Jeremiah Norman Williams (May 29, 1829 – May 8, 1915) was a two-term Democratic

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

. His election marked the return of Democratic control of the

Alabama's 2nd congressional district Alabama's 2nd congressional district is a United States congressional district in Alabama, which elects a representative to the United States House of Representatives. It includes most of the Montgomery metropolitan area, and stretches into t ...

, after Republican control during the earlier years of

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...

Biography

Williams was born May 29, 1829, near

Louisville, Alabama Louisville () is a town in Barbour County, Alabama, United States. Originally named "Lewisville" and still pronounced as such. At the 2020 census, the population was 395. Geography Louisville is southwest of Clayton, the county seat, and no ...

, to Judge Stith and Euphemia Williams. After attending the preparatory schools of Barbour County, he graduated from the University of South Carolina at Columbia in 1852. He studied law in Montgomery and Tuskegee and was admitted to the bar in 1855. He commenced practice in

Clayton, Alabama Clayton is a town in and the county seat of Barbour County, Alabama, United States. The population was 3,008 at the 2010 census, up from 1,475 in 2000. History Clayton has been the county seat since 1834, two years after the creation of Barbou ...

Civil War service

When the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

broke out he volunteered for service in the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

and was made captain of the Clayton Guards. He then became a major of the First Regiment, Alabama Infantry, before resigning due to illness. During the war he married Mary Eliza Screws. They had five children together.

Postbellum

After the war Williams was elected a member of the

Alabama House of Representatives The Alabama State House of Representatives is the lower house of the Alabama Legislature, the state legislature of state of Alabama. The House is composed of 105 members representing an equal number of districts, with each constituency contai ...

in 1872, but was not allowed to take his seat. In 1874 he was elected as a Democrat to represent Alabama's 2nd congressional district in the

44th United States Congress The 44th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. ) , image_sk ...

. After

redistricting Redistribution (re-districting in the United States and in the Philippines) is the process by which electoral districts are added, removed, or otherwise changed. Redistribution is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral dist ...

, he won a second term representing

Alabama's 3rd congressional district Alabama's 3rd congressional district is a United States congressional district in Alabama that elects a representative to the United States House of Representatives. It is based in east central Alabama and encompasses portions of Montgomery an ...

in the

45th United States Congress The 45th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1877, ...

. Williams served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Post Office Department in the Forty-fifth Congress. He served two full terms, from March 4, 1875, to March 3, 1879. After leaving office he resumed his law practice in Clayton. He served as Chancellor of the third division of the

chancery court The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid a slow pace of change and possible harshness (or "inequity") of the common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over all matters of equ ...

from 1893 to 1899. In 1901 he served as member of the Alabama Constitutional Convention. He died in Clayton on May 8, 1915, and was interred in the City Cemetery.

References

Retrieved on 2009-04-20 {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Jeremiah Norman 1829 births 1915 deaths People from Louisville, Alabama Alabama lawyers Confederate States Army officers Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Alabama Alabama state court judges 19th-century American politicians University of South Carolina alumni 19th-century American judges 19th-century American lawyers