Joseph W. Chalmers

Who was Joseph W. Chalmers?

Joseph Williams Chalmers was a United States Senator from Mississippi. Born in Halifax County, Virginia, he studied law in the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, and in Richmond. He was admitted to the bar and practiced.

He moved with his family to Jackson, Tennessee in 1835 and to Holly Springs, Mississippi in 1839, practicing law in both places and following the development of the cotton industry in the Deep South.

Chalmers was appointed as vice chancellor of the northern Mississippi district in 1842 and 1843. He was appointed to and subsequently elected by the Mississippi legislature as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Robert J. Walker, serving from November 3, 1845, to March 4, 1847. While in the Senate, Williams was chairman of the Committee on Engrossed Bills.

Williams engaged in the practice of law in Holly Springs until his death in 1853; interment was in Hill Crest Cemetery.

His son James Ronald Chalmers was first elected in 1876 as a U.S. Representative from Mississippi, serving from 1877 to 1884.