BIO: Sheldon Thompson Viele; New York State
surname: Viele, Thompson

submitted by W. David Samuelsen (no relation)
***********************************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.org/copyright.htm

http://www.usgwarchives.org/ny/nyfiles.htm
***********************************************************************
An Illustrated Legislative Manual
The New York Red Book
Containing the Portraits and Biographies of the U.S. Senators, Governor, State
Officers and Members of the Legislature; also with the Portraits of Judges and
Court Reporters, the New Constitution of the State, Election and Population
Statistics, and General Facts of Interest.
By Edgar L. Murlin
New Constitution Compiled by R. C. Cumming, O. L. Potter and F. B. Gilbert
Published, Albany, J. B. Lyon Company, Publishers, 1909

Copyright by J. B. Lyon Company, 1909

     Sheldon T. Viele is descended from colonial families on both sides of
the house. His paternal grandfather, John L. Viele, was a State Senator and
friend and colleague of Governor Clinton in the construction of the Erie
canal, and was descended from the first settler of that name, who came to this
country about 1650. His maternal grandfather was Sheldon Thompson, one of the
early settlers of Buffalo and a pioneer in the lake and canal transporation
business. He was the first mayor of Buffalo elected by the people. He was
descended from Jabez Thompson, an officer in the French and Indian War, and
also in the War of the Revolution, who was killed while in command of his
regiment in the retreat from New York, September, 1776. The first member of
the family in this country was Anthony Thompson, who settled in New Haven in
1638.

     Sheldon Thompson Viele was graduated by Yale in 1868, and received the
degree of Master of Arts in course in1871. He studied law in the office of E.
Carleton Sprague at Buffalo, and in May, 1871, began practice on his own
account. He has practiced with success in his native town ever since. Mr.
Viele is a vestryman of Saint Paul's Church and a trustee of Saint Margaret's
School; has served as curator of the Buffalo Library from 1886 to 1889; was
dean of the Saturn Club in 1889 was president of the University of Buffalo
during the three years following its organization in 1894 and was president of
the Yale Alumni Association of Western New York from 1895 to 1896. He is also
a member of the State bar Assocition, the Bar Association of Erie county, The
Lawyer's Club of Buffalo, the Holland Society of New York, the Sons of the
Revolution, and by inheritance a member of the Loyal Legion of the United
States. He was the first secretary of the first district committee of the
original Charity Organization Society in the United States and a trustee from
its incorporation until he retired from the board in December, 1907. He was a
member of the first executive committee of the Civil Service Reform
Association of Buffalo and has continued on the board for the last twenty-five
years. In 1905 he was appointed by the State Board of Statutory Consolidation
as one of its attorneys to complete a part of its work. He was appointedin
June, 1906, by the late Governor Higgins, a State Commissioner in Lunacy to
succeed the Honorable Daniel N. Lockwood, and was reappointed by Governor
Hughes in March, 1907. The present address of his law firm is 1022 Fidelity
Building, Buffalo.