STEPHEN CRAWFORD CALKINS was born March 12, 1842, in Springfield, Illinois. He died in Caldwell, Idaho February 4, 1922. He is one of seven sons and four daughters born to John and Ruth Crawford Calkins.
The following article was published in THE STATESMAN newspaper in Idaho around 1925:
Stephen comes from a long line of pioneers. Hugh Calkins of Chepstow, Wales was the first of the family to come to America. A radical in religion, he with his wife, Ann, and his son, John, joined a body of emigrants called the "Welsh Company", came to America around 1638, and settled at Green's Harbor (now Marshfield), in New Plymouth Colony.
Hugh was a active worker in all things for the public good and served 12 terms as deputy to general court (legislature). He and his son, John, were among the thirty-five original proprietors of a tract of land nine miles square around the town of Norwich, Connecticut.
This pioneer, patriot blood shows throughout the long line of Calkinses, each generation doing their part in subduing the wilderness and serving their country. Stephen Crawford Calkins, true to these traits, was a pioneer in three states. Born in Illinois, he moved while a boy, with his parents, John and Ruth Crawford Calkins, to an unsettled part of Wisconsin. His father, who had been admitted to the bar, could not resist the call of the land and with his sons took up a large tract of land near Arena.
Soon the Civil War broke out and Stephen enlisted in company "G", eleventh Wisconsin volunteers on Aug. 27, 1861. He re-enlisted at the expiration of his term and served until the close of the war, being wounded at Fort Blakeley, and mustered out June 29, 1865.
MARRIED AND MOVED TO IOWA: August 28, 1865, Stephen was married to Francena Martha Wells at Mazomanie, Wisconsin. Two months later in company with his brother, John and his family, they started for northwestern Iowa making the trip overland with ox teams. On the way they were joined by the Lamberton and Hough families. The first winter was spent on the Muddy, the following spring they all took up homesteads where the city of Spencer, Clay County now stands, these original homesteads now being included in the city limits.
Here they lived for fourteen years forming a nucleus around which other homesteaders gathered. Soon a school was started in the log cabin home of a neighbor, a church organized, of which he was a member, a postoffice established and a town started. All supplies were hauled from Fort Dodge, a distance of ninety miles.
One winter when the snow was unusually deep and the cold severe and protracted the little community faced starvation, Stephen with two others volunteered to make the trip over the trackless prairie for supplies. The people at home became alarmed at the long absence and started a relief party to meet them. Less than a day's travel they found them, the men snow blind, one yoke of oxen exhausted.
STARTS FOR THE WEST: As the family settled up, Stephen again felt the call of his pioneer blood and in 1879, with his wife, Francena, and four children started for the far west in company with several other families. On the trip they drove cows, milking them a night, setting the milk in pans on a board laid on the hounds of the wagon under the box. In the morning the milk was skimmed, churned at noon and traded to several along the way for vegetables, eggs, etc. While his wife drove the six cow team, Stephen, with his gun, circled away from the wagon train to shoot game to provide the company with fresh meat.
For miles the road lay along the newly built railroad track. The cows never became accustom to the trains but ran away every time they met one. Very few of the rivers had ferries so most of them had to be forged by the men wading through to find a safe crossing.
SETTLE IN IDAHO: Coming to the Lost River Country they wintered there and then settled in Custer County at Bay Horse, then a thriving mining camp.
Stephen Calkins built the first toll bridge across the Salmon River. This bridge still stand near the mouth of Bay Horse creek, though a new steel bridge serves the public. Many of the roads and ditches were build by him surveyed with a triangle. Those traveling the Salmon River route to the Yellowstone Park will pass over miles of road of his building.
Francena Martha Wells Calkins was born August 12, 1846 in Arena, Wis. She is the daughter of Solomon Wells and Caroline Ross Wells. She died October 2, 1908 in Caldwell, Canyon Co, Idaho.
CHILDREN OF FRANCENA & STEPHEN CRAWFORD CALKINS:
Minnie Etta Calkins 1867 Spencer, Iowa
Emma Cornelia Calkins 1869 Spencer, Iowa
Charles Henry Calkins 1873 Spencer, Iowa
Alma Blanche Calkins 1875 Arena, Wisconsin
Lilly Grace Calkins 1878 Spencer, Iowa
Frankie Pearl Calkins 1884 Bay Horse Bridge, Idaho
Ruby Bell Calkins 1886 Bay Horse, Idaho
Agnes Bernice Calkins 1890 Robinson Bar, Idaho
(Calkins Family History ~ by Great Granddaughter, Ruth I.Blair Miller)
The following article was published in THE STATESMAN newspaper in Idaho around 1925:
Stephen comes from a long line of pioneers. Hugh Calkins of Chepstow, Wales was the first of the family to come to America. A radical in religion, he with his wife, Ann, and his son, John, joined a body of emigrants called the "Welsh Company", came to America around 1638, and settled at Green's Harbor (now Marshfield), in New Plymouth Colony.
