Halley, William Elmer

Posted By: Gina Reasoner
Date: 2 December 2001

Source: HISTORY OF OHIO, The American Historical Society, Inc., 1925, Vol. III, Page 210

WILLIAM ELMER HALLEY in recent years has become associated with some of the most active groups of men and capital in Ohio, and beyond the field of business his interest and influence have extended into politics. He is a gifted political campaign manager and has conducted several republican campaigns in the state.

Mr. Halley was born in Darke County, Ohio, January 31, 1875, son of Levi D. and Carrie L. (Vorhis) Halley. His mother is still living. As a boy he attended a village school in his home county, and was graduated in 1895 from the Greenville High School. He also had several courses in a normal school, and as a young man, in 1898, he volunteered and was with the Third Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Spanish-American war. For much of the success he has achieved in later years, Mr. Halley is indebted to his early training and experience as a newspaper man at Greenville, and he also studied law, though he has never followed it as a profession. From 1907 to 1912 he served five years as postmaster of Greenville, receiving the appointment from President Roosevelt.

Since that year his home has been in Columbus. He was elected clerk in 1914 of the Ohio State Senate, and filled that office for two years during the Eighty-first General Assembly. In 1918 he was again elected for the Eighty-third Session, and was reelected in 1920 for the Eighty-fourth Session. At the close of the last term he retired, declining to be a candidate in 1922.

Mr. Halley was the campaign manager for Hon. Harry M. Daugherty in the state wide primary campaign in 1916 for the republican nomination for the United States Senate. In 1918 he managed the republican primary campaign for Hon. Frank B. Willis for nomination for governor. In 1920 he directed the primary campaign in Ohio for Senator Harding for the presidential nomination.

In the field of business Mr. Halley has organized some large and industrial enterprises and is a member of an underwriters syndicate engaged in purely financial enterprises. He had some valuable interests in commercial and manufacturing organizations. January 2, 1910, Mr. Halley married Miss D'Light Devor, of Greenville, and they have one son, William E. Halley, Jr.

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