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History and Government—Congressional Biographies—West VirginiaVAN WINKLE, Peter Godwin
(1808—1872)
Senate Years of Service:
1863-1867; 1867-1869
Party:
Unconditional Unionist; Republican
VAN WINKLE, Peter Godwin, (granduncle of Marshall Van Winkle), a Senator from West Virginia; born in New York City, September 7, 1808; completed preparatory studies; studied law; admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Parkersburg, Va. (now West Virginia), in 1835; president of the town board of trustees 1844-1850; member of the Virginia State constitutional convention in 1850; treasurer and later president of the Northwestern Virginia Railroad Co. in 1852; member of the Wheeling reorganization convention in 1861; delegate to the State convention which framed the constitution of West Virginia; member, West Virginia house of delegates 1863; upon the admission of West Virginia as a State into the Union was elected as a Unionist to the United States Senate and served from August 4, 1863, to March 3, 1869; chairman, Committee on Pensions (Fortieth Congress); delegate to the Southern Loyalist Convention at Philadelphia, Pa., in 1866; resided in Parkersburg, W.Va., where he died April 15, 1872; interment in River View Cemetery.
Bibliography
American National Biography
; Dictionary of American Biography
; Sturm, Philip, “Senator Peter G. Van Winkle and the Andrew Johnson Impeachment Trial: A Comprehensive View.” West Virginia History
58 (1999-2000): 24-43.
Bayless, R.W. “Peter G. Van Winkle and Waitman T. Willey in the Impeachment Trial of Andrew Johnson.” West Virginia History
13 (January 1952): 75-89.
Howard, Thomas W. “Peter G. Van Winkle’s Vote in the Impeachment of President Andrew Johnson: A West Virginian as a Profile in Courage.” West Virginia History
35 (July 1974): 290-95.
Roske, Ralph J. “The Seven Martyrs?” American Historical Review
64 (January 1959): 323-30.
Sturm, Philip, “Senator Peter G. Van Winkle and the Andrew Johnson Impeachment Trial: A Comprehensive View.” West Virginia History
58 (1999-2000): 24-43.
Whitener, Evert F. “Peter Godwin Van Winkle.” Master’s thesis, University of West Virginia, 1946.
Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present
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