Robert Adamson Welsh  and Susan (Collier) Welsh
Mother and Father of Nellie (Welsh) Mathews
 

Family History written by Edna (Mathews) Graves

Robert Adamson Welsh was born in Durham County, England in 1829.  When he was seventeen years old he set sail aboard a small sailing vessel from the Teeswater District of Durham County in the Spring of 1846.  He brought with him five pure-bred Shorthorn cows and one bull which were the first Shorthorns brought into Grant County, Wisconsin.  He was on the ocean for thirteen weeks.

The sailing vessel docked at New Orleans.  From there Robert loaded his cattle and goods on a river boat and proceeded up the Mississippi River to Galena, Illinois.  In those days, vessels came up the deep channel of the Fever River to land directly at Galena.  From there he made a cross-country trek with his cattle to the Township of Little Grant, Wisconsin...west of Lancaster, where he joined other English families.  We don't know who came with him.  He had one brother, John Welsh, who settled on the farm now owned by Mrs. Archie Morrow of Little Grant.  (We don't know the name of his father and mother.) Two years later in 1848, the John Collier family came from the same region in Durham County, England to Little Grant.  They brought five more pure-bred Shorthorn cows with them--three for themselves and two for Robert A. Welsh. Five years later in 1853, at the age of 24 years Robert was married to Susanne Collier the eighteen-year-old daughter of John Collier. She was their only child.

To this union was born fourteen children, eleven of whom grew to adulthood.  They were John, Louisa (Mrs. Adam Morrow), Robert, Alice (Mrs. Peter Schnarrenberg), William, George, Hannah (Mrs. George Cooley),  Florence (Mrs. Wilbur Frost), Thomas, Nellie (Mrs. George Mathews), Nettie (Mrs. Lewis Weber). The family were all born and grew up on their farm in Little Grant Township.

Robert Welsh became one of the largest early landholders of Grant County.  His farm of 636 acres extended from the South end of the township near the Bowen School, North for two and one half miles, past the Welsh school up to the Milner School in the center of Little Grant.  The Welsh homestead was located on Pine Fork of Little Grant Stream or river just above the old wooden mill and school house, still called the Welsh School.  The wooden mill burned down years later.  All the children attended school at the Welsh school.

In an old file of the "Wisconsin Farmer" was found an article relating to the early activities of the Welsh and Collier families and their importation and breeding of Shorthorn cattle and long wool sheep.  Quoting directly, "In 1866, Robert A. Welsh showed a three-year-old steer at the Iowa State Fair held in Dubuque.  It weighed 1800 lbs. and sold for 12.5 cents a pound.  All the Welsh importations were roans and whites, no reds being found in their herd.  The cattle were great milkers and of large frame.

It is debatable whether Robert A. Welsh or his father-in-law, John Collier, imported the first long wool sheep into Grant County.  Anyway they were Cotswolds and Leicesters."  They supplied many of the early cattle feeders of Lancaster and Mineral Point with feeder stock."  Good private records were kept on each animal.  Members of the family told of helping their father get the cattle ready for exhibition by scrubbing, and brushing them days ahead of time until the animals were sleek and shiny.

Robert A. Welsh, passed away in 1886 with a heart attack while splitting wood. (We don't know the month or day, but could find out from Union cemetery of Little Grant.) at the age of 57 years.

Susan Welsh, moved to Lancaster with the younger children after her husband's death. Each summer she would visit about with her children.  It was while visiting her son, John, that she passed away Sunday, June 12, 1904, age 68 years.  She and her husband were buried in Union Cemetery at Little Grant.

Susan Welsh was a lover of flowers.  In the spring time she had beautiful tulip beds gay with color along with crocus and daffodils.  Later the same beds were bright with petunias and asters.  Her small cottage was surrounded with roses and other flowering shrubs.  It still stands in Lancaster.  She was noted for being a fine cook and homemaker.

 Thomas Welsh, the youngest son of Robert A. and Susanne Collier Welsh was born on the Welsh farm in Little Grant Township. Date? There he grew to manhood.  On July 3, 1897, he was married to Dora Wanzer.  They made their home on a farm near the Welsh homestead.  There two children were born to them. A son Ralph and a daughter Ruth. Their Grandmother, Dora, passed away Feb 11, 1904 aged 30 years, 6 months and 28 days. (This is taken from her obituary.)

Dora Wanzer, was born July 13, 1873 at New Boston, Ill. At the age of eleven years she with her mother came to live with her grandmother Oates of North Lancaster.  Six years later she became motherless. She was a bright intelligent child to which was added a forceful determination to succeed in whatever she undertook to do.  By sheer force of will, she succeeded in getting sufficient education to teach.  For a time she walked four miles to Lancaster each day to attend school.  At the age of sixteen she began to teach and continued successfully in that capacity up to the time of her marriage.