William Welch Family

William Welch was born on Sept 22,1830 in Redding, Schyler Co. (formerly Stubent Co), NY and he lived there until he was sixteen years old.

In 1846 he came to Dodge Co, WI with his parents and at about age 22 he married Elizabeth Niver on March 23,1852 in same county.

They would live in Dodge Co until 1864 when they would immigrate to Loyal,   Clark  Co, WI.

William & Elizabeth would have fourteen children, four of which died before 1915.

When they came to Loyal there were no roads and the nearest trading post was at Neillsville, a distance of twenty miles.

He would go there for provisions for his family and carry them back home on his back.

He cleared his large farm by doing most of the work with an ax and in later years, as settlers became more thickly settled he worked in his trade as a carpenter.

For many years he was county surveyor and chairman of the town of Loyal.

He also was Justice of the Peace for forty-five years and court commissioner at the time of his death.

William Welsh died April 10,1915 at the age of 84 years 6 mo and 19 days, at his home about a mile and a half northeast of Loyal. Funeral services were held at the home and he was buried in Pine Grove Cemetery (also called Dodgeville Cemetery) in Loyal, Clark Co WI.

Left to mourn him were his wife, Elizabeth (Niver) Welsh and his ten children; Mrs. Lydia Smith, Lakin, KS; Stephen Douglas (SD) Welsh Ferndale, WA Mrs. Carrie Tomlinson, Raleigh, ND; Mrs. Ella McGee, Cottage Grove, OR; John Welsh; Mrs. Mary Vetter, Perkinstown, WI; Mrs William Catlin, Sherman, WI ; Mrs. Rhoda Flaherty; and Grant Welsh. Also   24 grandchildren and  18 great-grandchildren.

His wife, Elizabeth Niver Welsh would live to the age of 101 and be presented with a certificate of membership in the Wisconsin Federation of Women’s Clubs at age 99 in 1944 as the oldest living mother in Wisconsin.

Born in NY state Oct 30,1833 she came with her parents in 1845 to Dodge Co, WI. There she would meet and marry William Welsh on March 23,1852 (her obit says 1851).

It was her habit to entertain relatives and old friends on her birthday with a chicken pot pie dinner on her birthday which she did on her 101^st birthday six weeks before her death.

Elizabeth died Dec 14,1934 and funeral services were held at her home with Rev A. N. Chapman officiating and she was buried at Pine Grove Cemetery.

Of her thirteen children the following seven were left to mourn her:

Grant, George, John, Mrs. Martha Catlin, Mrs. Mary Vetter, Mrs. Rhoda Flaherty and Mrs. Carrie Tomlinson. Also surviving her were 41 grandchildren and over 100 great-grandchildren and several great-great grandchildren.

From an online article on the origin of Loyal Township, Clark Co WI we know  that William & Elizabeth Welch were early settlers and from another article online we also find that they were organizers of the "Old Settlers Club" in February 1899. William Welch was its’ first President, George W Barker ,its’ first Secretary and Issac C Gotchey its’ first Treasurer.

http://www.wiclarkcountyhistory.org/loyal/community/OldSettlerPicnic.jpg

I have found obits for the following children or their spouses :

Stephen Douglas Welsh born Apr 29,1854 died Apr 7,1934 in Bellingham, WA of cancer of the stomach. He was born at Iron Ridge, Dodge Co, WI and came to Clark Co with his parents in 1864. He worked in the logging camps and saw mills for many years and about 1880 he married  Annette (Lettie)  Hallcock and in 1884 they moved to Brown Co Dakota ,then a territory and took up a homestead.

In 1890 they moved to WA.

They had four children: Laude born in Loyal, WI; Dolly, born in Dakota; another child also born in Dakota died while an infant, and Harry, born in WA.

Left to mourn Stephen Douglas were his wife, two daughters, one son, his mother, then 100 years old, three brothers and four sisters.

Stephen Douglas Welsh was a pioneer of the Ferndale, Whatcom Co WA area.

When he and his wife came west in 1899 and landed at the Sehome dock on Nov 11,1899 with a carload of cattle they herded their cattle over the trail to Ferndale in a foot of snow. A haystack in the William Hallack barn was their first night’s resting place. They built their first home and resided in the Ferndale district for seventeen years. They then bought a farm at Barrett Lake where they lived for another sixteen years and they then moved to Bellingham, WA at 3002 Birchwood Ave. where Stephen would live out his life.

 A staunch Republican it was said he was only nine years old when President Abraham Lincoln died and he remembered working with his father on their farm in Iron Ridge, Dodge Co, WI when a messenger on horseback brought them the sad news.

