Willis Hall (politician, 1801)

Willis Hall (born April 1, 1801 in Granville , New York , † July 14, 1868 in New York City ) was an American lawyer and politician .

Career

Willis Hall, son of Hannah Emerson (1773-1832) and Reverend Nathaniel Hall (1764-1820), was born in 1801 in Washington County . Nothing is known about his youth. In 1824 he graduated from Yale College . He studied law in New York City and Litchfield ( Connecticut ). He was admitted to the bar in 1827. Hall practiced from 1827 to 1831 in Mobile ( Alabama ) and then in New York City. He was married to Helen Haudley.

During that time he joined the Whig Party . He sat in the New York State Assembly in 1838 for New York County and in 1843 for Albany County . From 1839 to 1842 he was Attorney General of New York. Hall was elected by the New York State Legislature in 1838 after the Whigs obtained a majority there. His tenure was overshadowed by the economic crisis of 1837 .

In 1847 he was elected Corporation Counsel in New York City. He opposed General Zachary Taylor's nomination for President of his party in 1848 , and instead supported Henry Clay's nomination . After Clay's defeat, he gave up his job and retired from politics. In May 1849, he resigned from his post as Corporation Counsel. Henry E. Davies (1805-1881) was named his successor to fill the vacancy.

literature

• Blake, Mortimer: A centurial history of the Mendon association of Congregational ministers , S. Harding, 1853, p. 245