My Genealogy Hound

ALFRED K. WILLIAMS, a well known farmer of Horsham township, is descended from an old colonial family of Welsh origin. He was born in Abington township, Montgomery county, December 5, 1852. He was reared to farming pursuits, and educated in the public schools; at Treemount Seminary, conducted by Professor John W. Loch, at Norristown; and at Bryant and Stratton’s Commercial College in Philadelphia. He is the son of Daniel and Priscilla J. (Kirk) Williams, she of Abington and he of Cheltenham township. Daniel Williams (father) was a son of Anthony and Elizabeth Williams, well known farmers of Cheltenham. John Williams, great-grandfather of Anthony, was a native of Merionethshire, Wales, where he was born in 1670. When he was quite a young man, he associated himself with a land company which purchased from William Penn, the proprietor of Pennsylvania, five thousand acres of land in Lower Merion and adjoining townships, known as the Welsh Purchase, and later as the Welsh Tract. John Williams and his associates came to Pennsylvania and located on a part of their land in 1690.

Anthony Williams was a successful farmer and a leading member of the Friends’ Meeting at Abington. Politically he was a Whig and Republican, taking part in the anti-slavery movement, which was so generally supported by the Society of Friends. His children: Rachel, married John L. Hallowell; Rebecca, married Israel Hallowell; George and Reuben, farmers; Jane, married Hallowell Twining; Daniel (father).

Daniel Williams was reared in farm pursuits, attending Friends’ school at Abington. When he married he removed to Abington township, remaining there ten years, and at the end of that time purchasing a farm in Whitemarsh township, where he located on a farm purchased for him by his father, on which he continued during the remainder of his life. He died in 1899. He was a successful farmer and lime burner, and was at one time interested in iron works at Wilmington, Delaware. He owned other farms and city property, and was regarded as one of the most substantial citizens of Montgomery county. He was an active member of the Society of Friends, like his father. Politically he was a Republican, but never aspired to public office. His wife died in February, 1890. She was a daughter of John and Tabitha (Lukens) Kirk, of Abington. The Kirk and Lukens families have long been domiciled in Montgomery and adjoining counties, and have long been identified with the progress of the communities in which they lived. John Kirk was a prominent farmer of Abington township. His children: Elias, a well known business man of the lower section of Montgomery county; Elizabeth, married Thomas Hallowell; Tacy, married Jarrett Penrose; Sarah, married Barclay Jarrett; Emeline, married Joseph Tyson; Priscilla, married Daniel Williams; Alfred, at one time a merchant in Philadelphia and later a farmer; Lukens, a merchant in Philadelphia. All are now deceased except Mrs. Tacy Penrose, who is eighty-three years of age.

The children of Daniel and Priscilla Williams: Alfred K., subject of this sketch; Mary K., unmarried; Edward C. and Howard H., farmers; Walter, assistant in a Germantown bank; John K., professor in Pierce’s Business College, Philadelphia; all are living and all useful citizens and members of the Society of Friends.

Alfred K. Williams remained with his parents until March 25, 1885, when he married Susan P. Jarrett, daughter of George and Sidney A. (Lukens) Jarrett, born in Upper Dublin township, November 17, 1853. He then located on the original Kirk homestead in Abington township, where he remained sixteen years. In 1899 he removed to the farm he now occupies in Horsham township. His farm is small, and he occupies himself principally in trucking, and attends market. He resides in a commodious house with all the latest improvements. Politically he is a Republican, and is an active worker for party success. He has been for a number of years a member of the school board, and occupied the position of president for nine years. He has also officiated as judge of elections. He is a director of the Whitemarsh Building and Loan Association, and was for some time a director of the Mutual Fire Insurance Company, of Jenkintown.

Mrs. Williams’ parents were both descendants of old colonial families, her Lukens and Jarrett ancestors being among the earliest immigrants to Pennsylvania, the former from Holland and the latter from Scotland. Her father, George Jarrett, was a son of Isaac and Mary (Trump) Jarrett, both of Bucks county. Isaac Jarrett was the son of Jonathan Jarrett, born in 1753, and settled on a farm in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where he reared his children, and died at an advanced age. His children were: John, born in 1779; Richard, 1780; Isaac, 1782; Jonathan, died in infancy; Jonathan (second) born in 1787. The family have been for many generations members of the Society of Friends and more or less prominent in their respective communities. When Isaac was married he turned his attention to farming on the homestead, being of that plain, honest type of farmer who attended strictly to his own business and never aspired to office or to public notoriety of any kind. His children: Rebecca, born in 1810; Margaret, 1812, married Daniel Lloyd; Barclay, a farmer; Jesse, 1817, emigrated to the West as well as his brother Barclay; Edward, 1819; George, 1822, father of Mrs. Williams; Richard, 1830, a farmer. George Jarrett was a practical business man, and was successful in all his undertakings. He attended Philadelphia market many years. In politics he was a Republican, and served several years as a school director, and filled minor township offices. He was a director of the Philadelphia Hay Market Association, of a fire insurance company, and of several turnpike companies, and attended to the settlement of estates and other business of that kind, as he enjoyed the confidence of the community. In his later years he turned the homestead over to his son, whose children are the sixth generation of the family to occupy it, and in 1881 purchased the small farm on which Alfred Williams now resides. His wife died April 18, 1897, and he passed away April 29, 1900. His wife was a daughter of Joseph and Susan (Paul) Lukens, of a well known Bucks county family. Joseph was a brother of Seneca Lukens, a well known clockmaker. Joseph resided in Upper Dublin township, whence he removed to Willow Grove, in Montgomery county, and still later to Horsham township where he died. His children: Isaiah, a physician; Hannah, married Lukens Paul; Joshua P., a farmer; Sidney A., mother of Mrs. Williams; Jervis, a business man in Philadelphia; Sarah, unmarried. The children of George Jarrett: Howard, residing at Hatboro; Susan, wife of Alfred K. Williams; Mary, died at the age of ten years; Lukens, died at the age of twenty-one years, in 1891, unmarried.

The children of Alfred K. and Susan P. Williams: Harold, born December 6, 1889, died August 10, 1890; Florence, born June 29, 1891.