{"1": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3463", "width": "2099", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0001.jp2"}, "2": {"fulltext": "LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.\\nOhap..r.(?::;_|. copyright No._\\nUNITED STATES OF AMERICA.", "height": "3278", "width": "2065", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0002.jp2"}, "3": {"fulltext": "i\\\\i^\\n27 \\\\900", "height": "3284", "width": "2168", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0003.jp2"}, "4": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3359", "width": "2035", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0004.jp2"}, "5": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3197", "width": "1931", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0005.jp2"}, "6": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3232", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0006.jp2"}, "7": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0007.jp2"}, "8": {"fulltext": "Thomas Gorrell Phillips.", "height": "3227", "width": "2128", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0008.jp2"}, "9": {"fulltext": "JK^, .^gj*a\\nSemira Ann Phillips.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0009.jp2"}, "10": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3227", "width": "2128", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0010.jp2"}, "11": {"fulltext": "D\\nA Little Knowledge Acquired Under Difficulties\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Tippecanoe\\nAND Tyler, too The National Road\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Paw-paws\u00e2\u0080\u0094 America s Black\\nForest\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Apple Butter Boiling St. Mary s in the Woods\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Scott s\\nTavern\u00e2\u0080\u0094 A Gentleman in the Rough\u00e2\u0080\u0094 First Glimpse of Iowa\u00e2\u0080\u0094\\nPaton Wilson\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Colonels and Esquires\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Not Dangerous\u00e2\u0080\u0094 New\\nPurchase First View of Oskaloosa\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Mahaska s First School-\\nFirst Organization of Methodist Church\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Killing a Bear-\\nQuakers\u00e2\u0080\u0094 A Blazed Path\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Going to Meeting in Ox Wagon\u00e2\u0080\u0094 The\\nFirst Fire in Oskaloosa\u00e2\u0080\u0094 First Editors of Oskaloosa Herald\u00e2\u0080\u0094\\nThe Bear Dance\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Coal -Harrison Township The War\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Sorghum\\n\u00e2\u0080\u0094Soldiers Aid Society\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Our Neighbors and Our Own Precious\\nDead\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Many and Varied Reminiscences.\\nSsmira L f\\nHerald Print, Oskaloosa, Iowa, 1900.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0011.jp2"}, "12": {"fulltext": "72274\\nc;OPYRIGHT, 1900,\\nBY\\nS EMIR A A. PHILLIPS.\\nl-it iary of Confli\\nwo Copies Beceif\\nJUL 27 1900\\nCopyright entry\\nSECOND COPY.\\nDelivered to\\nORDER DIVISION,\\nJUL 28 1900\\n\u00e2\u0080\u00a2v", "height": "3227", "width": "2128", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0012.jp2"}, "13": {"fulltext": "To Effie Hoffman RogerSf\\nWhose words of encouragement and\\nfaith in my ability led to the story of\\nMahaska s First School, this un-\\nvarnished story is affectionately ded-\\nicated by Mahaska s first teacher.\\nThe Author.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0013.jp2"}, "14": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3227", "width": "2128", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0014.jp2"}, "15": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER I.\\nThe minds of children and young people generally\\nare so much taken up with the present that they are not\\ngreatly interested in things that happened and the people\\nwho lived long ago. Mahaska county s boys and girls\\nare no exception to the rule. But to some of them a\\ntime will come when they will have become mature men\\nand women, and will have lain off childish things and\\nchildish thoughts. Now when they hear old people tell\\nof their early experiences it sounds old fogyish and unin-\\nteresting; they wonder why father and grandfather and\\nother old folks want to be forever talking about living in\\nlog cabins and breaking prairie, old looms and spinning\\nwheels; but where is the man or woman forty or fifty\\nyears old who would not sieze with delight and read with\\nintense interest any true account of their ancestors, es-\\npecially if they were good people? How they would like\\nto know what kind of looking people their great grand-\\nfathers and their great grandmothers were, what their\\nhabits were, how they lived, how they got married and\\nhow they buried their dead.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0015.jp2"}, "16": {"fulltext": "14 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nEvery school boy and girl has heard much of the\\nearly life, habits, struggles and ])rivations of Lincoln and\\nGarfield and others who have risen to great eminence,\\nbut know nothing of their own grandfathers and grand-\\nmothers. Many a good honest man or woman who could\\nnot find it in their nature to do a mean or dishonorable\\nthing, never think of how much they ought to thank the\\nLord that they sprang from God-fearing, honest, honor-\\nable and industrious ancestors. Perhaps Timothy had\\nnever thought of his indebtedness to his grandmother,\\nLois, and his mother, Eunice, for the gifts within him\\nuntil Paul called his attention to it. Solomon said:\\nTrain up a child in the way he should go, and when he\\nis old he will npt depart from it. They often depart\\nfrom their parents training when they are young, they\\nsow wild oats, but after a while they find the crop not\\nprofitable; they begin to be dissatisfied; in fact, they\\nhave been dissatisfied all along, so when they find them-\\nselves growing old they begin to look back, to admire,\\nand finally fall into the faith and habits of their old fath-\\ners and mothers.\\nI once knew a young man whose parents were hon-\\nest, industrious farmers not rich, but well-to-do. They\\nwere old-fashioned Methodists. This young man, when\\nabout twenty, left home and went west to make a for-\\ntune. He was energetic and shrewd, and from a hired\\nlaborer he rose to a great contractor, made much money\\nand sent many handsome presents to his parents and sis-\\nters. On one of his visits home, after being absent\\nmany years, he called to see me. He was a fine, gentle-\\nmanly-looking man, with the manners of one who had", "height": "3227", "width": "2128", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0016.jp2"}, "17": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 15\\nseen much of the world. I was rejoiced to see him, and\\nafter telling- him how glad I was to see him and how well\\nhe looked, 1 said: Now^ David, tell me about some of\\nyour experiences and some of the sig hts you have seen.\\nWell, he began, I have made and lost several for-\\ntunes, have been from Alaska to Terra Del Fuego, have\\nseen nearly every principal city on the continent of\\nAmerica, have been among- the coffee plantations of Bra-\\nzil and the sugar plantations of Cuba. I have been as-\\nsociated with every kind of people in the western world;\\nhave been in all climates, have wandered throug-h orange\\ngroves and vast vineyards of California. Well, it s not\\nworth while to try to tell of half I have seen and exper-\\nienced. But whether among the great cities or vast\\nplantations of the western continent, my thoughts ever\\nand anon, would dart back to the humble, peaceful, un-\\npretentious Christian home away back in Iowa, where I\\nknew my old father and mother, brothers and sisters,\\nmorning and night gathered around the family altar and\\nwith simple faith asked God to give them their daily\\nbread and watch over the wandering one so far away; and\\nnow, after wandering up and down, and seeing so much\\nof the world, I have come to the conclusion that much of\\nit is vanity and vexation of spirit, and I would have been\\nhappier if I had have settled down in Iowa and lived\\nmore like my parents have lived. In my intercourse\\nwith men and affairs I have learned much which I would\\nnot have obliterated from my mind,\\nI love to think of the oceans, islands, valleys and\\nmountains which delight the vision. The luxuriant trop-\\nical foliage and flowers are pleasant to remember, but", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0017.jp2"}, "18": {"fulltext": "16 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nnothing now gives me the pleasure that the thought does\\nthat I sprang from and had the example of honest, hon-\\norable, Christian parents. I have had in my employ\\nhundreds of men, have dug down hills and filled up val-\\nleys, have tunneled through mountains and spanned\\nchasms, have had conflicts without and conflicts within,\\nbut amidst it all I never quite lost my faith in God and\\nthe religion of my old father and mother. These\\nthoughts come to us when we begin to discover that\\ntime is fleeting and we are nearing the place where we\\nwill begin to go down the hill of life.\\nSome one has said that forty is the old age of youth\\nand forty is the youth of old age.\\nI remember a time when every man or woman I knew\\nwas older than myself; now nearly every mau and woman\\nI know are younger than myself, (^nly here and there a\\nfeeble, bent and white-haired man or woman who have\\nseen the snows of more winters or the waving corn and\\ngreen meadows of more summers than I have.\\nI have seen a time when I thought a person old at\\nforty. I have lived to see the time when men and women\\nwho are not beyond forty seem hardly to have arrived at\\nmature manhood or womanhood.\\nThree score and eleven years seem a time late in life\\nto undertake the task of writing for the perusal of the\\npresent generation my recollections of the early settling\\nof Mahaska County, and their ancestors w^ho were the\\nearly settlers, but that is what I propose to do if the Lord\\nspares my life and mental faculties.\\nMany of my friends and acquaintances seem to think\\nthat I have a clearer recollection of the early days and", "height": "3227", "width": "2128", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0018.jp2"}, "19": {"fulltext": "REMINISt ENCES. 17\\nevents than some others who have been here quite as\\nlong-, and have urg ed me to write, until I have finally\\nscrewed my courag e up to the sticking place.\\nSo many thing s come looming up in my mind I can\\nhardly decide on what to tell first. x\\\\way back in the\\nforties and early fifties I knew nearly every man, woman\\nand child in and around Oskaloosa. A few of them are\\nleft here and there, but only a few, and if I don t tell the\\nstory of the times when everybody lived in log cabins,\\nwho will?\\nOskaloosa has grown to be a considerable city, but\\nthere is another considerable city not far away, a silent\\ncity, many of whose inhabitants are the men and w^omen\\nwho with honest purpose, courag e and pluck helped to\\nmake this g rand and glorious country what it is to-day.\\nHere and there a block of g ranite or a marble slab have\\ncarved in them a few- letters and fig ures, telling their\\nnames, when they were born and when they died. Some\\nhaven t even that only a little mound overg rown with\\ng rass. I wish I could tell to this g eneration the hero-\\nism, hardships and self-denial endured by many of the\\ninhabitants of that silent city. As I drive about the\\nstreets of that city I seem to be living in the past. The\\nfriends of my youth are lying on every hand. I stop and\\nmake them a little visit, and think of the times we\\nlaughed and talked and ate and sometimes wept tog ether.\\nI dislike very much to have the pronoun I appear\\nso often in my story, but don t know how to avoid it and\\ntell my story at all. I am mixed up with mucli of it in\\none way or another, and in telling of other people s af-\\nfairs I must of necessity tell some of my own. The cap-", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0019.jp2"}, "20": {"fulltext": "18 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nital I business has been worrying me ever since I be-\\ngan to think seriously of writing this story. I have\\ntried to think of some way to tell my recollections of the\\npeople and unwritten events of the early days without\\nusing the obnoxious I, but have not succeeded. So I\\nhave given it up, and concluded to let the I s come in\\nwherever they seem to be needed. My object is to tell a\\ntrue story of the early days and make things as plain as\\nI can. I have great respect and admiration for the peo-\\nple who first settled this wilderness. When I think of\\nthe character of those early settlers I feel that they\\nwere chosen of the Lord to lay the foundation of things\\nin this goodly land.\\nThe greater number of the earliest settlers of Ma-\\nhaska County were from Ohio and Indiana; some were\\nfrom Illinois, a few from Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ken-\\ntucky iind Tennessee. Ohio furnished the greater num-\\nber. The Ohio people are proud of their native State,\\nand with good reason. Some of the best people I ever\\nknew are from Ohio. Virginia is called the mother of\\npresidents, but the way things look now they will soon\\nbe calling Ohio the mother of presidents.\\nThe old Hoosier State is not very far behind in brains\\nand good citizenship, though I can remember a time when\\nIndiana was the subject of many jokes and uncompli-\\nmentary remarks. But since Morton was governor and\\nthe Hoosiers acquitted themselves so honorably in the\\ncivil war, and General Lew Wallace wrote Ben Hur,\\nand James Whitcomb Riley has cliarmed the English-\\nspeaking world with the incomparable products of his\\nbrain and pen, Indiana has gone several steps higher on", "height": "3227", "width": "2128", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0020.jp2"}, "21": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 19\\nthe social ladder. Indiana never did deserve the scoffs\\nand sneers and unkind epithets which used to be heaped\\nupon her. Posey County was a by-word much used\\nby persons who were altogether ignorant of the beauty\\nof its scenery, richness of its soil, and the grand old hero\\nfor whom the county was named. But that is the way of\\nthe world. States, like people, are sometimes thought\\nto be of little account until they by accident or other-\\nwise perform some heroic deed. Many a wordy battle\\nhave I had with those scoffers, trying to defend my na-\\ntive State. My first recollections are of the little gravel-\\nly creeks, springs of clear, delicious cold water rushing\\nout of hillsides and forming little brooks and tiny water-\\nfalls, then meandering away off through meadows or\\nwoods, and finally losing themselves in the greater creek.\\nThe great tall poplars, sugar trees and beech, and\\nthe paw-paw bushes growing along its banks; the old log\\nschool-house where I first went to school when I was\\nonly three years old. I can shut my eyes and see the old\\nWebster spelling-book with its pictures of the boy in the\\napple tree and the milk maid and her pail of milk, spilled\\nand running all over the ground. Iowa is a grand State,\\nwith charming kuidscapes and many other splendid quali-\\nties, but where is the man or woman living in Iowa whose\\nchildhood and youth were spent in Indiana or Ohio, who\\ndoes not sometimes long for the sugar-making times in\\nthe spring, and the gorgeous red and yellow foliage of\\nthe sugar trees in October? I don t suppose they would\\nthank me for my sympathy, but I sometimes feel a X eal\\npity for the boys and girls who have never known the su-\\npreme delight of gathering around a kettle of sugar oiit", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0021.jp2"}, "22": {"fulltext": "20 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nin a camp when it is just ready to stir ott armed with\\na tin cup of cold water and a paddle. We didn t mind mud\\nand slush and wet feet, which always went along with\\nsugar-making.\\nIndiana was new in my childhood, but not too new to\\nhave big apple trees and peach trees and pear trees.\\nEvery farmer had an orchard, but if they had a big crop\\nof fruit there was no market for it worth naming unless\\nthey dried their fruit. What a splendid time the young\\npeople used to have at apple cuttings and apple butter\\nboilings. No well-regulated family was without their\\nbarrel of apple butter. Ai^ple butter was made by boil-\\ning down cider made of sweet apples to about one-third\\nof the original quantity, then peeling and quartering and\\ncoring great mellow rambos and pippins, then putting\\nthem in that condensed cider, which was kept boiling\\ncontinuously until the mass was done. The apples could\\nnot all be put in at once, but had to be added at intervals\\nand stirred every moment from first to last. If the stir-\\nring was neglected for ever so short a time it was sure\\nto stick to the bottom of the big copper kettle and burn.\\nSome of those kettles held fifty gallons. It was consid-\\nered a great calamity to have one burned, for they cost\\nan immense sum. I knew an old Pennsylvania German\\nwho was the envied possessor of one of those great ket-\\ntles. He was a kind neighbor and would lend it all\\naround, but always with the injunction, be sure and not\\nlet the butter stick. An apple butter stirrer always\\nwent with the kettle. This stirrer consisted of a handle\\nmany feet long, with a board with many big auger holes\\nin it, firmly fixed at one end in an upright position and", "height": "3227", "width": "2128", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0022.jp2"}, "23": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 21\\nlong enoug h to reach from the top to the bottom of the\\nkettle. By this means the persons operating it could\\nstand several feet away from the fire and smoke.\\nUsually at these functions a boy and girl would take\\nhold of that long handle and stir together, and when one\\ncouple would stir awhile another couple would relieve\\nthem. What an opportunity that w^as for we boys and\\ngirls to talk nothings. We talked as learnedly as we\\nknew how about the last spelling school, who was the\\nbest speller, and who was g(^ing to choose up at the\\nnext one. I mean the boys and girls of my age, from\\ntwelve to fifteen, were the ones most interested in spell-\\ning schools. There was a set a little older who, perhaps\\nwere engaged in more serious conversation.\\nI attended a country school once whose teacher was\\na young man who enjoyed spelling schools as much as\\nany of us; he allowed us to choose up and spell every\\nFriday afternoon. The boys played ball every day dur-\\ning the noon recess; they chose up to play ball as well as\\nto spell. There was a big, good-natured boy in that\\nschool whose name was Jordan Pike. Jordan was al-\\nways first choice in the ball game, but in spelling school\\nwas alwavs last.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0023.jp2"}, "24": {"fulltext": "22 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nCHAPTER II.\\nThe time I am writing- about was in the early forties.\\nThe country had not recovered from the financial crash\\nof thirty-seven. Many families who had been accus-\\ntomed to the comforts of life were reduced to poverty.\\nMerchants were frequently sold out by the sheriff, and\\nmany distressing things happened. I was too young and\\nfull of hope and bu(^yant spirits to comprehend or be\\nmuch worried over the state things were in, and another\\nreason was, I had never been used to anything like afflu-\\nence. But I had, what I think now was better than\\nwealth I had health and energy and an intense desire\\nto be educated. I had great reverence for scholars and\\npeople who knew things. I was not afraid of anything\\nbut disgrace. My people were of Quaker stock who be-\\nlieved in justice. In my childhood I was taught that\\nnothing- was disgraceful but actual meanness in one s\\nself. Opportunities for acquiring an education were\\n]ioor, especially for poor people, though the poor were\\nnot very poor nor the rich very rich in Indiana fifty-seven\\nyears ago. The rich could send their daughters away", "height": "3227", "width": "2128", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0024.jp2"}, "25": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 23\\noff to boarding-school, but the poor had to do as best they\\ncould. I never had the benefit of a public or free school.\\nNot many years after the time of which I am writing\\nmany of the young people I used to know in Indiana were\\nsent to Earlham, but when I left they were just talking\\nabout building Friends Boarding School, which was aft-\\nerward called Earlham. But now from Maine to Cali-\\nfornia and from the great lakes to the Gulf of Mexico\\ncan be found persons who at some time in their lives\\nhave been students at Earlham.\\nIn 1839 the citizens of the little town not far from\\nwhere I lived built what was thought to be a very im^ )os-\\ning structure brick and two stories high. It was\\nadorned with a portico with immense doric columns\\nreaching from floor to roof. The first story was used as\\ntown hall and public assembly room, for almost any kind\\nof meeting literary, political or religious. The upper\\nstory was one great big school-room; this edifice was\\ncalled a Seminary. As soon as the Seminary was\\ncompleted a gentleman by the name of Samuel K. Hosh-\\nour opened a school in that upper room. Mr. Hoshour s\\nfame as a teacher had reached our ears before he came.\\nHe taught all branches usually taught in that day, and\\nmany which were not usually taught in that region. His\\nteaching ranged from the Third Reader to Higher Math-\\nematics, Latin, Greek, French and German. I never\\nheard any one say that he was not master of all. I was\\nwild to go to that school. I lived a little too far away to\\nwalk, and to hire my board in town was out of the ques-\\ntion. Tuition alone was ^1.50 a term, and that seemed\\nan immense sum. A dollar then was as hard to raise as", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0025.jp2"}, "26": {"fulltext": "24 MAHASKA COUNTY\\ntwenty is now, much as people talk ab(Hit hard times in\\nth s year of our Lord 1898.\\nIt was finally agreed upon among us to have me\\nwork for my board in some family, if one could be found\\nnear the school who was willing to take me in. I was\\nless than fifteen years old, but was healthy and strong\\nand willing to do any kind of drudgery to pay my way if\\nI could only have the privilege of going to that school.\\nI found a family w^illing to board me for the amount of\\nwork I could do morning s and evenings, Saturdays and\\nSundays. This family lived only three blocks from the\\nschool. They were very respectable and proper peo})le,\\nbut not much given to }Kirting with their worldly posses-\\nsions wdthout receiving full compensation for the same.\\nI was given a comfortable bed and good food, for which\\nI thought then, and liave thought ever since, I fully\\ncompensated them. I washed the dishes after every\\nmeal, did the washing an:l ironing, fed and milked the\\ncow, carried the milk down cellar and carried it up again.\\nI did all the scrubbing and carried the water uj) a long\\nflight of steps. Besides tlie things I have named, I per-\\nformed fully half the labor in making thirty yards of rag\\ncarpet. I never had the nerve to attempt to carry my\\nbooks home and study in the evening, for the carpet rags\\nwere always awaiting my attention when the supper\\ndishes were disposed of. The lady was an excellent\\nhousekeeper, and everything had to be done at the proper\\ntime. How I (hd want to study my lessons in the even-\\ning, but she managed me so adroitly I never dared by\\nword or hint to suggest the thought. The family retired\\nregularly at half-past nine o clock. I would have been", "height": "3227", "width": "2128", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0026.jp2"}, "27": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 2o\\nglad to have had the privileg-e of studying- my lessons\\nafter the work was done, but the lii-e was covered up,\\nand to have burned a candle after that hour was an ex-\\ntravagance }iot permitted in that house,\\nI would carr}^ my books and slate home on Friday\\nevenings and study as much as I could on Sunday, but\\nsometimes I wanted to see my mother and little brothers\\nso much that I would take the near cut and walk\\nhome on Sunday. I say widk, l)ut it was run a good\\ndeal of the way. This near cut was through fields\\nand woods and meadows, and necessitated climbing many\\nstaked and ridered fences. I didn t mind that, for I\\nnever knew in those days what it was to be tired.\\nI can see, even now, how pleased my mother looked\\nwhen I came Hying in; how^ interested she \\\\yb^ in every-\\nthing I had to tell. I wotdd tell her how well I was get-\\nting on in school, keeping up with my classes, and what\\na wonderful man Mr. Hoshour was, and the many things\\nhe told us about which I had never heard spoken of in a\\nschool before. And then I would tell her how well I\\nwas getting on with the housework at Mr. Nero s; they\\ntreated me kindly and found no fault with my work.\\nOnce she said to me: Child, thee studies at night,\\ndon t thee?\\nI said: No, we are making a rag carpet, and work\\nat that of nights.\\nI remember well the look of pain which came in her\\nface. She sat a little while without saying anything;\\nthen with a look of tender sympathy she only said, well,\\nchild, do the l)est thee can and thee will come out all\\nright.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0027.jp2"}, "28": {"fulltext": "26 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nHow fast those Sunday afternoons would fly, and\\nhow soon the time would come when I would know I\\nmust hurry l)ack to milk the cow.\\nSome of our iieig hbors found fault with me\u00e2\u0080\u0094 said I\\nwas selfish. They said I ought to stay at home and help\\nmy mother instead of fooling- my time away at school.\\nI remember one woman in particular who took it upon\\nherself to give me a piece of her mind on the subject.\\nHaving gone to her house one day on an errand, I found\\nher in the yard vigorously stirring something in a large\\niron kettle hanging over a fire which was sending out\\nhuge volumes of smoke seemingly in every direction.\\nAs I drew near I saw that Melinda (as we called her)\\nwas making soap, mid that vigorous stirring was to pre-\\nvent its boiling over. Melinda didn t see me until I was\\nat her side, for her face was hidden in the depths of a\\nlong slat sun-bonnet. When she looked up her eyes were\\nred and streaming with tears, from the efl: ects of that\\ncontrary fire, as Melinda called it. She didn t stop to\\nsay how de do, but in a sharp tone sang out:\\nTake that gourd luid bring me some lye, quick!\\nI didn t Jose any time in snatching up that big\\ncrooked-handled gourd and flying to the ash-hopper and\\ndipping up about two quarts of lye and handing it to\\nMelinda. She siezed and dashed the whole of it into\\nthat boiling soap, which immediately settled down to\\nmore gentle motions, when Melinda remarked, I believe\\nthis soap s done, and you take hold and help me lift it\\noff. I did as she desired, but as soon as the kettle was\\nsafely deposited on the ground Melinda began a tirade\\nwhich I have not forgotten, although it has been nearly", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0028.jp2"}, "29": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 27\\nsixty years ag^o. Melinda was one of those persons who\\nbelieved in saying just wliat they thoug ht, reg ardless of\\nanybody s feelings. She had the reputation of being\\nable to accomplish more work in a g iven time than any\\nwoman in the neig hborhood. She spun and wove the\\ncloth for all the winter clothing for her family, the flax\\nand tow for all the sheets, tablecloths and tow^els they\\nused. She tended the g arden herself and raised hun-\\ndreds of chickens. She enjoyed tlie distincti(m of having\\nthe first peas, new potatoes and fried chicken of any-\\nbody in the neig hborhood. She didn t pay much atten-\\ntion to raising flowers, but g ourds were a specialty\\nwith her. Every Summer, gourds of all sizes and\\nlengths of handle could be seen growing on vines trained\\nover her garden fence. Melinda would divide her gourds\\nwith her less thrifty neighbors. I think she even delight-\\ned in being generous in that respect, but at the same\\ntime would snap out the remark: If you was any ac-\\ncount you could raise em yourself.\\nI used to think Melinda could make gourds serve\\nmore purposes than any woman I ever saw. She used\\none enormous gourd for holding salt, another for soap,\\nanother for storing away her garden seeds; a beautiful\\nlong-handled, clean gourd w^hich would hold about a\\nquart was always to be seen in the water bucket, and\\nanother like it was always hanging at the spring, and\\none of convenient size for dipping lye when slie made\\nsoap; which brings me back to what I was going to tell\\nabout the lecture Melinda gave me. She never stopped\\nher work when a neighbor called, but w^ent right on with\\nanything she happened to be doing. Work never inter-", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0029.jp2"}, "30": {"fulltext": "28 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nfered with her talkmg As soon as the soap settled\\ndown and stopped boilini^ she took up a gourd and com-\\nmenced dipping it out and pouring it into a barrel. At\\nthe same time she commenced talking to me in this wise:\\nSee, here, my girl! They say you are going to\\ntown and go to school in that big Siminary, where a lot\\nof proud, lazy, stuck-up boys and girls are trying to get\\nsmarter than their parents. I thought you had more\\nsense than to fool your t me away going to school. You\\nhad better stay at home and help your mother spin and\\nweave, for I would like to know what good it is going to\\ndo you or any other girl to study all the nonsense I hear\\nthey do in that school.\\nYou can read your Bible, can t youV\\nYou can read writing, can t you?\\nYou can write a letter can t you?\\nWhat more do you want?\\nI think you ought to be ashamed to go away and\\nleave all the work for your mother to do.\\nIf I had been disposed to answer her questions I\\ncould not have found an opportunity, she ])lied them in\\nsuch haste. And then, she didn t expect a reply.\\nMelinda s scoring didn t effect me one way or the\\nother, not even to make me angry. The neiglibors used\\nto say: Melinda s bark is worse than her bite.\\nI kept watching the soap-dipping, and w^ondering if\\nshe would stop talking when she stopped dipping. She\\ndid stop long enough to take a breath after straightening\\nup from her work, but just then the baby, that had\\nbeen asleep in his cradle in the house, began to scream.", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0030.jp2"}, "31": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 29\\nThat seemed ta sug g est another idea, which was a clinch-\\ner to her other arg uments, so she Ijroke out a^^ain and\\nher last thrust was:\\nNow, I d like to know what g^ood g^eography and\\ngrammar is going to do you when you get married and\\nhave a lot of children to take care of.\\nI couldn t think of anything else to say, so I re-\\nplied* if that should ever happen I might be able to\\nteach my children.\\nWhen I was ready to leave, Melinda gave me a hand-\\nsome straight-handled gourd to take to my mother.\\nMelinda was something of a Mrs. Poyser/ *One\\nof those women as is better than their word. And as\\nBartle Massey remarked, Sound at the core, but sets\\none s teeth on edge.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0031.jp2"}, "32": {"fulltext": "30 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nCHAPTER III.\\nI had more faith in my mother s opinions than I had\\nin the opinions of all the neighbors put together. I fin-\\nished that term of school, and the next winter went an-\\nother term, making altogether six months I attended\\nMr. Hoshour s school. I have been glad every day for\\nmore than half a century that I had that privilege and\\nblessing, even if it was brought about through great\\ntribulation.\\nHow well I remember everything that came within\\nmy sight and hearing in that long ago time. The Wil-\\nliam Henry Harrison campaign, with the Tip and Tyler\\nshouts and songs.\\nAbout the time of the presidential election I visited\\nsome relatives who lived about twenty-five miles from\\nmy home. The journey nearly all the way was along the\\nnational road. That road was lined with houses, many of\\nthem log cabins, nearly every one displaying some emblem\\nor devise, supposed to represent General Harrison s he-\\nroic battle at Tippecanoe, or some other scene of Indian\\nwarfare or pioneer life. What was most in vogue was a", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0032.jp2"}, "33": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 31\\nminiature lo|4 cabin, miniature hard cider barrel on which\\nwas hung a miniature gourd, and all placed where the\\ntraveling public could not fail to see, generally on top of\\nthe house. I don t think we were out of the sound of\\nTippecanoe and Tyler too the whole twenty-five miles.\\nWhen I arrived at my uncle s home I found visiting-\\nthere the loveliest young Quaker lady, Mrs. Kenworthy,\\nwith the prettiest little baby in her arms; he had great\\nblue eyes and red cheeks, and had on a long white dress.\\nAs soon as I disposed of my wraps I asked Mrs, Ken-\\nworthy if I might take the baby. She handed him to me\\nand he was not one bit afraid. I carried him about the\\nroom and out in the kitchen, sat down and rocked him,\\nheld him up to the window and let him look out at the\\nchickens did all the things that girls at the age I was\\nthen, usually do in such cases.