Earle E. Williams

Earle E. Williams (1898–1983) was a California historian who wrote articles, pamphlets, essays and biographies focused on the local region around southwest San Joaquin County and Tracy, California, where he grew up in and lived nearly all his life.

Williams was born on January 1, 1898, in Woodside, California, to George and Frances Belknap Williams. In 1910, he moved to Tracy where he lived with his sister and her husband on their ranch in the Vernalis area and attended New Jerusalem School and Tracy Joint Union High School. After leaving school in 1914 at age 16, he worked locally in the aggregates industry for many years. In 1928, Williams married Elinor Counihan of Petaluma and settled in Tracy, California, where they raised two children. In 1946, he founded and built the Kerlinger Plant of Pacific Cement and Aggregates on the alluvial fan of Corral Hollow Creek. He operated the plant until he retired in 1965. Williams died on July 4, 1983.

Williams was active in a variety of social and civic organizations including the Rotary Club, the West Side Pioneers (now the West Side Pioneer Association), San Joaquin Historical Society and the Native Sons of the Golden West. He was also president of the Tracy District Chamber of Commerce, the San Joaquin County Chamber of Commerce, and the San Joaquin County Historical Society; regional vice-president of District 8 of the Conference of California Historical Societies; and served on the Tracy Community Memorial Hospital board of directors, Tracy Planning Commission, and the Tracy City Council. He was also mayor of Tracy.