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TOFIELD LEHMAN.

Among the representative farmers and progressive citizens of Pleasant Valley township, Fayette county, Iowa, none occupies a more enviable position than the gentleman whose name appears at the head of this sketch. A native of this county, his long residence here has only served to gain for him a marked prestige among his fellow citizens, and, though one of the younger generation of agriculturists, he is accounted a shrewd and practical man of affairs.

Tofield Lehman was born in Fayette county, Iowa, in 1874, and is a son of Jacob and Rosa (Hess) Lehman, the former of whom was a native of Switzerland, from which country he came to the United States in about 1852. His wife was born in Canton, Ohio. They came to Fayette county, Iowa, and located on a fine and fertile farm of one hundred and twenty acres, where the father still lives. The subject of this sketch was one of three children born to his parents, by whom he was reared. He secured his early education in the district schools and he remained on the home farm with his father until his marriage, in 1903, though prior to that time he had conducted some business enterprises on his own account. He is now the owner of twenty acres of land and devotes much of his attention to the care of bees and the production of honey, in which he has met with the most pronounced success, the honey which he puts on the market being considered of a very superior quality and giving him a widespread reputation. Since 1898 Mr. Lehman has supplied large quantities of honey to Walter S. Pouder, a leading merchant of Indianapolis, Indiana, who always speaks, in the highest terms of Lehman's product. At one time Mr. Pouder desired to make an exhibit at the famous Indiana State Fair and wrote Lehman for some honey for the exhibit. The following is a quotation from a letter received by the subject from Mr. Ponder after the fair: "I won second premium at our state fair. The judge came to me and said that my extracted honey was the finest he had ever tasted, but one of my competitors had a lot of granulated honey and I had none, and on this account he gave first to the other fellow." Mr. Lehman also ships large quantities of honey to various other dealers, among them C. H. W. Weber, of Cincinnati, and the Fred W. Muth Company, of the same city, all of whom compliment the honey very highly. Mr. Lehman started in the business in 1892 with two swarms of bees, and has steadily increased his apiary until now he has eighty swarms, keeping his stock down to that number that he may give his personal attention to every detail of the business.

On February 17, 1903, Mr. Lehman was united in marriage to Emma Butikofer, who was born in Clayton county, this state, and they have become the parents of the following children: Adeline, Jacob and Walter. Mr. Lehman is public spirited in his attitude towards all movements for the public good and is held in high regard throughout the community. Of pleasing address, good business ability and unquestioned integrity, he enjoys the unbounded confidence of all who have had dealings with him and he is numbered among the sterling citizens of Pleasant Valley township.

~transcribed for the Fayette Co IAGenWeb Project by Cheryl Walker