Warren D. Lathrop, an honored veteran of the Civil war, has been a resident of Cherokee county for fifty-seven years and is rounding out a well spent life in the ease and comfort purchased by laborious effort directed into constructive channels. He was born November 7, 1844, in Delaware county, Iowa, his parents were Ichabod D. and Catherine (Humphreys) Lathrop, the latter a native of Ohio. The father was born in the state of New York and came to Iowa in pioneer times. He settled on a farm in Hardin county and there spent the remainder of his life, transforming his land into a rich and productive tract on which he made many improvements. He had a family of nine children, seven of whom are deceased. Mr. Lathrop attended the rural schools near his father's farm and aided him in the cultivation of the soil until 1862, when he responded to the call to arms, becoming a member of the Company A, Thirty-second Regiment of Iowa Infantry. He was with the Western Army and spent three years in the service of the Union. He participated in many notable battles and was wounded in the left leg. He was mustered out at Davenport, Iowa, and returned to Hardin county, where he engaged in farming for about three years. In 1868 he came to Cherokee county and entered a homestead in Afton township. He proved up on the land, which he brought to a high state of development, and in his work was guided by a progressive spirit, keeping in close touch with the latest developments along agricultural lines. Eventually he sold the farm and since his retirement has lived in Cherokee with leisure to devote to those affairs in which he is most interested. In 1868 Mr. Lathrop married Miss Rosa Armour, who passed away in 1912 and was laid to rest in the Oak Hill cemetery at Cherokee. Four children were born to them but two are deceased. Those who survive are Frank E.; and Erma D., the wife of Russell A. Jones. Mr. Lathrop is a republican in his political views and has held several county and township offices, discharging every duty with fidelity and thoroughness. He is a member of Custer Post, No. 25, of the Grand Army of the Republic and derives much pleasure from his association with the "Boys in Blue." He is also connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. His life has been long, upright and useful, crowned with successful achievement, and the years have brought him an ever widening circle of steadfast friends.

 

~Source: IOWA, ITS HISTORY AND TRADITION - VOLUME II, 1804-1926

~transcribed by Debbie Couch Gerischer

 

LEAKE, JOSEPH B. was born in Deerfleld, N. J., April 1, 1828; he died at Chicago, Illinois, June 1, 1913. He removed with his parents to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he received his early education. He graduated from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, in 1846, studied law under Hon. W. S. Groesbeck, and was admitted to the bar in January, 1850. After practicing in Cincinnati for about six years he removed to Davenport, Iowa. He was member of the House of Representatives from Scott county in the Eighth General Assembly and Senator during the Ninth, Ninth Extra and Eleventh General Assemblies. At the outbreak of the war he recruited a company, was elected Captain, mustered into the Twentieth Iowa Infantry and later commissioned Lieutenant Colonel. He was wounded and made prisoner at Morganza, and participated in the siege of Vicksburg, Mobile, Spanish Fort and other engagements. He was mustered out with the title of brevet brigadier general.

He resumed the practice of law at Davenport and served as county attorney and president of the Board of Education. In 1871 he removed to Chicago and continued his law practice and in 1879 was appointed by President Hayes district attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. For several years he was attorney for the Board of Education.

~ "Notable Deaths" Annals of Iowa. Vol. XI, No. 4. p. 236. Historical Society of Iowa. Des Moines. January, 1914.
~ Transcription by Sharon R. Becker

 

LESAN, CHARLES W
Charles W. LESAN, son of Charles I. & Mehitable (PRATT) LESAN, was born September 18, 1841. He enlisted as a Private on June 17, 1861, from Stark County, Illinois, and was assigned to Company B of the 19th Illinois Infantry.
After General Braxton BRAGG was defeated at Perryville, Kentucky, on October 8th of 1862, he led his Confederate Army to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where the men prepared to go into winter quarters. Major General William S. ROSECRAN led his Union troop of about 45,000 into an advance upon BRAGG. ROSECRAN found BRAGG's encampment on December 29th and settled down for the night. At dawn on the 31st of December, BRAGG's troop attacked the Union's right flank, drivng the Union line back to the Nashville Pike by 10:00 a.m. Here, the Union held their line, bolstered by Union reinforcements that had newly arrived to join ranks.
During the morning skirmishes on December 31st, 1862, Private Charles W. LESAN was fatally wounded. He was interred at Sweet Home Cemetery, Lesanville, Ringgold County, Iowa.

