WILLIAMSON, W. H. - Putnam

WILLIAMSON, W. H., P. O. Manhattan, Farmer, Section 35; was born in Franklin County, Ind., in 1843; settled in this county in 1853.

Notwithstanding opinions to the contrary, much depends upon being well born, and the old adage that "Blood will tell" is not only true but profoundly philosophical. In a large measure we are what our antecedents were, their characteristics and attributes as a rule constituting a heritage which have had a powerful influence in moulding our lives for good or evil. "Like produces like," a recognized law of the physical world, also obtains in matters of mind and morals; as the experience of the human race abundantly attest. That parents have a wonderful influence upon the minds and hearts of their offspring cannot for a moment be gainsaid, hence the necessity of measuring up to the high standard which both nature and God require of fatherhood and motherhood. In matter of birth the subject of this sketch has indeed been fortunate, inheriting as he does the sterling characteristics of his ancestors, who were long distinguished for strong mentality, intellectual acumen and moral worth. His father, John M. Williamson, a native of Ireland and a son of a merchant, was educated in the University of Dublin with the object in view of entering the ministry of the church of England, but, circumstances preventing him from carrying his intention into effect, he subsequently became a teacher and achieved marked distinction in educational work. He came to the United States when young and for some time thereafter taught in Cincinnati, later accepting a professorship in a college, which he held with distinguished success until his removal to Indiana some years afterwards. While in Cincinnati he became acquainted with Maria James, an intelligent and highly accomplished young lady who like himself was engaged in teaching and to whom he was subsequently united in the bonds of wedlock. Mrs. Williamson was a native of England, which country her father, the Hon. James James, represented as a minister at the court of Norway and Sweden, having been a man of eminent talents and one of the leading statesmen and diplomats of his day. He died in the land of his birth, sometime after which his widow and daughters came to the United States and located at Cincinnati; one of the daughters, Helen James, subsequently completed the prescribed course of Oberlin College and became a teacher. She was employed in various parts of Ohio and Indiana and was one of the early teachers of Putnam county where she taught for a number of years and where some of her pupils, now venerable gray-haired men and women, still live to honor her memory. Shortly after their marriage, John M. Williamson and wife moved to Franklin county, Indiana, where their oldest child was born and where they continued to make their home until 1854 when they changed their residence to Putnam county, locating on the farm in Washington township which Mr. Williamson purchased and on which he and his faithful wife spent the remainder of their days. Mr. Williamson was in many respects a remarkable man and it is to be hoped that some future biographer will give him the notice, which he deserves, but which the limits of this article forbid. As already indicated, he was highly educated and accomplished and during his entire life he never ceased being a student. While attending to the duties of the farm he studied soils and their adaptability to the different crops, made careful notes of every kind of plant and vegetable the place produced and his love of nature also led him to spend much of his leisure in the woods, meadows and along the by-ways, where in due time his investigations made him one of the most thorough and accomplished botanists and naturalists the state of Indiana has ever known. It is greatly to be regretted that he did not publish the results of his studies and investigations, for had he done so science would have received a wonderful stimulus from his active and brilliant mind. He not only pursued his investigations in matters as above mentioned, but was also a great reader, his knowledge of the world's best literature of all ages and among all peoples having been wide and profound. With all his varied accomplishments, he was an humble and sincere Christian, a devout student of the sacred scriptures, who exemplified his religious faith in his relations with his fellowmen, and it was his custom morning and evening to gather his family about him to thank God for the blessings of which they were the recipients. In public matters he always kept abreast of the times and in touch with the leading questions and issues before the people, on all of which he was thoroughly informed and an authority among his neighbors and friends. Although not a very practical farmer, Mr. Williamson was nevertheless possessed of fine business ability and succeeded in accumulating a comfortable competency for his family, including three hundred acres of fine land much of which was cleared and fitted for cultivation by his own labor. He was a man of noble aims and high ideals and his influence was ever for the right side of every moral issue. He presented the highest type of manhood and citizenship and his life was a benediction and a power for good among those with whom his lot was cast. The death of this excellent man occurred on the 6th day of January, i866, at the age of sixty-six years, his widow surviving him twenty-six years and departing this life in 1892, shortly before the eightieth anniversary of her birth. John M. and Maria Williamson were the parents of six children, namely : Mary M., who married Joseph Mann and moved to Oklahoma, where both afterwards died; William H., of this review ; George, who went to Clay City, Indiana, about thirty years ago, where he was engaged in the grain trade until his recent removal to California, where he now resides ; Henry, who died when a young man of twenty-three; John, who has spent the last twenty years in California, and Emma, who married Samuel Brownrigg and moved to Kansas, thence to California, where she now resides, the subject being the only representative .of the family in Putnam county. William H. 