John Williams was born in the Welsh mining village of
Ysccifiog,
Flintshire, North Wales, on July 3, 1860, the youngest of three
children, born to Thomas and Hannah (Phillips) Williams. His father was
a lead miner.
On May 26,1881, John Williams sailed for New York, much against the
advice of the old miners who hinted he might be killed by lions or
tigers in that "wild country". While not used to speaking English, it
became necessary from then on to use it.
In November of 1882, John came west to Brandon and walked to the Robert
Russell homestead near Deloraine where he worked that winter. In
December of that same year, he made a journey to the Souris River and
on seeing the river valley and the hills, he picked his homestead and
pre-emption on 14-3-27 through which the Souris River had its course,
as it looked more like Wales than anything he had seen in Canada up to
that time.
John Williams was always interested in and took an active part in
public and community affairs. He was present at the organization of the
Peninsula School District, and acted as trustee and secretary. He was a
councillor in the Greater Arthur Municipality and was the first Reeve
of the present R.M. of
Arthur after the division in 1905. He was elected as a member of the
Legislature for Arthur Constituency in 1907, and was defeated in 1909.
He was on immigration work in Wales in 1911, and was re-elected as an
M.L.A. in 1912. He held this seat until his defeat of the Norris
Government in 1922. He was appointed as Minister of Agriculture in late
winter of 1922 and
remained as such until the installation of the Bracken government that
fall. The farm had been rented and the family moved to Melita in the
fall of 1906, so that the children would go to high school. They
remained in Melita until the spring of 1915 when the returned to the
farm. He remained there until his death March 2, 1931.
Adapted from Our First Century, page 59, 788
Submitted by Ken Williams
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