WI BIO - Dane Co - WILLIAMSON, E. M.
Biographical Review of Dane County, WI. Chicago: Biographical Review Pub. Co. 
1893, Vol I, pp 144-145

E. M. WILLIAMSON, a retired real estate dealer, and a venerable pioneer of 
Wisconsin, was born at Bedford, Westchester County, New York, 19 October 
1801, son of Garrett and Elizabeth (HAIGHT) WILLIAMSON, who were born and 
reared in Westchester County, New York. Garrett WILLIAMSON was engaged in 
agricultural pursuits, and reared his children upon the farm. Four of these 
still survive, two sons and two daughters. The WILLIAMSONs are descended 
from Holland, and have been residents of America since before the Revolution. 
The mother of our subject was of Welsh descent, and was a great granddaughter 
of Rev. James WHITMORE. His father [Garrett WILLIAMSON] emigrated to Broome 
County, New York, about 1804 or 1805 [means Tioga County, NY? Broome County 
created 28 March 1806 from Tioga], when that country was nearly an unbroken 
wilderness, leaving E. M. with the grandparents, with whom he continued to 
live until he was fifteen. [By his given birthdate, E. M. WILLIAMSON would 
have been 15 years old on 19 October 1816.] He [E. M.] then joined the 
family in Broome County. Although his educational advantages were limited, 
he made the best of his opportunities, and at an early age was able to meet 
the requirements of a teacher of a public school. He spent his winters in 
teaching and his summers in work in the lumber camps or at milling until he 
arrived at the age of twenty-five, when he left his father's home and engaged 
in farming.

In 1839 Mr. [E. M.] WILLIAMSON decided that the West offered better 
advantages for a young man, and accordingly he began to look about for a 
location. Friends of the family had come to Wisconsin, and through their 
solicitude he started here in 1839, reaching Dane County in the spring of 
1840. In accordance with his lifelong motto of "make hay while the sun 
shines," he had so vigorously prosecuted his studies when young, that he 
became a competent surveyor, and did much of that work in New York. After 
coming West he at once drifted into surveying. He was elected County 
Surveyor of Dane County, and while in that office did much toward surveying 
and laying out early roads in the county. This business he followed 
officially and otherwise, for many years. Wild land in Wisconsin, and at 
that time there was not much except wild land, was largely owned by 
nonresidents, speculators in the East. Seeing an opportunity for a 
profitable business, Mr. WILLIAMSON and his brother-in-law, Mr. CATLIN, 
formed a partnership for the handling of real estate. They at once secured 
the agency of several large Eastern owners, and worked away in this line of 
business until they became one of the leading firms in Wisconsin, as agents 
for nonresident parties, their sales running up to many hundred thousand 
dollars. Mr. WILLIAMSON was for three years Clerk of the Board of County 
Commissioners, under Territorial organization. [Wisconsin Territory was 
created from part of Michigan Territory on 20 April 1836; WI become a state 
29 May 1848.]

In 1850, Mr. [E. M.] WILLIAMSON married, at Rochester [Monroe County], New 
York, Mrs. Eliza WALLACE, nee BRISTOL, a lady of culture and refinement born 
in New York City and educated in Rochester. They had three children, two of 
whom are deceased. Mrs. WILLIAMSON departed this life in 1891, and is 
interred at Madison [Dane County, WI]. Miss Susan [WILLIAMSON], their only 
living child, is now the comfort of her father in his declining years. He 
has suffered the misfortune of [p 145] total loss of sight, but he is quite 
active and is as clear in mind as one of thirty, notwithstanding he is now 
[1893] in his ninety-second year.

For more than forty years Mr. WILLIAMSON has lived on the same block, on east 
Dayton street. On this same block he owns and rents a residence which, years 
ago, when it was built, was among the finest in Madison. At the time he 
erected this building, it was difficult to procure the necessary material, so 
he had his lumber hauled from Milwaukee and Sauk City, and the shingles from 
northern Wisconsin, all of which required much time and great expense. 
Politically Mr. WILLIAMSON is a Republican. He has never been an office 
seeker, although at one time he filled the office of Justice of the Peace, 
and at another was Deputy Sheriff of Dane County. He is a member of the 
Episcopal Church.

Submitted by Cathy Kubly