Background
William Lewis Sharkey was born on July 12, 1798 in Sumner County, Tennessee.
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William Lewis
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He moved to Warren County, Mississippi in 1804 with his family, when he was six years of age. In 1822, he was accepted into the bar in Natchez, Mississippi. In 1825, he moved to Vicksburg and after a few years was elected for a single term to the state House of Representatives (1828–1829).
He served briefly in 1832 as a circuit court judge before being elected a justice to the state supreme court later that year where he remained for 18 years until his resignation.
Sharkey was appointed to the office of Secretary of War by United States. President Millard Fillmore in 1851, but declined. Throughout the American Civil War, he remained a staunch Unionist and, according to one source, was "tolerated by his Confederate neighbors only because of his towering reputation as a jurist."
Governor Charles Clark appointed him in 1865 as a commissioner (along with William Yeager) to confer on behalf of the state with President Andrew Johnson.
On June 13, 1865, Johnson appointed Sharkey to be provisional governor, leaving office with the election of Benjamin G. Humphreys in October. He was elected Senator in 1865 but was denied his seat by the United States Congress.
Death
He died in Washington, District of Columbia in 1873.
He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Jackson, Mississippi. Sharkey County, Mississippi is named after him.
Membership
He was a member of the Whig Party and was strongly opposed to the secession of Mississippi in 1861.
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Born
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Died
March 30, 1873 (aged 74) -
Nationality
United States -
Political Party
Whig Party