Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On November 10, 1818, Underground Railroad conductor, founder of the Iowa town of Tabor, and antislavery minister John Todd was born. A leading abolitionist during the era leading up to America’s Civil War, Todd’s Tabor home served as a southwestern Iowa stop on the Underground Railroad. Born in West Hanover, Pennsylvania, Todd attended Oberlin College and Seminary before moving west to the Iowa frontier to spread a Congregationalist message and establish a college...

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On November 10, 1941, Grace Pearl Ingalls Dow, the youngest sister of Laura Ingalls Wilder , who “Little House” readers will recognize as “Baby Grace, ” passed away. Born in Iowa, Grace lived a complicated life marked by endurance and struggle in the wake of her family’s pioneering years. The Ingalls family had long embodied the restless movement of nineteenth-century America. Charles and Caroline Ingalls led their daughters (Mary, Laura, Carrie, and Grace) across the...

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On November 10, 2021, RAGBRAI co-founder and Des Moines Register feature writer John Karras passed away. While the annual ride across Iowa ensures Iowans remember Karras, he also endeared himself to generations of Iowans with thoughtful and insightful writing in the Register. Born in California, Karras grew up in Cleveland before attending Allegheny College. Karras began his career at a small newspaper in Meadville, Pennsylvania, before relocating to Des Moines to work at...