William Henry Stiles - Wikipedia

American politician (1808–1865)

William Henry Stiles (January 1, 1808 – December 20, 1865) was an American lawyer and politician who served one term as a United States Representative from Georgia from 1843 to 1845.

He was the grandson of Joseph Clay.

Biography

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Born in Savannah, Georgia, in 1808, Stiles attended high school at the Hopkins School in New Haven, Connecticut. He was descended from the English colonel Thomas Stiles who fought in the English Civil War.[1]

After graduating from Hopkins, Stiles studied law at Yale College, gained admittance to the state bar in 1831 and practiced law in Savannah.

Career

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He served as the solicitor general for Georgia's eastern district from 1833 to 1836, and United States Attorney for the District of Georgia from 1836 to 1838. In 1842, Stiles was elected as a Democratic Representative from Georgia to the 28th United States Congress and served one term from March 4, 1843, until March 3, 1845.[2]

After Congress

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On April 19, 1845, Stiles was appointed by U.S. President James Polk as chargé d'affaires to the Austrian Empire, a position which he held until October 1849.[3]

He then returned to his beloved Etowah Cliffs in Cass County where he had a plantation, and lived with his wife Eliza Anne MacKay Stiles, and his children: Mary Cowper Stiles, William Henry Stiles Jr., and Robert MacKay Stiles, and was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1858 and served as that body's speaker of the house.[2]

Stiles served as one of Georgia's at-large delegates to the commercial congress in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1858. Also in 1858 he delivered an address, Southern Education for Southern Youth, to the Cherokee Baptist College. He also was a delegate to the 1860 Democratic National Convention. During the American Civil War, Stiles served as a colonel in the Confederate States Army.

Death and burial

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He died in Savannah on December 20, 1865, and was buried in Laurel Grove Cemetery in that same city.[2]

References

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1. ^ Men of Mark in Georgia: A Complete and Elaborate History of the ..., Volume 2
2. ^ a b c United States Congress. "William H. Stiles (id: S000925)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
3. ^ "FORMER U.S. AMBASSADORS TO AUSTRIA". U.S. Embassy in Vienna. Archived from the original on September 7, 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-01.

External links

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• "William H. Stiles". Find a Grave. Retrieved 2008-02-14.
• Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University: William H. Stiles papers, 1749-1892

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded byThomas Flournoy Foster	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's at-large congressional district March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1845	Succeeded bySeaborn Jones
Diplomatic posts
Preceded byDaniel Jenifer	U.S. Chargé to the Austrian Empire 1845–1849	Succeeded byJames Watson Webb

v t e United States Ambassadors to Austria
Austrian Empire (1838–1867)	Muhlenberg Jenifer Stiles Webb McCurdy Foote Jackson Jones Motley
Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867–1917)	Watts Jay Orth Beale Kasson Phelps Taft J. Francis Lawton Grant Tripp Tower Harris McCormick Storer C. Francis Kerens Penfield
Republic of Austria (1921–1938, 1946–present)	Frazier Washburn Stockton Earle Messersmith Emmet Wiley Erhardt Donnelly Thompson Matthews Riddleberger MacArthur Humes Buchanan Wolf Kaiser Cummings von Damm Lauder Grunwald Huffington Hunt Hall Brown McCaw Girard-diCarlo Eacho Wesner Traina Kennedy

v t e Speakers of the Georgia House of Representatives
N. W. Jones Whitefield N. W. Jones W. Glascock Brownson Gibbons Saltus J. Clay Habersham Houstoun N. W. Jones Gibbons James Habersham Joseph Habersham Gibbons Brownson Powell S. Jones Gibbons Napier Stevens D. Meriwether Jackson Whitaker Iverson Whitaker Adams Witt Adams Daniel Adams Abercrombie Murray Hudson Jourdan Hull T. Glascock Joseph Day C. J. Jenkins Wofford C.J. Jenkins Anderson J. Meriwether Ward Stiles Underwood Irvin Williams Akin Hardeman McWhorter J. M. Smith Cumming Bacon Hardeman Bacon Garrard W. A. Little A. S. Clay Howell Atkinson Fleming H. A. Jenkins J. D. Little Morris Slaton Holder Burwell Holder Neill Russell Tucker Rivers Harris Evans Harris Hand Moate G. L. Smith G. T. Smith G. L. Smith Murphy Coleman Richardson Burkhalter Ralston Jones (acting) Burns

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