Willard A. Lathrop Biography


	This biography appears on pages 651-652 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. I (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	WILLARD A. LATHROP is one of the successful farmers and stock 
growers of Charles Mix county, where he owns a well improved ranch of 
four hundred and eighty acres, eight miles southwest of the village of 
Geddes, in Jackson township. Mr. Lathrop is a native of the state of 
Iowa, having been born in Johnson county, on the 23d of October, 1848, 
and being a son of Henry W. and Mary W. (Welton) Lathrop, the former of 
whom was born in Massachusetts, in 1819, while his wife was born in New 
York, in 1820. As a young man Henry W. Lathrop removed from his native 
state to that of New York, where he was engaged in working on a farm 
and getting an education until 1847. He had made a careful study of the 
law and was admitted to the bar of New York state. In the year 
mentioned he removed to Iowa, locating in Iowa City and becoming one of 
the pioneers of the Hawkeye state. There he was engaged in the practice 
of his profession about four years, at the expiration of which he 
turned his attention to farming and stock growing, with which line of 
industry he continued to be thereafter identified until his death. He 
was a man of high intellectual attainments and utmost probity, and 
wielded much influence in his community, where he ever commanded 
uniform confidence and esteem. In earlier years he was arrayed with the 
Whig party, but he was one of those prominent in forwarding the 
organization of the Republican party, of whose principles he ever 
afterward continued a staunch advocate. Fraternally he was a member of 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He died in Sioux Falls, South 
Dakota, on the 27th of December, 1902, having removed there from Iowa 
about a year previously, and he was eighty-four years of age at the 
time of his demise. His devoted wife, who was a zealous member of the 
Presbyterian church for many years, was summoned into eternal rest in 
Iowa, on the 18th of November, 1901. Of their five children three are 
living, namely: Willard A., the immediate subject of this review; 
George F., who is a resident of Los Angeles, California, where he has a 
fruit farm; and Edith M., who is the wife of William I. Lathrop, a 
farmer and stock raiser of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The father of the 
subject attained success in connection with the agricultural 
enterprise, and his estate at the time of his death was valued at about 
fifteen thousand dollars.  

	Willard A. Lathrop passed his youthful days on the homestead farm 
and secured his educational training in the public schools of his 
native state. After leaving school he continued to be identified with 
farming and stock raising in Iowa until 1882, when he came to Charles 
Mix county, South Dakota, where he took up government land, to which he 
later added until he now has a fine ranch of four hundred and eighty 
acres, of which about one hundred and sixty acres are under 
cultivation, while the remainder is utilized for the grazing of his 
live stock and for the raising of hay. He has made all the improvements 
on his place and they are of the best order, and he has attained a high 
degree of success through his well directed efforts. He gives special 
attention to the raising of shorthorn cattle and Poland-China swine, 
and ships a considerable amount of stock each year. He is enterprising 
and public-spirited, and is one of the popular citizens of this 
section. In politics he gives his allegiance to the Republican party, 
and he has been called upon to serve in various positions of public 
trust having held membership on the school board of his district for a 
number of years, and having served for one term as a member of the 
board of county commissioners, while at the time of this writing he is 
chairman of the board of trustees of Jackson township. Fraternally he 
is affiliated with Geddes Lodge, No. 135, Ancient Free and Accepted 
Masons, at Geddes.  

	In August, 1882, Mr. Lathrop was married to Miss Nellie Smith, 
who was born and reared in the state of Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Lathrop 
have seven children, namely: Margaret, Henry, Josephine, Edith, 
Caroline, Florence and Amy, all of whom remain at the parental home, 
except Josephine, who at the time of this writing is attending school 
at Ward Academy, in Charles Mix county, South Dakota.