His parents	Married 1/21/1856	Her parents
3GGF Case Wiltse	Canada --> MI --> IA	3GGM Elizabeth Steffens-Wiltse
Ancestor 44 (101100) 4/09/1834 - 2/23/1904	Their ancestral child	Ancestor 45 (101101) 12/25/1840 - 6/13/1908

Case and Elizabeth started their family in Farmersville, Leeds County, Ontario, Canada. Case was a farmer and carpenter. Their oldest child, Simeon , was born in Canada in 1857. This small young family crossed the border to live near Case’s parents in Shiawassee County, MI, from 1860 to 1865. During their residence in Michigan, Elizabeth gave birth to Rachel and Alborne. Rachel died in childhood around 1865.

Research question for GGGT

There was a school 1/4 mile north of the James & Electa Wiltse home in MI. Did Simeon attend that school as a child?

Case & Elizabeth returned to Canada for a few years. Two more children were born: Ann and Laura. Again, one of them (Laura) died in childhood.

In 1869, they loaded their children into a covered wagon ¹ and crossed the border again, this time to Iowa, where they remained for the rest of their lives. Their youngest children, born in Iowa, were Charles, Franklin, Effie, and Glenn (b. 1881). The photograph above shows Case and Elizabeth with their seven surviving children.

This biography is reproduced from page 534 of the History of Kossuth and Humboldt Counties, Iowa, published in 1884:

“Case Wiltse was the third settler in Ramsey township, locating here in 1871. In the spring of that year, he came to this vicinity and took up his land on section 30, township 98, range 27, and the same year had about twenty acres broke by Cunningham and Gray. In the fall of 1872, he brought his family from Black Hawk Co., Iowa, into Kossuth county. Having no house built to receive them, he occupied a sod house in Wesley township, that belonged to S. P. Hartshorn, all that fall and winter, but in the spring of 1873, having built a frame house on his own land, he moved his family into it. This house, in which he yet resides, was built by his own hands, he being a carpenter by trade.

“Case Wiltse, one of the first settlers of Ramsey township, is a son of James and Electa Wiltse, natives of Canada. He was born April 9, 1834, in the village of Farmersville, county of Leeds, Canada. At the age of nineteen, he learned the carpenter trade and followed it until the fall of 1860, when he came to the United States, locating in Shiawassee Co., Mich., where he worked at his trade until 1865, when he returned to Canada. In 1869 he removed to Black Hawk Co., Iowa, where he followed his trade and farming. In the fall of 1872, he removed with his family to Kossuth Co., Iowa, and settled on section 31, Ramsey township, where he resides at present. Stock raising and farming is his main pursuit. He owns 160 acres of land, about ninety of which is under plow, and has good improvements on the same. He was married Jan. 21, 1856, to Elizabeth Steffens, daughter of Richard and Catharine Steffens, natives of Canada. She was born Dec. 25, 1840, in Canada. They have had nine children—Simeon J., Alborne H., Anna M., Charles C., J. Frank, Effie E. and Glenn H. Laura A. and Guy E. are dead. Mr. Wiltse was formerly a member of Buffalo Grange Lodge, No. 94, organized in 1874. In politics, he is a republican and strong abolitionist. And he is a prohibitionist in every sense of the word.” ²

Grave location and FindAGrave profiles below.

Case Wiltse Find-a-Grave profile

Elizabeth Steffens-Wiltse Find-a-Grave profile