Rev. Dwight Williams, Sr., has also been reported to have been born 28 April 1826 Cazenovia, Madison County, New York.
2 He appeared on the census of 1830 in the household of
Elijah Williams and
Sophia Williams in Cazenovia, Madison County, New York, which lists one male age 30-39 (Elijah would have been about 34; one female age 30-49 (his wife Sophia would have been about 38); one boy age 5-9 (Dwight would have veen about 6); and two girls (Harriett would have been about 4 and Jane's age is yet unknown).
4 Rev. Dwight Williams, Sr., was graduated in Cazenovia Seminary, Cazenovia, Madison County, New York.
2 Rev. Dwight Williams, Sr., appeared on the census of 1850 in Cazenovia, Madison County, New York, which lists Dwight Williams, 24 [sic, probably 26], born in New York; his presumeably widowed mother Sophia Williams, 58, born in Massachusetts; and Harriett Williams, 24, born in New York, presumeably his sister.
5 He was a teacher in 1850.
5 He was a Methodist minister between 1851 and 1898.
2 Rev. Dwight Williams, Sr., and
Kezia Elizabeth Williams appeared on the census of 1860 in Madison, Madison County, New York, which lists Dwight Williams, 36, his wife Kezia [mis-indexed as Kgger], 26; their son Dwight L., 5; their daughter Susan D., 2 (all born in New York); and Dwight's widowed mother Sophia [mis-indexed as Sphiah] Williams, 68, born in Massachusetts. Dwight owned real property worth $500 and personal property worth $200.
6 He was a Methodist clergyman in 1860.
6 Rev. Dwight Williams, Sr., appeared on the census of 1870 in Cazenovia, Madison County, New York, which lists Dwight Williams, 46; his children Dwight [Jr.], 14, Susie, 12, and Hattie, 7; and a housekeeper Hattie Seeland, 44, and her daughter Sophia, 14, all born in New York. Dwight owned real property worth $1,500 and personal property worth $500.
7 He was a clergyman in 1870.
7 Rev. Dwight Williams, Sr., appeared on the census of 1880 in Cazenovia, Madison County, New York, which lists Wealthy Roberts, 78, a widow; her nephew Dwight Williams, 56, married [sic]; and his children Dwight [Jr.], 24, Susan B., 22, and Hattie, 17, all born in New York.
8 He was an M.E. minister in 1880.
8 THE LEADING CITIZENS OF MADISON COUNTYTHE LEADING CITIZENS OF
MADISON COUNTYNEW YORK.BOSTON
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW PUBLISHING COMPANY
1894
THE REV. DWIGHT WILLIAMS, preacher, poet, and author, and a resident of Cazenovia, was born April 26, 1824.
His father, Elijah Williams, was born here July 13,1796, and is said to have been the first white male child born in Cazenovia. He died in 1844. His [Elijah] father was James Williams, a soldier in the War of the Revolution and of 1812, and a son of Lieutenant Joseph Williams, from Leverett, Mass., who served two years in the French and Indian War, taking part in several engagements, and was later a soldier in the War of the Revolution, was present at the battle of Saratoga, and served--until the close of the struggle. It was in this latter war that he attained the rank of Lieutenant. He came to Cazenovia in 1794, with a family of three sons and two daughters. He was one of the first Trustees of the Presbyterian church in Cazenovia, organized in 1798. He lived to the age of ninety-three years, dying in 1857. The family has thus been identified with the town for a century.
Elijah Williams, the father, married Sophia Brigham, a daughter of Phineas and Susanna Brigham, both of Marlboro, Mass. They became the parents of three children, namely: Jane, who died in Cazenovia, when but fifteen years of age; Harriet, now the widow of Van Rensselaer Leland, who was the son of Colonel Yale Leland, a prominent farmer of the town of Madison. She is now a resident of Norfolk, Va.
Dwight Williams received his education in Skaneateles Academy and Cazenovia Seminary, and in 1851 became a member of the Oneida Conference. He has remained a member of this conference, now known as the Central New York, up to the present time, a period of forty-two years. He was married in July, 1855, to Keziah Elizabeth Lane, of Westmoreland, Oneida County, and a daughter of James Lane. Four children hallowed this union, one of whom, a son, bears his father's name, and is by profession an artist; one son died in infancy; Susan Brigham is unmarried; and Mary Harriet is the wife of Richard Vernam Barto, a prominent businessman of Tacoma, Wash. The mother of these children died May 10, 1883, at the age of forty-nine. She was a lovely and accomplished woman, of a true Christian character.
