Emile Kellogg Boisot was born in Dubuque, Iowa on February 26, 1859. He was the son of Louis Daniel Boisot and Albertina Bush. He is a direct descendant of Jean-Baptiste Boisot who was a French abbot, bibliophile, and scholar. He was educated in the public and high schools of Dubuque, Iowa. His brother, Louis Boisot, Jr., was a successful lawyer and vice-president of the First Trust and Savings Bank of Chicago. Louis wrote two books, “By-laws of Private Corporations” in 1892 and “Treatise on Mechanics' Liens” in 1897. In 1908, Boisot built a large two-story house on the block of 6th Avenue in La Grange, Illinois. In 1915, Henry Charles Lytton sold the Hillcroft English summer cottage on Lake Geneva, Wisconsin to Emile K. Boisot. Five years later, Boisot sold it to Arthur Leath of Elgin, who owned a chain of furniture stores. It is believed that the property acquired the name Hillcroft during this time. The house is unique in that it has a restored carriage house, gatehouse, greenhouse, and ice house. The Lake Geneva area, at this time, was an exclusive resort for wealthy Chicagoans.
Marriage and children
On November 4, 1891, Boisot married Lilly R. Moseman in Chicago, Illinois. She had been married before to a George Moseman. The Boisots had three children.
Professional life
In 1875, Boisot was employed by the German Bank at Dubuque, where he remained for three years.
In 1878, Boisot moved to Chicago, Illinois where he entered the bond department of the First National Bank. The First National Bank of Chicago became the First Chicago Bank, which merged into Bank One Corporation and later the Chase Bank. On January 1, 1897, Boisot was promoted manager of the Foreign Exchange and Bond Department at the First National Bank of Chicago. In 1904, he was appointed vice president and manager of the bank. He was director of three other Chicago banks and trustee of Rollins College. He was a member of the Chicago Stock Exchange and the Republican Party. In December 1915, Boisot was elected president of the First Trust and Savings Bank of Chicago that provided savings accounts to individual customers. First Trust and Savings Bank merged with the Union Trust Company in 1928 to become the First Union Trust and Savings Bank.
