Portraits of the Past – W.E.H, Williams

W..E.H. Williams

When it comes William Emmet Henry Williams this is more of a sketch than a portrait. He operated the Susanville’s Pioneer Saloon from 1893 to about 1913. On 8 May 1894 he married Mary Elizabeth Heap in San Francisco. Mary’s father, George Heap founded the Pioneer in 1863. In the devastating fire in 1900, the Pioneer and much of the town’s business district was destroyed .One of things Wiiliams did with rebuilding the Pioneer, was adjoining iot ,he created  a outdoor biergarten where the Grand Cafe stands now.

For several years prior to 1912, the Pioneer had a biergarten next door. Courtesy of Philip S. Hall

On November 2, 1902 his son George was born on Susanville As I wrote jn earlier post, his wife Mary died in a stage coach accident in 1908 at Devils Corral.  The following year, Frank Streshley petitioned the court to adopt little George Williams. By 1915, W.E.H.  Williams left Susanville for Jerome, Arizona and worked as time-keeper and police officer  at United Verde Mines.  In 1919, Williams returned Lassen County and went to work as timekeeper in Westwood for the Red River Lumber Company,  He departs there by 1923 and I have no idea what became of him.  His son’s adoption was never finalized and he disappeared too,

In 1977, I met W.E.H, Williams grandson, Keith Williams in the Lassen County Recorder’s Office. He was not that interested in his family history per se, but his biological heritage. Keith was self-proclaimed Neo-Nazi white nationalist so his interest was his  pedigree that his ancestors were white.

Tim

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