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Below is a family biography included in History of Allen and Woodson Counties, Kansas by L. Wallace Duncan and Chas. F. Scott, published by Iola Register, 1901.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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ADOLPH TOEDMAN. one of the leading stock-raisers of Woodson County, was born in Lippe-Detmold, Germany, March 24, 1855, and has been a resident of southeastern Kansas since the age of eleven years. His father, Adolph Toedman, Sr., was also a native of Lippe-Detmold, born in 1823, and there he married Louisa Goedeke. In his native land he accumulated some property and on coming to America was enabled to gain a good start in business life and thus provide for the support of his wife and their six children. He arrived in Woodson County in 1866 and settled on Owl creek, four miles east of Yates Center, He made improvements upon a tract of land of eighty acres on section eight, Center township, which tract is still in possession of the family. He made his home in that neighborhood throughout his remaining days and in addition to the development and cultivation of his land he engaged extensively and successfully in raising sheep, cattle and horses. This proved a profitable enterprise and his stock brought good prices on the market. As his financial resources were augmented he added to his land and by judicious investments eventually became the owner of eleven hundred and sixty acres. He was a man of excellent business and executive ability, his judgment being rarely at fault, and his success stands in unmistakable evidence of his well directed labors and keen discrimination, as well as his consecutive endeavor.

In 1882 he was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife and a decade later he passed away, leaving to his family a valuable estate. Their children are Adolph; Henry, of Woodson County, born in 1858; Louisa, the wife of Luther C. Baker, of Allen County, Kansas; Fred, Ernest J. and William, all of Woodson County.

Adolph Toedman, the eldest of the family and the immediate subject of this review, has spent almost his entire life in Woodson County. He was reared amid the wild scenes of the frontier and acquired his education in the Toedman school house. For nearly five years he was employed as a farm hand in the county and then joined his father and brothers in business — the association with the latter being since continued. They have carried on farming and stock-raising and the cattle, horses and sheep seen in their stables and pastures indicate a thriving and prosperous business. Already the possessors of a fine property, they are continually adding thereto, and they belong to the class of enterprising, active and energetic men who promote the general welfare as well as individual property and advance the public good. They give their political support to the Republican party and the subject of this review takes quite an active interest in political questions, although office holding has no attraction for him. His church agricultural circles where his word is regarded as strictly trustworthy, this relationship is with the Evangelical denomination. He is widely known in having been proved through years of an honorable business career.

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This family biography is one of 204 biographies included in History of Allen and Woodson Counties, Kansas by L. Wallace Duncan and Chas. F. Scott, published by Iola Register, 1901, Iola, Kansas.  For the complete description, click here: Woodson County, Kansas History and Genealogy

View additional Woodson County, Kansas family biographies here: Woodson County, Kansas

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