Burton family

Edward Jones Williams, a native of West Salem, Wisconsin, graduated from Northwestern University in 1895, where he was a football star. He graduated from the Kent College of Law in 1897 and worked as a paymaster and traveling auditor for the Chicago & Northwestern Railway until 1905. That year, he moved to Panama to work as disbursing officer and auditor for the Isthmian Canal Commission. He remained in Panama until around 1916, when he returned to the United States as vice-president of McCord & Company, a railroad supply company. He later served as assistant treasurer for the Commission for Relief in Belgium. On December 7, 1907, he married Helen Mary Burton of La Crosse, Wisconsin; they had one daughter, Charlotte Mary Williams (b. November 7, 1908). Edward Jones Williams died on April 14, 1921.

From the guide to the Edward Jones and Helen B. Williams letters, Williams, Edward Jones and Helen B. letters, 1908-1912, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)