ALONZO WILLIAMS, of the class of 1870 of Brown University, died at Providence, R. I., Mar. 16, 1901, aged fifty-eight years, six months, two days.  He was born at Foster, R. I., Sept. 14, 1842, the youngest son of Thomas Warren and Lydia Crowell (Hathaway) Williams, and was a lineal descendant of Roger Williams, the great founder of the State of Rhode Island.
     When Alonzo Williams was eighteen years of age, at teh outbreak of the Civil war, he was working, as he had worked form boyhood, in Gov Philip Allen's cotton mill at North Scituate.  when he was two years old his father had died, the family removed to North Scituate, and he found employment in the mill.  While working in the cotton-mill he laid the foundation of his education, toiling over his books at night, declaiming at times from the top of "Devil's Rock," on the Aldrich farm, attending school three months of the year until he was thirteen years old.  In 1861 he enlisted, becoming a private soldier in Company A, 3d Regiment, Rhode Island Heavy Artillery, and served throughout the war, being mustered out as a second lieutenant in the light artillery, Aug. 4, 1865.  He had passed through the grades of corporal, sergeant, quartermaster sergeant and first sergeant, served in the infantry, heavy artillery, navy and light battery, participated in the important sieges of Fort Pulaski, Savannah and Charleston, and passed through the hardships and stirring experiences of Sherman's march to the sea.  While at the front he spent much of his time when off duty in study, and he went into more than one battle with his books strapped on his back.
     Before he enlisted Mr. Williams had saved what money he could, with the intention of entering the Providence Conference Seminary at East Greenwich, and only a week had passed after his discharge from the army when he entered that school.  There he studied indefatigably, and in September, 1867, entered Brown University, as a member of the Sophomore class.  In college he continued his preparatory course.  He gave occasional lectures in near-by places, and taught in the Providence evening schools.  In 1870 he was graduated with the degree of A. B., and with the second honor of his class - the salutatory oration in Latin.
     It was his early ambition to become a lawyer, and, still cherishing this purpose on graduation, he entered the offices of Messrs. Miner & Spink, of Providence, but in September, 1870, he was appointed tutor in Greek and Latin at Brown University.  This position he held for a year, giving himself to his teaching and to the study incident thereto, and engaging in the work of private instruction to a certain extent, relinquishing gradually the study of law.  From 1871 to 1876 he was teacher of Latin, Greek and German at teh Friends School, Providence.  He received the degree of A. M., in course in 1873.  In 1876 he was elected Professor of Modern Languages and Literature at Brown University, and he spent the academic year 1876-77 in study in Berlin, Leipzig and Paris.  Returning to Providence in 1877, he entered upon the active duties of his professorship, and these duties he continued to perform, with occasional absence from the college for the purpose of study, until his death.  From 1892, however, his professorship was that of the Germanic Languages and Literature.  He was in Europe for study and travel in 1883, 1889, 1891-92, 1894, 1899-1900.  In 1889 he was sent to Stockholm, Sweden, as a delegate to the International College of Orientalists over which King Oscar presided.  From June, 1891, to September, 1892, he studied at the University of Leipzig.  He spent also the academic year 1899-1900 in study chiefly in Germany, Paris, Vienna and Rome.  For a short time in 1881, on the death of Professor Diman, he conducted the courses of the Senior class at Brown University in European and American Constitutional History.  In his early days of teaching he was strongly attracted to classical philology, and he made considerable progress in Sanskrit, to some extent under the instruction and direction of the late Prof. W. D. Whitney, of Yale University.
