Cyrus Colton, Wyanet, was born January 13, 1814, in St. Lawrence County, N. Y. His father, Jonathan S. Colton, was born July 3, 1781, in Bolton, Conn.; he died here December 11, 1854. For a number of years he lived in the State of New York. In the fall of 1835 he came to Bureau County. He served for a short time in the war of 1812. The mother of our subject was Betsey (Donaldson) Colton; she was born February 20, 1784, in Monson, Mass. She died October 4, 1846, in this county. She was married November 15, 1803, in Butternuts, Otsego Co., N.Y., and is the mother of the following children: Asa S., Heman S. and Elizabeth are deceased: Chauncey D., is now a resident of Bureau County; Cyrus, our subject; Egbert E., deceased; Lewis J., now a resident of Kansas, and Eli R., a resident of Wisconsin.
Our subject, Cyrus Colton, received the benefit of a common school education in New York. Early in life he became a farmer, and has followed that vocation ever since. In 1835 he came to this county with his wife and his parents, having been married just before starting West, August 13, 1835, in Lewis County, N. Y. to Miss Fidelia L. Pitcher, who died here September 22, 1879. She was the mother of five children: Mrs. Lucretia M. Eastman, deceased; Eveline L., wife of John T. Conner; Charles P., who enlisted in August, 1861, in the Federal Army and served faithfully to protect the stars and stripes till the close of the war (he died in 1871, age thirty years, from disease contracted during the war), Levinia E., wife of E, D. Scott, and Seth W. Colton, who married Miss Lizzie Roberts, who is the mother of one boy Robert P. Colton.
Mr. Cyrus Colton was married a second time January 17, 1881, to Mrs. Elizabeth Roberts, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Zearing. She died February 1882.
Mr. Cyrus Colton has been a successful farmer. His home is pleasantly located in Section 13, in Wyanet Township, and is made brighter by the presence of his son and his family. The storms of life, though often severe, have left Mr. Colton a hale old man, although he has passed the allotted three score and ten.
Source: History of Bureau County, Illinois, H. C. Bradsby, Editor. World Publishing Company Chicago 1885