USA > Kansas > Marshall County > History of Marshall County, Kansas : its people, industries, and institutions > Part 87
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JOSEPH CHADDOCK.
Joseph Chaddock, one of the pioneers of Marshall county and the pro- prietor of a fine farm and one of the prettiest homes in Noble township, is a native of the state of Illinois, but has been a resident of this county since he was twenty-one years of age. He was born on a farm in Fulton county, Illinois, January 12, 1856, son of James and Sarah (Test) Chad- dock, the former of whom was born in Virginia in 1801 and the latter, in Ohio. James Chaddock was but a boy when his parents moved from Vir- ginia to Ohio and in the latter state, he grew to manhood, later moving to Illinois, where he died in 1868. His wife had preceded him to the grave about four years, her death having occurred in 1864.
Being but a boy when bereaved of his parents, Joseph Chaddock made his home with his eldest brother until he was seventeen years of age, when he began working on his own account. In 1877, he then being twenty-one years of age, he came to Kansas, locating at Frankfort, and presently bought a farm in Lincoln township, this county. Two years after coming here he married and on that pioneer farm made his home for four years, or until 1881, when he sold the same to advantage and bought the farm on which he is now living in Noble township and there has ever since made his home, a period of more than thirty-five years, his being one of the oldest settled and
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best-improved farms in that part of the county. In addition to his general farming, Mr. Chaddock has given considerable attention to the raising of live stock and has done very well. Upon taking possession of his present home farm Mr. Chaddock built a small house which served as a residence until 1898, when he erected his present splendid farm residence. He is the owner of two hundred and twenty acres of excellent land and his well-kept farm plant is recognized as one of the prettiest places in the Vermillion neighborhood.
On November 19, 1879. Joseph Chaddock was united in marriage to Rilla Freeman, who was born in Illinois, June 24, 1857, daughter of Eben and Anna Freeman, natives of Providence, Rhode Island, and of Ohio, respectively, whose last days were spent in Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Chaddock were reared in the same community in Illinois and were playmates in child- hood. Mr. and Mrs. Chaddock are members of the Presbyterian church and take a proper part in neighborhood good works, ever helpful in advanc- ing worthy causes thereabout. Mr. Chaddock is an independent Republican and has ever given a good citizen's attention to local political affairs, but has not been a seeker after public office.
MR. AND MRS. SAMUEL FORTER.
Samuel Forter was born in Marbach, Canton St. Gallen, Switzerland, December 6, 1858. His parents were Samuel Forter and Anna Elizabeth Walt, both well ,educated. The Forters came of a long line of well-to-do farmers and military and civil officers of high rank. The Walts were arti- sans and teachers. Anna Elizabeth taught embroidery and fine needlework in the cantonal school of domestic science in the city of Altstaetten.
On May 20th, 1868, Samuel Forter and his wife, Elizabeth, with seven children, arrived in Highland, Illinois, near which town Mr. Forter carried on farming until 1873, when they moved in prairie schooners to Marysville, Kansas, reaching there on October 12, 1873. The family consisted of the following children: Emil, .Alfred, Samuel, Hulda, Lina, Jacob and Maggie. In 1874 the youngest son, Adolph, was born. In the winter of 1875. after a discouraging effort at farming for the benefit of the grasshoppers in 1874, the father, mother and younger members of the family moved to a new farm in northern St. Clair county, Missouri, Emil, Alfred and Samuel remaining in Marysville. Samuel Forter, Sr., died near Bryant. Arkansas, October 29,
SAMUEL A. FORTER AND FAMILY. From left to right: Cecil A. Forter and wife, Elizabeth Tusten Forter, and Cecil A., Jr .; Sam Forter and wife, Emma E. Forter (the author) ; Sam. A. Forter and wife, Lucille Tavey Forter.
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1902. Elizabeth Walt Forter died in Denver, Colorado, January 24, 19II. The children of the family are all living. Emil, Hulda (now Mrs. Harburg) and Adolph reside in Denver. Alfred, Samuel and Lina (now Mrs. Wied- rich) reside in Marysville, Kansas, and Jacob and Maggie (now Mrs. Munns) reside in Cushing, Oklahoma.
Samuel Forter has been a resident of Marysville since October, 1873. He worked on a farm until 1877, then learned the blacksmith trade and by 1879 had a business of his own, which he conducted until 1899.
