The Life of Henry Evan Williams. Akron, Ohio Tenor. 1867

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Since I couldn't find much about H. Evan Williams on the web, I decided to make this blog and simply list the notes that I have about him. He was a great singer from Akron, Ohio and should be remembered. There are a few of his recordings on YouTube if you'd like to listen to them.

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Blog Created: 8-8-2022

Famous Akron, Ohio tenor. Henry's voice was discovered at age 17 when he first came to Akron to sing for the Methodist Choir. He had worked in the coal mines at Thomastown in early life. For 1-1/2 years he worked on a job all week and sang on Sundays. At 19, making good wages, he decided to get married and wed Margaret, a girl from Thomastown. When he was offered free voice lessons, but had to move to Cleveland, Henry took a job running an elevator for a dollor a day plus board. Margaret stayed in Thomastown to keep their house and raise their first child. A small loan from friends kept the Williams going untill Henry could begin his singing career. His first singing job was at a Brooklyn, N.Y. church for $200 a year. Next at another church for $2,000 for 40 weeks. He later began making records, then toured London, singing for a company there. Record sales got to $36,000 a year plus his concerts were paying him $15,000 a year. Good money for the times. He built a $100,000 home on Mayfield Road in Akron. Henry gave his last concert at the Akron Armory 10-days before his death. No one was aware that he was suffering great pain from a carbuncle on his neck. It was serious and he died at City Hospital of blood poisoning at the age of 50. His funeral took place at his Akron home and he was buried May 26, 1918. Henry, or Evan, as he was called, was remembered as a person who started in the coal mines and managed to sing his way to the top of the world.

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Born in Mineral Ridge, Trumbull, Ohio, USA on 17 Sep 1867 to David E. Williams and Gwenllian Harris. Henry Evan Williams married Margaret Jane Morgan and had 6 children. He passed away on 24 MAY 1918 in City, Akron, Ohio, USA.

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Famous Akron, Ohio tenor. Henry's voice was discovered at age 17 when he first came to Akron to sing for the Methodist Choir. He had worked in the coal mines at Thomastown in early life. For 1-1/2 years he worked on a job all week and sang on Sundays. At 19, making good wages, he decided to get married and wed Margaret, a girl from Thomastown. When he was offered free voice lessons, but had to move to Cleveland, Henry took a job running an elevator for a dollor a day plus board. Margaret stayed in Thomastown to keep their house and raise their first child.

A small loan from friends kept the Williams going untill Henry could begin his singing career. His first singing job was at a Brooklyn, N.Y. church for $200 a year. Next at another church for $2,000 for 40 weeks. He later began making records, then toured London, singing for a company there. Record sales got to $36,000 a year plus his concerts were paying him $15,000 a year. Good money for the times. He built a $100,000 home on Mayfield Road in Akron. Henry gave his last concert at the Akron Armory 10-days before his death. No one was aware that he was suffering great pain from a carbuncle on his neck. It was serious and he died at City Hospital of blood poisoning at the age of 50. His funeral took place at his Akron home and he was buried May 26, 1918. Henry, or Evan, as he was called, was remembered as a person who started in the coal mines and managed to sing his way to the top of the world.

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Henry Evan Williams Sr.

BIRTH: 17 Sep 1867 Thomastown, Summit County, Ohio, USA DEATH: 24 May 1918 (aged 50) Akron, Summit County, Ohio, USA BURIAL: East Akron Cemetery Akron, Summit County, Ohio, USA PLOT: Sec. B, grave 3 >Williams plot

Margaret Jane Morgan Williams

BIRTH: 1869 Thomastown, Summit County, Ohio, USA DEATH: 2 Jul 1944 (aged 74–75) Akron, Summit County, Ohio, USA BURIAL: East Akron Cemetery Akron, Summit County, Ohio, USA PLOT: Sec. B, grave 4, Williams plot.

AKRON BEACON JOURNAL

Monday, July 3, 1944

LONG ILLNESS FATAL TO WELL-KNOWN AKRONITE

Mrs. Williams, Singer's Widow, Dies ~

Mrs. Margaret Jane Williams, 75, widow of H. Evan Williams Sr., nationally known concert tenor, died Sunday at her home, 26 E. Tallmadge Ave., following a long illness. A lifelong resident of Akron, Mrs. Williams was prominent here for many years. She was a charter member of the Woman's City Club and an associate member of the Tuesday Musical Club. Her Husband died in May, 1918. Mrs. Williams was born Margaret Morgan in the Thomastown district, a member of one of the early Welsh families that settled in that section. She was a member of First Baptist church for many years and later joined First Congregational church. She leaves 3 sons, Vernon of Evansville, Ind., Edgar, an Akron attorney, and H. Evan Williams Jr., of the Akron chamber of commerce, and a daughter, Gwendolyn Williams of Akron. She also leaves 5 grandchildren, one of whom, H. Evan Williams III, is at the U.S. naval air school at Murray, Ky. Friends may call after noon Tuesday at Billow's chapel where funeral services will be held at 3 pm Wednesday with Rev. Noble S. Elderkin officiating. Burial will be in East Akron cemetery.

