William Hall Doolittle letter copy books, 28 October 1893-14 March 1896

Washington State Representative William Hall Doolittle was born near North East in Erie County, Pennsylvania on November 6, 1848. In 1859, the Doolittle family moved to Portage County, Wisconsin, where William Doolittle worked at pineries and attended the district school whenever no work was available. When he was about sixteen years old, in early 1865, he enlisted as a private in the Ninth Wisconsin Battery. He was discharged the following summer under general order, and returned home to Wisconsin where he continued to work in the pineries until 1867. He then began school in Pennsylvania before studying law in Chautauqua County, New York. Doolittle was admitted to the bar in 1871 and began practice one year later in Nebraska, where he worked in the city of Tecumseh until 1880. He served in the 4th District of the Nebraska legislature from 1874 to 1876, and as the Assistant United States District Attorney in Nebraska from 1876 to 1880.

In 1880, Doolittle moved from Nebraska to Washington Territory, where he practiced law in Colfax before moving to Tacoma in 1888. His wife, Elizabeth Doolittle, died in Tacoma in 1888, just four weeks after giving birth.

Doolittle was appointed to the Territorial Code Commission by Governor Eugene Semple in 1887. As part of the Commission, Doolittle worked to codify the laws of Washington before it was admitted as a state to the Union. He continued his service to Washington State when, in 1892, he was nominated as one of the Republican candidates for the United States Congress. He beat his closest opponent by 4,463 votes and served in the Fifty-third and Fifty-fourth Congresses from March 4, 1893 to March 3, 1897. He ran unsuccessfully for re-election to the Fifty-fifth Congress in 1896.

After his terms in Congress, Doolittle resumed his law practice. He died in Tacoma on February 26, 1914, and was interred in the Tacoma Cemetery.