Bio of WILLIAMS, Alette Marie OLSON (b.1873 d.1964) Kandiyohi Co., MN (Family Bio) ========================================================================= USGENWEB NOTICE:In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. If you have found this file through a source other than the MNArchives Table Of Contents you can find other Minnesota related Archives at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/mnfiles.htm Please note the county and type of file at the top of this page to find the submitter information or other files for this county. FileFormatted by Terri--MNArchives Made available to The USGenWeb Archives by: Joanne Bledsoe ========================================================================= The information on Marie is from family stories and personal recollections. My grandmother Marie was 70 when I was born so most of what I know was told to me by my aunt and father: ALETTE MARIE OLSON WILLIAMS Marie was born April 11, 1873 in Willmar Minnesota. She grew up in Minnesota, and attended a one-room school in District 48. The school district was organized by her father John Olson and several others in the community. The family moved to Seattle sometime during the early 1890's. Marie lived in Georgetown where her father and brothers owned a grocery store (Olson Brothers 2400 1st Avenue, Seattle). Marie was a clerk in the store. In 1898 she accompanied her bother Olof to Alaska to join her father and brother Adolph in their attempt to mine for gold. This was during the big Yukon gold rush. She traveled by boat to Skagway and crossed the Chilkout Pass on foot to White Horse. This was a difficult trek for a man and beast so she must have been a mighty sturdy woman. At White Horse they went by riverboat to Dawson. There she met and married Frank Williams. She and Frank built a hotel near Mayo City at a place known as Williams Creek (named for Frank Williams). Marie ran the hotel and Frank mined for gold. They returned to Seattle in 1906 with their small daughter Bernice and very little money to show for all their efforts. They stayed in Seattle for a while with Marie's parents and eventually settled in Auburn. In Auburn they started a taxi service between Enumclaw and Auburn. The company grew and they had the fanchise for the bus and taxi service for south King County. During the 1930's, when the depression hit, their business was not doing well so they moved to a farm in Kingston. On the farm they raised cows and chickens. In the 1940's when John's business grew and began to prosper, they moved back to Seattle. They invested in rental property in Ballard and Queen Anne. The best way to describe Marie is that she was determined, strong willed, and self-reliant. She had red hair and a temper. She ran the family and on several occasions drove Frank out of the house to live on his own. However, she was the one who kept the family going when things got rough. She worked to put John through college. She was very close to her son and he took good care of her when she became old and ill. She had to be a strong person to go to the Yukon and work gold claims. Several gold claims were filed in her name in the Dawson City records. I remember Marie when I was a child. She wore heavy cotton socks that were thigh high and she kept her important money in her sock. She had to lift up her skirt to get at it. She used turpentine as a cure all for colds and sore throats. She would gargle with it or put it on a sugar cube and eat it to "cure what ails you". Once, she must have over done it because she ended up in the hospital and the Doctor told John that if he didn't stop her from doing this she could kill herself. Marie tended to have a jealous streak. She often fought with Frank and accused him of running around on her. She would stack cans by the door at night to catch him if he decided to get up and leave during the night. When she was in her eighties, she became senile and wouldn't let Frank have any money unless he was going to the store. Then she would only give him enough for the groceries that they needed and bus fare for him to get to the store and back. She was afraid that he might spend any extra money on "sportin women". John thought this was funny, but his sister Bernice was not amused. Marie died in 1964 at the age of 92. She had suffered several strokes during the last years of her life. She is buried with her husband of 65 years in Mt Pleasant Cemetery on Queen Anne hill.