Z 1715.000 Williams (John Sharp) Papers

John Sharp Williams was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on July 30, 1854. After the death of his parents, he moved to the family homestead of his mother in Yazoo County. He attended private schools, the Kentucky Military Institute near Frankfort, the University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn., the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, and the University of Heidelberg, Baden, Germany. Subsequently, he studied law at the University of Virginia and in Memphis and was admitted to the bar in Shelby County, Tennessee, in 1877. He moved to Yazoo City in December 1878, where he became engaged in the practice of law and interested in cotton planting. He was a delegate to the Democratic Convention at Chicago in 1892 and was elected as a Democrat to the 53rd and to the seven succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1893–March 1909). He was the Democratic minority leader in the 58th, 59th and 60th Congresses and served as temporary chairman of the Democratic National Convention at St. Louis in 1904 which nominated Parker and Davis. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1908. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention at Baltimore in 1912 which nominated Wilson and Marshall. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1911, he was re-elected in 1917, serving until March 3, 1923, when he declined to be a candidate for renomination, retiring to his plantation, "Cedar Grove," near Yazoo City. He died there on September 27, 1932.

The correspondence includes: one letter to Gov. Henry L. Whitfield (March 18, 1927) discussing Bowers' [Claude] book, Jefferson and Hamilton, and a second letter to Eaton J. Bowers of New Orleans (June 20, 1928) recalling the nomination of Alton Parker for president and the monetary standard platform arguments at the 1904 National Democratic Convention.

Series: 1. Correspondence 1927; 1928. 2 items.