My Genealogy Hound

Lewis Marshall Williams was born near Greeneville, Greene County, Tenn., June 6, 1835, and is the son of Rev. Benjamin U. and Nancy (Pogue) Williams, both of old German families. The Williams family, who were of Welsh descent, settled in early times in Virginia. Lewis M., who is the youngest of a family of twenty-one children, grew to manhood in Tennessee, and in 1853 came West and located in McDonald County, where he farmed for one year, and then engaged in the grocery business at Pineville, under the firm name of Waken & Williams, and there continued from 1854 until the breaking out of the late war, when he lost his stock of goods. He then enlisted in the Confederate army, and served six months. In 1863 he moved to Denver, Col., where he had charge of a cattle train, and after freighting for five years went to Kansas, where he pre-empted and homesteaded 320 acres of land in Clay County. Here he remained until 1870, when he returned to Missouri, and married Miss Nancy C. Weems, a daughter of Rev. John Weems. This union resulted in the birth of three sons and one daughter, viz.: Charles Ernest, David A. and Mary Minerva. The deceased one was named Joseph Akin. After remaining in Kansas until 1875 Mr. Williams moved to Missouri, and settled in Newton County, where he has since continued, engaged in farming and stock raising, and also in carrying on a store of hardware and implements. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.