List of Famous people named William

William Henry Davis "Alfalfa Bill" Murray was an American educator, lawyer, and politician who became active in Oklahoma before statehood as legal adviser to Governor Douglas H. Johnston of the Chickasaw Nation. Although not American Indian, he was appointed by Johnston as the Chickasaw delegate to the 1905 Convention for the proposed State of Sequoyah. Later he was elected as a delegate to the 1906 constitutional convention for the proposed state of Oklahoma; it was admitted in 1907.

William Nelson Runyon was an Acting Governor of New Jersey and a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.

William Augustus Barstow was an American businessman, politician, and public administrator. He was the third Governor and second Secretary of State of Wisconsin, and served as a Union Army officer during the American Civil War. Before Wisconsin became a state, he was instrumental in the creation of Waukesha County.

William L. Greenly was a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan, serving as the sixth Governor of Michigan.

William Fisher Packer was an American politician from Pennsylvania who served as the 14th Governor of Pennsylvania from 1858 to 1861.

William Woodbridge was a U.S. statesman in the states of Ohio and Michigan and in the Michigan Territory prior to statehood. He served as the second Governor of Michigan and a United States Senator from Michigan.

William Alexis Stone was the 22nd Governor of Pennsylvania from 1899 to 1903.

Carl William Demarest was an American character actor, known for playing Uncle Charley in My Three Sons. Demarest became a prolific film and television actor, appearing in over 140 films, beginning in 1927 and ending in the 1970s. He frequently played crusty but good-hearted roles.

William Hope Hodgson was an English author. He produced a large body of work, consisting of essays, short fiction, and novels, spanning several overlapping genres including horror, fantastic fiction, and science fiction. Hodgson used his experiences at sea to lend authentic detail to his short horror stories, many of which are set on the ocean, including his series of linked tales forming the "Sargasso Sea Stories". His novels, such as The House on the Borderland (1908) and The Night Land (1912), feature more cosmic themes, but several of his novels also focus on horrors associated with the sea. Early in his writing career Hodgson dedicated effort to poetry, although few of his poems were published during his lifetime. He also attracted some notice as a photographer and achieved renown as a bodybuilder. He died in World War I at age 40.