During those years he contributed much time and energy in other direc- tions, and for twenty years there were very few entertainments or events given for the benefit of the public, toward which he did not furnish the major portion. He organized the fire department, of which he was chief until 1900; he was president of the State Firemen's Association for two terms, 1897-9 and declined re-election. He helped organize the National Firemen's Association in 1898 at Chicago, Illinois ; was chairman of the leg- islative committee for this latter organization during the fifty-sixth and fifty-seventh Congresses. He founded the Helvetia Society in Marysville and helped organize the Barks Military Band, of which he was president for eighteen years and of the Barks Orchestra, for the same period. He was physical instructor in the school of the Marysville Turner Society for four- teen years, and was director of singing of the Swiss and the Turner societies and some churches for many years. He was a member of the Odd Fellows, United Workmen, Select Knights, Maccabees and a charter member of the Knights of Pythias, passed through all of the principal chairs of all the lodges and societies of which he was a member and was many times elected grand and supreme representative. He now holds membership in the Knights of Pythias only, and is an honorary member of the Swiss and Turner societies.
In the fall of 1899 Congressman Calderhead took Mr. Forter out of his blacksmith shop and made him his private secretary, which place he filled satisfactorily for four years. During those four years he served as assistant clerk to the committee on post offices and post roads ; also to the committee on banking and currency. In February, 1904, Eugene F. Ware, United States commissioner of pensions, appointed him a "special pension examiner in the field," and for the greater part of seven years he was engaged in pension work in the states of Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, Colorado, Missouri and Kansas, serving under Commissioners Ware, Warner and Davenport, from whom he received many complimentary letters which he prizes very highly.
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In February, 1911, he resigned as pension examiner to accept the postmas- tership at Marysville. He served as postmaster from April 1, 1911, to March 15. 1915, when he was let out to make room for a Democrat.
Emma Elizabeth Calderhead is the daughter of Rev. E. B. Calderhead and Martha Boyd Wallace. Rev. E. B. Calderhead was the youngest son of Rev. John Calderhead and Margaret Brown, who was a granddaughter of John Brown, of Haddington, Scotland, a noted divine of his day.
Rev. John Calderhead came to America and settled in Belmont county, Ohio, where E. B. Calderhead was born near Uniontown, January 4, 1810, and who was graduated from Franklin College, New Athens, Ohio, in 1836, and from the Alleghany AAssociate Reformed Theological Seminary in 1840 and was licensed to preach by the Steubenville Presbytery the same year, being assigned to three charges, namely, Jonathan's Creek. Rush Creek and Thornville, Ohio. In 1861 Mr. Caklerhead was appointed on the board of church erection and continued a member of that board during the remainder of his life. In 1861 he removed to New Athens, Ohio, for the purpose of educating his children in his own alma mater and lived in that excellent college town until he came to Kansas. He died at the home of his son. W. A. Calderhead. in Marysville, Kansas, September 25, 1892.
Martha Boyd Wallace was a daughter of William Wallace and Elizabeth Gilfillan. William Wallace was a son of John Wallace and Elizabeth McKee. who came to the United States in 1793 and settled in Alleghany county, Penn- sylvania, midway between Pittsburgh and Washington, Pennsylvania. There John Wallace served as an elder in the Robinson's Run congregation for fifty years and there was born William Wallace, May 18. 1798. There William lived all his life and on September 5. 1822, he was united in marriage to Elizabeth Gilfillan, a daughter of Alexander Gilfillan, of Upper St. Claire. Pennsylvania.
The Gilfillan family has been prominently identified with the history of L'pper St. Claire for more than two hundred years; some member of the family serving as magistrate during all that period. William Wallace and Elizabeth Gilfillan were the parents of four children: Alexander Gilfillan Wallace, who was for many years an editor of the United Presbyterian. the official paper of that church. Rev. A. G. Wallace was a greatly gifted man and at his death the magnificent Wallace Memorial church was erected in Washington, D. C.
