Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 7).djvu/198

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LANSING
LATIMER


able fortune and some social station, in 1867, from whom she was later separated and divorced. Mrs. Langtry first appeared on the stage in the Hay- market, London, in 1881, but she did not really enter the dramatic profession until t!ie following year. She made a number of successful tours to this country, commencing in 1882, and has ar- ranged to come again in 1900. She is an American citizen, liaving gained a residence in California for the purpose of obtaining a divorce from Capt. Langtry. She made three attempts to secure this divorce, and finally succeeded in May, 1897. Mr. Langtry died at Cliester, England, 15 Oct., 1897. In Jidy, 1899. Mrs. Langtry was married on the island of Jersey to Hugo Gerald de Bathe, twen- ty-eight years of age, the eldest son of Sir Henry Percival de Batlie, Bart., a retired general and a Crimean veteran, who has four valuable estates in England and Ireland, all of which, with his title, will be inherited by his son Hugo.

LANSING, Abraham, lawyer, b. in Albany, N. y., 27 Feb., 1835 ; d. there, 4 Oct., 1899. He was graduated from Williams college, and admit- ted to the Albany bar in 1857. He was city at- torney in 1868, and was appointed the first re- porter of the supreme court in 1869. Gov. Dix appointed him in 1874 acting state treasurer, and two years later he was the city's corporation counsel. He was state senator in 1882-3, serv- ing as chairman of the railroad and finance com- mittees, and took an active part in the passage of the state railroad commission law. At the height of his political activity he was chairman of the New York state Democratic committee. Mr. Lansing was a director of the National com- mercial bank, a trustee of the Albany savings bank, a trustee of the Albany academy, a governor of the Albany hospital, and a trustee of the Albany medical college. He married a daughter of the late Gen. Peter Gansevoort, who survives him.

L'ARCHEVEQUE, Jean de (larsh-vake), French soldier, d. near Arkansas river, 17 Aug., 1720. He was a member of La Salle's expedition of 1684, and enticed him into the ambuscade where he was murdered. In 1699 he was a soldier in Santa Fc. He became a successful trader, and is doubtless identical with a " Captain Archibeque" who was a member of the war councils of 1715 and 1730. In the latter year he recommended a reeon- noissance to the Arkansas river, on which he was killed, with forty-three others, by Pawnee Indians. He left four children, and a family of Archibeques is still living in New Mexico. These historical facts, save his connection with La Salle's murder, were unknown till 1888, when they were discovered in making researches in behalf of the Heraenway southwestern archa'ological expedition.

LAROQUE, Paul Stanislaus, U. C. bishop, b. at Ste. Marie de Monnoir, province of Quebec, 8 Jan., 1846. His brother Charles was rector of St. Louis's church, Montreal, and his two cousins, Charles and Joseph Laroque, were successively the second and third bishops of St. Hyacinth. He re- ceived his education at the Colleges of St. Theresa and St. Hyacinth, and was ordained a priest, 9 May, 1869. He performed missionary service at Key West, Fla., from his ordination till 1880, and was chaplain of the U. S. troops sta- tioned there, though he was not affiliated with any diocese in the United States. In 1880 he re- turned to St. Hyacinth, and the following year he went to Rome and continued his studies in the Gregorian and Appolinaire universities. After two years and a half thus spent, he made a tour of Europe and visited Jerusalem and Nazareth with the view of perfecting himself in biblical history. He received at Rome the degree of doctor of theology and canon law. On his return to Canada he was appointed canon and rector of St. Hya- cinth's cathedral. He is master of five languages. Dr. Laroque was apjiointed bishop of Sherbrook, and was consecrated in August, 1893.

LARRABEE, William, governor of Iowa, b. in Ledyard, Conn., 20 Jan., 1832. He removed to Clermont, Iowa, in 1853, and engaged in farming, manufacturing, and banking. He served in the Iowa state senate in 1868-'85, was chairman of the committee of ways and means for sixteen years, and in 1885 he was elected governor of the state, as a Republican, continuing in olRce until succeeded by Gov. Horace Boies in 1890. Mr. Larrabee is the owner of 10,000 acres of farming land in Iowa, and is the author of " The Railroad Question."

LASSALLE, Charles, journalist, b. in Liege, Belgium, 12 Oct. 1817; d. in Green Cove, Fla., 38 Jan., 1888. He accompanied Sir John Ross in his arctic expedition in the " Victory " in 1829-'33, and on his return settled in Canada, and soon after in New York city. After serving as a compositor he established a printing-office in which the " Cour- rier des Etats-Lfnis," conducted by Frederick Gail- lardet, was printed. On the retirement, in 1851, of the proprietor iMr. Lassalle acquired the owner- ship of the paper, successfully conducting its edi- torial and business departments for twenty years, when he retired. His important journal pro- moted the interests of his adopted country and city, and he was a most liberal patron of art.

LATHERS, Richard, merchant, b. in George- town, S. C, about 1820. He was educated in South Carolina, embarked early in mercantile pursuits in his native town, and was commissioned colonel of the 31st regiment of South Carolina in 1841. In 1847 he opened a commission business in New York, and ultimately became president of the Great western marine insurance company, retir- ing in 1867. He advocated the constitutional rights of the south, but sympathized with the north in the civil war. During the war he co- operated with the Union defence committee and with the government, raised funds, and organized volunteers. In 1862, on behalf of the New York chamber of commerce, he addressed President Lincoln on presenting a petition for naval protec- tion of our commerce. He has been an active member of many associations at home and abroad, and has delivered addresses on the subjects which they represent. Col. Lathers presented in 1897 to Williams college a fund, the interest of which shall be used to defray the cost of a gold medal to be awarded annually for the best essay advocating " The Duty of Christians to Government." He ha.«  nearly completed an account of his active career, entitled "Notes of a Life of Sixty Years."

LATIMER, George Washington, fugitive slave, b. in Virginia in 1831 ; d. in Lynn, Mass., 29 May, 1896. By the will of his mistress he was given his freedom, but the will was not probated and the heirs refused to recognize this provision. Latimer was sold in 1841 to James B. Gray, of Virginia, and soon afterward he escaped, finding a hiding-place on a Baltimore steamer. From there he made his way to Boston, where he was sheltered by people of his own color. Later he was recognized by a man from the south, and soon after his owner appeared and caused his arrest, and immediately began proceedings to have Latimer returned to Virginia as a fugitive. Garrison, Wendell Phillips, and other abolitionists fought the case at every point, but Judge Shaw ruled that