When John Williams was born on 9 February 1852, in Wrexham, Denbighshire, Wales, United Kingdom, his father, Wiliam Williams, was 33 and his mother, Christianna Cartwright, was 23. He married Caroline Knechtel about 1877, in Berlin, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. They were the parents of at least 6 sons and 5 daughters. He lived in Saginaw, Saginaw, Michigan, United States in 1880 and Essex, Essex, Ontario, Canada in 1911. He died in 1937, in Ionia, Ionia, Michigan, United States, at the age of 85.
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1852–1937 Male
1856–1916 Female
1879– Male
1880–1928 Female
1881–1964 Female
1882–1955 Female
1885–1897 Male
+6 More Children
English: variant of William , with genitival or post-medieval excrescent -s. This form of the surname is also common in Wales. In North America, this surname has also absorbed some cognates from other languages, such as Dutch Willems . Williams is the third most frequent surname in the US. It is also very common among African Americans and Native Americans.
History: This surname was brought to North America from southern England and Wales independently by many different bearers from the 17th century onward. Roger Williams, born in London in 1603, came to MA in 1630, but the clergyman was banished from the colony for his criticism of the Puritan government; he fled to RI and founded Providence.
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
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