\\nI asked Mrs. Kenworthy how old he was, and she\\nsaid six months. Then I asked her what his name\\nwas; she said, his name is William. I have never\\nseen the lovely, serene face of William s mother since\\nthat November day in 1840, She was long since laid to\\nrest among her people in the unpretentious Quaker\\nburying ground. But William, who began life among\\nthe shouts and songs and music of brass bands, firing of\\ncannon and parade with flags and banners, log cabins,\\nand everybody shouting themselves hoarse for Tippe-\\ncanoe and Tyler too, must in his infancy have imbibed\\nthe spirit of the times. When William grew to young\\nmanhood it was discovered that he was gifted with the\\npower of orator}^ and could tell of heroic deeds in a\\nmanner to thrill and electrify his hearers. Near half a", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0033.jp2"}, "34": {"fulltext": "32 MAHASKA COUNTY\\ncentury after the time when his baby ears and eyes heard\\nand gazed with wonder at the noise and parade made by\\nthose who wanted Old Tippecanoe elected President\\nof the United States, William Kenworthy was known\\nfrom one end of the land to the other as the brilliant\\nspeaker and advocate of Old Tippecanoe s grandson\\nfor the same high honor.\\nWilliam Kenworthy has been for many years a lead-\\ning attorney of Oskaloosa, has been reading clerk in the\\nhouse of congress, and has occupied other prominent and\\nresponsible places. Mr. Kenworthy is a portly, hand-\\nsome and distinguished-looking man, with some unde-\\nscribable traits which we who are of Quaker stock and\\nhave been brought up among Quakers carry with us as\\nlong as we live, no matter where we go.\\nI, like other school-girls, had a special girl friend\\nwhom I loved more than any other girl who was not re-\\nlated to me by ties of blood. We sat at the same desk\\nat Hoshour s school. Our families were neighbors and\\nold friends, and Mary Newby and I were closer friends\\nthan sisters usually are.\\nNot long after the great William Henry Harrison\\ncampaign there began to be much talk among our neigh-\\nbors about Iowa Territory. Tw^o of them, one my friend\\nMary s father, traveled all the way to low^a and back\\nagain on horseback. His glowing account of Iowa s rich\\nprairie soil and other good qualities put others in the no-\\ntion of moving to that great country, where the land was\\nalready cleared, and where they would not have to cut\\ndown and burn hundreds of immense trees in order to\\nhave one little field. When I think now of the great", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0034.jp2"}, "35": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 33\\nstately poplars, walnut and sug^ar trees which I have\\nseen sacrificed, it bring-s a pang of regret.\\nI sometimes wish that one hundred miles square of\\nthat great wilderness of immense beauties, streams and\\nrocks, hills, valleys and g reat towering trees festooned\\nwith graceful vines had have been left a little more like\\nGod made them. Then this United States of America\\nwould have her Black Forest as charming and full of\\nwonders as that of Germany and Switzerland. I would\\nhave the center of my imaginary Black Forest, or\\nNational Park, in Bartholomew County, at a place which\\nused to be called The Haw Patch/ What wonders it\\nwould contain! The Knobs, with their great chest-\\nnut trees, spring gushings out of a hundred hillsides and\\nrocky cliffs, gravelly brooks and tiny waterfalls, and\\nvast caves full of nature s wonders these and many\\nother interesting things in the South, bordering on the\\nOhio river and extending many miles out from the same.\\nThen there are the famous stone quarries about Bedford,\\nthe mineral springs near Knightstown, the red-buds, the\\nspice bushes, the haw trees, the paw-paw bushes every-\\nwhere. Very few of the giants of the American Black\\nForest had been dishonored by a blow from a settler s\\nax when my ancestors moved from North Carolina and\\nsettled in the dense forests of Southern Indiana. Some\\nIndians were there, but I don t remember of ever hear-\\ning of an Indian cutting down a big tree. Bears and\\ndeer and wolves and panthers and raccoons and o pos-\\nsums roamed at will through this wilderness of gigantic\\ntrees and almost impenetrable undergrowth. There were\\nno |)rairies in that Black Forest,", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0035.jp2"}, "36": {"fulltext": "34 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nCHAPTER IV.\\nThirty years don t seem Icng to those of us whom\\nthe Lord has permitted to see the Winter s snows and\\nSummer s flowers and fruits of more than twice thirty\\nyears. Many things can be done and many changes made\\nin thirty years. In that time farms had been made, or-\\nchards were bearing an abundance of fruit, mills were\\nplentiful, churches and school-houses had been erected,\\nand people were just getting where they began to look\\nlike living, in Indiana, when the talk began about the\\nrich, black soil of Illinois and Iowa Territory. Many\\nwho had lost much in the crisis thought they could see\\na way to mending their broken fortunes, some to make\\ntheir first start; but anyway, many families put all their\\nworldly goods in wagons and moved to Iowa. My friend\\nMary s people, among the rest, came in forty-two and\\nsettled on a large tract of land in the Mississippi bottom\\nabove Fort Madison.\\nIn the Autumn of forty-three my parents had dis-\\nposed of all their possessions which they could not bring\\nin two wagons, and like many others, had a teax ful time", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0036.jp2"}, "37": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 35\\nwhen we bade farewell to our neio hbors and started on\\nwhat seemed a long journey. We soon dried our tears\\nand began to be interested in scenes along- the way. We\\nsoon found ourselves on that once famous highway, The\\nCumberland Road, ambitious Young America s Apian\\nWay, commonly known as The National Road. This\\nwonderful thoroughfare was projected by the govern-\\nment and built at the government s expense, or as much\\nof it as foas built. The great financial crisis of thirty-\\nseven put a quietus on that stupendous undertaking.\\nThe original plan was to make a road wide and straight\\nfrom Cumberland, Maryland, to St. Louis. St. Louis\\nwas the far west then. It was to be made level and\\nmacadamized the whole way. Hills were to be digged\\ndown and valleys filled up. Streams and chasms were\\nto be spanned by covered bridges. It was supposed that\\nanybody fortunate enough to own land on that road was\\nto be envied. Towns sprang up all along, so near to-\\ngether they often ran into one another. Much rivalry\\nexisted between those villages. Raysville and Knights-\\ntown were rivals. Knightstown was on high ground on\\none side of a little stream called Blue River, and Rays-\\nville was on the bottom, or lowlands, on the other side.\\nThey were both located and named before the road had\\nbeen leveled. Those towns were built principally along\\none street, and that street was the National Road; they\\nseemed to flourish about equally for a while, and each\\nwas jealous of the other. But when they came to dig\\ndown the hill east of Raysville and fill up the valley, the\\ngrade reached to the height of the second story win-\\ndows, which necessitated building a long flight of steps", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0037.jp2"}, "38": {"fulltext": "36 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nfrom their front g-ates to the street. Not only that, but\\nin digging- that big hill down they struck a spring well\\nup toward the top which sent out a volume of water that\\nwent rushing down one side of that high grade, and in\\nfront of the houses, which not only necessitated the high\\nsteps, but a bridge to cross the stream to reach them.\\nI was only a child then, but remember well how the\\nKnightstown people jeered and chuckled and crowed\\nover the Raysville people. They took special delight in\\ndriving along that high grade and looking down on their\\nunfortunate neighbors. Knigtstown, I presume, can\\nboast of two thousand inhabitants, but Raysville has\\ngone into oblivion. Raysville was named in honor of the\\nman who was governor of Indiana at that time. Knights-\\ntown was named in honor of the man whom the govern-\\nment employed as chief engineer in the construction of\\nthat great highway. Jonathan Knight was a wealthy and\\nhonored citizen of Washington County, Pennsylvania.\\nHe was the grandfather of Miss Lizzie Knight, of Oska-\\nloosa; Mrs. Ella Stone, and Mrs. Virginia Knight Logan,\\nwho has gained distinction as a singer. Fred Logan, her\\nson, has quite a reputation as a musical composer. Mrs.\\nVirginia Knight Logan is a handsome woman and has\\ncharming manners. John Knight, one of Oskaloosa s\\nprominent horticulturists, is a grandson of Jonathan\\nKnight.\\nThe plan was to macadamize the whole length of the\\nnational road, but it was abandoned before much macad-\\namizing was done in Indiana, only a little way out from\\nthe larger towns, Richmond, Indianapolis and Terra\\nHaute. That road was horrid in the Spring, but in Au-", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0038.jp2"}, "39": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 37\\ntumn, when the weather was dry, it was like one g-rand\\npavement. How many A^irg-inians, Pennsylvanians and\\nOhioans have traveled on that road in the thirties, bound\\nfor Illinois! I used to sit on the doorstep when I was a\\nchild and watch the great Pennsylvania wagons go by\\nwith their long teams of horses; some would have four,\\nsome six, and sometimes I have seen eight horses to one\\nwagon, and every horse would have a row of bells over\\nthe hames. The driver would sit on the near wheel\\nhorse, with long whip. I can see them yet, swaying\\nfrom side to side, as they slowly and contentedly wended\\ntheir way. One day I concluded I would count the\\nmover wagons, as we called them, that went by. I\\nsat and watched all day long, and counted one hundred\\nand twenty, and I only counted the mover wagons. I\\ndidn t count the stage coaches, though they were always\\na delight to we children. A long train of cars now don t\\nbegin to interest children as the old stage coach used to\\ninterest us. How important and grand those stage driv-\\ners used to look, dashing into town, sitting on a high\\nseat, with four matched horses on the gallop.\\nThe stage driver would blow his horn and crack his\\nwhip in a way which made all the boys around envious,\\nand determined to be stage drivers when they grew up.\\nThe stage coach in that day was a grand affair, always\\npainted a bright red, and ornamented with scroll work of\\nyellow. They had immense, strong, curved springs back\\nand front, which kept them continually rocking back-\\nward and forward if the road was at all uneven. Be-\\nsides, there was a great leather-covered place at the back\\ncalled the boot, where trunks and other baggage was", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0039.jp2"}, "40": {"fulltext": "38 MAHASKA COUNTY\\ncarried. The driver always carried the mail-bags at his\\nfeet, for there was a place at his feet made for that ex-\\npress purpose. The stages would come in full of passen-\\ngers and sometimes four or five on top. The driver\\nwould dash up to the post-office door where the post-\\nmaster was always standing ready to catch the mail-\\npouch. How dextrously the driver would toss that pouch!\\nThen whirl his horses heads toward Gary s tavern, throw\\nthe lines to the hostler, jump off of his high perch, and\\nwith the rest of the passengers stalk into the bar-room\\nand call for a drink. That is the way they did in\\nKnightstown in 1835.\\nIn traveling over that great highway, almost the en-\\ntire width of the State of Indiana, we were hardly ever\\nout of sight of a tavern. Not only in the villages along\\nthe way, but anywhere between might be seen a high\\npost with a more or less pretentious sign swinging back\\nand forth, with inscription thereon informing travelers\\nof the proprietor s willingness to entertain both man and\\nbeast.\\nWe started on that momentous journey on October\\n22nd, 1843. The days were lovely, hazy Indian Summer\\ndays; the nights were soft, smoky nights. The road was\\nperfect \u00e2\u0080\u0094hard as iron and level as a floor. Our gait was\\nso slow we had plenty of time to see everything that was\\nto be seen. Sometimes a great walnut or hickory-nut\\ntree stood beside the road, the ground beneath covered\\nwith nuts. We never had to look far for a stone to crack\\nnuts with; they were lying around handy. I have not\\nforgotten the great, soft, yellow pawpaws we found right", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0040.jp2"}, "41": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 39\\nby the road, just west of Indianapolis, in the White River\\nbottom. Everything of that kind was free to whoever\\nchose to take it. The beech trees had taken on every\\nshade of brown, the sugar trees every shade of yellow\\nand red. Scenery all along- the road was charming At\\nleast it was to me, who at that time was too young and\\nfull of health and hope to see anything but the bright\\nside of things.\\nI thought it delightful to sleep in a tent and cook by\\na log-heap fire. In our company were some unerring\\nmarksmen who would kill squirrels enough through the\\nday to make a stew sufficient for all our suppers. The\\ntrees seemed to be full of squirrels, and dozens of them\\ncould be seen running along the fence of every cornfield\\nwe passed. That state of things lasted until we had\\ncrossed the Wabash River at Terra Haute. We then left\\nthe National road and turned a northwesterly direction,\\ndrove a few miles and camped at a place in a thick beech\\nwoods, within a few rods of where was being built a\\nbrick structure which we were told was a Catholic Con-\\nvent. Part of the building was near enough completion\\nto open a school, which was already in progress. I\\nthought it a very uninviting place. There was no fence\\nabout it, and great beech trees had been cut down and\\nwere lying all about that brick house, with their great\\nsprangly tops so thick it looked like the place would be\\nhard to reach. There were stumps and brush and masses\\nof chips where, I presume, can be seen to-day a beautiful\\nlawn and all other evidences of culture, for I now hear\\nthat place spoken of as St. Mary s in the Woods.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0041.jp2"}, "42": {"fulltext": "40 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nSoon after leaving St. Mary s in the Woods, the\\nprairies of Illinois began to strike our vision. Paris was\\nthe first town we came to in Illinois. Paris was on the\\nedge of a prairie. As soon as we passed the last house\\non the west side of Paris we came to a prairie ten miles\\nacross, without a single house. My first thought on see-\\ning that open prairie so close to town was wonder that\\nthey didn t have it all in fields of corn; but that feeling\\nsoon wore off as I saw more and more of the grand prairie.\\nOur Indian Summer suddenly changed from a mellow\\nhaze to a leaden sky auid a damp, chilling wind. That\\nstate of the weather overtook us on the afternoon of the\\nday we went througli Paris and commenced to cross that\\nten mile prairie.\\nWe had been pretty well informed regarding the\\nroads and stopping places through Illinois. We knew\\nthere was a stopping place called Scott s Tavern, just at\\nthe edge of the timber, ten miles west of Paris. We had\\nbeen told before we started, and several times on the\\nway, that Scott s Tavern was a suspicious place; rumors\\nwere afloat that people had been robbed there. We felt\\na little wary, but darkness came upon us about the time\\nwe reached this place of unsavory repute. It was too\\ncold to camp out, there was not another house near, so\\nwe took the chances of being robbed and murdered, and\\nboldly went in and asked for shelter and the privilege of\\ncooking in their kitchen. All was granted in a kindly\\nmanner. I don t know what the others thought, but I\\nkept thinking about the rumors we had heard, and look-\\ning about to see if I could discover any evidence of our\\nbeing in a den of robbers. I didn t see anything which", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0042.jp2"}, "43": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 41\\nlooked at all suspicious. There were two young women\\nin the family, Mr. Scott s daughters, who kindly showed\\nus where to find the things we wanted in doing our cook-\\ning. After our supper was over the young ladies invited\\nus into their sitting-room, which was a large room with\\nwide fireplace, where a cheerful fire was burning. Old\\nMr. Scott was a widower. A very plain-looking bache-\\nlor son, whom he called Tommy, and the two daugh-\\nters, constituted the family. This was Sunday night,\\nand a young gentleman whom they called Mr. Price,\\ncame in and spent the evening. Presently they took\\ndown from a shelf som.e singing books, one the Missouri\\nHarmony, and began to sing some of the good old hymns\\nI had been used to hearing and singing, too.\\nMr. Scott was a fine-looking old white-haired man,\\nand looked more like a Methodist preacher than what my\\nidea was of a robber. After they had sang one piece the\\nold gentleman looked around at me and said, young\\nlady, don t you sing? I told him I did. Then the\\nyoung folks invited me to join them in singing, which I did,\\nand we sang and sang. The next morning when we were\\nbidding them good-bye that old man held onto my hand all\\nthe time he was making this nice little speech: Young\\nlady, you are a mighty good singer, and I hope when you\\nget to Iowa you will go to church whenever you have\\na chance, and be a good girl; and I wouldn t wonder if\\nyou made a mighty fine woman, and would marry some\\nnice young man out there. Tommy was standing by,\\nso the old man finished by saying: If you will stay with\\nus you may have Tommy.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0043.jp2"}, "44": {"fulltext": "42 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nOur journeying through Illinois was not marked\\nwith any important event just plodding along over prai-\\nries, and occasionally a small grove or a larger body of\\ntimber. I don t think we passed through a town, not\\neven a small village, between Paris and Springfield. If\\nthere were any towns between, our line of travel did not\\nlead through them. Occasionally we would pass by\\na very fine farm, with tolerably good buildings, and there,\\nlike the rest of the way, movers could obtain food for\\nthemselves and teams, and shelter and hospitable treat-\\nment from those rugged, good-hearted farmers and their\\nfamilies. Not many orchards had begun to bear fruit,\\nbut sometimes we would see a few apples on small trees,\\nwhich looked very tempting to us who had been used to\\nhaving all the apples we wanted. But now we were in a\\ncountry where we couldn t climb over the fence and take\\nall the apples we wanted without anybody caring or\\nthinking we were trespassing. That was in corn gather-\\ning time, and long rows of rail pens piled high with great\\nears of yellow corn were to be seen on every farm we\\npassed, or when we stopped at one of those fine farms.\\nThey had corn and hay and bacon in abundance to sell to\\nmovers. That, I ])resume, was the way they disposed of\\ntheir surplus crops. The road was literally lined with mov-\\ners. I don t remember ever hearing of one of those farm-\\ners asking an exorbitant price for anything they had to\\nsell, nor for the privilege of sleeping and cooking in their\\nhouses. Movers usually camped out, but if the weather\\nwas too inclement for camping, a family could have that\\nprivilege for twenty-five cents. That was the regular\\nprice all along the road. When I look now at the map of", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0044.jp2"}, "45": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 43\\nIllinois I see the places where we plodded over that long-\\nstretch of sparsely-inhabited rich country, all checkered\\nover with marks which represent railroads, and little\\nrings which represent towns, crowding each other all\\nover the map.\\nThe next town we came to after leavings Springfield\\nwas Virginia. Virginia was a very small village, but the\\ncountry about there was grand: sugar trees abounded,\\nand that alone would hide a multitude of faults with me.\\nA few miles east of Virginia was a very large frame\\nhouse standing out on a bare prairie without a tree or\\nshrub or vine to relieve the barrenness. It was just a\\ngreat big unpainted, uninviting looking house. There\\nwas no swinging sign to tell of the fact, but we were in-\\nformed that this imposing structure was known far and\\nnear as Dutches Tavern. and the proprietor thereof\\nowned many hundreds of acres surrounding that uninvit-\\ning house. Since then a town has g^rown around that\\nnucleus and is known as Ashland. In the little valley\\nbetween those sand dunes a few miles east of Beardstown\\nwere groves of persimmon trees full of delicious ripe per-\\nsimmons. They seemed to be public property, so we\\nhelped ourselves. We crossed the great sluggish Illinois\\nRiver in a ferry-boat at Beardstown. That ferry-boat\\nwas propelled by an old blind horse, whose continuous\\ntramping on a wheel placed at one side of the boat fur-\\nnished the propelling power which moved that ponderous\\ncraft and carried us without accident across that mighty\\nriver. That, I think, might appropriately be termed a\\none horse power. When I read of the tread-mill\\npunishment inflicted on the once aesthetic Oscar Wilde,", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0045.jp2"}, "46": {"fulltext": "44 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nI thoug ht of that poor old blind horse rowing us over\\nthe Illinois River. Where we crossed, and as far up and\\ndown as we could see, that river was speckled with\\nducks. We camped that night near the river, four miles\\nabove Beardstown, and it was the same there, myriads of\\nducks. They seemed to be tame, for I saw men and boys\\nout on the water in skiffs; the men would shoot, but\\ntheir shooting hardly seemed to cause a ripple among\\nthe ducks. As I write I keep thinking what a bonanza a\\nscene like that would be now to my neighbor, Dr. Clark,\\nand to Dwight Jackson, Joe Stumps, Al. Mendenhall,\\nDr. Morgan, and many more of Oskaloosa s nimrods 1\\ncould name, who come in with a look of triumph on their\\nfaces, after plodding all day down in Skunk River bot-\\ntom, if they are fortunate enough to bring in three or\\nfour ducks apiece.\\nThe country between Beardstown and Carthage was\\nsparsely settled. We didn t see a comfortable-looking\\nfarm-house the whole way from Beardstown to Fort\\nMadison. We passed through Rushville, which was a\\nvery small place, with a few frame houses, but the great-\\ner number were log cabins. I saw several log houses in\\nSpringfield. There was a beautiful creek which we\\ncrossed several times between Rushville and Carthage,\\nalong which was fine timber. We camped one night on\\nthat creek in a cluster of sugar trees, which made us\\nthink of home. There was one mighty hunter in our\\nparty who knew the signs and sounds of every wild thing\\nin the woods, and was always looking out for game.\\nThat evening just as we stopped for the night he snatched\\nup his gun, remarking, I heard some turkeys back yon-", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0046.jp2"}, "47": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 45\\nder. He hurried away and we presently heard the\\nsound of his ritle. In a few minutes he came walking\\nvery leisurely toward the camp, holding a great big gob-\\nbler by the heels. To roast him was out of the question,\\nbut my mother and another lady in the company dressed\\nhim, cut him up and stewed him in a pot by the log-heap\\nfire that night, and the next morning we all ate turkey\\nfor breakfast.\\nWe heard many stories of highway robbery having\\nbeen committed along that road, especially in that long\\nstretch of almost uninhabited forest. It was said that a\\ngang ot thieves infested the country, whose headquarters\\nand hiding place was in the Mormon town of Nauvoo.\\nWe felt a little shaky that night, but no harm came to us.\\nThe day we left that camping place we went through\\nCarthage. I went into a store in Carthage to make a\\nsmall purchase, and that was the first time I heard\\ntwelve and a half cents called a bit. I asked the clerk\\nto explain to me what he meant by bit. He looked\\ndisgusted at my ignorance, and laid a coin on the counter\\nand asked me what I called that. I told him we some-\\ntimes called it a levy, but the more proper name was\\ntwelve and a half cents. He ended the dialogue by say-\\ning, I guess bit is about as proper as levy.\\nThat day a gentleman overtook us who was driving\\na air of handsome gray horses to a light wagon. He\\nkept along with our party till night, and stopped at the\\nsame farm house. He, like nearly everybod}^. else we\\nchanced to meet, was sociable; inquired where we were\\nbound for and where we came from. We told him who\\nwe were, and where we came from, and that we were", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0047.jp2"}, "48": {"fulltext": "46 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nbound for Iowa. He told us his name was Isaac\\nFrost and he lived in Iowa, near Fort Madison, and was\\nwell acquainted with our friends, the Newbys. Mr.\\nFrost was an honest-looking tall, manly-looking young\\nman. The last day had come before reaching Iowa; the\\nmorning was fine, and the thought that we w^ere going to\\nsee and cross the mighty Mississippi that day sent a\\nthrill of joy through our hearts. Mr. Frost might have\\ntrotted off with his dashing horses and empty wag on,\\nand left us far behind, but he kept along wdth us, and\\nafter we had gone some distance he said to me and an-\\nother g irl in our company: Girls, won t you take a seat\\nin my wagon V I want to show you the first glimpse of\\nIowa and the great Father of Waters. We accepted\\nhis kind offer, and were engaged in talking about Iowa,\\nour old friends, a little sense and a good deal of nonsense,\\nwhen suddenly Mr. Frost stopped his team, and pointing\\ntoward the west, exclaimed: Girls, do you see that\\nsmoky streak away over yonder We said, Yes; what\\nis it? He said, That is Iowa. We wanted to know\\nwhat made it look smoky. He replied: I can t explain\\nthe phenomenon, but in this country, when you see a\\nsmoky line like that, you may know it means land1)eyond\\na river.\\nI presume Mr. Frost would have driven us all the\\nway to the river, but we happened to have sense enough\\nto suggest that he, perhaps, would like to travel a little\\nfaster than our teams did, and we would join our people,\\nthen he could go as fast as he liked. He was a great\\nmanly gentleman in the rough. He sprang out, then\\nhanded us out, and we thanked him for the kindness he", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0048.jp2"}, "49": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 47\\nhad shown us. He bowed and smiled, sprang to his seat,\\nlooked back and bowed again, cracked his whip and\\ndashed off toward Iowa. I have never seen Mr. Frost\\nsince that day, but my friends, the Newbys, said he was\\njust as nice as he seemed.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0049.jp2"}, "50": {"fulltext": "48 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nCHAPTER V.\\nWhat excitement there was among us young folks\\nwhen the mig hty Mississippi did at last come into view.\\nI wondered what made the water seem to be hig her than\\nthe ground where we were. We were all cal ried across\\nin a steam ferry-boat, and the first Iowa soil we touched\\nwas that river brink at Fort Madison. That was on the\\n7th day of November, 1843. I was prepared to be pleased\\nwith everything in Iowa. The first building which\\nloomed up in sight was the penitentiary, the most impos-\\ning structure in the villag e of Fort Madison; it was just\\na villag e then.\\nWe drove about three miles up the river to our old\\nfriends Gabriel and Rebecca Ne why s home, in the\\nGreen Bay Bottom, where my schoolmate and dear\\nfriend, Mary, and I fell in each other s arms and wept\\nfor joy. Our mothers did the same. What a time we\\nhad that night talking about old times in Indiana, and we\\ntelling about all the old friends and neighbors we all\\nknew so well. There were several other children in the\\nfamily, l)ut Mary was the oldest and my special friend.", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0050.jp2"}, "51": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 49\\nthough I loved all of them. We found our friends, the\\nNewbys, living- in a log house at the foot of the bluffs,\\ntheir immense corn-fields stretching away off toward the\\ngreat Mississippi. The bluff s were covered with a vari-\\nety of trees, and in the bottom near the bluff s were great\\nsugar trees, and oaks and elms as tall and majestic-look-\\ning as those we had left behind. Mr. Newby had been\\none of the rich men in Indiana. They lived in and\\nowned the finest farm-house in all that region, and he\\nowned several farms, a large flouring-mill, a store in\\ntown, the finest barn in the country, horses, carriages,\\nand every kind of farming implement used in that day.\\nBesides all that, their house was furnished with the most\\nexpensiv^e furniture there was to be seen in that neigh-\\nborhood. Mr. and Mrs. Newby were whole-souled, hon-\\norable people, and the children were chips of the old\\nblock. The crisis of thirty-seven wrought his financial\\nruin, or nearly so. He managed to save enough out of\\nthe wreck to locate his family where land was cheap in\\nthe Green Bay Bottoms. A few articles of furniture that\\nonce adorned their elegant home could be seen in their\\nlog cabin of two rooms. They all were cheerful and in\\ngood spirits. Mary said to me: Semira, you don t see\\nus in as fine a home as you used to, but we are just as\\nhappy as we were there.\\nThose people were brave and full of pluck. Not\\nonly that, but they were endowed with bright minds.\\nOne of the daughters in after years was called a charm-\\ning writer, and it was said of one of the sons, by a man\\nwho knew what he was talking about, Tom wields a\\ngraceful pen/ Every one of those children were en-", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0051.jp2"}, "52": {"fulltext": "50 MAHASKA COUNTY\\ndowed with brains, honor and common sense. The father\\nand mother and two of those gifted children sleep near\\nthe great Mississippi. The mighty pacific beating its\\nrock-bound shores, sounds an eternal requium over the\\ngrave of sparkling, brilliant Tom.\\nMary, my schoolmate and best-beloved friend of my\\nyoung girlhood, married one of God s noblemen, an intel-\\nligent Christian farmer. Mary has no daughters, but is\\nmother of eight sons. Not only the proverbial seventh\\nson is a doctor, but she has two doctors among her sons.\\nMary, like myself, I presume, regales her children and\\ngrandchildren with stories of spelling-schools, sugar-\\nmaking, apple butter boiling and Hoshour s school.\\nIn 1843 Fort Madison was new, but the little town,\\nand as much of the country about as we had seen, espec-\\nially the Green Bay Bottom, had a charming and go-\\nahead look, and there was the great Mississippi river and\\nthere were our old neighbors. I wanted to stop there,\\nbut it was ordered otherwise; there was another tearful\\nparting, when the next morning we started for Salem.\\nWe thought then that we would visit and see each othei\\noften, but I never saw a member of that family for twen-\\nty years after that parting among the sugar trees in the\\nGreen Bay Bottom.\\nAfter climbing the long, high, steep Mississippi bluff\\nand passing through some fine woods, we came out on\\nthe open prairie, and it was prairie almost without a tree,\\nuntil we reached my uncle s house, a mile east of Salem.\\nWe passed by many fine farms, but small and uncomfort-\\nable-looking buildings. The day was cloudy and chilly", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0052.jp2"}, "53": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 51\\nand a northeast wind was blowing The roads were good\\nand we were so elated with the prospect of seeing our\\nkinfolks before night that we didn t mind the weather\\nvery much. I had come to Iowa full of buoyant spirits\\nand prepared to like everything, but that day as we plod-\\nded along through some long stretches of prairie, with-\\nout a house or tree, or anything to relieve the monotony,\\nI couldn t help thinking they looked bleak and brown and\\nbare. That was the 8th of November, and the greenness\\nhad all gone out of those otherwise beautiful, undulating\\nnative meadows.\\nThere was a joyful meeting and a time of embracing\\nw^hen we reached my uncle s house. My mother and her\\nsister had not met for many years, and I can see them\\nyet, as they threw their arms around each other and shed\\ntears of unfeigned joy. I had heard much about my\\nuncle and aunt, Aaron and Delilah Cox, but had only seen\\nthem twice since I was old enough to remember them.\\nThey lived a long way from us in Indiana, and besides,\\nthey had been in Iowa several years. They had seven\\nchildren; the oldest, Eliza Ann, was fifteen; Elizabeth\\nwas next, then William, then James, then Deborah, then\\nMary Ellen, then the baby, Edmond. Aunt Delilah was\\na Quaker, a concientious. Christian Quaker, and was not\\nsatisfied to live away from her kind of people. Uncle\\nAaron was not a member of any denomination, but was\\nan honest, honorable, moral, kind-hearted man; kind to\\nhis wife and children and ready to do his duty as a citi-\\nzen. I had always heard him spoken of as possessing all\\nthose qualities, and when I became better acquainted\\nwith him I had reason to know it was all true.