William Anderson Glasgow Sr. (February 9, 1825 – October 1, 1910) was an American lawyer and politician who served in the Senate of Virginia from 1881 until 1885. A longtime trustee of Washington and Lee University, he practiced law in Fincastle and later lived in Lexington, Virginia.
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Early life and legal career
Glasgow was born on February 9, 1825, at his family's Green Forest plantation in Rockbridge County, Virginia. He was a son of Robert Glasgow and Catherine Thomas Anderson Glasgow. He attended Washington College in Lexington and became a lawyer. He practiced in Fincastle, including as a member of the firm Glasgow and Glasgow.
Military service
During the American Civil War, Glasgow briefly enlisted in the Confederate States Army, but was discharged because of ill health. He subsequently aided the Confederate war effort through the manufacture of iron.
Political and civic career
In 1881, Glasgow was elected to the Senate of Virginia from the seventh senatorial district, which consisted of Rockbridge, Botetourt, Alleghany, Bath, and Highland counties. He succeeded Joseph H. Sherrard Jr. and served until 1885, when he was succeeded by Charles P. Jones.
Glasgow was elected a trustee of Washington College in 1865 and remained associated with the institution for more than four decades. He also helped prepare and publish historical works concerning the college and the early settlement of the Shenandoah Valley.
Personal life and death
Glasgow married Elizabeth Crisman Spears in 1847, and they had eight children. She and two of their children died during an outbreak of disease in February 1862. In 1864, he married Grace Ellen Shanks Woodson. The couple moved from Fincastle to Lexington in 1887.
His children included lawyer and federal official William A. Glasgow Jr., attorney Francis Thomas Glasgow, physician Robert Glasgow, and Virginia circuit judge Joseph Anderson Glasgow.
Glasgow died at his home in Lexington on October 1, 1910, at the age of 85.