Winthrop-Weston family papers

William [Woolsey] Winthrop, youngest son of Francis B. Winthrop (Y. C. 1804) and Elizabeth (Woolsey) Winthrop, was born in New Haven on August 3, 1831.

He studied law in the Yale Law School, receiving the degree of LL.B. in 1853, and supplementing his course by another year in the Harvard Law School. In 1855 he entered on practice in Boston, in partnership with Hon. William J. Hubbard, and in 1860 removed to New York City and formed a partnership with his classmate Little.

In April, 1861, he enlisted in the 7th Regiment, N. Y. Militia, and served through the war, attaining the rank of Colonel. In February, 1867, he was transferred to the regular army as Major and Judge Advocate, and in July 1884, was promoted to be Deputy Judge-Advocate General with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. His final promotion to the position of Assistant Judge-Advocate General, with the grade of Colonel, was in January, 1895. From 1882 to 1886 he was Judge-Advocate of the Division of the Pacific, and from 1886 to 1890 Professor of Law at West Point. In his later years he was on duty in the War Department at Washington, until his retirement in August 1895.

He died suddenly, from anacute attack of heart-disease, while at Atlantic City, N. J., during the night of April 8, 1899, in his 68th year.

He published in 1886 a work in two volumes on Military Law, which has become a standard authority. He also prepared the Digest of Opinions of the Judge-Advocates Generalofthe U.S. Army; and was in his later years a contributor to literary and scientific periodicals.

The honorary degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred on him by Georgetown University in 1896.

He married, in 1877, Miss Alice Worthington, who survives him.

[From Yale Obituary Record]