     He was a member of many organizations.  Some of these were:  The American Oriental Society; the American Philological Association; Rhode Island Alpha of Alpha Delta Phi; Sons of the American Revolution, of which he was registrar, 1893-94; Societa Didascalica Italiana of Rome.  He held many official positions.  He was president of the Rhode Island Alpha of the Phil Beta Kappa in 1892-93; he was a member of the board of the State Soldiers' Home of Rhode Island from 1889 to 1893; trustee of the East Greenwich Academy in 1886-87; president of the Providence Alumni Association of that Academy; and president of the Third Rhode Island Heavy Artillery Association.  He had been elected a member of the school committee of Providence a few months before his death.  He had commissions in the Rhode Island militia as follows:  Major, 1865; lieutenant-colonel, 1866, and colonel, 1868.  He joined the G. A. R., Prescott Post, No. 1, in 1867, and Slocum Post, No. 10, in 1884.  He was elected junior vice department commander in 1887, senior vice department commander in 1888, and department commander in 1889.
     During the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary, in 1886, of the founding of Providence and of Rhode Island, he had charge of the literary exercises held in Sayles Memorial Hall, where he had arranged a reunion of the descendants of Roger Williams.
     Professor Williams was supervisor of the United States Census for Rhode Island under President Harrison in 1890.  On Rhode Island Day, in October, 1893, he was the orator at the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago.  A few years ago he delivered the Memorial Day address to Lafayette Post of New York; he was the orator at the Grant Celebration of the Middlesex Club at Boston, the orator of the evening at the banquet tendered to General Otis on his return from the Philippines, and the orator at the unveiling of the Columbus Statue, at Providence.  He was prominently mentioned as a candidate for an important mission under President McKinley's first administration, and was prevented from accepting a mission in Asia by illness in his family.  He took an active part in politics, speaking frequently in behalf of the Republican party, in Rhode Island, in other New England States, in the Middle States and in the West.  He was especially active in this way in the Middle West in the first canvass made for President McKinley.
     Brown University is indebted to Alonzo Williams for the great services which he rendered in organizing, developing and elaborating the plans of work for the important committee on Graduate Students, of which he was chairman from its establishment, in collecting the sum of $10,000 from his former comrades, for the foundation of the G. A. R. Fellowship, in securing the moneys with which he also purchased the books for the Conant Germany Seminary Library.  He was heartily devoted to his alma mater, and with all his other good works he served her faithfully.
     Professor Williams published these works: "French Versification," "the Subjunctive Mood in French," 1885; "German Conversation and Composition," 1885; "The Investment of Fort Pulaski;" "Brief History of Third Rhode Island Heavy Artillery," in revised report of the Adjutant General, 1893; "Rhode Island Day at World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago," 1893, edited: "Oration," in the book last named; "Analysis of Lectures in German Literature," 1894; and "Syllabus of Lectures on Faust," 1895.
     He was a member of the First Baptist Church of Providence.  Some years ago he was superintendent of the Sunday-school of the Union Baptist Church of Providence.
     Professor Williams was a vigorous, versatile man.  His ambitions were strong, and his physical and mental powers enabled him to undertake many tasks and to complete them with success.  His influence was marked.  He inspired his pupils by his words and his example, and he had a prominent place among his comrades, the veterans of the Civil war, who looked to him with respect and cherished him with affection.
     He was twice married.  His first wife, whom he married in 1872, was Sarah Elizabeth Phelps, daughter of Rev. Benjamin C. Phelps, of Vernon, Conn., and sister of Hon. Charles Phelps, the first attorney general, and ex-secretary of State, of Connecticut.  She died Nov. 15, 1891, in Leipzig, Germany.  Their two children survived them; Alonzo Roger Williams (B. U., 1899), a graduate of the Law School of Harvard University, Captain of Company A, 1st Light  Infantry, and Company A, 1st Regiment of Infantry, Rhode Island Militia, who served in the Spanish-American war in the 1st Rhode Island Volunteers as first Lieutenant, adjutant and judge advocate; and Sarah Helen.  Professor Williams married for his second wife, Dec. 12, 1893, Mrs. MARIE J. (STRONG) Morgan, daughter of Nathan M. Strong, of Vernon Centre, Conn., and widow of Capt. Ebenezer Morgan.  She survives, with her son, Thomas Hollister Williams, born Oct. 16, 1895.  Professor Williams' mother, who after the death of his father married Abile Taylor, survived until May 24, 1904, when her death occurred in Providence at the age of eighty-nine years and nineteen days.
