William W. Griest was born in
Christiana, Pennsylvania. He graduated from the
Millersville State Normal School in 1876. He was engaged in teaching, and was a member of the city school board of
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for twenty-four years. He was the director and an incorporator of the Pennsylvania Public School Memorial Association. From 1882 to 1888, he was engaged in newspaper work as editor of the
Inquirer, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He served as chief clerk in the county commissioner's office. He was a member of the Pennsylvania Tax Commission, and a delegate to several Republican State conventions and to every
Republican National Convention from
1896 to
1928. He was the
Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from 1899 to 1903. He served as a member of the State sinking fund commission and of the board of pardons. He also served as president of lighting and street railway companies from 1903 to 1927. Griest was elected as a Republican to the
Sixty-first and to the ten succeeding Congresses and served until his death at
Mount Clemens, Michigan. He served as chairman of the United States House Committee on Post Office and Post Roads during the
Sixty-eighth through the
Seventieth Congresses. He was laid to rest at
Woodward Hill Cemetery in Lancaster. The
W. W. Griest Building in downtown
Lancaster is named in his honor. ==See also==