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0053.jp2"}, "54": {"fulltext": "52 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nWe had not been long in my uncle s house before we\\nlearned that they were going to move to the New Pur-\\nchase, about seventy-five miles northwest of Salem.\\nWe were much astonished and sorry, for we expected to\\nlocate near Salem. Uncle and aunt had just returned\\nfrom a trip to the New Purchase, where they had\\nbought a claim and were going to move there in the\\nSpring. We thought they had a fine location where they\\nwere; their house was on high ground overlooking Salem,\\ntheir timber was not far away, and their prairie land was\\njust rolling enough to be all right for cultivation. My\\nuncle had bought a large tract of land there, but on a\\ngreat portion of it the title was defective, and he had\\nlost it, which had disgusted him with the place. The\\nman he bought of was a scoundrel and not responsible.\\nThis New Purchase had, they told us, on the first\\nday of May last been opened up to settlers, and a number\\nof first-class people had made claims and quite a number\\nwere already living on their claims. My aunt was a\\nclose observer and a good talker. She expatiated on the\\nbeauties of the country, especially on a place called The\\nNarrows, where the timbers bordering on the Des\\nMoines and the timbers bordering on the Skunk rivers\\nwere not more than a mile apart. She w^ent on to say:\\nThe timber and prairie are more evenly divided, there\\nare no great patches of scrubby oak and hazel brush be-\\ntween the prairies and the main timber, like there is\\nhere, but the clean prairie extends up to the big timber,\\nand the trees stand out clear, like an orchard; there are\\nmany small streams and springs; they can have a good\\nwell by digging fifteen feet, and there is plenty of stone.", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0054.jp2"}, "55": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 53\\nI have heard there is thought to be stone coal. There is\\nalready a small settlement of Friends, and there is a\\nprospect of more coming in. I like our claim; there is\\ntimber on the north and timber on the west. They say\\nthe reason there is so little brush along the edges of the\\ntimber is the Indians kept it burned off. The Indians\\nhave just left there. I saw Indian trails which looked\\nlike they had been used lately.\\nWe rented a little cabin and spent the winter in Sa-\\nlem. Salem was not a very attractive place at that time,\\nwhatever it may have become since. It was located in a\\nfine farming country, but the little town of Salem seemed\\nto be built right down in the mud; it had a public square\\nlike nearly all other Iowa towns, and the two or three\\nlittle stores, the tavern and several small dwelling houses\\nwere locacted immediately on that square, without a\\nwalk of any kind, not even a board laid down to prevent\\nthe mud being carried in the houses.\\nNearly all the inhabitants of Salem and the country\\nround about were either Quakers or Methodists. The\\nQuakers had a log meeting-house where they held meet-\\ning regularly, though the house was cold and uncomfort-\\nable; that meeting-house was used as a school-house, too,\\nwhen I was there. The Methodists held their meetings\\nin private houses, not only prayer and class-meetings,\\nbut Sunday preaching. Those people did not seem to\\nthink it any hardship to hustle around of a Sunday morn-\\ning and put their one room in order for meeting. What\\nI mean by order was to get the beds made up and the\\ndishes washed and seats fixed for the congregation; they", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0055.jp2"}, "56": {"fulltext": "54 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nhad some boards leaning against the back of the house\\nwhich were kept for that express purpose. They bor-\\nrowed chairs from their neighbors if they lacked. It\\nwas nothing unusual to see the dinner -pot by the fire\\nwith pork and turnips therein, cooking away while the\\nmeeting was going on. Brother Simpson or Brother Al-\\nlen Johnson, one or the other, preached there nearly\\nevery Sunday. When the meeting would break up, the\\nboards and other temporary seats would be taken out,\\nand the woman of the house would spread her table as\\nbest she could with broken forks and any kind of odds\\nand ends of old cracked plates and cups, make some cof-\\nfee and biscuit, invite the preacher, and perhaps two or\\nthree others, to eat dinner with them.\\nQuakers predominated in and around Salem. Many\\nof them owned large bodies of land and raised immense\\ncrops of corn. The tavern was owned and kept by a\\nfamily of Quakers b}^ the name of Pickering. The Pick-\\nerings were remarkably tall people and much above the\\naverage in intelligence. Aquilla, the son of that Salem\\ntavern-keeper, was a young man then. I saw him fre-\\nquently in the winter of 43 and 44, but never again un-\\ntil I saw him moving about in the throng in the Yearly\\nMeeting grounds at Oskaloosa, soliciting patronage for\\nthe organ of the Friends church, The Clwisfian Worker^\\nof which my brother was editor. If these lines are ever\\nread by a Quaker, he or she will know who I am talking\\nabout. Aquilla Pickering was a very fine -looking man.\\nWhen I saw him moving about in that vast multitude in\\nthe yearly meeting grounds, I thought of Saul, the son\\nof Kish, for he was a head and shoulders above every", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0056.jp2"}, "57": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 55\\nother man. Early in the Spring of 1844 my uncle and\\nfamily moved to the New Purchase. and we moved\\nfour miles north of Salem and not far from a beautiful\\nrocky creek called Cedar. There were lots of sugar\\ntrees on Cedar. One day I went with some other young\\npeople to a sugar camp where a man was making sugar.\\nHe had some sugar about ready to stir off in a big iron\\nkettle. It had that tempting, yellow, blubbering, puffing\\nlook which sugar always has when it is about done; the\\nman had a great big ladle in his hand and was dipping up\\nand down in that tempting-looking mass, and I thought\\nhe would surely offer us some of it, but we were doomed\\nto disappointment. If he had been making soap he\\nwould not have been farther from asking us to taste it.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0057.jp2"}, "58": {"fulltext": "56 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nCHAPTER VI.\\nPaton Wilson was a prominent citizen of that neigh-\\nborhood; in fact, he was well known through all that re-\\ngion. He owned a large scope of that country and was\\na member of the Territorial Legislature. I remember\\nMr. Wilson as a strong, robust man, not far from fifty\\nyears old, with a pleasant way of treating young people.\\nHe was easily approached, and at the same time one felt\\nthat he was a superior person and a leader among men.\\nHe and his wife were excellent neighbors, as we had rea-\\nson to know. The Wilsons ministered to the sick and\\nhelped the less thrifty in various ways, without seeming\\nto think they were doing anything unusual or remarka-\\nble. One evening soon after I went to that neighbor-\\nhood one of the Wilson girls asked me to go with her to\\nsee a sick man who lived about a half a mile away. As\\nwe were about to start, Mrs. Wilson came out of the\\nkitchen with a good-sized basket rounded up with some-\\nthing which we couldn t see, for a nice linen towel was\\nspread over it and tied down with a string. As she hand-\\ned it to us she said: Girls, you may be needed there to", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0058.jp2"}, "59": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. o7\\nsit up, for Allen is very low. I have put some thing s\\nin this basket for Celia and the children; if there\\nis nobody else there you had better stay all night you\\nwill find a dried apple-pie at the bottom, which you can\\neat if you g^et hung^ry in the nig ht. Give the rest to\\nCelia, and tell her when she needs anything to send me\\nword. I don t think that poor man is going to live long.\\nUrsula Wilson and I went tripping across a field and\\nover a little strip of prairie to the miserable little cabin\\nwhere that poor man was dying. It was nearly dark,\\nand when we entered we could hardly see the poor, for-\\nlorn-looking woman crouched down by the fireplace with\\na little child in her arms: another little pitiful-looking\\nchild about four years old was standing by her. Ursula\\nsat the basket down and spoke to the woman, who seemed\\nhardly to have life enough to notice us. The cabin was\\nlike many others thereabout. Only one room, a very\\nsmall window in one side, a door on the other, a very\\nmuch botched-up stone fireplace and chimney.\\nUrsula was one of the kind of girls who take in the\\nsituation, and didn t stand on ceremony. She threw off\\nher bonnet and shawl, took up the wooden poker and\\nstirred the dying chunks, and soon had a blaze which\\nlighted that miserable hovel sufficiently to enable us to\\nsee in one corner a poor, scantil3 -f urnished bed on which\\nwas lying a poor, emaciated creature with his knees\\ndrawn up with rheumatism, and set, so that he couldn t\\npossibly straighten them down. Poor Allen was past\\ntaking nourishment. Though we offered it to him, he\\ncould do nothing but moan and motion it away. The", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0059.jp2"}, "60": {"fulltext": "58 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nhearth was made of flat stones of irregular shape and\\nvery poorly put together. The floor was loose, and rat-\\ntled as we walked over it. Another bed, like to the one\\non which the sick man lay, was in another corner; three\\nor four splint-bottom chairs, a square rickety table, a\\nfew cooking utensils, and a very meager supply of dishes\\nconstituted the furnishings of that wretched abode.\\nUrsula asked the woman if she expected any one there\\nthat night to sit up, to which she replied: Wash. Lyon\\nwas here to-day and he said he would come to-night and\\nstay awhile. Ursula took the towel off and laid the con-\\ntents of the basket on the table all except the dried\\napple pie; she spread the towel over that, and placed the\\nbasket on the shelf where the three or four plates and\\ncups were kept. Ursula said not a word as she took\\nfrom that basket a loaf of salt- rising bread, a piece of\\nbacon, a roll of butter, a bowl of plum sauce, a package\\nof sugar, another of coffee, and two tallow candles.\\nWhen she was sure she had placed everything on the ta-\\nble her mother intended for Celia, she said: Here are\\nsome things mother sent you, thinking perhaps you had\\nvery little time to do cooking, and these would help you\\na little. The poor woman may have felt grateful, but\\nshe didn t seem to know how to express her gratitude.\\nWe urged her to go to bed with her children; we would\\nwatch by her husband and call her if necessary. She\\nacted on our advice, but before doing so she and her little\\ngirl each ate a big slice of that bread spread with butter\\nand plum sauce.\\nI lighted one of the candles and looked around for\\na candle-stick, but finding none, I improvised by wrapping", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0060.jp2"}, "61": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 59\\na rag- around the unlig-hted end and sticking it in the\\nmouth of a jug- which 1 found under the table. That\\nnight was not very cold, but too cold to do without fire,\\nUrsula and I went out and looked for wood to replenish\\nthe fire. We found some scattered around but it was not\\nvery plentiful. Just as we were in the act of picking up\\nthat scanty supply of wood, a gentleman came walking-\\ntoward us. Ursula introduced him to me as Mr. Lyon.\\nThe first thing Mr. Lyon did was to snatch up an axe and\\ngo to chopping on a log We went in the house and\\npresently Mr. Lyon came in with a tremendous armful of\\nwood and deposited it in the corner of the fire-place,\\nwhich was at least six feet wide. He laid two or three\\nsticks on the fire, then went to the sick man. I will\\nnever forget the tenderness in his voice as he bent over\\nthat sick man and asked him if he knew him and wasn t\\nthere something- he wanted? He tenderly adjusted the\\npoor man s pillow and shabb}^ quilt, then sat down by the\\nfire and entered into a conversation with us. He had a\\npleasant, honest looking- face, dark hair and eyes, was a\\nlittle above medium height: altogether he w^as a manly\\nlooking- man. He replenished the fire occasionally\\nthrough the night, brought in a bucket of water, and\\nsome time during- the night Ursula took down that dried\\napple pie and we three ate it.\\nThat man x\\\\llen, like many others in that region, had\\ncome a few years before when land could be bought very\\nlow. He had a little money, bought a quarter section of\\nunimproved land, built the cabin which I have described,\\nbroke some prairie, made rails and fenced a considerable\\nfield. He worked early and late, exposed to cold and", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0061.jp2"}, "62": {"fulltext": "60 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nheat and rain and dew. Some men could have done all\\nthat and came out apparently sound, but Allen broke\\ndown, and when I first saw him he had been a whole year\\nconfined to his bed, and was dying amidst those wretched\\nsurrounding s. His poor worn-out wife hardly had life\\nenoug h left to feel sorrow or joy or g^ratitude.\\nA few days after that memorable nig ht, I attended\\nhis burial. There was a kind of a crude carpenter and\\ncabinet-maker not far away who had a shop in his home\\nand made cofiins. This cabinet-maker s name was Whit-\\nacre. I remember seeing he and his son bring in the\\ncoffin for Allen. It was a respectable looking coffin, but\\nhardly deep enough to take in those poor bent knees, and\\nthey had to press them down to g et the lid on. Mr.\\nWhitacre then took a hammer and great big nails and\\nfastened down the lid of that coffin. I had seen coffin-\\nlids fastened down with screws and a screw driver, but\\nnever before nor since have I seen a poor dead body shut\\nup in a way that looked and sounded so horrible to me as\\nthat did. I looked around and wondered how that poor\\nwife must feel on hearing that cruel pounding on her\\nhusband s coffin. The poor, shabbily-dressed, forlorn-\\nlooking creature was sitting by the corner of the fire-\\nplace with tears streaming down her face, and her little\\nfrightened-looking children were crouching down by her.\\nThe Wilsons and Mr. Lyon were there, and several\\nothers, with wagons to go with them to the grave. Mr.\\nWilson furnished a wagon to take the corpse, and Mrs.\\nWilson brought a clean white sheet to spread over the\\ncoffin as it was being taken to the grave. Mr. Wilson s\\nhired man drove the team and the Wilsons took the poor", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0062.jp2"}, "63": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. (31\\nwoman in with tliem, and after the funeral they took\\nthem to their own home and kept them for days.\\nThe people about there, even those whi) were called\\nwell off, had v^ery few of the comforts of life. Some\\nhad large bodies of land, big prairie plows, long- strings\\nof oxen, and thousands of bushels of corn. But only\\nMr. Wilson s and two other families that I became ac-\\nquainted with had so much as a strip of rag carpet on\\ntheir floors. Everybody cooked by a fire-place; not even\\nthe Wilsons had a cooking stove. There were ledges of\\nstone along Cedar Creek that looked almost like they had\\nbeen laid up by a mason, and they were so easily taken\\nout that everybody had a stone chimney and a big stone\\nhearth. Timber was plentiful along that creek, and\\neverybody who owned a prairie farm also had a piece of\\ntimber on the creek. Skunk river was only a mile or\\ntwo away.\\nI soon became quite well acquainted with Mr. Lyon,\\nwho knew the country and the people all over Henry\\nCounty. When he learned that I had taught one term of\\nschool in Indiana, and w^ould like to teach a school some-\\nwhere about there if I could get one, he offered to assist\\nme. In a day or two after, he came to see me and said\\nhe thought he had found the place. Just north of Mt.\\nPleasant was a splendid neighborhood, where they want-\\ned a teacher; there was a good school-house, and that\\nwas considered one of the best country schools he knew\\nof. There were no public schools or school fund then,\\nbut the neighborhood had organized themselves into a\\nschool district and had appointed two prominent citizens", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0063.jp2"}, "64": {"fulltext": "62 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nto act as directors, to examine and employ teachers.\\nMr. Lyon had seen those directors and talked with them\\nabout me; they told him to have me draw up an ag^ree-\\nment and come to see them, bring ing the article with me.\\nMr. Lyon proposed to g o with me and introduce me to\\nsaid directors. This w^as in March, 1844, and that was\\nan early Spring*. The prairies were green and trees be-\\ng inning to put out in March. Mr. Lyon appointed a day\\nto g o, and I went to work to brush up in my grammar\\nand geography. One of those directors was Esquire\\nMcMillen and the other Esquire Smith. Esquire McMil-\\nlen was also called Colonel. I felt a little afraid of\\nthose high-sounding titles, but kept my courage up as\\nwell as I could, and went on with my nouns and verbs\\nand moods and tenses, c. I felt pretty confident of my\\nability in the rudiments of arithmetic, and geography\\ndidn t worry me, for I had learned to sing my geography,\\nand had every body of water, peninsula, cape, isthmus,\\nmountain, island and capital in the knowQ world at my\\ntongue s end. I was not called upon to teach grammar\\nin the school 1 taught in Indiana, but I didn t know what\\nabstruse sentences those titled and supposed-to-be learned\\ndirectors might call on me to parse.\\nWhen the morning came on which I was to start on\\nthat momentous trip, I was up bright and early, dressed\\nmyself to look as well as possible, then had a handsome\\nblack horse which w^e called Coby saddled. About\\nthe time I was ready to go Mr. Lyon came dashing up on\\na handsome bay. I was at home in the saddle in those\\ndays, and was not afraid to jump ditches nor any other\\nthing that usually came in the way of horseback riders.", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0064.jp2"}, "65": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 63\\nIt was a bri^rht Spring morning and the road was fine.\\nFarmers were plowing and sowing oats, cattle were graz-\\ning on the prairies, and birds w^ere singing. I w^as young\\nand the world looked so bright, that I would have been\\nvery happy had it not been for the dread of the ordeal I\\nthought I would have to go through in being examined\\nby those august school directors. Mr. Lyon seemed to\\nknow every man, woman, and child along the road. He\\nwas a pleasant talker, and interested and amused me by\\ntelling their history and relating incidents and anecdotes\\nof his own experience since coming to Iowa. I had never\\nseen Skunk river, and when we came in sight of it I was\\nsurprised to see a river so wide and clear and shallow as\\nthat classic stream is in Henry county. The water w^as\\nclear as crystal, running over a rocky and gravelly bed.\\nIt wasn t more than knee deep to our horses. There\\nwas a large mill just above the ford, and the water pour-\\ning over the dam made a sound I always like to hear.\\nMr. Lyon informed me that was Wilson s Mill not\\nMr. Paton Wilson but another Wilson. After we crossed\\nSkunk river our road led through some fine woods. We\\ncrossed a creek called Big creek which seemed to me was\\nbig enough to be called a river. After going through\\nthe woods bordering on Big creek we came out on the\\nopen prairie and in sight of Mt. Pleasant. The town\\nstood out in bold relief, and the country all around looked\\ncharming. The prairies had been burned off, the grass\\nwas coming up, and it had the appearance of a great\\nsmooth-mown lawn. As we passed through the town I\\nnoticed a clean, respectable look all about the houses\\nand streets. There were churches and many comfortable", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0065.jp2"}, "66": {"fulltext": "64 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nlooking dwelling s. Everything I saw in or about Mt.\\nPleasant had to me the appearance of respectability and\\nthrift.\\nAfter we had passed Mt. Pleasant and gone perhaps\\na mile, Mr. Lyon pointed to a farm-house a little way\\nahead, and remarked: That is olonel McMillen s. I\\nfelt that the time had come for me to brace up, and put\\nmy best foot foremost. I had told Mr. Lyon on the\\nway that I was afraid I would be so embarrassed when\\nthe Colonel began putting me through what I supposed\\nwould be a fearful ordeal that I wouldn t be able to tell\\nthe little I did know. We rode up to the gate, alighted\\nfrom our horses, and as we started toward the door Mr.\\nLyon remarked: Don t you worry; you will get along\\nall right. His words gave me courage. We went into\\nwhat seemed to be the sitting-room, met two ladies, one\\nan elderly, pleasant-looking lady, whom Mr. Lyon intro-\\nduced as Mrs. McMillen, and the young lady as Miss\\nMcMillen. They received us politely and asked us to be\\nseated, but Mr. Lyon hastened to inform them that we\\nwished to see the Colonel on business. The young lady\\nushered us into an adjoining room and into the presence\\nof the Colonel, who was sitting by a table which was cov-\\nered with papers and writing material. The Colonel be-\\ning a justice of the peace, I took that to be his office.\\nHe was writing when we went in, but looked up, and rec-\\nognizing Mr. Lyon, arose and shook his hand. Mr. Lyon\\nthen introduced me. I ottered the Colonel my hand,\\nwhich he grasped in a manner sufficiently cordial to dis-\\npel to some degree my fears. Colonel McMillen was a\\ndignified, elderly gentleman, dark-complexioned, his hair", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0066.jp2"}, "67": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 65\\nsprinkled with gray. After making a few remarks to Mr.\\nLyon about the weather, he addressed me in this wise:\\nWell, Miss Hobbs, you, I presume, are the young lady\\nthat Mr. Lyon has been telling me about, who would like\\nto teach school for usV I answered, That is what I\\nca-me to see you about, and if you think me capable, and\\nw^e can agree on terms, I will be pleased to teach your\\nschool. I proceeded to show him the article I had draw^n\\nup. He adjusted his glasses, read it over carefully, then\\nlooking me straight in the face, said: Young lady, did\\nyou write this? I said, Yes, sir, I wrote it. In my\\narticle I proposed to teach reading, spelling, writing,\\ngeography, arithmetic, and English grammar. He reached\\nup to a shelf above his table and took down a book which\\nI could see was a Kirkham s grammar. He opened\\nthe book at the author s preface, handed it to me, and\\nasked me to read. I read a few paragraphs, about half a\\npage, when he remarked, That will do. I handed the\\nbook to him. He took it, turned a few leaves, and then\\ncame the questioning, which I had been looking forward\\nto with fear and trembling. I was pretty familiar with\\nKirkham s grammar and noticed that he opened the book\\nat any easy place, and where the answers as well as the\\nquestions were before him. He kept his eyes on the book\\nas he proceeded to propound the following questions:\\nWhat is grammar? What is orthography? What is a\\nnoun? What is a verb? When I had answered the fore-\\ngoing questions seemingly to the Colonel s satisfaction,\\nhe then proceeded to examine me in geography. His\\n\u00e2\u0080\u00a2questions were as follows: What is the name of the\\ncountry we live in? What is the capital of the United", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0067.jp2"}, "68": {"fulltext": "66 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nStates? What is the longest river in the United States?\\nWhat is an island? He asked another question or two\\nabout as difficult, and then seemed to think he had gone\\nfar enough to satisfy himself that I was qualified to teach.\\nHe wrote a note and sealed it, directed to Thomas\\nSmith, Esq., handed it to me and told me to give that\\nto Esquire Smith. He further said: The Squire s\\ndaughter. Miss Jane Smith, taught our school last sum-\\nmer and took her pay in farm produce, and if you will do\\nthe same, providing Esquire Smith is satisfied with your\\nqualifications when you talk with him, I think we can\\ngive you a large school. Money is scarce and hard to\\nobtain, and business is carried on here by exchanging\\none commodity for another. You can trade your produce\\nto the merchants in Mt. Pleasant for dry goods. Every\\none of your patrons will agree to deliver the produce to\\nany mercantile house you may designate in the town.\\nThere is plenty of farm produce but very little money in\\nthis region.", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0068.jp2"}, "69": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. (57\\nCHAPTER VII.\\nWe took leave of the McMillens, and as we were\\nleaving the house Mr. Lyon, in a low tone remarked to\\nme: That examination was a stunner, wasn t itV We\\nmounted our horses and dashed across the prairie about\\na mile, to the residence of Esquire Smith, which was a\\nrespectable-looking hewed log house. We found the\\nSquire sitting by a cheerful log-heap lire. He met us\\nwith such cordial, smiling politeness that my fears were\\ndispelled at once and I felt that he would be my friend.\\nI handed him the letter I had brought from the Colonel,\\nwhich he immediately proceeded to open and read. I\\nwatched the expression on his face as he read, and con-\\ncluded it boded no ill to me. After he had finished read-\\ning the letter he bowed and smiled and went on to say:\\nThe Colonel, I see, has examined you in the branches\\nyou propose to teach, and is satisfied that you are quali-\\nfied to teach our school. I am willing to abide by his\\njudgment, and don t think it necessary to question you\\nfarther. If you are willing to teach on the terms he sug-\\ngested, we will consider the matter settled, and you may", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0069.jp2"}, "70": {"fulltext": "68 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nbegin teaching on the first day of April. I came to their\\nterms, left the articles with Esquire Smith, and in a few\\ndays he sent me word that he had succeeded in getting\\ntwenty-eight scholars subscribed, and he thought several\\nmore would come in. I was to receive one dollar and\\nfifty cents per scholar in produce. Esquire Smith thought\\nthe most of my patrons could pay in corn-meal at the\\nmarket price in the town of Mt. Pleasant, and said pat-\\nrons would deliver the same. In my talk with Esquire\\nSmith he told me of a family living near the school-house\\nwho he felt sure would board me and take their pay in\\nsuch things as I received for teaching. I was not well\\npleased with the kind of pay I was to receive, but having\\nto make my own living I realized that I couldn t always\\nhave things just as I liked. I was glad to be employed\\nto teach the school, even on those terms.\\nI was too young then to analyze my thoughts, ideas,\\nand desires, but I know now I was honest, proud, ambi-\\ntious, energetic, and to make a dollar any way but in a\\nstraightforward and honorable manner never entered my\\nmind. Young as I was T had observed that there were\\nfew occupations a woman who had to make her living\\ncould engage in and be respected. A girl in those days\\nwho was supposed to be well enough educated, and was\\nemployed to teach, was considered worthy of a higher\\nplace socially than one who spun and wove and cooked\\nand washed for people out of her own home. She may\\nnot have been more worthy, but public opinion acted\\nlike she was. I was not afraid of spinning, nor cooking,\\nnor washing, but I was afraid of that terrible tyrant,\\npublic opinion. Of course I was greatly relieved and", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0070.jp2"}, "71": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 69\\npleased to have g-one through that dreaded examination\\nwith so little trouble, but I can t say that it g-ave me a\\nvery exalted opinion of the erudition of those school di-\\nrectors. I think now they were about as much afraid of\\nme as I was of them. Colonels and Esquires in those\\ndays were not always very scholarly. I was so giad it\\nwas all over that I went home with alig^ht heart and kind\\nfeeling-s toward everybody. But on the way Mr. Lyon\\nwould look at me in a quizzical way and say: What did\\nyou say a noun was? or What did you say the capital\\nof the United States was? And when we reached Skunk\\nRiver and were standing- in the river letting- our horses\\ndrink, he looked up and down the stream, then remarked:\\nThe river is pretty low now. I said, yes, but don t\\nit g-et pretty hig-h sometimes? Yes, he said, and I\\nwas just thinking that about the time your school will be\\nout, the river in all probability will be up, and you can\\nput all your farm produce on a flat-boat and send it down\\nthe river to New Orleans. I told him if he didn t stop\\nmaking fun of me, as soon as we got to the top of the\\nhill I would run off and leave him, for I knew my horse\\ncould outrun his. He replied: I don t know about that,\\nbut our horses are tired, and I guess we had better not\\nrun a race until some other time, but I ll stop, if that is\\nthe way you take my suggestions.\\nWe rode on. talking about the merits of our horses,\\nthe pleasant trip we had had, and the beauties of the\\ncountry, until we arrived at my home, where Mr. Lyon\\nsprang from his horse, led my horse up to a stump and\\nassisted me to alight. I didn t need any assistance but\\nit was considered the polite thing to do that way. I in-", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0071.jp2"}, "72": {"fulltext": "70 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nvited him to come in and take supper with us, but he\\ndeclined. We stood and talked for a moment and I\\nthanked him for his kindness to me, for I did consider\\nthat he had been a friend and I felt grateful. He re-\\nmarked that it had given him much pleasure and he had\\nenjoyed the day, he thought, quite as much as I\\nhad. As he finished the last remark he sprang into his\\nsaddle and turned his horse s head as if to leave. I was\\njust about starting to the house when he called me back,\\nand with a very sober look said: I have been thinking\\nthat the amount of truck you will have to dispose of will\\noverstock the market in Mt. Pleasant, and you will be\\nobliged to resort to the flat-boat, and in that case you\\nwill want a pilot, and I am. the man. At that he gave\\nhis horse a cut with his whip and went dashing off. Be-\\nfore we retired that night I think I told my mother every-\\nthing relating to that day s experience, not omitting the\\nmost trivial details. She was deeply interested, as she\\nalways was in everything which concerned me.\\nThe next day I went over to Wilson s and told them\\nabout it. Mr. Wilson said, T know all the men in that\\nneighborhood and if you were to hunt Iowa over you\\ncouldn t find a better.\\nWhen the time came for me to begin my school, my\\nfriend Mr. Lyon proposed to go with me and see me\\nsafely landed at my boarding-place, Mr. Kesler s. I\\ngladly accepted his kind offer, and we enjoyed another\\ntrip over prairies, woods, river, and creeks. He never\\nonce, the whole way, referred to nouns capitals\\nnor flat-boats Esquire Smith had arranged every-\\nthing in regard to my boarding. The Keslers received", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0072.jp2"}, "73": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 71\\nme so kindly that I felt at home with them right away.\\nMrs. Kesler was a very energ-etic woman, a good house-\\nkeeper, and an excellent cook. She wanted to do much\\nmore for my comfort than I wanted her to do. Mr.\\nKesler was a gentle, quiet, unassuming man. He and\\nhis wife were both devout Methodists. The school-house\\nwas not more than forty rods from the Kesler home, and\\nin one of the prettiest places I ever saw in Iowa. Just\\nacross the road was a camp-meeting ground in a beautiful\\ngrove of oak and hickory trees, and a gravelly, rocky\\nlittle creek crossed the road only a few rods away. That\\nplace had been settled about ten years, and many of the\\nfirst settlers were comfortably fixed for low^a.\\nOn Monday morning, the first day of April, 1844, I\\ncommenced my school. Mr. Kesler had made a fire in\\nthe stove, and when I went in I found a clean, pleasant\\nlooking school-house. It was a log house but was white-\\nwashed and had good windows and door, and for that day,\\ngood writing-desks and seats. The outlook was charm-\\ning. The grass was coming up all about, the trees were\\nputting out, and that little brook so near that I could see\\nit from the school-house door, and hear the water rippling\\nover its gravelly bottom.\\nIn a little while the scholars began to come in. I\\nthink there were thirty the first day, their ages ranging\\nfrom five to twenty-two years; some of them several\\nyears older than myself. My eighteenth birthday oc-\\ncurred while I w^as teaching that school. I soon discov-\\nered that none of them were far enough advanced to give\\nme any uneasiness. I went to work with the determina-\\ntion to do my very best to please the parents and instruct", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0073.jp2"}, "74": {"fulltext": "/2 MAHASKA COUNTY\\ntheir children. If they were not pleased with my work\\nthey never let me know it. In a small way I followed\\nMr. Hoshour s plan of teaching which was to instruct\\nmy pupils correctly in the rudiments, but not confine\\nmyself to text-books alone. I knew very little of ancient\\nor modern history, but the little I did know I gave them\\nthe benefit of, which in my crude judg-ment would instil\\nin them a taste for reading and finding out things for\\nthemselves.