My Genealogy Hound

IRVIN C. WILLIAMS, attorney-at-law, a member of the bar of Philadelphia and also of Norristown, with an office in each place, is a resident of Royersford. He is a native of Montgomery county, having been born near Audubon, formerly Shannonville, six miles above the county seat, in Lower Providence township, December 2, 1866. He is a son of Jacob and Hannah (Cooke) Williams, both of whom are lifelong residents of the county. The couple have five children: Irvin C.; Charles C., of Upper Providence; Howard C., Nellie L., and Dr. Horace O. Williams, all of Lansdale.

Jacob Williams (father) has always followed the occupation of farming, his home being in Upper Providence township, where he has lived most of his life. He and his wife are members of the Lutheran church. He was a soldier in the war for the Union, being a member of Company F, Twenty-seventh Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers. He was a private, serving more than three years, and participating in the first battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861; in the skirmishes around Washington, when it was menaced by the Confederate forces; and in a number of other battles. Later he was detailed for duty as one of the outside men in the hospital service.

Ezekial Williams (grandfather) was born in Montgomery county, where he lived most of his life. He was a farmer and a merchant, and was in military life, seeing service in quelling the Philadelphia riots in 1844. His wife was Deborah Spare. They had five children, four of whom are still living. His wife died at the age of ninety-six years.

Charles Cooke (maternal grandfather) is still living, at the age of ninety years. He was born in Lehigh county, and is of German descent. His wife was Eliza Zollers, who is deceased. They had six children, all now living. Charles Cooke is a stonemason by trade and did some contract work in his time, although long retired from active business.

Irvin C. Williams has been a resident of Montgomery county all his life except two years. To the age of fifteen years he lived on the farm, and attended the public schools regularly, acquiring thus the rudiments of an education. He then entered Washington Collegiate Institute at Trappe and afterwards the Phoenixville high school, being graduated in 1885. After teaching school for two years, he attended Ursinus College at Collegeville, and was graduated from the institution in 1891. In the same year he entered the service of the United States government, serving in the war department at Washington for two years. During that time he took a course in law at Columbian University, under Justices Harlan and Brewer, and was graduated from that institution in the spring of 1893. He then entered the law department of the University of Pennsylvania and left it with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, in June, 1894. He was immediately admitted to the Philadelphia bar, and in the following year to the bar of Montgomery county at Norristown, beginning at once the practice of law in Philadelphia. He has an office in the Stephen Girard Building in Philadelphia, and one also in Norristown, where he is associated with John T. Wagner, under the firm name of Wagner & Williams.

On Februarv 22, 1895, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Harley, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Landes) Harley. The couple have two children: Ruth and Paul.

Mr. Williams is a member of the Lutheran church. Mrs. Williams belongs to the German Baptist Brethren church. Politically he is a Republican, feeling much interest in the success of that party. He has frequently addressed public meetings at various points in the county, in advocacy of its candidates, its principles and its policy in national and state affairs. He is a pleasing speaker and an earnest and aggressive worker.

Mr. Williams has antiquarian tastes and is one of the most active members of the Montgomery County Historical Society, whose library he has been engaged in cataloguing in his spare moments during the past two or three years, succeeding admirably in this work. He has read several valuable papers on local historical subjects at its meetings, and has otherwise done much to promote the interests and the objects of the organization. He is a skilled botanist and mycologist and has spent much time and labor on the flora of Montgomery county and of the District of Columbia.

In April, 1903, he was selected by Governor Pennypacker for a position in the department of forestry at Harrisburg, where he fills the post of expert in the sciences relating to the work therein, and is also actively employed as general counsel for that department.