Xenophon P. Wilfley (1871-1931) was a Democratic politician who represented the state of Missouri in the U.S. Senate for five months in 1918. Wilfly was born near Mexico, Missouri on March 18, 1871, and attended local country schools in his youth. An 1891 graduate of Clarksburg College, he graduated from Central College in Fayette, Missouri in 1894, teaching there for one year and at Sedalia High School for three. In 1899 he graduated from Washington University's law school and began the practice of law in St. Louis. From 1917 to 1918 he was the chairman of the city's board of election commissioners; in 1918 he was appointed to the Senate as a Democrat to fill out the term of William J. Stone, who had died in office. Wilfley served from April 30 to November 5, and was the chairman of the Committee on Industrial Expositions; upon his defeat he resumed his practice, becoming president of the Missouri Bar Association in 1925. He died in St. Louis on May 4, 1931 and is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery.
