Gen. William W. Grout, US Congress

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

Grout was born in Compton, Province of 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 Fifteenth Regiment, Vermont Volunteer Infantry, in the Union Army during the Civil War.[4] 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.[5] 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.[6] In 1876 he was a member of the Vermont State Senate and served as President pro tempore.[7]

Grout was elected as a Republican candidate to the Forty-seventh Congress, serving from March 4, 1881 until March 3, 1883.[8] He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1882 to the Forty-eighth Congress.

Grout was elected to the Forty-ninth and to the seven succeeding Congresses, serving from March 4, 1885 until March 3, 1901.[9] 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.[10]

After leaving Congress, he engaged in agricultural pursuits and the practice of law. Grout died on October 7, 1902 and is interred in Pine Cemetery in Kirby, Vermont.[11] Personal life

Grout was the second child of ten, 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.[12]

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.[13]

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