This brief sketch was shamelessly cribbed from notes provided some years ago to my sister Peggy Williams by my late aunt, Eva Selby and my mother Betty Williams. I am grateful to have these notes through Peggy's care and effort.
The original Williams came to Wales from Denmark in one of the Danish invasions. He liked the hills and leased some land from the Crown. This land was located in Penbrokeshire, and was known as Cryggia. The name Cryggia. is the plural of "crug" and means "hillocks" or "mounds," and is sometimes spelled "Crugiau."
The lease on Cryggia. was held for some seven hundred years. John Williams, the last of the family to hold Cryggia. died in 1835 at that place. He was married twice and by his second marriage he had six sons and three daughters, Thomas Philip, Morris, David, Benjamin, William and James, and Mary, Hannah and Rachel. When his second wife Mary Morris died, she had separate property which her son, Thomas Philip, being the oldest child, thought he should control, not knowing that there was a marriage contract by the terms of which the survivor was to retain control of the property of the deceased consort. As a result of this attempt of Thomas, his father cut him off with only a shilling.
Thomas Philip Williams was born at Cryggia. on December 23, 1795. He died in America on June 3, 1884. He was my father's great grandfather. On January 27, 1818, Thomas Philip Williams married Elizabeth Davis of Pempedivast, where she had been born on November 6, 1796. They had seven children born in Wales, and two born in the United States. Among these children, the third child was William A. Williams born April 9, 1926. Thomas Philip Williams emigrated with his family to the United States, leaving Liverpool in a sailing ship in April, 1837. The family landed on the New Jersey coast near Newark in the middle of June, 1937. The family traveled to New York City by wagon, from there to Albany by schooner on the Hudson River, and from Albany to Buffalo on the Erie Canal. From Buffalo, the family traveled by steamer to Cleveland, Ohio, and from there by canal boat to Newark, Ohio. Thomas Philip Williams purchased a farm at Alexandria, Ohio, and settled there with his family, including my father's grandfather William A. Williams.
William A. Williams married Dinah Louise Hughes in 1852. They had eight children, six boys and two girls. My father's father, William Roger Williams, was the sixth child from this marriage. He was born on October 10, 1866, and died January 25, 1939. He married Claudia Sheridan on June 10, 1892. Claudia had been born July 31, 1872 and died March 25, 1961. William and Claudia had four children: Donald Sheridan, March 20, 1892; twins Herbert Oswald and Eva Louise, March 27, 1894; and my father Joseph Benton Williams, June 6, 1896.
My father's paternal grandmother, Dinah Louise Hughes, was born in Carnarvonshire, North Wales on May 13, 1831, and died in Ohio in 1913. Her home in North Wales was called Pant Glas which means "Green Hollow." Her father, Thomas Hughes, had nine children, three sons and six daughters. The Hughes family emigrated to the United States in May, 1836, taking much the same route to Newark, Ohio that the Williams family had taken. She and William were married in Newark in 1852. That is as much as I know about the Williams side of the family.
On the Sheridan side of the family, the story is less complete. My grandmother's father was Joseph Benton Sheridan, born May 24, 1852 and died April, 1918. Her mother, Eva Walker, was born in 1852 and died at the age of 26 in 1878. Thus, Claudia Sheridan was only six years old at the time her mother died. Claudia was raised by her paternal grandmother, Edith Carr Sheridan, who was married to Thomas Sheridan. Both the Sheridans and the Carrs were from Ireland. My grandmother's mother was Eva Walker, daughter of ? Walker and Claudia Deaver Walker. The Walkers and the Deavers were both apparently of Scotch-Irish descent, meaning they left Scotland and settled as Protestants in Ireland before moving to the United States.
My father and his siblings were all raised in Columbus, Ohio, where Grandfather William R. Williams was, for many years, Credit Manager for the Andrew Debbie Dry Goods Stores, and also served for twelve years as Deputy Treasurer of Franklin County. As a charter member of the Broad Street Disciples of Christ Church as a baby, Grandfather Williams remained active in church work his entire life holding every lay office in the congregation at one time or another. He was also a long term member of the Masonic order.
