William Joseph Mills (January 11, 1849 – December 24, 1915) was an American

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

who served three terms as the chief justice of the

New Mexico Territorial Supreme Court The New Mexico Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is established and its powers defined by Article VI of the New Mexico Constitution. It is primarily an appellate court which reviews civil and criminal decis ...

and as the nineteenth and final Governor of

New Mexico Territory The Territory of New Mexico was an organized incorporated territory of the United States from September 9, 1850, until January 6, 1912. It was created from the U.S. provisional government of New Mexico, as a result of ''Santa Fe de Nuevo México ...

Background

Mills was born in

Yazoo City, Mississippi Yazoo City is a U.S. city in Yazoo County, Mississippi. It was named after the Yazoo River, which, in turn was named by the French explorer Robert La Salle in 1682 as "Rivière des Yazous" in reference to the Yazoo tribe living near the river's m ...

on January 11, 1849, to William and Harriet (Beale) Mills.McMullin & Walker, p. 259 His father died when he was young and his mother relocated the family to

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

where she married William H. Law. Mills was educated at the

Norwich Free Academy The Norwich Free Academy (NFA), founded in 1854 and in operation since 1856, is a coeducational independent school for students between the 9th and 12th grade. Located in Norwich, Connecticut, the Academy serves as the primary high school for Norw ...

.Anderson, p. 307 He worked briefly in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

before enrolling at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

and graduating from the

law school A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction. Law degrees Argentina In Argentina, ...

in 1877. Mills was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

the same year he graduated and set up a private practice in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

. Soon after graduation, Mills became active in politics and identified with the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

.Twitchell, p. 566 He was elected to the

Connecticut House of Representatives The Connecticut State House of Representatives is the lower house in the Connecticut General Assembly, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The house is composed of 151 members representing an ...

in 1878 and

Connecticut Senate The Connecticut State Senate is the upper house of the Connecticut General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The state senate comprises 36 members, each representing a district with around 99,280 inhabitants. Sena ...

in 1881 and 1882. Mills wed Alice Waddingham of

West Haven, Connecticut West Haven is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. It is located on the coast of Long Island Sound. At the 2020 census, the population of the city was 55,584. History Settled in 1648, West Haven (then known as West Farms) ...

on January 14, 1885.Anderson, p. 307 The marriage produced three children: Wilson W., Alice L. and Madeline.

New Mexico

Mills moved to

, where his father-in-law, Wilson Waddingham, owned significant tracts of land, and established a legal practice in 1886."United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MMLQ-4FM : accessed 13 February 2020), Wm J Mills, Precincts 29 East Las Vegas Las Vegas City, San Miguel, New Mexico Territory, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 113, sheet 12A, family 286, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,241,002."United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MGSV-1VK : accessed 13 February 2020), William J Mills, Las Vegas Ward 4, San Miguel, New Mexico, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 200, sheet 24A, family 189, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 917; FHL microfilm 1,374,930. From August 1888 till April 1890 he was partnered with Thomas B. Catron, an influential member of the territory's

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

. Mills returned to New Haven in 1894.McMullin & Walker, p. 260 President

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...

nominated Mills to become chief justice of the

with the commissioning occurring on January 31, 1898.Anderson, p. 308 At the time of his nomination, Mills was a

Gold Democrat The National Democratic Party, also known as Gold Democrats, was a short-lived political party of Bourbon Democrats who opposed the regular party nominee William Jennings Bryan in the 1896 presidential election. The party was then a "liberal" p ...

but soon after switched his party affiliation and became a Republican. Upon completion of his first term, President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

twice reappointed the chief justice for additional terms.Anderson, p. 308

Governorship

After Governor George Curry submitted his resignation, President

William H. Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...

nominated Mills to become Governor of

. According to Curry, Taft found the chief justice's judicial background and conservative outlook attractive and viewed the nominee as a potential governor or U.S. senator if the territory should achieve statehood. Mills accepted the offer on November 24, 1909. The new governor was sworn in on March 1, 1910, as per the terms of his predecessor's resignation.Prince, p. 216 Upon taking office, Mills began lobbying efforts aimed at achieving statehood for New Mexico. With the signing of the

enabling act An enabling act is a piece of legislation by which a legislative body grants an entity which depends on it (for authorization or legitimacy) the power to take certain actions. For example, enabling acts often establish government agencies to car ...

on June 20, 1910, his activities switched to preparations for statehood.Prince, p. 216-7 An election of representatives for a constitutional convention was called for September 6, with the convention to draw up a state constitution running from October 3 till November 21, 1910.Prince, p. 217 The resulting document lacked many

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

reforms of the days, such as

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

, and Mills was left to defend the document until it was approved by President Taft in August 1911. Mills called for election of new state office holders in November 1911. New Mexico was admitted as a state on January 6, 1912, with Mills leaving office at noon on January 15, 1912, as William C. McDonald took the oath of office as the new state governor.Prince, p. 218-9

Later life

After leaving office, Mills made an unsuccessful run for a

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

seat in 1912. He died in East Las Vegas, New Mexico on December 24, 1915.

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mills, William J. Governors of New Mexico Territory New Mexico Territory judges Members of the Connecticut House of Representatives Connecticut state senators 1849 births 1915 deaths Justices of the New Mexico Supreme Court People from Yazoo City, Mississippi Yale Law School alumni Connecticut lawyers Connecticut Democrats New Mexico Democrats New Mexico Republicans 19th-century American judges 19th-century American lawyers