Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1891
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 387
JOSIAH TUFLY

Josiah TUFLY, a retired citizen of Modale, came to Harrison County in the spring of 1858, at which time he took a claim of one hundred and sixty acres in Clay Township. Land at that time was not in the market, but he entered the same in 1861. This land is located on Section 25. He improved it, built a cottonwood lumber house, 16x24 feet, which was boarded up and down. He remained on this place until the autumn of 1868, when he sold the place and bought one hundred and sixty acres of unimproved land on section 20, of Taylor Township, where he built a frame house 16x24 feet, with an ell 12x14 feet. He lived in this house until 1882, and then provided himself with a new frame house, 25x36 feet, two stories high. In 1871 he built a barn, 28x24 feet. He now has seventy acres under cultivation, while the balance is in meadow land. In the spring of 1890 he left the farm and moved to Modale, where he is living a retired life. When he came to the county there were but few settlers, and his nearest trading point was Council Bluffs, while his nearest post office was Magnolia.

Our subject was born in Switzerland, August 7, 1820. His parents were Christian and Lucy (FLORINE) TUFLY. He remained at home with his parents until the 1st of March, 1840, when he sailed for America, landing in New Orleans after a seventy-three days' voyage, arriving August 13. He came up the Mississippi River as far as St. Louis, stopped a short time, and then went to Madison County, Ill. His father's family came at the same time. They remained there one year, he and his father both following the carpenter's trade. They received fifty cents per day for their skilled labor. Our subject left his parents in Madison County and went to Jefferson County, Mo., where he followed his trade remaining there four years. We next find him in Galena, Ill., where he worked in the lead mines for two years, and then went to the pineries of Wisconsin, where he worked in the Big Woods for eighteen months, then returned to Galena, Ill., where he clerked in a hotel for a year, then went to Washington County, Mo., working at the carpenter's trade and operating a sawmill. A year after he bought a farm, cultivated that and ran the sawmill, but quit carpentering. A year later he sold the mill and remained in that section until the spring of 1858, when he came to Harrison County, Iowa. He was married in Jo Daviess County, Ill., July 29, 1848, to Miss Margaret GRABER, the daughter of Debold and Margaret D. (Household) Graber, both natives of Germany.

Our subject and his wife are the parents of ten children, born and named in the following order: Mary M., March 5, 1849; George F., August 29, 1850; John C., November 26, 1851; Lucy M., June 4, 1853; Louisa E., March 23, 1855; Josiah H., April 25, 1857; William D., March 16, 1859; Sophia J., September 1, 1860; Sarah A., October 13, 1862; Peter, May 21, 1868. William D. died March 29, 1959; Peter, May 23, 1868; and Sarah A., November 16, 1881.

Margaret D. (Graber) Tufly was born in Elsace, Germany, January 15, 1828. She remained at home until the spring of 1845, when she bid farewell to her parents and to the scenes of her childhood, and with her uncle came to America. After landing they made their way to Ft. Madison, Iowa, where she worked out by the week for about a year, then went to Galena and remained until she was married.

When Mr. Tufly arrived in Harrison county he had a wife and seven children looking to him for support. He relates how that he had the magnificent sum of $1.25(?) but was without a team, cow or anything else to obtain a living with, and the only reason that he remained in this county was the fact that he did not possess money enough to get away with. During the first two years of his residence here none of his neighbors knew such a thing as sugar, tea and coffee. Their bread stuff was cornmeal and shorts, but mostly cornmeal.

Politically our subject is a Republican. Among the local offices he has held may be mentioned in this connection that of Township Trustee and School Director. Mr. and Mrs. Tufly are both members of Christian Church.

Of our subject's children, who are married, it may be said that Mary M. married Stephen L. Frederick and lives in Barton County, Kansas; Louisa E. married John Mintun and now lives in Harrison County, Iowa; Lucy M. married Clinton d. Armstrong and lives in Jones County, Iowa; Sarah A. married Charles Lightell and died in Taylor Township; John C. Married Mary J. Penrod; George F. married Minnie Curtis and Hosiah H. married Emma J. Arbaugh; all are residents of Harrison County, Iowa.

Return to 1891 Biographical T Surnames Index

Back to 1891 Biographies Index