Williams Family.

The documents that make up The Williams Family Papers pertain, for the most part, to the life and business dealings of Alfred Leonzo ("A.L.") Williams, although other Williams family members are also prominently represented in the collection. A.L. Williams was born on July 18, 1808 in Concord, Massachusetts. By the early 1830s, he had moved to Michigan. He and his brother Benjamin O. ("B.O.") Williams set up a fur trading post (called "The Shiawassee Exchange") in the Indian village of Ketshewaudagoning in Shiawassee County, Michigan in 1831. The trading post was used as housing and as a place to store furs that A.L. and B.O. acquired from neighboring Indian communities. They first worked for the American Fur Company from 1832-1836, but began trading independently in 1837. Late in 1837, they founded Owosso, Michigan. By the early 1850s, the Williams brothers (now including Alpheus Fuller ["A.F."] and James Monroe ["J.M."]) had begun mining operations in northern California. A.L. was also deeply invested in the railroad industry in Michigan. He, and several partners, owned and operated the Amboy, Lansing and Traverse Bay railroad; he also owned.

And operated the Amboy, Lansing and Traverse Bay railroad; he also owned stock in numerous other railroad companies in Ohio, Michigan and Virginia. He trained as a lawyer, and eventually served as a judge. A.L. was married to Sarah Ann Birdsley in 1835. They had two children, Amos Lee (birthdate unclear) and Sarah (August 1839). Sarah Birdsley died in 1839 (perhaps in childbirth?). A.L. married his second wife, Harriet Newell Mattoon, in 1841. They had eight more children together, some which eventually became involved in their father's business ventures.