Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Williams, A. H. T. May 9, 1877 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com February 14, 2011, 2:44 pm Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 934 - 938 Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company A. H. T. WILLIAMS, of the engineering firm of Blood & Williams, of Portland, is by training and experience well qualified professionally and has done some notable work in his line since locating in this city. Mr. Williams was born at Newport, Monmouthshire, England, on the 9th of May, 1877, and is a son of Edward and Sarah Williams, both of whom are deceased. He attended the public schools until fifteen years of age, when he became an article pupil of the Isca Foundry Company, at Newport, remaining with that concern until twenty- one years of age, during which period he carried on his studies in engineering in the government technical school at Manchester. In 1899 he went to work for West's Gas Improvement Company, of Manchester, still carrying on his technical studies, and later went to Sheffield, where he was for three and a half years in the employ of the Hadfield Steel Foundry. He was in the engineering department and during the last year there served as second assistant works manager. This Hadfield Foundry was the first concern in the world to make manganese steel, at that time called "era manganese steel," from the fact that its formula was discovered through an error. In 1906 Mr. Williams came to the United States, locating at Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where he took a position in the engineering department of the Cambria Steel Company. Three years afterward he took a six weeks trip back to England. He remained with the Cambria Company until January, 1910, when he came to Portland as chief of the engineering department of the Northwestern Steel Company. When they closed down he transferred to the Northwestern Bridge and Iron Company as chief engineer, which position he filled for two years, at the end of which time he took a four months trip through the mountains of Oregon with pack horses. In 1922 Mr. Williams formed a partnership with Henry F. Blood, under the firm name of Blood & Williams, and engaged in the private practice of civil engineering. They have done all kinds of bridge and structural work, in which they have been distinctively successful. They have done the work on many of Portland's school buildings, the Jewish synagogue, the bridge for the Portland Electric Power Company above Estacader, are consulting engineers for the Hammond-Tillamook Lumber Company's bridge and for the Portland Gas Company; they are doing the engineering work on the hangars for the Portland airport, are engineers for the Elks Temple, and were the engineers for the Crown Willamette Paper Company during their rebuilding operations at Camas and West Linn. Mr. Williams is an expert in designing bridges, also in all phases of their construction, having had thorough training in shop and technical work. Mr. Williams gives his political support to the republican party and fraternally is a York Rite Mason and a Noble of the Mystic Shrine and is a member of the City Club. He was four years one of the board of directors, during the period of financing and constructing the Portland Masonic Temple. He is a director of the Oregon Building of Commerce and is a member of the Contractors' Licensing Commission. Of a mechanical and inventive turn of mind, he has devised a number of articles which he has patented, the basement of his home being a well equipped machine shop, in which he is able to indulge his hobby undisturbed. He is also greatly interested in photography, in which he has done much meritorious work, and is well known as a pedestrian, having hiked over practically all of Oregon's mountain ranges, climbing Mt. Hood and other peaks. He expects to spend the summer of 1928 in Europe, where he will visit among relatives and friends. He is wondering if his old home will show as many changes during his absence as have taken place in his adopted country since he came here. While being interviewed, Mr. Williams said: "When I was a boy it was very uncommon for anyone in England to own the property on which his home was built. It was the practice to have a leasehold, which cost them in those days what would be in our money forty to forty-five dollars a year. These leases ran for long periods of time, hence the homeowner was perfectly protected as long as the leasehold money was paid each year, and was safe in building his home on such leased property. "The old home in which I and my brothers and sisters lived was built of solid brick. It was indeed very serviceable. I can remember that in the thirty years of its use the exterior walls had not been repaired in any way. The downspouts were of cast iron and were replaced once that I remember. Our home was three stories and basement, and, as was customary, the basement rooms were all livable rooms — in fact the main living rooms of the house were in the basement, and the floor was of stone slabs, upon which were placed mats. I can remember that neither in winter nor summer were we bothered with any problem of heat or cold. In these days of steam heat and furnaces I often think of how our home, in common with other English homes, was heated only by the use of a large fireplace in the basement living room. The heat from this fireplace seemed to be ample at all times to keep us comfortable. The heat rose from the basement rooms to the other rooms in the house in sufficient amount to keep the entire house heated satisfactorily. Neither do I recall ever suffering any inconvenience of discomfort from dampness, even though the basement was used as living quarters and England has naturally a damp climate. I attribute the comfort and dryness of those old English homes that were not equipped with our modern heating plants to the fact that their walls were built of solid stone or brick and that all of the construction was of the very best. It speaks well for the durability of the old home when I say that our home sold for fifty per cent more than the cost to build it thirty years previously. English homes are built side by side, with little or no space between them. Each home possessed a rear garden, surrounded by walls of brick or stone. They were of the types of gardens that make the English garden copied all over the world." A man of strong character, attractive personality and cordial and affable manner, Mr. Williams has gained a wide circle of loyal friends, while his business record has been such as has given him an enviable place among the leading engineers of Portland and the Pacific coast country. Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/multnomah/photos/bios/williams1498gbs.jpg Photo Size: 138 Kb File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/multnomah/bios/williams1498gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 7.3 Kb