Untitled
Surnames: Tillotson, Merryman, Morton, Thomas, Corpian, Lillie, Rhodes, Curry, Pickett, Graves, Ivey
From Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin, publ. 1901 - page 139-140
LYMAN D. CULVER, familiarly known as 'Squire' CULVER, is a representative farmer and leading citizen of Ellenboro township, Grant county, where his manly virtues and upright character have won him a host of friends.
Mr. CULVER was born in Huntington, Ohio, April 7, 1840. His father, Joshua N. CULVER, was born in Randolph, Portage, Co., Ohio, Nov. 30, 1808, and his mother, Caroline C. TILLOTSON, was born in December, 1814, near Rochester, N.Y. Joshua N. CULVER was a son of Timothy CULVER, who was born in Massachusetts in 1775, and was a soldier in the war of 1812. He married a MERRYMAN, and through her our subject is related to the MORTON family, the same one to which ex-Vice President Levi P. MORTON belongs. Levi P. MORTON and Levi Merryman CULVER were named after the same man. Our subject's great-grandfather, Joshua CULVER, born in 1750, was a soldier in the Revolution.
Joshua N. CULVER, the father of Lyman D., spent the earlier part of his life in Ohio, where he married, and was for some years a farmer in Lorain county. In 1846 he brought his family to Grant county, Wis., buying a farm in Harrison township, and here he and his wife completed their lives. He died in 1892, outliving her by seven years. He cast his first vote for William Henry Harrison. Mr. and Mrs. CULVER were both consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and were strong workers in its behalf. They reared a family of seven children, all sons. (1) Henry Morton CULVER, the eldest, was born in Ohio, in September, 1833, and grew to manhood on the parental farm in Grant county. He married Miss Elizabeth THOMAS, and they began their married life as renters of a portion of the family estate. She died Dec. 22, 1863, and he only survived until May 7, 1864. They left two children - Linnie L., now Mrs. W. G. CORPIAN, of Grant county, and Delos L., now of Potosi. (2) Otis Morton died in childhood. (3) Levi M., now of Syracuse, N.Y., was station agent for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad at Woodman and Wauzeka, Wis., for a number of years. He married Miss Amelia LILLIE, who died in Iowa, and they had five children - Lillie, a graduate of the Whitewater Normal, and now a prominent teacher in Milwaukee; Rose, deceased; Fred, who died when a young man; Hattie, wife of Frank RHODES, a banker, of Estherville, Iowa; and Roy, now a real estate dealer at Port Arthur, Texas. (4) Lyman D. is our subject. (5) Elmer E., born in Grant county in 1849, married Miss Emma R. CURRY, of Minnesota, and they live on the old homestead in Harrison township. They have a family of five living children, Otis, Herbert, Guy, Arthur and Cora. (6) H. L., born in Grant county in April, 1853, married Miss Happy P. PICKETT, of Crawford county, and lives in that county, where he owns a farm of 320 acres. He is the father of sixteen children, eleven living: Charles, Alva, Everett, Ethel, Asa, Masel, George, Edith, Alta, Edna and Lennice. (7) D. T., born Dec. 26, 1857, married Miss Rynda GRAVES, and they have two children, Leda and Lelah. For some time they lived on the old homestead, but their home is now in Platteville.
Lyman D. CULVER received but a limited education in the district schools, as he was able to attend only during the short three months winter terms. However, he was a great reader of history and a lover of useful books, so he accumulated a stock of information that has proved valuable all his life. In 1861 he enlisted in Company F, 7th Wis. V.I., which became a part of the Iron Brigade, and served in Virginia under Gen. McDowell, and other commanders of the Army of the Potomac. He was taken sick at Fredericksburg, and lay in hospital for a long time. He was finally discharged at Washington, in November, 1863, and sent home on account of disability. In July, 1864 he married Miss Honor A. IVEY, the estimable daughter of James and Mary A. IVEY, old and prominent pioneers of Grant county, where Mrs. CULVER was born in November, 1846; she received her education in the district schools of Harrison township. The young couple immediately took up farming, and in March, 1865, bought eighty acres of wild land in Ellenboro township, where Mr. CULVER erected a log house, and there their life work began. They lived in the log house until 1880, when it was replaced by a fine frame house, provided with all modern improvements, and they have now one of the finest homes in Grant county, known as the "Evergreen Avenue Farm," from the fact that fine rows of evergreen shade trees are on both sides of the road. Mr. CULVER owns 160 acres in Ellenboro, and 200 acres in Harrison township, having purchased the old homestead from his brother D.T. He may well be counted among the solid and successful farmers of southern Wisconsin.
Mr. and Mrs. CULVER have had nine children: (1) Eber, born in 1865, is unmarried, and living at home. (2) Adda, a bright young girl, died when fourteen years old. (3) Henry, born March 7, 1869, was a student in the Platteville high school and the Valparaiso (Ind.) Normal, is a young man of scholarly attainments and takes an active part in the local affairs of Ellenboro township, serving as town clerk. He is an active worker in church and Sunday-school. (4) Jennie Ivey, born in August, 1871, is a student at Platteville Normal, class of 1902, and is one of the successful teachers in this section. She is a great worker in the church and Sunday-school. (5) Jesse N., born Sept. 26, 1873, is unmarried, and is a resident of Iowa. (6) Benjamin F., born in January, 1876, is at home. (7) May L. and (8) Gay L., twins, born Nov. 23, 1878, and (9) Edward D., born Dec. 9, 1883, are all students at the home schools. Mr. CULVER has always been a worker in the Republican ranks. He has been school director twenty-five years, and is now justice of the peace, an office that he has held for five years. He is a member of the W. T. Sherman Post, No. 65, G.A.R., at Platteville.
This biography generously submitted by Carol Holmbeck