USA > Iowa > Clinton County > Wolfe's history of Clinton County, Iowa, Volume 1 > Part 67
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Thus the Lund family is eminently deserving of conspicuous mention in a history of Clinton county, for the several members of the same have not only been prominent and influential in the business and civic life of the county, but also they have played well their parts in the general development of the same, leading lives becoming high-minded, whole-souled, genteel citizens, whom to know was ever to accord the highest praise, for their examples of industry and wholesome living.
GARRETT EUGENE LAMB.
Iowa has been especially honored in the character and career of her public and professional men. In every county there are to be found, rising above their fellows, individuals born to leadership in the various vocations and professions, men who dominate by natural endowment and force of char- acter. Such men are by no means rare and it is always profitable to study their lives and hold up their achievements as incentives to greater activity and higher excellence on the part of others just entering upon their first strug- gles with the world. These reflections are suggested by the career of one who has forged his way to the front ranks and who by a strong inherent force and innate ability, directed by intelligence and judgment of a high order, stands today among the successful men of Clinton county and eastern Iowa.
Garrett E. Lamb is a native son of the Hawkeye state. having been born in Clinton county on November 14, 1869. and he is the son of Artemus and Henrietta (Smith) Lamb. Artemus Lamb, who was the oldest son of Chancy
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and Jane (Bevier) Lamb, was born September 11, 1840, in Bradford, Steuben county, New York, and he gained his education in the public schools of his native state. At the age of sixteen years he accompanied his father to Clin- ton county, Iowa, and his subsequent life was identified with this county. He was early associated with his father in business and their interests became very extensive, consisting of sawmilling, in which they became widely known throughout the eastern part of the state, the magnitude of their operations being evidenced in the fact that up to the shutting down of their last mill in 1904, they had cut and marketed over three billion feet of lumber. Artemus Lamb took a keen interest in his adopted county and city and in 1892 he took the leading part in the organization of the People's Trust and Savings Bank of Clinton, which was soon numbered among the leading banks of this part of the middle West. He also had a large part in the organization of the Iowa Packing and Provision Company, of Clinton. He was also interested in many other banks and business enterprises, in all of which he was a leading spirit and in the direction of which his advice and judgment were held in the highest esteem by his business associates. For a detailed account of his business career the reader is referred to his personal sketch, which appears elsewhere in this work. Artemus Lamb died on April 23, 1901, his death resulting from injuries received in a railroad wreck in Wyoming, while on his way to California, where he had hoped to recuperate his health, which had become undermined by arduous business cares.
To Artemus and Henrietta Lamb were born five children, namely : Emma Rena, widow of Marvin J. Gates; Garrett Eugene, the immediate sub- ject of this sketch ; Clara Augusta, wife of Russell B. McCoy; Burt Lafayette and James Dwight are deceased.
Garrett E. Lamb received his elementary education in the public schools of Clinton, graduating from the high schools. He then became a student in the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. where he remained two years. At the end of that time he returned to his home and became associated with his father and brothers in the firm of C. Lamb & Sons, which had been incorpor- ated and which was widely known as one of the most extensive and influential corporations in this section of the country. Besides the extensive milling interests with which the company has been identified were large mining inter- ests, which invariably proved successful and financially profitable. Mr. Lamb has in all his business enterprises exhibited the same soundness of judgment and progressive spirit which characterized his father and grandfather and his career has been marked by energy, persistence and shrewdness which have en- abled him to accomplish very definite results in all the lines to which he has
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lent his efforts. He is personally interested in Arizona mining properties, and is president of the Iowa & Illinois Railway Company and of the Clinton Gas Light & Coke Company. Affable and easily approached, Mr. Lamb enjoys the unstinted friendship of all who are associated with him in business and the respect and esteem of all who are brought into contact with him. He is loyal in his friendships and occupies an enviable position in the city where . so many years of his life have been spent. He has taken a deep interest in the welfare of his community and his influence and support are invariably given to every movement tending to the advancement of the best interests of the city or county.
