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

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. 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 shares most of Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery metropolitan area, and in ...

, 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 (; ; formerly Lewisville and still pronounced as such) is a town in Barbour County, Alabama, United States. Founded in 1817 in former Creek territory, it holds the distinctive honor of having served as county seat for two different Al ...

, to Judge Stith and Euphemia Williams. After attending the preparatory schools of Barbour County, he graduated from the

University of South Carolina at Columbia The University of South Carolina (USC, SC, or Carolina) is a public research university in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1801 as South Carolina College, It is the flagship of the University of South Carolina System and th ...

in 1852. He studied law in Montgomery and Tuskegee and 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 ...

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 Barbo ...

Civil War service

When the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

broke out he volunteered for service in the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the Military forces of the Confederate States, military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) duri ...

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 House of Representatives is the lower house of the Alabama Legislature, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of state of Alabama. The House is composed of 105 members representing an equal number of districts, with ...

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. from March 4, 1875, ...

. After

redistricting Redistricting in the United States is the process of drawing electoral district boundaries. For the United States House of Representatives, and state legislatures, redistricting occurs after each ten-year census. The U.S. Constitution in Art ...

, 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 all of Calhoun County, Ala ...

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 eq ...

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 University of South Carolina alumni 19th-century Alabama state court judges 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives