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William W. Grout

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William Wallace Grout
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Vermont's 2nd district
In office
March 4, 1885 – March 3, 1901
Preceded byLuke P. Poland
Succeeded byKittredge Haskins
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Vermont's 3rd district
In office
March 4, 1881 – March 3, 1883
Preceded byBradley Barlow
Succeeded byDistrict eliminated
Member of the Vermont Senate from Orleans County
In office
1876–1878
Serving with Charles Carpenter
Preceded byHenderson C. Wilson
Henry S. Tolman
Succeeded byIsaac N. Cushman
Benjamin F. Paine
Member of the Vermont House of Representatives from Barton
In office
1874–1876
Preceded byCharles E. Joslyn
Succeeded byGeorge H. Blake
In office
1868–1870
Preceded byH. P. Cushing
Succeeded byCharles E. Joslyn
Personal details
Born(1836-05-24)May 24, 1836
Compton, Lower Canada (now Quebec)
DiedOctober 7, 1902(1902-10-07) (aged 66)
Kirby, Vermont, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Political partyRepublican
SpouseLoraine M. Smith Grout
RelationsJosiah Grout (brother)
Alma materState and National Law School
ProfessionAttorney
Signature
Military service
AllegianceUnited States (Union)
Branch/serviceUnion Army
Vermont Militia
Years of service1862–1866
RankLieutenant colonel (army)
Brigadier general (militia)
Unit15th Vermont Volunteer Infantry Regiment
Commands2nd Brigade, 1st Division, Vermont Militia
Battles/warsAmerican Civil War

William Wallace Grout (May 24, 1836 – October 7, 1902) was an American politician and lawyer. He served as a U.S. Representative from Vermont.

Biography

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Grout was born in Compton in Lower Canada (now Quebec), the son of Josiah and Sophronia (Ayer) Grout.[1] His parents, native Vermonters, returned to that state when he was thirteen. Grout pursued an academic course, he attended St. Johnsbury Academy and graduated from the State and National Law School in Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1857.[2] He was admitted to the bar in December of the same year and began the practice of law in Barton, Vermont.[3]

In 1862, Grout was nominated as State's Attorney of Orleans County but declined, deciding instead to enter the army. In July 1862 he received his commission as lieutenant colonel of the 15th Vermont Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the Union Army during the Civil War. He later attained the rank of brigadier general as commander of one of three brigades organized for border defense by the Vermont State Legislature following the St. Albans Raid.

Grout served as State's Attorney of Orleans County in 1865 and 1866.[4] In 1868 he was a delegate to Republican National Convention from Vermont. He served in the Vermont House of Representatives from 1868 until 1870 and in 1874.[5] In 1876 he was a member of the Vermont State Senate and served as President pro tempore.[6]

Grout was elected as a Republican Congressman to the Forty-seventh Congress from Vermont's 3rd congressional district, serving from March 4, 1881, until March 3, 1883.[7] The 3rd District was eliminated at the end of his term. He was an unsuccessful candidate for Vermont's 2nd congressional district in 1882 to the Forty-eighth Congress.

Grout was elected to the Forty-ninth from the 2nd Vermont District and to the seven succeeding Congresses, serving from March 4, 1885, until March 3, 1901.[8] He served as chairman of the Committee on the District of Columbia in the Fifty-first Congress, and was on the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of War in the Fifty-fourth through the Fifty-sixth Congresses.[9]

From 1881 until 1888, Grout's law practice included Willard W. Miles as his partner; when Grout withdrew in 1888 so that he could concentrate his full-time efforts on his Congressional career, Miles continued the practice alone.[10]

After leaving Congress, he engaged in agricultural pursuits and the practice of law. Grout died on October 7, 1902, and is interred in Grove Cemetery in Saint Johnsbury, Vermont.

Personal life

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Grout was the second child of ten, the eldest of five sons. Seven of the children were born in the Compton house. There were no finished chambers in the Compton house. In winter, awakening to snow on the bed was a common experience.[11]

The family moved to Kirby, Vermont, from Compton.

Grout married Loraine M. Smith in 1860, and they had two children who died while in infancy. Loraine died in 1868.[12]

Grout's brother Josiah Grout, was the Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives and was the 46th Governor of Vermont.[13][14]

His nephew Aaron H. Grout, the son of Josiah Grout, served as Vermont Secretary of State from 1923 to 1927.[15][16]

References

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  1. ^ "Biographical sketch WILLIAM W. GROUT b. 1836 Compton, Quebec lived Orleans VT". Ancestry.com. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  2. ^ "William W. Grout". Vermont in the Civil War. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  3. ^ "Biography of William W. GROUT". Ancestry.com. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  4. ^ Gazetteer of Caledonia and Essex Counties, Vt. 1764–1887. Syracuse Journal Company, Printers and Binders. 1887. pp. 224.
  5. ^ "Grout, William Wallace (1836–1902)". The Political Graveyard. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  6. ^ John J. Duffy (2003). The Vermont Encyclopedia. UPNE. p. 147. ISBN 9781584650867.
  7. ^ "Rep. William Grout". Govtrack.us. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  8. ^ "Grout, William W." Our Campaigns. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  9. ^ United States. Congress. Joint Committee on Printing (1884). Congressional Directory. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 131.
  10. ^ Baldwin, Frederick W. (1886). Biography of the Bar of Orleans County, Vermont. Montpelier, VT: Vermont Watchman and State Journal Press. p. 263.
  11. ^ "Memoir of Gen'l W.W. Grout and Autobiography of Josiah Grout". Northeast Kingdom Civil War Roundtable: 3. December 2012.
  12. ^ "William W. GROUT". Ancestry.com. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  13. ^ "Grout, Josiah (1841–1925)". The Political Graveyard. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  14. ^ "Vermont Governor Josiah Grout". National Governors Association. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  15. ^ White, James Terry (1898). The National Cyclopedia of American Biography. Vol. VIII. New York, NY: James T. White & Company. p. 331.
  16. ^ "Aaron H. Grout of Newport Appointed Secretary of State by Gov. Proctor". The Burlington Free Press. Montpelier. April 23, 1923. p. 1. Retrieved January 28, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.

Further reading

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  • Gazetteer of Caledonia and Essex Counties, Vt. 1764–1887, published by Syracuse Journal Company, Printers and Binders, 1887.
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Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

Political offices
Preceded by President pro tempore of the Vermont State Senate
1876 – 1878 		Succeeded by
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Vermont's 3rd congressional district
1881-1883 		Succeeded by
District eliminated
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Vermont's 2nd congressional district
1885-1901 		Succeeded by
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