Augustus E. Willson

Who was Augustus E. Willson?

Augustus Everett Willson was the 36th Governor of Kentucky. Orphaned at the age of twelve, Willson went to live with relatives in New England. This move exposed him to such literary masters as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and James Russell Lowell, who were associates of his older brother, poet Forceythe Willson. He was also afforded the opportunity to attend Harvard University, where he earned an A.B. in 1869 and an A.M. in 1872. After graduation, he secured a position at the law firm of future Supreme Court justice John Marshall Harlan. Willson and Harlan became lifelong friends, and Willson's association with Harlan deepened his support of the Republican Party.

A Republican in a primarily Democratic state, Willson suffered several defeats for public office, but was elected governor of Kentucky on his second attempt. Due to his handling of the Black Patch Tobacco Wars and his pardoning of several individuals involved in the assassination of Democratic governor William Goebel, Willson drew the ire of the Democrat-controlled General Assembly. As a result, few of his proposed reforms were considered by the legislature. His term ended in 1911, and in 1914, he made an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the U.S. Senate. Following this defeat, Willson retired to Louisville, where he died in 1931.