[1] Isaac Williams was born in the Wyoming Valley, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, and had resided in Johnstown, Licking County, Ohio and Missouri before leaving Fort Smith in 1831 with the Bean-Sinclair trapping party for the Rocky Mountains.
At Taos he joined the Ewing Young fur trapping expedition that arrived in Los Angeles, Alta California, on April 14, 1832.
In 1841, Isaac Williams built a large adobe home on the 22,000-acre (89 km2) Rancho Santa Ana del Chino, which his wife acquired from his father-in-law Antonio Lugo.
[1]: 1569 During the Mexican–American War the Battle of Chino occurred at the adobe on September 26–27, 1846, during which 24 Americans including Williams were captured by a group of about 50 Californios.
Located on the Southern Emigrant Trail, the adobe became a stop and later an inn famous for its hospitality to parties of Forty-niners and later travelers.