Peter G. Van Winkle

Peter Godwin Van Winkle ( born September 7, 1808 in New York City; † April 15, 1872 in Parkersburg, West Virginia ) was an American politician ( Republican). He was one of the first two U.S. Senators for the newly formed state of West Virginia.

Life

After studying law Peter Van Winkle was admitted to the bar and began to practice that was at that time still a part of Virginia, Parkersburg. Between 1844 and 1850 he was a member of the Board of Trustees, the governing body of the city, on; In 1850 he also took part in the Constitutional Convention of Virginia. In 1852 he became president of the Northwestern Virginia Railroad Company.

After cleavage of West Virginia during the Civil War Van Winkle took part in the 1863 meeting in which the constitution of the new state was resolved. In the same year he became a member of the state House of Representatives. When the State was admitted to the Union, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he remained from 4 August 1863 to 3 March 1869. During this time he was Chairman of the Pension Committee. When U.S. President Andrew Johnson in 1868, the impeachment threatened Peter Van Winkle was one of the seven Republican senators who voted against impeachment, thus sealing its rejection.

Peter Van Winkle retired to his retirement from the Senate to private life and died 1872 in Parkersburg. His great- nephew Marshall Van Winkle was 1905-1907 Republican congressman in the U.S. House of Representatives for the state of New Jersey.