Person Page - 333

     Grace Wilhelm married Albert DeMaria.

     Alvilda Wilkerson was born circa 1846 at Indiana.¹ She was the daughter of William Wilkerson and Elizabeth McClintock.

     Benjamin Wilkerson was born circa 1844 at Indiana.¹ He was the son of William Wilkerson and Elizabeth McClintock.

     Iva Wilkerson was born circa 1841 at Indiana.¹ She was the daughter of William Wilkerson and Elizabeth McClintock.

     Julia Wilkerson was born circa 1844 at Indiana.¹ She was the daughter of William Wilkerson and Elizabeth McClintock.

     William Wilkerson was born circa 1818 at Ohio.¹ He married Elizabeth McClintock, daughter of Mitchell McClintock and Margaret Ruple.

     Alfred Edward Wilkes married Mayme Barbara Czako.¹

     Alice Charlotte Wilkins was born on 14 June 1915 at Los Angeles, Los Angeles Co., California.² She was the daughter of William Wilkins and Alice Andrews. Alice Charlotte Wilkins married Joseph Alexander Nestaval, son of Frank Nestaval and Euphemia McLeod, on 2 November 1933 at Los Angeles, Los Angeles Co., California.^3,1 Alice Charlotte Wilkins married John William McKelligott on 3 June 1950 at Los Angeles, Los Angeles Co., California. Alice Charlotte Wilkins died on 27 April 1971 at San Diego, San Diego Co., California, at age 55.² She was buried at Glen Haven Memorial Park, Sylmar, Los Angeles Co., California.^4,5

     Sarah Jane Wilkins married Andrew Ruple, son of John Rupel and Elizabeth Bird (Byrd). Sarah Jane Wilkins was born on 31 May 1811 at Pennsylvania.¹ She died on 13 June 1896 at age 85.¹ She was buried at Osceola Cemetery, Elkhart, Elkhart Co., Indiana.^1,2

     William Wilkins was born on 14 November 1882 at England. He married Alice Andrews in 1902 at England. William Wilkins died on 13 August 1945 at Los Angeles Co., California, at age 62.

     Bertie Leona Wilkinson was born on 18 February 1873 at Ohio.¹ She was born circa 1874 at Ohio. She married Benjamin W. Maxwell, son of Samuel W. Maxwell and Clara J. Arbuckle, on 4 October 1893 at Shelby Co., Ohio. Bertie Leona Wilkinson died on 25 February 1956 at San Bernardino Co., California, at age 83.¹ She was buried at Rialto Park Cemetery, Rialto, San Bernardino Co., California.¹

     Elizabeth Wilkinson was born at England.¹ She married male Richardson.¹ Elizabeth Wilkinson married Gabriel Purdy, son of Samuel Purdy and Winnifred Wright Griffin, on 7 September 1804 at Sackville, Westmoreland Co., New Brunswick, Canada.¹ Elizabeth Wilkinson died after 1812.¹ She was buried at Rose Cemetery, Nova Scotia, Canada.¹

     SOURCE: Jim Coleman FHL film 1673524, item 14. Ida Wilkinson married Esten M. McClintic, son of William McClintic and Polly Ann Huff, on 23 February 1887.¹

     Michele Starlin Wilkinson married Arleigh Todd Mattson, son of Eugene Lawrence Mattson and Mary Jane Erikson, on 4 July 1993 at Clackamas Co., Oregon.

     Taylor Hamilton Willard was born on 22 August 1880 at Fayette Co., Pennsylvania. He married Martha Ellen Huey, daughter of Jonas Huey and Martha Jane Howel, circa 1930 at Pennsylvania.¹ Taylor Hamilton Willard died on 4 July 1947 at Pennsylvania at age 66.

     Mary June Willenburg was born on 7 July 1938. She married Jerry Oliver Houser, son of Albert Charles Houser and Nettie Irene Ballou, on 1 April 1979 at Idaho. Mary June Willenburg and Jerry Oliver Houser were divorced in 1985 at Aloha, Washington Co., Oregon. Mary June Willenburg died on 9 August 1998 at Hillsboro, Washington Co., Oregon, at age 60.

