Herndon, William D.

Herndon moved to Sangamon County, Illinois, sometime before 1837. In 1840, he served as one of the founding members of the Springfield Mechanics Union. He later sat as president of Springfield's Washington Temperance Society, of which Abraham Lincoln was a member. Herndon unsuccessfully ran for the state legislature in 1842. However, from 1844-46, he served in the Illinois House of Representatives, representing Sangamon County.

Petition of George Pasfield and Others to Lilburn W. Boggs; An Act to Incorporate the Springfield Mechanics’ Union; Proceedings of the Washington Temperance Society regarding the Death of Benjamin Ferguson; Abraham Lincoln to Joshua F. Speed; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 212.