~American Civil War Soldier's database, ancestry.com
~WPA Graves Survey
~americancivilwar.com/murfree.html
~Submission by Sharon R. Becker, December of 2009

LESAN, JOHN A

John A. LESAN, an active and successful farmer of Liberty Township, residing on section 36, is a native of Maine, born near Bangor, July 10, 1832. When he was seven years of age his parents, Charles I. and Mehitable S. (PRATT) LESAN, removed to the city of Bangor, where the father followed the mercantile business.

John A. LESAN was reared in Bangor, receiving his education in the schools of that city. He left school when sixteen years old, and followed the sea from that age till he attained the age of twenty years, coasting from the Bay of Bangor as far as Florida. He then accompanied his father to Stark County, Illinois, his mother having died some years previous, and in that county he was married, in the year 1859, to Miss Maggie COON, a native of Canada. They are the parents of two daughters Â- Hattie M. and Nellie B.

Mr. LESAN left Stark County in 1860, when he came to Ringgold County, Iowa, and settled on his present farm, purchasing at that time eighty acres of open prairie land, on which he erected a small log house, 14 x 16 feet, and began improving his farm.

In 1862 he enlisted in the defense of his country, in Company G, Twenty-ninth Iowa Infantry, and was immediately sent to Missouri, thence down the Mississippi River. He took part in the battles of Helena, Little Rock, and the taking of Mobile. He was mustered out in August, 1865, and discharged at Davenport, Iowa, when he returned to his farm in Liberty Township, Ringgold County, where he has met with excellent success in his farming and stock-raising.

He has added to his original eighty acres by subsequent purchase till his home farm contains 180 acres of choice land, besides which he owns 100 acres of pasture land located in Poe Township. He is still devoting his attention to stock-raising, and has on his farm at present sixty head of thorough-bred short-horn cattle, and some fine specimens of Norman horses.

Mr. LESAN was elected justice of the peace of Liberty Township in 1862, which office he resigned to enlist in the defense of his country. Soon after his return from the army he was elected trustee of Liberty Township, and a member of the Board of Supervisors under the old law, which position he filled until he was elected sheriff of Ringgold County, in 1868, assuming the duties of that office January 1, 1869, serving in that capacity for two years. He also held the office of postmaster at Mt. Ayr for two years, until 1871. In that year he returned to his farm, and soon after was elected justice of the peace, which office he has since filled with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of his constituents, and during his term of office he has never had a case of his appealed to the higher courts, but he has had his decision sustained.

Mr. LESAN is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church for over thirty years, and has held many of the offices of his church, such as class-leader, and superintendent of the Sabbath-school. He is one of the respected citizens of Liberty Township, having by his honorable dealings gained the confidence of all who know him.

NOTE: John Alfred LESAN died February 24, 1905.

Hattie M. LESAN, daughter of John Alfred and Maggie (COON), was born July 10, 1862, and died May 10, 1949, with interment at Rose Hill Cemetery, Mount Ayr, Iowa.

Mehitable S. (PRATT) LESAN, John's mother, was born March 29, 1813, Hebron, Maine, and died March 29, 1852, Atkinson, Maine. A gravestone in her memory was erected at Sweet Home Cemetery, Lesanville, Ringgold County, Iowa. Mehitable was the daughter of Josiah PRATT (1783-1848) and Sybil (GURNEY) PRATT (1788-1847).

John's father Charles I. LESAN was born October 5, 1806, Waldoborough, Lincoln County, Maine, and died November 26, 1889, with interment at Sweet Home Cemetery.

