James Sheakley (24 April 1829-10 December 1917) was a member of the US House of Representatives (D-PA 26) from 4 March 1875 to 3 March 1877 (preceding John McCandless Thompson) and Governor of the District of Alaska from 29 August 1893 to 15 July 1897 (succeeding Lyman Enos Knapp and preceding John Green Brady).
Biography
James Sheakley was born in Sheakleyville, Pennsylvania in 1829, and he worked as a rural schoolteacher before heading to San Francisco, California during the Gold Rush. He worked as a miner from 1852 to 1855 before moving to Greenville, Pennsylvania and marrying. He went on to establish a dry goods business. Sheakley pioneered the booming oil industry and worked in that industry until 1874, when he was elected to the US House of Representatives as a Democrat. Sheakley supported enlarging the Bureau of Education and filibustered an 1876 bill granting the presidency to Rutherford B. Hayes. In 1887, he was appointed a circuit court judge in Alaska, starting his position in Wrangell. He became a lawyer in 1888, served as a delegate to the 1892 Democratic National Convention, and served as Governor of the District of Alaska from 1893 to 1897. He died in his hometown of Greenville in 1917.