William N. Roach

William Nathaniel Roach ( born September 25, 1840 in Washington DC; † September 7, 1902 in New York City ) was an American politician of the Democratic Party. He represented the state of North Dakota from 1893 to 1899 in the U.S. Senate.

William Roach attended the public schools, Gonzaga College High School and Georgetown University in his hometown of Washington. During the Civil War he worked as a civil servant for the Quartermaster Department of the Union Army. In 1879 he moved to the Dakota Territory, where he settled in Larimore. There began his political career in 1885 with membership of the Territorial House of Representatives.

After the division of territory in North and South Dakota to Roach introduced in 1889 for election as first governor of the northern state, but failed on Republican John Miller. In 1891, he ran again and lost again, this time against Andrew Burke. For this he was elected to succeed Republican Lyman R. Casey for U.S. Senator in the following year. He took his seat in Washington on March 4, 1893 until March 3, 1899 true; in the attempt to re-election, he defeated Porter J. McCumber.

Roach then retired from public life and died in 1902 in New York.