Background
Willis Benson Machen was born on April 10, 1810, in Caldwell County, Kentucky, United States. He was the son of Henry and Nancy Tarrant Machen.
6178 College Station Drive, Williamsburg, KY 40769, United States
Machen attended Cumberland College (now University of the Cumberlands) in Kentucky.
congressman farmer merchant politican senator
Willis Benson Machen was born on April 10, 1810, in Caldwell County, Kentucky, United States. He was the son of Henry and Nancy Tarrant Machen.
Machen attended Cumberland College (now University of the Cumberlands) in Kentucky.
Willis Machen was a farmer in Eddyville, Lyon County, Kentucky. He also was a merchant and manufacturer there in the 1850s and served as a delegate to the Kentucky State Constitutional Convention in 1849-1850.
In 1854-1855, he was a member of the upper house of the Kentucky State Senate, and in 1856 and 1860, he was elected to the lower house.
Willis served as the United States Senator from Kentucky from 1872 to 1873.
He also served in both permanent Confederate Houses, where he was a supporter of the administration. After the war, he returned to his farm.
Machen served as a state railroad commissioner in 1880, and he owned and operated iron furnaces in Lyon County during the 1880s.
A secessionist and a Democrat, Machen was a leader in the Kentucky separationist movement.
Willis Benson Machen was married twice. In 1835 he married was Margaret A. Lyon. His second wife was Victoria Theresa Mims. Machen's children were Mary J., Edward Chittenden, Willis Benson, Willis Benson, Minerva Buckner, Marjorie Machen.