USA > Wisconsin > Dane County > History of Dane County, Biographical and Genealogical > Part 55
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HISTORY OF DANE COUNTY.
He represented the Athenaean society at the junior oratorical contest, and the following year was the winner of the oratorical contest at the university, the state contest, and the ensuing inter- state oratorical contest at Iowa City. He was editor and part owner of the University Press. The year of his graduation he married his classmate, Miss Belle Case, who was likewise noted for her oratorical ability, and a winner of the Lewis prize for the best commencement oration. She afterwards studied law, and was the first woman to graduate from the university law school. In addition to her charming social qualities, she has been the in- tellectual helpmate of her distinguished husband. After gradua- tion Mr. La Follette entered the law school of his alma mater but attended lectures for only one term and then passed the state ex- aminations for admission to the bar, and immediately opened an office in the city of Madison. From 1881-85 he served as district attorney of Dane county, and from 1885 to 1891, he represented the then third Wisconsin district in the 49th, 50th and 51st congresses, and was the youngest member of the house at the time of his en- trance. His brilliant powers as a public debater soon brought him into prominence, and as a member of the committee on ways and means, he assisted in framing the "Mckinley" tariff bill in 1890. He was especially charged with drafting the schedules on farm products, tobacco, linen and silk, and was also a member of the sub-committee which framed the iron and steel schedules. On his retirement from congress in 1891, he resumed the active practice of law at .Madison, as the senior member of the firm of La Follette, Harper, Roe & Zimmerman. This partnership was dissolved in 1894, since which time he has been alone in the practice. In addi- tion to his work as a busy and successful lawyer for the succeeding ten years, he continued to take a keen interest in public affairs, and was prominent in the councils of the Republican party. He was especially active in promoting a reform movement in Wis- consin, and advocated the adoption of a primary election law, the merit system with reference to holding public office, a law pro- hibiting the giving or receiving of railroad passes, the establish- ment of a railway rate commission for the state regulation of rail- way rates, and fiercely denounced what he termed the "Political Machine." In 1896 he was a delegate to the Republican national convention at St. Louis, where he was a member of the committee on resolutions. In 1897 he delivered an address at the University of Chicago on the "Menace of the Machine;" the following year, at the University of Michigan, one on the "Nomination of Candi-
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dates by the Australian Ballot ;" and at Milwaukee, before the State Agricultural Society, one on "Dangers that Threaten Representa- tive Government." He was the candidate of the "reform" ele- ment of his party for the nomination for governor in 1896 and 1898, and was a persistent advocate of his reform policies before state and county agricultural fairs and similar gatherings, both in Wis- consin and in neighboring states. ' In 1900 he received the Republi- can nomination for governor, and his plurality of 102,745 was the largest ever received by a candidate for that office. He was re- elected in 1902 by a plurality of 47,599, and again in 1904 by a plurality of 50,952. He was elected, while serving his third term as governor, to the United States senate to succeed J. V. Quarles for the term beginning March 4, 1905.
Peter Lahm, Sr., retired, living at 743 East Johnson street, was born in Germany, June 22, 1837. His parents were John and Elizabeth (Horlander) Lahm, the father a farmer who saw three years' service in the Prussian war. The father died at the age of sixty-five years, and the mother six weeks later. Of the five chil- dren in the family three are living, Catherine, Mrs. Frank Gans of Milwaukee; Christena, Mrs. David Holler, resides in the town of Lake, Milwaukee county ; and Peter, Sr., the subject of this sketch; Anna is deceased. Peter received his education in the public schools of Germany and before coming to America was engaged in farming with his father. In 1855 he landed in New York, and for the following thirteen years made New Brunswick, N. J., his home. In 1868 he came to Madison, and the following year en- gaged in the drayage business, which he followed successfully until his retirement in 1890. On August 17, 1862, he married Elizabeth, daughter of William and Clara (Funk) Gunzelman. Mrs. Lahm was born in Germany. April 28, 1841, and came to this country, settling in Woodbridge, N. J., with her parents in 1851. She was one of seven children. Bartholmew, deceased; Mary, Mrs. John Mack, deceased; Margaret, Mrs. Anthony Dumbach, resident of Long Island; Mrs. Martin Miller of New Jersey; Barbara; Mrs. Lahm ; and Minna, Mrs. William Smalley of New Brunswick, N. J. To Mr. and Mrs. Lahm were born five children, Clara is the wife of Rudolph Tracy, janitor of the Brown block, by whom she was five children, Olive, Sadie, Ralph, Dorothy and Donald, the last two named being twins; Kate married Henry R. Lenz, who was born in Germany, and has been a citizen of Madison for twenty- five years and for twenty-three years has been a cutter for M. J. Hoven, butcher, of the city of Madison; Peter, Jr., married Mary
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HISTORY OF DANE COUNTY.
