HISTORY NEBRASKA MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID
RG3759.AM: George Arthur Williams, 1864-1946
Correspondence: 1919-1945
Fairmont, Fillmore County, Nebraska: Lt. Governor, State Legislator, and Churchman
Size: 1 reel of microfilm
BACKGROUND NOTE
George Arthur Williams was born in Lafayette, Illinois, on August 17, 1864. He graduated from high school in Galva, Illinois, and took business training in Graysville, Tennessee. He came to Nebraska in 1888 and, except for a few years spent in the mercantile business in Tennessee, he farmed near Fairmont, Nebraska, until 1926 when he moved into town. During World War I, Williams was a member of the Fillmore County Council of Defense and served as manager of the second Fillmore County Red Cross fund drive.
Williams was a member of the Nebraska Legislature from 1919 to 1923. During that time he was a leader in the passage of highway legislation as well as in the formulation of the Civil Administration Code. He served as Lieutenant Governor from 1925 to 1931. He was a leader of national prominence in the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. He participated actively in the Allied Dry Forces of Nebraska (formerly the Nebraska Anti-Saloon League), serving at one time as president of that organization. Williams was a member and an officer of many civic organizations. He was widely known as an author and lecturer.
He was married to Lucretia Grubb at Galva, Illinois, in 1888. George Arthur Williams died in a sanitarium in Boulder, Colorado, on July 7, 1946, and is buried at Fairmont, Nebraska.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
This collection of the papers of George A. Williams, contained on one reel of microfilm, is arranged in three series: (1) Correspondence regarding politics, 1919-1943; (2) Correspondence regarding church matters, 1930-1945; and (3) Correspondence regarding prohibition, 1928-1945. This collection consists of the incoming correspondence of George A. Williams. Its contents reflect the interests and activities of Williams as they concern his elective offices held in Nebraska, his position as a national leader of and spokesman for the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, and his activities directed toward the prohibition of the sale and use of alcoholic beverages.
The Williams family loaned the letters for microfilming in 1977. The letters were microfilmed in the order in which they were received.
INVENTORY
Reel 1
Series 1 – Correspondence regarding politics, 1919-1943
Series 2 – Correspondence regarding church matters, 1930-1945
Series 3 – Correspondence regarding prohibition, 1928-1945
Subject headings:
Allied Dry Forces of Nebraska
Anti-Saloon League of Nebraska
Nebraska. Legislature
Nebraska. Lieutenant Governor
Politicians — Nebraska
Politics — Nebraska
Prohibition
Seventh Day Adventist Church in Nebraska
Williams, George Arthur, 1864-1946
PD/pjm 09-14-1977
