64 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY 



Sheppard to California. After his partnership thus dissolved, 

 he formed a co-partnership with his brother, Mr. W. R. Lacey, 

 which continued to the time of his death. 



Major Lacey was known as a good and careful student of the 

 law. He had a well trained, analytical mind, rose rapidly in his 

 profession and was soon recognized as a worthy member of the 

 first rank, and at his death was president of the State Bar As- 

 sociation. 



He was also a good reader of classic literature, with a retentive 

 memory which made him always an interesting host and personal 

 entertainer. 



In his home he was a kind, indulgent, and beloved husband 

 and father. A consistent member of the Episcopal church, he 

 held a confident faith in an immortality beyond the grave. 



At the bar he was courteous, dignified and thorough; a dili- 

 gent student, forceful in argument, graceful in manner, attrac- 

 tive in address. Among his strong characteristics were his in- 

 tense public spirit, manifested at all times to go forward in the 

 betterment of the community by personal effort and material aid. 

 His motto was ' ' Hard work is the price of success. ' ' Such men 

 deserve the fame they leave and so will Major Lacey go down 

 in the history of his state, a really great man in whatever he 

 undertook in life, because he deserved to be great. He was a 

 public speaker of ability and in personal conversation charmed 

 those with whom he came in contact. 



While pursuing the practice of law in Mahaska county, he was 

 elected and served in the lower house of the 13th General As- 

 sembly of Iowa. He compiled the Railway Digest which bears 

 his name and is a work of paintaking research. This work was 

 well received by the profession and was highly creditable to its 

 diligent and care-taking author. 



In politics Major Lacey was a Republican of the old school and 

 he lived it with an intensity known to but few. He was chair- 

 man of the Republican State Convention in 1898, and also a 

 member of the lower house of the 51st, 53d, 54th, 55th, 56th, 57th, 

 58th, and 59th Congress and thus, for sixteen years, represented 

 the Sixth Congressional district of Iowa in the lower house. 



