George G. Lasell, a highly honored and influential citizen, is the cashier of the State Bank of Twin Brooks and a representative member of the Grant County bar. Born in Spring Valley, Minnesota, in 1867, he comes from a distinguished lineage, with French ancestry tracing back to the famous explorer Sieur de La Salle. After successful years as a teacher, Lasell pursued law studies and was admitted to the South Dakota bar in 1900. He established himself as a prominent businessman, with interests in banking, coal, and lumbering. A Democrat and active in fraternal organizations, Lasell’s accomplishments are a testament to his well-directed efforts and dedication.
GEORGE G. LASELL, one of the representative members of the bar of Grant county, is the incumbent of the position of cashier of the State Bank of Twin Brooks and is one of the highly honored and influential citizens of this section.
Mr. Lasell was born in Spring Valley, Minnesota, on the 22nd of November, 1867, and is a son of Z. D. and Roxana M. (Lund) Lasell. The father of the subject was born in the province of Quebec, Canada, of staunch French lineage, being a direct descendant of the Sieur de La Salle, the famous explorer of the Mississippi River, whose name is honored in history. The mother of our subject was born in Vermont, being of Irish descent in the agnatic line, while the Lund family was founded in New England in the early colonial epoch, with representatives of the same having been valiant soldiers in the Continental line during the Revolutionary War. Z. D. survives his wife, living at Waubay, South Dakota. In the family, there were four sons and five daughters, all living. Three of the brothers are associated in the banking business—Silas T. is the cashier of the State Bank of Waubay, Day County, and president of the State Bank of Twin Brooks; Dana A. is a farmer near Waubay; George G. is the next youngest, and Marion C. is engaged in the practice of law at Lamoure, North Dakota, and is one of the stockholders in the State Bank of Twin Brooks.
George G. received his early educational discipline in the public schools of Minnesota, having accompanied his parents on their various removals, and he graduated from the high school at Spring Valley, that state, as a member of the class of 1888. Thereafter, he devoted five years to teaching in the public schools, having met with excellent success in his pedagogic work. During that time, he was also a student in the law department of the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso, Indiana. He gave careful attention to the study of law while teaching and in 1900 was admitted to the bar of South Dakota. He came to this state in 1888 and purchased the plant and business of a newspaper called the Clipper at Waubay, continuing as editor and publisher of the same for one year. Afterward, he sold the enterprise and identified himself with the general merchandise business in that town, being thus engaged for about five years. At the expiration of that period, in 1900, he sold out and began the practice of law in Waubay. In the winter of 1901-2, he became associated with his brothers in the establishment of the bank at Waubay, and in the following winter, they established the Bank of Twin Brooks, of which he has been the cashier from its inception. The Lasell brothers are also the interested principals in the Lasell Lignite Coal Company of North Dakota, with headquarters in Aberdeen, South Dakota, and are also prominently involved in the lumbering business in the state of Washington as members of the Washington Fir & Cedar Lumber Company in Cosmopolis, that state. They are active and progressive business men who have attained prominence and success through their well-directed efforts. George G. is a staunch Democrat in his political proclivities but has never been an aspirant for public office. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America.
On the 24th of March, 1888, Mr. Lasell was united in marriage to Miss Effie M. Toogood, who was born and raised in Minnesota, being a daughter of Dwight and May (Williams) Toogood, both of whom were born in Massachusetts. They now reside in Pleasant Grove, Minnesota.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.