Hugh was a active worker in all things for the public good and served 12 terms as deputy to general court (legislature). He and his son, John, were among the thirty-five original proprietors of a tract of land nine miles square around the town of Norwich, Connecticut.
This pioneer, patriot blood shows throughout the long line of Calkinses, each generation doing their part in subduing the wilderness and serving their country. Stephen Crawford Calkins, true to these traits, was a pioneer in three states. Born in Illinois, he moved while a boy, with his parents, John and Ruth Crawford Calkins, to an unsettled part of Wisconsin. His father, who had been admitted to the bar, could not resist the call of the land and with his sons took up a large tract of land near Arena.
Soon the Civil War broke out and Stephen enlisted in company "G", eleventh Wisconsin volunteers on Aug. 27, 1861. He re-enlisted at the expiration of his term and served until the close of the war, being wounded at Fort Blakeley, and mustered out June 29, 1865.
MARRIED AND MOVED TO IOWA: August 28, 1865, Stephen was married to Francena Martha Wells at Mazomanie, Wisconsin. Two months later in company with his brother, John and his family, they started for northwestern Iowa making the trip overland with ox teams. On the way they were joined by the Lamberton and Hough families. The first winter was spent on the Muddy, the following spring they all took up homesteads where the city of Spencer, Clay County now stands, these original homesteads now being included in the city limits.
Here they lived for fourteen years forming a nucleus around which other homesteaders gathered. Soon a school was started in the log cabin home of a neighbor, a church organized, of which he was a member, a postoffice established and a town started. All supplies were hauled from Fort Dodge, a distance of ninety miles.
One winter when the snow was unusually deep and the cold severe and protracted the little community faced starvation, Stephen with two others volunteered to make the trip over the trackless prairie for supplies. The people at home became alarmed at the long absence and started a relief party to meet them. Less than a day's travel they found them, the men snow blind, one yoke of oxen exhausted.
STARTS FOR THE WEST: As the family settled up, Stephen again felt the call of his pioneer blood and in 1879, with his wife, Francena, and four children started for the far west in company with several other families. On the trip they drove cows, milking them a night, setting the milk in pans on a board laid on the hounds of the wagon under the box. In the morning the milk was skimmed, churned at noon and traded to several along the way for vegetables, eggs, etc. While his wife drove the six cow team, Stephen, with his gun, circled away from the wagon train to shoot game to provide the company with fresh meat.
For miles the road lay along the newly built railroad track. The cows never became accustom to the trains but ran away every time they met one. Very few of the rivers had ferries so most of them had to be forged by the men wading through to find a safe crossing.
SETTLE IN IDAHO: Coming to the Lost River Country they wintered there and then settled in Custer County at Bay Horse, then a thriving mining camp.
Stephen Calkins built the first toll bridge across the Salmon River. This bridge still stand near the mouth of Bay Horse creek, though a new steel bridge serves the public. Many of the roads and ditches were build by him surveyed with a triangle. Those traveling the Salmon River route to the Yellowstone Park will pass over miles of road of his building.
Francena Martha Wells Calkins was born August 12, 1846 in Arena, Wis. She is the daughter of Solomon Wells and Caroline Ross Wells. She died October 2, 1908 in Caldwell, Canyon Co, Idaho.
CHILDREN OF FRANCENA & STEPHEN CRAWFORD CALKINS:
Minnie Etta Calkins 1867 Spencer, Iowa
Emma Cornelia Calkins 1869 Spencer, Iowa
Charles Henry Calkins 1873 Spencer, Iowa
Alma Blanche Calkins 1875 Arena, Wisconsin
Lilly Grace Calkins 1878 Spencer, Iowa
Frankie Pearl Calkins 1884 Bay Horse Bridge, Idaho
Ruby Bell Calkins 1886 Bay Horse, Idaho
Agnes Bernice Calkins 1890 Robinson Bar, Idaho
(Calkins Family History ~ by Great Granddaughter, Ruth I.Blair Miller)
STEPHEN CRAWFORD CALKINS was born March 12, 1842, in Springfield, Illinois. He died in Caldwell, Idaho February 4, 1922. He is one of seven sons and four daughters born to John and Ruth Crawford Calkins.
