Willis Brewer (1844–1912) was a United States representative from Alabama, holding office from 1897 to 1901. Before that, he held multiple terms of office in both the Alabama State Senate and the

Alabama House of Representatives The Alabama State House of Representatives is the lower house of the Alabama Legislature, the state legislature of state of Alabama. The House is composed of 105 members representing an equal number of districts, with each constituency contai ...

. He also held other public offices including

State Auditor of Alabama The state auditor of Alabama is constitutionally required to make a complete report to the governor of Alabama showing the receipts and disbursement of every character, all claims audited and paid out, and all taxes and revenues collected and pai ...

and treasurer of Lowndes County, Alabama. He was trained as an attorney and practiced law in the state, was a newspaper editor in both Alabama and Florida, and has written books about the history of Alabama.

Early life and education

Brewer was born on March 15, 1844, near the town of

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...

Sumter County, Alabama Sumter County is a county located in the west central portion of Alabama."ACES Winston County Office" (links/history), Alabama Cooperative Extension System (ACES), 2007, webpageACES-Sumter At the 2020 census, the population was 12,345. Its cou ...

, to Robert Willis and Jane (Hadden) Brewer. He attended the common schools and, at the age of fourteen, entered a local printing business. At seventeen, he and a schoolmate, William R. DeLoach, who later became Judge of the probate court in Sumter County, established a newspaper in

Milton, Florida Milton is a city in and the county seat of Santa Rosa County, Florida, located in the Pensacola– Ferry Pass– Brent Metropolitan Statistical Area, also known as the Pensacola Metropolitan Area. Milton is located in the geographic center ...

Military career

During the latter part of the

U.S. Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, while still engaged in the newspaper business in Florida, Brewer entered the Confederate States Army. Because of health issues, he was unable to serve in the fighting, but served post duty and during the latter part of the war was a staffmember for Brigadier General Wirt Adams. After the war, Brewer studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1870. He then began a practice in

Hayneville, Alabama Hayneville is a town in Lowndes County, Alabama, United States and its county seat. At the 2010 census the population was 932, down from its record high of 1,177 in 2000. It is also part of the Montgomery Metropolitan Statistical Area. It initi ...

Public service

Brewer was appointed Treasurer of Lowndes County, Alabama, in 1871 by Governor Robert B. Lindsay. He was elected as

, where he served from 1876 to 1880. He served as member of the

from 1880 to 1882 and again from 1890 to 1894. He served in the Alabama State Senate from 1882 to 1890 and again from 1894 to 1897. Brewer was 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 Fifty-fifth and Fifty-sixth Congress (March 4, 1897, to March 3, 1901). In April 1898, Brewer was among the six representatives who voted against declaring war on Spain. After an unsuccessful bid for renomination in 1900, he resumed the practice of law and continued his work as an author. Brewer died in Montgomery, Alabama, on October 30, 1912, and was interred in the family mausoleum on Cedars Plantation near Montgomery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brewer, Willis 1844 births 1912 deaths People from Livingston, Alabama American planters Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Alabama 19th-century American politicians