Ina Phillips Williams

Ina Phillips Williams
Member of the Washington House of Representatives from the 20th district
In office January 8, 1917 – January 13, 1919 Serving with William P. Sawyer
Preceded by	C. E. Lum William P. Sawyer
Succeeded by	William P. Sawyer Howard C. Lucas
Personal details
Born	Ina May Phillips (1876-02-24)February 24, 1876 Tuscumbia, Missouri, U.S.
Died	March 23, 1934(1934-03-23) (aged 58) Yakima, Washington, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Wallis B. Williams (orchardist)
Education	Washington State Normal School at Ellensburg, Washington (now Central Washington University) (graduated)
Occupation	Teacher

Ina Phillips Williams (February 24, 1876 – March 23, 1934) was an American politician who served as a member of the Washington House of Representatives from 1917 to 1919. She represented Washington's 20th legislative district as a Republican.

Early life and education

Williams was born Ina May Phillips in Tuscumbia, Missouri on February 24, 1876. When she was 10, she was orphaned and moved with her siblings to live with an uncle in Prosser, Washington. By the age of 15, she had begun teaching school.

In 1897, at the age of 20 or 21, she married Wallis B. Williams, a Yakima Valley orchardist. The 1910 census recorded five children (daughters aged 11, 8, 6, and 4, and a one-year-old son), as well as a servant. Wallis is listed as a milling company manager.

Political career

Williams won election to the state House of Representatives and represented the 20th District as a Republican for one term, from 1917 to 1919.

Third party politics

Before and after finding electoral success as a Republican, Williams was engaged in liberal third party politics. She was a delegate for Theodore Roosevelt to the 1912 Progressive National Convention. She also served on the national executive committee of the Committee of 48, a liberal political association founded in 1919, with the ultimately unsuccessful hope of launching a third political party in opposition to increasingly conservative Republican and Democratic politics.

In August, 1920, she represented the Farmer-Labor Party in a "triangular political discussion" alongside congressional candidate E.K. Brown (representing the Republicans) and the honorable J.J. Miller representing the Democrats. The event in Wapato drew "an immense crowd from all parts of Yakima County."

Personal life

Williams was an enthusiastic gardener, even helping found gardening clubs around the Yakima Valley. She also served as president of the Yakima Woman's Century Club, an organization founded in 1894 as the Woman's Club that furthered women's civic, social, and literary engagement.

The 1920 census lists Wallis as a fruit farmer. Neither the 1910 nor 1920 census lists an occupation for Ina, and her death certificate says she was a housewife for 30 years.

Death and legacy

Williams died of metastatic breast cancer on March 23, 1934, at the age of 58. She is buried at Tahoma Cemetery in Yakima.

See also

• 1912 Progressive National Convention
• Committee of 48

External links

• Yakima Woman's Century Club
• Central Washington University biography podcast Archived 2022-04-13 at the Wayback Machine on Williams
• 1917 publication from the Washington Secretary of State showing Williams as a 1919 Republic primary candidate for Congress from the Fourth Congressional District, and successful election results (from 1916 or 1918?) for state House
• Google Books result showing unsuccessful run for state legislature as Progressive
• Google Books result with some history of Williams's house and a meeting there with Theodore Roosevelt