Marmaduke Williams
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Marmaduke Williams | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Alabama House of Representatives | |
| In office 1821–1839 | |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina's 9th district | |
| In office March 4, 1803 – March 3, 1809 | |
| Preceded by | Willis Alston |
| Succeeded by | James Cochran |
| Member of the North Carolina Senate | |
| In office 1802 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | April 6, 1774 |
| Died | October 29, 1850 (aged 76) Tuscaloosa, Alabama, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic-Republican |
| Spouse |
Agnes Payne (m. 1798) |
| Children | 9 |
Marmaduke Williams (April 6, 1774 – October 29, 1850)[1] was a Democratic-Republican U.S. Congressman from North Carolina from 1803 to 1809.
Williams was born in Caswell County, North Carolina. He was a brother of Mississippi Territorial Governor Robert Williams (1766–1836). He was first cousin of the brothers: Robert Williams (1773–1821), John Williams (Tennessee politician) (1778–1837) and Lewis Williams (1786–1842).
Career
He studied law and was admitted to the North Carolina bar. He was elected to the North Carolina State Senate, serving 1802, and then was elected that same year to the 8th United States Congress. Williams was re-elected twice, serving in the 9th and 10th Congresses (March 4, 1803 – March 3, 1809). He declined to run for a fourth term and moved to the Mississippi Territory in 1810, then to Huntsville, Alabama, and by 1819, to Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
He was part of the people who pleaded in favor of the "zeal and patriotic spirit" of the people "west of the Allegany", at a time when US Easterners doubted the right-standing faith of Western settlers.[2]
Williams was a delegate to the Alabama Constitutional Convention of 1819 and ran unsuccessfully that year for the post of Governor of Alabama against William Wyatt Bibb. He was the first Tuscaloosan to run for governor, and wanted to make Tuscaloosa the State's capital.[3]
He served in the Alabama House of Representatives from 1821 to 1839, was the Secretary of the Board of Trustees of The University of Alabama from 1835 to 1841[4] and was a judge of the Tuscaloosa County court from 1832 to 1842.
