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Edwin Willits | |
|---|---|
.jpg) From Volume 1 of 1890'sHistory of Monroe County, Michigan | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives from Michigan's2nd district | |
| In office March 4, 1877 – March 3, 1883 | |
| Preceded by | Henry Waldron |
| Succeeded by | Nathaniel B. Eldredge |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1830-04-24)April 24, 1830 Otto, New York, U.S. |
| Died | (1896-10-22)October 22, 1896 Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Party | Republican |
| Spouse | Jane Ingersoll |
Edwin Willits (also Willets) (April 24, 1830 – October 22, 1896) was a politician from theU.S. state ofMichigan. Willits served as prosecuting attorney ofMonroe County,Republican fromMichigan's 2nd congressional district for the45th,46th, and47th Congresses. Presidents ofMichigan State Normal School (nowEastern Michigan University) and theState Agricultural College (nowMichigan State University). The first AssistantU.S. Secretary of Agriculture underJeremiah McLain Rusk forBenjamin Harrison's administration.
Willits was born inOtto, New York and moved to Michigan with his parents in September 1836. He graduated from theUniversity of Michigan atAnn Arbor in June 1855. The following April he settled inMonroe, Michigan where he was editor of theMonroe Commercial from 1856 to 1861. He studied law and was admitted to thebar in December 1857 and commenced practice in Monroe. He married Jane Ingersoll in 1856 and was aPresbyterian.
Willits served as prosecuting attorney ofMonroe County from 1860 to 1862 and was a member of the State board of education from 1860 to 1872. He was appointed postmaster of Monroe on January 1, 1863, byPresidentAbraham Lincoln, and removed byPresidentAndrew Johnson on October 15, 1866. He was a member of the commission to revise theMichigan Constitution in 1873.
In 1876, Willits was elected as aRepublican fromMichigan's 2nd congressional district to the45th United States Congress and subsequently re-elected to the46th, and47th Congresses, serving from March 4, 1877 to March 3, 1883. During the Forty-seventh Congress he was chairman of theCommittee on Expenditures in the Department of Justice. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1882.
Willits was principal of theMichigan State Normal School atYpsilanti from 1883 to 1885. He served as president of theState Agricultural College from 1885 to 1889 where he inaugurated the school's mechanical engineering program and secured state funding for its initial building. InBenjamin Harrison's administration, he served as the first AssistantU.S. Secretary of Agriculture underJeremiah McLain Rusk from March 23, 1889 to December 31, 1893. In 1890 he established the policy that all research by the Department would be mission-oriented to a practical objective, and encouraged USDA employees to look beyond the seed and plant distribution program which had previously been the main activity of the Department. This reorientation led to the creation of additional divisions within the USDA during the 1890s.
Willits continued the practice of law inWashington, D.C., until his death there. He was interred inWoodland Cemetery in Monroe, Michigan.
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
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| Preceded by | United States Representative for the 2nd Congressional District of Michigan 1877–1883 | Succeeded by |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by | President ofMichigan Agricultural College 1885–1889 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
