USA > Iowa > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self made men, Iowa volume > Part 62
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The subject of this biographical sketch was edu- cated in a private school in New York city, re- ceiving instruction, in addition to the rudimentary branches, in Latin, French and the higher mathe- matics. From early youth he had a very studious dis- position, and mastered other branches after leaving school. Having completed his school education, young Tuthill learned the art of copper and steel- plate engraving, working at it a few years, when his health gave way and he was obliged to quit the business. In 1832, during the first year that the cholera was in this country, he acted, by appoint- ment, as assistant secretary of the New York board of health, and as secretary of the special medical council; and among his duties was the compiling of the daily reports of cholera cases. Subsequently he entered the Chemical Bank, now the Chemical Na- tional Bank, of his native city, and was a clerk there a number of years.
In 1840 Dr. Tuthill immigrated to Cedar county, Iowa Territory, spending one year in the southern part, and in the spring of 1841 located permanently in Tipton. When he first came to Cedar county there was not a house of any kind on the site of the present seat of justice. Tipton was surveyed and laid out early in the spring of 1840, and when he opened a store there the next year there were not more than a dozen families in the place. After . continuing in trade about two years he turned his attention especially to law, which he had read some before, and on the 13th of November, 1846, was ad- mitted to the bar. Two years later he was admitted to practice in the United States court. He con- tinued in practice until elected judge of the eighth district in 1855, he wearing the ermine five or six years. During this period he was also engaged in banking. He has been in that business since 1850, and is known as the literary banker of Iowa.
Dr. Tuthill was prosecuting attorney at an early period in his legal profession, and has been notary public constantly for the last thirty-six years.
He was originally a whig, and attended all the state conventions of that party in Iowa, until its dissolu- tion in 1854, when he united with the republicans. He has been nominated at different times for both houses of the general assembly, when a nomination was equivalent to an election, but he peremptorily refused to accept the nominations. The offices which he has held were urged upon him.
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Judge Tuthill is an Odd-Fellow, and has been grand master of Iowa, and grand representative of the Grand Lodge of the United States. He is an honorary member of several historical and literary societies ; is an ardent bibliopolist and antiquarian ; has a large law library and more than five thousand miscellaneous volumes - one of the largest and best collections of scientific and literary works in the state. His collections in genealogy and heraldry are quite extensive. His editions of the ancient classics, Livy, Virgil, etc., are of the richest kind. He possesses numerous editions of the Bible, from the " Breeches," three hundred years old, down to the present time. One edition is in six royal folio volumes, the pages being of the size of an ordinary quarto newspaper, with numerous engravings by the best British artists. Only a few of the publications from the pen of Judge Tuthill have been published : among them a very able and exhaustive review of the "Dred Scot Decision," delivered as an address
in 1860, and which is said to have swelled the re- publican vote of that year ; a few historical sketches for the " Annals of Iowa," and an address delivered on the occasion of the gathering of the Tuthill family at Southold in 1867.
Physically, he is small and frail, having more mind than body. A stranger conversing with him would say that the engine is much stouter than the ma- chinery which holds it. Although five feet and eight inches tall, his greatest weight ever reached was one hundred and twenty-six pounds. Of late years it has averaged about one hundred and eight pounds.
He is a member of the Lutheran church, and a man of very pure character.
Judge Tuthill has had two wives. The first wife was Miss Sarah Smith, of New York city. She was married in 1833, and died without issue in 1841. The second was Miss Dorothy Platner, of Cedar county, married in 1843; she has one child, James William Tuthill, a druggist in Tipton.
WILLIAM W. BLACKMAN, M. D., WEST MITCHELL.
W TILLIAM WALLACE BLACKMAN, who represents Mitchell, Floyd and Butler coun- ties in the Iowa senate, is a native of New York, and was born in Bridgewater, Oneida county, on the 7th of January, 1823. He is a son of Lorrain S. Black- man, a farmer, who is still living, his home being in Stoughton, Dane county, Wisconsin, and whose an- cestor on the maternal side, four generations back, came from Scotland.
The Blackmans were early settlers in New Eng- land. The mother of William was Olive Hulburt. She has had seven children, of whom William is the third child, and all, with herself, are still living.
