Williams, David Rogerson, 1776-1830

Governor and U.S. representative from South Carolina, army officer, and publisher.

Governor of South Carolina, 1814-1816; lawyer, planter, Brigadier General US Army and manufacturer of hats, shoes, and cotton oil; native of Darlington County, S.C.; educated in Massachusetts and Rhode Island College [now Brown University] (Providence, R.I.); member of U.S. House (1805-1809, 1811-1813) and the S.C. Senate from 1824 until 1830 when he was accidentally killed while superintending construction of a bridge over Lynchs Creek at Witherspoons Ferry, on the road to Georgetown, S.C.; credited as builder of first cottonseed-oil mill in S.C.

Congressman, governor, publisher, and manufacturer of Darlington County, S.C.; served in U.S. House, 1805-1809, 1811-1813; served in War of 1812; S.C. Governor, 1814-1816; served in S.C. Senate, 1824-1827; married Sarah Power, 1796, and Elizabeth Witherspoon, 1809; published the Charleston newspapers, City Gazette, and Weekly Carolina Gazette, from 1801 to 1804.

Williams erected an early textile mill for manufacture of cotton yarns and constructed S.C.'s first cottonseed oil mill; cotton mills became widespread in S.C. as a result of high cotton prices brought on by commercial restrictions during the War of 1812; also credited with introduction of mules into Southern agriculture.