LAMB, Garrett E.

LAMB, SMITH, BEVIER, GATES, MCCOY, ELLIS

Posted By: Mike Kearney (email)
Date: 8/22/2004 at 22:50:02

1911 Wolf's History of Clinton Lamb, Garrett E., pg. 676
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 character. 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 struggles 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 judgement 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 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 Clinton 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 throught the eastern part of the state, the magnitude of their operations being evidenced in the fact that up to the sutting 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 judgement were held in the highest esteem by his business associates. For a detailed acocunt 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 subject of this sketch; Clara Augusta, wife of Russell B. McCoy; Burt Lafayette and Jame 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 incorporated 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 interests, which invariable proved successful and financially profitable. Mr. Lamb has in all his business enterprises exhibited the same soundness of judgement and progressive spirit which characterized his father and grandfather and his career has been marked by energy, persistence and shrewdness which have enabled him to accomplish very definite results in all the lines to which he has 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 in 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 invariable 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 attention 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 Benvloent and Protective Order of the 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 andhe 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, giving such efficient service that he was the unanimous choice of his party for re-election, but his extensive legal practice compelled him to deline further political honors. His death occurred on June 8, 1906.