Politically, Mr. Lamb is a stanch supporter of the Republican party, though his extensive business interests have precluded his giving much atten- tion to political affairs. Fraternally, he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, in which he has taken all the degrees up to and including the thirty-second degree of the Scottish rite. He also belongs to the Benev- olent and Protective Order of Elks.
On the 6th day of April, 1892, Mr. Lamb was united in marriage with Gertrude May Ellis, the daughter of Lyman A. and Mary (Buckley) Ellis. Lyman A. Ellis, who during his lifetime occupied an exalted position among the lawyers and statesmen of Iowa, was born in Burlington, Vermont, March 7, 1833, of stalwart New England parentage. After completing an academic and law school education, he was admitted to the bar, and in 1855 he came west to Iowa, with which he was ever afterwards identified. His abilities were at once recognized and he quickly attained to an enviable position at the bar of his state. For sixteen years he served as district attorney of the seventh judicial district. Later he was elected state senator from Clinton county, giv- ing such efficient service that he was the unanimous choice of his party for re-election, but his extensive legal practice compelled him to decline further political honors. His death occurred on June 8, 1906.
CALVIN D. MAY.
Calvin D. May was born March 26. 1859, in Belvidere, Illinois, and he is the son of Ezra and Louisa ( May) May. The ancestors can be traced back on the paternal side to the year 1640, when John May, the founder of the family in America, left his home in Sussex, England, and emigrated to our shores, having followed the sea in early life, and was commander of the
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ship "James." He located in Roxbury, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, and he there spent his remaining days. He, with his son and grandson, are buried side by side in the same cemetery at Roxbury. Nehemiah May, grand- son of Capt. John May, was born in 1701. He served in the early Indian wars and died in 1733. His son, Col. Ezra May, who was born December 16, 1731, loyally assisted the colonists in their struggle for independence, and he died January 11, 1778. Dr. Calvin D. May was next in line of direct de- scent. Ezra May, his son, and the father of the subject of this sketch, was born at Phillipsburg, Vermont, November 6, 1813, and in 1840 he went to Michigan City, Indiana, later moving to Cherry Valley, Illinois, the same year; the following year he took up his residence in Belvidere where he re- mained until his death, which occurred April 6, 1895. He was engaged in merchandising and milling for many years and also became interested in banking, serving as president of the Second National Bank. He was also a director of the First National Bank at the time of his death, having long been prominent in financial circles. He was also a judicious investor, being the largest land owner in the county, and was a man of prominence and in- fluence. His wife was a descendant of Dexter May, brother of Col. Ezra May, and she was born October 17, 1819, and died September 19, 1862. By her marriage she became the mother of eight children, namely: Mary and Polly, both deceased; Ella, wife of A. R. Olney, of Clinton; Florence M., wife of B. W. Smith, of Jacksonville, Illinois; Clara, wife of A. C. Greenlit, of Belvidere, Illinois; Ezra, deceased; Calvin D., of this review ; Stephen D., formerly a lawyer of Chicago, now deceased.
Calvin D. May attended the common schools in his native community, graduating from the high school in 1877, after which he was employed in the First National Bank of Belvidere. He later entered the University of Mich- igan at Ann Arbor, from which he was graduated in 1884 in arts and from the law department in 1886. The same year he was admitted to the bar in Washtenaw county, Michigan. In 1887 he came to. Clinton, Iowa, and when the Merchants National Bank was organized he was made assistant cashier, serving in that capacity in a manner that reflected much credit upon his ability and to the satisfaction of all concerned until 1896, when he was made cashier.
Mr. May is a prominent Mason, belonging to Emulation Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Keystone Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Holy Cross Commandery. Knights Templar; the DeMolay Consistory, Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret, and to El Kahir Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. at Cedar Rapids. He also belongs to the
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Order of the Eastern Star, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of which he has served as exalted ruler. Politically, he is a loyal Democrat and he has long taken more or less interest in local party affairs, having served in the city council for 1892 to 1897.
O. L. DUTTON.
One of the native sons of Clinton county who has remained and made a success of life right here in his own community rather than being lured away to some distant locality by the "wanderlust spirit" and seek an uncertain for- tune amid strange environment, is O. L. Dutton, a farmer of De Witt town- ship. He has worked hard for what he has and he is deserving of the competence and the valuable property that are today his.
