John WILLIAMS

                   Also have 17 Feb 1679/1680 (Ada Gardner's). I used Mary E. Williams account. May have died in 1742. Mary Williams had him emmigrating from Wales to MA. She had him dying in Preston, formerly a part of Norwich, CONN, on the river Thames.

We don't know much about his early life. The earliest reference according to Ada was in a deed by Josiah Gaylord, on 2 Dec 1702, to transfer 15 acres of land. So, it appears that he did moved to Norwich about the same time as his father. Subsequent to this, in conjunction with his father, and also by himself, he purchased a number of tracts of land in the vicinity, totalling several hundred acres. He was also granted several tracts of land in consideration of money paid for the building of the meeting house. There is ample testimony to his prominence among his fellow townsmen through the two score years of his later life. In early years, when Poquetannock was wholly within the limits of Norwich, he was one of the select men from 1721 to 1728 and later, an office of responsibility and honor.

In 1735, there was a petition to the General Assembly of the State, that the Supreme Court in March and November, for the County of New London, be held in Norwich. The petition was granted. Of the committee on the part of the town, three men are named: John Williams is named first.
Two years later, in 1737, a bridge over the Shetucketwas demanded to connect the "Landing" (Chelsea or Norwich City), with the East Society (Preston). A public subscription was taken to defray the cost, and again he appears conspicously, as the highest contributor on the list, the full number of names being 83.

His interest in military affairs is shown in the two commissionshe obtained from the State Assembly, in 1721 as Lientenant, in 1735 as Captain, in the 5th Company of the Eastern Society of Norwich. By these titles he is always referred to in town records and deeds thereafter. These titles were not as empty and complimentary as there are now, and were the highest grades known in the colonies in times of peace. He was active not only in local affairs and in the school of the soldier, but socially, religiously and as a public spirited citizen.

He was influential as few others have been in the reaching out for new fields
in the opening up of trade, and in the bringing of fresh business to the port of Norwich. He engaged in the business of building ships and trading them to foreign ports. He owned two warehouses at the "Landing" besides the wharf. He developed the possibilities of water power at Poquetannock, where we learn of his having a sawmill, gristmill and a fulling mill. There was an abundance of sheep in the neighborhood, yielding wool in great quantities. The fulling mill provided the manufacture of cloth, which at that time was a necessity.

John Williams appears to have been a man of charitable impulses. The records of 1711 and 1715 make mention of his contributions to the building of the meeting house in Norwich, for which he was granted a piece of land in requital. He is credited with having made a gift of land at "Long Society" where he is buried along with his wife and others of his family. They are buried in the graveyard adjoining the church.

He was reported to be one of the most prosperous men in the colonies for his day and generation. An entry in the daily newspaper of 12 Jan 1741/2 is as follows: Captain John Williams died at Poquetannock of pleurisy after many days of illness. He was a good commonwealth's man, traded much by sea and land, with good success for many years, and acquired wholly by his own industry and great estate. He was a very just dealer aged about 60 years.
He and his family are buried in the old buriel grounds at Long Society in the northwest corner of the meeting house