Barbour County AlArchives Photo person.....Jere. N. Williams 1893
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ann Anderson alabammygrammy@aol.com May 12, 2004, 11:23 pm

Source: Brant & Fuller (1893)
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HON. JERE. N. WILLIAMS needs no introduction to the people of Barbour county and
southern Alabama. Mr. Williams was born in Barbour county, May 29, 1829, and is
the son of Judge S. and Effie Williams, natives of Georgia and North Carolina.
He received a liberal education in the college of South Carolina,, at Columbia,
completing the literary course in 1852, and in 1854, began the study of law in
the office of Rice & Belser, Montgomery, Ala. He supplemented his course of
private instruction under those gentleman by a term at a school of law at
Tuskegee, Ala., and was admitted to the bar in 1855, in the supreme court at
Montgomery, and has ever since practiced his profession with distinguished
success. In January, 1861, he enlisted in the First regiment, Alabama volunteer
infantry, of which in a short time thereafter he was elected major; but owing to
failing health was compelled, after serving a year, to retire from military
life. In 1870 he was one of the candidates for the legislature from Barbour
county and served as a member of the noted "democratic legislative body" which
met at Montgomery the same year, in which the "republican assembly" proved
triumphant. Mr. Williams was elected a member of the national congress from that
district in 1874, being the first successful democratic candidate since the war,
and in 1876 was re-elected, and served with credit to himself and satisfaction
to his constituency until 1878. While a member of congress, Mr. Williams was one
of the few democrats who voted in opposition to the electoral commission, and he
also served on a number of important committees, and bore an active part in the
deliberations of the body. During his first term but little was accomplished in
the way of needed legislation, owing to the bitter party spirit then rife, the
house being democratic and the senate republican. Since the expiration of his
congressional term, Mr. Williams has been actively engaged in the practice of
the legal profession at Clayton, and his business is quite large in Barbour
county and also other counties in the southern part of the state. Endowed with
an ardent love of his profession and with talents peculiarly fitting him for its
higher practice, Mr. Williams has been fortunate in having had ample opportunity
for improving and cultivating his abilities, and his long and successful
experience in the courts of Barbour county has made him a leader among the most
prominent in the legal profession in southern Alabama. Jere. N. Williams has an
established reputation as one of the finest speakers at the bar of his state, as
well as on the hustings. Indeed, one of the most prominent men of his section
recently remarked of him, in a public speech, that "he is one of the best stump
speakers in the state of Alabama." This natural gift has no doubt been one of
the prime factors of his success in his profession, aided by a logical mind that
gives power to his language in debate. In 1893, he was appointed chancellor,
which position he now holds. Mr. Williams was married December, 1864, to Mary E.
Screws, who has borne him the following children: Victoria, wife of Dr. W. F.
Wilkinson; Effie, wife of W. A. Leland; Mary N.; Judge S., graduate of Alabama
university, and Nellie R. Mr. Williams' parents, Judge S., and Effie (McNeill)
Williams, were married in Barbour county in the year 1826, and reared a family
of five children, namely: William, a physician, died in 1855; Jere. N.; John,
deceased; Mrs. Emily Flournoy, deceased; Richard, deceased, lieutenant and
captain of company K, First Alabama regiment, who won great distinction in
different battles, especially at Port Hudson; and Victoria, wife of J. C.
McEachern. The Williams family came to Alabama in the year 1825, and the
McNeills moved here from North Carolina as early as 1822.



Additional Comments:
from "Memorial Record of Alabama" Vol I, p. 469-474

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