Cartan Genealogy: Part 1 of 4

On February 2, 1854, at Beloit, Wisconsin, Roger Peter Cartan, son of James Cartan, married Phoebe Calista Dresser, the fourth of six children born to Frederick Dresser and Sarah Owen of Ancaster, Ontario, Canada. Roger Peter had immigrated five years earlier from the village of Claudy, County Derry, in Northern Ireland. He had received a fine educaton, but upon arriving in America established a mercantile business on the edge of an Indian encampment in Brantford, Ontario. He began courting Calista, as she was usually called, in the early 1850's while she was teaching at a nearby girl's seminary. Immediately after their marriage the couple returned to Brantford where their five children were born (one of whom died in infancy). Nine years later, Roger Peter died in a fire which destroyed his store, and a business partner cheated the young widow of the business and most of the remaining holdings. Alone and forced to support four small children, Calista returned to her parents in Beloit, Wisconsin where she sewed and taught school. Three of the four children married and founded the three branches of the family tree: the Ellis branch, the Axline branch, and the Cartan branch.

R1.

Roger Peter Cartan. Born February 1, 1822 at Claudy, County Derry, Ireland. His father was James Cartan; he had one brother, James, and three sisters (who never married), Annie, Catherine, and Sarah. Emmigrated from Ireland in the late 1840's. Married Phoebe Calista Dresser Febrary 2, 1854 at Beloit, Wisconsin. Died July 9, 1863 in a fire at his store in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.

R2.

Phoebe Calista Dresser. Wife of Roger Peter Cartan. Born August 24, 1828 at Ancaster, Ontario, Canada. Died January 2, 1908. The name 'Calista' comes from a play entitled "The Fair Penitent" by English dramatist Nicholas Rowe (1674-1718).

R3.

Frances Mary Cartan. First child of Roger Peter Cartan and Phoebe Calista Dresser. Born December 18, 1854 at Brantford, Ontario. Married Charles Willis Ellis April 25, 1872 at Manchester, Illinois. Died March 9, 1933 at Santa Ana, California of a stroke. Her descendants are listed in the Ellis Branch.

R4.

Charles Willis Ellis. Husband of Frances Mary Cartan. Born June 22, 1843 at Canton, Maine, the seventh of nine children born to Benjamin and Jane Houston Ellis. Died July 9, 1937 in Santa Ana, California of pnemonia following a sun-stroke caused by his gathering apples on a very hot day.

R5.

Catharine Anne Cartan. Second child of Roger Peter Cartan and Phoebe Calista Dresser. Born February 13, 1857 at Brantford, Ontario. Died in infancy, April 7, 1858.

R6.

Caroline Calista Cartan. Third child of Roger Peter Cartan and Phoebe Calista Dresser. Born October 15, 1858 at Brantford, Ontario. Married Luther Melancthon Axline March 10, 1887 at Medicine Lodge, Kansas. Died in June, 1930. Her descendants are listed in the Axline Branch.

R7.

Luther Melancthon Axline. Husband of Caroline Calista Cartan. Born August 2, 1861, the third of seven children born to Andrew Axline and Alvira Stever of Pratt, Kansas. Died June 3, 1930.

R8.

Frederick James Cartan. Fourth child of Roger Peter Cartan and Phoebe Calista Dresser. Born January 7, 1860 at Brantford, Ontario. Married Olga Sophia Brunhilda Lundberg in 1889 at San Francisco, California. Died August 15, 1917 at Corvallis, Oregon. His descendants are listed in the Cartan Branch.

R9.

Olga Sophia Brunhilda Lundberg. Wife of Frederick James Cartan. Born October 2, 1866 at Umeå, Sweden. Died March 26, 1828 at Corvallis, Oregon of Diabetes.

R10.

Margaret Susan Cartan. Fifth child of Roger Peter Cartan and Phoebe Calista Dresser. Born September 15, 1862 at Brantford, Ontario. Died December 4, 1941 at Laguna Beach, California, by walking into the ocean.

Genealogy by John Cartan. Special thanks to Bertha Irene Hogue Cartan for her help in preparing this document.