1882 Biographies, beginning with T, Allamakee County, Iowa Transcribed by Phyllis Peterson and Roxanne Barth for the USGenWeb Archives. Submitted August 1999 by Roxanne Barth , IAGenWeb Allamakee County Coordinator. ************************************************************************ USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ************************************************************************ History of Winneshiek and Allamaee Counties Iowa 1882 By W. E. Alexander Sioux City, Iowa: Western Publishing Company 1882 Reprinted by Winneshiek County Genealogical Society Decorah, Iowa: The Anundsen Publishing Company T J. C. Taylor, P.O. Postville, proprietor of Fair Lawn Farm, consisting of 130 acres, valued at $50 per acre. He also makes a specialty in the breeding of Clydesdale and best stock of trotting horses. He is a native of Champaign county, Ohio, where he was born in 1845. At the age of seventeen he enlisted in Co. E., 95th Ohio Inf., serving three years. He participated in the battles and capture of Vicksburg, receiving a wound in his left arm; was at the battle of Richmond, Ky., where he was taken prisoner, but soon paroled, and shortly after, an exchange of prisoners being effected, he returned to his regiment, after which he was transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps. At the close of the war, in 1865, he returned home, remaining till in the spring of 1869, when he came to Allamakee Co., Io., locating north of Postville till in '76 he came on to his present farm. He was married to Miss Mary E. Harris, daughter of Elisha and Margaret Harris, Dec. 25, 1870. She was born in 1844 in Morgan Co., Ohio. They have three children; Nora S., Nova Zembla and Alta D., and have lost one daughter, Orie J.History of Winneshiek and Allamakee Counties, Iowa, 1882, p. 541-542. Joseph Taylor, P.O. Waukon, farmer, section 13; owns 140 acres of land valued at $30 per acre; son of Abraham and Sarah Taylor; was born in Yorkshire. England, in 1824, his early life being spent in one of the manufacturing houses in Leeds, where his father was foreman. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1842, stopping two years in Albany, N.Y.; then came to Boone Co., IIl., remaining but a short time, after which he located in Rock Co., Wis, where he remained till 1854; then came to Allamakee Co. locating in Lafayette tp.; was engaged for three years in the woolen mills there, till they were burned; came on to his present farm in 1869. He was married to Martha Mickelson, a native or Norway, in 1850; they have six children, Frederick, Sarah, Alice, Florence, Effie, and Orin.History of Winneshiek and Allamakee Counties, Iowa, 1882, p. 542. Frank E. Teeple, sec. 11, P.O. Waukon, farmer, owns 240 acres of land valued at $25 per acre, son of George and Annette Teeple; was born in Winneshiek Co., Iowa, in 1854. His parents came from N.Y. to Winneshiek Co. in 1851, and to Allamakee Co., in 1865, locating upon the farm upon which the subject of this sketch now lives. His father died in March, 1879, and his mother in 1873. His grandfather, M. G. Penfield, who resides with him, came to Allamakee Co. in 1853, and now owns a farm of 320 acres in Union Prairie tp. Mr. T. was married to Miss Lucinda Fuller in 1879. She was born in Winneshiek Co. They have two children, Angie and Cora.History of Winneshiek and Allamakee Counties, Iowa, 1882, p. 542. A. L. Terrill, P.O. Myron, is a farmer, and runs a threshing machine in the fall. He was born in 1839, in Mercer Co., Pa. His parents immigrated to this Co. in 1854, locating in Ludlow Tp., his father dying there in 1870 and his mother in 1875.History of Winneshiek and Allamakee Counties, Iowa, 1882, p. 542. Stephen Thibodo, agent for marble works; was born in Canada West in 1826, and emigrated to Michigan at the age of 18. Thence he came to Allamakee County in 1859, settled in Post township, and continued the occupation of farming. In 1872 he removed to Volney, where he resided until the spring of 1882 when he came to his present place of residence in Waukon. He always voted the democratic ticket until 1860, when he became an abolitionist and ardent supporter of Lincoln, continuing a republican till the close of the Hayes campaign in 1876 when he allied himself with the greenback movement, with which he is still identified, and is heath and soul with the temperance and other reforms. Mr. Thibodo was married in 1854 to Miss Mary Fuller, and has nine children living: John W., James S., Charles G., Iola, Vira, Letta, Clara, May and Willie. John married Miss Mattie Eggleston and lives in Cass Co. Iola married John McGoon who lives in Waukon.History of Winneshiek and Allamakee Counties, Iowa, 1882, p. 540-541. John Thoma, proprietor of billiard hall and restaurant, was born in Germany in 1851. His parents emigrated to the U.S. in 1855, locating in Clayton Co., Io., and subsequently in Postville. He followed farming till 1874, when he came to Postville and engaged in his present business. He married Anna Ruckdals in 1871; she