Samuel H. Piles

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Samuel Henry Piles (December 28, 1858 – March 11, 1940) was an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat from Washington. He served as a United States senator from Washington from 1905 to 1911 and as the United States Minister to Colombia from 1922 to 1928. A Republican, he was born near Smithland, Kentucky, the son of Samuel H. Piles, a sheriff and lawyer.

He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1883, and began practicing in Snohomish in the Washington Territory. He moved to Spokane in 1886 and soon after to Seattle, where he continued to practice. Piles served as assistant prosecuting attorney for the Territory’s third judicial district (1887–1889) and as Seattle’s city attorney (1888–1889). He was also general counsel for the Pacific Coast Company from 1895 to 1905.

In January 1905, Piles was elected to the U.S. Senate, serving March 4, 1905, to March 3, 1911. He did not seek renomination in 1910 and afterward returned to law practice in Seattle. While in the Senate, he chaired the Committee on Coast and Insular Survey.

In 1922, President Warren G. Harding appointed him Minister to Colombia, a position he held until 1928. In 1891, Piles married Mary E. Barnard of Henderson, Kentucky. They had three children: Ross Barnard, Ruth Lillard, and Samuel Henry. He retired and moved to Los Angeles, California, where he died in 1940. He is buried in Lake View Cemetery.