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BIOGRAPHICAL AND PORTRAIT CYCLOPEDIA

globe twice, and crossing and re-crossing the Atlantic several times. In 1845 he was engaged upon a liner which ran between New York city and Charleston.     Knowing that his parents had come to this country in about 1830, he began to make a search for them, and was successful in locating them in Catasauqua, Lehigh county, this State. His father was a blacksmith in the employ of the Crane Iron works, and Mr. Williams became a helper in the shops until 1854. Upon the latter date he went to Johnstown, and has remained in that city ever since.     Coming to that borough he entered the employ of the Cambria Iron company until 1866. In 1866, having demonstrated considerable constructive skill, he was employed to build the water works for the Johnstown Water company. After their completion he was made superintendent, a position he has held to the present time, and all enlargements and improvements to the same have been under his supervision. He has also been superintendent of the gas works of the same company.     Fraternally no less than as a citizen and a man, Mr. Williams is deservedly popular. He is a member of Johnstown Lodge, No. 538, F. and A. M.; Portage Chapter, No. 195, R. A. M.; Alma Lodge, I. O. O. F., the oldest in the country, being an Odd Fellow since 1846. He has been district deputy and also a delegate a number of years; is a member of Knights of Pythias at Johnstown; belongs to the Encampment connected with the Odd Fellows; is a member of the Episcopal Church.     Mr. Williams has been twice married. His first union was with Jane G. Emmerson, and resulted in the birth of the following children: Leonora, dead; Robert E. was a locomotive

engineer in the employ of the Pennsylvania railroad, and was killed in the service; and George H., a resident of Morrellville.     His second marriage was with Jane Hamilton, of Johnstown, a sister of Catherine Hamilton, who was born in Johnstown in 1817, and who is perhaps the oldest native of that city now living in it. To the latter marriage were born the following children:  Harry, a physician at the time of his death in Pittsburg; John F., of Johnstown; Homer D., of Indianapolis, Ind.; Frank, of Johnstown, a manufacturer of brick, and Webster, who died young. J. B. DENNY,  of Ebensburg, this county, is a son of Mathias Denny and Mary (Lattemer) Denny, and was born in Elder township, Cambria county, on November 9, 1861. His grandfather, Peter Denny, was a native of Alsace-Lorraine, France, and emigrated to America about 1820, locating in Hollidaysburg, Blair county, after which he moved to Elder township, this county, where he followed the avocation of a stonemason and farmer for many years. Mattias Denny, his only son, and the father of J. B. Denny, was born in 1831, in Elder township, Cambria county, where he lived until 1865. He was a carpenter by trade, and from 1865 to 1875 was one of the leading contractors of Altoona, Pa.     During the late Civil War, Matthias Denny was drafted for service three times, and was in the field when the war closed. He has always supported the Democratic party and represented his party in conventions, and in 1886 served as burgess of Gallitzin borough, and in 1887 as school director. He is a devout member of the Roman Catholic church.     In 1858 Matthias Denny married Mary Latterner, who was the daughter of Michael

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