William Bayard Shields | |
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Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Mississippi | |
In office April 20, 1818 – April 18, 1823 | |
Appointed by | James Monroe |
Preceded by | Seat established by 3 Stat. 413 |
Succeeded by | Peter Randolph |
Personal details | |
Born | William Bayard Shields 1780 Maryland |
Died | April 18, 1823 Natchez, Mississippi | (aged 42–43)
Education | read law |
William Bayard Shields (1780 – April 18, 1823) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Mississippi.
Born in 1780, [1] in Maryland, [2] Shields read law [2] with Caesar Augustus Rodney. [3] He entered private practice in Wilmington, Delaware until 1802. [2] He was Secretary of State of Delaware in 1802. [2] He resumed private practice in Natchez, Mississippi Territory (State of Mississippi from December 10, 1817) from 1803 to 1809, until 1812, and from 1814 to 1817. [2] He was a United States agent to adjust land claims west of the Pearl River in 1804. [2] He was a member of the Territorial Legislature of the Mississippi Territory from 1808 to 1809, and from 1813 to 1814. [2] He was Attorney General of the Mississippi Territory starting in 1809. [2] He was a Judge of the Superior Court of Mississippi and a Justice of the Supreme Court of Mississippi from 1817 to 1818. [2] [4]
Shields was nominated by President James Monroe on April 20, 1818, to the United States District Court for the District of Mississippi, to a new seat authorized by 3 Stat. 413. [2] He was confirmed by the United States Senate on April 20, 1818, and received commission the same day. [2] His service terminated on April 18, 1823, [Note 1] due to his death in Natchez. [2]
Shields obituary in the Natchez Gazette of April 23, 1823, describes his last days and death thus; "On the morning of the 16th inst. he had a severe attack of Apoplexy, which was followed by a severe derangement of his mind which continued in violent paroxyms, with intervals of apparent rationality, until the evening of the 18th when in a most agonizing exacerbation he relieved himself of sufferance by suddenly terminating his existence." [3] [Note 2]