     Elizabeth Ann Willets was born on 9 March 1845.¹ She was the daughter of Samuel H. Willets and Mary Catherine Purdy. Elizabeth Ann Willets married Thomas Wilson on 19 May 1863. Elizabeth Ann Willets died on 11 February 1919 at age 73.¹

     Jane H. Willets was born on 12 April 1812 at New York.² Jane H. Willets was a Housewife. She was the daughter of John Willets and Betsy (?) Jane H. Willets married Samuel Haskell Purdy, son of David Purdy and Elizabeth Ann Hopkins, circa 1831. Jane H. Willets died on 12 April 1898 at Red Wing, Goodhue Co., Minnesota, at age 86.² She was buried on 14 April 1898 at Oakwood Cemetery, Red Wing, Goodhue Co., Minnesota.^3,4 Death Record for Jane, has parents as John and Betsy Willet. Obituary notice says born in April 1819.

Following from The Red Wing Daily Republican 13Apr1898 (Wednesday), 1:3.
Mrs. S.H. Purdy died last night, at 11 o'clock, at her home on East avenue. Mrs. Purdy was born in the state of New York in April, 1819, and was therefore 79 years old. She has been a resident of this county for thirty-four years. Her husband and one son, David Purdy, of Burnside, remain to mourn her death. She was a woman held in high esteem by a host of friends for her many admirable traits of heart and mind. Her death will be sincerely mourned. The funeral services will be held tomorrow afternoon, at 1:30 o'clock at Christ church, Rev. C.H. Plummer, of Lake City, will officiate.³

     John Willets was born in 1786 at Westchester Co., New York. He married Betsy (?) in 1811.

     Samuel H. Willets was born circa 1817 at New York. He married Mary Catherine Purdy, daughter of David Purdy and Elizabeth Ann Hopkins, on 3 March 1841.

     Abigail Williams married Francis Purdy, son of Joseph Purdy and Elizabeth H. Ogden.¹ Abigail Williams was born circa 1708.² She was the daughter of John Williams.¹ Abigail Williams died circa 1770.² Ancestral File Number RKMQ-VF, submitted by Gordon Hillman. Her Ancestral File Number is RKMQ-VF.

     Adelbert Dexter Williams was born on 2 May 1857 at Leroy, Lake Co., Ohio.¹ He married Julia Ann Warren on 16 December 1874 at Lake Co., Ohio.^2,1 Adelbert Dexter Williams died on 22 March 1915 at Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, at age 57.^1,2 He was buried at Evergreen Cemetery, Painesville, Lake Co., Ohio.²

     Rev. Alvin Dighton Williams was born on 13 October 1825 at Smithfield Center, Bradford Co., Pennsylvania.^1,2 Rev. Alvin Dighton Williams was a Free Will Baptist Preacher. He was the son of Phineas Cromwell Williams and Mary Marilla Loomis. Rev. Alvin Dighton Williams graduated in 1849 at Hamilton College, Clinton, Oneida Co., New York. He married Sarah Anne Harn, daughter of John (II) Harn and Charlotte Hay, on 24 April 1850 at West Falls, Frederick Co., Maryland.² Rev. Alvin Dighton Williams died on 31 December 1894 at Kenesaw, Adams Co., Nebraska, at age 69.³ He was buried circa 1895 at Kenesaw Cemetery, Kenesaw, Adams Co., Nebraska.⁴ Ellen Dorcas Harn Manuscript.