William J. Wallace succeeded his father and grandfather as elder of the congregation at Robinson's Run. He is still living. Martha Boyd Wal- lace and Sarah Jane Wallace were the daughters. Sarah J. Wallace married
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George Kelso, a farmer of the same county, and she survives him and is living at Washington, Pennsylvania. Martha Boyd Wallace was united in marriage to Rev. E. B. Calderhead, November 28, 1843, and she died on February 16, 1872. They were the parents of eleven children: William Alexander. John Wallace, James Harvey, Sarah Jane, Joseph Walker, Sam- uel Coman, Emma Elizabeth, Silas Brown, Owen Oliver, Almanara Boyd and Renwick Wallace. William A. is a lawyer, and was a member of Congress from the Fifth congressional district of Kansas for seven terms. John Wal- lace was a Union soldier and gave his life for his country. James Harvey is secretary of the board of railroad commissioners of North Dakota. Sarah J. is the wife of J. F. Hanna, of Marysville. Joseph Walker died at the age of eighteen years. Samuel Coman is superintendent of a building and loan association in Seattle, Wash. Emma Elizabeth is the wife of Samuel Forter, of Marysville, Kansas. Silas Brown is general passenger agent of the Northern Pacific railroad, with offices at Walla Walla, Washington. Owen Oliver is secretary of the state board of railroad commissioners of Washington and resides in Olympia. Almanara Boyd is the wife of Joseph L. Rogers, of Vermillion, Kansas, and Renwick Wallace resides in Fair- banks, Alaska, where he conducts a large music store.
Emma E. Calderhead, the second daughter of Rev. E. B. Calderhead and Martha' Boyd Wallace, was born at Rushville, Fairfield county, Ohio, on October 4th, 1857. When she was four years of age her parents removed to New Athens, Ohio, and resided there until coming West in 1869. She attended the private academy of Mrs. H. E. Monroe, of Atchison, Kansas, and at the age of fifteen began teaching. Later, she came to Marshall county to make her home and taught in the public schools of the county. She taught in the country districts of what was known as the McLeod school, north of Marysville, and in the McDonald school, each for one term, and in the Thomas school in Elm Creek township for two years.
On July 1, 1884, Samuel Forter and Emma E. Calderhead were married at the home of J. H. Calderhead in Beloit, Kansas, Rev. J. A. Pinkerton, of the First Presbyterian church, performing the ceremony. From that time Mr. and Mrs. Forter have resided in Marysville, Kansas. In 1890 Mrs. Forter accepted a position in the city schools of Marysville, beginning her work in the Ward school, primary department, from which, after two years' teaching, she was promoted to the Central school, fifth grade, and the follow- ing year was placed in charge of the seventh grade and first year high school work. She continued teaching for six years, resigning to ,take up secretarial work in the office of W. A. Calderhead.
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In 1913, owing to a mid-term vacancy in the seventh grade, Mrs. Forter was requested by the board of education to take charge of the work for the remainder of the year, which she did. Having by that date attained the dignity of grandmother, Mrs. Forter felt complimented at being thought equal to the task. In 1915 Mrs. Forter taught one week in the English department of the high school, which closed her life work in the school room.
In 1902 Mrs. Forter was chosen department president of the Woman's Relief Corps, Department of Kansas, and at the close of her year's work she was presented with a handsome diamond badge as a testimonial of esteem by the members of that organization. She also served as president of the Woman's Federated Chibs of the Fifth congressional district. In 1916 Gov. Arthur Capper appointed Mrs. Forter a member of the advisory board of the state Republican committee and she gave time and effort to the campaign. speaking in various places in the state. In April, 1917, Governor Capper again honored her by appointing her on the council of defense board of Kansas, and she is at the present time engaged in organizing the women of the state and preparing for any emergency which may arise during the war with Germany.
Mr. and Mrs. Forter are the parents of two sons, Samuel Alexander Forter, born on October 15, 1886, and Cecil Alfred Forter, born on Novem- ber 18, 1888. These boys were educated in the public schools of Marysville, Samuel graduating on May 28, 1903, and Cecil graduating on May 20, 1904. They entered the University of Kansas before reaching sixteen years of age and each completed a course in civil engineering in the required time, receiving degrees in that branch.
Samuel Alexander Forter, a member of the Beta fraternity, graduated from the University of Kansas in 1908. He entered the employ of the James A. Green Constructing Engineers Company; he was engaged in en- gineering work in the far West, first in New Mexico and Arizona, and then had charge of irrigation work in Idaho, putting in the irrigation plant in the Gooding tract of thirty thousand acres. He then went to Brogan. Oregon. where he built the great earth dam, the second largest earth dam in the world. Returning to Kansas, he constructed the state fish hatchery at Pratt, Kansas. He then went to American Falls, Idaho, where he constructed the famous Snake river dam, across the Snake river at American Falls. The next year he put in an irrigating plant on a rice plantation near DeWitt, Arkansas, on the White river. In the fall of 1914 Samuel .\. Forter began business for himself and is now a constructing and consulting engineer with offices at American Falls, Idaho, where he is engaged in active engineering work.
