BIO: Cyrus Ressley LANTZ, Lebanon County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Abby Bowman

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Biographical Annals of Lebanon County Pennsylvania.
Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1904
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Pages 19-23

CYRUS RESSLEY LANTZ.  The history of a state as well as that of a nation is 
chiefly the chronicle of the lives and deeds of those who have conferred honor 
and dignity upon society.  The world judges the character of a community by that 
of its representative citizens, and yields its tribute of admiration and respect 
for the genius, learning or virtues of those whose deeds constitute the record 
of a State's prosperity and pride.  Time's long scroll contains many names of 
citizens who have reflected credit on classic Lebanon, but none are written in 
better form than the honored one which appears at the head of this sketch.  It 
is not a light thing to write biography.  Space forbids but the mere chronicling 
of facts.  Those who peruse must "read between the lines" for lessons of noble 
endeavor and victory of spirit over flesh.

Cyrus R. Lantz, prominent lawyer and financier of Lebanon, Pa., was born August 
26, 1842, and is a native of Cornwall township, in the county where he has 
passed his entire lifetime.  His pre-scholastic training was thorough, and the 
foundation thus laid proved amply adequate for the later splendid educational 
equipment which he added by self-exertion.  Not that Mr. Lantz is profoundly 
educated in book lore, for the great Civil war claimed his youthful energies in 
the collegiate period of his life – but he is educated in that broader sense, 
that he had for his tutor the experience of practical life.  He left the school 
room at the age of fourteen, and matriculated in the greater educational 
institution referred to, entering the mercantile establishment of Isaac 
Hambleton at Cornwall.  A year's experience there was followed by a change in 
the current of his life, he entering the school room as a teacher.  Mr. Lantz 
was but a mere lad, fifteen years old, but so well had he applied himself to his 
books, and so thoroughly was he possessed of the teaching instinct – teachers 
are born, not made – that his first term in North Lebanon township was not less 
successful than his later efforts.  For three years he taught country schools, 
then with the idea of taking higher work he stood successfully an examination 
before the present deputy State Superintendent, Hon. Henry Houck.  The school 
room, with its humdrum monotony, was, however, not destined to be the arena of 
action for Mr. Lantz.  Like many youths of spirit he had chafed against the fate 
that kept him from being among the first to answer his country's call, and 
taking counsel of nothing but valor, he signed for the defense of Old Glory and 
the constitution, on the very day of the examination, August 13, 1862.  As a 
private soldier our subject did his duty.  The fame of the officers in the Civil 
war has been sung in song and story, but every true patriot realized that the 
war was fought to a successful finish by the boys whose only shoulder straps 
were battle scars.

The war record of Mr. Lantz is thus briefly stated.  A private soldier, Company 
E, One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, he was 
mustered in at Harrisburg August 16th, moved to Washington, and became part of 
Jennings' Brigade, Abercrombie's Division, and engaged in the defense of the 
capital until Dec. 2d; the regiment was then brigaded with the Twenty-fourth and 
Twenty-eighth New Jersey and Twenty-seventh Connecticut, and joined the Second 
Division of the Second Army Corps under Gen. Howard, doing camp duty till May, 
1863.  The regiment was then brigaded with the Nineteenth and Twentieth 
Massachusetts and Forty-second and Fifty-ninth New York, and saw service as 
follows:  on duty Arlington Heights till August 23d; Chair Bridge, Dec. 2d; 
Falmouth, Dec. 6th-9th; from this point to Fredericksburg, where it participated 
in some of the hottest actions of that disastrous battle from the 10th to the 
15th.  The regiment first took positions at Lacey House, where it remained under 
fire until nine efforts to cross on pontoons had been frustrated by the galling 
fire of the enemy's sharpshooters; finally it succeeded and drove the skirmish 
line of the Thirteenth, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Mississippi and Fifth Florida 
back to Princess Anne street, being the first Federal brigade to cross the 
river; it held advanced position under heavy artillery fire during the 11th, 
12th and 13th.  On the latter date the men made assault on the famous "stone 
wall," held by McLaw's Division, but were repulsed and lay in front of 
Confederate lines until night; then they withdrew and remained in town until the 
15th, when they returned to camp at Falmouth; next came picket and outpost duty 
near Fredericksburg, December 17th to May 2d, 1863, and the Chancellorsville 
campaign from April 27th to May 6th.  In this campaign the regiment crossed to 
Fredericksburg on May 3d, assisted in the assault which Sedgwick made on Mayries 
Heights, pursued the enemy toward Chancellorsville, and did fatigue duty the 
nights of the 3d and 4th, occupied Fredericksburg the night of the 5th; returned 
to Falmouth; and on May 14th embarked for home and was mustered out at 
Harrisburg on the 29th.  In the attack on the stone wall at Fredericksburg Mr. 
Lantz was shot three times, but escaped with little injury.  The first time he 
was shot through the cap, the second bullet struck him in the breast, hitting a 
pocket Bible which his sister gave him, and which undoubtedly saved his life; 
the third shot struck the lock of his gun and just grazed his fingers.  With the 
exception of this slight wound our subject returned from service without harm, 
and with the consciousness of duty bravely done.  He also served eight years as 
captain of Company E, Eighth Regiment, National Guard, Pennsylvania.