Following from book, PAST AND PRESENT OF ADAMS COUNTY NEBRASKA, Volume II, pub in 1916 by S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., page 307-311.
Alvin Dighton Williams was born October 3, 1825, at Smithfield Center, Bradford county, Pennsylvania, the son of Phineas Cromwell Williams, who in turn was an only son. The latter left Connecticut about 1820. He was orphaned at the age of ten years and had but little educational opportunity. He came of Welsh and English ancestry and tradition says that his ancestors were of the same branch as Oliver Cromwell's. The Williams family in Canticle were generally well educated and tradition says that Thomas Williams was offered the presidency of Yale College but declined because of his connection with Oliver Cromwell and his fear of prominence. Phineas Cromwell Williams became a carriage maker and farmer and devoted his life to those pursuits. In politics he was a Whig and an ardent admirer of Henry Clay.
He wedded Marilla Loomis of Troy, Pennsylvania, having spent his boyhood and youth upon a farm near that place. The Loomis family were English people from Connecticut and her mother's mother, a Godard, was Scotch-Irish. Both Mr. and Mrs. Phineas Cromwell Williams were members of the Freewill Baptist church. Their son, Alvin Dighton Williams, attended Whitestown Seminary and Hamilton College of New York and upon graduation in 1849 received his degree. Many years later the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by Quincy College, now Chaddock College of Quincy, Illinois, this honor being received in 1871. He worked his own way through the seminary and college, teaching and preaching and doing any work he could secure. At the time of his graduation he was ill with typhoid fever. He became of member of the Freewill Baptist church, having been baptized and received into the church of that denomination at Troy, Pennsylvania, June 2, 1839. Two years later he was licensed by the church to preach and given a quarterly meeting license by the Bradford and Tioga meeting in 1842. He was ordained at Carolina Mills, Rhode Island, in 1848 and became pastor of the church there for a time later resuming the work after his graduation. During his college days he read a great deal of English literature and developed a taste for the best which he continued to cultivate and which he transmitted to his children. He bought books as he could afford them and acquired many by writing for publishers. When he came to Nebraska he brought with him a library of between fifteen and twenty hundred volumes.
It was in 1851 that Rev. Williams accepted a call from the church in Pawtucket, Massachusetts, now Rhode Island, remaining there for four and a half years, during which time he increased the church membership to more than twice its original number. In 1855 he assumed the pastorate of the church at Lawrence, Massachusetts, and undertook the work of raising money for a new house of worship which was finished in 1857. An all winter revival trebled the membership. In 1857 he suffered a nervous breakdown and a throat trouble developed into bronchitis which never afterward entirely left him. Physicians said he must leave the New England climate and recommended Minnesota. In the fall the family removed to Minneapolis where he took the pastorate of a Freewill Baptist church, but the throat trouble eventually obliged him to give up preaching and he devoted his time to teaching, writing and publishing papers. He established the Freewill Baptist Quarterly, managing it for three years and finally becoming editor. He was principal of the Minnesota Seminary at Wasioja, Minnesota, until the war called forth the young men in attendance. He then went to Cheshire, Ohio, where for a year he was principal of an academy. He started the West Virginia College at Flemington, West Virginia, and served for several years as president. In 1871 he came to Nebraska and served for one year as president of the State Normal School at Peru. In August, 1872, he arrived in Adams county, Nebraska, and settled on a quarter section, cornering on the townsite of Kenesaw on the northeast, being the first permanent settler within six miles. He built the first permanent house and put down the first well. He bought railroad land and at one time had nearly eight hundred acres. He won a prize of forty acres near Firth for the best article on sheep raising in Nebraska, the prize being offered by the Nebraska State Journal. He also started the Kenesaw Times, later published by his son, and for one year he published the Register at Lowell. Subsequently he established and published the Hastings Nebraskan, of which he had charge for several years. He served for a number of years as a trustee of Nebraska Hospital for the Insane at Lincoln and as a member of the state board of agriculture. At the same time he was conducting his private business interest, both wisely and well. He developed a number of farms near Kenesaw and proved up on a timber claim northwest of the town.
During the '70s he acquired eight hundred acres of land in Nebraska, mostly in Adams county, and at his death he left an estate valued at about fifteen thousand dollars, his land bringing ten thousand dollars. His library of from twelve to fifteen hundred volumes was given to the Oakland City College of Indiana, of which he was president at the time of his demise. While in Kenesaw Mr. Williams assisted in building a Freewill Baptist church and organized the church membership. He also aided in organizing the Hastings, Aurora and Nemaha River quarterly meeting, as chairman of the executive committee of the Nebraska yearly meeting. He organized churches at Marshall, Pleasant Plain, Long Branch, and Lincoln, Nebraska. About 1890 he went south and worked among the General Baptists. He became president of the Oakland City College of Indiana and was thus identified with educational interests at the time of his death. He had been state superintendent of schools in West Virginia in 1869 and 1870, and was principal of the State Normal School at Peru, Nebraska, in 1871-2. He held other positions of public trust, being chaplain of the Minnesota house of representatives between 1857 and 1860. Always a stalwart champion of the cause of temperance, he was worthy chief of the Good Templars in Minneapolis and in 1860 was a delegate to the national convention which met in Nashville, Tennessee. He was made a member of the Association of General Baptists in 1891, so continuing until 1894 and was its moderator in 1891-2. In politics he was a republican from the organization of the party until his death. He supported the party as editor of weekly newspapers- the Kenesaw Times, Lowell Register, and Hastings Nebraskan- and by correspondence to different papers including the Nebraska State Journal. While in Minneapolis about 1858 he joined the Masons and the Good Templars and was a delegate from the latter to the convention in Chicago at which was organized the prohibition party, though he opposed the organization, believing that the temperance movement had better remain non-political. During the senior year of his college days he was elected retiring president of the Phoenix society and also of the Delta Upsilon fraternity and was editor of college papers.
On the 25th of April, 1850, at West Falls, Maryland, Mr. Williams wedded Sarah Anne Harn, daughter of John and Charlotte (Hay) Harn, the former of English and the latter of English and German descent. They settled in Frederick county, Maryland on a farm near Mount Airy. Mrs. Williams was the eldest in a family of nine. She educated herself and assisted her two sisters in securing a course at Cedar Hills Seminary for Young Ladies at Mount Joy, Pennsylvania, of which Rev. N. Dodge was principal and in which Mrs. Williams was an assistant teacher at the time of her marriage. She and her sister, Ellen D. Harn, were the first teachers of Frederick county, Maryland. Her oldest brother, Rev. George U. Harn, was a minister of the Church of God. He became identified with the abolition movement, joined the republican party on its organization and was killed during the Civil war. Her brother Jesse died in the hospital during his service and another brother, Thomas, died from the effects of wounds. The children of Rev. and Mrs. Williams were Cromwell Harn, deceased; Emma Loomis, the wife of I.D. Evans; Mary; Minnie, who has passed away; Katie, the wife of Joseph R. Thrall; and George Thomas, who married Miss Grace Barton of Kenesaw and is now residing in Denver, Colorado. It would be almost tautological in this connection to enter into a series of statements as showing Rev. Williams to be a man of broad scholarly attainment, for this has been shadowed forth between the lines of this review. Further evidence, however, of his position as a man of marked mentality is the fact that he was the author and publisher of various volumes including the Rhode Island Freewill Baptist Pulpit; Memories of Free Communion Baptists; Four Years of Cooperation in Nebraska; Life of Benini Stinson; The Christian Church and its Institutions; and the Beginning of an Autobiography. After making a trip to Florida for his health he died at his home in Kenesaw, December 31, 1894.

