ORSBORN, Lester L.

ORSBORN, MILLER, WALLACE, RHEA, PARNHAM

Posted By: Volunteer (email)
Date: 8/20/2005 at 14:08:44

Harlan, Edgar Rubey. A Narrative History of the People of Iowa. Vol III. Chicago: American Historical Society, 1931

p. 44 

   LESTER L. ORSBORN. The young and enthusiastic element of the legal profession of Montgomery County finds expression and representation in Lester L. Orsborn, who is engaged in a prosperous general practice at Red Oak. During his somewhat short but very active career he has been identified with much litigation that has been brought before the courts, and in several cases of importance has had the opportunity to display his possession of qualities that bid fair to carry him far in a calling for which he is singularly well fitted.

Mr. Orsborn was born January 12, 1896, on a farm in Palo Alto County, Iowa, and is a son of F.T. and Susan (Miller) Orsborn. his father was born in North Carolina and shortly after the Civil war he moved to Illinois. His mother was born in Illinois, and belonged to a large family of children of a pioneer of the Prairie State. F.T. Orsborn received a country school education and was reared to the pursuits of agriculture, in which he has been engaged throughout his life. In 1895 he came to Iowa and settled at Emmettsburg, subsequently buying a farm in Palo Alto County, on which he still lives and carries on extensive operations as a farmer and raiser of cattle. He is one of the substantial and highly respected men of his community. Politically he is a Republican and his fraternal connection is with the Knights of Pythias. Mr. and Mrs. F.T. Orsborn are devout members of the Congregational Church. To their union were born five children: Effie, who is unmarried and resides at home with her parents; Zelia, the wife of Robert E. Rhea, who is engaged in the general merchandise business at Sigourney, Iowa; Ethel, the wife of Ralph Parnham, a farmer of the Emmettsburg locality; George, who is engaged in agricultural pursuits in the same community; and Lester L. of this review.

Lester L. Orsborn attended the public schools of Emmettsburg, spending his boyhood on the farm and after completing his high school course worked on the home place until September, 1916, when he entered the University of Iowa. In 1917 he enlisted in the army for service during the World war. He was first sent to Camp Riley, Kansas, for intensive training and later transferred to Fort Snelling, but was not called for overseas duty and received his honorable discharge in August, 1919. Upon his return to the duties of the life of a civilian, Mr. Orsborn entered the University of Iowa, from which he graduated in 1923 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts. In 1926 he received his degree of Doctor of Jurisprudence. He commenced practice at Red Oak, Iowa, in association with H.J. Kneen, but after two years this partnership was mutually dissolved and since then Mr. Orsborn has been alone. Since setting at this place he has been successful in building up a very gratifying clientage. He is a member of the Montgomery County Bar Association, the Iowa State Bar Association and the American Bar Association, the Phi Gamma Delta college fraternity and the Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity and also belongs to the Masonic Order. Mr. Orsborn is a Congregationalist in his religious belief and has allied himself with all worthy movements at Red Oak of a civic, educational and religious character. He married, September 3, 1929, Mary Wallace, of Council Bluffs, and they are the parents of a daughter, Mary Sue, born August 19, 1930