Col. Zadoc Williams
Colonel Zadoc Williams, late of Mt. Lookout, was a native of Lafayette county, Pennsylvania. He came to this State with his father when quite young, in 1800. They landed first in Columbia; he afterwards bought the farm upon which the Cincinnati observatory now stands, which farm was kept in the family for seventy years before it was sold. Mr. Williams was married December 20, 1821, to Ann Giffins, of Red Bank. She was born in 1802, and is still living. Mr. Williams first saw the light of day in 1798, and died February 16, 1881. He was a farmer - sometimes performing the business of a merchant and shipping on flatboats to New Orleans the produce of his own farm and that of others. The days in which he lived were noted for its magnificent wants - as we view the past at the present time - for we hear of his going to Wickersham's floating mill on the river to get his corn ground; of taking his hogs, hay, etc., to New Orleans to find a market; and of doing other things only incident to pioneer times. He finally bought the heirs out and owned the homestead himself. He reared a family of nine children, six of whom are now living. His eldest daughter is now in Indiana. One son is a physician practising in Indiana. John is a farmer, and Thomas J. Williams is a lumber merchant in Cincinnati. He was with Sherman through the war; held the position of first lieutenant; was offered a colonelcy of a negro regiment but refused it.
From History of Hamilton County, Ohio, Henry & Kate Ford, L. A. Williams & Co., Publishers, 1881