Hiram V. Willson

Born in April 1808, in Madison County, New York,[1][2] Willson graduated from Hamilton College in 1832 and read law,[2] first in the office of Jared Willson of Canandaigua, New York, then in the office of Francis Scott Key in Washington, D.C.[1] After moving to Painesville, Ohio in 1833,[1] he was admitted to the bar and entered private practice with Henry B. Payne[1] in Cleveland, Ohio from 1834 to 1855.[2] In 1852, Willson was nominated by the Democratic Party for United States House of Representatives, but lost to his law partner Edward Wade of the Free Soil Party.[1] In 1854, the Cleveland Bar Association sent Willson to lobby Congress to divide the state of Ohio into two Federal Judicial Districts.[1] The effort was successful.[1]

Willson was nominated by President Franklin Pierce on February 10, 1855, to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, to a new seat authorized by 10 Stat. 604.[2] He was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 20, 1855, and received his commission the same day.[2] His service terminated on November 11, 1866,[2] due to his death of consumption (tuberculosis)[1] in Cleveland.[2] Some months before his death, he was received into the First Presbyterian Church.[1]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hiram V. Willson.

• Hiram V. Willson at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.