Untitled From Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette, Wisconsin, publ. 1901 - page 472 -474

REV. SAMUEL WHITNEY TROUSDALE, A.M., PH. D, D.D., one of the most highly esteemed and prominent residents of Platteville, Grant county, presiding elder of the Platteville district of the M. E. Church, was born at Fayette, Lafayette Co, Wis., Nov. 12, 1853, the worthy son - the only one - of William P. and Mary Ann (McKEE) TROUSDALE. Seven half brothers and sisters of our subject are living at this writing: W. W. Parkinson; Jane, Mrs. ELLISONS; William J. TROUSDALE; Polly Ann, Mrs. PERRIGO; Robert M.; John W.; and James W. Bashford.

Samuel Whiney TROUSDALE is of Scotch-Irish parentage on both sides, and the record of his ancestors is very interesting. Before the Revolutionary war his paternal ancestors settled in North Carolina, and took such valiant part in that struggle that the government presented them with a tract of land in Tennessee (the city of Gallatin now occupying that tract), and the family name has been perpetuated in one of the counties of that State. The grandfather of our subject moved from Tennessee to Kentucky, and in that State William P. TROUSDALE was born. In course of time he moved to Madison county, Ill., and thence to Lafayette county, Wis., while the State was still a Territory. He settled on a farm near Fayette, and in that town he died, Sept. 18, 1889, at the ripe old age of eighty-six.

Not less interesting is the record of the early maternal ancestors of our subject. His mother was born in Mason county, Ky., Dec. 11, 1817, the eldest child of Robert and Letitia McKEE, the former a grandson of that well-known old pioneer, John McKEE, and the later the great-granddaughter of pioneer Robert McKEE, both of whom came to America from the North of Ireland with the Scotch-Irish emigration of 1738. They had settled, with their other brothers, first at Lancaster, Penn., removing in 1757 to Virginia, and locating permanently in Rockbridge county. There Robert died June 11, 1774. His son, William McKEE, was a man of great prominence. He served his country as a captain in the Revolution, was made high sheriff of Rockbridge county, and was its representative in the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1788, to consider the plan of Federal government for the United States, as recommended by the Federal Convention that met at Philadelphia.

William McKEE married his cousin, Miriam McKEE, a daughter of the old pioneer John McKEE, and about the year 1700 removed with his family to Kentucky, settling in Garrard county, where later he was joined by other members of his family connection. However, the branches became numerous, and are now to be found in Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, always representing the best element in the community, and many of them having occupied very prominent positions in the various walks of life. John McKEE, the eldest son of William McKEE, and the father of Letitia McKEE, was appointed register of the land office of Edwardsville, Ill., in 1816, and he and his son, William P., continued in the office for the succeeding twenty years. Robert McKEE and his young wife and infant daughter removed to that place in 1818, and settled on the farm where they spent the remainder of their lives.

Mary Ann McKEE, the mother of our subject, when eighteen years old was (first) married to Carroll PARKINSON, and soon after, with her husband, removed to Wisconsin, traveling overland with teams, and settling in Fayette, Lafayette county, this being then known as PARKINSON's settlement; this was in the spring of 1839. Here this lady made her home until her death, on Jan. 31, 1896. She had lived a good and busy life and had fully done her part in the pioneer work of building a firm foundation for the great State which came out of the wilderness of the Northwest.

Samuel Whitney TROUSDALE, the subject of the present sketch, spent his boyhood days on the farm at Fayette, attending both public and private schools until the fall of 1871, when he took up the preparatory course of the State University of Wisconsin. From this institution he graduated, from the Ancient Classical course, in 1877. Mr. TROUSDALE seems to have thoroughly understood the reason why he was sent to college, for his average in his studies was uniformly high, while he also found time and opportunity to take charge, for a time, of the editorial columns of the "University Press," the college paper; was president of the Athenaeum Literary Society; and for a year was president of the college Y.M.C.A. In his Senior year Mr. TROUSDALE won in the college oratorical contest, and also represented the State University in the inter-collegiate contest. After his graduation he was offered a position as tutor of Greek and Elocution in the State University, which position he occupied for one year, and then entered the School for Theology in Boston University, from which he graduated in 1831. Since that time Mr. TROUSDALE has received the degrees of A.M., from the State University; Ph. D., from the Ohio Wesleyan University; as well as D. D. from Lawrence University.

While in the Theological Seminary Mr. TROUSDALE spent two years at West Quincy and Newton Lower Falls, Mass., and in the fall of 1882 joined the West Wisconsin M. E. Conference, of which he is a member at the present time. His Conference has honored him by appointing him to some of the strongest churches, he having served as pastor at Hudson; First Church, Eau Claire; First Church, La Crosse; and Platteville. For a number of years Mr. TROUSDALE was chairman of the board of examiners of his Conference, and during this time great advancement was made in the method of conducting such bodies, a change being made in the examination of candidates from oral to written examinations. Twice has Mr. TROUSDALE been honored by being elected the head of the delegation to represent his Conference in the General Conference.

Rev. TROUSDALE was first married, in the fall of 1882, to Miss Alma L. BAKER, a daughter of John U. and Elizabeth BAKER, both of whom were English born. Mrs. TROUSDALE was born near Linden, in Iowa county, May 17, 1861, and died at La Crosse, Wis., on Oct. 9, 1895. She was a woman of superior character, ambitious, but discreet, and of such a natural strength of character that she impressed herself upon all who had even a passing acquaintance with her. Of this marriage two children were born: Elizabeth Dale and Paul Whitney. Mr. TROUSDALE, for his second wife, wedded Miss Minnie E. TAYLOR, a Pennsylvanian by birth, of English-French descent, and an accomplished and estimable lady. Before her marriage to Mr. TROUSDALE she had charge of the Oral Deaf School at La Crosse, Wis., of which she had been principal for five years. Of this second marriage of our subject two sons have been born: Theodore and James Bashford. Samuel Whitney TRUESDALE's ideals have, from childhood, been high ones, and he has never fallen into the vices and follies of the world, hence his look backward over his life contains nothing which may not appear upon record. He is respected and esteemed, both in church and in the community, and worthily represents the great religious denomination which the immortal John Wesley founded.




This biography generously submitted by Carol Holmbeck