My Genealogy Hound

W. W. WILLIAMSON, mining operator, was born in Surrey County, N. C, in 1830, his parents being John and Elizabeth Williamson, nee Somers. John Williamson was the son of John H. Williamson, one of the first Provincial Governors of North Carolina, and also one of the framers of the State Constitution, and for many years an active official in the State. W. W. Williamson learned the trade of watchmaker and jeweler, in Montgomery, Ala., and at the age of twenty-three he located in Missouri, and was engaged in the mining industry there until the war. He smelted the first lead ore that was smelted in Newton County. In 1861 he was Compelled to leave that section of the country on account of his political views, and located in St. Clair County, Ill., where he joined in defense of the Union in Company I, One Hundred and Seventeenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and remained in active service until the close of the war, when he was honorably discharged as a veteran of Company I, One Hundred and Seventeenth Illinois Infantry. After the war he engaged in mining in St. Clair County, Ill., and followed it actively there until 1876, when he came to Galena, Kan., and has successfully operated in that industry here since. He has been an active member of the Knights of Labor since its organization here.