The LESAN Family is included on Ringgold County's family pages.

~Sources:
Biography & Historical Record of Ringgold County, Iowa, Pp. 360-61, 1887.
American Civil War Soldiers Database, ancestry.com
WPA Graves Survey
http://iagenweb.org/ringgold/biographical/ring_bio-lesanjohna.html
from Biography & Historical Record of Ringgold County, Iowa Lewis Publishing Company of Chicago, 1887, Pp. 360-61

~Transcription and note by Sharon R. Becker, March of 2009

 

W. L. LINDERMAN

 

The legal profession of northwestern Iowa has a worthy representative in Walter L. Linderman, who through long years has stood in the front rank of the able and successful lawyers of his section of the state, but who is now practically retired from general practice and is devoting his attention mainly to the management of his extensive landed interests. Born in Fayette county, Iowa, on the 2d of May, 1856, he is a son of E. S. and Martha A. (Hinman) Linderman, both of whom were born in Illinois, near the Wisconsin line. They were there reared and in young womanhood Martha Hinman taught in the district schools. About 1850 their respective families came to Iowa, locating in Fayette county, where they were shortly afterwards married. The father acquired one hundred and twenty acres of government land, on which he built a log cabin and proceeded to develop a farm, the tract being located on the Turkey river, one and a half miles from Auburn. During the Civil war he enlisted for service as a member of the Thirty-eighth Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and died from illness at Vicksburg. Later the mother became the wife of Dennis Gray and continued to reside on the home farm until their declining years, when they came to Emmetsburg and spent their last days with her son. Walter L. Linderman attended the country schools and a select school at West Union, after which he entered Western College and was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1879. Desirous of becoming a member of the bar he entered the law school of the Iowa State University and was graduated in 1883, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Mr. Linderman began teaching school in 1877, in order to defray the expenses of his college and university courses, teaching during the summers and pursuing his studies in winter. In 1883 he came to Emmetsburg and entered upon the practice of his profession in partnership with George B. McCartney, under the firm name of McCartney * Linderman, "land law and abstracts." This association continued until 1901, when it was dissolved, and Mr. Linderman has since given his attention almost entirely to the land and abstract business. During the years of his law practice he acquired extensive land holdings and to the management of his property he is now giving practically his entire time. In 1884 Mr. Linderman was united in marriage to Miss Jennie Mayer, of Fayette county, Iowa, and to them was born a daughter, Hazel, who graduated from Emmetsburg high school and later studied music at Cornell College, in Mt. Vernon, Iowa. She has long been prominent in local musical circles, having played the pipe organ at the Methodist Episcopal church and has been the leader of the choir for a number of years. She organized the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, being eligible to membership in both paternal and maternal lines. She is active in many lines of church, civic and social work in Emmetsburg and is an extremely popular member of the circles in which she moves. Mr. Linderman is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and of the Emmetsburg Commercial Club. He has long been numbered among the public-spirited men of his locality, giving hearty cooperation to all movements for the advancement of the community along material, civic or moral lines, and holds an enviable place in public confidence and regard.

 

~Source: IOWA, ITS HISTORY AND TRADITION - VOLUME II, 1804-1926

~transcribed by Debbie Couch Gerischer

 

LITTLER, Col. R. M. (Veteran of the Mexican and Civil Wars and Widely Known Railway Man and Editor) died at his home, No. 751 Walnut street [Chicago], on Sunday, after a long and painful illness. He leaves a widow, three sons, and a daughter. His fatal illness was a complication of kidney and stomach troubles. His remains will be taken to Davenport, Ia., for burial.

Col. LITTLER was born in Winchester, Va., in 1834. When 21 years of age he located at Cincinnati, O[hio]., and was engaged as a machinist. He was identified with the fire department of his adopted city [Cincinnati] and served as foreman of the first engine company organized under the present system. Moving to Davenport, Ia., he become connected with the Chicago and Rock Island railroad and helped to build that road from Davenport to Iowa City. later he served as one of the editors of the Davenport Gazette.

In 1884 he came to Chicago as Secretary of the Produce Exchange, which position he retained until last May, when blindness compelled him to resign. He served in the Mexican and civil wars. In the late war he raised Company B of the Second Iowa Regiment and was promoted to the rank of Colonel.

NOTE: Col. LITTLER was interred beside his wife Martha A. (NELSON) LANGDON LITTLER (1835/36-1873) at Oakdale Cemetery, Davenport, Iowa.

DR. FREDERICK LLOYD

Frederick Lloyd was born in London, May 24, 1826. He was the fourth son of Frederick and Louisa Sherin Lloyd. His father was a native of County Tipperary, Ireland, and served his country as Ensign of 32nd Royal Regiment of Foot, then as Cornet (standard bearer) of 21st Royal Dragoons at Salamanca, Spain, and later as Lieutenant of 91st Royal Regiment of Foot at Jamaica, W. I. While in service at Cape Town, Africa, he married Louisa Sherin, eldest daughter of Captain Sherin of his regiment. She was a native of County Cavan, Ireland. Dr. Lloyd's parents removed to America in 1832 and settled in Dummer, Canada. His mother lived to a good old age, dying in Chicago in 1883. Not long before her death she spent a few years with her son in Iowa City.


Previous to 1850 Dr. Lloyd went to Louisville, Kentucky, in which place he married Isabella H. Wade, August 21st, 1850, a young lady whom he had met while residing in Canada. Mrs.Lloyd was the second daughter of Rev. Charles T. Wade, a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, and Isabella Hamilton Wade, second daughter of Henry Hamilton, Esq., of Ballymacoll, County Meath, Ireland, and was born at Burkhampstead, Hertfordshire, England, December 16th, 1825. Her paternal grandfather was Robert Wade, Esq., of Clonabraney, County Meath, Ireland. Previous to their marriage Dr. Lloyd had read somewhat in medicine. He entered the Medical College of Louisville from which he graduated and came at once to Iowa City in 1854. Upon the breaking out of the Civil War, Dr. Lloyd, following the trend of the father's life, interested himself in securing volunteers. Upon October 22nd, 1861, he was commissioned as Assistant Surgeon of the 11th Iowa Infantry. June 29th, 1861, he was promoted to the position of Surgeon of the 16th Iowa Infantry and was honorably discharged on September 1st, 1863. He returned to his practice in Iowa City which he continued, with the exception of a few months in 1868, when he visited the scenes of his birth and of the early home of his parents in Ireland, until 1878. At this time he was employed as contract surgeon in the United States Army and served in Montana, New Mexico and Arizona till 1883, when he returned to his practice in Iowa City. The Doctor's youngest brother, Edward, was killed at Resaca, Georgia, May 15th, 1864, while leading the 119th New York Volunteers of which regiment he was Lieutenant Colonel. Soon after Dr. Lloyd's return from the army he was chosen as editor of the IOWA HISTORICAL RECORD, successor to the Annals of Iowa, which he had edited for several years previous to the suspension of its publication by the State Historical Society of Iowa. In this kind of editorial work Dr. Lloyd took special delight and for it he was admirably qualified. He took pains to secure material invaluable in character. He had a wide acquaintance with men interested in historical research and secured their hearty cooperation. The pages of the RECORD for more than fourteen years of its existence bear ample testimony to his industry and his conscientious discharge of duty. Editorial work was not new to him as he had been employed for some years upon the Iowa Capitol Reporter.


During the later years of his life his inclination lay in the direction of literary work. Several short stories have appeared from his pen in the local papers. They have been bright narratives of events which had come under his personal observation. One prepared for The Youth's Companion was accepted as a prize story. His style was simple and chaste. The language employed was always pure.


At the time of his death he held a position upon the Board of Examining Surgeons for the Pension Department.
 

His death was the result of close confinement on account of an accident which befell him more than a year previous. It was the first death to occur in his immediate family for over forty-nine years.
 

