John Stuart WILLIAMS, Congress, KY (1818-1898)

WILLIAMS, John Stuart, a Senator from Kentucky; born near Mount Sterling, Montgomery County, Ky., July 10, 1818; attended the common schools; graduated from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, in 1839; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1840 and commenced practice in Paris, Bourbon County, Ky.; served in the Mexican War, first as a captain of an independent company attached to the Sixth Regiment, United States Infantry, and afterward as a colonel of the Fourth Regiment, Kentucky Volunteers; member, State house of representatives 1851, 1853; during the Civil War served in the Confederate Army as a colonel in 1861; promoted to brigadier general in 1862 and surrendered in 1865; engaged in agricultural pursuits, with residence in Winchester, Ky.; member, State house of representatives 1873 and 1875; was an unsuccessful candidate for governor in 1875; presidential elector on the Democratic ticket in 1876; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1879, to March 3, 1885; was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection; engaged in agricultural pursuits; died in Mount Sterling, Ky., on July 17, 1898; interment in Winchester Cemetery, Winchester, Ky.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present