Reuel Williams was born on June 2, 1783, in Augusta, then part of Hallowell, Maine, the second of the twelve children of Seth Williams and Zilpha Ingraham, and was the descendant of Richard Williams, a Welshman from Glamorganshire, who settled at Taunton, Massachusetts, in 1637.
His father, tanner and shoemaker, had removed from Stoughton to Hallowell in 1779.
Education
In 1798 Reuel went from the Hallowell Academy to read law with Judge James Bridge.
Career
In 1804, he was admitted to the bar. By the time he was twenty-four, his ability had attracted attention in Boston, and in 1812, when Bridge retired, Williams received his lucrative practice. This included the important administration of the "Kennebec Purchase" and the Bowdoin College timberlands. He became one of the successful lawyers in Maine.
His considerable fortune did not come from the law alone. Even at nineteen, he invested his savings of $1, 000 in Augusta real estate. When the old "Kennebec Purchase" came to an end in 1816, he was one of the purchasers of the lands and other interests of the proprietors. He invested in many projects in industry and communication, with very good success until his railroad venture.
Williams was active in Maine politics and sat in the state legislature from 1812 to 1829 and again in 1832 and 1848. Elected to the federal Senate in 1837 to fill an unexpired term, he was reelected in 1839 but resigned in 1843. He served in 1825 on the commission to divide the public lands between Maine and Massachusetts, in 1832 on the Northeast Boundary Commission, and in 1861 on the commission for defenses in the northern states.
He has been awarded the credit, or blame, for removing the state capital in 1827 to Augusta from Portland. His $10, 000 contribution ensured the building of the state insane asylum at Augusta, and he worked diligently for the improvement of Kennebec navigation. He helped to give Augusta excellent stage connections with Bangor, railroad connection with Portland, and, through the Augusta Dam, an opportunity for industrial development.
From 1832 to 1842, he was a very active supporter of Maine in the boundary dispute with New Brunswick, Canada, not only through his service on the Maine boundary commission but also as a senator. At Washington he proposed frequent measures for defending the frontier and for reopening the question, which led to the so-called Aroostook or Madawaska "War" and the Webster-Ashburton Treaty in 1842.
With Thomas Hart Benton, he fought strenuously against ratification of the treaty in the Senate. He was a chief promoter and first president of the seventy-two-mile Kennebec & Portland Railway, running from Portland to Augusta with a branch from Brunswick to Bath, all now part of the Maine Central Railroad. However, he seems to have followed a short-sighted policy during the railroad disputes that stirred the state. The road had constant financial difficulties, and he is said to have lost $200, 000. He died on July 25, 1862, at Augusta, Maine.
Achievements
Religion
In 1853, he was baptized into the Unitarian Church.
Politics
At first, Reuel Williams was a Federalist and after 1832 a Democrat.
Membership
Reuel Williams was one of the organizers of the Maine Historical Society.
Personality
With all his ability, Reuel Williams was described as coldly reserved toward all but his intimates and "almost too precise and methodical for a man of ordinary impulses".
Connections
In November 1807, Reuel Williams married Sarah Lowell Cony. They had one son and eight daughters.