His widow continues her residence in Iowa City. Four daughters and two sons survive. Isabella H., now Mrs. L. A. Clearman, of Iowa City; Louise F., Principal of Fourth Ward Public School of Iowa City; Edward S., practicing attorney at Lemars, Iowa; Adelaide C., Librarian of State Historical Society and Assistant Librarian of the City Library, Iowa City; Francis W., a practicing physician at Lehigh, Iowa; and Edith A., stenographer in office of Baker & Ball, Iowa City.


As a physician Dr. Lloyd was most highly esteemed by those who employed him. To his patients he was more than a physician. He was not satisfied with a visit and a prescription but watched closely the effect of his medicines. His practice could not be extensive under his views of duty, but it was successful and to his watchfulness is due, in the estimation of many, the lives of some who suffered serious illness. With his signal ability in a particular line of disease he was too modest by nature to press his claims for practice. He appeared disinclined in his later years to extend his practice.
 

He was timid in presenting himself to persons of distinction in military service with whom he had acted during his term as surgeon in the army. He felt a fear that he might be considered intrusive. But no man enjoyed more keenly the opportunity of conference when presented. A few tributes to the memory of Dr. Lloyd are selected from many that have come to the family.
 

His brethren of the Masonic fraternity express their appreciation of the man as follows: During his long residence in this city he was one of our leading physicians and his professional skill and kindly administrations in the home of the sick and afflicted, will be long and gratefully remembered. He was a brilliant and entertaining writer and had he so desired, might easily have won worldwide fame in the domain of letters. In his personal relations he was always the kind, modest, gentle, and generous friend; in the sacred precincts of home he was greatly loved and esteemed; and in the Masonic order he was a true and worthy exponent of the tenets of the mystic brotherhood.
 

Dr. Lloyd was a man to be trusted in whatever work of a public nature was assigned him. His acceptance of the trust was a guaranty of its faithful performance.
 

Says one: "If any man had occasion in a selfish way to feel aggrieved at the Doctor's course as a pension examiner such was my case, for twice did he oppose an increase in my pension which at the time I felt was my due. But the ground of his opposition seemed to him so tenable that no other course would sustain his sense of justice. So strongly was I impressed with his conscientious performance of official duty, though it came in conflict with his personal desire to please a friend, that I took pleasure in recommending him for re appointment under the present administration. I was sure that though he might make some mistakes, as I felt he had done in my case, he would never use his office for personal benefit."
 

Says another: "Dr. Lloyd's candor, courage, and intelligence make his death a serious loss to Iowa history."
 

And still another: " After securing a large list of petitioners for the appointment of another to the office of pension examiner, I found that his reputation for probity outweighed the endorsement which hundreds of signatures of prominent men had given another candidate."

 

~Source:  Jefferson County, Iowa Historical Record, VOL. XV. July, 1899. No. 3, JEFFERSON COUNTY PIONEERS [CONTINUED FROM APRIL, 1899] BY H. HEATON, GLENDALE, IOWA

 

LUDWIG, EPHRAIM C.

Ephraim C. LUDWIG, a retired farmer residing in West Salem township [Mercer County, Pennsylvania], was born March 4, 1835, in that township, Mercer county, Pennsylvania, a son of Abraham LUDWIG, who was born February 16, 1810, in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The grandfather, Ludwig. was born in Germany and located in Allentown, as a carpenter. He went to Salem township and there bought and cleared an eighty-acre farm, to which he later added until he owned, at his death, three hundred and fifty acres. He died in Allentown when his son Abraham was but ten years of age.

