James Sheakley

James Sheakley (around 1900)

James Sheakley (born April 24, 1829 in Sheakleyville , Mercer County in Pennsylvania , † December 11, 1917 in Greenville , Mercer County, Pennsylvania) was an American Democratic politician .

Career

James Sheakley was born on April 24, 1829 in Sheakleyville, Mercer County, Pennsylvania. He attended community schools and the Meadville ( Pa. ) Academy. Sheakley learned the trade of carpenter and then moved to California in 1851 , where he pursued gold mining. He later returned to Pennsylvania, where he settled in Greenville in 1855. There he engaged in commercial activities, in 1864 he pursued the extraction and transport of petroleum. He was also the school principal in Greenville, Pennsylvania between 1864 and 1868.

Sheakley decided to pursue a political career in 1875 by being elected a Democrat to the forty-fourth US Congress , where he served from March 4, 1875 to March 3, 1877. He suffered a defeat in his 1876 candidacy for re-election to the forty-fifth Congress. In July 1887, President Cleveland appointed him US commissioner for schools in Alaska , an office which he held for five years. During this time he studied law and was admitted to the United States District Court of Alaska in 1888 . He was then a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1892 . The following year, 1893, he was elected Territorial Governor of the District of Alaska , an office he held until 1897. He then returned to Greenville, Pennsylvania in 1898, where he was elected Mayor of Greenville in 1909 , an office he held until 1913. Sheakley was elected Justice of the Peace in 1914 and remained so until his death on December 11, 1917 in Greenville, Pennsylvania. He was buried in Shenango Valley Cemetery.

Web links

• James Sheakley in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• James Sheakley in the database of Find a Grave (English)