Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/437

 WILLETT

WILLEY

corps, Army of the Potomac, in Grant's cam- paign against Richmond, participating in the battle of the Wilderness, May 6, 1864; Spott- sylvania, May 12, 1864; North Anna, May 19, 1864; Cold Harbor, Jmie 1, 1864, and in the actions on the Weldou railroad, and the oper- ations about Petersburg. He was brevetted ma- jor-general, U.S. v., for " gallant services in the several actions since crossing the Rapidan." He was given command of the district of Washing- ton, N.C., April 26, 1865, and of the district of Michigan, Aug, 7, 1865, and was mustered out of service, Jan 15, 1866. He engaged in the prac- tice of law at Detroit in 1866; and was appointed U.S. assessor of internal I'eveuue, but on July 28, 1866, was reappointed in the U.S. army with the rank of colonel of the 29th infantry, and served in command of the district of Lynchburg, Va. , Nov. 30, 1866. He was brevetted brigadier-gen- eral, U.S.A., March 2, 1867, for gallant services atSpottsylania, and major-general the same date for services at Petersburg. He was retired from active service, April 16, 1887. He was married secondly to Julia Elizabeth McReynolds, widow of Charles J. Wyeth of Detroit and Cliicago. He is the author of: Shoepack Recollections by Walter March (1854); Faca, an Army Memoir by Maj. March (1857).

WILLETT, Marinus, soldier, was born in Jamaica, L.L, N.Y., July 31, 1740; a descendant of Thomas Willett (1611-74), who emigrated from England with Isaac AUerton in 1630, and resided in Plymouth, and New Amsterdam, becoming the first mayor of New York in 1665. Marinus was a lieutenant under Gen. James Abercrombie in the expedition against Fort Ticonderoga and took part in the capture of Fort Frontenac. He was one of the foremost agitators of the cause of American Independence,, and a member of the Sons of Liberty, that on Jun3 6, 1775, prevented the sending of arms from the arsenal to the British troops in Boston harbor. He was com- missioned captain in the patriot army; served under Richard Montgomery in the invasion of Canada, and was given command of the post at St. Johns, after the capture. He was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 3d New York regiment; was second in command at Fort Stanwix, and gained a victory over Colonel St. Leger. He served under Washington in New Jersey, 1778- 79; took part in Sullivan's expedition against the Six Nations, and commanded the American forces in the Mohawk valley, 1780-83. He was a member of the state assembly, 1783-84; sheriff of New York, 1784-92, and a commissioner to treat with the Creek Indians in 1794. He succeeded De Witt Clinton as mayor of New York, in 1807; serving until 1808 and was the unsuccessful Tam- many nominee for lieutenant-governor in 1817, X.-27

the ticket headed by De Witt Clinton succeed- ing in defeating the Tammany forces. He died in New York city, Aug. 22, 1830.

WILLETT, Wiliiam Harinus, educator and author, was born in New York city, Jan. 3, 1803; son of Col. Marinus Willett (q.v.). He was or- dained to the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church in 1823; preached in eastern New York and Connecticut, 1823-26, and was transferred to the Genesee conference in 1826. serving till 1833. He was instructor in Hebrew at Wesleyan uni- versity, 1838-41; professor of Hebrew and Biblical literature there, 1841-43, and in 1843 founded the Biblical Institute at Newbury, Vt., of which he was president, 1843-48. He edited the Newbury Biblical Magazine, 1843-44; the Neiv Bible Mag- zine in 1882. and is the author of: Scenes in the Wilderness (1842); A Neio Life of Siimmerfleld (1857); The Life and Times of Herod the Great (1860); Herod Antipas; unth Passages from the Life of JesHS (1866); TJie Messiah (1874); The Restitution of All Things (1880). He died in Jersey City, N.J., Dec. 8. 1895.

WILLEY, Calvin, senator, was born in East Haddam, Conn., Sept. 15, 1776. He was admitted to the bar in 1798, and established himself in practice in Stafford, Conn. He was a represen- tative in the state legislature for nine successive years; state senator for two years; postmaster at Stafford Springs, 1800-08, and at Tolland. 1,^08- 16; probate judge for the Stafford district for seven years, and presidential elector on the John Quincy Adams ticket in 1824. On Dec. 29, 1825, he was elected U.S. senator in place of James Lanman, who had been appointed but who was refused his seat, took his seat and served till March 3, 1831, when he returned to his law prac- tice. He died in Stafford, Conn., Aug. 23, 1838.

WILLEY, Waitman Thomas, senator, was born in Monongalia county, Va., Oct. 18,1811. He was graduated from Madison college. Union- town, 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 niember 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 re- organized state legislature, in place of James "Si. 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. sen- ators, taking his seat, Dec. 7, 1863, for the short term expiring March 3, 1865, and in 1865 was re- elected for tiie full term ending March 3, 1871. He was a delegate to the Loyalist convention at Philadelphia in 1866; and a member of the con- stitutional convention of West Virginia in 1871. The honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred on