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- ABRAM PHELPS for a number of years prior to his decease lived
- retired from active life, and was one of the most venerable
figures to be seen on the streets of Janesville. He lived at
No. 155 Pleasant street, and though recently he bore but a small
part in the work of the world, he was in his time an active and
influential man, and won a high standing by industry, integrity,
and an unblemished character.
- The PHELPS family, which is of English origin, and can be
traced
- back more than a thousand years, was founded in America by
three
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- brothers who crossed the ocean at an early day and settled
at Windsor, Conn.; one of our subject's ancestors was among the
Puritan settlers of Massachusetts, and took a large part in the
founding of the Nation. Mr. PHELPS was born in Egremont, Berkshire
Co., Mass., Dec. 27, 1811, a son of Zacheus and Rebecca (GRACE)
PHELPS, natives of Connecticut and Massachusetts, respectively.
They had a family of seven sons and two daughters and the gentleman
whose name appears above was the last survivor. Zacheus PHELPS
was a farmer. He died in 1813, but his wife was a capable and
energetic woman, and kept her children together until they were
able to do for themselves. In 1830 Abram PHELPS went to Michigan
where his brother Norman and sister Harriet were living, in Monroe
County, and he made his home with them for a time, while he followed
his trade of carpenter. He went back to Massachusetts after staying
in Michigan about a year, and came West again in 1835, bringing
his mother with him. In the fall of 1837 they moved to Freedom,
Portage Co., Ohio, where his mother died in 1841, when Mr. PHELPS
traded his Portage County farm for one in Geauga County, Ohio,
and moved there, making that his home for nineteen years.
- On Feb. 1, 1838, Mr. PHELPS married Miss Marietta MOORE,
daughter of Stephen and
- Martha (DODGE) MOORE, and two sons were born to them, Milton
Moore and Frank W. Both served in the Civil war, Frank lacking
one year of graduation from Meadville (Penn.) College when he
enlisted. He died from measles contracted while in the service,
at the age of twenty-one, unmarried. Milton M. PHELPS was graduated
from Meadville College. He married Miss Henrietta BAIN, and they
had four children, all now deceased, Frank Bain, George Norris,
John, and one who died in infancy. Frank B. married Miss Elizabeth
C. DeGAINE, and died four years later. George Norris was drowned
when fourteen years old. John died when two years old. Milton
M. PHELPS was municipal judge in Janesville for six years. He
was a lieutenant in the Union army during the war of the Rebellion,
and was acting adjutant of his regiment when he was shot through
the lungs in the second battle of Bull Run. He was under treatment
for sixty days and then returned to the front, but was not able
to do duty, and was discharged on account of disability. He had
an accident in Janesville July 21, 1898, colliding with the cars
while riding a bicycle, and died Sept. 27. A very eloquent tribute
of the bar Association to his memory appears elsewhere in this
volume. Mr. and Mrs.Abram PHELPS survived all their family.
- In 1866 Mr. PHELPS came to Wisconsin, locating in Rock County,
and buying a farm of 202
- acres in Rock township, three miles from Janesville, where
he built a fine house and other good buildings, and devoted himself
to the cultivation of the soil until 1884. That year he rented
his farm, and with his wife moved to Janesville, where he passed
away March 31, 1901. For many years the cheery home at No. 155
Pleasant street has been a center of helpfulness. To many it
has proved a blessed haven, made so by the practical Christianity
which sweetened and glorified the lives of the aged couple who
for more than sixty-three years have traveled hand in hand. Both
devoted their lives to the service of Christ in their youth.
He was a member of the Court Street Methodist Church, as is his
widow, of which he was a class-leader, and he was always an active
worker in the church, serving on the official board and doing
anything he could to promote its prosperity. He and his wife
were both members of the church before their wedding. The following
is taken from an article which appearing in the Janesville Gazette
of April 1, 1901: "Their religion inspired universal respect
because it had withstood the test of unusual affliction, and
because, in spite of great sorrow, they came to a lovely old
age, gracefully and graciously. When life seemed best worth living
came the tragic series of deaths which shocked the entire community
and swept away all family ties for the aged couple who were left
to bear the great burden of sorrow. Mrs. M. M. PHELPS died in
December, 1897, and a month later her son followed. Judge PHELPS
lived on for a few months, and then came the collision of his
bicycle with a railway train, and in September, 1898, he too,
passed on to the life beyond the grave. Within a year Mr. and
Mrs. PHELPS had seen their family pass away, yet deep as was
their sorrow no word of complaint ever passed their lips.
- "Misfortune again visited the home when, nearly two
years ago, Mrs. PHELPS fell and broke
- her hip. It was feared that she could not recover from the
shock, but her mission had not yet been fulfilled, and she can
now walk around the house with the aid of a crutch and cane.
Three weeks ago Mr. PHELPS was taken ill with heart trouble,
and one week ago last Friday night he suffered a severe stroke
of paralysis, which would have proved fatal immediately to a
man of less marvelous vitality. Although he lay as if unconscious
during the last week of his illness he retained his mental faculties,
and was able to make himself understood. The voice of his beloved
wife was always able to rouse him, and he never failed to respond
to her good-night or good-morning greetings with a word or a
hearty pressure of the hand. The end came very peacefully.
- "Mr. PHELPS was a lovable gentleman, cheerful and happy
in his disposition, noble in character,
- and ever ready with a kindly word or an act of helpfulness.
His life was ruled by the gospel of love, and he knew his guide-book,
the Bible, so thoroughly that if he were given the substance
of a verse of Scripture he could tell the exact book, chapter
and verse where it could be found. Mrs. PHELPS has no immediate
relatives, except a half sister, but she finds great comfort
in the sustaining presence of Mrs. Elizabeth C. PHELPS, the widow
of Frank PHELPS, who has now cared for father, son and grandson
in their last days on earth.
- "The passing away of Abram PHELPS marks the closing
of a remarkable life. His death is one
- that touches with peculiar interest the hearts of many people
because of the rare history of that life whose influence was
so far reaching and ever tending to the uplifting of mankind.
Such a death must cause universal sorrow, but around it can center
no gloom, only the triumphant confidence that for him and those
who loved him death has no sting, and the grave no victory."
- Our subject was a Republican, and took a keen interest in
politics, but never would consent to
- take anything but a local office, in which he might directly
serve his neighbors.
- Mrs. PHELPS' father, Stephen MOORE, was born in New Hampshire,
on the Merrimac river,
- and her mother, near Bath, Maine, the MOORE and DODGE families
being New Hampshire and Maine people, respectively. Stephen MOORE
was a soldier in the war of 1812, and was known as Major MOORE;
his father served in the war of the Revolution.
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-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin"
(c) 1901, pp. 172-173; lithograph from same book.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
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