child, [name withheld], born September 20, 1910, came to bless the union of Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Williams.

John F. Williams is a sincere advocate of education, as is indicated by the school advantages given his children, thus greatly assisting them in working out the problems of life. He is also an active worker in the promotion of good fellowship and his home is a center of hospitality, where friends and acquaintances are accorded a cordial greeting. Fraternally he is connected with Lodge No. 4783, M. W. A., of Letts, and politically he is identified with the republican party. He and his family are members in good standing of the United Brethren church.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

JOHN F. WILLIAMS, a leading and progressive young farmer residing on section 1, Cedar Township, was born in Union County, Ind., on the 28th of October, 1857, and is a son of J. D. and Lucy A. (Burges) Williams, whose sketch is given elsewhere in this volume. In 1858, while our subject was yet an infant, his parents emigrated to Muscatine County. He was educated in the common, schools, and was reared to manhood upon his father’s farm, remaining under the parental roof until twenty-two years of age, when he started out in life for himself. Securing employment with R. Miller, he worked for him for about a year, receiving $20 per month, and was then united in marriage with Miss Willimettie Epperly, the ceremony being performed on the 6th of March, 1881. The lady was born Nov. 28, 1863, and is a daughter of William and Lucretia (Fry) Epperly, who were the parents of three children:

As printed in the source³. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected.