Henry Elliott Prickett (September 1, 1829 – June 14, 1885) was an American politician and jurist who served as mayor of

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

of Boise,

Idaho Territory The Territory of Idaho was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 3, 1863, until July 3, 1890, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as Idaho. History 1860s The territory w ...

from 1867 to 1868 and as Associate Justice of the Idaho Territorial Supreme Court from 1876 to 1884.

Biography

Prickett was born on September 1, 1829, in

Faversham Faversham is a market town in Kent, England, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient British t ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, the son of Henry Prickett, and he came to the United States in 1836. His family settled first in Connecticut, then in Wisconsin, where he would study and practice law. He was elected to the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Representatives are elected for two-year terms, ...

in 1858 to represent Buffalo, Jackson, and Trempealeau counties. He and his wife, Martha, had one daughter. He traveled West in 1860 to Colorado, and he reached

Idaho City, Idaho Idaho City is a city in and the county seat of Boise County, Idaho, United States, located about northeast of Boise. The population was 485 at the 2010 census, up from 458 in 2000. Idaho City is part of the Boise City− Nampa, Idaho Metropo ...

, in 1864. He served the as the deputy clerk of one of the territory's district courts for the next three years, until he opened a law practice in Boise in 1867. Prickett was declared mayor after the winner of the November 1867 mayoral election, L. B. Lindsay, was disqualified. A new mayoral election was held in January 1868, won by Thomas B. Hart. In 1871 Prickett ran for a full one-year term as Boise mayor as a Radical Republican. He was narrowly defeated by

John Hailey John Hailey (August 29, 1835 – April 10, 1921) was a Congressional Delegate from Idaho Territory. He was born in Smith County, Tennessee, and attended the public schools. Of Scottish ancestry, his grandfather, Philip Hailey, and his father, ...

, who never assumed the office. On January 13, 1876, President

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...

nominated Prickett to be Associate Justice of the Idaho Territorial Supreme Court, and he was confirmed by the senate six days later. As his four-year term was expiring, President Rutherford B. Hayes renominated him for the same position on January 16, 1880, and he was confirmed by the senate five days later. Prickett's term expired in 1884, and

Case Broderick Case Broderick (September 23, 1839 – April 1, 1920) was a politician and U.S. Representative from Kansas. He was a cousin of David Colbreth Broderick, of Washington, DC; New York, and California; and Andrew Kennedy of California, who also b ...

was confirmed to succeed him, with Prickett serving through late April of 1884. He died from heart disease in Hailey, Idaho, on June 14, 1885.

References

External links

Mayors of Boise - Past and PresentIdaho State Historical Society Reference Series, Corrected List of Mayors, 1867-1996
1829 births 1885 deaths Mayors of Boise, Idaho People from Faversham 19th-century American politicians Associate justices of the Idaho Territorial Supreme Court {{Idaho-mayor-stub