Mr. Dutton was born in Olive township, this county, August 30, 1862, the son of Lorenzo and Sarah (Allison) Dutton, the father a native of New York and the mother of Virginia. In 1835 Lorenzo Dutton came with his father, Charles Dutton, and four brothers to Clinton county, Iowa, making the long overland trip from Virginia with teams and covered wagons, and, in pioneer fashion. entered land in Olive township and located here and were very comfortably established in due course of time, the father entering one hundred and sixty acres and at the time of his death he owned three hundred and forty acres, all of which he improved and became one of the leading farm- ers of the township. In 1850 Lorenzo Dutton and his brother made a trip to California, across the great western plains, during the "gold fever" days, and there followed mining for two years, then returned to Olive township, this county.
Sarah Allison, mother of the subject, came to this county in 1852 with her parents, David and Betsy (Perry) Allison, and located in Olive township, the father buying one hundred and sixty acres of land there, on which he lived until his death. The paternal grandfather of O. L. Dutton was a soldier in the war of 1812. He came to this county in an early day and died in Olive township.
The parents of O. L. Dutton married in Olive township, this county, in 1854. When Lorenzo Dutton first came to this county there were but two buildings on the site of Davenport and but one house between that city and the Dutton home. Dubuque was then the market for those living in this locality. The father devoted practically all of his life to farming. His fam-
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MR. AND MRS. O. L. DUTTON
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ily consisted of nine children. Politically, he was a Republican, and he took considerable interest in the local affairs of his party. He very ably served as trustee and also assessor of his township and was justice of the peace.
O. L. Dutton was educated in the home schools and reared on his father's farm, assisting with the general work about the place. With the exception of one year spent in California, he has always lived in Olive township. On March 1, 1910, he moved to Orange township. He operated, most of the time, in Olive township a farm of two hundred and eighty acres, and he has carried on general farming with a large degree of success. He now owns a neat and well kept place. of ninety-four acres east of Grand Mound, where he has a very comfortable home.
Mr. Dutton was married in June, 1895, to Mrs. Rose (Cronkelton) Nunn, of Scott county, Iowa. By her former marriage she has two sons, George and Claude. The former is a teacher in the high school at Sioux City, Iowa, and the latter is on a claim in Wyoming. Mrs. Dutton is a mem- ber of the Christian church. Politically, the subject is a Republican. Mr. Dutton owns a beautiful home, which is presided over by his estimable wife, who belongs to one of the pioneer families of Scott county. She is a lady of rare qualities and very popular, one whom to know is to love.
LAFAYETTE LAMB.
After a man has won his laurels in the business world, it is not easy for him to drop most of the perplexing cares and devote the balance of his days to the enjoyment of what has been so honestly earned, as is shown by the larger number of men of rank who work on until death overtakes them. But to enjoy life rationally, imbibing of the pleasures and comforts wealth commands, is but an evidence of a broadness of character such as that of Lafayette Lamb, of Clinton, Iowa.
Mr. Lamb is the fourth child and second son of Chancy and Jane (Bevier) Lamb, and was born February 26, 1846, in Carroll county, Illinois, sixteen miles from Clinton, Iowa. When he was five years old his father moved to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where the family remained one year, and then went to Big Flats, Chemung county, New York, the father there superintending the milling operations of J. C. Cameron & Company. In those days traveling was a hardship and the migration from Illinois to the Keystone state was made by going down the Mississippi river to Cairo,
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from there to Pittsburg by water, and then to Harrisburg, going over the mountains by stage, traveling part of the way by canal and a short distance by railroad. The child was a pupil in the public schools of Big Flats and practically all of his elementary training was obtained there.
When Lafayette Lamb was ten years old his father moved the family to Fulton, Illinois, and in the following year, 1857, established a home in Clinton, Iowa, which from that time on was the permanent residence of the Lambs. The head of the family bought a small sawmill and lumber yard in the town, and Lafayette, though only a boy, was called upon to assist in the operation of the mill. His task was to raise the logs upon a rotary carriage as they were hauled into the mill, the work in that day being car- ried on with a lever. The lad's schooling was of necessity restricted, and it was only when the river froze and the mill ceased operations that he went to school, returning to the mill when sawing could be done. Upon the plant being enlarged and a shingle mill being added, Mr. Lamb made shingles for his father for five years. His first experience in the lumber yard was in 1862, when he started tallying, and after a year spent in familiarizing himself with the grades, he became a retail salesman for his father.