Mr. Williams is now retired from the active work of the ministry, and devotes his time largely to literary work. He is a poet of no mean order, and published his first volume of miscellaneous poems in 1876. This edition is now out of print; but a second volume, published by Phillips & Hunt, and entitled , "The Beautiful City in Song," has found many appreciative readers. He possesses, also, a unique and interesting collection of booklets containing gems of poetical thought. During the period of his active ministry he was the pastor of congregations in Camillus, Hamilton, Oxford, Clinton, Auburn, and many other places. He was for some time on the editorial staff of the
Watchword, a temperance paper, and has been thoroughly identified with the Prohibition movement on the platform and by many prose and poetic contributions. He occupied, also, the position of assistant editor of the
Northern Advocate. He has written largely as a stated contributor to the
Home Journal, the
Northern and
Christian Advocates, and the
Union Signal. He still does partial pulpit work, but his literary work engages his chief attention. He has written a variety of elocutionary poems, some of which have passed into standard use. His latest effort, "The Mother of the Wonderful," is a poem of long and careful study, and is much commended by some of our eminent poets and critics. This poem perhaps represents the spirit, the scope, and style of his work equal to any he has produced. In the Sullivan centennial, 1878, he was invited to read a poem at that interesting celebration at Waterloo, N.Y.
3 OFFICIAL REPORT of the FIRST SIX MEETINGS OF THE AMERICAN BRIGHAM FAMILY ASSOCIATION, held at CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, MARLBORO, BOSTON AND WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, in 1893, '94, '95, '96, '98, 1900.
By Willard I. Tyler Brigham, Esq.
Chicago, Illinois,1900.
Pages 46-48
REV. DWIGHT WILLIAMS, born in Cazenovia. N.Y., April 28, 1826, passed to the realm of spirits from his native town, June 13. 1898. He was the son of Elijah Williams, Esq. (representative of one of the oldest and most prominent families of the place) and nee Miss Sophia Brigham of Marlboro. Mass. He finished his academic education in 1836 [sic, perhaps 1846?], at Cazenovia Seminary. In 1850, he was licensed to preach in the Methodist Church, and received into full membership in the Oneida Conference in 1853. His frail health at several times caused him to be voluntarily placed upon the superannuated list; but he did an immense amount of faithful service. His first field of labor was in the Litchfield circuit; and, thereafter, he was pastor at Mt. Morris, Madison, Camillus, Hamilton, Oxford, Clinton, Georgetown, Trumansburg, Petersboro, Vernon Center, Montezuma, Cincinnatus, Auburn, Canandaigua and Syracuse. He was a cordial Abolitionist; recognizing in intemperance the greatest menace to true civilization, he was from its birth, associated with the Prohibition Party, and, in 1873, its candidate in New York for Secretary of State. His nature was highly complex and ideal; gentleness and grace were conspicuous in his manhood ; but he had, too, the courage of convictions and unswerving integrity, combined with the considerate demeanor, which stamps the true Christian. He wed, in 1855, Keziah E. Lane of New
Hartford, N.Y., and had four children, three of whom are living — Miss Susan B. Williams, Prof. Dwight Williams, Jr. (of Cazenovia,), and Mrs. Vernam Bartow. He was widely known as a vigorous graceful writer; for a time was assistant editor of the Northern Christian Advocate, and later editor of The Watchword. It is, however, rather as a poet that we must regard him in his secular writings. He published three volumes of verse, the first in 1876, the "Beautiful City" in 1887, while his "Mother of the Wonderful" is regarded as his most finished production. Many booklets, hymns, songs of patriotism and miscellaneous contributions likewise dropped from his pen. "His verse was pure in quality, elevated in tone, optimistic and helpful in spirit." As a Brigham, he was always interested in our reunions. Our 1896 Worcester meeting (at which his son [Dwight Williams, Jr.] was present), was a very marked illustration of this fact; for he had gone to the (considerable) expense of printing, in exceptional style (to present to each visitor) his stirring poem, "Brigham!". In concluding this sketch, we cannot do better than to quote a few stanzas there from:
"Hail, sons of Brigham! Loyal stock!
A chapter in our story
Whose genesis is Plymouth Rock,
Its chivalry and glory;
Hail, daughters of a sturdy band.
Who faced the sunset's beauty
To build their altars long to stand,
Dear shrines of love and duty.
* * * * * *
What though their temples were log-hewn,
And chiming bells were wanting,
Love kept their reverent hearts in tune
With heaven's high themes enchanting:
Say not their creed was hard and cold,
Their hearts were never stoic.
Love made their virtues manifold.
Love made their souls heroic.
* * * * * *
Our sires, behind their straight-back chairs,
Made holy supplication,
And we have answer to their prayers,
In this, our glad ovation.
A vision charms me as I gaze,
A long ancestral column,
That reaches through the distant maze
Of silent years and solemn
.
Bring me a goblet from the well,*
As our first father knew it.
Where to the depths the bucket fell,
And sparkling forth he drew it.
And we will drink the health of each
And every Brigham brother,
Far as the golden links may reach.
Back to our Island mother.
*An incident very similar actually happened at our first Marlboro Reunion.
Ye Brothers, Sisters, Lovers, drink !
Ours is a loyal story.
From wood-crowned hill to river brink,
We own a "yeoman" glory;
And may our sons be brave and true.
Our daughters as the whiteness
Of lilly bloom in morning dew,
In beauty and in brightness.
* * * * * *
We greetings say and sweet farewells,
But life's highway is golden
And leads to far-off citadels.
Of angel-eyes beholden.
Keep step! Our motto leads beyond,
Still on! "
In cruce salus,"
Till, at the gate of diamond.
The blessed ones shall hail us."'.
2