Background
He was born on July 12, 1798 in the Holston valley of eastern Tennessee, United States. Patrick Sharkey, his father, was of Irish descent; his mother was the daughter of Robert Rhodes.
(This work has been selected by scholars as being cultural...)
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
https://www.amazon.com/Revised-Code-Statute-State-Mississippi/dp/1343571642?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1343571642
He was born on July 12, 1798 in the Holston valley of eastern Tennessee, United States. Patrick Sharkey, his father, was of Irish descent; his mother was the daughter of Robert Rhodes.
He attended school in Greeneville. later he continued the study of law under Judge Edward Turner in Natchez.
William entered the War of 1812 and was with Jackson at New Orleans. While returning to Tennessee at the close of the war, he removed to Mississippi and settled on land now covered by the southern part of Vicksburg. In Tennessee he read law at Lebanon before following his relatives to Mississippi.
He was admitted to the bar in 1822, opened his office at Warrenton, and removed to Vicksburg three years later. During 1828 and 1829 he was a member of the state House of Representatives. In 1832 he was made circuit judge but served only a few months before being elected one of the three judges of the high court of errors and appeals. This is noteworthy because just before the election he had vigorously opposed the part of the constitution of 1832 that subjected the judiciary to popular election. His two associates on the bench at once chose him chief justice. He was reelected at the expiration of each term, although immediately before one election he resisted the popular demand for the repudiation of the Union Bank bonds.
He declined a seat in Taylor's cabinet in 1848. In November 1851 financial pressure drove him to resign his judgeship and to resume his private practice. He settled in Jackson.
He was elected president of the Nashville convention of 1850, and with great skill he strove to block the efforts of the extreme Southern party to capture that body. He worked in the same direction in 1859, when the opening of the African slave-trade was proposed in the Vicksburg convention. Fillmore appointed him to represent the United States as consul at Havana, but he soon resigned.
A task more to his liking came with his selection by the Mississippi legislature to be a member of a commission to compile The Revised Code of the Statute Laws of Mississippi (1857). A charter member of the board of trustees of the University of Mississippi, he served from 1844 to 1865.
Shortly afterward, in June 1865, he was appointed provisional governor, and he served until after the election of Benjamin G. Humphreys in the fall of that year. In spite of clashes of opinion over the well-known reconstruction problems and of Sharkey's own pre-war and war records, he evidently retained the confidence of the people of the state for he was chosen United States senator, but was denied a seat in that body, when Congress repudiated Johnson's plan of reconstruction. In 1867 he and Robert J. Walker unsuccessfully endeavored to obtain a decision of the federal Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the Reconstruction activities of Congress.
He died in Washington, District of Columbia in 1873.
(This work has been selected by scholars as being cultural...)
Although in his early political life he was a state-rights Whig, before 1861 he was probably the most active anti-secession man in Mississippi. In 1863 he took the oath of allegiance to the Union. These facts, together with his birth in east Tennessee, made him an unusually suitable person to negotiate with President Johnson concerning the reconstruction of Mississippi.
His wisdom, friendly manner, and upright life, as well as his religious convictions, enabled him to remain a trusted leader.
Quotes from others about the person
After his death Henry S. Foote, who had known him forty years, wrote: "I never knew a person of more integrity and honor; nor one whose general course of life was more blameless and more worthy of commendation. "
He married Minerva (Hyland) Wren Sharkey.