William J. Burley, son of James, is the present sheriff of Marshall county. He was born at Moundsville, December 23, 1842. He received his education at the Moundsville academy and in the Allegheny college, Penn., which he left in 1859, at the time of the John Brown raid, to serve one year in the Virginia militia. In 1862 he enlisted in Company A, Twelfth West Virginia infantry, served in the army of West Virginia under Gen. Kelley, in 1863, in the valley of Virginia under Gen. Milroy, and from 1864 under Sigel, Hunter and Sheridan. In the fall of 1864 they occupied the peninsula in front of Richmond and remained there until March 1, 1865, when they crossed the James, and served under Grant until the surrender, and was discharged June 17, 1865. He enlisted as private, was elected second lieutenant, was promoted first lieutenant, was promoted captain in the fall of 1864, major in the following February, and was commissioned brevet lieutenant colonel, before he had reached the age of twenty-three. He served in fourteen battles, and has in his keeping the golden eagle which was presented to his regiment by Maj. Gen. John Gibbon, for gallant conduct in the assault on Fort Gregg, April 2, 1865. He commanded the Twelfth regiment, in the pursuit of Lee, and until their return to Richmond after the surrender. Returning home Mr. Burley engaged in business, and shortly was elected president of the county court, a position he filled until July, 1888, when he resigned and in the following November was elected sheriff of the county. He has also held the office of school commissioner of the county, and has discharged all his trusts with a high sense of his duty to the public. He is influential in politics as a republican, and was a delegate of the state to the Chicago convention of 1880, where he supported Garfield and was one of the three who dissented from the Conkling iron-clad resolution. Col. Burley was married December 31, 1863, to Emma, daughter of Michael Dunn, and they have three children: James D., deputy sheriff, Julia and Virginia. Mrs. Burley is a member.