Abraham LUDWIG, after obtaining a limited amount of schooling, worked on his father's farm, until his death, November 21, 1881. He was married in 1831 to
Anna GANGWER, who died in 1864. She was the daughter of Milton GANGWER who fought in the Revolutionary war. The issue by this marriage was: Viona, wife of Joseph AUBEL, a farmer of West Salem township; Caroline, wife of L. LININGER, a farmer of the same township; Frank, a laborer in Oregon ; Lucinda, widow of John AUBEL; Alvina, wife of A. BORTZ, a farmer of West Salem township; Henry, a carpenter of Oklahoma; Eliza, wife of A. HEIL, a farmer of Transfer, Pennsylvania (now deceased) ; Emeline, unmarried, at Hancock, Ohio; Austin, also of the same place; and Ephraim, of this notice, who was the third child in the family. The father was a member of the Lutheran church and politically a Democrat. For eight years he served as treasurer of Pymatuning Township Mutual Insurance Company. He was also the administrator of many estates.

Ephraim C. LUDWIG attended school until seventeen years of age and was then employed on his father's farm. In the meantime he learned the carpenter's
trade which he followed successfully for forty years. February 29, 1864, he enlisted at a point in Ringgold county, Iowa, while there on a visit, joining at Davenport, Iowa, Company H, Twenty-ninth Iowa Regiment, under Thomas H. BENTON, and was sent to Memphis, Tennessee, and from there to Little Rock, Arkansas, where they remained eleven months, and from there went to New Orleans, from which city they were taken by transport to Mobile, Alabama, where they engaged in battle, driving the rebel forces out of their rifle-pits and capturing eight thousand of the Confederate soldiers. From there the command was sent to Galveston, Texas. Mr. LUDWIG was within eight miles from headquarters of Emperor Maximillian. of Mexico. At the close of the Civil war, Mr. LUDWIG was honorably discharged at New Orleans and returned to West Salem township. Mercer county, and followed the carpenter's trade. He purchased his present farm in 1900 and since then has retired from active work. In politics, he is a Republican. He is a member of the Baptist church.

Mr. LUDWIG married Annabell STULL, daughter of David STULL, who died leaving a daughter, Isabella, wife of E. HARTMAN, of West Salem township. For his second wife, Mr. LUDWIG married January 6, 1876, Mathilda FOULK, who was born November 17, 1841, at Liberty, Ohio, a daughter of Charles FOULK, a millwright, and his wife, Sarah RIDDEY. who died in 1860. Mr. LUDWIG's second wife was the widow of H. JONES, who served in the Civil war as a corporal in Company I, Pennsylvania Volunteers. Mrs. LUDWIG had four children by her first marriage: Mary, Emma, Colman (all three now deceased); Charles JONES, a plumber, of Greenville, Pennsylvania. By her second marriage she had: Orestus, and Adessa, both at home.

Mrs. LUDWIG had two brothers in the Civil war: Samuel, killed at Hatches Run; and Marcellus, who died in Libby prison, Richmond, Virginia.

~ SOURCE: WHITE, J. G. A Twentieth Century History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania Vol. II. Pp. 680-81. Lewis Publishing Co. Chicago. 1909.
~ Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, May of 2009

 

LYON, DELOS E. was born in Franklinville, New York, November 14, 1832; he died at Dubuque, Iowa, April 10, 1913. He attended the schools of Franklinville and Buffalo, was clerk in a country store for about a year and then passed three years in study at Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio. He returned to Franklinville and successfully conducted a store until 1857, then studied law and passed the New York state bar examination in 1809 in the same class with Grover Cleveland and other afterward noted lawyers. He immediately removed to Dubuque, Iowa, and entered upon the practice of law at the corner of Fifth and Main Streets, where he maintained his office, associated with various partners, for fifty-four years.

During the Civil War he proposed to volunteer first in the Sixteenth Iowa Infantry and later in the Eighth Cavalry, but at the request of the Adjutant General remained in the recruiting service and rendered valuable service as recruiting officer and aide-de-camp on the staffs of Governors Kirkwood and Stone. Colonel Lyon was a Republican in politics, casting his first vote for John C. Fremont. He was city attorney and surveyor of the port of Dubuque, attorney for important railroad and express companies and practiced in all the state and federal courts including the Supreme Court of the United States.

~ "Notable Deaths" Annals of Iowa. Vol. XI, No. 4. p. 236. Historical Society of Iowa. Des Moines. January, 1914.