Robert Alfred Williams

Other Events:

• Name: Al Williams

Notes:

Biography:
The 1900 census lists his occupation as Clerk and the 1910 census lists it as automobile salesman.
His obituary:
Brooklyn Daily Eagle 23 Feb 1928
Robert A. Williams Dies:
Son of Ramon O. Williams
Robert Alfred Williams of 1335 E. 28th st., a son of the late Ramon O. Williams, who was for many years United States Consul General at Havana, Cuba, died today at his home after a lingering illness.
Like his distinguished father, Mr. Williams was in the shipping business. He is survived by his wife Louise Smith Williams; a son, Robert Alfred Williams Jr.; a sister, Mrs. M. Angelina W. Disrow, and two brother, Ramon V. And George A. Williams. His mother, Mrs. Angela Garcia Williams, died in 1920.
Services will be held at the late home Saturday afternoon at 3 o’clock. The internment will be in Greenwood Cemetery. Mr. Williams was born in Havana but had resided in Brooklyn the greater part of his life.

Buried:
Lot 24465, Section 139

Robert married Louise Georgianna Smith on 6 Jun 1916. Louise was born about 1891 in New York; died on 22 May 1973; was buried on 5 Jun 1973 in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Robert Alfred Williams was born on 26 Jan 1921 in Oakland, California; died on 17 May 1998 in Bernardsville, New Jersey.

Other Events:

• Census: 8 Jun 1880, Brooklyn, New York
• Census: 6 Jun 1900, Brooklyn, New York
• Census: 18 Apr 1910, Brooklyn, New York

Notes:

Biography:
The following was included in "New York State's Prominent and Progressive Men," Compiled by Mitchell C. Harrison in 1900 and published by the New York Tribune.
The chapter entitled Ramon O. Williams is from Volume II, pages 377-380.

