History of Morgantown, (Monongalia County) West Virginia United States of America

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Waitman Thomas Willey, senator, was born in Monongalia county, Va., Oct. 18, 1811. He was graduated from Madison college, Uniontown, Pa., in 1831; admitted to the bar in 1833, and practised in Monongalia, Va. He was clerk of the county and circuit courts, 1841-55; a member of the state constitutional convention, 1850-51; a delegate to the state convention, held at Richmond, Va., in February, 1861, and was elected a U.S. senator from Virginia by the reorganized state legislature, in place of James M. Mason, expelled, and took his seat, July 13, 1861. On the creation of West Virginia, as a separate state, he was elected one of its first U.S. senators, taking his seat, Dec. 7, 1863, for the short term expiring March 3, 1865, and in 1865 was reelected for the full term ending March 3, 1871. He was a delegate to the Loyalist convention at Philadelphia in 1866; and a member of the constitutional convention of West Virginia in 1871. The honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by Alleghany college in 1863. He died in Morgantown, W.Va., May 2, 1900.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Morgantown, (Monongalia County) West Virginia

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