William P. Sheffield

Quill platform ID: p11164.

(August 30, 1820 — June 2, 1907) William Paine Sheffield, (father of William Paine Sheffield), a Representative and a Senator from Rhode Island; born in New Shoreham, Block Island, Newport County, R.I., August 30, 1820; completed preparatory studies; attended Kingston Academy, Rhode Island, and graduated from the law department of Harvard University in 1843; admitted to the bar in 1844 and commenced practice in Newport, R.I.; delegate to the State constitutional conventions in 1841 and 1842; member, State house of representatives 1842-1845, 1849-1853, 1857-1861; moved to Tiverton, R.I.; returned to Newport, R.I.; elected as a Union candidate to the Thirty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1861-March 3, 1863); resumed the practice of law; appointed in 1871 one of the commissioners to revise the State laws; member, State house of representatives 1875-1884; appointed as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Henry B. Anthony and served from November 19, 1884, to January 20, 1885; resumed the practice of his profession; died in Newport, R.I., June 2, 1907; interment in the Island Cemetery. [Source: “Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 - Present,” available at https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/S000319]

Member of Rhode Island Delegation—The Road to Civil War.

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