Sprague family

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The Sprague family is an American business and political family in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The family ran the largest textile firm in the United States and two of its members (William Sprague III and William Sprague IV) held the offices of Governor of Rhode Island and United States Senator.

The family arrived in the United States in 1629 when Ralph, Richard, and William Sprague emigrated from Upwey, Dorset, England to Naumkeag. [1] The family arrived in Rhode Island in 1709 after William's son, also named William, purchased a house in Providence. In the early 1800s, William Sprague II founded a successful textile business in Cranston, Rhode Island. During the early 1870s, the output of the Sprague family's nine mills was greater than all of the other mills in the United States combined and their profits were around $20 million annually. [2] Due to bad investments and careless speculation, the company fell into receivership following the Panic of 1873. By 1875, almost all of the Spragues' assets had been sold. [3]

Francis Sprague, who was unrelated to Ralph, Richard, and William, settled in the Plymouth Colony in 1623. [4] The two separate Sprague family trees converged with the marriage of Peleg Sprague, great-grandson of William Sprague, and Mercy Chandler, great-great granddaughter of Francis Sprague. [5]

Notable members

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References

  1. ↑ "The Cranston-Johnston Spragues of Rhode Island", transcribed from History of Rhode Island by Susan W. Pieroth (American Hist. Soc. 1920). Available at RI USgenweb archive. Archived November 11, 2001, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ↑ Cutter, William Richard, ed. (1914). New England Families: Genealogical and Memorial. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company. pp. 816–817. Retrieved October 6, 2022.
  3. ↑ D'Amato, Donald (2001). Warwick A City at the Crossroads. Arcadia. pp. 80–81. ISBN   9780738523699 . Retrieved October 6, 2022.
  4. ↑ "History of the Sprague Family". The New York Times. November 4, 1873.
  5. ↑ Soule, Richard (1847). Memorial of the Sprague Family. Boston: James Munroe and Company. p. 129. Retrieved October 6, 2022.
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