My Genealogy Hound

INGALLS, JOHN D., boot and shoe dealer; son of John and Susan Foster Ingalls of Vermont; was born in that State in 1829; his parents moved to Illinois in 1836, and settled in Tremont, Tazwell county; his father is one of the original abolitionist of the country, and has advocated his principles at the ballot box when there were but one or two others who had the courage to follow his example in the country; his house was a station on the Under Ground Railroad, and it is a pleasant recollection in his declining days, to remember that he has been the instrument in assisting to deliver many a poor human being from bondage to freedom; the subject of this sketch received the advantages afforded by the schools of the locality, and afterward entered a printing office, and learned the trade of printer; owing to impaired health he was obliged to abandon the business, and engage in other pursuits; he came to Warren county in 1854, and divided his time, the first few years, between mercantile pursuits and the printing office; in 1861 he was elected sheriff of the county and served one term, and then elected county judge, and served three terms, until the office of county judge was abolished, and he became auditor, and was re-elected to this office for the years 1870 and 1871; in 1873 he was appointed deputy State Treasurer, and removed to Des Moines; he returned to Indianola in the spring of 1879, and engaged in his present business; his official record is without a stain, having filled his official positions with marked ability, and always with unswerving integrity and unyielding firmness; he is modest and unassuming in his habits and manners, and an upright citizen, enjoying the confidence of all who know him, as a straight-forward business man; he married Miss May A. Russell in 1857; she was born in Ohio; their family consists of two children: Clara E. and Foster D.; his father, a hale, hearty old gentleman, well on to 80 years of age, with mental faculties unimpaired, lives with him.