From Wikipedia

Harry Evan Williams (7 September 1867 – 24 May 1918) was an oratorio tenor. He recorded almost one hundred 78-RPM records for the Victor Talking Machine Company in the United States and The Gramophone Company (HMV) in England. Williams gave more than 1,000 performances and recitals during his 25-year professional career across the United States and in England and Wales. Williams was praised most highly by critics for his interpretations of Handel.

Biography

Evan Williams was born on 7 September 1867 in Mineral Ridge, Ohio, the son of David Williams and Gwendolyn Harris. His parents were recent poor Welsh immigrants from Pembrokeshire, Wales. They were married in 1867 in Trumbull County, Ohio. When Evan was 13 years old, his Mother died in childbirth, and he was sent to live with his aunt and uncle, Thomas and Sarah Davis in Thomastown, a Welsh immigrant mining community near Akron, Ohio.

While he was working in his youth in coal mines in the Akron area, the quality of his voice was discovered when he was singing in a local church choir. He began voice lessons with Madame Louise Von Feilitsch in Cleveland. He began rising to prominence as a singer when he participated in a Welsh choir in Galion, Ohio, in 1891. By 1894 he was performing in London and began dividing his career between appearances in the United Kingdom and in the United States. At this time in his career he was hired to be the soloist at the Marble Collegiate Church in New York City. He was reputed to be the highest-paid church singer in the world at the time. In 1896 he gave his first performance at the well known Worcester Music Festival in Worcester, Massachusetts. In 1907 he returned to the United States for most of the rest of his performing career, where he sang as a tenor soloist for various choral societies and in concerts all over the country. His recording career with Victor Red Seal records was very successful.

Williams was a great draw at many music societies and events, among them the Orpheus Club of Springfield, Massachusetts, from the 1890s until his death in 1918.

He died on 24 May 1918 in Akron, Ohio from blood poisoning, the result of a boil on his neck.

Family ~

Evan Williams was married on October 18, 1888 to Margaret Jane née Morgan "Nona" Williams in Thomastown, Ohio. She was the daughter of Welsh immigrant parents Levi Morgan and Ann Williams. They had four children:

Vernon (1889–1945) was also a tenor and voice teacher.

Edgar (1892–1963) was a lawyer.

H. Evan Jr (1899–1954) became a newspaper journalist.

Gwendolyn (1909–1972).

H. Evan Williams had five grandchildren, one of whom Edgar Morgan Williams Jr of Cambridge, Maryland—survives as of 2020. He also has 13 great-grandchildren.

Recordings

Williams voice recorded prodigiously for the Victor Talking Machine Company and he was reported to be the Victor Company's third most popular recording artist after Enrico Caruso and John McCormack as ranked by total record sales. His two best selling titles were "Open the Gates of the Temple" and "A Perfect Day". For two publicly available (pre-1923) recordings of his singing, click "Just a-Wearyin' for You" on YouTube and "A Perfect Day" on YouTube—both composed by Carrie Jacobs-Bond (1862–1946). Evan Williams also made many records for Victor's British affiliate, His Master's Voice (HMV).

Legacy

According to his obituary in The New York Times, Williams was fondly remembered for his singing of "Tim Rooney's at the Fighting" to audiences of soldiers during World War I. H. Evan Williams is buried in Ohio's East Akron Cemetery in the Williams family plot. The gravestone on Evan Williams grave reads:

"God grew near to his children through the singing heart of Evan Williams. A world that laughs and loves and sings has enshrined the memory of this gentle soul whose song restored and brightened the deep places."

An antique oil portrait of Evan Williams was given in 2009 by his descendants to the University of Akron. In his lifetime Evan Williams was sculpted by the famous American sculptor Jo Davidson. ( It was said at the time about celebrities that they were not truly famous unless Davidson had sculpted them)

Evan Williams' family house still stands as of 2020. He built the substantial house circa 1914 at 105 Mayfield Avenue in Akron with his record royalties and concert proceeds. It was quite commodious and had a billiard room and a music room with a Mason and Hamlin piano and also a lovely rose garden. After Evan Williams' premature death in 1918, his widow Nona built a smaller house in the side lot at 97 Mayfield Avenue where she subsequently moved. She died in 1944.

Evan Williams performed at the White House at a State Dinner hosted by President and Mrs.Taft in 1910. The Tafts were also from Ohio and were introduced to Williams by U.S. Senator and Mrs. Charles W.F. Dick of Akron, whose daughter Grace Amelia later married Williams's son Edgar Morgan in 1917.