Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 3.djvu/167

 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

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Watson, Walter Allen, born November 25, 1867, son of Meredith and Josephine (Robertson) Watson, on paternal plantation in Nottoway county, Virginia, where he still resides ; educated at "old field" schools, Hampden-Sidney College, and University of Virginia ; taught school two years, and in intervals worked on farm ; practiced law, and was circuit judge eight years, when he resigned to stand for congress ; has been commonwealth attorney, state senator, and member of Virginia constitutional conven- tion, 1901-02; elected to sixty-third con- gress ; married Constance Tinley, of Rich- mond. Mr. Watson is a man of fine address and much culture.

WhaJey, Killian Van Rensselaer, born ii' Onondaga county, New York, May 6. 1821 ; moved to Ohio, in youth, and attended the public schools; moved to western Vir- ginia in 1842, located in Point Pleasant, and engaged in lumbering and mercantile busi- ness ; elected as a Republican to the thirty- seventh congress (March 4, 1861-March 3, 1863 ; serving on the committee on invalid pensions ; afterwards acted as an aid to Gov. Pierpont in organizing and equipping regiments, and was in command at the battle of Guyandotte, when he was taken prisoner, in November, 1861 ; after travel- ing with his captors sixty miles toward Richmond, he made his escape, and arriving safely at Catlettsburg, Kentucky, he was soon able to resume his seat in the house of representatives ; elected a representative from the new state of West Virginia in the thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth congresses and served from December 7, 1863, to March 3, 1867; in the thirty-ninth congress he served as chairman of the committee on revolutionary claims, and as a member of

that on the death of President Lincoln; he \\as also a member of the national commit- tee appointed to accompany the remains of President Lincoln to Illinois ; delegate in the Republican national convention in Balti- more in 1864; appointed collector of cus- toms at Brazos de Santiago. Texas, in 1868 ; died at Point Pleasant, West Virginia, May 20, 1876.

Whitehead. Thomas, born at Clifton, Vir- ginia, December 27, 1825 ; received a limited schooling; became a merchant; studied law, was admitted to the bar and began practice in Amherst, Virginia ; engaged in farming ; elected prosecuting attorney for Amherst county in 1866 and 1869, resigning in No- vember. 1873 ; elected state senator in 1865, but did not qualify; served in the Confed- erate army 1861-1865 ; elected as a Conserva- tive, indorsed by Republicans, to the forty- third congress (March 4, 1873-March 3, 1875) ; died at Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1902.

Wise, George Douglas, born in Accomac county. Virginia, June 4, 1831, son of Tully R. Wise, of Accomac county ; was gradu- ated from Indiana University ; studied law in William and Mary College, Williams- burg, Virginia, was admitted to the bar, and practiced in Richmond; captain in the Confederate army ; commonwealth attorney of the city of Richmond from 1870 until he resigned, in 1899; elected as a Democrat to the forty-seventh and to the six succeeding congresses (March 4, 1881-March 3, 1895) ! died at Richmond. Virginia, February 4, 1898.

Wise, John Sergeant, son of Hon. Henry A. Wise, formerly governor of Virginia, was born December 27, 1846, at Rio de Jane- iro, Brazil, while his father represented the