LACY, John S., was born in Portage county, Ohio, September 30, 1831.  He received a good education, and after having become of age engaged in farming in Ohio, Iowa and Minnesota until 1887, when he removed from the last mentioned place to Dakota.  In 1889 he came to this county and settled in Clear Lake township, taking up the northwest one-fourth of section 28 as a homestead, and the southwest of section 21 as a tree claim.  Some years afterward he sold this land and purchased the west half of the northeast one-fourth of section 30, where he resided until 1895, when he removed to the city of Sioux Falls.  Before coming to this county he had held town and county offices where he formerly resided; was assessor of Clear Lake in 1891, and served upon the grand jury the same year.  Mr. Lacy is a thoroughly well informed man, an upright, honest citizen and greatly respected by all who have the pleasure of his acquaintance.

LAMB, Richard, of colored parentage, was born at New Castle, Indiana, in 1832.  He came to Sioux Falls in April, 1879, and resided at this place until his death, which occurred February 7, 1897.  While a resident of Sioux Falls he conducted a barber shop, and practiced medicine to a limited extent.  He was a well informed man and took an active interest in public affairs, and, what was more, he had positive convictions and was always ready to maintain them.  He was highly respected as a citizen and it will be a long time before the acquaintances of Richard Lamb will forget his polite and kindly greetings.

LANGSETH, Peder, is a native of Trondhjem, Norway, and was born October 6, 1858.  He was graduated from the State Normal School in 1879, and from the Latin department in the college at Christiana in 1884 and passed the philosophical examination in the State University at that place in 1886.  During this time he was also a teacher in a private college in Christiana.  In 1887 came to the United States and entered the Lutheran Seminary at Madison, Wisconsin, where he took a theological course and was graduated in 1890.  Soon after he became pastor of a Lutheran church at West Tacoma, Washington, and remained there three years.  In 1893 came to Sioux Falls and since then has been one of the able corps of teachers at the Lutheran Normal School.

LARSON, Edward, was born in Norway on a farm near Christiania, on the 9th day of January, 1838.  He never attended school a day in his life.  After working on a farm until fourteen years of age, he went into business for himself in a small way in the country.  At sixteen he went to Christiania, and engaged in business there until he emigrated to this country.  He arrived at Rushford, Minnesota, on the 16th day of August, 1869, and took employment in a tin shop.  He continued in this work until he removed to Sioux Falls, where he arrived on the 10th day of August, 1876.  He then secured by pre-emption a quarter section of land in Benton township; built a sod house, and moved into it; but the following spring he came to Sioux Falls and put up a building on Phillips avenue, sixteen by thirty feet, and opened a tin shop.  For ten years he did business at this place, and then removed to his present location on Eighth street.  From the time he commenced business down to the present writing, he has been constantly adding to his line of business, so that to-day he has everything that a person would be liable to call for in a hardware store.  His energy, thrift, and enterprise in business is proverbial, and it has resulted in his accumulating quite a large property.  Besides his business property he owns at the present time a fine residence, five farms, and more than a dozen tenement houses. He never meddles with politics, and would as soon think of lecturing upon scientific subjects as to run for office.  There are but few men like him in any community.  He lets other people’s affairs alone, attends strictly to business, and is a respected citizen.

LAWSHE, Isaac Grantham, was born on a farm in northwestern Illinois, on the 15th day of March, 1860.  He graduated from the high school of Sharon, Wisconsin, taught school for two years, and then engaged in railroad work in the southern states.  In 1889, he came to Sioux Falls, studied law with G.P. Nock, and was admitted to the bar November 17, 1891.  Since then has had been in the practice of his profession at Sioux Falls, devoting his time almost exclusively to collections.  He is an honest, upright lawyer, and a good citizen.

LEAKEY, Levi, a brother of Milton R., was born in Henry county, Indiana, February 23, 1824, and died in Sioux Falls September 13, 1898.  He was raised on a farm, and when he attained his majority purchased a farm on which he resided until he removed to Iowa in 1877.  While in Indiana he was prominent in the affairs of the town in which he lived.  He came to Sioux Falls in the fall of 1879, and soon after purchased a farm a few miles out of the city, and aside from the care of this farm had little to do with business affairs.  When the Illinois Central and the Willmar & Sioux Falls railroads were being built into the county, he was appointed by the court, and served as one of the appraisers of damages for the right-of-way.  Quaint in his manners, and manner of speech, still, he had such a direct, honest way of expressing himself upon public questions, national and local, that it was a pleasure to meet and converse with him.  He was an exceptionally kind neighbor, an honest man and a highly esteemed citizen.

