By Kenneth Ross Cutler
Library of Congress Catalog Number
CS71
.C989
1961
This book is the record of some of the descendants of JAMES CUTLER, the first Cutler in North
America, arriving from England, at Watertown, Massachusetts Bay Colony, in 1634. Since this is
the largest Cutler family in America, tracing them all would have been beyond our scope, so we
recorded our direct line James(1), James (2), John (3), Timothy (4), Benoni (5), William (6), Collins
Ives (7), along with histories of their times, and adding some histories of the families that joined
them in marriage. Starting with Collins, we listed all of his descendants, grouped in four
"branches" who were his children (8th generation) In 1960, there were 176 descendants (142 then
living)
Digital versions for Website and CD-ROM
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INTRODUCTION
The Cutler Family - An American Story 1634 - 1960
For many reasons the study of history is required of all students in all nations. It is history that
provides the national heritage -- the who we are, what we are, and where we came from, as well
as the national character and traditions. Since history is largely a massive collection of
biographies, taken in sequence, it is also the study of people, the problems they faced and the
way they solved their problems.
Historians quite naturally center their attention on those persons who has happened to be, by
design or accident, in the right place at the right time, at the focal points of history. From these
people the most colorful are developed into national heroes. But the fact remains that in America
it was many thousands of courageous and strong-willed men and women, widely scattered and
largely nameless to history who, acting almost in unison, created the American Legend.
This history of our branch of the Cutler family makes no attempt to seek out ancestors of ancient
importance, nor does it try to pursue connections with any of the standard American heroes.
Rather this is the story of a direct line of American pioneers who, taken in sequence, probably
reflect an American Story as typical as any that could be written. Each generation has faced
"history's most critical period." Each has struggled to advance himself and his children. Each, in
his own way has tried to make his community and nation a better place to live. Many have faced
personal disaster. To me all of these people were quiet heroes. Their raw courage, their dignity,
their tenderness and sacrifice, these are our personal heritage.
Kenneth Ross Cutler
2
THE CUTLER NAME
The history of surnames is most interesting and very closely parallels the commercial and
political history of the western world.
In early times of sparse population and little travel, men were known simply by a single name
such as "John" or other casual identification. About the year 1000, surnames began to appear and
by 1100 perhaps 40% of adults had a second name; indeed, by 1300 when about 25% of all
Englishmen were named John they considered it vulgar not to be known as John "Somebody."
Surnames merely provided additional identification, so were selected just as casually as first
names. There were no family names and each individual adopted an appropriately descriptive
name (John Brown might be the son of James Baker if the father was a Baker and the son dark
complexioned.) Men often changed names when they moved, changed occupations, or merely
wished to change luck. Names all came from four broad categories:
1. Father, or clan (i.e. Allen, Johnson, MacArthur, Ross)
2. Place they came from (i.e. Eaton, Hall, Lane, West)
3. Nicknames (i.e. Brown, White, Small, Strong)
4. Occupation (i.e. Baker, Barber, CUTLER, Smith, Taylor)
Concern over names grew in the 16th century. The Council of Trent in 1563 decreed that all
children were to have one given name, taken from a list of canonized saints and angels, and King
Henry VIII made baptismal registration a legal requirement thus tending to make surnames
permanent from father to son. Until about the time of the American Revolution most men had
two names; after that time middle names began to appear, and from 1809 on all our direct
ancestors had three names.
The surname CUTLER was derived from the French word "coutelier", or knifemaker. The first
English records of the use of the surname is in the early 1200's. At first many variations were
used, such as Cutiller, Coteler or Cutyler, but all. of these, including similarly descriptive names
such as Knyffesmyth were absorbed into the more simple "Cutler." As it was a craft related name
its early bearers are difficult to identify and it is not known when our family adopted the name
permanently.
The largest concentrations of English Cutlers were in Norfolk County and near Ipswich in the
adjoining County of Suffolk.
Americans using the name Cutler have come from many countries, mostly changing their similar
craft-name to the English spelling, or simply adopting the name, so that many Cutlers have no
relation to our family. Perhaps the majority of all the Cutlers in America today, however, spring
from three brothers who came from Sprowston (now Sprauston) two miles north of Norwich,
Norfolk County, England: JAMES CUTLER, our ancestor, who heads the largest branch settled
at Watertown, Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1634, and later John Cutler came to Hingham, and
Robert Cutler to Charlestown.
1
JAMES CUTLER
James Cutler, an Englishman, was born into a world of turmoil in 1606 the year considered the
beginning of the Puritan-Cavalier conflict. It was just three years since England's "Golden Age"
had ended with the death of Queen Elizabeth, and eighteen years since the defeat of the Spanish
Armada.
While Elizabeth reigned, she had relaxed control by the central government almost to the
vanishing point; the result was the greatest spree of progress and development in England's
history before or since, as private individuals tasted their new freedom to act independently.
When James I became king in 1603, he attempted to reassert the power of the central
government and the rights of the monarch over the people and their parliament. As religion was a
matter of state policy in those days, the religious beliefs of the people were involved in the
political struggle as well. Throughout James Cutler's life tension was on the rise, with the
Cavaliers backing, the king on one side, and the Puritans backing the Parliament on the other.
When Charles I became king in 1625, the bitterness of the conflict rose to a point where civil war
was inevitable.
James Cutler must have been caught up in this strife as a young man because few were immune
from the controversy. As James was a Puritan, he was aware of the settlements being established
in North America by Puritans escaping the pressures of the conflict.
When James was born there were no white settlers in North America. Four years later there were
only 210, but by 1634 when James at the age of 28 landed at Watertown, Colony of
Massachusetts, North America had a population of 12,000 white colonists (and about 1,000,000
Indians.) The other major settlements nearby were Boston, Plymouth and Salem.
The myth of the Twentieth Century is that they came to establish religious freedom. Actually
these people were seeking a territory where they could establish their own religious monopoly
and the Congregational Church became the official church of Massachusetts and Connecticut.
The people were severe and single-minded; the deacons ruled the community and only persons in
good church standing had the right to vote. A man who moved from one community to another
had to bring a letter of good standing before he was admitted to the settlement.
Why James came to Watertown is not clear. Whether it was for political reasons, religious
reasons, or sheer adventure we can only guess. Almost immediately upon landing, at the age of
28, he married Anne Cakebread who had been so "tantalized and tormented for her Puritanism"
in England that she and her sister had come alone and unattended to the Puritan Colonies. Her
sister married Ensign Grout. Even after marrying such a strong Puritan, however, there is little
evidence of James' participation in church affairs, and he never became an aggressive political
participant, so it is possible that he was interested in developing an estate, as his reason for
coming to this rough country.
2
On November 6, 1635 his first child was born, and in that same year he had passed all necessary
probation, been received as an inhabitant of Watertown, and had a home lot assigned him. This
consisted of eight acres in the north part of town on the road to Belmont and was bounded by
Common Street on the west, Pond Road on the north by Ellis Barron on the south, and Thomas
Boylston on the east. In the first "great dividend." July 25, 1636, he was assigned 25 acres on
Waltham Plain and 3 acres next to the river. In 1642 in the fourth division, he was assigned 82
acres from the farmlands and four other lots.
After about ten years of marriage, during which time she bore four children, Anne died and was
buried at Watertown on September 30, 1644. Later that winter daughter Elizabeth died. Neighbor
Thomas King and one of his daughters also died, leaving a widow Mary and two small
daughters. On March 9, 1645 James and Widow Mary King were married.
In 1648 James built the first house in Cambridge Farms, a remote area about eight miles to the
northwest of Watertown. It was on a beautiful farm with an extensive view on what today is
Wood Street in Lexington, Massachusetts (the name having been changed from Cambridge
Farms to Lexington in about 1710). While he maintained some contact with Watertown, being
chosen town surveyor in 1651-2, he probably moved permanently to Cambridge Farms about
1651. The population of the Colonies had grown to about 51,700 by this time, and it is very
possible that he was able to sell out favorably and generate capital by the move.
James second wife Mary died about 1662, and he then married Phoebe Page, daughter of
Thomas Page of Watertown, she being "past her prime." The rest of their days were spent
uneventfully.
James died on July 17, 1694, aged 88 years. His will had been made ten years earlier, in 1684
(and in the meantime his son James, Jr. had died in 1685). The will left lands to James, Jr.
Thomas and Samuel. To the rest of the children he gave equal portions of the rest of his estate,
taking into consideration the value of specified gifts of land, goods and money previously given.
He must have given his children generous endowments prior to this time, but his estate still
amounted to slightly over £108. He was known as a diligent honest persevering man of very
kindly and generous instincts."
The children of James and Anne Cutler:
1. JAMES BORN AT WATERTOWN NOVEMBER 6, 1635. SEE FOLLOWING.
2. Hannah born July 26, 1638, married about 1660 John Winter Jr, had nine children, and
died between 1685 and 1689.
3. Elizabeth born January 28, 1639, buried December 30, 1644.
4. Mary born March 29, 1644, married John Coller, Jr.
3
The children of James and Mary Cutler (second wife):
5. Elizabeth born July 22, 1646, married about 1667 John Parmenter 3rd.
6. Thomas, born about 1648, married about 1673 Abagail ---- and died at Lexington, July
13, 1722.
7. Sarah, born about 1653, married by 1673, Thomas Waite, and died at Weston in 1743.
8. Joanna born about 1660, married June 19, 1680 Philip Russell, and died November 26,
1703.
9. Jemima, born about 1661, married on September 22, 1697 Zerubbabel Snow had nine
children, and died March l5, 1744.
The children of James and Phoebe Cutler (third wife):
10. John, born March 19, 1663, married on January 1, 1693, Mary Stearns, and died
September 21, 1714.
11. Samuel, born November 8, 1664.
12. Phoebe, no records available.
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JAMES CUTLER2 (James1)
James Cutler, Jr. was born at Watertown, Massachusetts on November 6, 1635, the eldest son of
James and Anne Cutler, and the first Cutler ever to be born on American soil.
James Jr. lived on or very close to the family homestead all of his life. When he was nine years
old his mother died and his father remarried. At the age of 16 he moved with the family to
remote territory several miles inland from Watertown.
On June 15, 1665, when James was 30 years old, he married Lydia Moore, the widow of Samuel
Wright and daughter of John Moore of Watertown. He purchased land from his father and, like
his father, was a farmer.
In those days everyone farmed. Even the preachers and other professional men spent most of
their time in the struggle to produce food so vital to their existence, and fees for their services
were almost always paid in wheat, corn or their distilled concentrates. The main crop of the day
was corn, which was grown to great height by "fishing" which meant putting a couple of fish in
each hill as it was planted. Hogs were fairly common, but cattle were scarce; most meat was
hunted in the forests which covered the area, and fish were plentiful.
While James’ father and the other colonists had benefited greatly from the advice and friendship
of the great Chief Massasoit, this great man's son Metacomet became alarmed at the expanding
number of colonists and the methodical way they settled on the land and killed off the game
upon which the Indians depended for food. Metacomet decided that either the white man or the
red man eventually had to dominate the natural balance so he formed a coalition of the Indian
Nations in a bitter war to drive the colonists out of America. The colonists named Metacomet
"King Philip" for some reason. On a relative basis, King Philip's War was the bloodiest and most
crucial in which Americans have ever engaged. Nearly one-third of all of the colonists were
massacred before King Philip and his armies were destroyed in Rhode Island in 1676.
James Jr. served in Captain Daniel Henchman's company during this war, and was paid £1-4-3 in
1676 for service.
On July 28, 1685 James Jr, "sick of body" made his will and died a few days later, aged 50 years,
leaving eight minor children and a widow who would survive him 38 years to raise the family.
His estate was valued at £ 226.
It is interesting to note that his estate in 1685 was much larger than his father would leave ten
years later. This probably indicated that he was a most industrious man, both in the improvement
of his land and in accumulation of a store of utensils and grain. Also, it probably indicated that
the father had "sold" him the land at a figure that actually was a transfer. As a further note, when
James' father died ten years later, he left additional lands to James Jr.'s family.
5
The children of James Jr. and Lydia (Moore) Cutler:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
James, born July 12, 1666, died February 1, 1690.
Ann, born April 20, 1669, died after 1707.
Samuel (twin) born May 2, 1672, date of death Unknown.
Joseph (twin) born May 2, 1672, died in 1715.
JOHN, BORN AT CAMBRIDGE FARMS APRIL 14, 1675. SEE FOLLOWING.
Thomas, born December 15, 1677, died December 23, 1759.
Elizabeth, born March 14, 1680. No further record.
Isaac, born about 1684, married about 1712, died in 1758.
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JOHN CUTLER (James2 James 1)
John Cutler was born at Cambridge Farms, Massachusetts, on April 14, 1675, the fifth child in a
family of eight. At this time the 135,000 English colonists were locked in a life-or-death battle
with the Indian Nations. Many families of the area were massacred, and disease was so common
that about half of all the children born lived less than two years.
The Cutlers were fortunate in many respects. In particular, none were killed by Indians, and an
unusually high proportion enjoyed good health and remarkably long life. As a matter of interest,
it appears that none ever became involved in any part of the witch trials or other fantastic
excesses of the day which became so prevalent in the area.
In those days the causes of disease were unknown. Any adversity was likely to be blamed on
"the devil" and sickness was explained as "harboring devils." Perhaps the greatest cause of
disease besides the lack of understanding of its nature, was poor sanitation. The Cutlers usually
lived away from the concentrations of people and this may be a simple explanation of their
general level of good health.
In 1685, when he was ten years old, John's father died, leaving his mother to raise the eight
children. Today that sounds like a desperate predicament, but the nature of early families eased
this common problem somewhat. John's family as he grew up consisted of grandparents, aunts
and uncles on all the adjoining farms, as well as the large group of brothers and sisters. Life was
simple enough that all children did full chores by the age of six, and boys did men's work by the
age of ten. There was very little money, and so little use for it that there were no banks in the
area. Most of the transactions that did take place were based on barter, so that a widow who had
a good farm, and able-bodied sons was better off than might be imagined, except for the personal
loss of the husband.
On February 6, 1700 when he was almost 25 years old, John married Hannah Snow, at nearby
Woburn. Her grandfather, Richard Snow, had been one of the early settlers at Watertown and her
father, John Snow, and mother, the former Mary Green, had taken up farming at Woburn.
John brought Hannah back to the Cutler farm at Cambridge Farms where in the next 13 years
eight of their eleven children were born.
Officially the period from 1702-1713 was Queen Anne's War during which the French incited
the Indians to many skirmishes on the nearby frontier, but this must have been accepted as
routine by the colonists by now. The older settlers probed the fringe areas for new settlement,
selling out profitably as the tide of new people poured in from England, and by, now, from other
countries as well.
7
In the years 1708-9 John and his younger brother Isaac, and cousin Jonathan made several trips
south into the unsettled portions of the Colony of Connecticut. They were attracted to the
opportunities in Killingly Township in the northeast corner of Windham County, Connecticut.
This County was owned by the Colony itself, rather than by individual or corporate grantees.
Eager to attract settlement, the Colony had laid out Killingly Township in 1708, established
certain minimum settlement requirements and granted an option for £40 to Joseph and James
Leavens and a few others to develop the area. John and Isaac bought the mill on the Asawaga or
"Five Mile" River from James Leavens, with Isaac remaining as one of the original 30 settlers.
Jonathan was one of the original 30 also, but sold out in 1710. John's only interest at that time
was the mill, and he returned to the family in Cambridge Farms (now Lexington) to make
arrangements to move south. In 1713 John moved the family to Killingly, Connecticut, in our
family's first major move since 1650. He paid James Leavens £120 for a 200 acre farm next to
Isaac. When you recall that the option on the whole area had cost only £40 four years previously,
the price of triple that for just one farm indicates the values to be had in land promotion.
The Leavens boys were instrumental in getting the Cutlers to move to Killingly, both James and
Joseph Leavens would become ancestors of ours, and for the next 115 years the Cutlers and
Leavens would be intimately associated, so some background should be given.
The original settler, John Leavens, came from Oxford, England in 1632, settled in Roxbury, near
Boston and became a freeman in 1634. Of his three sons, one was killed in King Philips War,
one died in the army unmarried, leaving as sole heir John2 Leavens who later moved to Stratford
where he married Elizabeth Preston and later became one of the original grantees of Woodstock,
Massachusetts (which later was made part of Connecticut.) These people often would go down
the Quinebaug River to the future site of Killingly to cut wood and gather game. John2 Leavens'
four sons James3, Joseph3, Peter3 and Benjamin3 moved to Killingly, with James and Joseph as
the active developers.
James3 Leavens was a most enterprising man. Even as a boy he had collected turpentine and
other materials, selling them to men in the nearby settlements. From this he naturally began to
trade land grants and businesses such as mills in later years. He married Mary Chamberlain of
Woodstock. His son John4 became a man of the greatest prominence in later years, and his
daughter Elizabeth4 married our Timothy4 Cutler in 1733.
Joseph3 Leavens was the leading citizen of Killingly for many years, being Justice of the Peace
for the County most of the time and often being called upon to settle the affairs of neighboring
communities. He was known as "old one-thumb" most of his life, since he had been bitten on the
thumb by a rattlesnake when he was working in the woods alone at the age of seventeen, and
knowing that he had to act quickly, simply chopped off the thumb with his axe. Though he was a
kind and generous person renowned for fairness, he was such a dignified and imposing man that
the entire community lived in awe of him and he is said to have terrified the young children.
Joseph married Judith, the only daughter of Major John Sabin, "a bold and active pioneer and
leading military spirit" whose services were acclaimed by various colonial governments.
(William Sabin, John's father, was a wealthy French Huguenot who had gone to England to
escape the persecution of the Catholic Church, and then had come to America where John had
been born.)
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Justice Joseph3 Leavens' son Joseph4 married Alice4 Eaton (Jonathan3 John2 Johnl) on February
18, 1736 in a fashionable wedding performed by Parson Marston Cabot and the couple settled on
an estate given by Justice Leavens. Their eldest daughter Lurana5 married our Benoni5 Cutler in
1763.
But back to John Cutler and his family. After moving to Killingly in 1713 John ran the mill
along with his brother Isaac who had married after his arrival in Killingly. Also John ran his farm
which was so close to the Rhode Island Line that when the border finally was established, it went
right through his house. Litigation went on for nearly 50 years with the heirs finally losing some
of the estate to Rhode Island claimants.
John Cutler divided his estate on September 8, 1727 (presumably he died shortly thereafter
though there is no record of his death.) He gave Seth, TIMOTHY and Uriah 176 acres, plus twothirds interest in his sawmill property, gave each a yoke of oxen, and one-third of his farming
utensils. It bound these three sons and Hezekiah to share equally the expense of maintaining their
Uncle Samuel during his life, and to pay Mary and Jemima £5 each within three years. It gave
Hannah 20 acres and part of his household goods upon death of his wife. It gave daughters
Abagail, Patience and Keziah equal parts of a tract of land, and gave to Hezekiah the balance of
his property and the responsibility to provide for his mother Hannah during her life, to provide
for the upbringing of the children, and to give each sister except Hannah £5.
While not too much is known about John, certain characteristics are immediately evident. He
took family responsibilities seriously, charging the boys with specific duties such as maintaining
their Uncle Samuel, who must have been disabled, and directing Hezekiah to bring up the
children thus virtually assigning him the duty to remain on the estate. He also multiplied the
value of family property and left a spotless reputation in the community.
The children of John3 and Hannah (Snow) Cutler:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Hannah, baptized November 30, 1701. Married Dr. Holmes.
Mary, baptized July 4. 1703. Married Joseph Bacon, Jr.
Seth (twin) baptized July 29, 1705. Married Elizabeth Babcock.
TIMOTHY (TWIN) BAPTIZED JULY 29, 1705. SEE FOLLOWING.
Hezekiah, born 1706, baptized April 20, 1707. Married Susanna Clark.
Dinah, baptized September 4, 1709.
9
7. Jemimah, baptized May 27, 1711. Married Benjamin Corbin.
8. Uriah, baptized March 29, 1713. Married Rachael Campfield.
9. Patience, baptized September 1, 1717.
10. Keziah, baptized July 19, 1719.
11. Abagail, mentioned in the will, but no other record available.
10
TIMOTHY CUTLER (John3 James2 Jamesl)
Timothy Cutler was born in July 1705, and baptized July 29, 1705, together with his twin brother
Seth. Timothy was one of four boys and seven girls. At the time of his birth there were about
300,000 colonists in America. The relatively unimportant Queen Anne's War was in progress
between France and England, involving among other things, the fringe areas of Hudson's Bay
and Nova Scotia, and Britain's exclusive right to the slave trade in the colonies.
