Charles L. Lawrence Biography


	This biography appears on pages 621-622 in "History of Dakota Territory" 
	by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				CHARLES L. LAWRENCE.

	On the roster of public officials in Yankton county appears the 
name of Charles L. Lawrence, who is now filling the position of county 
treasurer and is proving a most capable and faithful custodian of the 
public funds. Moreover, he occupies a creditable and enviable position 
in commercial circles as a partner in the firm of Frick & Lawrence, 
proprietors of a large furniture and undertaking establishment 

	New York claims Mr. Lawrence as a native son. He was born in the 
town of Fort Jackson, St. Lawrence county, July 15, 1866, a son of 
James O. and Julia A. (Castle) Lawrence, in whose family were two 
children, the daughter being Elizabeth M., the wife of N. J. Johnson, 
of Wakonda, South Dakota. The father, also a native of St. Lawrence 
county, New York, was born in 1843 and was reared to farm life. In 1866 
he sought the opportunities offered by the growing west and took up his 
abode upon a claim in Pope county, Minnesota, where he remained for a 
decade, coming thence to Yankton, South Dakota, in 1876. He became a 
government contractor and after three years, or in 1879, took up a 
preemption claim of one hundred and sixty acres in Yankton county, 
which he at once began to develop and improve. He added thereto as his 
financial resources permitted until he was the owner of four hundred 
and forty acres of rich and productive land. In 1894, however, he 
disposed of that property and went to Virginia, establishing his home 
twenty-five miles southwest of Washington, D. C., where his wife died. 
In April, 1902, he returned to this state and after residing for a year 
in Sioux Falls removed to Wakonda, South Dakota, while later he went to 
Lead, where he passed away in August, 1914. His political allegiance 
was given to the republican party. 

	Upon his father's farm Charles L. Lawrence was reared and 
attended the public schools until seventeen years of age. He then 
became a school teacher in Yankton county, following that profession 
for several terms through the winter seasons, while in the summer 
months he worked upon the farm. In November, 1892, he was elected 
county assessor and discharged his duties with such promptness and 
capability that he was reelected in 1894 The following year, however, 
he turned the work of the office over to his deputy and went to Volin, 
Yankton county, where he began buying live stock for the J. T. 
Daugherty Company. He was manager of the department for that concern 
until March, 1900, when he resigned to devote his attention to the 
development and improvement of a farm of two hundred acres in Yankton 
county and to the raising of live stock. He was thus engaged for 
several months but in November of the same year was again called to 
public office in his election to the position of county auditor, to 
which he was reelected in 1902, serving until 1904. 

	In the fall of 1905 Mr. Lawrence joined Joseph Frick under the 
firm style of Frick & Lawrence in the purchase of the furniture house 
of C. J. Herrick & Company and in this connection controls the largest 
furniture business in this section of the state. They have added an 
undertaking department and the business along both lines has been 
successfully continued. Theirs is a well appointed establishment. In 
the furniture store is carried an attractive line of furniture, ranging 
from that of low to high priced manufacture. Their business methods are 
thoroughly reliable and their enterprise is a factor in their growing 
success. Again the public gave evidence of its desire to have Mr. 
Lawrence serve in public office in electing him in the fall of 1912 to 
the position of county treasurer. 

	On the 6th of December, 1891, Mr. Lawrence was united in marriage 
to Miss Evangeline B. Case, of Yankton, and they have become the 
parents of three children: Genevieve and Marjorie, at home; and Bernie, 
who died at the age of nine years. Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence are well known 
in Yankton and throughout the county, where they have a large circle of 
warm friends. Mr. Lawrence belongs to the Modern Woodmen camp, to the 
Knights of Pythias lodge and to the Benevolent Protective Order of 
Elks. In polities he has always been an earnest republican, prominent 
in the councils of his party, in which his opinions carry weight. He 
has again and again been called to office and his devotion to the 
public good stands as an unquestioned fact in his career. He always 
places the general welfare before personal aggrandizement and he has 
become recognized as one of the leading and substantial residents of 
his part of the state, being now an important factor in commercial 
circles of Yankton.