HON. W. HENRY SUTTON, the present Representative from Montgomery County in the State Senate, was born in Haddonfield, Camden Co., N.J., September 11, 1835. He comes of a worthy line of ancestors, the first of whom came to this country from England about the time of William Penn. His father, Rev. Henry Sutton, was for many years a faithful minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and acceptably served at a number of places in the New Jersey and Philadelphia Conferences. In 1832 he married Miss Ann Craig, daughter of James Craig, who came from Ireland and settled in Philadelphia. She was a noble woman, a true wife, a devoted mother and a Christian of great influence in all the places of her residence. She rendered her husband valuable services in his holy calling until his demise, in the year 1876, after which she resided with her son, Senator Sutton, until her decease, in May, 1883, when her remains were laid to rest beside those of her husband, in West Laurel Hill Cemetery. The issue of the above union was three sons,— George Howard, who died in the eleventh year of his age; William Henry, the subject of this article; and John Wesley, who found an early grave. Senator Sutton, from the time of his birth until he entered college, resided with his parents in the following places: Haddonfield, N.J.; Coventry and Marshalton, Chester Co., Marietta, and Safe Harbor, Lancaster Co., Pa.; Smyrna and Dover, in the State of Delaware; Centreville and Sudlersville, Md.; Dauphin, Pa., and Philadelphia City, at which places his father was appointed to preach the gospel. He received his preliminary education in the public schools and the preparatory school at Carlisle, Pa. In 1851 he entered Dickinson College, where he studied for two years; then, after teaching for two years in Delaware County, Pa., he matriculated at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., and after completing the classical course, graduated in 1857. While in college he became a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity. After filling a term of three years as instructor in the American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb, Hartford, Conn., he studied law at the Law School of the University, Albany, N.Y.; then went to Philadelphia, Pa., read law with the Hon. William M. Meredith, formerly Secretary of the Treasury and attorney-general of Pennsylvania, and was admitted to the bar in 1863, and has ever since been in active practice. He has been concerned in many important cases tried in the courts of Philadelphia, and was the counsel for citizens of this county in a number of cases against the Pennsylvania Railroad Company for damages on account of the right of way. In the celebrated Elm Station murder case he won great distinction for the able manner in which, at the solicitation of the citizens of Lower Merion, he assisted the district attorney, J.V. Gotwalt, Esq., in conducting the prosecution. This remarkable case occurred in the fall of the centennial year, and on account of the mystery which for a long time surrounded it, attracted universal attention not only in this country, but in Europe. Some boys from Philadelphia while walking along the embankments of the Pennsylvania Railroad at Elm Station, discovered the toes of a human foot protruding from the ground, and upon the earth being removed, a body was found in a good state of preservation, clothed in a shirt and undershirt of peculiar texture. A birth-mark and a malformation of one of the thumbs were also noticeable; The head of the corpse had been beaten in by some sharp instrument, but by whom or when was unknown. The body had apparently lain there for several months. Advertisements were placed in the newspapers giving the above description, and these were copied in the newspapers of Germany, where they were seen by old Mr. Hoehne, who kept a saloon in one of the towns of that country, and he, coming to this country at time of the trial, identified the body as that of his son, Max Hugo Hoehne. Through detectives it was discovered that after the young man had landed in this country, at New York, he had come to Philadelphia with a Swede, with whom he had become acquainted on the voyage, and that while in the Quaker City they had stopped, at a saloon overnight, where they became acquainted with Henri Wahlen. In the morning the Swede and Hoehne left together, but soon afterwards parted, when Wahlen and another man joined Hoehne, and after accompanying him as far as Elm Station, Wahlen fell upon Hoehne and killed him in the presence of the other man. They stripped the body of its clothing, buried it and then returned to Philadelphia and plundered the trunk of Hoehne. It was with great difficulty that these facts were brought out and the murderer discovered. The evidence was purely circumstantial, but so skillfully had it been worked up and so ably was it presented to the jury that there was left no room for doubt, and a verdict of guilty was rendered against the prisoner. The able manner in which Senator Sutton acquitted himself in this case gained him great renown, and at the close of his speech he received not only the hearty congratulations of the many citizens and members of the bar who crowded the court-house, but also the sincere praise of the court. The guilty man committed suicide, and thus escaped the ignominious death of the gallows, which he so richly deserved. His accomplice was also discovered, tried, condemned and served a term of imprisonment. On the 25th of June, 1872, Senator Sutton was united in wedlock to Hannah C. Anderson, the only daughter of Dr. Isaac W. Anderson and Martha Yocum Crawford, of Lower Merion. The Anderson family is one of the oldest and most influential in Lower Merion township. Patrick Anderson, one of their early