LEAKEY, Milton R., was born in Henry county, Indiana, August 26, 1834.  He attended the public schools and worked on a farm until eighteen years of age, when he commenced work at the carpenter’s trade, and continued in this employment in his native state until he removed to Sioux Falls, where he arrived in February, 1882, and engaged in the same work for six years, but by that time he had secured a good farm, and having other property interests to look after, abandoned his trade.  Mr. Leakey is a well known citizen of Sioux Falls, and is highly esteemed as an upright, honest man and a good citizen.

LeBLOND, Dr. John B., was born in Ohio, February 27, 1825, and died at Sioux Falls, July 24, 1895.  He studied medicine at Cleveland, Ohio, and practiced in his native state until 1856, when he moved to Brownsville, Minnesota.  He was a member of the first and second legislature of that state.  When the civil war broke out he was appointed surgeon, and was in the service during the entire war.  He came to Sioux Falls in 1880, and practiced his profession until the time of his decease.  He was good physician, a skilful surgeon, a splendid neighbor, and a highly esteemed citizen.

LEVINGER, Moriz, is a native of Bavaria, and was born March 28, 1952.  He received his school education in the old country and emigrated to the United States in 1869.  He has always been in the brewery business, working in New York, Chicago and in Oskaloosa, Iowa, until the fall of 1884, when he came to Sioux Falls as superintendent of the brewery at this place, in which position he remained until he and Moses Kaufmann purchased it on the 17th day of February, 1886.  He is a practical brewer, and understands the business in all its details.  Since the purchase of the brewery, Levinger & Kaufmann have managed the business with more than ordinary business ability.  Mr. Levinger is not only a good business man, but is public-spirited and generous, and his influence, although quietly exerted, is felt upon the public issues of the day.

LEWIS, Mrs. Clara, came to Sioux Falls in 1872, and taught a select school in the barracks during the winter of 1872-3, and also the following summer.  In the fall of 1873, she taught the first term of the district school in the Libbey hall.  During the fall the first school house was finished.  It was located on the ground where the Central school house now stands, and H.J. Whipple taught the first term.  Mrs. Lewis was in the barracks with her scholars when the great blizzard of the 7th of January, 1873, swept over this section of the country.  She succeeded in getting home that night with great difficulty, although she had but a short distance to go, residing at the time where the Syndicate block now stands.  The small children were cared for at the barracks for three days.  Mrs. Lewis has resided in Sioux Falls since first coming here, and has always taken an active part in promoting the welfare of the city.

LEWIS, George W., is a native of Malone, Franklin county, N.Y., and was born on the 3d day of January, 1844.  His father was a merchant.  When the subject of this sketch was quite young he removed with his parents to Canada, where he remained until he was twenty-one years of age; then went to Worcester, Mass., where he was employed as clerk in a hardware store for five years; then went to Faribault, Minn., where he remained eight years, clerking in a store, working in an insurance office, and for two years was steward of the Institute for Deaf and Dumb located there.  In the spring of 1878 he came to Sioux Falls.  He took up a homestead in Hartford township upon which he resided for awhile and then came to Sioux Falls and went into the Sioux Falls Bank (Young & Hollister) and remained in its employ one year.  In the fall of 1879 he engaged in the insurance business in which he has continued until the present writing.  Mr. Lewis is a methodical, conservative business man, and is held in high esteem as a neighbor and citizen by all who know him.

LIEN, Burre H., was born at Spirit Lake, Iowa, December 21, 1859.  His parents were driven away by the Indians in 1863, and lived at Jackson, Minnesota, a short time, and then went to Decorah, Iowa, where they resided until 1873, at which time they removed to Faribault county, Minnesota.  The subject of this sketch received his education in the Normal school at Mankato, Minnesota, and in 1879 moved to Brookings county, Dakota, where he taught school and farmed until 1883.  From that time to 1885 he was deputy register of deeds in that county, and in November of that year was elected probate judge.  At the next general election he was elected register of deeds, and re-elected two years later, and was a member of the city council of the city of Brookings three years.  He removed to Sioux Falls in 1891; was one of the charter members of the Co-operative Savings and Loan Association, and has been its treasurer since its organization; was elected alderman from the Third ward in 1894, and mayor of the city of Sioux Falls in 1898; in March, 1899, was appointed a member of the state board of charities and corrections, and was elected its chairman.  Mr. Lien is a successful business man, an enterprising citizen, and his political influence is felt throughout the state.

