Metcalf Family Records (Riley Township, McHenry County)

McKendree Bishop (M.B.) Metcalf was born June 16, 1829, in Geauga County, Ohio to Joseph and Hannah Stevens Metcalf. He moved to Riley Township, McHenry County in 1845 with his parents. His father died in 1846 and his mother moved to Iowa and spent the rest of her life with another son. In 1852, M.B. went to California for six years where he engaged in mining and ran a cattle ranch. Metcalf returned to Illinois and in 1867 he bought a 200-acre farm in Section 12 of Riley Township, McHenry County. Metcalf married Susan West Rockwood on June 8, 1859. Rockwood was born in New York in 1838 to William Horton and Susan Goldsmith West Rockwood. M.B. and Susan had eight children, R. Winthrop, George A., Charles E., Walter Bradford, Ralph West, Edith M. and two infant sons deceased. M.B. died April 15, 1900 and Susan died in 1906. Both are buried in Marengo Cemetery. Also living with M.B. and Susan as a farm laborer was her cousin, John W. James from New York. He never married but worked as a volunteer astronomer keeping weather diaries from 1860 till his death on October 31, 1917. James was part of the second oldest weather stations in Illinois. O.P. Rogers started keeping records in 1855. James continued from 1860 to about 1917. Other Marengoans responsible for keeping records include N.V. Woleben, Frank Mack, Ernest Woolley, Miss Claire Loofbourrow and Harold Hyde. R. Winthrop was born in 1860 and died in 1869. George A. was born in 1861 and died in 1888. He set up a hardware business in Janesville, WI. Charles E. was born in 1864 and died in 1881 from typhoid fever. Walter Bradford was born March 1, 1867. He discovered the barium cocktail, did other early research with x-rays, and authored a book on the lymphatic system. Edith M. was born in 1875 and died about six years later of scarlet fever. M.B. and Susan’s son, Ralph West, took over the family farm. He was born in 1869 and married Hildegarde Sandström. Hildegarde was born in 1883. They had a son named Ralph West Metcalf, Jr. Ralph, Sr. became acting postmaster of Marengo on December 31, 1933 and permanent postmaster on May 3, 1934. Ralph died October 8, 1948 and Hildegarde died March 18, 1935. Both are buried in Marengo Cemetery. Ralph Jr. married Dorothy Lois on September 10, 1950. They had two children, Susan Lynn and Marcia Alison. Susan married Gail Lawrence Bethard on August 12, 1972 and divorced on May 17, 1984. They had two children, Christine Elizabeth and Karen Lynn. Christine has a son, Alexander Metcalf Glen. On July 28, 1990, Susan married Daniel Max Hart and had one son, West Abraham. Marcia married David Charles Cox on May 21, 1977 and had two children, Alison Melissa and Amy Elizabeth.

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