\\nAll the families in that neighborhood were orderly,\\nrespectable and moral; nearly all members of some relig-\\nious denomination, and meetings were held nearly every\\nSunday in the school-house or at the camp-ground. That\\nneighborhood was known far and near as the Brazelton\\nneighborhood. The Brazeltons were the most prominent\\nfamily therein, and seemed to be allied by blood or mar-\\nriage to most of the elite of the town of Mt. Pleasant,\\nthe Wallaces, Sanderses, Porters and Paines. The Wal-\\nlaces, Henderson and Frank, I was told, were brothers of\\nGovernor Wallace, who was the first governor I remem-\\nber anything about in Indiana. They were tall, manly,\\ndistinguished-looking men. Henderson Wallace was a\\nson-in-law of Colonel Samuel Brazelton. One of the San-\\nderses was a brother-in-law. Alvin Sanders was a young\\nunmarried man then, and kept a store of general mer-\\nchandise in Mt. Pleasant. He was afterward Governor\\nof Nebraska, and has the distinction of being the father-\\nin-law of Russell Harrison. Alvin Sanders was a fine-\\nlooking man and a gentleman in every sense of the word.\\nThe eldest daughter of the house of Brazelton was the\\nwife of Asberry Porter, a lawyer and leading politician", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0074.jp2"}, "75": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 73\\nin Henry County. Nearly aill the men about Mt. Pleas-\\nant whom I have mentioned were politicians, and were\\nWhigs, and would have voted for Henry Clay if they\\nhad have had the chance. But Iowa was a Territory\\nthen. The Territorial Legislature and county offices\\nengaged their attention at that time. I became acquaint-\\ned with those people and many others at the homes of\\nthe Brazeltons and Keslers. Both families entertained\\nhospitably. I remember well the big fire-place in the\\nBrazelton kitchen, with crane and hooks of every neces-\\nsary length. What a lot of pots and kettles could be\\nhung on that long crane, and be swung out and back\\nagain over the lire at the cook s pleasure! What splendid\\nbiscuit, salt-rising and corn bread could be baked on that\\nbig hearth in skillets and ovens with coals placed under-\\nneath and on the lids! Great strong andirons to hold the\\nwood in place. A strong pair of tongs and shovel stood\\nagainst the jamb, and hooks for lifting pots, and hooks\\nfor lifting lids, hung on nails in convenient places. There\\nwere cooking stoves in that da3^ but I don t remember\\none in the Brazelton neighborhood.\\nNot only religious services were held in the school-\\nhouse, but every alternate Saturda}^ afternoon a young\\ngentleman by the name of Shadel taught a singing school\\nwhich was patronized by all the young people about there.\\nWe sang what was called patent notes and used books\\ncalled Mason s Sacred Harp and Methodist Har-\\nmonist. Two of Mr. Shadel s sons, Horace and Henry,\\nare musicians and well known, not only in Oskaloosa but\\nmany other towns. These young men have the reputa-", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0075.jp2"}, "76": {"fulltext": "74 MAHASKA COUNTY\\ntion of being- honorable men, and of possessing- much\\nmusical talent.\\nI had no trouble with my scholars, and was treated\\nwith kindness by their parents and the young men and\\nwomen of the neig-hborhood. I had what young- people\\ncall a good time, until one day about two weeks before\\nmy school closed I received a letter saying- my mother\\nwas sick. I dismissed my school, borrowed a horse, and\\nwent to see her. I stayed with her three days, when she\\nseemed so much better all thought she would be well in a\\nfew days. I went back and finished my school. A few\\nof my patrons paid me in money, notwithstanding I had\\nagreed to take all in produce One man I remember\\nin particular, Mr. Heaton, who sent two lovely little\\ngirls, Sarah and Lottie, to my school. Mr. Heaton had\\na saw mill on Big Creek. He said: I will pay you in\\nmoney; I don t like to ask you to take lumber. With\\nMr. Kesler s kind assistance I managed to dispose of some\\nof my assets in the shape of farm produce, but a con-\\nsiderable quantity was yet on my hands when my school\\nclosed. This residue consisted principally of corn meal.\\nI was fortunate enough to trade it to Mr. Alvin Sanders\\nfor dry goods. I remember with what fear and trem-\\nbling I approached Mr. Sanders when I went to his store\\nto propose that exchange of commodities. When I had\\nstated the amount of corn meal I wished to dispose of he\\nlooked a little surprised, hesitated at first, and intimated\\nthat he feared the amount of that commodity I wished to\\ndispose of would more than meet the requirements of the\\ncitizens of Mt. Pleasant. I think he noticed my embar-\\nrassment, and the kindness of his heart prompted him to", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0076.jp2"}, "77": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 75\\ntake the whole of it and take the chances of disposing- of\\nit. I have always felt grateful to Mr. Sanders for that\\nact of kindness. I was rejoiced and not at all surprised\\nin after years to learn that he had gone on to fortune\\nand to fame.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0077.jp2"}, "78": {"fulltext": "76 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nCHAPTER VIII.\\nWhen I was about closing- my school and other busi-\\nness, word came to me that my mother was very sick. I\\nwent to her as quick as I could and found her very sick\\nindeed. The Wilsons, as was their true nature, were and\\nhad been* doing all they could for her comfort. One day\\nthe end came. She died in peace, even thoug^h it was in\\na wretched log cabin on a bare prairie, her children stand-\\ning- around her, frantic with g-rief. I can never forget\\nthe heart-broken sobs of my little brothers, Calvin and\\nWilliam. How dreary the world seemed when a little\\nprocession of those neighbors in farm wagons followed\\nher one morning to the Friends burying-ground at Sa-\\nlem, where we stood by the grave until those kind people\\nhad thrown on the last spadeful of earth and shaped it\\ninto a mound over all that was mortal of our beloved\\nmother. More than half a century the prairie grass has\\nbeen growing, and the prairie winds have been singing a\\nrequiem over that humble grave. Generations have\\npassed sway and other generations have come upon the\\nscene and taken their places, since that day on which that", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0078.jp2"}, "79": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 77\\nterrible truth, My mother was dying! flashed upon my\\nmind; as the years go by, and that day in August which to\\nme is apart from all other da3 ^s in the year, I live over again\\nthat terrible experience. That sad scene with all its sur-\\nrounding s is photographed on my memory, and has never\\nfaded out in all the years that have come and gone; that\\ncabin with its dingy walls, the white home made counter-\\npane on my mother s bed, the locust tree before the door,\\nwith the breeze lifting up its leaves, my little brothers,\\nhelpless, weeping, and the faces of kind neighbors who\\nwept with us, form a picture which time has not dimmed.\\nMy mother was a Christian and died rejoicing, though\\nall around her were weeping. I am thirty years older\\nthan my mother was when the Lord took her to himself.\\nI have read the writings of many authors who have given\\nto the world what are supposed to be the best thoughts\\nand ideas and teaching to young girls; have observed\\nand thought much myself, but my mother s advice and\\ncounsel to me stands good to-da}^, and is what my best\\njudgment approves. The principles she taught me are\\nthe principled which I try to instil into the mind of every\\nyoung girl who comes under my influence. My mother\\nwas kind to the sick, and when she was sick and dying,\\nkind people came to help and comfort her.\\nPaton and Hannah Wilson have long been sleei)ing\\nunder the sod. If these lines ever fall into the hands of\\nany of their children, grand-children, or great-grand-\\nchildren, I want them to know that there is one at least\\nwho has never ceased to be grateful for the help and\\nkindness shown her and hers in that time of sorrow. The\\nWilsons stand prominently in my memory, but they are", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0079.jp2"}, "80": {"fulltext": "78 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nnot all the noble-hearted people who have a warm place\\nin my heart. There was a lovely Christian Quaker lady,\\nRachel Bond, whose words of tender sympathy and kind\\nacts I have not forgotten. And Mr. Lyon, true to his\\nkindly instincts, was ready and willing- to do anything in\\nhis power to lighten our grief. Mr. Lyon has always\\nbeen held in grateful remembrance by me. The reader,\\nif there ever is a reader of this story, may think there\\nought to be a sequel to Mr. Lyon s and my rather ro-\\nmantic acquaintance, but there is no sequel. My story\\nis without a plot, and is only an attempt to tell a straight-\\nforward and true story of my recollections of long ago.\\nAfter my mother was gone I soon realized that I\\ncould not afford to sit down and nurse my grief and be-\\nmoan my bereavement; something practical had to be\\nthought of. The Wilsons, as the}^ had been doing all\\nalong, stood by us, and were planning a way to send me\\nand my little brothers to our relatives in Indiana, when\\nfour days after my mother s death my uncle and aunt,\\nAaron and Delilah Cox, came. They had not heard of\\nmy mother s death until they reached that neighborhood.\\nThey had come with teams to take to the New Pur-\\nchase a considerable portion of their household goods\\nand other things, left when they moved in the Spring.\\nThey proposed different arrangements for us. That was\\nbefore the days of telegraphy, and postal service was so\\npoor and uncertain that to send a letter to the wilds of\\nthe New Purchase was a thing that one could have no\\nassurance would ever reach its destination.\\nWhen my uncle and aunt took in the situation they\\nboth, with one accord, offered me a home in their family,", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0080.jp2"}, "81": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 79\\nand said they were sure the people in their settlement\\nwould emplo} me to teach their children. At the same\\ntime it was arranged to send my little brothers to our\\nrelatives in Indiana. The parting from my little brothers\\nadded another pang to my great sorrow. I thought of\\ncourse in some way I would see them again before a very\\ngreat while but when 1 saw them again they were young\\nmen and I was living in Oskaloosa, married, and had two\\nlittle boys of my own. That good uncle and aunt did and\\nsaid all they could to comfort me. They didn t seem to\\nthink they were making any sacrifice in taking me into\\ntheir family, as one of their own children. I was too\\nyoung and inexperienced in regard to the care of provid-\\ning for a family to full}^ appreciate their great kindness.\\nIn after years, when I had seen and learned more of the\\nworld, I looked back to that act of pure-hearted kindness\\nwith wonder and gratitude.\\nMy uncle had two wagns, one drawn by a pair of\\nhorses and the other by two yoke of oxen; both wagons\\nwere pretty well tilled. The ox wagon was what was\\ncalled an old Pennsylvania wagon, with long bed ex-\\ntending far out in front and back. That wagon was piled\\nhigh with various things, among others a quantity of llax\\nwhich had been broken in a flax-break, but not hacheled\\nor swingled. Many families in that day raised flax; they\\nbroke it, swingled it, hacheled it, spun it and wove it by\\nhand. In those days I was called a good spinner; I loved\\nto spin flax and used to be an expert in spinning thread.\\nThey used to say that my verse in the Bible was a true\\nproverb: She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her\\nhands hold the distaff. Prov. xxxi, 19.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0081.jp2"}, "82": {"fulltext": "80 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nI never enjoyed any work more than spinning tiaxon\\none of those little wheels we sometimes see now placed\\nin a parlor or elegant guest chamber as a choice orna-\\nment. I had the pleasure in the winter (^f 44 and 45 of\\nhelping my aunt spin the flax that was brought to the\\nNew Purchase on that big Pennsylvania wagon. My\\nuncle had provided a comfortable place for my aunt and\\nme in the other wagon, but after we had traveled one day\\nand reached what was erroneously called the edge of\\ncivilization, I obtained leave of my uncle to ride on that\\npile of flax. It was up high in air and I had a charming\\nview of that wide expanse of unbroken, green, waving,\\nundulating prairie. After we had left Fairfield and gone\\na few miles west we realized that we were in a place\\nwhere, as far as we could see, no long string of oxen with\\nmassive plow had ever turned a furrow. The tall blue-\\nstem grass, the yellow and purple prairie blossoms were\\nbeing swayed to and fro by the mild August breeze. We\\ncould see the Skunk River timber away off to the right\\nof us, with now and then a point extending out toward\\nthat great mass of undisturbed grass and blossoms. The\\nroad had been traveled so little the grass was not worn\\nout in it. Travelers had nothing to obstruct their way.\\nThey could drive just where they chose, though they\\nkept along what was called The Divide. By so doing\\nthey missed the few hills and hollows and sloughs they\\nwould have encountered near the timber. We traveled\\nmiles and miles without seeing any sign of a human hab-\\nitation. After a while our road led us to one of those\\npoints of timber where was located a very poor looking\\nlog cabin and a few acres enclosed by a very poor fence.", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0082.jp2"}, "83": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 81\\nAbout this cabin was a cluster of plum and crab apple\\ntrees which almost hid the cabin from view\\\\ I might say,\\nA rural cot embowered neath nature s primeval foliage\\nbut anything so poetical and romantic would be mis-\\nleading. It wouldn t give one the true picture of that\\npoor, crude cabin built in the brush, where was just\\nenough cut down to make a place for said cabin. The\\ncrab apple and plum trees were all right in their native\\nstate, but with dead brush and sticks and chips all around\\nand under them, the sight was not very inviting. A A^ery\\nsour, unsociable looking woman was sitting before the\\ncabin door, under one of those crab apple trees, spinning\\nflax on a little wheel. My aunt and I walked up near her\\nand spoke to her. She didn t stop spinning, just barely\\nnodded to us. We asked her for water. Her only answer\\nwas, You can get water over there in the slough, mo-\\ntioning with her head the direction. We noticed a dim\\npath leading that way, followed it and directly came to\\nthe slough, where we found a hole dug in the side, full of\\nnot very good water. It slaked our thirst though, and\\nwe went back and thanked her. She just nodded a very\\nslight nod with the same sour look on her face, her feet\\nkeeping the same vigorous motions on the pedal of her\\nwheel and her hands manipulating the flax. We made no\\nmore efforts to be sociable but went back to our wagons,\\nclimbed in and journeyed on. That was late in the after-\\nnoon. When night came we had reached another point\\nw^here we camped. That was the last night before reach-\\ning my uncle s home. That last camping place I after-\\nward heard called Waugh s Point The next morning\\nwe were up and on our way a little after sunrise. I", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0083.jp2"}, "84": {"fulltext": "82 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nclimbed up on that big wagon, and from that elevated\\nseat had an unobstructed view of that charming land-\\nscape; that undisturbed great native meadow. Some\\ngroves could be seen off toward the Skunk river, and\\naway over toward the Des Monies. Not a human habita-\\ntion was to be seen not an animal, except occasionally\\nin the distance we would see a deer or wolf scampering\\noff toward one of those groves.\\nThe last morning of that journey, which I little\\nthought would result in events and circumstances of so\\nmuch importance to me, was one of those delightfully cool\\nmornings which sometimes occur in August. I was seat-\\ned on my airy perch, taking in the never-tiring scene and\\nbreathing the fresh morning air, when suddenly a gen-\\ntleman on horseback rode up beside the wagon. I recog-\\nnized him in a moment as an acquaintance I had made\\nwhile in the Brazelton neighborhood, Dr. Theodore Por-\\nter. I wondered if he wouldn t be amused at seeing me in\\nso unromantic a situation. The doctor slackened his pace\\nto suit the plodding gait of our oxen and kept by us for\\na mile or two, all the time treating me with as great def-\\nerence as if I had been a princess mounted on a triumphal\\ncar. He told me he was going to locate in, or had located\\nin the new town of Oskaloosa, and was surprised to see\\nme on my way to that region. I asked him about the\\ntown and people, and in reply to my questions he said:\\nThere are perhaps a dozen houses in the town, and as\\ngood a class of people coming in as you will find any-\\nwhere. There is a family named Seevers, a Mr. Williams,\\na gentleman by the name of Edmondson, all first-class\\npeo])le, and a family by the name of Phillips, who are all", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0084.jp2"}, "85": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 83\\nsing ers. I never heeird better vocal music than was made\\nby the Phillips family. The doctor, after saying many\\nmore complimentary things about the people around Os-\\nkaloosa, and expatiating on the beauty and natural ad-\\nvantages of the country about the Narrows, and saying\\nhe would call on me in my new home in the near future,\\nbade us good morning and started oft: on a brisk trot to-\\nward Oskaloosa.\\nOur oxen, patient and plodding, kept on in the even\\ntenor of their way, occasionally reaching out and snatch-\\ning a bite of blue-stem grass by the roadside. We came\\nin sight of White Oak Point, where my uncle said\\nthere were a few families settled; we couldn t see the\\nhouses, as we kept out on the divide, When we were\\nnot far from White Oak Point I looked away toward the\\nwest, or a little north of west, and saw what seemed to\\nbe a narrow gap between two points of timber. 1 called\\nmy uncle s attention to the scene, and asked him what\\nthat place was. He replied: I was wondering if you\\nhad noticed that. That is The Narrows, you have\\nheard so much about, and that gap, as you call it, is\\nwhere Oskaloosa is located, but the houses are so few\\nand little and the grass so high, you will have to get a\\ngood deal nearer than this before you can see it. The\\ntimber you see on your right hand is Skunk River timber\\nand that on the left is Des Moines River timber. After\\ngoing through The Narrows the prairie widens out\\nagain and is interspersed with groves, and the country\\nabove is just as beautiful as this which you have been\\ncarrying on so about.\\nWhen we were within three or four miles of my", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0085.jp2"}, "86": {"fulltext": "84 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nuncle s place, he and my aunt began pointing- out places\\nwhich loomed up in sight, and telling me who owned and\\nlived at different groves nobody had ventured far out on\\nthe prairie at that time. Away off to the southwest a\\nbeautiful grove stood out conspicuously and could be\\nseen a long way oft That, my uncle said, is one of\\nthe finest places on that side of the prairie and belongs\\nto a man by the name of Lewis Rhinehart. Another\\nplace which stood out high and dry was called the\\nParker grove. Now it is the McKinley farm. We\\nleft that main drive and turning to the right into a track\\nmuch less traveled, were directly in a region of prairie\\nall interspersed with the most beautiful groves of droop-\\ning elms and lind trees. They were all surrounded with\\na border of crab apple and plum trees. My uncle, point-\\ning toward the north, said: About two miles over in\\nthat direction is Skunk river, and on the bluff is an Indian\\nvillage called Kishkekash. There are no Indians there\\nnow, but some of their bark huts are still there, and a\\nfamily of white people by the name of Bean own a claim\\nthere and are living in one of those wigwams Pres-\\nently we began to see fields of corn and some very small\\nand crude cabins tucked in the edges of the groves. My\\naunt remarked, Now we are getting into our settlement\\nand I will show thee where some of our neighbors Ifve.\\nPointing to a grove to the east she said: There is where\\nPoultney Loughridge lives. Then pointing west she\\nremarked: Thee sees that big grove over there? That\\nis where Thomas Stafford lives, and a little farther on his\\nson Brantley lives. Brantley s wife, Rachel, is a relative\\nof ours, Rachel s brother, Sammy Coffin, lives about", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0086.jp2"}, "87": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. _ 85\\nfour miles west of our house. Our cousin, Dr. Seth\\nHobbs, lives about a mile and a half from our house,\\nsouthwest. She kept on telling- me about their neigh-\\nbors until we came to a cornfield where the road was\\nalong- the fence, and away at the end of the held and close\\nto a body of timber was a cabin which we could plainly\\nsee as we drove along- the fence. I asked her whose field\\nit was. She replied, This is our field and that is our\\nhouse. Well, I said, Aunt Delilah, I think you have\\nthe prettiest place of all. It was a pretty place and\\nseemed so nicely located. There was beautiful timber to\\nthe west and north of their house, and the cabin was just\\nout from the edg-e of the timber. Their field of corn just\\nin roasting ear lay oft toward the south.\\nThere was great joy in the family when we arrived.\\nMy cousins had seen us coming down the road and all\\ncame running to see their father and mother. They were\\nsurprised to see me, but welcomed me in a hearty, child-\\nlike way. But when Aunt Delilah said, Aunt Mary is\\ndead and Semira has come to live with us, joy was mixed\\nwith sorrow and tears came in our eyes. Uncle and aunt\\nquestioned the children about the way they had gotten\\nalong in their absence. They had all been well and noth-\\ning serious had happened. As we went toward the house\\nwe saw a young looking woman standing in the yard with\\na little child in her arms. My aunt shook hands with her\\nand then introduced us in this wise: Semira, this is our\\nnearest neighbor, Amanda Martin; and Amanda, this is\\nmy niece, Semira Ann Hobbs. Aunt Delilah was a gen-\\nuine Quaker of the old stamp and never said Mr., Mrs.,\\nnor Miss to anybody. I don t think iVunt Delilah ever", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0087.jp2"}, "88": {"fulltext": "86 MAHASKA COUNTY\\ndid but one thing- in her life which was forbidden by the\\ndiscipline of her church, and that was to marry out of\\nmeeting I don t think anybody ever blamed her for\\nthat. If she had had her ])ick and choice of all the young\\nQuakers in the State of Indiana, she could not have found\\na more pure-minded aiid honorable man for a husband\\nthan Aaron Cox. Both my uncle and aunt were exceed-\\ningly conscientious, just and honest. I had a home in\\ntheir family for more than a year and was never made to\\nfeel that I was not welcome. They were quite as well\\nfixed for living as any family in that new settlement.\\nTheir cabin had but one room, but that room was larger\\nthan cabins generally were. I think now it was eighteen\\nfeet wide and twenty feet long. I know they had in it\\nfour ordinary sized beds, and a trundle-bed which was\\nkept under one of the big beds in the day time and drawn\\nout at night for the children. The style of bedstead\\nused then was so high from the floor to the bed rail that\\nthere was ample room under a bed to store many trunks\\nand chests and boxes and bundles. It was customary to\\nhang a valance around which hid all these unsightly\\nthings. Women in that day and stage of the country s\\nhistory learned how to manage and utilize room. My\\nuncle s cabin had a very large fire-place, six feet wide at\\nleast. That fire-place was built up, back and jambs with\\nstone and mud. The top of the chimney was of mud and\\nsplit staves or sticks. The floor was puncheon and the\\nroof clap-boards. There was a door in the south, a small\\nwindow in the west end by the fire-place, and another\\nsmall window in the north. My aunt had a loom and all\\nother necessaries for makinir cloth. While the weather", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0088.jp2"}, "89": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 87\\nwas warm the loom was kept in a shed at the back of the\\nhouse. That shed had a clap-board roof, and the floor\\nwas of elm tree bark laid flat on the ground with the\\nroug-h side up. My uncle and aunt were both good man-\\nagers and could make the best of their crude surroundings.\\nThey had plenty in the wilderness.\\nThey had moved to this place in March and the time\\nI am talking about was August. They had to go a long\\nway to procure flour and corn-meal: I think the nearest\\nmill was in Jefferson County. My uncle and aunt and\\nevery child that was old enough were workers, and had\\nraised a splendid garden. That fresh, new, mellow soil\\nwithout a single weed, would produce a crop without\\nmuch tending; they had cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes,\\nbeans, and had the only sweet potatoes around there.\\nAll through the cornfield the ground was yellow with\\npumpkins; m}^ aunt had not neglected to bring a supply\\nof garden seeds when they came in the Spring. About a\\ndozen rows of corn nearest the house were hanging full\\nof beans of the cut short variety. Besides the neces-\\nsary and useful, my cousins, Eliza Ann and Elizabeth,\\nhad a bed of old-fashioned flowers marigolds, four-\\no clocks, larkspurs, touch-me-nots, and some morning-\\nglory vines running up strings by the cabin door. Fruit\\nwas the thing missed most, and if my aunt had not\\nbrought a quantity of dried apples we would have been\\nwithout. Blackberries grew in the woods about there,\\nbut at the time I am talking about the blackberry season\\nwas over. Crab-apples were plenty, but sugar was a lux-\\nury both scarce and dear, and crab-apples even in that\\nday wei e not greatly relished without being sweetened.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0089.jp2"}, "90": {"fulltext": "88 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nMy aunt, and I presume most of her neig hbors, had a lit-\\ntle sugar carefully put away to be used only in emergen-\\ncies, but we got along very well without sugar. My\\nuncle kept four cows and we had more milk and butter\\nthan we could use. There was no market anywhere in\\nreach, and what we couldn t use was given to the pigs.\\nI remember how lavishly my aunt would put butter in\\neverything she cooked, especially her roasting-ear pud-\\ndings. One of Aunt Delilah s roasting-ear puddings,\\nspread all over with the kind of butter she made, was a\\nwhole meal itself. We had one of those puddings every\\nnight for supper as long as the roasting-ears lasted.\\nMy uncle, as I have said, was not a member of any\\nreligious denomination, but had a profound res])ect for\\nsacred things, especially for my aunt s views and strict\\nadherence to the customs of the church of which she was\\na member. We never sat down to our meals, no matter\\nhow plain, without observing the little spell of silent\\nreverence practiced among Friends. I had been brought\\nup among Friends, or Quakers, and knew all about their\\nhabits, but at that time and for a long time after, I had\\nnever heard a vocal grace at one of their tables. But\\nall Friends who were worthy of the name observed the\\ncustom of bowing their heads in silent reverence and\\nthanksgiving to God before partaking of their meals.\\nNo long and devout utterance of vocal prayer and thanks-\\ngiving at table ever seemed more solemn to me than the\\nsilent grace of the Quakers. When they buried their\\ndead they stood solemnly around the grave, not shunning\\nthe heart-piercing sound of clods falling on the coffin-lid,\\nbut waitnig until the last spadeful of earth was placed", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0090.jp2"}, "91": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 89\\nand fashioned into a smooth, shapely mound by some\\nkind and sympathetic neighbor who, when the last gentle\\npat was given, would quietly step back, and leaning on\\nhis spade, would wait with the others the few moments\\nof reverent, solemn silence which always followed the\\nburial of their dead.\\nThe people in that neighborhood were nearly all mem-\\nbers of some religious denomination, or had a member-\\nship before they carn,e, but no church had been organized\\nnor any religious meetings held. The Staft ords, the\\nStanleys, the Arnolds, and my aunt Delilah, were\\nQuakers. The Martins (H. P., usually called Patterson),\\nand Silas, his brother, and their wives, were members of\\nthe Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Poultney Lough-\\nridge and family were United Presbyterians. Several\\ndenominations were represented, but only a few repre-\\nsented any one. But however their religious tenets may\\nhave differed as neighbors, they dwelt together in har-\\nmony. They were kiad and helpful to each other and\\nhospitable to strangers. There seemed to be no such\\nfeeling as jealousy, nor any disposition to take advantage\\nof each other. Every one of those families owned a good\\nclaim and had obtained them honestly.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0091.jp2"}, "92": {"fulltext": "90 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nCHAPTER IX.\\nA time was appointed, May 1st, 1843, when men were\\nallowed to come in and select claims. One man might\\nhold a claim embracing- half a section. There were four\\nmen, Poultney Loughridge. John McAllister, Edwin and\\nRobert Michell, all related either by blood or marriage,\\nwho came a little before the time, but made friends both\\nwith the Indians and dragoons. They selected four\\nclaims, without designating who should be the possessor\\nof any particular one. All those claims had both timber\\nand prairie and were thought by them to be about equal\\nin value. When they were surreptitiously spying out\\nthe land they cut a set of house-logs; they did not go\\nto sleep on the night of April 30th, in 43, but the moment\\nthe hands of somebody s watch pointed to the hour of\\ntwelve, they gathered up their stakes and torches and be-\\nfore daylight on the morning of the first of May their\\nclaims were all staked or blazed out. Then they drew\\nlots and every man drew the very claim he wanted. That\\nsame day (May 1st, 43) they made of those logs so\\nstealthily cut a cabin on Mr. Loughridge s claim, which", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0092.jp2"}, "93": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 91\\nwas said to be the first house ever built in Maliaska\\nCounty. My uncle, in the fall of 43, bought Mr. John\\nMcAllister s claim, which had on it the cabin I have men-\\ntioned. The land on which that immense crop of pump-\\nkins grew amidst a forest of corn was broken in 43. My\\nuncle had broken another lot of ground in the spring\\nwhich had produced a big crop of what was called sod\\ncorn. And such a crop of turnips! big and juicy and\\ntender and sweet. I wonder why we never have such\\nturnips nowV I came near forgetting to mention the\\nmelons. My uncle had a patch of watermelons, and\\nmuskmelons of the nutmeg variety. If one just threw\\nthe seed away on that rich, clean, mellow ground, a big\\ncrop would come of it. My uncle was a man who pro-\\nvided for his family, and my aunt was one of the women\\nwho looked well to the ways of her household. They\\nhad an interesting family. Eliza Ann, the eldest, was a\\nstaid and steady girl, practical, and not given to joking.\\nShe was a blond, with an abundance of golden brown\\nhair which laid in wavy ripples all over her head without\\nthe aid of any device in the way of crimping apparatus.\\nEliza Ann and I got on well together, were always good\\nfriends. She was a serious, matter-of-fact sort of a girl,\\nthe kind that the neighbors all have a word of praise for.\\nElizabeth was my bosom friend. Her faults were few\\nand her virtues many. She was what in these days would\\nbe called a bright girl. She grew to be a bright woman,\\nand to-day is one of the brightest women I know. To me\\nshe is a joy forever.\\nIn a short time I became acquainted with some of the\\nneighbors. I soon became quite good friends with the", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0093.jp2"}, "94": {"fulltext": "92 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nMartins Patterson and Amanda, as we called them.\\nThey were young people then, had only been married two\\nor three years, and had one baby, Mary, who is Mrs.