William was born on June 5, 1773 on his father's farm in Cranston, Rhode Island, United States. He was the son of William and Isabel (Waterman) Sprague, descended from William Sprague who emigrated from England and died at Hingham, Massachussets, in 1675.
After obtaining the education afforded by the district schools of the time and helping in the farm work, Sprague induced his father to erect a gristmill for him in Cranston because he then had but little interest in farming.
His enterprises in farming were very successful, and about 1808 he ventured into the field of textiles, particularly the manufacture of cotton cloth. He first converted his gristmill into a factory to card and spin cotton yarn, using the crude machinery available for the purpose.
As power weaving was then unknown, he arranged with the local farmers' wives and daughters to weave his yarn on their own hand looms and return the cloth to him. After bleaching it in the open air by the sun and water method he sold the finished product to merchants as far away as Baltimore, Maryland. This was one of the first cotton-cloth manufactories in Rhode Island, and under his management it was continued successfully for upwards of thirteen years.
Meanwhile rapid developments in cotton-mill machinery had taken place, particularly in power machinery, and in 1821 he purchased one half of the water power at Natick Falls, Kent County, Rhode Island, and erected there a forty-two-loom cotton mill as well as a building for carding and spinning.
He died at his home in Cranston from the effects of a bone that was stuck in his throat.
Besides being one of the earliest cotton-cloth manufacturers William Sprague was also among the first calico printers of Rhode Island, for in 1824 he transformed his original mill at Cranston into a bleaching, dyeing, and printing factory and began to manufacture and market calicoes known as "indigo blues. " The printing machines first used printed but two colors, additional colors being printed by hand with wood blocks.
Until in his early thirties he evidenced little interest in politics. Then he became a violent anti-Mason and did everything he could to overthrow the Masonic order in Rhode Island, even running for governor in 1832 on the Anti-Masonic Ticket.
He married Anna Potter of Cranston. They had five children.
