Charles Richard Williams

Background

Charles Richard Williams was born on April 16, 1853 at Prattsburg, New York, son of Ira Cone and Anna Maria (Benedict) Williams, both of New England ancestry.

Education

After two years at the University of Rochester, he went to the College of New Jersey (later Princeton), where he received the degree of A. B. in 1875 and won the classical fellowship. After teaching a year in Princeton Preparatory School, he went abroad for two years, studying at Göttingen and Leipzig, and traveling in Italy and Switzerland.

Career

He was principal of the high school in Auburn, New York, for a year (1878 - 79), and tutor in Latin at Princeton in 1879 and 1880. He edited Potter's American Monthly, Philadelphia, during the first half of 1881, and in the fall went to Lake Forest University, Lake Forest, Illinois, as professor of Greek. There he became an intimate friend of the family of William Henry Smith, 1833-1896, of the Western Associated Press, a man of large means and varied interests.

In 1883 he became literary editor of the New York World and later in the same year was appointed assistant general manager of the Associated Press at New York City. In 1892 he took the position of editor-in-chief of the Indianapolis News. Its founder and proprietor, John H. Holliday, retired that year from active management and in 1899 sold his interest to the Smith family; Delavan Smith, Williams' brother-in-law, later became proprietor.

In 1911, selling his interest to Smith, Williams retired. As editor, he established and vigorously maintained such correctness of style and nicety of language that the News set a new standard in that respect in its part of the country. The little style book which he drafted for the staff was followed for more than a generation. He gave invaluable training to a group of men who attained prominence in the newspaper and publishing world. Politically, the News classed itself as independent.

Williams' chief interests were literary. While at Lake Forest he edited Selections from Lucian (1882). He wrote many occasional poems; a number of them were printed in the News, and a volume was privately printed under the title, In Many Moods (1910). Later came Hours in Arcady (1926) and The Return of the Prodigal and Other Religious Poems (1927).

His early historical interests were represented by an address on George Croghan (Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly, October 1903). At the request of W. H. Smith, who had begun an elaborate life of Rutherford B. Hayes, Williams took up this task and after his retirement devoted much of his time to it, working in the Hayes home at Fremont, Ohio.

When he retired from the Indianapolis News he made his home at Princeton, New Jersey, in the former residence of Woodrow Wilson, which he called Benedict House. His interest in the university was indicated, among other ways, by his The Cliosophic Society, Princeton University (1916). He died in Princeton.

Achievements

• His The Life of Rutherford Birchard Hayes and his edition of the Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes were conscientious and valuable contributions to the history of the United States during the generation centering in the Civil War.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Return of the Prodigal; a Monodrama

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes: Nineteenth President of the United States, Volume 1, Part 2

    (This work has been selected by scholars as being cultural...)

  • The Life of Rutherford Birchard Hayes Nineteenth President of the United States, Vol. 2 (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from The Life of Rutherford Birchard Hayes Ninete...)

  • Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Vol. 1: Nineteenth President of the United States; 1834-1860 (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hay...)

  • Conspicuous Gallantry: Civil War Diary and Letters of Rutherford B. Hayes (Abridged)

    ("My belief in this war is as deep as any faith can be." O...)

Connections

He was married to William Henry Smith's daughter, Emma Almira, on October 2, 1884. After the death of his wife (May 24, 1895), Williams was married on June 23, 1902, to Bertha Rose Knefler, widow of Gen. Frederick Knefler.

Father:

Ira Cone

Mother:

Anna Maria (Benedict) Williams

Spouse:

Emma Almira

Spouse:

Bertha Rose Knefler

Friend:

William Henry Smith