When he was eight years old, in 1713, the family moved to Killingly, in the Colony of
Connecticut. This was newly developed country which was quite rocky and hilly and not too
adaptable to good farming without a great deal of clearing, but it offered some excellent mill
sites on the streams. Timothy father had purchased an interest in a mill, and when the family
later moved to that area he also bought a farm so that the family was pursuing several interests.
As Timothy grew up he must have been impressed with the merits of pioneering development.
The Cutlers had been among the first to open wild lands to settlement. At a time when the
country was very poor, our family was accumulating a rising level of wealth and influence.
Where it was a general practice for the sons of colonists to become "bound boys" at a very early
age to get a stake (and many adults were indentured for periods of years for nominal pay) the
Cutler boys were free all of their lives and had sufficient capital to explore the opportunities in
the expanding colonies.
Timothy's father died in 1727, leaving him a good inheritance at the age of 22. His uncle Isaac,
who owned the mill in partnership with his father, took over its operation, freeing Timothy and
his brothers Seth, Uriah and Hezekiah of the responsibility and giving each some additional free
capital. Hezekiah was given the duty of caring for the family farm and their mother, so he was
obligated to remain permanently settled to supervise family affairs.
Killingly did not hold much attraction for the expanding family, for it was developed about to the
limit of its pioneering possibilities. Uriah soon sold his inheritance and moved to Morristown,
New Jersey in 1734; Seth sold and moved to Hampton, Connecticut in 1738.
Timothy had married, on March 17, 1733, Elizabeth Leavens, the daughter of James Leavens of
whom we spoke earlier. Timothy was highly impressed with the commercial exploits of his
father-in-law, and traveled between the various centers of activity. During the winter of 1736-37
whether he was preparing to move from Killingly, or more likely merely engaging in trading, he
died at the age of 31 while in Windham Connecticut, then an important commercial center to the
west of Killingly. He left his widow Elizabeth pregnant with their only child who was born
August 17, 1737. Elizabeth named him Benoni, apparently selected from the list of biblical
names so much in fashion.
11
The court ordered Timothy's brother Hezekiah to inventory and administer the estate, although
no records of its settlement now exist. Elizabeth went home to her father James Leavens, where
Benoni was born.
12
BENONI CUTLER (Timothy4 John3 James2 James1)
Benoni Cutler, the only son of Timothy Cutler was born on August 17, 1737 under tragic
circumstances. His father was dead and his young mother was at her parents' home.
Young Benoni was fortunate in two important respects, however. His father left an estate that
was large enough for him to maintain community identity, and his family was of sufficient
stature to assure a sound upbringing. He was never bound out.
During most of his first seven years Benoni lived with grandfather James Leavens, one of the
town's original developers and certainly the best commercial operator in the area. Here he
learned his "numbers" and other practical measurements of value.
Part of the time Benoni stayed with uncle Hezekiah Cutler, the administrator of his estate, and
occasionally with grandmother Cutler who had married Deacon Eleazer Bateman. Both exerted a
very strong influence over Benoni, stressing family identity and traditions that would be in
evidence throughout his life.
Often Benoni stayed on the neighboring farm of uncle John Leavens, who had eight sons. Uncle
John was a strong personality who served as Deputy for Killingly in the Colony of Connecticut's
General Assembly. John's wife (the former Mary Winter) may have been somewhat of a
matchmaker as Benoni’s mother Elizabeth Cutler and Samuel Winter, Jr. were married on April
12, 1744 in a ceremony performed by Justice Joseph Leavens.
Other changes marked Benoni's seventh year as special. That summer grandfather James
Leavens died; and on December 23, 1744 his half-sister Marsilva Winter was born (in later years
Ephriam Winter would be born on April 16, 1750; Patience Winter on September 18, 1752 (but
lived only four years); Elizabeth Winter on April 5, 1755).
Despite the large number of close relatives, Benoni grew up somewhat as an orphan. In those
days the ties between father and son were very strict. There was little real wealth, and families
were large; girls carried a dowry which was their part of family responsibility, and most other
wealth was channeled to the sons. Indeed it was common for families to concentrate everything
they had on one son in a desperate attempt to build family standing. While Benoni had much to
be thankful for, gaining many advantages from family association, he was left to his own devices
to build upon what he had and advance his station in life.
There is no evidence of formal education in Benoni's early years as the only schools in the area
were the tutoring classes held informally by the ministers. Uncle Hezekiah Cutler put all of the
family's assets into cousin Manasseh Cutler's education, having him tutored by Rev. Aaron
Brown, and then sent through Yale College (this launching later proved most successful as
Manasseh moved into the elite circles of Boston, became a minister, surgeon, diplomat,
congressman and foremost American naturalist).
13
While other members of the family were receiving special training a great deal of it rubbed off
on Benoni and he developed widely diversified abilities. He was greatly influenced by the Cutler
and Leavens families, but there is little evidence of association with the Winter family. When he
was nineteen years old, in 1756 his mother died, and by now all of his grandparents were dead as
well.
In 1754 the struggle between European powers had involved the Colonies in the outbreak of the
French and Indian War. This was over title to vast lands of the interior of America, far removed
from existing settlements, but the colonists, as British subjects, inevitably were drawn into the
war.
Military action in those days was not a continuously sustained affair, but rather a series of
excursions or campaigns that might last a few days or months, and fighting units usually
disbanded for the winter. It was the practice of the Colonial Assemblies to activate military units
on an almost casual basis suitable for the needs of the moment. Regular units were organized to
serve for specific periods of time; the Militia were authorized for a particular skirmish, if needed;
and the Minutemen were the proper citizens throughout the Colony who could be depended upon
to spring into immediate action in any local emergency that might arise without the delays of
requisition and recruiting.
For the Campaign of 1756, Uncle John Leavens was commissioned First Lieutenant by the
Connecticut General Assembly and assigned to the 1st Regiment, 3rd Company, and Benoni
enlisted as a Private. Principal action was the expedition against Crown Point.
For the Campaign of 1757, Benoni served 15 days as a corporal in Captain Grosvenor's Militia
Company, which was organized to march to the relief of Fort William Henry.
The Campaign of 1758 was a more spirited affair for Benoni. William Pitt had become Prime
Minister of England and demanded more Colonial participation. Benoni enlisted as a corporal in
the 3rd Regiment, 3rd Company, under Major Israel Putnam, at Fort Edward, and this unit served
under Major General Abercromby, the Commander-in-chief of the King's forces in North
America. Many of the men were wounded or killed in the campaign against Fort Ticonderoga
and Major Putnam was captured.
In the Campaign of 1761 Benoni served in the 1st Regiment, 2nd Company, under Israel Putnam
who had been exchanged and was now a Lieutenant Colonel. They served through the winter
into 1762.
14
The Treaty of Paris, signed by the British in 1763 reshaped the map in a manner that infuriated
the Colonists. It drew a western line roughly down the Allegheny Mountains, called the
Proclamation Line of 1763, and pledged to the Indian Nations that none of the Colonists would
be permitted to migrate westward into Indian Territory. Just as the Colonists had begun to flex
their growing muscles they suddenly were bottled up. They felt betrayed and from that time
forward increasingly found fault with everything Britain did.
On December 22, 1763 at the age of 26, Benoni married Lurana Leavens, his second cousin. She
was born on November 18, 1743, the fourth child and eldest daughter of Joseph Leavens Jr. and
Alice (Eaton) Leavens. Lurana was a bright, vivacious and energetic girl who always had been
old Justice Leavens' favorite granddaughter. She brought a generous dowry with her.
Benoni and Lurana took up farming in Killingly and settled down to raising a family. Their first
child, Charles, was born on May 7. 1765 (named after Lurana's younger brother); Theophilus
was born on October 9, 1767; WILLIAM was born on April 13, 1770, just five weeks after the
Boston Massacre; Joseph was born on March 18, 1772 (named after Lurana's father) and
Rebecca was born in October, 1774.
By now the Colonists were heading for trouble that had been a long time brewing. From the
earliest days of settlement these people had been strong individualists who had opposed the king
in every attempt to establish centralized control over their affairs. While braving the dangers of
the frontier and setting their own way of life these people had become a nation apart long before
the Revolution.
Americans reflected a casual independence that grew out of the frontier. Fewer than 5% of the
people lived in cities, with the rest living on farms or in tiny communities like Killingly, widely
scattered and exposed to many dangers. They lived with trouble. The typical American was lean
and rugged, possessed of a broad sense of humor, and nothing delighted him quite as much as a
clever bit of political hokum, particularly if directed at his British "superiors." Someone labeled
British taxation as "tribute" and this struck a responsive chord with most Americans. A powerful
and humorless British king made little attempt to understand this character.
Relations between Britain and the American leaders grew increasingly bitter between 1763 and
1775 as misunderstandings compounded and nerves grew thin. Tenseness became so great by
1775, that every small village in New England had a store of powder and a "battle plan" in the
event they were attacked by Redcoats. On April 18, 1775 when British Regulars were sent from
Boston to arrest John Hancock and Samuel Adams, this spark ignited the Colonists. Paul Revere
set out on his famous ride and a small band of Minutemen met the British the next day at
Lexington, on the village green.
When the first blood of the Revolution was drawn at Lexington, on April 19, 1775, the "shot
heard round the world" was fired a mere stone's throw from the place where James Cutler had
built the first house in town over a century before.
15
It took until well after midnight for word to reach Killingly. As one of the town's elder citizens it
was Uncle Hezekiah Cutler’s job to alert the town to danger by prearranged signal of firing three
shots. The town’s store of shot and powder was distributed and before sunup Benoni and a dozen
of the other local Minutemen had set off on foot to cover the fifty miles in response to the
"Lexington Alarm."
Within three days only feeble old men and very young boys remained in Killingly to defend the
town from marauders. Panic and rumors swept the area. Young William took his turn as a
lookout on the roof, while Lurana, along with the other village women kept pots of water boiling
as the only available weapon.
Cousin Benjamin Leavens, who had succeeded his father John as Deputy in the General
Assembly, headed for New Haven to act on the emergency. Fortunately Governor Jonathan
Trumbull backed the Americans, and on April 26, 1775 the General Assembly resolved that
"since sundry acts of violence and hostility have lately been committed in the Province of
Massachusetts Bay, by which many lives have been lost, and that some of the inhabitants of this
Colony are gone to the relief of the people distressed .... a committee.... is hereby appointed to
deliver provisions to those who have become involved in the hostilities."
An indication of the confusion may be seen in the fact that Governor Trumbull, who was
"Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief over His Majesty's English Colony of Connecticut in
New England and America," took action to oppose the king's British Regulars" by virtue of the
power and authority to me given in the Royal Charter to the Governor and Company of the said
Colony, under the Great Seal of England, for the special defense and safety of His Majesty's said
Colony." This was by no means a revolution; rather this was one group of Englishmen bitterly
opposing another group of Englishmen over "rights" which neither thoroughly understood. Most
Colonists expected eventual settlement of grievances with the king.
Under the seal of the Colony of Connecticut, "in the 15th year of the reign of His Majesty King
George III" Benoni Cutler was commissioned a First Lieutenant on May 1, 1775, to serve in
Connecticut's 3rd Regiment headed by Colonel Israel Putnam. The General Assembly directed
that this Regiment was to serve no more than seven months and must be disbanded on December
10.
Benoni already had been among the "embattled farmers" laying siege to Boston for ten days, and
now along with Captain Joseph Elliot swiftly moved to organize the 3rd Regiment's 8th
Company and took their place on the siege line in Putnam's Center Division at Cambridge.
The Second Continental Congress convened at Philadelphia early in May, but was very careful
not to act hastily. The units at Boston hardly were mentioned by Congress until June 15th when
they picked a moderate aristocrat from Virginia, George Washington, to command all of the
Continental Forces.
Washington fully expected that he would be able to help effect a reconciliation between the
Congress and the king by unifying all American forces in a show of determination. But before he
could get to Boston these hopes received a severe blow.
16
General Gage, the British Governor of Massachusetts, had received instructions to restore order
in the Colony, so he issued a proclamation stating that a pardon would be given to all persons
departing peaceably, but treating as outlaws and traitors John Hancock, Samuel Adams and all
others who persisted in resisting the king's troops. This failed to intimidate the Colonists.
On June 16th Colonel Prescott led a fatigue party of about 1,200 men on an all-night chore of
fortifying Breed's Hill. About 200 men and the Lieutenants of the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th
Companies of the Third Regiment were tabbed for this duty, but Benoni's 8th Company was not
involved. The next day, June 17th, the British attacked this party in the Battle of Bunker Hill.
While Benoni had a fine view of the affair, neither he nor any of his men were directly involved
as far as is known, beyond being among the units covering the retreat.
When General Washington arrived on July 2, both sides were aware that a war, rather than a
dispute was in progress as a result of the bloodshed at Bunker Hill. Confusion bordering on
chaos gripped the entire country, and the scene in Washington's Army was little better.
On July 25 Congress adopted all formally organized units engaged at Boston designating them
Continental Troops. Washington was faced with a great deal of regrouping in the attempt to get a
semblance of an Army out of the mess at hand.
Colonel Putnam was promoted to General and given another command; Benoni's unit was
attached to the 34th Continental Regiment of Foot. Captain Elliot, who was sick was discharged
on August ll, and Second Lieutenant David Perry was discharged on September 6. Benoni was
made a Captain and given the delicate job of holding his unit together.
All of his men were from Killingly, and the Connecticut General Assembly in authorizing the
unit had ordered that it could not remain in service beyond December 10, 1775, just three months
hence. Most of these men had dashed away from the farm without laying in a store of winter
wood, and many had left the harvest to the women. They had come here to beat back an attack,
much as they would answer the call to an Indian raid, but now all they were doing week by week
was sit around camp while Washington tried to make soldiers out of them. This was not their
purpose, in the main, so holding them was difficult. Eleven of Benoni's men deserted during the
fall and by December 1st, having only ten days to go, the massive early departures from all of the
Connecticut units drove Washington to despair. By December 14, 1775 all of his men had been
mustered out, so Benoni was then mustered out and returned to Killingly.
While they had been whiling away the weeks on the siege line, Benoni and his men had
speculated on many subjects, most of which concerned the future. Colonel John Stark and 300
hardy backwoodsmen from the New Hampshire Grants gained the admiration of everyone in
camp, and Benoni was most interested in the information they brought about the status of the
development companies which had been chartered by Governor Wentworth of New Hampshire
much as Killingly had been chartered over sixty years previously.
17
At this time, and it appeared forever the western frontier was closed. The blossoming population
was going to have to go somewhere, for it had tripled so far during Benoni's own lifetime, from
800,000 in 1737 to the present 2,400,000. The Connecticut River Valley presented some
intriguing possibilities as the logical avenue of expansion; there were no roads, and the
Connecticut River was the main "highway" to the north through Connecticut, Massachusetts, the
Grants and toward Quebec. It was an area complete with forests, farm sites and mill sites. Few
settlers were as yet more than 50 miles north of the Massachusetts Line.
When Benoni returned to Killingly it was obvious that nothing would ever be the same. America
was in turmoil. Benoni contemplated the present position of Lurana and the five children, the
future course of family fortunes, and the question of their survival. Just after the Boston
Massacre, cousin Mannsseh who lived near Boston, had brought his only son Ephiam to the safe
distance at Killingly and left him for uncle Hezekiah to raise. Now Benoni feared for the safety
of his family at Killingly.
The decision as to what to do was not hard to reach. Benoni went north to the New Hampsire
Grants and found the situation to be just as they had heard up at Boston. Here was an opportunity
to duplicate the legendary successes of grandfathers John Cutler and James Leavens, but on a far
grander scale. The very roughness of the area that presented pioneering opportunity also spelled
safety for the family even if accompanied by hardship. He hurried home.
Back in Killingly Benoni consulted with the men who had been with him at Boston, Sergeants
Jonathan Buck, Benjamin Cady, Sam Spaulding, Sam Willson, and Corporal Darius Leavens
(Lurana's brother.) They decided to move north as soon as affairs could be arranged. During the
spring of 1776 Benoni moved the family north to a tiny village called Windsor on the west bank
of the Connecticut River, in the disputed area of the New Hampshire Grants. Here they pitched a
tent and went about the business of getting settled. The Bucks, Cadys, Willsons and Spaulding
soon followed. Darius Leavens became ill and remained in Killingsly.
That winter the realization dawned upon the colonists that a full-fledged Revolution was under
way as the colonial leaders decided that it was "better to hang together than hang alone." The
Continental Congress, meeting in the spring of 1776, called upon Connecticut to supply troops.
The vast majority of service rendered was on paper only or at best for a few days muster. Many
of the men from Killingly refused to become involved further. The General Assembly
commissioned Benoni a Captain, to serve for the period of one year, from May 14,1776, and
urgently requested that he accept. As the family was now entrenched and chores assigned, he did
so, and left to join his unit in New York, sometime in July.
18
The changed position of the Colonies was already evident. Where Benoni had been
commissioned in the king's name the year before, now his commission read " ... to serve in a
Regiment of Foot raised by the Colony of Connecticut, for the defense of the United Colonies ...
according, to the directions of Congress."
Benoni was assigned to Colonel Andrew Ward's Regiment, made up of men from all over
Connecticut with no other officers from the Killingly area. While the records of this Regiment
are fragmentary the order of listing of the Captains would indicate that Benoni was in command
of the 5th Company. It is interesting to note that in the frist allocation in 1775, Col. Ward's 5th
Company was commanded by Captain Benedict Arnold who soon was transferred and now, in
1776 was in command of General Putnam’s old Regiment. Thus Benoni literally replaced
Benedict Arnold.
When he arrived in New York Benoni camped near Fort Lee. Meanwhile, The Declaration of
Independence had been adopted in Congress on July 4, 1776 and on August 2 almost all of the
members had signed it. This provided Washington's Army with a rallying point, which was badly
needed.
The British had determined to take New York, and when Benoni arrived on the scene he faced
the awe-inspiring spectacle of the greatest Expeditionary Force in British history. The British
forces at Staten Island numbered 32,000 professional soldiers, 500 naval vessels standing by
with the most concentrated fire-power in naval history, and their war chest amounted to the vast
sum of £ 850,000. Against this huge force the Americans had the largest force they would
assemble in the War, 19,000 untrained amateur soldiers, led by amateur officers, having few
supplies, no ships, and a treasury that consisted of a printing press in Philadelphia.
To make matters worse, Washington complained that these New England farmers were so
imbued with the idea of equality, that discipline was impossible and "every private fancies
himself a general." Each man dressed as he pleased, usually in rag tag fashion. Most units were
run much like a town meeting, with the officers holding little more influence than a moderator;
they would lead, and hope they were followed.
During the last week of August the British made their move. Landing on Long Island August 27
they dealt the scattered American forces a severe defeat in the Battle of Long Island. Two days
later in a miraculous all-night operation the Army escaped to New York in small boats.
This defeat threw the transient elements of the Army into panic. Whole regiments of the Militia
went home. Benoni's unit was attached to General Heath's Third Division and told to hold the
ground from Harlem up to Kingsbridge. General Greene assembled the Militia units and tried to
hold Kip's Bay but on September 15 he suffered a disgraceful rout. The next day a British attack
on Harlem heights was beaten off so severely that the British withdrew for several weeks.
When the British formed again in force the Americans withdrew to White Plains where on
October 28 and 29 they fought a losing but effective battle.
19
By now winter was upon them. Almost all of the men still wore their summer shirt sleeves; their
clothes and shoes were in shreds. Most of the men were enlisted for terms to end on either
December 1 or January 1. When Forts Washington and Lee fell toward the end of November, the
men began leaving in droves. Benoni's unit was temporarily stationed at North Castle and
ordered to prevent General Howe's Army from moving north. Then Washington decided to move
south into New Jersey. Benoni, along with almost the entire Army retreated over icy roads,
sleeping in the snow without blankets, finally, escaping across the Delaware River. Fortunately,
General Howe on December 14, sent his British and Hessian troops into winter quarters.
Washington had only 6,000 troops left, and on January 1 would be reduced to about 1,400 unless
enlistments were obtained. Benoni's ran until May 14. This was Washington's darkest hour. His
only hope was to gamble the entire Army, while he had one, in a master stroke to pep up the war.
On Christmas night, 1776, with Washington leading, the entire force attempted a crossing of the
Delaware River at various points. Benoni accompanied Washington. It was a nasty night with a
high wind and rain that turned to sleet, freezing in the men's hair and drenching their summer
clothes. It was nearly 8:30 in the morning when they reached Trenton, hours behind schedule,
and having lost the advantage of surprise.
Rain was falling, rendering their flintlock muskets useless. The Hessian Regiments of Rall,
Lossberg and Knyphausen were quartered in Trenton. After an all-day fight, mostly hand to
hand, a large number of the Hessians escaped, leaving many prisoners and all of their provisions.
The British were staggered by the news. Three of the world's finest professional military
Regiments had been routed by a ragged, starved, half frozen, undisciplined mob of farmers who
had been marching in the rain all night. The effect was just as profound on the Americans who
saw new hope. Many of the men volunteered to stay for an additional two months, and new
recruits became to come in.
