B.A. Yale, 1861; M.A. 1864; B.D., 1868; LL.D. Ursinus, 1900.

Gk. tchr. Collegiate & Commercial Inst. (New Haven, CT), 1863-5; princ. Guilford (CT) Inst., 1865; princ. prep. dept. Western Reserve Coll. (Hudson, OH), 1869-73; princ. class, dept. Chickering Inst. (Cincinnati, OH), 1875-6; prof, class, langs. Colorado Coll., 1876-90; vice pres. Girard Coll. (Philadelphia, PA), 1892-1913.

A Second-Century Satirist; or Dialogues and Stories from Lucian of Samosata (trans.) (Philadelphia, 1901); "Lucian and His Translators," Sewanee Review 27 (1919) 17-31.

W. D. Sheldon spent his career, aside from Civil War military service with the 27th Connecticut Volunteers, as a teacher and administrator in secondary schools and colleges. He was a pioneer in Colorado education, effectively beginning the teaching, and the teaching of classics, at Colorado College. At 61 he published a substantial translation of the works of Lucian, whom (in a later article reviewing his and other translations) he likened to Mark Twain.

Girard Coll. official hist.; WhAm 4:855; Yale alumni records.