Picking up the thread where it had been broken, Mr. Lantz entered the schools of 
Lebanon as a teacher, also receiving the appointment of United States marshal 
for purposes of draft in the township of Cornwall, at South Annville.  Still 
successful in the schoolroom, he was promoted from one grade to another until he 
had reached the grammar school.  In connection with his duties he had taken up 
the study of law with Hon. Josiah Funck, of Lebanon, and in the summer of 1869 
passed the examination and was admitted to the Bar.

In this new field of endeavor Mr. Lantz immediately took an advanced position.  
He was appointed a notary by Gov. Geary, and was deputy treasurer of Lebanon 
county for two years.  In 1871 he was elected district attorney of this county, 
in which position he served three years.  Further political preferment came to 
him in 1880, when he was nominated by the Republicans of his district for State 
Senator in Garfield's campaign.  The campaign which followed was the high-water 
mark of political pyrotechnics in Lebanon.  Under the leadership of Mr. Lantz a 
tabernacle was erected on the public square, and nightly meetings were held, 
attended by uniformed wide-awakes from every part of the county.  Carrying the 
day, Mr. Lantz became a vigorous and helpful member of the State Senate, serving 
on some of the most important committees and being heard in carefully prepared 
efforts in the advocacy of good measures on the floor.  He was particularly 
strong in the special sessions, called by Gov. Pattison for the purpose of 
forcing a reapportionment bill upon the Republicans, in which attempt he 
ingloriously failed.  Since his senatorial experience Mr. Lantz has contented 
himself with working in the ranks as a private, where he has always been 
forceful and effective in his thorough organization of the voting element.  On 
the hustings our honored subject is a powerful advocate, and is frequently 
called upon to take part in the campaigns waged by his party.  In 1884 he 
accompanied the "plumed knight," James G. Blaine, on his trip through the old 
Keystone State, and did valiant service for the ticket, in many campaigns 
speaking in two languages in every township of his county.

In connection with his extensive practice Mr. Lantz has found time for the 
promotion of many business enterprises and has long been regarded as a leader of 
the financial thought of the county.  He has been president of the People's 
National Bank of Lebanon since 1898, and has contributed much to its solid 
character by his broad business policy.  In 1883 he assisted in the organization 
of the Homestead Building and Savings Association, and since that date has been 
its proficient secretary.  Other public institutions with which he has been 
connected are the Lebanon Valley Fair Association, the Lebanon Mutual Fire 
Insurance Company, the Hook and Ladder Company, of which he has been president 
twenty years, and the Lebanon Ice Company.

The social and religious life of our subject has been equally prominent and 
helpful.  Joining Old Salem Lutheran Church when a lad of thirteen, he has 
always been active in the Master's service.  For twenty-five years he was 
secretary to the church council, and is now an honored elder of that 
organization.  Possessed of fine musical ability, Mr. Lantz sang in the choir 
for twenty-five years, and was for fifteen years the leader, ill-health causing 
his retirement finally from that branch of the service.  In the Sunday-school he 
has been a power, having for long years been teacher of a class of some three 
hundred young people.  He is one of the most prominent laymen in the national 
meetings of his spiritual advisers, the General Council of the Lutheran Church 
of North America.  In charitable work he is unostentatiously helpful, and is 
active in every good work and word in his community.  Mr. Lantz has always kept 
up his early interest in educational matters.  For years he was president of the 
school board, and is the father of the present system of promotion followed in 
Lebanon schools, which has been effective in maintaining a most efficient corps 
of teachers.

The married life of Mr. Lantz has been a model one, he and his wife being the 
parents of two bright children.  The date of the marriage was April 26, 1865, 
Mrs. Lantz's maiden name being Mary A. Kauffman, her place of nativity North 
Lebanon township.  Lily Jane, their accomplished and gifted daughter, married 
Jacob Ely Reinoehl, a prominent and successful attorney of Lebanon.  The son, 
Henry K., was graduated from Muhlenberg College, and taking a theological course 
at Chicago, is now the popular pastor of a large and prosperous congregation at 
Frankfort, Indiana.

It is good to have lived; it is better to have lived a life helpfully efficient 
in promoting the improvement of society; to have it said, as can be faithfully 
asserted of Cyrus R. Lantz, that the world is better for his having lived in it.