Butte County
Biographies
DAVID
WILLIAMS
DAVID
WILLIAMS.--A
resident in California, whither he made his way to enjoy the fruits of the hard
labor of years, David Williams was long a pioneer in Iowa, and there underwent
such exposure and privations as caused intense suffering, half crippled him for
the battle of life and gave him a handicap in contrast to which his actual
accomplishments seem indeed wonderful.
Born near Chautauqua, N.Y., March 11, 1843, he was taken by his parents
to McHenry County, Ill., when they settled near Marengo, in 1845, and when he
was thirteen he joined his family in Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, to which they
had removed the previous year. It was a
period when conditions were primitive, and young David and his brother Reuben
had many fearful and trying experiences.
One December day, in 1856, he and his brother were watering cattle for
Horace Green, at the outlet of Clear Lake, and before they could get them
started back a severe snow storm struck them and the cattle refused to face it. After several attempts they gave it up and
sought shelter in a small grove. By
moving in a circle they kept from freezing, and about midnight they concluded
to try to reach the house, about three-quarters of a mile away. They got lost and wandered until they became
exhausted and David fell over a snow bank and laid there till morning. Then Reuben, who was nineteen, and big and
stout, pulled him out of the bank of snow, and, though frozen, managed to
hobble along about three miles to Mason, where two young men carried him
in. Their hands and feet were frozen;
Reuben lost fingers from his left hand and both feet had to be amputated, while
our subject's hands were saved, but he lost half of his left foot and the toes
from his right foot. He was laid up the
summer of 1857, but the summer of 1858 he hired out for eight dollars a
month. Despite this discouraging
handicap, Mr. Williams has never admitted defeat; and being blessed with a most
persevering spirit, he has been able to accomplish a great deal of hard work.
He was married, October 29, 1873, and
began farming for himself, and in the spring of 1874 removed to Worth County,
Iowa, and began to buy land, adding to his holdings piece by piece until he
owned four hundred ten acres, located near Manly, and there he did a big
business breeding cattle and hogs, which he marketed by the carload. In 1877, he was so lucky with his wheat crop,
that he raised thirty bushels to the acre.
He gradually became one of the leading men in Manly and did much to aid in
the building up of the town. He was also
an organizer of the Manly Telephone Company, and became its president; and he
was the president and a director of the Manly Creamery, helping to make it one
of the best in the county; and also an organizer of the Manly Grain Company,
and was its president.
On March 10, 1907, Mr. Williams arrived in
Gridley, Cal., having previously bought a ten-acre ranch in Colony Five. This he improved with a dwelling, barn and
orchard, and sunk a well and had the water piped to his house and barn, and for
irrigating his orchard. His wife, whom
he married in Worth County, and who was formerly Christiana Beyer, born in
Clearfield, Pa., has been an able helpmate for him. They have had six children: Milo B., a graduate from the Ames
Agricultural College, in Iowa, after five years of study, is now a civil
engineer in Berkeley and in the employ of the U.S. Geological Survey. He helped survey the Butte County canal. Ira, also a graduate from that college, was
an assistant professor of geology and mining engineering in Ames for eighteen
years; then for four years was an instructor in engineering in the State
Agricultural College at Corvallis, Ore., and is now a horticulturist and owner
of a large fruit ranch at Live Oak, with is brother as a partner. He also took a post-graduate course in
Columbia University, New York. May
Williams became the wife of Charles W. Van Note, of
Gridley; another daughter, Edith, is Mrs. V.L. Wiser, of the same town; Ernest
C., the third son, runs an eighty-acre ranch near Gridley; and Lulu Grace died
in Iowa.
Fond of social life, and believing in
mingling with his neighbors in friendly intercourse, Mr. Williams joined the
Manly Lodge of Odd Fellows in Worth County, Iowa. In 1917, wishing to retire from active work,
they sold the ranch and located at Gridley, where they own a comfortable home
on Hazel Street. Mr. and Mrs. Williams
are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Transcribed
by Rhonda Ruick O'Brien.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1232-1233, Historic Record Co, Los
Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Rhonda Ruick
O'Brien.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County
Biographies