Biography of
John Clay Williams
p. 1556
JOHN CLAY WILLIAMS.
Prominent among the foremost citizens
of Pocahontas is
John Clay Williams, who is actively
identified with the financial prosperity of Bond county as a banker, and as a
man of enterprise, ability and integrity is closely associated with the
advancement of the material interests of town and county. A son of
William Davis Williams, he was born August 8, 1859, in Saint Jacob, Madison
county, Illinois, of brave pioneer stock.
His grandfather,
Aaron Williams,
a native of Maryland, was a youth of a daring
and venturous spirit, who in his
search for fortune made two trips
on horseback to Illinois while it was yet wearing territorial garb, one in 1815
and one in 1816. In 1818, just as Illinois was admitted to statehood, he came
from Baltimore to Fayette county, Illinois, locating in Vera, where he took up
a tract of wild land, from which he improved a farm. He married
Sarah Barton,
of Saint Clair county, Illinois, and was thereafter
engaged in tilling the soil until his death.
Born on
the parental homestead in Fayette county,
William Davis Williams
received a practical training in agriculture while young, remaining beneath the
parental roof-tree until after attaining his majority. In 1849 he joined a band
of gold seekers and made an overland journey to California, where he followed
mining for six years. Returning to Illinois in 1855, he settled
in Saint Jacob, Madison county, where he was engaged in general farming until
1891. Coming then to Pocahontas, Illinois, he lived retired until his death, in
1899, making his home with his son. Soon after his return from the Golden state
he married Ellen Virginia Hayes, of Saint Jacob, who died nearly a quarter of a
century before he did, passing away in 1875. He belonged to the Baptist church,
and was an active member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons, with
which he united in 1855, at the time of his death being one of the oldest and
most highly esteemed members of the lodge. He took great interest in local
affairs, and held various offices of trust, having served as school director,
while for many years he was township
supervisor.
The oldest son and second child of his parents, John Clay Williams
lived on the
home farm in Madison county until twenty years of age, when he went to New
Mexico on an exploring expedition. Finding nothing to specially interest him in
that unsettled country, he returned to Saint Jacob, where he was engaged in
general mercantile pursuits until 1883, being junior member of the firm of
Karges & Williams.
Selling out his interest in the firm in that year,
Mr.
Williams
became traveling salesman for a wholesale house, with which he was
connected in that capacity for five years. In the, meantime, however, in 1884,
he had bought back his interest in the firm of which he had formerly been a
member, and, in company with Mr. Louis Ryan,
continued the business under the
firm name of Ryan & Williams.
Giving up traveling in 1889, Mr. Williams
was
actively engaged in business as a merchant at
Pocahontas, Bond county,
until 1905, being quite successful in his operations. In that year, in
company with
Mr. P. M. Johnson,
of Saint Elmo, Illinois, he established the
Bond County Bank, a private institution, and has since carried on a
substantial business. In 1899
Mr. Williams
was appointed postmaster at
Pocahontas, and has held the position since.
Mr. Williams
married, in 1893,
Naomi Olive Lindley, of Pocahontas, a woman of culture and refinement,
eminently fitted for the duties of
P.
1557
wife and mother. She passed to the
life beyond in November, 1908, leaving five children, namely:
John L.,
Benjamin
Oliver, Marie, Ellen Virginia
and Joseph Aaron.
Politically Mr. Williams ever
supports the principles of the Republican party, and religiously, there being no
church of his own faith, the Baptist, in Pocahontas he attends the Methodist
Church, and is serving as one of its trustees. Fraternally he is a member of the
Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons; and the Order of the Eastern Star; of
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; of the Modern Woodmen of America; and of
the Knights of the Maccabees.
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