Joseph R. Williams
Joseph Rickelson Williams | |
---|---|
14thLieutenant Governor of Michigan | |
In office April 3, 1861 – June 15, 1861 (death) | |
Governor | Austin Blair |
Preceded by | James M. Birney |
Succeeded by | Henry T. Backus |
Member of theMichigan Senate from the16thdistrict | |
In office January 2, 1861 – June 15, 1861 | |
Preceded by | Comfort Tyler |
Succeeded by | Henry H. Riley |
Personal details | |
Born | Taunton, Massachusetts,US | November 14, 1808
Died | June 15, 1861 Constantine, Michigan,US | (aged 52)
Political party | Whig Republican Party |
Spouse | Sarah Rowland Langdon Williams |
Children | Charlotte Langdon Williams Kumler Sibyl Williams Hamilto Rebecca Williams Cooper |
Alma mater | Harvard University |
Profession | Farmer Attorney Newspaper Publisher Politician |
Joseph Rickelson Williams(November 14, 1808 – June 15, 1861) was an American politician, aRepublicanMichigan SenateSenator, and the 14thlieutenant governor of Michigan.He was also the first president for theAgricultural College of the State of Michigan,nowMichigan State University.
Early life[edit]
Williams was born inTaunton, Massachusetts,attended Sandwich Academy where he studied under Luther Lincoln, and graduated from Harvard in 1831 with distinguished honors. He then studied law with John Davis inWorcester,wasadmitted to the barand practiced inNew Bedford.In 1839, he moved toConstantine, Michigan,where he resided for the rest of his life.[1]
Career[edit]
Because of ill health, Williams left his law practice and traveled to Toledo, Ohio, and served as the agent of a New England company seeking land investments until 1839 when he moved to Constantine, Michigan, where he invested in the construction and operation of flour mills, and was a member of the state constitutional convention of 1850, twice the Whig candidate for Congress, and twice the Whig candidate for the United States Senate againstLewis Cass.In May, 1853, Williams returned to Toledo and purchased the Toledo Blade, a local newspaper which under his management, became the leading advocate of Republican principles in Northern Ohio. In 1856, Williams sold the paper to Clark Waggoner and G.T. Steward in order to assume the duties of the first President of the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan when it opened in May, 1857. Williams resigned the position after serving for two years.[2]
Williams was a passionate promoter ofinterdisciplinaryliberal arts education.In accord with Williams' philosophy, the College offered a unique blending of practical and theoretical academics. Williams' curriculum balanced liberal arts, science and practical vocational studies. However, Williams excludedLatinandGreekstudies from the early curriculum, which meant that these classical languages were not tested for admission given the College's overwhelmingly rural applicant base. Nevertheless, under Williams the College did require three hours of dailymanual labor.The labor requirement helped students defray expenses, and cheaply clear and develop the campus while learning scientific principles from faculty-supervisors.
However, after just two years, Williams ran into conflict with the managing State Board of Education. Despite Williams' eloquent defense of an all-round education for the masses, the board saw the College as inefficient and had far deviated from the agriculture focus as the founder,John Clough Holmes,had anticipated. Indeed, some agriculturalists began protesting against the College's unpractical curriculum with some even calling for the College's abolition.[3]After just two years at the helm, Williams resigned in 1859 under pressure. The Board then reduced the curriculum to a two-year, vocation-oriented farming program, which proved catastrophic and resulted almost overnight in a drastic reduction in enrollment.[4][5]There was a high demand for an all-round education grounded in theliberal artstradition instead of a specialized agriculture program, a fact the board disregarded. With a sharp decrease in tuition revenue, the College was soon in dire financial straits and threatened with dissolution.
In 1860, Williams was elected as aRepublicanto theMichigan Senateand chosen as president pro tempore of the state senate when he took office in 1861. After the resignation ofLieutenant Governor of MichiganJames M. Birney,Williams took on the duties as the14th Lieutenant GovernorunderAustin Blair.
During his brief time in office he helped pass the Reorganization Act of 1861. Williams' law mandated that the College return to a four-year curriculum and, additionally, have the power to grantmaster's degrees.Under the act, a newly created body known as the State Board of Agriculture took over from the State Board of Education in running the institution, giving the College the autonomy that it retains to this day.
With the College's future secure, Williams went toWashington D. C.to lobby for the passage of theMorrill Land-Grant Colleges Actamid a social movement calling for a publicly funded university system for theworking classled byJonathan Baldwin Turner.
Death and legacy[edit]
Williams died suddenly ofinfluenzaat the age of fifty-two with only 73 days as acting lieutenant governor. PresidentAbraham Lincolnsigned the bill the following year. Eight years after his death, Joseph Williams was memorialized on the campus of State Agricultural College with the 1869 construction of Williams Hall, a men's dormitory. The building burned on January 1, 1919. The university replaced it with the current Williams Hall in 1937 as a women's dormitory named for his wife Sarah.
Family life[edit]
Captain Richard Williams, a highly respected shipmaster, and Rebecca (Smith) Williams were his parents, and on May 28, 1844, he married Sarah Rowland Langdon, a daughter of John Langdon, inBuffalo, New York.They had three daughters, Charlotte Langdon Williams Kumler, Sibyl Williams Hamilto, and Rebecca Williams Cooper.
References[edit]
- ^Bingham, Stephen D. (2005) [1888]."s.v. Joseph R. Williams".Early history of Michigan, with biographies of state officers, members of Congress, judges and legislators. Pub. pursuant to act 59, 1887.Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Library. p. 699.Retrieved2007-07-30.
- ^"Joseph R. Williams".2014 Michigan State University Board of Trustees.Retrieved13 June2014.
- ^Darling 1950, pp. 123–25.
- ^Darling 1950, p. 129.
- ^Kuhn 1955, p. 32.
External links[edit]
- Campaign for MSU – Joseph R. Williams Society
- Biographical InformationMichigan State University Archives
- 1808 births
- 1861 deaths
- Deaths from influenza in the United States
- Delegates to the 1850 Michigan Constitutional Convention
- Harvard University alumni
- Lieutenant Governors of Michigan
- Michigan state senators
- Michigan Republicans
- Michigan Whigs
- Presidents of Michigan State University
- Infectious disease deaths in Michigan
- 19th-century American legislators
- Politicians from Taunton, Massachusetts
- People from Constantine, Michigan