William Scott Lauder
| Date of Interment or Death | 05/20/1931 |
|---|---|
| Location | Old Fairview |
| Section | C |
| Block-Lot-Grave | 6-6-1 |
Obituary
Pioneer Wahpeton Lawyer is Dead
Funeral Services for Judge W.S. Lauder, former judge of the district court, will be held Wednesday afternoon at 2:30. Business places of Wahpeton have been requested to close the hour of the funeral.
Funeral Services For Pioneer to Be Held on Wed.
Jurist Was Member of Constitutional Convention and District Judge for Fifteen years
Judge W. S. Lauder, pioneer Wahpeton lawyer died at ten o’clock Sunday morning. He had been an invalid for more than a year following a stroke of paralysis. Funeral services are to be held at 2:30 Wednesday afternoon from the Congregational church and private funeral services are to be held for the immediate family at the home at 2:15 the same afternoon.
Judge Lauder was a former states attorney of Richland County, district court judge for 15 years, probate judge and a member of the constitutional convention that framed the constitution of North Dakota.
William S. Lauder was born at Yates Center, New York, February 9th, 1854 and came to a farm near River Falls Wis., while still a child. He was educated in the schools of River Falls and attended the St. Croix Collegiate Institute at River Falls
While still a young man, Mr. Lauder apprenticed himself to Wellington Van Etta, pioneer Pierce county, Wisconsin lawyer and studied law under, the old system from which so many of the splendid lawyers of the old school came. During this time, Mr. Lauder worked for Doctor Ballard, father of the Fairmount banker, George Ballard, for his room and board. He also took care of the physician’s horses.
Judge Lauder arrived here with all his worldly good in his suitcase and $60 in cash, he was fond of telling friends. He immediately set up a practice in Wahpeton, and in 1884, was elected probate judge. After serving a term, he became district attorney while Richland county was a part of the Dakota territory and held that office for four years.
When North Dakota became a state, Judge Lauder was member of the constitutional convention in 1889 that drew up the state constitution and made arrangements for the separation of North and South Dakota. Judge Lauder’s election was the result of a hard-fought election and marked one of a series of political battles that marked Richland County as a political hotbed. Peter J. McCumber led on faction of the Republican party while Judge Lauder led the other faction. Judge Lauder’s political history is one of the most interesting chapters of North Dakota history and is a story by itself.
W. S. Lauder was appointed judge of what was then the fourth judicial district by the commission appointed to divide the Dakota territory property and set up a system of government for the two states. A year later, Judge Lauder was elected Judge at the Fourth Judicial district and held that office for 15 years. He was a member of the American Bar Association.
Judge Lauder set up practice alone in 1881 and was associated for a brief time with A. G. Descent, pioneer Wahpeton man, as Descent & Lauder and later, with the late Judge C. E. Wolfe, as Wolfe & Lauder. In more recent years, Judge Lauder took his son, Max Lauder, into partnership with him and after the death of W.F. Purcell, J. A. Heder was associated with the Lauders. A few years ago, Governor Sorlie tendered an appointment as supreme court judge to Judge Lauder but the Wahpeton man did not feel that he could abandon his practices for the office.
Judge Lauder was first married in Wisconsin 54 years ago and to this union were born two children, Mrs. Henry Turrish, now, living at Duluth, and Chas. W. Lauder, who died in 1911, from illness contracted while serving with Company I in the Philipines during the Spanish American War.
On December 8, 1892, Judge Lauder was united in marriage to Miss Nettie McKean, Wahpeton and to that union were born four children, Mrs. Harold Ambler, Lake Forest, Il., Max W. Lauder, Wahpeton, Rad S. Lauder; Chicago and Rose Lauder, Lake Forest Ill. It is expected that all of the children including Mrs. Turrish will be in Wahpeton Tuesday.
There are six brothers. They are Samuel H. Osceola, Ia, Thomas C., Jamestown, Gavin H., James and Alexander; all of Webster, Wis., and John of Carson, N.D. One sister Mrs. Thomas Browell, River Falls, Wis. Also survives.
Funeral services re to be held at the home at 2:15 for the immediate family and at 2:30 from the Congregational Church with Rev. R. D. Hall officiating. Interment will be in the family lot at Fairview Cemetery.
Judge W. S. Lauder has been closely associated with the history and progress of Richland county for half a century and has a host of friends, not only in Wahpeton, out over the whole state. He was long a leader of what was known as the Progressive Republican faction of the county and state, playing a big part in the framing of the state’s constitution and being one of the outstanding judges of the state, serving for fifteen years before he retired to take up his private practice.
Headstone photograph(s)
Location
Old Fairview is located on the southern half of the cemetery grounds.