Family
Roots
My mothers side of the family was half German and half Scotch-Irish. The German side came first in the form of Peter Ruff and his wife Christina who he met on the ship coming over. He was a locksmith, but eventually found his way to Quaker Hill, near West Branch, New York, where he became a farmer. It was their daughter Cornelia who married my grandfather, Henry Craig.
Henry arrived in Toronto, Canada with his father and mother and a number of siblings from Bally Bolly, Northern Ireland. Very shortly thereafter his father died and his mother was left with several small children to care for. When he was about thirteen, Henry headed West to work on a ranch in Kansas, training wild horses. He learned Spanish and several Indian languages before he moved to Chicago to make Pullman cars. He became a very fine craftsman and in later life did the fine wood inlaying at what are now the Beeches and the Rome Community Center.
While traveling east from Chicago to New York, he was delayed in Rome, N.Y. because of a train wreck in Little Falls. While he waited, he was invited to spend some time on Quaker Hill with the Ruffs. He met my grandmother and the rest is history. I should also say that he became very fluent in German in order to communicate with his mother-in-law. In any event, in a very direct sense, I am the result of a train wreck. Here is the Henry Craig family as they looked in about 1910:
My Father's family was entirely Welsh. My grandmother's parents, Moses and Sarah Davies came to America from Mold in Wales and settled eventually in Plainfield Center, New York where Moses was a farmer. Their daughter Elizabeth, in due time, married a new immigrant, John Solomon Williams who hailed from the very tip of the LLeyn Peninsula in Wales. He was a farmer and then a mailman in Rome, New York. My mother and father lived right across the street from each other. Here is how they looked sometime in the 1920s.
My father went to Hamilton College, majoring in Greek and graduating in 1923. He went on to Princeton Theological Seminary and became a Presbyterian minister, serving Welsh Churches in Wisconsin where he preached in Welsh. Most tragically he died of a ruptured appendix just before I was born.
The Fruits of the Past
On September 9, 1956 while I was in Theological Seminary, I did the smartest thing in my life; I married Hermine Weigel. Like me she was deeply involved in the academic world, receiving a B.A. and M.A, in music from Vassar College and then an M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University. Although, because of family commitments, she only taught part-time at Hamilton, she has been able to produce a large number of major scholarly works in the field of musicology. Her works range from completely new editions of Grout's Short History of Opera, (that runs well over a thousand pages) to editions of Alessandro Scarlatti's works, to a seminal work on Francesco Bartolomeo Conti, to biographies of Thomas Hastings and Theresa Robinson, to a work on Sibelius Masonic music. She is, I will admit, the real scholar of the family.
In the meantime, she found time to raise four children, serve as an organist and choir director in several local churches, and help more people in the area than anyone can imagine.
Daryl, Ruth, Jay, and Lynn in 1991.
Our four children have all proceeded to make a success out of life. Lynn and Ruth are our adopted daughters from Korea. Lynn and her husband Ken have three sons, Andrew, Christopher, and Ryan. She manages a medical office while Ken works repairing and refitting ships.
After living many years in San Francisco Ruth now lives in Denver. She has been very involved in financial services.
Jay, our eldest, is a lawyer in Clinton and the lay pastor of the Augusta Presbyterian Church. He is also the author of two books, Memory Stones and Songs of Praises, both of which deal with the Welsh heritage. He has three children, Tom, Liz, and Rebecca. Tom graduated from Hamilton in 2011 and Liz attends Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania. Rebecca is in high school.
Daryl is a professional musician, a violist and tenured member of the faculty at the Scarsdale, N.Y. high school where he conducts several orchestras and ensembles. He also has written a book on the life of Lillian Fuchs, a famous American violist and teacher. This book is now in its second edition. He and his wife Karen have one son, Kurtis.
So there is much to be proud of. It is particularly wonderful to see children and now grandchildren excel in music and the other arts and sciences and contribute so much to the world around them.
On the occasion of my fortieth year in the ministry in 1998.
