SAMUEL H. TEFFT
Samuel H. Tefft was born in Hopkinton, Rhode Island, on the 28th of October, 1821. He learned the trade of harness and carriage making, which he followed for some time. He was also employed in a cotton mill, but this being about the time of the war, he was discharged on account of political preference. In 1848 he left his family, and embarked for California, arriving in San Francisco on the 4th of April, 1849. He was engaged in mining until 1851, when he returned home with the intention of removing his family, having a claim of 160 acres of land near the city of Oakland. He returned to the great mining district and sold his claim, keeping only his stock ranche(sic), which, if remaining now, would be right in the center of the city of San Francisco. He at last sold all his shares in the mines, and returned east in 1855, and soon located in the Hawkeye State. He went to Montgomery county, and erected a mill at Stennett's Grove, and in the spring of 1867 sold out and came to Lewis, and has since made it his home, with the exception of a few months' visit to Colorado. In the spring of 1863 he bought 480 acres of land on sections 2, 3, 4 and 10, and has given his sons-in-law, H.G. Cotton and F.C. Jones, forty acres of land each. Mr. Tefft was married in 1841 to Miss Maria Johnson, and by their union four children have been born...Luella, wife of H.G. Cotton; Addie, wife of Charles Buel; Georgia, wife of F.C. Jones; and Ida, now living with her father, their mother having died in May, 1863. Mr. Tefft has been a member of the school board, and has also been trustee.
Transcribed by Gloria Goltiani from "History of Cass County, Iowa. Together With Sketches of its Towns, Villages and Townships, Educational, Civil, Military and Political History: Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Old Settlers and Representative Citizens." Springfield, Ill.: Continental Historical Company, 1884, pp. 509-510.
