Williams, John (Sharp) (1854–1932)

US Democrat representative and senator. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, he was originally a lawyer and cotton plantation owner. He was minority leader in the US House of Representatives as representative for Mississippi (1893–1909), and chairman of the Library and University Committees in the Senate (1911–23).

Williams, John (1796–1839)

English missionary who travelled extensively in the South Seas and helped convert many of the islands of Polynesia to Christianity. He was killed by cannibals while on a mission to Erromanga in the New Hebrides in November 1839.

Williams was born in London and became a missionary in 1816. Charged with spreading the Gospel in the South Seas, he settled on the island of Raiatea in the Society Group but soon began to explore further afield. On one such voyage, he was stranded on Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, so built himself the boat Messenger of Peace. Over the next 10 years, he covered huge distances in this vessel, opening up the Samoan and other islands to Christianity.

Williams, John (1664–1729)

American clergyman and author. Born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, he was captured in the French and Indian raid on Deerfield where he was the town's minister. Following two years in captivity in Canada (1704–06), he returned to Massachusetts and wrote The Redeemed Captive Returning to Zion (1707).

Williams, John (Alfred) (1925– )

US writer. Born in Jackson, Mississippi, he studied at Syracuse, New York, gaining a BA in 1950 and doing graduate study 1950–51. He worked in Syracuse for the county welfare department, and in public relations (1952–54), and in Hollywood and New York, New York, he worked in television and radio (1954–55). He also worked in publishing for a variety of employers in New York, New York, (1955–59), and as a correspondent in Africa for Newsweek (1964–65). A teacher at numerous institutions, including Rutgers (1979), he lived in Teaneck, New Jersey. He wrote non-fiction and numerous novels, and is known for his opposition to American racism, as seen in Click Song (1982).