Franklin Williard
Franklin Williard, farmer, P. O. Kent, was born in Franklin Mills (now Kent) November 11, 1822; son of Frederick and Margaret (Foster) Williard, respectively natives of Maryland and Beaver County, Penn. The paternal grandfather of our subject was Philip Williard, a native of Germany and one of the first settlers of Rootstown, where he lived and died. Frederick Williard, a carpenter by trade, was an early settler of Franklin Township, and for the last twenty years of his life he was a farmer, the homestead now being occupied by his son-in-law, Freeman Stratton. He had nine children: Catherine (deceased), Sarah (Mrs. Hiram Merrell), George, Franklin, Frederick (deceased), Edwin, Mary (deceased), Samuel, and Amelia (Mrs. Freeman Stratton). The subject of this sketch has always followed farming. He has been twice married. His first wife was Mary Pratt, of Franklin Township, this county, by whom he had two children: Perry, and an infant daughter (deceased). By his present wife, nee Sarah A. Hackett, he has three children: Frederick, Frances and Asa. Mr. Williard now resides a mile east of Kent, where he has lived for eighteen years. In politics he is a Democrat.
From History of Portage County, Ohio, Warner, Beers & Co., Chicago, 1885