Tedford Williamson

Tedford Fielden Williamson, known as Ted Williamson (born December 11, 1957), is a Texas businessman who is the scion of a politically connected family from North Louisiana and himself a former member of the Round Rock, Texas, City Council. Round Rock is located along Interstate 35 in Williamson County north of the state capital of Austin. Though municipal elections in Texas are all conducted on nonpartisan ballots, Williamson identifies himself as a Republican. Williamson County is majority Republican in recent political behavior. Williamson was elected to a partial term in November 2005 did not seek a full two-year term on the council in the elections held in May 2007, having cited business and family obligations which precluded his further service.

Early years, education, business
Williamson was born in the city of Shreveport in northern Caddo Parish and raised in Vivian in far northwestern Louisiana, to Earl Guyton Williamson, Sr. (1903-1992), and his second wife, the former Mary Jane Hearne (1926-1992). Earl Williamson was a Vivian businessman and local Democratic politician who served for forty years on the Caddo Parish Police Jury (now called the Caddo Parish Commission, the parish governing body), as a Vivian alderman, and for twelve years as mayor of Vivian. Earl Williamson was a strong supporter of the Louisiana Long dynasty. Mrs. Williamson, a Vivian native, was descended from pioneers for whom the city of Hearne, near Bryan-College Station is named. Ted Williamson, through his mother's lineage, is a distant cousin of the late Texas Governor John Bowden Connally, Jr. Mary Jane Williamson served on the Caddo Parish Levee Board under appointment from Governor John Julian McKeithen, another chief executive whom Earl Williamson worked to elect.

Tedford Fielden Williamson is named for former Mississippi Governor Fielding Wright, who was Strom Thurmond's vice-presidential choice on the States Rights Party. Earl Williamson was a Mississippi native and supported the Thurmond-Wright ticket, which was also the official Democratic slate in Louisiana in 1948.

Ted Williamson graduated in 1976 from North Caddo High School (formerly Vivian High School), where his mother was the school secretary. He studied building construction at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, then called "Northeast Louisiana University". He moved to Austin in 1983, after graduation from ULM, and was employed by Texas Industries. In 1985, he relocated to Round Rock. Subsequently, he became affiliated with businessmen Jack Wheeler and Charles (J.R.) Gregory in Ironhorse Concrete, LP., Limited Partnership based in Hutto.

Round Rock City Council

In May 2005, Williamson ran unsuccessfully for the Round Rock Council. When a vacancy occurred on the council some six months later, he ran in a special election and was victorious with 63 percent of the ballots.
Ted Williamson is divorced from the former Mary Jane Peters. He is the father of one son and two stepdaughters. He grew up in a Methodist home, but, like half-brothers James and Don, Williamson is Baptist.

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