William was educated in the common school and academy at Bridgewater, and the Hamilton Acade- my; commenced teaching a winter school at seven- teen, and followed it five or six seasons, aiding his father each summer on the farm, and attending an academy in the autumn.
At twenty-one he commenced reading medicine with Dr. Erastus King, of Unadilla Forks, Otsego county, still teaching three or four months every alternate winter to keep himself in funds, as he had no other resource.
He graduated from the medical department of the
New York State University, in March, 1848; during the same spring immigrated to Wisconsin, and there practiced medicine nineteen years, in Rock and Dane counties.
In the autumn of 1866 Dr. Blackman settled in West Mitchell, having built a store here the summer before, and he brought with him a heavy stock of merchandise, including drugs and medicines. Since that date, in addition to his professional busi- ness, he has had a large trade, and is a successful merchant as well as physician. As a medical prac- titioner, he stands high, and is one of the leading physicians in this part of the Cedar valley.
While a resident of Wisconsin Dr. Blackman served three sessions in the legislature-in 1859, 1860 and 1864-and took part in adopting the " Re- vised Statutes" of that state. He was also in the general assembly of Iowa in the sessions of 1872 and 1873, and aided in the revision of its statutes. In the autumn of 1876 he was elected state senator to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Judge Arad Hitchcock. He has an excellent mind, and makes a prudent legislator. He has been postmaster since the spring of 1873.
Dr. Blackman is a humanitarian in the broadest
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sense. Was originally, in politics, a liberty man, and since 1854 has been a strong and influential re- publican.
In religious sentiment, he is a Baptist, and has been a member of the church many years.
On the 24th of April, 1848, he married Miss Lucy A. Brewer, of Unadilla Forks, New York, and they have had two children, only one of them, Eva Louise, now living. Mother and daughter are com- municants in the Baptist church, and active in the Sunday-school and other christian enterprises.
Dr. Blackman is a very influential man in Mitch- ell county, and his influence is wholly on the side of good morals. He nobly strives to give an elevated tone to society. At an early day he took a very
active part in educational matters, and was town superintendent of schools in New York and Wis- consin. He has not lost his interest in such mat- ters, but in Iowa has had less time to attend to them. He believes that intelligence and virtue are the safeguards of a republic, and he encourages both to the extent of his abilities. He is a posi- tive man - makes up his mind what to do and does it.
Dr. Blackman is a member of the Mitchell Coun- ty Medical Society and the American Medical As- sociation, and was a delegate to the National Med- ical Association which met at St. Louis in 1873. He has an excellent standing in the medical pro- fession, and is a leading man in the community.
HON. ROBERT H. TAYLOR, M. D.,
MARSHALLTOWN.
T' THE present mayor of Marshalltown, R. Howe
Taylor, is of Norman-French stock. His orig- inal ancestor in England came to that country at the time of the invasion by William the Conqueror, in 1066. The name was then spelt Tellefaire. At what period the Taylors came to this country we are unable to state, but the grandfather of Robert Howe was an officer in the first war with the mother country. His maternal grandfather Howe also was an officer in the same war.
The subject of this sketch, a son of Charles C. Taylor, a mechanic, and in later years a farmer, and Mary Howe, was born at Newport, Rhode Island, on the Ist of October, 1825.
When he was about ten or eleven years old the family moved to Dutchess county, New York, where the son did a little work on his father's farm, and served as clerk a short time, finishing his education at the Poughkeepsie Collegiate Institute, in 1845. He taught school awhile in New York, moved to Wisconsin in 1850, and resumed teaching, reading medicine while so doing, in both states. He at- tended lectures while in New York, and after being in Wisconsin one year attended a course at the University of St. Louis, now St. Louis Medical Col- lege, graduating in 1851.
Dr. Taylor commenced practice in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, came to Marshalltown in 1854, and con- tinued in the profession until about 1862. He had been elected county judge the year before, and in
1863 was elected treasurer and recorder of the county, serving two years in each position.
