Individual 632: Rev. John Black Williams

Individual Record 632

Name} Williams, John Black

Family History} Hancock

Title} Reverend

Race} White

Sex} Male

Birth: Date} Fam 24 Feb 1825

Place} near Bakerstown, Allegheny, Pennsylvania

Marr1: Date} Fam 19 Sep 1850

Place} White Lake Ref. Pres. Church, Sullivan, New York (Link)

Marr2: Date} Fam 3 Nov 1863

Place} White Lake Ref. Pres. Church, Sullivan, New York (Link)

Death: Date} Exa 6 May 1897

Place} at home, White Lake, Sullivan County, New York

Burial: Date} Exe 10 May 1897

Place} Stewart Cemetery, Sullivan County, New York

Grave Marker} Yes

Source 1}	189 = Will
Source 2}	187 = Land deed
Source 3}	188 = Land deed
Source 4}	1191=1870 USA cen
Source 5}	1192=1880 USA cen
Source 6}	691 = Geog history
Source 7}	101 = Geog history
Source 8}	192 = Church recrd
Source 9}	1196=Church recrd
Source 10}	1190=Family history
Source 11}	1555=Obituary
Source 12}	1550=Cemetery rec

Parents: } Rev. Matthew Williams & Elizabeth Parkhill
Relationship No.} 204

1st Household No.} 110 = West Deer, Allegheny, Penns.

Occupation 1} Clergyman/minister
Occupation 2}

Religion/Church} Reformed Presbyterian

Spouses: First} Beattie, Elizabeth M.
Second} Walker, Elizabeth M.
Total Number of} 2

Notes: John was born near Bakerstown, Pennsylvania, in 1825, and was the youngest son of the Reverend Matthew Williams and Elizabeth Parkhill Williams.

Following his father's death in 1828, John inherited 49 acres and 107 perches of land in West Deer Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. On 3 Sep 1849, John quit claimed and transferred the above land to his brother David. This was recorded on 5 Oct 1852.

John received his early education in Darlington Academy, completed the course in the Western University of Pennsylvania, and graduated from Muskingum College in 1844. He studied theology in the Cincinnati Seminary, and was licensed by the Pittsburgh Presbytery on 3 Oct 1849. He was ordained by the New York Presbytery and assigned as pastor and put in charge of the congregation of White Lake, Sullivan County, New York, on 14 Nov 1850. He published many articles in the magazines of the Church, and was the editor of the White Lake Mirror.

John educated many young men who later occupied prominent positions, and was a successful advocate of temperance and all reforms. From the first years of his settlement, John manifested a deep interest in the education of the youth of the community. His visits to the district schools were expected with pleasure by many teachers. His study was often a recitation-room for students, in whom he took a special interest. In social and pastoral visits, the young people of the homes received kindly and particular attention. Not a young man in the entire community, struggling to be fitted for the ministry or for teaching, and not a young woman in charge of a school, or seeking preparation for such a position, failed to receive hearty expressions of his abiding sympathy, while out of a slender income substantial aid was always freely given when needed.

This unstinted generosity was a characteristic of John in all his work. And in the same spirit he gladly undertook arduous labors in bearing the Gospel message to distant parts of the county. And in his pulpit labors in distant places, as well as at home, he proclaimed, with love and fearlessness, the full message of the Gospel. His long years of faithful service as a minister of Christ, and his courteous bearing toward ministers and members of other denominations, endeared him to all the people of that part of New York in which he was so widely known.

His unwillingness to take part in the proceedings of church courts prevented him from coming into very prominent notice among his brethren, and for the same reason he was probably not always estimated at his true worth. But his record as an Israelite indeed, in whom there was no guile, and as a retiring and unassuming educator and preacher, and devoted friend of truth and righteousness, was a consistent record for a much more than ordinarily lengthened period of ministerial life.

In this field he labored continuously for about 46½ years, ending his labors and entering into rest 6 May 1897. He had on that day returned home from one of his customary extended rides among his widely scattered people, and soon afterward complained of serious illness, for which he felt he must have prompt medical aid. His wife crossed the street to ask a neighbor to go for the physician, but on her return he was gone — the Heavenly Physician had come and completed His healing and redeeming work. To the bereaved wife and children, and the congregation then left without a pastor, the Presbyterian Synod conveyed its prayerful sympathy, and the comforting assurance of the truth that what is their grevious loss is the departed's glorious gain.

John's great-great-grandson, Mike Levy, said that a large portrait picture of John hung in John's house in Bethel, New York, for years. Mike has a photograph of that portrait. John's house was built in 1850. The portrait had been there at least to 1976 — if not longer. It was hung in the living room until a granddaughter sold the house in 1985 — at which time a great-granddaughter took it to Florida. Mike assumes his father has the portrait now.

John passed away at home at age 72 years and 2½ months.

Time of Birth}

Time of Death}

Fraternal/Social}

Baptism Date}

Place}

Confirm. Date}

Photo} See Notes above

Immigr'n Date} N/A

Port} N/A

Education: Grade} See the third paragraph of Notes above

Military: Service} for the State of}

Health Condition}
Cause of Death}

Last Updated
by} Dan Hancock

Date Updated} 6 Sep 2015
Date Created} 3 Mar 1996

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