Image of Williams, Archibald

Williams, Archibald

b. June 10, 1801, in Montgomery County, Kentucky; d. September 21, 1863, in Quincy, Illinois. Williams came to Illinois in either 1825 or 1826. In 1828, he was admitted to the bar and began the practice of law. From 1832 until 1836, Williams served in the state senate, and from 1836 until 1840, he served in the state legislature. In 1849, President Zachary Taylor appointed Williams district attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, and he held that position until 1853. In 1857, Williams formed a partnership with Jackson Grimshaw. Their partnership dissolved in 1861, when President Lincoln appointed Williams district judge for the state of Kansas, a position he held until his death.
Frederick B. Crossley, Courts and Lawyers of Illinois (Chicago: American Historical Society, 1916), 1:230-31; Usher F. Linder, Reminiscences of the Early Bench and Bar of Illinois (Chicago: The Chicago Legal News Company, 1879), 238-43; John Palmer, ed., The Bench and Bar of Illinois: Historical and Reminiscent (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1899), 1:183, 2:802; United States Biographical Dictionary: Illinois Dictionary (Chicago: American Biographical Dictionary, 1876), 151-52. Illustration courtesy of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, Springfield, IL.