was also born in Germany. They have four children, John, Anna, William and Fred. Mr. T. is a member of the A.F. & A.M., and A.O.U.W.History of Winneshiek and Allamakee Counties, Iowa, 1882, p. 542. J. W. Thomas was born in Missouri, November 7, 1831. In 1851 he came to Wisconsin and followed teaching. In 1853 he came to Lansing and served as clerk in the store of G. W. Gray until 1856, when he became a partner in the business. In 1861 the firm founded the first banking house of Lansing. And Mr. Thomas has been connected with banking up to the present time, and has been cashier for seventeen years. He has also been a member of he firm of M. McCormack & Co., since 1873. Mr. Thomas has been twice married. In 1855 to Miss Nancy J. Lemen, who died in May, 1863, leaving two children, Geo. W., and Mattie; in Dec., 1864, to Anna M. Wier--they have four children, Ada, Frank, Benjamin and Anna.History of Winneshiek and Allamakee Counties, Iowa, 1882, p. 541. James M. Thomson, P.O. Lansing; farmer and stock raiser; son of George and Elizabeth Thomson; was born in Dec., 1845, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. His parents emigrated to the U. S. in the fall of 1854, locating in Lansing tp., Allamakee Co., where the subject of this sketch was reared as a farmer. Oct. 8th, 1862, he enlisted in Co. F., 6th Io., Cav. Their service was in the northwest, protecting the settlers from the murderous red men. He participated in all the battles in which his Co. was engaged. He was mustered out at Davenport in 1865, returned home, and in 1870 purchased a farm in Lansing tp., which he sold and moved to his present farm of 200 acres in 1879. His farm is first-class, having a beautiful spring of living water near his residence, and removed from he wash of the high land to the bottom below. He married Miss Mary Gruber in 1875. She was born in Ohio. They have five children: Elizabeth, Elsbeth, James W., Edward and Albert. He is a member of the A.O.U.W., and Presbyterian church.History of Winneshiek and Allamakee Counties, Iowa, 1882, p. 541. E. A. Tisdale, farmer, was born in Canada in 1826, came to Iowa in 1852, and settled on his present farm of 200 acres. He was married to Henrietta A. Phipps in 1856. She was born in Otsego Co., N.Y. They have eight children, Rhoda M., Ida E., Louisa, John E., William, Alva, Norman and Nellie.History of Winneshiek and Allamakee Counties, Iowa, 1882, p. 542. John A. Townsend, one of the early pioneers who settled in Makee township in 1852, was born in the city of New York in 1819. He was left fatherless while yet an infant, and in a few years was taken by his mother to Nova Scotia. Here he received a common school education, and in 1841 was married to Miss Ruth Huestis. In 1852 he came to Iowa and commenced farming. In 1855 he was elected sheriff and served two terms. He then served one term as county judge, and in 1865 was again elected sheriff and served one term. From 1874 to 1878 he was a member of the mercantile firm of Hail, Townsend & Jenkins, and retired from active business. The children are Lucinda, now Mrs. John Griffin; Emma, Herbert, Edwin, Ada, William, Estella, Dudley and Grace.History of Winneshiek and Allamakee Counties, Iowa, 1882, p. 540. Bevel Vanvelzer, P.O. Postville, farmer, sec. 16; makes a specialty of lime burning, stone quarrying, &c., having a splendid quarry on his farm of the best quality of stone. He was born in Syracuse, N.Y., in 1817, his early life being employed in the salt works there, and on the Erie Canal. His parents came to Kane Co., Ill., in 1834, he following in 1835, stopping with a sister who lived in Chicago, where he made his home several years; returned to N.Y. in 1840; was married to Miss P. Smith, March 9, 1845. She was a native of Canada. They commenced living in Queenstown, Canada, in 1849, remaining there two years; then came to Chicago, remaining there a short time; then went to Laporte, Ind.; thence to West Union, Iowa. He soon returned to Chicago. His wife died in 1853, after which he returned to N.Y., and was again married to Catharine Brougham, November 14, 1854. He returned to Iowa, going to West Union and engaged in the hotel business, which he subsequently traded for a farm, which he finally lost. Mr. V. has had quite a checkered life of fortune and misfortune, has been engaged in the hotel business at McGregor, Prairie du Chien, and the Four-Mile House, this side of McGregor, also farming near Monona and Howard counties, also in Clayton Co., near Postville. He moved to his present farm in 1869, and now owns 130 acres valued at $35 per acre. He has a fine orchard; also a beautiful spring near his dwelling, which is a fine new structure, taking the place of the one that was burned two years ago. Mr. V.'s children by his first wife are W. Otis, Francis M., John H., Mary A., also Almira A. and America A.; the last two deceased. Those by his second wife are Bartoe, Arma, Jennie, Lavenia, Bevel, and Katie; two being deceased.History of Winneshiek and Allamakee Counties, Iowa, 1882, p. 543.