Sylvester Eveleth

EVELETH

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 8/27/2010 at 22:07:11

History of Woodbury County, Iowa 1984

Sylvester Eveleth
By Geoge Mirick Eveleth

Pioneer families near Salix, Iowa have traced their ancestors back through Massachusetts to England. Sylvester Eveleth, 1605-1689, was the progenitor of the first Eveleths in North America, having come to Boston in 1642 with his wife and small children. The descendents gradually moved from the Boston and Gloucester area to Sudbury, Acton, Stow and Princeton areas of Massachusetts. There were 19 Eveleths who served in the War for Independence and the husbands of five Eveleth women served in the same conflict.

Charles Whiting, former Judge in Monona County in the mid 1800s, was the son of Laurinda Eveleth, a seventh generation Eveleth in North America. She was a sister of James Mirick Eveleth, father of George Mirick Eveleth and James Edwin Eveleth both of whom settled in Woodbury County in the 1800s. Grandfather George Mirick Eveleth, an eighth generation Eveleth in North America was born at Princeton, Massachusetts, 24 September 1837. In 1858, he made a trip to Monona County, Iowa, to acquire farm land. He travelled by railroad to Des Moines which was as far west as the railroad extended at that time. He travelled the rest of the way on horseback and acquired 160 acres of land near Whiting in Monona County for which I have the original deed signed by Judge C E Whiting in Monona County on 13 September 1858. This is the same Charles E Whiting, son of Laurinda Eveleth and Charles Whiting.

Grandfather, George returned to Princeton, Massachusetts, and on 16 September 1861 he enlisted in the 25th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry for the War Between the States. I have an original hand written roster of the members of this company. He re-enlisted 8 January 1864, was wounded 3 January 1864 at Cold Harbor, Virginia, and was mustered out 13 July 1865. On March 1866 in Acworth, New Hampshire, Grandfather George was married to Emma E Bullard, who was born in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1853.

In 1869, George, Emma and two small daughters travelled to their farm land near Whiting, Iowa. It was a ‘wet’ spring and their land was too wet to farm so they acquired sandy loam land about twenty miles northwest between Sloan and Salix in Woodbury County. In 1870, Grandfather George acquired an additional ten acres of standing timberland three miles west (near the Missouri River) of his farm land. This made available timber that was sawed into lumber to build a large fourteen room home to replace the log cabin which housed the family until the large home was completed in 1873.

Grandfather George died of a massive heart attack while working on his farm in January 1879 at 42 years of age. He was survived by his widow, Emma E Eveleth and six children as follows: Anna Marie, 1868-1946; Herbert F, 1870-1950; Lizzie Ethel, 1872-1892; Eugenia I, 1874-1931; Frederic Leon, 1877-1900; George Mirick, 1878-1955. One daughter, Minnie A, 1866-1877, and one son, Arthur W, 1873-1874, preceded him in death. As Grandfather George died intestate his widow was appointed Administratrix of his estate and hs property was appraised by Messrs. Buy Danforth, J C Currier and F O Hunting. I have the original Woodbury County Court appraisal document signed by the above appraisers as well as Grandmother Emma and witnessed by E B Spalding, County Clerk, dated 4 March 1879. Grandfather George was buried in the Sloan, Iowa cemetery where succeeding family members are also buried. Grandmother Emma continued to manage the farm with the help of her children and hired help.

In 1883, word of a Sioux Indian massacre scare was circulated through the area and families which did not travel to Sioux City for protection gathered at Grandmother Emm’s home where the men watched for a possible Indian attack from on top of the house with the women and children inside of the home. This house was built with a trap door providing access to the roof through the attic. A number of white persons were massacred near Lake Okoboji in northern Iowa by Indian warriors but no Indians were sighted in the Salix area at that time.

My father, Herbert F Eveleth was born in a log cabin in 1870 before the large home was built. He married Polly Blake on September 21, 1898, and they acquired the farm from Grandmother Emma several yars after they were married. Grandmother Emma moved to Ontario, California, where she died in 1929, and her body was returned to Sloan for burial next to Grandfather George. My father and mother continued to farm until my father’s death in 1955. They had issue as follows: Wilfred Blake, 1899-1976; Leon Edwin, 1902-1948; Herbert Thoburn, 1905-1978; Lewis Franklin, 1909-1934; and George Mirick, 1912-

On September 21, 1929, Leon Edwin Eveleth was married to Cecile Graham of Salix, Iowa, and they farmed the adjoining land where Cecile still lives in 1983. They had issue as follows: Edwin Leon in 1930; Phyllis Jean in 1937, now Mrs Ronald Kelly.

I, George Mirick Eveleth completed high school at Salix, Iowa, received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering form Iowa State University and while working took graduate courses at Armour Institute of Technology in Chicago, and at the University of Illinois and University of Iowa. I was married to Beatrice Mary Mullen in Red Wing, Minnesota on September 9, 1940. We have resided in Rock Island, Illinois, most of our married life. I was employed as a Mechanical Engineer and retired in 1977. We have a son, Richard Frederick Eveleth, born November 2, 1947. He received a degree in Biology form Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois, in 1970, serving three years in the US Army including one year South Korea and now resides in Highland Park, Illinois, twenty-eight miles north of the Chicago Loop.

The above Eveleth land at Salix, Iowa is now farmed by Kenneth E Eveleth, son of Edwin L Eveleth. Ken is a twelfth generation Eveleth in America and the fifth generation to farm this land.