LAMB, Artemus

LAMB, BEVIER, WARE, YOUNG, SMITH, GATES, ELLIS, ANKENY, MCCLY, OLDS

Posted By: Nettie Mae
Date: 1/18/2003 at 12:58:56

Source: The 1901 Biographical Record of Clinton Co., Iowa, Illustrated published: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1901.

ARTMEUS LAMB

No family name has been more closely connected with the history of Clinton in any period of its growth and development than that of Lamb and the important part which Artemus Lamb had in the business and social life and in all the at contributed to the welfare of the community makes his record an integral part of the annals of the city. He was born in Bradford, Stueben county, new York, September 11, 1840, and represented an old and prominent New England family, tracing his ancestry in direct line back to Thomas Lamb, who came from England to the new world in company with Governor Winthrop in 1630. On the maternal side he was descended from the French Huguenots who settled in Ulster county, new York, before the Revolutionary war. His parents were Chancy and Jane (Bevier) Lamb, the former the founder of the great lumber business which has since been carried on which has grown to be one of the most important industries in eastern Iowa. Three children of their family still survive and are residents of Clinton: Lafayette, Mrs. Augusta Ware and Mrs. W. E. Young.

During his early boyhood Artemus Lamb was taken by his parents to Carroll county, Illinois, and his youth was there passed on a farm until sixteen years of age. In 1856 his father began the manufacture of lumber in Clinton, Iowa, a business with which he was familiar, for prior to this time he had spent several years in the conduct of a sawmill in New York and Pennsylvania. Artemus began to assist his father in the new enterprise, the family removing to Clinton, where our subject made his home up to the time of his death. The business steadily grew in volume and importance. It was the era of the wonderful development of the lumber industry in the Mississippi valley and the enterprise established by Chancy Lamb kept pace with the general progress. The son mastered the business both in principle and detail, and more and more the management of the great enterprise devolved upon him. In 1865 his father admitted him to a partnership in the business, and another change occurred in the firm when, in 1873,the younger
brother, Lafayette Lamb, also became a partner. Five years afterward the business was incorporated under the style of C. Lamb & Sons, which name has since been retained. Although the founder passed away in July, 1897. After the incorporation Artemus Lamb had a growing responsibility in the management of the business of the house, and at his father’s death became the senior member and executive officer of the company, although his office as that of secretary and treasurer.

The growth of the business of C. Lamb & Sons as well as the magnitude and diversity of Mr. Lamb’s interests may be understood from the following list of official positions held by him. Aside from his office in the company of C. Lamb & Sons, he was president of the Shell Lake Lumber Company, of Shell Lake, Wisconsin; vice-president of the Mississippi River Lumber Company Minneapolis, Minnesota; vice-president of the Mississippi River Logging Company of Chippewa Falls; director of Chippewa Lumber & Boom Company, of Chippewa Falls; also the White River Lumber Company, of Mason, Wisconsin; the Weyerhauser Timber Company, of Washington; the Coast Lumber Company, of St. Paul, Minnesota; and Fish Brothers Wagon Company, of Clinton, Iowa; president of the Crescent Spring Railroad Company, of Wisconsin; president of the People’s Trust & Savings Bank, of Clinton; president of the Lumbermen’s Bank, of Shell Lake, Wisconsin; director in the City National Bank, of Clinton; president of the Iowa Packing & Provision Company, of Clinton; secretary and treasurer of the Clinton Gas Light & Coke Company, of Clinton; and trustee of the Agatha Hospital of Clinton. He was also a stockholder in the Northern Lumber Company, of Cloquet, Minnesota; the Musser-Sauntry Land, Lumber & Manufacturing Company, of Stillwater, Minnesota; and the Superior Logging & Lumber Company of Stillwater. With his brother, Lafayette Lamb, he was a large holder of sugar pine in the Yosemite valley, of California. He was one of the founders of the Tri-City Telephone Company, of Clinton; was largely interested in smelting and mining in Georgia, and had large interests in zinc mines in Arkansas and gold mines in Colorado. In commenting upon his death, a local paper said: “As the stately pines fell before the choppers, so fell his giant frame before the great reaper, and the strong, active leader of men in finances, in days gone by a leader in physical effort, is no more, and yet with Dryden he could sat to Fate, ‘Tomorrow do thy worst for I have lived to-day.’ And in the present he lived-active, progressive, full of ambition, ready for a multitude of duties, which were performed with earnestness until he filled the place among his fellow men of a leader, and kindred interests to the business to which he gave so much of his thought and energy looked to him to think out, experiment on and prove that which was best, most progressive, most profit-producing in the methods of handling the raw material or investing the profits to bring the greatest returns with the minimum risk. From the day he entered the firm to the day of the injury which terminated his life he knew no rest, no surcease from effort. It was work, work, all the time; planning here, directing there; ordering here, receiving reports there, for his mind had been so schooled, his habits had been so formed that he would not delegate this duty or that idea to another to execute, but must assist those who were given the charge to perform; counsel with them, help them, and when a man was found in the yards with a timber too heavy to lift, and he was there, it was not his habit to call another workman and stand by and see them place the timber where it belonged, but rather to bend his great strength to the task and thus lighten the load, then with a careless brush of his hands to remove the splinters of the pine that clung to them he would go to the office and the finance man, the bookkeeper or accountant would be assisted over some knotty problem as readily and as quickly.” Kindness, amiability and courtesy not only characterized his social relations but were a marked feature of his business life, and the humble employe never saw a trace of the overbearing task master in him.

