John Elias Williams was born on June 11, 1871 in Coshocton, Ohio, his parents, Elias David and Ann (Edwards) Williams, having migrated from Ponterwyd, a village near Aberystwith, Wales, in 1861. One of his Welsh ancestors was William Williams, author of the hymn, "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah. " John's father, Elias David, was a weaver, a coal miner, and a preacher; his mother was a woman of unusual loveliness both of person and of character.
From his twelfth until his seventeenth year the boy worked in the mines, until opportunity opened for him to earn his way towards an education. After some months in the high school at Shawnee, Ohio, and two years at Marietta Academy, he entered Marietta College. At his graduation in 1894 he was leading his class.
He spent three years in the theological seminary at Auburn, New York. This cloistered period revealed his need for service in action, and he offered himself to the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions as a candidate for a mission field. He was graduated from the seminary in the spring of 1899.
From 1894 to 1896 he was principal of an academy in South Salem, Ohio.
On July 24 he was ordained by the Chillicothe Presbytery in Greenfield, Ohio.
On August 14 sailed with his bride for China.
The Boxer outbreak occurred shortly after their arrival and it was necessary for them to take refuge in Kanazawa, Japan, but within a twelvemonth they were again in Nanking.
Seven years of language study and of teaching in a Presbyterian boys' school followed. His unusual mastery of the Chinese language led to Williams' appointment in 1906 for special service among the Chinese students in Waseda University, Tokyo. This year in Japan focused his attention on the need of higher education for Christian Chinese, and he began to formulate far-reaching plans for a union missionary university in Nanking. For such an institution Nanking was an admirable location both because of its reputation as an educational center and because of the notably cooperative spirit among its leading missionaries.
By 1910 a union had been effected between the Presbyterian boys' school and a similar school supported by the Disciples of Christ. A year later this was amalgamated with a Methodist college to form the University of Nanking, with Dr. Arthur John Bowen as president and Williams as vice-president - a fortunate combination that proved to be mutually stimulating. Williams had meantime begun an arduous series of journeys to the United States to secure funds. Within a decade the main portion of the university was housed in buildings combining Chinese architecture and western construction, there was an able faculty, and the colleges of arts and science and of agriculture and forestry, combined with a hospital, a language school for missionaries, and a secondary group, were attracting a large enrolment. In this development "Jack" Williams had proved himself an executive of marked ability - a type of work more suited to his nature than the routine of teaching. His indefatigable labors were brightened by optimism and humor.
This was especially true in the winter of 1926-27 when the revolution started by Dr. Sun Yat-sen in Canton had, under Gen. Chiang Kai-chek, swept rapidly through central China. Apprehensions over the strange alliances within the Kuomintang or Nationalist Party were stifled by the excitement of success. Nanking was still a stronghold of the northern militarists. But firing began outside its massive walls on March 21, and during the night of the 23rd the city fell. General Chiang had not yet arrived on the scene, and Communist officers issued orders that foreigners be slain and their property looted.
The evident intention was to force intervention by the foreign powers, and thereby to create a situation favorable for the spread of Communism. On the morning of the 24th, Williams and a group of his associates, while on their way to the university chapel services, were surrounded and robbed by a motley crowd of soldiers. Williams spoke to them quietly and kindly. For answer, a soldier raised his gun and shot, killing him instantly.
On August 2 he was married to Lilian Caldwell of South Salem. They had three daughters and his son.
