CONVERSE Family History, Part I
The CONVERSE family originates in Vermont (presumably near Plattsburgh, NY). It probably ties in with the line of Deacon Edward CONVERS, the progenitor of the New England CONVERSE clans.
Our grandfather, Erastus CONVERSE, Sr.2 who was born around 1804, probably near Lake Champlain in Vermont. He married Elizabeth VAN WERMER who was born around 1811 in Ohio and began a family in Rockdale Township, Crawford County, Pennsylvania around 1829. The family moved to Greene Township, Iowa County, Iowa Territory in 1842, four years prior to Iowa statehood.
In 1847, Erastus Sr. died and in 1850, eldest son, John3, followed the Gold Rush out to California leaving the estate and care of their mother to the second son, William. William later sold the Greene Township estate and moved to Valley Township, Pottawattamie County, Iowa in 1871. John crossed the plains in a covered wagon and settled in the Red Cloud district above Coulterville, Mariposa County, California, an area now better known as Greeley Hill.
Younger brothers, Henry, George, and Erastus all served with the Union Army during the Civil War. Henry and George fell ill during the Mississippi campaigns of 1862 and 1863 and died. Erastus served with the cavalry in the Dakota Territory and after the war eventually made his way to Alberta, Canada.
Asa CONVERSE1
1. The father of our CONVERSE family may be Asa CONVERSE, who is found in Le Boeuf Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania in 1820[Cen 1820] and is the elder of two CONVERSEs in that area. Asa is believed to at least be the father of George CONVERSE (1799-1874) of Waterford Township, Erie County, and perhaps the father of all the CONVERSEs in the area. Unfortunately, from the scant information available in the 1820 census, all that is currently known is that he was 45 years or older at the time (i.e. born before 1775). According to an Iowa biography, the father of our line was originally from the Plattsburgh area on the New York-Vermont state border and fathered at least seven children:
| 1x. | (Daniel S. CONVERSE) | (1787) | Bef. 1860 | (<73) |
| 11. | William CONVERSE | (1790/1791) | Aft 1850 | (>60) |
| 1x. | (George CONVERSE) | 24 Oct 1799 | 1874 | (74) |
| 1x. | Jesse CONVERSE | (1801) | ||
| 12. | Erastus CONVERSE, Sr.2 | (1804) | (1847) | (43) |
| 14. | Chase CONVERSE | |||
| 15. | Jemima CONVERSE | |||
| 16. | John CONVERSE | |||
| 17. | Polly CONVERSE |
If all of the above turn out to be Asa's children, then Asa's migration from Massachusetts (where Daniel S. was born) to Vermont (where William was born) would narrow down to between 1787 and 1791.
Looking over all the known Asa CONVERSEs of the time, one with a Vermont connection stands out, but little is know of him other than that he was enumerated in Burlington, Chittenden County, Vermont in 1800 and 1810. Based on the ages given (i.e. 45 years or older), he was born before 1755. Unfortunately, there is no further record of him in that area, nor any other known CONVERSEs in Chittenden County in 1820 or before.
In 1820, Asa CONVERSE (age 45+) was enumerated with a man and woman (both age 26-45), and three younger family members: a girl (age 10-16) and two boys (age 16-18 and 16-26) in Le Boeuf Township. On the next page, Daniel S. CONVERSE (age 26-45) is found with a wife and three children: two boys (under age 10) and a girl (age 10-16).[Cen 1820]
Come 1830, brothers William (age 30-40), Jesse (age 20-30), and Erastus (age 20-30) are all enumerated adjacent to each other in Rockdale Township, Crawford County, Pennsylvania.
Lewis Publishing Co., 1891
- Cen 1820: 1820 Census, Le Beouf Township (Township 14), Erie County, Pennsylvania
- Cen 1830: 1830 Census, Rockdale Township, Crawford County, Pennsylvania
Daniel S. CONVERSE (~1787->1850)
1x. Daniel S. CONVERSE was born about 1787 in Massachusetts, possibly an elder brother of Erastus CONVERSE, Sr.. He married Polly, a native of Vermont, and had as many as eight children, but so far I have only been able to identify three:
| 1xx. | James CONVERSE | (1814) | ||
| 1xx. | Juliette CONVERSE | (1825) | ||
| 1xx. | Josiah CONVERSE | (1829) |
Daniel apppears to have moved to Vermont, perhaps as a child, married Polly, started his family there, and then moved south to Le Boeuf Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania by 1820. Also found there was an elder Asa CONVERSE, perhaps his father or even an older brother.[Cen 1820]. By 1830, Daniel moved north to the outskirts of Erie in Millcreek Township, and then into Erie East Ward by 1840. Daniel and sons James and Josiah worked as millers in Erie.[Cen 1830,1840,1850]
Daniel S. CONVERSE died during the 1850s, probably in his late 60s.
