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Below is a family biography included in the book, The History of Lauderdale County, Tennessee published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1886.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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John T. Williams, a prominent farmer and large mill owner of Lauderdale County, was born in Montgomery County, Tenn., June 30, 1833, and was the son of E. W. Williams, who was a native of Virginia, and immigrated to Tennessee when a boy, settling in Montgomery County, where he was raised and educated, and was married to Miss A. Davis, a daughter of David Davis, a farmer of the same county. They remained in Montgomery County until 1839, when they moved to West Tennessee and settled in Lauderdale County. He was a blacksmith, and followed the trade through life. He died in 1851. Our subject’s mother was born in Middle Tennessee, and died in 1859. He received a very limited education in school, but afterward acquired a good business education by observation and experience. He farmed until 1871, when he engaged in the saw-mill business. He now owns three saw-mills, with a capacity of 40,000 feet per day, and one planing-mill with a capacity of 30,000 feet daily, two cotton-gins and two grain-mills: the entire outfit cost $22,000. Mr. Williams was married, in Lauderdale County, June 15, 1854, to Martha Whitson, daughter of James Whitson, of Missouri, and one of the early settlers of West Tennessee. Seven children were born to this marriage, six now living: James E., John T., Mary C., William B., David A. (deceased), Oliver D. and George Robert. Mrs. Williams was born at the present homestead March 23, 1832. Mr. Williams was an old line Whig before the war, but is now a Democrat. With his wife he belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church South. He owns 2,000 acres of land; 400 acres of it is three miles south of Ripley, Tenn., on the Newport News & Mississippi Valley Railroad, and the rest five and a half miles west of Ripley, on the Fulton Road. He has a pleasant home on the first tract. Mr. Williams is a man of strict integrity, and one of the leading citizens in the county.

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This family biography is one of 116 biographies included in the book,  The History of Lauderdale County, Tennessee published in 1886 by Goodspeed.  The History of Lauderdale County was included within The History of Lauderdale, Tipton, Haywood, and Crockett Counties of Tennessee. For the complete description, click here: History of Lauderdale, Tipton, Haywood, and Crockett Counties, Tennessee

View additional Lauderdale County, Tennessee family biographies here: Lauderdale County, Tennessee

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