<Tr> <Th> Spouse (s) </Th> <Td> Tillie Ziegler (common law wife) </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Conviction (s) </Th> <Td> Murder </Td> </Tr> <P> William Francis Kemmler (May 9, 1860--August 6, 1890) of Buffalo, New York, was a convicted murderer and the first person in the world to be legally executed using an electric chair . </P> <P> William Kemmler was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . Both of his parents were immigrants from Germany and both of them were alcoholics . After dropping out of school at age 10, having learned neither how to read nor write, Kemmler worked in his father's butcher shop . His father died from an infection that he received after a drunken brawl and his mother died from complications of alcoholism . After his parents died, he went into the peddling business and earned enough money to buy a horse and cart, although at this point he was becoming a heavy drinker . In one episode involving him and his friends after a series of drunken binges, he said he could jump his horse and cart over an eight - foot fence with the cart attached to the horse . The attempt was a failure, and his cart and goods destroyed in the incident . He was known to friends as "Philadelphia Billy" due to his drinking binges that were very well known around the saloons in his Buffalo neighborhood . Kemmler was reportedly slender, with dark brown hair . He spoke both English and German . </P>

Who was the first person to be legally executed using an electric chair