WILLIAMS-James - Fountain County INGenWeb Project

James Williams, farmer, Attica, was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, October 16, 1816. He was the fifth child in a family of nine children, by Isaac and Mary (Hendricks) Williams. His father died in 1824. His mother lived till July 1865, and reached the age of seventy-six. From 1833 to 1838 Mr. Williams drove cattle from Ohio to New York city. He made two trips on horseback each summer, a distance of 600 miles. He began at $1 a day, but his wages increased until as a 93boss driver,94 which he soon became, he got $2.50 for a day92s work. In the fall of 1838 he came to Wabash on business For Steinbarger, of Virginia, who was a large cattle dealer and pork packer. Mr. Williams92 brother was at the time in company with Steinbarger, and the firm was Steinbarger & Williams. Mr. Williams attending to buying hogs and packing pork at La Fayette, Clinton and Terre Haute, and was in the business two years. At the end of this time he had saved some money, and in 1840 returned to Ohio, and went one year to Blendon College, a Presbyterian school taught by Ebenezer Washburn, a very able mathematician. The boys irreverently called this school 93Frog College,94 which greatly annoyed the sedate and dignified professor. In 1845 Mr. Williams removed to Fountain county, and permanently settled in Davis township. Early next year he went back and married Miss Sarah C. Huffman, of Columbus. They have had nine children, as follows: Joseph H. (married Miss Rebecca French), Emma A. (widow of Irvin Burkhalter, of La Fayette), Mary Josephine (wife of Robert Manning, of La Fayette), James Milton (deceased), Rebecca H. (wife of Frank Trullinger), Edwin I., Walter V., Jessie G. and Lillian B. (deceased). Except two years, from the fall of 1859 to the spring of 1862, that Mr. Williams was away, he lived in Davis township since hid first settlement. During his absence he lost by fire his brick residence, which had cost him $7,500. He rebuilt for $14,000 when inflated war prices ruled. At one time his farm contained 400 acres, but having sustained serious reverses he sold off a part and now has 120. He has belonged to the Masonic fraternity twenty-five years, and is a republican. In his prime he was a man of great bodily strength, steady nerves, and deliberate judgment. In health and physical vigor he is now but a wreck of his former self. Mrs Williams is a descendant of the Stuarts of Scotland. Her great-grandfather was Archibald Stuart, commander of a vessel in the English navy during the American revolution. He owned large possessions in his country, which were confiscated. His government, to remunerate him for his losses, gave him a tract of land, ten miles square, in Nova Scotia. The city of Halifax stands on part of this. Her grandfather Huffman lived in Franklin county, Ohio, where he owned the whole of Plain township.