\\nMatt. Crozier and a grandmother now. Patterson and\\nAmanda had come in the summer of 43, They had a\\nclaim adjoining my uncle s, and were living on that claim\\nin a little cabin about a quarter of a mile north in the\\nwoods. They were very kind to me from the first. Many\\npleasant little visits 1 had with them in their humble\\ncabin. I think it was the very first Sunday after I came\\nto my uncle s that Patterson and Amanda came along in\\nthe early afternoon and told us that Mr. Loughridge had\\ngiven out word among the neighbors that any who wished\\nto do so could come to his house and hold some kind of\\nreligious meeting. I ran in, put on my straw bonnet, and\\njoined the Martins. We walked across my uncle s field,\\nclimbed a staked and ridered fence, and then came into a\\ndim road which led toward Mr. Loughridge s house, which\\nwas that first cabin and in appearance much like all\\nother cabins about there. One room with all the appur-\\ntenances for cooking, eating, and sleeping, and arranged\\nabout as snugly as possible. When Mr. Martin introduced\\nme, Mr. and Mrs. L. shook hands with me cordially, and\\nmade some pleasant remarks about my being a new addi-\\ntion to the community. We sat and waited awhile but\\nnobody else came. Mr. Loughridge read a chapter from\\nthe Bible and Mrs. Loughridge had in her hand a book of\\nPsalms. She led in singing, and as the Martins and my-\\nself were not familiar with their kind of singing, she and\\nMr. L. had it all to do. When they had sung, Mr. L. said,\\nLet us pray. We all knelt and Mr. L. prayed. They", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0094.jp2"}, "95": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 93\\nsang another Psalm and then Mr. L. asked Mr. Martin to\\npray. Mr. Martin prayed, while we all knelt again. That\\nended the services.\\nMr. Loughridge was a tall, broad-shouldered, manly,\\nhonest-looking man, with what is called red, or sandy\\ncomplexion; Mrs. L s complexion was much like her hus-\\nband s, but not quite so dark. All their children had\\ncomplexions mc^re or less like their parents. The Lough-\\nridges were worthy and substantial citizens. The chil-\\ndren of these worthy people, some of them grand-parents\\nlong ago, have done honor to the covenenter stock from\\nwhich they sprnag. Two of their sons are ministers.\\nAlbert, the baby, born in that crude and humble cabin,\\nhas spent years as a Christian missionary in India.\\nNot long after the time I have been telling about,\\ntwo or three more families of Quakers settled in that\\nneighborhood, and some time in the Autumn of 44 those\\nQuakers met at the house of Thomas Stafford and organ-\\nized themselves into a meeting, and for many months\\nmet every Sunday at Thomas Stafford s house and held\\ntheir meetings of silent worship. There was no minister\\namong them. I often attended those meetings, where\\nnot a word was spoken, but all sat for one hour in silent\\nmeditation.\\nThomas Staff ord was the rich man of the neighor-\\nhood. I have heard it said, and presume it is true, that\\nhe was worth more money than any man in the county;\\nthat is, he had mere actual cash. I was told by persons\\nwho were supposed to know, that he received eighteen\\nthousand dollars in cash for his farm in Tippecanoe\\nCounty, Indiana, and had all that money at his disposal", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0095.jp2"}, "96": {"fulltext": "94 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nwhen he came to the New Purchase in 43. Eighteen\\nthousand dollars seemed an immense sum then. It was\\na foundation for an immense fortune in a country of such\\npossibilities as this country possessed at that time.\\nThomas Stafford and wife were elderly people then; their\\nfamily of nine children were all g^rown and all married\\nbut two, William and Elam. William w^as married in the\\nSpring of 45 to Eliza Stanley. Elam was the Dr. Staf-\\nford whom everybody in this country knows. He mar-\\nried Sallie Stanley, sister to Eliza, William s wife. Those\\nStanley girls were daughters of John Stanley, a Quaker,\\nwho owned and lived on a very line farm, or claim, near\\nthe deserted village of Kishkekash, on the bluffs of\\nSkunk River. Mr. Stanley had two other daughters,\\nEdith and Ann, now Mrs. Conner and Mrs. Gray. Eliza\\ndied many years ago. Every one of them were excellent\\nwomen.\\nI had been at my uncle s several days, and had n(jt\\nseen my other relatives, Dr. Seth Hobbs and his wife\\nElizabeth. The doctor had made, or bought a claim in\\n43, built a cabin, decided to make that his home, practice\\nmedicine, and at the same time improve his land. The\\ndoctor, in the Spring of 44, went back to his old home\\nin Southern Indiana, married the girl he left behind\\nhim, and brought her to his cabin in the wilderness.\\nAunt Delilah and I decided one day to visit these\\nrelatives. We had a pleasant walk and a pleasant talk\\nalong the road. They called it a mile and a quarter. The\\nroad or path, part of the way, was along a ravine with\\nwoods on one side and a little prairie or glade on the\\nother. Golden rod and thousands of other yellow bios-", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0096.jp2"}, "97": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 95\\nsoms lined the path. The path looked strange and I re-\\nmarked to my amit: This is a fmmy road, so narrow\\nand worn down so deep. Aunt Delilah laughed and said:\\nWhy, child! I forgot to tell thee: we are in a regular\\nIndian trail. This was their main trail from their village\\non Skunk river to another village on the Des Moines, and\\nthe reason the track is so narrow and worn is that they\\nalways ride their ponies single file, no matter how many\\nthey string out, one after another, and keep in the same\\ntrack. This trail has been traveled by Indians nobody\\nknows how long. When we started, aunt said, Semira,\\nwe had better take a good-sized, strong stick, for we\\nmight come onto a rattlesnake; they are plentiful about\\nhere. We armed ourselves with sticks but had no occa-\\nsion to use them, for we didn t see a snake the entire\\nway. Our cousins lived in the woods but had a field\\ncleared and fenced, wherein was growing a luxuriant\\ncrop of corn and vegetables. The doctor and his wife\\nseemed overjoyed to see us and how happy and con-\\ntented they were! The doctor was a carpenter, along\\nwith his other accomplishments, and had made their cabin\\nlook very cozy and comfortable. The puncheon floor was\\nfitted neatly at the joints; and on one side of the room\\nwas a lot of shelves, very neatly put up, and filled with\\nthe doctor s bottles and medicine jars. There were more\\nlittle home-made, convenient things in that cabin than\\nany I saw. The doctor s taste ran in that way and his\\nwife was like him. They both had the faculty of making\\nthe most and best of everything about them. Elizabeth\\nhad a big pine box for a cooking table, placed in a way to\\nuse the inside for her cooking utensils; had a calico", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0097.jp2"}, "98": {"fulltext": "96 MABASKA COUNTY\\ncurtain hung in front of said box; some shelves in a cor-\\nner for her dishes; wooden hooks placed here and there\\non the wall and about the fire-place to hang things on.\\nThey had two beds, and like the others around there util-\\nized the space underneath to stow away trunks, boxes,\\nand bundles. The doctor had nearly all the practice for\\nmany miles around, for he was the only doctor there was\\nin that region. There was a Dr. Boyer, who lived ten or\\ntwelve miles away on the Des Moines river, who doctored\\nague patients on that river, while Dr. Hobbs dosed out\\nPeruvian bark to the ague afflicted on the Skunk. Dr.\\nPorter had just come to the newly located county seat,\\nOskaloosa. Dr. Hobbs knew something about nearly\\neverybody in the country. The doctor s wife and I\\nplanned to go on horseback some day to Oskaloosa. To-\\nward evening aunt and I went home along the Indian\\ntrail, after having spent a pleasant day.\\nI hadn t been in that neighborhood long, when Uncle\\nAaron began talking to his neighbors about building a\\nschool-house and employing me to teach. Nearly every\\nfamily anywhere near who had children old enough to go\\nto school fell in with my uncle s proposition, which was\\nto meet on an appointed day and build a cabin, similar to\\nthe other cabins about, and have me teach school in it.\\nMy cousins. Dr. Hobbs and wife, made it so pleasant\\nfor me ^it their house that I visited them often. The\\ndoctor was an educated man and had a fund of general\\ninformation. He attended medical lectures at Lexington,\\nKy. He knew Henry Clay and his family, and was often\\nat their home, Ashland. I used to make the doctor\\ntell about their library, their dining-room, their grounds,", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0098.jp2"}, "99": {"fulltext": "R*]MINISCENCES. 97\\nand iust what kind of looking people Mr. and Mrs. Clay\\nwere. Henry Clay encourag ed the young medical students\\nto visit him. He would invite them into his library, and\\nthere set them at their ease by his tact and g-enuine g-ood\\nbreeding. Then he would branch off on some subject\\nboth instructive and entertaining One day when I was\\nat the doctor s his wife, Elizabeth, and I made all our ar-\\nrang ements to visit the new county seat. The doctor\\nhad been there often, but his wife and I had never seen\\nthe town. My uncle had a handsome black horse called\\nPhillis and Aunt Delilah w^as the possessor of a side-\\nsaddle. They g ave me the privileg e of using that horse\\nand saddle as often as necessary.\\nOn the appointed day. w^hich was the 14th of Septem-\\nber, 1844, I rode Phillis over to the doctor s. The doctor\\nhad a very g ood horse which he saddled for his wife. We\\ndressed ourselves in pretty good style and early in the\\nafternoon were ready to mount our steeds and be off.\\nThe doctor being a gallant gentleman, went out in front\\nof the fence where a big stump stood handy and assisted\\nus to mount. After we were seated in our saddles, the\\ndoctor seemed to think there might be something not al-\\ntogether safe, so he took hold of my horse s bridle, ex-\\namined the throat-latch, then examined the surcingle,\\nthought it not quite tight enough and drew it up another\\nnotch; then, giving my horse a gentle stroke dowai his\\nmane, and ending by stri})ping his foretop through his\\nhand, he went over the same performance with his wife s\\nhorse. After the doctor had adjusted our surcingles and\\nbridles to his satisfaction, he then proceeded to give us\\ndirections how to find Oskaloosa. He pointed to a dim", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0099.jp2"}, "100": {"fulltext": "98 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nroad which led out south a little way (w^e couldu t see\\nfar ahead in the timber) and then he began: Now, girls,\\nafter you cross that slough turn to the right, follow along\\nwhere you see the trees blazed, and pretty soon you will\\ncome to a road where people have been hauling rails and\\nwood; keep on that road until you come to a creek, where\\nyou will see some logs lying lengthwise in the creek as a\\nkind of bridge; go slow and you will get over all right;\\nafter you have crossed the creek (which is about dry\\nnow) keep straight on the plainest road you see, which\\nwill take you through timber a half a mile or so; when\\nyou have gotten to the top of the hill after crossing the\\ncreek, you can then begin to see the open prairie; just\\nketp on until you come to a road v/hich looks like it had\\nbeen traveled a good deal; that road is right on the\\ndivide; when j^ou come to that road turn to the right,\\nand be sure you keep in the main track, and when you\\nhave gone about two miles you will have reached the\\ntown of Oskaloosa. You will find two stores in.Oskaloosa.\\nOne has a red flannel cloth hanging, out by the door, and\\nthe other has a sign (m the top with the word Grocery\\non it.\\nWe followed the doctor s directions and found every-\\nthing, trees blazed, logs thrown in the bottom of the\\ncreek which had very little water in it, and all just as he\\nhad told us. When v*^e reached the prairie and that\\nmuch- traveled road, and turned to the right, no town\\nwas in sfght, so vv^e rode on and talked, and admired the\\ncharming scenery all about us. I was looking at some\\nbeautiful groves over south, when my companion sudden-\\nly threw up her hands and exclaimed, Oskaloosa!", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0100.jp2"}, "101": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 99\\nWe stopped, sat on our horses and gazed. I think we\\nwere near where Mr. William Burnside now lives when\\nwe made the discovery. I had seen many crude and in-\\nsignificant-looking- towns, but Oskaloosa was the crudest\\nand the poorest looking town T ever saw. The country\\nall around was all that could be desired in prairie, lying\\nhigh and dry, tall grass waving, and the most beautiful\\ngroves here and there, looking like they were just invit-\\ning people to come and live in them. We saw one log\\nhouse some little distance to the right of the road which\\nwe afterward learned was Mr. Alfred Seevers There\\nwas another log house over to the left which was daring\\nenough to stand on the bare prairie without a single tree\\nwithin a half mile. This place seemed to be about a mile\\nfrom the little cluster of cabins called Oskaloosa. That,\\nwe w^ere informed, was Mr. James Seevers place. After\\nwe had discovered Oskaloosa we sat and gazed at it for\\nperhaps five minutes. How squatt}^ those little bits of\\ncabins looked, with not a thing to relieve the barrenness\\nexcept the tall blue-stem grass. From some of them\\ncould be seen smoke issuing from a joint of stovepipe\\nprotruding through a clapboard roof. The doctor had\\ntold us how we would know the business houses. He\\nsaid: You will, on first going into town, see a small log\\nhouse with a red flannel cloth hanging out by the door.\\nThat is Smith Cameron s store. A little farther over\\nyou will see a cabin with a sign on top, fastened to a\\nweight-pole, on which is painted in large letters the word\\nGrocery. That establishment is owned by the Jones\\nBrothers Grossman.\\nAs we sat gazing at the prospect before us, I counted\\nVf", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0101.jp2"}, "102": {"fulltext": "100 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nthe houses. It wasn t hard to do, for every house stood\\nout distinctly from every other house. There were just\\nfifteen of those rude dwellings and business places on\\nSeptember 14, 1844. We came in town from a south-\\neasterly direction and kept looking- for that red flannel\\nsign. Didn t see it at first, as we came in on the wrong\\nside of the house. That house, Smith Cameron s, was\\non lot one, block tw^enty-eight, old plat. Its front was\\ntoward the square, wdiere there was a great log elevated\\non forks or posts, with many big wooden pegs driven into\\nit in a convenient way for hitching horses. As we entered\\nthe town we saw no human being, man, woman, or child,\\nbut as we rode up to the store and just around the corner,\\nwhere we could see that flaming scarlet sign, a gentleman\\ncame out of the store door. My first thought on seeing\\nthat gentleman was, What a splendid looking man, and\\nwhat a poor little town! He w^as, I thought, as fine a\\nlooking specimen of young manhood as I had ever seen.\\nHe was tall, with stately bearing, handsome and distin-\\nguished looking. He came toward us, bowed and smiled,\\nled our horses up to a big box of lime (I could see the\\nlime through the cracks), assisted us to alight, and then\\ninvited us to walk into the store. He led our horses to\\nthat hitching place, threw the bridles over some of those\\npegs, and then harried into the store. He was making\\nan effort to display some of the w^ares offered for sale in\\nthe store, when another gentleman came in at the back\\ndoor. The first gentleman immediately gave up his ef-\\nforts to show goods and turned all over to the second\\ngentleman, who w^e were soon made to understand was\\none of the projn-ietors. I bought a pair of shoes which", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0102.jp2"}, "103": {"fulltext": "UEMINiSCENCKS. 101\\nI thought would be the kind to walk over hazel stubs\\nwith, my companion made some purchases, and then we\\nwalked over to the other mercantile house with the sign\\nof Grocery on top. That house stood on lot six, block\\ntwenty, old plat. Neither of those houses carried a very\\nheavy stock of goods, but quite enough to supply the de-\\nmand. We left the town without knowing the names of\\nany of the three gentlemen we had met.\\nBut when we told the doctor about our adventures\\nand described the gentlemen to him, he could tell us just\\nwho they were. That line looking young man whom\\nyou met lirst is Mica j ah T. Williams: he is a lawyer and\\nclerk of the court. The one you dealt with is Leper\\nSmith, one of the proprietors; his family lives in one of\\nthose little cabins. The man you saw at the sign of\\nGrocery was Mr. A. D. Jones, another lawyer, not one\\nof the proprietors, but another Jones altogether. We\\nasked the doctor how those lawyers came to be clerking\\nin those stores. O, he said, I can explain that easy\\nenough. You see, they have come to Oskaloosa to lo-\\ncate, and the place is so new, and accommodations for\\nany who have not come prepared to take care of them-\\nselves is so poor, they have to do any way they can.\\nThose young lawyers make the stores their stopping\\nplaces through the day. They get their meals and a place\\nto sleep in some of those cabins amongst the families.\\nThey will all divide their last bit of corn bread with a\\nyoung fellow who wants to locate in the town.\\nThe doctor had bought some lots in the town and liad\\nbeen there often and knew nearly everybody. At the\\nfirst sale of lots in Oskaloosa Dr. Hobbs bouglit lot 3,", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0103.jp2"}, "104": {"fulltext": "102 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nblock 28, o. p., which is on the south side of the square.\\nHe also bought lots 5 and 6, block 17, o. p., which is now\\nthe elegant home of Major McMullin\\nBy the middle of September, 1841, there were a good\\nmany families settled about all through Mahaska County.\\nOver on the Des Moines River and on the six mile prairie\\nwere the Boyers, the DeLashmutts, the Wilsons and the\\nNortons. Up north and west along the Skunk River\\ntimber were the Coffins, Samuel and John; the Troys,\\nthe Pad gets, the Liters, and about the centre, just\\nnorth of Oskaloosa, were the Springers, the Bonds, the\\nRolands, the Ewings, and not far southeast of the centre\\nwas a numerous family by the name of McMurray. Mr. and\\nMrs. McMurray had five sons and three daughters, nearly\\nall grown and none married. Different denominations\\nwere represented. The Cumberland Presbyterians\\nseemed to predominate. The McMurrays were Cumber-\\nland Presbyterians. Smith Cameron, of the store with\\nthe red flag, and several others in and around Oskaloosa\\nwere members of that church. The McMurrays had\\ncome from Illinois in 43, had lived in a little cabin like\\nthe others, but at the time I am speaking of had just fin-\\nished a hewed log house, and while it was brand new and\\nthe weather was pleasant they proposed to hold an all-\\nday meeting on Sunday, September 15th. They sent\\naway down to Jefferson, or Van Buren County, for a\\nnoted minister whom they called Uncle Johnny Berry.\\nThe McMurrays managed to send word to all parts of\\nthe county that there would be meeting at their house on\\ntliat day. My friends, Patterson and Amanda Martin,\\ninvited me to go with them to that meeting. They were", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0104.jp2"}, "105": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 103\\ng-oing- in an ox-wagon, and if I would accept a seat in\\nthat humble vehicle they w^ould be happy to have me do\\nso. I gdadly accepted their kind offer, and when Patter-\\nson and Amanda and little Mary came along that Sun-\\nday morning they found me dressed in my black silk\\ndress, straw bonnet and long black lace veil.\\nI supposed I would see the greater part of the inhab-\\nitants of Mahaska County there that day, and for that\\nreason I wanted to make as good an appearance as possi-\\nble. I wondered if the people generally would go in ox\\nwagcms. I thought a g Ood many would, as people rode\\nabout in this new place in any kind of rig they happened\\nto have. They were not very particular about the kind\\nof a team they drove, or vehicle they rode in. If the\\nteam was gentle and the wagon strong, that w^as all they\\nrequired. Those clumsy wagons and ox teams were in-\\ndispensable in opening up a new country. I think very\\nfew of those men and women who had come with the pur-\\npose of making homes in the wilderness, came wdth any\\nthought of being dissatisfied, disgusted, or surprised at\\nthe most commonplace and crude way of living and trav-\\neling about. It seemed to be the natural order of things;\\nthe people accepted it and went on. I don t think Pat-\\nterson, Amanda, little Mary or I felt any twinges of pride\\nworry us, or thouglit seriously of the fitness or unfitness\\nof things as we sat in those splint-bottom, straight-backed\\nchairs in that long wagon bed.\\nAs we slowly moved along near that Indian trail\\nthrough groves and glades and little native meadows,\\nour thoughts were of the great number of strange people\\nwe were likely to see at that meeting. Y7e hoped also to", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0105.jp2"}, "106": {"fulltext": "104 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nenjoy the preaching shiging, and praying. The Martins\\nhad not had any such privileg-e of worship for months. 1\\nwas glad of any kind of a meeting to go to. Tliough our\\noxen were of the patient, well behaved kind, they would,\\nas we passed throug-h masses of yellow and purple blos-\\nsoms and long- stemmed grass, reach out and snatch a\\nmouthful of the tempting- stuft occasionally, in spite of\\nMr. Martin s gentle taps with the ox-gad and his wo\\nhaw. Buck! and gee, Brin! The distance was not\\ngreat, only two and one-half miles, and we were among\\nthe first to arrive. The McMurrays, who had a house\\nfull of grown sons, and who were polite and accommo-\\ndating, took us in the new log house and gave Amanda\\nand I some very comfortable seats. They had jirovided\\nseats for a large number of people. There were two beds\\nin the room and a table for the minister with a Bible and\\nHymn Book on. The balance of the space in the new log\\nhouse was filled with benches made of jDuncheons. The\\none Amanda and I occupied was placed along the side of\\na bed, which made a comfortable back to lean against,\\nand besides that, was so placed that we could see every\\none who came in without more than turning our heads a\\nlittle. The people kept coming in, and in a few minutes\\nthe house was about full. I could see that the yard was\\nfull. Among the early comers who procured a seat in the\\nhouse was Micajah Williams, the distinguished looking\\nyoung man whom I had seen the day before, and who had\\ntreated the other young lady and myself with such Ches-\\nterfieldian politeness. Mr. Williams brought with him a\\nyoung lady whom I had not seen. She, I thought, was\\none of the handsomest girls I ever saw. Her complexion", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0106.jp2"}, "107": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 105\\nwas fair as fair could be, with just enoug h piuk in her\\ncheeks. Her eyes were blue, her hair a lig-ht brown, and\\nher mouth was simply perfect, while her form was lithe\\nand willowy. Persons who read this may think I am ex-\\naggerating, but if anybody who knew Mica j ah Williams\\nand Virginia Seevers in 44 ever reads this, they will say,\\nShe is telling the. truth. I sat there and wondered\\nhow two such elegant and charming looking young people\\never happened to find each other out in this almost un-\\nbroken wilderness.\\nPresently another person of somewhat striking ap-\\npearance stepped in the door and stood a few moments as\\nif looking for a seat, when some one made room for him\\njust by the door. As he stood in the door I glanced him\\nup and down, and in much less time than it takes me to\\nwrite it, I decided in my mind that he w^as a young man\\nof the sort which suited my taste. He was a little less\\nthan six feet high, well formed, symmetrically built, and\\ngraceful in his movements. Had dark brown hair, a little\\ninclined to curl, large gray eyes, an honest and fearless\\nexpression about his face. He was what I thought a\\nmanly looking young man.\\nIn the meantime the ministers and others were pre-\\nparing to begin the services. The McMurray boys were\\nall members of the church, and were prominent singers\\nin meetings like that. They gathered about the preach-\\ners, who w^ere on the other side of the room from where\\nI sat, and watched the people come in. Directly they be-\\ngan singing that good old hymn, Coronation, and were\\nmaking it fairly ring. My attention at first was attracted\\nto their singing, but liearing the most charming, soft,", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0107.jp2"}, "108": {"fulltext": "lOB MAHASKA COUNTY\\nmellow bass I had ever heard, I looked around and per-\\nceived that those mellow tones were made by the voice\\nof my g ray-eyed champion. There was more singing and\\nmore listening by me to that mellow bass; more admiring\\nbeautiful Virginia Seevers and that young Apollo,\\nMicaiah Williams.\\nThere was a very respectable looking congregation.\\nThey seemed to have gone down into their boxes and\\nchests and drawn out their old-fashioned finery, shaken\\nit, brushed it, and donned it for the occasion, Mr. Berry\\npreached, Mr. Jolly prayed, and the congregation sang,\\nled by the McMurrays. The forenoon services were\\nended, and a recess of two hours was announced, the\\ncongregation being dismissed with an earnest invitation\\nto attend the afternoon meeting. The McMurrays invited\\nMr. and Mrs. Martin and myself to take dinner with\\nthem and we accepted the kind invitation. As soon as\\nthe meeting was out 1 walked out in the yard, and was\\nsurprised to see so many people all through the grove.\\nHorses and oxen were hitched everywhere, and there\\nwere a great many heavy lumber wagons. I had expected\\nto see a good many people, but not quite such a crowd.\\nThey soon began to disperse. Among others, I saw that\\nyoung Apollo and the beautiful Virginia mount their\\nsteeds and go flying off over the prairie toward Oskaloosa.\\nI met my old acquaintance, Dr. Porter, and had a friendly\\ninterview with him. He seemed to know a good many of\\nthe people. I asked him who that beautiful young lady\\nwas with Mr. Williams. He said, She is Miss Seevers,\\ndaughter of Mr. James Seevers, who lives about a mile\\nsoutheast of town. I have not made her acquaintance,", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0108.jp2"}, "109": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 107\\nbut she is a beauty, isn t she? I asked who that young\\ng-entleman was, designating- the one with the line bass\\nvoice. Oh! he said, Do you remember the Phillips\\nfamily I told you about the morning I overtook you away\\ndown the road? Yes, I remember. Well, he went\\non to say, That is Mr. Gorrell Phillips, the eldest son\\nof A. G. Phillips. The family live adjoining town, or\\nwhere we expect to have a town. They are edl singers,\\nand we think are about right generally. In walking\\nabout the grounds surrounding the McMurray home, I\\nmet a handsome, well dressed young woman with a baby\\nin her arms. Se had beautiful yellow hair, brown eyes,\\na clear complexion, and was nice looking generally. I\\nwent up to her and engaged in conversation. We were\\nall sociable and didn t stand on ceremony then, and I told\\nher who I was and she told me that she was Mrs. John\\nWhite, and lived about a mile north of Oskaloosa. Her\\nbaby s name, she said, was Anestatia. She invited me\\nto visit her. I thanked her and assured her that I would\\ndo so if the opportunity ever came.\\nThe cabin which had formerly been the sole residence\\nof the McMurray family was near the hewed-log house,\\nand was used now as kitchen and dining room. It had,\\nlike others of its kind, a very w^ide fire-place, where the\\ncooking was done. Sarah McMurray was the young lady\\nof the family and was a host within herself. That\\nday, with very little assistance, she prepared and served\\nan excellent dinner to at least twenty persons besides\\ntheir own family. I wondered then, and have wondered\\never since, at the grace and ease with which she fed that\\nmultitude. To watch her seat one table full after another.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0109.jp2"}, "110": {"fulltext": "108 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nand bring on such bountiful supplies of good, wholesome\\nfood, one would have thought there was no end to her re-\\nsources. Cooking for a multitude by a log heap fire in\\none of those wide fire-places may now, I think, be reck-\\noned one of the lost arts. That was my first acquaint-\\nance with Sarah McMurray, but not by any means the\\nlast. I knew her well for many years. She w^as as capa-\\nble of entertaining a room-full at repartee as she was of\\nserving a dinner to a multitude under difficnlties, and as\\nready to minister to the sick w4th fevers as she was to in-\\ndulge in repartee. She not only relieved her mother of\\nall household cares and made all her own handsome\\ndresses (she did have handsome, nice-fitting dresses even\\nthen), but prepared dainties, cleaned up the cabins, cut,\\nmade, and mended the clothes for the children of sick\\nmothers down on the Skunk river bottom.\\nThe afternoon meeting at Mc Murray s was not so\\nwell attended as that in the morning, but there was a\\ngood audience of quiet, earnest, well-behaved people.\\nMr. Jolly preached, and one good old Christian lady whom\\nthe McMurrays called Aunt Polly Mathews, became\\nso happy during the meeting she shouted for joy. When\\nthat meeting ended, we again seated ourselves in our\\nsplint-bottomed chairs in that long wagon, after having\\nbidden good-bye and thanked the McMurrays for their\\nkind and hospitable treatment. Buck and Brin,\\nthose patient yoke -fellows, seemed to have spent the day\\nin quiet contentment, chained to a sapling, in the shade\\nnear the outskirts of the grove. They had not, while the\\nrest of us were feasting, been allowed to fast, for soon\\nafter our arrival Mr. Martin liad placed at tlieir disposal", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0110.jp2"}, "111": {"fulltext": "RE^IINISCENCES. 109\\na sh{^ck of new mown g rass procured from a slough near\\nby. Evidently the supply of g rass had more than met\\nthe dem.ands of hung^er, for while Buck was patiently\\nstanding holding up his end of the yoke, Brin had lain\\ndown on the remainder of that nutritious provender and\\nwas quietly chewing his cud. Mr. Martin, after unfasten-\\ning the chain from the sapling took his gad, gave a\\ngentle tap or two, spoke a few words which these docile\\nanimals seemed to understand, for they leisurely came up\\nand took their respective places by the wagon tongue.\\nMr. Martin hooked one end of the chain in the yoke,\\nfastened the other to the houns, then climbed in, seated\\nhhnself, and gave the signal to Buck and Brin which\\nstarted us back through groves and glades, tall trees and\\nyellow blossoms, to our homes, where we arrived just as\\nthe sun was going down on that eventful and pleasant\\nSeptember day. That evening I related to my uncle and\\naunt and cousins all incidents of the meeting- and trip,\\nwhich amused and interested them. Dear Aunt Delilah\\nwas interested in all my affairs, and I confided all my\\nlittle joys and sorrows to her as I used to do to my mother.\\nShe was like a mother to me and gave me her counsel\\nand sympathy. The next morning I was to begin teach-\\ning Mahaska s first school.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0111.jp2"}, "112": {"fulltext": "no MAHASKA COUNTY\\nCHAPTER X.\\nMrs. Effie Hoffman Rog-ers was comity superintendent\\nof schools in Mahaska County in 1893. One day she came\\nto my house and informed me that she was going- to ask\\nme to do something-, and would not take No for an\\nanswer. I wondered what it could be. She proceeded\\nto tell me of a scheme she had originated; she went on\\nto say: I am going to hold Normal in Penn College,\\nwhich will begin in three weeks. I am going to request\\nthree Oskaloosa ladies, on different days of the session,\\nto give a talk to the teachers and students, each on a dif-\\nferent subject. The ladies that I have chosen are Mrs.\\nJudge Blanchard, Miss Mary Loring, and yourself. What\\nI want you to talk about is Mahaska s first school, and\\nthe progress made since in schools, facilities for teach-\\ning, and educational work generally in Mahaska County.\\nYou taught the first school and you are the one to tell\\nabout it. You are supposed to know the facts and to be\\nable to tell them more correctly than any other person.\\nMrs. Blanchard and Miss Loring have consented and I\\nam not going to let you go until you consent. I told", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0112.jp2"}, "113": {"fulltext": "MAHASKA COUNTY 111\\nher I never could do that in the world. If I should under-\\ntake to make a speech before the talent and brains\\nassembled in an institution like that, I would blunder and\\nstammer and make such a failure that she and all the rest\\nwould be sorry I had undertaken it. She kept on urging\\nme until the thought came to me, I might write it up\\nand read my story, if that would do. I told her my\\nthought and she said, That will do. I promised to do\\nthe best I could and she went away. In a few days the\\nprogram was out with my name down for a talk I felt\\nthat I couldn t back out after that. So I wrote the story\\nof Mahaska s first school as well and as truthfully as\\nI could do it now, and vrill in this story give it just as I\\nread it to that assembly in Penn College on June 27, 1893:\\nMAHASKA S FIRST SCHOOL.\\nFifty years sounds like a long time to the young;\\n1843 seems to young people of to-day like a time away in\\nthe dim past. It don t seem so long ago to those who\\nwere young men and young women then. In 1843 a con-\\nsiderable tract of as iine land as the eye of man ever be-\\nheld (of which Mahaska County vos a part) had been\\npurchased by the United States from the Indians. The\\nIndians having on the first day of May of that year\\npeaceably retired to lands further west, this charming\\nregion was open to settlement by civilized white people.