Samuel Wesley Okey Biography - Grant County Wisconsin ***************************************************************************** USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ***************************************************************************** Submitted by David W. Taft, dtaft@cowtown.net Southwestern Wisconsin: A History of Old Crawford County, Biographical, Volume III, 1932, Chicago IL, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. Page 380-2 Samuel Wesley Okey had been a resident of Grant county for more than three- quarters of a century when he passed away at his home near Cassville on the 18th of February, 1926, in his eighty-third year. He was born near Carrollton, Missouri, July 10, 1843, his parents being Lewis Morgan and Eunice Caroline (Titus) Okey, the former a native of Woodsfield, Monroe county, Ohio, and the latter of Providence, Rhode Island. It was in 1849 that the family settled in Grant county, Wisconsin, where Lewis M. Okey followed farming pursuits. Eventually he moved into the village of Cassville and established the Cassville Bank, of which he served as president until his death in 1900. He was a worthy exemplar of the teachings and purposes of the Masonic fraternity, to which he belonged, and long enjoyed high standing among the leading citizens of the community which was his home for fifty years. His wife passed away in 1904. The following is an excerpt from an interesting review of the career of Samuel W. Okey which appeared in the Cassville Index in its issue of February 24, 1926, about a week following his death: "Owing to the prevalence of malaria in that newly settled country (northern Missouri), the family moved back to Woodsfield, Ohio, L. M. Okey's former home. There the keen observation of the little boy Samuel furnished him a fund of rich memories which he always retained. Opportunity to own land being better in the new state of Wisconsin, the family came down the Ohio and up the Mississippi to Cassville, and settled on a farm near Burton, close neighbors to the Perrins, Hortons, Elwells, Chapmans, Ashleys, Reeds and many others, most of whom he cherished to his life's end. The six-year-old pioneer then began a life of interesting experiences. He saw deer drink in the river, watched the last panther of the region sharpen his claws, saw wild turkeys fly across the valley, caught fish among the myriads that then swam in Grant, and lived a boy's paradise of hunting. Hardships were plentifully sprinkled among these delightful adventures, which gave him a ready understanding of other people's troubles. He went to school in Burton to Jesse Brooks of Bloomington and Reuben Morse of Beetown. When Samuel was nearly fourteen, in the spring of 1857, his father bought the farm which has been in the family ever since. Busy years followed, helping to open the farm, going to district school winters, and to Tafton (now Bloomington) Seminary for several terms. When he was twenty-one he volunteered for Civil war service, remaining till its close. He was a member of Company E, First Wisconsin Volunteers. With thousands of other soldiers, he saw Lincoln's second inauguration and heard much of the inaugural address. One of his keenest impressions was the memory of his own grief and that of the troops at news of the assassination . . . The deceased had a deep interest in all phases of active life, politics, economics and all problems that touch American life. He had a great love of reading, and a sympathetic understanding which gave him a genius for friendship. He knew and loved a wide circle of people to whose needs he responded with aid and comfort. His many acts of kindness are graven deep in the hearts of his lifetime friends. He had an abiding faith in religion and a firm belief in the hereafter." Like his father before him, Samuel W. Okey joined the Masonic fraternity. He gave his political support to the republican party and was a warm admirer of Robert M. La Follette, Sr. In community affairs he established a record of public service seldom equaled, acting as chairman of the town board of Cassville over an extended period and as treasurer of the school board for forty-nine years. His was indeed a long, useful and honorable career and his memory will ever be enshrined in the hearts of those who knew him. Mr. Okey was twice married, his first wife being in her maidenhood Francesca Joyner. Their daughter, May, is now Mrs. U. L. Holford and has three children, namely: Frances, an instructor at the University of Wisconsin; Eunice, who is Mrs. Wendell L. Phelps, of Milwaukee; and Forrest, who lives with his mother on a farm near Cassville. On the 1st of January, 1872, Mr. Okey was again married, his second union being with Ellen Rice, a half-sister of his first wife. For a number of years she taught school near Cassville, and the same district has numbered among its teachers her stepdaughter, Mrs. May Holford, her own two daughters and her granddaughter, Dorothy Klindt, who was an instructor there in 1930-31. Mrs. Ellen (Rice) Okey departed this life in January 1915, leaving a family of five children. Nellie, the eldest, is the wife of Henry Mink, mentioned at length in another part of this work. Lee W. Okey, who married Mae Birch, passed away in 1919, leaving four children: Verne, Carol, Samuel and Clyde. Blanche is Mrs. G. A. Klindt and the mother of three children, namely: Lillian, the wife of H. E. Carey, of Chicago; Dorothy, who is Mrs. Maurice Buchanan, of Cassville, Wisconsin; and Norman, at home. Ray Okey died in March 1926. Rusk Okey married Miss Martha DiVall and is the father of two children, Mary Ellen and Kathleen Ruth Okey.