Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Williams, Henry O 
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Deb Haines http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00003.html#0000719 February 6, 2008, 5:11 am

Author: Past and Present of Will County, IL; 1907

Henry O. Williams, filling the office of sheriff of Will county, to which he 
was elected in the fall of 1906, was born in Joliet, July 29, 1864. He is a 
son of Robert Williams, who came from Ohio in the early '60s and who worked in 
the Chicago & Alton woodyard for a few years. He then removed to Springfield, 
where he remained for five years as baggage master for the Chicago & Alton 
Railroad. Returning to Joliet he was employed in a similar capacity for the 
same road for several years, and his death here occurred in 1872. His wife, 
who bore the maiden name of Nancy A. Callan, was born in Ohio, where they were 
married. They came together to Illinois and her death occurred in Joliet in 
1898, when she had reached an advanced age. Henry O. Williams was educated in 
the Joliet public schools and his start in life was secured solely through his 
own efforts. He began selling newspapers and shining shoes and in this humble 
way entered the business world, wherein he has since made a creditable record. 
For a time he carried telegrams for the Chicago & Alton Railroad and worked 
his way upward to a position in the freight department, where he remained for 
five years. He then became cashier for the Michigan Central Railroad, 
occupying that position for a few years, after which he accepted a position of 
teller in the Joliet National Bank, thus serving until a recent date. Mr. 
Williams has made a creditable record in public office as well. He was city 
treasurer for two years and discharged his duties with such promptness and 
fidelity that he readily secured the nomination for sheriff of Will county, to 
which position he was elected on the 6th of November, 1906. For years he was a 
member of the republican county central committee and in that connection did 
effective service for the party organization. He is identified with many 
fraternal bodies, including the Modern Woodmen camp, the Elks lodge, the 
Eagles, the Royal Arcanum, the White Cross, the National Union, the Court of 
Honor and others. In 1890 Mr. Williams was married, in Joliet, to Miss Kate A. 
Mitchell, who was born in this city and is a daughter of Matthew Mitchell, one 
of the early settlers here. They now have a son and daughter: Walter F., who, 
at the age of fourteen years, is attending college in Quincy, Illinois; and 
Mary Edith, three years of age, at home. The record which Mr. Williams has 
made indicates a strong force of character, laudable ambition and earnest 
purpose, for, starting out in life empty-handed, he has depended entirely upon 
his own resources and is today accorded a place of prominence in public regard 
in Joliet by reason of the position which he has filled in business and 
political circles. 

Additional Comments:
PAST AND PRESENT OF WILL COUNTY, ILLINOIS By W. W. Stevens President of the 
Will County Pioneers Association; Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing 
Company, 1907

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