This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: WILLIAMS, BARBER Classification: Biography Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/Cl.2ADI/946 Message Board Post: Charles Williams, one of the prominent citizens of Wayne County, residing on section 22, Clay Township, was born in Glenmorganshire, Wales, in the town of St. Fagans, in 1816. He was reared to the trade of a carpenter, and from the age of sixteen till twenty-six years of age he followed the sea as a ship carpenter. In 1851 he came to Philadelphia as ship carpenter on the sailing vessel Switzerland, of Charleston, South Carolina. After reaching Philadelphia he was married to Miss Ellen Barber, a young lady whom he became acquainted with while crossing the ocean. She was a native of Norfolk, England, living there till she came to America in 1851. Soon after his marriage he began working on the Camden & Amboy Railroad, which he followed till April 1851, when he went to Jersey City and worked in the car shops of Messrs. Cummings and James till the following October. He then went to Illinois under contract to take charge of bridge building on the Illinois Central Railway, but, having reached his destination, he waited in vain for the arrival of his tool chest which he had ordered to be shipped to him. This was a serious loss to Mr. Williams, as his outfit was a very complete and valuable one. Owing to the loss that he had thus sustained, and which he was then unable to repair, he resolved to change his occupation, and purchasing a piece of land in De Kalb County, Illinois, he engaged in farming in 1853, occupying his farm for three years,when he sold it and followed carpentering at De Kalb Center till the spring of 1860. He then sold his business and,accompanied by his wife and two children, crossed the plains to the Rocky Mountains and engaged in mining at California Gulch, in Colorado, remaining there most of the time till September, 1861. The same month he enlisted in Company A,Second Colorado Inf! antry, and was elected bugler of the regiment. His regiment participated in a number of battles,including Patch Canon,-Pleasant Hill, Independence, Big Blue River, Little Blue River and Westport. For a considerable time the regiment engaged in suppressing the bushwhackers in the Fourth District of Missouri. It was subsequently engaged in the pursuit of the rebel General Price till the latter left Missouri. Mr. Williams then went with regiment, which was ordered to Leavenworth, Kansas, where he was discharged at the expiration of his term of service having served three and a half years. That his wife might accompany him into the army he secured for her the position of laundress of the company,she going with her husband through all the marches and campaigns in which the regiment was engaged. But her labors were by no means confined to her service as laundress. She was a faithful minister to the sufferings of the sick and wounded of the regiment, and thus in the capacity of nurse did she render invaluable service to the soldiers. Mrs. Williams is a woman of considerable ability as a writer, and has written a very interesting history of the Second Colorado Infantry,whose fortunes she shared for three and a half years. After the war Mr. Williams came with his family to Wayne County,where he has since made his home. After coming here he rented the farm of James Shriver, and in 1867 bought eighty acres of land in Jefferson Townshi! p. After raising several crops on the this land he sold out and bought his present farm in Clay Township. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have had four children, two now living--Arthur W. B. and Owen D. K., both married and living in Clay Township, near the home of their parents. Two sons, Frederick and Charles, died in childhood. Biographical and Historical Record Of Wayne and Appanoose Counties Iowa 1886 Inter-State Publishing Co. 113 Adams Street Chicago page 458-459

Dear Pauline I think?! Thank you so much for putting these biographies on the web. Ellen Barber was a great aunt of my Grandma. I have a doll Aunt Ellen sent to her in the early 1880's. My direct line stayed in Linn county IA. The rest of the Barbers settled in Wayne county. There are a lot of clues in this biography, I'm so glad I subscribe to this mailing list. Thanks again for your hard work. Flori ------------ Searching Barber, Newell, Eastman, Bice, Ingersoll, Bryant and more

Flori Are you interested in information concerning Alman Fortune who married in 1919 Hildah Riddle? Gayle