William Wirt Hastings (December 31, 1866 – April 8, 1938) was an American politician and a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from Oklahoma.

Biography

Born on a farm in Benton County, Arkansas, near the Indian Territory boundary, Hastings was the son of William Archibald "Yell" and Louisa J. Stover Hastings, and moved with his parents to a farm at Beatties Prairie, Delaware County (then part of the Cherokee Nation in Indian Territory), Oklahoma, and attended the Cherokee tribal school. He graduated from

Cherokee Male Seminary The Cherokee Male Seminary was a tribal college established in 1846 by the Cherokee Nation in Indian Territory. Opening in 1851, it was one of the first institutions of higher learning in the United States to be founded west of the Mississippi Rive ...

, at Tahlequah, in 1884. He was married to Lula Mayfield Starr on December 9, 1896, and they had four children, Grace, Lucile, Mayme, and Lillian.

Career

Hastings was a teacher in the Cherokee tribal schools from 1884 to 1886. He graduated from the law department of

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

, in 1889. Admitted to the bar in the same year he began his practice in

Tahlequah, Oklahoma Tahlequah ( ; ''Cherokee'': ᏓᎵᏆ, ''daligwa'' ) is a city in Cherokee County, Oklahoma located at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. It is part of the Green Country region of Oklahoma and was established as a capital of the 19th-cent ...

. He was again a teacher in the tribal schools from 1889 to 1891. He served as Attorney general for the Cherokee Nation from 1891 to 1895, and as National attorney for the Cherokee tribe from 1907 to 1914. He served as delegate to the Democratic State convention in 1912, as well as delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1912. Elected as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

to the Sixty-fourth, Sixty-fifth, and Sixty-sixth Congresses, Hastings served from March 4, 1915, to March 3, 1921. During that time, he served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Interior (Sixty-fifth Congress). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1920 to the Sixty-seventh Congress, losing to Republican

Alice Mary Robertson Alice Mary Robertson (January 2, 1854 – July 1, 1931) was an American educator, social worker, Native Americans' rights activist, government official, and politician who became the second woman to serve in the United States Congress, and the fi ...

. This was the first time in history that an incumbent U.S. Congressman was defeated by a female candidate. Hastings was elected to the Sixty-eighth and to the five succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1923, to January 3, 1935. Not a candidate for renomination in 1934, he resumed practicing law in

. Through his efforts, Tahlequah had received an Indian hospital as a Christmas present in 1935. Hastings returned to public life briefly when he was appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a Cherokee Chief for one day to sign a new deed when an error was found in the old abstract.

Death

Hastings died on April 8, 1938 (age 71 years, 98 days), in Muskogee, Oklahoma. He is

interred Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

in City Cemetery,

References

External links

Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture – Hastings, William
* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hastings, William Wirt 1866 births 1938 deaths 20th-century American politicians 20th-century Native Americans Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Oklahoma Cherokee Nation members of the United States House of Representatives Native American members of the United States Congress People from Benton County, Arkansas People of Indian Territory

Biography

Career

Death

See also

References

External links