Charles Harrison WILLIAMS

  General Notes:

His father died when he was 6; he was raised by uncle, Alpheus S. Williams.
He graduated from Yale when he was 15, and his uncle bound him out to a carpenter, but he skipped bondage and enlisted in military. He was a bugler under Company "C" Second Regiment Minnesota Cavalry Volunteers.

In Civil War - School teacher at Montevideo, Minnesota. carpenter - Built grain elevators from Minneapolis, Minnesota. to Aberdeen, S. Dakota. Homesteaded at Becida, Minnesota.

Charles's family must have moved from Connecticut sometime around 1860, to Deerfield, Minnesota., as 2 sisters died there,as well as his Mother Eliza Kirkham Williams. This is where he lived at the time he was married to Lavina Clark, by Rev. Mr. Brown... According to Civil War pension records Charles enlisted from Deerfield, Steele, Minnesota on the 1 Dec. 1863.

Census 1850 Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut, September 17, 1850, Eliza Williams age 46 living with children, Alpheus S. age 16, Ezra age 14, Fredric C age 11, Jane L. age 7, and Charles H. age 5. She had property worth $2000.

Census 1880 Montevideo, Chippewa, Minnesota, 1 June 1880, Page 359.
Williams, Charles H. age 35 carpenter, born in Connecticut as were both parents. Lavina age 30 wife keeping house, born in Illinois, parents born in New York, F. W. son age 11, at school born in Minnesota, Chas H. Jr. age 6 son, Jane L. daughter, age 3, Vera A. age 5/12.

FEDERAL CENSUS 1910 Fern Twp. Hubbard, Minnesota, Charles H. Williams, age 65, farmer, born in CT.
wife Lavina, age 65, born in Illinois, daughter Dollie G. age 26, Son Ben L. age 17, daughter Minnie E. Frost age 24, grandson Charles F. age 6, grandson Terry L.age 3.

FEDERAL CENSUS 1920 Fern Twp, Hubbard, Minnesota, Charles H., Head age 76 born in Connecticut as were his parents, farmer, Wife Lavina M. age 70 born in Illinois, parents in New York, granddaughter, Marian L. Knudson age 12, father born in Wisconsin, Mother in Minnesota, Boarder, Henry J. Diffley, age 25, born in Michigan, father in Germany, mother in South Carolina, he farm laborer.

Obituary of Charles Harrison Williams - Bemidji Pioneer - 17 March 1930:
C. H. WILLIAMS PASSES AWAY AT BECIDA HOME
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Civil War Veteran, Resident of This Community More Than 30 Years, Dies
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A long and useful life ended Saturday, March 15th, at 11:30 P.M. with the passing of Charles H. Williams, Sr. at his home in Becida. He had lived in Bemidji and vicinity since 1899.
C.H. Williams was born in Gilford, Connecticut., on February 3, 1845. He celebrated his eighty-fifth birthday recently. He was a veteran of the civil war, serving in the second Minnesota cavalry.
On April 23, 1866, at Kenyon, Minnesota, he was married to Lavina M. Clark, who with six children survives. Four children preceded him in death. They had spent all of their married life in Minnesota. He is also survived by thirty-four grandchildren, and twenty-five great-grandchildren.
The children still living are C.H. Williams, Jr. of Detroit, Michigan; Mrs. C.A. Plummer; and Mrs. A.S.
Hutzler of Bemidji; Mrs Adolph Knutson and Mrs. James Morris of Becida; Mrs. Andrew Wright of Sentinel Butte, N.D.
Funeral services will be held Wednesday at 2 o'clock at the Becida town hall and interment will be in the family lot in the Becida cemetery.
Wires have been received from C.H. Williams, Jr. of Detroit and Mrs. Andrew Wright of Sentinel Butte, that they will be here to attend the funeral.
A large circle of friends extend their sympathy to the bereaved family.

Cause of Death: Chronic Myocarditis - lived 85 yrs, l mon, 12 days

Census: 1850, Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut USA
Homestead: 31 Dec 1904, Hubbard County, Sec 1, 145N, 35 W No 5th PM.

Medical Information: Heart disease - arterosclerosis

Military service: 01 Dec 1863, 17 November 1865, Private, Company "C" Second Regt. Minnesota Cavalry
Volunteers (Source: National Archives, Civil War Division, Claim for Pension for service,, Pension certificate number 649475, Applied for pension August 1890. He enlisted at Deerfield, Minnesota. and was discharged at Fort Snelling as a trumpeter. Affidavits in pension file include marriage information and dates of birth of all his children.)

Occupation: School teacher, carpenter
Residence: Becida, Minnesota.

  Burial Notes:

Becida Cemetery, Hubbard, Hubbard Co, MN

  Noted events in his life were:

• Occupation: Carpenter, 1880, Montevideo, Chippewa, MN.

• Occupation: Farmer, 1910, Hubbard, Hubbard Co, MN.

• Occupation: Farmer, 1920, Hubbard, Hubbard Co, MN.

Charles married Lovina Mary CLARK, daughter of Garonne P CLARK and Lovina Mary LADD, on 23 Apr 1866 in Kenyon, Goodhue Co, MN. (Lovina Mary CLARK was born on 9 Dec 1850 in Saint Charles, Kane Co, IL, died on 21 Jan 1944 in Bemidji, Beltrami Co, MN and was buried in Hubbard, Hubbard Co, MN.)