Mr. Williams is one of those prominent men who find it to his advantage to introduce some other industry besides farming in his line of occupation, and is today one of the prominent merchants of Gloster. He was originally from Jasper County, Miss., his birth occurring in 1842, and is a son of Phillip P. and Rebecca (Collins) Williams, the father born in South Carolina, in 1815, and the mother in Hinds County, Miss., in 1820. The parents were married in the last named State, and moved from there to De Soto Parish, in 1849, settling in the woods near Keatchie, where they improved a good farm. The father was a successful farmer and died on his farm in 1887. The mother is still living. The paternal grandfather, Joseph Williams, was born in the Palmetto State, and died in Mississippi, where he had followed agricultural pursuits for many years. The maternal grandfather, Col. Mores Collins, was born in Georgia, and came to De Soto Parish about 1847, dying there in 1859. He was a farmer by occupation and a soldier in the early wars. Joseph Williams, the eldest of eight children, four now living, and all but one in De Soto Parish, was early trained to the duties of the farm, and received an average common-school education. In 1861 he enlisted in the Nineteenth Louisiana Infantry, in the Army of Tennessee, and participated in the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, and the Atlanta campaign, back to Franklin and Nashville. He surrendered near Meridian, Miss., at the close of the war, as a non-commissioned officer of sharpshooters. After the war he returned to the farm in De Soto Parish, and was married in 1868 to Miss Martha V. Crawford, who was born in Mississippi, and who was the daughter of Rev. Peter and Maria C. (Montague) Crawford, natives of the Old Dominion. The parents were married in Virginia, and moved from there to Marion, Ala., thence to Mississippi, and in 1866 to De Soto Parish, where Mr. Crawford died in 1873, and his widow in 1887. The former was a Baptist minister of prominence, and was founder of the Judson Institute at Marion, Ma., where he was pastor of the church for a number of years. He and wife were both among the prominent educators of the South the principal part of their lives. Mr. Crawford was president of Keatchie Female College for five years previous to his death, and was a man of mark. To Mr. and Mrs. Williams were born eight children. They have five daughters living. Since his marriage, Mr. Williams has lived near Keatchie, where he has five farms, owning about 4, 500 acres of land, all of which is the material result of industry and perseverance. He followed merchandising on his plantation for about ten years, and in 1889 moved his store to Gloster, where he now has a good trade. Mr. Williams is also quite extensively engaged in dealing cotton and livestock. Mrs. Williams is a consistent member of the Baptist Church at Keatchie. Mr. Williams is a member of the Masonic fraternity at Keatchie Lodge No. 121, and was a member of the chapter at Mansfield.