Santa Clara County CA Archives Biographies.....Wetmur, Sylvanus May 5, 1852 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Carolyn Golowka http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00012.html#0002972 August 13, 2010, 5:40 pm Source: History of Otter Tail County Minnesota: Its People, Industries and Institutions, Volume 1, B. F. Bowen & Company, Indianapolis, 1916, pages 429-431 Author: John W. Mason, Editor Amos H. Wetmur Amos H. Wetmur, a farmer of Candor township, Otter Tail county, Minnesota, has been one of the earnest workers for the development of all things educational and for the advancement of community interests. He had given time and service and in return has received the approbation of his fellow citizens. He is a native of Orange county, New York, and was born May 5, 1852. He is one of ten children born to the union of Sylvanus and Sarah Jane (McCarter) Wetmur, who were natives of Pennsylvania and Newark, New Jersey, respectively. The parental and maternal grandfathers of Amos H. Wetmur were both soldiers of the American Revolutionary War and were of English and Scottish descent. The father of Amos H. Wetmur was born in Pennsylvania on May 3, 1812, and died on November 6, 1899, aged eighty-six years, six months and three days. The mother of the subject of this sketch was born in Newark, New Jersey, January 4, 1819 and died on June 6, 1893, being seventy-four years, five months and two days old. Both deaths occurred at Morgan Hill, California and they are both buried at Gilroy, California. Sylvanus Wetmur and Sarah Jane McCarter were married on November 30, 1841. Sylvanus Wetmur’s early life was spent in the woods during winter months, and in spring was engaged in driving logs down the Susquehanna river. In 1856 he removed to Wisconsin, taking his wife and six children with him. The family located near Rippon, where they remained until 1860. During their residence in that place, Sylvanus Wetmur was engaged as a farm-hand, which vocation he continued after his removal to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, until 1866. In that year he decided to make Minnesota the home and the journey was made with two yoke of oxen and a covered wagon. This removal was the result of a visit made to the home in Wisconsin, by an uncle, George Wetmur, who persuaded Sylvanus Wetmur to make the change. After reaching Minnesota, they located at Mapleton, Blue Earth county, where the father became employed as a farm hand for two years. He then moved to Steel county, Minnesota, and purchased eighty acres of land, near Havanna and Owatonna, and lived there for many years, moving, in 1890, to California. The names of their ten children are as follow: Josephine Augusta was born on July 6, 1843; died in early infancy. Esther Ann (deceased) was the wife of Daniel Willis and lived in Mapleton, Minnesota. Mary Delia became the wife of George Stephens, and her death occurred at Mapleton, Minnesota, October 16, 1876. Phebe Ellen, born on February 5, 1851, married William Marshall in 1867; issue, one boy, William Marshall, Jr.; then divorced and became the wife of Joseph Carpenter, and her death occurred on April 30, 1914, in Seattle, Washington. Amos H. Wetmur was born on May 5, 1852. Charley L. Wetmur was born on June 29, 1853, is a well driller, thresher and farmer, and lives in Minot, North Dakota. Jane Elizabeth was born on April 21, 1857, and became the second wife of George Stephens; they now reside in San Jose, California. George M. Wetmur was born on March 20, 1855, and was last heard of in Montana in 1878. Willard S. Wetmur was born on October 13, 1860, and is working at the barber trade in Gilroy, California. Orin Eugean [sic] Wetmur was born on October 13, 1861, and died at Morgan Hill, December 4, 1903, and is buried with father, mother and sister (Ellen) at Gilroy, California. George Wetmur, uncle of Amos H. Wetmur, was a prominent man in Minnesota in the early days, and built the first grist-mill at Chatfield, Minnesota. He was also interested in the iron mines of the state in its early history. Amos H. Wetmur received his education in the public schools of Blue Earth and Steele counties, Minnesota, and was reared on the home farm. His first independent business venture was the purchase of forty acres of land, located near Rice Lake, Steele county, in 1875, for which he paid four hundred dollars and which he bought from the Lamberton Land company, of Winona, Minnesota. This farm was cleared and improved and soon after he removed to Cass county, North Dakota, where he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres. After improving the one hundred and sixty acres he added three hundred and twenty acres more, improved this, and then sold out in the spring of 1888, for ten thousand dollars. Previous to this sale he had taken in trade one hundred and sixty acres, located in Hobart township; this was improved and a residence was effected on this land in the fall of 1888. In 1904, after making many improvements, the place was sold and Amos H. Wetmur moved to the town of Vergas, Minnesota, where he purchased forty acres of land within the town corporation. At the time of purchase the land was uncleared and unimproved, but it was cleared and put under cultivation and in 1915 eighteen acres, which was sown to oats and barley, yielded more than one thousand bushels. In 1880 Amos H. Wetmur was united in marriage to Carrie May Hoyle, and to them have been born eight children, whose names follow: Ervin was born on November 23, 1881, is and engineer on the Great Northern railroad, and lives in Minot, North Dakota; Florence was born on February 24, 1883, and married Albert Abraham, and they live in Elhart, Indiana; Bertha, born on June 10, 1885, became the wife of William Long, and they live in Echo, Oregon. Minnie was born on May 6, 1887, is the wife of Glen Crawford, and their home is in Ontario, Canada. Myrtle was born on June 23, 1888, and is the wife of Charles Hauser, and their home is in Fargo, North Dakota. Ernest was born on June 25, 1890, and was married on January 4, 1916, to Borga Burman, and is living at home. Ray was born on December 16, 1895, and is living at home; Pearl was born on October 29, 1897, and is employed as an operator by the local telephone company. Carrie May (Hoyle) Wetmur was born on March 13, 1867, the daughter of Thadous Hoyle, a native of Logansport, Indiana. Amos H. Wetmur is affiliated with the Brotherhood of American Yoemen and is a Socialist in his political views. He has served the public as a justice of the peace for many years, both in Candor and Hobart townships. He has served as school clerk in Hobart for many years, as clerk in the village of Vergas for three years, and was one of the organizers of the village of Vergas. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/santaclara/bios/wetmur1385nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/cafiles/ File size: 7.1 Kb