| Notes |
- https://archive.org/stream/industrialchicag03good/industrialchicag03good_djvu.txt
Read Amariah Williams. A name very frequently encountered by the student of lumber history in connection with Chicago is that of Read A. Williams, who was identified with the business at a date early enough to admit of an entrance into the "pioneer" class. Mr. Williams was a Yankee from the Nutmeg State, having been born at Mansfield, Conn., in 1808. In his early youth, however, his parents removed to Morrisville, Madison County, N. Y., where he obtained such, education as was afforded by the district school and local academy, combined with extensive reading, for his disposition prompted a research into all the available literature of the day, with a view to a truthful knowledge of men and things, and their proper relations to society and the world in general. His first business venture was in general merchan- dise in connection with his younger brother, Dwight T. Williams, at Morrisville, N. Y., continuing in mercantile pursuits until 1843, when he came West and engaged in the buying of produce and furs in the country, and finding market for them in the young but thriving city of Chicago, until in 1846 he entered into partnership with James Leonard, and the firm of Leonard & Williams established a lumber yard on Randolph Street, near the corner of Clinton Street, the depot then being located on the west side of the Kinzie Street bridge. In 1851 Mr. T. M. Avery purchased the Leonard interest, and the firm became Williams & Avery, and so continued for about ten years, the business proving very profitable. Upon the dissolution of this partnership in i8=;6, he for a year or more engaged with his brother John M. in the purchase of real estate and building. Mr. Williams was for a time associated with Mr. W. D. Houghteling in a general grain and commission business, until about 1860, when he became con- nected with the late Martin Ryerson as business manager of the extensive yards of that gentleman, and so resumed his connection with the lumber business of tlris city. Mr. Williams had the reputation of being the best salesman on the Chicago market, and it was claimed for him that he could secure better prices for the same grade of product than any other man. So well was his reputation established that during his employ by Mr. Ryerson, he commanded a $6,OOO salary, which in those days was abnormally large. His ability to present a subject with clearness, his facility as a correspondent, and his polite address, won for him a host of friends, and his success in building up a Western and Southwestern trade was phenomenal. His trade with St. Louis merchants was the envy of competitors. He was an exceptionally broad-minded, active and progressive business man of intelligent perceptions. About this time his health failed, and in 1867 he removed to Red Wing, Minn., where he engaged in money-loaning and real estate until his death, in 1872. Mr. Williams was married at Morrisville, N. Y., to Miss Celista Haughton, of that place, by whom he had four children, the only son dying at an early age. Of the three daughters the eldest is the wife of J. Newton Ninde, editor of the Mississippi Valley Lumberman, of Minneapolis, Minn.; the second daughter is the wife of Lyman J. Boynton, of Red Wing, Minn., and the third daughter is the wife of Hugh M. Wilson, business manager of the Railway Age, of Chicago. The widow of Mr. Williams is at this time residing at Red Wing. Mr. Williams was in 1848 elected an alderman of the Fifth Ward, an office which he held for the term of two years. He was an ardent Republican, and an active anti-slavery advocate, and became connected with the Republican party at its inception, having previously voted for James Birney, the abolition candidate for the presidency.
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The H600 Project Genealogy DB
Abt 1808 - 1872 (64 years)