Representative Hezekiah Williams

Hezekiah Williams (July 28, 1798 – October 23, 1856) was a United States Representative from Maine and a long-serving local and state official in Hancock County. He was born near Woodstock, Vermont, where he spent his early years before pursuing formal education in New England. Details of his family background and early schooling are not extensively documented, but his subsequent academic and professional achievements indicate a classical education typical of early nineteenth-century New England.

Williams attended Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, graduating in 1820. His education at Dartmouth, then a prominent institution for training lawyers, clergy, and public officials, provided the foundation for his legal and political career. After completing his collegiate studies, he read law in the customary manner of the period, preparing for admission to the bar rather than attending a formal law school.

Following his legal studies, Williams was admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law in Castine, Maine, in 1825. Castine, an important coastal town and the shire town of Hancock County, became his professional and political base for the remainder of his life. Even before he formally began his legal practice, he had entered public service as register of probate for Hancock County, Maine, a position he held from 1824 to 1838. In that role he was responsible for the administration of wills, estates, and related judicial matters, gaining experience in both legal procedure and local governance.

In addition to his county responsibilities, Williams was deeply involved in the civic affairs of Castine. He served as a selectman of Castine from 1833 to 1835, participating in the management of town finances, infrastructure, and local regulations. He was appointed a trustee of the school fund in 1834, reflecting his engagement with public education and local institutional development, and he served as a member of the school committee in 1840. He again held the office of selectman of Castine in 1843 and 1844, underscoring his continued prominence in municipal affairs.

Williams’s experience in local and county government led to his election to the Maine Senate, where he served from 1839 to 1841. As a state senator during a period of growth and political consolidation in Maine, which had been admitted to the Union in 1820, he participated in shaping state legislation and policy. His service in the Senate, combined with his long tenure as register of probate and his repeated selection for town offices, established him as a leading Democratic figure in Hancock County and the surrounding region.

Building on this record, Williams was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth Congresses, serving in the U.S. House of Representatives from March 4, 1845, to March 3, 1849. Representing Maine at a time marked by debates over territorial expansion, the Mexican–American War, and the extension of slavery into new territories, he sat in Congress during the administrations of Presidents James K. Polk and, briefly, Zachary Taylor. While detailed records of his specific committee assignments and floor activity are limited in standard biographical references, his service placed him among the Democratic majority that oversaw significant national developments in the mid-1840s.

At the conclusion of his second term in Congress, Williams did not return to federal office but instead resumed the practice of law in Castine. He continued his professional activities there, remaining a respected member of the bar and of the community he had long served in various public capacities. He died in Castine, Maine, on October 23, 1856. He was interred in Castine Cemetery, where his burial reflects his enduring association with the town that had been the center of his legal, political, and civic life.