Home County: Pettis
Term of Service at the Supreme Court of Missouri: January 1905 – December 1914
Judge Henry Lamm was born December 3, 1846, in Wayne County, Ohio. He was educated at Canaan Centre Academy in Ohio and Western College in Iowa for two years before graduating with a bachelor of science degree in 1869 from the University of Michigan in 1869. Lamm then moved to Sedalia, Missouri, where he studied law and, in January 1871, was admitted to the Pettis County bar.
Then-Governor Silas Woodson appointed Lamm as circuit clerk in Pettis County, where he also was deputy county clerk. He served until 1874, after which he entered private legal practice in the firm Sangree and Lamm. While in private practice, Lamm served as Sedalia’s city attorney and, from 1884 to 1888, also served as the Pettis County prosecuting attorney.
In November 1904, voters elected Lamm to a 10-year term on the Supreme Court of Missouri. He began his term in January 1905 and served as chief justice from January 1, 1913, until his term as judge concluded December 31, 1914.
After serving on the Court, Lamm resumed private practice at the firm Lamm, Bohling, & Lamm in Sedalia. He also continued assisting the state and federal judiciary as needed. In 1915, he served as a special commissioner in St. Louis, appointed by the Supreme Court of Missouri to oversee an antitrust lawsuit involving the American Bakery Co. In 1921, he also served as special master in a case filed in federal court involving the United Railways Company.
In 1915, Lamm was elected president of the Missouri Bar Association. He also was a charter member of the Pettis County Bar Association, serving as president from August 1918 until his death.
Judge Henry Lamm died May 23, 1926, in Pettis County, Missouri. He was 79 years old.
Biographical information by Dylan Powers-Cody, 2024, Truman State University.
Sources used (a copy of each is on file at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library):
Cornelius Roach, compiler, Cornelius Roach, Secretary of State, Official Manual of the State of Missouri, For The years 1911-1912, (Jefferson City, MO: The Hugh Stephens Printing Company, 1912), 68.
Cornelius Roach, compiler, Cornelius Roach, Secretary of State, Official Manual of the State of Missouri, For the Years 1913-1914, (Jefferson City, MO: The Hugh Stephens Printing Company, 1914), 83.
Franklin S. Dewey, Secretary, The Michigan Alumnus, vol. xxviii, (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Publishers, 1922), 998, information courtesy of Google Books.
“Hearing Opened in Suit to Oust American Bakery,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, (St. Louis, Missouri), July 19, 1915, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed April 19, 2024.
“Henry Lamm,” Missouri State Board of Health, Certificate of Death, filed May 31, 1926, Missouri Death Certificates Database, 1910-1973, information courtesy of Missouri Death Certificates Database, Missouri Digital Heritage website, Missouri State Archives, accessed April 19, 2024.
Hugh P. Williamson, “Henry Lamm, Scholar, Phrase-Maker and Wit,” Journal of The Missouri Bar, vol. 17, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffman Press Inc., 1961), 92.
John E. Swanger, compiler, John E. Swanger, Secretary of State, Official Manual of the State of Missouri, For the Years 1905-1906, (Jefferson City, MO: The Hugh Stephens Printing Company, 1906), 109.
“Judge Henry Lamm,” Centennial History of Missouri (The Center State), vol. iv, (St. Louis, MO: The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1921), 383, information courtesy of Google Books.
“Judge Henry Lamm Dead After A Long Illness,” Sedalia Weekly Democrat, (Sedalia, Missouri), May 28, 1926, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri, accessed April 19, 2024.
“Lamm For Supreme Judge,” The Star-Journal, (Warrensburg, Missouri), November 18, 1904, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed April 19, 2024.
M. L. Van Nada, ed., “Henry Lamm,” The Book of Missourians, (St. Louis, MO: T.J. Steele & Co., 1906), 105, information courtesy of Google Books, accessed April 19, 202.
Mark A. Mcgruder, History of Pettis County Missouri, (Topeka, KS: Historical Publishing Company, 1919), 698, information courtesy of Google Books.
Mark A. Mcgruder, “John D. Bohling,” History of Pettis County Missouri, (Topeka, KS: Historical Publishing Company, 1919), 397, information courtesy of Google Books.
Mark A. Mcgruder, “Present Resident Attorneys of Pettis County,” History of Pettis County Missouri, (Topeka, KS: Historical Publishing Company, 1919), 321, information courtesy of Google Books.
Perry S. Rader, reporter, Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, Between December 24, 1912, and February 19, 1913, vol. 247, (Columbia, MO: E. W. Stephens Publisher, 1913), iii.
Perry S. Rader, reporter, Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, Between December 31, 1914, and February 23, 1915, vol. 263, (Columbia, MO: E. W. Stephens Publishing Company, 1915), iii.
“Sangree & Lamm, Lawyers,” The Sedalia Democrat, (Sedalia, Missouri), December 10, 1889, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri, accessed April 19, 2024.
University of Michigan General Catalogue of Officers and Students, 1837-1911, (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Publishers, 1912), 58, information courtesy of Google Books.
“U.R. Electric Workers To Receive Full Pay, Special Master Lamm Rules Notice of Cut, Posted Aug. 3, Insufficient,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, (St. Louis, Missouri), September 15, 1921, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri, accessed April 19, 2024.