Dr. L. Lafayette Bond, a leading physician and surgeon of Denison, has practiced his profession in Crawford county for the past thirty-six years. His birth occurred in Harrison county, West Virginia, on the 14th of August, 1841, his parents being Richard C. and Eliza A. (Grant) Bond, who were likewise natives of that state. Abel Bond, the paternal grandfather, was also born in Virginia and came of English descent. He was an agriculturist by occupation and served as a major in the Revolutionary war. Unto him and his wife, who bore the maiden name of Sarah Powers, were born the following children: Polly, Richard C, Levi, Hannah, Thomas, Elnathan, Augustus, Sarah, Samuel and Louis. The maternal grandfather of our subject was likewise a native of Virginia and became a slaveholder and planter.
Richard C Bond, the father of L. Lafayette Bond, was a Baptist minister of the old school. In 1846 he journeyed westward to Rock county, Wisconsin, becoming a pioneer preacher of Lima, that state. He took up a homestead near Lima Center in Rock county and subsequently purchased three eighty acre tracts of land near what is Milton Junction from Polly Goodrich, one of the earliest settlers of the locality. There he spent the remainder of his life, passing away on the 20th of January, 1910, when ninety-seven years of age. His wife was called to her final rest in 1896 when in the seventy-sixth year of her age. They were the parents of four children, two sons and two daughters, as follows: Arthur G., who is deceased; L. Lafayette, of this review; Mary M., who is deceased, as is also her husband, John W. Meyers; and Louisa, who died in infancy.
L. Lafayette Bond was a little lad of five years when he accompanied his parents on their removal to Wisconsin: They traveled by boat from Wheeling, West Virginia, to Galena, Illinois, where they met Abel Bond, the grandfather of our subject, who escorted them to his home. Mr. Bond of this review remained on the farm until twenty-one years of age. He obtained his early education in the district schools and subsequently attended Milton College. At the time of the outbreak of the Civil war, in May, 1861, he endeavored to enter the Union army but was rejected because he was a minor and did not have the consent of his parents. In September, 1861, he enlisted with a number of the students of Milton College, joining Company K, Thirteenth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and rendezvousing at Janesville, Wisconsin. With that command he remained for three years and three months, holding the rank of sergeant. His was the First Brigade of the Fourth Division of the Twentieth Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland, under General Thomas. He participated in the battles of Clarksville, Tennessee, Fort Donelson and Chickamauga and acquitted himself in a highly creditable manner.
After returning home he pursued a course of study in Bryant & Stratton Business College of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but later determined upon the practice of medicine as a life work and entered Rush Medical College of Chicago, from which institution he was graduated in 1870. The first five years of his professional career were spent at Welton, Iowa, where he also taught school during four winter terms in order to add to his income. In 1875 he came to Westside, Crawford county, Iowa, and there practiced medicine successfully until 1899, which year witnessed his arrival in Denison. Here he has remained continuously since, enjoying a lucrative and constantly growing practice. He has been surgeon for the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company since 1883 and is widely recognized as a skilled and able representative of his calling. He is a member of the Crawford County Medical Society, the Missouri Valley Medical Society, the Iowa State Medical Society, the American Medical Association, the American Association of Railway Surgeons and the Association of the Northwestern Railroad Surgeons, thus keeping in close touch with the advancement made by the profession.
Dr. Bond has been married twice. On the 20th of November, 1868, he wedded Miss Elnora E. Hamilton, a native of Alfred Center, New York, and a daughter of Edward and Melissa (Burdick) Hamilton, By that union there were two children, namely : Lulu E., who died of diphtheria when nine years of age; and Frederic H., an attorney by profession, who was a graduate of the law department of the Iowa State University in 1895 and passed away on the 28th of November, 1908. He had wedded Miss Ada Hawkins, of Fonda, Iowa, and at his death left a widow and three children. The demise of Mrs. Elnora E. Bond occurred in 1893, when she had attained the age of forty-six years, her remains being interred in the Bond family lot at Milton, Wisconsin. For his second wife Dr. Bond chose Mrs. Fannie Harrison, the widow of Captain William Harrison and a daughter of John Hutson. She passed away In 1906 in the faith of the Methodist church, of which she had been a valued and devoted member.
Dr. Bond gives his political allegiance to the republican party and is a most loyal and public-spirited citizen. He served as mayor of West Side for a number of years and also acted as president of the West Side school board for some years. Fraternally he is identified with the Masons, belonging to Sylvan Lodge, No. 507, A. F. & A. M., and likewise to the Eastern Star. He maintains the strictest conformity to the highest professional ethics and enjoys in full measure the confidence and respect of his professional brethren as well as of the general public.