Background
Lapham was born in Burrillville, Rhode Island and attended the Smithville Seminary in Scituate, Rhode Island, Pembroke Academy in Pembroke, New Hampshire and the University Grammar School in Providence, Rhode Island.
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Lapham was born in Burrillville, Rhode Island and attended the Smithville Seminary in Scituate, Rhode Island, Pembroke Academy in Pembroke, New Hampshire and the University Grammar School in Providence, Rhode Island.
First Lieutenant, adjunct and captain 12th Rhode Island Volunteers in Civil War. Aide-de-camp brigade staff Served in Army of Potomac and Department of the Ohio, in Kentucky.
Bachelor of Arts, Brown University, 1864, Master of Arts, 1867.
He began the practice of law in Providence. During the American Civil War, he served as first lieutenant, adjutant and captain in the Twelfth Rhode Island Volunteers. He was treasurer of the Rhode Island Democratic Committee from 1887-1891.
Lapham was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the Forty-eighth, Fiftieth, and Fifty-first Congresses.
He was elected as a Democratic candidate to the Fifty-second and Fifty-third Congresses, serving from March 4, 1891 to March 3, 1895. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1894 to the Fifty-fourth Congress.
After leaving Congress, he resumed the practice of law in Providence. He served on the board of trustees and on the executive committee for his alma mater Brown University.
He died on March 29, 1926 in Providence and is interred in the Swan Point Cemetery there.
He served as a member of the Rhode Island Senate and the United States House of Representatives. At Brown, he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Delta Kappa Epsilon. He was a member of the Rhode Island Senate in 1887 and 1888, and served as chairman of the Judiciary Committee.
He was a member of the Providence Board of Trade.
Married Clara Louise Paine, June 20, 1876.