History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/4/Henry W. Lathrop
HENRY W. LATHROP was born at Hawley, Massachusetts, October 28, 1819. His parents removed to Augusta, New York, where the son grew to manhood. He studied law at Albany and in 1847 removed to Iowa, locating at Iowa City where he engaged in teaching school. He became the editor of the Iowa City Republican, He was a delegate to the convention of 1856 which organized the Republican party of Iowa. He was one of the first regents of the State University, helped to organize that institution and was chairman of the committee which selected the faculty. He served for seven years as treasurer of the University. In 1856 Mr. Lathrop sold the Republican and moving onto a farm began to experiment in fruit raising. He was one of the founders of the State Horticultural Society and for more than half a century was a contributor to its work. He was for many years librarian of the State Historical Society and the author of many valuable historical articles for the Annals of Iowa and the Historical Record. Mr. Lathrop's most enduring work in history and biography is the “Life and Times of Samuel J. Kirkwood,” a book of four hundred and seventy-four pages, published in 1893. It is an exceedingly valuable contribution to the annals of the most important and exciting period of our State's history.