My Genealogy Hound

J. W. Williams, lumber merchant at Mountain Grove, Mo., was born in Indiana, Spencer County, in 1850, the son of William and E. M. (Whitton) Williams. William Williams was born in England, and immigrated to America at an early date. He was married in Indiana, and lived in Spencer County of that State for many years, engaged in agricultural pursuits. He was born in 1828, and died in 1863. Mrs. Williams was born in 1822, in Kentucky, is still living, and is a resident of Mountain Grove, Mo. J. W. Williams was the eldest of three children. He was but fourteen years of age when his father died, and he began traveling around. He traveled over thirteen States and three Territories. He first worked on a steamboat between Pittsburg and New Orleans for over six years, and then became freight clerk on a boat, where he remained for some time. He then came to Missouri, and became a carpenter, a joiner, and a millwright. He followed the saw-mill business for four years in Douglas and Howell Counties, afterward sold out, and erected a planing-mill in Mountain Grove in June, 1877. He ran a large lumber yard, $5,000 of lumber invested. Mr. Williams has just returned from a trip through Arkansas, Georgia, Texas, Indian Territory and New Mexico. He has now determined to remain in Mountain Grove, and is the owner of considerable town property. He has been the owner of as much as 1,700 acres of land, and is the owner of eighty acres now. He was married in June, 1871, to Miss E. H. Huffman, who has borne him two children, Fred and Addie. Mrs. Williams is the daughter of James and Melvina (Lundy) Huffman, the father being a native of Virginia, and of German extraction. Mr. Williams affiliates with the Republican party in his politics. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and also a member of the A. F. & A. M.