Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/444

 WILLIAMS

WILLIAMS

Tlioinas M. Owen (q.v.) of Montgomery Ala., is a grandson. Judge Marniaduke Williams died in Tust-aloosii. Ala.. Oct. 29. ISjO.

WILLIAMS, Nathaniel, lawyer and planter, was born in Virginia, Oct. 5, 1741; son of Nath- aniel Williams, and grandson of John AVillianis. a wealthy Welch emigrant to Hanover county, Va., about the beginning of the eighteeenth century. Removing from Virginia prior to the Revolution- ary war, he located in Guilford county, N.C., in that part which subsequently (1785) became Rockingham county. He was a lawyer by pro- fession, as were also his brothers. Col. John and Robert Williams; another brotiier being Col. Joseph Williams, a Revolutionar}- soldier, and a distinguished and public spirited resident of Surry county, N.C. He attained some local distinction in his profession, and was a leader in county affairs. He was chosen one of the delegates from Guilford county to the meeting of the Provincial congress at Hillsboro, Aug. 21, 1775. This was the third meeting of an assembly of the people in Nortii Carolina opposed to the Royal government. In the sjime body were his brothers Col. John Williams (of Orange county), and Col. Joseph Williams (of Surry county), and also his first cousins Judge John Williams (of Granville county), and Thomas Henderson (of Guilford county). His voice was always raised in behalf of the rights of the people of the colony, and he supported earnestly all proposed measures of defence and relief. Throughout the entire strug- gle he remained unflinchingly loyal, and living in a part of the state over-run by hostile bands, he encouraged the weak and gave aid to the needy. After the close of the war he continued in the practice of his profession. His wife, Mary Ann Williamson (born Jan. 3, 1745), was the sister of Elizabeth Williamson, wife of Col. John Wil- iams, his brother, of Orange county. Gov. RoV>ert and Hon. Marmaduke Williams (q.v.) were his sons. The Williams family, of which Na- thaniel Williams is a representative, has been prominent in all partsof the South for generations. In addition to those of the name herein referred to, see supra for the following lineal descendants of the original emigrant, John Williams; James R. and Joseph W. Chalmers; Baylis John Earle, and Harriet Harrison, wife of Samuel Earle; James T. and Thomas P. Harrison; John S., I-.eonard, Richard and William Henderson; ThonuiS M. Owen, Richmond Pearson and Hoke Smith, in addition to others mentioned passim. Nathaniel Williams was accidentally drowned on his return home from the " Circuit." while at- tempting to ford a swollen stream, Jan. 25, 1805.

WILLIAMS, Otho Holland, soldier, was born in Prince George county. Mil., March 1. 1749. He was left an orplian in 1701; worked in the county

clerk's office at Frederick and later in Baltimore, and upon the outbreak of the Revolutionary war, was appointed a lieutenant in Price's rifle corps of Frederick county. He marched to Boston, where he became captain of the corjis. He was promoted major of a regiment of Maryland and Virginia rifles, and took part in the capture of Fort Washington, where he was wounded, Nov. IG, 1776, and taken prisoner to New York, being released on parole. He was, however, susj)ected of a j)rivate correspondence with General Wash- ington and was confined for fifteen months, suf- fering great indignities. In 1778 he was ex- changed and commanded the Gtli Maryland regiment; was deputy adjutant-general of the army under Gen. Horatio Gates; took part in the battle of Camden; was appointed adjutant- general under Gen. Nathanael Greene, and com- manded the rear guard in Greene's celebrated retreat. He led a charge at the battle of Eutaw that gained the field for the Patriots: was bre- vetted brigadier-general, and at the close of the war he settled in Baltimore, where he was col- lector of the port, under appointment by the gov- ernor, and under the Federal constitution. He was treasurer of the Order of the Cincinnati. 1783- 94. He died in Woodstock, Va., July 16, 1794.

WILLIAMS, Reuel, senator, was born in Hallowell, Maine, June 2, 1783; son of Capt. Setli and Zilplia (Ingraham) Williams: grandson of Setli and Susanna (Forbes) Williams and of Jeremiah and Abigail (Hartwell) Ingraham, and a de.scendant of Richard Williams, who came from Glamorganshire, Wales, as early as 1G37 and settled in Taunton, Mass. His parents removed from East on, Mass., in 1779, to Hallowell, Maine, where he attended the common schools and Hallowell academy; studied law; was admittt d to the bar in 1802. being nonage, and commenced practice with Judge Bridge in Augusta. Maine. He was a representative in the state legislature, 1822-26 and 1829; a state senator. 1826-28; com- missioner of public buildings, 1831; a presiden- tial elector on the Van Buren and Johnson ticket,

1836, and was elected as a Democrat, U.S. senator from Maine to complete the unexpired term of Ether Siiepley, resigned, .serving from Sept. 4,

1837, to February, 1842, when he in turn resigned and was succeeded by John Fairfield. Senator Williams was prominent in the projection of the railroad between Augusta and Bo.ston, serving as president of the road, 1847-51, and as its chief manager for several subsequent j'ears, and as a commissioner to Washington, D.C., in charge of the defences of Maine, in November. 18G1, obtained an order from the secretarj- of war that the fortifications at the mouth of the Penobscot be called Fort Popham in honor of the fiist colony established on the sliores of New England