{{Short description|American politician (1854–1898)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = William J. Sinon | image = William J. Sinon 1880 Sketch.jpg | caption = Sketch by Carl Browne, 1880 | state_assembly1 = California | district1 = 9th | term_start1 = January 8, 1883 | term_end1 = January 5, 1885 | predecessor1 = ''Multi-member district'' | successor1 = John M. Ward | term_start2 = January 5, 1880 | term_end2 = January 3, 1881 | predecessor2 = ''Multi-member district'' | successor2 = ''Multi-member district'' | birth_date = 1854 | birth_place = Brantford, Province of Canada | death_date = December 8, 1898 (aged 44) | death_place = San Francisco, California, U.S. | resting_place = Holy Cross Cemetery<br />Colma, California, U.S. | party = Workingmen's {{small|(before 1881)}}<br />Democratic {{small|(after 1881)}} | other_party = | spouse = | children = Genevieve | occupation = Carpenter, politician | education = St. Ignatius College | signature = }} '''William J. Sinon''' (1854 &ndash; December 8, 1898)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mohan |first1=Hugh J. |last2=Clough |first2=E. H. |last3=Cosgrave |first3=John P. |title=Pen Pictures of Our Representative Men |date=1880 |publisher=H. A. Weaver's Valley Press |location=Sacramento |pages=52–53 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101078160759&seq=80 |access-date=6 November 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=THE LEGISLATURE |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/42178561/?terms=%22Wm.%20J.%20Sinon%22 |access-date=6 November 2025 |work=The Sacramento Union |date=1 January 1883 |location=Sacramento}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=THE PASSING OF WILLIAM J. SINON |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/77885620/?terms=%22William%20J.%20Sinon%22 |access-date=25 November 2025 |work=The San Francisco Call |date=9 December 1898 |location=San Francisco}}</ref> was a Canadian American carpenter and politician who served two non-consecutive terms in the California State Assembly, from 1880 to 1881 and from 1883 to 1885.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.joincalifornia.com/candidate/11257 |title=William J. Sinon |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website=JoinCalifornia |publisher= |access-date=6 November 2025 |quote=}}</ref> He was an officer in the Workingmen's Party of California,<ref>{{cite news |title=Rally, Rally, Rally |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/1232724945/?terms=%22William%20J.%20Sinon%22 |access-date=6 November 2025 |work=The San Francisco Call |date=25 November 1879 |location=San Francisco}}</ref> and during his first term denounced fellow WPC assemblyman Stephen J. Garibaldi as the "Judas Iscariot of the party" for voting against them on a revenue bill.<ref>{{cite news |title=THE WORKINGMEN |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/1233131109/?match=1&terms=%22S.%20J.%20Garibaldi%22 |access-date=6 November 2025 |work=The Morning Call |date=19 April 1880 |location=San Francisco}}</ref> He was later active in the Democratic Party, campaigning on behalf of Winfield Scott Hancock during the 1880 presidential election.<ref>{{cite news |title=HO! FOR HANCOCK |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/457863123/?terms=%22Wm.%20J.%20Sinon%22 |access-date=6 November 2025 |work=The Daily Examiner |date=22 July 1880 |location=San Francisco}}</ref>

During his second term, Sinon authored legislation establishing the California Bureau of Labor Statistics,<ref>{{cite news |title=SACRAMENTO LETTER |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/1099461450/?terms=Sinon |access-date=6 November 2025 |work=Ontario Fruit Grower |date=28 March 1883 |location=Ontario}}</ref> the ninth such agency in the country.{{efn|The first was in Massachusetts, established in 1869.<ref>{{cite web |title=Founding of the Bureau of Labor Statistics |url=https://guides.loc.gov/this-month-in-business-history/june/founding-bureau-labor-statistics |website=guides.loc.gov |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=17 November 2025}}</ref>}}<ref>{{cite news |title=CALIFORNIA WORKINGMEN |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/1236125175/?match=1&terms=%22John%20S.%20Enos%22 |access-date=17 November 2025 |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=13 December 1884 |location=San Francisco}}</ref> Governor George Stoneman appointed former state senator John S. Enos, another member of the Workingmen's Party, as its first head, drawing criticism that the office had been created specifically for his benefit.<ref>{{cite news |title=WORK FOR WORKINGMEN |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/1236099989/?terms=Sinon |access-date=6 November 2025 |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=11 April 1883 |location=San Francisco}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=SENATOR ENOS DIES SUDDENLY |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/80999671/?terms=%22John%20S.%20Enos%22 |access-date=17 November 2025 |work=The San Francisco Call |date=31 March 1898 |location=San Francisco}}</ref>

==Notes== {{notelist}}

==References== {{reflist}}

==Sources== * {{cite news |title=DIED |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/77885593/?terms=Sinon&match=2&article=74861793-ac3f-4e82-ae3e-b4985f37c559 |access-date=6 November 2025 |work=The San Francisco Call |date=9 December 1898 |location=San Francisco}}

==External links== * {{commons-inline}} * [https://www.joincalifornia.com/candidate/11257 JoinCalifornia - William J. Sinon] * [https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Workingmen%E2%80%99s_Party_%26_The_Denis_Kearney_Agitation The Workingmen’s Party & The Denis Kearney Agitation]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinon, William J.}} Category:1854 births Category:1898 deaths Category:People from Brantford Category:Emigrants from pre-Confederation Ontario to the United States Category:University of San Francisco alumni Category:19th-century California politicians Category:Workingmen's Party of California people Category:California Democrats Category:Members of the California State Assembly Category:19th-century members of the California State Legislature