Joseph Lanier Williams (October 23, 1810December 14, 1865) was an American politician that represented

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

's third district in the

United States House of Representatives 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 house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

Biography

Williams was born near

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Tennessee, Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Di ...

on October 23, 1810. After completing preparatory studies, he attended the University of

East Tennessee East Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. Geographically and socioculturally distinct, it comprises approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee. East Tennessee consists of 33 count ...

and attended the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

at West Point. He studied law, was admitted to the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

, and commenced practice in Knoxville, Tennessee. He married Malinda R. Williams and they had four children.

Career

Williams was elected as a Whig to the Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth, and Twenty-seven Congresses. He served from March 4, 1837, to March 3, 1843. He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1842. He engaged in the practice of law in Washington, D.C. Williams was appointed judge of the Dakota Territorial Supreme Court by President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

, and served in that capacity from 1861 to 1865. Historian

Doane Robinson Jonah LeRoy "Doane" Robinson (October 19, 1856 – November 27, 1946Hoover, Herbert T., & Larry J. Zimmerman (eds.). 1989. ''South Dakota Leaders: From Pierre Chouteau, Jr., to Oscar Howe''. Vermillion: University of South Dakota Press, p. 4 ...

wrote of Williams, and his contemporary B. P. Williston, that " ither Williston or Williams left a record, or made an impression from which any adequate judgment of their efficiency may be ascertained".Doane Robinson, ''History of South Dakota'', Volume 1 (1904), p. 465.

Death

Williams died in Knoxville, Tennessee on December 14, 1865 (aged 55 years, 52 days). He is

interred Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

Old Gray Cemetery Old Gray Cemetery is the second-oldest cemetery in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. Established in 1850, the cemetery contains the graves of some of Knoxville's most influential citizens, ranging from politicians and soldiers, to artists an ...

in Knoxville. He was the son of U.S. Senator

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who wa ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Joseph Lantier 1810 births 1865 deaths Politicians from Knoxville, Tennessee United States Military Academy alumni Tennessee lawyers Dakota Territory judges 19th-century American judges Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American lawyers