Cornwallis immediately reassembled his forces and advanced to drive the Americans back into
the River. On January 2, 1777, he was poised to attack the next morning. That night Washington
ordered 400 of his men to keep the campfires burning brightly while keeping, up a loud racket
with shovels as if they were digging entrenchments. While this went on the entire Army stole out
of camp, around the British Army, and marched to Princeton where on January 3 they took the
British 17th, 40th and 55th Regiments by surprise and soundly defeated them. By the time the
battle was over, the Americans had been in action for forty hours without food or sleep.
In a matter of ten days fewer than 5,000 Americans, suffering untold hardships had driven twice
that number of well-fed professionals out of New Jersey. Washington then withdrew to
Morristown, New Jersey on January 6, entrenching there for the winter. Benoni welcomed this
move, since uncle Uriah Cutler lived there and a hot meal awaited.
20
Meanwhile the family was in the midst of trouble on the northern frontier. British General
Burgoyne had offered the Indians a bounty of about $5 apiece for colonist's scalps in the New
Hampshire Grants. In addition, in January 1777, the settlers in the Grants had declared
independence from all claimants (New York, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Britain),
called themselves "New Connecticut" and were facing a free-for-all involving all of them. When
his enlistment, expired on May14, 1777, Benoni returned to the family at Windsor. About a
month after his return the settlers adopted a Constitution, and the name Vermont.
Benoni now was living in Windsor, Vermont, an independent state. He also owned land and
grants across the Connecticut River at Plainfield, New Hampshire. During the entire period from
1777 to 1784 Benoni held offices of public trust and headed civic committees on both sides of
the River. In addition, he generated a reasonably comfortable amount of capital in the sale of his
lands and grants.
On October 13, 1778 Royal was born at Windsor. The next year Charles Leavens (Lurana's
brother) moved to Windsor, bringing his family, Lurana's mother, and the widow and children of
Darius Leavens who had died at Killingly. Several of Lurana's Eaton cousins moved to
neighboring areas. In 1780 Benoni moved the family across the River to Plainfield where he was
developing land. There in January 1781, Lucy was born and in July 1783, Erastus was born.
Benoni's original move northward was proving to have been well timed. Population was growing
rapidly right upon his heels. On September 3, 1783 the British formally recognized American
independence in signing the Treaty of Paris; while Vermont continued as an independent state,
not recognized by Congress, at least the northern border was fixed. Benoni again looked
northward.
In the spring of 1784 he went about 130 miles up the Connecticut River to a tiny village named
Guildhall. Here he pitched a tent on the meadow while becoming acquainted with the area, its
people and its possibilities for development.
The charter for Guildhall had been granted on October 10, 1761, to 64 residents of New Haven
County, Connecticut. Many of the prominent families of Wallingford and Meriden were among
the owners. The town was divided into twelve "settler's lots" of 130 acres each, but later lot
number twelve was enlarged to 400 acres as a bonus given to Abner Osgood and Colonel Ward
Bailey in consideration of the extraordinary expenses incurred in building the town's two mills.
Settlers arrived very slowly at first, with David Page bringing the first family as permanent
settlers in 1761, When Benoni arrived in 1784 there were only a few dozen families in Guildhall
and the adjoining communities of Granby, Maidstone and Lunenberg.
In 1784 America's population was increasing rapidly, with a stream of expansion surging
northward through the Connecticut River Valley. There were no settlers west of the AlleghenyMountains, and it appeared that the main interior avenue of trade with Quebec might well pass
through Guildhall.
21
This spelled economic opportunity to Benoni, so the next year he moved the family to Guildhall
after purchasing lot number twelve and the mills from Osgood and Bailey. In December 1786,
Zara, the last of the children, was born at Guildhall.
Almost immediately after settling in Guildhall Benoni was chosen Justice of the Peace for
Orange County, which covered most of the northern half of the State. Later, when this county
was split, he held most of the important offices in the new Essex County.
Such offices called for great diplomacy as well as strict principles at that time. The country just
had been through a bitter period of sharply divided loyalties, emotions ran high and there was no
established body of law except English law -- and Congress came within one vote of making
German the official American language (in breaking the 27-27 tie in favor of the English
language, Frederich Augustus Muhlenberg, who later became the first Speaker of the House,
perhaps cast the most important single vote in history. He chose English because the Colonists
were largely illiterate and a switch would compound the chaos at hand.) Vermont remained an
independent country until 1791 when it was admitted to the Union as the 14th State.
While life during this period must have been confusing, the day-to-day activity in Guildhall
proceeded in a remarkably similar pattern to that of Killingly in its earlier stages.
When Killingly first had attracted a preacher in 1709, Reverend Fiske received as an inducement
350 acres of good land. Now Guildhall was in a similar situation, and at the Town Meeting of
1788 they voted to "raise 25 bushels of wheat to hire a preacher, and horsekeeping, and board."
Apparently this was not enough, for in the Town Meeting of 1789 it was voted to "give Mr. Bell,
as a settlement, 335 bushels of good merchantable wheat, provided he settles in Guildhall." For
ten years this haggling went on, and it was not until April 1, 1799 that Benoni and six others
finally organized the Congregational Church of Guildhall. Typical of earlier days, Benoni and
the town elders imposed a stern example of conduct upon the whole population.
Meanwhile, back in Boston, cousin Manasseh Cutler had joined with Colonel Rufus Putnam (the
Army's Chief Engineer during the Revolution) in a land development plan that was the
granddaddy of them all. In 1787 they induced Congress to pass the Northwest Ordinance of
1787, and grant their Ohio Company 1,500,000 acres in the Ohio Valley. Soon after Uncle
Hezekiah died in 1792, Ephriam sold the farm and moved to Marietta, Ohio. Ironically,
Manasseh's success in turning the frontier from the north to the west eventually removed much
of the profit from Benoni's well-laid plans.
Benoni spent 22 years in Guildhall. Before he died at the age of 69, in 1806, he lived to fulfill
most of his ambitions. Where he had been raised by a succession of relatives, he headed a large
and tightly-knit family group only one of whom was a minor at his death; where his grandfather
had owned a mill and 200 acres, he had two mills and 400 acres; where the relatives who raised
him held important offices some of the time, he held such offices almost all of the time; where
his relatives were church members, he organized one. He had used his wealth effectively in
launching his family, as his sons all became community leaders, and his daughters married well.
Certainly he must have died quite contented with his life.
22
The children of Benoni and Lurana (Leavens) Cutler:
1. Charles, born May 7, 1765 at Killingly. Married Chloe Blake and lived in Guildhall for
thirty years, holding various positions of public trust, including Judge of Probate in 181112. In 18l5 he moved to Ithaca, New York, later to Galena, Illinois, and he died at the age
of 89 in 1854 at Racine, Wisconsin. The children were (1) Calvin (2) Petronella (3)
Lurana (4) Gerard (5) Lucy (6) Marcia.
2. Theophilus, born October 9, 1767 at Killingly. Married Susan Ames and Sarah Reeves
and lived in Guildhall until his death at the age of 86. He served as Constable and Tax
Collector. Children were (1) Jeremiah (2) Harriet Lois (3) Clarissa (4) Seth (5) Aldrich
(6) Susan (7) Charles F.
3. WILLIAM. SEE FOLLOWING
4. Joseph, born March 18, 1772 at Killingly. Died unmarried 1814
5. Rebecca, born October 1774 at Killingly. Married Caleb Amy, lived in Guildhall for
many years, finally moving to Cattarragus County, New York, where she lived to the age
of 90.
6. Royal, born October 13, 1778 at Windsor. Married Hannah Cushman and lived in
Guildhall until he died in 1856 at the age of 78. Hie was an important man in Guildhall
all of his life, serving as Town Clerk, Selectman, Lister, Overseer of the Poor, Justice of
the Peace, Judge of the County Court, Judge of Probate, delegate to the Constitutional
Convention of Vermont, and Treasurer. Children were (1) Sarah (2) Fanny (3) Lydia (4)
Harriet Newell (5)Royal (6) Mary (7) Milton S. (8) Ellen. Until she died in February
1823 his mother, Lurana lived with him.
7. Lucy, born January 1781 at Plainfield. Married Deacon Joel Bassett and lived in nearby
Granby for many years, later moving to Cattarragus County, New York.
8. Erastus, born July 1783 at Plainfield. Married Polly Foote and lived at Guildhall until he
died in 1831. He served as Deacon and often as acting minister of the church. His only
child was Delia. More on him later.
9. Zara, born December 1786 at Guildhall. Married Mary Waldo, then Judith Coffin, then
Maria Tillson. He lived in nearby Conway, N.H. most of his 75 years, where he was a
prominent lawyer and active in the church. When he died in 1861 the Carroll County Bar
Association called him a man "of sound judgment, discreet in practice, of strict integrity,
exemplary in his deportment, and of irreproachable reputation." His two children, Israel
Putnam and Harriet both went to Boston where they were socially prominent figures.
23
WILLIAM CUTLER (Benoni5, Timothy4, John3,James2, James1)
William Cutler was born April 13, 1770 at Killingly Connecticut, just five weeks after and fifty
miles away from the Boston Massacre. His parents were Benoni and Lurana (Leavens) Cutler.
Among William's earliest recollections was the confusing night a week after his fifth birthday
when his father had rushed off to Lexington to fight Redcoats. On his sixth birthday he was
trudging northward with the whole family to a place in the wilderness called Windsor, where his
father told him that he was to help take care of his mother while he was gone. On his seventh
birthday he was not allowed to stray much beyond sight of the house, since his scalp was worth
$5 to the Indians who lived in the area. In the summer of 1777 his father returned and things
returned more toward "normal" for the times.
A certain amount of confusion ruled all of William's first twenty-one years, for during this entire
period he couldn't really tell what country he belonged to. He had been born a British Colonial
Subject, was claimed alternately by New York, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, and then for
the eight years before they joined the United States as the fourteenth State in 1791, he was a
citizen of the entirely independent State of Vermont.
Despite such distant distractions, the family actively pursued the problems at hand. William's
father bought and developed properties, so along with his brothers, he spent a great deal of time
clearing land, putting up buildings, and related chores.
When he was fifteen years old the family moved up the River to a village named Guildhall,
which would be their permanent settlement. Here all members of the family immediately took an
active part in community life. For the first two years their hands were full getting their 400 acre
farm in shape, and then in 1787 his father took possession of the two mills just completed on the
newly named Cutler's Mill Brook.
With the completion of the mills, both lumber and grain could be milled locally, thus reducing
the costs of settling in the area. William and his brothers often went downstream to interest
people in moving to Guildhall.
One problem in developing the area was the tangled ownership. Guildhall had been chartered in
1761 to a total of 64 people, among them Isaac Hall, Isaac Hall 2nd, Isaac Hall 3rd, Elihu Hall,
Elihu Hall, Jr, John Hall 5th, Lt. Enoch Hall and Daniel Hall, Jr. The later two actually moved to
Guildhall, and one of the Hall daughters married Micah Amy, the town's first Treasurer, but most
of the grantees continued to live in Connecticut. Over a period of time these people sold their
interests, gave them to daughters as dowry, or left them in their wills to be subdivided into tiny
interests. William was particularly active in working out these problems, and became acquainted
with many of the leading families of Wallingford and Meriden, Connecticut.
24
On May 23, 1799 William married Clarissa Hall in a ceremony performed by William Amy,
Justice of the Peace. (Shortly after this time local vital records began to be kept in the newly
organized church, and when the church was destroyed by fire in 1942, many of the early records
were destroyed with it. Exact dates are therefore unknown during early days.) Sometime during
their first year of marriage Clarissa died. Nearly three years later, in 1802, William married
Clarissa's sister Sally Hall (Isaac5 Isaac4 Jonathan3 Thomas2 Johnl).
John Hall was born in England in 1605. He was one of the early settlers at New Haven Colony,
where his son Thomas was born March 2 , 1649. Later he moved to Wallingford, where he was
one of the earliest settlers. Dr. Isaac Hall4 was the first physician in Meriden, and he married
Mary Morse, whose ancestor John Moss (the spelling had changed) had been one of the prime
developers of Wallingford. Their son Isaac5 had married Phebe Ives, who was descended from
Captain William Ives, one of the founders of the New Haven Colony. Of Isaac's children, Phoebe
married Elihu Ives and moved to Ludlow, Vermont, and Clarissa and Sally both married William
Cutler.
As William and Sally settled down to raising a family, they energetically pursued several
interests. They had a good farm that William's father had set up for him.
An interesting sidelight on the complicated nature of property dealings may be seen in a
transaction on August 25, 1804, when William and Sally sold to William Dana for $20 a
fractional interest in the original Right of Thomas Hart, which Sally's father had given her prior
to her marriage. The property was not finally transferred until William had gone to Wallingford
more than a year later and gotten Sally's sister Elizabeth to quitclaim her fractional interest which
was equal to Sally's, for $60.
During the long period between harvests William became a shoemaker, though how extensively
he pursued this craft is not known.
In addition to farming, shoemaking and other interests, William became active in church affairs.
By 1810 he was chosen Deacon, indicating that the church members felt that he was of sufficient
character to impose an example of conduct on the community.
In January l8l2, William died at the age of 41. The cause of his death is not known. The estate of
Deacon William Cutler was first probated on January 18, 1812 when Sally Cutler "widow of
William Cutler, late of Guildhall" and Erastus Cutler were appointed administrators. The
inventory totaled $2,536.80, a substantial sum in those days. Charles Cutler was Judge of
Probate.
Micah Amy was appointed guardian of the children, all five of whom were minors. It may seem
strange that he would be thus appointed with so many Cutlers around, but it must be remembered
that he had been one of Benoni's dear friends, his wife was one of Sally's relatives, William's
sister Rebecca had married his son Caleb, so he was really the elder "member of the family."
25
The children of William and Sally's (Hall) Cutler:
1. Benoni H, born 1803. BY 1831 living, in the town of Sweden, New York, later moved to
nearby Brockport, New York. During the l830's he went to Michigan, as did his cousin
Royal and he may nave gone to California during gold-rush days.
2. Susanna, born 1805 Married Zephaniah K. Washborn, had two daughters (1) Evaline and
(2) Harriet. Lived in Guildhall.
3. Willliam D, born 1807. Moved to Meriden around 1830, where on July 20, 1830 he
married Ann Davidson of Brooklyn, Connecticut. When he died on December 4, 1870,
the Meriden Daily Republican stated "Deacon William D. Cutler, living on Curtis Street,
died Sunday morning at 4:00) aged 63. His disease, at first billious fever, changed to
typhoid, from which his days of usefulness were ended as above stated. He was a much
respected citizen an influential member and Deacon of the Baptist Church Uptown... "
The descendants of his son William C. and daughter Sarah A. are still living in the
Meriden area.
4. COLLINS IVES BORN MAY 12 SEE FOLLOWING
5. Sally born 1811 may have died about 1827, but no records are available.
26
COLLINS IVES CUTLER
(William 6 Benoni5 Timothy4 John3 James2 James1)
Collins Ives Cutler, the fourth child of William and Sally (Hall) Cutler was born on May 12,
1809 at Guildhall, Vermont. He was named after the families of his great-aunt Martha (Collins)
Hall, and grandmother Phoebe (Ives) Hall.
In January, 1812, before Collins was three years old, his father died, leaving his mother with five
small children.
For the remainder of the year Sally did the best she could with the farm, borrowing help from the
rest of the family. This did not work out too well so during harvest season, on September 8,
1812, young Collins was sent to Ludlow, Vermont to live with Aunt Phoebe (Sally's sister) and
Uncle Elihu Ives.
Soon afterward Sally also left for Ludlow, taking the baby daughter Sally with her. Sons Benoni
and William D, and daughter Susanna went to live with Uncle Erastus Cutler in Guidhall, who
continued to operate the farm for them.
The War of 1812 covered the years 1812-1815. During the first part of this period prices were
most favorable, helping the family get by despite their many handicaps. Toward the end of this
period commodity prices crashed, with wool dropping from the inflated price of $2.50 per pound
to just 10c. They had a poor crop year in 1815 also.
Then in 1816 disaster struck Vermont. The "cold year" of 1816 ushered in a cold cycle that
would last several years. On July 4th the rivers froze and people wore mittens all summer. In all
of New England only one field of corn was harvested, along with a sparse crop of winter rye. Not
only did they lose their crop but food had to be imported at great expense.
Population growth stopped dead in its tracks. Families that did not have firm roots left for the
newly opening stretches of the lush Ohio Valley and upstate New York. Guildhall's neighboring
town of Granby dropped to just three families within two years, and property values dropped
sharply. The family farm produced almost nothingof value.
About l8l6 Collins started to school at the North Hill Schoolhouse in Ludlow. The principal
subjects were reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, and a little geography. Penmanship was
practiced with quill pens, as steel pens did not come into use until about 1830.
The clerk of the School Board was Jesse Marshall, who also owned the blacksmith shop across
the road from school. On January 28, 1817, when Collins was almost eight years old, his mother
married Jesse Marshall. The following year on May 12, 1818, Collins' half-brother Jesse Jr. was
born.
Improving weather by 1821 apparently provided more work than the boys on the farm at
Guildhall could handle profitably, so on February that year Sally and Jesse leased that part of the
farm that was her widow's dower to Abel Benjamin of Guildhall. Two years later, in February
1823, Grandmother Lurana Cutler died at the age of 80.
27
Sally always had hoped to get the family together again, but this never quite worked out right.
While she and Jesse had moved back to Guildhall prior to 1827, Sally died sometime between
1827 and 1830.
After their mother died the boys soon left Guildhall. Benoni went to the Rochester, New York
area. William went down to Meriden Connecticut, where Sally's family had come from, and took
up farming on land that is now covered by much of the business district. Collins temporarily
returned to Ludlow.
In March 1831 Jesse Marshall remarried Mrs. Nancy Martin and moved to Burke, Vermont. That
spring Uncle Erastus Cutler died. With Jesse, Erastus and the boys all gone, the family farm was
left with nobody to supervise its operation. Sister Susanna married Zephaniah K. Washburn and
settled down to spend her life in Guildhall, so they bought the boys' shares of the farm for $100
each in 1831 and 1832. Collins and Benoni thereafter would never return to Guildhall, though
William often visited with the Marshalls and Washburns over a period of several decades.
At the age of 22 young Collins set out to seek his fortune. Other than a family reputation of the
highest quality, his legacy amounted to little more than he carried in his pockets. He was of
slight build, but despite his lack of money and muscles he had boundless energy and an exciting
America stretched ahead of him.
Unbelievable inventions were making possible the development of rich and vast lands which
stretched almost endlessly into the west. By 1832 mechanical boats were operating on the rivers
and the first frail little railroad was nearing completion. Such simple devices as matches, which
came into use in 1829, made travel both easier and quicker, as travelers in the interior often lived
in the open.
In 1832 Collins joined his brother Benoni in Brockport, New York, and later that year they both
left for southern Michigan where timber claims were to be had for little more than the taking.
Collins settled in Cass County, near the Indiana border.
On July 28 1834 Collins married Caroline8 Todd (Erastus7 Caleb6 Caleb5 Stephen4 Samuel3
Samuel2 Christopherl) who was born September 28, 1815 at Oswego New York, the second child
of Erastus and Polly (Rice) Todd. Though Collins was from Vermont and Caroline from New
York and they met out in the western wilderness, they had a great deal in common. Between the
two, they were related to most of the original settlers of the New Haven Colony; in fact, where
Collins was a seventh generation descendant of John Hall and Captain William Ives, Caroline
was an eighth Generation descendant of the same two men. Caroline's Aunt Polly Todd had
married Willard Hall of Meriden and lived near Collins' brother William.
We have seen how Collins' path led to Cass County; Caroline's was most interesting also. For the
sake of simplicity we will consider only her two grandfathers, Caleb Todd and Asa Rice, both of
whom started out in Wallingford, Connecticut.
28
Grandfather Caleb6 Todd had married Polly6 Rice (Ezra5 Ezekial4 Deacon Samuel3 Ensign
Samuel2 Robertl) and was a farmer all of his life in Wallingford, where Caroline's father Erastus
had been born on May 11, 1791.
Grandfather Asa6 Rice (Asa5 Isaac4 Deacon Samuel3 Ensign Samuel2 Robert1) was born
September 1, 1754 in Meriden (then part of Wallingford) and was destined to lead a more
adventuresome life. As a young man he served in Col. Burrell's Connecticut Regiment during the
Revolution, engaging in many interesting operations including the capture of General Burgoyne,
and the laying of the famous iron chain across the Hudson River below West Point. After the
War he was one of the first to strike out into new territory.
