Biography

Mentioned in 18381217BJS_WHS1 as one of the men planning for nomination to the 1838 NYS assembly. "The late William Sexton, one of the early and most respected citizens of Westfield, was born at Manchester, Vermont, April 11, 1796. In 1816 he came to Buffalo, and then on the ice to Westfield, to which place he removed his family during the next year. He soon became prominent in the civil affairs of his town and county. He served as constable and collector from 1825 to 1834, was sheriff of Chautauqua county from 1834 to 1853, being removed both times for political reasons by Presidents Tyler and Pierce. In 1853 he was elected justice of the peace, which office he held by re-election until 1881, when he resigned on account of ill health... after a long illness, passed away at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. Prendergast, at Westfield, on October 7, 1881, when in the eighty-sixth year of his age."