Cyrus E. Forman, 1840

Transcribed by Janet

Source: 1918 History of Clark Co., WI, by Franklyn, Curtiss-Wedge

Surname: FORMAN, ALLEN, WHEELER, HOLT, JONES, KNEIJEL

         Mr. & Mrs. Cyrus E. Forman

CYRUS E. FORMAN, a thriving agriculturist of Section 13, Weston Township, who has resided in Clark County for the last forty years, was born in Monkton Township, Addison County, Vt., Mar. 2, 1840. He comes of Revolutionary stock and is a son of Jesse and Sally M. (Allen) Forman. The father, Jesse, was also a native of New England, his ancestors being colonial farmers and there is a tradition in the family that during the Revolutionary war some English soldiers rode into the yard of one of the Forman’s grandfather or great grandfather of the subject of this biography and ripped open some feather beds that were hanging on a line and also rode their horses into the house. Jesse and his wife had four children: William H., Cyrus, Malinda and Matilda. Malinda married in Vermont, where she died, but Matilda, who came west, died in Calumet County, Wis., in 1861. William H. fought-in the Mexican War, and also in the Civil War, and it was his account of the West that caused his father Jesse, to come to Neenah, Wis., to see the country and find out what opportunities there were for successful settlement. After arriving there he wrote for his wife and children to join him, but was taken suddenly sick and died about 1850. In 1854 the mother and children came to Manitowoc, Wis.

After coming west she lived with Cyrus until her death in 1888, he being then 14 years old. They rented a house for a few months and in the fall of 1855 Mrs. Forman located a tract of land in Brillion Township, Calumet County, where the family resided for twenty-two years, at first enduring many hardships. At the breaking out of the Civil War, Cyrus E. Forman enlisted, but was rejected on examination. He, however, joined the Union League and, in 1862 enrolled in the town of Brillion for the first draft, and in 1863 for the conscription act. He also joined the Good Templars, when they were first organized and at one time was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

In August, 1862, he married Fannie Olivia West, who was born in Ohio, April 13, 1839. In 1877 he, with his wife and four children-Mary, Wheeler, Allen and Clarence--came to Clark County, locating on a tract of wild land in Section 13, Weston Township. Some chopping had been done on it, and there was a board shed, 12 by 16 feet in size, into which he moved with his family. There being no roads, they had crossed the creek on a log. Mr. Forman began improvements on this place with an ox team and two cows. The farm consisted of forty acres, which he cleared with the assistance of his wife, both working hard for years. Later he added 120 acres more, but has since sold all his land, but the forty-acre tract, on which he and his wife now live. He has served on the township side board and as township clerk for many years, and also on the school board as clerk and treasurer. During his long career in this county, dating from pioneer days, he suffered many discouragements, losing both time and money on account of sickness, but surmounted difficulties and in time attained prosperity. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Church and are people both well known and highly esteemed in this and neighboring townships.

A brief record of their children is as follows: Mary, who married Truman Colvin, died, leaving a daughter, Ethel, who was brought up by her grandparents, and who married W. A. Holt. They live in York Township, and have three sons: Albert, Alfred and Merton. Wheeler is a rural mail carrier, connected with the Neillsville post office. He married Ettie Jones and has two children, Leland M. and Isadora. The latter married William Glassow, Jr., and they reside in St. Paul. Allen Forman, who is farming in Worden, Township, this county, married Eliza Kneijel and has two children, Berl and Verma May. Clarence Forman died in the spring of 1881.

1880 Federal Census--Weston, Clark, WI

Siras E. Foreman @40, b. VT, Farmer, Parents b. VT

Wife: Olivia F. @41, b. OH, School Teacher, Father b. NY, Mother b. PA

Dau: Mary L. @16, b. WI

Son: Wheeler E. @11, b. WI, Student

Son: Allen E. @9, b. WI, Student

Son: Clarence E. @5, b. Wi, Student

Grandmother: Sallie Foreman @73, Father b. CT, Mother b. CT

Other: Safrona McCalvery @23, b. WI, School Teacher, Father b. Ireland, Mother b. NY