Benjamin Franklin Williams

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Resolutions and Journal entries

• 88th Legislature, R.S., SCR 13, Recognizing the Texas Black Reconstruction Legislators Recognition Act. SB 667, Texas Black Reconstruction Legislators Recognition Act. Resolutions - Congratulatory and Honorary. SB 667 SCR 13

Biographical Sketches

• Obituary, "B.F. Williams Dies This Morning After Lingering Illness," 4/16/1916, p. 5. Includes biographical sketch: "Williams, Benjamin Franklin, deceased, state representative and lumber dealer of Victoria. Born in Pascagola, Mississippi, August 3, 1846 . . . Mr. Williams was mayor of Victoria for five years and was representing the 74th Representative District in the Texas Legislature at the time of his death, the district embracing Victoria, Goliad and Calhoun counties."
  "Williams Funeral Largely Attended," 4/17/1916, p. 2. Victoria Advocate.

Military Service Notes

• Confederate States Army, Private, Company G, Texas 6th Cavalry, enlistment date 9/1/1861 in Texas. Benjamin F. Williams, death date 4/15/1916 in Victoria County. U.S., Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865. Ancestry.com.
• Confederate States Army, Company A, 26th Texas Cavalry, enlisted on 9/15/1861 at 15 years old. "He participated in the Texas and Louisiana campaigns, and served throughout the entire period of the war, being distinguished for bravery." Obituary, 4/15/1916. Victoria Advocate.

Other Resources

• B.F. Williams, birth date 8/3/1846 in Mississippi; death date 4/15/1916 in Victoria, Victoria County, Texas; lumber dealer. FamilySearch Texas Deaths, 1890-1976.
• B.F. Williams (1846-1916), burial in Evergreen Cemetery, Victoria, Victoria County. Find a Grave.
• Delegate to Constitutional Convention, 1868. Included in "List of Delegates to the Reconstruction Convention, As Announced in Special order No. 213, Dated Headquarters Fifth Military District, New Orleans, LA., April 13th, 1868." Journal of the Reconstruction Convention, Which Met at Austin, Texas, June 1, A.D., 1868 (1870), pp 533-534. Texas Constitutions Digitization Project (Tarlton Law Library, The University of Texas at Austin), 2009.
• 34th Legislature (1915) - B.F. Williams, postoffice Victoria, nativity Mississippi, age 68 (born circa 1847), lumberman, 60 years in Texas, Democrat. Texas Legislative Manual.
• Photo, Benjamin Franklin Williams, "mayor of Victoria from 1887, 1889-1891, and 1896-1897," Historic Photograph Collection, Victoria College/University of Houston-Victoria Library. Victoria Regional History Center.
• Occupation and religious affiliation, 34th Legislature. "Occupations of Members of Legislative House," 3/14/1915, p. 4. Galveston Daily News.

Photographs

• Photograph. B.F. Williams, 34th Legislature, State Preservation Board

Composite Photographs on Display in the Capitol

• 34th session composite photo of House members (House chamber gallery, west wall. 3W.2). State Preservation Board.

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