SHEFFIELD, William Paine, Congress, RI (1857-1919)

SHEFFIELD, William Paine, (son of William Paine Sheffield [1820-1907]), a Representative from Rhode Island; born in Newport, R.I., June 1, 1857; attended Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., 1869-1873 and was graduated from Brown University, Providence, R.I., in 1877; studied law at the University of Paris and the law department of Harvard University; was admitted to the bar in 1880 and commenced practice in Newport, R.I.; commissioner to extend citizenship to the Narragansett Tribe of Indians in 1880; appointed colonel on the staff of Gov. George Peabody Wetmore; member of the State house of representatives 1885-1887, 1889, 1890, 1894-1896, and 1899-1901; member of the commission to revise the State constitution in 1897; elected as a Republican to the Sixty-first Congress (March 4, 1909-March 3, 1911); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1910 to the Sixty-second Congress and in 1912 for election to the Sixty-third Congress; member of the Republican National Committee in 1913; member of the committee to revise the State constitution in 1918; died in Exeter, Washington County, R.I., October 19, 1919; interment in the Island Cemetery, Newport, R.I.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present