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Joseph Treloar Story
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To be found on Page 88 of Orson Lee Treloar's book This is Orson's Grandfather and below is Orson's story about his Grandpa. JOSEPH TRELOAR, son of Bennet Treloar and Ann Tremaine, b. 25 June 1827, Tresprison, Wendron, Cornwall, England; d. 25 Oct. 1915, Des Moines, Iowa; bur. Ogden, Iowa; md. 14 June 1855, Dodgeville, Wisconsin, to SUSAN CRASE, b. 27 Dec. 1838, Camborne, Cornwall, England, d. 17 Mar. 1923 Pomona, California, bur. Ogden, Iowa, dau. of John Crase and Mary Richards.Joseph married first 20 June 1853, Linden, Wisconsin CAROLINE ARTHUR who died. In the beautiful farming countryside, with pastures divided by stone walls, capped by briar hedges, at Tresprison, Cornwall, England was born Joseph, tenth son of Bennet and Ann Tremaine Treloar on 25 June 1827. The tenth child was supposed to be dedicated to the Lord. It is said that Ann took Joseph to the Vicar and told him to take him as he was the tenth and she couldn't care for the other nine. Part of Joseph's younger years were spent working in a flour mill. He maintained that his bow legs (very pronounced) were caused by carrying heavy sacks of flour. The remainder of his youth was probably spent farming as his father was a yeoman. Education was part of his childhood, as he could read and write, which many Cornishmen of that day and age could not do. He may have worked away from home at an early age as he was not at home when the 1841 census was taken, at which time he would have been fourteen years of age. He was baptized twice; first in the Baptist Chapel, Helston, Cornwall, England, 1 July 1831, Some time during the year 1848 he worked his way over to the United States from England on a freight boat. The boat was six weeks in crossing. Some of his brothers had preceded him to the United States. He located at Linden, Wisconsin where they were. He was a butcher when first married in 1853, and a carpenter when he married in 1855. Later he moved to a farm west of Cobb, Wisconsin which is north of Linden. The farm at Cobb was out on the prairie and while living there he often took the team and went several miles for wood and lumber. They had a cow that, when he was gone, would come up and lay by the door as if to protect Grandma Treloar and the children. When he tried to enlist for army service during the Civil War, he was rejected because of deafness. He hired a man to go in his place, which was satisfactory to the government. Grandpa worked in the mines. He was always called on to help make a casket when someone died. During the war they tried to draft him as the man he had hired had been killed. He refused to be "cannon fodder" (as he called it) and ran away from home so they couldn't find him. He slipped home one night and spent the night. When the war was over he came back and he had an extra son. When they came to Iowa in 1869 they had three teams of horses, one yoke of oxen, three cows, a colt, and several sheep for Uncle Temby, who was already in Iowa and had persuaded Joseph to come to Iowa to live. Some of the wagons had false bottoms in them, and the little pigs were carried between the two floors. During the six weeks that it took them to make the trip, the little pigs grew so large that when they arrived in Iowa they had all the hair off their backs from rubbing against the top floor of the wagon. The hired man, who was driving the oxen and a load of heavy stoves and so forth, let the wagon get too close to the edge of a makeshift bridge and the two outside wheels went over the edge. They had to unload the whole load to get it back on the bridge. When at last they arrived in Iowa and were nearing Uncle Temby's they got lost in a swamp, and finally they found an old Swede who lived in a haystack. He helped them get back on the way. Later this man, whom they called John Swede, was their close friend. The story goes that at one time when Grandpa had given him some whiskey, he said he was so warm he "hardly could not walk". The last night they were camped in a grove about two miles from Uncle Temby's. That same night a tramp was given refuge at Uncle Temby's and he told them he had seen a group about two miles away that answered the description of these relatives from Wisconsin that Uncle Temby was looking for. Uncle Temby couldn't wait until morning, but took a lantern, and made his way to their camping place that night. Grandfather purchased 240 acres to start with. Whenever grandfather wanted to acquire more land, he borrowed money from Uncle Sy Crase in Wisconsin. The first school was just south of what is known as the Swede