In 1797, when Caroline's mother (Polly7 Rice) was only five years old, Asa floated the family
down the Oswego River on a raft, landing where Oswego, New York now stands, becoming the
first settler of that town. They erected a shanty out of light poles which was just high enough to
stand up in. It was late in the fall and an early winter caught then so short of provisions that an
infant child actually starved to death. Asa cleared the first ground, planted the first orchard, built
the first barn and mill, and was the first supervisor of Oswego.
There were no distilleries in the area but Asa used to make what was known as "Metheglin"
made from honey, a drink so pleasant and sweet that people would "get merry, before they were
aware of it and would usually feel full as well or better the second day." Caroline's mother did
weaving for the families who were moving into the area.
In about 1812, at about the age of 21, young Erastus Todd came to Oswego from Wallingford.
He needed no introduction to the Rice family, as his mother Polly6 Rice was Asa's second
cousin. On April 20, 1813 he married Asa's daughter Polly7 Rice, his third cousin. Their
children, all born at Oswego, New York:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Laura, born March 4, 1814
CAROLINE, BORN SEPTEMBER 28, 1815
Harriet, born September 5, 1817
Willard born January 9, 1820
Edward born November 25, 1821
On June 23, 1827 Caroline's mother died at Oswego, and in 1832 Erastus took the family to Cass
County, Michigan to stake out a claim. The family took tradition with them. The Todd family
originally was English (Christopher Todd going from Yorkshire to Boston in 1637 and then to
the New Haven Colony); the Rice (Royce) family originally was Welsh (Robert Royce had
married in Somerset, however, before going to New London in about 1650.) Caroline carried
these traditions so strongly that to this day members of the family will recall that she "was
English" or "was part Welsh."
When Collins and Caroline were married in 1834 Andrew Jackson was president and the frontier
was literally exploding in a land rush that continued over many years. Along with this wild
scattering came the development of manufactured goods such as ready-made nails, cooking
utensils, mill-woven cloth. In the cities of the east and south these "store-bought" items were
easy to purchase, but on the frontier there were no stores.
29
During the 1830's the only means of distribution in the west was the traveling merchant or
peddler, who ranged widely with a wagon stocked with all the mechanical marvels of the day,
and perhaps with a tonic or two thrown in. This appeared as exciting a career as clearing
Michigan farmland, so shortly after they were married Collins left Caroline at home while he
explored the merchandising frontier.
He went as far south as New Orleans, where he operated a wagon through the deep south for a
short time. He found merchandising a rather strenuous task in those days. Fixed prices were
unknown, even in the large city stores, and prices were set by what the salesman thought he
could get out of the buyer, and vice versa. Collins was too easygoing to haggle with poverty
stricken frontier housewives over the price of a needle, so while he covered a lot of ground he
made little money and soon returned to Michigan to get back to the land and family.
On February 20, 1838 William Erastus was born in Michigan, and was named after Collins'
father and Caroline's father. The next summer Collins and Caroline, along with Edward Todd,
Caroline's 17-year-old brother, traveled by ox-cart to a farm Collins had purchased near
Vandalia, Illinois. Later that fall, on September 25, 1839 Harriet Melissa was born, and named
for Caroline's sister Harriet.
Caroline's brother Willard soon came down from Michigan and then bought a farm about fifteen
miles away near Hillsborough, in Montgomery County. Here on September 11, 1842 Albert Ives
was born. He was named for the Ives family and after Prince Albert who had married Britain's
Queen Victoria in 1840 and was so popular in America that not only children, but commercial
products ranging from clothes to tobacco were named for him.
Henry Collins was born on July 21, 1844 at Vandalia and named for the Collins family and
Caroline's nephew (Laura's son Henry Augustus.) George Augustus was born on August 21,
1846 at Vandalia (but lived only one year) and Alonzo Egbert was born July 9, 1848, also at
Vandalia. Who George and Alonzo were named for is uncertain.
Edward Todd had worked for Collins until 1843 when he had married Mary Parmelee of
Hillsborough and set up housekeeping on a farm near there. In 1847 Edward went west to
Fairfield, Jefferson County, Iowa, purchasing a farm there. Two years later in 1849 Collins
moved the family to Fairfield onto a farm adjoining Edward's.
It is interesting to note in the Census of 1850 that in addition to Collins, Caroline and the five
children, an Adelade Halsey, age 15 and a Michaels Page, age 14 were living with them. There
were probably the friends' or neighbors' children parked while the parents were out probing the
nearby frontier. This was a common practice in those days
Both Collins and Edward took turns exploring the unsettled area to the west along the Missouri
River. The public lands were being sold at $1.25 an acre, and population was streaming
westward. Good profits were to be had in buying rough land, laying out a farm and selling to
newcomers from the east. With money in short supply, land often was used for barter, and
Collins once traded 40 acres near Sioux Falls (now South Dakota) for a yoke of oxen.
30
In the spring of 1851 both Collins and Edward sold out and moved close to Council Bluffs, the
westernmost trading post. Collins bought a farm near Avoca, Pottawattamie County. Here on
August 7, 1851 Charles Edward was born and named for Collins' Uncle Charles Cutler and
Edward Todd.
In March of 1853 both Collins and Edward again sold and moved to the new Harrison County
area about 25 miles north of Council Bluffs. The boundaries of this county had been set in 1851
but nothing had been done until 1853 when the Fourth General Assembly of Iowa appointed
three commissioners to "locate the seat of justice of the County, as near the geographical center
of the above boundaries as might be found, having due regard for the present as well as future
population of the County, and when so selected, located and established, to call the name thereof
Magnolia."
When Magnolia was laid out Collins had 120 acres about a mile from town located on the
highest point in the County, covered with a good stand of timber on the rolling hills and with
wild grain growing on the rest. This was ideal, as timber was needed for building and was the
only source of fuel.
Edward Todd was elected Justice and performed the first marriage in the new County. In the first
months of settlement claim jumpers would come in from outside areas and try to grab property
while filing was still in progress. Collins, along with the other honest citizens in the area formed
an informal protective group known as "The Regulators" and claim jumpers soon left for
healthier climates.
When Collins preempted his farm he paid 40% interest on the money (the going rate at the time.
The General Assembly later reduced the legal limit to 20%.) It was most difficult to take rough
land, clear it and carry a 40% interest rate by farming; but for speculative development it was not
unreasonable. Rough land could be preempted for $1.25 per acre and when cleared and fenced it
would bring more than double that amount. The high interest rate did put pressure on the
developer, however, as mortgages were relatively short term and paid in full at maturity rather
than in installments.
Collins had preempted this farm on a development basis and while he did not know it at the time
this would be "home" to most of his descendants for the next hundred years. Racing the clock
against the mortgage he injured himself building fence in the fall of' 1853 and was confined to
bed until he died on May 5,1855 at the age of 46.
On December 24,1853 Susan Caroline was born into the troubled household and was named for
her mother and Collins' sister Susan. She died on September 18,1855 shortly after her father.
The family was not destitute by any means, but was tied permanently to the farm, mortgage and
all for better or worse. Caroline and the six children had spent a tragic year it, 1855, but this was
not the end of hardship. In the long "hard winter" of 1856-1857 they lost most of their livestock
in the deep snows and extraordinary cold that are still legend in Iowa.
Through strange coincidence both Collins and his father had died in their forties just as they were
beginning to build their estates, and almost immediately the weather set historical records in
destroying the family's small nest egg.
31
COLLINS' WESTERN MOVES
(see map)
1. Guildhall, Vermont 1809-1812
2. Ludlow, Vermont 1812-1832
3. Brockport, N.Y. 1832-1832
4. Cass County, Mich. 1833-1839
5. Vandalia Illinois 1839-1849
6. Fairfield, Iowa 1849-1851
7. Avoca, Iowa 1851-1853
COLLINS IVES CUTLER
8. Magnolia, Iowa 1853-1855
1809-1855
32
33
It is interesting to follow the progress of Edward Todd, who moved to Woodbury County in
1856, and later to Sioux City where in the next 35 years he would become a prominent builder
and banker. Perhaps this was the same direction Collins had been following when he died.
Edward Todd was not only Caroline's brother, but Collins' dearest friend and the families
remained very close for many years. Edward's children:
Harriet Emma (Elliott) 1844-1939
Caroline Amanda (Lyon) 1847-1935
Eunice (Aldrich) 1848-1924
Ella Laura (Strong) 1851-1934
Clara Melissa (Slayton) 1854-1890
Alice Leona (Denslow) 1856-1941
EDWARD TODD
Sarah Jane (Slayton) 1859-1940
1821-1890
Following Collins’ death Caroline followed English tradition as well as the most practical course
of placing responsibility for taking over family authority on the eldest son, seventeen-year-old
William, and the family proudly dug in to weather the storm of ill fortune.
On January 6, 1857, in the middle of the terrible winter, Harriet married Orrin C. Day, the
popular son of one of the early settlers. They were one of Magnolia's favorite couples, and her
wedding dress still stands in the Magnolia historical museum more than 100 years later.
Most of the homes in the area were of one or two rooms, not more than ten feet by twenty feet in
size. That winter, with every family making room for those seeking refuge from the cold, most
homes had literally standing room only. With Harriet gone, Caroline had only the five boys as
permanent members of the household, but there were few times that someone else wasn't staying
for a spell.
The main course in their diet was corn -- corn dodger, hoe cake and mush. According to one
account of the time, "a biscuit of wheaten bread was a luxury that the parents and children did
not aspire to, and in the case there was such a delicacy as a loaf of wheat bread or a dish of wheat
biscuit set upon the table, the immediate inquiry of the children was 'where did this come from?'
-- or 'who has been married?'
34
In later years, son Charles would give a good description of life about 1860 in a letter to one of
the children, and this letter was reprinted in the Logan "Observer" on August 23' 1934:
"You asked me to tell you something about the early history of this
County. We moved here in March, 1853, so you see I will have to begin
when I was a year and a half old, so it will not all be from memory.
"The nearest store or post office was in Council Bluffs and we had to go to
Crescent City to mill, which was the only way to get meal for flour. There
were only about six or seven houses on the way to the Bluffs. The first
railroad I ever saw was just about ten miles this side of St. Joe, Missouri.
That was when I was 11 years old. We went 40 miles south of St. Joe for a
load of apples. It took seven days to drive down and 14 to drive back. We
got 40 bushels, paid 75 cents a bushel and sold them here for from 10
cents each to three for a quarter. I had broken my arm then was the reason
why I got to go. Albert took me for company I guess.
"Now you asked something of the Indians here at this time. They
calculated that there were from 10 to 25 Indians to one white person in the
county but before we got here there had been a great many more. They
were of the Winnebago and Pottawattamie tribes and a few Omahas, but
the Sioux on the north were their enemies and about three or four years
before we came here there was quite a band of Winnebagos out for their
fall hunt and the Sioux came across them just east of Smith Lake in the
hills. They surrounded them on the North, East and South sides and drove
them toward the lake and killed all but one. He swam the lake with the
whole band shooting at him but got away. That was the last of the Indian
battles but the majority of the Indians crossed the Missouri River. They
never did make the white people very much trouble and could be trusted
further than a good many of the whites those days.
"They did a good deal of begging. I remember one day a whole family of
Indians came along and wanted a chicken. Mother said, "no we can't catch
them without getting them scared." The man said "I catch him." He had a
stick about the size of a hoe handle with a sharp spike about two or three
inches long in one end. Mother said "all right catch him" pointing to the
rooster. He held this stick up over his shoulder and brought his arm back
and forth two or three times and threw it as straight through the roosters
head as anyone could have done with a rifle.
"Another time we boys were all away from home and I came home first
and there were four big Indians sitting around the table. Mother had given
them a loaf of bread and a small bowl of molasses and each a plate and
they were cutting their bread and eating bread and molasses and talking
and laughing in their own way, so you see we did not think them unsafe. I
don't remember that they ever did anything bad, not even stealing anything
of importance.
35
"They used to buy dead pigs, lambs or chickens they would find or see
around the sheds or stables. I remember one time I was in the garden at
work and a polecat came out from among the weeds. I killed him with the
hoe and of course I couldn't even get in the house, but mother threw me
out some clothes and I changed out among the weeds. I had heard that
burying them in the ground would take the scent out so I put them in the
ground for a week or so and took them up but they were as bad as ever. An
Indian came along begging. I asked if they would be any good to him and
he said, "Yes good" I gave them to him shoes and all, and he tucked them
under his blanket and went off pretty happy."
By the time the War Between the States began in 1861, the family had recovered somewhat from
the extreme position of 1857. The population of the area was expanding rapidly, and corn prices
held at good levels. The boys, like their father, were of slight build, but were possessed of a great
deal of energy and endurance, and by this time all were getting old enough to be of real help.
While they lived a rather primitive life with few luxuries, things were improving, so Caroline
often admonished the boys not to work too hard, as "one good day's work killed your father."
The first two years of the War had little impact on Iowa, and the western counties felt it less than
others. They seemed to feel remote from it all and supremely confident that the folks back east
would dispose of the problems in good order. As casualty lists began to be published, however, it
began to be harder not to become involved.
William was acting as "head of the family" managing the farm, and Albert was the only one of
the boys of proper age, so doing what a young man of 20 felt he had to do, he went over to Du
Quoin, Illinois and on April 21, 1863 enlisted as a corporal in Company M, 16th Illinois Cavalry,
for a three-year term.
It may seem strange that Albert went over to Illinois to enlist. One reason was his desire to serve
in a cavalry unit, rather than the infantry units raised locally. Another may have been the politics
involved, since from top to bottom the men enlisted with a ready-made rank, and the Iowa units
often were led by hack politicians reaping political payoffs.
In October 1863 the 16th Cavalry was ordered to Knoxville, Tennessee and participated in its
defense in November and December. One Battalion under Major Charles H. Beers of Aurora,
Illinois was sent up Powell's Valley in the direction of Jonesville, Virginia. Albert was serving in
this unit, and on January 3, 1864 this Battalion was attacked by three Brigades of Confederate
General Longstreet's command, and after maintaining its ground for ten hours against five times
its own number, and losing heavily in killed and wounded, its ammunition having become
exhausted, it was compelled to surrender. Albert was one of those captured.
He was confined first at Richmond Virginia then for two months at Americus, Georgia. On
March 8, 1864 he was sent to Andersonville Prison at Andersonville, Georgia, where he lived in
close quarters, on bare ground, and with such poor food that he developed scurvy.
36
Under these conditions he developed a nacrosis of the left thigh involving the knee joint (which
shrunk the muscle and stiffened the joint, leaving him permanently partially lame.) On
September 15, 1864, barely able to crawl on hands and knees, he was admitted to the hospital,
and on November 20th was paroled at Savannah, Georgia. After being sent to various Union
hospitals he was honorably discharged on June 16, 1865, at Pulaski, Tennessee. Three days later
he collected his full $50 bounty at Louisville, Kentucky and beat a path for home. He qualified
for a pension of $4 per month, from date of discharge. (This was increased to $8 in 1876, $10 in
1889, $24 in 1891, $30 in 1918, $72 in 1925.)
Meanwhile, the family had done well on the farm. William had married, on September 17, 1863,
Violet Hall, the daughter of Robert and Catherine (Wartenbi) Hall, early settlers of Harrison
County who had come from Pennsylvania to Ohio and then to Iowa. In 1864 he purchased
additional land, paying as much as $25 per acre, which indicated that they were "out of the
woods" financially.
When Albert returned home he was not able to do heavy labor, as he was lame and only stood
five feet seven and weighed 140 pounds, but there were many other things to be done.
On May 28, 1867 Harriet died at the age of 27. She had no children, but had been one of the
most popular members of the community.
Later that summer on August 11, 1867 Albert married Asbarine Dewell, the daughter of Samuel6
Dewell (Solomon5 Benjamin4 John3 Philip2 Philipl) and Martha Ann (Walker) Dewell. Samuel
was a civil engineer and a most active man with a great deal of political understanding, being
postmaster at Magnolia at the time, and having been State Surveyor as well as author of the
authorized geography used in the Iowa schools (he later became a member of the first
Legislature of South Dakota when the State was formed.) At his urging Albert ran for sheriff in
1868 and was elected for the two year period 1868-1869. This was a useless post as far as Albert
was concerned and certainly didn't amount to much, so he quit at the end of the term. He was
much too easygoing and unsophisticated to get too deeply involved in politics.
In fact, if there were any single word that would describe all the Cutler boys, it would be
"easygoing." Perhaps the exception was William, described by one of his children as "never got
over the responsibility after his father died and was tight as bark," but nobody was too upset by
this.
By 1870 William, at the age of 32 had his own farm and three children; Albert, at 28 was
running the family farm and had one child; Henry, at 26 was working as a printer; Alonzo, at 22
was a harnessmaker; Charles, at 19 was helping Albert on the farm; and Phoebe (who Caroline
had adopted out of a New York orphanage) was 8 years old and attending school. Few families
ever were closer, and this very closeness makes it difficult to pick a time to stop speaking of "the
family" as a unit and start identifying the branches, so perhaps it is better to advance somewhat
further and then fall back for a recount.
37
Other than the War, the most dramatic development during the 1860's and 1870's was the
expansion of the railroads. As the rails fanned out over the land, the whole economics of farming
was revolutionized. Towns which lay in the path of a railroad saw new businesses spring up and
land values rise sharply; those bypassed by the rails were destined for decline. Before the
network was complete there was no single spot in all of Iowa more than 25 miles from a railroad.
Rails were so vital to the nation that Congress authorized grants of land as inducement to
companies which would build over approved routes across the vast western plains to the Pacific.
The main central route was to be along the 42nd parallel, just north of Magnolia, which at that
time was the county seat and a thriving community seemingly in line for greater things.
It is hard at this late date to imagine the turmoil that accompanied this process by which some
communities sprang to life and others died. Suffice it to say that many of the legends of the
period were well founded. When the Union Pacific opened service to the Pacific in 1869 its
terminal was to the south of Magnolia at Omaha, and connecting lines came in from all sides.
But Magnolia was left high and dry.
Magnolia's neighboring community of Logan had rail service, and by 1875 managed to get a
special election called to move the county seat there. This carried by 2 votes, 1269 to 1267, thus
hastening Magnolia's decline. The building of railroads was a major undertaking, giving rise to
many supporting businesses. One of the largest of these was the livery and harness business,
since horses, mules and Texas ponies supplied all of the motive power used in the building of the
railroads and then servicing all transport connecting with the road. Alonzo opened a harness shop
in Logan, and then as the railroad was built southward he followed the advance units, repairing
harness for the road crews. This amounted to a franchise of the most choice nature, as the crews
dealt only with the select few.
Often Albert and Alonzo worked together. Both of them liked horses, and Albert had passed
along all of the knowledge he had learned in the Cavalry. Where Albert was partially lame,
Alonzo was famous as a fast walker and a current joke among stablemen was "you can use my
horse if you are going to ride him, but not if you are going to walk him."
There was a large demand for Texas ponies among Iowa stablemen and on several occasions
Albert and Alonzo rode south to Texas, bought a string for $7.50 each and drove them north
where they sold them for $15 each. That was a tidy return in those days.
Alonzo always liked Texas. On November 25, 1875 he married Frances E. (Fanny) Walston, a
native of Oakwood, Texas. For many years they "commuted" back and forth the 1008 miles to
Magnolia, a trip that took 45 days each way in a covered wagon. On one trip Albert went along,
taking his family, and he taught in the Leon County Texas schools during the 1877 year.
Where Albert and Alonzo pursued various commercial interests, Henry and Charles developed
an interest in medicine. Physicians had been scarce on the frontier and their father had died
without really competent attention. Both boys were well suited to medicine, being academically
bright, of calm temperament, personally likable and persevering. The family physician, Dr. John
R. Rice, probably encouraged them to follow this interest.
38
Henry worked as a compositor in the Nonpariel office at Council Bluffs and edited the Magnolia
Western Star for a number of years. When he had saved enough he went east to Philadelphia to
attend lectures, and then entered Cincinnati Medical College. Just ten days before he was to have
graduated with the highest honors in the school's history he died of smallpox, on May 19, 1876,
at the age of 32.
Charles had been teaching school in Magnolia for several years, also saving his money toward
his education. Following Henry's death, Charles entered the same Medical College, graduating
two years later. He returned to Magnolia and on June 4, 1878 married Nellie White, setting up
practice from his home, assisted by Nellie and her mother Nancy who lived with them.
Phoebe continued in school until becoming a teacher in about 1880. At the age of 20, in 1882,
she married William Gilkerson of Magnolia. She raised a fine family, but as she was not directly
related we will end her story here.
William pursued farming seriously, becoming a director of the Agricultural Society in 1872. He
was the least easygoing of the boys, and the more seriously he took the family's farming
activities, the less seriously the others took them, until he dominated almost all of the family's
farming.
