Marshall County KS Archives Biographies.....Forter, Samuel 1858 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ks/ksfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com May 23, 2007, 11:19 pm Author: Emma E. Forter (1917) 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 artisans 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, 1902. Elizabeth Walt Forter died in Denver, Colorado, January 24, 1911. The children of the family are all living. Emil, Hulda (now Mrs. Harburg) and Adolph reside in Denver. Alfred, Samuel and Lina (now Mrs. Wiedrich) 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 directions, 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 legislative 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 fourteen 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. In February, 1911, he resigned as pension examiner to accept the postmastership 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 Union town, January 4, 1810, and who was graduated from Franklin College, New Athens, Ohio, in 1836, and from the Alleghany Associate 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. Calderhead 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, Pennsylvania, 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 Upper 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 Wallace and Sarah Jane Wallace were the daughters. Sarah J. Wallace married 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, Samuel 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 Wallace 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 Fairbanks, 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 following 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. 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 Clubs 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 November 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 engineering 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 A. 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. 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 monthy 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 engineering, 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 Trinity 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. William 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 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 daughter 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 ancestral 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 committing 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 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. Additional Comments: Extracted from: History of Marshall County, Kansas: its people, industries, and institutions by Emma E. Forter Indianapolis, Ind.: B.F. Bowen & Co. (1917) File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ks/marshall/bios/forter488gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ksfiles/ File size: 18.5 Kb