William SHARON, Congress, NV (1821-1885)

1821-1885
Senate Years of Service:
1875-1881
Party:
Republican

SHARON, William, (father-in-law of Francis Griffith Newlands), a Senator from Nevada; born in Smithfield, Jefferson County, Ohio, January 9, 1821; attended Athens College; moved to St. Louis, Mo.; studied law; admitted to the bar and practiced; engaged in mercantile pursuits in Carrollton, Greene County, Ill.; moved to California in 1849 and engaged in business in Sacramento; moved to San Francisco in 1850 and was a dealer in real estate; moved to Virginia City, Storey County, Nev., in 1864 as manager of the branch of the Bank of California and became interested in silver mining; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1875, to March 3, 1881; chairman, Committee on Mines and Mining (Forty-fifth Congress); resided in San Francisco, Calif., until his death on November 13, 1885; interment in Laurel Hill Cemetery in San Francisco; reinterred in Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, Colma, Calif.

Bibliography

Kroninger, Robert. Sarah and the Senator. Berkeley, Calif.: Howell-North, 1964; Roberts, Gary L. “In Pursuit of Duty.” American West 7 (September 1970): 27-33, 62-63; Makley, Michael J. The Infamous King of the Comstock. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2006.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present