LIEN, Jonas H., was born in Faribault county, Minnesota, December 12, 1874.  He was reared by his brother, B.H. Lien, their father having died while Jonas was quite young.  He was a student in the Agricultural College at Brookings, S.D., and there fitted for a collegiate course.  He entered the Nebraska University in 1894, but dropped out to take part in the presidential campaign in 1896.  He was employed by the State Central Committee of the Populist party in South Dakota, and spoke during the campaign in almost every county in the state east of the Missouri river.  He was at once recognized as a strong political speaker.  Such was his success in this campaign that he soon became known as the “Boy Orator of the Sioux.”  At the next session of the legislature he was elected chief clerk of the assembly, and then for a short time was the city editor of the Sioux Falls Daily Press.  During the spring of that year he resumed his studies at the Nebraska University, where he was graduated in the spring of 1898.  Again for a short time he worked upon the Press, but when the war with Spain broke out he enlisted in Company I, First Regiment South Dakota Volunteers, and was mustered into service May 4, 1898, as First Lieutenant and Adjutant.  His purpose has been to become a private and earn promotion if possible.  His friends persuaded him to accept the commission, and he entered upon the discharge of his duties with the energy and ability which always characterized him.  In the Philippines he was in the hottest of every fight, from Block House No. 4 where the first battle occurred between the American and Filipinos February 4 and 5, 1899, to Marilao where he was killed March 27, 1899.
     Of him his colonel said:  “He was the bravest man I ever knew, and one of the best officers.”  He had been promoted to the rank of captain, but had not received his commission when he met his death.  No one of his age was better and more favorably known throughout the state, and his untimely death was most sincerely deplored by all who knew him.

LOOK, August, is a native of Germany, and was born November 24, 1842.  He emigrated to the United States in 1871, and resided in Wisconsin and Iowa until 1883, at which time he removed to Sioux Falls.  He purchased the southwest quarter of section thirty, and the northwest quarter of section thirty-one, in Split Rock, and resided there a few years.  He then rented his farm and removed to the city of Sioux Falls and engaged in the meat market business, in which he has been very successful.  Mr. Look is up to the standard of good citizenship, and is well liked by his neighbors.

LOOK, Carl, was born in Germany, August 25, 1861; was educated in the public schools.  In 1883 came to the United States, and arrived at Sioux Falls, September 25, and immediately went to work for his brother, August Look, in the meat market.  He remained in his employ until 1891, when he commenced business for himself, in which he has since continued.  No man in the meat business in the city has furnished better meats to his customers than Carl Look, and he is a pleasant, honest man to do business with, he is prospering.

LUDLOW, George A., was born at Ithaca, New York, August 31, 1840.  He attended the common and high schools, and worked on a farm until he became of age.  In 1861 he enlisted in Co. E, First Penn. Rifles Bucktails, and served six years, seven months and fourteen days.  After having completed his military service he engaged in manufacturing lumber in Steuben county, New York, for two years, and then kept a hotel at Sabinsville, Penn., for one year.  His next employment was in the U.S. Mint at Philadelphia, where he remained five years; then for four years was a commercial traveler, and deputy sheriff of Tioga county, Penn., the same number of years.  In 1892 he came to Fort Pierre, S.D., and removed from there to Sioux Falls in June, 1895, where he has since resided; was for a number of years proprietor of the Central House; is deputy U.S. Marshal, and department Commander of the U.V. Union of South Dakota.  Captain Ludlow is a very energetic, enterprising man, a respected citizen, and has a large circle of acquaintances.

LYON, William Hoyt, was born at Carrol, Carrol county, Iowa, November 26, 1858.  His father, Samuel Lyon, was a physician, and removed from Iowa to Vermillion during the summer of 1860.  The subject of this sketch attended the district school during his boyhood, and in 1874-5 attended the academy at Newton, Iowa.  In 1876 taught school at Vermillion, and the following year entered the United Presbyterian college at Monmouth, Iowa, where he was graduated in 1881; then entered the law office of Gamble Bros. at Yankton, South Dakota, where he remained one year, and then attended a law school at St. Louis, Mo., one year; was admitted to the bar at Yankton in 1882; in the fall of 1883 came to Sioux Falls and entered the law office of M. Grigsby, and in 1885 the law firm of Grigsby & Lyon was established.  On the 7th day of January, 1888, the firm of Grigsby & Lyon having been dissolved, Mr. Lyon entered the law firm of Bailey & Davis, and is now a member of the firm of Davis, Lyon & Gates.  Soon after coming to Sioux Falls he published a book which caused some comment.  It was entitled The People’s Problem and took advance ground in favor of the ownership of railroads by the government, and other kindred topics.  In 1892 he was an independent candidate for the lower house of the legislature upon the issue of the sale of intoxicating liquors by municipal corporations, and the large vote he received was a surprise even to himself.  He is a man of positive convictions, and when he emphasizes his remarks by an occasional “by himmel” the hearer is convinced that he should never be employed to drive an ox-team.  He is a good lawyer, and socially he is in the front rank, and is one of those persons who know more at the end than at the beginning of the year.