Williams, John H.

Born: 1833-04-12 Quincy, Illinois

Died: 1912-09-24

John H. Williams, son of Archibald Williams, was an attorney and circuit court judge. He attended school in Quincy, Illinois, before matriculating to Missouri University. Upon completion of his studies, he was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1857, and joined his father and Jackson Grimshaw, establishing the law firm of Williams, Grimshaw & Williams. Williams married Rebecca Walton in November 1854, in Randolph County, Missouri. The couple had seven children, one of whom died in infancy. In 1860, Williams and his family were living in Quincy’s Second Ward. In 1876, Williams assisted in the formation of the Quincy Bar Association and served as a manager for the first year of the association. He continued practicing law until 1879, when he won election as judge of the Adams County Circuit Court, becoming the first Quincy-born native to hold that position. Politically, Williams was a Republican.

Frederic B. Crossley, Courts and Lawyers of Illinois (Chicago: American Historical Society, 1916), 2:799-800; David F. Wilcox, ed., Quincy and Adams County: History and Representative Men (Chicago and New York: Lewis, 1919), 131, 151, 167, 169; Missouri, U.S., Marriage Records, 1805-2002, 28 November 1854, Randolph County (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2007); U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Ward 2, Quincy, Adams County, IL, 66; The Quincy Journal (IL), 24 September 1912, 8:3; Gravestone, Woodland Cemetery, Quincy, IL.