The Weekly Tallahasseean., 1902-02-21
WILLIAM NICHOLAS SHEATS.
State Superintendent of Public Instruc-

The sturdy ancestry to which the
subject of this sketch points with pride,
is fully attested by two traits Of char
acter which be cOnfesses to have been
his legacy and which made him the one
man in Florida pre-eminently fitted for
the leadership in the tremendous Strug-
giles for popular education which have
made his name familiar to every man,
woman and child in the State.
His paternal great-grandfathe
SheatS was a Eirginian descended from
the German Schultz families, and be-
queathed to him his Teutonic determin-
alton and persistency; while the ma
ternal great-grandfathe Jackson,
North CarOlinian of the same stock as
old Hickory" was! of Irish descent
and made him, as well as his illuStri-
Gus relative, always ready to contend
fearlessly for what ne had set his heart
upOn-a trait that has usually marked
the winners in this world.
All four Of his grandparents were
natives of Wilkes county, Georgia, as
was his mother, Ann E. Jackson. His
father, John L. Sheats, was born n
Clark (now OcOneel county, Georgia,
and later became a planter in GEInneEt
county, where William Nicholas was
born, at Auburn, in 1851.
Through the death of his father when
he was but six years old, the boy early
met. with the necessity of giving his
serious attention to the duties incl
dent to farm life, and learned along,
attending occasional short terms Of
school, until the close of the civil war,
when he was informed by his guardian
that his inheritance had been lost in
that struggle.
In the winter of 1866 he came to Co
| lumbia county, Fla, and found employ
ment as a labOrer on a farm, and by in
dustry and economy he found himself
enabled to conduct a farm for himself
the following year. In this he was very
successful for mere boy, and with the
proceeds of his venture as his only cap
ital he entered the preparatory depart
ment of Emory College in January,
1869. He entered the college proper in
five months, and four years later he re-
ceived second hOnOrS in a graduating
class of twenty-fOur. The first honOrs
on that occasion were carried off by
ChaS. E. bowman, who is today the dis
tinguished president of his Alma Mater
During the school year i3-'74 he was
first assistant in Fletcher Institute, a.
lThOmasville, Ca, which position he re-
signed to become principal of the school
at Camilla, where the best teaching nf
his life, in his opinion, was done. 1fter
three years service in this position he
tn ho0nT1oo
the East Florida Seminary, at Gaines
vile, and for four years engaged. in
teaching Florida boys. He was still in
i this position when he became a candi-
date for the position of county SUPER
intendent Of public instruction of Ala
i chua county, and was elected In 1880
by majority of 80 over the combined
vote of four opponents.
/ In this important position he soon
made himself felt as an educational
leader, and his vigorous, progressive
administration opened the eyes-and
the mouths-Of the moss-backs. He
overcame obstacles and advanced edu
cational ideals until his success COM
manded the confidence and the admira-
ton Of the most inveterate opponents
of popular education. The people of
the county sustained him in this posi-
ton for twelve years, and released him
then only that he might become for the
State what he had been for the county
While county superintendent he was
elected to represent Alachua in the con-
stitutiOnal convention of 1885. Here he
was the leader of the forces faVOrine
liberal provision for public education
He prepared the article (XID on educa-
ton and fought with dOgged persist
ency and fertility of resource against
the determined and even bitter antag-
onlsm OF a most powerful opposition
for the adoption of every progressive
feature in it. Time has thoroughly vim
dicated him and this constitutional ar
ticle will stand as monument to his
love for public schools.
!, His nomination and election to the
State SUPPLEMENTARY in 1892, and his
administration of that trust, are toe
well known to need comment here.
He has probably been the most talked
. of man in Florida politics. He has
probably been the best loved and the
best hated man before the State, but
his radical measures have one after
another been accepted as permanent
features of our State laws and institu-
tions, and the bitterest opponent OF
their infancy would now be equally as
opposed to an effort to destroy these
beneficial provisions. The MANY mis-.
takes charged to him-and he were
more than human of some of the
charges were not well founded-in his
methods of bringing about reforms
have been well nigh all forgiven and
forgotten in gratitude for the reforms
themselves.
Although he comes from an almost
unbroken Baptist ancestry, he has al
ways been prominent Methodist in re-
ligion. He is sent nearly every year as
lay delegate to the annual conference;
mas served once as delegate to the gen
eral conference, and was selected at the
last annual conference for this honor
in 1902. He has been a Sunday School
superintendent nearly all his life.
In politics he has been an unWaver-
ing Democrat, ardently advocating the
rights of the masses against the privi-
leges of the few.
, On one occasion, having been asked
what he considered the chief personal
factors in his success, he replied that
If he had done any good it was due t.