Biography
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Born in
New Shoreham
(on
Block Island
), he completed preparatory studies, attended
Kingston Academy
, and graduated from
Harvard Law School
in 1843. He was admitted to the bar in 1844 and commenced practice in
Newport
. In 1841 and 1842 he was a delegate to the
State constitutional conventions
and was a member of the
Rhode Island House of Representatives
from 1842 to 1845, from 1849 to 1853, and from 1857 to 1861. He moved to
Tiverton
and returned to Newport.
Sheffield was elected as a Union candidate to the Thirty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1861 ? March 3, 1863) and then resumed the practice of law; he was appointed in 1871 one of the commissioners to revise the State laws, and was a member of the State house of representatives from 1875 to 1884. He was appointed as a
Republican
to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of
Henry B. Anthony
and served from November 19, 1884, to January 20, 1885, after which he resumed the practice of his profession.
In 1892 Sheffield was elected as an honorary member of the Rhode Island
Society of the Cincinnati
.
Sheffield died in Newport in 1907; interment was in the
Island Cemetery
.
Sheffield was the father of
William Paine Sheffield Jr.
, also a U.S. Representative from Rhode Island.
References
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External links
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