Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

of political parties, their leaders, princi-
ples, and nit itives.
Medicine has been only one of his many
activities, for scientific study always held
a fascination fur him. He has published a
work, "Prehistoric Remains of the Fann-
ington Valley," and has always taken a
deep interest in the welfare and advancement
of Bristol. He was one of the first
to advocate the founding- of the Bristol
Historical Society, and he has been the
town's unfailing- friend. In politics, he is
a Democrat, sound in his financial views,
and refusing to be led away by the soph-
istries of the silverites.
In literary matters he has always taken
a dee]) interest and is himself a writer of
ability. In addition to his prose writings,
previously mentioned, Dr. Williams is a
poet of much talent. His style is spir-
ited, flowing, and graceful, and his poet-
ical effusions are the delight of his friends.
About seventy of his poems have been
published in the Hartford "Times," and
local papers, and more ambitious poems
in the old "Connecticut Magazine." In
debate or criticism, he wields a scathing
pen if the subject discussed be handled
by his opponents in a manner showing
ignorance of the fundamental principles
of the subject, whether political or relig-
ious. His historical sketches are chiefly
of a local nature and uncollected, but they
show uncommon power of discernment in
analyzing chronological data and preparing
it for popular reading. He is a mem-
ber of the National Eclectic Association.
(Frederick Alvin Norton, 1901.)
Dr. Williams married, in 1885, Janetta
E. Hart, of Pleasant Valley, Connecticut,
and they are the parents of a daughter,
Frances Hart, born in 1886. Frances
Hart Williams died suddenly in Septem-
ber, 1909, while on a visit to her grandmother
in Winsted, Connecticut. She was
ENCYCLl >PEDIA OF UK >C,K AIM I V
179
a graduate of VaSSar College in [907. She
took the classical course offered by that
institution, and was especially well versed
in French, Latin, German, and most of
all in ( ireek.
When the Bristol Public Library was
being built, Dr. Williams was asked to
contribute his archaeological collection to
the city. This was done, ami the collec-
tion i^ now in a separate room as the
"F. H. Williams Ethnological Collection."
Since the donation to the city, the collec-
tion has been greatly increased. It is
particularly well represented with shell
artifacts from the various surface mounds
of South Florida where Dr. Williams col-
lected during the winters for over five
years. In i 1 4. he was elected president
of the New England Eclectic Association,
but becoming very ill was unable to offi-
ciate. From 1914 to 1916 he was mostly
confined to his home, and as he gradually
regained his health his practice was meas-
urably limited to office work. When the
epitlemic of influenza came in September,
1918. he was gradually drawn into active
practice, and he attended over four hun-
dred cases of all types without a fatality.
He had already had much experience in
the great epidemics of 1889-90, and he
found that now, as then, the old botanic
remedies were potent against both the
bronchial and pneumonic forms of the
disease. He believes that the great mortality
of the last epidemic was from wrong
ideas of treatment and dangerous forms of
drugs used. He continues all his interest
in the world's doings and politics, but he
cannot favor the modern ideas of so-
called "democracy," so different from the
conceptions of Cleveland and Tilden,
whom he followed in the early days. For
the last fifteen years he has been a steady
opponent of Socialism wherever he could
find an opportunity to publish his views.