Solomon F. Prouty

Who was Solomon F. Prouty?

Solomon Francis Prouty 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 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. 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 term. In all, he served in the Sixty-second and Sixty-third Congresses, from March 4, 1911 to March 3, 1915.