My father graduated from high school in Columbus, and attended Bethany College for one year. The attractions of life in the rest of the world proved too great, however, and he found himself on the Mexican border in 1916 chasing Pancho Villa with General Pershing. This was followed by Officer Candidate School and a commission as a second lieutenant in the 32nd Infantry Division Artillery Brigade. Dad served in France when the United States joined the Allies in World War I. On his return to civilian life, he worked in various places, including Birmingham, Alabama, where he was briefly married, before following his brothers to Southern California. He worked in various positions in the oil fields until he met my mother through his acquaintance with her brother George.
On my mother's side of the family, the record is even sketchier. Mom made a few notes for Peggy before she died, but most of this is difficult to interpret.
The best documented person on my mother's side of the family was her grandfather, George Edward Buck. He was born January 25, 1836 in Claytown, Clay County in western New York, and died June 25, 1933, at the age of 98 years. That he was a lively person is attested by the fact that he died of injuries suffered while walking on the sidewalk near his home, having been run over by a car that was backing out of a driveway. George Buck was still working for Associated Oil Company in their Salt Lake Field in Los Angeles County at the age of 89 years. He walked back and forth to work a distance of several miles each way. He attributed his excellent health to his daily routine of walking, and according to one report, thought that he would live to be 100 years old. He might well have done so if fate had not intervened.
At the age of 12, George Buck had begun a career as a railroad employee that spanned some sixty years. His first job was in a track laying crew, but he was soon promoted to section boss, and was reputed to be the first man to arrange the elevation of the rails on a curve so that trains could round the curve at 25 miles per hour. In 1854, Buck became a fireman, and in 1857, at the age of 21, he became an engineer. During the period 1857 to 1859 he was working for the Wabash and living in Springfield, Illinois, where he was personally acquainted with Abraham Lincoln and his family. During the period of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, he met and talked to Abraham and Todd on their daily walks, and later served as the engineer for Lincoln's funeral train from Washington, D.C. to Springfield, Illinois on May 4, 1865. Buck left the Wabash briefly between 1859 and 1861 to prospect for gold in California. In 1861, he returned to the Wabash, was inducted into the U. S. Army and worked as an engineer running troop and supply trains during the Civil War. During that period, he found time to marry Orpha Claudia Davis on November 1, 1863. They apparently had only one child, Lydia Blanch Buck (June 5, 1872-May 27, 1939).
George Buck's later railroading career took him to positions as General Superintendent of Construction for the Manzanillo National Railroad from Mexico City to the Pacific Ocean, and to Texas for construction of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas "Katy," Denver and Fort Worth and other railroads. In 1908, at the age of 72, he was retired by the "Katy" and decided to move to California. When he arrived there, he sought employment with the Associated Oil Company. George Buck was a member of the Masonic Order from 1858 until his death.
My mother was the second child of John Swartz and Lydia Blanch Buck, who were married in Fort Worth, Texas on June 12, 1895. There is nothing in Mom's notes about John Swartz except that he was a photographer in Fort Worth, which is where my mother, Bessie (later Betty) Swartz was born on January 29, 1899. Lydia and John also had two sons, George Landis Swartz (April 30, 1896-August 26, 1972), and John Swartz, Jr. (June 24, 1901- ?).
In 1911, Lydia divorced John Swartz and moved to Southern California, where her father, George Edward Buck (see above) had settled and was working in the Brea oil fields, Orpha Claudia having died some time earlier. In California, Lydia remarried Charles W. Farley, an oil field worker. Lydia was an artistic person; I have several published volumes of her poetry to attest to her continued interest in the arts. Together, Charles and Lydia were successful investing in real estate and accumulated substantial holdings. Then, Charles broke his leg in a work related accident. The leg never healed, and after more than a year in the hospital, his employer terminated his employment and income. Lydia worked as a school teacher, but began to suffer from the effects of diabetes. As their medical bills mounted, they eventually were forced to liquidate all their real estate holdings, and by the time Lydia died of cancer in 1939, they were essentially penniless.
