William A. Mansfield was born in 1859 to farmers Amos and Ann Mansfield in Ravenna, Michigan. He became one of the best-known slate writing mediums in the country. According to The Akron Beacon Journal, July 21, 1893, He “has an extensive acquaintance in spiritual circles and is honored and respected everywhere. He is yet a young man but has been before the public for 11 years in his chosen work. He spent two years in the Bryant & Statton business college in Buffalo, after which he went to Boston, where he spent two years in the college of oratory, graduating from that celebrated institution in 1889. He is now a junior in the Huron Street Hospital College at Cleveland. Mr. Mansfield has traveled extensively and has visited nearly all the large cities in the United States.” An1890 advertisement stated that: “William A. Mansfield. Medium for Independent Slate Writing, Hotel in Boston, Private sittings. Private Home Circles.”
William’s 1893 wedding was held at Brady’s Lake Spiritualist Camp according to the The Akron Beacon Journal, July 21, 1893. “The bright, warm sun, as it rose from the east yesterday morning, peeped through the tall and stately forest trees at Lake Brady, and cast occasional rays down on a happy, expectant throng, which was assembled to witness an interesting ceremony, one seldom celebrated at a summer resort. It was nothing more or less than a marriage ceremony, in which a well-known, popular and beloved member of the spiritual camp led to the altar a handsome, charming young girl from Michigan. The groom was Will. A. Mansfield and the bride Miss Lenno A. Moray, both of Grand Rapids, Mich.” His brother John Orton Mansfield was a groomsman. About 250 people attended.
A son was born to the couple in 1894 and a daughter in 1895. William presented lectures and conducted slate writing at Lily Dale, Grand Ledge Spiritualist’s Camp in Michigan, and Maple Dell Park in Mantua, Ohio in the 1890s. In 1897, at Maple Dell Park, he “gave a light séance for physical manifestation.” He spent the season at the camp.
William advertised in Light of Truth: “Homeopathic Treatment compounded clairvoyantly for each case. Send name, age, sex, leading symptoms for Free Diagnosis and ‘Methods of Cure.’” Another advertisement stated: “Dr Mansfield. Homeopathic treatment compounded clairvoyantly for each case. Send name, age, sex, leading symptoms for free diagnosis and methods of cure. Cedar avenue in Cleveland.”
By1900, William was a widower living with his daughter at his brother John’s home in Cleveland. He moved to Barberton, Ohio where he was health commissioner for 25 years. By 1930, he had been suffering from an illness for two years. The 1930 Akron Beacon Journal reported on William’s death at the age of 72 as a suicide, using exhaust fumes from his automobile.