Reminscences of early Michigan History 1800's
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES.
BY EPHRAIM S. WILLIAMS, OF FLINT.
The Williams family dates back in the history of the British islands to a remote age. The name is of Welsh origin, and the descendants among the mountains of Wales claim to trace their ancestry back to the time of "Rod-ric the Great, " king of Britain, about the year 849. Others claim that the family has descended from Brutus, the first king of Britain, 1100 years before Christ. The famous Oliver Cromwell is said to have belonged to a branch of this family. The earliest representative of the name in the American colonies is believed to have been Robert Williams, who emigrated from Norwich, England, and settled at Roxbury, Massachusetts, about the year 1638. Among the noted men of this wide-spread family have been Roger Williams, the pioneer settler of Rhode Island; Colonel Ephraim Williams, killed at the battle of Lake George, in August, 1755; General Otho Holland Williams, a prominent officer in the American army during the Revolution; Hon. Charles K. Williams, chief justice of Vermont; Hon. Norman Williams, of the same State; Hon. Archibald Williams, of Quincy, Illinois, and many others prominent in the field, in the pulpit, and at the bar.
