Follow Us
Like Us
Matching family tree profiles for Gov. James Douglas Williams
view all
Immediate Family
-
wife -
-
daughter -
son
-
daughter -
father
-
mother
-
sister
-
sister
About Gov. James Douglas Williams
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11181/james-douglas-williams
JAMES WILLIAMS moved to Knox County, Indiana, from Ohio as a child. He was educated in the common schools, and he farmed all his life. His nickname "Blue Jeans" reflected his customary apparel in suits of that material. The oldest of six children, at age twenty he took over the care of his brothers and sisters when his father died.
Williams' political career as a Democrat began as justice of the peace in Knox County and continued with many terms in the Indiana legislature in both houses in the thirty-one years between 1843 and 1874. He was elected to Congress in 1874 and to the governorship in 1876, defeating Benjamin Harrison by five thousand votes in the latter race. The extensive railroad strike of 1877 created problems for Williams, who sympathized with the strikers. He was an especially capable legislative leader and was identified with many important state laws.
"Blue Jeans" Williams was a large, rugged, rough-hewn man, six feet four inches tall, with a lot of black hair. Conrad Baker described him as "a man of strong, generous, emotional nature." He died in office in 1880.
https://archive.org/details/biographicalhist01cinc/page/n155
view all
Gov. James Douglas Williams's Timeline
| 1808 |
January 16, 1808
|
Pickaway, OH, United States
|
|
| 1832 |
1832
|
||
| 1833 |
1833
|
||
| 1837 |
1837
|
||
| 1839 |
1839
|
||
| 1880 |
November 20, 1880
Age 72
|
Knox, IN, United States
|