Ira W. Padden was born about 1824 in New York. He was the son of Heman Padden and a lady named Ruth. His father, Heman, was born 27 May 1799, the son of Thomas Padden and Anna Winchell, who was the daughter of Justus Winchell and Hannah Taylor.
Heman Padden had purchased land in December 1829 in Stockton County, Chautauqua County, New York. By 1840 the family had moved to Leroy Township, Lake County, Ohio. It was after 1843 that the family moved to Ontario, Canada.
Ira married Mary Ann Wilson on 11 May 1851, in the Talbot District, Norfolk County, Ontario. Mary Ann was born April 1834, Canada, and was of Scottish descent. They resided in Woodhouse County, Woodhouse Township, Ontario, Canada where Ira's occupation was engineer. In January 1853, a daughter, Jessie Ann Padden, was born.
Early in 1856 Ira, his wife, Mary Ann, daughter, Jessie Ann Padden, and his sister Mary Ann moved to Mower County, Minnesota and settled on the southeast quarter of section 6 where Ira began to farm. He preempted 160 acres of land. On 10 Nov 1859 he purchased 40 acres in Township 102 N, Range 17 W. (Windom Township), Section 6 at the land office at Chatfield, Minnesota, Document number 5263.
Ira W. and his wife, Mary Ann, had three children: Jessie Ann Padden, born January 1853 Ontario, Canada; Francis A. Padden born July 1856 Minnesota, Thomas Padden born about 1858, Minnesota; and Ira E. Padden born 7 September 1858, Windom Township, Mower County, Minnesota.
Ira W. Padden enlisted to serve in the Civil War on 19 August 1862 at age 38 as a Private. He mustered into Company C, 9th Minnesota Volunteer
Infantry. He served honorably until he was mustered out on 24 August 1865 at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. He had survived the war. When he was mustered out on 24 August 1865, there probably was a homecoming welcome from his wife, children, sister and family, friends and neighbors. He then returned to the farm and followed agricultural pursuits.
Ira Padden, wife Mary Ann and daughter Jessie However, on September 17, 1865, he was threshing in the neighborhood, and was passing grain to the machine. It seems he passed it on to the table too fast to suit the man that was feeding the machine, and the fellow challenged him to fight which he refused to do. The man then went to a house near by and borrowed a revolver, and returning again challenged Ira to fight. Ira again refused, upon which the man fired upon him, and he died from the effect of the shot in a few moments.
The murderer was an Irishman named Patrick McEntee, who did not live in the neighborhood. McEntee procured a horse and made his escape. Ira was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Mower County, Minnesota. At the annual meeting of Mower County Board which commenced 2 January 1866, there were present Alanson Beach (chosen chairman for 1866), C.F. Hardy and William E. Harris. The first business to come before the board was the offering of a reward for the apprehension of Patrick McEntee who had murdered Ira W. Padden. A reward of $400 was offered. If Patrick McEntee was every found and tried it is not known. Early in the history of Mower County, ministers of different denominations visited Windom and preached at private houses. John Arnold, a United Brethren, organized a class at the house of Alfred Richardson. The following were among the members: Alfred Richardson and wife, Sarah; Isaac Peterman and wife, Barbay; and Mrs. Ira W. Padden. [Isaac Peterman enlisted to serve in the Civil War the same day and with the same company as Ira W. Padden.]
In addition to the loss of her husband Ira in 1865, it appears Mary Ann Wilson Padden's son, Thomas Padden, died sometime between 27 July 1870 and 23 June 1880.
About 1967 Mary Ann married a man named to D. B. Lester. They had two children, a daughter named Grace E. Lester, born 22 February 1868, and died 1 May 1868, and buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Austin, Minnesota; and a son named Stephen Harry Lester, born in August 1869. Mary Ann spent the rest of her life in Mower County. She died there on 19 March 1905, and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery.
Jesse A. Padden married 13 May 1880 William Bruce Bassett, the son of Edward Bassett and Lavinia Bruce. William was born 13 November 1851, Verona Township, Dane County, Wisconsin. They resided in Austin, Minnesota and had the following children: Milton Bassett, born 1875; Lou Bassett (daughter), born 1876; both born in Minnesota; and Winford J. Bassett born January 1892, Nebraska. It appears Jesse died between 28 June 1900 and 1902 as William Basset married Daisey (maiden name unknown) in 1903.
Jessie Ann Padden married 13 May 1880 William Bruce Bassett, the son of Edward Bassett and Lavinia Bruce. William was born 13 November 1851, Verona Township, Dane County, Wisconsin. They resided in Austin, Minnesota and had the following children: Wilton Bassett, born 1874 Minnesota, died 1910, buried Oakwood Cemetery, Austin; Lou Eleanor Bassett born 8 July 1876, Minnesota; died 30 July 1951, Mower County; and J. Winifred Bassett born January 1892, Nebraska, died 2 September 1950, Portland, Oregon, buried Oakwood Cemetery, Austin. Winifred was a school teacher in Portland.
