The Republican journal., 1902-12-11
JUDGE WILLIAMSON DEAD.

apOploXy in his room at the Field residence
on Primrose Hill Thursday forenoon, De
cember 4th. He spent Thanksgiving with
his son Joseph Williamson, Jr., of Augusta
at which time he appeared in his usua
health and spirits. He came home Friday
and was at his Office attending to business
all day Saturday and Monday forenoon
Monday afternoon he felt indispOsed and
did not come down town, and Tuesday ht
was so i'll that his daughter, Mrs. Albert
Peirce of Frankfort, was sent for. She ar
rived Wednesday. Thursday morning he
felt better, took a bath, dressed and shaved
himself, and spoke of going to the Office in
the afternoon. He sat up and read The
Journal and then laid down upon the bed
A few minutes later it was noticed that he
looked i'll and his daughter went to another
room for a stimulant and when she return.
ed he had passed away. The death of a
younger brother, George r. Williamson, in
this city last September was great blow to
Mr.. Williamson, and he felt keenly the more
recent death of Capt. John p. Farrow, the
lslesboro historian, with whom he had had
close personal and business relations for
many years.
> Mr. Williamson was descended, in sixth
| generation, from Timothy Williamson of
Northfed, Mass, his earliest known ances-
tor, who periShed as soldier in King Phil
| ip's war, 1916. He was born in Belfast Oct.
D. 1928, a son of the late Joseph and Caroline
| (Cross) Williamson. His father was a ma
| tive of Canterbury, Conn, a graduate of
the University of Vermont, and was admit
ted to the bar and settled in Belfast in 1916.
In 1920 he was appointed County Attorney
of Hancock county and when Waldo county
was formed, in 1927, he was appointed to
that Office for the new county, and held the
position until 1882 He was postmaster of
Belfast from 1922 to 1880 represented Waldo
county in the State Senate in 1888 and 1884
was President of the Senate the latter year,
and was the first President OF the Belfast
Common Council under the city charter in
1858. He was the editor and principal pro-
| pretor of the Belfast Intelligencer, rival
of The Journal, the first number of which
appeared Nov. II, 1885, At the expiration
of the first year the establishment was
moved to Frankfort, now Winterport, where
under the name of The Intelligencer it was
continued until Jan. 10, 1889. Mr.. William
son was frequently called upon to deliver
orations on public occasions and wrote
numerous articles ON historical subjects.
He died Sept. 30, 1854. Mrs. Williamson
was a native of Newburyport, Mass, a
granddaughter of Gen. Ralph Cross, who
commanded in Essex at the surrender of
Burgoyne in 1779. She died June %, 1852.
The son, Joseph, was educated in the
public schools of Belfast and the Belfast
Academy, and graduated from Bowdoin
College in 1S49. He studied law with his
father and was admitted to the practice of
law in 1852. In 1858 he was appointed
Judge of the Police Court of the newly in
corporated City of Belfast, and three years
later was unanimously chosen by the peo-
/ pie to the same Office for term of four
| years. In his capacity as Judge of the Po-
| lice Court he administered the oath of office
| to Mayor Ralph C. johnson, the Aldermen,
Councilmen and ConstableS of the new city,
and has performed like duty for large
proportion of the Belfast City Governments
/ elected since that time. He served num-
| ber of terms as City Solicitor, and was an
Alderman in 1876 and 1877. AS lawyer he
was well read, and on matters of law was
often consulted by his brother practitioners,
| while he had the implicit confidence of his
clients in all matters. He was very pains
taking and accurate and his services were
in great demand in searching titles, especial
ly nnder old deeds and in obscure and COM
plicated cases. OF his great usefulness in
other directions writer in the Bangor
Commercial well says:
But while his mind was considerably oc-
| cupied by the duties and cares incident to
his somewhat active professional official,
business, and social life, he found time to
devote to literary labor and historical re-
search. However valuable the results ac-
compiished in other lines Of duty, it is in
the literary field that he attained the great
| est achievements and won enduring fame.
| Long after his faithfulness to clients and to
official duty has faded from memory, his
name will be bright on the historic page
| and be gratefully remembered by genera
| tlOns to come.
| Any enterprise or institution for the ad-
| vancement of the material or intellectual
condition of the city found warm advocate
,, and an able ally in Joseph Williamson.
| When the Belfast Free Library was estab-
| lished in 1887 Mr.. Williamson, as chairman
of the Board of Trustees, superintepded
the selection of the books, and, acting con-
tinuously since in the same capacity, has
directed the accessions of books, the SUBJ
scriptions to periodicals, etc.
His literary work, which won for him the
degree of Doctor of Letters from Bowdoin
College, his alma mater, in 1876, began with
the publication in 1852 of the Maine Regis
ter and Reference Book. Since then he has
devoted much time to historical research
and to the collection and classification of
local historical data, and had accumulated
vast amount of matter, nged in index
ed scrap books or filed in envelopes. In
1877 he published History of Belfast from
the earliest settlement to 1876, an octave
volume OF 956 pages, work involving a
great amount Of painstaking research and
| careful condensation. 1t is a model work
of its kind. Some time before his death
Mr.. Williamson had completed, and left
ready for publication, a second volume
| bringing the History of Belfast down to
the end of the last century. 1t contains,
among other local matter of interest, a COM
~. 1.rk -