Lakin, George W.

Born: 1816-03-29 Cumberland County, Maine

Died: 1884-09-13 Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Flourished: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

George W. Lakin was a school teacher, lawyer, state legislator, and U.S. district attorney. Born in Harrison, Maine (s0me sources claim erroneously that it was Harrison, Maryland), Lakin spent his early childhood on the family farm. He attended public schools until the age of fourteen, when he transferred to an academy in North Bridgton, and later on to the Maine Wesleyan Academy in Readfield, from which he graduated in June 1837. After graduation, he taught school and read law. In the fall of 1839, Lakin moved from his native state to Missouri, where he continued his law studies, receiving admission to the Missouri bar in 1841. He moved to the Wisconsin Territory, establishing a law office at Platteville, where he would live and work until 1854. In 1847, he represented Grant County at the Territory's second constitutional convention. In 1848 and 1849, he represented Platteville and Grant County in the Wisconsin Senate. In 1849, President Zachary Taylor appointed him U.S. District Attorney for Wisconsin, a post he held until 1853. In 1854, he moved to Milwaukee, where he practiced law until his death.

J. D. Beck, comp., The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin (Madison, WI: Democratic Printing, 1909), 19, 43, 893; Report of the Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Wisconsin State Bar Association Held in the City of Madison February 12 and 13 1900 (Madison, WI: Taylor and Gleason, 1901), 305; H. A. Tenney and David Atwood, Memorial Record of the Fathers of Wisconsin (Madison, WI: David Atwood, 1880), 235-36; John Gregory, A New and Vastly Improved Edition of the Industrial Resources of Wisconsin (Milwaukee, WI: Milwaukee News, 1872), 189-91; Gravestone, Forest Home Cemetery, Milwaukee, WI.