Title: Lanterman Family
Dates: 1875-2011
Collection Number: MSS 11177
Quantity: 2.25 feet
Abstract: Papers consist of correspondence, biographies and autobiographies, miscellaneous printed material, photocopies of Mandan Abstract Company minutes, news clippings, a manuscript “My visit to Yellowstone Park,” scrapbook, photographs and a photograph album. The collection was digitized in July 2013.
The correspondence includes letters to A. Kirk about genealogical material available at the Mandan Historical Society, the publication “Lantermans in America,” scans of records of the Mandan Creamery that include Lanterman family members and a transcribed letter to Georgia Greenwood Lanterman from her sister Sarah Johnson Lanterman. Biographies of Harriet Maria Shaw Lanterman (Mrs. W. A.) and W. A. Lanterman and an autobiography of W. A. Lanterman (with draft) are included with the collection.
The manuscript “My visit to Yellowstone Park” is a short reminiscence by an unidentified Lanterman relative who took the trip as a 12 year old in July 1923. The news clippings cover the W. A. Lanterman Home in Mandan, a photograph of the Mandan High School graduating class of 1908, and an obituary of W. A. Lanterman. The Mandan Abstract Company minutes (copied) were sent to Kirk Lanterman from Myron Atkinson to A. Lanterman and reflect the roles played by Albert Lanterman and H. W. Lanterman in the corporation from 1920-1948. Finally, the miscellaneous printed material includes the U.S. Passport of Horace William Lanterman, a graduation announcement for the Mandan High School class of 1919, and an article about the expansion of the North Dakota Heritage Center.
Provenance: The papers were donated to the State Historical Society of North Dakota by Janet Lanterman on September 11, 2013. The photo albums were created by Lois Arnegard, daughter of Eunice (Lanterman) Ordway and given to Janet and A. Kirk Lanterman.
Property rights: The State Historical Society of North Dakota owns the property rights to the collection.
Copyrights: Copyrights to materials in this collection remain with the donor, publisher, author, or author's heirs. Researchers should consult the 1976 Copyright Act, Public Law 94-553, Title 17, U.S. Code and an archivist at this repository if clarification of copyright requirements is needed.
Access: This collection is open under the rules and regulations of the State Historical Society of North Dakota.
Citation: Researchers are requested to cite the collection title, collection number, and the State Historical Society of North Dakota in all footnote and bibliographic references.
Transfer: Five publications were transferred to the State Archives’ Publications in July 2013.
Related Collections:
11166 State Historical Society of ND Foundation Oral History (Audio/Video interview of A. Kirk Lanterman conducted by Gerald Newborg on August 19, 2010)
11031 Ellis Agency Records
00354 Helen L. Heck Photograph Collection (Benjamin Whitworth Shaw family photographs)
A3469 Sadie Lanterman (photograph)
A7044 Mrs. W. A. Lanterman (photograph)
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH, WILLIAM A. LANTERMAN (1854-1925)
From the Mandan Historical Society website:
William "W. A." Lanterman was born on a farm just outside of Blairstown, NJ on November 24, 1854 to NJ natives Abraham and Jane (LaRue) Lanterman. In addition to two brothers Ruben and Albert, he had at least five sisters, Retta, Georgia (Shaw), Ida, Emma and Elizabeth (Staley).
William completed his education in the Blair Presbyterial Academy in Blairstown, NJ. Lanterman would reside there until he was 20 years old. He moved to Fisher in southern Minnesota in 1875 to join two brothers who were already there. William would move to Crookston in 1877 and immigrate to Canada two years later to join the Hudson Bay Company. In 1881, he would return to the US and settle in Hillsboro, Dakota Territory and join his brother Albert in business there.
In 1883 he relocated to Mandan after purchasing a lumber yard from the three Hager brothers Frederick, Robert, and Joseph (who had completed construction of the InterOcean Hotel on Main St in Mandan). The following year, William was joined by his brother Albert.
By 1906, both would also be associated with W. B. Haight in the lumber and machinery business.
Early Mandan leaders understood the stability a Federal facility could bring to the area's economy. While the early Dakota settlers brought with them their favorite seeds and plantings for raising fruit, vegetables, grains and trees from their prior homes, many varieties did not do well in the high Dakota prairie. Lanterman served on the Mandan Community Committee with A.E. Thorberg and C. L. Timmerman and successfully lobbied the U.S. Congress to establish the Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory in Mandan in 1914.
