MR. JOHN W. WILLIAMS, MINNEAPOLIS, HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA.
Born in 1838 in Carnarvonshire, Wales. Emigrated with his parents in 1846 to Columbus, Wisconsin. After attending the district school he spent a year in college at Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.His early days were spent on a farm, and he took great interest in music. In 1866 he was elected Secretary of the Welsh Musical Convention of Wisconsin. The same year he went to Wales and married Miss Leah Davies, Shop Roewen.
In 1872 he went to Osage City, Kas., and engaged in the drug business. He was among the few who started the church there, and was elected deacon.
After five years he moved to Emporia, where he was three years. Four years were spent between Columbus and Watertown, Wisconsin, and in 1884 he came to Minneapolis, where he still conducts a drug store.
He has been secretary of the Welsh church since 1886, excepting one year, and has been the leader of the singing for seven years. No one has spent more time and labor, without any compensation, in teaching music to the young and improving the church singing than he. In the local literary societies and Eisteddfodau he has been an active worker, and he has great skill as a critic of poetry and music.