Lacon D. Stockton (1856 - 1860)
Served on the Iowa
Supreme Court from June 3, 1856, when he was appointed to fill the vacancy
occasioned by the retirement of Justice Norman W. Isbell, until his death, June
9, 1800.
Born in Richmond County,
Kentucky in 1814. After acquiring his education in law he located in
Burlington. For some time he was interested in publication of the Burlington
Hawk Eye. He was Mayor of Burlington for two years in 1855 and 1856.
He was very active in
public life in the early part of his career; but it has been asserted that his
somewhat unpopular views, as to the long disputed Half-Breed Tract controversy
in Lee County, prevented his preferment to public office. His friend and
neighbor, Governor Grimes, however, appointed him to the Supreme Bench, where
death terminated his career at the age of forty-six, being the first member of
the court to die before retirement.