William A. Lanterman was among the founders of the State Bank of Morton County in 1892 and served as the bank's first president. He is also president of the Mandan Loan & Investment Company and vice president of the First National Bank at New Salem, ND. He also served as President of the Missouri Slope District of the ND Bankers Association in 1918.
He served as President of the Mandan Commercial Club (predecessor to the Chamber of Commerce) for many years, as well as on the board of directors of the Mandan Produce and Creamery Company (predecessor of Cloverdale Meats Company).
W. A. Lanterman was also briefly in partnership with C. F. Ellis Sr. starting in May 1901. The offices of Real Estate Insurance and Loan were originally located in the State Bank of Morton County building. Ellis bought out Lanterman in the winter of 1901-1902, and would rename the business the Ellis Agency.
William and his brother Albert as well as Ellis constructed several of the larger homes in the city. W. A. Lanterman's main residence was at 303 3rd Ave NW constructed in 1901. After the couple moved to Glendale, California in 1921, they subdivided their residential lot and added a smaller residence at 301 3rd Ave NW in 1923.
On the 22nd of March 1886, in Racine, Wisconsin, Mr. Lanterman was united in marriage to Harriet Maria Shaw (b. 22 Mar 1860 d. 9 Mar 1924). The couple had four children: Betty "Bessie" LeRue (wife of Edwin Arthur Ripley of Mandan and later Glendale, CA); Eunice Craig (wife of William Ordway of Minneapolis, MN); Alton Dean and Horace William, also a longtime resident of Mandan. Their eldest son Alton was born on February 11, 1893 but died on January 14, 1907, at the age of 13.
Mr. Lanterman was a Master Mason, while his religious faith was Presbyterian. Politically, he was a member of the Democratic Party.
Harriet Lanterman died in March 1924 in Los Angeles where they were spending the winter. In early 1925, William was joined by his son Horace on a trip around the world. Upon his return to Mandan in early may, Lanterman took ill. But after slowly recovering over a period of a month, he "immediately plunged into active work" according to the newspaper report, and relapsed within a day of returning to work. He died the following day on June 19, 1925. His funeral was held at Mandan's First Presbyterian Church. His remains were transported to Glendale, California and buried beside his wife in Forest Lawn Memorial Park.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH, HARRIET MARIA (SHAW) LANTERMAN (1860-1924)
Mrs. W. A. Lanterman (Harriet Shaw) was born in Burlington, WI, March 22, 1860 to Benjamin and Betty (Lumb) Shaw. The family soon afterward went to Racine where she was reared and educated in the public schools. After graduation from the Racine High School she taught the grade schools of that city for several years. March 25, 1885 she married W. A. Lanterman, of Mandan, at Racine and arrived on her honeymoon trip by train to Mandan. Her husband was then engaged in the Lumber business with his brother. In 1887 they branched out into the sheep business. Mrs. Lanterman often related how she helped Mr. Lanterman put on layers of warm clothing to keep out the extreme cold during his winter trips driving on the ice on the Missouri River, looking after his sheep. In 1892 her husband entered the banking business. He still continued in the sheep business. At one time they suffered a $30,000 loss in the sheep business when the leader of the sheep (during a blizzard) started over an embankment, southwest of Mandan, and the whole herd tumbled into the Heart River and were drowned. A total loss. The sheep herder, Mr. Kelly, was powerless to help them.
Mrs. Lanterman survived all the hair-raising incidents from the Indian outbreaks of the early days. She and her husband were very active in church and civic matters during their time in Mandan. She was a staunch Presbyterian, a devout Christian and a woman devoted to her home and family. Two daughters and two sons were born in Mandan, three of the children: Bessie La Rue Ripley, Eunice Craig Lanterman Ordway and Horace William Lanterman and now living in Mandan. A son, Alton, passed away January 14, 1904. In 1923 the Lantermans sold their home and left for their comfortable winter home at Eagle Rock, a suburb of Los Angeles, CA, where they enjoyed luxuries which they were denied while pioneers. They amassed a fortune of $500,000 which was shared by their three children. After the estate was settled they paid an Inheritance tax of $11,034.24 to Morton County, the largest ever received by Morton County. Mrs. Lanterman passed away March 9, 1924 and Mr. Lanterman June 19, 1925. They were buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery at Glendale, a suburb of Los Angeles, CA.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH, ALBERT LANTERMAN (1856-1937)
From the Mandan Historical Society website:
Albert Lanterman was born on October 31, 1856 on a farm just outside of Blairstown, NJ. Albert completed his education in the Blair Presbyterian Academy in Blairstown, NJ. He moved to Fisher in northwestern MN in 1875. His two brothers William and Ruben had already immigrated there as well as sisters Retta Lanterman and Elizabeth Lanterman Staley plus her husband James Staley. Albert and brother William moved to Hillsboro, Dakota Territory, in 1881 and engaged in business there.
