Page 581, transcribed by Carolyn Ward from History of Butler County, Kansas by Vol. P. Mooney. Standard Publishing Company, Lawrence, Kan.: 1916. ill.; 894 pgs.


  HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY 581

F. G. McWilliams is a well known successful farmer and stockman of Pleasant township. He was born in Union county, Ohio, in 1861, and is a son of Robert and Rebecca (Ross) McWilliams, natives of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. They were the parents of the following children: Ross, Derby, Kans.; Mrs. Ada Sutton, of Wichita, Kans., whose husband, W. M. Sutton, was murdered October 9, 1915, by robbers in his store at Wichita; Etta, Derby, Kans.; Mrs. Alice Berger, Douglass, Kans.; Mrs. Ella Robbins, San Antonio, Tex.; Mrs. Josie Brown, Wichita, Kans.

F. G. McWilliams came to Kansas with his parents in 1878, and they located in Sedgwick county, near the town of El Paso, which is now Derby. The father died there in 1895. Mr. McWilliams remained in Sedgwick county until 1902 when he came to Butler county and bought a quarter section of land in Pleasant township, for which he paid $10 an acre. The place was improved very little, although there was a stone house erected on it when Mr. McWilliams bought it. Since locating here Mr. McWilliams has been engaged in farming and general stock raising, in which he has met with very satisfactory results in a financial way. When he began he had very little capital and went in debt for most of the purchase price of his place, but by industry and economy, he has become one of the prosperous men of his community.

Mr. McWilliams was married in 1890 at Rose Hill, Kans., to Miss Anna Harris, of Richland township. She is a daughter of Walter J. Harris who came to Butler county, locating in Richland township in 1879. He was a hard working and industrious citizen, and was highly esteemed by his neighbors and acquaintances. He was a blacksmith, and worked at his trade after coming to Butler county, in connection with farming. He died in 1915, and his widow now resides on the old home place near Rose Hill. Mrs. McWilliams was one of a family of seven children, as follows: Mrs. Ida Berry, Terre Haute, Ind.; William N., Rose Hill, Kans.; Laura, Rose Hill, Kans.; Mrs. Emma Vickers, Wichita, Kans; Sarah, Rose Hill, Kans.; Mansfield, an attorney, Chicago, Ill.; and Mrs. McWilliams. To Mr. and Mrs. McWilliams were born three children, as follows: Raymond E., died at the age of one year; Lois, died at the age of nine years; and Ralph, died at the age of five months. Mr. and Mrs. Williams are well known and held in high respect by their many friends and neighbors.


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