October 29, 2022

Thomas Lahners, 1860-1937 [RG3112.AM]

HISTORY NEBRASKA MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID

RG3112.AM: Thomas Lahners, 1860-1937

Papers: 1914-1933
Belvidere, Thayer County, Neb.: Farmer; legislator
Size: 1.0 cu.ft.; 2 boxes

BACKGROUND NOTE

Thomas Lahners, son of Oltman and Luke Anna Hoefling Lahners, was born December 17, 1860, at Golden, Illinois. He married Anna Bowman at Flanagan, Illinois, on November 25th 1883. The couple would have four sons and one daughter. The Lahners moved to Nebraska in 1890 and settled on a farm two miles north of Belvidere in Thayer County. In addition to farming, Thomas Lahners took an interest in public affairs, serving in the Nebraska House of Representatives from 1905-1907 and in the Nebraska Senate from 1915-1917. He was also a delegate to the Nebraska state constitutional convention in 1919-1920. Thomas Lahners died August 25, 1937 and was buried at the Bruning Public Cemetery, Bruning, Nebraska.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

This collection consists of two manuscript boxes of material arranged in four series: 1) Correspondence, 1914-1915; 2) Journal of the Nebraska House of Representatives, 1915, 1933; 3) Legislative file, 1915, 1918-1920; and 4) Miscellany. The bulk of this material consists of the legislative file, a collection of bills, resolutions, and appended material which seems to reflect Sen. Lahners’ views on state and national politics. The correspondence, mostly requesting support for or opposition to legislative bills, includes letters from: George Coupland, 1914; J.H. Linneman, 1914; John H. Morehead, 1914; William E. Nicholl, 1915; C.S. Paine, 1914; Charles H. Sloan, 1914; and J.H. Sturdevant, 1914.

INVENTORY

Series 1 – Correspondence

Box 1
Folder

  1. 1914
  2. 1915

Series 2 – House Journal

  1. 1915, Feb. 8-16
  2. 1915, Feb. 17 – Mar. 2
  3. 1915, Mar. 3-15
  4. 1915, Mar. 16-29
  5. 1915, Mar. 30 – Apr. 5
  6. 1933, Mar. 16 – Apr. 29

Series 3 – Legislative File

Box 2
Folder

  1. 1915
  2. 1918
  3. 1919-1920, Constitutional convention
  4. n.d., Bills introduced by Sen. Lahners
  5. n.d., Signed petitions urging support of prohibition legislation

Series 4 – Miscellany

  1. Mostly undated, speeches and assorted printed matter
  2. Ledger, financial records, unidentified, 1886-1887

Subject headings:

Lahners, Thomas, 1860-1937
Nebraska — Legislature
Nebraska — Politics and government

HEK/js 11-12-1965
Encoded TMM 05-26-2010
Revised TMM 02-14-2015

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