William Heiskell

William Heiskell
Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives
In office 1865 – 1867
Preceded by	Edwin A. Keeble
Succeeded by	F.S. Richardson
Personal details
Born	1788 Hagerstown, Maryland, United States
Died	September 9, 1871 Knoxville, Tennessee
Resting place	Old Gray Cemetery Knoxville, Tennessee
Political party	Whig Party Know Nothing
Spouse(s)	Julia Gahagan
Relations	Frederick Heiskell (brother) Joseph B. Heiskell (nephew)
Occupation	Planter

William Heiskell (1788 – September 9, 1871) was an American politician, active primarily in Tennessee, in the mid-19th century. He served a tumultuous term as Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives in the months following the Civil War, where he opposed the radical agenda of Governor William G. Brownlow, most notably refusing to sign the state house's ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1866. A Whig, he had previously served a single term in the Tennessee House, from 1849 to 1851.

Heiskell opposed secession and supported the Union during the Civil War. He represented Monroe County at the East Tennessee Convention in 1861.

Heiskell was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, one of nine children of Frederic and Catherine (Steidinger) Heiskell. While he was still young, his family moved to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Later biographies, including one written by his son, Samuel G. Heiskell, state he served in the Virginia House of Delegates and was a delegate to Virginia's 1829–1830 constitutional convention, though he doesn't appear in the list of delegates in the latter's official proceedings.

In 1833, Heiskell moved to Monroe County, Tennessee, where he established a plantation in the Little Tennessee Valley. Aligning himself with the new Whig Party, he presided over the 1844 East Tennessee Whig Convention, which met at Knoxville to nominate candidates for that year's elections. He also championed railroad construction, helping to organize the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad in the late 1840s.

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