RAMON O. WILLIAMS
Ramon O. Williams was born in Washington, D. C. about seventy years ago. His father was George Williams and his mother Jeanette Anne Young, natives of Washington, and of Colonial and English ancestry.
When a mere child, he was sent to Cuba with his father, who was to leave him with an aunt born in Maryland, and married to a Spanish merchant established at Havana. She, having no children, wished to adopt her little nephew, who at her request had been named after her husband as her son. He went to school in Havana. His mother, not wishing to part forever with her son, after a time requested his return to her, which was done. Then he went to school in Alexandria, Virginia, and in Washington. His father having died early, he was taken from school at the age of 12 years and placed to work in the office of Blair and Rives, editors and proprietors of "The Globe." Some time after, he went to the office of the "Madisonian." This paper was the organ of the John Tyler Administration. At the age of eighteen Mr. Williams returned to Havana, where he completed his education under private instruction, since which time he has been continually connected with the commerce of that island with the United States.
In the year 1856 he was sought by some of his fellow-countrymen, residents of New London and Mystic, Connecticut, to represent them in defense of a proposition they wished to present to the Captain-General of Cuba for the free introduction of live fish from the west coast of Florida into Havana. Prior to the transfer of Florida in 1821, under the treaty of 1819, the West coast of Florida had served as the fishing grounds for the market of Havana. By reason of this treaty, these Florida fishing-grounds and the market of Havana had become foreign to each other; and the legislation of Spain reserved the catching and supplying of fresh fish to the retired sailors of the King's Navy; therefore, the Spanish law prohibited the trade. But the law was evaded, and the trade carried on in American smacks, that fished on the West coast of Florida under the American flag, and brought their catches into the port of Havana under the Spanish flag. That is, each of those smacks carried both flags. The famous Don Francisco Marti had the monopoly of supplying fresh fish to Havana. He made an immense fortune out of this business, while the American fishermen scarcely made a living. It was because of this inequality of conditions that Mr. Williams was sought by the fishermen to represent them before General Concha, then Captain-General of the Island. After several months Mr. Williams succeeded against the millionaire Mr. Marti, and fresh fish was supplied to the people of Havana, under the American flag, at from eight to ten cents per pound, whereas under the monopoly of Mr. Marti they had to pay twenty-five cents and upwards per pound. The result was, the people of Havana got cheaper fish and the American fishermen got better returns for their labor. In this contest against Mr. Marti, Mr. Williams gained his first insight into the economics of Cuba, which subject became a favorite study with him ever afterward.
In 1868, on learning of the tender of the annexation of the Republic of Santo Domingo to the United States, by General Baez, he instantly saw, being then engaged in sugar-planting, the disintegrating effect on monarchy and African slavery in Cuba if that proposition was carried out, would have on the Cuban problem, because of the economic dependence of the island on the sugar market of the United States, which dependence had been recently wrought by the cyclic events of the destruction of the Louisiana sugar crop, during our Civil War. At the request of the late John E. Develin of New York, he made a sketch of his views, which was read and approved by several Americans of high intellectual standing.
Mr. Williams withdrew from business in 1874, and took up his residence in New York.
In the same year of 1874, at the solicitation of the late Thurlow Weed of New York, he showed, for Frederick W. Seward, how the negotiation of reciprocity treaties with other sugar countries than Cuba would effectively solve the Cuban problem without war, and by the mere effect of economic force. A copy of this sketch later fell into the hands of the late Charles A. Dana, who headed it with the title of "Some Considerations on the Absurd Commercial Relations between Spain and the United States," and published it in a daily issue of the "Sun," in January, 1876.
Shortly after his return to the United States in 1874, he was requested to go back to Havana to take charge of the United States consulate-general, during General Grant's administration, for three or four months, which he accepted. He soon afterwards received the honorary appointment of vice-consul-general. At the end of ten years he resigned this position. In 1884 he was appointed by President Arthur to be United States consul-general at Havana, and was continued during the successive administrations of Presidents Cleveland and Harrison.
In 1890 he was called to Washington by order of Secretary Blaine to assist in supporting the proposed amendment of the McKinley Tariff Bill of that year. To this end he went before Senators Allison, Aldrich, Hiscoch, and Jones, the majority members of the Senate committee then having the subject under consideration, and before Representatives Burroughs, Gear, and Hitt of the corresponding House committee, to whom he expressed his view in favor of the proposition which afterward took form under the Aldrich Amendment.
On the breaking out of the Cuban insurrection in 1895, Mr. Williams had to defend, under the treaties between the two governments, many Cubans who had obtained naturalization papers in the United States and had taken part in the insurrection, and having, in consequence, been considered persona non grata by the Captain-General of Cuba (Callejas), and the Madrid government, and also for reasons of self-respect he obtained leave of absence to go to Washington, where he signified his intention to President Cleveland to resign at once. But he returned to Havana, at the request of the President, for a short time, intending to forward his resignation from there. However, with the precedents in his memory of the fate of the Critteden men in Havana in 1851, and the public execution of their leader, General Narciso Lopez, of which act Mr. Williams had been a near-by witness, and of the Virginius men at Santiago in 1873, and from his desire to serve the cause of international peace, knowing that the foundation of Spanish power in Cuba was essentially economic, and fast exhausting itself from the violation of the natural economic law, as defined by Isaiah, in arithmetical ratio, the key to all the physical sciences, in his warning to the merchant princess of Tyre (chapter xxiv., verses 1, 2, 3), he remained in Havana a year longer, attending to the many cases of the Cubans with United States naturalization papers. As soon as, in his judgment, a sufficient number of these cases had been settled for the formation of an adequate jurisprudence under the treaties, he then sent his formal and irrevocable resignation to the President. In the full faith of the sufficiency of article 7 of the treaty of 1795, between the United States and Spain, and the protocol of January 12, 1877, negotiated at Madrid by the late Caleb Cushing, Mr. Williams rejected the pressure brought upon him to ask the government at Washington to station a vessel of war in the harbor of Havana, fully believing in his ability to defend and to obtain all the stipulated rights of American citizens without any such aid, having, besides, reasons to suspect that the calling of a man-of-war might become a doubtful expedient.
His last important official act was the defense of the men of the Competitor expedition, which vessel had been captured with officers and crew while landing arms and recruits for the insurgents in the province of Pinar del Rio on the north coast of Cuba. For his action in this matter he was highly complemented by the Department of State.
Reasoning from the fundamental principles of economics, Mr. Williams frequently pointed out in his consular reports, yet unpublished, the disasters that awaited Spanish power in Cuba.

He lived for a few years with his aunt in Cuba as a child after which he returned home. He worked for newspaper editors at the age of 12 to help support his family after his father died. In 1847 at the age of 19 he returned to Cuba and finished his education. He was very fond of both Spaniards and Cubans. In Cuba he was successful in many business ventures from import/export to sugar planter. He was in the shipping business between Baltimore and Havana. He retired from business in 1874 and moved to 35 Cambridge Place in Brooklyn, NY (although he was not listed in the annual Brooklyn City Dir until the 1879/80 edition). In 1871, he was appointed Vice Consul to Cuba by President Ulysses S Grant, a personal friend. He resigned after 10 years. In 1884 he was appointed Consul General by President Warren G Harding receiving a salary of $6,000 per year, the largest of salary of any consul general (according to a newspaper, probably the Brooklyn Daily Eagle). He resigned in 1896 after serving under three administrations. The 1880, 1900, and 1910 censuses listed him as a sugar merchant, a banker, and own income respectively. All three censuses list his home as 35 Cambridge Pl, Brooklyn and the last listed it as being owned with no mortgage. The house was an old brownstone. In 1880 his son Ramon was at college and all other children were at school. The other residents in 1900 were Angela G Williams (wife), M Angelina Disbrow (daughter), William J Disbrow (son in-law), George A Williams (son), Alice A Williams (daughter in-law), Ramon O Williams (grandson), Robert A Williams (son), Annie J Welsh (servant), and Marie McMaster (servant). In 1910 they were the same people except William Disbrow was not there and Jane A and Angela L Williams (granddaughters) were there. There was one servant and his name was Ernist Miller. On his fiftieth wedding anniversary he received the following letter from the manager of the Spanish department of a New York mercantile house: "When I consider all the good you did for the Cubans during the Revolution and when you were acting as consul-general or minister of your country, I feel very proud of your friendship and grateful in every respect for the victims you saved from the ferocity of Spaniards and their government. I do sincerely hope that all your Cuban friends think as I do toward you, and also that they will appreciate your best and glorious deeds."

