Morris M. Williams Biography


	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1899. Pages 789-790

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

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MORRIS M. WILLIAMS. As a merchant and business man this gentleman 
deserves more than passing mention. He is proprietor of one of the 
largest business interests of Potter county, and is widely known and 
highly respected. He went to Dakota without means, but persistent 
effort, supplemented by his honesty and business ability, have placed 
him among those of whom the county may well be proud. His general 
merchandise store is located in Lebanon, and his land interests in 
Potter county form no small part of his possessions. He has eleven 
hundred and fifty acres of land with four hundred and fifty acres under 
cultivation, and engages in grain and sheep raising. 

Mr. Williams was born in Portage, Wisconsin, October 12, 1865. His 
father, Oliver P. Williams, was of Welch descent, and was born in 
Utica, New York, and was a real estate dealer. The mother of our 
subject, Mary A. (McFarlane) Williams, was born in Portage, Wisconsin, 
and was of Irish descent. In a family of eight children, five sons and 
three daughters, our subject was the fifth in the order of birth. He 
was raised in the city of Portage and graduated from the Northwestern 
Business College at Madison, Wisconsin. At the age of twenty years he 
left home and in 1885 went to Mandan, North Dakota, where he clerked in 
a hotel, and in April of the year following went to Potter county, 
South Dakota, and located at Gettysburg, entering the real estate 
office with his brother, A. G. Williams. He took a homestead and tree 
claim, afterward letting the homestead revert to the government. He 
went to Lebanon, Potter county, in the fall of 1888, and until the 
following spring purchased grain for the Winona Mill Company. He then 
began buying grain for the Marfield Elevator Company, and selling 
lumber and coal for that firm. He handled machinery for himself in 
Lebanon, and in 1895 purchased the lumber yard from the elevator 
company, since which time he has held his interests in that business. 
In the fall of 1895, in company with Hugh Hughes, he purchased the 
general store belonging to Joe Weatherer, and upon the death of his 
partner in 1899, the widow's interest was sold to Peter Schneider. 
Since April 1, 1899, the store has been owned and operated by our 
subject and Mr. Schneider, under the firm name of Williams & Schneider. 
Our subject had but two or three dollars-when he went to North Dakota 
and began clerking in the hotel in 1883, and he is now one of the well-
to-do men of Potter county, and handles annually more money than any 
other man in the town where he resides. 

Mr. Williams was married in August, 1889, to Miss Frankie Carr, a 
native of Indiana. Mrs. Williams moved with her parents to Nebraska, 
where her father, R. B. Carr, engaged in farming. Mr. Carr was 
afterward one of the first settlers of Potter county, South Dakota. 
Mrs. Williams is a lady of good education and taught school prior to 
her marriage to our subject. Two sons and one daughter have been born 
to Mr. and Mrs. Williams, named as follows: Perry R., born in 1890; 
Benjamin H., born in 1892; and Silvia M., born in 1894. Our subject is 
a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and the Masonic 
fraternity. He has served as township treasurer several terms, and 
takes an active interest in the affairs of his community. He is a 
Republican in political sentiment, and in 1896 was delegate to the 
Republican state convention, and has been delegate to numerous county 
conventions. He is well known and highly respected.