predecessor successor death_date birth_place death_place jr/sr party article_title birth_date term_start state term_end name
james f. trotter john henderson 3 may 1851 williamson county , tennessee pontotoc , mississippi united states senator democratic thomas hickman williams
 20 january 1801 november 12 , 1838 mississippi march 4 , 1839 thomas hickman williams
thomas hickman williams

thomas hickman williams -lrb- january 20 , 1801may 3 , 1851 -rrb- was a united states senator from mississippi .
born in williamson county , tennessee , he attended the common schools , moved to mississippi and settled in pontotoc county , and engaged in planting .
he was appointed and subsequently elected as a democrat to the u.s. senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of james f. trotter and served from november 12 , 1838 , to march 3 , 1839 .
after his time in the senate he was secretary and treasurer of the university of mississippi at oxford from 1845 to 1851 and was known as `` father of the state university , '' being the first to propose it and also aiding to secure it .
williams died on his plantation south of pontotoc in 1851 ; interment was in the private cemetery on the family estate .
