Archives West Finding Aid

Sam H. Williams was a cement and stone contractor in Missoula, Montana, around 1900. Williams moved to Missoula with his family in 1887, from Penzance, England. He became associated with A.J. Gibson and other builders and took part in the construction of several of Missoula’s larger buildings. He was a trustee of the Methodist Episcopal Church and assisted in the erection of the building on East Main Street. Sam Williams operated his business at 415 Ronald Avenue in 1909 and by 1911, had relocated to 411 Ronald Avenue. By 1915, he resided at 828 Ronald Avenue. In 1917, Samuel H. Williams resided at 820 Hilda Avenue, with his son Sidney W. Williams. Samuel H. Williams and his wife, Linda Cornish Williams, had five children: Sidney W., H.B., Nora, May, and Sadie. Sam Williams moved to the West coast following the death of his wife in 1915. He died in Tacoma, Washington, June 15, 1934, at age 77. He is interred at Missoula County Cemetery.

Sidney W. Williams was a clerk in the hardware department at the Missoula Mercantile Company, from 1903 to 1934. Sidney W. married his wife, Lee, a Wisconsin native, around 1910. In 1910, Sidney W. lived at 820 Hilda Avenue with his wife and cousin Howard Cornish. In 1917, Williams operated the Jones and Williams Bakery, with Alfred Jones, at 531 South Higgins. By 1922, the Jones and Williams Bakery was no longer in operation.

The Missoula Mining Board was founded in September, 1890. The board’s directors included J.M. Keith, W.B. Parsons, M.E. Rutherford, C.H. McLeod, and E.M. Tower. The Missoula Mining Board held its annual shareholders’ meeting in the offices of the company, on the first Tuesday of September, between 2 and 5, for the purpose of the election of officers by the Board of Directors, for a term lasting one year. At the first shareholders meeting in September 1890, J.M. Keith, a cashier at the First National Bank in Missoula, was elected president, W.B. Parsons, a Missoula physician, was elected vice president, M.E. Rutherford, a state senator, was elected treasurer, and C.H. McLeod, vice president of the Missoula Mercantile Company, was elected manager, and E.M. Tower was elected secretary.

The board of directors called meetings of shareholders, made assessments on the company’s shareholders for money to carry out company business, made rules and regulations, changed by-laws, and contracted all other business matters. The board oversaw a closed corporation, with no stocks issued except by vote of the shareholders and directors, with each shareholder’s individual interest placed on the company books.