James W. Todd Biography


	This biography appears on pages 448-449 in "History of Dakota Territory" 
	by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				JAMES W. TODD. 

	James W. Todd, a plumbing contractor of Yankton, in which city he 
has been engaged in business for thirty years, was born in Allegheny 
City, Pennsylvania, on the 1st of March, 1868. His father, Wesley Todd, 
now deceased, was a steamboat builder in early life. He came to Dakota 
in pioneer times, arriving about 1871, and was prominent among the 
steamboat captains of that period. He continued in the business until 
his death in 1884, when he was in his fifty-seventh year. His wife, who 
bore the maiden name of Emma Diehl, is also a native of Pennsylvania 
and survives her husband, making her home in Yankton. 

	James W. Todd is the sixth in order of birth in a family of seven 
children. His youthful days were spent under the. parental roof and at 
the usual age he began his education in the schools of Yankton, to 
which city he had come with his parents when a little lad of about 
three years. Passing through consecutive grades, he attended the high 
school and was also for a time a pupil in the public schools of 
Wellsville, Ohio. When quite young he started in the business world in 
the employ of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad Company, being 
connected with its train service for threes years. On the expiration of 
that period he took up his abode in Sioux City, Iowa, where he remained 
for a year and a half, during which period he and his father opened 
Riverside Park. He next came to Yankton in 1884 and has since been 
engaged in the plumbing business, spending some time in the employ of 
the Yankton Heating & Plumbing Company. In 1902 he formed a partnership 
with Joseph Vinetieri under the firm style of Todd & Vinetieri. They 
were associated for six years, but in 1908 the partnership was 
dissolved and Mr. Todd opened another establishment, which he has since 
conducted. He does a good business as a plumbing contractor and dealer 
in plumbing supplies and he also does all kinds of repair work along 
that line. He is now liberally patronized and business men of the city 
speak of him ill terms of high regard. He is likewise interested in the 
Yankton Brick & Tile Company as a stockholder. _

	Mr. Todd laid the foundation for a happy home in his marriage in 
1898 to Miss Mary Loe, a daughter of Arndt Loe, a prominent farmer of 
Yankton county, and they have one child, Emma Lucile. Mr. Todd 
exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of 
the republican party where national questions are under consideration, 
but casts an independent local ballot. He was a member of the last city 
council before the commission form of government was inaugurated. He 
stands for progress and improvement in all public affairs and for 
fifteen years has been chief of the Yankton fire department, taking a 
deep and effective interest in making it one of the best in the 
northwest. He attends the Congregational church and his membership 
relations extend to the Woodmen camp and the Elks lodge. He enjoys out-
of-door sports and his is a well rounded character, in which the 
various interests of life are given due attention. He belongs to the 
Commercial Club and aids actively in supporting its plans for the 
benefit and upbuilding of the city. There have been no unusual or 
spectacular features in his life, but it is the record of a character 
that has been loyal to duty and reliable and trustworthy in every 
relation, so that he has a circle of friends almost coextensive with 
the circle of his acquaintance.