
Both of these photos were taken from the spot where Houston Drive and Edy Road connect today. We're looking due North from Edy Road. The "before" photo was taken January 1981.






Was the loser of the Williams - Fields gunfight betrayed by his own wife? Today's interview with the descendents of George E. Williams (1870-1892) revealed little about the famous duel, but did deepen the mystery considerably. According to the family matriarch, Viola Tainio, George's wife, Mary Elizabeth (seen at right), may have emptied George's six shooter of bullets before he went to town to challenge Alvie Fields. No one knows what the argument was about, but Fields was tried and ruled innocent in a court of law. Prominent members of the Williams clan are to be found on both sides of the law. George's father and grandfather were highly respected attorneys. George's son, Richard Congle Williams, reached a high position in the Oregon State Police.
![]() | "A communication was received from J.C.Smock stating his reasons for signing a liquor license in the town of Sherwood, and that if it was inconsistent with the discipline of the Church he asked to be released from membership-- his resignation was accepted." --Middleton Friends Church Minutes, May 26,1895. (By a tragic coincidence, the entire business district burned to the ground less than one week later, on June 1, 1895.) |