Sanford N. Williams, general merchant, is a native of Madison County, Tenn., and was born June 8, 1842, son of B. T. and Margaret (Longmire) Williams, and is of Scotch-Irish lineage. His father was born in North Carolina in 1811, and his mother in Alabama in 1805. The family came to West Tennessee about 1837, and settled in Madison County. The father died in Carroll County in 1870, but his widow is residing in Huntingdon.
Mr. Williams is the second of six children, six children and is self educated. He continued to reside on the farm until 1862, when he enlisted in Company G, Seventh Tennessee Cavalry, United States Army, and served fourteen months. In 1867 he began clerking in the store of E. T. McGill in Huntingdon, and from 1868 until 1870 was deputy revenue collector for what was then the Seventh District. In 1875 he engaged in general merchandising, and is now one of the leading business men of Huntingdon.
Fredonia Adams became his wife in 1868. She was born in Henderson County, Tenn., in 1847, and is the mother of two children: Benjamin J. and Thomas N. Mr. Williams is a Republican, and cast his first presidential vote for A. Lincoln. He joined the Masons in 1865, and became a Royal Arch Mason in 1867. His wife belongs to the Christian Church. Mr. Williams is not a member of any church, and is rather liberal in his religious views.
Transcribed by David Donahue
Source: History of Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present: Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of Carroll, Henry and Benton Counties, Besides a Valuable Fund of Notes, Original Observations, Reminiscences, Etc., Etc. Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1978.