Obit: Wilcox, Marie (1879 - 1967)

Contact: Stan

Email: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Wilcox, Buttke, Hendrickson, Weisgerber, Campbell, Smith, Beier, Turnquist, Davis

----Source: Greenwood Gleaner (Greenwood, Clark Co., Wis.)   02/23/1967

Wilcox, Marie (14 MAR 1879 - 14 FEB 1967)

Services were held at 1:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 17, at the Leiser Funeral Home in Cadott for Mrs. Lansing Buttke Wilcox, a native of Greenwood (Clark Co., Wis.), who was the widow of Wisconsin’s last surviving veteran of the Civil War.  The Rev. Robert Paulson officiated and burial was made in the Cadott Cemetery.

Mrs. Wilcox died Tuesday at the St. Joseph’s Hospital in Chippewa Falls and would have been 88 years of age on March 14.  Her husband (Lansing Wilcox), who outlived all other Civil War veterans from the state, died in 1951 at the age of 15 (must have been 105 since he was born in 1846).  She was the 4^th wife of the Union Army veteran.  They were married in 1942.

The former Marie Hendrickson was born in Greenwood in 1879 (daughter of Victor & Annie Hendrickson).  She was married to Frank Buttke and the couple lived in Merrillan, Wis. until 1920, when they moved to the Town of Siegel.

Mr. Buttke died in 1942.  Surviving are 3 sons, Archie, Harvey and Bernie, all of the Town of Siegel.  Surviving brothers and sisters are John Hendrickson of Clarkston, Wash.; Oxil of Asotin, Wash.; Donald of Lewiston, Idaho; Roy of California; Mrs. Viola Weisgerber of Walla Walla, Wash.; Mrs. Helen Campbell of Clarkston, Wash.; Miss Agnes Hendrickson of Lewiston, Idaho; Mrs. Esther Smith of Connell, Wash.; and Mrs. Fred Beier of Denver, Colo.  Twenty-four grandchildren, 39 great-grandchildren and 1 great-great-grandchild survive.

Mrs. Wilcox was a sister of the late Mrs. Julia Turnquist of Greenwood and the late Sophie Davis of Clarkston, Wash.

Area residents who attended the funeral were: Mrs. Jerome Bertz, Loyal; Mrs. Jack Felix, Henry Olson, Mrs. Carl Turnquist, Mrs. Anna Elmer and Mrs. Amy Hendrickson, all of Greenwood.

(Addendum - Buttke burials)

Chippewa County Wisconsin Cadott Brooklawn Cemetery
Buttke Archie 1900 - 1989
Buttke Frank W. 1874 - 1942
Buttke Harvey 1904 - 1974
Buttke Iva 1904 - 1975
Buttke Jane Ann Died 1980
Buttke John Adam Died 1976
Buttke Lorraine 1910 - 1934

(Buttke Census records)

1900 Federal Census, Beaver, Clark, Wisconsin
Name: Marie Buttke
Age: 21
Birth Date: Mar 1879
Birthplace: Wisconsin
Race: White
Gender: Female
Relationship to Head of House: Wife
Father's Birthplace: Finland
Mother's Birthplace: Finland
Mother: number of living children: 0
Mother: How many children: 0
Spouse's name: Frank
Marriage Year: 1900
Marital Status: Married
Years Married: 0
Occupation: Dairy Farmer
Neighbors: Hans Ystad b. (Jan 1860), Jorgine (b. Dec 1867), Julia (b. Apr 1890), Alma (b. Dec 1891), Helga (b. Sept 1893), Olaff (b.Jan 1896), Wanda/Manda? (b.Jan? 1879), Hakon (b. Nov 1899), Adin (b. Nov 1868, brother) and Jonas Hembre (b. Dec 1833, father-in-law), next house: Henry (b.Sept 1855) and Fern? (b. Jan 1861) Green and children: Mabel (b. Aug 1879), Clarence R. (b. Nov 1882) and Anna M. (b. Oct 1884)
Household Members:
Name Age
Frank Buttke 25, (July 1874), b. Germany, parents b. Ger., Naturalized 1881, in Penn., a citizen for 19 yrs.
Marie Buttke 21, (Mar 1879)

********************
1920 Federal Census, Alma, Jackson, Wisconsin
Name: Frank Buttke
Age: 45
Estimated birth year: abt 1875
Birthplace: Germany
Head of House
Spouse's name: Marie
Father's Birth Place: Germany
Mother's Birth Place: Germany
Marital Status: Married
Race: White
Sex: Male
Home owned: Own
Year of Immigration: 1881
Able to read: Yes
Able to Write: Yes
Household Members:
Frank Buttke 45
Marie Buttke 40
Rosalia Buttke 15
Bernie Buttke 13
Orie Buttke 11
Florence Buttke 8

***********************

1930 Federal Census, Chippewa Co., Wisconsin
Name: Frank W Buttke
Age: 55
Estimated birth year: abt 1875
Birthplace: Germany
Head of House
Spouse's name: Merie A
Race: White
Occupation: Dairy Farmer

