Notes:

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

There is conflicting information about John's place of birth. Sherwood, Ohio and Wyandot County, Ohio are both mentioned as birth places. Sherwood, Ohio is in Defiance County. Research of censuses is continuing at this time.

John's occupation was that of cooper as was the occupation of his father, Andrew J. Williams. In his later life of retirement in Portland, he had a passion for gardening and fishing. He raised a large garden, and had a rowboat that he used fo r fishing on Grand River, not far from his home in what was then called Culver Town, but is part of Portland. He worked as a cooper in Portland until the cooperage closed. He continued to work part time at his trade in the Knox Farm apple ware house, near the old mill on U.S. 16, and sold apples at roadside during apple season. He was still doing this in the early 1930's.

In December of 1977 Dorothy Aker sent, to Clela Williams Van Amburg, a letter which contained a clipping of an advertisement about a dinner theatre called "True Grist Ltd." which is located in the old mill at Homer, Michigan. She thinks this ma y have been where John worked when he and his family lived in Homer.

Original clippings from the Portland paper include one on their Golden Wedding celebration in 1925 as well as obituaries of John Henry and his wife, Samantha Harriet. These also are held by Pamela Reddin Luttig. Others in the family have copie s of them.

John's paternal grandmother was Mary Coy and his grandfather John Williams. In a letter re-printed in the research notes for John's wife, Samantha Harriet, she refers to an "Ivine Coy" whom she visited somewhere enroute to or from Lawton, Michi gan in 1886. Research is still going on for more information about the Coy family. Andrew J. Williams' death certificate merely states that his parents were John Williams of Ohio and Mary Coy of Pennsylvania.

Near the grave site of Andrew J. Williams and wife, Harriet Hannah Huggins, in the cemetery at Hillsdale, Michigan, there are two old grave markers for Henry and William Shoemaker who are half brothers of Andrew J.. Dorothy Aker remembers he r mother, Addie, referring to them as Uncle Billy and Uncle Henry. They lived at 17 Champaign St. (now Willow) in Hillsdale according to the 1900 census.

In a letter to Clela from Harry Williams, Jr., he mentions the Shoemakers as half brothers to somone on the Williams side of the family and mentions that they were both carpenters, and that Henry was exceptional.

The grave markers show that Henry was born in 1841 with no death date engraved, and William was born in 1849 and died in 1914. Henry's grave has a Civil War marker beside it.

Dorothy also noted in one of her letters that she had pictures that belonged to her mother, Addie. There are some of Andrew and his wife, Harriet, as well as some of their two children, John Henry and Agnes.

John married Samantha Harriet Lammond on 27 Nov 1875 in Elkhart County, Indiana. Samantha (daughter of Cortland S. Lammond and Nancy Jane Grove) was born on 15 Jun 1857 in St. Marys, OH; died on 7 Sep 1936 in Portland, MI; was buried in 1936 in Portland Cemetery, Portland, MI. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

written by Georgia Haines

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION:

Addie was born in Wakarusa, Indiana. Her parents and two brothers, Guy and Harry moved from there to Hillsdale, MI, but may have lived also at Litchfield and Homer, MI. This is according to a letter from her daughter, Dorothy to Clela William s Van Amburg. In her adult life Addie was a clerk. Her husband, George Beck, was a salesman for Prudential and a nursery man. At some unknown date they were divorced, and she married Frank Perkins. After his death she married again to someon e with last name, McGee. After his death she again took the name of Beck.

She lived at 90 N. Norwood Ave. in Hillsdale and is buried in Lake View Cemetery in Hillsdale next to her grandparents, Andrew J. and Harriet Hannah Huggins Williams. Clyde and Dorothy Aker are buried in the same area, as well as two Shoemake r men (one, Henry, a Civil War veteran). These men, Henry and William (Billy) were called uncle by Addie. They are step brothers of her grandfather, Andrew. Andrew was born in 1832 and in 1834 his mother, Mary Coy Williams, married John Shoema ker in Trumbull County, Ohio. Dates of birth on the graves of Henry and William are 1841 and 1849 respectively, however in the 1850 census in Portage County, Ohio William is listed as age 5.

Notes:

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION:

According to his son Harry, Jr., written in a letter to Clela, Harry Sr. was born on Sumpter's Island which is in one of the lakes near Milford, IN in Kosciusko County. Its county seat is at Warsaw. He did live in or near Angola, Steuben Co , IN as a small boy. According to a letter written by his mother, Samantha Harriet (Mattie) Lammond Williams, post marked in Lawton, MI Aug 11, 1886 he had accompanied her there. The letter was addressed to her husband, John Henry Williams, i n Leslie, MI where he may have been working. Mattie and the three children, Addie, Guy and Harry Sr., were visiting her parents, Cortland and Nancy Jane Lammond, in Lawton, Michigan. She probably traveled by train, possibly from Hillsdale wher e they might have been living at the time. It appears that his parents moved around a lot in those early years. In her letter she mentions renting a "hack" to go to see an Ivine Coy, and that Guy and Harry hadfun driving the horses.

Harry Williams, Sr. worked as a Machinist and Foreman and owned his own machine shop.