Warren County IA Archives Biographies.....Todhunter, Lewis 1817 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 9, 2007, 6:43 pm

Author: Lewis Publishing Co. (1896)

HON. LEWIS TODHUNTER, of Indianola, Iowa, is a native of Fayette county, Ohio,
born April 6, 1817. His parents were Jury and Jerusha (Johnson) Todhunter, the
former a native of Tennessee, born in 1790, and the latter, born in 1794, in
Lynchburg, Virginia. They were married in Fayette county, Ohio, in the Friends'
Church, of which they were members, and became the parents of eight children, of
whom Lewis is the second in order of birth; William and Charles, the first and
third of the family, are both deceased; Isaac Newton and Caroline have passed
away; John is deceased; Richard is a resident of Sacramento, California; and
Eleanor has departed this life.

   When our subject was a lad of ten years his parents removed to Tippecanoe
county, Indiana, where they lived from 1827 until 1830, and then took up their
residence in Anderson, Madison county, Indiana. Their next removal took them to
Michigan City, Indiana, and while they were located there Lewis left home,
returning to the State of his nativity. His parents subsequently went to
Missouri, and in 1846 came to Warren county, Iowa, spending their last days in
Indianola, where the father's death occurred in 1857, while the mother survived
until 1880. The former was a farmer in early life and later took up the practice
of medicine, but subsequently abandoned it to resume farming.

   Lewis Todhunter was educated in Ohio and Indiana, receiving a common-school
education. He was married in Highland county, of the former State, in 1842, to
Miss Elizabeth Hull, who was born in that county in 1820. Several years after
his marriage he took up the study of law and was admitted to practice in the
Buckeye State, where he remained until March, 1850. He then came to Warren
county, Iowa, settling upon a farm in the Des Moines valley. He was here
licensed to practice in the courts of this State, and in the spring of 1854
opened a law office in Indianola, where he continued the practice of his
profession until his retirement to private life in 1890. His superior legal
attainments were recognized and attested by a liberal clientage. Before the jury
or the bench he was a forceful, earnest speaker, logical and convincing, and he
was connected with many of the most important cases that came up in the county
for trial. He labored for the interest of his clients, and his thorough
preparation of the case was manifested by the quickness with which he met and
answered every argument of his opponents.

   Mr. Todhunter assisted in organizing the Republican party in Iowa, prior to
which time he voted with the Whig party, casting his vote for General Harrison
in 1836 and 1840. In 1888 he supported the illustrious grandson of the old
Tippecanoe hero, Benjamin Harrison, and has never failed to cast a ballot for
the Whig or Republican party since attaining his majority. He has been
prominently identified with Iowa politics during his residence in the State, and
has been regarded as a man of great political influence, not only in local
circles but in Republican councils throughout Iowa. He was twice elected as
Prosecuting Attorney of Warren county, has been County Treasurer and County
Recorder, and was a member of the committee to prepare and submit the
constitution of Iowa, being elected to the convention which met for this purpose
in 1857. The constitution which the committee prepared was adopted by the people
at the August election of that year.

   Mr. Todhunter has always manifested great interest in temperance work,
beginning his labors along this line as far back as 1840, when the Washingtonian
Society was organized. He immediately began the work of organization in his own
county-Fayette county, Ohio-and continued actively in the work for four or five
years, when the society was absorbed largely by the Sons of Temperance and the
Good Templar organizations. In Iowa his name is also inseparably connected with
the history of the temperance movement. He was a member of the State Convention
which met to discuss the subject of the suppression of intemperance, at which
there were present some twenty-five members, representing the various temperance
organizations in the State, including the State Temperance Alliance, the Good
Templars, the Sons of Temperance and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union.
They appointed sub-committees, and as chairman of one of these Mr. Todhunter
presented the bill which became known as the Clarke law because it was
introduced by Senator Clarke. It was in fact the work of the sub-committee of
which Mr. Todhunter was chairman, and its provisions were agreed to in the
committee of the whole. He canvassed some twelve or thirteen counties, speaking
every night and usually once in the day-time for several months. During the
agitation of the passage of the temperance law of 1855 he also canvassed a
considerable portion of the State. He has twice filled the office of Mayor of
Indianola, and has always been active in every enterprise calculated to promote
the general welfare,-a public-spirited and progressive citizen whose residence
in the community has been of much value to it. He was also recognized as one of
the ablest attorneys of this section of the State, but since 1890, on account of
impaired health, he has retired from active practice. His life has been fairly
successful from a financial standpoint, and exceedingly so when we calculate the
good he has accomplished for mankind.

   During the Civil war, Mr. Todhunter gave his best efforts to the country.
Though beyond the age of exemption he tendered his services to the Government
and became Quartermaster of the Forty-eighth Iowa Infantry. In 1864 he was
appointed Assistant Quartermaster, with the rank of Captain. This was a bonded
office and he was attached to General Ord's headquarters. In this capacity he
saw the death of the Confederacy at Appomattox, being there with General Grant's
army. In September, 1865, when the war was over, he returned to his family in
Indianola.
   Mr. and Mrs. Todhunter became the parents of eight children, five of whom are
living, namely: Ann, widow of David Johnson, of Indianola; Amy J., now Mrs.
Barnes of this city; John J., who follows farming in Missouri; Harriet, now Mrs.
Kirkland, of Denver, Colorado; Mrs. Eleanora Richey, of Ogden, Utah; Clay
Corwin, who died in childhood; one who died in infancy; and Charley D., who is
engaged in mercantile pursuits in Indianola. The mother of this family died in
1881, and in 1887 Mr. Todhunter married Mrs. Louise (Brown) Smith, a native of
Vigo county, Indiana. The family are prominent members of the Methodist
Episcopal Church., although Mr. Todhunter was reared in the faith of the Society
of Friends. He has been a member of the Odd Fellows order and a prominent member
of the Grand Army of the Republic, in addition to his connection with the
various temperance organizations. He is also interested in literary work and has
attained more than local notoriety as a writer on various topics. He is now
engaged in preparing a history of the Iowa State temperance laws. Mr. Todhunter
is a man of firm convictions, fearless in defense of what he believes to be
right, and can neither be scared nor dared. Probably no man in Iowa has received
more anonymous letters containing most abusive language and threatening him with
all kinds of punishments unless he abandoned his aggressive work along
temperance lines. These have had no effect upon him, however, unless it has been
to make him more determined to continue his work for the suppression of the
liquor traffic and the evils that arise therefrom.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

A MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF IOWA

ILLUSTRATED

"A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will
never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote
descendants."'—MACAULAY.

"Biography is by nature the must universally profitable, universally pleasant,
of all things."—CARLYLE

"History is only biography on a large scale"—LAMARTINE.

CHICAGO: THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1896


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