Lawrence Byers

1872-1909

Lawrence was born, joined two years later by his sister, Helen (1874-1882), who died at the age of 7 from a tooth infection. He was educated in Europe but returned to America to graduate from Penn College in Oskaloosa and Haverford College in Pennsylvania before starting the study of law at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. After earning a law degree with honors from Yale University, Lawrence established a practice in Des Moines, where he was also the Chair of the law school at Drake University but was soon offered a professorship in the law school of the University of Iowa. Just months prior to his planned marriage to Persis Rowell of Des Moines, Professor Byers began a trip to re-visit his former European home.

While in London, he developed a wisdom tooth abscess, which a dentist there tried to extract with his patient under ether anesthesia. Lawrence emerged well, but the dentist was not able to pull the tooth, so the lawyer returned for a second appointment. Unhappily, this time, he did not recover from the ether, partly, it was said, because the abscess had led to sepsis, causing him to die at the age of 37. Eerily similar to the fate of Helen, who also died from a dental infection, the Major and Mrs. Byers had now lost both of their children. The Major had the body of his son returned to America, where he is buried near his little sister in Forest Cemetery at Oskaloosa.

Penn College in Oskaloosa

Haverford College in Pennsylvania

University of Zurich, Switzerland Yale University (law)