Following from book, PAST AND PRESENT OF ADAMS COUNTY NEBRASKA, Volume I, Judge Wm. R. Burton, editor, pub in 1916 by S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., pg 376.
Doctor Williams was a graduate of Hamilton College, New York, and at different times held pastorates with the Free Baptist Church at Carolina Mills, R.I; Pawtucket, R.I; Lawrence, Mass; Minneapolis and Fairport, Minn. He served as the head of several schools among others, principal of the Nebraska State Normal at Peru and Oakland City College, Oakland, Ind. Among his literary productions are "History of the Free Baptists in Rhode Island," "History of the Free Communion Baptists," "Four Years of Co-operation in Nebraska," "The Church and Its Institutions" and a biography of Rev. Benoni Stinson, the originator of the General Baptist denomination in the United States.

Following from the book, ADAMS COUNTY: A STORY OF THE GREAT PLAINS, by Dorothy Weyer Creigh, 1972, published by Adams County-Hastings Centennial Commission, Hastings, Nebraska, page 513.
Kenesaw School District 3 was formed January 5, 1872, A.D. Williams was elected treasurer.

Following from book, PAST AND PRESENT OF ADAMS COUNTY NEBRASKA, Volume I, Judge Wm. R. Burton, editor, pub in 1916 by S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., pg 341.
On February 8, 1878, A.D. Williams, who had established a weekly paper in Kenesaw, the Kenesaw Times, removed the plant to Hastings and changed the name of the paper to the Central Nebraskan. In 1879, Mr. I.D. Evans, now of Kenesaw, was associated with Mr. Williams in the publication of the paper. After the Central Nebraskan had been published about two years the name was changed to the Hastings Central Nebraskan.

