The Werden Home Page

John Henry Werden is born on February 22,1814 to Elias Irish and Sarah Lewis Werden in New Marlborough, Massachusetts. In 1837 at the age of 23 he will leave New Marlborough and his family to seek his fortune further west.He settled in Nottawa Township, St. Joseph County. Here he took up farming and carpentry. Not long after arriving he met his first wife Mary Sears. She was born May 18, 1804. A good ten years older then John. They were married in Nottawa Township,April 5, 1838. She died August 18, 1839 in Nottawa Township.They had no children.John continued to live out his life in Nottawa Township until he met Catherine Mariah Sears who is fourteen years younger then he. Catherine Mariah Sears is born to Dr. Abner and Mariah Gaston Sears in Richmond, Berkshire County, Massachusetts.Catherine Mariah Sears married John Henry Werden, Jan. 5, 1844 in Constantine, St. Joseph County, Michigan. John Henry and Catherine Werden pulls up stakes and movesfrom St. Joseph County, Michigan to Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin.Here there three sons are born. Francis Henry is born February 24, 1849. He will marry Harriet Esther Winslow February 27, 1873 in Vernon Township, Cowley County, Kansas. He will pass away February 14, 1908. William E. is born in 1851. He will marry Rachel Morris, Nov. 3,1874 at her grandfather’s farm in Brier Hill, Youngstown Township, Trumbull County, Ohio. He will be killed in 1889. Albert John is born August 29, 1853. He will marry Lillian McKinney, October 20, 1875 in Parma, New York. He will pass on January 6, 1925 in Covina, California. John Henry and Catherine Werden and their three sons migrate from Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin, to Shakopee, Scott County, Minnesota in 1856.May 23 1864 John Henry Werden with his oldest son Francis ‘Frank’ Henry Werden will travel by wagon train to the gold fields in Helena, Montana. John is 50 years old, Frank is 15. They willreturn back home July 15, 1865 after fourteen months. About 1867 John Henry and Catherine Sears Werden with children: Francis ‘Frank’, William E. and Albert John along with other families such as their good friends the Winslows moves to Mount Pleasant, Henry County, Iowa. In March 1868 the Werden, Winslow and Martin families banded together to organize a Church of Christ, or Christian Church, in Salem, Iowa. William Martin was chosen Elder.In 1871 John Henry Werden and other friends discuss the possibility of migrating to Kansas. John Henry Werden and sons, Frank and Albert; Elery and Morgan Martin; the Martin’s brother-in-law Henry Hawkins, and others, decide to make the trip to Kansas and if found suitable, to file claims. They went to a section of Kansas that had vast unbroken prairie with buffalo herds and deer roaming at will. It is on a portion of this land near Winfield in Vernon Township on the Walnut River that the party chose to settle. In 1882 John and Catherine’s second son Dr. William E. arrives in Kellogg with his wife and children from Ohio. In April 1888 the Werden families in Kellogg, Kansas, had decided to move. John,at 74, Frank, at 39, and Albert, at 35, were going to Taloga, Kansas, a newly formed town 3 miles east of the Colorado- Kansas State line. The three traveled by rail and stage, and found the prospects in the booming town hopeful. Deciding to go into business, they built a store to house and sell hardware and building materials and then set about to build a community. Dr. William E. and Rachel Morris Werden decided to stay in Kellogg.In July 1888 the Werdens in Taloga, decided that without a railroad there would be no future in the town. John Henry and Catherine M. Sears Werden with son and his family, Albert John and Lillian ‘Nellie’ McKinney Werden set out for California.Frank Werden set out for Trinidad, a new mining and agricultural center in southeast Colorado. His wife Hattie Winslow Werden and their children stayed behind in Taloga until Frank was able to send for them. In August 1888 John Henry and son Albert John Wer