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from Past and Present of Mahaska County, Iowa by Manoah Hedge The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. 1906
Dr. Richard H. Todd, engaged in the prac- tice of medicine and surgery in New Sharon, was born in Carroll county, Missouri, August 7, 1860. His father, John Todd, was a native of Kentucky and died in Denver, Colorado, in February, 1905, at the venerable age of eighty years. He had served as a soldier of the Civil war, enlisting from Missouri and soon after the close of hostilities he removed to Illinois. He followed farming and stock-raising, carry- ing on business along those lines throughout his entire life. He wedded Miss Mary Elder, also a native of Kentucky, who is now living at Carthage, Illinois, at the age of eighty-three years. In their family were eight children, six of whom yet survive. Dr. Todd, the only representative of the fam- ily in Iowa, lived upon the old homestead farm until nineteen years of age, after which he pur- sued a literary course in the college at Abing- don, Illinois. He afterward took up the study of medicine in the Kentucky School of Medi- cine at Louisville and was graduated there in 1887. He also has a diploma from the Medical Laboratory of Chemistry and Microscopy at Louisville and one from the Surgical Labora- tory of Operations and Bandaging of the same city. He entered upon the practice of his chosen profession in Donnellson, Iowa, in 1887, there remaining until seven years ago, when he came to New Sharon, where he purchased a stock of drugs. He conducted the business for two years and then sold out, since which time he has given undivided attention to his practice. He has a liberal patronage and in the faithful perform- ance of each day's duty he finds encouragement and inspiration for the work of the succeeding day. He maintains a high standard of pro- fessional ethics so that he enjoys the unqualified regard of his brethren of the medical fraternity, while the consensus of opinion regarding his capability is most favorable. On the 10th of December, 1885, Dr. Todd was married to Miss Laura A. Powel, who was born in Ohio, July 3, 1860. They now have two sons, Ray H. and Fred E. The former, eight- een years of age, is a graduate of the New Sharon high school and is now pursing a course in electrical engineering under the direction of a correspondence school. He is also working at the electric light plant in New Sharon for practical experience and is thus earning money to pay his tuition in school. The younger son, Fred, sixteen years of age, will complete the high-school course at New Sharon in 1906. In his political views Dr. Todd is a republican but without aspiration for office. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias fraternity at Donnellson and of the Benevolent and Pro- tection Order of Elks at Oskaloosa. With a conscientious understanding of the obligations that devolve upon him in connection with his life work he has so directed his efforts as to win success and his social and professional prominence are equally creditable.
Past and Present of Mahaska County, Iowa
Mahaska County, Iowa Genealogy