Genealogy: Jay G. Williams
A. Paternal Grandfather
1. William Williams
Married: Jane
Occupation: Shoemaker
Residence: Deneio Parish, Caernarfon
2. William Williams b. 1810
Married: (1832) Elizabeth Roberts b. 1811
(Daughter of Daniel and Mary Roberts)
Occupation: Farmer
Residence: Llannor Parish, Caernarfon
3. Daniel Williams b. 1837
Siblings: Jane (1832), Williams (1835), Mary (1841)
Married: (1854 app) Jane b. 1833 app
Occupation: Farmer
Residence: Grepach, Uwchmynydd, near Aberdaron
4. John Solomon Williams 1865-1927
Siblings: Laura (1855), William (1856), David (1860),
Eliza ( 1864), Thomas (1868), Robert (1870)
Married: Elizabeth Prudence Davies (1859-1934)
Occupation: Farmer, Mailman
Residence: Settled in Rome, N.Y.
B. Paternal Grandmother
1. John Davies
Married: Ann
Residence: Denbigh, Wales
2. Moses Davies (1816-1892)
Siblings: Ann, Elizabeth
Married: (1850) Sarah Humphrey from Mold, Wales
Occupation: Farmer
Residence: Settled in Plainfield Center, N.Y.
3. Elizabeth Prudence Davies (1859-1934)
Siblings: Robert (1851), Caleb (1853), Mary (1854),
Catherine (1856), Joseph John (1858), Sarah
Ann (1863).
Married: John Solomon Williams (1860-1927)
Residence: Rome, N.Y.
C. Maternal Grandfather
1. William Craig d. 1866
Family Home: Baly-Boley, Northern Ireland
Married: Mary
Residence: Toronto, Canada at death
2. Henry Craig (1855-1935)
Siblings: William, Ellen, Alexander, Andrew, Elizabeth,
Isabella, Margaret
Married: (1883) Cornelia Ruff
Occupation: Farmer, Craftsman
Residence: Quaker Hill, then Rome, N.Y.
Children: Daniel, Andrew, Emma, Ruth, Mary
D. Maternal Grandmother
1. Johann Georg Ruff b. Apr. 4, 1766
Residence: Neckarzimmern, Baden
2. Johann Peter Ruff (b. June 23, 1820)
Married: Christina Widmaier
Occupation: Farmer
Residence: Quaker Hill, West Branch, N.Y.
3. Cornelia Ruff (1856-1926)
Siblings: Fredericka, Louisa, Daniel, Peter
Married: Henry Craig (1855-1935)
Residence: West Branch, then Rome, N.Y.
E. John Solomon and Elizabeth Davies Williams’ Descendents
1. Jay G. Williams (1897-1932)
Married: Mary Christine Craig
Residence at death: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Children:
John Craig Williams b. 1929
Married: Patricia Gove b. 1931
Children: James (1959-1998)
Amy b.1961
Dr. Jay G. Williams II b. 1932
Married: Dr. Hermine Weigel. b. 1933
Children: Jay G. III b. 1961
Married: Lilly Viglietta
Children: Thomas, Elizabeth, Rebecca
Residence: Clinton, N.Y.
Lynn Marie b. 1964
Married: Kenneth Cooper
Children: Andrew, Christopher,
Ryan
Residence: Pasadena, Texas
Amédée Daryl b. 1966
Married Karen Li
Residence: Scarsdale, N.Y..
Ruth Christine b.1969
Residence: San Francisco, CA
2. Humphrey Davies Williams (1898-1984)
Married: (1) Mabel Currie
(2) Louisa Ottman
Children: Robert b. 1923
Albert b. 1924
Married: Dorothy Van Vleck
Children: Edward, Karen, Albert
Clarence b. 1926
Married: Florence Smith
Children: Suzanne, Wendy, Randy
Mildred (Betty) b. 1927
Married: Max Deetz
Children: Skip, Rex, Zack
Edward b. 1928
Died in his early teens
(Of the four only Clarence remains alive.)
F. Henry and Cornelia Ruff Craig’s Descendents
1. Daniel Alexander Craig (1883-1953)
Married: Elsie Smith (1891-1971)
No children
2. Andrew Hugh Craig (1885-1972)
Married: Florence Bielby (1888-1984)
No Children
3. Emma Louise Craig ( d. 1957)
Married; Alexander Shaw (1870-1947)
No Children
4. Ruth Elizabeth Craig (1890-1962)
Unmarried
5. Mary Christine Craig (1896-1992)
Married: Jay Gomer Williams (1897-1932)
Luther Emmanuel Olson (d. 1977)
Children: John Craig Williams
Jay G. Williams II (See E. 1.)