William Paine Sheffield (June 1, 1857 – October 19, 1919) was a

United States representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

. Born in Newport, R.I. on June 1, 1857, he was the son of U.S. Representative William Paine Sheffield, Sr. He was born in

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...

and attended Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts from 1869 to 1873. He graduated from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

in 1877, and studied law at the University of Paris and Harvard Law School. He was admitted to the bar in 1880 and commenced practice in Newport. He was a commissioner to extend citizenship to the Narragansett Tribe of Indians in 1880. Sheffield was commissioned a colonel in the Rhode Island Militia on the military staff of Governor

George Peabody Wetmore George Peabody Wetmore (August 2, 1846September 11, 1921) was an American politician who was the 37th Governor of, and a Senator from, Rhode Island. Early life George Peabody Wetmore was born in London, England, during a visit of his parents ...

in 1895. He was member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives in 1885–1887, 1889, 1890, 1894–1896, and 1899–1901. He served as a member of the commission to revise the State constitution in 1897. Sheffield was elected as a Republican to the Sixty-first Congress and served from March 4, 1909, to March 3, 1911. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1910 and in 1912. He served as a member of the Republican National Committee in 1913 as well as a member of the committee to revise the State constitution in 1918. In 1920 Sheffield was elected as an honorary member of the Rhode Island

Society of the Cincinnati The Society of the Cincinnati is a fraternal, hereditary society founded in 1783 to commemorate the American Revolutionary War that saw the creation of the United States. Membership is largely restricted to descendants of military officers wh ...

. He and his father are among the very few father and son "teams" to both be elected to membership in the Society. He died in

Exeter, Rhode Island Exeter is a town in Washington County, Rhode Island, United States. Exeter extends east from the Connecticut border to the town of North Kingstown. It is bordered to the north by West Greenwich and East Greenwich, and to the south by Hopkinton, ...

on October 19, 1919. He was buried in the

Island Cemetery The Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery are a pair of separate cemeteries on Farewell and Warner Street in Newport, Rhode Island. Together they contain over 5,000 graves, including a colonial-era slave cemetery and Jewish graves. The pair ...

in Newport.

References

"The Political Graveyard"

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheffield, William 1857 births 1919 deaths Phillips Academy alumni Brown University alumni Burials in Rhode Island Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Rhode Island University of Paris alumni Harvard Law School alumni Republican Party members of the Rhode Island House of Representatives 19th-century American politicians