DeSoto Parish, Louisiana; Biography: Joseph Williams - w452

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            Joseph Williams, general merchant and farmer,
         Gloster, La.  Mr. Williams is one of those prom-
         inent men who find it to his advantage to intro-
         duce some other industry besides farming in his
         line of occupation, and is today one of the promi-
         nent merchants of Gloster.  He was originally
         from Jasper County, Miss., his birth occurring in
         1842, and is a son of Phillip P. and Rebecca (Col-
         lins) Williams, the father born in South Carolina,
         in 1815, and the mother in Hinds County, Miss.,
         in 1820.  The parents were married in the last
         named State, and moved from there to De Soto
         Parish, in 1849, settling in the woods near Keatchie,
         where they improved a good farm.  The father
         was a successful farmer and died on his farm in
         1887.  The mother is still living.  The paternal
         grandfather, Joseph Williams, was born in the
         Palmetto State, and died in Mississippi, where he
         had followed agricultural pursuits for many years.
         The maternal grandfather, Col. Mores Collins, was
         born in Georgia, and came to De Soto Parish about
         1847, dying there in 1859.  He was a farmer by
         occupation and a soldier in the early wars. Joseph
         Williams, the eldest of eight children, four now
         living, and all but one in De Soto Parish, was early
         trained to the duties of the farm, and received an
         average common-school education.  In 1861 he
         enlisted in the Nineteenth Louisiana Infantry, in
         the Army of Tennessee, and participated in the
         battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Chickamauga, Mission-
         ary Ridge, and the Atlanta campaign, back to
         Franklin and Nashville.  He surrendered near
         Meridian, Miss., at the close of the war, as a non-
         commissioned officer of sharpshooters.  After the
         war he returned to the farm in De Soto Parish, and
         was married in 1868 to Miss Martha V. Crawford,
         who was born in Mississippi, and who was the
         daughter of Rev. Peter and Maria C. (Montague)
         Crawford, natives of the Old Dominion.  The
         parents were married in Virginia, and moved from
         there to Marion, Ala., thence to Mississippi, and
         in 1866 to De Soto Parish, where Mr. Crawford
         died in 1873, and his widow in 1887.  The former
         was a Baptist minister of prominence, and was
         founder of the Judson Institute at Marion, Ma.,
         where he was pastor of the church for a number of
         years.  He and wife were both among the promi-
         nent educators of the South the principal part of
         their  lives.  Mr. Crawford was president of
         Keatchie Female College for five years previous to
         his death, and was a man of mark.  To Mr. and
         Mrs. Williams were born eight children.  They
         have five daughters living.  Since his marriage
         Mr. Williams has lived near Keatchie, where he has
         five farms, owning about 4,500 acres of land, all of
         which is the material result of industry and perse-
         verance.  He followed merchandising on his plan-
         tation for about ten years, and in 1889 moved his
         store to Gloster, where he now has a good trade.
         Mr. Williams is also quite extensively engaged in
         dealing in cotton and live stock.  Mrs. Williams is
         a consistent member of the Baptist Church at
         Keatchie.  Mr. Williams is a member of the Ma-
         sonic fraternity at Keatchie Lodge No. 121, and
         was a member of the chapter at Mansfield.