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Samuel A. Forter and Lucille Tavey were united in marriage in the church of the Good Shepherd, in Ogden, Utah, on February 24, 1914, by Rev. Wm. W. Fleetwood. Lucille Tavey Forter is the daughter of Henry Cartwright Tavey, son of Peter Tavey and Frances Cartwright, who was born in London, England, and of Martha Allen, daughter of John and Martha Allen, who was born in Sheffield, England. Henry W. Tavey and Martha Allen were married in Ogden, Utah; they now reside in Blackfoot, Idaho.
Lucille Tavey Forter was educated in the schools of Ogden, Utah, finishing her education in a private school in Alabama. She went with her husband to Arkansas immediately after her marriage and spent six months in an engineers' camp and helping with household duties. She displayed great fortitude and courage and a true wife's interest in her husband's work. On Monday, March 19, 1917, Mrs. Samuel A. Forter was summoned as a juror in the civil case of Commons vs. Hall, on an action to collect a note and she served on the first jury composed entirely of women empanelled in Power county, Idaho. Mr. and Mrs. S. A. Forter reside in American Falls, Idaho.
Cecil Alfred Forter was graduated from the department of civil engi- neering, University of Kansas, in 1909. and immediately accepted a position in the office of the city engineer of Topeka, Kansas, where he remained until January, 1916, when he accepted the superintendency of the city crematory, which he reorganized and put on a business basis. In December, 1916, he resigned this position to become sales engineer for the John Baker, Jr., Asphalt Company, which position he now holds. Both he and his brother, Samuel, are members of the American Society of Civil Engineers and Cecil was secretary of the Kansas Society of Civil Engineers for three terms, relinquishing the office in 1917.
Cecil A. Forter and Elizabeth Tusten were united in marriage in Trin- ity Episcopal church, Lawrence, Kansas, December 8, 1909, Rev. Irving E. Baxter officiating. Elizabeth Tusten is the daughter of Harmon William Tusten, born in Goshen, New York, of Revolutionary ancestry, a paternal uncle having served on the staff of George Washington. The little city of Tusten, New York, is named in his honor and his statue adorns the public square of the city. Willian Harmon Tusten came to Wisconsin in his early manhood and later moved to Kansas. He was one of the promoters of the colonization of Russell county and was an active and influential citizen of the county.
Mathilde de Neveu, the mother of Mrs. Cecil A. Forter, is a daughter of
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Gustave de Neveu. a son of the historic French family of that name. Gustave was born at Savigny, France, March 30, 1811. He was educated at the famous military academy of La Fleche and at the College of Vendome. He located finally in Fond du Lac county, Wisconsin, purchasing six hundred and forty acres of land, which included the beautiful lake, afterward named de Neveu lake and now a noted summer resort.
In 1840 Gustave de Neveu was married to Harriett Puttoff Dousman, a daughter of a noted French-Canadian family. Mrs. de Neveu was born on the island of Mackinac, December 16, 1818. Mathilde de Neveu is a daugli- ter of that union and was united in marriage to William Harmon Tusten in Wisconsin. Elizabeth Tusten, a daughter, was born in Herington, Kansas. She attended high school in Warren, Pennsylvania, and later was a student of the University of Kansas at Lawrence, where her parents resided at the time of her marriage to Cecil A. Forter. Mrs. Cecil A. Forter was especially prominent in the musical life of the university and took a leading part in the rendition of classical music, both operatic and sacred. She is a member of the Theta Sorority, and since her marriage has become identified with musical circles in the city of Topeka. She is a beautiful woman, endowed with great personal charm. Mr. and Mrs. C. A. Forter have one son, Cecil Alfred Forter, Jr., born on August 24, 1911.
If any of the descendants of David Mckee. of Anahilt, among whom may be named the Wallaces, Calderheads and the descendants of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Forter, should ever visit County Down, Ireland, they may see the homes of their ancestors, which are still standing. On the Lisburn road, going from Lough Neagh to Saintfield, attention will be attracted to the ivy. covered gables of the old homestead. Here lies the land once granted by the crown for loyalty and on which stand Moor Hall and The Temple, the ances- tral homes of their forefathers and still inhabited by one of the name.
The Wallace branch of the family are descendants of the Scotch clan of that name and are of the family of the Duke of Argyll.
The name, Calderhead, is the same as the Scotch name Calder or Cawdor and has been preserved by Shakespeare in the play "Macbeth," Cawdor Castle being the scene of the murder of King Duncan by Macbeth, who had been promised the much-coveted position of Thane of Cawdor, for com- mitting the crime. A thane was a body-guard and counsellor to the king and was a position of title, honor and trust. The old family castle still stands, though in ruins, in the parish of Nairn and Inverness, Scotland.
