Letha Williams was born Letha Mae McPherson in Peshtigo, Wisconsin on September 23, 1903 and continued to live in Marinette County her entire life. She graduated from Homestead Grade School in 1918 and went on to graduate from the Marinette County Normal School three years later. She began teaching school in 1921 in the Town of Winesville and continued to teach for the next fifty-one years, serving at twelve different schools in Marinette County. She lived with her husband Ross Williams in Porterfield until he died in 1964 at which point she moved to the town of Marinette and lived there until her death in 1989.
Williams had an intense interest in history in general and local history in particular. She was an active member of the Marinette, Menominee (Mich.) and Peshtigo historical societies as well as the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. In addition, she was also active in several genealogical societies. Her participation in these groups undoubtedly reflects her fascination with the history of Marinette County and that of Marinette's twin city, Menominee, Michigan. She began avidly collecting newspaper stories about the history of the region and used the information found in these and other sources in order to write notes on the history of the region and its inhabitants that she hoped one day would form a history of Marinette County. As a schoolteacher, she had a particular interest in the history of Marinette schools and compiled information about nearly all the primary and secondary school systems in the region.
