Pleasants County, West Virginia Biography of Joe WILLIAMS ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: 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 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. Submitted by Valerie Crook, , April 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 36-37 JOE WILLIAMS is founder and publisher of the Pleasants County Leader, the second oldest but the largest newspaper in point of circulation and influence in Pleasants County and in fact one of the best edited journals in that section of the state. Mr. Williams has been a citizen of invaluable influence in St. Marys, is a former representative of Pleasants County, and was also postmaster of St. Marys for a number of years. His family were pioneers in Greenbrier County, West Vir- ginia, going into that mountainous section from old Virginia. His grandfather, Joseph Williams, was born in 1800, owned a farm, but spent a large part of his time hunting. He died in Greenbrier County in 1884. His wife was a Miss Brown, a native of the same county, who died in Kansas. James M. Williams, father of the St. Marys editor, lived all his life on one farm in Greenbrier County, where he was born in 1837 and died in 1909. He was a soldier in the Union Army. At first he was a scout attached to the forces of General George Crook. Later he joined Captain Andrew W. Mann's Company of State Guards from Greenbrier County, being enrolled in the Company December 1, 1864, and discharged July 1, 1865. This service was a particularly hazardous one in the No Man's Land between the Union and Confederate lines, and he had a full share in that strenuous campaigning. He was a republican in politics and a member of the Baptist Church. James M. Williams married Lavina McMillan, who was born in 1838 and died in 1905, spending all her life in Greenbrier County. They became the parents of seven chil- dren: John R., who died on the Williams homestead at the age of thirty, having taught school for a number of years; Nellie Frances, wife of Moffat May, a farmer, stock raiser and lumber dealer living near White Sulphur Springs, West Vir- ginia; Luelle, wife of Rev. S. A. Mondy, a clergyman of the Adventist Church near Macon, Georgia; Joe; Mrs. Maggie Burns, who died on the old home farm; Emra, a farmer at Myrtle Creek, Oregon; Mrs. Cassie Christian, whose husband operates a part of the Williams homestead. Joe Williams, who was born January 20, 1873, lived on the farm to the age of eighteen and acquired his early education in the rural schools of Greenbrier County. For two years he worked for N. S. Bruffey in a store at Falling Spring in Greenbrier County, and then as clerk for W. H. Overholt at the same place about two years. During 1894-95 he attended Michaels University at Logansport, Indiana, taking a business course, and in the fall of 1895 began in connection with jour- nalism at Sistersville as an employe of J. H. McCoy on the Daily Oil Review. On September 12, 1898, Mr. Williams moved to St. Marys and established the Pleasants County Leader, of which he has since been proprietor and editor. He owns the Leader Build- ing and the entire plant, and has one of the best equipped newspaper offices in this section of the state, including linotype machines, cylinder press, etc. It is a republican paper, cir- culating throughout Pleasants and surrounding counties, and has an extensive mailing list to all the oil sections of the country. Mr. Williams was postmaster of St. Marys from 1905 to 1913. He was reappointed by President Taft, but the demo- cratic Senate refused to confirm him for a third term. He was city treasurer in 1914-15, and in November, 1918, was elected on the republican ticket to represent Pleasants County in the State Legislature. He was one of the very useful members in the sessions of 1919-20. As a member of the educational com- mittee he helped frame the present school code. He was chair- man of the committee on executive offices and libraries, and a member of the committees on election and privileges, insur- ance and Virginia debt. Mr. Williams affiliates with the Presbyterian Church, is a past master of St. Marys Lodge No. 41, F. and A. M., a member of Sistersville Chapter No. 27, R. A. M., Mountain State Commandery No. 14, K. T., Nemesis Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Parkersburg, and St. Mary's Chapter No. 31 of the Eastern Star. During the war he made the Pleasants County Leader an effective source of influence and publicity for the Government and every patriotic cause associated with the winning of the war, and was personally active in the various drives in his locality. Mr. Williams owns a modern home at 501 First Street and is also owner of a baseball park at St. Marys. In 1899 he married Miss Eloise Bachman, daughter of Cap- tain Martin and Margie E. (Miller) Bachman, now deceased. Her father, who was a lumber manufacturer at St. Marys, served as a captain in the Union Army during the Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have four children: Nellie, born August 19, 1902, is in the junior class at West Virginia Uni- versity; and the three younger children, all attending high school, are Doris, born in June, 1905; Joe, born in August, 1906, and Mazie, born in May, 1908.