The Wallace family, descendants of the Scotch family, has always been prominently identified with churches. John Wallace, William Wallace, his
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son, and William Jamison Wallace, his grandson, served an aggregate of one hundred and five consecutive years as elders of the United Presbyterian church of Robinson's Run, Pennsylvania.
David Wallace was the founder and president of Monmouth College, Illinois, and his son, John Findlay Wallace, was the first engineer on the Panama Canal. David Wallace was a nephew of William Wallace and a cousin of Martha Boyd Wallace, the mother of Mrs. Forter.
WILLIAM H. DEXTER.
William H. Dexter, one of the well-known and substantial farmers of Center township, this county, is a native of the Dominion of Canada, but has been a resident of Marshall county since he was nine years of age, having come here with his parents in 1870, and may thus properly be regarded as one of the pioneers of the county, having been a witness to its development since the days of the open range. He was born on April 6, 1861, son of Asahel and Jane (Whitfield) Dexter, natives, respectively, of Canada and of England, who became pioneers of Marshall county and whose last days were spent here.
Asahel Dexter was born in Canada on March 14, 1809, and there grew to manhood. He married Jane Whitfield, who was born in England on September 24, 1817, and who had emigrated to Canada with her parents in the days of her girlhood. After his marriage Mr. Dexter continued to make his home in Canada until 1870, when he came to Kansas with his family and settled in this county. Here he bought a half section of land in Center township and established his home, spending the rest of his life there. When he bought the place he erected there a small shack, which did duty as a home until the next year, when he built a substantial dwelling house, but not until he had made two attempts on the same, for the framework of the new house had hardly been completed when a tornado came along and demolished it. The second structure has stood all the storms since and is still standing, the subject of this sketch still residing there, his con- tinuous home since he was ten years of age. Asahel Dexter was a good farmer and soon had his pioneer farm improved in good shape. In com- mon with all the early settlers he suffered the privations due to grasshoppers and scorching winds in those early days, but he persevered despite all dis- couragements and was presently well established. As he prospered he added
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to his land holdings and as his sons started out for themselves he helped them to acquire farms of their own. He and his wife were earnest mem- bers of the Baptist church and helped to found the church of that denomi- nation at Marshall Center, Mr. Dexter for years being a deacon of the same. In his later years Mr. Dexter retired from his active labors of the home place and turned the management of the same over to his youngest son, the subject of this sketch, who now owns the home place. Mrs. Dexter died on May 24, 1887. and Mr. Dexter survived her a little less than four years, his death occurring on February 4. 1891. he then lacking less than three weeks of being eighty-two years of age. He and his wife were the parents of thirteen children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the last-born, the others being as follow: Maria, who died before the family left Canada: George, deceased: Matilda. deceased; Thomas B., who is living a mile east of the old home place in Center township: John, who died before the family left Canada : Sarah Jane, deceased : Mrs. Mary Richardson, of Hill City, this state; Mrs. Margaret Parker, deceased; Asahel, deceased ; Teesdale. of Trenton, Nebraska; Martha, of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and Edmund, who lives three miles west of the old home, in Elm Creek township.
William H. Dexter, as noted above, was but nine years of age when his parents came to Marshall county and he was reared on the pioneer farm that his father opened for cultivation, even from the days of his boyhood an able assistant in the labors of developing and improving the same. He completed his schooling in the Marysville schools and early began to relieve his father of the responsibility of farm management. continuing to live on the old home place, which is still his home and which he now owns. Mr. Dexter has three hundred and ten acres in that tract, a well-improved and profitably cultivated farm, on which there are two sets of farm buiklings. In addition to his general farming he has given considerable attention to the raising of live stock and has done very well.
On December 29. 1897, William IT. Dexter was united in marriage to Hettie Hewitt, who was born at Blue Rapids, this county, daughter of Richard and Jane (Strange) Hewitt, natives, respectively, of Kentucky and of Missouri, early settlers of Blue Rapids township, who are now living at Jennings, Oklahoma, to which place they moved in 1893. To that union four children have been born, Margaret Alice. Frederick William, Ralph Hiram and Wilma Hettie. the two former of whom are now students in the Marysville high school. Mr. and Mrs. Dexter are members of the Bap- tist church and Mr. Dexter is a member of the board of trustees of the same. He is a member of the Knights and Ladies of Security.
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