Representative Marmaduke Williams

Marmaduke Williams (April 6, 1774 – October 29, 1850) was a Democratic-Republican U.S. Congressman from North Carolina who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1803 to 1809. He was born in Caswell County, North Carolina, and belonged to a politically prominent family. He was a brother of Robert Williams (1766–1836), who served as Governor of the Mississippi Territory, and a first cousin of Robert Williams (1773–1821), John Williams of Tennessee (1778–1837), and Lewis Williams of North Carolina (1786–1842), all of whom were active in public life. On October 26, 1798, in Caswell County, he married Agnes Payne (1775–1850), a first cousin of Dolley Madison; they raised nine children. Through this line he was the grandfather of Lafayette Guild (1825–1870), who later became a noted physician and military surgeon.

Williams studied law in North Carolina and was admitted to the state bar, establishing himself as an attorney before entering public office. His legal training provided the foundation for his early political career in his native state. By the opening years of the nineteenth century he had become sufficiently prominent to win election to the North Carolina State Senate, where he served in 1802. His work in the state legislature helped position him for national office at a time when the Democratic-Republican Party was consolidating its influence in both state and federal institutions.

In 1802 Williams was elected as a member of the Republican (Democratic-Republican) Party to the 8th United States Congress from North Carolina, beginning his service in the House of Representatives on March 4, 1803. He was re-elected twice and served three consecutive terms in the 8th, 9th, and 10th Congresses, holding office until March 3, 1809. As a member of Congress during a significant period in early American history, he participated in the legislative process under the administrations of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, representing the interests of his North Carolina constituents. During his tenure he was among those who spoke in favor of the “zeal and patriotic spirit” of the people “west of the Allegany,” at a time when many in the eastern states questioned the loyalty and political reliability of settlers in the western territories. After three terms in the House, he declined to run for a fourth term and concluded his congressional service in 1809.

Following his departure from Congress, Williams turned his attention to opportunities in the expanding American frontier. In 1810 he moved from North Carolina to the Mississippi Territory, joining a broader migration of planters, professionals, and officeholders to the Southwest. He subsequently relocated to Huntsville, in what would become the state of Alabama, and by 1819 had settled in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. There he became one of the leading figures in the emerging political and civic life of the region, helping to shape the institutions of the new state.

Williams played an important role in the formation of Alabama’s state government. In 1819 he served as a delegate to the Alabama Constitutional Convention, which drafted the state’s first constitution in preparation for admission to the Union. That same year he ran unsuccessfully for the office of Governor of Alabama, opposing William Wyatt Bibb. Williams was the first resident of Tuscaloosa to seek the governorship and advocated making Tuscaloosa the state capital, reflecting his commitment to the development and prominence of his adopted community.

In addition to his constitutional and gubernatorial activities, Williams had a long legislative and judicial career in Alabama. He served in the Alabama House of Representatives from 1821 to 1839, participating in nearly two decades of state lawmaking during a period of rapid growth and change. He also held judicial responsibilities as a judge of the Tuscaloosa County court from 1832 to 1842, overseeing local legal matters and contributing to the administration of justice at the county level. Complementing his political and judicial work, he was active in the development of higher education in the state, serving as Secretary of the Board of Trustees of The University of Alabama from 1835 to 1841, during the formative years of that institution.

In Tuscaloosa, Williams invested in property and left a physical legacy that survived long after his death. He built, using enslaved labor, a three-story Greek Revival residence in what is now Tuscaloosa’s Druid City Historic District, a structure later known as the Foster-Murfee-Caples House. He gave this house to his daughter Agnes Payne Williams and her husband, Hopson Owen. The building, which has since been completely renovated, stands as a reminder of both his prominence in the community and the reliance on enslaved labor that underpinned much of the region’s economic and social order during his lifetime.

Marmaduke Williams died in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on October 29, 1850. He was buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Tuscaloosa. His life spanned the early national and antebellum periods of United States history, and his career linked North Carolina and the developing Southwest through service in both the federal Congress and the political institutions of the new state of Alabama.