On a Saturday morning in June of 1889, Charles Williams reclined in a chair at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Levi Ober. In just half a year he would reach his 100th birthday. As talked with family members he suddenly asked for assistance in rising to his feet. His loved ones grabbed hold to help him up but found that he was too feeble to stand. Even up to recent days he’d been able to walk about his room and take care of his personal needs. Now within seconds the old soldier slipped away: “gone,” as the Chatfield Democrat observed in his obituary, “to reap the reward of the faithful.”
Charles Williams was born in the town of London, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, on March 17, 1790. He was a volunteer in the War of 1812, serving his country with honor as a private in Captain Stonebreaker’s Company of Maryland Militia.
He and his wife Elizabeth (Betsey) Coebert were the parents of 14 children – eight boys and six girls. For a number of years the family lived in the states of Maryland and Pennsylvania, where Charles was employed by the iron works. In 1855, he removed to Illinois to locate in Carroll County, where he became a successful farmer. After the death of his wife in 1866, his advanced age made it necessary for him to dispose of his property and retire from active life. Three years later he arrived in Chatfield to permanently reside in the Ober household.
Son-in-law Levi Ober had settled in Chatfield in 1854. He established a wagon works and a blacksmith shop, where he was one of Chatfield’s young pioneer businessmen. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Levi volunteered in the Second Minnesota Infantry, where he was promoted to Captain.
On the Minnesota Territorial census, the Levi Ober family is enumerated in Chatfield Township. Census records do not reveal that Charles and Elizabeth Williams were yet residing in Minnesota Territory. However, a ScripWarrant land grant for 160 acres in sections three and ten of Chatfield Township was transferred from Charles Williams to James Nichols on June 1, 1859. This document seems to indicate that Charles had considered relocating along with the Ober family when his son-in-law pulled up stakes in Illinois. Plans appear to have changed course since the 1860 Federal census shows Charles and his wife back in Carroll County.
Along with his comrades Tyler Walker and Jarvis Billings, Charles appears on the War of 1812 Pensioners in Minnesota, published in 1883.
Following Charles’ death on June 9, 1889, he was lamented as “a man of iron constitution and his powers of endurance were remarkable…a man who always was blest with good health excepting a serious illness caused by small pox…a very pious, grateful man, a conscientious and devoted member of the Dunkard faith.’’
Charles shares the family Ober monument at Chatfield Cemetery.