Following from book, PAST AND PRESENT OF ADAMS COUNTY NEBRASKA, Volume I, Judge Wm. R. Burton, editor, pub in 1916 by S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., page 367-368.
It is fortunate for the annals of Kenesaw that the first actual settle in that vicinity, Dr. A.D. Williams, was a man who wielded a facile pen and also had a penchant for making accurate records. "The railroad was laid out across this section and finished," wrote Doctor Williams, "in June, 1872, through to Kearney. The Kenesaw townsite was laid out a little before but the depot was not built until along in the fall-I believe the latter part of October or the first of November." Mr. Williams' house on the southeast quarter of section 26, 8, 12, was designated by the government as the location of the post office, and A.D. Williams appointed postmaster.
The first permanent settler anywhere near Kenesaw was A.D. Williams on the southwest quarter of section 28, 8, 12, August 16 1872. He came thither in a 'prairie schooner,' and he with Mrs. Williams, Katie and George lived three weeks in the covered wagon box, setting up the cook stove outside of it, in a kitchen bounded only by the horizon. A.D. Williams died in Kenesaw July 9, 1894.

Following from book, PAST AND PRESENT OF ADAMS COUNTY NEBRASKA, Volume I,
Judge Wm. R. Burton, editor, pub in 1916 by S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., pg 373.
A.D. Williams account of Kenesaw School District: "Early in 1873, it was found that there were twenty-seven children of school age in the district, in which there was a large amount of taxable railroad land and property, while the settlers were nearly all homesteaders, and paid very little taxes. So A.D. Williams proposed that $4,000 of bonds be issued, running for only five years, so that the burden would rest largely on the two railroads-most of the land being Union Pacific land-before the settlers would pay much taxes. "Strange to relate there was opposition to the proposition, most of it from people who had a good supply of children and next to no taxes. But the bonds were issued, the house built in 1874, and both the railroads and some of the homesteaders kicked in."

Following from the book History of Nebraska, volume III, by Albert Watkins, Ph. B., pg 711-712, Western Publishing & Engraving Company, Lincoln, Nebraska, 1913
WILLIAMS, REVEREND ALVIN DIGHTON, deceased, late of Kenesaw, Neb., was the first pioneer settler within a radius of six miles of Kenesaw, he having located there in August, 1872. He came from Peru, Neb., where for one year he was president of the state normal, resigning to move to his farm. He came to Peru from Flemington, W. Va., where he had been president of the Free Baptist College, known as the West Virginia College, of which he was the first president, and was also state superintendent of public instruction of West Virginia. He was educated at Whitestown Seminary and Hamilton College, New York, graduating in the class of 1849, and was pastor of the church of Lawrence, Mass., this being the largest congregation of Free Baptists in the state. Throat trouble caused him to resign his pastorship to seek health in the west. For a time he was pastor in Minneapolis, Minn., resigning to become president of the Wasioja Seminary in Dodge county, Minn., but the Civil War broke up his school. He then became president of the Cheshire Academy in Ohio. In 1869 he was a delegate from Minnesota to the first prohibition convention at Chicago. He did not approve of taking the temperance cause into politics and hence did not affiliate with the prohibition party. He was always a republican in politics, and edited the Kenesaw Times, the Lowell Register, and the Hastings Nebraskan, first called the Central Nebraskan. In Minnesota he edited and published the Minnesota Beacon, a Good Templar paper. In Massachusetts he was one of the editors of the Free Baptist Quarterly, also of the Freewill Baptist Review in Minnesota, and was chairman of the Free Baptist church state committee for organizing churches in Nebraska. He was for many years a member of the board of trustees of the insane asylum at Lincoln, Nebraska, and also a member of the Nebraska state board of agriculture and interested and active in the Nebraska state fair. He wrote much for the Nebraska State Journal, and was an active and influential factor in the upbuilding of the state of Nebraska, morally, religiously, and materially. He at one time owned about 800 acres of land near Kenesaw, and received a prize of forty acres of land near Firth for an essay on sheep raising in Nebraska. In the nineties he went from Nebraska to Oakland City, Ind., and raised the money, founded, and became president of the Oakland College of the general Baptist denomination. He gave $10,000 and his library to this school, having worked his own way through college and knowing the value of an education. He was born October 15, 1825, at Springf1eld, Bradford county, Pa., and was the son of Phineas Cromwell and Mary Marilla (Loomis) Williams. The former was born in Connecticut and the latter in Pennsylvania. He was married to Miss Sarah Harn of Frederick county, Md., daughter of John and Charlotte (Hay) Harn. She was a native of Baltimore. Mrs. Williams was a graduate of Cedar Hill Seminary, and taught in this school for some time prior to her marriage. To them were born six children: Cromwell Harn, who died in infancy; Emma Loomis, wife of I. D. Evans, Kenesaw, Neb. (see sketch in this work) ; Mary Harn, of Kenesaw; Minnie, who died at the age of twenty-two, a graduate of the Nebraska State University, class of 1881; Kate, now Mrs. Joseph R. Thrall. Hemet, Cal, and George Thomas, of Denver, Colo. As a boy at home he published the Desert Home Times and later the Kenesaw Times, and has been for over twenty years a worker on the Denver papers. Mrs. Sarah Harn Williams was an active co-worker with her husband in the home and also in religious and social work. She was a member of the Woman Suffrage Association and was in the early days president of the Free Baptist Woman's Mission Society for Nebraska and Kansas. The burden of the pioneer life, the management of their large farm, and the care and education of their children fell largely on her. Her death took place at Kenesaw, February 4, 1901. Her daughter, Mary Harn Williams, of Kenesaw. was educated in the Peru Normal and the Nebraska State University. She was for some years in the office of the Kenesaw Times, and was associated with Mrs. Colby in the organization of the suffrage association and in work on the Tribune at Beatrice, and was for ten years in the government printing office at Washington, D. C. She is corresponding secretary of the local suffrage club, and in 1906 was elected corresponding secretary of the Nebraska Woman Suffrage Association and later a member of the national executive committee. She is a member of the W. C. T. U., and is local correspondent for the Adams County Democrat, of Hastings.