Both he and his sister Elizabeth would marry into the Rosencrans (sometimes spelled as Rosenkranz) family, a long established European family. Elizabeth married James Hartwell Staley, grandson of Isaac Rosencrans. Albert returned to Blairstown, NJ to marry Margaret Maria Rosencrans on February 2, 1882 who was James Staley's first cousin, once-removed.
Albert and Maria had one son, Everett Rosencrans Lanterman, born in 1896.
When in 1883 brother William moved onto Mandan, Albert remained behind for a year to dispose of their assets there. In the early days of Morton County, the brothers brought large flocks of sheep into Morton County from Oregon. When they liquidated the business, they had over 32,000 head of sheep.
The brothers also engaged in a wide variety of businesses, including lumber and machinery, grain buying and banking.
Albert was the owner of the Flakker Apartments, and his son Everett built the house across the street known as the Biggs house for many years and later owned by Leo Eckroth. While reportedly hesitant to invest in farmland, he was a large holder of residential property in Mandan. In the latter years of his residence in Mandan, Albert devoted his time to supervising the rental of homes he owned.
While he is frequently associated as vice-president to his brother's banking activities, Albert took the lead in managing their ranching, grain purchasing and real estate businesses, while William focused on managing the operation of the State Bank of Morton County.
In October 1919 Albert and his son, Everett, narrowly escaped death surviving a roll-over accident involving their automobile.
A shrewd businessman, his investments enabled him to build his future to over $2 million dollars ($25.2 million in 2010 equivalent) in the late 1920s. He was at one time the largest individual investor in Columbia Gas and Electric (a New Jersey public utilities corporation) and other major stock holdings including in Sears Roebuck & Company. While the Great Depression reduced his net worth considerably, he always remained a wealthy man.
In October 1928, the couple as well as their son and daughter-in-law moved to the Los Angeles area. Albert and Maria sold their home at 219 North 3rd Avenue NW to Dr. L. G. Smith and his wife. The home, as well as the residence to the south, was torn down in the late 1970s and replaced by a new central telephone exchange for Northwestern Bell (now CenturyLink).
Maria Lanterman died shortly after their arrival in Glendale, California. Albert met Ellen Kelly and was engaged to marry her in 1931. However no confirmation of the marriage has been found to date. No reference to the second marriage was mentioned in the obituary printed by the Mandan Pioneer which announced his death on August 24, 1937. He spent several years living with his son and daughter-in-law before moving to an apartment at a Beverly Hills California hotel where he resided at the time of his death.
With his brother William, they were major contributors to the Deaconess Hospital (later renamed Mandan Hospital) and the First Presbyterian Church.
Mr. Lanterman had undergone surgery at a Los Angeles hospital, but died on August 17, 1937 at the age of 81 due to complications associated with surgery. Funeral services were held at Church of the Flowers in Glendale, CA. He was buried in the family plot in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Glendale.
BOX / FOLDER INVENTORY
Box: 1
Photograph Album 11177-01 – 11177-52 (see photograph inventory below)
Box 2:
Photographs 11177-53 – 11177-63
Box 3:
Scrapbook (includes photographs 11177-64 – 11177-67)
Box 4:
1 Correspondence (including transcribed correspondence), 1888-2011
2 Biographies and autobiographies, 1875 and n.d.
3 “My visit to Yellowstone Park” manuscript by an unidentified Lanterman relative, who took the trip as a 12 year old in July 1923 (possibly Horace or W. A. Lanterman)
