WILLIAMS, Renel, senator, born in Hallowell (now Augusta), Maine, 2 June, 1783; died in Augusta, Maine, 25 July, 1862, he was educated at Hallowell academy, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1802, and practised in Augusta. He was a member of the state house of representatives in 1822-'6, then sat in the state senate for three years, and after that was in the house again till 1832. In 1836 he was a presidential elector on the Van Buren ticket. In the following year he was elected to the United States senate as a Democrat to fill a vacancy, taking his seat on 4 September, 1837. He opposed the Ashburton treaty, which adjusted the northeastern boundary. In February, 1842, in consequence of a resolution of the legislature, in which the Whigs had obtained a preponderance, he offered his resignation, and in the congress that began its sessions on 4 December, 1843, he was replaced by John Fairfield. He was the principal promoter of the railroad between Portland and Augusta, which afforded direct rail communication with Boston, and was its president from 1847, when the work was began, and the chief manager after its completion in 1851 for about ten years. The degree of LL. D. was conferred on him by Bowdoin in 1855.--His son, Joseph Hartwell, 'lawyer, born in Augusta, Maine, 15 February, 1814, was graduated at Harvard in 1834, and at the law-school in 1837, and practised his profession in Augusta till 1862. He married a sister of the Reverend Sylvester Judd. He was president of the state senate in 1857, and became acting governor on the resignation of Hannibal Hamlin in February of that year. Governor Williams was nominated to the office of judge of the Maine supreme court in 1862, but declined. In 1864-'6 and 1874 he was a member of the legislature, serving in 1865-'6 as chairman of the committee on finance. He is the author of "A Brief Study in Genealogy," treating of the Cony family, to which his mother belonged (printed privately, Cambridge, 1885).--Reuel's nephew, Seth, soldier, born in Augusta, Maine, 22 March, 1822; died in Boston, Massachusetts, 23 March, 1866, was graduated at the United States military academy in 1842. commissioned as 2d lieutenant of artillery on 31 August, 1844, and as 1st lieutenant on 3 March, 1847, and during the Mexican war served as aide-de-camp to General Robert Patterson, participating in all the principal battles, and gaining the brevet of captain for gallantry at Cerro Gordo. He was adjutant of the military academy in 1850-'3, and subsequently served in the adjutant-general's department till his death. He was promoted major on 11 May, 1861, and appointed a brigadier-general in the volunteer army on 23 September, and from 20 August, 1861, till 11 November, 1862, served as adjutant-general on the staff of General George B. McClellan, being promoted lieutenant-colonel on 17 July, 1862. He was adjutant-general of the Army of the Potomac while it was commanded by General McClellan, and continued to serve in that capacity under General Ambrose E. Burnside, General Joseph Hooker, and General George G. Meade, winning the brevet of colonel for gallant conduct at Gettysburg. His health was impaired by continued and arduous duties, and from November, 1864, till the close of hostilities he served on General Ulysses S. Grant's staff as inspector-general of the army. He took part in nearly every important engagement, and received the brevet of major-general of volunteers on 1 August, 1864, for brave conduct in the field in the campaigns from Gettysburg to Petersburg, that of brigadier-general in the United States army on 13 March, 1865, for gallantry in the final campaign near Richmond, and that of major-general on the same date for gallant and meritorious services throughout the war.