Biography

09/17/1831 - 10/13/1903

Morgan B. Williams (R21) Luzerne (Part) County 1885-1888

Early Life: 

Morgan B. Williams, born September 17, 1831, Llanfair-ar-y-bryn, Carmarthenshire, Wales; attended public schools, hometown of Rhandir-Mwyn, Llanfair-ar-y-Bryn Parish; learned mining, England, Australia and America; immigrated, Australia, 1856; moved, United States, Pennsylvania, 1862 settling, Wilkes-Barre, 1865; engaged, coal mining; superintendent, Lehigh and Wilkes-Barre Coal Company, 1865-1881; Wilkes-Barre school board, city council; elected, Republican, Pennsylvania Senate, 1885-1888; member, Chicago World’s Fair Exposition Commission, 1893; elected, Republican, United States House of Representatives, 1897-1899, unsuccessful reelection, 1898; Vice President and General Manager, Wilkes-Barre's Red Ash Coal Company; married, Catherine Jones Williams, son, Benjamin Franklin Williams; died, October 13, 1903 (aged 72), Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, interment, Hollenback Cemetery, Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. 

Early Career:

President, Williams Coal Company, Pottsville, Pennsylvania; president, Grenville Graphite Company, Canada; vice-president, Wilkes-Barre Deposit and Savings Bank; director, Spring Brook Water Supply Company; financial interests, Vulcan Iron Works. 

Wilkes-Barre school board, city councilman, twelve years.

Member, Chicago World’s Fair Exposition Commission, 1893.

Pennsylvania Politics:

Elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 21st district, Luzerne (Part) County, 1885-1888, committee assignments, Constitutional Reform, Education, Legislative Apportionment and Mines and Mining.

Continued Government Service/National Politics:

Elected, Republican, United States House of Representatives, Pennsylvania 12th congressional district, Fifty-fifth Congress, 1897-1899, unsuccessful reelection, Fifty-sixth Congress, 1898.

Cited: 

Cox, Harold. "Senate Members W". Wilkes University Election Statistics Project. Wilkes University.

Smull’s Legislative Handbook, (1888). Cochran, T.B., (Editor) Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, pages 670, 676-678, Biographical Sketches of Senators, page 647.

Morgan B. Williams (1831-1903) - Find a Grave Memorial