William Lafayette Walterhouse

William Lafayette Walterhouse, the third child of Philip Benjamin Walterhouse and Mary Alice Morris, was born in Fingal, Elgin, Ontario Canada about 1839. In his application for entry for a homestead dated 25 February 1908 for land in Canada, William stated that he was 68 years old.

In an application for homestead dated 04 March 1911, William states that he "believes he is a British subject. Was born in Canada but moved to the U. S. when 17 years of age [probably in 1857]. His father lived there 10 years previously [Philip appears in the 1850 Ohio census and was probably a resident for some time as he had already remarried and had a child]. Applicant does not know if his father was naturalized in the USA".

Marshall Co. IN marriage records, Bk B, page 426, show a marriage on 28 Feb 1867 of William L. Walterhouse to Sophia Wilson.

Court records of August term, 1867, show that Sophia petitioned for divorce as William had left her on 24 May 1867 in the company of one Kate Kidwell who was pregnant with a "bastard child". He had left the state with Kate.

The 1870 Census of Carryall Twp Paulding Co OH shows W. L. age 31, carpenter, with wife CATHERINE, age 24 b KY and children: ORILLA, age 2 b OH and ESTELLA, age 4/12 b OH. To date, we have not found a marriage record for William and Catherine "Kate" Kidwell.

The 1880 Census for Polk Twp Marshall Co IN shows the couple with 6 children: BELLE, b 1869 OH; STELLA, b 1871 OH; NORMAN, b 1872 OH; WILLIAM O, b 1874 OH; FREDDY, b 1876 IN; RENA misspelled RENEN, b 1879 IN. At this time, WILLIAM L was a farmer and the census shows that he had typhoid fever that year.

Two more children were born: JENNIE, b 1881 in IN/d 6 Mar 1882 at 1 yr, 1 mo and 1 day and is buried at the Tyner Cemetery and NELLIE CAPITOLA, b 12 Mar 1887.

This picture shows, left to right, front row: Nellie, William and Catherine. Back row, left to right: William O., Norman, Stella and Rena.

In 1894 WILLIAM L moved to Zion ND "on the immigration train".**(See below) He had a woodyard in Cando. In 1909 he sold out and moved to Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He is said to have been depressed after the death of his wife and daughter and shot himself on a bridge in Medicine Hat 25 May 1919 and is buried at Brooks, Alberta, Canada. CATHERINE died 3 Oct 1912 at High River, Alberta, Canada and is buried at Brooks as well.

BELLE, apparently never married, remained in Indiana and her death is reported in the Walkerton, IN newspaper as 04 Sep 1886.

NORMAN married Daisy Henderson. They went to Cando ND and in Dec of 1897 he wrote a letter to the "Plymouth Republican" stating that the longer he stayed there the better he liked it and that he thought it was a "good place for a poor man to make a living, and get a good home. He can get 160 acres of land for $16.00, and no taxes to pay for seven years". After pointing out that anyone coming out there "need not to think that they are coming to a paradise" he concluded his letter "But for a new country and a Western country, North Dakota is the place of all places". His marriage ended in divorce in 1907 at Grand Forks ND.

ESTELLA (STELLA) married James Bentley on 25 Feb 1888 in Marshall Co. She married again at age 20 to Melvin E. Boone on 7 Feb 1890. The Boones also moved to ND.

FREDDY died at age 18 at home after several months of illness with "heart trouble and dropsy" on 10 Mar 1894. FREDDY is called William Jr. in some newspaper articles and there is a death certificate issued for FRANK WALTERHOUSE, age 17, student, on 3-5-1894, father William Walterhouse of Tyner. #1268; H22 page 103. This would also appear to be Freddy.

RENA accompanied her family to ND and on 25 Nov 1897 at Cecil ND she married William Griffin. They farmed there and moved to Alberta, Canada in 1909.

NELLIE too went to ND and on 20 Jun 1907 she married J. C. Drinkwater at Zion, Towner ND.

WILLIAM Orville married 09 Sep 1894 and remained in Indiana where he died 7 Mar 1915 after a year's illness from pernicious anemia. He is buried beside his wife, MARY PERMELIA WILLIAMS, in the Blissville Cemetery, Polk Twp. IN. The couple had 2 children: LILLY born Nov. 1895 and HAROLD FLOYD born 21 July 1900.

It is interesting to note that Don Walterhouse and William O's families are "double cousins" as Mary Permelia Williams' mother was a McDaniel as was Don's maternal great grandmother Permelia McDaniel Surber.

This photo shows Mary Permelia and William O. with their daughter Lilly.

**The story of the immigration from northern Indiana to North Dakota is very interesting and is detailed in the "Collections of the State Historical Society of North Dakota", Vol IV, titled "The First Dunker Colony of North Dakota" by Roy Thompson, pages 81-100.

Members of the Church of the Brethren or German Baptists or "Dunkers" began settling in ND in 1894. The word "Dunker" is a German word and means "one who dips or immerses, an immerser". The first settlement of Dunkers in ND owed its existence primarily to the activity of the Great Northern railroad. At the head of this immigration activity was a man named Max Bass. In June 1893 Max Bass visited the annual conference of Dunkers at Muncie IN. He made contact with Rev. A. B. Peters of Walkerton IN and eventually visited him at his home. Rev. Peters organized a committee of Brethren for a trip to investigate the possibilities of relocation. As a result of this visit, Peters and two others filed for land that became the central point around which the future colonies settled.

In the last week of March 1894 the immigrants gathered at Walkerton IN. The people came from all parts of the north central section of Indiana. The majority came from farms, a few from the small towns of Marshall and Elkhart counties. They brought their families, their household goods, their live stock, farm machinery, in fact everything that could be moved. Those who owned land either sold it or offered it for sale. They risked a lot because they knew if they sold their land in Indiana there could be no going back. The price of land in Indiana was so high that once they sold, they would not be able to re-establish themselves there.

About 350 people left at 2 AM on March 28 in a train that consisted of 30 immigrant or freight cars and 8 or 9 passenger cars. Each passenger car was provided with a stove that could be used for cooking so far as its limited capacity allowed. This stove was used chiefly for coffee making. The colonists took ample lunches with them from their homes, and were enabled by frequent stops en route to buy bread and fruit. But the water supply soon ran out. There was no water to drink, neither was there any for washing. The sleeping accommodations were limited. There were beds only for the women and children; the men generally slept in the chair cars. Everyone was their own porter.

When the train reached St. Paul MN, the immigrants received a free lunch of coffee and buns and a photograph of the train and colonists was taken. The route from Walkerton IN was by the Baltimore and Ohio, from Chicago to St. Paul the Chicago and Great Western and from St. Paul to Cando ND on the Great Northern. From St. Louis on, the train ran in two sections.

On 31 March the train arrived at Cando where extensive preparations had been made for their arrival. The town hall was opened for sleeping accommodations; some private residences were offered; and even some small temporary shacks were erected. Three rail cars were sidetracked by the Great Northern for temporary use and a number of tents were provided. Livery barns and some private barns were opened to receive live stock and household goods as it was unloaded.

All the immigrants wanted to rent land the first summer, pending improvements to their homesteads. But Max Bass tried to discourage renting for he felt the settlers should be homesteaders, not renters. All but one, however, lived on rented land the first summer. That one immigrant was William Lafayette Walterhouse.