In Clinton on the 11th of October, 1865, Artemus Lamb married Miss Henrietta Sabrina Smith, who was born in Perry county, Ohio, April 17, 1845. They became the parents of five children, all of whom are living except Burt, who died January 29, 1898. The living are Emma Rema, wife of Marvin J. Gates; Garret Eugene, who wedded Gertrude May Ellis; James Dwight, who married Mollie Valeria Ankeny; Clara Augusta, wife of Russell B. McCoy; and Burt Lafayette, who married Grace Olds.

Mr. Lamb was one of the early member of Emulation Lodge, No. 255, A. F. & A. M. He was a member of Clinton chapter, and for many years was recorder of Holy Cross Commandery, and a number of years was commander-in-chief of De Molay Consistory of Clinton. He passed through the Scottish Rite bodies, and received the honorary thirty-third degree. He was a member of the Iowa Society of the Sons of the Revolution.

Mr. Lamb probably did more for the improvement and progress of Clinton than any other one man. His extensive business interests were of the greatest benefit to the city, gibing employment to hundreds of workmen, and thus adding to the general prosperity, but along other lines he also contributed to the general welfare, giving generously and freely to all measures which he believed would prove of public good. In his earlier years he was foremost in every movement among the young men of the city instituted in behalf of Clinton and as late as from 1874 until 1879 he was in charge of the fire department when to be a fireman meant to be ready to fight fire with crude assistance of water works apparatus, and to have charge of a volunteer department was to be clothed with more power at a fire than a general on the battlefield. Yet so capably did he discharge his duties that he was retained in that office for five years, and to the earnestness of his effort is largely due the fact that the city now has a splendid paid fire department. He served as a member on the city council and exercised his official prerogatives in support of every measure which he believed would prove of benefit to the city. Though inheriting wealth, he was extremely democratic in his manner, and it was a source of great pleasure to him when his fellow townsmen addressed him as Art. Lamb, for he felt that it was a mark of good comradeship. He was one of the people-his wealth did not place him above his fellow men, and he felt with Burns that “A man’s a man for a’ that.” He was indeed quick to recognize and appreciate character and worth, regarding not its outward environments. He belonged to that class who shed around them much of the sunshine of life. The poor found in him not only a benefactor, but a friend, and he ever had a hand down-reaching to assist those less fortunate than himself. His genial ways, wide experience, careful observance of the habits and customs of others made him at ease in the mansion in the ball room and at the banquet board, but he was happiest among the common people. In fact, there were no common people for him—all people were of one class, and by him were judged only as to character, and in that he had great sympathy and charity, while in his own life adhering closely to the highest ideals. At length the heavy burdens of business life told upon his once robust constitution, and feeling that he needed rest and relaxation he started for California in January, 1901, there to join his wife and other members of the family. The train on which he was a passenger was wrecked and he sustained injuries. As soon as possible he was taken on to California, and for a time he rallied, but finally succumbed to his injures and the complication they entailed, passing away at Coronado Beach, California, April 23, 1901. No man in Clinton was ever more respected, and no man every more fully enjoyed the confidence of the people or more deserved such respect and confidence. Perhaps the feeling prevalent in his home city when the news of his death was received is best indicated by the following telegram which was sent to Mrs. Lamb:

“Our city is hushed and silent. The flag at half mast on the city hall announced to our people the death of their friend and fellow citizen, Mr. Artemus Lamb. We all mourn with you in your great bereavement.

“G. D. McDaid, Mayor.”

Thus was ended the life record of one of whom it may justly be said:

“His life was noble and the elements so mixed in him that nature might stand up and say to all the world, “This was a man.’ “