Thomas Hill Williams was born in North Carolina, growing up just east of the Pee Dee River in rural Anson County.[1] He appears to have inherited some wealth at an early age, appearing on county tax rolls in 1795 as the owner of 681 acres of land.[1] It is believed that he entered politics at an early age and was elected clerk of the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1796 and 1797.[1]
Williams completed preparatory studies, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and became a lawyer. In 1803 he made his way to the Territory of Mississippi, soon becoming the private secretary to Territorial Governor William C. C. Claiborne.[1]
Williams was appointed register of the United States General Land Office for the Territory of Mississippi in 1805 by Secretary of State James Madison.[1] He was recognized as a popular and qualified appointee and named Acting Governor of the Mississippi Territory on July 1, 1805 in a recess appointment by President Thomas Jefferson.[1]
Williams was reappointed secretary in 1807, and was again Acting Governor in 1809. In 1810 he was collector of customs at New Orleans, and was a delegate to the state constitutional convention.
Upon the admission of Mississippi as a state into the Union in 1817, Williams was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the U.S. Senate, one of the first two senators from Mississippi.[2] He was reelected as a Jackson Republican (later Jacksonian) in 1823, leaving the body with the expiration of his second term on March 3, 1829.
While a member the Senate Williams was a member of the Naval Affairs committee in five of his six Congresses and of the Public Lands committee in three of them.[1] He was chairman of the Committee on Public Lands (Sixteenth Congress). He was a supporter of the Missouri Compromise during the session of 1820-21.[2]
Williams moved to Tennessee after he left the Senate, declining a chance at reelection or any form of public office.[1] He died of dropsy in Robertson County on December 7, 1850.[1]
