Philip T. McWillams of Portsmouth, NH Biography from A History of Rockingham County, New Hampshire (1915)

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Source: A History of Rockingham County, New Hampshire and Representative Citizens
         by Charles A. Hazlett, Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., Chicago, Ill, 1915

Page 1039

   PHILIP T. McWILLIAMS, a well known resident of Portsmouth,
N. H., is owner and proprietor of a blacksmith shop on Fleet Street,
in addition to which he holds the contract with the United States Gov-
ernment for conveying the mail between the postoffice and railroad
station. He is a native of the state of Maine, having been born in Lew-
iston, July 9, 1870, and is a son of John and Sarah (Driscol) McWil-
liams. On the paternal side he is a descendant of Oliver Cromwell,
some of his ancestors accompanying the famous Protector on his expedi-
tion to Ireland. Many of them served in the British army, his great
grandfather being a colonel in the Sixty-ninth Regiment. His grand-
father fought at Waterloo under Wellington. Mr. McWilliams' ma-
ternal ancestors originally came from Ireland and settled near Quebec.
In those days they were considered well-to-do, as they kept a coach
and footman.
   John McWilliams, father of our subject, was born in the north of
Ireland and was a farmer by occupation. He died at Lewiston, Maine,
as did also his wife. She was born in the United States. In religious
faith they were Protestants. Their family included Richard, William,
Alexander, Anna, John, James, Mathew, Joseph, Philip T. and Mary.
   Philip T. McWilliams attended the public schools until he was ten
years old, and continued to work on the farm with his father until he
was sixteen. At Auburn, Maine, he began learning the trade of a black-
smith, serving an apprenticeship of three years. He worked for others
along that line for about seven years and in 1893 started a shop of his
own on Vaughn Street in Portsmouth. He continued at that location
until 1912 when he established his present shop on Fleet Street. He
is considered an expert horseshoer, and has shod famous horses at most
of the big race tracks in the country, including the trotter Idolita (2.09 1/4),
which captured the biggest purse ever won by a trotter up to that time
(1900), $30,000. He has also quite a reputation locally as a driver of
fast horses. He has always taken a public spirited interest in the affairs
of Portsmouth, and during the years 1904 and 1905 represented the
Fourth Ward on the board of aldermen. He is a Democrat in politics.
   Mr. McWilliams was married to Miss Mary Mara, who was born
in Lewiston, Maine. She died in 1907, leaving her husband and five
children-Sarah, Mary, Wallace, Anna and Philip, Jr. The family is
identified with the Catholic Church. Mr. McWilliams is a member of
the Knights of Columbus, Royal Arcanum and Patrons of Husbandry.