Lucas-Davis County IA Archives Biographies.....Williams, Parkison 1837 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 November 29, 2011, 12:43 am

Source: See below
Author: Lewis Publishing Co. (1896)

PARKISON WILLIAMS, to whose ancestral and personal history we now direct
attention, is one of the old settlers and representative farmers of Warren
township, Lucas county, Iowa, and also a veteran of the Civil war.

   Mr. Williams was born in Decatur county, Indiana, November 3, 1841. His
father, Samuel Williams was born December 11, 1822, in Monroe county, now West
Virginia, son of John and Sarah (Shoe) Williams, both natives of the Old
Dominion and the former born of Welsh parents. John and Sarah Williams had three
children, Elizabeth, Samuel and Martha. This worthy couple were among the first
settlers of Decatur county, Indiana, their location there being in the midst of
a beech forest, where Mr. Williams cleared up and brought under cultivation a
good farm. He met his death by drowning while on a steamboat on the Mississippi
river, en route to Iowa. She died in Indiana. Samuel Williams was reared on his
father's frontier farm and was educated in one of the primitive log
school-houses of Indiana. In that State he was married to Miss Susanna Swinney,
like himself, born in Virginia and reared in Indiana. Her father, William
Swinney, was one of the pioneers, of Indiana, and he, too, was a Virginian by
birth. In the year 1847, Samuel Williams with his wife and children made the
journey from Indiana to Iowa, in a wagon drawn by horses, arriving here in
safety and first settling in Davis county. In 1850 they moved from Davis to
Lucas county and settled on wild land in Warren township. Here they built a log
cabin and devoted their energies to the work of establishing a home. When the
war came on and continued to rage, Mr. Williams left his home and family and
joined the Union ranks. It was in 1862 and as a member of Company I, Fourth Iowa
Infantry, that he enlisted, and in the battle of Pea Ridge he was shot and
killed by a minie ball, and he was buried at Pea Ridge. Both he and his wife
were members of the Baptist Church. She died at the age of fifty-seven years. Of
their children we make record as follows: Parkison, the subject of our sketch,
is the oldest; John; Margaret Wells, Gentry county, Missouri; Delana, Wayne
county, Iowa; Margery Tuttle, Warren township, Lucas county; Martha Fent,
Columbus, Nebraska; Mary Willson, Freedom, Iowa; Jennie Tuttle, Wayne county, Iowa.

   At the time the Williams family moved to Lucas county, Iowa, Parkison was
nine years old, and here on his father's farm he grew up, assisting as much as
he could in its improvement and cultivation, and receiving a fair education in
the public schools. His father had given not only his services but also his life
to the Union cause, and in January, 1864, the subject of our sketch also
enlisted and went out to protect the old flag. He was a member of the Third Iowa
Cavalry, under Colonel Noble, Colonel Trimble, and Major Duffy, and his services
covered a period of eighteen months, after which he was honorably discharged and
returned to his home in Iowa. The battles in which he participated were those of
Osage, Missouri; Columbus, Georgia; and Selma, Alabama; and he was on the Big
Blue river in Kansas when General Marmaduke was captured.

   Mr. Williams came to his present farm in 1859, and with the exception of the
time he was in the army and eighteen months in Reno county, Kansas, he has
resided here ever since. His farm comprises 120 acres of choice land, including
both timber and prairie, and is well improved with orchard, buildings, etc.

   In November, 1860, Mr. Williams married Miss Sarah J. Essix, a native of
Vermillion county, Indiana, and a daughter of Ed and Solene (Gugie) Essix. Her
parents were early settlers of Lucas county, Iowa, but subsequently removed to
Pierce City, Missouri, where they now reside. The children of Mr. and Mrs.
Williams are eleven in number and as follows: Mary Etta Tuttle, Wayne county,
Iowa; Elizabeth Ryun, Taylor county, this State; Samuel L., Wayne county; Anna,
a successful teacher of Lucas county; Belle Conner, also of this county, was for
five years before her marriage engaged in teaching; Ed C., Lucas county; Nora
McGinnis; Hattie Layton, music teacher; and Solena, Elbert and Arthur.

   Mr. Williams has always taken a deep interest in local affairs, and casts his
ballot and influence with the Republican party. He has served as Township
Trustee and also as Justice of the Peace, having served in the latter office
four terms, and in both educational and church work he has taken a prominent and
active part. He is a Deacon and Clerk in the local organization of the Baptist
Church. He has been an active Christian ever since he was thirteen years old,
representing the church in all its councils and associations wherever a
representative was required. All of his family that have entered their 'teens
except one have entered church work early in their 'teens. His energy has not
abated. His whole life, both private and public, has been such as to entitle him
to the respect and esteem which he receives from his fellow citizens.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

A MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF IOWA

ILLUSTRATED

CHICAGO: THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1896


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