Johnson-Pulaski County ArArchives Biographies.....Laser, Sam 
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Robert Sanchez http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00027.html#0006574 August 3, 2009, 3:02 pm

Source: See Full Citation Below Biography
Author: S. J. Clarke (Publisher, 1922)

SAM LASER.
    Sam Laser, a well known representative of business enterprise at
Clarksville, his labors contributing in substantial measure to the commercial
development of the city, where he is engaged in merchandising, was born in
Memphis, Tennessee, April 14, 1865, and is a son of Abraham and Lacetta
(Ackerman) Laser, who were natives of Germany and came to the United States in
early life, their marriage being celebrated in Scranton, Pennsylvania. They
afterward removed to Baltimore, Maryland, and thence to Detroit, while
subsequently they became residents of Memphis, Tennessee, and later of Mobile.
Alabama. It was in that city that the father died of yellow fever. He was a
rabbi, having been educated in Germany and devoted his life to the ministry. To
him and his wife were born five children, only two of whom are living: Sam, of
this review: and Rosa, the wife of A. Lazarus, a wholesale grocer of Camden,
Arkansas.

    Sam Laser, whose name introduces this review, was educated in the
Southwestern Baptist University in Jackson, Tennessee, and after putting aside
his textbooks started out in the business world, his first occupation being that
of clerk in a store at Little Rock. In 1884 he came to Clarksville, where he
opened a small store in 1886. He increased his stock from time to time and now
has one of the largest stores of the county, besides being the oldest merchant
in Johnson county, and his success is the direct outcome of his persistency of
purpose, his close application and his indefatigable energy. He has always based
his advancement upon principles that neither seek nor require disguise and he
has long occupied a prominent position among the leading merchants of this part
of the state.

    In 1886 Mr. Laser was married to Miss Minnie Nichols, a daughter of T. D.
Nichols, a pioneer physician of Paris, Arkansas. They have become parents of
seven children: Thomas S., who is engaged in the automobile business in Little
Rock; Lucile, at home; Albert, a hardware merchant of Clarksville; Rille, who
married Richard Orme, connected with the automobile business in Little Rock;
Alvin, owner of a coal mine and mercantile enterprise in Clarksville; Minnie and
Maurine, both at home. Mrs. Laser is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church
and the daughters have membership in the Presbyterian church. Mr. Laser is a
loyal follower of Masonic teachings and has attained the thirty-second degree of
the Scottish Rite. He likewise belongs to the Knights of Pythias. In politics he
is a democrat and he served on the town council and on the school board for a
number of years. He has ever stood for progress and improvement in public
affairs, has contributed to the welfare and upbuilding of the city in many ways
and the cause of education has ever found in him a stalwart champion. He is
devoting his life to his business affairs and in connection with his mercantile
interests he is a director of the First National Bank. He started out in the
business world a poor boy and has been dependent upon his own resources from the
age of fourteen years. His life illustrates what can be accomplished through
energy and persistency of purpose, which qualities have enabled him to overcome
all obstacles and difficulties in his path and work his way steadily upward
toward the goal of prosperity.


Additional Comments:

Citation:
Centennial History of Arkansas
Volume II
Chicago-Little Rock: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company
1922


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