Solomon F. Prouty

Solomon F. Prouty

Solomon Francis Prouty (January 17, 1854 – July 16, 1927) was a one-term state legislator, Iowa trial court judge and a two-term Republican U.S. Representative from Iowa's 7th congressional district.

Born in Delaware, Ohio, Prouty moved with his father to Marion County, Iowa, in 1855. He attended the public schools, Central College (then known as the Central University of Iowa) in Pella, Iowa from 1870 to 1873, Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa from 1873 to 1875, and was graduated from Central College in 1877. He taught for several years and served as a professor of Latin at Central from 1878 to 1882.^[1] In 1879, he was elected to one two-year term in the Iowa House of Representatives, serving in 1880 and 1881. He later studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1882, and commenced practice in Pella. He moved to Des Moines, Iowa, in 1891 and practiced law there. He served as judge of the district court in 1899.

Prouty was an unsuccessful candidate for election to Congress in 1902, 1904, and 1908. However, in 1910, Prouty won the Republican nomination for the U.S. House for Iowa's 7th congressional district, and defeated his opponents in the November general election. He was then re-elected two years later to his second (and last) term. In all, he served in the Sixty-second and Sixty-third Congresses, from March 4, 1911 to March 3, 1915.

Prouty was not a candidate for renomination in 1914, although his initial hesitancy about running for a third time prompted Des Moines Register and Leader cartoonist "Ding" Darling to caricature him in several front-page cartoons.^[2] He resumed the practice of his law, and served as trustee of the Central College.

He died in Des Moines, Iowa on July 16, 1927. He was interred in Glendale Cemetery.

References

• United States Congress. "Solomon F. Prouty (id: P000551)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa
1st	W. Thompson Miller Henn A. Hall S. Curtis J. F. Wilson McCrary Stone McCoid B. Hall Gear Seerley Gear S. Clark Hedge Kennedy Kopp Eicher Martin Schwengel Schmidhauser Schwengel Mezvinsky Leach Nussle Braley Blum
2nd	Leffler L. Clark J. P. Cook Thorington Davis Vandever Price Smyth W. Wolf Cotton Tufts Price Farwell Murphy Hayes G. Curtis Lane Rumple Wade Dawson Pepper Vollmer Hull Letts B. Jacobsen W. Jacobsen Talle L. Wolf Bromwell Culver Blouin Tauke Nussle Leach Loebsack
3rd	Allison Donnan Ainsworth Burdick Updegraff Henderson Birdsall Pickett Connolly Sweet Robinson Willford Gwynne Gross Grassley Evans Nagle Lightfoot Boswell Latham Young
4th	Grinnell Loughridge Walden Pratt Deering Weller Fuller Sweney Butler Updegraff Haugen Biermann Talle Le Compte Carter Kyl Bandstra Kyl N. Smith Ganske Latham King
5th	Kasson G. Dodge Palmer J. Wilson R. Clark W. G. Thompson J. Wilson Frederick Kerr J. Hamilton Cousins Good Cole Thurston Le Compte Cunningham N. Smith Scherle Harkin Lightfoot Grandy Latham King
6th	A. Hubbard Pomeroy Orr Loughridge Sampson Weaver Cutts J. C. Cook Cutts J. C. Cook Weaver Lacey White Lacey D. Hamilton Kendall Kirkpatrick Ramseyer Dowell Utterback Dowell Goodwin Cunningham Gilchrist J. I. Dolliver Coad Hoeven Greigg Mayne Bedell Grandy
7th	Kasson Cummings E. Gillette Kasson H. Smith Conger Hays Hull Prouty Dowell Wearin Jensen Hansen Scherle
8th	McDill Sapp Hepburn Anderson Flick Hepburn Jamieson Towner Evans Thurston Gilchrist Hoeven
9th	Orr Oliver Carpenter Pusey Lyman Reed Bowman Hager McPherson W. Smith Green Vincent Swanson G. Gillette Harrington Narey
10th	Holmes J. P. Dolliver Conner Woods Dickinson Gilchrist
11th	Struble Perkins Thomas E. Hubbard Scott Steele Scott Boies Campbell
AL	Hastings and Leffler
Terr	Chapman A. Dodge

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress website http://bioguide.congress.gov.