Background
Williams, Gardner Fred was born on March 14, 1842 in Saginaw, Michigan, United States. Son of Alpheus Fuller and Ann Keyes (Simpson) Williams.
Williams, Gardner Fred was born on March 14, 1842 in Saginaw, Michigan, United States. Son of Alpheus Fuller and Ann Keyes (Simpson) Williams.
Graduated from College of California (now University of California), Oakland, 1865. Studied Freiberg (Saxony) Mining Academy, 3 years. Doctor of Laws, University of California, 1910.
Doctor of Engineering, University of Michigan, 1917.
Father of Alpheus Fuller West. Examined salt deposits of Carman Island, Mexico, 1869. Assistant assayer United States Mint, San Francisco, 1870. Superintendent and assayer Meadow Valley Company, Pioche, Nevada, 1871-1874.
Superintendent and engineer various mines, Nevada, Utah and California, and construction engineering to New York capitalists, 1875-1884.
In charge of gold mines in Northern Transvaal, South Africa, 1884-1885. Engineer for Exploration Limited company, of London, in South Africa, 1886-1887.
General manager De Beers Company, which later became DeBeers-Consolidated Mines, Limited., 1887-1905, organized by Cecil Rhodes, Alfred Beit and others, which produced 95 per cent of the diamond yield of the world. Author: The Diamond Mines of South Africa (2 volumes), revised edit, 1906.
The Genesis of the Diamond, 1905.
Married Fanny Locke, October 23, 1871 (died 1911).