Cyrus Eugene Williams was born on June 9, 1897, in Gainsborough, Jackson County, Tennessee. He was the youngest of the six children of James Whitson Williams (1839-1908) and Martha L.Hankins (1856-1922). Cyrus' siblings were William James Williams (born 1875); Mollie Andrews Williams (born 1877); and Jessie H Williams ( born 1890); Sallie Maude Williams (born 1885) Beuist Karen Williams (born 1890), and Johnnie Lillian Williams (born 1893)..
The first record I have found of Cyrus is the 1900 Census. He was two years old living in the same house with his parents and five of his siblings in Jackson County, Tennessee. HIs oldest sister Mollie married James Linville in 1896, and was living in Jackson County, Tennessee. Ten years later, according to the 1910 Census, Cyrus was living with his mother, her older brother Bob, his widowed sister Mollie and her three children Mary Lynnville, William Lynnille and Jessie Lynnville. Cyrus' father, James, died in 1908, and Mollie's husband, James, died in 1906.
Cyrus was twenty-one when he he registered for the draft on August 24, 1918, and was living in Coalinga, Fresno County, California. According to his draft record, he was tall, medium build, brown eyes and light colored hair. His occupation was listed as "Rotary Helper" for Union Oil Company. A "Rotary Helper" was a worker on a drilling or workover rig, subordinate to the driller, whose primary work station is on the rig floor. There were at least two and usually three or more helpers on each crew. The "Helpers" are also know as floor-hands, floor-men, rig crewman, or roughnecks. **************** Cyrus draft record also identified him as being "married"?????????? who would this be???
Cyrus was twenty-five years old when he applied for and issued a passport on March 23, 1922. He was employed by the Standard Oil Company and was scheduled to be in the Philippines for about a month. He traveled on board the vessel "Golden State", leaving the Port of San Francisco on or about March 25, 1922. Cyrus returned to the United States aboard the vessel "President Wilson", leaving Manila on November 1, 1924. He arrived at the Port of San Francisco on November 28, 1924.
Shortly after his return to the United States, Cyrus returned to Jackson County, Tennessee, and married Georgia Stewart on December 31, 1924. In 1928, a California Voter's Registration record listed Georgia as living with Cyrus' sister Mollie in Huntington Beach, Orange County, California. Cyrus name was not on that record. Georgia gave birth to their first child, Ronnie Wayne Williams, on September 24, 1928 in Huntington Beach.
Sometime after his marriage to Georgia, Cyrus traveled to the Canal Zone. A record has him returning to the Port of New Orleans on December, December 17, 1928. It is not clear from the records when he traveled to the Canal Zone, or if he was in Huntington Beach for the birth of his first child, Ronnie.
Sometime after the birth of Ronnie, Cyrus returned to the Canal Zone and married Eufemia Rosa Esqiaqui on November 30, 1929, in ?????. Cyrus and Eufemia's only child, Rafael Eugeino Williams, was born on January 22, 1931, in Turboco, Columbia.
Cyrus and Georgia had their second child, Peggy Jeane Williams, on February 22, 1932, in Coalinga. A 1932 U.S. City Directory has Cyrus and Georgia living in Coalinga, at 207 East Cedar Street. A 1934 California Voter Registration record has Cyrus and Georgia living at that same address in Coalinga.
Cyrus died at the Norwalk State Hospital on March 5, 1935 of general paralysis of the insane. His death was a result of complications resulting from syphlilis. He had been treated for the disease since 1932. He is buried at the Westminster Memorial Park in Orange County, the same cemetery his sister Mollie is buried at.
Cyrus' memorial can be found at https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/104898964
