William D. Williamson

William Durkee Williamson (July 31, 1779 - May 27, 1846) was a Democratic-Republican governor of the U.S. state of Maine who served from May 29, 1821 to December 5, 1821. He was born in 1779 in Canterbury, Connecticut and was a graduate of Brown University.

Williamson moved to Bangor, Maine in the first decade of the 19th century and established a law practice. During the War of 1812 he was present at the capture and sacking of Bangor by the British following the Battle of Hampden and, like all male residents of the town, was made to sign an oath declaring he would not take up arms for the remainder of the war.

Williams was a force behind the movement for Maine statehood following the war and became the new state's second governor. He also became Maine's first historian, writing a 2-volume "History of the State of Maine" in the late 1830s. This stood as the standard reference on early Maine history for the rest of the 19th century.

Williamson died in 1846 in Bangor, Maine.

References

*http://www.nndb.com/gov/927/000051774/ accessed September 13, 2005