Willett, E. D. (Elbert Decatur), 1828-1890.

Elbert Decatur (E.D.) Willett was born in 1828 in Tennessee where he attended Washington College, Jonesboro, Tenn. and then graduated from Emory and Henry College, Abingdon, Va. in 1852. He read law in Tenn. and in 1854 moved to Carrollton, Pickens Co., Ala. where he taught school and later entered a legal partnership. In 1856 he married Candace Mentora Bostick.

In 1861 Willett entered the Confederate Army as captain of Company B, also known as Pickens Planters, 40th Alabama Infantry Regiment, and remained there until he was promoted to major in 1864. The 40th Alabama saw action at Vicksburg (Miss.), Chattanooga (Tenn.), and Atlanta (Ga.). After the war Willett joined a law partnership which lasted until 1872. He later was the mayor of Carrollton (Ala.), participated in the Constitutional Convention of 1875, and was a member of the State Legislature. He died in 1890.

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