Josiah Grout

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Josiah Grout, Jr.
46^th Governor of Vermont
In office 1896 – 1898
Lieutenant(s)	Nelson W. Fisk
Preceded by	Urban A. Woodbury
Succeeded by	Edward C. Smith

Born	May 28, 1842 Compton, Quebec
Died	July 19, 1925 (aged 83) Derby, Vermont
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Harriet Hinman
Profession	lawyer, politician

Josiah Grout, Jr., (May 28, 1842 - July 19, 1925) was an American Civil War veteran, a lawyer, a politician, and Governor of Vermont.

Grout was born in Compton, Quebec, Canada, the son of Josiah and Sophronia (Ayer) Grout. His parents, native Vermonters, returned to that state when he was six. He received his early education in the public schools and at Orleans Liberal Institute, Glover, Vermont. He was a student at St. Johnsbury Academy when the Civil War broke out, and he left to enlist.

1 Civil War
2 Post War
3 See also
4 References
5 Notes

[edit] Civil War

Grout enlisted October 2, 1861, as a private in Co. I, 1st Vermont Cavalry. He mustered in as 2nd Lieutenant, Co. I, on October 21, 1861. He was promoted to 1st Lieutenant on April 25, 1862, and captain on April 4, 1863. After participating in 17 battles, he was wounded on April 1, 1863 at a skirmish against the Confederate partisan John S. Mosby, at Broad Run, Virginia, and was discharged due to his wounds on October 1, 1863. After the St. Albans Raid, he was commissioned captain, Co. M, Vermont Frontier Cavalry (26th New York Cavalry), on January 10, 1865, and promoted to major of the regiment on March 22, 1865. He mustered out with the two Vermont companies on June 27, 1865.

[edit] Post War

After the war, he studied law with his brother, William W. Grout^[1], in Barton until December 1865, when he was admitted to the bar. In 1866 he moved to Island Pond, and was in charge of the Customs House there for three years (his appointment included the districts of Newport and St. Albans).

In October 1867, he married Harriet Hinman, daughter of Aaron and Nancy (Stewart) Hinman. In 1874, he moved to Chicago, Illinois, and afterward to Moline, where he was one of the supervisors of Rock Island county for two years. He returned to Vermont in 1880, where he took up farming, and raised some of the finest Jersey cattle, blooded Morgan horses and Shropshire sheep in Vermont.

Grout represented Newport in the Vermont General Assembly in 1872 and 1874, and Derby in 1884, 1886 and 1883. He was elected state's senator from Orleans county in 1892. In 1874, 1886 and 1888 he was Speaker of the House. He was an ardent Republican, serving as chief executive officer of the Republican Club at Derby, and was vice president of the Vermont League of Republican Clubs for four years, and one year its president.

At the Republican State Convention on June 17, 1896, Grout was narrowly nominated as the party's candidate, received 339 votes compared to William W. Stickney's 336. He easily beat his Democratic opponent, J. H. Jackson, receiving 54,426 votes to Jackson's 14,855. Governor Grout's term was highlighted by enhancement to the state's educational system, the establishment of the state's Attorney General, a visit to the Tennessee Centennial Exposition, and Vermont's participation in the Spanish-American War. At the start of the latter, Governor Grout tended the services of a regiment of infantry and a battery of six guns from Vermont's Militia, which was accepted by the Federal Government. On May 21, 1898, dispatched a regiment of 47 officers and 980 men to the war. Due to the short duration of the war, however, the Vermont regiment saw no active service, and returned to the state on August 21, where it was reviewed by Governor Grout at Camp Ethan Allen. In October 1898, Governor Grout was succeeded by Edward Curtis Smith, son of one of Vermont's previous governors, J. Gregory Smith.

Governor Grout again represented Derby in the General Assembly in 1904. Governor Grout died in Derby, and is buried in the Derby Center cemetery.

[edit] See also

Vermont in the Civil War

[edit] References

Crockett, Walter Hill, Vermont The Green Mountain State, New York: The Century History Company, Inc., 1921, pp. iv:162, 177, 242, 244-245, 248, 250, 257-260, 268,-269, 293, 295-296, 299.

Dodge, Prentiss C., compiler. Encyclopedia Vermont Biography 1912, Burlington, VT: Ullery Publishing Company, 1912, p. 49.

Ullery, Jacob G., compiler, Men of Vermont: An Illustrated Biographical History of Vermonters and Sons of Vermont, Brattleboro, VT: Transcript Publishing Company, 1894, Part ii, pp. 165-166.

Peck, Theodore S., compiler, Revised Roster of Vermont Volunteers and lists of Vermonters Who Served in the Army and Navy of the United States During the War of the Rebellion, 1861-66. Montpelier, VT.: Press of the Watchman Publishing Co., 1892, pp. 253, 656-657.