Citizenship US Name Charles Willard | Spouse(s) Emily Doane Reed Role American Politician Resigned March 3, 1875 | |
![]() | ||
Children Mary Willard, Ashton R. Willard, Eliza M. Willard and Charles W. Willard Died June 8, 1880, Montpelier, Vermont, United States | ||
Charles Wesley Willard (June 18, 1827 – June 8, 1880) was an American politician, lawyer and newspaper editor. He served as a U.S. Representative from Vermont.
Contents
Biography
Willard was born in Lyndon, Vermont, son of Thomas Willard and Abigail (Carpenter) Willard. He attended Caledonia County Grammar School and graduated from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire in 1851. Willard studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1853. He began the practice of law in Montpelier. In 1855 and 1856 he was Secretary of State of Vermont. He declined reelection, then served as member of the Vermont State Senate in 1860 and 1861. He became editor and publisher of the Daily Green Mountain Freeman in 1861, and served in those positions until 1873.
Willard was elected as a Republican candidate to the Forty-first, Forty-second, and Forty-third Congresses, serving from March 4, 1869 until March 3, 1875. He served as chairman of the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions during the Forty-first and Forty-second Congresses. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1874 to the Forty-third Congress.
After leaving Congress, he resumed the practice of law in Montpelier and served as a member of the commission to revise the laws of Vermont in 1879 and 1880. Willard died on June 8, 1880 in Montpelier, and is interred in Green Mount Cemetery in Montpelier.
Personal life
Willard married Emily Doane Reed on August 24, 1855. They had four children, Mary Willard, Ashton R. Willard, Eliza M. Willard and Charles W. Willard.