Adam Daniel Williams: Martin Luther King's Grandfather
Subscribe to us on:
(The following was written in The History of the Negro and His Institutions, by A. B. Caldwell, in 1917).
"ADAM DANIEL WILLIAMS, pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, deserves mention in any work dealing with the history of the progress and development of the Negro people in Georgia since the war. He was born on January 2, 1863, (maybe actually in 1861).
He is a native of Penfield, Green County, Ga., the seat of Mercer University at the time of his birth. His parents were Willis and Creecy Williams.
When one considers the position which Mr. Williams occupies in the community and in his denomination at large, and then reflects on the lack of opportunities he had during his boyhood and young manhood days, and the obstacles which he had to overcome, his success seems more like a page from the story books or like a romance, than the true history which it is.
He early learned to work with his hands, lived on the farm, doing all sorts of manual labor, till he was a mature man. He went to school only three weeks, all told, before he was thirty years old, and frankly admits that he missed one day out of the three weeks. An older sister, whose service he acknowledges with gratitude, taught him to read. Nor was he without white friends. His family lived on the place of Mr. R. L. Burgess, whose daughters attended school regularly, and young Williams was accustomed at night to follow them in their lessons—in fact, to go over the lessons with them. Thus he learned to read, and secured a knowledge of other branches, and made some progress in Arithmetic. Later Mr. Burgess’ oldest daughter set him a copy and started him to writing. He remembers and recalls with pleasure how they used to spell out of the Blueback Speller while one of the girls acted as teacher.
Many a boy with such meager opportunities would have despaired of securing an education; but young Williams read what books he could secure, and in 1884, when twenty-one years of age, he was converted and baptized in August of that year by Rev. Parker Paulain. He took an active part in the work of the church, and soon felt called to the Gospel ministry, and was licensed to preach in April, 1888. He did considerable local work in the Baptist church; and such was the character of this work that he was soon in demand as a regular pastor. He was regularly ordained, and in September 1893 accepted a call to the Springfield Baptist Church, on Orme street, in Atlanta, and in the following March resigned that charge and accepted the call of the Ebenezer Church, which was at that time located on Airline street, and was a body of only seven members, with no church building at all. He began at once to organize his forces, with a view to erecting a place of worship. In the meantime he had been serving churches in or near Covington; but finding the demands on his time in Atlanta so heavy, he resigned these charges and gave his whole time to the work at Ebenezer. A lot was purchased on McGruder street, and when the quarters here were outgrown, a house of worship at Bell and Gilmer streets was secured. From the small beginnings on which he entered at that time, the church has grown until it now has a membership of more than 700, with a fine Sunday-school and a splendid B.Y.P.U. (Baptist Young People’s Union); also a Woman's Missionary Club, a Reformatory Circle, and a Literary Club. He and his congregation are now improving a splendid property at the corner of Jackson street and Auburn Avenue, which looks to the expenditure of $25,000. Not only has pastor Williams been able to gather around him large numbers, but he has led his people into fields of larger usefulness, so that now his church is one of the most liberal contributors to missions and every other department of church work in the State Convention. He is active in evangelistic work over the state.
Realizing something of his lack of preparation for the real work of life, he in 1894, after he was thirty years of age, entered the Atlanta Seminary (now Morehouse College), and was graduated from the Theological Department four years later. The secret of his success is illustrated by just this action. He continues to grow. He is not afraid to try new things if they ring true and are scriptural.
Mr. Williams has been an extensive reader, especially of religious and theological books, though he has found biography especially inspiring and helpful. While voting the Republican ticket, he has not taken an active part in politics, devoting himself entirely to his religious work.
On October 29, 1900, he was married to Jennie C. Parks who was a daughter of William and Fannie Parks, of Atlanta. They have had three children, one of whom, Alberta Christine, a girl of ten, survives, the other two having passed away.
He affiliates with the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, and some of the insurance orders of his race.
The work which he has done in his own pastorate has been recognized by the denomination, and on account of his splendid executive ability he has been made chairman of the Executive Board of the State Convention, which place he has held for sixteen years. For fourteen years he has been chairman of the Finance Committee of the same organization, and vice-chairman of the Board of Managers of the Reformatory for seven years; also chairman of the Board of Missions. He is Georgia’s representative in his denomination on the Foreign Mission Board, and has been for twelve years. He is a regular and faithful attendant of the State and National Conventions; was president of the Atlanta Baptist Ministers' Union for five years, and is at this time Moderator of the Atlanta Association.
He has traveled extensively in America, and is devoting his splendid powers of body, mind and heart to the development of his people. He believes that their larger usefulness is to be attained by that sort of education which fits them for the practical duties of life. He is not averse to higher education, but thinks that if we can develop a good home-loving, property-owning, intelligent citizenship, the matter of higher education, as well as numerous other perplexing problems, will take care of themselves. In this, he is in line with the best thought of his generation on this subject.
Mr. Williams is a forceful and impressive speaker, a good organizer and leader, a man of vision and brilliant imagination,…”
Reverend Adam Daniel Williams and his wife, Jennie C. Parks, purchased the home at 501 Auburn Avenue—the house where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would be born.
Caldwell, A. B. The History of the Negro and His Institutions: Georgia Edition. (Atlanta: A. B. Caldwell Publishing, Co., 1917). Pg. 210.