Daniel's widow, Polly continued on in Erie, living with her son James.[Cen 1860]
- Cen 1820: 1820 Census, Le Boeuf Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania
- Cen 1830: 1830 Census, Millcreek Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania
- Cen 1840: 1840 Census, Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania
- Cen 1850: 7 Aug 1850 Census, East Ward, Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania
- Cen 1860: 24 Jul 1860 Census, East Ward, Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania
William CONVERSE (~1791->1850)
11. William CONVERS was born in Vermont in either 1790 or 1791. He and two younger brothers, Jesse and Erastus, moved to Rockdale, Crawford County, Pennsylvania by the 1830 census.
In 1842, the U.S. government moved the Sac and Fox Indians southwest to a reservation in Kansas. It was this year that William and his brother Erastus CONVERSE became among the first white settlers to move into Iowa County settling along Old Man's Creek, which runs through the northern sections of Greene Township (Township 78 North, Range 9 West), in the southeastern corner of Iowa County and about 20 miles southwest of Iowa City, which was then the territorial capital.
Union Historical Company, Birdsall, Williams & Co., 1881
The 1850 census of Greene Township shows William CONVERS, age 60, born in Vermont, and enumerated with his late brother's widow, Elizabeth. At the time William was a mill wright with an estate value of $480.
- Cen 1830: 1830 Census, Rockdale Township, Crawford County, Pennsylvania
- Cen 1850: 23 Aug 1850 Census, Green Township, Iowa County, Iowa
Jesse CONVERSE (~1801->1830)
1x. Jesse CONVERSE was born about 1801 in Vermont. He moved to Rockdale, Crawford County, Pennsylvania by the 1830 census with his brothers William and Erastus.
- Cen 1830: 1830 Census, Rockdale Township, Crawford County, Pennsylvania
George CONVERSE (1799-1874)
1x. George CONVERSE was born on October 24, 1799 in Vermont, appears in Greene Township, Iowa County, Iowa, concurrent with the Erastus CONVERSE, Sr. family, and a few years older than Erastus, suggesting he may have been an elder brother. George married Maria LYMAN, a native of Pennsylvania born to Prussian immigrants, on March 20, 1823 in Waterford Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania. They had eight daughters and one son:
| 1x1. | Nancy CONVERSE | 1 Jan 1824 | 12 Aug 1872 | (48) |
| 1xx. | Hannah Thomas CONVERSE | |||
| 1xx. | Mary Elizabeth CONVERSE | 1826/1833 | ||
| 1xx. | Sarah CONVERSE | (1828) | ||
| 1xx. | Jane Catherine CONVERSE | 1830 | ||
| 1xx. | Olive CONVERSE | (1832) | ||
| 1x7. | William Wallace CONVERSE | (1838) | ||
| 1x8. | Helen Marion CONVERS | (1840) | ||
| 1x9. | Philena Marie CONVERSE | (1845) |
Research from others shows that George and Jesse CONVERSE, a likely brother, were taxed on adjoining land in Le Beouf Township (an area around Mill Village), Erie County, Pennsylvania, in 1823.
Another note cites that a John CONVERSE witnessed the baptism of daughter Philena Marie CONVERSE in 1845.
The CONVERSE family left Erie County, Pennsylvania around 1844 and resettled in Naperville, DuPage County, Illinois by 1845. They remained there through 1850, when Maria was noted living with daughter Nancy (CONVERSE) HUNT's family. George's whereabouts that year are unknown.[Cen 1850]
Maria (LYMAN) CONVERSE died during the 1860s in Bristol Township. She was in her 60s.
George continued to farm in Bristol Township with his unwed son William through 1870.[Cen 1870]
George CONVERSE died in 1874 in Bristol Township, at about the age of 74.
Son William lived on at the Bristol farm and married Sarah E. HOOPER, an Iowa native born to a father from Prince Edward Island, Canada, in the mid-1870s.
- Cen 1830: 1830 Census, Waterford Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania
- Cen 1830: 1840 Census, Waterford Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania
- Cen 1850: 3 Sep 1850 Census, Naperville, DuPage County, Iowa
- Cen 1856: 1856 Census, Green Township, Iowa County, Iowa
- Cen 1860: 12 Jul 1860 Census, Bristol, Worth County, Iowa
- Cen 1870: 27 Jul 1860 Census, Bristol, Worth County, Iowa
Erastus CONVERSE (Sr.)2 (~1804-~1847)
12. Erastus CONVERSE [Sr.]2 was born in Vermont, possibly across Lake Champlain from Plattsburgh, New York around 1804. He moved to Pennsylvania and married Elizabeth VAN WERMER, a native of Ohio. They settled for a time in Pennsylvania before moving on to Iowa, where he died around 1847. Erastus and Elizabeth had five sons and a daughter who died in infancy:
| 121. | John CONVERSE3 | 14 Oct 1829 | 16 Mar 1909 | (79) |
| 122. | William CONVERSE | 20 Oct 1832 | 13 May 1916 | (83) |
| 123. | Henry B. CONVERSE | (1835-1836) | 25 Jul 1862 | (27) |
| 124. | George W. CONVERSE | (1842-1843) | 29 Jul 1864 | (22) |
| 125. | Erastus Taylor CONVERSE | (1845) | ||
| 126. | Daughter | (1837-1847) | Infancy |
Erastus CONVERSE [Sr.] was born in Vermont, probably across Lake Champlain from Plattsburgh, New York around 1804. He moved to Pennsylvania, along with his elder brothers William and Jesse, and married Elizabeth VAN WERMER, an Ohio native. In 1829, their first son, John, was born in Pennsylvania. Their second son, William, was also born in Pennsylvania, in Rockdale, Crawford County, as likely was their third son. They settled in that area through at least the 1830 census and probably until they moved to the Iowa Territory in 1842.
