Howard-Rush County IN Archives Biographies.....O'Toole, Thomas J. 1863 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com April 24, 2006, 2:18 am

Author: Jackson Morrow

THOMAS J. O'TOOLE.

    The enterprising farmer and prominent citizen of whom the biographer writes
in this connection is a native of Rush county, Indiana, where his birth occurred
March 29, 1863. As the name incates [sic] the paternal branch of his family is
of Irish origin, his grandparents having spent their lives on the beautiful
Emerald Isle, while his father and mother also came from there a number of years
ago.

    Clement O'Toole, the subject's father, came to America in his youth and
lived for some years in the city of New York, where he worked at the saddler's
trade, and it was there that he met Ellen Smith, also a native of Ireland, who
afterwards became, his wife. From New York Mr. O'Toole went to Cincinnati, Ohio,
where he followed his chosen calling until his removal a few years later to the
town of Raleigh, in Rush county, Indiana, at which place he opened a shop of his
own and during the ensuing ten years did a thriving business, making and dealing
in saddelry [sic] and harness. At the expiration of the period indicated he
removed to Elwood, thence after a short time to Curtisville, where he operated a
shop until the breaking out of the Civil war, when he disposed of his business
and entered the army, enlisting for three years in an Indiana regiment of
infantry, which in due time he accompanied to the scene of hostilities. On
account of his intelligence and skill with the pen he was detailed for duty as a
writer of dispatches, having been well educated in the land of his birth and at
the time indicated he was able to write fluently in the English language. His
ability and aptness for the duty assigned him so pleased his superiors that he
was retained in the position until the close of the war, at which time he
returned to Tipton county, Indiana, where he spent the remainder of his life,
dying some years later at the age of fifty-two. His widow, who still survives,
has reached the ripe old age of eighty-eight years. She retains to a remarkable
degree her bodily and mental powers, is as keenly alive to current events as in
the days of her prime, possesses an unfailing memory and devotes the greater
part of her time and attention to reading, which she has always been able to do
without the aid of glasses. Like her husband she was reared in the Catholic
faith and is intensely loyal to her church and when able, a regular attendent
upon its services.

    Of the four children that constituted the family of Clement and Ellen
O'Toole, Thomas J., of this review, is the fourth in order of birth. He was
educated in the district schools and until his twentieth year remained under the
parental roof, the meantime looking after his parent's interests and maturing
plans for his future course of action. He was reared to agricultural pursuits
and at the age indicated above, rented land and engaged in the tilling of soil
upon his own responsibility. After spending seventeen years as a renter he
purchased his present farm of fifty-seven acres, one mile north of Kokomo, which
he has since cultivated with success and financial profit and in addition to
which he also owns a half interest in nine hundred acres of Colorado land in the
Grand Valley, near Grand Junction, about four hundred acres of his share being
in a high state of tillage. From all indications the latter is destined at no
distant day to prove a very fortunate and lucrative investment, as the
government is now constructing a complete system of irrigation, which when
completed will add greatly to the productiveness of the land besides increasing
its value many fold. The land under the present conditions yields bountiful
crops of sugar beets, potatoes and other vegetables, all varieties of fruits are
grown also, besides cereals, etc., and in due time with the enterprise in hand
fully carried out it will doubtless become a beautiful and exceedingly valuable
possession.

    In connection with his agricultural and real estate interests Mr. O'Toole
deals quite extensively in live stock, especially horses, which he buys and
ships in large numbers, having in his pastures as many as three hundred and
fifty head at a time. All the corn raised on his farm is fed to his stock and
the better to prosecute the business he rents eighty acres adjoining his place
for pasturage. He has been more than ordinarily successful, both as a tiller of
the soil and stock dealer, but on the latter he relies chiefly for his income,
although the returns from his investment in the West are by no means small or
insignificant.

     Mr. O'Toole is a man of sound judgment, wise discretion and keen business
ability as his rapid rise from a very modest beginning to his present high
standing among the enterprising and successful farmers and stock dealers of
Howard county abundantly attests. By judiciously investing his means from time
to time he has come into possession of an ample fortune, owning in addition to
the real estate indicated in a preceding paragraph, considerable city property,
eight pieces in all which are well situated and steadily growing in value. A man
who takes pride in the growth and advancement of his county, Mr. O'Toole
encourages to the extent of his ability, all worthy enterprises and is also
deeply interested in whatever makes for the social and moral welfare of the
community. Personally, he enjoys great popularity among his friends and
neighbors, inheriting as he does many of the sterling characteristics and
amiable qualities for which the people from beautiful Erin have been made
welcome in all parts of the world. In his political views he is all the term
implies an independent, yielding support to those principles that best coincide
with his standing and voting for the candidates whose moral standing and
intellectual qualifications best fit them for the offices to which they aspire.
In matters religious he is a Roman Catholic and a loyal and devoted son of the
mother church, belonging at this time to the St. Patrick's church of Kokomo, in
which he has filled every position to which a lay member can be called.

    Rosa Kiefer, who became the wife of Mr. O'Toole in the year 1883, is a
daughter of Valentine and Carrie (Wheat) Kiefer, natives of Germany, but since
their childhood residents of the United States., the Kiefer family having first
settled at Brookville, Indiana, where these parents grew to maturity and
married. Mr. and Mrs. OToole have had five children, all born in Howard county,
namely: Clementine, born in 1866: Carrie died in infancy; Edward. Joseph Francis
and Thomas Paul.


Additional Comments:
From:

HISTORY OF HOWARD COUNTY INDIANA
BY
JACKSON MORROW, B. A.
ILLUSTRATED
VOL. II
B. F. BOWEN & COMPANY
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA

(circa 1909)

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