Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/443

 AVILLIAM3

WILLIAMS

jamin Franklin, to congress. He was secretary to Franklin during the latter's residence in France as U.S. minister, 1779-85, and served as U.S. commercial agent, 1777-8.5. He was mar- ried in 1779 to Marianne, daughter, of William Alexander of Edinburgh, Scotland. He returned to the United States with Franklin in 1785; set- tled near Philadelphia, Pa.; studied law, and was judge of the court of* common pleas of Phil- adelphia for several years. He took part in quelling the whiskey insurrection in western Pennsylvania; was appointed major of the 2d regiment of artillerists and engineers, U.S.A., Feb. 6, 1801; inspector of fortifications, Dec. 4, 1801, and took command at West Point. He was the first superintendent of the U.S. Military academy, 1802-03, and on June 20, 1803, resigned from the army, pending the settlement of a point of rank, retvirning to service as chief-engineer, April 19, 1805. No permanent superintendent of the Military academy having been appointed, the command devolved upon him as the senior officer of the corps of engineers, present for duty. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel, April 19, 1805; and planned and constructed forts Columbus, Clinton and Castle William, N.Y. harbor. His ■claim to the command of the latter fort in 1813 being refused bj- the secretary of war, he resigned his commission, July 31, 1812. He was im- mediately appointed brigadier-general of the state militia of New York; returned to Philadel- phia, and was elected a representative in the 14th congress in 1814, but died without taking his seat. He was vice-president and corresponding secretary of the American Philosophical society for several years, and is the author of: Use of the Thermometer in Navigation (1799;; and trans- lations of " Elements of Fortifications (1801), and Kosciusko's Manoeuvres. for Horse Artillery (1808). He died in Philadelphia, P..., May 16, 1815.

WILLIAflS, Joseph Lanier, representative, was born in Knoxville, Tenn., Oct. 23, 1807; son of Senator John (q.v.) and Melinda (White) Williams. He was educated at East Tennesee university and West Point (resigning from West Point on account of eye sight) and read law with his father in Knoxville, Tenn. He was admitted to the bar and practised in Knoxville, and adja- cent counties. He was a Whig representative from Tennessee in the 25th, 26th and 27tli con- gresses, 1837-43, receiving no opposition in his re- election to the 26th congress. He was married, (while in congress) to his first cousin, Melinda, daughter of Robert (q.v.) and Rebecca (Smith) Williams of Raleigh, N.C. He was clerk of the supreme court of the United States at Washing- ton, and was afterward appointed associate judge of the U.S. court for the Territory of Dakota. He died in Knoxville, Tenn., Dec. 14, 1865.

WILLIAMS, Lewis, representative, was born near Shallow Ford, Surry county, N.C, Feb. 1, 1786; son of Col. Joseph and Rebecca (Lanier) Williams, and twin brother of Tliomas Lanier AVilliams (q.v.). He was graduated from the University of North Carolina, A.B., 1808, A.M., 1812, meanwhile serving as tutor in the univer- sity, 1810-12. He was a representative in the general assembly, 1813-14, and a representative from North Carolina in the 14th-27th congresses, serving from Dec. 4, 1815, until his death, and of- ficiating for fifteen years as chairman of the com- mittee on claims. In recognition of his extended congressional service, he received the title of " the father of the house." There is a memorial stone to his memory in the Congressional cem- etery, but he is buried at Panther Creek, Surry county, N.C. He was never married. He died in Washington, D.C., Feb. 23, 1842.

WILLIAMS, Marmaduke, jurist, was born in Caswell county, N.C, April 6, 1774; son of Nathaniel (q.v.) and Mary Ann (Williamson) Williams of Rockingham county, N.C. He re- ceived a good education, became a lawyer, and made his first appearance in public life in 1802, when he represented for one term the county of Caswell in the North Carolina state senate. He succeeded his brother, Robert Williams (q.v.) as representative in congress, and was twice re- elected, serving throughout the 8th, 9th and 10th congresses, from Oct. 17, 1803, to March 3, 1809. In 1810 he left North Carolina and located in Huntsville, Madison county, then in the Missis- sippi Territory. In 1818, two years after the first settlement of " The Falls of the Black Warrior " (Tuscaloosa), Ala., he removed there and in the spring of 1819 was elected a member of the con- stitutional convention of Alabama from Tusca- loosa county. He was an active and useful mem- ber of the convention, and was the first member to move the expediency of the formation of a constitution and state government for Alabama. At the first state election under the constitution he was defeated for governer of the state by William W. Bibb, then the territorial governor. He rendered conspicuous service in the Alabama legislature, of which he was a member in the ses- sions of 1821, 1822, 1825, 1826, 1829, 1830, 1832, 1833, 1837, 1838, 1839. He was secretary of the board of trustees of the University of Alabama, from its incorporation in 1821 to 1840; and was judge of the Tuscaloosa county court, 1833-42. In 1826 he served as commissioner to adjust the unsettled territorial accounts with Mississippi. On Dec. 25, 1798, he married Mrs. Agnes Payne Harris (first cousin to Dolly Payne Madison> daughter of Robert and Anne (Burton) Payne, of Pittsylvania county, Va. She died Aug. 28, 1850, and husband and wife are buried in Tuscaloosa