Résumé

Landscape Architect, Butler Sturtevant, Landscape Architect, San Francisco, CA, 10/1940. Sturtevant's address was 210 Post Street in San Francisco in 10/1940. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Wwii Draft Registration Cards For California, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 1947, accessed 03/22/2023.)

Partner, Eckbo and Williams, Landscape Architects, Los Angeles, CA, 1939-1945; Edward A. Williams was Garrett Eckbo's brother in law. Partner, Eckbo, Royston and Williams, 1945-1953; Partner, Eckbo, Dean, Austin and Williams, Landscape Archtiects, San Francisco, CA, 1953-1973. Williams passed away in 1984, but the firm, EDAW, continued on its own until 2005, when the partners sold out to the the giant engineering/architectural firm, AECOM, with the proviso that it would retain its name for several more years. In 2009, AECOM retired the EDAW partnership name.

College

B.S., Landscape Architecture, University of Calfiornia, Berkeley (UCB), Berkeley, CA, 1935. While at the UCB in 1933 as a sophomore, Wililams was a member of the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity. (See Source Information Ancestry.com. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010, accessed 10/11/2016.)

College Awards

Williams was a member of the Alpha Zeta Agricultural National Honor Society in 1935.

Relocation

Edward Augustus Williams had been born in Pittsburgh, PA, and lived in Plainfield, NJ, as per the US Census of 1930. The family lived at 116 Park Avenue, in a neighborhood consisting of houses worth more than $10,000, about double or triple the national average of the time. The Williams Family rented its house for a relatively steep rent of $125 per month.

Williams went to college at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) during the early-to-mid-1930s. According to the US Census of 04/08/1940, Williams lived with his wife Ferne in a rented apartment at 372 Chestnut Street in San Francisco, CA, with Garrett and his sister Arline Williams Eckbo. The apartment cost $45 per month in rent. At the time, Eckbo and Williams were working together in a landscape architectural firm, and Eckbo was also working as a landscape architect for the Farm Security Administration (FSA). (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1940; Census Place: San Francisco, San Francisco, California; Roll: T627_299; Page: 6B; Enumeration District: 38-1, accessed 10/10/2016.)

Williams's World War II draft card of 10/16/1940 had three addresses listed for him. On 1016/1940, he and Ferne had a place at 843 Innes Avenue in San Francisco. (See San Francisco, California, City Directory, 1941, p. 1511.) By 11/12/1941, they resided in Redwood City, CA, south of San Francisco in San Mateo County at 298 King Street. By 10/10/1942, they had moved to 161 Hillcrest Drive in Redwood City. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Wwii Draft Registration Cards For California, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 1947, accessed 03/22/2023.)

By 1948, they had moved south, and lived on the SF Peninsula in Redwood City, CA. (See San Francisco, California, City Directory, 1948, p. 2042.)

In 1953, Edward A. and Ferne Williams lived at 274 Oak Avenue in San Rafael, CA. (See San Anselmo City Directory, 1952-1953, p. 213)

Williams passed away in San Francisco on 10/02/1984 at the age of 70. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Place: San Francisco; Date: 2 Oct 1984; Social Security: 555109075, accessed 03/22/2023.)

Parents

Edward's birth mother was Effie M. Sherrer (02/01/1887-12/24/1918 in Pittsburgh, PA), who passed away in the influenza pandemic of that year. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation, Year: 1900; Census Place: Pittsburgh Ward 19, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: 1361; Page: 3B; Enumeration District: 0217; FHL microfilm: 1241361, accessed 10/11/2016.) Her parents were John William Sherrer, Sr., (born 12/14/1829 in Baltimore, MD-died 12/13/1906 in Pittsburgh, PA), a carpenter in 1880, and Jane Matilda Moffett (born 01/30/1838 in Baltimore, MD-died 05/15/1915 in Pittsburgh, PA). (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation, Year: 1880; Census Place: Dunbar, Fayette, Pennsylvania; Roll: 1129; Family History Film: 1255129; Page: 155B; Enumeration District: 037; Image: 0614, accessed 10/11/2016.)

In 1900, the US Census recorded that John was retired and Jane had had 11 children, 9 of whom were alive in that year. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation, Year: 1900; Census Place: Pittsburgh Ward 19, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: 1361; Page: 3B; Enumeration District: 0217; FHL microfilm: 1241361, accessed 10/11/2016.)

