Muhlenberg College - Ciarla Yearbook (Allentown, PA)

Page 11 text:

TO HON. C. R. LANTZ, ESQ. PROMINENT ATTORNEY ol Lebanon, Pa. AND Member ol Our Board ol Trustees in recognition ol liis liberal support and earnest endeavors in tbe interest ol Muhlenberg College

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Biographical Sketch YRUS RESSLEY LANTZ, prominent lawyer and financier was born August 26, 1842, a native of Cornwall Township, Lebanon County, Pa. The schoolroom was exchanged for practical experience at the age of fourteen, when he entered the mercantile establishment of Isaac Hambleton, at Cornwall, Pa. The following year he entered the schoolroom as a teacher. With higher work in view he stood successfully an examination before the County Superintendent of Schools. But on the very day of examination he signed for the defence of Old Glory and the constitution, and was mustered in at Harrisburg, August 16, 1862. He was at the defence of Washington, and took part in some of the hottest activities of the dis- astrous battle of Fredericksburg in December, 1863. With his duty bravely done, he was mustered out and served eight years as Captain of Co. E. 8th Reg. of the National Guards of Pennsylvania. Picking up the thread broken by the war, Mr. Lantz entered the schools of Lebanon as a teacher. In connection with his duties he had taken up the study of law with Hon. Josiah Funck, of Lebanon, Pa., and in the summer of 1869 he passed the examination and was admitted to the Lebanon Bar. He was appointed a Notary by Gov. Geary, and was Deputy Treasurer of Lebanon County for two years. In 1781 he was elected District Attorney of Lebanon County, in which position he served three years. Further political preferment came to him in 1880, when he was nominated by the Republican Party for State Senator in Garfield’s cam- paign. Carrying the day, Mr. Lantz became a vigorous and helpful member of the State Senate, serving on some of the most important committees and being heard in carefully prepared efforts in the advocacy of good measures on the floor. Since his Senatorial experience, Mr. Lantz has contented himself with working in the political ranks as a private. In 1884 he accompanied the “Plumed Knight,” Jas. G. Blaine, on his trip through the Keystone State. In connection with his extensive practice, Mr. Lantz has found time for promotion of many business enterprises, and has long been regarded as a leader of the financial thought of his community. The social and religious life of Mr. Lantz has been equally prominent and helpful. Joining old Salem Lutheran Church when a lad of thirteen, he has been active in the Master’s service. Mr. Lantz sang in the Church Choir for twenty-five years and was for fifteen years the leader. In the Sunday-school he is the teacher of a class of some three hundred young people. As a trustee of Muhlenberg College, he has worked for the realization of the highest ideals of the institution.