Willis Alston
Willis Alston (
1769 -
10 April 1837) was a
U.S. Congressman from
North Carolina between
1825 and
1831.
Born near
Littleton, North Carolina in
Halifax County, Alston attended
Princeton College and engaged in agricultural pursuits. He was elected to the
North Carolina House of Commons in
1790 and served for two years; in
1794 he was elected to a single term in the
North Carolina Senate.
In
1798, Alston was elected as a
Republican to the first of eight consecutive terms in the U.S. House, spanning
March 4,
1799 to
March 3,
1815. There, he chaired the House Committee on Revisal and Unfinished Business during the
13th U.S. Congress.
Although he returned to the state house of commons between
1820 and
1824, Alston returned to Washington in
1824, elected as a
Jacksonian Democrat. Serving two terms (
March 4,
1825 -
March 3,
1831), Alston chaired the Committee on Elections during the
21st Congress. He declined to seek re-election in
1830 and returned to agriculture. Alston died in
1837 in
Halifax and is buried at his plantation home of Butterwood, near Littleton.
