Charles S. Lobdell

LOBDELL, COFFIN, OWEN

Posted By: Diane (email)
Date: 3/23/2002 at 22:59:46

Charles S. Lobdell, the present Mayor of Parkersburg, is a native of Johnstown, New York, where he was born in 1806. His father, Abijah Lobdell, was a native of Massachusetts, his family being numbered among the early settlers of New England. His mother was born in the State of New York. Mr. Lobdell has spent many years of his life in the South. In 1829 he went to the parish of Feliciana, Louisiana, where he was for a time studying law with an older brother, John L. Lobdell, who located there in 1825. In 1832 he engaged in merchandising, which he continued till 1836, when he returned to the State of New York.
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In 1841 he was elected by the people to the position of postmaster of Johnstown, which he held until a change of administration occurred. He then determined to resume mercantile business, and for the purpose of learning more thoroughly the different phases of trade, he went to New York City, and engaged in clerking for two season. He, however, purchased a farm in his native county, and for a time was interested in farming. He afterward was for several years engaged in the manufacture of gloves and mittens.
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In 1847 Mr. Lobdell returned to Louisiana, and, with a brother, William S. Lobdell, purchased a sugar plantation at West Baton Rouge. This business occupied his attention until the war of the rebellion compelled them to give it up. From 1862 to the close of the war, he was at work buying and selling the produce of the country – cotton, sugar and molasses.
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After the close of the war Mr. Lobdell removed to the State of Wisconsin, purchased a farm, and engaged extensively in the raising of hops. In 1869 he came to Parkersburg, where he has since resided. He came here when the town was in its infancy, and has always been deeply interested in its growth and prosperity. He has been justice of the peace since 1873, and has served as mayor four years. These positions he still holds.
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He is a man of generous impulses and kindness of heart; possessing in a high degree the respect and confidence of his fellow citizens. Though long a resident of the south, his sympathies were strongly with the Union during the war; politically he is a republican. His wife was the former Susan R. Coffin, born in the State of New York. They have no children. In 1874 Mr. Lobdell’s attention was called to the subject of spiritualism, by reading a work on that subject by Robert Dale Owen. He began a series of investigations, which continued for a year, when he became convinced of the truth of the spiritual philosophy. Since that time he has given much thought and investigation to the subject, and derives much happiness form the knowledge afforded by this philosophy.
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Source: History of Butler and Bremer Counties, Iowa
Union Publishing Co., Springfield, IL, 1883
Pages 443-444