William Grant Van Horne, the seventeenth Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Utah, was a native of Arkansas. He was born in Fayetteville, that state, August 19, 1855. He was a son of Rev. Thomas B. Van Horne, who at the time was Professor of Languages in Arkansas College.

It appears that the family returned to Ohio, the birthplace of elder Van Horne, and at the outbreak of the Civil War the father entered the service as Chaplain of the 13th Ohio Volunteers and served in that capacity throughout that struggle. At the close of the war he was commissioned Chaplain in the regular army and stationed at Fort Douglas, near this city.

It is not known where the subject of this sketch did his preparatory school work—probably in Ohio—but at the age of 22 he was graduated from Brown University, Providence, R. I., in June, 1877, and soon thereafter came to Utah to visit his father. He then entered the law office of Bennett and Harkness, studied law and was admitted to practice by the Supreme Court of the state in 1878. He became associated in the practice of his profession with R. N. Baskin, and when Brother Baskin was elected mayor of Salt Lake City in 1892, he appointed Past Master Van Horne (who had just completed the year as Grand Master) as City Attorney. Later, he was elected delegate to the Constitutional Convention of Utah, in which he served on important committees, and in 1900 he was elected a member of the Utah legislature.

Past Master Van Horne was interested in the mining resources on this intermountain country and was active in promoting those interests.
In 1902, on the recommendation of Senator Thomas Kerns, President Roosevelt appointed him presiding judge of the Court of First Instance at Cairo, Egypt. From that position he retired some ten years ago, since which time he had made his home in Hollywood, California, where he died March, 2, 1932. The body was taken to Columbus, Ohio, for burial.

This Brother was initiated in Mt. Moriah Lodge No. 2, Salt Lake City, April 22, passed April 24, and raised April 26, 1880. He was Worshipful Master in 1886.

In Grand Lodge he served as Grand Lecturer, Grand Orator, Grand Marshal, Junior Grand Warden, Deputy Grand Master, and on January 21, 1891, he was elected Grand Master.

At the time of his decease he was survived by a sister, who resided in Hollywood, California.