James W. Williamson
JAMES W. WILLIAMSON - born in Tyler county, West Virginia, in 1816, was a son of William and Sarah (Fuget) Williamson, who died in that county. He married in 1836, Susanna, daughter of John Adams; she was born in New Jersey, in 1810. Mr. Williamson has been long and honorably identified with the best interests of West Virginia. He began his official life in Tyler county, in 185l, when he was appointed surveyor of roads; in 185l he was elected justice of the peace, which position he continued to hold for three terms. In Pleasants county he was appointed president of the county court. In the troubled days of 1861, Mr. Williamson was representing Pleasants county in the legislature, which position he filled all through the war times, his term expiring in 1866. He had the pleasure of signing, with other Union representatives, the new State Constitution, declaring that West Virginia was a sovereign and independent State, and would ever maintain her motto, "Montani semper liberi." To maintain this doctrine, Mr. Williamson was commissioned captain by Governor Pierpont, and organized two companies of Virginia Guards, for home service during the war. Also authorized by the board of supervisors to recruit to fill the quota of Pleasants county during the war. Appointed by the legislature of West Virginia to run the lines of Pleasants county; also to lay off the same into townships; also appointed on the committee to lay off West Virginia. He is now a prosperous farmer in Union district, his postoffice address, Sugar Valley, Pleasants county, West Virginia.
From Hardesty's History of West Virginia