Willard Saulsbury, Sr. (Congressional Biographical Directory)

SAULSBURY, Willard, Sr., (brother of Eli Saulsbury, father of Willard Saulsbury, Jr.), a Senator from Delaware; born in Mispillion Hundred, Kent County, Del., June 2, 1820; attended the common schools, Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa., and Delaware College (now the University of Delaware), Newark, Del.; studied law; admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Georgetown, Del.; attorney general of Delaware 1850-1855; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1858; reelected in 1864 and served from March 4, 1859, to March 3, 1871; chairman, Committee on Enrolled Bills (Thirty-sixth Congress); unsuccessful candidate for reelection; resumed the practice of law; chancellor of the State from 1874 until his death in Dover, Del., April 6, 1892; interment in Christ Episcopal Churchyard.