Lemuel williams - 1969.30.2
Portrait of Lemuel Williams

Lemuel Williams

Gender:
Male
Born:
June 5, 1782
Died:
November 14, 1869
Home Town:
Fairhaven, MA
Later Residences:
New Bedford, MA
Lowell, MA
Boston, MA
Worcester, MA
Marriage(s):
Sarah Smith Williams (January 1809)
Biographical Notes:
Lemuel Williams was the son of Lemuel and Rebecca (Otis) Williams. From 1808 to 1829, Williams practced law in New Bedford, MA. He moved to Lowell, MA in 1838 and practiced law there for the next four years. Williams moved again, this time to Boston, MA where he practiced law for six years. His final move was to Worcester, MA in 1848 where he practiced law until his death.
Quotes:
Williams' friend and Brown and Litchfield Law School classmate Virgil Maxcy was to marry Litchfield Female Academy student Maria Tallmadge but she broke off the engagement. A letter from Tapping Reeve consoling Maria on her decision indicates that the break may have come in 1807.

While Maxcy was still engaged, Williams wrote to him on December 24, 1808 -- a week before his own wedding to Sarah Smith:

"I dwell with particular delight on the circumstance that the wife of my bosom will be the friend of my dearest Virgil."

"O! my Virgil! How ardently I wish that we might all meet together, you & your Maria, I and my Sarah, in the bonds of wedded love, to pass our days in each others vicinity; in the constant interchange of friendship. But such a prospect is too, ...
[more]
Education
Years at LLS:
1806
Other Education:
Graduated from Brown University in 1804.
Profession / Service
Profession:
Lawyer; Political Office
Training with Other Lawyers:
He pursued further legal training in the office of Zephaniah Swift in Windham, CT.
Local Posts:
Collector of the Port (New Bedford, MA) 1829, 1842-1845
Related Objects and Documents
In the Ledger:
help The Citation of Attendance provides primary source documentation of the student’s attendance at the Litchfield Female Academy and/or the Litchfield Law School. If a citation is absent, the student is thought to have attended but currently lacks primary source confirmation.

Records for the schools were sporadic, especially in the formative years of both institutions. If instructors kept comprehensive records for the Litchfield Female Academy or the Litchfield Law School, they do not survive. Researchers and staff have identified students through letters, diaries, family histories and genealogies, and town histories as well as catalogues of students printed in various years. Art and needlework have provided further identification of Female Academy Students, and Litchfield County Bar records document a number of Law School students. The history of both schools and the identification of the students who attended them owe credit to the early 20th century research and documentation efforts of Emily Noyes Vanderpoel and Samuel Fisher, and the late 20th century research and documentation efforts of Lynne Templeton Brickley and the Litchfield Historical Society staff.
CITATION OF ATTENDANCE:
Litchfield County Bar Association Records, Litchfield Historical Society, Helga J. Ingraham Memorial Library.

Catalogue of the Litchfield Law School Hartford, CT: Press of Case, Tiffany, and Company, 1849.
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