History of Bourbon, Scott, Harrison and Nicholas Counties, Kentucky, ed.
by William Henry Perrin,  O. L. Baskin & Co., Chicago, 1882.  p. 489.
[Bourbon County]  [Paris City and Precinct]

HON. WILLIAM E. SIMMS, farmer and general business, P. O. Paris; lawyer,
soldier, Congressman, and Kentucky Senator to the Confederate Congress
during the Civil War; was born in Harrison County, Ky.  His father,
William M. Simms, was a native of Henry County, Va., came to Kentucky
about the year 1809, first settled in Harrison County, removed to Bourbon
County in 1828.  He was a soldier in the war of 1812; served in Capt.
Duvall's Co., under Gen. Harrison, at Fort Meigs; was engaged in
agricultural pursuits during his life, and died at his home in 1844.  He
was the son of Iguatius M. Simms, a Virginia farmer, who was a soldier
in the war of the Revolution, and who lived and died in the "Old
Dominion."  The mother of the subject of this notice, Julia (Shropshire)
Simms, was a native of Harrison County, Ky., and a daughter of James
Shropshire, a pioneer farmer of that county, from Virginia.  She died in
the twenty-first year of her age, leaving two sons, Edward and William,
who continued to reside with their father.  They received a good
education in the schools of the county, and at the age of eighteen,
were each well prepared to enter upon the higher professional studies.
In 1840, Edward, the older brother died, and William, the subject of this
sketch, took his brother's place in the management of their father's
business, who was then in very feeble health.  After his father's death,
in 1844, he commenced reading law with Judge Aaron K. Wooley, of
Lexington, Ky.; entered Transylvania University in 1845, in the law
department, and graduated with distinguished honor in his class of
1846.  He then commenced the practice of law in Paris, Ky., where he
now resides.  In 1847, he raised a company for the Third Kentucky
Regiment of Infantry, to serve for and during the war with Mexico; was
elected Captain, and served with command under Gen. Winfield Scott, in
Mexico, until the war closed.  Returning home, he brought with him,
at his own expense, the remains of those of his company who had died
while in the service of their country.  In 1849, he was elected to
represent Bourbon County in the State Legislature, and served on term.
In 1850, he resumed the practice of his profession with success, and
for some years devoted to his professional duties his best energies and
ability.  In 1857, he was editor of the Kentucky State Flag, a
Democratic newspaper, and advocated with ability the election of Hon.
James B. Clay to Congress.  In 1859, he was nominated by the Democratic
Congressional COnvention to succeed Hon. James B. Clay.  In this race
he was elected over his opponent, Hon. John Harlan.  It was during
this contest that the personal difficulty occurred between him and the
Hon. Garret Davis, which was, however, honorably adjusted.  In 1861, at
the expiration of his term in Congress, he was renominated by his
party, but in this race was defeated by Hon. John J. Crittenden, upon
the Union issue.  The civil war being now inaugurated, and believing
the South to be in his right, he entered the Confederate army as a
Colonel, and served under Gen. Humphrey Marshall, until February, 1964.
In the latter part of the year 1861, he was chosen Senator to the
Confederate Congress, by the Provisional Legislature in session at
Bowling Green, with Hon. H. C. Burnett his colleague.  In 1865, after
the cause was lost and the armies disbanded, he, with other eminent
Kentuckians, resided for some months near Charlottesville, Virginia.
Subsequently, he removed to Canada, but in January, 1866, returned to
his home in Paris, and has since mainly given his attention to
agricultural pursuits.  Col. Simms has filled many positions of the
highest public trust and honor in the gift of the people of his State.
He served with distinction in both the Confederate  and Federal Congress;
was a gallant soldier, an able lawyer, a public speaker of rare
ability and power, and possesses in an eminent degree those traits of
character that would make him, at all times, prominent in any great
social or political emergency.  In manner and address, he is plan and
unpretending with warm and earnest friendships.  He now resides near
Paris, in the midst of his family and friends, engaged in those duties
and cultivating those virtues which add grace and dignity to a life
eventful and historic.  He was married Sept. 27, 1866, to Miss Lucy
Blythe, daughter of James Blythe, of Madison County, Ky.  The issued of
this marriage are three children, a daughter and two sons.  Col. Simms
is a member of the Christian Church at Paris.

Simms Shropshire Clay Wooley Crittenden Blythe
=
Harrison-KY Fayette-KY Madison-KY Henry-VA

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/bourbon/simms.we.txt