MISS LUCELIA E. WILLIAMS.
This estimable lady, after four years of severe but patient suffering from neuralgia, passed away Sunday afternoon, December 22, at her home in Deerfield, Mass. Miss Williams was a native of Deerfield, an old historic town in the Connecticut Valley, and a descendant of Rev. T. Williams, who was taken captive by the Indians. During the war of the Rebellion Miss Williams was sent by the National Freedman's Aid Society to labor among the Freedmen of Port Royal Island, S. C. With a commission and a Government permit alone she found her mission field. The following year was spent at Richmond, Va., teaching among the refugees who had come into the city at the close of the war. The next year she taught a large school in Washington, D. C., at Kendall Green, and in the autumn of 1867, accompanied by her sister, Miss P. A. Williams, she began her work at Hampton, Va., teaching in the Butler and Lincoln schools. After the new building was completed, the sisters were transferred to the Normal school, which they organized, and the success of which was largely due to their indefatigable labors. Miss Williams was connected with the institution two years when she was appointed by the American Missionary Association as Principal of the Stanton Normal Institute, Jacksonville, Fla., where she remained seven years.
Miss Williams always secured the confidence and esteem of those with and for whom she labored, and was considered one of the most efficient teachers in the employ of the Association.