My Genealogy Hound

O. A. Williams, M. D., an eminent pioneer physician of Morgan County, Mo., was born in Mansfield, Ohio, in 1835, his parents being Daniel and Mary (McLaughlin) Williams, who were born in New York and Pennsylvania, respectively. When the father was a lad he went to Hartford, Conn., where he learned the blacksmith’s trade, and in 1830 removed to Ohio, and in 1837 to Morgan County, Mo., locating in Versailles, where he established the first blacksmith’s shop in the town. Here he died in 1882, at the age of seventy-three years, still survived by the mother, whose age is seventy-one years. He was a devoted member of the Baptist Church, a prominent member of the A. F. & A. M., an active supporter of all worthy public enterprises, and after the war became a Democrat, having previously supported the Whig party. He was taken prisoner by the Federal troops during the Rebellion, and kept a prisoner at Jefferson City for nine weeks, although he was a stanch Union man during that time. His children are as follows: O. A.; Electa, wife of John Hunter; Phoebe, wife of Samuel Harrison; John, who is deputy sheriff and collector of Morgan County; Daniel, a merchant of St. Louis; Isabel, wife of Richard Nichols, and Mary, wife of Thomas Mobely. O. A. Williams, our subject, was reared and educated in Versailles, and learned the blacksmith’s trade with his father, but becoming dissatisfied with this work he, at the age of sixteen years, entered the office of Dr. McCoy and began the study of medicine, also assisting his father in the shop, thus paying his own way. In 1854 he entered the St. Louis Medical College, and after attending this institution until 1855 located in Livingston County, Mo., where he was engaged in practicing his profession until 1861, at which date he enlisted in the Missouri State Guard, and at the end of six months joined the Confederate army, and was attached to the General Hospital Department, and served in that capacity until the close of the war, in 1865. He was in the battles of Pea Ridge, Wilson’s Creek, and was with Price on his raid through Missouri. He returned to Versailles in 1866, where he has since been very successfully engaged in the practice of his profession, being a partner of Dr. Thruston five years. He is a Democrat in politics, and was elected by his party to represent them in the Thirty-second General Assembly of the State. He is also a member of the A. F. & A. M., and is considered one of the best read physicians in the State, and is very frequently consulted by his medical brethren. He was married in 1867 to Miss Alpha Davis, a native of Missouri, and a daughter of Porter E. Davis. They have seven children: Fred; Porter, a practicing physician; Lucy, a teacher in the public schools of Versailles; Nannie, Willie, Vincil and Daniel Lutz. Mrs. Williams is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.