Senator William Benjamin Lakin View All Years
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William Benjamin Lakin
Fayette County
Born at Point Pleasant, Clermont County, May 29, 1831. He received his education at Farmers’ College, College Hill, a suburb near Cincinnati, and at Augusta College, Augusta, Kentucky. Having studied law he practiced for a time at Xenia, Ohio. In 1860, Mr. Lakin married Caroline Mathilda Thompson at Clermont County, Ohio. His brother-in-law, Dr. C. C. Parker, moved to Fayette, in 1865, and Mr. Lakin also came to this place soon after. He engaged in the practice of law; and at two separate periods was the editor at Fayette of the North Iowa Observer. He was during the Civil war appointed to an office connected with the payment of soldiers, and therefore was for a time in the South. He was twice in the legislature of the state representing Fayette County in both houses. In the days of the great gold excitement in the West he in company with several fellow townsmen made a trip to the Rocky Mountains. He also made a trip to California by the ocean, sailing from New York, and at a later period visited that country after the Union Pacific railway was built. He was elected Clerk of Fayette County in 1868 and held the office several terms. He was once a candidate for the nomination as Judge of the Judicial District of which Fayette County was a part, being defeated in the convention by Judge Hunt of Elkader by a fraction of one vote.
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