Canadian by birth, Silas Williams, after completing his education at London College, was for thirteen years engaged in mercantile business at Port Hope, Ontario, where, in 1877, he was married to Miss Lucy T. Smith, a resident of the same place. Ten years later, having come to California with the intention of spending the winter here, he was so delighted with the climate and the country that he determined to make Redlands his future home, and was soon joined by his family. One of the gentlemen who came with him was so well satisfied with California as a field for investment that he now owns more than a hundred thousand dollars' worth of real estate, stocks, mortgages, etc., in Redlands, Pasadena and Los Angeles. For the first six years of his residence in Redlands Mr. Williams held a responsible position with the Santa Fe Railway Company at San Bernardino. Resigning this, in 1893, he became secretary of the Redlands, Lugonia and Crafton Domestic Water Company, a position which he still holds. He is also secretary of the Lugonia and Sunnyside water companies. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have three children, two daughters and a son, all of who are living in Redlands. Their home place, in Lugonia, is a ranch of fifteen acres in bearing orchards.

(Source: Illustrated Redlands, 1897, p. 58.)