WILLIAMS, ARTHUR P. (1874-1944)

WILLIAMS, ARTHUR P., stonemason and businessman; b. Bushville, 1874, s/o Richard Williams and Margaret Kelly; brother of Robert J. Williams; m. 1909, Isabelle M. Lynch; d. 25 Aug 1944.

Except for a few years in which he worked in the United States as a young man Arthur P. Williams spent his life on the Miramichi. In 1905 he entered into partnership with John H. Lawlor in a monument business, under the firm name of Lawlor & Williams. After Lawlor's death he formed Miramichi Monument Works Ltd, which was one of the largest firms of its kind in New Brunswick.

Williams sat on the Chatham Town Council for a total of five years between 1908 and 1918 and was a member of the Chatham Board of Trade, the Chatham Board of School Trustees, and the Knights of Columbus. He served terms as both president and treasurer of the County Liberal Association.

Williams's wife, Isabelle M. Lynch, was active in business, as well as in the voluntary sector. At the time of her marriage in 1909 she was conducting her own millinery store in Chatham, and she still had a store in the 1930s. After her husband's death in 1944 she took over the monument business. During both world wars she worked for the Red Cross Society and other support organizations. She was prominent for many years in the work of the IODE and served for a time as president of the Hotel Dieu Hospital Aid Society.