From 1862 to about 1864 the elder Lamb was also engaged in the grist mill business, in which Lafayette assisted him. The money stringencies during the Civil war compelled the lumber manufacturers to trade lumber for whatever the farmer raised that was marketable, and the product of the Lambs' sawmill was given in exchange for grain, which was ground in the grist mill and sold at wholesale to retailers. Shortly after his experience in the retail yard, Lafayette Lamb had charge of the grist mill and continued in that capacity until the mill was sold and a sawmill built on its site.
So varied and thorough had been his training that Mr. Lamb when twenty-two years old was made foreman under S. B. Gardiner for C. Lamb & Son, his eldest brother, Artemus, having been admitted to the firm in 1864. In 1872 he took charge of the boats furnishing the logs to the Lamb mills and had active charge of the logging when the first steamboat ever employed on the Mississippi for towing log rafts was put into service. This vessel was the "James Means," and was the forerunner of a valuable fleet of steam- boats operated by the firm. For ten years Lafayette supervised this ·branch of the business, although when his father and brother were away at times he had general charge of the firm's affairs. He became a member of the firm of C. Lamb & Sons in 1874, and when the business was incorporated. four years later, he was made vice-president of the company.
Begining with 1882, Mr. Lamb, though still retaining charge of the
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river operations, gave more of his attention to the general details of the lumber business at Clinton, Iowa, taking his father's place in its manage- ment as far as practicable. One by one, the four big sawmills of C. Lamb & Sons were closed down as the supply of white pine timber diminished, the last mill going out of commission October 26, 1904. During the forty- odd years Mr. Lamb and his sons carried on business, approximately three billion feet of white pine lumber was sawed, besides a vast volume of pickets, shingles and lath.
The closing of the last Lamb mill at Clinton did not end the business career of this great family in the valley of the Mississippi. Chancy Lamb, the founder of the house, died July 12, 1897, and Artemus Lamb, the elder son, died April 23, 1901, from injuries received in a railroad wreck in Wyo- ming. Lafayette Lamb, the surviving brother, is an active and virile man in many lines of business in the middle west, the Rocky mountain district and on the Pacific coast. He is president and treasurer of C. Lamb & Sons. and also president of the following: Lamb-Davis Lumber Company, Leav- enworth, Washington; Lamb Lumber Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Tumwater Savings Bank, Leavenworth, Washington. He is vice-president of the Mississippi River Lumber Company, Clinton, Iowa; director of the American Wire Cloth Company, Clinton, Iowa; vice-president of the Missis- sippi River Logging Company, Clinton, Iowa. He is a trustee of the Weyer- hauser Timber Company, Tacoma, Washington, and vice-president of the Carpenter-Lamb Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota; a director of the Chip- pewa Lumber & Boom Company, Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin ; McCloud River Lumber Company, San Francisco, California; vice-president of the People's Trust & Savings Bank, Clinton, Iowa; a director of the Clinton Gas Light & Coke Company, and the Iowa & Illinois Railway, Clinton, Iowa.
Mr. Lamb is a stockholder in the following: People's Trust & Savings Bank, Clinton National Bank, Merchants National Bank and Cromwell Hotel Company, all of Clinton, Iowa; Northern Lumber Company, Cloquet, Minne- sota, and Tampa Hotel Company, Tampa, Florida. He has a one-third in- terest in one of the biggest ranches in Colorado, known as the Studebaker- Lamb-Witwer Ranch, which is nine miles east of Greeley and fifty miles from Denver. It contains four thousand acres and controls eleven miles of riparian rights on the Platte river.
Mr. Lamb married Olivia A. Hufman. of Clinton. August 21, 1866. To them were born two children, Merrette, wife of Eugene J. Carpenter, of Carpenter-Lamb Company, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Chancy R. Lamb, of Minneapolis, who is the active factor in the Bacon-Nolan Hardwood Company, of Chancy, Mississippi.