     Mrs. Williams is a descendant on the paternal and maternal sides of the family, from two of the oldest settled families in New England, the Strongs and the Hollisters. 
     (1)  Elder John STRONG, the progenitor of the family in New England, was born in Taunton, England, in 1605, and sailed for New England in the company under Rev. John Wareham, in the ship "Mary and John," in 1630.  In 1635, after assisting in the development of Dorchester, he became one of the original proprietors of Taunton, then removed to Windsor, and in 1639 was at Northampton, Mass., where he was noted as one of the foremost citizens.  His first wife died on the voyage to New England.
     (II)  John Strong, son of Elder John, born in England in 1620, married (second) in 1664 Elizabeth Warrener.
     (III)  John Strong, son of John, born in 1665, married in 1686 Hannah, daughter of Deacon John Trumbull, of Suffield, Connecticut.
     (IV)  Deacon David Strong, son of John, born in 1704, married in 1732 Thankful Loomis, daughter of Moses Loomis, of Windsor.  He was a farmer in Bolton.
     (V)  Ebenezer Strong, born in 1754, married in 1779 Lucy (Kilbourne) Lawrence, daughter of Benjamin Kilbourne.  Her former husband David Lawrence, was killed in the Wyoming Massacre, in Pennsylvania.
     (VI)  Daniel Strong, son of Ebenezer, born Nov. 18, 1784, married in 1825 Sabra Morgan, who was born in 1797, daughter of Nathan and Sarah (Capron) Morgan, and they had issue:  Nancy married Elisha Minor, of Groton, Conn.; Daniel died in 1899 in New London; Nathan Morgan is mentioned below; Emmeline married George Burdick, of Nyack, N. Y.; Lucy (deceased) married (first) William Salters and (second) William Nye; and Amanda married George Burch, of Waterbury.  Daniel Strong was a farmer in Bolton.  In 1824 he erected a distillery on the Black Ledge River, in the south part of Bolton, below the Strong homestead.  He was a man of fine character and generous disposition, but his closing years were shadowed by heavy losses incurred through his generosity and trusting disposition.  He died in Bolton in 1870, and his wife in 1871.
     (VII)  Nathan Morgan Strong, son of Daniel, born Mar. 24, 1829, married in Glastonbury, Mar. 12, 1856, Abby Louise Hollister, who was born May 30, 1830, daughter of Horatio and Polly (Tullar) Hollister, and a direct descendant in the seventh generation from Lieut. John Hollister, who came to America about 1642, becoming a noted man in Wethersfield, Conn., Mr. and Mrs. Strong had children as follows:  (1) Norman Hollister, born Apr. 26, 1857, married Nov. 27, 1878, Ella M. Dart, and they live at Vernon Centre; their children are Nathan Morgan, born Sept. 7, 1889, and Edna L., born Feb. 20, 1896.  (2) Marie Jane, born July 14, 1859, married in1879 Capt. Ebenezer Morgan, who died in 1881, and she married for her second husband Prof. Alonzo Williams, by whom she had a son, Thomas Hollister.
     Nathan M. Strong lived with a cousin in Glastonbury from the age of six until he was twenty-one years old, and was educated in the public schools and the academy at East Glastonbury.  He inherited a strong constitution and unbounded energy.  His first occupation was farming.  Then he spent a winter in the Cheny Mills, at South Manchester, and a second winter in the silk mill.  For six years he worked at the carpenter's trade for David Hibbard, and in 1859 bought a farm in Vernon Centre.  Later he sold this, but bought another, and subsequently made a business of buying and selling farms.  In 1878 he built his present home, near Vernon Centre.  Beginning life with energy and enterprise as his most valuable assets, he has won success by such methods as retained for him the highest respect and esteem of his fellow men, and has made a name to leave his posterity of which they will have just cause to feel proud.
Source: Representative Men and Old Families of Rhode Island - Vol. I - Publ. 1908 - Pages 576 - 579