ALBERT W. WILLIAMSON, president of the Williamson-Kuny Mill & Lumber
Company, has been a resident of Mound City for the past thirty years, and it
would be indeed difficult to say if any other citizen of that eity has done
more for its development or given greater aid to the city and county in the
administration of its affairs than has he.
Albert W. Williamson was
born in Chicago, Illinois, November 16, 1858, in which city his father,
David C. Williamson, was engaged in the manufacture of staves. The latter
was born near Oswego, New York, in 1830, being the son of a farmer and with
not more advantages than the average country youth is favored with. In his
young manhood Mr. Williamson engaged in the manufacture of hardwood lumber
with a small mill near his native town, but he subsequently transferred his
activities to Camden, New Jersey, and in the early fifties established
himself in Chicago in a manufacturing business. During the ensuing years be
suffered financial reverses, due to various causes, and he left Chicago,
taking over the management of a stave mill in Valparaiso, Indiana. He was
thus occupied until 1866, when he went to Paducah, Kentucky, in which town
he launched out into business on his own responsibility again, and he was
connected with the firm of Farley & Williamson as one of its partners when
he passed away in 1876.
In the neighborhood where he was born and
reared David Williamson married Miss Angelina Dudley, and she is now a
member of the family of her son Albert W., in Mound City, at the advanced
age of eighty-one years. Two children of their union survive: Ella, wife of
T. M. Ford, and Albert W., of this review.
Albert W. Williamson was
educated in the public schools of Kentucky. As soon as he arrived at an age
when he would be of assistance to his father in the business he entered the
office of the Farley & Williamson Company, where he acquired a concise and
far-reaching knowledge of the technical side of the business, and proved
himself so well conversant with the intricacies of the business that on the
death of his parent he remained in the business for five years as the
partner of Mr. Farley.
In 1881 he removed from Paducah and
established a home in Mound City. For a time he operated a lumber and
shingle mill across the river in Ballard county, Kentucky, as junior member
of the firm of Ford & Williamson, but in the year 1885 that plant was
brought to Mound City and the business continued without any change in its
management until in 1893, when Mr. Williamson purchased his partner's
interest in the concern and thereafter conducted the business alone until in
1903, when the present firm, the Williamson-Kuny Mill & Lumber Company was
incorporated with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars, since then very
materially increased by the earnings of the plant, which has flourished
abundantly since its establishment.
The plant of the Williamson-Kuny
Mill & Lumber Company is the principal industry of Mound City, which boasts
a goodly number of manufacturing concerns, and has a daily capacity of fifty
thousand feet of lumber and veneer, with a weekly pay-roll of one thousand
two hundred dollars.
Mr. Williamson's record regarding his connection
with the many financial organizations of his city is indeed an enviable one.
He is vice-president and a director of the First State Bank of Mound City,
and has been president of the Mound City Building and Loan Association since
its organization twenty-five years ago, in which positions he has done
splendid work for those institutions, being in many respects responsible for
the firm and solid footing upon which they stand today. He has been county
commissioner for ten years, and it is generally conceded that it was through
his unceasing endeavor that the county seat was retained at its present
location—no small feat in the face of the opposition set forth; while his
successful handling and final putting through of the bond issue for the
erection of a courthouse and jail is a service for which his city and county
is manifestly indebted to him.
In all Mr. Williamson's relations to
his city has been an attitude of service. In 1890 he was elected to the
mayoralty, in which capacity he served three terms. During his tenure of
office many improvements in civic affairs came to pass, conspicuous among
them being the establishment of the concrete or granitoid walk in lieu of
the board sidewalk, and surface drainage by the installation of pumps.
Mule-car service by the railroad, company between Mound City and Mounds was
discarded in favor of the locomotive, and steps were taken by means of which
to encourage manufacturers to establish at this point, admittedly an
advantageous location when brought to the notice of the outside world; and
as a stockholder in the inter-urban railway he largely helped to make that
railway a possibility.
In his political activity Mr. Williamson has
been the exponent of Republican principles and has supported Republican
candidates for many important offices. It has been his pleasure to
frequently see representatives of his party in state conventions and himself
a delegate, and when occasion demanded he has given freely of his substance
for the support of the cause. Mr. Williamson is an active member of the
Commercial Club of Mound City, and has served the Club as its president and
variously upon many important committees.
On June 26, 1893, Mr.
Williamson was married to Miss Inez Culp at Anna, Illinois, she being a
daughter of Marshall Culp. The issue of their union are a son and daughter,
Frederick and Alberta. The family are members of the Congregational church.
Extracted from 1912 A History of Southern Illinois, volume 2, pages 649-650.
| Union | Johnson | |
| Alexander |
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Massac McCracken KY |
| Ballard KY |
