McWilliams, James

Born: 1802-03-12 Ohio

Died: 1883-07-03

Flourished: Pike County, Illinois

McWilliams, a farmer, married his first wife, Margaret Latimer, in 1824. They had eight children. In 1834, he moved his family to Illinois, where they settled in Griggsville Township. McWilliams, a Democrat, was elected into the Illinois House of Representatives for one term, 1838 to 1840, representing Pike County. While he was serving out his term, his wife died in 1838. The next year, in 1839, McWilliams married Lucretia Prescott. McWilliams was the county commissioner for Pike County and was also the supervisor for Griggsville Township. In 1848, McWilliams stopped farming and worked in the lumber trade. He was also the original stockholder and organizer of the Griggsville National Bank. McWilliams was a member of the Congregational Church. In 1860, he was a lumber dealing and owned $10,000 in real estate and had a personal estate valued at $10,000.

Gravestone, Griggsville Cemetery, Griggsville, IL; History of Pike County, Illinois (Chicago: Chas C. Chapman, 1880), 554-55; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 207; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Griggsville, Pike County, IL, 52.