William M. Lanning

Infobox Congressman
name = William Mershon Lanning


width =
state = New Jersey
district = 4th
party = Republican
term = March 4, 1903 — June 6, 1904
preceded = De Witt C. Flanagan (D)
succeeded = Ira W. Wood (R)
date of birth = January 1, 1849
place of birth = Ewing Township, New Jersey, USA
date of death = February 16, 1912
place of death = Trenton, New Jersey, USA
spouse =
profession = Politician
religion =
footnotes =

William Mershon Lanning (January 1, 1849 - February 16, 1912) was an American Republican Party politician who represented ushr|New Jersey|4 in the United States House of Representatives from 1903 to 1904.

Born in Ewingville, New Jersey (in what is now Ewing Township, New Jersey), Lanning graduated from the Lawrenceville School in 1866. He was employed as a teacher in the public schools of Mercer County and in the Trenton Academy, from 1866-1880. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1880 and commenced practice in Trenton, New Jersey. He became a Counselor in 1883.

Lanning was elected city solicitor for Trenton in 1884. He was appointed judge of the city district court in 1887 and served until 1891, when legislated out of office. He served as member of a commission to frame township laws and of the constitutional commission of 1894. He served as president of the Mechanics' National Bank of Trenton in 1899.

Lanning was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-eighth Congress and served from March 4, 1903, to June 6, 1904, when he resigned to accept an appointment as a judge on United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. He served in that capacity until May 18, 1909, when he was appointed United States circuit judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which position he held until his death in Trenton, New Jersey, February 16, 1912. He was interred in the Presbyterian Cemetery, Ewing Township, New Jersey. An elementary school built on Pennington Road (NJ 31) in Ewing in 1914 was named in Lanning's honor. The school was closed and the building sold to a private institution in the mid 1990's, but as of 2008, is still standing and continues to bear Lanning's name.

External links

*CongBio|L000084
* [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/lanigan-larkey.html#R9M0J3ML8 William Mershon Lanning] at The Political Graveyard
*Findagrave|7683499|William Mershon Lanning