Orchardist Robert George Williams was born August 2, 1887 in Wythe County between Wytheville and Rural Retreat. He grew up farming and initially specialized in the cabbage and potato industry before entering the fruit and dairy business. His other lucrative projects included keeping over one thousand chickens and selling eggs locally.
Williams’s ingenuity produced success throughout his life. By diversifying, rotating crops, and keeping abreast of the newest farming techniques, he was able to grow his production throughout one thousand acres. When he changed gears and focused on growing fruit, apples led to his “Apple Man” nickname. Stayman and Delicious varieties were grown and mainly shipped to southern states. He also grew peaches and he and his family and hired hands picked, graded, and packed one hundred acres of apples and thirty-five acres of peaches. The dairy market was lucrative enough to pay bills after the apple market slumped.
Williams married Ida L. Corvin in November of 1912. They had four children, but two died very early in life. The family lived and worked on the Harvey Peery farm in the Crockett community and stayed in that area after Peery willed additional acres to Williams. As an active member in the St. Paul Lutheran Church, Williams served on the church council and led church and cemetery projects. He served on the Wythe County Board of Supervisors, the Wythe County Chamber of Commerce, the board of directors at the Wythe County National Bank, and as director of the Southwest Virginia Fertilizer Plant in Bristol. He was also a member of the International Apples and Appalachian Apples organizations.
Williams and Ida were devoted to their family, farming, their community, and church. Ida passed away in 1956 and Williams twenty years later. The farm is still in operation and descendants of Williams and Ida continue to live and thrive on the same land. Reba L. Willard, Williams’s granddaughter, remembered that Robert (Bob) “never forgot his humble beginnings and felt fortunate to have achieved so much in his lifetime. He always felt a man’s work had to involve his hands, his head, and his heart. His life certainly exemplified his philosophy.”