Ryan, by whom he has one child, Florence; Sadie, Mrs. Hannibal Lacher of Madison ; John, of the Madison fire department. Mrs. Lahm passed away September 22, 1903. Mr. Lahm is a member of the United Workmen. He is one of the best known and most highly respected citizens of Madison.
John C. Lalor, of Oregon, is a native of Dane county; having been born in Dunn township, August 2, 1865. He is of Irish an- cestry, his father, William Lalor, came to this country when he was twenty-five years old and his mother, Amelia (Fox) Lalor, when she was ten. They were married in Indiana, and in June, 1848, came to Wisconsin, and took up one hundred and fifty-four acres of government land in Dunn township, Dane county, which they cleared and improved. Here all of their family of eleven chil- dren were born; of these all are living except one son who was killed in the Civil War. They are Mary J., Ellen and Ann of Dunn township; Kate (Mrs. Broderick), of Iowa; Emma (Mrs. Holmes) of Wisconsin : Alice, of Washington, D. C .; William of New Madi- son, town of Dunn ; Richard of Iowa; James H., of New Madison, and John C., the subject of this sketch. They were all educated in the public schools of Dunn, Fitchburg and Madison. Mr. Lalot has worked at various occupations, having been employed in a grocery, the lumber and the drug business, but in later years has interested himself in farming exclusively. . He owns a farm of one hundred and fifteen acres, situated about fourteen miles from the city of Madison, a little to the southeast; this was an improved property when he bought it, seven years ago. June 24. 1896, he was married to Miss Mary M. Martin, daughter of John and Mary (Luther) Martin, of Dunn township. They have no children. Mr. Lalor is an independent in politics, and a member of the Catholic church, but his wife belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church. Her parents were farmers and are both deceased.
Christian Lammert, boot and shoe dealer of Middleton, was born in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, September 1, 1842, and educated in German schools. John and Mary Teda Lammert, his parents, were bern in Mecklenburg, were married there and there spent their carly married life. The mother died in 1859 and in 1866 the family came to America and located at Middleton. John Lammert, the father, died in Nebraska in 1885 as did also their oldest son. John ; the second. Frederick, now deceased, was a merchant in Schuyler, Neb. : Henry is a ranch owner in Oregon; Mary died in 1820; Christian, of Middleton, is the youngest. When the family settled in Middleton, Christian immediately set to work at shoe-making,
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which was the trade he had learned in the Fatherland and in 1890 he opened his present store. November 5, 1866, he was married to Miss Sophia Kilgrast, daughter of Fritz and Sophia Kilgratz of Meckelburg Schwerin. Mrs. Lammert died in 1902 and of their six children but one is living. Minnie, their daughter, is the wife of Oscar Engles and lives in Sun Prairie, Wis. The family have al- ways been warm supporters of the German Lutheran church. Mr. Lammert is a Democrat but has never been an office seeker, pre- ferring to devote himself to his growing bus ness, which has flour- ished under his care.
William E. Lamont is an excellent representative of the kind of citizen produced when the sturdy stock of "York state" was in- fused with the virility which has characterized the life of the northwest. He comes of a line of pioneers, his paternal grand- father, Benjamin Lamont, a native of New York, being one of the earliest settlers of Canandagua county. There he spent the greater part of his life and there his son, Thair G. Lamont, was born in 1832. The latter married Miss Julia Ann Cook, and they came west and settled in Vienna in 1867. Mrs. Lamont died the following year and her husband survived her nearly thirty years, he dying in Lodi in October, 1892. Mr. T. G. Lamont was a prominent member of the community and of the Methodist Episcopal church, to which his wife also belonged. He was a life-long Democrat and served as a supervisor of Vienna. Wm. E. Lamont. his son, re- ceived a liberal education in the common school, high school of Lodi and the University of Wisconsin. He taught school for nine years, beginning at the age of nineteen ; afterward he took up farm- ing, and on his fine property of three hundred and fifty acres breeds Clydsdale horses, beside being largely interested in other stock. He is in the best sense of that over-used phrase, a self-made man, and beside attending well to his private affairs, has served the pub- lic in the capacity of assessor, treasurer and clerk of the township. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, as is also his wife, who was Miss Agnes W. Caldwell, daughter of John and Marian (Wardrop) Caldwell. She was born in Columbia county, May ?, 1868 ; her father, a native of Scotland, born 1833, and his wife, born 1835, came to Columbia in 1851, and now reside at Lodi. They are members of the Presbyterian church. He is a farmer, a Repub- lican and one of the wealthy men of the county. Of their large family of nine children, all are living. Mr. and Mrs. Wm. E. Lamont have one child, Marian Elizabeth, born April 10, 1898.
