IAGenWeb Project - Allamakee co.

Edward Tisdale

 

The pioneer history of Allamakee county contains the record of no more honorable, upright and capable man the Edward Tisdale, who died upon his farm in Lafayette township in 1906, after fifty-four years of continuous and active identification with agricultural interests of this locality. He was numbered among the real builders and promoters of the county, a man who faced the hardships and trials of pioneer existence and who developed out of a wild tract a productive and profitable farm. His death, therefore, deprived his township of one of its most valued and representative citizens.

Mr. Tisdale was born in Canada, October 8, 1827, and was a son of James and Sophronia (Brown) Tisdale, the former born in England March 8, 1795, and the latter in Seneca county, New York, January 10, 1797. They married on the 21st of April, 1824, and settled in Canada, where they resided for a member of years.

Edward Tisdale was reared at home and acquired his education in public schools in Canada. At the age of twenty-six he left the Dominion and came to the United States, settling in Allamakee county in 1852. At the time pioneer conditions prevailed everywhere, much of the land being still in possession of the government and almost all uncultivated and unimproved. Mr. Tisdale purchased two hundred and forty acres of wild land on section 31, Lafayette township, and he continued to reside upon this property for a number of years, becoming a prosperous and successful agriculturist. Later he disposed of forty acres of his homestead, retaining two hundred, upon which he carried on general farming and stock-raising until his death, which occurred February 24, 1906. The years brought him success, prominence, and substantial fortune and his prosperity was well earned, coming as the result of far-sighted, able and well directed labor.

In Allamakee county, in 1857, Mr. Tisdale was united in marriage to Miss Harriet Ann Phipps, a native of Canada and a daughter of Thomas and Mary (Francis) Phipps, of whom more extended mention is made elsewhere in this work. Mr. And Mrs. Tisdale became the parents of eleven children; Rhoda M., the wife of Max Tiden, of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin; Warren I, and Ella Louisa, who have passed away; Ida E, the wife of Ed Valentine, Canada; Louisa C., who married W. F. Barber of Canada ; John E., also a resident of the Dominion; Nellie May, who has passed away; William, who lives at home; Alvah and Norman James, also deceased; and Nellie, who lives at home.

Mr. Tisdale gave his political allegiance to the democratic party and was widely and prominently known in public affairs, giving his aid and active cooperation to anything which he deemed essential to the development and growth of the county. In matters of citizenship he was at all times progressive and public spirited, and during the course of a residence in Lafayette township, covering over half a century, made many substantial and tangible contributions of its growth and advancement. His widow and two of his children, William and Nellie, occupy the old homestead and his son carries on the work of its development. They are well known and favorably regarded in Lafayette township, where their name has been known and honored since pioneer times.

-source: Past & Present of Allamakee County; by Ellery M. Hancock; S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.; 1913
-transcribed by Diana Diedrich

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