Joseph Toyne
Click image to enlarge
Joseph
Toyne is a retired farmer now living in Churdan and his life record
covers almost the Psalmist’s allotted span of three score years and
ten, for his birth occurred on the 16th of February, 1838. He is a
native of England, having first opened his eyes to the light of day in
Lincolnshire. His parents were Thomas and Ann (Robinson) Toyne, in
whose family were eight children, of whom six are yet living, namely:
John, now residing in Muscatine county, Iowa; Mrs. Rebecca Houseman,
also living in the same county; George, whose home is in Glidden, Iowa;
Joseph; Wilson, located in Muscatine county; and Thomas, a resident of
Cedar township, Greene county, whose sketch is found on another page of
this work.
Joseph Toyne was born and reared in a small town in England. His father
was in limited circumstances and had a large family. When he was
thirteen years of age, therefore, Joseph Toyne found it necessary to
provide for his own support, being put out to work by his father at the
meager salary of twelve cents per day. He was employed in his native
country for six years or until he had reached the age of nineteen, when
he determined to try his fortune in America. Accordingly in 1856 he
crossed the broad Atlantic to the new world, making his way to Ohio,
where he remained for a short time with some of his mother’s relatives.
The year 1857, however, witnessed his arrival in Muscatine, Iowa, and
soon afterward he secured employment at farm labor in that locality.
Before the war he went with a brother to Kansas, driving an ox team,
his brother being at that time a resident of Lawrence, Kansas, but
times were troublous in that section of the country owing to the bitter
feeling concerning the admission of Kansas as a free or slave state.
Quantrell’s band burned and pillaged the town and his brother was
forced to pile his goods and all of his possessions in his house and
burn them in order to save them from falling into the hands of the
rebels and the guerrilla bands that infested the country. Mr. Toyne saw
eighty people killed by the rebel troops.
Returning to Warren county, Iowa. he worked for nine years on a farm
and in the spring of 1870 he came to Greene county, settling on section
20, Cedar township. Here he invested the money which he had saved from
his earnings in one hundred and sixty acres of raw land. Not a furrow
had been turned or an improvement made upon the place but with
characteristic energy he began its development and cultivation and soon
there was a marked difference in its appearance. There is perhaps no
history in this volume which illustrates so clearly and forcibly the
fact that success may be gained by earnest, unfaltering diligence, for
although Mr. Toyne started out in life empty-handed he is today one of
the extensive landowners of this part of the state. He now owns eleven
hundred and twenty acres in Cedar township, three hundred and twenty
acres adjoining in Carroll county, Iowa, and one hundred and sixty
acres in Morton county, North Dakota. Crossing the border into Canada,
he has also made investments there, holding about twelve hundred and
eighty acres in that country, while in city realty he has lots valued
at twenty thousand dollars in Long Beach, California. He is most
judicious in making real estate purchases and is seldom, if ever, at
error in foreseeing the possible rise or diminution in value of any
property.
In June, 1865, Mr. Toyne was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth E.
Bentley, a native of Kentucky, with whom he traveled life’s journey for
about forty-one years, when they were separated by the death of Mrs.
Toyne in 1896. Unto them have been born eight children, of whom six are
yet living, while one died in infancy and a daughter, Martha, passed
away at the age of eleven years. Those who still survive are: Myra, the
wife of George Parse, a resident of North Dakota, by whom she has three
children, Alma, Dale and an infant; Thomas, a resident of North Dakota,
who married Margaret Stephenson and has two children, Alta and Victor;
Fred, a resident farmer of Cedar township, who wedded Maude Williamson
and has two children, Paul R. and an infant; Amos, who makes his home
in South Dakota and who married Louise Whiting, by whom he has one
child; Ezra, of Elgin, Nebraska, who wedded Clara Parse and has two
daughters, Mabel and Alice; and Rufus, who is located in Colorado. He
married Laura Vernon and has one child, Luella.
Six years after losing his first wife Mr. Toyne was again married, Miss
Elizabeth Taylor becoming his wife on the 24th of December, 1902. She
was born in Boothby, Lincolnshire, England, and is a daughter of
William and Sarah (Boddy) Taylor, who came to the United States in
1871, settling in Mendota, Illinois, where the death of the father
occurred. The mother died in 1899. In the family of this worthy couple
were ten children, four of whom survive: John, a resident of Kendrick
township; Mrs. Toyne; Edwin, who is living in Minnesota; and Mrs.
Willis Barker, also of that state.
Mr. Toyne votes with the republican party and although he has never
sought offices he is loyal in his support of the principles of the
organization. He attends the Methodist Episcopal church and is well
known in the community as a self-made man, his life demonstrating the
possibilities for successful accomplishment to those who have to start
out empty handed. He realized that success must be gained through
persistent, earnest labor, through careful management, close economy
and untiring diligence, and in the exercise of these qualities he has
gained a measure of prosperity which makes him one of the largest
landowners of the county.
|
