CHAPTER XXXIX
"TOLEDO TOWNSHIP"
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Tama county, and was employed in Clarke Bros. store for one year; then went to Cedar Rapids, where he was corresponding clerk of the Iowa Railroad Land Company until 1876. That year Mr. Baldwin returned to Toledo, being employed as assistant Cashier of the Toledo Savings Bank until 1881, when he was elected Cashier. January 17, 1880, he was married to Miss Agnes Struble, daughter of Judge G. R. and Sophia N. (Nelson) Struble, residents of Toledo, this county. In politics, Mr. Baldwin affiliates with the Republican party. While in Washington, Mr. Baldwin was acquainted with all the prominent Statesmen and Senators, and James A. Garfield was an intimate friend of his father and himself.
IRA TAYLOR was born in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, on the 17th of June, 1799. When eleven years old, his parents emigrated to Delaware county, Ohio, where he grew to manhood. In 1824, he was married to Miss Dorinda Wheeler. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor were the parents of nine children. In the fall of 1852, Mr. Taylor, in company with his brother Giles, came to Iowa, spending their first winter in Cedar county. In January, 1853, they came to Tama county, and purchased a claim of N. L. Osborne, and entered the land where a portion of Traer now stands. In the following March they moved their families to Perry township.
In the summer of 1855, Mr. Taylor removed to Toledo, and in 1856, engaged in the mercantile business under the firm name of Harrison & Taylor, and soon took in S. W. Ingham as a partner, continuing in business until about the breaking out of the war, when he sold to Ingham & Raines. Two years later he purchased the stock and about the close of the war retired. In 1862, Mrs. Taylor died, and two years later Mr. Taylor was again married to Fannie Johnston, who died in 1880. His daughter, Mrs. Cynthia Ingham, wife of S. W. Ingham, is now living with him. In politics, Mr. Taylor was an old line Whig; but has affiliated with the Republican party since its organization. His first vote was cast for J. Q. Adams. He has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for over sixty years, and was one of the Trustees of Buckingham township, which at that time included six townships as they are at present.
J. J. DOWD was born in Athens county, Ohio, January 5. 1835. His parents were Jesse and Delilah (Dawson) Dowd. When J. J. was about five years old his father died and four years later his mother died also, and from that time he was principally thrown on his own resources. At the age of thirteen he entered a cabinet shop to learn the trade, where he remained three years; but not liking that business he served an apprenticeship at the carpenter’s trade. In 1857 he came to Tama county. In 1864, he enlisted in the Forty-seventh Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry, Company K, and was discharged in the fall of that year. In 1865, he was married to Esther Adcock, of
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