On 5 January, 1866, Ramon left Charleston, South Carolina for Havana on the steamship Isabella along with Mrs. Underwood (likely his godmother) according to a notice in the Charleston Courier.
As of 1871, the Book "Cuba With Pen and Pencil", Samuel Hazard, said that R. O. Williams line of 26 Mercaderas St., Havana ran fairs from Baltimore for $50.
According to the "Brooklyn Daily Eagle Almanac", 1891, Ramon along with the Consul Generals of London, Paris and Rio de Janero were the highest paid Consul Generals at $6,000 per year.
According to Willis Johnson in "The History of Cuba, Volume 4", 1920, Ramon strongly recommended against sending a ship to Havana prior to the Spanish American War:
It is to be recalled that Ramon O. Williams, who had only a little while before retired from the office of American Consul-General at Havana, and was particularly well informed and judicious, earnestly warned the United States government against sending a ship to Havana, because the harbor was very elaborately mined, and there was a bitter and truculent feeling among the Spaniards against the United States; wherefore the danger of some untoward occurrence was too great to be incurred without a more pressing necessity than was apparent. But despite his warning the Maine was sent. She was conducted by a Spanish official pilot to her anchorage .at a buoy between RegIa and the old custom house. Whether a mine was attached to that buoy or not is unknown, though Mr. Williams was confident that one was. His theory was that some malignant Spanish officer, who had access to the keyboard of the mines, perhaps through connivance with some other fanatic, watched to see the tide swing the ship directly over the mine and then touched the key and caused the explosion. That would account for the enormous hole which was blown in the side of the ship, and which could not have been caused by any little mine or torpedo which might have been floated to the side of the ship, but must have been produced by a very large mine planted deep beneath the hull.

Census:
Head, 35 Cambridge Place.

Census:
Head, 35 Cambridge Place.

Census:
Head, 35 Cambridge Place.

Buried:
Lot 24465, Section 139

Ramon married Angela Luciana García about 1861 in Havana, Cuba. Angela (daughter of Vicente Benito García and Ana Coleta García) was born on 7 Jan 1836 in Regla, Yela, Cuba; died on 9 Aug 1920 in Brooklyn, New York; was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery, Lot 24465 Sec 139, Brooklyn, New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: Angela Luciana Williams
• Census: 8 Jun 1880, Brooklyn, New York
• Census: 6 Jun 1900, Brooklyn, New York
• Census: 18 Apr 1910, Brooklyn, New York
• Census: 16 Jan 1920, Brooklyn, New York
• Burial: 11 Aug 1920, Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York

Notes:

Biography:
The 1900 census said that she was not able to read, write or speak English and the 1910 census said that she could. Both censuses said that she had six children of which four were still living. According to Alice Ayer Williams she used to love to tell stories about the wonderful times she used have with her brothers and sisters riding horses and other things. However, she resented the fact that her mother made the girls sew little shirts out of sugar bags for the slave children that lived on the plantation.

Census:
Wife, 35 Cambridge Place.

Census:
Wife, 35 Cambridge Place.

Census:
Wife, 35 Cambridge Place.

Census:
Head, 35 Cambridge Place.

Burial:
Lot 24465, Section 139

Notes:

Buried:
Headstone says:
In Memory of
GEORGE WASHINGTON WILLIAMS
Born in Washington City
in 1802 where he died
August 1, 1836
Aged 34
Erected by his son
RAMON WILLIAMS
1874

George married Janett Ann Young on 29 Jun 1826 in Washington, District of Columbia. Janett was born in in Washington, District of Columbia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: Janett Ann Williams

Notes:

Biography:
The 1880 and 1910 censuses for her son Ramon list her birth place as Washington, DC and the 1900 census lists it as Virginia. This could be because Arlington, VA was part of Washington, DC at the time of her birth and not at the time of the censuses. Her son Ramon once said that she had a large and well known family in Washington and a great many of them are buried in one the old cemeteries near Washington.

