Williams, Wright

Born: 1804-01-05 Cayuga County, New York

Died: 1854-11-21 Iowa

Flourished: Iowa

Wright Williams was a county commissioner, state legislator, and county judge. He moved west from his native state, first to Shelby County, Indiana, where he married Phoebe Johnson in 1829, and later to the Michigan Territory, where he arrived in 1836. He settled in Louisa County in what would become the Iowa Territory. Entering into public affairs, Williams became a Louisa County commissioner, serving in that office from 1839 to 1844. In the spring of 1844, Louisa County voters elected him to represent the county at a constitutional convention to frame a state constitution for the Territory. After Iowa became a state in December 1846, Williams won election to the Iowa House of Representatives. Winning reelection in 1848, he would represent Louisa County in the Iowa House until 1850. In 1851, Williams won election as Louisa County judge, holding that office until his death. He was affiliated with the Whig Party.

Benjamin F. Gue, History of Iowa from the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century (New York: Century History, 1903), 3:448, 460, 461; "Wright Williams," The Iowa Legislature, accessed 24 April 2020, https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/legislator?ga=1&personID=6014; Arthur Springer, History of Louisa County Iowa (Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1912), 1:267.