Willis Buell

Willis Buell
3rd Mayor of Atlanta
In office 1850–1851
Preceded by	Benjamin Bomar
Succeeded by	Jonathan Norcross
Personal details
Born	1790 Connecticut
Died	November 1851 Atlanta, Georgia
Political party	Free and Rowdy Party

Willis (or Wyllys) Buell (c. 1790 – November 1851) was a native of Connecticut and third mayor of Atlanta. [1]

Biography

Willis Buell was born in Connecticut in 1790. He is reportedly related to the famed Connecticut cartographer Abel Buell.

Buell's 1833 map of Muskingum County was among the first printed maps of any of Ohio's counties.[2]

In the mid to late 1830s, he became the first Justice of the Peace of the 1026th militia district.[3] He was a prosecuting attorney for the Supreme Court held in Muskingum from 1837 to April 1839.

In 1839, he was appointed by the City Council to serve on Zanesville's first board of examiners for its education system.[4]

He lived in Georgia during the mid-1840s. Buell was among the original members of Atlanta's first Masonic lodge.[5] He was known for his skill in portrait painting, establishing a studio within Atlanta's first Masonic Hall in 1847.[6]

As a member of the Free and Rowdy Party, also known as the Rowdies, he served a single term as the third Mayor of Atlanta from January 1850 to January 1851, as stipulated by the city charter. Jonathan Norcross succeeded him as mayor.

Death

Willis Buell died in Atlanta, Georgia in November 1851.

References

1. "Atlanta's First Mayor Was Murdered". The Atlanta Journal. August 6, 1962. Retrieved February 18, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
2. "A Map of Montgomery County, Ohio From Actual Survey. . . . 1833 | Standford Libraries". exhibits.stanford.edu. Retrieved July 13, 2024.
3. Journal of the House of Representatives of the State of Ohio. (1837). United States: The State.
4. Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Muskingum County, Ohio: Embracing an Authentic and Comprehensive Account of the Chief Events in the History of the County and a Record of the Lives of Many of the Most Worthy Families and Individuals. (1892). United States: Goodspeed Publishing Company.
5. Daniel, Frank (June 3, 1959). "Atlanta Masonic Club Hears of Earlier Days". The Atlanta Journal. Retrieved February 18, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
6. Garrett, F. M., & Martin, H. H. (20111969). Atlanta and environs : a chronicle of its people and events. University of Georgia Press.

Preceded by Benjamin F. Bomar

Mayor of Atlanta January 23, 1850 – January 1851

Succeeded by Jonathan Norcross