Military service: No

Rent/home value: owned, $100

Age at first marriage: 26

Parents' birthplace: Germany

Household Members:
Name Age
Frank W Buttke 55
Merie A Buttke 50, wife, age at first marriage: 21, b. WI, parents b. Norway
Archie C Buttke 29
Bernie E Buttke 23
Harvey V Buttke 26
Iva C Buttke 26, daughter-in-law
Victor W Buttke 1 10/12, grandson

(Lansing Wilcox Obituary)

Chippewa County and Wisconsin's Last Civil War Veteran

Lansing A. Wilcox

Lansing A. Wilcox was born March 3, 1846, in Salem, Kenosha County. He was the oldest of seven children, born to a shoemaker and his wife, who had come from New York. His family returned to New York, where it lived for 12 years, before returning to the town of Lafayette, just west of Elkhorn, in Walworth County. The Wilcox family moved to Jackson County and then again, coincidently, to the town of Lafayette in Chippewa County at the start of the Civil War. They lived in what became known as Wilcox Valley. At age 17, Lansing enlisted in Co. F, 4th Wisconsin Cavalry on February 17, 1864, spending most of his service on scouting duty, stationed at Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His regiment also established a 240-mile mail route in Texas. He was discharged May 28, 1866 as a corporal.

Wilcox returned to Wisconsin, then moved to Kansas, then returned to Wisconsin. In 1873, Lansing married his first wife, Mary, who he divorced a few years later.

The village of Cadott in Chippewa County was laid out and platted in 1875. Wilcox became a resident six years later and farmed there for several years. He also worked in a sawmill, taught school and was village assessor. In 1902, he was appointed postmaster and served for 10 years. As Cadott Cemetery Association treasurer, he was instrumental in placing the cemetery on a perpetual upkeep basis. Since 1912, he had lived on his Civil War pension.

After it was chartered in 1891, Wilcox became an active member of George C. Ginty GAR Post #183 in Cadott.

In October 1928, Wilcox moved to Tacoma. There he served as GAR Department Commander of Washington & Alaska. He returned to Wisconsin in 1938 and at the 1943 National GAR Encampment held in Milwaukee, was elected Nat. Sr. Vice Commander- in-Chief. He was the only Civil War veteran able to attend the 1946 Wisconsin Dept. Encampment in Kenosha. There he installed himself as Dept. Commander. He was the only man to have been Dept. Commander in two states. When the second from last Wisconsin Civil War survivor died in December 1947, Wilcox became the last, one of 28 nationwide.

The last GAR National Encampment, held in 1949 in Indianapolis, was a memorable one for Wilcox, as he took the first plane ride of his life to get there.

After his second and third wives died, he married Marie Buttke in 1942. They built a small home on farm land near Cadott, raised chickens and tended a large garden. Up until his health began to fail in 1949. he celebrated each of his birthdays by going to Cadott and presenting $25 in cash to each of several churches in Cadott.


Lansing Wilcox

At the 1949 Wis. Dept. Encampment, he vowed that he would carry on alone and planned a 1950 Encampment in Sheboygan. But due to ill health, the 1949 Encampment was his last. Wilcox was admitted to the Grand Army Home at King for the fifth and last time in August 1950. In January 1951, he was named an honorary member of the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War. He was also a life member of the Army and Navy Union.

He celebrated his 105th birthday at the Home on March 3, 1951, with all but one of the commanders of the state's veterans organizations present. SUVCW Wis. Dept. Commander Peter Fields of Sheboygan, ASUVCW Dept. Pres. Mary Harrison and National Chaplain Mrs. Elinore Konrad, both of Milwaukee, were also there. His fourth wife, Marie Duttke, who was 71 at the time, was also there. Songs were sung under the direction of a quartet and a huge birthday cake was served. At this time, he was the fifth oldest of the 11 remaining Union veterans in the nation.

His formula for longevity was simple. Wilcox once remarked: "I attribute my long life to love of God and my fellow men." Even more than his long life, he prized "what a wonderful thing to be an American citizen."

Lansing Wilcox died on September 29th, 1951 and with him, Wisconsin's living link to the Civil War and the Grand Army. Funeral services were conducted at the Grand Army Home at King and in the Cadott High school auditorium. A Wis. National Guard unit provided a military escort from King to Cadott. Commanders of all the state's veterans organization were asked to serve as pallbearers.

He was buried in Cadott's Brooklawn Cemetery and a state historical marker was placed near his grave. He was survived by his wife and a daughter by his first wife, Mrs. Jessie Geauque of San Francisco.  From Chippewa County, Wisconsin, Past & Present (Vol. 1 & 2); S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago 1913, Federal census: 1860, 1870, 1920, 1930, Milwaukee Journal, September 30, 1951, Milwaukee Sentinel, September 30, 1951, Waupaca County Post, March 8, 1951--Researched by C-in-C Steve Michaels.  Visit http://www.suvcw-wi.org/GARinWis.html for additional information.

Related Links