Chief Justice Frank Williams (Ret.) speaks on Abraham Lincoln at Belcourt Castle

April 10, 2009 - PRLog -- Chief Justice Frank Williams (Ret.)  is a member of the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and chaired The Lincoln Forum. Williams was President of The Ulysses S. Grant and Abraham Lincoln Associations. The Frank and Virginia Williams collection of Lincolniana has a research library including approximately 12,000 books and pamphlets, 40,000 clippings, and 20,000 of everything else — numismatics, philately, political paraphernalia, photographs, maps, prints, statuary, et cetera.

Williams is the author of “Judging Lincoln”, a book with wonderful reviews:

“Judging Lincoln contains many fresh and provocative insights on the life and times of our sixteenth president. Chief Justice Frank Williams of the Rhode Island Supreme Court judges Lincoln with scrupulous and impartial empathy, not overlooking his mistakes but in the end making it clear why the architect of Union and freedom was our greatest president.”
—James M. McPherson, Pulitzer-winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era

Judge Williams graduated from Boston University and Boston University School of Law, and he received masters in taxation from Bryant University. As a captain in the U.S. Army he was awarded a Bronze Star in Vietnam. He served as town moderator and town solicitor of Richmond, Rhode Island. Williams was appointed to the Rhode Island Supreme Court in 1995, elevated to Chief Justice in 2001 and retired at the end of December 2008. Judge Williams served in the United States Court of Military Commission Review and became the Chief Judge in July 2007.

In 1999, Judge Williams tried the well-publicized case “Tinney vs. Tinney” in Newport Superior Court. His landmark decision to preserve Donald and Harle Tinney’s ownership in Belcourt Castle, a Newport mansion, alluded to the writings of Lincoln and Charles Dickens. Upheld in the Supreme Court appeal, the 60-room house is now owned by Harle Tinney, widow of artist, restorer, preservationist and collector Donald H. Tinney (1934-2006).

Belcourt Castle (1891-1894), the Oliver H. P. Belmont estate in Newport, was purchased by Harold, Ruth and Donald Tinney and Nellie Fuller on November 25th, 1956. Their museum, with the Tinney Family Collection, composed of antiques from thirty-three countries, has been open to the public for fifty-two yearsBelcourt Castle is open daily for guided tours, generally from 11 am to 4 pm, with special evening tours throughout the week.

Chief Justice Frank Williams’ (RET) lecture on Lincoln at Belcourt Castle, in Newport, Rhode Island at 6 pm is open to the public. Reservations may be made by calling 401-846-0669 or by email to belcourt2006@aol.com. The cost is $10.00 per person and includes a champagne reception following. For information on other events, and tours, visit belcourtcastle.org.

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Belcourt Castle is a historic mansion museum in Newport, Rhode Island which features regularly scheduled guided tours, ghost tours, champagne candlelight tours, afternoon tea, fairytale weddings and creative theme events.