\\nA number of families from the settlements near the Miss-\\nissi])pi river took advantage of this opportunity to make\\nfor themselves homes. That was before the day of the\\ntelegraph. There was not a railroad within hundreds of\\nmiles of this grand region. Yet somehow its fame had\\nreached the ears of men and women away in the eastern", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0113.jp2"}, "114": {"fulltext": "112 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nstates and in the middle states, whose hearts were brave,\\nfortunes small, and children many. Some of those hon-\\nest, courageous, intelligent sons and daughters of Illi-\\nnois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia packed\\ntheir few household goods into wagons, bade farewell to\\nthe scenes of their childhood, the old familiar meeting\\nhouse, the school house, and with horses or ox teams\\nslowly wended their way toward this lovely but unculti-\\nvated garden. Some of these men left their families in\\nthe inhabited portions of the territory whilst they staked\\nout their claims and built log cabins. One room sufficed\\nfor a family, small or larg e. Some of these families even\\nlived for a while in bark huts which had been left by the\\nIndians, where beads were lying about in such quantities\\nthat children picked them up by the pint.\\nKishkekosii is not found on the map of Mahaska\\nCounty to-day. But that deserted village once had an\\nexistence on the bluffs overlooking the classic Skunk.\\nNear the deserted village was a deserted burying ground,\\nwhere in shallow graves in a sitting posture were found\\nskeletons of Indians of long ago. The young doctor of\\nthe settlement, being archeologically inclined, helped\\nhimself to one of these skeletons; his purpose, no doubt,\\nbeing the advancement of science. To the south and\\nwest of this village lay a stretch of country, prairie, in-\\nterspersed with groves, the beauty of which in its prim-\\nitive state no pen can truly describe. These groves of\\nlind and drooping elms, bordered with a fringe of crab\\napple and plum trees, just as God planted them, had a\\nbeauty all their own. This charming place chanced to\\nbe discovered by some of God s noblemen brave,", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0114.jp2"}, "115": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 113\\nbroad-shouldered, manly men. The wives of these men\\nwere brave, too. The most of these pioneer men and\\nwomen had been accustomed to the ordinary comforts of\\nlife, but they accepted the situation cheerfully. The\\nmen staked out their claims, built rude log cabins, broke\\ntheir ground, made rails and fenced their fields, planted\\ntheir crops, and went to work to establish homes and\\nprovide for their families. These families brought their\\nreligion with them. In nearly every one of these rude\\ncabins was erected an altar to the living God. When\\nthey gathered around their tables scantily supplied with\\ncoarse food, they bowed their heads and gave thanks.\\nThere were no houses of worship except God s first\\ntemples, these beautiful groves. Nor was there on\\nSeptember 1, 1844, a school-house in all this region called\\nMahaska County.\\nSometime in August of that year a young lady came\\nto accept the offered shelter of a home in the family of\\na relative who had settled in that neighborhood. This\\nyoung lady had taught two terms of school. Said young\\nlady had ciphered as far as the single rule of three, knew\\na little about Kirkham s grammar, something about geog-\\nraphy, could write a fair hand, had been first choice at\\nspelling schools, and had been known to spell down a\\nwhole school. Heads of families in this primitive settle-\\nment straightway set about devising means whereby they\\nmight avail themselves of the service of the learned\\nyoung woman as instructor to their children. In order\\nto accomplish this it was necessary to erect a school-\\nhouse. Although the official surveyors had not as yet\\ndesignated the section lines, those men had guessed", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0115.jp2"}, "116": {"fulltext": "114 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nabout where they were, and had staked off their claims\\naccordinj^dy. Each sixteenth section having been donated\\nby the g-overnment to the pul)lic for school purposes, was\\nin this case taken advantage of. This sixteenth section\\nwas covered mostly with timber oak, elm, and lind, with\\nlind predominating. Lind trees are not only beautiful to\\nlook upon, but easy to chop and split. One man who\\nparticularly felt an interest in having a school-house, and\\nin this young girl also, went around and invited five or\\nsix others to join him in the enterprise. They readily\\nacquiesced, set a day to commence, repaired to the woods\\non the border of the sixteenth section, taking with them\\naxes, mauls, wedges, froes, augers, saws, and br-oad axes.\\nThey then proceeded to chop down some lind trees, not\\ntaking time to hew them, but built a cabin of round logs,\\nleaving the bark on. They rived out boards of oak to\\ncover it, putting weight-poles on to hold the boards in\\nplace. The floor, benches, and writing desk were made\\nof puncheon. Puncheons are made of logs, split and\\nmade smooth on one side by hewing with a broad axe.\\nSome of these early settlers had become experts in hew-\\ning puncheons and riving clap-boards. This temple of\\nlearning was supplied with a sod chimney, a hearth long\\nand wide; not made with stone or brick, but with rich,\\nblack loam. A log was sawed out of one side of the\\nhouse, leaving a space eight or ten feet long, for the pur-\\npose of admitting light. One of these primitive carpen-\\nters, with a pocket knife, whittled out sticks the proper\\nlength, then placed them in an upright position at regular\\ndistances apart along this opening. Glass being a luxury\\nnot easily obtained, oiled foolscap paper was pasted over", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0116.jp2"}, "117": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 115\\nthis improvised window sash. In laying the foundation\\nof this edifice the architects were particular to observe\\nthe points of the compass. A door was made by sawing\\nout log s to the proper heighth and width. No shutter\\nwas provided, only an opening- looking- toward the south.\\nWhen the sun shone there was no trouble in telling- when\\nnoon came.\\nIn order that things mig-ht be done in a business-like\\nmanner, an article of agTeement was drawn up which\\nread something- like the following:\\nArticles of agreement made and entered into this,\\nthe ninth day of September, one thousand, eight hundred\\nand forty-four, between Semira A. Hobbs of the first part,\\nand the undersigned subscribers of the second part,\\nfor the consideration of the compensation hereinafter\\nnamed, the party of the first part agrees to teach a term\\nof school embracing thirteen weeks, beginning on Mon-\\nday, September sixteenth, one thousand, eight hundred\\nand forty-four. The party of the first part further agrees\\nto keep good order to the best of her ability, and teach\\nthe following branches, namely: spelling, reading, writing,\\narithmetic, geograph}^, and English grammar, for the\\nsum of one dollar and twenty-five cents i^er scholar. The\\nparty of the second part, for the faithful performance of\\nthe above promises, agree to pay the above named sum,\\nto- wit: one dollar and twenty-five cents, for as many as\\nare attached to our names.\\nAaron Cox, 6.\\nNathan Coontz, 3.\\nBrantley Stafford, 1.\\npoultney loughridge, 5.\\nJohn Cunningham, 3.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0117.jp2"}, "118": {"fulltext": "IK) MAHASKA COUNTY\\nThe 16th was ushered in with a charming- morning.\\nThe sun rose bright and clear. Everything looked aus-\\npicious\u00e2\u0080\u0094even the corn blades and pumpkin vines looked\\nglad. There was a hurrying and scurrying among the\\ngirls and boys to find their books and slates, which had\\nso long been unused. Then this young girl teacher with\\nsix pupils, all members of the same family, with a basket\\nof corn bread, some dried apple pie and a bottle of milk,\\nwent tripping over prairie and through groves to the new\\nschool-house a mile and a quarter away. How clean and\\nwhite that puncheon floor looked, how mellow the light\\nthrough that oiled paper window, how clean of any speck\\nof ashes or soot that sod fire-place. Directly there could\\nbe seen coming from different directions, bearing their\\ndinner baskets and books, groups of bright, healthy, hap-\\npy-looking children. These children came supplied with\\nsuch books as happened to be in their home; several\\nkinds of spellers, almost as many kinds of readers as\\nthere were children who could read. One of the larger\\ngirls brought an Olney s geography and atlas. That\\natlas had a map in it called the Map of the United\\nStates, but on that map was no Minnesota, no Dakota,\\nno Nebraska, no Kansas, no New Mexico, nor Colorado,\\nnor Wyoming, nor Idaho, nor Montana, nor Utah, nor\\nNevada, nor Arizona, nor any State called Washington\\nor California. This map was kind of three-cornered: at\\nthe upper left hand corner, bordering on the Pacific\\nOcean, wa-i a rather narrow looking strip called Oregon\\nTerritory. Between the Missouri River and the Rocky\\nMountains was a great almost blank space designated\\nuninhabited, and supposed to be uninhabitable. That", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0118.jp2"}, "119": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES, ll7\\nyoung girl teacher with those crude facilities did her\\nbest to instruct those boys and g-irls in the rudiments of\\nwhat is called a common school education. Every one\\nof them were well-behaved, obedient children, tried hard\\nto learn and made creditable advancement. That was\\none of Iowa s typical Falls. The prairies and sloughs\\nwere covered with yellow and purple blossoms. The\\ng-roves with their borders of sumach and hazel were\\naglow with all the shades of green and red and yellow\\nand brown. Deer and rabbits scamper over prairie and\\nslough, then darting into the thick groves were soon out\\nof sight. Those pioneers were good marksmen, and\\nalong with their corn bread had venison and prairie\\nchicken in abundance. One evening on returning from\\nschool the teacher was informed that the head of the\\nfamily had kflled a bear.\\nThe warm, hazy Indian Summer days lasted till away\\ntoward the last of November. But there came a time\\neventually when the sky was leaden and the northeast\\nwinds brought flakes of snow, which would sift through\\nthe chinks in the roof and walls, would scurry around\\nand find their way in through that open door. When the\\ncold became severe one of the kind, thoughtful mothers\\nsent a coverlet to hang over the door. There was no\\nlack of fuel, as there were great big chips, the result of\\nthat puncheon hewing, and plenty of dry sticks lying all\\nabout which made splendid fires. That big dirt hearth,\\nby much tramping of little feet, in course of time became\\nsunken to the depth of eight or ten inches below the\\nlevel of the floor, the edge of which made a convenient\\nseat, where the scholars could keep their feet warm and", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0119.jp2"}, "120": {"fulltext": "118 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nat the same time study their lessons. The teacher occu-\\npied a more dig-nified seat, as a straig ht-backed splint-\\nbottomed chair had been provided for her.\\nThe last two or three of the thirteen weeks seemed\\nto drag- along* pretty slow, but teacher nor scholars ever\\nhinted at such a thing- as giving up. These boys and\\ng-irls had pluck. They kept warm if they could, but did\\nnot whine if they were a little cold. They were used to\\ncold houses, with only a fireplace, where the face would\\nburn while the back would freeze. That was the order\\nof thing s generally. There was not a stove of any kind\\nin the whole community. The corn bread was baked in\\nskillets with coals underneath and coals on the lid. The\\nmeat and turnips were boiled in pots set on the fire. The\\nhospitality extended to strangers in those little log- cab-\\nins would amaze the dwellers in Oskaloosa s homes to-\\nday. Some of the boys and g-irls who were a part of that\\nlittle group which composed that humble school, have\\njoined the great majority. They who remain are old peo-\\nple now some are g-rand fathers and g-randmothers. All\\nare useful and respectable members of society, the kind\\nwe call the bone and sinew of the countr3^ Great things\\nhave often grown from very humble beginnings. That\\ncrude log cabin school-house with its oiled paper win-\\ndows, puncheon floor and sod chimney, its little band of\\nscholars and undeveloped teacher formed the nucleus\\naround which have grown substantial school-houses with\\nall the facilities for teaching- on nearly every section of\\nland in Mahaska County. Not only the country district\\nschool, but high schools with scholarly teachers, and col-\\nleges with a corps of professors of which Oskaloosa may", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0120.jp2"}, "121": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 119\\njustly be proud. That first school was a small affair, but\\nwas in keeping- with other things. Thing-s g-enerally\\nwere small and crude and humble.\\nAbout two and a half miles to the west of the spot\\nwhereon was located this much mentioned school, there\\nwas .a very diminutive villag-e. This villag^e did as other\\nvillag es are said to have done. It nestled, not in moun-\\ntain nooks, by babbling- brooks, but in the prairie grass.\\nEach one of the fifteen log- cabins seemed to be cuddled\\ndown in a nest of its own trying to hide in a species of\\ngrass known as blue stem. This village, when first\\nseen by that much mentioned teacher, on Saturday before\\nthe opening of that school, was only three months old,\\nbut had been christened Oskaloosa. These first im-\\npressions of Oskaloosa were made from a view, taken\\nwhen half a mile or more away. On coming into the town\\nthere was found to be in one of these little log cabins a\\nstore of general merchandise with a piece of red flannel\\nhung out by the door to designate the kind of business\\ncarried on within. When Oskaloosa was visited a month\\nlater, dozens of frame houses had been built and occupied.\\nCharles Purvine had built and was keeping a tavern (they\\ndid not call them hotels then) where the Downing House\\nis now. A. J. Davis, the Montana millionaire, had a store\\non the north side of the square. Wm. B. Street had a\\nstore on the west side. There were two blacksmith shops\\nand one tailor shop. All this in October, 1844. The\\npeople who founded Oskaloosa were rustlers. Most of\\nthe men and women who first occupied those little log\\ncabins were intelligent, high-souled, and full of pluck.\\nOskaloosa s daughters of to-day may be more scholarly,", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0121.jp2"}, "122": {"fulltext": "120 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nbut no more honorable and modest than her girls of\\n44. The young men who came with little money but\\nlots of brains, have made their way to fortune and to fame.\\nSome of the children and grandchildren of those early\\nlog cabin dwellers are to-day among Oskaloosa s most re-\\nspected and influential citizens.", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0122.jp2"}, "123": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 121\\nCHAPTER XI.\\nIn the summer of 1844, when I was teaching school\\nin the Brazelton neig^hborhood near Mt. Pleasant, one\\nevening- just as I was leaving- the school-house for my\\nboarding- place, two women came along- on horseback.\\nEach had a pair of saddle-bags thrown across her horse,\\nand a bag- or bundle hang-ing on the horn of the saddle.\\nThey halted a little and spoke to me. I immediately be-\\ncame interested in them and we entered into conversa-\\ntion. They informed me that they w^ere trying- to reach\\nTrenton that evening; had come from somewhere in Illi-\\nnois that day, and had crossed the Mississippi at Bur-\\nlington. I asked them where they lived. One of them\\nsaid, We are sisters and live away up in the New Pur-\\nchase. We became more interested in each other when\\nI told them about my relatives who were also living- in\\nthe New Purchase. They w^ere well acquainted with my\\nrelatives, and as I walked along the road and talked with\\nthem they told me about their husbands and children, and\\nhow they came to go back to Illinois where they moved\\nfrom to Iowa. Business and pleasure combined had taken", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0123.jp2"}, "124": {"fulltext": "122 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nthem back to the old neighborhood after living a year in\\nthe wilds of the New Purchase. Their husbands had to\\ntake care of their claims and crops, and they were brave\\nenough to make the journey alone and on horseback.\\nOne of those ladies was Mrs. Newton Seevers, who said\\nshe had two daughters old enough to keep house for their\\nfather in her absence. The other lady was Mrs. John W.\\nCunningham. She lived nearer my uncle s and could tell\\nme much about them. Those women had a genuine,\\nrespectable, kindly appearance which drew me toward\\nthem, and made an impression on me at once which has\\nlasted through all these years. There seemed to be little\\nprospect at that time of my ever seeing them again,\\nthough Mrs. Cunningham remarked when we parted, I\\nwish you would come up to the New Purchase and teach\\nschool, for I have a boy and two little girls that I would\\nlike to send to school to you. We bade each other good-\\nbye, all expressing the pleasure it had given us to have\\nmet in so unlooked-for a way, and hoped that we would\\nmeet again.\\nCircumstances which I have already related brought\\nme to the New Purchase, and not long after my arrival I\\nbecame well acquainted with the Cunningham family. A\\nwarm friendship was established between that family and\\nmyself which has lasted until the present day. The boy,\\nJoseph, and his sisters, Lizzie and Ella, were among my\\npupils in Mahaska s first school. Mr. Cunningiiam\\nwas a man of more than ordinary intelligence, and was\\nmuch better informed than the average pioneer settler.\\nThe whole family had gentle manners, and dispensed so\\nhospitably their plain new country fare that it was a solid", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0124.jp2"}, "125": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 123\\npleasure to visit them. Mr. Cunningham had a fine claim\\nsituated about two miles east of Oskaloosa. Mr. Charles\\nChick owns and lives on that place now. Joseph Cun-\\nning-ham died in early manhood. Lizzie and Ella grew to\\nbe lovely and handsome women. Lizzie married a gen-\\ntlemen by the name of Barr and lives in Illinois. Ella\\nmarried Dr. J. F. Smith, a Virginian, a successful busi-\\nness man and an honorable gentleman. Mr. and Mrs.\\nCunningham have long since been gathered to their\\nfathers. I have seen the fourth generation of that fam-\\nily, and all are a credit to their worthy ancestors.\\nMrs. Seevers has been a widow for many years. She\\nis now well on toward ninety, but quite well preserved,\\nboth physically and mentally. Her home is with her son\\nThomas Seevers, who is one of Oskaloosa s most pros-\\nperous business men. Thomas Seevers owns and lives in\\none of the most beautiful homes in the city.\\nThere were three families of Seev^erses who came to\\nMahaska County and made and located on claims near\\nOskaloosa in 1843. Newton Seevers, the father of Thomas,\\nwhom I have mentioned, and James Seevers, his brother.\\nNewton s claim was less than a mile directly east of the\\ntown, while James owned and lived on a fine claim about\\na mile southeast. Alfred Seevers, a cousin of Newton\\nand James, was located on a line claim east of Newton s.\\nGeorge Seevers, brother to Alfred, was unmarried when\\nhe came, but soon went back to Ohio and married a splen-\\ndid girl. He brought her to Iowa and settled on his\\nclaim, part of which is now known as Park Place. James\\nand Newton were from Virginia, but Alfred and George\\nwere from Ohio. Those Seevers brothers paid much", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0125.jp2"}, "126": {"fulltext": "124 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nattention to fruit raising-. I think they had the first apples\\nof anybody in the county. Some two or three years after\\nthe first settling of the country about Oskaloosa, Robert\\nSeevers, a brother to Alfred and George, came with his\\nfamily from Ohio, and bought a beautiful place a mile or\\nso from town to the southwest, where he and his wife are\\nliving- to-day. Robert Seevers, as well as his brothers,\\nhas paid much attention to fruit growing-, and has always\\nbeen authority on apples.\\nWhen Robert Seevers and his wife came to Mahaska\\nCounty they were the proud parents of three sons, very\\nsmall boys then, but now are middle ag-ed men and all\\nprominent citizens of Oskaloosa. Georg-e, the eldest, is\\na prominent attorney; Byron, the second, is called the\\nscholar, and Will, the third, is called one of Oskaloosa s\\nbest business men. These scions of the house of Seevers\\nmust be possessed of judg-ment, personal attractions,\\nluck, or something-, for every last one of them married\\nsplendid women. Robert Seevers is over nhiety years\\nold, but is still vig-orous both in body and mind. These\\nSeeverses, James, Newton, Alfred, George and Robert,\\nwere the old set, who were men of families, and among-\\nthe first settlers about Oskaloosa. Like others that I\\nhave mentioned, they lived in log cabins and patiently\\nand honestly endured the hardships and privations at-\\ntending the settling- of this part of Iowa. The wives of\\nthose Seeverses were not lacking in judg-ment, patient\\nendurance and helpfulness the qualities necessary to\\nenable their husbands to succeed in opening- up a new\\ncountry. I was acquainted with every one of them and\\nknow what I am talkinjr about. While the Seevers men", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0126.jp2"}, "127": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 125\\nwere breaking prairie, splitting rails and planting out\\norchards, the Seevers women were not only cooking\\nwashing and mending but were planting g ardens and\\nraising chickens. Besides what was absolutely neces-\\nsary, they whitewashed their cabin w^alls, planted and\\ncultivated the old-fashioned flowers and trained morning\\nglory vines about their cabin doors, which gave to their\\nrustic homes a look of sweetness and attractiveness often\\nlacking in moden and expensive homes. Those Seevers\\nmen were fine-looking manly men, honorable and high-\\nspirited, intelligent and honest. The kind of men wdio\\ngive credit to any community. With their other com-\\nmendable qualities they happened to have the good sense\\nto choose superior women for their w4ves. If any of the\\npresent generation of the Seevers family should become\\nunworthy citizens, they can t blame it to the example of\\nthose worthy ancestors.\\nI have known five generations of the Seevers family.\\nMr. Henry Seevers, the father of James and Newton,\\ncame here and spent the summer of 1846 with his sons.\\nHe was from Winchester, Virginia, and was a typical Vir-\\nginia gentleman. He w^ore a black broadcloth swallow-\\ntailed coat, silk hat, and carried a gold-headed cane. He\\nmust have been well advanced in years, but was erect and\\nwalked with a firm step. He w^as tall and distinguished\\nlooking, aft able, friendly, with the most gentle manners.\\nI met him frequently, and used to think his children and\\ngrandchildren must feel very proud of him. He went\\nwith the rest of the men in this region on the 4th of July\\nto Fairfield to attend the land sales, where I think the\\nSeeverses all entered the claims they occupied at the first.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0127.jp2"}, "128": {"fulltext": "126 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nJames Seevers and Rebecca, his wife, had six sons\\nand one daughter. William H., the eldest, was a bright\\nyoung man; studied law, and was admitted to the bar in\\nan early day. He rose step by step in his profession until\\nhe reached a place on the Supreme Bench of Iowa. Three\\nyears ago he died, honored and lamented, not only by the\\nwhole community in which he had lived, but by the State.\\nIn early life he married Miss Caroline Lee, a young lady\\nof more than ordinary intelligence, and possessing many\\nnoble traits of character. She survives him, and also\\nfive of their children, who are prosperous and respected\\nmembers of society.\\nAs one drives about the town of Oskaloosa, ever and\\nanon they pass an elegant home owned and occupied b}\\nsome member of the Seevers family. I have known the\\nSeeverses in their rude and rustic cabins, and have lived\\nto see many of them living in luxury and elegance; but\\nwhether they dwell in mansion or log cabin, their dignity\\nand self respect has always commanded the respect of\\ntheir neighbors. The character which riches and honors\\ndo not puff up, nor poverty degrade.\\nMr. James Seevers beautiful daughter, Virginia, in\\nSeptember, 1845, was married to Micajah T. Williams,\\nwhom I have before mentioned as the first man I saw in\\nOskaloosa. I think they were the handsomest couple I\\never saw. The little frame house where they first went\\nto housekeeping stands there yet, looking small, shabby,\\nand dilapidated; but I remember well a time when we\\nyoung folks all thought it nice indeed. I don t think\\nthere were more than half a dozen frame dwelling houses\\nin Oskaloosa when Micajah and Virginia went to house-", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0128.jp2"}, "129": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES.\\n127\\nkeeping in that little frame house of two rooms. How\\nsweet and cozy and comfortable that little home looked,\\nwith its new rag carpet, and bed so nicely made up with\\na pretty patch- work quilt and snowy pillows! The little\\nnew cooking stove with its bright tin furniture every\\npiece placed in just what seemed exactly the right place.\\nTalk about high art. Some of those women who\\nhelped to found the town of Oskaloosa, away back in the\\nforties, were artists without knowing it. How plain I\\ncan see everything in the unpretentious home of that\\nhandsome young couple! though to see it I must look\\nback with the mind s eye over more than half a centery.\\nThey lived in that cottage several years, but not w^ithout\\nmaking several small additions to the same, which ren-\\ndered it wdiat was thought comfortable and convenient in\\nthat early day. Their two charming daughters were born\\nin that cottage, but before they became young ladies\\ntheir parents had purchased and occupied what was at\\nthat time one of the most imposing and substantial houses\\nin Oskaloosa. There the daughters, Alice and Beulah\\nJoselle, the pride of their parents and of Oskaloosa,\\ngrew to charming, accomplished, and beautiful woman-\\nhood. They were daintily brought up, and had every ad-\\nvantage of education by schools and travel, w^ith the\\ninheritance of beauty, grace, and good sense from their\\nparents. They were not spoiled by high social position\\nand flattering attention.\\nAlice, when quite young, married Mr. George Ben-\\nnett, a talented young man of good family. Alice has\\nbeen a wddow many years. George, the husband of her\\nyouth, like many another bright young man from low^a,", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0129.jp2"}, "130": {"fulltext": "128 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nsleeps his last sleep on the shore of the mighty Pacific.\\nBeulah, their only daug hter and only child, is a young\\nlady now and is endowed with a fine mind and many no-\\nble traits of character. Beulah Joselle, Jo, as we\\nalways called her, beautiful, queenly Jo, whose manners\\nwere dignified, though kind, gentle, though affable to-\\nward all, with never an unkind word for any. A queen\\namong Oskaloosa s many lovely daughters, she married\\nJudge L. C. Blanchard, one of Oskaloosa s most promi-\\nnent citizens; a statesman, a successful business man\\nand an honored member of society. Judge Blanchard\\nmade for his charming wife an elegant home, but after a\\nfew years of happy wedded life that beautiful and peace-\\nful home was broken into by that relentless reaper who\\nis no respecter of homes nor individuals. The honored,\\nthe respected, the idolized Jo was by a weeping multi-\\ntude followed to the city of the dead. In that same si-\\nlent city, under a spreading oak, with a great boulder at\\ntheir feet, lie side by side, Micajah and Virginia Williams.\\nOn that great boulder is chiseled the name, Micajah T.\\nWilliams.\\nJohn White was one of the men who staked oft his\\nclaim before daylight on the morning of May 1st, 1843,\\nadjoining what was afterward the county seat, Oskaloosa.\\nJohn White, John Montgomery, Felix Gesford, D. W.\\nCanfield and others had stealthily spied out the ground\\nand had agreed upon their respective claims. They were\\nnot afraid of each other infringing, but of unknown par-\\nties who might be hidden around like themselves. Those\\nmen staked out their claims peaceably. John White s\\nclaim lay immediately north of what was chosen as the", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0130.jp2"}, "131": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 129\\ntown quarter. The U. S. government reserves the\\nprivileg-e of choosing- a quarter section of land anywhere\\non the public domain to locate a county seat upon. John\\nMontg omery heippened to select and stake out the very\\nquarter the commissioners wanted afterward for the\\ncounty seat. Mr. Montgomery had to give up his favor-\\nite piece of land and take claims elsewhere. Mr. M.\\nwas nicely fixed in the way of land, about which I will\\nhave more to say after a while.\\nJohn White built a cabin on his claim, said cabin be-\\ning located about a mile directly north of the public\\nsquare in Oskaloosa. There he brought his family wife\\nand two children \u00e2\u0080\u0094early in the Spring of 1844. Not long\\nafter, a little girl was born to them whom they named\\nAnestatia. I presume Anestatia was the first white\\nchild born anywhere around here. Anestatia died when\\nshe was six or seven years old. Mr. and Mrs. White had\\na son Edmond and a daughter Mary when they came to\\nMahaska County. John White was an energetic and\\nshrewd business man. His prosperity soon began to be\\ntalked about through the country. I often heard the\\nremark, How well John White is getting along, or If\\nJohn White keeps on as he is going he will soon be the\\nrichest man in the ccmnty. Their prophecies and sur-\\nmises turned out to be true, for John White, wdien he\\ndied, December 24th, 1870, was by far the wealthiest man\\nin the county. The Whites didn t get rich by pinching\\nand saving. They always, from the very first, had the\\nbest the country could afford. Mrs. White s neatness\\nand cleanliness became a proverb throughout this region.\\nThe first time I ever was in her house I was overwhelmed", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0131.jp2"}, "132": {"fulltext": "130 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nwith the supreme cleanliness of everything in that log\\ncabin. I just stood and stared. I had seen many cozy,\\nclean cabins, but had never seen anything that equaled\\nthat. The walls and joists and boards overhead were\\nwhitewashed as white as snow; the two beds were dress-\\ned m counterpanes as white as white could be, and the\\npillow cases were snowy white and looked like they were\\njust from under the iron. Every piece of tinware shone\\nlike silver, and her brass kettle like burnished gold; the\\nandirons in the wide fireplace were polished, the ashes\\ntaken up clean and the hearth swept to perfection; there\\nwere two or three strips of rag carpet on the floor, but a\\nconsiderable space was bare, but those bare puncheons\\nwere scoured until they were in a state of cleanliness not\\noften witnessed.\\nMrs. White s morning work was not entirely com-\\npleted when I arrived that morning, so she went on and\\nfinished her dishes; and just as she put the last plate in\\nthe cupboard, she brought out a pan full of broken sand-\\nstone, remarking as she showed it to me: John was down\\non the creek yesterday and he came across this fine, soft\\nsandstone, and thinking it would be just the thing to\\nscour with, he brought a lot of it home. She then pro-\\nceeded to pound up a lot of that sandstone until it as-\\nsumed the consistency of fine sand. Then she gathered\\nup every tin pan, bucket, coffee pot, and tin cup in the\\nhouse, and went to work on them with that sand. She\\nfinished the tin things, and then the brass kettle was made\\nto take on a polish not often seen outside of Mrs. White s\\nkitchen. After all that she tackled the wooden bread\\nbowl and gave it a thorough scouring. I sat and gazed", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0132.jp2"}, "133": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 131\\nwith admiration and amazement. I thought everything\\nin that cabin was as clean and shining as it could be be-\\nfore she began. I said, Mrs. White, I think you excel\\nany woman I ever saw in making things shine. Oh!\\nshe said. If you think I am a good housekeeper, you\\nought to have seen my mother s housekeeping. She\\nkept her shovel and tongs and tea-kettle handle polished\\nlike silver all the time. Mrs. White didn t limit her\\nbeautifying of things to the inside of her cabin, but kept\\na nicely swept door-yard, trained morning glories and\\ncypress vines about her windows, and out in front she\\ncultivated a great billowy mass of pinks and bachelor\\nbuttons, and marigolds and four o clocks, of every shade\\nand color. Mrs. White could make of a cabin in the\\nwilderness a veritable bower of beauty.