James E. Townsend

TOWNSEND, TEDMAN, JONES

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 3/6/2007 at 11:56:55

Biographies from the 1914 "Past and Present of O'Brien and Osceola Counties of Iowa"

JAMES E. TOWNSEND.

An enumeration of those men of Osceola County, Iowa, who have won honor and public recognition for themselves and at the same time have honored the localities to which they belong, will find James E. Townsend occupying a conspicuous place in the list. The same qualities which have made him one of the prominent and successful men of his county have also brought him the esteem of his fellow men, while his career has been one of well-directed energy and honorable methods. As a township official, as a county official and as a city official he has ever striven for the best interests of his fellow citizens, and in no way has he fallen short of that high sense of duty which should actuate every good American citizen.

James E. Townsend, a resident of Osceola County for the past forty-two years, was born on a farm in Michigan on February 14, 1843. His parents, Eletham and Eliza (Tedman) Townsend, were natives of New York and Connecticut, respectively, both families being early settlers in New York state. Shortly after they were married, Eletham Townsend and his wife moved to Michigan, reared their children in that state and lived there the remainder of their days. They were the parents of nine children: Sherman, a resident of Michigan; Judson, who lives in Spokane, Washington; Rufus, of Greenwood, Wisconsin; James E., whose life history is here recorded, and five deceased.

James E. Townsend was educated in the schools of Michigan and lived with his parents until twenty-three years of age. He then traveled for a few years in the West for the purpose of seeing the country and incidentally looked for an opening where he might settle. He married in 1871 and two years later decided to permanently locate in Osceola County, Iowa. He reached this county March 17, 1873, and located on section 8, Gilman Township, and obtained government patent No. 9842. He erected a little, fourteen by twenty-four-foot house and here he and his young wife started to make their fortune upon the wide and trackless prairies which they had entered. They managed to live through the grasshopper years, which were so trying to every one in this section of the state, and within a few years were on the high road to prosperity. In the eighties Mr. Townsend began to increase his land holdings and subsequently owned four hundred and eighty acres in Gilman township, which he still retains. It is not possible for the farmer of today to realize the discouragements which met the early farmers of this county, and for this reason the life history of these pioneer farmers is interesting to the present generation. It is sufficient to say that Mr. Townsend and his wife faced all of their discouragements with brave hearts and have lived to see the land which they entered become a prosperous farm, yielding handsome returns. When the bank at Ashton, in Gilman township, was organized Mr. Townsend took an active part and is now the vice-president of that financial institution.

Mr. Townsend was married in October, 1871, to Emma C. Jones, a native of Michigan and the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Jones, and to this marriage have been born six children: Clara, a trained nurse of Ashton, Iowa; E. B., who lives in South Dakota; Frank, who is living near Berkshire, New York; James, a farmer of Gilman Township, this county; George, of Murdo, South Dakota, and Robert, who is now operating his father's farm. Mr. and Mrs. Townsend have nine grandchildren, Ruth, Frances, Elizabeth, John, Margaret, James III, Roberta, Richard and Helen.

Mr. Townsend has always taken an active part in Republican politics, and has been honored by his party on several occasions by being elected to township and county official positions. In his home township he has been justice of the peace, trustee and president of the school board. In 1891 he was elected treasurer of Osceola County, and was subsequently re-elected, filling that important office to the entire satisfaction of the citizens of the county. After moving to Ashton he was elected mayor of that city in the spring of 1911 and administered the duties of that office in a way that marked him as a man of ability. In all of these positions he has exerted himself in favor of the best measures and has been a determined foe of grafting of every sort, and for this reason he is held in high esteem by the citizens of the county, irrespective of their political affiliations. Fraternally, he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being one of the oldest members of this order in the county. Such is the history of James E. Townsend, one of the grand old men of Osceola County, a man who braved the dangers and hardships of a new country and who had the foresight to see the future possibilities of this rich farming country. The brave and unselfish lives of such men as he will be remembered long by their descendants, and for this reason their careers are fittingly preserved in this volume.

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