Erastus Allen Tillotson was the son of Zadock Tillotson and Susan Caroline Rogers. Erastus was born on January 23, 1817 in Brunswick, Medina County, Ohio. He married Phidelia Mathers (the name also appears as Fidelia and sometimes as Mather) on February 23, 1841 in Liverpool, Medina County, Ohio. Phidelia was born December 31, 1818 to Joseph and Saloma Mathers. The Mathers family had moved to Medina County from Wyoming County, New York in 1831.
Phidelia Mathers
Wife of Erastus Allen Tillotson
Erastus and Phidelia had two children, both born in Liverpool, Medina County, Ohio:
James Wesley Tillotson was born August 9, 1843. He married Cordelia Sophia Baldwin ("Della") on October 16, 1873. Cordelia was born November 5, 1841 in Bedford, Cuyahoga County, Ohio to Daniel Baldwin and Nancy Allen.
James and Della had one daughter.
Nina Mae Tillotson was born April 20, 1874.
Nina Mae Tillotson.
Since Della married James Woodward on October 15, 1908, I assume either James had passed away by that time or James and Della had divorced.
The following biography of James appeared in Portrait and Biographical Album, Ingham & Livingston Counties Michigan published in 1892 by Chapman Bros., Chicago.
JAMES W. TILLOTSON. Biographies of successful men are most useful as guides and incentives to others and hence a volume of this character, containing the life records of the most prominent and representative citizens of the county, serves to stimulate the young and invite their emulation. Mr. Tillotson is well known throughout Ingham County as an influential farmer and business man of Lansing Township, where he resides on section 8. His fine farm of one hundred and forty-five acres adjoins the city of Lansing and forms a beautiful contrast, with its waving grain and green orchards, to the imposing structures of the capital city.
The paternal grandfather of Mr. Tillotson bore the name of Zadock Tillotson, and was a native of New York, of English extraction. The immediate progenitors of our subject were Erastus A. and Phidelia (Mather) Tillotson, the former a native of the Empire State and the latter born in Ohio. It was in the latter State that their destinies for life were united in 1841, the ceremony being performed at the bride's home in Medina County. Only two children blessed their happy married life -- James W., of this sketch, being the elder, and born August 9, 1843. His brother, Erastus, now engaged in the postal service and a resident of Omaha Neb., was born in 1845, on October 3. His wife bore the maiden name of Laura Williams. Our subject was reared on a farm and gained a common-school education by taking advantage of all the opportunities afforded by the district in which he resided. In the meantime he gained a thorough practical knowledge of agriculture in its various departments and became well fitted to take charge of a farm of his own. Naturally when the time came for him to select a calling in life he chose agriculture, and the success which has attended his efforts proves the wisdom of his choice. Until he was nineteen years old he remained with his father, but at that age started out in life for himself.
In 1864, Mr. Tillotson came West to Michigan, of whose advantages much was said in those days and from whose fertile soil it was predicted fortunes could be gained. After he located here he first worked by the month and careful economy enabled him to soon make a purchase of property for himself. In 1873 he was married to Miss Baldwin, and one daughter was born to them -- Nina M., whose natal day was April 20, 1874. She is now attending school in the city of Lansing and is quite proficient in her studies. She brightens the home of her father and is not only the object of his devoted interest, but also that of her grandmother, Mrs. Phidelia Tillotson, who presides with dignity and grace over the household of her son.
A gravel mine or bank on Mr. Tillotson's farm furnishes thousands of tons of gravel for street purposes in the city of Lansing and is a considerable source of revenue. Mr. Tillotson devotes his attention to mixed farming and finds in the discharge of his varied duties as a citizen and agriculturalist, abundant opportunity for his energy and ability to be utilized. His father bought the farm which is now his property, in 1851, it being then all timber land, and containing few evidences of its present prosperity. But the father survived to see a city grow up from a wilderness. He died July 7, 1887, at the ripe old age of seventy years. The mother, as above stated, is still living in the enjoyment of good health and with faculties unimpaired.
In politics Mr. Tillotson adheres to the principles of the Republican party and cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1864. Socially he belongs to the Lansing Lodge, No. 33, A. F. & A. M. The mother is a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
(There is an error in this biography. Zadock Tillotson was born in Massachusetts, not New York.)
Erastus Allen Tillotson, Jr. was born October 3, 1845. He married Laura Williams. They lived in Omaha, Nebraska where he worked as a postal clerk on the run from Omaha to Herman, Nebraska. Erastus married Laura Scoville Williams who was born August 30, 1847 in Manlius, Onondaga County, New York to Joseph and Calista Williams.
Erastus and Laura had four children, all born in Omaha, Douglas County, Nebraska.
Leila Phidelia Tillotson was born August 12, 1873.
Theodore Allen Tillotson was born January 20, 1875. He married and had three children.
Allen Walter Tillotson was born March 17, 1905 and died in July 1964. He was a petroleum geologist who lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Lou Denver Tillotson married a woman named Downs.
Mabelle Tillotson married a man named Cook.
Theodore worked for a Mutual Live Stock Commission firm located in Omaha.
Mabel Calista Tillotson was born March 4, 1881.
Walter Williams Tillotson was born June 26, 1883. He was married twice. He first married Susan Walter on January 23, 1913 in Lincoln, Nebraska. Susan was born September 23, 1886 to Frederick Walter and Mary Skinner.
Walter and Susan had one son.
Frederick Walter Tillotson was born July 7, 1918 in Denver, Colorado. He married Elizabeth Anne Ferguson on June 17, 1950 in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Elizabeth was born May 1, 1929 to Lee Hollister Ferguson and Anne Roessler.
Frederick earned a medical degree from the University of Colorado medical school. He followed this with a year of residency at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He trained in pathology at Case Western Reserve University where he met Elizabeth Ferguson. Her father was a doctor at Case Western. Elizabeth graduated from Cleveland's Laurel School and attended Wellesley College. Later she graduated from the Frances Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western.
Frederick and Elizabeth had three children.
Frederick Walter Tillotson and Elizabeth Tillotson died in an auto accident in July, 1963.
Walter and Susan divorced. She died in Denver, Colorado in August, 1958.
Walter married second a widow, Genevra "Gene" McClurg. She was born in David City, Butler County, Nebraska on April 4, 1897 to Charles Weslie McCune and Mary Elizabeth Maury. Walter and Genevra had no children together.
Walter retired in 1949 after working fifty years as a cattle buyer for Armour. He died in Van Nuys, Los Angeles County, California on March 23, 1953. Genevra died July 19, 1988 in California.
Laura Williams Tillotson died in Portland, Oregon in November 1918. Erastus Jr. died in 1924.
Erastus was a blacksmith. He was active in the Methodist Episcopal Church in Brunswick. Erastus served as Medina County commissioner for six years beginning in 1863. In 1870 he moved to North Lansing, Easton County, Michigan where his son James had carved out a farm from the wilderness.
Erastus Allen Tillotson died in North Lansing, Eaton County, Michigan on July 9, 1887. His death notice reads as follows.
Died on Saturday morning, July 8th Mr. E. A. Tillotson, aged 70 years. Mr. Tillotson was born in Columbia township, Lorain County, Ohio, and came to North Lansing 17 years ago. He was married 46 years ago and leaves a wife and two sons to mourn his death.
Photos of Erastus Allen Tillotson and Phidelia Mathers from E. Ward Tillotson's manuscript The Tillotson Family in America.
Death notice for Erastus Allen Tillotson from the scrapbook of Jane Postreme Munson in the Elsie Historical Society. Rick Tillotson provided information about Frederick Walter Tillotson's family.
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Last modified by pib on September 5, 2009.