He went into the drug business in 1864, and con- tinued in that trade until the spring of 1877. +
Dr. Taylor was state senator from the Ist of January, 1872, to the rst of January, 1876; was chairman of the committee on penitentiary the first session, chairman of the committee on senatorial districts the second, and also acted on ways and means and railroads, two committees of much im- portance. He was presidential elector for the fifth district in 1876, on the republican ticket.
Dr. Taylor has served in various capacities in the municipality of Marshalltown, and is now at its head. He was elected mayor in the spring of 1877, and makes a very judicious executive. The people have great confidence in his integrity as well as capability. He is faithful in every trust confided to him.
The doctor was examining surgeon for Marshall county in the early part of the civil war, and after- ward was United States examining surgeon for pen- sions, resigning the office several years ago.
Dr. Taylor is a Royal Arch Mason, and has been grand high priest of the Grand Encampment of the Odd-Fellows of the state.
His religious connection is with the Unitarian church; is a trustee of the Marshalltown society; his life seems to be without a blemish. Such citizens are an honor to the city, the county and the state.
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He was originally a whig, and clung to the party as long as it had an existence; voted the American ticket in 1856, and has since been an unwavering republican. He edited the Marshalltown "Times " in 1858, and by pen and tongue has ably advocated the tenets of his party.
He was quite active in getting the Chicago and Northwestern railway through Marshalltown, and
has been among the leaders in all local enterprises of the least consequence.
Dr. Taylor has a second wife, his first being Miss Delia A. Pratt, of Marshalltown ; married in June, 1857, and dying in less than a year. His present wife was Miss Rachel Dunn, of La Porte, Indiana ; married in April, 1860. She has had three children, two of them, girls, now living.
HON. DANIEL MOOAR,
KEOKUK.
AM MONG the prominent citizens of Keokuk is Judge Daniel Mooar, at this time president of the Keokuk Gas Light and Coke Company.
He was born in Hillsboro county, New Hamp- shire, and was the youngest of fifteen children, fourteen of whom lived to grow up to man and womanhood.
He is just two generations from England, on his father's side, and two from Scotland, on his moth- er's. His grandfather, David Mooar, came from the interior of England when quite a boy, and settled in New England. He was of the Anglo-Norman race, and hence the peculiarity in the spelling of the name.
He was in the revolutionary war, and at the time the English propagated the small-pox through the American camps he fell a victim to that disease.
Judge Mooar's father, Jacob Mooar, was also in the revolutionary war, and fought in the battle of Bennington under General Stark, when in his sev- enteenth year.
The Judge, while quite small, was sent to a coun- try district school, but some time after the death of his father, which occurred when he was in his twelfth year, he was placed in an academy in Ches- ter, Vermont. While in that institution one of his teachers was the Hon. Horace Maynard, now mem- ber of congress from Tennessee.
The remainder of his academical education was in a classical school in Milford, New Hampshire.
In the spring of 1839, while quite a youth, he came to Cincinnati, and finding nothing to do there he went over into northern Kentucky, and for some time taught a district school in Grant county, in that state. After having earned sufficient to war- rant his undertaking the study of the law, he became a student in the law office of the Hon. M. M. Ben-
ton, at Covington, and subsequently attended the law college in Cincinnati, and graduated in that in- stitution, and was admitted to the bar in March, 1843. He settled in Covington, immediately upon the opposite side of the river from Cincinnati, which enabled him to enjoy all the advantages of that beautiful and thrifty city.
In the spring of 1844 he was married to Lydia A. Southgate, eldest daughter of the Hon. George M. Southgate, of Kentucky.
Immediately upon going to the bar he was neces- sarily thrown in contact and competition with the very best legal talent the country afforded; it being a well-known fact that at that day Kentucky was celebrated for her able statesmen and jurists. With the bright examples before him of the statesmanship and legal ability of such men as Clay, Crittenden, Hardin, Robertson, the Wickliffs and Marshalls, to- gether with the able lawyers that he daily was brought in contact with, coupled with the fact that he was poor in purse and with a family to support, placed him in a position at once well calculated to inspire and bring out the entire energies of the man.
As an evidence that he fully comprehended and appreciated the position he was placed in from the time he went to the bar, he exhibited an energy and advancement in his profession that meant success, and enabled him in a very short time to acquire sufficient business for an ample support.
