History of Walworth County Wisconsin
by Albert Clayton Beckwith

1912

B. F. Bowen & Company
Indianapolis, Indiana

page 1326-1327

MARSHALL M. FEATHERSTONE

     One of Walworth township's most diligent and painstaking farmers is 
Marshall M. Featherstone, a man who believes in carrying to successful issue 
whatever he attempts. He is a representative of one of our worthiest old 
families and he has been content to spend his life in this, his native county, 
and while laboring for his own advancement he has not neglected his duties as a 
general citizen.
     Mr. Featherstone was born in section 8, Walworth township, this county, on 
February 19, 1856. He is the son of Peter and Mary (Wagorn) Featherstone. The 
father was born in Headcorn, Kent, England, and the birth of the mother also 
occured in Kent and there they grew up and were married, emigrating to America 
on the coronation day of Queen Victoria. (June 28, 1838 - agr) After spending 
about two years in the East they came to Walworth county, Wisconsin, among the 
pioneers, having made the trip on a sailing vessel by way of the Great Lakes, 
being six weeks on the water. After living a year at Sharon they entered land 
from the government, one hundred and twenty acres in section 8, Walworth 
township, and there was their home the rest of their lives. No roads were at 
that time laid out on the government survey, the only road near being the old 
Territory road. Their nearest market was Racine and they went to Chicago to 
mill, the trip with ox teams requiring a week. Their family consisted of the 
following children; George grew up in this locality, and owned a farm in 
section 7, married Eliza Coon and they became the parents of three sons and one 
daughter; one of them, Frank, lives at Lake Geneva, and George died in May 
1892; Phebe Featherstone died when twenty-one years old; James married Hatty 
Lilley and lived in Dakota until his death, in August 1885; one son, Fred, 
survives him; Jane married Edward Koones and lives at Harvard, Illinois; Jesse 
died in early childhood; Marshall M., the youngest of the family, is the 
subject of this sketch.
     The death of Peter Featherstone occured in 1860, his widow surviving until 
March, 1886. They were among the founders of the First Baptist church of 
Walworth, the old brick church. Peter Featherstone's death was due to injuries 
received in a threshing machine. Marshall M. was three and one-half years old 
at that time, and the mother was left with five children to rear.
     The subject grew to manhood on the home farm and he attended high school 
at Harvard, Illinois. In 1883 he was united in marriage with Bertha Leath, a 
native of Germany who came here when young with her parents. Four children have 
been born to Mr. and Mrs. Featherstone; Martha is the wife of Gilman Worden and 
lives on a farm in Sharon township; Elmer married Gertrude McNally and lives on 
a farm about two miles northwest of Walworth; Edward and Freddie are at home 
with their parents.
     Mr. Featherstone has spent his entire life on  the farm which his father 
entered from the government, consisting of one hundred and thirty-seven acres. 
He also bought one hundred and twenty acres in the southern part of the same 
section in 1893. About 1910 he bought another farm adjoining the last mentioned 
place, thus making a total of nearly three hundred acres, constituting on of 
the most desireable farms in this part of the county, and this he has placed 
under a high state of improvement and cultivation and has been very successful 
as a general farmer and stock raiser, having extensively raised Shropshire 
sheep.
     Mr. Featherstone is a deacon in the Walworth Baptist church. He stands 
high in all circles in the community, leads a quiet, industrious life and has 
the good will and respect of all who know him.

Submitted By:  Allan Reader
   (areadr@excite.com)