Joseph T. Williams (July 21, 1842 – 1910) was a

Democratic Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

assemblyman and state senator. He was a supporter of the Jacksonian democracy. Williams was born in 1842 in

Conway, Arkansas Conway is a city in the U.S. state of Arkansas and the county seat of Faulkner County, located in the state's most populous Metropolitan Statistical Area, Central Arkansas. Although considered a suburb of Little Rock, Conway is unusual in that ...

as the son of a planter. The ancestors of his father originated in Wales and the ancestors of his mother in France. His father died when Williams was young. He moved to Calaveras County, California at age seventeen by crossing the

Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...

. He didn't know any people over there and started working in the mining business. In 1862, he moved to Nevada Territory and became a silver miner. Williams went with Governor

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Austin, Nevada Austin is an unincorporated small town in, and former county seat of, Lander County, Nevada, United States. In 2020, the census-designated place of Austin had a population of 167. It is located on the western slopes of the Toiyabe Range at an ...

the next year during the

Reese River excitement The Reese River is a tributary of the Humboldt River, located in central Nevada in the western United States. The Reese rises in the southern section of the Toiyabe Range, on the flanks of Arc Dome. In its upper reaches, the Reese River is a ...

. He helped with organizing

Nye County, Nevada Nye County is a county in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 51,591. Its county seat is Tonopah. At , Nye is Nevada's largest county by area and the third-largest county in the contiguous United States, behi ...

and resided in the county since then. In September 1870, Williams married Sophie Ernst. On November 5, 1878, he was elected member of the Nevada Assembly, where he and

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represented Nye County. Williams' term started the next day and ended after the elections of 1880. At those elections, he was elected Nevada State Senator and succeeded

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. Williams represented Nye County during two regular sessions until his mandate ended in November 1884. One of his most important accomplishments was the Williams Resolution of 1881, that he authored. This resolution regulated the freights and fares of the railroads in Nevada. In 1882, when he was a senator, he was thought to be a possible candidate for Governor of Nevada, but he denied these claims. The ''Belmont Courier'' called him "undoubtedly a very strong and popular man". The book ''History of Nevada'' (1881) stated that back then Williams was in the mining business and owned some mining claims, a hotel, and 500 acres of land, where he made hay. At that time, he lived in Hot Creek, now a Nevada ghost town. In February 1890, Williams became a charter member of the Board of Trade of Nye County.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Joseph T 1842 births 1910 deaths Democratic Party Nevada state senators Democratic Party members of the Nevada Assembly People from Nye County, Nevada 19th-century American legislators Date of death missing Place of death missing People from Conway, Arkansas 19th-century Nevada politicians