Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-08-25

| Today is the eighty-ninth birthday of
William H. Williams of 1888 34th street.
a vice president of the Association of Old
est Inhabitants, and the oldest member in
point of years of the organization. Mr..
Williams has resided i'm the District all of
his life, and has seen the city of Washing
| ton grow from ridiculousy overgrown
village to the wonderful city which it is
now.
! Mr.. Williams was born August y. 1919.
near what was then Georgetown. He said
today like most boys in poor circumstances
| he received not much regular schooling,
but managed to get a great deal of that
which they do not teach in schools-com
| mon sense He was bound out at the age
of sixteen as an apprentice to old Richard
CrOpley, the shoemaker and worked at
the bench until he became of age. He
likes to look at the old stones which are
left in some of GeOrgetOwn's streets, over
which the shoes of his make have trod.
For twelve years he worked as a jour
neyman shoemaker.
During those younger years he was a
great swimmer. He recollectS with pleas
ure the old swimming pools which have
since been filled in. but in whose cool wa
tiers he and the other boys of that long
since buried past swan and played.
Happy Days Of Long Ago.
81 can remember yet" he said today, |
how l used to dive In deep and feel the |
lily stalks brushing over me as 1 swan |
under water We used to go in right |
down here at the foot of this street
34th street. The canal was not even |
thought of. then
David OYSTER an upclo IF Caoroo Owe !
ter. conducted butter business at what |
is N street and Wisconsin avenue now. !
Mr.. Williams was employed his clerk |
for six years, until Oyster went out of the |
business and settled in Kansas, and after
that Mr.. Williams went into the butter |
and produce business himself and remain |
ed In 1t for twenty-five years
While conducting the business in the
old Georgetown market he became prob |
ably the best known man in the town |
and gained a very wide acquaintance |
among the old families. Speaking of those |
days Mr. Williams delights to recollect |
that Georgetown was once in possession |
of great West India trade and the smell |
of spice and sugar and moasses made !
spring and summer evenings veritable !
joy to the young men and women who |
used to stroll down to the Wharves to see |
the great-sailed ships. In those days |
person could walk half way across the |
river sometimes on the ships that lay as |
close as they could get to the wharves
liams. Somehow or other the great fleet |
sailed outward one day never to come |
back. and a great commerce was taken |
to some other port.
Last of Famous Family.
May . Mr.. Williams married Marcia |
Burns. remarkab bly, beautiful woman, |
as the old daguerrOtype in Mr.. Williams |
possession attests. She was the daughter |
of Trueman Burns. cousin of the late |
Mrs. John p. Van Ness. She died in Sep |
tember 1906. her death removing the last |
of the family of the, famous David Burns, !
who at one time owned much of the land |
now covered by the city of Washington. |
There were five children. two of whom |
died in infancy. Mrs. George Bell and |
Mrs. Ella Hoover are still living. Charles
Williams of the 18th United States In |
fantry died while young man.
Mr.. Williams was marketmaster at the |
Georgetown market from 1881 to 1906. In |
1870 he joined the Association of Oldest |
Inha bitants and is now the only man left |
from the members at that time. In 1894. |
on his golden wedding, the association /
gave him handsome cane. He says he |
looks at it every day. as many of the |
donors have since died.
Mr. Williams talked very freely of the I
old days to Star reporter.
II remember WELL he said. how they |
used to catch shad and herring at the
street bridge over Rock creek. There |
was no bridge there before 1875 and we |
used to call the place the sashes.' AT
the foot of Kaorama was the old paper |
mill bridge. The mill was burned in |
'35. l have seen them cast their seine
many times.
Races on Mount Pleasant.
my old master in the cobbler shop
used to give me one day week to go to
the races which were held where Mount
Pleasant is now OF course, the boys
all went. and we would have great time.
However, l worked pretty hard and had
to go to bed at 10 o'clock every night so
/ did not have chance to acquire many
bad habits.
Back in 1925 man named Tolson used
to keep a mill on the Virginia side of the
river opposite the Three Sisters. People
brought him corn to grind for miles
around The famous old Masons foundry
was in full operation then. too. That
was the foundry which the British start
ed to capture during the war of 1872.
John Foxhall afterward built the original
Foundry Church a thanks Offering to
God because a tremendous storm prevent
ed the red coats from destroying that
great industry.
washington was nothing in those days. |
1t seems to me that sea, of mud separat-
ed us from the Capitol and ii cost 81 to
get from here to Capitol Hill. Georgetown
was a great commercial center. with its
foreign trade and it's produce market |
Baltimore merchants used to haul their
country stuff over here and take away the |
things the ships brought in. There was a
great collection of merchants on the old
High street, but now there is not man
living from that day whose store was |