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HISTORY OF DANE COUNTY.
Albert T. Lamson, one of the representative farmers and fruit- growers of Madison township, has been a resident of Dane county for nearly forty years and has won success and independence through his well directed efforts. He is an honored veteran of the Civil War and is a citizen who commands unqualified confidence and esteem. Mr. Lamson is a native of the state of Michigan, hav- ing been born in the village of Constantine, St. Joseph county, January 1, 1837, and being a son of Joseph T. and Mary T. (Ter- hune) Lamson, both of whom were born and reared in New York, the former having been a native of Livingston county and the latter of Chautauqua county. They removed from the old Em- pire state to Michigan about 1836, shortly before the admission of the state to the Union, and the father became a farmer and hotel keeper in St. Joseph county, where he remained several years, at the expiration of which he returned with his family to the state of New York, where both he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives. They became the parents of four sons and one daugh- ter, and all except one son are yet living. Albert T. Lamson was afforded the advantages of the common schools, and the seminary at Lima, N. Y., and was a young man of twenty-four years at the outbreak of the Civil War. His loyalty and patriotism were forth- with quickened to action and he tendered his services in defense of the Union. Concerning his military career the following epitome has been previously published: When the war broke out he en- listed as a private in Company E, promoted and assigned to Com- pany A as second lieutenant, One Hundred and Fourth New York Volunteer Infantry, in which he was promoted and assigned to Company A, as second lieutenant ; he was next promoted to the rank of first lieutenant, and assigned to Company G. his command joining the Army of the Potomac. He took part in the battles of Cedar Mountain, South Mountain, Fredericksburg, Chancellors- ville and a number of other engagements, including the preliminary operations at Gettysburg. On July 1, 1863, he was captured and was taken to Libby prison, where he passed ten months. For- tunately he had a little money, with which he could purchase some- thing to eat in addition to hiis miserable allowance, but the confine- ment caused him a great deal of suffering, nevertheless. Later he was confined for a short time at Danville, Virginia, after which he was taken to Macon, Georgia, and held in the stockade at old Fort Oglethorpe for three months, at the expiration of which he was sent. with five hundred union prisoners, to Charleston, South Carolina, and placed under fire of Union guns. Subsequently he
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was taken to Columbia, that state, where he was held until Octo- ber 23, 1864, when he and two others succeeded in making their escape. Lieutenant Lamson, W. H. Shelton and Lieutenant Sill were recaptured, in the northwestern part of North Carolina, after seventy-one days of hardships in tramping through the swamps and forests. They were taken to the headquarters of Colonel Thomas, who ordered them to Goldsboro, North Carolina. They managed to escape again, however, and finally reached a Union settlement in the mountains of North Carolina, where they found friends. After passing about three weeks in this locality they succeeded in securing a guide and started for the Union lines in eastern Tennessee. Once inside the lines, they reported to General Stevens, at Chattanooga, and received an order to report to Gen- eral George H. Thomas, at Nashville, Tennessee. There they re- ceived a furlough for thirty days, at the end of which time they reported at Washington, D. C., where Lieutenant Lamson was mustered out February 25, 1865. After the close of the war Mr. Lamson returned to the state of New York, where he remained a short time. In the summer of the year 1865 he went to Nash- ville, Tennessee, in the employ of the government, being assigned to railroad work, in the mess house. He remained there until autumn and then returned to New York state, where he continued to reside until 1867, when he came to Wisconsin and took up his abode in Dane county, where he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits. In 1870 he purchased what was known as the French farm, in Madison township, the same comprising seventy-seven acres of fine land, and here he has since maintained his home, hav- ing brought the farm under effective cultivation and having made excellent improvements in the erection of substantial buildings. He has been very successful in his efforts and gives his attention to diversified agriculture and stock-growing and to the raising of fruits, making a specialty of the last mentioned. He has ever shown a loyal interest in public affairs of a local nature and his political support is given to the Republican party. He is one of the appreciative and popular members of Lucius Fairchild Post, No. 11, Grand Army of the Republic, in the city of Madison, and is ex-commander of the same. In the spring of 1870, Mr. Larson was united in marriage to Miss Flora Jeanette Gorham, daughter of James Gorham, whom came to Wisconsin from the state of New York, becoming one of the pioneers of Dane county. Mr. and Mrs. Lamson have no children.
