-------------------------------
biography from Portrait & Biographical Album of Mahaska Co., Iowa, 1887
TOBIAS LEIGHTON, one of the pioneers of Mahaska County, was born in Somerset County, Me., April 4, 1812, and is the son of James and Elizabeth (Quinby) Leighton. He was reared upon a farm and educated in a common school, supplemented by one term at Anson's Academy. When eighteen years of age he began the trade of carpenter and joiner, serving an apprenticeship of three years, receiving for his services $60 per year and his board. In the year 1836 he turned his face toward the setting sun, and coming west settled in Scott County, Ill. He was married, Dec. 3, 1840, to Miss Harriet A. Coe, who was born in Greene County, III., Feb. 17, 1823. In 1844 they came to Wapello County, Iowa, and in the spring of 1847 came to Oskaloosa, purchased a lot, and the year following he built his house, where he has lived consecutively since. In early life he was a Whig, but has affiliated with the Republican party since its organization. He was an anti-slavery man during all the days of the agitation of that subject. He was a member of the first board of Councilmen of the city of Oskaloosa, and during his residence here has held many local offices. Mr. and Mrs. Leighton are the parents of two living children, Charles and William, both printers and members of the Herald Printing Company. Mr. Leighton is a man who does his own thinking: talks little, but always acts at the proper time an on the right side of all important public matters, He enjoys in a marked degree the esteem and confidence of his fellow-citizens.
Portrait & Biographical Album of Mahaska Co., Iowa, 1887
Mahaska County, Iowa Genealogy