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File contributed to the Fulton County ILGenWeb Project
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Source: Atlas Map of Fulton County, Illinois, 
Andreas, Lyter, and Co., Davenport, Iowa. 1871
(page 47)

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David Williams was born in South Wales, December 16, 1827. He was married May 20, 1847, to Sarah Williams, daughter of David T. Williams of Glenmorganshire, Wales. He emigrated to the United States in 1855, and came to Canton in the fall of 1856. 
    
Mr. Williams has been eminently successful in the coal business -- having some of the finest mines, and doing one of the largest businesses in the state. The first bank he leased was in 1856, three miles north of Canton, on land owned by G. E. Piper. Worked these mines four years, when he commenced operations three miles north of Canton. There he opened up five or six mines, both "strips and drifts." At this time he commenced supplying coal to the C., B., & Q railroad, bringing it three miles in wagons. Seeing the immense labor, the company put him down a track to his mines, from what is now St. David. This track is now taken up, and one put down to his present mine, near the town of St. David, which he opened in 1861. It is a drift mine of the best quality. In 1869 he opened his Canton mines, which are located half a mile south-west of Canton, inside the corporation. These mines are reached by a shaft, one of the finest in the state. He has a track running from these mines to the T., P., & W. railroad depot, where he has chutes for the purpose of supplying the railroad company and the citizens. The depth of the shaft to coal is ninety feet, and the vein is five feet in thickness. The capacity of both his mines is about 6,000 bushels per day. Mr. Williams deserves great credit for his enterprise and skill in developing these mines. He was the first to embark in the mining business extensively, and today, three powerful companies in Fulton county have followed in his footsteps, and, with an immense amount of capital, are making the coal business one of the most important branches of Industry in the county, employing hundreds of men, and sending coal all over the western country. And to the subject of this sketch is due the credit of showing to the world that it could be done. We copy from A. H. Worthen, the State Geologist, Reports on page 92, vol. 4; he says: 
    
"We have found here the most complete exposure of the productive coal measures that have been met with in the state; and hence the section constructed in this county will be considered a typical one, and will be used for the co-ordination of the coal strata throughout the central and western portions of the state." 
    
Then; on page 98; vol. 4, we copy: 
   
 "Coal No. 4 is a very persistent seam in its development; and has been found in every locality in the county, that we have examined, where the proper horizon for it was exposed. 
    
"This seam has been more extensively worked by Mr. David Williams, at Canton and 8t. David, than by any other person in the county. His main shaft is about half a mile south-west of Canton, and is about eighty-five feet in depth." 
    
Then, on page 99, sec. 4, we copy : 
  
 "This seam affords a heavy coal, rich in bitumen, and contains thirty-five to forty per cent. of volatile matters, and from fifty-five to fifty-six per cent. of fixed carbon." 
    
No. 4 coal gave the following as the average result of two analyses by professors Blaney and Murriner, of Chicago: 

Water. . . . . . . 5.94 
Ash. . . . . . . . . 7.51 
Bitumen. . . . 30.06 
Carbon. . . . . 57.25 
                   10.000 
Coke. . . . . . . 64.76