He continued to prosecute his profession in Ken- tucky for about twenty-five years, most of which time he had a large and lucrative practice. He es- tablished the reputation of being a profound lawyer, a safe counselor, and a man of high sense of honor and business integrity ; hence his success.
During his professional career he never exhibited much taste for politics nor let them interfere partic-
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ularly with his business, although he was a member of the city council as far back as 1844, and was a member of the legislature of Kentucky in 1849 50. By a provision of the constitution of Kentucky, the members of the bar in that state are authorized to fill temporary vacancies in judgeships. Judge Mooar was several times, during his professional career, put upon the bench by a vote of the members of the bar of his district. This we consider no or- dinary compliment, inasmuch as the members of the bar are presumed to be more competent than the general voting community to judge of the necessary qualifications of persons for such an office. The re- sult of his labor in Kentucky was an ample fortune.
In 1865 his health, in consequence of constant application to business, had become very much im- paired. In that year, having interests in Keokuk, he came out to look after them, and after having remained for some time and finding that his health was very much improved by the change, and in the meantime two of his daughters having been married to gentlemen in Keokuk, he concluded to make Iowa his future home; since which time he has been settling his affairs in Kentucky, and from time to time transferring his property to Iowa. He is now among the substantial and solid men of Keokuk. Besides owning the controlling interest in the Keokuk Gas Light and Coke Company, of which he is now president, his good judgment has been marked by the purchase of a large amount of the best business property on Main and other streets of the city of Keokuk. He has also purchased a
large amount of unimproved property in and adjoin- ing the city.
Judge Mooar is at this time between fifty and sixty years of age, and, like a true philosopher, put- ting aside much of the details of business, although he is at his office in the city nearly every day when not absent from home. He has taken up his resi- dence at "Floral Hill," a beautiful farm of one hundred and thirty acres adjoining the city, which he is improving from time to time in a manner that exhibits the sound judgment and refined taste of the true gentleman. He is a man of decided ability and varied information.
Although very positive in his character, he is at the same time kind and obliging in his nature, and is possessed of high social qualities. Such men are really ornaments to any community, and Keokuk has been fortunate in adding such a one to her citizens.
Judge Mooar has added largely to his real-estate possessions in the vicinity of Keokuk, and is now one of the largest farmers in Lee county.
He is also a member of the banking firm of H. G. Boon and Co., Mr. Boon being his son-in-law.
One of the striking characteristics of Judge Hooar is his rigid method, care and accuracy in all his business matters, a quality worthy to be imitated by every business man.
As a writer, he has the reputation of being ac- curate, pungent and forcible. His letters and pub- lished communications give evidence of strong practical judgment and good descriptive powers.
HENRY T. BALDY, M. D.,
TOLEDO.
T' THE oldest physician in Toledo is Henry Tom- linson Baldy, a graduate of the medical col- lege at Louisville, Kentucky, and a man of good reputation, both personally and professionally. He is a son of Christian Baldy, a farmer, and Mary Tomlinson, and was born on the 29th of December, 1819, in Catawissa, Columbia county, Pennsylvania. His grandfather, Paul Baldy, was a trader with the Indians, residing at Sunbury, Pennsylvania. Baldy is an Italian name, and was originally spelled Baldi. During the thirteenth or fourteenth century the fam- ily was driven by wars from Italy into Germany, from whence the ancestor of Henry T. came to
this country. About 1830 Christian Baldy moved to Sunbury; two years later to Newfane, Niagara county, New York, and in 1835 to White Pigeon Prairie, Michigan, the son aiding his father in all these places at farming, receiving only a common school education.
