Henry Sherman Boutell

Republican Representative of Illinois's 9th district

  • Representative

    Illinois, district 9

    March 15, 1909 - March 3, 1911

7

Congresses Served

7

House Terms

March 14, 1856 (69 years old)

Birthday

March 11, 1926

Death

  • Was a lawyer and diplomat.
  • Served as a Congressman from Illinois.
  • Appointed as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Portugal and Switzerland by President William Howard Taft.
  • Born in Boston, Massachusetts.
  • Had a colonial ancestry that entitled him to membership in the Sons of the American Revolution and the Society of Colonial Wars.
  • Educated at Northwestern and Harvard, where he earned both his undergraduate and master’s degrees.
  • Admitted to the bar in 1879 and began practicing law in Chicago, notably representing the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
  • Served in the lower house of the state legislature in 1884.
  • Served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1897 to 1911, where he was a member of the committees on Rules, and on Ways and Means, and was chairman of the Committee on Expenditures of the Navy.
  • Resigned from diplomatic service after finding it not to his liking.
  • Declined the chief justiceship of the United States court of claims offered by President Taft.
  • Taught constitutional law and international law at Georgetown University from 1914 to 1923.
  • Described as short of stature, very erect and dignified, alert, scholarly, widely read, and active in the Literary Club of Chicago.
  • Known for being gracious, charming, and having definite opinions without being offensive.
  • Married to Euphemia Lucia Clara Gates and had several children.
  • Died in Sanremo, Italy.
  • Related to William M. Evarts, Jeremiah Evarts, and Roger Sherman.