L. R. A. CONDIT.
  
L. R. A. CONDIT.
L. R. A. Condit is a man who does things in a big way yet without ostentation or display and the combination makes a citizen whose good qualities are greatly appreciated by his fellowmen. Questioned as to his occupation, he replies that he has been a farmer all his life, and his friends testify to the fact that his farming and ranching interests are conducted along most progressive lines and that the results achieved are most substantial, while the methods followed will bear the closest investigation and scrutiny. To such men Wyoming owes her upbuilding and Johnson county may well be proud to number L. R. A. Condit among her citizens.
A native of Iowa, Mr. Condit was born at Lawrenceburg, Warren county, on the 29th of November, 1858, and was the eldest in a family of eight children whose parents were Asa H. and Elizabeth (Clark) Condit. The father was born in Newark, New Jersey. April 8, 1833, and in 1839 accompanied his parents on their removal to Gallia county, Ohio, where they remained until 1858. Again he emigrated westward, for in that year he became a resident of Jasper county, Iowa. His ancestors had come from England in 1678 and had settled in Essex county, New Jersey. From that time forward the spirit of western emigration has found manifestation in the careers of the descendants as they have sought other worlds to conquer by westward removals. Asa H. Condit married Elizabeth Clark, who was of Scotch-Irish descent and whose people were also pioneers at various points in the west, emigrating from North Carolina to Kentucky, from Kentucky to Indiana and from Indiana to Iowa.
After living in Warren county, Iowa, for some time Asa H. Condit removed with his family to Jasper county, Iowa, in 1865, and there it was that L. R. A. Condit was reared to manhood and his time between corn husking in the fall and the early spring planting was devoted to attendance at the district schools, thereby acquiring his education, save that in the school of experience he has learned many valuable lessons and from the faithful performance of each day's duties has gained strength and inspiration for the labors of the succeeding day. In April, 1880, when twenty-one years of age, he left home and went to Paton, Greene county, Iowa, where he was employed for a year by a cousin. He then made his first investment of land, purchasing eighty acres upon which he made a small payment and then began its cultivation. Two years later the family, consisting of his father, mother and the younger children, joined him in Greene county and upon that farm made their home for many years. L. R. A. Condit there devoted his attention and energies to general farming until April, 1885, when the spirit of removal took possession of him and he became a resident of Pierre, South Dakota. During the summer of 1885 he worked on the freight road between Fort Pierre and Deadwood and in the late fall of the year he drifted across from the Black Hills to Powder river and down the river to Powderville, near which point he passed the winter. In the spring of 1886 he went up the Powder river and Clear creek to the old 4 H ranch, which at that time was owned by the Des Moines Cattle Company. He was employed upon the ranch for a year and a half, its location being on Clear creek, fifteen miles below Buffalo. It is now the property of C. N. Walters. Ambitious, however, to engage in business on his own account, in the fall of 1887 Mr. Condit purchased a few head of cattle and removed to the W. H. Davis ranch on Little Goose creek above Big Horn. There he resided until the spring of 1899. His next place of residence was on the Delos Babcock ranch on Shell - creek, where he continued until the spring of 1894. In May of that year he took up his abode on Beaver creek, in the southern part of Johnson county, about twenty miles west of Kaycee, and there he is still engaged in ranching and stock raising, his interests being conducted along most progressive lines. He accomplishes what he undertakes by reason of his determined character and indefatigable energy and in the conduct of his business he has followed the most progressive methods and now has a splendidly developed property from which he derives a very substantial income.
On the 29th of November, 1999, Mr. Condit was married to Miss Edna J. Ferris, a native of Minnesota, whose parents, however, removed during her infancy to western Nebraska. Four children add interest to the life of Mr. and Mrs. Condit, two sons and two daughters, namely: Zoe, born February 11, 1902; Gladys, born September 28, 1904; Clark Huntley, born June 21, 1906; and James Kenneth, born November 3, 1909.
Mr. Condit is prominently known in political circles as a stalwart supporter of the republican party and a recognition of his marked ability, manifest in the positions of public trust that he has already tilled, has made him his party's candidate for governor. No one questions his public spirit, for he has given many tangible evidences of his loyalty to his adopted county and state, his work for its upbuilding and progress being of a most practical and resultant character. All who know him esteem him and his friends are legion.