Mom attended the Vine Street Grammar School in Hollywood, walking several miles from the Brea oil fields where they were living to catch the streetcar, and then riding several miles to school. She eventually matriculated to the Polytechnic High School and graduated in 1915. While attending high school, Mom worked on weekends and vacations at Bullock's Department Store in downtown Los Angeles. After graduation, she was employed at the California Bank, and Barker Brothers Furniture Store. Her brothers dropped out of school when the family moved to California, George worked most of the rest of his life in the oil fields of Southern California, while John enlisted in the Merchant Marines.
Mom and Dad met while she was employed at the California Bank, where Dad's brother Donald was a manager. Donald and his wife Flavia gave a party and invited a number of girls from the office including Mom. They were married near Santa Monica, California on May 3, 1924. Their first child, my older sister Betty Jo was born on March 19, 1925 in Orange County, California. The family moved back to Columbus, Ohio, where dad worked for a period of time in sales work. While the family was in Columbus, my brother Charles Benton was born on May 22, 1926. The family returned to Los Angeles where they lived in several locations in Santa Monica, Alhambra, South Gate and Huntington Park before moving back to Hollywood. During this period, my father was employed by Rohl Construction Company as a time keeper on their construction projects, and the family lived for a year in San Diego on one of those projects.
I was born at Huntington Park Hospital on July 22, 1934. The family story associated with my birth is that Dad took Mom to dinner at an Italian restaurant, but when dinner was complete, Mom said, "I think it is time to go to the hospital." When they arrived at the hospital to check in, the nurse on duty there had been a construction nurse on the Elysian Park Tunnels for what is now the Pasadena Freeway. She and Dad spent some time recalling those good old days while my mother waited in a wheel chair, complaining from time to time that she needed to get to a bed. The nurse simply waved her off with a casual "You'll be all right dear" but when the doctor arrived, he was shocked to find that the birthing process was already well advanced. My life started as an exception! My younger sister, Margaret Louise (Peggy) was born on January 17, 1936, which helped keep me from being completely spoiled as the youngest in the family. The two of us constituted a sort of a second family for Mom and Dad, coming so much later in their life. The family returned to San Gabriel, where I started school at the Fisk Elementary School, and then moved to Alhambra where we lived for a number of years.
Both Betty Jo and Chuck graduated from Alhambra high schools and served in the Navy during World War II, Betty Jo as a link-trainer operator at Pensacola Naval Air Station, and Chuck as a Quartermaster aboard the USS Omar Bundy, seeing action Pacific Theater during the invasion of Okinawa. Betty Jo graduated from UCLA, married William Zappas, and had a fine family consisting of two sons, Peter and Mike, and a daughter Amy, all of whom are married and have wonderful families of their own. Chuck attended the Los Angeles Fine Arts Academy, and then, when the family moved to Arizona in 1948, gave up on a career in design to work in various hotels and resorts in Arizona and Florida for the remainder of his career. He is retired and living in Mesa, Arizona with my younger sister Peggy and her husband Ed (see below).
I completed elementary school in Alhambra at the Granada Grammar School in 1948. That year, we moved to Tempe, Arizona, for my father's health, so I attended Tempe Union High School, where I played football, enjoyed all the science, math and physics courses that were offered, and was elected President of the Class of 1952. With a scholarship to Arizona State College, I started my higher education with high hopes that I would be successful in my application for admission to West Point. (see Army) That was not to be, so I elected to marry my high school sweet heart, and completed college in Tempe.
Peggy graduated from Tempe Union High School in 1953, and shortly thereafter married Edwin E. Carroll. They remained in the Tempe/Mesa area and raised two fine children, Rob and Vickie, who now have families of their own in the same area.
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