Jonathan Spencer WILLIS, Congress, DE (1830-1903)

WILLIS Jonathan Spencer , a Representative from Delaware; born in Oxford, Talbot County, Md., April 5, 1830; attended the district schools and studied under private tutors; taught school seven years and then entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church; served charges in Maryland, Delaware, Philadelphia, Pa., New York City, and Stamford, Conn.; retired from the ministry in 1884; settled on a farm near Milford, Del., and engaged in fruit growing; unsuccessful Republican candidate for election in 1892 to the Fifty-third Congress; elected as a Republican to the Fifty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1895-March 3, 1897); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1896 to the Fifty-fifth Congress; engaged in agricultural pursuits; died in Milford, Sussex County, Del., November 24, 1903; interment in Barrett's Chapel Cemetery, near Frederica, Kent County, Del.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present