Los Angeles County, CA, Biographies

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


ROMAYNE WILLIAMS, 
 
one of the most prominent business men of Pasadena, was born in Greene County, 
New York, November 25, 1847. He followed agricultural pursuits until seventeen 
years of age; went to Coxsackie, that State, where he was engaged two years in 
the employ of E. V. Beatty, dry-goods merchant; then, in 1867, to Troy, same 
State, where he was employed two years in the large dry goods establishment of 
Haverly & Frear; next, for four years, he was engaged in wholesale millinery for 
C. H. Rising; then five years for G. V. S. Quackenbush & Co., dry-goods 
merchants; and finally, in 1877, he emigrated to the Golden State, arriving in 
Pasadena with but a few dollars in purse. Here his first task was to take charge 
of the property of Hodgkins & Wood for a year, at $20 a month. During this time 
he bought of A. M. Boughton five acres of land on Fair Oaks avenue, paying 
therefor $200 down, and giving mortgage for the balance due. At the close of his 
engagement with Hodgkins & Wood, he was enabled, with the assistance of his 
wife, to pay the whole debt. Next, for a year, he was a salesman in the grocery 
of Sherman Washburn, whom he then bought out, and continued the business under 
the firm name of R. Williams & Co. This stand he sold out July 1, 1885, to W. O. 
Swan, Jr. In the meantime he had erected a building on the northeast corner of 
Fair Oaks avenue and Colorado street. Since that time he has speculated 
considerably in real estate, and has by economical management amassed a fortune. 
He built the first substantial business block in Pasadena, which no doubt 
determined the present location of the business portion of the city. He has 
worked hard for the interests of the place, and thinks it has a brilliant 
future. He is a director in the San Gabriel Valley Bank; vice-president and 
director of the Fair Oaks Street Railway; stockholder in the Pasadena 
Manufacturing Company, one of the largest business firms in the city; was one of 
the corporators of the Pasadena Gas and Electric Light Company, and is now its 
treasurer; and was one of the promoters of the cable railroad to Wilson's Peak, 
the objective point for the new observatory now in contemplation. In company 
with C. S. Martin, he owns the site of Wilson's Peak, and they have tendered to 
the University of Southern California a tract of land for the observatory, Mr. 
Williams married Miss Ella Morrison, of Troy, New York. They have one son.
 
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California �  Chicago, The Lewis 
Publishing Company, 1889   Page 832
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler