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JOHN STRAUGHAN WILLIAMS was
born Oct. 7th, 1839, near Paris, Edgar county, Illinois, of Welsh
and Scotch descent, his father’s parents being natives of Wales, and his
mother, whose maiden name was Ailcy Ann Straughan, of Scotch parentage. When
our subject was seven years of age his father moved to what is now Boone
county, Iowa, the county not having been organized at that time, the Indians
having been removed to their reservation only the year before. The town his
father located in being largely settled by Swedish people was for many years
called Swede Point, but is now known as Madrid. His school advantages were
meager in those days, but he profited by such as the country afforded and
became well grounded in the fundamentals of an education. In 1860, when 21
years of age, he had an attack of the Pike’s Peak gold fever and he arrived
at Gold Hill, Boulder county, in June of that year. In 1865 he went back to
Iowa, returning to Colorado in the fall of that year. That year the Indians
were troublesome on the Plains and he lost much time waiting for a wagon
train large enough to defend itself against attacks of the savages. He mad
another trip to Iowa in 1870, and on his return to Colorado he married
Caroline L. Osborn of Central City, in February, 1871; she lived but a short
time. He filed on a homestead near Boulder City, which is now known as the
McCall farm, on which fine oil wells have since been developed. In the fall
of 1872, soon after the death of his wife and twin babies, Mr. Williams came
to Larimer county, locating first on Rabbit creek, a few miles northwest of
Livermore. His sister, Miss Maggie Williams, kept house for him several
years. In 1884 he was married to Martha Z. Reavill of Fort Collins, and in
1890 he moved to the ranch of the Lone Pine creek, where he continued to
carry on the cattle business until January, 1910, when he moved to Fort
Collins, where he died on April 17th, 1911, his wife and three
children, Frank R., Carrie and George Williams, surviving him. |
