Seneca Burchard Chatfield

Regions: Oneida Co., NY; Walworth Co., WI

From History of Walworth County Wisconsin by Albert Clayton Beckwith, Vol. II, Publ. 1912 - Page 997-999 SENECA BURCHARD CHATFIELD. Troy township, Walworth county, can boast of few more progressive and successful farmers among her younger generation than Seneca Burchard CHATFIELD. As a citizen he is intelligent, enterprising and public-spirited, combining within himself those sterling qualities of manhood that make one not only a useful member of society but a leader in whatever he undertakes, and there is added to this an honest determination of purpose and a kind heart, which impels him to help others while paving a path to prosperity for himself From his boyhood his desire has been to earn every cent needed in the prosecution of his business affairs, and he has always lived up to his principle, preferring to do his own planning and execution. Mr. CHATFIELD was born in Troy, Walworth county, in 1875. He is the son of Silas B. and Katherine (KLING) CHATFIELD, the father born in New Milford, Connecticut, on October 21, 1822, and the mother in New Hartford, Oneida county, New York, on May 10, 1832. He came from Connecticut to Walworth county, Wisconsin, in the fall of 1846 and bought eighty acres where the subject now lives, later adding forty acres to this, and here he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring on February 7, 1908, and his widow is still living on the old homestead. He cleared the land and made the improvements, establishing a good home through his thrift and close application He spent the last few years of his life in retirement. Politically, he was a Republican, but was never an office seeker. He was a member of the Baptist church, and very active in the same. Silas B. CHATFIELD was married on May 6, 1849, to Mary HOLCOMB, of Walworth county, and to this union two children were born, Norman A. and Levi L, the former dying in 1894 The wife and mother died on May 6, 1854, on the fifth anniversary of her wedding. In 1857 Mr. CHATFIELD was married to Katherine KLING, daughter of Jacob and Dorothy (GASPER) KLING, the father born in New York in 1785, and the mother born in New Jersey in 1793. They spent the major part of their lives in the East and came to Walworth county, in May, 1849, settling in Troy township, and here the father's death occurred, when near the century mark, on October 12, 1883, having been preceded to the grave by his wife in 1874. They were the parents of twelve children, two of whom are living at this writing. Seven children were born to Silas B. CHATFIELD and his second wife, namely: George K., born June 8, 1858; Omer C., born April 24, 1860, died in 1908; Dewitt C., born August 11, 1862; Jane E., born February 22, 1864, was burned to death on June 29, 1871; Sarah Elizabeth, born July 27, 1869, died November 29, 1901; Alice Jane, born June 22, 1873; Senecca B., subject of this sketch, is the youngest.. The father of the subject when young went with his parents from Connecticut to Otselia, New York, and here his parents died and he was bound out to Theodore BURCHARD. After he was eighteen years old he went to live with James STRATTON, who worked the BURCHARD farm. Senecca B. CHATFIELD of this sketch was reared on the farm and received his education in the public schools, and was graduated from the East Troy high school with the class of 1900. He spent one year in Milwaukee as bookkeeper for the American School Board Journal, then came back to the farm in Walworth county, which he has managed since April 1907, in a most satisfactory manner, carrying on general farming and stock raising. Politically, he is a Republican of the progressive wing, but he has never been an aspirant for office. Mr. CHATFIELD was married on December 4, 1907, to Ella M. RHODE, who was born in Mukwonago, Waukesha county, this state. She is the daughter of Fred and Amanda RHODE, an excellent family of East Troy township. Submitted by Carol