Between 1864 and 1895 a total of 24 children were born (William had 10, Albert 4, Alonzo 6
and Charles 4.) As the four boys developed their various interests and went their separate ways
the branches evolved clearly. By 1896 the first two great-grandchildren arrived, and before she
died at Magnolia on March 23, 1901 at the age of 85, Caroline saw distinct sub-branches form.
Few families ever have been closer. Though Collins has been gone for more than 100 years, and
Caroline more than 60, the family still is close enough that this story could be compiled with the
enthusiastic help of members of every major branch. Every one of the 176 descendants is
identified and quite remarkably 142 were living at December 31, 1960.
This very closeness has made possible the observation of general family characteristics... Very
few stand over six feet... Red hair makes scattered appearance... Blue eyes predominate and the
first appearance of brown was in Albert's branch (Asbarine Dewell had brown.). No inherited
physical defects or oddities are known... The average life span is astounding, and all of the older
members have retained full use of their faculties... Intelligence level appears well above average
and none are known to be retarded... Many talents are represented, including law, medicine,
engineering, accounting finance, farming, teaching, selling, art and music, etc... All are lawabiding citizens who generally mind their own business, which probably accounts for the fact
that none are really rich or successful politicians.
39
KEY TO LINE OF DESCENT IN FOLLOWING CENSUS.
Numbers equal family designation.
Children of FAMILY 1 (eighth generation)
Children of FAMILIES 2-5 (ninth generation)
Children of FAMILIES 6-21 (tenth generation
Children of FAMILIES 22-35(eleventh generation)
Children of FAMILIES 50-61 (twelfth generation)
TOTAL DESCENDANTS LISTED
8
24
44
70
30
176
40
CENSUS OF THE DESCENDANTS OF
COLLINS IVES CUTLER AND CAROLINE (TODD) CUTLER
AT DECEMBER 31, 1960
Family 1.
COLLINS IVES CUTLER, born Guildhall, Vermont May 12, 1809. Married on July 28, 1834
CAROLINE TODD, daughter of Erastus and Polly (Rice) Todd. Died at Magnolia Iowa May 3,
1855. Caroline died at Magnolia March 23, 1901.
2. (1)
(2)
3. (3)
(4)
(5)
4. (6)
5. (7)
(8)
(9)
William Erastus born February 20, 1838 Cass County Michigan.
Harriet Melissa born November 25, 1839 Fayette County Illinois. Married January 6, 1857
Orrin C. Day of Magnolia, Iowa. Had no children. Died May 28, 1867 at Magnolia
Albert Ives, born September 11,1842 at Montgomery county, Illinois.
Henry Collins, Born July 21, 1844 at Fayette Country, Illinois. Never married. Died of
smallpox at Cincinnati, Ohio on May 19, 1876
George Augustus, born August 21, 1846 at Fayette County, Illinois. Died in 1847 at the
age of one year.
Alonzo Egbert, born July 9, 1848 at Fayette County, Illinois.
Charles Edward, born August 7, 1851 at Pottawattamie County, Iowa
Susan Caroline, Born December 24, 1853 at Magnolia, Iowa. Died on September 18, 1855,
aged less than two years.
Phoebe, (adopted) born 1862 in New York.
41
Family 2.
WILLIAM ERASTUS CUTLER, born Cass County, Michigan, February 20, 1838. Married on
September 17, 1863 VIOLET HALL, daughter of Robert and Catherine (Wartenbi) Hall. Spent
his entire life on the farm at Magnolia. Died on September 17, 1917. Children were all born at
Magnolia, Iowa.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
William, born 1864. Died at the age of seven months.
Albert Benoni, born April 13, 1866.
Frank Erastus, born March 5, 1868. Never married. Died 1938, aged 70
Harriet Melissa, born February 16, 1870.
George Melvin, born April 1, 1872. Never married. Raised wheat near Magnolia. Died in
1954, aged 82.
(6) Charles Erwin, born January 16, 1874.
(7) Henry Collins, born March 31, 1876.
(8) Florence Violet, born January 1, 1878. Never married. Taught school at Magnolia until
retirement. Living at Magnolia. Always has maintained close contact with members of
this branch.
(9) Nettie Maude, born March 20, 1880.
(10) Mollie Gertrude, born August 20, 1882.
42
Family 3.
ALBERT IVES CUTLER, born September 11, 1842 at Montgomery County, Illinois. Married
on August 11, 1867 ASBARINE REBECCA DEWELL, daughter of Samuel and Martha Ann
(Walker) Dewell. Died November 14, 1931 at Tacoma, Washington, aged 89 years.
12. (1)
(2)
(3)
13. (4)
William Samuel, born May 19, 1869 at Magnolia, Iowa.
Caroline Elva, born August 28, 1871 at Magnolia, Iowa.
Nellie Frances, born November 21, 1877 at Oakwood, Texas.
Jesse Ives, born October 12, 1881 at Magnolia, Iowa.
43
Family 4.
ALONZO EGBERT CUTLER, born July 9, 1848 at Fayette County, Illinois. Married on
November 25 1875 FRANCES E. (FANNY) WALSTON at Oakwood, Texas. They lived
alternately at Oakwood (where he ran a saw mill and farmed), Wichita Falls, Texas (where he
operated a flour mill), Magnolia (where he farmed) and finally Oakwood again, where he opened
another harness shop, bought a large farm and was appointed U. S. Postmaster, serving 26 years
until he retired in 1918. Fanny died on March 18, 1923 aged 68, and Alonzo died on January 9,
1937 aged 89. Their children were:
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
Caroline (Carrie) R. born February 6, 1877 at Oakwood
Erie Lee, born September 15, 1878 at Oakwood
Collins Ives, born February 9, 1881 at Magnolia. Died on June 16, 1883 aged two years.
Guy Edward, born April 10, 1884 at Magnolia
Walter Vern, born April 24, 1888 at Magnolia
Pearl Dale, born April 10, 1892 at Oakwood
44
Family 5.
CHARLES EDWARD CUTLER, born August 7, 1851 at Pottawattamie County, Iowa. Married
on June 4, 1878, NELLIE WHITE of Magnolia, Iowa. Excerpts from a tribute in the Logan
"Observer" following his death well describe him. "Dr. Cutler graduated from a Cincinnati
Medical College in 1878 and came direct to the home town of Magnolia and began a successful
practice of his profession which he continued for more than 56 years until stricken with paralysis
ten years ago. The nobility of character of Dr. Cutler, embracing honesty, kindliness, helpfulness
as a citizen, physician and friend, a loving husband and father, was evident to all through the
years. As a physician he placed service in his profession above money or price, never too tired to
answer long calls in a day when travel was not as easy as now, no storm too severe to deter him,
he rendered his best service to the poor without hope of pay ... His soul and the souls of others
were ennobled by his service... " Children of CHARLES and NELLIE (White) CUTLER:
19.
20.
21.
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
Atta Minnie born March 21, 1879 at Magnolia, Iowa. Died age five months.
Jennie Maud born June 11, 1880 at Magnolia, Iowa.
Roy born May 8, 1884 at Magnolia, Iowa.
Elsie Nellie, born February 19, 1895 at Magnolia, Iowa.
45
Family 6
ALBERT BENONI CUTLER, born April 13, 1866 at Magnolia, Iowa. Married, on December
23, 1903, PHOEBE ANN MARTIN, daughter of Frank M. and Rose (Northrup) Martin of
Whitman County, Washington. He was named after his uncle Albert (family 3) and his greatgreat grandfather Benoni5 Cutler. When Uncle Albert went to Washington in 1890, Albert went
along. The two having the same name, Albert said "just call me Ben" after his middle name, and
this stuck. He took up farming near Yakima, Washington. He died in July, 1942. All the children
were born at Yakima.
22. (1)
(2)
23. (3)
24. (4)
25. (5)
26. (6)
Beatrice Genevieve, born February 6, 1910.
Albert B. born October 6, 1911. Never married. Living on the family farm at Yakima.
Alicia Phoebe, born November 3, 1913.
Wilma Lorrene, born October 17, 1915.
Constance Corriene, born July 16, 1917
Frances Eleanor, born August 1, 1920.
Family 7.
HARRIET MELISSA CUTLER, born February 2, 1870 at Magnolia, Iowa. Married, in 1894,
EUGENE CHARLES RICHARDS, in Magnolia. They lived for a short time in Crook County,
Wyoming, and then moved to Yakima, Washington. She died in May, 1933.
27. (1)
(2)
28. (3)
Ada Lucille Richards, born September 1, 1896 at Crook County, Wyoming.
Helen Eugenia Richards, born April 10, 1898. Died in 1909, aged 11
Kenneth Burton Richards, born November 19, 1900 at Atanum, Wash.
Family 8.
CHARLES ERWIN CUTLER, born January 16, 1874 at Magnolia, Iowa. Married in December
1917, VERNICE RUFFCORN. Always has lived on the farm at Magnolia, Iowa, and presently
owns the remnants of the original family farm.
(1)
(2)
29. (3)
Grace, born October 7, 1918, Magnolia. Married Jack Norman Hall. Address 3615 - 2nd
Ave, Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Francis, born December 2, 1921, Magnolia Married Vivian Woodyard. Address Morro,
Ohio.
Wanda, born January 1, 1923. Married Donald Scurlocke. Address 20 N. 35th St. Apt. C.
Council Bluffs, Iowa
Family 9.
HENRY COLLINS CUTLER born March 31 1876 at Magnolia, Iowa. Married, on May 15,
1907 HARRIET BOLCH, daughter of Frank and Myrtle Bolch. Harriet was born November 5,
1889, died March 3, 1958. Frank and Myrtle came from Ohio direct to the Cutler farm when they
came west. Henry farmed in Magnolia for many years and presently is living with Henry, Jr. The
children all were born at Magnolia, Iowa.
46
(1)
Newell Kenneth, born August 29, 1908. Married on May 15, 1931 HILDA KRIENKE,
daughter of Landolph and Emma (Williams) Krienke. Kenneth looks after most of the
family affairs in Magnolia, and is a seed distributor representing the Robinson Seed Co.
in the western counties of Iowa. Hilda teaches school at Magnolia. They have no children.
(2) Melvin, born September, 1909. Died in infancy, aged 15 months.
30. (3) Kathleen, born December 8, 1910.
(4) Howard Clark, born in 1911. Died in infancy, aged 7 months.
31. (5) Carroll Richard, born July 28, 1914.
32. (6) Marguerite, born August 23, 1916.
33. (7) Cyril Ivan, born October 26, 1918.
34. (8) Henry Collins, born November 22, 1926.
Family 10.
NETTIE MAUDE CUTLER, born March 20, 1880 at Magnolia, Iowa. Married EUGENE L.
GILLET. She died in 1947.
35. (1) Gene Marguerite Gillet, born June 3, 1903 at Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Family 11.
MOLLIE GERTRUDE CUTLER, born August 20, 1882, at Magnolia, Iowa. Married X.X.
HUNTSINGER. Address: Foley Hotel, Great Falls, Montana
(1) Frances Marie Huntsinger. Married John P. Frank. She is a professional musician known
as "FrankieFrank" in Billings, Montana.
Family 12.
WILLIAM SAMUEL CUTLER, born May 19, 1869 at Magnolia, Iowa. Married, on March 14, 1894,
MINNIE IDEL KLINE, daughter of Peter F. and Sarah Anna (Conver) Kline of Tacoma,
Washington. He died on November 16, 1933, and Minnie died August 13, 1960, both at Tacoma,
Washington.
36. (1) Clarence William, born August 12, 1896 at Tacoma, Washington. (Died Nov. 25,1975, at
Santa Barbara, Cal.)
37. (2) Paul Ivan, born May 27, 1898 at Tacoma, Washington.
Family 13.
JESSE IVES CUTLER, born October 12, 1881 at Magnolia, Iowa. A wizard with numbers but not
with women, he was married and divorced three times. Died at Bremerton, Washington on May 11,
1956.
Children of Jesse and Myra Louise (Crosby) Cutler:
(1) Jessie Beryl, born on December 12, 1903 at Tacoma, Washington. Married William
Jordan, deceased. No children. She is living at Bremerton, Washington.
(2) Randolph Ives, born July 29, 1905. Died August 22, 1906.
Child of Jesse and Anna Carol (Everett) Cutler:
38. (3) Elva Carol, born January 6, 1918 at Seattle, Washington.
Children of Jesse and Dorothy Marie (Riley) Cutler:
39. (4) Dorothy Jeanine, born January 1, 1930 at Chico, California.
(5) m Collins, born November 26, 1932, at Seattle, Washington. Not married. Employed in
the Math Section at Stanford Research Institute while working for his PhD. in
Mathematics at Stanford.
(6) Robert Ives, born June 18, 1935, at Seattle, Washington. Living at Mountain View ,
California.
40. (7) Marie Kathleen, born January 24, 1937, at Seattle, Washington
41. (8) Sheila Diane, born April 30, 1943 at Seattle, Washington
47
Family 14
CAROLINE R. (CARRIE) CUTLER, born February 6, 1877 at Oakwood, Texas. Married, on March
21, 1900 EARL F. MCKINNEY, at Magnolia, Iowa. Presently living at Logan, Iowa. Earl died on
July 23, 1926.
(1) Harry McKinney, born December 11, 1901 at Magnolia, Iowa. Married on February 2,
1934, Marie Wallace. No children.
42. (2) Lucille Frances McKinney, born February 26, 1902 at Magnolia.
43. (3) (3) Max Earl McKinney, born June 8, 1908 at Magnolia.
Family 15.
ERIE LEE CUTLER, born September 15, 1878 at Oakwood, Texas. Married, on August 6 1899,
KINLOCKE FALCONER LANE, at Oakwood, Texas. She died on August 2, 1919, and he died on
February 4, 1931, both at Oakwood.
44. (1)
(2)
Kathleen Frances Lane, born September 18, 1903 at Palestine, Texas.
Kinlocke F. Lane, Jr, born December 6. 1907 at Houston, Texas. Married Nellie May
Puckett. Lives at Austin, Texas, where he operates a pharmacy with Joseph Carroll, Jr.
(See family 44).
Family 16.
GUY EDWARD CUTLER, born April 10, 1884 at Magnolia, Iowa. Married, on January 4, 1920
ZINGRA DICKEY at Abilene, Texas. He died on February 4, 1941, and Zingra still lives at Abilene.
45. (1) Don Edward, born October 11, 1931 at Abilene, Texas.
Family 17.
WALTER VERN CUTLER, born April 24, 1888 at Magnolia, Iowa. Married, on January 5, 1910, at
Palestine, Texas, EUDYE BELL LANKSTER, daughter of W. H. and Laura (Melton) Lankster.
Walter for many years ran a general store and feed business in Oakwood, Texas, and is now retired
there.
46. (1) Leslie Verne, born October 20, 1910, at Oakwood, Texas.
Family 18.
PEARL CUTIER, born April 10, 1892, at Oakwood, Texas. Married on December 26.1908,
ELBERT MCLEAN at Palestine, Texas. (She died February 15, 1961)
(1) Lester Bert McLean, born August 19, 1911. Died at age one year,
47. (2) Louie Cutler McLean, born March 9, 1914, at Hearne, Texas.
Family 19.
JENNIE MAUD CUTLER, born June 11, 1880 at Magnolia, Iowa. Married, on April 26, 1899 REV.
WILLIAM HENRY DOYLE, a Methodist minister.
(1) Charles, deceased.
Family 20.
ROY CUTLER, born May 8, 1884 at Magnolia, Iowa. Married, On September 4, 1912 ETHYL
MCHALE. Like his father, Dr. Charles Cutler, Roy became a doctor upon graduation from
Homeopathic Medical College at St. Louis in 1909. He is still practicing in Little Sioux, Iowa.
48. (1) Kathleen, born April 16, 1920 at Magnolia, Iowa.
48
Family 21
ELSIE NELLIE, CUTLER, Born February 19, 1895 at Magnolia, Iowa. Married, on August 15, 1923
LEWIS BENJAMIN MILLER, a doctor of chemistry. She is living at Cincinnati, Ohio.
49. (1) George Livingston Miller, born August 30, 1925 at Little Sioux, Iowa.
Family 22.
BEATRICE GENEVIEVE CUTLER, born on February 6, 1910 at Yakima, Washington. Married on
March 17, 1935 EDWIN LAWRENCE EMERICK.
Address: 1702 SW. Elmgrove, Seattle, Washington.
(1)
Edwin Lawrence Emerick, Jr. born November 18, 1935 at Yakima, Wash.
Family 23.
ALICIA PHOEBE CUTLER, born November 3, 1913, at Yakima, Washington. Married, on
November 28, 1934 DONALD C. LAMBERT, at Yakima, Washington.
Address: Box 277, Metaline Falls, Washington
(1) Patricia Loraine Lambert, born December 6, 1936 at Tieton, Wash.
(2) Priscilla Marie Lambert, born July 20, 1938 at Naches, Wash.
(3) Phoebe Ann Lambert, born May 18, 1941 at Yakima, Wash.
(4) John David Lambert, born February 28, 1943 at Tieton, Wash.
(5) Jerry Martin Lambert , born June 23, 1946 at Yakima , Wash.
(6) Thomas Andrew Lambert, born November 15, 1952 at Odessa, Wash.
(7) Kenneth Walter Lambert, born February 24, 1954 at Fairfield, Wash.
Family 24.
WILMA LORRENE CUTLER, born October 17, 1915 at Yakima, Washington. Married, On June 11,
1938 at Seattle, Washington, MAX R. NICOLAI, an attorney.
Address: 917 - 16th N, Seattle, Washington.
(1) Carl Rene Nicolai, born November 5, 1942 at Seattle, Washington.
(2) William Steffen Nicolai, born March 30, 1945 at Seattle, Wash.
(3) Kent Geoffrey Nicolai, born May 1, 1947 at Seattle, Wash.
(4) Max Gregory Nicolai, born July 10, 1953 at Seattle, Wash.
Family 25.
CONSTANCE CORRIENE CUTLER, born July 16, 1917 at Yakima, Washington. Married, on
February 21, 1942 at Port Townsend, Washington, JEAN L. WOOD. He was a career Army officer
who died on January 17, 1959 at Palo Alto, Calif
(1) Robert Lindley Wood, born September 13, 1943 at Seattle, Wash.
(2) Sandra Susan Wood, born July 19, 1946 at Washington, D. C.
Family 26.
FRANCES ELEANOR CUTLER, born August 1, 1920 Yakima, Washington. Married, on October1,
1942 at Tacoma, Washington, FRANCIS ARTHUR MACKEY
Address: 808 Earl Road, Moses Lake, Wash.
(1) William Arthur Mackey, born January 19, 1947 at Seattle, Wash.
(2) Connie Jo Mackey, born January 8, 1947 at Seattle, Wash.
(3) Robert Frank Mackey, born April 30, 1952 at Seattle, Wash.
(4) David Phillip Mackey, born December 2, 1953, at Seattle, Wash.
49
Family 27.
ADA LUCILLE RICHARDS, born September 1, 1896 at Crook County, Wyoming. Married, on
September 20, 1916 at Yakima, Washington, ROBERT RAY BEAM.
Address: 243 N. 38th Ave, Yakima, Wash.
50. (1)
51. (2)
52. (3)
(4)
Robert Ray Beam, Jr, born July 18, 1917 at Yakima, Wash.
Florence Lucille Beam, born January 1, 1919 at Yakima, Wash.
Ruth Marcene Beam, born April 21, 1920 at Yakima, Wash.
John Leslie Beam, born March 10, 1926 at Yakima (died August 28, 1937).
Family 28.
KENNETH BURTON RICHARDS, born November 19, 1900 at Atanum, Washington. Married
CLARA ELLEN PIELECKE. She died October 5, 1954.
53. (1) Burton Gene Richards, born April 7, 1929 at Yakima, Wash.
(2) Raymond David Richards, born September 27, 1936 at Yakima, Wash.
Family 29.
WANDA CUTLER, born January 1, 1923 at Magnolia, Iowa. Married DONALD SCHURLOCKE.
Address: 20 N. 35th St. Apt. C, Council Bluffs, Iowa.
(1) Penelope Schurlocke, who married Jerry Norris.
Family 30
KATHLEEN CUTLER, born December 8. 1910 at Magnolia, Iowa. Married, on April 4, 1931,
BERNARD GLENN FRAZIER.
Address: 2705 Mannen St, Mt. Vernon, Ill.
54. (1) Richard Charles Frazier, born April 13, 1932 at Magnolia, Iowa.
(2) Elizabeth Ann Frazier, born June 21, 1934 at Magnolia, Iowa
55. (3) Barbara Jane Frazier born March 17, 1940 at Dunlap, Iowa.
(4) Mary Lou Frazier, born April 24, 1943 at Pisgah, Iowa.
Family 31.
CARROLL RICHARD CUTIER, born on July 28, 1914 at Magnolia, Iowa. Married, on July 17,
1952 at Dunlap, Iowa, VERDINE LOUISE HANSEN, daughter of Peter Charles and Alma
(Andreasen) Hansen.
Address: Manilla, Iowa.
(1) Carroll Richard, Jr, born February 8, 1953 at Omaha, Nebraska.
(2) Calla Lynn, born September 25, 1954 at Harlan, Iowa.
(3) Charles Collins, born May 19, 1956 at Audubon, Iowa.
(4) Carter Allen, born October 2, 1957 at Audubon, Iowa.
Family 32.
MARGUERITE CUTLER, born August 23, 1916 at Magnolia, Iowa. Married, or February 15, 1936
LOUIS S. HOBSON.
Address: Flandreu, S. D.
(1) John Snowden Hobson, born May 26, 1947 at Flandreau, S.D
(2) Jane Marie Hobson, born June 2, 1950 at Flandreau, S.D
(3) Melissa Lou Hobson, born May 26, 1952 at Flandreau, S.D
(4) Katy Lynn Hobson, born October 17, 1958 at Flandreau, S D.
50
Family 33.
CYRIL IVAN CUTLER, born October 26, 1918 at Harrison County, Iowa. Married, on April 3, 1940
at Clarinda, Iowa, LETHA EILEEN MOENCH.
Address: 8603 Matilija Ave, Van Nuys, Calif.
(1)
(2)
Cyril Ivan, Jr. born November 1, 1941 at Los Angeles, California
Timothy L. born September 20, 1944 at Glendale, California
Family 34.
HENRY COLLINS, CUTLER, JR, born November 22, 1926 at Magnolia, Iowa. Married, on Jay 14,
1951 CAROL JUNE COOPER, daughter of Lumas and June (Carlson) Cooper.
Address: 311 Kingston Rd, Haddonfield, N. J.
(1) Constance, born November 23, 1953 at Buffalo, New York
(2) Kenna Marie, born August 13, 1955 at Buffalo, New York
Family 35.
GENE MARGUERITE GILLET, born June 3, 1903 at Council Bluffs, Iowa. Married, on June 1,
1927 JOHN M. LAWLER, now a retired designer and industrialist.
Address: 1046 Lombard Ave, St. Paul, Minn.
(1) Douglas Alan Lawler, born October 5, 1928 At Fargo, N. D. Unmarried.
Address: 410 N. Rossmore, Los Angeles, Calif.
56. (2) Marcia Ann Lawler, born November 9, 1932 at St. Paul, Minn.
Family 36.
CLARENCE WILLIAM CUTLER, born August 12, 1896 at Tacoma, Washington. Married
MATILDA ROXANNA ROSS on July 14, 1918 at Tacoma, Washington. She died on July 29, 1926.
Clarence married second, DOROTHY ALICE SMITH, on August 3, 1927.
Address: 3918 Madison Ave, Riverside, Calif. 157 Ocean View Ave, Del Mar, Calif.
Children of Clarence and Matilda Cutler:
57. (1) Kenneth Ross, born March 5, 1920 at Tacoma, Washington
58. (2) Glen Malcolm, born July 18, 1924 at Tacoma, Washington.
(3) David Aaron, born June 1, 1926 at Schenectady, N. Y. Died September 2, 1926 at
Tacoma, Washington.
Children of Clarence and Dorothy Cutler:
59. (4) Beatrice Loretta, born July 18, 1932 at Berwyn, Illinois.
Family 37.
PAUL IVAN CUTLER, born May 27, 1898 at Tacoma, Washington. Married, on September 12,
1934 CAMILLIA ELSIE MORLEY, daughter of Charles Edward and Annie (Lanighen) Morley.
Address: 1424 So. Adams St... Tacoma, Washington.
60. (1) Paul Ivan, Jr. born September 26, 1935 at Tacoma, Washington.
61. (2) Sharon Morleen born January 3, 1937 at Tacoma, Washington.
51
Family 38.
ELVA CAROL CUTLER, born January 6, 1918 at Seattle, Washington. Married, on May 16, 1940,
LESTER DOWELL LAWSON, JR.
Address: 3903 Pacific Ave, Long Beach, Calif.
(1)
(2)
(3)
Lester Dowell Lawson III, born March 10, 1941.
Anne Carroll Lawson, born September 24, 1945.
Laura Jane Lawson, born April 6, 1949.
Family 39.
DOROTHY JEANINE CUTLER, born January 1, 1930, at Chico, California. Married on March 28,
1947 CHARLES GRAHAM.
Address: 1214 E. 18th Street National City, Calif.
(1) Marie Katherine, born May 16, 1951
(2) Marie Katherine, born May 16, 1951
Family 40.
MARIE KATHLEEN CUTLER, born January 24, 1937 at Seattle, Washington. Married, on June 30,
1957 PAUL REX SMITH.
Address: 420 McDonald Road, Norfolk, Va.
(1) Glen Paul, born November 19, 1957.
(2) Marlyn Diane, born January 13, 1959
Family 41.
SHEILA DIANE CUTLER, born April 30, 1943 at Seattle, Washington. Married, in April, 1960
DAVID FREDERICK LEE.
(1) David Frederick Lee, Jr, born November 25, 1960.
Family 42.
LUCILLE FRANCES MCKINNEY, born February 26, 1902 at Magnolia, Iowa. Married, on July 27,
1925, VERNE C. HELM.(August 6, 1902 - August 18, 1971)
Address: 117 E. 6th, Logan, Iowa.
(1) Gaylord Helm, born December 1, 1932 at Logan, Iowa. Married Marilyn Graham. He
was lost at sea while serving with the Armed Forces, on June 4, 1958.
Family 43.
MAX EARL MCKINNEY, born June 8, 1908 at Magnolia, Iowa. Married, on November 20, 1936
ANNE WOOF. She died on February 15, 1949.
Address: 1803 - 59th St... Des Moines, Iowa.
(1) Myrna McKinney, born May 17, 1940 at Iowa Falls, Iowa.
(2) Marc McKinney, born December 4, 1946 at Dubuque, Iowa.
Family 44.
KATHLEEN FRANCES LANE, born September 18, 1903 at Palestine, Texas. Married, on
November 16, 1926 at Lott, Texas, JOSEPH NEAL CARROLL.
Address: Georgetown, Texas.
(1)
Joseph Neal Carroll, Jr, born October 11, 1929 at La Grange, Texas.
52
Family 45.
DON EDWARD CUTLER, born October 11, 1931 at Abilene, Texas. Married, on September 4, 1954
LAURA ANN SELLERS, daughter of Lester Alvah and Violet Mary (Edwards) Sellers.
Address: 510 Town North Dr... Arlington, Texas
(1) Donna Ann, born November 29, 1959 at Arlington, Texas.
Family 46.
LESLIE VERNE CUTLER, born October 20, 1910 at Oakwood, Texas. Married, on October 28,
1934, JOHN RUSSELL CLARK.
Address: Oakwood, Texas.
(1) Johnnie Vern Clark, born October 4, 1935 at Oakwood Texas.
Family 47.
LOUIE CUTLER MCLEAN,born March 9, 1914 at Hearne, Texas. Married on September 20, 1943,
ELAINE DAHNKE. He is a lawyer at Hearne, Texas.
(1) Judy Cathleen McLean, born May 14, 1947 at Edinburg, Texas.
(2) Carolyn Jean McLean, born May 30, 1950 at Edinburg, Texas.
Family 49.
GEORGE LIVINGSTON MILLER, born August 30, 1925 at Little Sioux, Iowa. Married, on June
22, 1948 NANCY ROBERTS BRADY, daughter of Roscoe Owen and Martha Kooker (Roberts)
Brady. He is an Army Major presently serving at the Pentagon.
Address: 2108 Priscilla Lane, Waynewood, Alexandria, Va.
(1) John Miller, born March 13, 1952 at Fort Knox, Kentucky.
(2) Roy Cutler Miller, born January 6, 1955 at West Point, New York.
(3) Edward Kothe Miller, born July 18, 1956 at West Point, New York.
Family 50.
ROBERT RAY BEAM, ill. born July 18, 1917 at Yakima, Washington. Married, on September 20,
1941 DOROTHY FAYE HAMILTON, daughter of Hugh C. and Mary Ellen (Allan) Hamilton.
Address: 3310 Howe Drive, Yakima, Wash.
(1) Kathleen Rae Beam, born June 29, 1943 at Yakima, Washington.
(2) John Robert Beam, born December 23, 1945 at Yakima, Washington.
(3) Marylin Marie Beam, born October 5, 1947 at Yakima, Washington.
Family 51.
FLORENCE LUCILLE BEAM, born January 1, 1919 at Yakima, Washington. Married, on
September 20, 1941 at Yakima, GEORGE EVERETT BELL.
Address: 5632 Pleasure Point Lane, Bellevue , Wash.
(1) Patricia Lucille Bell, born December 10, 1944 at Honolulu, T. H.
(2) Michiel George Bell born December 10, 1944 at Honolulu T. H.
53
Family 52.
RUTH MARCENE BEAM, born April 21, 1920 at Yakima, Washington. Married, on September 20,
1939 MERWYN R. SUGDEN.
Address: 9940 Lake Washington Blvd, Bellevue, Wash.
(1) Mark Robert Sugden, born March 16, 1941 at Yakima, Washington.
(2) Paul David Sugden, born November 14, 1943 at Yakima, Washington
Family 53.
BURTON GENE RICHARDS, born April 17, 1929 at Yakima, Washington. Married, on April 16,
1948 BARBARA SUE WALKER, daughter of William Shyrec and Alice Lee (Morgan) Walker.
Address: Route #4, Broken Arrow, Okla.
(1) Kenneth Syrec Richards, born July 7, 1949 at Toppenish, Wash.
(2) Valerie Lee Richards, born March 6, 1952 at Long Beach, Calif.
(3) Kate Elizabeth Richards, born February 7, 1957 at Long Beach, Calif,
(4) Virgil Gene Richards, born June 7, 1959 at Long Beach, Calif.
Family 54.
RICHARD CHARLES FRAZIER, born April 13, 1932 at Magnolia, Iowa. Married, on September
29, 1952 BETTY LOU LANGFORD.
Address: 722 N. Ash, Kermit, Texas
(1) Richard Charles Frazier, Jr. born May 20, 1954 at Lubbock, Texas
(2) Melanie Kay Frazier, born June 6, 1957 at Lubbock, Texas
Family 55.
BARBARA JANE FRAZIER, born March 17, 1940 at Dunlap, Iowa. Married, on December 27,
1958 NEUBERT C. JOHNSON.
Address: 3524 - 7th Ave, Council Bluffs, Iowa.
(1) Rebecca Sue Johnson, born February 1, 1960 at Omaha, Nebraska.
Family 56.
MARCIA ANN LAWLER, born November 9, 1932 at St. Paul, Minn. Married on January 8, 1952
THOMAS DAVID STRAND.
Address: 230 Fernwood Dr, San Bruno, Calif.
(1) Amy Marie Strand, born August 3, 1953 at St. Paul, Minn
(2) David Michael Strand, born January 24, 1955 at Fort Bragg, N.
Family 57.
KENNETH ROSS CUTLER, born March 5, 1920 at Tacoma, Washington. Married, on August 7,
1943 PATSY VIRGNIA REINECKE, daughter of Harry Johnson and Ruth Elizabeth (Moland)
Reinecke.
Address: 13431 Weddington St, Van Nuys, Calif.
(1)
(2)
(3)
Geoffrey William, born December 19, 1944 at Glendale, California.
Craig Lee, born November 19, 1949 at Los Angeles, California.
Brooke Roxanne, born December 15, 1951 at Los Angeles, California.
54
Family 58.
GLEN MALCOLM CUTLER, born July 18, 1924 at Tacoma, Washington. Married, on December
16, 1944 LORRAINE JEANE TUCEK, daughter of Charles and Jennie (Kocka) Tucek.
Address: Route #1, Box 102, Warrenville, Ill.
(1) Peter Jay, born October 25, 1945 at Berwyn, Illinois.
(2) Wendy Jeane, born November 15, 1947 at Berwyn, Illinois.
(3) Corliss Beth, born September 14, 1949 at Berwyn, Illinois.
(4) Eric Glen, born November 21, 1952, at Berwyn, Illinois.
(5)
Spring Adair, born September 10, 1954 at Berwyn Illinois.
Family 59.
BEATRICE LORETTA CUTLER, born July 18, 1932 at Berwyn, Illinois. Married, on July 3, 1954
GEORGE CLINTON HODGKINS.
Address: 145 So. May St, Southern Pines, N. C.
(1) Gayle Lynn Hodgkins, born August 10, 1955 at Los Angeles, Calif.
(2) Phillip Lowell Hodgkins, born December 10, 1956 at Pasadena, Calif.
(3) Elizabeth Anne Hodgkins, born March 15, 1959 at Glendale,
Family 60.
PAUL IVAN CUTLER, JR. born September 26, 1935 at Tacoma, Washington. Married, on June 26,
1959 MYRNA MARIE RAUDEBAUGH, daughter of Don P. and Rose Marie (Rice) Raudebaugh
Address: 1208 Princeton Fircrest, Wash.
(1) Kimberly Ann, born November 30, 1960 at Tacoma,
Family 61.
SHARON MORLEEN CUTLER, born January 3, 1937 at Tacoma, Washington. Married, on January
20, 1956, RAYMOND EDWARD GEORGE
Address: 10014 Lexington Ave, S. W, Lakewood, Wash.
(1) Michael Rayman George, born November 12, 1956 at Tacoma, Washington.
(2) Lynn Marie George, born December 27, 1957, at Tacoma, Washington.
55
ALBERT IVES CUTLER
(Collins Ives 7 William6 Benoni5 Timothy4 John3 James2 Jamesl)
ALBERT IVES CUTLER
ASBARINE CUTLER
1842-1931
1851-1915
As we have seen from earlier pages, Albert was unable to do heavy work as a result of his
injured knee. In a day when all motive power was supplied by men and horses this was a factor
seriously limiting his ability to advance his fortunes, and by 1881 he had four children whose
future was of concern to him. Magnolia offered little beyond farming or related activities.
At various times Albert ( "A.I." to the family) tried developing nearby farms, once north of
Magnolia, and once over near Logan. Not only was he held back by his stiff knee, but Asbarine
("Bene" to the family) was not really inclined to be enthusiastic about farming. As one of the
family put it, "Aunt Bene never was cut out to do much hard work, and never did any." Also it
was recalled that at one Thanksgiving dinner at A.I.'s place Bene's biscuits were of such a
consistency that "you could knock a cow down with them."
Whatever her farming shortcomings, Bene had many sterling qualities. She and A.I. were a
happy couple. While her background was touched briefly on Page 37, it is interesting enough to
explore further. Asbarine Rebecca Dewell (spelled variously Duel, Dowell, etc.) was born on
May 21, 1851 at Rochester, Cedar County, Iowa, the daughter of Samuel and Martha Ann
(Walker) Dewell.
Bene's maternal grandfather Samuel Walker (1792-1843) and grandmother Rebecca (Dugan)
Walker (1795-1875) both had been born in Tennessee, met and married in Wayne County,
Indiana in 1817, moved to western Indiana in 1832, and to Cedar County, Iowa in 1842. He died
the next year, leaving ten children including Bene's mother Martha Ann
56
Martha Ann Walker married first, in 1845, Johnston Miller, who soon died; she married second,
on May 4. 1850, Samuel Dewell. A year later Bene was born and then on November 25, 1852,
when Bene was 18 months old, Martha Ann Died.
Samuel Dewell was a fascinating character. Descended from an Englishman, Philip Dowell who
became a planter at St. James Parish, Anne Arundel County, Maryland in 1698, his early
American ancestors of that area included both Puritan and Cavalier families such as Tydings,
Aldridge, Brooke, Richardson, Wells and Stockett; his immediate ancestors were predominately
German, such as the Springer and Potts families. He was born in Jefferson County, Ohio on July
15, 1819, the son of Solomon Dewell (1789-1864) and Patience (Potts) Dewell (1797-1828). He
was a man of great imagination and determination.
At the age of fifteen Samuel ran away from home, educated himself, attending McKendree
College at Lebanon, Illinois. In 1848 he went to Cedar County, Iowa where he met and married
Martha Ann. Following her death he married, second, on December 27, 1854, widow Harriet
Spicer Earle.
In 1857 they moved to Shelby County, Iowa where Samuel held all of the important County
offices, including County Judge, Justice of the Peace, Superintendent of the County Schools,
County Surveyor and later during the war, enrolling officer for part of the 5th Congressional
District. In November, 1864 he moved to Harrison County, Iowa where he held many public
posts including Postmaster and State Surveyor, edited a newspaper and engaged in a wide range
of activities.
Samuel had a highly inventive mind. Once he tarred a roll of paper and nailed it to his roof, but
when a high wind tore it off and blew it all over Magnolia he gave up what could have become a
fortune. In fact, everyone said that "he had a fortune in him, but could never quite get it out."
Between 1872-1875 he was in poor health so he taught school. During this period he devised a
new method of teaching geography and wrote a textbook making the engravings himself. This
book, copyrighted in 1875, was adopted as standard in the Iowa schools. In 1875 he purchased
and laid out a town he named "Malta" but the railroad bought it and changed it to "River Sioux."
In 1883 Samuel moved to Pierre, in the Dakota Territory. When South Dakota was admitted as a
state in 1889 he was a member of the Constitutional Convention and became a member of the
first legislature. He died later than year, on September 27, 1889 of "bowel complaint" and is
buried at Pierre. The family of Samuel Dewell:
Child of Johnston Miller and Martha Ann Walker (her first marriage)
(1)Eliza Ann MILLER, born 1846
Children of Orson Earle and Harriet Spicer (her first marriage)
(2) William EARLE, born 1850
(3) Avis Delia EARLE, born 1852
Child of Samuel Dewell and Martha Ann Walker (his first marriage)
(4) ASBARINE REBECCA DEWELL, BORN MAY 21,1851
Children of Samuel Dewell and Harriet Spicer (his second marriage)
(5) Harriet DEWELL, born September 28, 1855
(6) Seba DEWELL, born August 27, 1858
(7) Marcia DEWELL, born April 7, 1862
(8) Samuel Grand DEWELL, born in April, 1864
57
(9) Elva Maud DEWELL, born October 14, 1867
Samuel Dewell was somewhat like a magnet -- hewas attracted to books and repelled by manual
labor. Bene had the same leanings. She read every book she could lay her hands on, but never
was too enthusiastic about heavier pursuits.
Both Samuel and Bene exerted a strong influence on easygoing A.I. This always was directed
away from the farm. As the children grew, they too were inclined toward more sophisticated
pursuits.
Other opportunities more suitable than farming seemed to be opening in the amazing new world
of the 188os. New "toys" such as the telephone, electric light and internal-combustion engine
were stirring the imagination, and newly opened foreign trade was creating booms all over the
country.
At the beginning of 1889 the country's attention focused on the Pacific Northwest, and later that
year the Washington Territory was admitted to the Union as Washington State, A wave of
speculative prosperity hit the Puget Sound area. Tacoma which became the terminus for the
Northern Pacific Railway upon its completion in 1883, saw its population grow from 1,000 to
36,000 in the decade of the 1880's.
This area had a lot to recommend it. The whole Pacific Basin was opening up, and the value of
potential Chinese-Japanese-Russian trade was estimated at the astounding figure of
$300,000,000 per year. The only competition for this market was with England, and Puget Sound
was 6,000 miles closer to Shanghai than was Liverpool, England. In addition, the Kuro Shiwo
(Japanese Current) flowed in a circular motion that gave American ships a 20-mile-per-day
advantage in both directions.
The Puget Sound area was 400 miles closer to Asia than San Francisco, and economically
sounder. Two primary products needed in the Orient were lumber and wheat. Puget Sound had
vast timber resources almost at tidewater and Tacoma quickly became the world's lumber center.
Washington's eastern counties grow a quality of wheat which, considering gluten content, etc, is
perhaps the world's finest for human consumption, and Tacoma built the world's largest wheat
warehouse. In 1889 it appeared that the whole of America's east-west commerce would flow
through Tacoma-Seattle-Port Townsend. To compete with the Northern Pacific, the Great
Northern Railway was rushed to completion in 1893. If ever well-laid plans for the future could
be made with certainty of success, a move to Puget Sound was it.
In the spring of 1890 Albert moved the family from Magnolia, Iowa to Tacoma, Washington,
thus becoming the first member of our family in history to live in a city. Their first address was
1712 K Street, Tacoma. Others from Magnolia moved at the same time. Captain Charles H.
Holmes, whose family went all the way back to Vermont days and was perhaps the family's
closest friend in Magnolia, lived next door in Tacoma. James Van Eaton, an energetic young
neighbor from Magnolia moved out south of Tacoma. Albert's young nephew and namesake
Albert B. Cutler ended up on a farm in Yakima. Several of Bene's family also came west
following Samuel Dewell's death in 1889.
City living was much different than farming community life. In the city people had to engage in
some form of commerce since money now was master of their every move and essential to their
58
very existence. As A.I. had little business experience or capital and could not do heavy labor, he
had to seek employment for wages in light jobs. Thus the family was introduced to the bald
realities of the "business cycle" rather than the "weather cycle" experienced by the farmers.
Just three years after the family moved to the booming northwest the Panic of 1893 struck the
country. The new State of Washington was particularly hard hit, as their whole economy had
been built around the specialized export of goods rather than self-sufficiency. The number of
banks in the state dropped from 173 to 91 in three years, and business dropped accordingly.
Almost everyone had been caught in an overextended position by the boom fever and
bankruptcies were widespread.
Then in 1897 the steamer "Portland" arrived from Alaska with over a million dollars in gold
dust, and the rush to the Klondike was on. Seattle catered to the mob and became the port
through which most Alaskan activity was channeled. Business there tripled in a year-and-a-half
and spread throughout the area.
Adding impetus to the renewed boom was the Spanish American War which flashed by between
April and August of 1898 (in fact, it was such a quick affair that the northwest almost missed it.
Only one Washington State Regiment was raised and total casualties were seven officers and 140
men.) In 1900 the Chinese Boxer Rebellion was settled in a manner that seemed to assure an
"open door" for Pacific trade. A third major railroad, The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and
Pacific, was pushed out to Seattle by 1909, giving the northwest a transport capacity indicating
that big money felt that big things lay ahead.
Albert was not able to capitalize on the boom times, but while able to work he readily found
suitable employment. He first worked as a roofing contractor, and at other times supervised
construction crews, was a lumber tallier, night watchman, and for ten years was a tax assessor.
He remained content that he had brought the children to an area where opportunities were
available to them.
Bene died at Tacoma on December 15, 1915. Her grandson Clarence, who grew up very close to
her says fondly, "she was a grand woman who had only two faults that I ever knew about -- she
found it hard to budget on items the family needed, so A.I. did all the shopping; and sometimes
she would take a book into the other room to recuperate and the dinner would burn a bit."
From 1927 until he died on January 14, 1931 at the age of 89, A.I. lived in the State Soldiers'
Home at Orting. He was a 32nd Degree Mason and a gentleman in every respect. The children of
Albert Ives and Asbarine Rebecca (Dewell) Cutler (family pictures on Page 43):
WILLIAM SAMUEL, born May 19, 1869 at Magnolia Iowa. See following.
CAROLINE ELVA, born August 28, 1871 at Magnolia, Iowa. Named for Albert's mother
Caroline and Bene's sister Elva who had died in 1868. She married Albert J. Weisbach who had
two children by a prior marriage but she had no children of her own. Elva worked in the Seattle
office of the Northern Pacific Railway for 45 years, retiring as senior secretary in that office. One
of the kindest and most generous women who ever lived, much of her time and all of her thin
supply of money went to help others. Whenever anyone in the family needed anything, Elva was
there to help. She died in 1950, aged 79.
59
NELLIE FRANCES, born November 21, 1877 at Oakwood, Texas the year that her father was
teaching school and they were visiting his brother Alonzo. She was named after Nellie White and
Frances Walston, Albert's sisters in -law. In 1909 she married Raymond Ege, Washington State
Highway Engineer who built the road through Snoqualamie Pass. Later he became an official of
the Portland Cement Association in Chicago, Illinois where they lived for many years. A
sparkling personality, proud and dignified, she was socially prominent in Chicago until she died
on June 25, 1943 at the age of 66. They had no children.
JESSIE IVES, born October 12, 1881 at Magnolia, Iowa. Named for Jesse Marshall and the Ives
family (Page 27). Jesse was an easy-going, fun-loving dude who never quite got around to using
his very real talents. His first undertaking was a nickelodeon in Tacoma where he sang between
the acts, and thereafter he seldom was without a "big deal" on the fire. Several of his promotions
involved sizable sums of money, but the liabilities always slightly exceeded the assets, so
between times he worked as a railway clerk, claim adjuster, sold stocks and bonds and business
directory advertising. His greatest talent was with figures, and he could add a five-column set
more quickly in his head than most men could on a machine; but he used this ability only as a
last resort, preferring more active pursuits. (See also Family 13 on Page 47).
60
WILLIAM SAMUEL CUTLER
(Albert Ives8 Collins Ives7 William6 Benoni,5 Timothy4 John3 James2 Jamesl
WILLIAM SAMUEL CUTLER
MINNIE (KLINE) CUTLER
1869-1933
1871-1960
William Samuel Cutler was born at Magnolia Iowa on May 19, 1869, the eldest son of Albert
Ives and Asbarine (Dewell) Cutler. He was named for Albert's brother William (who in turn had
named his eldest son Albert), and Asbarine's father Samuel Dewell. At the time of William's
birth his father was Harrison County Sheriff, his grandfather Dewell was Postmaster at
Magnolia, he was surrounded by young aunts and uncles and the family was prospering. The
chances are that he was a bit "spoiled" as a baby.
"Will" spent his first 21 years on farms, though none of the family really was suited to farming.
In 1877, when he was eight years old, they spent the year in Oakwood, Texas while his father
taught school there. In 1890 the family moved out to Tacoma, Washington where wider
opportunities were available to Will and the other children.
The greatest pace in the Tacoma area was being set by construction, as commercial buildings
were scarce and homes were needed to house the large number of new workers streaming into
the new area. Will's first job was in this business shingling roofs on a contract basis.
Before long he began courting Minnie Kline, a proud and stately blonde who was being pursued
by quite a group of eligible bachelors and at the same time being urged by one of her uncles to
ignore the whole bunch and come east to continue her schooling. She decided to marry Will and
a half-century later she confided to her grandson that it was "the fine family he came from" that
was the deciding factor in her choice. On March 14, 1894 they were married at Tacoma.
61
Minnie Idel Kline was born at Yates City, Knox County Illinois, on January 21, 1871 the eighth
child of Peter Fegley and Sarah Anna (Conver) Kline. All of her family was descended from
early German settlers of Pennsylvania.
Minnie's grandfather Philip Kline was born about 1800, probably in Berks County, Pennsylvania,
north of Philadelphia. In about 1825 he married Hattie Fegley (she was listed in the 1850 Census
as Esther, and the last name was often spelled Phegley.) Both the Kline and Fegley families were
prominent in the Berks County area, and both had migrated north from the Philadelphia area
about the time of the Revolution; one branch of the Fegley family went south to Kentucky. As a
young man Philip went west to what is today Richland Township, Clarion County, in the western
section of Pennsylvania. He died there in about 1848, leaving nine children of whom Minnie's
father Peter, then aged 13, was the fifth. Specific members of the Kline family are hard to
identify in the very early days as there were large numbers of them all bearing the same names,
and Peter was a very young boy when his father died so he brought little detailed history with
him when he came west.
Grandfather John F. Conver was born in Montgomery County Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia in
1794. In about 1817 he married Susanna Allebach, who was born in 1796. Both the Convers and
Allebachs were prominent families in that area. They went west to Clarion County, Pennsylvania
among the early settlers. John had one of the large farms in Richland Township and was often
called Squire Conver. They had ten children of whom Minnie's mother Sarah Anna was the
youngest.
The Klines and Convers lived on adjoining farms. Both families were very strict, held daily
family bible readings and prayers, and spoke only German.
It is pertinent at this point to comment on the part of American history played by the early
German Americans. Starting before the 1700's large numbers came from the various German
States, settling predominently in New York and Pennsylvania, but also being among the earliest
settlers of Maryland, New Jersey and interior regions such as Kentucky. The Germans were
largely pacifists, were strict in their religions, minded their own business, and in general were a
high-grade and literate group having skills and a degree of thrift not matched by many of the
other colonists. Before the Revolution Britain forbade any Englishman with mechanical skills
from emigrating to the colonies, so skilled Germans were in great demand and many
communities offered them land bounties as settlement inducement.
During the Revolution, though they were pacifists, the Germans played an important role.
Philadelphia, with a heavy German population, provided most of the hard cash for Washington's
army, skilled German craftsmen manned the factories and the Continental Congress met there in
comparative safety. As mentioned on page 22, Congress came within one vote of adopting
German as the official American language.
The Germans and English Puritans were a kindred spirit, each coming to America to escape
domination by strong central governments. In addition, many of the Puritans were descendants of
the Germanic groups that settled in Britain in the 450-600 A.D. period (the Cutlers, originally
from Norfolk, probably were descended from the German Angles who populated that area and
gave England its name, from "Angle - land".)
62
As both the English and German Americans scattered across the expanding frontier they
naturally and quickly intermarried. The English group spoke the official language and were far
more aggressive socially, so they assumed political leadership; the Germans provided basic
talents, stability of thrift and many folkways (such as Santa Claus and Christmas trees) which
have blended into American tradition. By 1900 about one-third of America's population was of
German origin, one-third English and one-third scattered. Today America's "AngloSaxon
majority" is made up of those German-English and allied groups so intermingled that they think
of themselves as one people.
Peter Kline and Sarah Anna Conver were married when very young, both being about seventeen
years old. Peter's father had been dead for several years and the family was not very well off;
Sarah's father was not really pleased with the match. Around 1850 they went west to Illinois,
settling on a farm about 20 miles west of Peoria, between Farmington and Yates City. Later
Sarah's older brother Samuel came out to Peoria, opening a jewelry store. In 1871 Minnie was
born at Yates City (her middle name Idel was after one of the neighbors.) In about 1874 they
moved to Iowa for a brief period and then to Fairbury, Nebraska. Sarah's father died in 1868 and
her mother in 1882, with each of them leaving her a share of the estate. In 1882 Peter traveled by
overland stage to the Washington Territory, settling in the tiny community of Tacoma, at 11th
and Pacific. The next year Sarah and the children went by train to San Francisco and up to
Tacoma by steamer. Peter was a skilled millwright as well as a farmer and after coming to
Tacoma he worked for a while in a mill at Old Town. Later he found an excellent location with a
good stand of timber about six miles back of Gig Harbor near Purdy and homesteaded 160 acres
there. He built his own house with his own lumber. While selling off his timber he worked in a
local mill, then farmed. By 1913 both Peter and Sarah were too old to take care of the farm so
they moved to Sumner, purchasing a 15-acre berry ranch. Sarah died on November 11, 1919
aged 82 and Peter died on April 2, 1923 aged 87, both at Tacoma. Their children:
1. Amanda born October 21, 1855 (died infant)
2. John born July 18, 1857
3. Nora Emma born November 16, 1859
4. Edwin born February 25, 1862 (died infant)
5. Sarah Ella born November 18, 1863
6. William Peter born July 11, 1866 (died 2 years)
7. Mary Ellen born November 9, 1868
8. MINNIE IDEL BORN JANUARY 21, 1871
9. Clara (twin) born August 12, 1875 (died infant)
10. Clarence (twin) born August 12, 1875
11. Ada born 1877 (died young child)
Shortly after Will Cutler and Minnie were married they moved to Seattle where they lived at
Second and Pike Streets while he worked as a street car motorman. At that time there were no
automobiles, very few paved streets, and the street car run by electricity was a rather spectacular
modern convenience. When an opportunity opened in Tacoma they moved back there and Will
became a conductor and motorman on the South Tacoma run.
Will was very much like his mother, in that he was always studying. He was largely self-taught
as the country schools he had attended covered little more than fundamentals. Their home had
shelves lined with books, and as fast as books on electricity were printed, Will read them.
63
On August 12, l896 his first child, Clarence William was born (Collins and Caroline's first greatgrandchild.) He was named Clarence after Minnie's younger brother and William after his father.
Shortly after this time Will became superintendent of the North End Water Works in Tacoma.
On May 27, 1898 Paul Ives was born (Paul later changed Ives to Ivan for some reason.)
In 1900 Will took the family to Fresno, California where he became supervisor of the San
Joaquin Power Company plant. This supplied power for Fresno and eventually Oakland as well.
After two years in lonesome seclusion at the power plant they grew homesick for Tacoma; all the
rest of the family was there, and by now Clarence was of school age. In 1902 Will moved back
to Tacoma, taking a job as high-voltage lineman. Later he became a telephone lineman.
In 1907 they bought a home at 908 North Sheridan Avenue. This is located at about the highest
spot in Tacoma. at the time they moved in this was quite a way from town, one of only four
houses in the area; the sidewalks and water mains were made of wood.
That same year the northwest was particularly hard hit by the nationwide Depression of 1907.
Between that time and World War I growth of the area was erratic, unemployment often was
widespread, and there were times when the family was financially pinched.
In 1913 when Peter Kline bought his farm. in Sumner, Will bought a two acre farm adjoining it.
Often they spent the winter in Tacoma and the summer on the farm growing blackberries and
raspberries, which brought up to $2,000 per year. At times they also operated the Kline farm.
While he worked, Will made good money and a goodly portion went into books and
experimental gadgets. His attic and workshop were full of the most remarkable items. He and
Clarence built some of the earliest radios. Will also invested in a few mining and telephone
companies which later went out of business; he traded small pieces of real estate and once he
backed a billiard hall that lasted just about three months.
When World War I broke out in Europe, Will went to work at Todd Shipyards in Tacoma
becoming, head electrician. He had a "feel" for electricity that astounded the engineers.
After the war, Will found the 1920's to be anything but the roaring period that history generally
relates. The Panama Canal had opened in 1915, bringing New York economically as close to the
Orient as Seattle, and Japan emerged as a leading industrial power dominating much of the
Pacific trade. Thus placed in an economic squeeze, the northwest was destined to fade from
national prominence for a prolonged period.
Will was a warm, honest, sincere and kind individual who was not a good mixer in the business
or promotional sense, so he saw other men literally talk their way past him. But while he did not
make a wide circle of conversational friends, those who were close to him were intensely loyal,
so he often had a job when others did not. He lived at a bad time, for his talents. He grew up just
before schooling in engineering was available and spent his later years competing with the young
graduates of the new schools that were turning out specialists in every phase of science. This was
a losing battle and he knew it. He and Minnie dedicated themselves to helping their boys,
Clarence and Paul, gain the starting advantages of specialized education.
64
When Clarence grew old enough to take piano lessons, Will didn't have the money to buy a
piano, so he traded Mosquito Island for one (today that little island would be worth quite a sum.)
When the boys went off to college he and Minnie sent not only all the money they had, but grew
food, preserved and shipped it to Pullman in large apple barrels.
Will had a stroke in the early 1920's after which high-wire work was too hazardous, so he
worked in the shops at City Light winding motors and other bench work when he was able. He
had another stroke in the spring of 1933 and was bedridden until he died on November 16, 1933
at the age of 64. During his last six months Minnie sat by his bedside all night and worked all
day making pants in a local factory, never going to bed once during the period.
Minnie was a most remarkable woman in many ways. A talented seamstress, she made most of
the family's clothes. Possessed of unusual energy, she chopped her own wood (the house was
heated and cooking done on wood stoves) and spaded her own garden until she was well over
seventy years old. She experienced many hardships but set a rare example of courage, pride and
dignity in the worst of times. Fiercely devoted to her family, absolutely honest, and a devout
member of the First Christian Church in Tacoma, she lived a truly Christian life. She died at
Tacoma on August 13, 1960, at the age of 89. The children of William and Minnie Cutler:
CLARENCE WILLIAM CUTLER (see following chapter)
PAUL IVAN CUTLER, born May 27, 1898 at Tacoma,
Washington. Graduated from Sumner High School in 1917 and
entered Washington State College at Pullman that year. In
1918 joined the Army, serving as a Second Lieutenant.
Returning to college in 1919 he headed the ROTC unit and
graduated in 1923. He first sold bonds for Thompson , Jackson
& Co, and then from 1924 until 1955 engaged in various
phases of the oil industry. Since that time he has been
associated with Campbell Industrial Supply Co, Seattle. See
family 37, page 51.
65
CLARENCE WILLIAM CUTLER
(William Samuel 9 Albert Ives8 Collins Ives7 William6
Benoni5 Timothy4 John3 James2 James1
Clarence William Cutler was born at Tacoma, Washington on August 12, 1896, the eldest son of
William Samuel and Minnie Idel (Kline) Cutler.
Except for the period 1900-1902 which was spent in Fresno, California, all of his early years
were spent in and around Tacoma. By the time Clarence was in the eighth grade he had grown to
a height of nearly six feet. He was a serious and energetic child who studied hard and carried a
heavy newspaper route from the time he was a very small boy.
Spurning frivolous pastimes, he took an active part in church activities and the YMCA; when the
Boy Scouts were founded he helped organize the first troop on the Pacific Coast. Like his father,
Clarence was fascinated by gadgets. He helped his father build radios and other marvels of the
day, and displayed an exceptional imagination on his own (one of his first inventions was a
"perpetual motion machine" that was rather elaborately constructed out of what had been a
beautiful $75 aluminum bicycle.)
Following his graduation from Stadium High School in Tacoma in 1915, he went to work at
Todd Shipyards as a machinist's timekeeper. While he was "resting" with only one job, he took
courses by mail from the International Correspondence Schools, studying engineering and
drafting.
In the fall of 1915 Clarence entered Washington State College at Pullman. In addition to his
studies he managed a boarding house, but despite this distraction set a pace of academic
achievement that attracted the attention of the whole faculty. Professor Akers encouraged
Clarence to broaden his course and Dean Carpenter of the School of Engineering took him under
his wing; during the following three years Clarence would set school records by receiving two
degrees simultaneously. In 1917 war loomed large over the campus and the Reserve Officer
Training Corps became the most important student activity. Breaking all tradition, Clarence was
chosen as Cadet Lieutenant Colonel, the highest ranking student officer, while still a junior.
66
During his junior year Clarence met Matilda Ross, a quiet yet gay and happy home economics
major. "Til" and Clarence soon were dating regularly and then became engaged.
The following June Clarence was sent to the Presidio at San Francisco for further training and
then given special permission to complete his schooling. With uncertainty over the coming year
removed, Clarence wrote to Til and she met him at Tacoma where, on July 14. 1918 they were
married at his home.
Matilda Roxanna Ross was born at Chewelah, Washington on April
10, 1895 the fourth child of Clarence Edward and Edna Eliza (Millay)
Ross. She was named after her two grandmothers.
Til was descended from a colorful group of pioneers whose
background was roughly similar to the Cutlers, with each generation
born at the expanding frontier and moving with it.
The chart below will serve as a guide to her immediate ancestors
described briefly in following paragraphs.
67
Til's great-grandfather Henry Ross (1788-1860) was born of Scotch descent in northern
Monongalia County, Virginia (this area later became part of Marion County and still later part of
West Virginia.) His parents were among the earliest settlers of this frontier area, and his father,
James Ross, had been lost in the Indian Wars. In 1807 Henry married Catherine Burris (17861859) whose ancestors were -of English and Welsh origin, and also were among the first to cross
the Alleghenys into Indian Territory (her maternal grandfather David Morgan was one of the
famous "Indian fighting" Morgans of the frontier.) Henry operated perhaps the finest convertible
mill in the Fairmont area.
Great-grandfather Philip Brolliar (1805- was descended from a Dutch Huguenot family which
had come to Pennsylvania in the early 1700's. He went south to Hagerstown, Maryland where he
married Elizabeth Style, also Dutch. They came west in the 1840's settling on a farm at Canton,
Illinois.
Great-grandfather Samuel Dinslow Millay (1811-1892) was born in Maine descended from a
long list of early English colonists of Massachusetts. He was a forceful character who spoke five
languages, was a practicing physician, an ordained Free Will Baptist minister for over fifty years,
and an outspoken advocate of temperance-and abolition. In 1834 he married Olive Hutchins
(1810-1878) who also was descended from early English colonists of Massachusetts and
Connecticut (her father Emery Hutchins had been killed in the War of 1812 when she was three
years old.) In 1846 Samuel brought his family west to Barry, Illinois.
Great-grandfather Harlow Huntley (1806-1880) was born in New York, descended from early
English colonists of Connecticut. In 1825 he married Elmira Roxanna Partridge (1808-1877)
who was born in Massachusetts, descended from early English colonists of that area (the name
Roxanna originated with her mother, Roxanna Loveland). Harlow was a powerful man who
traveled extensively and raised a large family as he migrated westward, first to Pennsylvania,
then to Ohio finally settling on a farm in Pike County, Illinois in 1843. In 1850 he was elected
Pike County Justice of the Peace; he held this and other offices for the next thirty years. He had a
1000 acre farm and had the good fortune to discover coal on his property.
Til's grandfather Stephen Morgan Ross (1827-1895), Henry Ross's eighth child, came west to
Canton, Illinois in 1858 where he married Matilda Brolliar (1830-1898), Philip Brolliar's third
child. Stephen was a farmer and stonemason. In 1869 he moved his family to Carroll County,
Missouri, settling near Tina.
Grandfather Dexter Millay (1832-1907), the eldest of Samuel Millay's eight children, was born
in Maine and came west with the family as a boy. In 1853 he married (with his father performing
the ceremony, naturally) Roxanna Elmira Huntley (1830-1921), who was born in Pierpont, Ohio,
the third of Harlow Huntley's twelve children. Dexter served in the 124th Illinois Infantry during
the War, suffering exposure which partially disabled him and caused chest and liver ailments for
the rest of his life. In 1867 the Millays all moved to Carroll County, Missouri, taking up farming
near Avalon and Bogard.
Til's parents, Clarence Edward Ross (1867-1925 known as "Ed" all his life) and Edna Eliza
Millay (1865-1916) were raised in adjoining townships in Carroll County, Missouri.
68
Edna studied to be a teacher, receiving her second grade certificate in March, 1889. Ed was a
dashing young man whose ambition was to have a mill like his grandfather had had in West
Virginia. On April 30, 1890 Ed and Edna were married and set out for the west to find a site to
build his mill and fortune.
Almost crossing paths with Albert Cutler, they went as far as Spokane. There Ed got a job as a
cruiser for a lumber company. Their first child was born at Spokane in 1891. Later that year Ed
located an ideal spot for a mill about sixty miles north at Chewelah. This was wild country at the
time, and Edna was expecting their second child, so he sent her home to Bogard while he built
his place; the next year they settled permanently at Chewelah. Later Ed offered jobs to any of the
in-laws at Bogard who might want to come west; so many did come that a fairly large family
community resulted.
Ed Ross was a naturally friendly man, known and liked by everyone. The Ross place became
somewhat of a social center. The local school became known as the Ross School. He built the
first electric plant in the Valley and had the first electric lights for miles around. He had the first
motor car in the area. He was a crack shot with either his wad of tobacco or a rifle. One of his
prized possessions was a giant bearskin coat that most certainly was the only one in captivity,
real wild-west. Ed Ross was not an easy man to forget, and beneath it all a warm and generous
family man. Edna was killed on July 4, 1916 when a car in which she was riding overturned. Ed
died on April 4, 1925 after injuring himself while building a new house. The children of
Clarence Edward and Edna Eliza (Millay) Ross:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Laura Leola, born January 21, 1891 at Spokane Washington
Ella May, born May 17, 1892 at Bogard, Missouri
Viola Eileen, born October 3. 1894 at Chewelah, Washington
MATILDA ROXANNA, BORN APRIL 10, 1895, AT CHEWELAH, WASHINGTON
Minnie Ruth, born and died, 1896 at Chewelah, Washington
Fay Edna, born September 23, 1897 at Chewelah, Washington
Stephen Harlow, born April 22, 1900 at Chewelah, Washington
Dexter Clarence, born' December 26, 1902 at Chewelah, Washington
In the fall of 1916 Til went down to Pullman to go to college, staying that year with cousin Ed
Gaines. In 1917 Ella transferred to Pullman from the University at Seattle, and Fay came down
to school. With three of his girls in school and needing a place to stay, Ed Ross solved the
problem by buying them a house (where the student union building now stands.) This became a
delightful gathering place.
When Clarence and Til returned for his senior year, following their marriage in Tacoma, they
lived in the Ross house. Clarence again headed the ROTC, but the war ended on November 11,
1918, so he resigned from the Corps to devote his entire effort to completing his degrees (his
brother Paul who had returned from service took over command of the Corps.)
When Clarence Graduated from Washington State College on June 12, 1919 with the degrees in
both Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, he and Til went up to Chewelah. Ed Ross wanted to
keep his family together and tried to get all of the boys to expand operations of the mill on a
partnership basis. But that summer the mill burned down so Clarence and Til went over to
Tacoma where he opened a battery shop. Here Kenneth Ross was born at home, 1201 North Fife
Street, on March 5, 1920.
69
Then in the summer of 1920 the General Electric Company offered Clarence a position in the test
group at their main laboratory at Schenectady, New York. A few months later he was assigned to
the personal staff of one of the world's great scientists, Dr. Charles Steinmetz.
The years 1920-1926 were dynamic years, and Clarence rose fast at General Electric. He worked
on theoretical research, adding to and extending basic theory in such fields as parallel generators,
reciprocating compressors, etc.; he conducted altitude tests on electrical and gaseous phenomena
for the AIEE; he had many papers published in the ASRE and ASME Journals; he added patents
to company holdings and provided many "bright ideas" for collaborating companies, such as the
simple suggestion that Eastman Kodak replace the hand crank on their prototype movie camera
with a spring, thus laying the foundation for America's home movies (he was presented with one
of the first production models and in the past 35 years has built quite a film library
Dr. Steinmetz also served as professor of electrophysics at Union College in Schenectady prior
to his death in 1923, and had encouraged his staff to engage in advanced studies. Clarence gained
his Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering from Union College in 1926.
Despite the meager salary of $90 per month, Clarence and Til got by somehow. Indeed, by the
summer of 1924 they had saved enough to go home on a vacation, and while in Tacoma on July
18, 1924, Glen Malcolm was born.
On June 1, 1926 David Aaron was born at Schenectady (named after Dave McClanigan,
Clarence's closest friend at General Electric.) Til never had felt well in the east and by now was
so ill that she felt that she had to "go home" to a milder climate. Early in July Clarence obtained
a transfer to the company's Portland, Oregon office. Two weeks after their arrival in Portland, Til
died on July 29, 1926, at the age of 30. Just six weeks later baby David died at Tacoma on
September 2, 1926 at the age of three months. [He couldn't hold food down.]
Kenneth and Glen were parked with Grandmother Cutler in Tacoma. Later that winter Clarence
became engaged to Dorothy Smith, Til's best friend from Chewelah.
Dorothy Alice Smith was born at Chewelah, Washington on February
17, 1896, the daughter William and Alice (George) Smith.
Both William and Alice were Englishmen, William having been born
in September, 1846 in Kent, and Alice on May 7, 1853 in London.
William was a carriagemaker by trade, and as his craft became
mechanized his hand skills were used less. Several of Alice's brothers
had come to America and were working in farm machinery plant in
Auburn, New York. In 1882 William brought his family to Auburn,
where he worked for two years.
Hearing of the opportunities on the frontier, William set out for the
west, arriving in the western part of the Dakota Territory in 1884 (this
is now South Dakota.)
70
Life in the Dakota Territory was a far cry from their background. Alice's father had led a rather
comfortable life as a jeweler in London, and here she was living in a sod shanty using buffalo
chips for fuel. But they stuck it out until the great storm of 1887 which was so severe that
William decided to move west to a milder climate. When they had gone as far as Spokane a
contractor came through the train recruiting skilled workers and William took a job there doing
iron work. In 1889 he took the family up to Chewelah, which was on the stage route from Walla
Walla to British Columbia.
Here he opened a blacksmith shop, and later took up a homestead where he farmed, as well.
William died in April, 1921 at the age of 74, and Alice died on December 28, 1947 at the age of
94. Their children:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
William, born April 5, 1874 at Sydenham, Surrey, England
Eleanor, born August 24, 1876 at Sydenham, Surrey, England
Isabelle, born June 28, 1878 at Sydenham, Surrey, England
Walter, born January 24, 1883 at Auburn, New York
DORTHY ALICE, BORN FEBRUARY 17, 1896 AT CHEWELAH, WASHINGTON
In 1920 Dorothy went over to Seattle to attend the University Washington. In a day when few
women were able to accomplish such a feat, Dorothy worked her own way through school (and
following her father's death in 1921 her mother lived with her part of the time.) She did this by
working part time in a bakery, and by dropping out of school occasionally to teach. Her first
teaching job was in a tiny one room school in Gifford Washington; in succeeding jobs she taught
at Addy (two rooms), Valley (five rooms) and in the Sumner school system and at St. Helen's
Hall in Portland, Oregon. As she gained more education she got better jobs. Finally graduating in
1925 she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's highest scholastic fraternity. Then she
taught in the Kelso, Washington High School. Following her engagement to Clarence in the
winter of 1926, Clarence was transferred to General Electric's Chicago, Illinois office. After he
became settled Dorothy went east and they were married at Evanston, Illinois on August 3, 1927.
Clarence's mother had kept the children at Tacoma in 1926-1927 during the school year. In
September 1927 she took them east so they could join the family and start the school year in
Wheaton, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. The family moved to another suburb, La Grange, in 1929
and to La Grange Park in 1930. On July 18, 1932 Beatrice Loretta was born at Berwyn, Illinois.
The period 1930-1935 contained the worst of the Great Depression. While heavy industry was
not doing much expansion and research money was scarce, Clarence kept busy. He attended
Kent School of Law at night, and worked at his hobbies (he was a talented sculptor and could
paint and draw skillfully.) On weekends he worked in his shop that had lathes, punch and drill
presses and other equipment, machining dies for a line of kitchen utensils.
By 1935 he decided to build the family a home. In typical fashion he decided to do it himself. He
bought two acres just south of La Grange, at 5900 Willow Springs Road, drew the plans, took
out the permit (the only new permit at the time, things were so slow on Chicago's west side) and
started in. Other than such heavy items as digging the basement, sinking a deep well, pouring the
concrete and brick work, Clarence built the entire place (Kenneth helped with the digging and
pounding.) When finished it was the only fully air conditioned house in Chicago, an engineer's
showplace of pushbuttons and innovations.
71
When World War 1I broke out in Europe heavy industry began to expand, and Clarence worked
on some of the largest industrial projects in the country. When America became involved in the
war, he entered the Army as a Major in charge of the Engineering Section, Corps of Engineers,
Great Lakes Division. They built heavy installations such as the Ford Motor Company River
Rouge plant, under forced draft.
Later he was transferred to a regiment at Fort Belvoir, undergoing combat conditioning; then he
was transferred to the 1496th Engineers where he became commanding officer, supervising
construction of floating barges that could generate a vast output of electrical energy. When
Europe was invaded Clarence, operating directly under the Supreme Headquarters American
Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) in London, commanded this "floating power detachment" which
ran right up on the beach. The retreating Germans blew up some of the generating facilities on
the mainland, so Clarence's power barges merely hooked into the grid, at one time supplying the
margin of power used in France and the Low Countries. After the war he surveyed and reported
on the condition of power facilities in these countries, returned to Fort Belvoir and was mustered
out as a Lieutenant Colonel at Washington, D. C.
A few months after his return to General Electric he qualified for retirement so he sold the home
in La Grange and moved to Tacoma, Washington. Here he set about the task of putting together
an independent consulting firm to capitalize upon his long experience in heavy installations. One
client was the City of Seattle where he conducted electrical system studies; later he became
Project Engineer for the Skagit Projects that supply power for the City of Seattle, finishing all
but one of the series of dams and generating units. After about ten years of intense activity he
decided to retire, loaded their boat on a flatcar and headed for San Diego, California.
Clarence and Dorothy both liked the sea, and thoroughly enjoyed the boat. When they unloaded
at San Diego, they anchored at the Southwestern Yacht Club and took up residence on the boat.
Retirement proved too inactive and the boat too confining, so he went to work for the Navy
Department, conducting utility installation efficiency evaluations, and set about building a house
at Del Mar. Just after the house was finished he received an offer of a more interesting job as
head of the test laboratory at the Naval Ordnance and Missile Center at Corona, California (to an
engineer this is more play than work,) so they sold the house at Del Mar and moved to Riverside.
By 1960 the call of the beach was too strong to resist, so they built another house at Del Mar,
spending weekends there.
America's frontier during Clarence's lifetime has been the discovery and development of
scientific gadgets and their productive facilities. He has been among the first, boldest and most
active of pioneers in this frontier. His story, and that of his family is far from complete and will
be recorded in a continuing appendix to this history. Refer to Family 36, page 51.
72
Kenneth Ross Cutler
-see following
Glen Malcoln Cutler
see family 58, page 55
Beatrice Loretta (Cutler)
Hodgkins
see family 59, page 55
73
KENNETH ROSS CUTLER
(Clarence William10 William Samuel9 Albert Ives8, Collins Ives7William6, Benoni5 Timothy4
John3 James2 Jamesl)
As author of the foregoing history my purpose has been to describe the lives, against the
background of the times, of what I consider to be a remarkable group of pioneers in their long
sweep across the ever-changing face of the American frontier. Such a story is told best at a
distance; therefore my own story is stripped of the superficial and an accounting left to the
future, to be weighed against a clearer perspective of my time.
I was born at Tacoma, Washington on March 5, 1920, the eldest son of Clarence William and
Matilda Roxanna (Ross) Cutler. From my birth date until December 7, 1936 refer to my father's
story in the prior chapter; after that time I set out "on my own" only to discover the fundamental
truth that no man ever is completely on his own. After a succession of jobs and schools the best
of events happened on August 6, 1943 when Patsy Virginia Reinecke and I were married at
Santa Barbara, California.
74
Patsy Virginia Reinecke was born at Long Beach, California on October 10, 1923, the daughter
of Dr. Harry Johnson and Ruth Elizabeth (Moland) Reinecke. The family had come to California
just six weeks prior to her birth, and were from Pennsylvania. The chart below will serve as a
guide to her ancestry outlined in following paragraphs.
Great-grandparents John and Caroline Reinecke (originally Reincke) were born in Prussia,
coming to America about 1855 with their oldest children and settling in Buffalo, New York.
Here they raised a large family. John died during the 1870's and Caroline took the family to
Titusville, Pennsylvania where three of her sons engaged in the shoe business.
Great-grandfather John Johnson Beers was born in Montreal, Canada in 1843. Family tradition
has it that his parents, John Johnson Beers and Margaret Sheridan were Irish, but this is not
certain. As a young boy he came down from Canada to seek his fortune at Titusville,
Pennsylvania where oil first was discovered. He took up residence at Hudson House, a local
roominghouse that was run by Hyrum and Minerva Hudson, who had come east from Ohio when
oil was discovered.. Johnson Beers soon married their sixteen-year-old daughter Harriet Hudson
who had been born at Braceville, Ohio in 1846. They spent their life in Titusville, and he was an
oil refiner all of this time.
Great-grandfather Samuel Moland (1815-1896) was born in Philadelphia of English descent. His
great-grandfather, John Moland was born in London in 1700 and after graduation from Oxford
was appointed King's Attorney for Pennsylvania; his grand-father, William Moland married
Hannah Noble and became a surgeon in the Revolutionary Army; his father, William Noble
Moland married Elizabeth Cowperthaite of Philadelphia and was also a surgeon in Philadelphia.
Samuel became a merchant traveling between Philadelphia and the western counties. He settled
permanently in North Liberty, Butler County Pennsylvania, opening a tavern and general store,
also serving as postmaster for a time. Here he married Margaret Elizabeth Cooper (1831-1916)
the daughter of Stephen and Mary Magdalene (Christley) Cooper (the Christleys and Coopers
were the first settlers in Slippery Rock Township, and were of German descent.)
75
Pat's great-grandfather William Long Keefer (1828-1902) was one of the leading citizens of
Richland Township, Venango County, Pennsylvania for most of his life. His father Solomon
Keefer had been a skilled German weaver who had come to Huntingdon County Pennsylvania,
where he married Elizabeth Long, the daughter of Rev. Christian Long, a distinguished minister
of the German Lutheran Church. Both of William's parents died by the time he was ten years old.
He entered the carpet business in Huntingdon County, went to Illinois for two years and then
went to Venango County where in 1856 he built the "Good Intent Woolen Mills" at what became
known as Keefers Factory since the mills were the leading industrial point in the township. In
1867 a post office was established under the village name of Porterfield, and William was named
postmaster, a position he held for over 20 years. In 1862 William married Mary Ann Davidson
(1845-1887), the daughter of William Davidson who had been born in England in 1807, settled
in Richland Township, married Martha Allen and became a farmer there.
Grandfather Louis Carl Reinecke (1858-1940) was born in Buffalo, New York moving with his
family to Titusville when he was about twenty years old. Here he went into the shoe business
with two of his brothers. He became a skilled shoemaker and pursued this occupation all of his
life. This was a very good business in the early days, as shoe machinery was not developed to the
point where mass produced shoes were very satisfactory and most people who could afford them
bought custom made shoes. Louis was a talented musician as well, playing horns in the famous
Coleman's band in Titusville. In 1884 he married Minnie Ann Beers (1864-1952) the eldest child
of John Johnson Beers. Minnie was a very strong personality, a talented painter and a good
businesswoman. At one time she made a tidy fortune playing the stock market. Louis was a
sweet natured man who left business details to Minnie, remaining content to make a good shoe
and play a good horn. In 1923 Minnie wanted to come to California to get into real estate so they
moved to Long Beach where she bought several properties. She also bought property in Los
Angeles, extended too far and lost all but one house near the campus of the University of
Southern California. Here they lived for many years.
Grandfather Edgar Christly Moland (1866-1937) was born at North Liberty Pennsylvania, the
youngest of Samuel Moland's three children. Edgar and his brother William went to Oil City,
Pennsylvania, organizing a candy company. William supervised the plant and Edgar sold the
candy, ranging about the country in a horse and buggy carrying a huge sample bag. He also was
the distributor for Scraffts candies. In making his rounds he called on William Keefer, who
owned not only the woolen mills, but a fruit farm and the local general store. Here he met
Virginia West Keefer (1866-1937) named after the new state of West Virginia and the second of
five children of William and Mary Ann Keefer. They were married in 1894, living in Oil City.
They died in the same week in 1937.
Pat's father, Harry Johnson Reinecke (1885-1947) was born in Titusville Pennsylvania, the only
child of Louis and Minnie Reinecke. He graduated from the Kirksville, Missouri School of
Osteopathy and set up practice as a physician and surgeon at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1911.
In 1918 he enlisted in the Army Medical Corps, gave up his practice and returned to Oil City to
await his call. Here he met Pat's mother, Ruth Elizabeth Moland, (1896- the eldest of three
daughters of Samuel and Virginia Moland. She had graduated fromDrexell Institute in
Philadelphia and had begun teaching home economics, but was home for a visit while the
schools were closed during the flu epidemic. After a whirlwind courtship they were married on
Armistice Day November l1), 1918 and left for Washington D.C. to clarify his Army status.
76
Harry stayed in Washington D. C. until 1923, engaging in the advertising business and related
activities. He promoted the building of the Shrine Auditorium there being a member of the
Shrine and a 32nd Degree Mason. In 1923 his parents had gone to Los Angeles and wrote
glowingly of conditions there, so he moved to Long Beach, where Patsy was born. Harry
engaged in a number of promotional activities at various times. Once he had a vast land
development near Hoover Dam that would have benefited from the water and power, but the
depression struck just as it was on the verge of success. Another time he developed a dietary
supplement called Vitacrin which he made in his garage. This was before vitamins were in
general use so was somewhat before its time. Just as this program was launched, with Don Lee
(who owned the radio network) as a partner, Lee died, so Harry dropped it. He became a hernia
specialist, practicing until he died, at the age of 62. (In 1958 Ruth remarried a widower, Walter
Hartmann). The children of Harry Johnson and Ruth Elizabeth (Moland) Reinecke were:
(1) Ruth Moland, born December 4, 1919 at Washington D. C.
(2) PATSY VIRGINIA, born October 10, 1923 at Long Beach, California.
Patsy graduated from Fairfax High School in Los Angeles in 1941 and that fall entered U.C.L.A.
At that time I was attending the University of Chicago. In the summer of 1942 I went out to
Tacoma for the summer and started back to Chicago by way of California, getting as far as the
U.C.L.A. campus. There I met Pat and that was that. The next summer we were married at Santa
Barbara on our way to spend our honeymoon in San Francisco.
The pages of history seldom record the really important things in life so I must comment that Pat
is not only a wonderful wife and mother, but perhaps the most efficient and practical person I
know. She plays the piano beautifully, doing her own arranging. She has made many of her own
clothes and is a cook of some renown. A creative and talented decorator, she has built a
considerable sideline business as an interior decorator.
My principal activity of course is my job, technically described as follows: President and
director, California Fund Management Company; Secretary, Treasurer, Director and chairman of
the Investment Committee, California Fund, Inc.; Secretary, Treasurer and Director of Kerr
Income Fund Inc.
Our children are listed on the following page. See family 57, page 54.
77
1) Geoffrey William, born December 19, 1944 at Glendale,
California. He was named Geoffrey because we liked it and
William after my father. We also gave him another middle
name, Johnson, after Pat's father but this has been dropped as
too cumbersome.
(2) Craig Lee, born November 19, 1949 at Los Angeles,
California. We just picked two names that we liked, not after
anyone.
(3) Brooke Roxanne, born December 15, 1951 at Los Angeles,
California. She was named Brooke because Pat liked it, and
Roxanne for my mother.
78