'Williamson spent his early life on the home farm in Washington township, and received his educational training in the public schools. Blessed with excellent home influence, he grew up with good habits and while young received the bent of character which has had such a marked influence in directing his life in proper channels and developing a mind capable of grasping the various problems which one meets at the beginning of his career. He assisted his father until the latter's death, when he began buying his brothers' and sisters' respective interests in the estate, which being accomplished in due time, he afterwards added one hundred eight acres to the homestead, making the place four hundred five acres, its present area. His farm lies in a body extending across Deer creek, adjacent to which is some fine bottom land, the part in cultivation amounting to one hundred twenty-five acres, the balance consisting of pasturage and timber. The latter he has been at pains to keep intact and he now has a considerable area of original forest growth, in which are to be seen some of the finest oak, maple, walnut, poplar, beech and other varieties of trees in this part of the state. Mr. Williamson has a model farm and as a tiller of the soil lie is progressive in his methods and fully abreast of the times in all matters relating to modern agriculture. He usually raises from eighty to one hundred acres of wheat, a grain for which the farm seems peculiarly adapted, and about twenty-five acres of corn, all of which he feeds to livestock, to the breeding and raising of which he devotes special attention. He is also much interested in horticulture and has one of the best orchards in the county, which he set out himself, exercising great care in the selection of his trees and sparing no pains in keeping them in healthful condition in order to enhance their productiveness. Mr. Williamson's splendid modern dwelling, furnished with all the latest conveniences, occupies a fine location and is one of the most beautiful and attractive rural homes in Putnam county. His former home was destroyed by fire in 1884, since which time he has guarded against a repetition of the loss by making his present residence as nearly fire-proof as possible and using for heating purposes a furnace instead of stoves. He has been unsparing in the expenditure of money for the beautifying of his place, believing that home should be made attractive in order to be the one ideal spot to which his children's memories will fondly return after they have grown to maturity and left the family circle. For a number of years Mr. Williamson was quite extensively engaged in the manufacture of maple syrup, having a fine orchard of twenty- five acres, containing five hundred trees, the yield from which each spring season added very materially to his earnings. Recently, however, he discontinued this feature of the farm the better to give his attention to other and more profitable interests. Like his father, Mr. Williamson is an intelligent observer of events, a reader and thinker and his opinions on the questions of the day carry weight and command respect. He is a Republican, but not a partisan and has never disturbed his quiet by seeking office or aspiring to leadership. He manifests a lively interest in the welfare of the community, gives his influence and assistance to any worthy enterprise for the good of his fellow men and discharges the duties incumbent upon him as becomes a loyal citizen and representative American of today. On February 9, 1879, Mr. Williamson was united in marriage with Mrs. Mary L. Hedges, widow of the late W. H. Hedges, of Putnam county, and daughter of B. F. and Louisa (Harvey) Utterback, natives of Bourbon county, Kentucky, the father by trade a saddler and harnessmaker. These parents moved to Indiana in 1852 and located at Putnamville, where Mrs. Williamson was born on February 11th of the same year, but subsequently, 1864, they changed their residence to Manhattan, still later to Reelsville where Mr. Utterback died September 15, 1887, at the age of sixty-three, his widow surviving him until June �5, 1909, when she was called to her final reward in the seventy-ninth year of her age. W. H. Hedges, Mrs. Williamson's first husband, was a graduate of Indiana State University and a civil engineer by profession, having been official surveyor of Putnam county at the time of his death in 1877. Mr. and Mrs. Williamson have children as follows : Fred D., who is interested with his father in' agriculture and stock raising, is an intelligent, wide-awake young man of progressive ideas and an enterprising farmer and public spirited citizen ; he holds membership with the Masonic fraternity, belonging to the blue lodge at Knistville and the chapter at Greencastle. Belle, the second in order of birth, married Elijah O'Neal and is the mother of three children, Florence, Albert and Everett, the oldest and youngest living with their grandmother. Florence, the youngest of the family, is the wife of T. F. Talbot and lives at Harristown, Illinois. Mrs. Williamson has been a member of the Baptist church since her girlhood, both she and her husband belonging to the Walnut Creek church of that denomination in Washington township, being deeply interested in the various lines of worth under the auspices of the organization and liberal contributors to its support.