David I. Williams (1873– 1918)

Dave Williams was a black man born in Lisbon, Ohio. He worked for a number of years as a porter on Pullman sleeping cars before joining the Klondike gold rush. He tried mining, opened a barber shop in Dawson, lived in several Yukon and Alaska towns and then, back in Dawson, opened a bath house and a florist shop with a collection of tropical plants.¹⁾ He had a large hot-water heating system that kept the plants warm.²⁾ His business was declining in 1918 and he was persuaded by Frank and William Nolan to join them in the orange-growing business in Tampa, Florida. He sold his shop and booked passage south. He was drowned with all the passengers and crew when the Princess Sophia sank in the Lynn Canal.³⁾