\\nThe Whites were not like many others who came in\\nthe very early days, poor and barely able to exist, but\\nw^ere quite well-to-do when they lived in Jefferson County.\\nMr. White once told me that he was worth four thousand\\ndollars in money and other property when he came to\\nMahaska County. If he did outstrip his fellows in the\\nrace for wealth, he had a better start than almost any\\nman I knew of the early settlers. As I said before, they\\ndidn t get rich by scrimping and denying themselves the\\nordinary comforts of life. Mr. White, from the begin-\\nning, provided bountifully for his family. If the neces-\\nsaries in the way of food were not to be obtained around\\nhere, he went off somewhere else and got them. They\\nentertained hospitably and bountifully. Mrs. White was\\nnot only the best of housekeepers as regards carefulness\\nand cleanliness, but was an exquisite cook. The day I", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0133.jp2"}, "134": {"fulltext": "132 MAHASKx^ COUNTY\\nwent there and she amazed me so with her neatness and\\nshiningness of everything, I stayed and took dinner with\\nthem. Her dinner was served with a taste and skill as\\nunusual as were her other housekeeping- performances.\\nThe snowy, home made linen table cloth, with every\\ncrease made by the iron distinctly marked. The delicious\\ng-reat big slices of fried ham, placed in the platter in a\\nway to look the most tempting, with cream gravy poured\\nover. A dish heaped up with mashed potatoes, with a\\nhollow place on top wherein was a big lum]) of butter.\\nBiscuit tender, white, and puffy, the making of which,\\nI think, is a lost art. A great roll of golden butter not\\na little thin slice but a big roll, so artistically printed it\\nseemed a pity to cut into it. Old-fashioned Java coffee,\\nthe kind which has gone clear out of fashion. If we had\\nthe same kind of coffee to-day, I don t think my French\\nchef could excel in making coffee such as Mrs. White\\nserved at that unpretentious dinner in her log cabin. I\\nhave visited Mrs. White in her elegant home, furnished\\nwdth every luxury of modern times; have dined at her\\nboard, glittering with cut glass and burnished silver; but\\nnone of it impressed me like the exquisite taste and skill\\ndisplayed in V)eautifying her cabin home, and the superb\\ncooking she did by that old-fashioned fire-place.\\nMany years ago Mr. White built an elegant home on\\nthe spot where their log cabin stood, and furnished it\\nwith everything beautiful from garret to cellar. As they\\nwent from room to room in that splendid home they went\\nwith sad hearts. A long row of little graves in the Old\\nCemetery tells the story. Their elegant home, broad\\nacres, stocks, bonds, silver and gold w^ere no bar against", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0134.jp2"}, "135": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 133\\nthat relentless reaper who claimed one after another of\\nthose lovely children, sparing- none but baby Jennie. I\\nremember a conversation I once had with Mrs. White\\nwhen Jennie was a baby in her arms, and she only had\\none other child left, Iowa, who was a young l)rig]it, hap-\\npy-looking- girl. Mrs. White had a settled sadness in her\\nface as she talked of one child after another that had\\nbeen taken. To divert her mind from her bereavement\\nI commenced talking about her home and complimenting\\nher on her beautiful surroundings. She looked around\\nwith a sig-h, and replied: O, yes; I have everything I\\ndesire in house and furniture and husband, but my chil-\\ndren have been taken one by one, until I only have these\\ntwo left, and I am looking- for them to be taken from me\\nas all the rest have been. Happy Iowa was snatched\\naway in her youth, and the sorrowing parents saw an-\\nother mound of earth added to the already numerous\\ngroup. But Jennie, the baby, was spared.\\nJohn White was a g-ood-looking man, a little less\\nthan six feet high, was active and quick in his move-\\nments; his hair was dark brown, his eyes blue-gray; he\\nwas a kind and obliging neighbor, was without affecta-\\ntion and the patronizing airs some men assume when\\nthey have outstripped their fellows in the race for\\nwealth. There is an addition to Oskaloosa, laid out by\\nJohn White, and called White s Addition.\\nMr. White was always prosperous, and sound finan-\\ncially. At the time of his death he was successfully car-\\nrying on the banking business. About the time of Mr.\\nWhite s death, two young men, brothers, Israel and\\nErnest Gibbs, came from New England to Oskaloosa and", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0135.jp2"}, "136": {"fulltext": "134 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nestablished themselves in the business of banking-. They\\nwere not only fine business men, but handsome and dis-\\ntinguished-looking Israel married one of Oskaloosa s\\nfairest daug^hters, Miss Lucy Dodg-e, who is not only\\nfair, but lovely in character. When John White died,\\nJennie, his little daug-hter, was hardly beyond childhood.\\nWhen she became a young lady, her manners were pleas-\\ning, her face was fair, and she married Mr. Ernest Gibbs,\\nwho is and always has been a successful business man.\\nMr. and Mrs. Gibbs have one daughter, Nellie, a\\nbright and sparkling girl; she is handsome, like her\\ngrandmother once was. Mr. Ernest Gibbs has done much\\nfor the improvement of Oskaloosa; he has built many\\nsubstantial business houses and numerous handsome\\ndwellings. The poor of Oskaloosa and vicinity have rea-\\nson to bless Ernest and Jennie Gibbs, for they have been\\nfed and clothed and sheltered and warmed by these kind-\\nhearted and benevolent citizens.", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0136.jp2"}, "137": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES.\\n135\\nCHAPTER XII.\\nWhen I beg^an my story, my purpose was to relate\\nmy recollections of the early settlers, their heroism in\\nbattling- with the hardships and privations they were\\ncompelled to meet in converting the wilderness into the\\ngrand and glorious land we see to-day. My idea was to\\ngive to the present generation a plain and true account\\nof the way things appeared to me in that long ago time.\\nBut I find myself continuaUy wanting to tell about the\\nchildren and grandchildren of those honest pioneers who\\nhave done and are still doing honor to themselves and to\\ntheir worthy ancestors.\\nThis part of Iowa did not have for its first white set-\\ntlers a lot of thieves and schemers. There may have\\nbeen a few of that sort, but if there were I can t think\\nof any just now. All that I knew, and I knew a good\\nmany, were honest and obliging, willing that their neigh-\\nbors should enjoy all the rights they claimed for them-\\nselves. They were generally God-fearing, Christian\\npeople, and had faith in God and in one another. The\\nfirst settlers in the town of Oskaloosa, and the country", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0137.jp2"}, "138": {"fulltext": "136 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nimmediately surrounding it, were the people I knew most\\nabout in the pioneer days. There were little groups of\\nsettlers here and there all over the county, I knew the\\nreputation of almost all, and was personally acquainted\\nwith many of those who were among the first to make\\nhomes in the wilderness. There was Dr. Warren, who\\nlived in the extreme western part of the county; he prac-\\nticed medicine, and was well spoken of as a physician,\\nand was a grand, good man. He was a devout Metho-\\ndist, and would go a long way to attend a religious meet-\\ning, especially Methodist. He was a licensed preacher,\\nbut did not take a regular circuit.\\nIn 1845, when there was not a meeting-house in Ma-\\nhaska County, the first court-house was built at the\\nnorthwest corner of the public square in Oskaloosa, on\\nwhat was called the eye-tooth lot. Not long after it\\nwas finished, the Methodists held quarterly meeting\\ntherein. As is the custom among Methodists, they held\\nwhat is called an experience, or speaking meeting. In\\nthat day it was their habit at those meetings to testify,\\nor relate their religious experience, especially their con-\\nversion and the circumstances leading up to the same.\\nThere were Methodists here and there all over the coun-\\nty, or wherever there were a few families living near\\nenough together to call each other neighbors. The\\nMethodist folks from those remote settlements, as well\\nas those near by, were at that meeting. Those people\\nstrangers one to another -had come from difl:erent States\\nand different localties; many of them had not had a priv-\\nilege like that for months. I saw many faces there I\\nhad never seen before; many were shabbily dressed,", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0138.jp2"}, "139": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. io\\nwomen came with smibonnets on, and some with little\\nbabies in their arms; men in threadbare old-fashioned\\nclothes. But honesty and earnestness of purpose were\\nplain to be seen in their faces, though brown with expos-\\nure to sun and prairie winds. T can see them yet, though\\nmore than half a hundred years have come and gone\\nsince I sat with tears in my eyes and listened to the art-\\nless stories, told with simple eloquence, of the time,\\nplace and circumstances which led to their giving their\\nhearts to the Lord and finding peace to their souls. I\\nremember one young woman in particular. I didn t know\\nwho she was then, and I don t know yet, but in my mind\\nI see her as she stood up in that meeting with a calico\\nsunbonnet on and a little baby in her arms, and with\\ntears streaming down her face, told about giving her\\nheart to God at a camp-meeting back in Indiana, and that\\nHe had kept her in peace, though far from her old home\\nand from meeting, living with only her husband and baby\\nin a cabin a long way from neighbors. She went on to\\nsay: If it was not for my faith in God I don t know what\\nI would do. Wolves howl around my house and rattle-\\nsnakes crawl in my yard. Often when my husband is\\naway from morning till night, breaking prairie or making\\nrails, I am compelled to leave my baby and go away off\\nto a slough to get water. When I start I lift my heart to\\nGod and say, Lord, please to take care of my baby, and\\nthe Lord has always taken care of me and my baby. I\\nhave suffered no harm, though I have met many a rattle-\\nsnake on my way to the slough. When that woman had\\nceased speaking I saw tears in the eyes of many a rugged,\\nsun-burned man.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0139.jp2"}, "140": {"fulltext": "138 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nAfter many others had testified, Dr. Warren rose up\\nand made a speech which I have not forgotten; neither\\nhave I forgotten the way he appeared to me that day.\\nHe was near six feet high, with dark brown hair, and\\ngray eyes with a tenderness in their expression. There\\nwas a look about him of chivalrous manliness that women\\nare not afraid to meet, though they were alone in a wil-\\nderness. His voice and look were the kind that children\\ninstinctively take to; but what he said was this:\\nMy Christian friends, brothers and sisters, I find\\nmyself a stranger in a company who seem to be strangers\\nto each other; many of us never saw each other s faces\\nuntil we came to this meeting. We seem to have come\\nto this meeting with a common purpose that of worship-\\ning the God and Father of us all, and of having our spir-\\nitual strength renewed. We have come to this new coun-\\ntry from various States and various localities; the places\\nof our nativity are widely separated from each other;\\nthere are scarcely two families from the same neighbor-\\nhood. I have listened with much interest to the stories\\ntold by one and another, of your conversion, faith and\\nChristian experience. As you talked, this thought came\\nto me. No matter how diversified our homes and sur-\\nroundings, whether among the tall poplars and clear,\\ngravelly streams of Ohio and Indiana, the blue grass\\nmeadows of Kentucky, the wide prairies of Illinois, the\\nhills and springs of Tennessee, or the New Purchase of\\nIowa, the religion of Jesus Christ is the same. Forsaking\\nsin, resolving deep down in the heart to serve God, and\\ntrusting in the Lord Jesus Christ are followed by the\\nsame results, no matter where. I will go from this meet-", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0140.jp2"}, "141": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 139\\ning with my heart full of thankfulness. May the Lord\\ncontinue to bless and keep you all.\\nDr. Warren was an educated Christian gentleman;\\nhe went, after a long and useful life, to an honored grave.\\nSome of his children and grandchildren are citizens of\\nMahaska County to-day, and are valuable members of\\nsociety. Dr. Warren s son, Robert Warren, is now a cit-\\nizen of Des Moines, but his boyhood, his young manhood,\\nand his mature manhood days, clear on to the days when\\nmen arrive at the place where they begin to go down the\\nhill of life, were spent in Mahaska County. Robert\\nWarren has been a member of the State Legislature, and\\nin many w^ays honored with the confidence of Mahaska s\\ncitizens. Robert Warren is a man amongst men; he is a\\nfine-looking man, rather tall and well-proportioned, and\\nlike his father, at first sight one would feel that he was a\\nman to be trusted.\\nNot long after coming to Mahaska County I heard\\nthat the Rev. Allen Johnson was in this region, and\\nabout two weeks after I began teaching that first school,\\nI was told that Bro. Johnson was going to preach in Os-\\nkaloosa. I borrowed my uncle s black horse, Phillis, and\\ncame on a new road to Oskaloosa. Bro. Johnson preach-\\ned in an unfinished and unoccupied log house. There\\nwas no floor, but the walls were up, a clapboard roof on,\\nand a door sawed out. From somewhere, I presume\\naway down in Jefferson or Van Buren County, Mr. Can-\\nfield, the owner of said house, must have gotten the\\nplank of which some seats were improvised, and a sort\\nof raised platform at one end. I have learned since that\\nthe first court ever held in the county was held in that", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0141.jp2"}, "142": {"fulltext": "140 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nhouse, and that platform was the judge s bench. Rev.\\nJohnson preached from that rostrum that day to an audi-\\nence of perhaps thirty persons. He told us he would\\npreach two weeks from that day at the house of Dr.\\nWeatherford, where he proposed to organize a Methodist\\nsociety, or class. The house where Bro. Johnson preach-\\ned on that 29th of September, 1844, stood on Lot 5, Block\\n20, o. p., Oskaloosa. Dr. Weatherford s house was on\\nLot 7, Block 19, o. p., Oskaloosa. When that meeting\\nwas out and I had gone out of the house, I met my old\\nacquaintance, Dr. Porter, who was very polite and pro-\\nposed to assist me in mounting my horse, which was\\nhitched up by Smith Cameron s store. The doctor had\\nmuch to tell me as we walked along toward Phillis, about\\nOskaloosa s prospects and possibilities. I remember\\nwith what pride he pointed to a pile of lumber on the\\neast side of the public square, saying, We are going to\\nhave a tavern. Mr. Charles Purvine is going to build\\nright away, and won t that be a Godsend to we young\\nfellows? And not only to us, but to the people we have\\nbeen sponging on? I guess you have not been spong-\\ning very bad, I replied. I don t know what else to\\ncall it, he said, for here are Cage Williams, A. D.\\nJones, Esquire Edmundson and myself without a roof to\\ncover our heads. If the people in these little cabins you\\nsee around here didn t shelter us and feed us and let us\\nhave a place to hang around in we would have to leave,\\nor camp out on the prairie and go hungry. Of course,\\nwe try to compensate them, but we all feel like we are\\ncontracting a bigger debt of gratitude than we can ever\\npay. That seems to ])e the natural order of things,", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0142.jp2"}, "143": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 141\\nI replied, my uncle and aunt take in everybody that\\ncome along make beds on the floor, feed them and their\\nteams, and I never hear them say anything about debts\\nof gratitude. Well, said the doctor, if there are\\nnot a whole-souled lot of people around here, I don t\\nknow wdiere you would gx) to And them.\\nI climbed on a box, the doctor led Phillis up beside\\nit, I took my seat in the saddle and joined my friend,\\nPatterson Martin. He had found a much shorter road to\\nOskaloosa than the one the doctor s wife and I traveled\\non our first visit.\\nI never think of those early times without remem-\\nbering- the unfeigned friendship and kindness of Patter-\\nson and Amanda Martin. Little Mary, who was a baby\\nwhen I first knew them, is the wife of Mat Crozier, one\\nof Mahaska s prosperous farmers, and has a house full of\\nsons and daughters of her own. John N. Martin, the\\nsecond child of Patterson and Amanda Martin, Captain\\nMartin now, served his country throug-h the war of the\\nrebellion, and is a respected citizen of Oskaloosa. Pat-\\nterson Martin sleeps in Forest Cemetery. His devoted\\nwife had a handsome monument erected to his memoiy,\\nand his children plant flowers on his g rave. His widow,\\nAmanda, owns and occupies with her son Byron a valua-\\nble little farm and a comfortable and pretty cottag-e, not\\nfar from the place where they built their first cabin.\\nAmanda Martin, one of the very few of we old set-\\ntlers who are left to tell the story of the early days, is\\nbent with ag^e and broken in health, but she, by great\\neffort, comes to see me often. I am always glad to see\\nher, and every time we meet we have a talk about the", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0143.jp2"}, "144": {"fulltext": "142 MAHASKA COUNTY\\npeople and the things of long- ago. In all the fifty-five\\nyears that she has gone in and out among the people of\\nthis region, no one can truthfully say a word of harm of\\nAmanda Martin. She was a self-sacrificing wife and\\nmother, a kind and obliging neighbor, an humble Chris-\\ntian. Her children have reason to be proud of the mother\\nwho has lived in one neighborhood more than half a cen-\\ntury, and all that time had the confidence and respect of\\nher neighbors.\\nAmanda Martin came with her husband and baby to\\nthe New Purchase in 1843, lived in the crudest of crude\\ncabins, and endured all the hardships of first settlers.\\nAt first their shanty was hardly a bar against the wolves\\nthat made night hideous with their howling. Deer were\\nso plentiful they were often seen near their house; in\\nthose days deer were sometimes run down by dogs. One\\nday Mr. Martin s dogs ran two deer close to their house;\\nthey were so near worried out that Mr. Martin killed\\nthem with an ax. That was late in the Autumn of 1844.\\nI remember how excited he was when he came to my\\nuncle s house, bringing a great big piece of venison and\\nrelating his adventures. We were surprised, for that\\nwas an unusual feat, even in that time of plenty, in the\\nway of game.\\nThere was a family by the name of Coontz, living not\\nfar from my uncle s. Their children all went to my\\nschool. One day, not far from the time Mr. Martin had\\nslaughtered the two deer, Mrs. Coontz came running\\nwith all her might, bare-headed and screaming:\\nMr. Cox; a bear! Mr. Cox; a bear!\\nUncle Aaron, as soon as he caught her meaning,", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0144.jp2"}, "145": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 143\\nsnatched his ritle from its wooden hooks above the cabin\\ndoor, slung on his powder horn and proceeded to follow\\nMrs. Coontz. She managed to tell him on the way that\\nshe had heard a pig squealing- down by the cornfield fence,\\nand on investigation found one of their shoats in the\\ngrasp of a bear. She called Mr. Coontz, who came with\\nhis gun and two dogs, at sight of which the bear ran up\\na tree. Uncle and Mrs. Coontz hurried to the scene,\\nfound Mr. Coontz with gun in hand, but afraid to shoot\\nlest he should miss the bear and be attacked himself by\\nthat ferocious beast. Uncle Aaron was a sure shot. The\\ndogs were making a big fuss, and the bear was away up\\non a limb of a dead tree, quietly watching things down\\nbelow. Uncle took aim, fired, and brought the bear\\ndown, wounded. Both dogs jumped on the bear, which\\nwas not too badly wounded to make resistance. Mr.\\nCoontz, to help the dogs out, seized a club to facilitate\\nmatters, but in his excitement struck one of his dogs the\\nblow intended for the bear, which laid the dog out for a\\nwhile. My uncle in the meantime had loaded his gun\\nagain, and the second shot put a quietus on the bear.\\nUncle was a modest man, never taking any glory to him-\\nself, and when he was sure the bear was dead he walked\\noff home, leaving the Coontzes in undisputed possession.\\nBut the next morning Mr. Coontz came over, bringing a\\ngreat big roast out of that bear s shoulder. It wasn t a\\nlarge bear, but was fat. In that day bear s oil was\\nthought to be an excellent oil for the hair. My cousins,\\nEliza Ann and Elizabeth, and myself cut a lot of fat off\\nof that roast and rendered it out. We girls put the oil\\nin a bottle and held it in common.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0145.jp2"}, "146": {"fulltext": "144 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nWhile I am talking about game I want to tell about\\nthe prairie chickens. My uncle had some shock corn out\\nin the Winter of 44 and 45, and thousands of prairie\\nchickens would light in that field. My cousins, William\\nand James, made traps and caug^ht hundreds of them.\\nPrairie chicken is splendid meat, and nothing- can excel\\nthe gravy on corn-bread, but we realized that Winter that\\nthere was such a thing as having too much of a g^ood\\nthing. How well I remember how pleased and triumph-\\nant those boys used to look as they came from their traps\\nwith both hands full of chickens.\\nIn the Autumn of 44, when I was teaching that first\\nschool, and.the Winter following, I went to Oskaloosa as\\noften as I had opportunity and could find an excuse for\\ng-oing That g^ood uncle would let me ride Phillis when\\nI didn t g-o in a wagon or sled with the Martins. My\\nthird trip was to the meeting- given out by Bro. Johnson\\nas the time and place he expected to org-anize a class, or\\nsociety of Methodists. I had learned the w^ay and was\\nnot afraid. That Sabbath morning, October loth, 1844,\\nI mounted Phillis and went alone through woods and\\nsloughs and glades and across Spring Creek. I had\\nlearned to watch out for blazed trees. For fear the\\nyoung generaticm will not know what blazed means in\\nthe way we used the word, I will explain. It was chop-\\nping out a big chip, or peeling bark oft of trees along a\\ndim road.\\nWhen in 1894 the fiftieth anniversary of that first or-\\nganization of the Methodist Church had rolled around,\\nthe Methodist people of Oskaloosa proposed to and did\\nhold a jubilee celebration lasting eight days. They gath-", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0146.jp2"}, "147": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES.\\n145\\nered all the history relating to the church, both ancient\\nand modern, which they could depend upon as being cor-\\nrect, and produced the same in one way or another at\\nthat meeting. Letters were received and reminiscences\\nrelated. Rev. E. H. Waring, once pastor of the church\\nin Oskaloosa, but now retired, was one of the prime\\nmovers in getting up that jubilee celebration. He came\\none day to see me and told me about it and requested me\\nto write an account of the first organization of the Meth-\\nodist Church in Oskaloosa, and read it on anniversary\\nday. I knew I was the only person in all this country\\nwho was there and witnessed that crude and humble be-\\nginning. I remembered well the day, and almost all the\\npeople, and nearly every circumstance connected with it,\\nI promised Mr. Waring to write as true an account as I\\ncould, and read it on the day designated. I give here\\njust what I read on that fiftieth anniversary of the organ-\\nization of the Methodist Church in Oskaloosa.\\nReminiscences of the Early Days.\\n[BY MRS. T. G. PHILLIPS.]\\nSome of us who have arrived at the age of three\\nscore years can, by turning our thoughts back to child-\\nhood and early youth, see with the mind s eye a plain,\\nunpretentious home where dwelt our parents, brothers\\nand sisters. W e remember with what pure delight we\\nslaked our thirst at the spring which bubbled out of the\\nhillside, forming a little brook which wandered oft through\\nthe meadow, its banks lined with mint and rushes. The\\norchard with big apple trees whose limbs were bending\\ndown with great red apples; the great, tall poplar trees", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0147.jp2"}, "148": {"fulltext": "146 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nlooking so grand and holding- their heads clear above the\\nbeech and sugar trees; the old meeting-house where we\\nwere wont to assemble on Sunday; the school-house\\nwhere we w^ere taug^ht the three R s, and besides the\\nthree R s, a little of Eng-lish Grammar and Geog^raphy.\\nAbout 1837 we began to hear a country talked of\\nw^est of the Mississippi River called Blackhawk s Pur-\\nchase. A little later on we heard it called Iowa Terri-\\ntor} We heard wondrous stories of its broad prairies,\\nrich soil and beautiful rivers. About that time there oc-\\ncurred a great financial crisis which led to the breaking\\nof many home ties. Young men with small fortunes, be-\\nsides health and pluck, bade farewell to parents and\\nsweetheart; older men with families, whose earthly pos-\\nsessions, great or small, had been partially or wholly\\nswept away by the panic, by one means or another made\\ntheir way to Iowa Territory. Some of us remember a\\ntime in the early forties, when our household goods were\\npiled into big wagons, the neighbors coming to bid us\\ngood-bye, the four horses or long string of oxen hitched\\nto the wagon, the tearful parting with relatives and\\nneighbors, the last look at the old home, the crack of the\\ndriver s whip, when we began to journey tow^ard what\\nseemed to us a far-off country.\\nThe journey to some of us was delightful. The\\nwarm, happy, Indian Summer days; the mellow^ nights,\\njust cool enough to make camping out pleasant; the pop-\\nlars and beech and sugar trees arrayed in all the gor-\\ngeous coloring which a typical October can give in Ohio\\nand Indiana; the crossing of big prairies in Illinois; the\\nsluggish Illinois River, where were thousands upon thou-", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0148.jp2"}, "149": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 147\\nsands of ducks, and finally the great Father of Waters,\\nare thmg s which do not fade out of the minds of people\\nof ordinary intelligence. The bluffs along the west bank\\nof the great river were covered with oak, elm, hickory,\\nand many other kind of trees and shrubs. To the west\\nwere great prairies, interspersed with groves and tra-\\nversed by creeks and rivers whose banks were lined with\\nvarious kinds of trees, festooned with vines whose grace\\nof foliage cannot be described with pen or portrayed with\\nartist s brush. The newcomer found everything here to\\nmake a prosperous, rich and beautiful country. Farms\\nwere opened, towns sprang up near the Mississippi, and\\nbefore long the pioneer was found building his cabin and\\nturning over the prairie sod as much as fifty miles west\\nof the great river. In 1843 another purchase of lands\\nwas made by the United States government from the In-\\ndians. This purchase embraced, among others, what is\\nnow Mahaska Count}^ While the Indians were still here,\\nhunters and other adventurers had discovered a grand\\nregion lying between the Des Moines and Skunk Rivers.\\nIn journeying up through this region they beheld all\\nabout them a most charming prospect. Up the divide a\\nvast native meadow, with tall grass waving and flowers\\nblooming, groves to the right of them, groves to the left\\nof them, a vista of green sward in front of them. Look-\\ning to the northwest could be seen what seemed to be\\nthe timbers bordering the Des Moines and the timbers\\nbordering the Skunk, each reaching out an arm as if try-\\ning to clasp hands across the billowy mass of green. It\\nwas found that the Des Moines and Skunk Rivers drew\\nnearer each other at this place than in all their meandering", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0149.jp2"}, "150": {"fulltext": "148 MAHASKA COUNTY\\ncourse toward the g reat Father of Waters. Those early-\\ndiscoverers thoug-ht Narrows an appropriate name, so\\nthey called this place The Narrows.\\nOn the 1st day of May, 1843, white peo])le were given\\nthe privilege of coming into this charming place and se-\\nlecting claims Vvdiereon to make homes for themselves.\\nThere was not quite such a rush to get in here as there\\nwas to enter the Cherokee Strip, but there was something\\nof a rush. Men staked out their claims by torchlight,\\nand when daylight came on the first day of May all the\\nland around and about The Narrows was claimed by some-\\nbody. Many families came and settled about through\\nthe country in 43. Some lived in tents, some in rudely-\\nconstructed log cabins, and some even lived for a time in\\nthe bark huts left by the Indians. The people who first\\nlocated on the Six Mile prairie thought, and with rea-\\nson, that they had found the very garden spot of the\\ncountry. There were several Methodist families among\\nthe first who settled on the Six Mile prairie, and it is said\\nthat the very first sermon ever preached in Mahaska\\nCounty w^as by a young Methodist preacher named Lewis,\\nin somebody s cabin on the Six Mile prairie.\\nThose early settlers soon began to speculate and\\nmaneuver about the location of the county seat. The\\ngeographical center of what is now Mahaska County is\\nabout two miles north of the place then called The Nar-\\nrows. The Six Mile prairie people w^anted the county\\nseat, the Center people wanted it, and the Narrows peo-\\nple wanted it. The Narrows could boast of having one\\nresidence and one other small cabin, with a sign on top on\\nwhich was painted in large letters the word, Grocery,", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0150.jp2"}, "151": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 149\\nThe residence was occupied by Perry Crossmaii and wife,\\nMrs. Jones, who w^as Mr. Grossman s mother-in-law (a\\nlady possessing much nativ^e wit and shrewdness), and\\nher two sons, George W. and John W. Jones. Mrs. Jones\\nalso had a handsome young daughter, Sarah, who is now\\nMrs. McWilliams, and a citizen of Oskaloosa. The Com--\\nmercial House, with the sign of grocery on top, was not\\na wholesale establishment, but did a retail business, not\\nonly in groceries, but in what is called general mer-\\nchandise. Mr. Grossman and the Jones brothers were\\nsole owners and proprietors, and enjoyed without compe-\\ntition the entire trade of The Narrows. When the com-\\nmissioners who were appointed to locate the county seat\\ncame in the Spring of 44 they found hospitable enter-\\ntainment at the Grossman- Jones residence. There they\\nmade their headquarters while examining the ditl erent\\npoints claiming to be the best locations.\\nThat was an early Spring, and by the first of May\\nthe groves and prairies looked lovely. The commission-\\ners looked at Six Mile; they looked at the Genter, and\\nwere rather favorably impressed with that place, not\\nonly on account of its being the geographical center of\\nthe county, but on account of the many beautiful groves.\\nAmong those groves were a number of slight depressions\\nwhich we called sloughs. At that time they were all\\nclothed in green and looking their best. After examining\\nall points they assembled at the Grossman-Jones resi-\\ndence to talk it over and make their decision. Mrs.\\nJones was present during their deliberations and eagerly\\nlistening to their remarks, heard one gentleman say:\\nThe Genter is a desirable location on account of those", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0151.jp2"}, "152": {"fulltext": "150 MAHASKA COUNTY\\ngroves being clustered in there so nicely. Why, the\\nCenter has seven groves. Mrs. Jones, on hearing this\\nremark, took the liberty of making the following speech:\\nGentlemen, you say the Center has seven groves; well,\\nsure enough it has seven groves; but did you notice that\\nmixed up with those seven groves are ten sloughs\\nOne of the commissioners remarked: Mrs. Jones is\\nabout right. The others thought so, too, and that is\\nthe way the county seat came to be located at The Nar-\\nrows. This was on Saturday, the 11th day of May, 1844.\\nThe new county seat was named Oskaloosa. A\\nquarter section of land was selected, surveyed and laid\\noff into town lots; these lots were offered for sale to the\\nhighest bidder. Several were sold, but bids were so low\\nthe sale was stopped for a while. Very soon some log\\nhouses were commenced. The first court was held in an\\nunfinished log house. On September 14th, 1844, there\\nwere just fifteen little log cabins in Oskaloosa. The first\\nsermon preached by a Methodist in Oskaloosa was on\\nSunday, September 29th, 1844. Allen Johnson was the\\npreacher. He announced at that meeting that he would\\non October 13th, hold a meeting at the home of Dr.\\nWeatherford, at which meeting he proposed to organize\\na class, or society. He requested all who held letters of\\nmembership in the M. E. Church to take them with them.