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Mr. Lamb became a Mason in 1870, in Emulation Lodge No. 255. He is a member of Keystone Chapter and received the Scottish Rite degrees in 1871. Five years later he took the balance of the York Rite degrees in Holy Cross Commandery No. 10, of Clinton. Mr. Lamb is a member of the Shrine, Knights of Pythias and the Elks. In politics he is a Republican, but never has taken a leading part in the deliberations of the party. He is a Presbyterian and has given liberally to the church.
Mr. Lamb recently built a beautiful home in Clinton, where he and his wife entertain most generously. He spends much of his leisure time in com- pany with his friends, cruising up and down the Mississippi river in his house- boat, "Idler," which is towed by his steamer, "Wanderer." Like other members of this prominent family, Mr. Lamb is popular with a wide circle of friends in all walks of life.
ARTEMUS LAMB.
Environment is said to be the making of a man's character for good or evil. So is reflected upon a community, be it large or small, the life of an individual. If the man is broad-minded, progressive and ambitious, there must follow an upbuilding that will outlast the mortal career. Artemus Lamb, who died April 23, 1901, left an ineffaceable record of good upon Clinton, Iowa, a city that owes much to the stalwart Lamb family.
Artemus Lamb was the oldest son of Chancy and Jane (Bevier) Lamb and was born September 11, 1840, in Bradford, Steuben county, New York, where his father ran a sawmill. His education was gained in the public schools, mostly at Big Flats, Chemung county, New York. When sixteen years old he went to Clinton with his father and ever after made that city his home. From boyhood he worked with his father and was his constant associate and helpmate. He had a mechanical bent, which he cultivated for many years, together with practical experience in sawmilling, and he assisted largely in bringing about the high efficiency of the mills controlled by the Lambs.
Before he had reached manhood Mr. Lamb entered the service of his father, who conducted several manufacturing enterprises in Clinton. He was taken into partnership by the senior Mr. Lamb in 1864, when the firm of C. Lamb & Son was formed. From that time on the operations of the concern were broadened rapidly. In 1868 the firm built a large mill structure of stone,
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and sawing was begun the same year. An interest in the Cobb mill at River- side, near Clinton, was secured in 1868, and Mr. Lamb and his father organ- ized, with S. B. Gardiner, S. W. Gardiner and John Byng, the firm of Lamb, Byng & Company. This concern in 1872 acquired the sawmill of Wheeler & Warner, which property was located near the Cobb mill. Two years later Artemus Lamb's brother, Lafayette Lamb, was admitted to partnership and the Lamb concern became known as C. Lamb & Sons. The firm, in the spring of 1877, obtained the shares of S. W. Gardiner, S. B. Gardiner and John Byng in Lamb, Byng & Company, and in January, 1878, the Lamb interests were incorporated under the title of C. Lamb & Sons. Chancy Lamb was president, Lafayette Lamb, vice-president, and Artemus Lamb, secretary and treasurer.
It was in one of the four mills operated by the Lambs at Clinton that the use of the band saw for cutting white pine is supposed to have been first at- tempted. Many innovations in sawmilling were witnessed at the Lamb mill, including an edger of an entirely new type and a trimmer, besides a friction log turner that, now driven by steam, is today known as a "nigger." The last of the Lamb operations at Clinton ended with the shutting down of the re- maining mill October 26, 1904. It is estimated that Mr. Lamb and his sons cut and marketed more than three billion feet of lumber. While having a practical knowledge of sawmilling, Artemus Lamb, later in life, paid more attention to the distribution of the lumber product and to the financial end of the various business interests of his father, brother and himself.
There was much of the typical American citizen about Mr. Lamb, for he took an active interest in any and all of the enterprises of the city where he lived. He had charge of the volunteer fire fighting force until 1879, and it was his earnest efforts that brought about the splendid organization in which the city prides itself. He believed that it was his duty to enter politics and he served as councilman, the records of that body revealing the earnestness and fidelity with which he served his fellow men.
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