Editing John Sharp Williams (section)

==Early life==
Williams was born in [[Memphis, Tennessee]], but raised in [[Yazoo County, Mississippi]], after he was orphaned during the [[American Civil War]]. After graduating from the [[Kentucky Military Institute]] in 1870, he studied at the [[Sewanee: The University of the South|University of the South]] before transferring to the [[University of Virginia|University of Virginia, Charlottesville]], where he was [[Phi Beta Kappa]] but did not complete all his science courses for his [[bachelor's degree]].<ref name="MS History">[http://www.mshistorynow.mdah.ms.gov/articles/303/john-sharp-williams Mississippi History Now – The Political Career of John Sharp Williams (1854–1932)]</ref> He spent two years in Europe at the [[University of Heidelberg]] and what is now the [[University of Burgundy]] before returning to the University of Virginia to receive his law degree in 1876.<ref name="MS History"/> After a brief return to Memphis (where he married Elizabeth Dial Webb in 1877), Williams returned to Yazoo County, where from 1878 to 1893 he ran the family plantation and kept a law practice.