BIOGRAPHIES: Lellen S. CHENEY, Barron, Barron County, WI ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor, or the legal representative of the contributor, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Transcribed by Peg Lamkin Edited and submitted by Vic Gulickson 5 March 2002 ==================================================================== Lellen S. Cheney, now living retired in Barron after a long and active career marked by success in educational and scientific fields, was born in Essex, Union county, Ohio, Dec. 4, 1858, on the farm of his parents, Thomas B. and Margaret (Schwartz) Cheney. The father, in addition to being a farmer, was a minister in the Protestant Methodist church. He was also a veteran of the Civil War, having served four years in the Federal army. A year or two after his return home from southern battlefields, his wife, Margaret, died in January, 1867. By her he had two children, Lellan S. and John L., the latter of whom is now a contractor and builder at Fort Collins, Colo. Some time after his first wife's death Thomas B. Cheney married for his second wife, Mrs. Mary Jane Watkins, whose maiden name was Mary Jane Falk. Of this union there were six children born, three of whom are now living, namely: Orpha L., widow of Joseph Avann, residing in Chicago; and Charles W. and George B. (twins), of Washington Court House Ohio. The other three died in infancy. Lellan S. Cheney was a boy of eight years when he lost his mother, and from that time until he was 16 he lived with his paternal grandfather. His education was begun in the rural schools of Ohio and for two winters he also attended school in Illinois. At the age of 21 he began teaching, but after following that occupation a short time, in the fall of 1879 he entered Adrian College at Adrian, Mich. He had been a student there but six months when he ran out of funds, and being obliged to go to work, sought employment with a former acquaintance, a Mr. Haley of Champaign, Ill, for whom he worked as a farm hand until March, 1881, earning from $15 to $16 a month. He then set out for Elgin, Ill, expecting to work in the watch factory there, but, altering his intention, instead went on to Lafayette county, Wisconsin, where he found employment on the farm of Ariel Eastman at $22 a month wages. With Mr. Eastman he remained until August, 1881, after which, having never relinquished his desire for a higher education, he became a student in the Platteville Normal school, from which he was graduated in the spring of 1886. That fall he came to Barron, Wis. to become principal of the Barron schools, a position in which he served acceptably for three years. During this period he took special work one summer in the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and in July, 1889, he moved to that city and entered the University as a student. In the spring of 1891 he was graduated from the general scientific course and was elected "fellow in botany." In the following spring, 1892, he was elected instructor in botany at the University and held that position until the spring of 1896. He was then elected as assistant professor in botany and served as such until the spring of 1903. Owing to ill health, he was then obliged to resign that position, and returning to Barron, bought an 80-acre farm adjoining the city and engaged in agriculture. After operating the farm until 1907, he sold it and went to Colorado, where he spent about a year in prospecting, returning at the end of that time to Barron. In the summer of 1908 Mr. Cheney went to Menomonie, Wis., where for a few months he was a general reporter on the staff of the Dunn County News. In the fall he returned again to Barron to become a candidate for the office of school superintendent of Barron county, to which he was elected in the following spring without opposition, and which he held through successive re-elections until July, 1917. In the fall of that year he took a vacation, visiting Ohio and extending his trip until the Christmas holidays. Then, returning to Barron, he took an active part in war work, becoming a member of the local exemption board. In March, 1918, he was appointed assistant pathologist in the Federal Department of Agriculture, a position in which he served two years. He owns a comfortable residence in Barron. Mr. Cheney was married Dec. 28, 1887, to Ina M. Buckmaster, who was born in Fayette, Wis., January 25, 1861, daughter of Benjamin F. and Alsaida (Cook) Buckmaster, her parents being farmers. He and his wife have been the parents of four children, one of whom died at birth. The three survivors are: Monona L., born Dec. 28, 1890; Russell S., born Feb. 22, 1893, and Lois M., born Oct. 17, 1895. Monona L. was graduated from the Barron High school and Lawrence College at Appleton, from the latter institution receiving the degree of B. A. Later she received the Master's degree from the Teachers' College of Columbia, N. Y., and for three years was a teacher of history in the public schools and high schools of Wisconsin. For the last three years she has been a teacher in a missionary school at Pekin, China. Russell S. Cheney was graduated from the Barron High school and Lawrence College, when he received the B. A. degree. He is now office manager for the Burdeck Tire & Rubber Co., of Noblesville, Ind. He was a member of the Wisconsin National Guard, in which he attained the rank of battalion sergeant major, remaining in that service for seven months. He then entered the officers' training school at Fort Sheridan and was subsequently commissioned captain. He was stationed successively at Camp Custer, Mich., Fort Sill, Okla., Camp Green, N. C., and Mineola, Long Island, N. Y., from the last mentioned place expecting to go overseas, but his expectations were disappointed by the armistice, and after remaining for some time at Camp Upton, Long Island, he was discharged July 3, 1919. Lois M. Cheney, like her sister and brother, was graduated from the Barron High school and Lawrence College, receiving the B. A. degree. She is now in training as a nurse in the Presbyterian Hospital at Chicago, with the object of taking up missionary nursing in foreign lands. The religious affiliations of the Cheney family are with the Methodist Episcopal church. --Taken from: History of Barron Co., Wisconsin, H. C. Cooper, Jr., & Co., 1922, pp.82-83.