Who is E. N. Toucey? I think I purchased this small carte de visite at a Tucson antique store, but really I cannot remember.
On the front is "PHILLIPS & CO., PHOTO." and on the back in black ink is "E. N. Toucey." I searched all records on Ancestry and there were 12 results. Among these were a cluster in Minnesota and South Dakota. Despite looking for name variations, I was unable to locate this man in the United States census records. On the other hand, I found numerous newspaper articles for him and a few for his wife.
In 1874, the St. Paul, Minnesota lists E. N. Toucey as a miller residing at 73 Tilton.[1]
On 1 May 1875, E. N. and Mary Toucey lived in Scott County, Minnesota. Both were 50-year-old and had been born in Canada (should have been Connecticut).[2]
By 1878, E. N. Toucey was boarding at 250 E. 9th Street in St. Paul. He and H. A. Schutte had a “com. grain, etc.” business at 112 Jackson.[3]
By January 1883, Toucey was living in Huron, South Dakota. He was paid $31.00 by Huron County for coal and cartage.[4] He had opened a feed store on Dakota Avenue.[5] In July 1883, Toucey had moved his coal and flour business to Wisconsin Street.[6]
In 1884, E. N. Toucey had a feed store on Wisconsin Street in, Huron, South Dakota. He was selling “goose rye,” seeds of which had been obtained from the stomach of a dead wild goose.[7]
In March 1885, Toucey had the Clipper Press Drill, used to plant wheat, on exhibition at his business.[8] In August he was “buying considerable new wheat.”[9]
In January 1886, Mrs. E. N. Toucey was the Guard for the Women’s Relief Corps of the Grand Army of the Republic in Huron.[10] The following month E. N. had left his office for a few minutes and discovered someone had pried open the lid of his desk and stolen between $20 and $25 in silver dollars.[11] In March he went to Chicago for two weeks.[12] In August Toucey’s pet owl escaped and he put an ad in a newspaper. The following day Mr. Jennings saw the owl in the grass and informed Toucey who went and collected his pet.[13]
On 24 December 1886, E. N. lost one of his large gray horses to sickness. He had just applied for membership in the Dakota Mutual Live Stock Association, which provided an insurance benefit, but the horse died before the insurance started.[14] At about the same time he was sick with something similar to pneumonia.[15] In June 1887, E. N.’s mother Harrie Toucey died at the age of 95 years and 10 months at the home of her son John M. Toucey. E. N. had visited her annually.[16] The following month: “E. N. Toucey has been down on his farm two or three days pulling weeds and eating turnips. He tells his friends of having corn seven and eight feet high- ten acres of it. As for the wheat, it is in the best condition, and promises to harvest a good yield.”[17]
In November 1887, Mrs. Toucey hosted a supper for the Congregational Aid Society at their house.[18]
In February 1888, E. N. Toucey was paid $35.95 for coal for the poor asylum.[19] In July 1888, Mrs. Toucey returned from a three-week trip to the East.[20]
In February 1890, Mrs. Toucey “is slowly recovering from a severe attack of fever.”[21] In October 1890, E. N. advertised for a “gold dollar attached to a small chain.”[22]
In September 1891: “Mrs. E. N. Toucey said good bye to her Huron friends Monday afternoon and started for her new home in Harvey, Ill. She will visit friends in Volga for a few days on her hav[?] to Harvey.[23]
Mrs. Toucey died in November 1894 at Huron.
Daily Huronite (Huron, South Dakota), 23 November 1894, page 4, column 2.
In July 1895, E. N. was reported to be seriously ill.[24] He died on 26 August 1895.
“Ezza N. Toucey, an early settler of Huran, S.D., is dead aged 71. He formerly lived in Chicago and was a brother of John M. Toucey, general manager of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad.[25]
Daily Plainsman, 28 August 1895, page 4, column 2.
Marietta was buried in Riverside Cemetery in Huron, Beadle County, South Dakota. It is likely that E. N. Toucey was also buried there.
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