Funeral services were held at the Harlow-Hollinsworth Funeral Home and he was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery.

Daughter, Carrie (Welch) Tomlinson’s husband, William Curtis Tomlinson died Mar 3,1935 at the age of 79 yrs 1 mo and 17 days old. Born at Fort Landing, Delaware on Jan 16,1856 he lived there until 1886 when he came to WI, He lived there until 1906 when they moved to North Dakota and homesteaded southeast of Brisbane, where they lived until Sept 1933 when illness forced him to retire and they moved to the town of Brisband where he lived until his death.

Surviving him were his wife, Carrie L Tomlinson, and six children: Mrs. Grace Klick, of Minneapolis MN; Mrs. Gertrude Kizer, of Dearborn, MI; James D Tomlinson, of Gettsyburg SD; Sarah G Carpenter, of Fairwiew, MT.; William W Tomlinson, of Brisbane, ND; and Mrs. Ethel Case of Fetton, Delaware. He  was also survived by one brother and one sister, nineteen grandchildren and one great grandchild and numerous other relatives.

Funeral services were held at the Christian Alliance Church at Brisbane with Rev Ward officiating and he was buried at the Brisbane Cemetery. The weather was so bad due to a snowstorm with drifting snow many of his neighbors could not attend the funeral.

Daughter  Lydia J (Welch) Smith, born Oct 13,1851,in Iron Ridge, Dodge Co WI died Oct 14,1915 in Lakin, KS at the age of 64 years and 1 day old. She had been married twice. First to JH Smith in 1881 and they came to Caney, Kansas after their marriage and then to Kearny Co in 1896,where they lived in the city of Lakin for more than twenty years.

(This is the way the information was written in her obit and it left me a bit confused. As far as I can tell she was married to JH Smith from the time of her father’s obit to her obit. Whom her other husband was I do not know.)

Left to survive her were her husband, her aged mother ,a daughter, Mrs. Bruce Parker of Denver, CO., five sisters, four brothers, and four grandchildren.

Her death was caused when she was knocked down and run over by a runaway horse.

She was the eldest daughter of William and Elizabeth Welsh.

Daughter, Martha Welch’s husband   William R Catlin was born Aug 24,1868 at Cedarburg, Ozaukee Co WI. and died April 21,1935 at Loyal Clark Co WI at the age of 66 yrs 7 mo and 28 days. Cause of death was a heart attack but he had not been well for several months before his death.

At the age of fifteen he had come to Clark Co WI and in 1890 he and Martha Welch were married. They made their home on a farm four miles east of Loyal for twenty eight years and raised a family of six children. They had moved to the village of Loyal the last sixteen years of William’s life.

Left to mourn him were his wife, two daughters; Mrs. Andrew Lewis, of Loyal and Mrs. Clarence Imsulund of Eau Claire and four sons; Pearl, of Loyal; Lynn of Wisconsin Rapids; Claude, of Beaver; and Haskel of Loyal and twenty grandchildren and one great grandchild; two brothers, Frank of Unity and Otto of Neillsville and one sister, Mrs. Clarence Hutchins of Unity.

William Catlin had been a Modern Woodman for forty years and a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Loyal.

Funeral services were held at the Methodist Church with Rev AN Chapman officiating.

Mary Welch, wife of John Welch was born Sept 7,1860 in Lansing Mower Co MN. And came to Neillsville, Clark Co WI with her parents Mr. & Mrs. IM Rogers in 1870, settling near James Furlong.

She was married to John Welch on Sept 15,1878 and they moved to Kansas where they lived out their lives. She died Mar 28,1910.

Death was caused by a stroke she had suffered a year before her death. She had been taken to Hot Springs, AK, then Kansas City Sanitarium until Mar 23,1878 when her husband brought her home to 606 Maple St, Ottawa KS where a dear sister, and a loving husband did all they could to help her.

She leaves to mourn her loss a loving husband, seven sons and one daughter, aged 9, a sister in Chicago, Isaiah Rogers, a brother in Iowa, one brother Alph in Ill., Mrs. P.W. Gear, Mrs. P.W. Clow, Mrs. E.W. Rogers, Mrs. Joe Bruley, Mrs. G.F. Clouse, Ed Clouse and Mrs. M.R. Nichols, all of Wisconsin. Her thoughts seemed to turn to the dear old friends and the Wisconsin home and Neillsville, which she wished so much to see, and all the old friends of her youth.

The following Welsh family members are buried at Pine Grove Cemetery, Loyal Township, Clark Co WI