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HISTORY OF DANE COUNTY.
William H. Lansing, who died at his home in the city of Madi- son, May 7, 1905, was long identified with the business interests of the capital city and was a representative of one of the prominent and honored pioneer families of Dane county. He was born in Phelps, Ontario county, New York, December 10, 1834, being a son of Robert W. and Elizabeth (Hardy) .Lansing. Robert W. Lansing was born in the old Empire state, and was a son of Gar- rett Robert Lansing, who passed the closing years of his life in the- famous Mohawk valley of New York, having been a farmer by vocation and a member of a family early settled in that common- wealth. Robert W. Lansing was reared and educated in his native state, having been a man of fine mentality and having gained his education largely through personal application outside the school
. room. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in New York, where he was engaged in the practice of his profession until about 1842, when he was appointed receiver of the United States land · office at Mineral Point, to which point he removed with his wife and their eight children. They made the trip by way of the great lakes from Buffalo to Milwaukee and thence by stage to their des- tination. They remained in Mineral Point about three years and then removed to Madison, which was then but a small village. while the surrounding country was sparsely settled and but slightly developed. Robert W. Lansing opened a hotel in Madison, where he also engaged in the practice of his profession. He finally pur- chased a tract of land in Blooming Grove township, where he con- tinued to reside until his death, which occurred in 1885, at which time he was eighty-five years of age. He continued in the practice of the law for many years after his removal to his rural home, and his name merits an enduring place in the annals of Dane county his- tory. His wife was likewise born in the state of New York, of English parentage, having been a daughter of Will'am Hardy, who passed the closing years of his life in New York state, having been a farmer by vocation. Mrs. Lansing was summoned to the life eternal on March 11, 1873, at the age of seventy-four years. Both she and her husband were communicants of the Protestant Episco- pal church. William H. Lansing, subject of this memoir, was about eight years of age at the time of his parents' removal to Wisconsin, and he here attended the common schools, supplement- ing this discipline by a partial course in the University of Wiscon- sin, in Madison, the institution at that time being maintained or a very modest scale. After the removal of the family to Madison he initiated his business career by taking a position as salesman
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in a dry-goods store, following this line of occupation until the time of his marriage, in 1859, when his father presented to him, as a wedding gift, a deed to a farm in Blooming Grove township. He and his bride forthwith. took up their residence on this home- stead, to whose improvement and cultivation hc continued to give his attention for the ensuing twelve years, at the expiration of which he again took up his residence in Madison, where he estab- lished himself in the meat-market business, on Williamson street. He continued to be identified with this line of enterprise about thirty years, becoming one of the best known and most popular business men of the capital city and being a man who ever com- manded the respect and esteem of all with whom he came in con- tact in the various relations of life. He was a loyal and public- spirited citizen, a stanch advocate of the principles of the Demo- cratic party. and he served eight years as a member of the board of aldermen. Though not formally identified with any religious body. his views were in harmony with the tenets of the Protestant Epis- copal church, in whose faith he was reared. October 23, 1859, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Lansing and Miss Martha Fran- comb, who was born in New York city. December 27, 1840, a daughter of Samuel and Louisa (Nodine) Francomb. They came from New York to Dane county, Wisconsin, when Mrs. Lansing was a child. being numbered among the early settlers of Madison, and there she was reared and educated, having completed the cur- riculum of the graded schools of the day. Mrs. Lansing survives her honored husband, to whom she was a devoted companion and helpmeet, and she still resides in the old homestead in Mad son, where she has a wide circle of cherished and loyal friends. In conclusion is entered the following brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Lansing: Addie Elizabeth, born May 18, 1861, d'ed March 10, 1882: Emma L., born October 12, 1864, is the wife of Henry Sprecher and they reside in Iowa, being the par- ents of four children ; William B., who was born Sept. 2, 1865, and who now resides in Faulkton. S. D., married Miss Anna Wilkie. and they have four children: Charles B., born July 1, 1866, is a representative farmer of Blooming Grove township; he married Miss Clara Wandry and they have five children ; Frances May, born May 9, 1873, is the wife of William Judd of McIntire, Iowa.