4 News clippings, 1925, 1981 and n.d.
5 Photocopies of Mandan Abstract Company minutes, 1919-1948
6 Miscellaneous printed material, 1919-2011
Photograph Inventory
11177-01 W. A. and Harriet (Shaw) Lanterman with W. A.’s sisters Georgia and Ida,
probably late 1880s
11177-02 W. A. and Harriet (Shaw) Lanterman with W. A.’s sisters Georgia and Ida,
probably late 1880s
11177-03 Unidentified child, possibly Al Lanterman
11177-04 Lanterman home in Hillsboro (ND) (W. A., Retta, Emma, Maria, Georgia, Aunt Sadie Rider, Al and Sylvester Lanterman)
11177-05-07 W. A. Lanterman
11177-09 W. A. and Alton Lanterman
11177-10 Horace Lanterman (aged 5 years)
11177-11 Sadie Rider and Bessie LaRue Lanterman
11177-12 Bessie LaRue Lanterman, November 1, 1887
11177-13 Racine cousins: Bessie LaRue Lanterman, Gertrude Shaw, Belle Shaw, Anne Shaw, Florence Shaw, Lydia Perham, ca. 1890
11177-14 Unidentified (age 6), ca. 1892
11177-15 Annie and Bessie LaRue Lanterman, ca. 1892
11177-16 Unidentified (age 10), ca. 1896
11177-17 The Busy Bee Club, Mandan (ND): Edna Austin, Ada Alie Tuttle, Bessie LaRue Lanterman, Dorothy Duncan, Eunice Craig Lanterman, 1897
11177-18 Racine cousins: Bessie LaRue Lanterman, Bella Shaw, Gertrude Shaw, Lucile Shaw, Jessie Perham, Dorothy Perham, Annie Perham, Etta Shaw, June 1908
11177-19 Bessie LaRue Lanterman, Alton Lanterman and Annie Shaw
11177-20 Bessie LaRue Lanterman graduation portrait, Carleton College, 1907
11177-21 Bessie LaRue Lanterman graduation portrait, Oberlin College, 1908
11177-22 Probably Bessie LaRue Lanterman, ca. 1920s-1930s
11177-23 Eunice Craig Lanterman wedding, Presbyterian Church
11177-24 William and Girard (5 months and 15 days) Ordway
11177-25 Bill and Girard Ordway
11177-26 William and Bill Ordway
11177-27 Two men with boy on horse, probably Bill or Gerard Ordway with father William, Selfridge (ND)
11177-28 Unidentified boy in school uniform
11177-29 Unidentified school dormitory room
11177-30-32 Alton Dean and unidentified on camping and fishing trip, before 1904
11177-33 Horace Lanterman portrait (11 months), November 1902
11177-34 Horace Lanterman portrait (3 years), ca. December 24, 1904
11177-35 Horace Lanterman, June 1920
11177-36 “Passport suspects round world cruise Feb 1925” (W. A. and Horace Lanterman)
11177-37 Harriet (Shaw) Lanterman with sisters Sarah Perham and Mary Chadwick
11177-38 Sarah and Albert Perham
11177-39 Simeon Lanterman portrait, brother of W. A. Lanterman
11177-40 Sylvester Lanterman portrait, brother of W. A. Lanterman
11177-41 Sadie Rider portrait
11177-42 Elizabeth Staley portrait
11177-43 Albert and Maria Lanterman, Los Angeles (CA), April 1930
11177-44 William A. and Harriet Lanterman home, Mandan (ND), ca. 1900
11177-45 William A. and Harriet Lanterman home, Mandan (ND), ca. 1910
11177-46 State Bank of Morton County building , ca. 1910
11177-47 Family portrait in Venice, 1909
11177-48 Family portrait in St. Petersburg, 1916
11177-49 Family portrait in San Diego (CA), 1915
11177-50-51 William A., Harriet, Horace, and Bessie LaRue Lanterman with group at
Chautauqua camp, July 12-18, 1912
11177-52 Georgia Greenwood (Lanterman) Shaw portrait, ca. 1939
11177-53 Judge B. W. Shaw portrait, ca. 1939
11177-54 Might be Bessie LaRue Lanterman, ca. 1890
11177-55 Portrait, might be Harriet Maria Shaw’s sister, ca. 1880s
11177-56 Harriet Maria Shaw high school graduation portrait, 1878
11177-57 Benjamin and Betty (Lumb) Shaw portrait, ca. 1880s
11177-58 W. A. Lanterman portrait, 1914
11177-59 Presbyterian church, Mandan (ND), ca. 1920
11177-60 Unidentified young man portrait, ca. 1920-1940
11177-61 W. A. Lanterman portrait, 1883
11177-62 Reverend Doctor Duke Rector of Christ P. E. Church leading a prayer at the first Continental Congress, Philadelphia, September 5, 1774
11177-63 Haight Lumber & Machinery Company, ca. 1906
11177-64 Margaret Maria (Rosencrans) Lanterman portrait, before 1930
11177-65 W. A. Lanterman portrait, ca. 1923
11177-66 Harriet Lanterman portrait, ca. 1923
11177-67 Helen A. S. (Kirk) Lanterman wedding portrait, 1925
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