Early years
William Fisher Wharton was born in theMassachusetts political career
Wharton entered politics in late 1879, when he first ran for office. In December of that year, Boston elected a Democratic mayor, Frederick O. Prince, but Republicans won the majority in the Common Council (later known as the City Council); among the elected Republicans was William F. Wharton. He was appointed to two committees: finance and ordinances. He became known for his work revising and updating city ordinances, and by 1884, after having been re-elected twice, he was named chairman of the ordinances committee. Wharton also became known for being fiscally prudent while serving on the finance committee; for example, he disapproved of granting pay raises to city officials, saying he believed they were making a sufficient amount of money already. Wharton was well-regarded by the city's political establishment: the Boston Herald praised his work on the council, saying he had become "one of the most influential members of the lower branch of the city government." Subsequently, Wharton continued to move up in Massachusetts politics, getting elected to the House of Representatives in 1885. He served there until 1888, becoming the chairman of the rules committee as well as working on issues related to the railroads.National politics
Wharton was chosen by Republican PresidentAfter politics
William F. Wharton moved back to his home on Beacon Street in downtown Boston, and while he remained a loyal supporter of Republican causes, he did not run for office again, despite calls by the Boston Herald for him to do so. He was active in the Boston Bar Association, as well as the Massachusetts Bar Association. He and his wife had a summer home in Groton, where they socialized with members of Boston's most influential families. Wharton died at his Boston home, on May 20, 1919, at the age of 72. Despite being very influential in local politics in Massachusetts in the 1880s and 1890s, today it is all but forgotten: a Boston Globe article in January 2013 noted that "Some of the even more obscure ecretaries of Stateinclude William F. Wharton, who was acting secretary of state twice in the early 1890s. He is so forgotten that he does not even have his own Wikipedia page."Bryan Bender. "Kerry appointment would revive Bay State connection." Boston Globe, January 24, 2013, p. A8 But although Wharton remains relatively unknown, at least now, he does have his own Wikipedia entry.References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wharton, William 1847 births 1919 deaths 19th-century American lawyers Acting United States Secretaries of State Harvard Law School alumni Harvard College alumni Lawyers from Boston Massachusetts Republicans People from Jamaica Plain United States Assistant Secretaries of State