{{Short description|American politician}} {{for|American educator|Benjamin Willis (educator)}} {{Multiple issues| {{More footnotes needed|date=November 2025}} {{More citations needed|date=July 2009}} }} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Benjamin A. Willis | image = BAWillis.jpg | caption = Willis, 1865–1880 | state = New York | district = {{ushr|NY|11|11th}} | term_start = March 4, 1875 | term_end = March 3, 1879 | predecessor = Clarkson N. Potter | successor = Levi P. Morton |birth_date = {{birth date|1840|03|24}} |birth_place = Roslyn, New York, U.S. |death_date = {{death date and age|1886|10|14|1840|03|24}} |death_place = New York City, New York, U.S. |spouse = Lillie Evelyn Macauley |children = {{flatlist| * Kate * Portia * Benjamin Jr. }} |relatives = John S. Enos (relative) }} <!-- This article was automatically created by User:polbot from http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=W000558. The prose may be stilted, and there may be grammatical and Wikification errors. Please improve in any way you see fit. -->
'''Benjamin Albertson Willis''' (March 24, 1840 – October 14, 1886) was a U.S. representative from New York.
==Biography== Willis was born in Roslyn, New York, the eldest son of Charles Willis and Abigail Albertson. He graduated from Union College in 1861, where he had studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1862, and commenced practice in New York City. During the Civil War, he enlisted in the Union Army in 1862. He served as captain in the 119th New York Infantry Regiment, and subsequently colonel of the 12th New York Volunteer Infantry. He was honorably discharged in 1864. He resumed the practice of law and was a member of the New York State Assembly from 1872 to 1878.
Willis was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth Congresses (March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1879). He served as chairman of the United States House Committee on Expenditures in the Navy Department during the Forty-fifth Congress. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1878 to the Forty-sixth Congress. He engaged in the practice of law and also in the real estate business. He married Lillie Evelyn Macauley, daughter of William Macauley and Mary S. Underhill, and had three children: Kate T. Willis, Portia Willis and Benjamin A. Willis Jr. He was a relative of California State Senator John S. Enos.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mohan |first1=Hugh J. |last2=Clough |first2=E. H. |last3=Cosgrave |first3=John P. |title=Pen Pictures of Our Representative Men |date=1880 |publisher=H. A. Weaver's Valley Press |location=Sacramento |pages=42–43 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101078160759&seq=70 |access-date=17 November 2025}}</ref>
Willis died in New York City on October 14, 1886. He was interred in Friends Cemetery in Westbury, New York, and later reinterred in Woodlawn Cemetery.
==References== {{Reflist}} {{CongBio|W000558}} Retrieved on 2008-09-28 * ''Underhill Genealogy'' Vol. 5, pg 354 & 500, edited by Edwin Deats and Harry Macy, published 1980.
==External links== {{Portal|Biography}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Benjamin A. Willis |sopt=t}} * {{Find a Grave|7643372|accessdate=2008-09-28}}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{US House succession box | state=New York | district=11 | before=Clarkson N. Potter | after=Levi P. Morton | years=1875–1879 }} {{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Willis, Benjamin Albertson}} Category:1840 births Category:1886 deaths Category:Union College (New York) alumni Category:Democratic Party members of the New York State Assembly Category:New York (state) lawyers Category:Union army colonels Category:Politicians from New York City Category:People of New York (state) in the American Civil War Category:People from Roslyn, New York Category:Democratic Party United States representatives from New York (state) Category:19th-century American lawyers Category:19th-century New York (state) politicians Category:19th-century United States representatives Category:Delta Upsilon members