Joseph A. Williams, the subject of our sketch, is a farmer in the Ninth Civil District, and was born in Greeneville, Tenn., May 3, 1832, and is the son of Dr. Alexander and Catherine Douglas (Dickson) Williams. The father was a native of Surry County, N. C.. and was born in November, 1793, and died at Greeneville in August, 1852. The mother was born in Greeneville, Tenn., in 1802, and died in Greeneville in 1870. She was the mother of six sons and four daughters, of which children there now (1887) live only three sons, viz.: William D., Joseph A. and Thomas L. Joseph A., our subject was reared in Greeneville, and was educated in Greeneville and Knoxville, and early in life studied medicine and practiced the profession for a short time, and then began farming in Greene County, Tenn. He was farming when the civil war broke out, though he never enlisted, yet his sympathy was in favor of the Federal Army. In 1861 he married Lucy M. Rumbough, and it is said that Lucy betrayed Gen. John Morgan to the Union soldiers at Greeneville, but hereby the statement is denied. She was not the betrayer of the General, but was a sympathizer with the Union army, and never had an opportunity of betraying Gen. Morgan. In 1881 our subject was united in marriage with Mary Pattent for a second wife. She was an intelligent woman of noble character, and a devoted Christian, and her death occurred fourteen months after her marriage with our subject. Mr. Williams is a practical farmer, and owns and cultivates a portion of the Greeneville College farm. He is a man decisive in character, and is a faithful friend, and a well respected citizen.
