Captain James S. WILLIAMS, one of the enterprising farmers of Tingley Township, is a native of Pennsylvania, born in Center County, July 6, 1835, a son of Thomas and Sarah (SMITH) WILLIAMS, natives of Pennsylvania, his father of Welsh and his mother of Irish descent. In his early childhood his parents moved to Venango County, Pennsylvania, where he lived until manhood. His grandfather, seven uncles and his father were millwrights, and in his youth he learned the same trade. In 1857 he went to Southern Arkansas ans was there at the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion. Returning North he entered the Union army and was assigned to Company G, Sixty-third Pennsylvania Infantry, and served three years. At the battle of Chancellorsville he was shot through the body, the ball entering the right side and passing out the left, just below the ribs. After his return to his regiment he served as First Lieutenant until the battle of Spottsylvania, when he was shot in the head, receiving a scalp wound, and was captured by the rebels, but after a week's confinement escaped and made his way to the Union line. At the charge in front of Petersburg he was shot through the thigh and was in the hospital until his discharge in August, 1864, and in the meantime promoted to the rank of Captain.

After his discharge he returned to Franklin, Pennsylvania, where he was married the same year to Miss Lurie A. HART. In 1866 he moved to Dixon, Illinois, where he engaged in farming on a small scale, with hired help four years. In the spring of 1873 he moved to Ringgold County, Iowa, and located on section 28, Tingley Township, where he now owns eighty acres of choice land.

Mr. WILLIAMS is one of the prominent citizens of the township, and has served as clerk six years. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. They have a family of seven children - three sons and four daughters.

NOTE: James S. WILLIAMS enlisted as a Sergeant August 1, 1861, and was assigned to Company G of the 63rd Pennsylvania Infantry. He was promoted to full 2nd Lieutenant June 27, 1862 and full 1st Lieutenant on May 19, 1863. He was mustered outof service August 1, 1864.

SOURCES:
Biography & Historical Record of Ringgold County, Iowa, Pp. 272-73, 1887.

Amercian Civil War Soldiers, ancestry.com

Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System Database

WPA Graves Survey

Transcription and note by Sharon R. Becker, January of 2009

Biographical Sketches Pages Index: A - F,   G - L,   M - R,  S - Z