In 1920, his father, Albert Delmont Williams, Sr., (born c. 1883 in PA), lived with his sisters-in-law, Ida L Sherrer (1878-1931), and other boarders in a residence at 7217 McPherson Street in Pittsburgh, PA. Albert, Sr., worked as the chief clerk in a electrical cable manufacturing company in Pittsburgh. Edward's elder sister, Arline (born 10/06/1912 in PA-died 05/15/2003 in Oakland, CA), lived with her father, but no mention was made on the 1920 US Census form of Edward or his younger brother Albert D. Williams, Jr., (born c. 1916 in PA-). They presumably lived with other relatives or were lodged in an orphanage or with foster parents. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1920; Census Place: Pittsburgh Ward 14, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: T625_1522; Page: 11A; Enumeration District: 540; Image: 678, accessed 10/11/2016.)

Albert, Sr., remarried in 1921. Edward's step-mother was Cordelia Moore Williams (born c. 1892 in AL). The daughter of a lawyer, Cordelia lived in AL and OK, before moving to PA, to train as a student nurse at the Philadelphia General Hospital in 1920. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation, Year: 1920; Census Place: Philadelphia Ward 27, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: T625_1631; Page: 20A; Enumeration District: 863; Image: 793, accessed 10/11/2016.)

Albert, Sr., worked as the Vice-President of the Standard Cable Company in 1930. Cordelia maintained the Plainfield, NJ, household consisting of three step-children, Arline, Edward, and Albert, Jr., and one child of her own, Carol Williams Delaney (09/19/1925 in PA-09/21/1996 in PA). (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1930; Census Place: Plainfield, Union, New Jersey; Page: 21B; Enumeration District: 0113; FHL microfilm: 2341123, accessed 03/22/2023.)

Albert, Sr., was an executive for a metal cable company by 1940, and moved his family to another comfortable New York suburb, White Plains, NY. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1940; Census Place: White Plains, Westchester, New York; Roll: T627_2815; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 60-374, accessed 10/11/2016.)

Arline Williams (b. 10/06/1912 in Stowe, PA-d. 03/15/2003 in Oakland, CA) ​married the landscape architect (and business partner of Edward's), Garrett N. Eckbo (1910-2000) on 09/19/1937 in Manhattan, NY. (See Ancestry.com, Source Information Ancestry.com. New York, New York, Marriage Index 1866-1937 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014, accessed 10/11/2016.)

Spouse

He married Ferne Lorraine Marcy (b. 07/25/1913 in Fillmore, Ventura County, CA-10/24/2004) on 08/11/1937 in Los Angeles County, CA.. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation California Department of Public Health, courtesy of www.vitalsearch-worldwide.com. Digital Images, accessed 03/22/2023.) Ferne grew up in Santa Paula, CA, before moving to Manhattan Beach, CA, and attending Redondo Union High School for a year or two. Shortly after 1930, her father took an new job as a science teacher in Fullerton, CA, and she graduated from Fullerton High School in Fullerton, CA. She went on to attend the University of California, Berkeley (UCB), where she met Edward.

She was the daughter of Clarence A. "Clancy" Marcy, Who worked as a grammar school principal in 1920, and Nellie Fine, a homemaker. According to the 1920 US Census, the household consisted of Clarence (born c. 1884 in PA), Nellie (born c. 1888 in PA), her sister Dawn (born c. 10/1916 in CA) and her aunt Charotte Fine (born c. 1900 in PA). (Another sister, Margaret E. was born c. 1922 in CA.) Her father, in 1920, was a grammar school principal, and had advanced to become a school superintendent by 1930. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1920; Census Place: Santa Paula, Ventura, California; Roll: T625_154; Page: 18A; Enumeration District: 270; Image: 400, accessed 10/11/2016 and Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1930; Census Place: Manhattan Beach, Los Angeles, California; Roll: 170; Page: 8B; Enumeration District: 1291; Image: 723.0; FHL microfilm: 2339905, accessed 10/11/2016.)

Biographical Notes

As described on his World War II draft registration card, Williams was Caucasian, with dark brown skin, brown eyes and his hair color omitted. He stood 5-feet, 10-inches tall, and weighed 135 pounds. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Wwii Draft Registration Cards For California, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 1947, accessed 03/22/2023.)

SSN: 555-10-9075

• Pitteburgh, PA (Architect's Birth)
  Pitteburgh, PA

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