US Congressman, US Senator. He was born in Hanover County, Virginia, to lawyer, politician, and jurist, Spencer Roane and his wife Anne Henry Roane on September 17, 1787. He was educated locally and completed preparatory studies as a young man. He then entered politics and was elected and served a term as a Member of the Virginia State House of Delegates from 1812 to 1815. He also served as a Member of the Executive Council of Virginia. He then decided to run for a seat in the United States Congress and was elected. A Member of the Democratic-Republican Party, he then served Virginia's 22nd District (Fifteenth Congress), in the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1815, to March 3, 1817. He was not a Candidate for renomination. After his term in the United States Congress expired he was succeeded in office by United States Representative Robert Selden Garnett on March 4, 1817. After leaving the United States Congress he engaged in farming and agricultural pursuits. He was then elected as a Democrat to serve a term in the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of United States Senator Richard Elliott Parker in 1837. He served in the United States Senate from March 14, 1837, to March 3, 1841. He also served as Chairman of the Committee on the District of Columbia representing the Twenty-Fifth Congress from 1837 to 1839. He was not a Candidate for reelection in 1841. After his term in the United States Senate expired he was succeeded in office by United States Senator William Segar Archer on March 4, 1841. He then left public service and resumed his farming and agricultural pursuits until his death. He passed away from an illness in Tree Hill, Henrico County, Virginia, near Richmond, Virginia, on May 11, 1845, at the age of 57, and was buried in the Lyons Family Cemetery in his native Hanover County, Virginia. He was married to Sarah Ann Lyons Roane and the couple had one child together. His wife Sarah passed away in Hanover, Virginia, on April 28, 1828, at the age of 22, and her burial location is currently unknown. He married for a second time to Martha Bland Patsy Selden Roane in Henrico County, Virginia, on May 5, 1809, and the couple had three children together. His wife Martha passed away in Richmond, Virginia, on August 10, 1810, at the age of 23, and her burial location is currently unknown. He was the grandson of politician and orator Patrick Henry (1736-1799). On his passing, the Richmond Enquirer Newspaper of Richmond, Virginia, dated May 23, 1845, said of him, "In the hour of victory, when the Democracy of Virginia were rejoicing in the triumph of their principles, they have to mourn the loss of one of the most talented, faithful, and honored of her sons. In that long list of honored and illustrious names which adorns her annals, Virginia has found few whom she more valued, more trusted, or more largely confided in, than that of William H. Roane. His talents, fidelity, and republican principles drew to him, throughout his life, the most gratifying manifestations of the exalted opinion of the people of his State; and he goes down to the grave as one of the good and the just, mourned and lamented by all."