Silas W. Lamoreaux

Silas Wright Lamoreux or Lamoreaux (8 March 1843 – 5 August 1909) was an American lawyer from Wisconsin who served as a judge, as a local official, as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly and as the 28th Commissioner of the General Land Office of the United States. He was the brother of Oliver Lamoreux.

Biography

Silas W. Lamoreux was born in Madison County, New York on March 8, 1843, and came to Portage County, Wisconsin in 1852 with his family to join his older brother Oliver, who had moved to Wisconsin the year before. He moved to Dodge County, Wisconsin, and was admitted to the bar at age 21. He enlisted in the Union Army in 1864, and participated with the Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War.

Lamoreux was elected as a Democratic member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from the 5th Dodge County district in 1871, in the same election which saw his brother elected from Portage County. He did not run for re-election in 1872.

Lamoreux was elected judge in his county in 1877. He was appointed commissioner of the General Land Office by President Grover Cleveland (a Democrat), serving from 1893 to 1897.

Lamoreux founded the Beaver Dam Malleable Iron Works, which employed 750 men at the time of his death. He also was president of the German National Bank of Beaver Dam. He died in Beaver Dam on August 5, 1909, after a long illness with diabetes.