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Joseph Edward Willard
United States Ambassador to Spain
In office October 31, 1913 – July 7, 1921
President	Woodrow Wilson
Preceded by	Henry Clay Ide
Succeeded by	Cyrus Woods
Member of the Virginia State Corporation Commission
In office October 1, 1905 – February 18, 1910
Preceded by	Henry Fairfax
Succeeded by	J. Richard Wingfield
19th Lieutenant Governor of Virginia
In office January 1, 1902 – February 1, 1906
Governor	Andrew J. Montague
Preceded by	Edward Echols
Succeeded by	James Taylor Ellyson
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Fairfax County
In office December 6, 1893 – December 4, 1901
Preceded by	R. C. Triplett
Succeeded by	R. E. Lee, Jr.
Personal details
Born	Joseph Edward Willard (1865-05-01)May 1, 1865 Washington, D.C., U.S.
Died	April 4, 1924(1924-04-04) (aged 58) Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Resting place	Oak Hill Cemetery Washington, D.C., U.S.
Spouse	Belle Layton Wyatt
Relations	Antonia Ford (mother) Kermit Roosevelt (son-in-law) Mervyn Herbert (son-in-law)
Alma mater	Virginia Military Institute

Joseph Edward Willard (May 1, 1865 – April 4, 1924) was an American politician, philanthropist, and diplomat.

Early life

The son of prominent Washington hotelier and Union Army commissary major Joseph Clapp Willard (1820–1897) and former Confederate spy Antonia Ford, Joseph Willard had two brothers who died in infancy.

Career

Willard served for eight years in the Virginia House of Delegates, prior to his election as the 19th Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. He held that office from 1902 through 1906, leaving after an unsuccessful run for governor. The Virginia General Assembly then elected him a commissioner of the relatively new Virginia State Corporation Commission, where he served for four years.

In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson appointed Willard as the United States Ambassador to Spain. Upon the outbreak of World War I Willard was vacationing in the United States and returned to Europe aboard the USS Tennessee, although his daughter, Belle, was sick with typhoid fever (she would recover). Ambassador Willard held his position under successive presidents of both political parties until shortly before his death.

Personal life

Willard and his wife, Belle Layton Wyatt (1869–1954), had two daughters, Belle Wyatt, (1892–1968) who later married Kermit Roosevelt on June 10, 1914, and Mary Elizabeth, (1898-1979) who later married The Hon. Mervyn Herbert, third son of 4th Earl of Carnarvon, in 1921.

His daughter, Belle, and Roosevelt had four children:

1. Kermit Roosevelt Jr. (1916-2000); married Mary Lowe Gaddis (1917-2013) and had four children.
2. Joseph Willard Roosevelt (1918-2008); married (1) Nancy Thayer/Cummings, daughter of poet E.E. Cummings and had two children; married (2) Carole Adele Russell and had three children.
3. Belle Wyatt Roosevelt (1919-1985); married John Gorham Palfrey Jr., grandson of John G. Palfrey, 2nd great-grandson of William Palfrey, and grand-nephew of Francis Winthrop Palfrey; had three children.
4. Dirck Roosevelt (1925-1953)

Willard had at least 12 grandchildren, including Mark Roosevelt; his great-grandchildren include Kermit Roosevelt III, John Palfrey and Quentin Palfrey.

Death

Willard died in Manhattan, New York, on April 4, 1924. His remains were returned to Washington, D.C., for burial at Oak Hill cemetery.

Sources

1. "Cruiser Off With $5,750,000 in Gold to Aid Americans," New York World, Aug. 7, 1914.
2. "Oak Hill Cemetery, Georgetown, D.C. (Amphitheater) - Lot U East" (PDF). oakhillcemeterydc.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 8, 2022. Retrieved August 14, 2022.

• Willard Family Papers, Library of Congress

External links

• Media related to Joseph Edward Willard at Wikimedia Commons

v t e United States ambassadors to Spain
Ministers Plenipotentiary to Spain (1779–1825)	Jay Carmichael (chargé d'affaires) Short Humphreys Pinckney Erving Erving Forsyth Nelson
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Spain (1825–1913)	Everett Van Ness Eaton Vail (chargé d'affaires) Irving Saunders Barringer Soulé Dodge Preston Schurz Koerner Hale Sickles Cushing Lowell Fairchild Hamlin Foster Curry Belmont Palmer Grubb Snowden Taylor Woodford Storer Hardy Collier Ide
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Spain (1913–present)	Willard Woods Moore Hammond Laughlin Bowers Matthews (chargé d'affaires) Weddell Hayes Armour Bonsal Culbertson (chargé d'affaires) Griffis MacVeagh Dunn Lodge Biddle Woodward Duke Wagner Hill Rivero Penn Stabler Todman Enders Bartholomew Zappala Capen Gardner Romero Argyros Aguirre Solomont Costos Buchan Pantaleón

v t e Lieutenant governors of Virginia
Leake McComas Jackson Montague S. Price (disputed) Polsley (disputed) Cowper Lewis Marye Withers Thomas Walker Lewis Massey Tyler Kent Echols Willard Ellyson Buchanan West J. Price Holt Tuck Collins Stephens Godwin Pollard Reynolds Howell Dalton Robb Davis Wilder Beyer Hager Kaine Bolling Northam Fairfax Sears

• 1865 births
• 1924 deaths
• Democratic Party members of the Virginia House of Delegates
• Lieutenant governors of Virginia
• Ambassadors of the United States to Spain
• Virginia Military Institute alumni
• Virginia lawyers
• 19th-century American lawyers
• 20th-century American lawyers
• Politicians from Washington, D.C.
• 20th-century American diplomats
• Burials at Oak Hill Cemetery (Washington, D.C.)
• 19th-century members of the Virginia General Assembly
• 20th-century members of the Virginia General Assembly