Notizen zu dieser Person
Medical: Harrison County Death Records Book 1 Page 102 #1337
WILLIAM McWILLIAMS, one of the early pioneers of Harrison County and a resident of section 35 of Jackson Township, came to the county in the spring of 1856, and bought thefarm he now occupies, which at the time consisted of one hundred and twenty acres of wild land, for which he paid $4 per acre. Eighty acres of this land was prairie and forty acres timber. Here he built a hewed log house 18 X 26 feet, one story and one-half high, with a shingled roof, in which the family lived fifteenyears. He then built a frame house 16x32 feet, with a wing 20X32 feet. He also built a barn 30X34 feet, a good-sized granary, apoultry house, cattle sheding, and also provided the place with good wells and has erected two wind mills. He hasfrom time to time added to his land, until he now has six hundred and fifty acres, one hundredand twenty of which are under the plow, and the balance in pasture and meadow land, with eighty acres of timber. During his residence in the county,he has seen many hardships coincident to pioneer life,including the grasshopper plague,when he lost his entire wheat crop for two years. He was also here during the deep snow winter of 1856-57, during which season his sons killed several deer without agun, as deer could not make their way over the crusted snow, which mantled the earth to the depth of three feet. He came to the county with verylittle money,and skulking Indians were frequently his unwelcome visitors. Theystole one of his horses, and were a source of great annoyance to him.
Mr. McWilliams was born in Belmont County, Ohio, July 5, 1811, the son of John and Nancy McWilliams, natives of Scotland, who had seven children, of whom he was the fourth, names as follows: Jane, deceased;Alexander, deceased; Nancy, William, John, deceased, Joseph deceased,and Eliza. Our subject lived with his parents untilhe arrived at hismajority, having the advantage of a fair common school education.After he was of age, he taught school winters and leased land there mainder of the year, continuing for five years, after which he went into mercantile business and followed it for twelve years, from 1837 to 1849, when he sold out and took a trip to California, where he followed mining for one year and then boughtprovisions and freighted to the mountains for two years and one-half. We next find him in Ohio,where he remained one year and then came to Harrison County, Iowa.March 4, 1834 marked a new era in his life, for it was upon that day he was united in marriage to Polly Ann Marsh, daughter of Thomas and Mary Marsh, natives of Maryland, and who were the parents of seven children, as follows: Nancy, William, Matilda, Isaac, Patience,Martha and Polly Ann. All of these children are deceased but one, our subject`s wife. Mr. and Mrs. McWilliams have had born to themthe following children: John W., Nancy E., Thomas, Leonidas H., William deceased, Mary, Belle deceased,and Kate deceased.
Politically, Mr. McWilliams is identified with the Republican party.He served as a member of the Board of Supervisors for four years and has been Treasurer of his township for twenty-eight years, a local office record, perhaps without parallel in Iowa.
His has been an exemplary life, and those who speak in terms of praise of the McWilliams family, are found in every part of Harrison County.
Harrison County History 1891
John
Mincone
