Viewing Lorenzo Allis (1823-1883).

Lorenzo Allis (1823-1883).

Lorenzo Allis, a lawyer and journalist, moved with his family from New Orleans to St. Paul in 1856. He began practicing law and writing editorials for a local newspaper. His legal talents were so obvious that he quickly found partners, eventually forming Allis, Williams & Gilfillan, the latter being the future Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. He invested in various businesses including the St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company and was an original incorporator of the Ramsey County Bar Association in early March 1883. He achieved success in spite of suffering chronic maladies, which sometimes kept him from the office for long periods. He died on March 26, 1883, at age fifty-nine.

On May 5, 1883, the County Bar Association held memorial services for three recently deceased members. John B. Brisbin read resolutions in honor of Allis which included the following:

"That uncommon intellectual gifts, a thoughtful and studious temperament, unusual industry, with the furniture of general scholarship, a large and severe legal training, strengthened and rounded by an extensive practice in the courts of first and last resort--surmounted by the coronal of a virtuous character, carried him to the summit of his profession in the state, and equipped our deceased brother with the graces which compel the preservation of his memory as a conspicuous example of social, civic and professional excellence."

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