Notes:

Birth:
His daughter's baptismal record said he was from Arredondo en las Montañas de Santander (Arredondo in the Mountains of Santander). When Vicente left Arredondo, the newly formed provence was called Santander, named for the capital city. Shortly after that the province was renamed Cantabria.

Biography:
He was one of the principal sugar plantation owners in Havana and owned a large fleet of ships many of which sailed between Cuba and the US. He was one of the first Cubans educated in a US university (possibly Yale) and was trained as a civil engineer. He built the first important canal in Cuba.

Vicente married Ana Coleta García. Ana (daughter of Mateo Manuel García and Sofia de San German) was born in in Cuba; died on 13 Dec 1878 in Cuba; was buried in Colon Cemetery, Havana, Cuba. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Burial: Cementerio de Cristóbal Colón, Havana, La Havana, Cuba

Notes:

Biography:
Funeral cards for Ana Coleta Garcia and Jose Rosario Garcia. In Spanish the plural for brothers and sisters is just brothers. It is the same for all words referring to relatives so, below if the word uncles is used it could refer to both uncles and aunts. However, since the feminine is never used here and all mourners are men words like sons and brothers probably refer to just that, sons and brothers. Also the list of mourners in the text appear to line up fairly well with the names listed below. Therefore, many relatives and their relationships can be inferred from these cards. From the obituary of Angela Lucia Williams we know that her father was Vicente Benito Garcia, her mother was Anna (different spelling) Coleta Garcia, and that she had a brother still living in Cuba named German Garcia. Another clue is that children are sometimes listed with the names of both their parents. This is sometimes done with a "y" (the Spanish word for and) or a hyphen in between the names. Normally the name of the father is used just as in most other European countries but both names can be used in formal occasions. From all these clues we find that Ana Coleta's maiden name was Garcia just like her married name (her sons were Garcia-Garcia). She had at least three sons (Vicente Francisco, Mateo Manuel, German A., and Jose Rosario) and at least four daughters (there husbands were Juan B. Oliver, Luis Lopez, Gaspar Arteaga, and Ramon O. Williams). She had brothers named Jose Julian and German M. Garcia, a grandson named Luis Lopez-Garcia, a nephew named Federico Garcia and either a grandson or nephew (probably nephew) named Manuel Prado-Garcia.
The translated text is listed below. All notes by myself are in brackets [].
Da ANA COLETA GARCIA,
Widow of Garcia
Has died: And ready for her burial at eight in the morning of the 14th day of the current month, her sons, sons-in-law, brothers, grandsons and nephews, request at your presence to assemble at the funeral home, 26 Campanerio St, to accompany the corpse to the Colon Cemetery; please to be thankful. -- Habana, December 13, 1878. Vicente, Mateo and German Garcia-Garcia. [sons] Juan B. Oliver. [son-in-law] Luis Lopez. [son-in-law] Gaspar Arteaga. [son-in-law] Ramon O. WIlliams. [son-in-law] Jose Julian Garcia. [brother] Luis Lopez-Garcia. [grandson] Manuel Prado-Garcia. [grandson or nephew] Federico Garcia. [nephew]
The sorrow will be let go in the Cemetery.

El Sr. D. JOSE ROSARIO GARCIA,
Has died: And read for his burial tomorrow at eight on that day, the undersigned, brothers, brothers-in-law, uncles, uncles-in-law, nephews, cousins and his friends, request your presence assemble at the funeral home at 90 Aguila St, from there accompany the corpse to Espada Cemetery; please to be thankful. -- Habana, May 3, 1874. Vicente Francisco, Mateo Manuel and German A. Garcia. [brothers] Juan B. Oliver. [brother-in-law] Luis G. Lopez. [brother-in-law] Ramon O. Williams. [brother-in-law] Gaspar Arteaga. [brother-in-law] Vicente and Domingo Gonzalez. [uncles-in-law] Jose Julian and German M. Garcia. [uncles] Ldo. Jose Maria Nunez. Miguel Gonzalez. [cousin?] Luis Maria Lopez. [cousin] Bruno and Justo Garcia-Peraza. [friend?] Ldo. Francisco N. Gutierrez. [friend?]
The sorrow will be let go in the Cemetery.
Her maiden name was probably García just like her husband. The evidence for this is that her funeral card lists her as Ana Coleta Garcia, widow of Garcia and there are three brothers mourning her named Vicente, Mateo, and German Garcia-Garcia. Her husband's name was Vicente and she had a son named German so they were probably her children. The 1900 census for Angela says that she is of French descent and the 1910 census says that she is of Spanish descent. This may be because it is thought that her family is from Barcelona which is near the border of France.

José married Angela Gomez. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: Angela García

Mateo married Sofia de San German. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: Sofia García