American ancestors, was an officer of distinction in the Revolutionary war. The family is famous for the number of physicians it has produced; not only was Dr. Isaac W. Anderson, son of the well-known Dr. James Anderson, a physician, but also two of his brothers,— Dr. J. Rush Anderson and Dr. Joseph W. Anderson,— as well as his uncle, Dr. Isaac Anderson, and from some of these have descended a number of physicians, who to-day are in active practice in Montgomery, Delaware and Philadelphia Counties. In St. Luke Methodist Episcopal Church, at Bryn Mawr, is a beautiful memorial window, representing St. Luke, the beloved physician, and other appropriate emblems, to the memory of Dr. James Anderson and his two Sons, Dr. Isaac W. and Dr. J. Rush Anderson. Dr. Joseph W. Anderson is a bachelor, and resides at Ardmore, on the old homestead. After his marriage Senator Sutton settled at Haverford College Station, in Lower Merion township, it this county; there he built himself an elegant home, and, amidst the most agreeable surroundings, has been blessed with a happy family of eight children, viz. Howard A., William Henry, Jr., (who died in infancy, Helen, Isaac C., Grace, Corona, Lucy and Henry Craig. The mother of these children is a lady of culture and refinement, a model wife and earnest church worker. Her home is made attractive by her pleasing manners and open hospitality, while her tender regard for the poor and the interest she takes in all good works endears her to the hearts of the community, and adds to the popularity of her husband, to whom she is a most devoted and worthy help-meet. The Senator has taken an active part in public affairs, and, besides the office he now holds, has repeatedly been elected in the township as auditor, school director, etc. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and one of the Board of Managers of the Methodist Episcopal Church Extension Society, Tract Society, Home Missionary Society and American Sunday-school Union. During the last General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, held in Philadelphia during the month of May, 1884, he was president of the Lay Delegate Conference. It was mainly through his efforts that the beautiful St. Luke Methodist Episcopal Chapel was erected at Bryn Mawr, and within these walls he has placed two fine memorial windows to the memory of his father and mother. He has been the treasurer of the board of trustees ever since the organization of the church, and was for years the superintendent of the Sunday-school. Although he takes so active a part in all that pertains to the welfare of the church of his choice, he is very liberal and tolerant in his religious views, and has a kind regard for Christians of all shades of opinion, from those of the Roman Catholic Church to those of the Society of Friends. He also stands high in Masonry, being a Past Master of George W. Bartram Lodge, No. 298, of Media, a Past H.P. of Jerusalem Chapter, No. 3, H.R.A., and the projector and first H.P. of Montgomery Chapter, No. 262, of Ardmore, Pa. He was elected to the State Senate in 1882 as the nominee of the Democratic party, having a majority of five hundred and thirty-five votes over his competitor, William B. Rambo, one of the most accomplished and popular Republicans in the county, and succeeded Dr. Lewis Royer, a Republican. Since he has been in the Senate he has so acted as to win the approbation of his constituents, irrespective of party. He is a progressive Democrat, in sympathy with all genuine reform, has served on a number of important committees and been connected with many prominent bills. He was the author of the following bills, viz.: "To abolish the office of sealer of weights and measures;" "Selling by false weights declared a misdemeanor;" "Authorizing the laying of foot-walks along turnpike roads in boroughs;" "Computation of time under statutes, rules, orders and decrees of court, etc.;" "Authorizing Courts of Common Pleas to decree the satisfaction of mortgages in certain cases, upon payment of amount due in court;" and he also took an active part in promoting the passage of the following acts, viz.: "To exempt mutual loan and building associations from taxation for State purposes;" "Fixing the compensation of the judges of the Courts of Common Pleas," and "To make the salaries of Orphans’ Court judges the same as judges of Common Pleas." For the leading part he took in the building and loan association bill he received from the Building and Loan Association League, of Pennsylvania, a handsomely framed and engrossed set of resolutions of thanks. During the session of 1884-85 he introduced, among others, bills to "Create a Circuit Court of Appeals," to "Prevent the creation of irredeemable ground-rents," to "Facilitate the trials of actions of ejectments," and a bill "Creating a civil service," etc. From his youth up the Senator had to work his own way. With energy and perseverance he succeeded in preparing himself for his profession, and since then, by the continuance of those methods which characterized his youth, success has crowned his labors, and now he enjoys the fruits of his own industry. A member of the Montgomery County bar says: "Mr. Sutton’s characteristics as a member of the legal profession are found in his methodical habits of industry, thoroughness in preparation, clear perception as the result of studious application, with a forcible delivery of speech when directed to a jury. In public life, as Senator from this district, he has moved to the front line of his associates in all important matters of debate, maintaining a strict integrity and while Democratic in politics, has uniformly exhibited in a marked degree the courtesies of official life towards those differing with him in theories of political economy."