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638 WILLIAMS France, he was appointed to the command of a regiment intended to cooperate with Sir Wil- liam Johnson in the projected campaign against Canada. On his way thither, under a presenti- ment of his early fall, he devised his landed and other property for the support of a free school among the settlers, from the avails of which, 38 years afterward, Williams college arose. (See WILLIAMS COLLEGE.) On the morn- ing of Sept. 8, 1755, at the head of 1,200 men, he was ordered on a reconnoissance of Dies- kau's advancing force, fell into an ambuscade of French and Indians near the head of Lake George, and was shot through the head. The alumni of Williams college in 1854 erected a monument to his memory on the spot where he fell. He was never married. WILLIAMS, Helen Maria, an English authoress, born in the north of England in 1762, died in Paris in December, 1827. She went to Lon- don at the age of 18, and in 1782 published "Edwin and Elfrida," a poem. This was fol- lowed by an "Ode on the Peace" (London, 1783), "Peru, a Poem" (1784), "Poem on the Slave Trade" (1788), and "Julia, a Novel" (1790). She settled in Paris in 1790, and pub- lished "Letters from Franco" (2 series, 1790- '92). She advocated the doctrines of the Giron- dists, and was imprisoned, but released on the death of Robespierre. Her subsequent works are : " Letters containing a Sketch of the Pol- itics of France, and of Scenes in the Prisons of Paris" (4 vols., 1795- 1 6); "Tour in Switzer- land" (2 vols., 1798); "Sketches of Manners and Opinions in the French Republic" (2 vols., 1801); " Correspondence of Louis XVI., with Observations" (3 vols., 1803); "Narrative of Events in France" (1815); and "Letters on Events in France since the Restoration in 1815 " (1819). Collective editions of her poems ap- peared in 1786 and 1823. She wrote the hymn " While thee I seek, protecting Power." WILLIAMS, Jesse L., an American civil engi- neer, born in Stokes co., N. C., May 6, 1807. His family removed to Cincinnati in 1814. He was one of the engineers detailed to make the preliminary survey for the Miami and Erie ca- nal, and continued in the engineer corps of Ohio from 1824 to 1832, constructing a portion of the Miami and Erie canal, and also of the Ohio canal. In 1832 he was appointed by the state of Indiana chief engineer of the Wabash and Erie canal, and in 1837 chief engineer of all the internal improvements of the state, embracing about 1,300 m. of canals, railroads, and other works. With the exception of five years, du- ring which the construction of the public works of Indiana was suspended, he has continued to act as chief engineer of the Wabash and Erie canal, though mainly as an advisory officer; but he has been chiefly engaged for the last quarter of a century in the construction and direction of railroads. In 1853 he became chief engineer of the Fort Wayne and Chicago railroad, afterward consolidated with other roads as the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne, and Chi- cago railway. He has been elected a director of this company yearly since 1856. In 1864 Mr. Williams was appointed by President Lin- coln a director on the part of the government of the Union Pacific railroad, and devoted his attention chiefly to securing the best location through the Rocky mountain region. He was reappointed annually till 1869, when he re- signed after the completion of the work and opening of railroad traffic across the conti- nent. In that year he was appointed by the U. S. district court receiver of the Grand Rap- ids and Indiana railroad ; he held that posi- tion, and also that of chief engineer, until 1871, having built 200 m. of the work under the orders of the court. In June, 1871, ho was appointed chief engineer of the Cincin- nati, Richmond, and Fort Wayne railroad, and, having located and built the unfinished por- tion, 65 m., resigned in 1872. WILLIAMS, John, an American clergyman, known as " the redeemed captive," born in Roxbury, Mass., Dec. 10, 1644, died in Deer- field, Mass., June 12, 1729. He became pastor of the church in Deerfield in 1688, and in 1704 was captured with his wife and six children by a party of French and Indians, and carried to Canada. On the second day's march Mrs. Williams fell from exhaustion, and was des- patched with a tomahawk. He was well treat- ed in captivity, and in 1706 was redeemed, and arrived in Boston Nov. 21, with 57 other captives, among whom were two of his chil- dren. His daughter Eunice, 10 years of age, was left behind, and married an Indian. He resumed his pastoral charge at Deerfield, and published a narrative of his captivity, entitled " The Redeemed Captive." (See DEERFIELD.) WILLIAMS, John, an English missionary, born at Tottenham, near London, June 29, 1796, murdered at Dillon's bay in the island of Er- romango, New Hebrides, Nov. 20, 1839. At the age of 20 the London missionary society sent him with his wife to Eimeo, one of the Society islands. Thence, after acquiring a knowledge of the language, they removed, first to Huahine, and finally to Raiatea. He was very successful here for about five years, after which he visited the Hervey islands and founded a mission at Raratonga (1823). He learned the language of the Hervey islands, prepared some books, and translated a portion of the Bible. Having no vessel, he made all the necessary tools, and in 15 weeks built and launched a boat 60 ft. long and 18 ft. wide, the sails being made of native matting, the cordage of the bark of the hibiscus, the oakum of cocoanut husks and banana stumps, and the sheaves of ironwood. In this vessel, with- in the next four years, he explored almost the whole of the South sea islands. During this time the Samoan mission was established, and the translation of the New Testament into the Raratongan language completed. He visited England in 1834. procured the publication of his Raratongan Testament by the British and