US Congressman. He was born one of seven children as Latimer Whipple Ballou in Cumberland, Rhode Island, to Levi Ballou Jr. (1782-1836), and his wife Hephzibah Metcalf Ballou (1779-1860), on March 1, 1812. He was also a descendent of Marshal Guinebond Balou, a Norman chief who went to England with William the Conqueror and took part in the Battle of Hastings in 1066. He was educated locally at public schools and academies. He then moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1828, where he learned the art of printing at the University Press and where he later established the Cambridge Press Newspaper in 1835. He continued with his printing business until 1842. He soon returned to his native Rhode Island and he settled in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, where he engaged in the mercantile business with his brother-in-law-William O. Bisbee, and became involved in banking in 1850. He first worked as a cashier at the Woonsocket Falls Bank in Woonsocket Falls, Rhode Island, and later as a Treasurer of the Woonsocket Institution for Savings in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. During his time as Treasurer he helped raise the bank's prosperity greatly from $60,000 to $4,000,000, and he also helped to establish and manage private and public trusts including the Ezekiel Fowler Hospital Fund. He then entered politics and became active in the organization of the Republican Party in 1856. He served as Presidential Elector for Rhode Island in 1860. He then served as a Delegate to the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1872. He then decided to run for a seat in the United States Congress and was elected to succeed the outgoing United States Representative James Monroe Pendleton (1822-1889), on March 4, 1975. A Member of the Republican Party, he then served Rhode Island's 2nd District (Forty-Fourth Congress, Forty-Fifth Congress, and Forty-Sixth Congress), in the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1875, to March 3, 1881. He declined to be a Candidate for renomination in 1880. After his term in the United States Congress expired on March 3, 1881, he was succeeded in office by United States Representative Jonathan Chace (1829-1917), on March 4, 1881. After his time in the United States Congress, he resumed his printing and banking pursuits until his death. He was also a Trustee of the Oak Hill Cemetery, in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, President of the Dean Academy in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, President of the Rhode Island Universalist Convention, and the Congressional Temperance Society. He was also awarded an honorary degree of L.L. D. from Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, in 1887. He was married to Sarah Ann Hunnewell Ballou (1815-1879), in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on October 20, 1836, with whom he had four children, Mary, Sarah, Henry, and Marie. He passed away in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, on May 9, 1900, at the age of 88, and he was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, where United States Representative Christopher Robinson (1806-1889), and Civil War Major and politician Stephen Henry Brown (1828-1913), are also laid to rest.