San
Joaquin County
Biographies
ROBERT FRANKLIN WILLIAMS
A representative pioneer citizen and
farmer of San Joaquin County, where he has spent his entire life, is Robert
Franklin Williams. He owns a beautiful
estate of thirty-seven acres seven and a half miles north of Stockton, land
which constituted a part of the Williams homestead since his father purchased
it in pioneer times. He was born on this
ranch, where he now makes his home, June 19, 1855, a son of Miles and Martha J.
(Reed) Williams. Miles Williams was a
native of Broad Top, Pennsylvania, born September 28, 1801, and was thirteen
years old when his parents settled on a farm in what is now Mansfield, Ohio,
where he remained until he was married, in 1835, to Miss Martha J. Reed, a
native of Ohio, when he engaged in the mercantile business at Mansfield, Ohio,
in company with his brother Robert. He
moved from Ohio to Illinois, remained a year, and then went to Batesville,
Arkansas. He engaged in the furniture
business and farming, remaining there fourteen years, until 1853, when he
started, with his wife and children, for California. They made the trip overland with a large
ox-team train and arrived in San Joaquin Valley after a journey of six
months. They camped six and a half miles
from Stockton on the place where Septimus Williams
had located in 1849, making quite a city of tents. Septimus Williams
was one of the first to settle in this part of the country and he became a very
prominent man, serving as supervisor. He
was known as Captain Williams, having been a steamboat captain. Miles Williams, the father of our subject,
made his home on the ranch purchased in early days, until the time of his
death, which occurred November 26, 1870, at the age of sixty-nine years; his
wife survived him until 1901, aged eighty-three.
Mr. and Mrs. Miles Williams became
the parents of nine children, seven growing to maturity. E. G. died in 1916, and W. C. also passed
away here. Malinda A. is the wife of W.
B. White and she passed away in Stockton; Eliza S. was the wife of Alden
Spooner, a shipbuilder; she resides at the old home; Sarah E. was the wife of
J. P. Spooner, the pioneer photographer in Stockton, and she also resides on
the old home place. John E., who was
born while the family were crossing the plains,
resides on part of the old home ranch, and Robert Franklin is the subject of
this story. He attended the Elkhorn
district school and from early boyhood learned the practical lessons of
agriculture by doing them. As his share
of the estate of his parents, he received thirty-seven acres, on which is the house
where he was born and which is today one of the old landmarks in the
county. Mr. Williams is engaged in fruit
growing and stockraising on his portion of the ranch, and is meeting with
merited success.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
988-991. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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