William F. Lappley is one of the firm of Lappley Brothers, of the village of Fitchburg, where they do an extensive business as dealers in lumber, farm implements, hardware, flour and feed, hard and soft coal, and also as buyers of grain, besides following con-
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HISTORY OF DANE COUNTY.
tracting and building to a considerable extent. The father of these enterprising young men is John Lappley, who for years has been one of the leading farmers of Dane county, and it is fitting that herein appropriate mention should be made of the sturdy German ancestry through which our subject is descended. John Lappley, the father, was born in Germany in 1825, and is a son of Lawrence and Heinreika (Shrade) Lappley, natives also of that country. Lawrence Lappley followed the shoemakers' trade all his life in the Fatherland, and died there on April 28, 1888, at the age of eighty- eight years, his wife also dying there in her seventy-fourth year. They were the parents of fourteen children, four of whom grew to. years of maturity, one son and three daughters. The paternal great-grandfather of our subject. Melchoir Lappley, was also a na- tive of Germany, a baker by trade, was twice married and the father of seven sons and five daughters. He lived to the age of eighty years, and at his death left a fine estate. John Lappley, father of him whose name introduces this sketch, received a good education in his native country. From the age of twenty-one to. twenty-seven years he was in the employ of the German service, receiving three cents per day, and three cents for rations. During this six years he was three years at home, without pay, a practice- that was compulsory under the German law. In the spring of 1852, at the age of twenty-seven years, he sailed from Havre, France, on the St. George, landing in New York after a voyage of thirty-four days, and with eight French dollars in his pocket. He soon found employment at his trade-that of shoemaking-for four dollars per month, but failed to receive his wages, and he afterward began work at nine dollars per month. After spending one year in New York, Mr. Lappley worked in the lumber regions of Tioga county,. Pa., three months, was then employed in the pineries fourteen months, at sixteen dollars per month, after which he worked at his. trade in New York city for twelve dollars per month. He was a fine workman, and could make one pair of boots a day, often work- ing sixteen hours as a day's work. In April, 1855, he came to Wis- consin, where he was employed in the construction of a railroad in Madison a short time, farmed on the Indian reservation in the town of Roxbury ten years, erecting a log house, which was destroyed by fire one month afterward, with all the household effects, and no. insurance. He then erected another dwelling and purchased eighty acres of land, fifty acres of which were under cultivation. Mr. Lappley then had $200 in money. and his stock, and out of ths he was obliged to pay $100 court expenses, which he considered a.
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robbing scheme. Hé next rented sixty acres of land in the town of Berry, one year, and then purchased one hundred acres, for which he paid $1,500, and a few years later added twenty acres more, paying $190 for the latter, and still later bought forty acres more for $450, making him a total of one hundred and sixty acres of land. In 1881 he sold that place and purchased three hundred and forty acres in Springfield, paying for the same $3,500. There he has continued to reside, adding to his landed possessions until he now owns five hundred acres, well stocked and improved, and he successfully carries on the business of general farming. He was married in New York city, June 15, 1854, to Miss Anna M. S. Schmidt, who came from'Germany, her native land, to America the same year. They reared ten children, as follows: Louisa, wife of George W. Hall, a miner of California; John, who is mentioned more at length in this review; Henry, a jeweler and watchmaker of Mazoman'e; Mary, wife of James H. Froggart, a farmer of Dane county ; William F., whose name introduces this sketch; Charles, a contractor and builder of South Milwaukee; Christopher, deceased ; Caroline, Frederick and Alice. One daughter, Annie, died May 26, 1873, at the age of eight months. John Lappley, one of the broth- ers who constitute the business firm mentioned in the beginning of this review, and the eldest son of John Lappley, Sr., was born in the town of Roxbury, Dane county, Sept. 3, 1857, and received his education in the schools of Roxbury and Berry. For the past seven years he has resided in Fitchburg, where he and his brother are meeting with such signal success in the mercantile line. He is a Republican in politics and a member of the Presbyterian church. He was married on April 28, 1892, to Miss Mary Holtcworth, a na- tive of Germany, whose parents-Christian and Mary (Kurtz) Holtcworth-migrated to America when the daughter was but nine months old and settled in the town of Middleton, where the father now lives retired, the mother having died about a year after the arrival of the family in Dane county. Mr. and Mrs. Lappley are the parents of seven children, all living but the eldest, who died at the age of five months. Their names follow: Raymond, Paul, Melva, Herbert, Vera, Melinda, Walder. William F. Lappley, the other member of this progressive business firm, and whose name first appears in the beginning of this family memoir, was born in the town of Roxbury, Dane county, Oct. 2, 1862, and was educated in the schools of the town of Berry. In February, 1899, he and his brother established the business at Fitchburg, in which they have since been successfully engaged, and it may be said in truth that
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