Thomas Hill Williams

Who was Thomas Hill Williams?

Thomas Hill Williams was a senator from Mississippi. Born in North Carolina, he completed preparatory studies, studied law, was admitted to the bar and practiced. He was register of the land office for the Territory of Mississippi in 1805, secretary of the Territory in 1805, and Acting Governor in 1806. He was reappointed secretary in 1807, and was again Acting Governor in 1809. In 1810 he was collector of customs at New Orleans, and was a delegate to the State constitutional convention.

Upon the admission of Mississippi as a State into the Union in 1817, Williams was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the U.S. Senate. He was reelected as a Jackson Republican in 1823 and served from December 10, 1817, to March 3, 1829; while in the Senate he was chairman of the Committee on Public Lands. He moved to Tennessee, where he died, in Robertson County, in 1840.