Williams family.

The Williams family came to Buffalo in the 1830s from Connecticut. Frank Williams (1827-1884) ran a coal mining and shipping firm. His son Frank F. Williams (1855-1936) was a prominent lawyer and civic leader; he and his wife, Ruth C. Williams, founded the Buffalo Peace Society in 1908, and he was a founder of the Thursday Club, the Buffalo Orphan Asylum and other organizations, and was Treasurer of the Titan Furnace Company. Elizabeth Sprague Williams, daughter of Frank Williams, was a noted social reformer. Joseph Churchyard, father of Ruth C. Williams, came to Buffalo in the 1850s from England and became a lumber contractor, builder and mill operator. Olive Williams, the daughter of Frank F. and Ruth C. Williams, was a teacher at the Franklin School and an active civic leader.