William Sprague III

{{Infobox officeholder

|image = William Sprague 1799 1856.jpg

|jr/sr1 = United States Senator

|state1 = Rhode Island

|term_start1 = February 18, 1842

|term_end1 = January 17, 1844

|predecessor1 = Nathan F. Dixon

|successor1 = John B. Francis

|order2 = 14th

|office2 = Governor of Rhode Island

|term_start2 = May 2, 1838

|term_end2 = May 2, 1839

|lieutenant2 = Joseph Childs

|predecessor2 = John B. Francis

|successor2 = Samuel Ward King

|state3 = Rhode Island

|district3 = at-large

|term_start3 = March 4, 1835

|term_end3 = March 3, 1837

|predecessor3 = Tristam Burges

|successor3 = Robert B. Cranston

|office4 = Speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives

|term_start4 = 1832

|term_end4 = 1835

|predecessor4 = Joseph L. Tillinghast

|successor4 = Henry Y. Cranston

|birth_date = {{birth date|1799|11|3}}

|birth_place = Cranston, Rhode Island

|death_date = {{death date and age|1856|10|19|1799|11|3}}

|death_place = Providence, Rhode Island

|party = Whig

}}

William Sprague, also known as William III or William Sprague III (November 3, 1799{{spaced ndash}}October 19, 1856), was a politician and industrialist from the U.S. state of Rhode Island, serving as the 14th Governor, a U.S. Representative and a U.S. Senator. He was the uncle of William Sprague IV, also a Governor and Senator from Rhode Island.

Biography

William Sprague was the son of William Sprague (1773–1836) and Anna Potter (1763–1828). He was born in the Gov. William Sprague Mansion in Cranston, Rhode Island, and pursued classical studies as a student. He engaged in mercantile pursuits and was a member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, serving as speaker from 1832 to 1835 and leading a coalition of Anti-Masonic and Democratic Party members.{{Cite web|url=http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/the_builder_1926_december.htm|title = The Builder Magazine - December 1926}}

He was elected as an at-large candidate from the Whig Party to the Twenty-fourth Congress and served from March 4, 1835, to March 3, 1837. He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1836. He was elected Governor of Rhode Island in 1838. He subsequently was elected as a Whig to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Nathan F. Dixon and served from February 18, 1842, to January 17, 1844, when he resigned. He served as chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Enrolled Bills in the Twenty-seventh Congress. He was a U.S. presidential elector on the Whig ticket in 1848.

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.Erika Niedowski, [http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2011/06/29/ri_governor_pardons_irish_man_hanged_in_1845/ "RI governor pardons Irish man hanged in 1845"], Associated Press, 2011-06-29.

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.{{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Sprague, William|year=1900}}

Sprague died in Providence, Rhode Island, and is interred in Swan Point Cemetery there.{{cite web|url= http://swanpointcemetery.com/notable-people.php|title= Notable Persons Interred at Swan Point Cemetery|publisher = Swan Point Cemetery|access-date= March 26, 2014}}

References

External links

[https://www.nga.org/governor/william-sprague-2/ William Sprague] at National Governors Association
[http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/sprague.html#276.56.23 William Sprague (1799–1856) entry] at The Political Graveyard
{{find a Grave|5561}}
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[https://sosri.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/digitalFile_df41cd13-573f-4996-84fa-17d0745aab91/ William Sprague's 1932 Anti-Masonic Ticket] from the Rhode Island State Archives

{{s-ttl|title=Anti-Masonic nominee for Governor of Rhode Island|years=1831, 1832}}

{{s-ttl|title=Whig nominee for Governor of Rhode Island|years=1838, 1839}}

{{US House succession box |state= Rhode Island |district= AL |before= Dutee Jerauld Pearce |after= Robert B. Cranston |years= March 4, 1835 – March 3, 1837}}

{{succession box |before= John Brown Francis |title= Governor of Rhode Island |years= May 2, 1838 – May 2, 1839 | after= Samuel Ward King}}

{{U.S. Senator box |state= Rhode Island |class= 1 |before= Nathan F. Dixon |after= John B. Francis |alongside= James F. Simmons |years= February 18, 1842 – January 17, 1844}}

Category:1799 births

Category:1856 deaths

Category:Governors of Rhode Island

Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from Rhode Island

Category:Speakers of the Rhode Island House of Representatives

Category:Democratic Party members of the Rhode Island House of Representatives

Category:United States senators from Rhode Island

Category:Politicians from Cranston, Rhode Island

Category:Rhode Island Whigs

Category:Anti-Masonic Party politicians from Rhode Island

Category:Whig Party United States senators

Category:Burials at Swan Point Cemetery