In 1840 Henry T. concluded to become a physi- cian ; read medicine with an older brother, Peter L. Baldy, at Constantine; then seeing that his father was likely to lose his property unless he received aid, returned to the farm and worked four years, thus freeing the property from incumbrance. He then resumed medical studies, attended lectures at
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Rush Medical College, Chicago, in the winter of 1847-48, and the next winter at Louisville, Ken- tucky; commenced practice at Constantine in Feb- ruary, 1850; at the end of two years went to Cali- fornia, doing poorly at mining but well at trading; returned in July, 1854, and the following November located at Toledo, where he is still found in good practice. His calls are both numerous and, some of them, remote, extending all over Tama county. The doctor is well-known in every township, and the re- spect shown him is as wide as his acquaintance. He is very kind to the poor, and has ridden hun- dreds of miles to administer to their necessities without expectation of any compensation. At all seasons of the year, at all hours of the night, he has answered calls, regardless of the pecuniary cir-
cumstances of the summoner. He has been exam- iner for the insane of the county for the last eight years, the only office he has ever held, this being directly in the line of his profession.
He is a republican, with whig antecedents, but of late years has done little more than vote. Years ago he was very active in politics, and in 1858 pub- lished the Toledo " Tribune," the first paper in Tama county. He published the first delinquent tax-list in the county. He has been a very active, enter- prising and useful man.
On the 9th of December, 1857, Mrs. Elizabeth B. Miller, of Tama county, became his wife. They have a cozy little home, with pleasant and beau- tifully ornamented grounds, a fitting place of rest from professional care and labor.
EDMUND MILLER,
WATERLOO.
S OME business men live an active life, accumu- late a large amount of property, but act self- ishly, and, dying, make no sign. Others run the same active career, are equally as successful in busi- ness, accumulate a fortune, yet become noted for their public spirit and their munificent benefactions, and, dying, are profoundly lamented in a circle as wide as they were known. Of this character was the subject of this sketch.
Edmund Miller was born on the 20th of Decem- ber, 1823, at Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. His parents were Henry and Ann Miller. In addition to the common school, Edmund attended an academy a short time in his native town; but as early as his seventeenth year he went to Hollidaysburg, and became a clerk in a store connected with iron-works. In a short time he became assistant superintendent of the works, showing at a very early age remark- able efficiency in business.
In 1848 he removed to Ottawa, Illinois, became a real-estate dealer, and there began to show his great capacity for business.
In the spring of 1854 he came to Waterloo, enter- ing immediately in partnership with A. P. Hosford, tion real-estate speculations, in a short time connect- ing with it the banking business. Success attended both branches. Mr. Miller kept the land office open in Waterloo for twenty years, or till his death, though not always living here. From 1856 to 1866
he was in the lumber business in Clinton, lowa, with A. P. Hosford, under the name of Hosford and Miller, a firm widely and favorably known. At Clin- ton, Mr. Miller had a very remunerative trade, and left with the rich rewards of his industry.
In the autumn of 1866, in connection with M. H. Moore, he built a saw-mill in Dubuque, but re- mained there only a short time. Returning to Water- loo, we find him again adding banking to his real- estate business, and continuing in both until his death, which was caused by apoplexy, and which occurred on the 4th of March, 1874. No death in Black Hawk county ever caused deeper sorrow.
Mr. Miller was a member of the Methodist Epis- copal church for many years, and lived a consistent and very active christian life. He was liberal in its support, and munificent in his contributions to lit- erary and benevolent institutions. Though quiet, he was generous in his charities.
Edmund Miller was one of the class of men who never was idle, he made every day tell for his own advantage or the public good. He was preëminently a leader in all important movements for the benefit of society. He came to Waterloo in 1854, with small means, and during the twenty years he was in the state he accumulated a fortune. This he did by energy, shrewdness and close application to busi- ness.
While president of the National Savings Bank of
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Waterloo, during the last two or three years of his life, he encouraged persons of small means to be economical; and by his own brilliant example he taught all classes to combine industry with a pru- dent husbanding of resources.
The influence of Mr. Miller was in all respects eminently praiseworthy. When he opened an office in Waterloo he sold lands to men of limited means, by contracting with them to pay him the proceeds in grain, of a specified number of acres each year, until the debt was liquidated. If there were a failure of the crops any one year, the party paid nothing, and had an extension of time for payments.
In this way Mr. Miller aided many persons to secure farms without paying a dollar in money. In multi- tudes of ways he benefited people by plans and de- vices that ordinary business men would not think of. It may be truly said of him that he "proved by the ends of being to have been." Mr. Miller was a firm republican in politics, but never sought office.
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