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William Wirt Hastings

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American politician For other people named William Hastings, see William Hastings (disambiguation).

William W. Hastings
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Oklahoma's 2nd district
In office
March 4, 1923 – January 3, 1935
Preceded byAlice Robertson
Succeeded byJohn Nichols
In office
March 4, 1915 – March 3, 1921
Preceded byDick Morgan
Succeeded byAlice Robertson
Personal details
BornWilliam Wirt Hastings
(1866-12-31)December 31, 1866
Benton County, Arkansas, U.S.
DiedApril 8, 1938(1938-04-08) (aged 71)
Muskogee, Oklahoma, U.S.
Resting placeCity Cemetery, Tahlequah, Oklahoma
NationalityAmerican
Cherokee Nation
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseLula Mayfield Starr
Children4
EducationCherokee Male Seminary
Vanderbilt University (LLB)

William Wirt Hastings (December 31, 1866 – April 8, 1938) was an American lawyer, educator and politician who served nine terms as a U.S. Representative from Oklahoma between 1915 and 1935.

Biography

Born on a farm in Benton County, Arkansas, near the Indian Territory boundary, Hastings was the son of William Archibald "Yell" and Louisa J. Stover Hastings, and moved with his parents to a farm at Beatties Prairie, Delaware County (then part of the Cherokee Nation in Indian Territory), Oklahoma, and attended the Cherokee tribal school. He graduated from Cherokee Male Seminary, at Tahlequah, in 1884. He was married to Lula Mayfield Starr on December 9, 1896, and they had four children, Grace, Lucile, Mayme, and Lillian.

Career

Hastings was a teacher in the Cherokee tribal schools from 1884 to 1886. He graduated from the law department of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, in 1889. Admitted to the bar in the same year he began his practice in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. He was again a teacher in the tribal schools from 1889 to 1891. He served as Attorney general for the Cherokee Nation from 1891 to 1895, and as National attorney for the Cherokee tribe from 1907 to 1914. He served as delegate to the Democratic State convention in 1912, as well as delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1912.

Congress

Elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-fourth, Sixty-fifth, and Sixty-sixth Congresses, Hastings served from March 4, 1915, to March 3, 1921. During that time, he served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Interior (Sixty-fifth Congress). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1920 to the Sixty-seventh Congress, losing to Republican Alice Mary Robertson. This was the first time in history that an incumbent U.S. Congressman was defeated by a female candidate.

Hastings was elected to the Sixty-eighth and to the five succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1923, to January 3, 1935. Not a candidate for renomination in 1934, he resumed practicing law in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

Later life

Through his efforts, Tahlequah had received an Indian hospital as a Christmas present in 1935. Hastings returned to public life briefly when he was appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a Cherokee Chief for one day to sign a new deed when an error was found in the old abstract.

Death

Hastings died on April 8, 1938 (age 71 years, 98 days), in Muskogee, Oklahoma. He is interred in City Cemetery, Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

See also

References

  1. "William Wirt Hastings". Ancestry.com. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
  2. "William Wirt Hastings". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
  3. "William Wirt Hastings". Govtrack US Congress. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
  4. "William Wirt Hastings". Govtrack US Congress. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
  5. "William Wirt Hastings". RootsWeb Ancestry.com. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
  6. "William Wirt Hastings". The Political Graveyard. Retrieved May 26, 2013.

External links

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded byDick Morgan Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Oklahoma's 2nd congressional district
1915–1921 		Succeeded byAlice Robertson
Preceded byTom Stout Chair of the House Interior Expenditures Committee
1917–1919 		Succeeded byAaron Shenk Kreider
Preceded byAlice Robertson Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Oklahoma's 2nd congressional district
1923–1935 		Succeeded byJohn Nichols
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Oklahoma
1st district
2nd district
3rd district
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