In 1842, the U.S. government moved the Sac and Fox Indians southwest to a reservation in Kansas. It was this year that the CONVERSE family became one of the first families to move into Iowa County settling along Old Man's Creek, which runs through the northern sections of Greene Township (Township 78 North, Range 9 West), in the southeastern corner of Iowa County and about 20 miles southwest of Iowa City, which was then the territorial capital. Erastus reportedly was the first to settle in Section 3 of Greene Township, just east of Holbrook.
Union Historical Company, Birdsall, Williams & Co., 1881
Erastus built a simple log house on his remote claim, a good 100 miles from the nearest trading post of Burlington in the southeast corner of Iowa. Wild game was plentiful but the family had to go without many common provisions and substituted wheat flour, sugar, and tea with hand-ground buckwheat flour, honey, and red root. The CONVERSE claim laid only three miles from an Indian reservation where they maintained good relations with the neighboring Sac and Fox Indians and their chief, Keokuk.
The Sac (Asakiwaki) and Fox (Meskwaki) Indians, Algonquin-speaking tribes, are believed to have originated near the Saint-Lawrence Seaway in Canda and later moved to Saginaw Bay, Michigan and Green Bay, Wisconsin under pressure of the White Man and the Iroquois in the mid-17th century. There the Sac and Fox began to intermarry and the tribes joined. In the mid-18th century they moved again to Saukenuk (modern day Rock Island, Illinois) at the convergence of the Rock and Mississippi rivers. The U.S. government forced them out of Saukenuk into a 40-miles square reservation at the forks of the Iowa River -- not far from Greene as described above.
In 1832, Black Hawk, Keokuk's war-prone rival, made an unsuccessful attempt to retake Saukenuk, his birth place. This marked the last Native American fight for homelands east of the Mississippi. In 1842, after the Black Hawk Wars, the Sac & Fox Nation was moved to Kansas. From here many were moved to Stroud, Oklahoma and became the Sauk Nation. Others returned to Iowa in 1857 and purchased land in Tama County to the northwest of Iowa County.
About 1847, Erastus went on a 70-mile horse ride, perhaps to Davenport on the Illinois border, to fetch a doctor for a sick son. Soon after his return he died from exhaustion at the age of 43.
The CONVERSE family remained in Greene Township until 1871. In the 1850 census they were enumerated with William CONVERS, likely Erastus' elder brother, and Jane LOVELAND, perhaps Erastus' mother or mother-in-law.
During the 1880 census, Elizabeth is found living on her own in the Village of Western, College Township, Linn County, Iowa.
Elizabeth (VAN WERMER) CONVERSE died in 1900 in Pottawattamie County, Iowa at the age of 88.
Lewis Publishing Co., 1891
"Erastus [Sr.], the father of William, went to Pennsylvania, and was there married to Elizabeth VAN WERMER, and they had six children: John [Sr.], William, George B., Henry B., Erastus, and a daughter who died in infancy. George B., and Erastus [Jr.] served in the Union Army four years, and George died in the service. In 1842, the father brought his family to Iowa, settling on a claim where the land was not yet surveyed, in what is now Greene Township, Iowa County. This state was then an entirely new country and he had to go seventy miles for his groceries, the family having to rely upon their own production for most of their supplies, which consisted mainly of corn, bread and buckwheat cakes, with wild game and fish. For five years they were without beef, pork, coffee, sugar and milk. Tea they made of "red root"."
"The corn they ground with a hand mill. Their clothing was mostly made of buckskin. They lived in a big log cabin, with no sawed timber except the doors and window casings, which were made from their dry-goods boxes that they had brought from Pennsylvania and their floors were of puncheon. But they had a comfortable home and was content. There were no schools, churches, roads, courts, lawyers or even a justice of the peace, and but one doctor who lived nine miles distant. The people were healthy, happy and peaceable. Their habits were simple and they were friendly and hospitable, helping each other for miles around."
"Mr. [Erastus] CONVERSE [Sr.] lived to be the age of 43 years, dying from exhaustion brought on by riding 70 miles on horseback without a saddle for a [doctor] for his sick son. His widow is still living at the age of 80 years, with her son William. When she first came to Iowa, the Sac [Sauk] and Fox Indians were very numerous but friendly and Keokuk [1790?-1848?], the celebrated chief, used to come to their cabin, and frequently partook of their hospitality."
- Cen 1830: 1830 Census, Rockdale Township, Crawford County, Pennsylvania
- Cen 1850: 23 Aug 1850 Census, Green Township, Iowa County, Iowa
- Cen 1860: 4 Jun 1860 Census, Greene Township, Iowa County, Iowa
- Cen 1880: 1 Jun 1880 Census, Village of Western, College Township, Linn County, Iowa