Ephraim Williams

Ephraim Williams (July 19, 1860 – December 13, 1921) He owned several circuses including the Ferguson and Williams Monster Show, Professor Williams' Consolidated American and German Railroad Shows, and an all-Black tent show named Silas Green from New Orleans, which became one of the longest-running tent shows in history.

Biography Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Williams spent his formative years in Medford, Wisconsin. In Wisconsin Williams worked at the Briggs Hotel and the "saloon business" and took up "horse training as a hobby." Williams became an accomplished horse trainer, horse performer, and magician under his stage name of Professor Eph. He invested in his first circus in Appleton, Wisconsin, the Ferguson and Williams Monster Show in 1885. While stranded in Iowa, he partnered with Frank Skerbeck and his family, German trapeze artists and sword swallowers to tour small towns under the name Professor Williams' Consolidated American and German Railroad Shows. Based in Wisconsin, this show was made up of fifteen railroad cars, fifty horses, and 150 people, and would tour every season until 1893.

After losing his "dog-and-pony circus" in bad weather, he invested in the Silas Green from New Orleans, originally owned by Salem Tutt Whitney. Under Williams' ownership it became the longest-running Black-owned show, until it passed into white ownership after Williams died.

Personal life In 1892 he married Rhoda Amelia Black (c.1862 - 1918), they had four children. She would often travel with the shows; the Freeman described her as "one of the ablest business women of her race". One of their daughters, Josephine, billed as "Little Baby Josephine", was also a child performer.