Born in Delaware, Ohio in 1854, Prouty was taken as an infant by his father when he moved to Marion County, Iowa, in 1855, a few years after the last of Indian Removal.

Wanting to participate in national politics, Prouty ran for election to Congress from Iowa in 1902, 1904, and 1908,, but was defeated each time.

But 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.

Because of his initial ambivalence about running for a third term, political cartoonist "Ding" Darling caricatured him in several front-page cartoons in the Des Moines Register and Leader.

This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress