Rufus Eliphalet Olmstead (abt. 1856 - 1941)

Born about Aug 1856 in Old Town, Penobscot, Maine, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Josephine E. (Spangler) Olmstead — married 23 Feb 1884 in Warren Mills, Monroe Co., WI

Descendants

Died 23 Feb 1941 at about age 84 in Millston, Jackson, Wisconsin, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Walt Steesy [send private message]

Biography

Frank Olmstead of Jackson County, Wisconsin has been a bit of a problem until his marriage document^[1][2] was located which reveals the names of his parents.

Frank is the son of David Marshall Olmstead and Lucy Ann Johnson, a family that traces back to New Brunswick. The line continues as Loyalists from Connecticut towards the end of the Revolutionary War and eventually to the 1632 immigrant Richard Olmstead from Essex, England.

Frank's birth name is Rufus Eliphalet Olmstead. There are a number of other Rufus Olmsteads in central Wisconsin and apparently he wanted to separate himself from them; I expect that they are all cousins but haven't traced all of their families yet. Thus he dropped the Rufus and became Frank and retained the middle initial E.

He appears with his parents in both the 1870 and 1880 census of Medford, Piscataquis Co., Maine. Sometime after 1880 he left Maine and is in Millston, Jackson Co., Wisconsin as a "team driver" for the local saw mill and renting a room at the home of August & Mabel Hills. He was already married by that time, but his wife four children were living elsewhere.

By 1905, Frank had left the lumbering industry and settled down on a farm in Millston; that census states that he owned the farm. Farming is a tough life and by 1910 he had moved to Hixton and was working on someone else's farm. In 1920 he was again a teamster, hauling wood to a mill.

Following their 1884 marriage, he and Josephine raised five children: Pearl, George, Annie, Josephine, and Hazel.

His wife died in 1928. The three oldest children had married and have families of their own. The youngest, Hazel, had died in 1924 and there are no real records of Josephine--she may have died very young.

Frank is retired by the time of the 1940 census; he was then 84 living in the home of Minie & Mable Hogan.

He died in 1941 and is buried in Brookside Cemetery in Millston. Jackson County.^[3]

Today there are over 165 known descendants of Frank and Josephine, many of which still live in central Wisconsin.

Sources

1. ↑ Wisconsin County Marriages. FamilySearch ID 1113, film 1292394, image 01801
2. ↑ A photo of this document can be found on ancestry tree #112097 "Olmstead Family Tree" by Frank's great-great-granddaughter Diane Sheiry
3. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #24122249 has photo

• Olmste(a)d files of Walt Steesy [Steesy-1] which include extractions of census and other documents and direct communications with family members.