View source for Reuel Williams

{{Short description|American politician}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2016}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name       = Reuel Williams
|image      = Senator Reuel Williams.jpg
|imagesize  = 179px
|jr/sr      = United States Senator
|state      = [[Maine]]
|term_start = March 4, 1837
|term_end   = February 15, 1843
|preceded   = [[Judah Dana]]
|succeeded  = [[John Fairfield]]
|birth_date   = June 2, 1783
|birth_place  = [[Hallowell, Maine|Hallowell]], [[Massachusetts]] (now in Maine)
|death_date   = {{death date and age|1862|7|25|1783|6|2}}
|death_place  = [[Augusta, Maine]]
|restingplace = Augusta, Maine
|party        = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|spouse       = 
|relations    = 
|children     = 
|residence    = 
|alma_mater   = 
|occupation   = 
|profession   = [[Law]]
|cabinet      = 
|committees   = 
|portfolio    = 
|religion     = 
|signature    = 
|website      = 
|footnotes    = 
}}

'''Reuel Williams''' (June 2, 1783{{spaced ndash}}July 25, 1862) was an American lawyer and politician who served one term as a [[U.S. Senator]] from [[Maine]] from 1837 to 1843.

==Early life and career==
Born in [[Hallowell, Maine|Hallowell]], [[Massachusetts]] to Seth Williams and Zilpha Ingraham, he attended Hallowell Academy, and went on to study law. He was admitted to the bar in 1804, commencing practice in [[Augusta, Maine]].

==Political career==
He was a member of the [[Maine Legislature]], in the two houses of the legislature, from 1812 to 1829 and again in 1832 and 1848.<ref>'Memoirs of the Judiciary And The Bar of New England For  The Nineteenth Century With A History Of The Judicial System Of New England,' Volume I, Conrad Reno-editor, The Century Memorial Company, Boston, Massachusetts: 1901, Biographical Sketch of Reuel Williams, pg. 43-44</ref> He was commissioner of public buildings in 1831. He served as a [[presidential elector]] on the [[United States Democratic Party|Democratic]] ticket in 1836.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}

In 1837, he was elected as a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of [[Ether Shepley]] and served from March 4, 1837, to February 15, 1843, when he resigned.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}

While in the Senate he served as chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Naval Affairs.

==Private life==
[[File:Mrs. Reuel Williams (Sarah Lowell Cony).jpg|thumb|Mrs. Reuel Williams (Sarah Lowell Cony), portrait by [[Thomas Badger]]]]
He was also the manager of the [[Kennebec and Portland Railroad]] for 12 years. He died in Augusta, aged 79, and was interred in his family's cemetery on the banks of the [[Kennebec River]] in Augusta.

In 1807, he married Sarah Lowell Cony, daughter of Judge Daniel Cony of Maine.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RNc-AAAAYAAJ |title=American Encyclopaedia of Biography |date=1893 |language=en}}</ref>  Their son, [[Joseph H. Williams]], also a politician, was elected [[Governor of Maine]].  Their daughter, Jane E. Williams, married Unitarian minister and author [[Sylvester Judd]] on August 31, 1841; they had three children. Another daughter, Helen A. Williams, married [[John Taylor Gilman]] originally of [[Exeter, New Hampshire]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433082368980;view=1up;seq=49|title = John Taylor Gilman, M. D., Portland Maine.A memorial for the family|date = July 22, 1885|publisher = [Exeter, N. H.}}</ref> After his death, she was remarried to [[Charles H. Bell (politician)|Charles H. Bell]] of Exeter, New Hampshire.

He died in Augusta, aged 79, and was interred in his family's cemetery on the banks of the [[Kennebec River]] in Augusta.

== References ==
{{reflist}}
*Poor, John A. ''Memoir of Hon. Reuel Williams, Prepared for the Maine Historical Society.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts: Priv. print. H.O. Houghton and Company, 1864. [https://books.google.com/books?id=zvONVZGUPjQC&q=Reuel+Williams&pg=PP1 googlebooks] Retrieved May 3, 2008
{{CongBio|W000532}}

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{{U.S. Senator box
| state=Maine
| class=1
| before=[[Judah Dana]]
| after=[[John Fairfield]]
| alongside=[[John Ruggles]], [[George Evans (American politician)|George Evans]]
| years=1837&ndash;1843}}
{{s-end}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Reuel}}
[[Category:1783 births]]
[[Category:1862 deaths]]
[[Category:Politicians from Augusta, Maine]]
[[Category:Politicians from Hallowell, Maine]]
[[Category:Democratic Party Maine state senators]]
[[Category:Democratic Party members of the Maine House of Representatives]]
[[Category:Democratic Party United States senators from Maine]]
[[Category:Maine lawyers]]
[[Category:19th-century American lawyers]]
[[Category:19th-century United States senators]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the Maine Legislature]]

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