True W. Williams
Truman W. Williams was an American illustrator and author, born on March 22, 1839, in Allegany County, New York. He demonstrated artistic talent from a young age, despite lacking formal training, and began his career as an engraver in Chicago before serving as a topographical engineer in the Union army during the Civil War. After the war, he returned to New York and became a prominent illustrator, contributing to various books, including major works by Mark Twain, such as "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "The Innocents Abroad." Throughout his career, Williams illustrated for numerous renowned authors, and his work played a significant role in enhancing the visual appeal of literature during that era.
Williams faced personal tragedies, including the loss of his first wife and child, which affected his career trajectory. He published a boy's adventure novel, "Frank Fairweather's Fortunes," but it did not receive widespread acclaim. His later years were marked by challenges, including a tumultuous marriage that ended in divorce. Despite these struggles, Williams remained a respected figure in the publishing world until his death on November 23, 1897, in Chicago. His legacy as an illustrator, particularly in association with Twain, endures, highlighting his significant contributions to American literature.
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Subject Terms
True W. Williams
Illustrator
- Born: March 22, 1839
- Birthplace: Allegany County, New York
- Died: November 23, 1897
- Place of death: Chicago, Illinois
Biography
Truman W. Williams was born on March 22, 1839, in Allegany County, New York. His parents were Asa and Louisa Keelar Williams, who later moved to the small community of Burrville and eventually to Watertown, New York. There, Williams attend the school of Jedediah Winslow, an Episcopalian minister. Although Williams never received any formal art training, his natural ability was evident at an early age and he designed at least one advertising poster for a Watertown business establishment.
Sometime before 1861, Williams moved to Chicago, where he worked as an engraver. After the Civil War began that year, he joined the Union army, in which he served as a topographical engineer. After the war ended, he returned to his home state of New York and worked as an illustrator for the graphics firm of Fay and Cox on Nassau Street in New York City. The company provided illustrations for a number of subscription book publishers in Hartford, Connecticut.
In 1869, Williams began providing illustrations for The Innocents Abroad, the first major book by a newcomer to American literature, Mark Twain. Williams eventually illustrated five of Twain’s other books, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), as well as scores of books by a host of other well-known writers, including P. T. Barnum, Bret Harte, William “Buffalo Bill” Cody, and Marietta Holley. Holley was from Williams’s old hometown of Jefferson County, New York, and the two enjoyed a warm friendship.
After Williams married Carrie M. Heath on April 19, 1884, he moved with his new wife to Chicago, where he found employment with Rand, McNally, and Company and with the publishing firm of Belford, Clarke, and Company. Numerous editions of both publishing houses’ books contain Williams’s illustrations. Williams’s fortunes soon began to decline, however. In July, 1885, his wife died from tuberculosis and complications of premature childbirth. Williams’s new son did not survive, either. In 1886, fire destroyed much of Belford, Clarke’s headquarters, along with a number of new books in progress. Williams was called upon to help recreate one of the books that had been destroyed by the fire, Belford’s Annual, 1886-1887, a collection of children’s poetry and illustrations. In addition to illustrations,Williams contributed a poem of his own, “The Cradle and the Nest.”
In 1886, Williams married Rose Heath, the sister of his first wife. Over the next four years, he continued to illustrate books for Belford, Clarke. His own boy’s adventure novel, Frank Fairweather’s Fortunes, was published during the 1890 Christmas season. With settings ranging from the Great Lakes, across the American Southwest, and as far south as Nicaragua, the book contained more than one hundred of Williams’s own illustrations. Friends who knew the Williams family from Burrville believed some of the book’s characters were based on acquaintances from his old hometown.
Williams confided to his friend, Holley, that he craved admiration for his own novel. The book, however, received little critical attention outside of Belford, Clarke’s advertising campaigns, which described it as more entertaining than Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719). In 1890, Belford, Clarke, also published Under the Open Sky, which was edited and illustrated by Williams. This book contains a lengthy, unsigned introduction and many unsigned poems, as well as poems by well-known writers.
Williams’s domestic life declined after the publication of his two books. Rose divorced him, claiming he was an abusive drunk. Williams remained associated with Rand, McNally and Belford, Clarke, now Belford, Middlebrook, and Company. He was working on illustrations for a a series of lecture books by John L. Stoddard when he died in Chicago on November 23, 1897. Williams’s literary achievements as an author were meager, but his achievements as a book illustrator were monumental, and his name will long remain closely associated to that Twain.