vital statistics: cyclone joe williams

I was surprised to realize that Cyclone Joe Williams’s death date is still widely and wrongly reported as March 12, 1946, including by the Hall of Fame.  In fact he didn’t pass away until February 25, 1951, as reported by Laurence Alpert (via John Holway in this Baseball Guru piece), who found his death certificate.

Several newspapers took note of Williams’s passing in 1951, including the Pittsburgh Courier on its March 10, 1951, front page, in an item authored by W. Rollo Wilson (“WRW”; apologies for the poor image):   



Joe Williams’s exact birth date, unsurprisingly, is a little less certain.  His marriage certificate, according to Holway, listed April 6, 1885.   His World War I and World War II draft cards, which he of course signed, say April 6, 1886.  And his death certificate, according to Alpert, gives April 6, 1887.

Here is his World War I card:

And here is his World War II card:

UPDATE 4:41 pm  Thought I would add the 1900 census record of the Williams family in Seguin, Texas, which gives Joe a birth date of May 1886:

UPDATE: 5:16 pm Also see the updated 2002 edition of James Riley’s Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues, which says on its very last page (952) that Williams was born April 6, 1886, and died February 25, 1951.

Comments

[Dan C.]

His page at FindAGrave.com also lists the wrong date of death ... but has a photo of his tombstone with the correct date.