William Sprague III
William Sprague III | |
|---|---|
John B. Francis | |
| Succeeded by | Samuel Ward King |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Rhode Island's At-large district | |
| In office March 4, 1835 – March 3, 1837 | |
| Preceded by | Tristam Burges |
| Succeeded by | Robert B. Cranston |
| Speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives | |
| In office 1832–1835 | |
| Preceded by | Joseph L. Tillinghast |
| Succeeded by | Henry Y. Cranston |
| Personal details | |
| Born | November 3, 1799 Cranston, Rhode Island |
| Died | October 19, 1856 (aged 56) Providence, Rhode Island |
| Political party | Whig |
William Sprague, also known as William III or William Sprague III (November 3, 1799 – October 19, 1856), was a politician and industrialist from the
Biography
William Sprague was the son of William Sprague [1773-1836] and Anna Potter [1763-1828]. He was born in the
He was elected as an at-large candidate from the
His family fortune came from the cotton and paint manufacturing, and he assumed active control of the family business following the murder of his brother Amasa on December 31, 1843. The Senator took an active interest in the trial of the Gordon brothers for the murder. The trial resulted in one of the defendants being sent to the gallows, and remains highly controversial for the amount of anti-Irish bigotry involved. In 2011, the condemned man was posthumously pardoned by the Rhode Island governor.[2]
In addition to the family business, he was president of the Hartford, Providence, and Fishkill Railroad, and of two banks. The extended Sprague family has descendants who live in the Utica, New York area.[3] Sprague died in Providence, Rhode Island, and is interred in Swan Point Cemetery there.[4]
References
- ^ "The Builder Magazine - December 1926".
- ^ Erika Niedowski, "RI governor pardons Irish man hanged in 1845", Associated Press, 2011-06-29.
- ^ Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
- ^ "Notable Persons Interred at Swan Point Cemetery". Swan Point Cemetery. Retrieved March 26, 2014.
Further reading
- Hoffman, Charles, and Hoffman, Tess. Brotherliy Love: Murder and the Politics of Prejudice in Nineteenth-Century Rhode Island. Amherst: The University of Massachusetts Press, 1993.
- Knight, Benjamin. History of the Sprague Families, of Rhode Island. Santa Cruz: H. Coffin, 1881.
- Warwick Beacon 29 May 2003 Lifebeats section, "Historic Homes" by Don D'Amato on Sprague's anti-masonic politics
External links
- William Sprague at National Governors Association
- William Sprague (1799–1856) entry at The Political Graveyard
- William Sprague III at Find a Grave
This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- United States Congress. "William Sprague III (id: S000746)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- William Sprague's 1932 Anti-Masonic Ticket from the Rhode Island State Archives
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