Prior to 1920, Jessie and William Bassett moved to Portland, Oregon and resided with their daughter J. Winifred. William died 4 October 1929, Rose Creek, Mower County and buried Oakwood Cemetery, Austin. Jessie died 17 June 1937, Portland, Oregon and buried Oakwood Cemetery.
Lou Eleanor Bassett, daughter of Jessie and William Bassett, married about 1899 to Andrew Jensen, born in Minnesota. They were the parents of four daughters: Gladys E. Jensen, born about 1906; Bernice Leone Jensen, born 23 January 1911; Joyce Justine Jensen, born 4 April 1912; and Lois Lorraine Jensen, born 9 April 1919. All were born in Mower County, Minnesota.
Frances A. Padden married 19 May 1880, Cedar City Methodist Circuit, Mower County, Minnesota, to William L. Hoffman. born 13 September 1884 in Iowa. They had a daughter Grace F. Hoffman, born 11 April 1881, died 28 May 1898, buried Oakwood Cemetery, Austin. Frances' second husband was Whitaker Watkins who was born 28 February 1844, Wales, died 4 August 1908, buried Cedar City Cemetery, Austin. They were married about 1894.
Ira E. Padden married Mira Streeter, who was born in 1858 in Illinois
to William Streeter and Almeda Tillotson. The Streeter family resided in Boone County, Illinois for many years. Mira came to Minnesota about 1883 and married to Ira shortly afterwards. They had three daughters: Ethel A. Padden born 1885, died 1886, and was buried in Oakland Cemetery, Austin, Mower County, Minnesota; Edith Padden, born 6 March 1888, Minnesota, and died 9 August 1966 in Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota, and buried in Oakland Cemetery, Austin, Minnesota; and A. Elsie Padden, born 15 May 1890, in Minnesota, and died 10 November 1961, in Hennepin County, Minnesota, and buried in Acacia Park, Mendota Heights, Dakota County, Minnesota.
"Ira Padden, now deceased, one of the pioneers of Windom township, in this county, was born in Scotland, and married Mary Wilson, who was born in Canada, of Scottish decent. They came to Mower County in 1856, located in Windom township, and preempted 160 acres. Ira Padden had about twenty acres of this land broken, when he listened to his country's call, and enlisted in Co. C, 9th Minn. Vol. Inf., serving until honorably discharged at Ft. Snelling at the close of the war. Then he returned to the farm, and followed agricultural pursuits until his death, December 17, 1865. His wife died in 1908."
History of Mower County 1911, page 683
Mira Streeter Padden died 24 November 1917, in Hennepin County, Minnesota, and was buried in Oakland Cemetery, Austin. Ira E. Padden died 7 September 1949, in Hennepin County, and was buried next to his wife. (See Ira E. Padden biography for more information about his family.)
Edith Evelyn Padden was born March 1888, Minnesota. She was married on 3 April 1907 to Howard Tipton Fuller who was born 13 September 1884, in Iowa. His parents were William Elijah Fuller and Lurissa Jane Harper. They resided in Mason City, Iowa, where Howard was a cashier at a bank. They had a daughter, Marion E. Fuller who was born about 1910 in Iowa. Edith died prior to 1925.
A. Elsie Padden was born in May 1890, in Minnesota. Ira's wife, Mira died on 24 November 1917, in Hennepin County, Minnesota. Ira died on 7 September 1949, Hennepin, Minnesota. Both are buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Austin.
Stephen Harry Lester, son of Mary Ann Padden and D. B. Lester, was born about 1869, in Mower County, Minnesota. On 28 June 1895 he married Sarah Olive LaHatt in Austin, Minnesota. Sarah was born on 10 February 1874 in Minneapolis. She was the daughter of Sidney Carlton LaHatt born 30 April 1837, Portland, Chautauqua, New York and Sarah Matilda Dimon born 13 August 1842, Columbus, Muscogee, Georgia. Stephen was a telegraph operator for the railroad. He died on 9 June 1922, in Minneapolis, Hennepin, Minnesota. His wife died on 12 December 1946, in Los Angeles, California.
NOTE: Photo of Ira, Mary Ann, and Jessie was taken in Simcoe, Ontario by G.A. Briggs, probably about 1854 when Jessie was about two years old. Photo used by permission of Joyce A. Reilly.
Sources:
- The History of Mower County, Minnesota; Mankato, Minnesota; The Free Press Publishing House, 1884
- United States Federal Census Minnesota 1860 through 1930 and Kansas
- United States Federal Census Oregon 1920 and 1930
- Minnesota Territorial and State Census 1849 through 1905
- 1852 Canada Ontario Census
- Genealogy of Some Descendants of Edwards Fuller of the Mayflower, Compiled by William Kyslop Fuller of Palmer, Mass., Printed by C.B. Fiske & Co., Palmer, Mass. 1908, page 68
- Winchell, Alexander, Genealogy of the family of Winchell in America : embracing the etymology and history of the name and the outlines of some collateral genealogies. Ann Arbor: Dr. Chase's Steam Print. House, 1869.
Submitted to MnGenWeb, Mar. 2007, by Joyce A. Reilly