The following article was published in THE STATESMAN newspaper in Idaho around 1925:
Stephen comes from a long line of pioneers. Hugh Calkins of Chepstow, Wales was the first of the family to come to America. A radical in religion, he with his wife, Ann, and his son, John, joined a body of emigrants called the "Welsh Company", came to America around 1638, and settled at Green's Harbor (now Marshfield), in New Plymouth Colony.
Hugh was a active worker in all things for the public good and served 12 terms as deputy to general court (legislature). He and his son, John, were among the thirty-five original proprietors of a tract of land nine miles square around the town of Norwich, Connecticut.
This pioneer, patriot blood shows throughout the long line of Calkinses, each generation doing their part in subduing the wilderness and serving their country. Stephen Crawford Calkins, true to these traits, was a pioneer in three states. Born in Illinois, he moved while a boy, with his parents, John and Ruth Crawford Calkins, to an unsettled part of Wisconsin. His father, who had been admitted to the bar, could not resist the call of the land and with his sons took up a large tract of land near Arena.
Soon the Civil War broke out and Stephen enlisted in company "G", eleventh Wisconsin volunteers on Aug. 27, 1861. He re-enlisted at the expiration of his term and served until the close of the war, being wounded at Fort Blakeley, and mustered out June 29, 1865.
MARRIED AND MOVED TO IOWA: August 28, 1865, Stephen was married to Francena Martha Wells at Mazomanie, Wisconsin. Two months later in company with his brother, John and his family, they started for northwestern Iowa making the trip overland with ox teams. On the way they were joined by the Lamberton and Hough families. The first winter was spent on the Muddy, the following spring they all took up homesteads where the city of Spencer, Clay County now stands, these original homesteads now being included in the city limits.
Here they lived for fourteen years forming a nucleus around which other homesteaders gathered. Soon a school was started in the log cabin home of a neighbor, a church organized, of which he was a member, a postoffice established and a town started. All supplies were hauled from Fort Dodge, a distance of ninety miles.
One winter when the snow was unusually deep and the cold severe and protracted the little community faced starvation, Stephen with two others volunteered to make the trip over the trackless prairie for supplies. The people at home became alarmed at the long absence and started a relief party to meet them. Less than a day's travel they found them, the men snow blind, one yoke of oxen exhausted.
STARTS FOR THE WEST: As the family settled up, Stephen again felt the call of his pioneer blood and in 1879, with his wife, Francena, and four children started for the far west in company with several other families. On the trip they drove cows, milking them a night, setting the milk in pans on a board laid on the hounds of the wagon under the box. In the morning the milk was skimmed, churned at noon and traded to several along the way for vegetables, eggs, etc. While his wife drove the six cow team, Stephen, with his gun, circled away from the wagon train to shoot game to provide the company with fresh meat.
For miles the road lay along the newly built railroad track. The cows never became accustom to the trains but ran away every time they met one. Very few of the rivers had ferries so most of them had to be forged by the men wading through to find a safe crossing.
SETTLE IN IDAHO: Coming to the Lost River Country they wintered there and then settled in Custer County at Bay Horse, then a thriving mining camp.
Stephen Calkins built the first toll bridge across the Salmon River. This bridge still stand near the mouth of Bay Horse creek, though a new steel bridge serves the public. Many of the roads and ditches were build by him surveyed with a triangle. Those traveling the Salmon River route to the Yellowstone Park will pass over miles of road of his building.
Francena Martha Wells Calkins was born August 12, 1846 in Arena, Wis. She is the daughter of Solomon Wells and Caroline Ross Wells. She died October 2, 1908 in Caldwell, Canyon Co, Idaho.
CHILDREN OF FRANCENA & STEPHEN CRAWFORD CALKINS:
Minnie Etta Calkins 1867 Spencer, Iowa
Emma Cornelia Calkins 1869 Spencer, Iowa
Charles Henry Calkins 1873 Spencer, Iowa
Alma Blanche Calkins 1875 Arena, Wisconsin
Lilly Grace Calkins 1878 Spencer, Iowa
Frankie Pearl Calkins 1884 Bay Horse Bridge, Idaho
Ruby Bell Calkins 1886 Bay Horse, Idaho
Agnes Bernice Calkins 1890 Robinson Bar, Idaho
(Calkins Family History ~ by Great Granddaughter, Ruth I.Blair Miller)
The following article was published in THE STATESMAN newspaper in Idaho around 1925:
Stephen comes from a long line of pioneers. Hugh Calkins of Chepstow, Wales was the first of the family to come to America. A radical in religion, he with his wife, Ann, and his son, John, joined a body of emigrants called the "Welsh Company", came to America around 1638, and settled at Green's Harbor (now Marshfield), in New Plymouth Colony.
