William Henry DeWitt

Background

William was born on October 24, 1827, in Smith County, Tennessee, United States. He was the son of Samuel and Mary Allen DeWitt. His father was a preacher and a small farmer.

Education

A self-educated man, the younger DeWitt received his education at Berea Academy in Chapel Hill, Tennessee, where he studied under John M. Barnes.

Career

DeWitt taught at Montpelier Academy in Gainsborough, Tennessee, in 1847-1848. In 1849-1850, he taught in Jackson County, Tennessee.

Admitted to the Smith County, Tennessee, bar in 1850, he practiced in Lafayette from 1850 to 1856, in Lebanon from 1856 to 1858, and in Carthage from 1858 to 1875. In the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1855-1856, he was the Whig representative from Smith, Sumner, and Macon counties. He refused to run for reelection in 1857.

As a unionist delegate to the constitutional convention of 1861, he opposed the convention, but he later was elected to the provisional Confederate Congress. He served until early 1862 on the Printing and Territories Committees. As he represented a unionist district in Tennessee, DeWitt came under much attack and was forced to retire from public life for the duration of the war.

After the war, DeWitt became a conservative Democrat and returned to his law practice. In 1872, he was named a special chancellor in the Fifth Chancery Division. In 1875, he settled in Chattanooga, where he practiced law and from 1888 to 1890 was chancellor of the state of Tennessee.

Achievements

• William Henry DeWitt was known as a school teacher in Macon and Jackson counties. Also, he was a member of the Confederate Congress.

Politics

DeWitt was a member of the Whig Party. After the American Civil War, he became a Democrat.

Connections

By his marriage to Emilia Price on May 30, 1847, he had five children. He had two more children by his marriage on May 30, 1867, to Elizabeth Wilson.

Father:

Samuel DeWitt

1792-1853

Mother:

Mary Allen DeWitt

Sister:

Frances B. DeWitt Howser

1829-1854

late wife:

Emilia Price DeWitt

unknown-1863

Wife:

Elizabeth Wilson DeWitt

1842-1905

Son:

Willie DeWitt

unknown-1863

Daughter:

Alonza DeWitt

1848-1863

Son:

Eugene DeWitt

1868-1891

Son:

William Houghlette DeWitt

1869-1955

References

• Biographical Dictionary of the Confederacy
  1977
• Sketches of Prominent Tennesseans
  1997