Joseph Williamson was an American politician and lawyer. He served as President of the Maine Senate in 1833. During his career, Williamson also worked as a businessman, banker and newspaper editor.

Williamson was born in Canterbury, Connecticut

Canterbury, Connecticut

Canterbury is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 4,692 at the 2000 census.-History:The area was first settled in the 1680s as Peagscomsuck, consisting mainly of land north of Norwich, south of New Roxbury, Massachusetts and west of the Quinebaug River and the...

 in 1789, the son of an American Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

 veteran. His older brother, William D. Williamson

William D. Williamson

William Durkee Williamson was the second Governor of the U.S. state of Maine and one of the first congressmen from Maine in the United States House of Representatives. He was a member of the Democratic-Republican Party...

, later became Maine's second governor in 1821. He was one of eight children. He attended the University of Vermont

University of Vermont

The University of Vermont comprises seven undergraduate schools, an honors college, a graduate college, and a college of medicine. The Honors College does not offer its own degrees; students in the Honors College concurrently enroll in one of the university's seven undergraduate colleges or...

, graduating in 1812. He passed the bar exam in 1816 and followed his older brother into practice in Bangor, Maine

Bangor, Maine

Bangor is a city in and the county seat of Penobscot County, Maine, United States, and the major commercial and cultural center for eastern and northern Maine...

. He quickly moved to Belfast

Belfast, Maine

Belfast is a city in Waldo County, Maine, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 6,668. Located at the mouth of the Passagassawakeag River on Penobscot Bay, Belfast is the county seat of Waldo County...

 and set up his own practice. Upon the admission of Maine

Maine

Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

 as a state in 1820, he was appointed County Attorney for Hancock County

Hancock County, Maine

Hancock County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maine. As of 2010, the population was 54,418. Its county seat is Ellsworth. It was incorporated on June 25, 1789...

. He held that position until his appointment as County Attorney for Waldo County

Waldo County, Maine

Waldo County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maine. As of 2010, the population was 38,786. Its county seat is Belfast.Waldo County was founded on 7 February 1827 from a portion of Hancock County...

 in 1827. He lasted as Attorney for Waldo County until 1832, when he was elected to the Maine State Senate as a Democrat

Maine Democratic Party

The Maine Democratic Party is the local branch of the United States Democratic Party in the state of Maine.-Current Democratic officeholders:The Maine Democratic Party is the minority party in both the Maine Senate and Maine House of Representatives. The party, however, holds both of the state's U.S...

. He served as the Senate President in 1833-1834. In 1839, he ran for the US Congress as a Democrat, but quickly thereafter resigned from the Democratic Party and enrolled as a Whig. He died of an apparent heart attack

Myocardial infarction

Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...

in September 1854 in Belfast.