My Genealogy Hound

TODHUNTER, LEWIS, attorney; was born in Fayette county, Ohio, on the 6th of April, 1817; in youth he had limited means for school education, but he made the best use possible of his opportunities, but was in fact mainly self-taught; in early life he learned the carpenter’s trade, and worked at it a few years; subsequently sold goods four or five years, then read law, and was admitted to the bar in Highland county, Ohio, in 1848; in 1850 he came to Iowa, and settled on the Des Moines river, in Polk county, and engaged in farming and selling goods; in 1854 he removed to Indianola, and since that time has devoted himself to the legal practice and real estate, in which he has been very successful; soon after locating in Indianola he was elected prosecuting attorney, and served two years; he was county recorder and treasurer one term, and a member of the constitutional convention, which met at Iowa City, in January, 1857, he representing Warren, Madison, Adair and Cass counties in that body, and has the honor of assisting in making the laws under which the people of Iowa live; in 1863 he volunteered as a private, but was immediately appointed assistant quartermaster, with the rank of captain; after Lee’s surrender he was post quartermaster, at Richmond, Virginia, serving in that capacity until September, 1865; he has been closely allied in every interest pertaining to the growth and interest of the city, and for two terms served as mayor, as well as an official in other capacities, and is one of its most useful, as well as most respected, citizens; he is widest known, however, as a temperance man, and earnest worker; he joined in the Washingtonian movement in 1840, and has been active since that time in the temperance reformation; he is a man of strong convictions, and bold and fearless in advocating them; he married Miss Elizabeth Hull, May 10, 1842; she is a native of Highland county, Ohio; their family consists of six children: Ann, now Mrs. D. Johnson, Amy J., now Mrs. S. Barnes, John J., deputy auditor of Warren county, Hattie, and Mary E., now Mrs. Ritchey, and Charles D.; they have lost two.