Biographical Sketch of Azro Darby LAMSON; Philadelphia Co., PA

Contributed to the PAGenWeb Archives by Diana Smith 
[christillavalley@comcast.net] 

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Philadelphia, A History of the City and its People: A Record of 225 Years

Philadelphia: S.H. Clark, 1912; Vol. 4, page 79
Author, Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer
 

AZRO DARBY LAMSON

     Numbered among those who were prominent in business circles of Philadelphia 
in the latter part of the nineteenth century was Azro Darby Lamson, who was born 
in Randolph, Vermont, November 13, 1820.  Four brothers of the name came from 
Denmark during the early period of the colonization of the new world and all 
settled on farms in the Green Mountain state.  Captain Harvey Lamson, the father 
of Azro Darby Lamson, owned and operated the overland merchandise routes before 
the railroads were built and spent his later years in honorable retirement upon 
a farm.  He married Betsy Jackson and they gave to their son, Azro Darby Lamson, 
the opportunity of pursuing his education in the academy at Randolph, which he 
attended until seventeen years of age.  He then went to Boston to learn the drug 
business, but was connected therewith for only a short time, after which he 
turned his attention to the brokerage business and continued successfully 
therein for twenty-five years.  In 1871 he came to Philadelphia and was 
thereafter until his death associated with the lumber business of J. W. Gaskill 
& sons, the senior partner being his father-in-law.  A self-made man, he 
possessed keen business ability and insight that enabled him readily to 
discriminate between the essential and non-essential in commercial transactions.

     At the time of the Civil war, Mr. Lamson was drafted for service, but 
various considerations prevented his going to the front and he hired a 
substitute.  He was however, a stanch supporter of President Lincoln's policy 
and was a member of the Union League.  He gave to the republican party his 
earnest and unfaltering support and was equally loyal as a member of the Baptist 
church.

     On the 16th of December, 1869, Mr. Lamson was married to Miss Anna V. 
Gaskill, a daughter of Joseph W. and Mary (Skirm) Gaskill, the former a 
prominent and widely known business man of Philadelphia, for more than a half 
century engaged in the lumber trade here.  He was a descendant of an early 
Quaker family of New Jersey and sent three of his sons to the Civil war, while 
throughout the period of hostilities between the north and the south he 
generously aided many a soldier or his family with supplies of food, clothing, 
and if needed, money.  Unto Mr. and Mrs. Lamson were born three daughters and a 
son: Mrs. Samuel Howell and Mrs. H. N. Story, both of Philadelphia; Mrs. Ross 
Updegraff, of Fort Dodge, Iowa; and Azro D., a salesman of this city.

     Mr. Lamson was ever fond of driving and owned a stable of fine horses.  He 
was a lover of good music and possessed a fine singing voice.  His nature was 
extremely social, and he delighted in the companionship of friends and family, 
dispensing in his own home a generous and warm-hearted hospitality.