Hugh was a active worker in all things for the public good and served 12 terms as deputy to general court (legislature). He and his son, John, were among the thirty-five original proprietors of a tract of land nine miles square around the town of Norwich, Connecticut.
This pioneer, patriot blood shows throughout the long line of Calkinses, each generation doing their part in subduing the wilderness and serving their country. Stephen Crawford Calkins, true to these traits, was a pioneer in three states. Born in Illinois, he moved while a boy, with his parents, John and Ruth Crawford Calkins, to an unsettled part of Wisconsin. His father, who had been admitted to the bar, could not resist the call of the land and with his sons took up a large tract of land near Arena.
Soon the Civil War broke out and Stephen enlisted in company "G", eleventh Wisconsin volunteers on Aug. 27, 1861. He re-enlisted at the expiration of his term and served until the close of the war, being wounded at Fort Blakeley, and mustered out June 29, 1865.
MARRIED AND MOVED TO IOWA: August 28, 1865, Stephen was married to Francena Martha Wells at Mazomanie, Wisconsin. Two months later in company with his brother, John and his family, they started for northwestern Iowa making the trip overland with ox teams. On the way they were joined by the Lamberton and Hough families. The first winter was spent on the Muddy, the following spring they all took up homesteads where the city of Spencer, Clay County now stands, these original homesteads now being included in the city limits.
Here they lived for fourteen years forming a nucleus around which other homesteaders gathered. Soon a school was started in the log cabin home of a neighbor, a church organized, of which he was a member, a postoffice established and a town started. All supplies were hauled from Fort Dodge, a distance of ninety miles.
One winter when the snow was unusually deep and the cold severe and protracted the little community faced starvation, Stephen with two others volunteered to make the trip over the trackless prairie for supplies. The people at home became alarmed at the long absence and started a relief party to meet them. Less than a day's travel they found them, the men snow blind, one yoke of oxen exhausted.
STARTS FOR THE WEST: As the family settled up, Stephen again felt the call of his pioneer blood and in 1879, with his wife, Francena, and four children started for the far west in company with several other families. On the trip they drove cows, milking them a night, setting the milk in pans on a board laid on the hounds of the wagon under the box. In the morning the milk was skimmed, churned at noon and traded to several along the way for vegetables, eggs, etc. While his wife drove the six cow team, Stephen, with his gun, circled away from the wagon train to shoot game to provide the company with fresh meat.
For miles the road lay along the newly built railroad track. The cows never became accustom to the trains but ran away every time they met one. Very few of the rivers had ferries so most of them had to be forged by the men wading through to find a safe crossing.
SETTLE IN IDAHO: Coming to the Lost River Country they wintered there and then settled in Custer County at Bay Horse, then a thriving mining camp.
Stephen Calkins built the first toll bridge across the Salmon River. This bridge still stand near the mouth of Bay Horse creek, though a new steel bridge serves the public. Many of the roads and ditches were build by him surveyed with a triangle. Those traveling the Salmon River route to the Yellowstone Park will pass over miles of road of his building.
Francena Martha Wells Calkins was born August 12, 1846 in Arena, Wis. She is the daughter of Solomon Wells and Caroline Ross Wells. She died October 2, 1908 in Caldwell, Canyon Co, Idaho.
CHILDREN OF FRANCENA & STEPHEN CRAWFORD CALKINS:
Minnie Etta Calkins 1867 Spencer, Iowa
Emma Cornelia Calkins 1869 Spencer, Iowa
Charles Henry Calkins 1873 Spencer, Iowa
Alma Blanche Calkins 1875 Arena, Wisconsin
Lilly Grace Calkins 1878 Spencer, Iowa
Frankie Pearl Calkins 1884 Bay Horse Bridge, Idaho
Ruby Bell Calkins 1886 Bay Horse, Idaho
Agnes Bernice Calkins 1890 Robinson Bar, Idaho
(Calkins Family History ~ by Great Granddaughter, Ruth I.Blair Miller)
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