Church at Ogden, Iowa, and the desks were homemade. They later had schools located in the various sections. The first church was held in a little school down by the present People's Baptist Church; Methodist one Sunday and Baptist the next. Later a Methodist Church across from the People's Baptist was built. There was a Baptist revival meeting in the school house before the churches were built, at which time most of the family were converted. Al was twelve years old at this time. He said Grandpa and Ben, who was the oldest son, held out the longest. Grandpa finally said he guessed he might as well give in. At one time, Uncle Joe, who later became a minister, asked the blessing at the table and turned it into a prayer pleading for his father's conversion. Grandpa said afterwards, "That wasn't much of a blessing," but later he did give in and was converted and baptized for the second time. When Grandfather Treloar moved to Des Moines, Uncle Al and Uncle Jack took over the farm. Four years following this Uncle Al was married. William Temby, brother-in-law mentioned above, went to Boone County, Iowa first and purchased land there. On his second trip to Iowa, he was accompanied by Grandfather Joseph who, at that time, purchased land. Uncle Temby then went to Iowa and built a house 14 by 26 feet with 8 ft. sidewalls made out of flooring which cost $50.00 per thousand at that time. Joseph and family followed the Temby family out to Iowa by one year and lived with them in the small house while building their home. There were 22 people living in that 14 by 26 foot house. Some slept above the rafters. In the mornings the adults would get up first; the men would be fed and sent to work and then the children could get out of bed, get dressed, and eat. These two families lived in close harmony to the end of their days. They celebrated Christmas at the Treloar home and New Years at the Temby home, as January 1st was William Temby's birthday. The Treloar homestead four miles south of Ogden, had a fine house put together with wooden pegs. The out-buildings were of very good construction and quite numerous. A grove of big trees at the north protected the house and the barn from the northern blizzards in the winter. Northwest of the house, Grandfather constructed a pond for fish, and for the boys to go swimming in, and planted willow trees around it. There were walnut trees on the north and west of the farm. Wood for burning and lumber was obtained from land some distance away. Ice was put up in an ice house in the winter for summer use. Grandfather Joseph was a very successful farmer, owning 640 acres of land when he retired and moved to Des Moincs in 1890. His livestock always took prizes at the stock shows. A hog bite caused him to suffer with leg trouble for years. About 1886 he sent money to a nephew, John Treloa,r, to bring his family and come to the United States. He worked on a farm north of Ogden for a year or so and then moved on into the Black Hills to continue with mining, which was his profession. During retirement in Des Moines, Joseph made pets of timber squirrels and fed them from his hand. He grafted a pear onto a Hawthorne and raised bushels of pears. He was a short, plump, full whiskered, Santa Claus-like gentleman with a twinkle in his eye and crows feet at the outer angles. His faithful, congenial, and industrious partner through life was Susan Crase whom he married June 14, 1855 at Dodgeville, Wisconsin. Susan worked in his home during his first wife's illness and death. John Crase and Mary (parents of Susan) and family came to Iowa County, Wisconsin in 1847 from Camborne, Cornwall, England. Joseph's first wife was Caroline Arthur whom he married 25 June 1853 at Linden, Wisconsin. Joseph and Susan lived to enjoy their 50th and 60th wedding anniversaries. He died at age 88, 25 Oct. 1915 at Des Moines, Iowa. He is interred beside his wife, Susan, in Glenwood Cemetery, Ogden, Iowa; she d. 17 March 1923 at Pomona, California, age 84. |
The information contained on these
pages has been primarily based on information from the book Treloar Genealogy by
Orson Lee Treloar and may have been updated from information in the book Treloar
History 1522 - 2004 by Peter Treloar and Patricia Taggart. The 4 digit
number to the left of a person's name is the number they appear as in the latest
book. To see Orson's research notes you should order the film
from your nearest LDS centre. Other information has been passed on from
fellow researchers and from my own research. Please contact me if you
have anything to add or alter. I hope you find these pages helpful.
Send mail to Patricia Taggart
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