My third great-grandfather,
William Davis Farnsworth was born on 28 March 1853 in Jasper, Newton County,
Arkansas. His father was William W.
Farnsworth and his mother was Martha Emiline Henderson. William W. was born in Pennsylvania and
Martha in Tennessee. The couple was
married in Missouri before moving to and settling in Arkansas. William Davis was the fifth of nine children
born to the couple. William Davis’s
father was a school teacher and the postmaster in Jasper. People say that is because he was the only
male in Jasper who could read and write.
When the Civil War broke out the
Farnsworth family found themselves in a serious situation. Arkansas is a southern state and William W.
was a Union sympathizer. Soon it was no
longer safe for William W. to stay in Jasper.
Bushwackers, who killed all males, young or old, if they did not support
the Confederacy were quickly on to William W.
So William W. left for Columbia County, Wisconsin, where his brother
lived. Martha soon followed with the
nine children, their cattle and all the possessions. Along the way, much of their possessions were
stolen by the Bushwackers. Also, along
the way tragedy struck when Martha and one of her daughters died in Savannah,
Illinois, of diphtheria. The remainder of
the children including William Davis continued on by themselves to
Wisconsin.
By the time of the 1870 United
States census, William Davis had already been though a lot. In 1870 he was a sixteen year old working on
a farm in Caledonia, Columbia, Wisconsin.
In the early 1870s, he went to visit his sister, Mary, in Iowa. There he met Catherine McDonald, daughter of
John and Catherine Ann McDonald. William
Davis and Catherine were married on 18 June 1874 in Delhi, Delaware, Iowa. After they were married, they settled in
Caledonia, Wisconsin, and to this union, twelve children were born – eight boys
and four girls. According to the census
records, William was a farmer while in Caledonia. All of the children seemed to have been
raised on the family farm.
On 10 June 1905, at the age of
forty-nine, Catherine passed away following a short illness. At the time there were still six children
living at home – the youngest was five years old. In 1921, son Ira passed away from a burst
appendix. By 1930, William was
seventy-three, retired and living with his youngest two children. On 4 March 1931, William passed away at his
home in Caledonia. According to the
newspaper he had been in failing health the last few years of his life, however
was well on the day of his death.
William and Catherine are both buried at the Welsh Cemetery in Portage,
Columbia County, Wisconsin.
No comments:
Post a Comment