Thomas Edward Williams

Thomas Edward Williams (March 23, 1849January 5, 1931) was an American banker, educator, and pioneer of Wisconsin and Nebraska. He was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing Eau Claire County during the 1885 session, and later served as the 3rd tax commissioner of Nebraska (1925–1929). His name was incorrectly listed as John Edward Williams in the 1885 Wisconsin Blue Book, and that error propagated to subsequent editions of the Blue Book, including recent historic lists of past legislators. A comparison of the biography of "John Edward Williams" from the 1885 Blue Book with the biographies of "Thomas Edward Williams" from History of Northern Wisconsin (1881) and History of Hamilton and Clay Counties, Nebraska (1921) and the obituaries of "Thomas E. Williams" from 1931 clearly demonstrates that all of these biographies are describing the same person. Biography Thomas Williams was born in Mayville, Wisconsin, in March 1849. As a child, his parents moved from Mayville to the town of Portland, Dodge County, Wisconsin, in 1853, and then to the town of Dell Prairie, Wisconsin, in Adams County, in 1856. They finally moved to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, in 1863, when Thomas was 14 years old. He attended high school in Eau Claire, and then attended Cornell University for three years. In 1873, he moved to the neighboring city of Augusta, Wisconsin, where he served as superintendent of schools for eleven years. He moved back to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, in 1883 and opened a furniture store. He was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1884, and represented Eau Claire County in the 37th Wisconsin Legislature. He was not a candidate for re-election in 1886.