     Amos O. Williams was born on 7 January 1808 at Fishkill, Dutchess Co., New York.¹ He married Almira Reed, daughter of Calvin Reed and Olivia Elizabeth Warner, on 23 August 1831 at Cuyahoga Co., Ohio.¹ Amos O. Williams died on 31 December 1886 at age 78.¹

     Anna Adelma Williams was the daughter of Phineas Cromwell Williams and Mary Marilla Loomis. She married a Mr Kempton.

     Barton Cromwell Williams was born on 7 February 1892 at Denver Co., Colorado.^1,2 He was the son of George Thomas Williams and Grace A. Barton. Barton Cromwell Williams lived at Denver, Colorado.³ His Social Security Number was 522-01-7129, issued before 1951 in Colorado. Last residence was in Denver, Colorado.³ He died on 10 September 1980 at Denver Co., Colorado, at age 88.^3,2 He was buried at Fairmount Cemetery, Denver, Denver Co., Colorado.²

     Bessie May Williams was born circa 1893 at Sykesville, Carroll Co., Maryland.¹ She lived in August 1933 at Sykesville, Carroll Co., Maryland.¹ She married Ora Grant Harn, son of Dalton Ernen Harn and Clara Jane Scheller, on 18 August 1933 at Shenandoah Junction, Jefferson Co., West Virginia.¹ Bessie May Williams died on 9 March 1986 at Carroll County General Hospital, Westminster, Carroll Co., Maryland. She was buried at Lake View Memorial Park, Sykesville, Carroll Co., Maryland.

     Ancestral File Number CGJL-VX. His Ancestral File Number is CGJL-VX. Charles Williams married Eliza Hearne, daughter of Minos Hearne and Malinda Chinn.

     Cromwell Williams was born on 14 July 1851 at Pawtucket, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts.^1,2 He was the son of Rev. Alvin Dighton Williams and Sarah Anne Harn. The cause of death was died in infancy. Cromwell Williams died on 4 September 1852 at Pawtucket, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, at age 1.^1,2

     Daisy Williams is the daughter of Pulaski Williams and Mary Gibbs.¹ Daisy Williams married Everett Morgan.¹