Mary Melissa KING

1862 - 1908  (46 years)

• Name	Mary Melissa KING
  Birth	Sep 1862	Evanston, Cook County, Illinois
  	location according to Esther’s birth record
  Gender	Female
  Death	11 Nov 1908	Washington
  Burial	Bayview Cemetery, Bellingham, Whatcom County, Washington
  	as Mary M Williams, aged 45
  Notes	Her name is recorded on Esther Geraldine’s marriage certificate. Both of her parents were born in Illinois. She was called Lissa King in the 1880 census when she lived in Olmsted County, Minnesota, and was still going to school. In the ELCA birth and baptism record for her daughter Annie Belle, she is called Lizzie. In the 1900 census, she is shown as having had 4 children, all still living. An article in the September 14, 1932, edition of the Bellingham Herald, recalling events of 25 years earlier (i.e., the fall of 1907), mentions that Miss Esther Williams was traveling to Boulder, Colorado, “where Miss Esther will join her mother and sister, Mrs. Andrew Williams and Miss Belle Williams.” An article in the August 4, 1908, edition of the Tacoma Daily News: It became known today that what was alleged to have been a nervous collapse of Mrs. Andrew Williams, wife of the sheriff of Whatcom County, was in reality an attempt of the woman to commit suicide because of grief over the daughter’s death last week. Mrs. Williams locked herself in a room Sunday morning and with a pair of scissors cut her throat and wrists. When she was missed it was some time before the door could be pried open. By that time she was extremely weak from loss of blood and all but dead. She was taken to the hospital and unless complications set in will recover. Her daughter died last week after a lingering illness of several years. An article in the November 12, 1908, of the Olympia Daily Recorder: Despondent over the loss of her eldest daughter, and dreading to go to the state insane asylum to which she was committed Tuesday, Mrs. Andrew Williams, wife of Sheriff Williams of Whatcom County, last evening slipped away from her home, made her way to the court house, and, entering the sheriff’s office, took a revolver from the desk and shot herself in the head. She died instantly. For more than a year, Mrs. Williams was the constant attendant of her eldest daughter, Belle, a teacher in the Bellingham schools, who was afflicted with tuberculosis. They traveled all over the West in search of health for the daughter but she finally died in June. Since that time, the mother has been despondent and once before tried to end her own life. She was unsuccessful. Since then she has been growing worse until she became violent and was finally committed to the state asylum for the insane. Last night, she evaded the members of her family and fired the fatal shot. Her husband is distracted with grief over the affair and is nearly a wreck. He has spent hus savings of years on the family and when he leaves office in January will be practically without funds although at one time he was counted well to do. The dead woman is survived by her husband, two young sons, and a small daughter.
  Person ID	I7084	Don Carlson's Tree
  Last Modified	13 Dec 2015

  
  

  Family	Andrew Ove WILLIAMS,   b. 10 Aug 1853, Wisconsin d. 12 Feb 1925, Okanogan, Okanogan County, Washington (Age 71 years)
  Marriage	30 Jul 1884	Olmsted County, Minnesota
  	as Andrew Williams and Lissie King
  Children	1. Anna Belle WILLIAMS,   b. 17 Dec 1884, Wisconsin d. 28 Jul 1908, Washington (Age 23 years)   2. Robert E (Bert) WILLIAMS,   b. 9 May 1886, Wisconsin d. 3 Oct 1924, Seattle, King County, Washington (Age 38 years)   3. Andrew Lynde WILLIAMS,   b. 18 Aug 1889, Waupaca, Waupaca County, Wisconsin d. 13 Sep 1930, Okanogan, Okanogan County, Washington (Age 41 years)   4. Esther Geraldine WILLIAMS,   b. 2 Apr 1893, Waupaca County, Wisconsin d. 6 Jul 1976, Seattle, King County, Washington (Age 83 years)
  Family ID	F5417	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	2 May 2010