My Genealogy Hound

J. M. Williams, proprietor and owner of Evening Shade carding factory and saw and corn-mills, was born in Sharp County, in 1858. His parents were John W. and Margaret (Worley) Williams, of North Carolina and Tennessee, respectively, who were married in Tennessee, and came to what is now Sharp County, about the year 1854, where they resided until the demise of the father, in 1871, and his wife, in 1888. Both were members of the Baptist faith for many years. The elder Williams fought in the Confederate army almost from the beginning to the end of the war, and had many a narrow escape from both death and the enemy, although on one occasion he was severely wounded, and at another time was captured. He was a son of Joseph Williams, of North Carolina; he was a member of the A. F. & A. M., Evening Shade Lodge. Michael Worley Deitch, the grandfather of J. M. Williams, died in Tennessee, and was a well-known resident of that State. J. M. Williams is the fourth son of three sons and five daughters, and did not receive much education, owing to limited school facilities. He began farming for himself at the age of twenty years, and continued in that occupation for three years. He then turned his attention to milling, a business for which he seems to be especially adapted, and has remained at it ever since. In August, 1879, he was married to Sarah, daughter of Lewis Graddy, but lost his wife in 1884, and by this marriage had two children, one of them, a daughter, still living. In 1886 he was married to Mattie, daughter of John W. and Emma Bristow, natives of Boone County, Ark., who moved to Sharp County after the war, where Mrs. Bristow died. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Williams, of whom one daughter is still living. Mr. Williams is a member of the A. F. & A. M. (Evening Shade Lodge), and has been junior deacon for two years, and is also a member of the Order of Eastern Star. He is one of the most enterprising and popular citizens of Sharp County, and a man who takes every opportunity to make that county one of the most progressive in Arkansas.