William F. Rhea
American politician (1858-1931)
William Francis Rhea (April 20, 1858 – March 23, 1931) was a U.S. representative from Virginia, a Virginia state court judge, and a member of the Virginia State Corporation Commission.
Biography
Born on a farm near Bristol, Virginia in Washington County, Rhea attended rural and private schools. He graduated from King College in Bristol, Tennessee, in 1878, studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1879 and commenced practice in Bristol, Virginia.
He served as judge of the county court for Washington County in the years 1880–1885.
He served as member of the Senate of Virginia in the years 1885–1888.
He served as judge of the Corporation Court for the City of Bristol, Virginia.
He resigned in 1895 and resumed the practice of law.
Rhea was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-sixth and Fifty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1899 – March 3, 1903), defeating James A. Walker, the previous incumbent. Walker contested the result of both elections. At a deposition related to the 1898, a shootout occurred, and Walker was wounded.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “William F. Rhea” as american politician (1858-1931). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american politician (1858-1931). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1256903. VIAF identifies the subject as 314816055. The Library of Congress control number is no2015010938. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1858, 1931, 1878 and 1879.
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This entry incorporates text from “William F. Rhea” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.