HON. WILLIAM E. SHUTT, now a member of the State Senate from the Thirty-first Senatorial District, known as the Capital District, was born in Waterford, Loudoun County, Va., May 5, 1842. His parents were natives of that State. His mother's maiden name was Leslie. His father for many years was engaged in the mercantile business in the State of Virginia and came to Illinois in 1842, when our subject was an infant six months old. His mother died in 1865, and his father in 1866 in this city.

Our subject was educated in the common schools of Springfield, and read law with Judge James H. Matheny. He was admitted to the bar in 1863, and the following year was elected City Attorney, and from that time to the present at short intervals he has served in positions of public trust. In 1868 he was elected to the Mayoralty of said city, and in 1874 was first elected to the State Senate; he was re-elected in 1878 and in 1886. He has thus served three full terms, during each of which he has been a member of the Judiciary and Appropriation Committees as well as other less important committees, and has for the last three sessions of the Senate been President of the Democratic caucus of that body.

In the practice of his profession Mr. Shutt was alone until 1869, when he formed a partnership with Hon. James C. Robinson and the Hon. Anthony L. Knapp, and remained with them as a partner until they died, when he went in partnership with the Hon. John M. Palmer, and has been with him since up to the present time, the firm now being Palmer & Shutt. He was married to Miss Ella V. Collins, daughter of John Collins, January 13, 1866, in the city of New Orleans, La. Mr. Shutt is now and has always been identified with the Democratic party. He stands high among the members of the legal fraternity, and his record as a public servant commands the respect of everybody.