Sikes/Sykes Family Cards - Person Sheet
Sikes/Sykes Family Cards - Person Sheet
NameWilliam Cecil Price 
Birth1 Apr 1816, Elk Garden, Russell Cty, VA
FatherCrabtree Price (1786-1852)
MotherLuvinia “Linnie” Cecil (1786-1868)
Notes for William Cecil Price
United States Treasury Secretary. He left Virginia along with his family in 1836 and moved to Greene county, Missouri. He was schooled at Knoxville College in Tennessee and when he returned to Missouri he taught school and worked as a clerk in a merchandise store. He also began to read law with the intention of becoming a lawyer. In 1840 he was appointed deputy sheriff of Greene county and the following year was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Greene county administrative court. Three years later he completed his law degree and was admitted to the bar. In 1847 he was elected probate court judge. After several years of turmoil involving territorial issues, including a possible repeal of the Missouri Compromise he ran for the State Senate and was elected in 1854. He served for three years, but resigned to accept an appointment as a Circuit Court Judge. In 1859 Governor Medary named him to represent the state of Washington at land office discussions on swamp and overflowed lands. He was successful in his efforts saving several hundred houses and acres of land for Missouri. In 1860 President Buchanan appointed Price as Treasurer of the United States. He served from February 28, 1860 until his resignation on March 21, 1861. When the Civil War began he enlisted in Missouri's Confederate Brigade as a private, serving under his cousin General Sterling Price. He was captured at the battle of Pea Ridge and imprisoned at Alton, Illinois and later exchanged. After returning to his company he was appointed a Major by President Jefferson Davis and assigned as a recruiting officer in Missouri. After the war he returned to Missouri and opened a law practice in St. Louis and later Springfield. Mixed in with his law practice he became an avid student of theology and the solution of metaphysical problems. Near the end of his life he moved to Chicago to live with his son-in-law.