William Edwin CHILTON, Congress, WV (1858-1939)

CHILTON, William Edwin, a Senator from West Virginia; born in Colesmouth (now St. Albans), Kanawha County, W.Va. (then Virginia), March 17, 1858; attended public and private schools and graduated from Shelton College, St. Albans, W.Va.; taught school; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1880 and commenced practice in Charleston, W.Va., in 1882; also engaged in the newspaper publishing business; prosecuting attorney of Kanawha County in 1883; chairman of the Democratic State executive committee in 1892; secretary of state of West Virginia 1893-1897; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1911, to March 3, 1917; chairman, Committee on Census (Sixty-third and Sixty-fourth Congresses), Committee on Printing (Sixty-fourth Congress); unsuccessfully contested the election of Howard Sutherland to the United States Senate for the term commencing March 4, 1917; resumed the practice of law and the newspaper publishing business in Charleston, W.Va.; was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States Senate in 1924 and again in 1934; died in Charleston, W.Va., November 7, 1939; interment in Teay’s Hill Cemetery, St. Albans, W.Va.

Bibliography

Chilton, W.E. West Virginia Corporations. Charleston, WV: Tribune Co., 1899.

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