Peter Godwin VAN WINKLE, Congress, WV (1808-1872)

VAN WINKLE, Peter Godwin, (granduncle of Marshall Van Winkle), a Senator from West Virginia; born in New York City, September 7, 1808; completed preparatory studies; studied law; admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Parkersburg, Va. (now West Virginia), in 1835; president of the town board of trustees 1844-1850; member of the Virginia State constitutional convention in 1850; treasurer and later president of the Northwestern Virginia Railroad Co. in 1852; member of the Wheeling reorganization convention in 1861; delegate to the State convention which framed the constitution of West Virginia; member, West Virginia house of delegates 1863; upon the admission of West Virginia as a State into the Union was elected as a Unionist to the United States Senate and served from August 4, 1863, to March 3, 1869; chairman, Committee on Pensions (Fortieth Congress); delegate to the Southern Loyalist Convention at Philadelphia, Pa., in 1866; resided in Parkersburg, W.Va., where he died April 15, 1872; interment in River View Cemetery.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Sturm, Philip, “Senator Peter G. Van Winkle and the Andrew Johnson Impeachment Trial: A Comprehensive View.” West Virginia History 58 (1999-2000): 24-43.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present