William Williams.

About William Williams

William Williams was an American printer, publisher and bookseller, originally from Massachusetts. He moved to New Hartford, New York, with his family and soon established himself in the printing and newspaper business in nearby Utica, New York during the early nineteenth century. Williams printed the first directory for Utica and published several Utica newspapers and almanacs. Through his various newspapers he published editorials in support of prominent politicians, canal and railroad proposals, and advocated for the colonization of free Blacks. During the War of 1812, he volunteered for military service, organized a company of militia of young men from Utica, and was present during the Second Battle of Sacket's Harbor, where he advanced to the rank of colonel. When a cholera epidemic broke out in Utica in 1832, Williams volunteered in setting up temporary hospitals and aiding the sick and himself became infected. He was an elder and a devoted member of Utica's First Presbyterian Church, and was strongly opposed to Freemasonry, to which he published a controversial newspaper, The Elucidator. Always civic minded, Williams spent the better part of his adult life involved in several areas of public service. In his latter business years he suffered financial difficulties, forcing him to sell off his bookstore and many of his effects. After receiving a serious head injury in a stagecoach accident he endured the last years of his life with a measure of mental impairment.