James W Lamb

LAMB

Posted By: County Coordinator (email)
Date: 5/8/2010 at 17:24:17

James W Lamb a retired hotel proprietor, has been a resident of Boone for thirty years and of the county for forty-four years. He has an extensive acquaintance in this part of the state, and has had considerable influence in shaping public affairs. He was born near Terre Haute, Indiana, on April 1, 1836. His paternal grandfather was a pioneer of Kentucky an died in that state. His father William, Lamb, was born in North Carolina in 1804 but when four years of age was taken by his parents to Kentucky , where he ear reared. He there married Rachel Ashcroft and afterward removed to Indiana, where he lived until his removal to Illinois, his death occurring in Jo Daviess county of the latter state when he was in his seventy-six year. His wife passed away when sixty-five years of age. They had a family of nine children, all of whom have now passed way with the exception of James W and John R the latter a resident of Hanover, Illinois.
James W Lamb was but four years of age when the family removed form Indiana to Schuyler county, Illinois, where they lived for four years and then took up their abode near Freeport, that state, where he was reared to manhood. The country was new and pioneer conditions existed on all sides. He remembers seeing herds of deer and elk where now stands the flourishing city of Freeport. He was educated in one of the old time log schoolhouses with its hewed log benches and big fireplace occupying one end of the room. Methods of instruction were as primitive as the building and it was at a time when every school teacher heeded the injunction concerning “Spare the rod and spoil the child.: In his youth Mr Lamb worked upon the home farm and as he advanced in years and strength assisted more and more largely in the labor of the fields. After a time the father purchased a farm in Jo Daviess county, just across the line from their old home.
In 1856 James W Lamb was married in McDonough county, Illinois, to Miss Deborah An De Camp, of that county, a daughter of Joel and Matilda (Bridge) De Camp. They young couple began their domestic life upon an Illinois farm and in May 1870, they removed to Iowa, settling in Ogden, where Mr Lamb conducted a meat market which was the first in the town. At the end of three years he purchased a farm in Yell township and thereon made his home for seven years, upon the expiration of which period he went to Rolfe, Iowa, where he was engaged in the like stock and banking business for five years. He then came to Boone and embarked in the hotel business, conducting he City Hotel for twenty-seven years, since which time he has lived retired. His business affairs have at all time been carefully and wisely directed and his energy and careful management have brought to him a success which now enables him to live retired.
While living in Yell township Mr Lamb was called upon to mourn the loss of his first wife, who passed away there in 1877. He afterward wedded Susie Fogel, in Phillipsburg, Kansas. She died in Boone in 1896 and on April 24, 1901, Mr Lamb wedded Mrs Margaret Totten, who was born in Parkersburg, West Virginia, October 21, 1849, a daughter of William and Lucy (Maddox) Davis, who were natives of West Virginia and were descended from New England ancestry. The latter was a daughter of one of the soldiers of the Revolutionary war. Allen Davis, the paternal grandfather was a large slave holder in Virginia. During the early period in the history of that state he owned and operated a ferry at Harpers Ferry. Margaret Davis, daughter of William and Lucy (Maddox) Davis, was but five years of age when she accompanied her parents to Jasper county, Iowa where she was reared to womanhood. In that county she first married Phillip Totten, a native of Ohio and a butcher by trade. He died in Hot Springs, Arkansas. They became the parents of three children: Alvin a merchant of Turtle Lake, North Dakota, Anna the wife of Ashby Perry of Atkinson, Nebraska, and William of Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. By his first marriage Mr Lamb had two children who are yet living, Alzina and Julia. The former is the widow of David Reading and had three children, Lewis, Nellie and Ethel. Julia is the wife of George Rittgers of Paton, Iowa and their children are Glenn, Bessie, Gertrude, Lloyd and Floyd, twins, Marvel and Homer.
Mr and Mrs Lamb are members of the First Methodist Episcopal church. In politics he was a republican for a number of years after casing his first presidential ballot for Fremont. For some years past, however, he has been active in the prohibition party and for a long period has been county chairman. In the early days of his residence here he served as deputy sheriff and has also been constable, supervisor and school director. Fraternally, he is connected with the Odd Fellows, being a charter member of Rolfe Lodge No 94. Energy and industry constitutes the basis of the success which he has achieved. He early realized that these qualities are indispensable in winning business advancement ad his close application and diligence have placed him in a position among the men of affluence in his adopted county, where he is also widely and favorably known by reason of many attractive social qualities.

1914 Boone County History Book