\\nBy that time several Methodist families had located in\\nOskaloosa. Dr. Weatherford s house was a log cabin of\\none room about 15 by 18 feet in size, and was located on\\nLot 7, Block 19, in the town of Oskaloosa. The weather\\ngenerally was lovely that fall, but that particular Sunday\\nwas cloudy. There was a chilliness in the air which", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0152.jp2"}, "153": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 151\\nmade one think all the time that it was going to snow;\\nbut it didn t snow. Dr. Weatherford and his wife made\\ntheir one room as comfortable as they could for the meet-\\ning; some fifteen or twenty persons had gathered thei e\\nby eleven o clock. The doctor was only a brother-in-law\\nto the church, but he had skirmished around among the\\nneighbors and borrowed chairs enough to almost seat the\\nentire congregation: as many as could, sat on the bed.\\nIn the wide fireplace a heap of logs were blazing which\\nsent a glow of warmth over the faces of that little group.\\nThe coffee pot and sauce -pans hung on the wall; the\\nwater-bucket with gourd dipper sat on a box; some blue-\\nedged plates ornamented a shelf on the wall. That state\\nof things seems amusing to people of to-day, but that\\nearnest group of worshipers never thought of being\\namused. Brother Johnson came in, warmed his hands,\\ntook off his overcoat, seated himself by the little table\\nwhere a Bible and hymn-book had been placed, sat in\\nsilence a few moments, then proceeded to open the meet-\\ning by reading a hymn. He informed the congregation\\nthat the hymn would be sung in common meter, and\\nwould some brother please lead in singing? We will\\nsing without lining.\\nO, for a thousand tongues to sing\\nMy great Redeemer s praise.\\nBrother William G. Lee led the singing. There were\\ngood singers in Oskaloosa, even then. The whole con-\\ngregation knelt while Bro. Johnson prayed; he preached,\\nthen invited all who wished to join by letter or by giving\\nhim their hand to come forward. Some twelve or four-\\nteen persons then formed the little band which consti-", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0153.jp2"}, "154": {"fulltext": "152 MAHASKA COUNTY\\ntuted the beginning of the Methodist Church in Oska-\\nloosa. Among those who that day gave their letter or\\ntheir hands to Bro. Johnson, were Dr. William G. Lee\\nand wife, Samuel Gossage and wife, George Jennison and\\nwife, Mrs. Mary Weatherford, Mrs. Hannah Phillips,\\nand the writer of this, who was then Semira A. Hobbs.\\nThe others I cannot recall. After that little organiza-\\ntion, meetings were held regularly in one little cabin and\\nanother until the court house was built, which was the\\nnext year, 1845.\\nIn these days of fine churches, with cushioned pews\\nor opera chairs, carpets, pipe organs and electric lights,\\nyoung people smile at the idea of holding meetings in lit-\\ntle log cabins lighted with a tallow candle or a grease\\nlamp made in a piepan; but we who lived here fifty years\\nago and helped to lay the foundation of Iowa s present\\ngreatness, saw^ nothing ludicrous in those crude and hum-\\nble beginnings. Heavenly meetings were held in those\\nlittle cabins. For a Methodist preacher, in those days,\\ntraining in a Theological school was not thought to be\\nnecessary, but to be soundly converted, feel a call to\\npreach, and have a tolerable education were the main re-\\nquirements. Some of that class foiind their way into the\\nwilds of the New Purcliase fifty years ago, and with an\\neloquence born of faith and an earnest desire to serve\\nGod and save souls, stirred and melted the hearts of their\\nhearers. Souls were converted and shouts of joy were\\nheard. Prayers and old-fashioned Methodist songs and\\nlove feast meetings, where the brethren and sisters\\nwould meet and relate their Christian experiences, made\\nthose little log cabins seem Heavenly places.", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0154.jp2"}, "155": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 153\\nAll the good people who first came and helped to\\nmake this country great and prosperous were not Meth-\\nodists, though a considerable portion of them were Meth-\\nodists of the old stamp. The first church erected in Os-\\nkaloosa was by the Cumberland Presbyterians. In the\\nvery early days they were more numerous than any other\\ndenomination. They built their church in 1846, and at\\nthat time had a large membership, but in 1849 so many of\\nthem went to California their church here was almost\\nbroken up. Other branches of the Presbyterian Church\\nwere represented by good and substantial families, whose\\nchildren and grandchildren are among Mahaska s best\\ncitizens to-day. There were a few Baptists here, and in\\nthe Spring of 1845 there was a society organized in Smith\\nCameron s new frame store building, on Lot 1, Block\\n28, o. p., Oskaloosa. Mr. Post weis the minister.\\nThe red man s bark huts were still standing in Kish-\\nkekosh, and his footprints scarcely washed out by the\\nrain, when a little colony of Quakers appeared on the\\nscene and located on one of the most beautiful and fer-\\ntile spots to be found in Mahaska County. Quakers are\\nand always have been Orthodox in principle, devout in\\ntheir allegiance to Christ. Quakers were first to discover\\nthat women had brains; the first to emancipate women\\nfrom church slavery and place them side by side with\\nmen in the ministry and all affairs of church. Among\\ntheir fundamental principles are freedom and justice.\\nQuakers make good citizens. They establish and carry\\non good schools, and add to the prosperity of any com-\\nmunity wherein they establish themselves in any consid-\\nerable numbers. They never permitted their members", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0155.jp2"}, "156": {"fulltext": "154 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nto buy and sell men and women. No denomination has\\ndone more to enhance business, prosperity, education\\nand moral culture in Mahaska County than the Quakers.\\nMuch is said in these days about the sacrifices made\\nby the families of early settlers. They did break sod,\\nmake rails, cook, eat and sleep all in one room; they\\nsometimes went many miles in order to procure corn\\nmeal to make bread, which things were somewhat incon-\\nvenient, but there was very little sacrifice about it. If\\nwe who were the actors on that early stage were making\\nsacrifices, we were not conscious of it. Not many of us\\nhad been accustomed to luxuries before we came. Those\\nwho had been accustomed to better things before they\\ncame, seemed to accept the situation cheerfully. I don t\\nremember of hearing any talk of sacrifice in the early\\ndays. We had many things which in these days are called\\nluxuries; we had wild turkey and quail, and venison and\\nprairie chicken; we had blackberries and wild gooseber-\\nries and strawberries, and an endless variety of plums.\\nThere was very little suffering for want of food.\\nThe more I think about the pioneer men and women\\nthe more I admire their character. I can hardly recall a\\nman or woman among them who was not honest, honor-\\nable, brave, hospitable, high-souled. The most of them\\nhave joined the great majority, but if we look about\\nus we will see some of Mahaska s best citizens among\\ntheir descendants.\\nSaturday, October 13, 1894.", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0156.jp2"}, "157": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 155\\nCHAPTER XIII.\\nThe next time I went to Oskaloosa was some time\\ntoward the last of November. There was g oing- to be\\nmeeting- in Purvine s tavern, held by the Cumberland\\nPresbyterians. The Martins being members of that\\nchurch, and as was their custom, informed me of the\\nmeeting- and proposed going; but when the Sunday morn-\\ning came, Patterson came by my uncle s and informed us\\nthat something had happened which prevented Amanda\\nfrom going, but he had decided to walk, and knew a near-\\ner cut to town than any we had gone before. Phillis was\\nat my disposal, as usual, so I mounted Phillis, and Pat-\\nterson walked ahead, along that newly-blazed path I fol-\\nlowed. We crossed Spring Creek near the place where\\nthe bridge on the road to Carbonado is now. We came\\nthrough timber the most of the way. On reaching the\\nopen prairie the most charming view opened out to my\\nvision that I had seen in Mahaska County, and I had seen\\na good many. Just after leaving the main timber our\\nroad led between two small groves. The leaves had fall-\\nen every tree stood out clear of any undergrowth of", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0157.jp2"}, "158": {"fulltext": "156 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nhazel or other bushes. There was none of that kind of\\nsmall growth around there, and I thought of what my\\nAunt Delilah had said about that particular feature of\\nthe New Purchase, when we first came to Iowa. Just\\nafter passing those groves we were out on the broad open\\nprairie. One of those groves was long known as Picnic\\nGrove. The one just west of it has been known to Os-\\nkaloosa people by different names: The Phillips Grove,\\nThe Hawkins Grove, and so forth, and now an ugly coal\\nshaft disfigures the spot once so beautiful. A little way\\nto the southwest the little village of Oskaloosa loomed\\nup, not as I had seen it a few weeks before, but instead\\nof only a few log cabins there seemed to be dozens of\\nframe houses, all painted white. Off to the north was\\nthat most beautiful of all places around Oskaloosa, when\\nin its native state. Gently sloping to the east, a back-\\nground to the north of fine timber, at the foot of the slope\\nto the west ran a babbling little brook, whose banks were\\nlined with willows and other trees which delight the eye.\\nThat spot which looked so charming to me on that No-\\nvember Indian Summer day, afterwards was the first\\nhome of myself and the husband of my youth. I had no\\nidea who the owner was when I ft rst saw it, but the place\\nhad a fascination, and I just gazed and thought How\\nbeautiful! No wonder I had some cloudy foresight into\\nthe future, for there my young husband and I went to\\nhousekeeping; there my two sons were born; there sleep\\nmy precious dead, and there I expect to sleep my last,\\nlong sleep. Although nearly fifty-five years have come\\nand gone, I remember all that scene of charming land-\\nscape, and my thoughts as it broke upon my vision, as", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0158.jp2"}, "159": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 57\\nclearly as if it was j^esterday. The way Mr. Martin\\nlooked as he walked along ahead. Mr. Martin was a\\nsmall man, but he vralked with a quick, elastic step.\\nVery little liad been said as we wended our way alon\\nthat l)lazed path, as he was g enerally a rod or two ahead,\\nbut when that scene and the town loomed up in plain\\nsight, he turned around and remarked, with a look of\\npride in his face: Oskaloosa is beginning to look like a\\ntown, ain t it?\\nWhen we came into the town we saw that a number\\nof houses had been built around the public square. On\\nthe north side of the square was what seemed a very long\\nstore building with a store already in it; how fine it\\nlooked. That store was owned by A. J. Davis, the man\\nover whose millions there has been so mmch litigation in\\nMontana. George Jennison and a boy named Frank\\nReeves had charge of the store. Another frame building\\nwhich was painted white had just been built on the w^est\\nside of the square was ov^aied and occupied as a store of\\ngeneral merchandise by Wm. B. Street. Of course I\\ndidn t see those people and their stocks of goods that\\nSunday, but afterwards.\\nMr. Charles Purvine had his tavern up on the east\\nside of the square and there w^as where the meeting was\\nheld. The house was only weatherboarded and covered;\\nthere was no floor, and only studding where the parti-\\ntions were going to be. The workmen s benches were in\\nand shavings about on the gTound. That was an old-\\nfashioned frame with hewed sills and posts, and the joists\\nor sleepers were not in for the floor. The ground was\\nbare all inside of the house; seats were improvised of", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0159.jp2"}, "160": {"fulltext": "158 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nblocks with planks laid on them. A row of young men\\nsat on a carpenter s work-bench, with shaving-s thick\\naround their feet. John W. Jones was among those who\\nsat on the work-bench. The house was full of people\\nand they had come from far and near. A number were\\nthere from Six Mile, as a funeral sermon in memory of a\\nMr. Wilson, who had died several months before on Six\\nMile, was to be preached by Rev. Baxter Bonham.\\nIt seems to have been thought by some ministers in\\nthat day, that to cause violent weeping and wailing\\namong the audience, especially the friends of the dead,\\nwas the proper thing to do in preaching a funeral sermon.\\nMr. Bonham seems to have been of the class who enter-\\ntained this idea. He came to that meeting prepared to\\noperate on the tender sympathies of his audience. His\\nsupply of touching incidents was great; his emotional\\neloquence not only set his audience to weeping, but set\\nhim to weeping himself, and he fell into such a fit of\\nweeping that he was compelled to stop talking and just\\nstand there and weep. The situation became embarrass-\\ning, so much so that after a few moments he apologized\\nto the audience, informing them that his love for the de-\\nceased was so great and his grief so intense that he could\\nnot restrain his tears.\\nBy the time winter had fairly set in, Mr. Purvine had\\nhis tavern in running order, and was prepared to enter-\\ntain the traveling public and all those doctors and law-\\nyers who were homeless. That tavern was a story and a\\nhalf with four good-sized rooms on the first floor and one\\nbig room up stairs with six beds in it. Mr. Purvine s\\nwas the first tavern built in Oskaloosa, though Mr. Can-", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0160.jp2"}, "161": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 159\\nfield did keep what was called a tavern a little while.\\nThe Canflelds kept the judg e and lawyers who held court\\nthe Summer before. Many funny incidents used to be\\nrelated of the Canfields tribulations in trying to provide\\nfor that functon. Mr. Pur vine kept that tavern only a\\nfew months, wdien in the Summer of 1845 he sold out to\\nJerry Brown and Thomas J. Willis. Mr. Willis was not\\nmarried, but held a valuable claim some three or four\\nmiles east of town, which he traded to Mr. Purvine in\\nthat tavern deed. W^hen I first came to Mahaska County\\nMr. Willis and Mr. Wm. B. Campbell were keeping bach-\\nelors hall jointly, both improving claims. If they were\\nnot adjoining, they were very near tog^ether. Mr. Camp-\\nbell is one of the few who live where they first settled.\\nHe married Miss Sarah Lucetta Dunl)ar in 1847. They\\nhave always been respected and useful members of soci-\\nety. Their son, Walter Campbell, is an honorable and\\nprosperous business man and a respected citizen of Oska-\\nloosa. Walter Campbell s wife, who was Miss Mollie\\nMoreland, is one of Oskaloosa s brig htest women.\\nMrs. Jerry Brown, wife of Mr. Willis partner, died\\nsoon after moving into the tavern. Mr. Willis went to\\nthe Galena lead mines, w^here his health failed and he\\ndied in 1846. The Purvine tavern was on the g^round\\nwhere the Downing House now stands, Lot 5, Block 19, o. p.\\nThat hostelry changed owners frequently in the first few\\nyears of its existence. In 1852 Mr. J. M. White pur-\\nchased it and for a while it was kept by Mr. Hug^h Mc-\\nNeely, w^ho, in partnership with John R. Needham, in\\n1850 printed the first newspaper ever printed in Oska-\\nlo(?sa. That was the beginning of Tlie Oskaloosa Herald.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0161.jp2"}, "162": {"fulltext": "160 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nI read the first issue of that paper and have read nearly\\nevery one since. That first issue of Tli? Herald was a\\nsmall affair, but fully up to other things in that early day.\\nI remember well how eagerly I seized that little sheet\\nand never stopper! until I had read every advertisement\\nand everything else on it. I was so proud to know that\\nOskaloosa could afford a newspaper. In these days when\\nnewspapers are lying about in heaps and piles in almost\\nevery house, my thoughts go back to a time when we\\nhardly ever saw a newspaper; when by any chance one\\nwould fall into my hands I would read it over and over\\nagain. Though some of the articles therein were too\\ndeep for my comprehension I would read them any way.\\nIn the Autumn of 1844, when I was teaching that\\nfirst school, Tom Springer sent me a periodical called\\nThe lUuininafed Magazine^ and published in London.\\nMr. Springer was the eldest son of Matthew Springer,\\none of the men who located a claim at Mahaska Center\\nin 1843, thinking the county seat would be located there.\\nThe Springers were people of more than ordinary intelli-\\ngence, not satisfied with the commonplace, and possessed\\nof force of character.- Matthew Springer was an enter-\\ntaining talker, an unselfish, kind-hearted man. His chil-\\ndren were bright, intelligent and respectable. T mi,\\nwhen a young man, learned the printing trade in Indiana.\\nI was not very well acquainted with him personally, but\\nused to hear people speak of him as a talented young\\nman, and when he was kind enough to send me that mag-\\nagine, no wonder I was pleased and felt flattered. I\\nkept that magazine for years laid away among my few\\nsacred keepsakes, but finally some ruthless hand ele-", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0162.jp2"}, "163": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 161\\nstroyed it. That bring s to my mind an incident which\\nhappened j^ears ag (3. I had carefully saved for years\\nevery number of a literary paper which I prized very\\nmuch for the short articles therein, written by Henry\\nWard Beecher, Fanny Fern, and other spicy writers. I\\ncontemplated, when I should find a convenient season,\\ncutting out those g ems of wit and wisdom and ])lacing\\nthem in a scrap-book. I had, folded them and arrang^ed\\nthem in regular order, tied them securely in bundles and\\nput them away on a shelf in a closet up-stairs. I had\\nplaced them in perfectly even la3^ers, wrapped a string-\\naround the short way and then around the long way and\\ntied it g-ood and tig ht, for I had a vague idea that there\\nwere persons even in this intelligent reg^ion who didn t\\nvalue one old newspaper more than another. I felt that\\nI had guarded my treasure safely against any such unap-\\npreciative creatures. But, alas! I w^as doomed to disap-\\npointment. One day I had a Negro man and his wdfe\\ncleaning my upper rooms. After leaving them alone sev-\\neral, hours I went up-stairs to see how they were getting\\nalong. I found them busily engaged in polishing win-\\ndows, and my treasured papers all over the floor in torn\\npiles and wads, a ruined mass. I could have cried with\\nvexation, and when I tried to explain to them the ruin\\nthey had wrought, they gazed at me in blank astonish-\\nment, and all they had to say was: Why, Missus, we\\nnevah knowed dem dah ole papahs wuz any count only\\nter rub winders! Tom Springer s Ilhuainated Maga?:ine\\nwent something in the same way.\\nThe articles in that magazine were on subjects en-\\ntirely too abstruse to be understood by a mind so crude", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0163.jp2"}, "164": {"fulltext": "162 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nas mine was then, thoug h I remember one article in which\\nthe writer commented very satirically on the ceremony\\nwhich had just occurred at the christening- of one of the\\nlittle princes, son of Queen Victoria. He told of the fab-\\nulous sums ex]3ended on that infant s honiton lace robes\\nwhich had been prepared expressly for that occasion, in\\nwhich his sponsors renounced the world, the flesh and\\nthe devil. The writer seemed to think that honiton lace\\nrobes costing thousands of pounds was a pretty expensive\\noutfit in which to renounce the world.\\nTom Springer went to California in the early time of\\ngold excitement, was editor and proprietor of a paper\\nthere, and at one time was State printer. I knew Mat-\\nthew Springer in Indiana when I was a little girl. The\\nSpringers were descendants of the whale fishers of\\nNantucket, the Coffins, Macys, and so forth. Persons\\nversed in the history of the early settling of America\\nknaw what manner of people those Nantucket whale fish-\\ners were\u00e2\u0080\u0094 enterprising, fearless, brave and honest. A\\nlaw unto themselves. Matthew Springer was born in\\nthe 18th century, was married three times and had three\\nsets of children. Not long ago I had the pleasure of\\nmeeting the son of his old age, Matthew, Jr., and his\\ncharming wife. I could see in Matthew, Jr., the looks\\nand the tastes of the old stock.\\nMrs. Sarah Boswell, an aged lady whom everybody\\nloves and calls Aunt Sade, a niece of Matthew Springer\\nSr., has for more than forty-eight years been an honored\\ncitizen of Oskaloosa. A pillar in the Methodist Church\\nand truly a Mother in Israel. Mrs. Boswell is the\\ndaughter of Job Springer, who was sheriff of Jasper", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0164.jp2"}, "165": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 163\\nCounty, Iowa, in the early days. Mrs. David Evans, an-\\nother daughter of Job Springer, lives in Newton now and\\nis a lovely lady. Aunt Sade has never been blessed\\nwith a child of her very own, but has nursed, brought up,\\ncared for and loved more orphaned brothers and sisters,\\nnieces and nephews than any woman I ever knew. Her\\nhouse has been a refuge for the homeless, whether of her\\now^n kin or not. Her hands, her voice, her means have\\nbeen employed in words of comfort and acts of benevo-\\nlence. Aunt Sade is a woman of many gifts; she is many\\nsided, and can adapt herself to almost any circumstance.\\nShe is at home wdth the cultured, the wealthy, the\\nlearned, and can, if occasion requires, mingle with the\\nlowly and destitute, and even the criminal without at all\\nlosing her self-respect or self-possession. Her husband,\\nIsaac Boswell, has been sleeping many years in Forest\\nCemetery. I remember well when they came to Oska-\\nloosa, a young and handsome couple, full of life and hope\\nand honest purpose. They lived and w^orked together in\\nharmony. Aunt Sade has endured her lonely widow^hood\\nwith patience, courage and Christian resignation. She\\nis away past three score and ten, and is just waiting for\\nthe Lord to take her where we think she will find treas-\\nure upon treasure.\\nIn the Fall of 1843 Mr. A. G. Phillips, of Morgan\\nCounty, Illinois; having heard much of the beauty and\\nnatural advantages of the New Purchase, decided to come\\nand see for himself if the glowing stories he had heard\\nwere true. When he came he found an old acquaintance\\nin the person of Felix Gessford the possessor of a very\\nfine claim, which he proposed to sell, and Mr. Phillips", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0165.jp2"}, "166": {"fulltext": "164 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nbought it. That claim embraced a half section, which\\nwas the amount of land one man was allowed to hold as a\\nclaim. By some means he procured eighty acres more\\nadjoining which he held for his oldest son until the son\\nwould be of age, which would be on February 18th, 1844,\\nMr. Phillips claim embraced much of what is thought to\\nbe the most beautiful part of Oskaloosa\u00e2\u0080\u0094 the southeast-\\nern, eastern and northeastern portion; it also included\\nwhat is now Forest Cemetery. In the early Spring of\\n44 Mr. Phillips and wife, with their family of four sons\\nand three daughters, came in wagons to Iowa Territory,\\narriving at the place called The Narrows, on April 22nd.\\nThere was just one house then on the spot where Oska-\\nloosa now stands. One of their w^agons was drawn by\\nfour yoke of oxen, the other by two horses. The horse\\nwagon carried the tent, bed, cooking utensils, and in which\\nthe family rode when they desired to do so. They drove\\nsome loose cattle through, and had some extra horses on\\nwhich the children rode when they chose to. The ox\\nwagon, which would hold almost as much as a railroad\\ncar, contained their household furniture, farming imple-\\nments, and as they supposed, enough provisions to last\\nthe family until they could raise a crop. Mr. Phillips\\nhad lain in a large supply of breadstuff, bacon and dried\\napples, bushels of corn meal and six barrels of flour, all\\nsix barrels being intact when they ended their journey\\nand called out whoa to that long string of oxen, on the\\nspot where Oskaloosa s park, or public square, now is.\\nThere were a number of families living within two or\\nthree miles in different directions, who it seems had all\\nheard that the Phillipses were coming, and had bread, or", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0166.jp2"}, "167": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 165\\nthe material to make bread. Those families had come\\nthe year before and many of them were out of bread. The\\nPhillips boys had hardly g otten their oxen mihitched and\\nturned out to graze when their father called them to come\\nand unload a barrel of Hour and knock in the head, for\\npeople were standing around waiting for Hour, or meal,\\nor something to make bread of, with pans, buckets and\\npillow cases. When they had deposited the barrel on the\\nfresh, clean grass, Watson, one of the sons, took an axe,\\nbroke in the head, imd laid that white, temipting mass\\nopen to their view. One tall, slim fellow from Hoosier\\nBend, exclaimed: STeemeses River! that makes my mouth\\nwater. I haint tasted a biscuit for six months!\\nMr. Phillips, as he stood by enjoying the scene and\\nthe remarks made by one and another, said: Now, Wat,\\ng et something to dip this out with, and gentlemen, come\\non and be helped. Wat went to the wagon and got a\\nhalf-gallon tin cup and commenced dipping into that flour\\nand pouring into their various receptacles. They kept\\non coming and Wat kept on dipping until that barrel was\\nempty. Mr. Phillips asked no question in regard to name\\nor location, but permitted each man to take as much as\\nhe wanted. Nobody counted the tinfuls nor said any-\\nthing about weighing, but just put flour into their pans,\\nbuckets and sacks until they said enough. I have heard\\nthe Phillipses say that they believe every ounce of that\\nflour was returned, though some of it was a long time\\ncoming. A year and a half after that flour episode a\\nman came one day to the Phillips home, bringing about\\na gallon of flour in a pillow case. They had no recollec-\\ntion of the man, l)ut he informed them that he was one of", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0167.jp2"}, "168": {"fulltext": "166 MAHxVSKA COUNTY\\nthe persons who had borrowed flour of them on the day\\nof their arrival, and this was the first opportunity they\\nhad had of returning it, and he was much oblig^ed to\\nthem. The Phillipses lived in their tent and wagons a\\nfew days, while the boys repaired to the timber down on\\nSpring Creek and cut and hewed a set of house-logs.\\nWhen it was known that they were ready to raise\\ntheir house nearly all the men in the country volunteered\\nto help them, and stood by them until the house was\\nready to live in. Their first floor was of bark peeled oft\\nof big elm trees in great big strips and laid flat on the\\nground with the rough side up. That was rather a poor\\nfloor, but was better than the bare ground. The Phil-\\nlipses brought a large cooking-stove with them, which\\nwas placed in that cabin. The pipe was not very safely\\nfixed in the clapboard roof, and one day the stovepipe\\nbecame overheated and set the roof on fire, which threat-\\nened to render the family roofiess, but they were fortu-\\nnate enough to extinguish the fire before any great dam-\\nage was done. I have heard it said that was the first\\ncooking-stove brought to Oskaloosa.\\nThere was no Oskaloosa then, but the town was loca-\\nted soon after the Phillips family came, which was a\\nsource of great rejoicing, not only to that famil}^ but to\\neverybody who owned claims round about The Narrows.\\nWhen Mr. James Seevers heard that the commissioners\\nhad selected this spot he threw up his hat and exclaimed:\\nProud Mahaska! and that is the way Proud Mahaska\\noriginated. Mr. Seevers was a quiet, undemonstrative\\nman, but that was an occasion on which he felt called\\nupon to do something a little out of the usual way.", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0168.jp2"}, "169": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 167\\nMr. Phillips first built his house in one of those\\ngroves, the one I went into ecstacies over on that Sunday\\nmorning when Mr. Martin was piloting me over that new\\nroad to Oskaloosa. Early in the Fall after the town\\nwas located and a road was laid out leading east from the\\ntown, called the Fairfield road, and running through Mr.\\nPhillips land, he moved his house nearer town and on\\nthat road. His land did not quite touch the original\\ntown quarter, but was not far from it. The place where\\nhe placed his house was what is now the intersection of\\nSixth Street and Second Avenue. He added another log\\nhouse to it with a covered entry between; the family\\nwere then the proud possessors of a double log house. I\\ncan t think of another family in all this region who had\\ntwo rooms at that time, except the McMurrays.\\nMr. and Mrs. Phillips and some of the other families\\naround felt that their children ought to be having the\\nadvantages of a school. So the Phillipses permitted the\\neast room of that house to be used for that purpose, and\\nin the winter of 44 and 45 a gentleman by the name of\\nCaldwell taught in that room the very first school ever\\ntaught on the ground where the town of Oskaloosa now\\nstands. In the Summer of 1845 James Johnson, a brother\\nof Allen Johnson, the minister, taught a school in an un-\\nfinished frame house belonging to Levi Smith. That\\nhouse was located on Lot 2, Block 28, o. p., or more defi-\\nnitely speaking, on the lot where Howard s grocery and\\nthe Blue Front are. In 1845 I taught a school in the\\nsame house I taught the first school in. I began on the\\nfirst Monday in April and taught three months on the\\nsame terms I tausrht the first. Several families had", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0169.jp2"}, "170": {"fulltext": "168 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nmoved in that Spring and my school was increased in\\nnumbers.\\nIn the Winter of 44 and 45 the government survey-\\nors used that school-liouse for a camp. I don t think\\nthey asked anybody s permission, but just took posses-\\nsion. I don t know how they managed to sleep in that\\ncold place, but they did sleep there and cook by that sod\\nfireplace. When I went back to teach in the Spring there\\nwere many evidences of the house having been inhabited.\\nThere were streaks of tallow on the walls, the drippings\\nfrom candles which had been fastened there with jack-\\nknife or forked stick. Evidently they had used my\\nwriting-desk for a kitchen table, for those puncheons\\nonce so clean and white I found all covered* with spots of\\ngrease. Their ruthlessness, or the wintry blasts, had\\nplayed havoc with my oiled paper windows. Not a pane\\nwas left intact. Only a few liuttering strips of greasy\\npaper were left clinging to that ingeniously-constructed\\nwindow sash.\\nOn my visits to Oskaloosa I had become acquainted\\nwith nearly all the first settlers in the town and all around.\\nIt wasn t much trouble to get acquainted then. Folks\\ndidn t stand on ceremony, but were glad to get acquainted\\nany way they could. I don t mean to convey the idea\\nthat there was no discriminating between respectability\\nand disregard for the decencies of life, but no one was\\nshunned on account of poverty or for having little book\\nlearning. The greater number of the first settlers were\\npoor and became poorer as regards food and raiment be-\\nfore they began to reap the fruits of their early struggles.\\nThe most of them were fairly well educated for that day,", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0170.jp2"}, "171": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 169\\nbut occasionally could be found men and women of real\\nworth who could neither read nor write.\\nThere were no beggars here in early days. People\\nwould borrow of their neighbors and return the things\\nborrowed, but to beg was a thing too degrading to be\\nthought of. To offer a family food or clothing as a gift\\nbecause they were thought to be too poor to provide for\\nthemselves would have been considered an offense. They\\nwere too high-spirited to be counted objects of benevo-\\nlence. They would rather have worn patches and lived\\non corn bread and turnips. When Oskaloosa had four or\\nfive hundred inhabitants and two taverns, the landlady\\nof one was talking to another lady about the great waste\\nof food in her house. She said, In my pantry is nearly a\\nbarrel of bread, not mouldy, only dry; we can t use it\\nand it seems too good to feed to pigs. The other lady\\nsaid, Can t you give it to somebody?. The landlady re-\\nplied, I would be glad to give it away, but I don t know\\na family in this town I would dare to offer it to. I had\\nread and heard of beggars, but I had kept house for\\ntwenty-five years before there ever was a beggar came to\\nmy door, with the exception of a few straggling Indians.\\nThere were no mills in this region for a year or two\\nafter the country began to be settled, and when the\\npeople began to run out of bread somebody would go\\nwith a big ox wagon aw^ay down toward the Mississippi\\nriver and bring back a big lot of corn meal and perhaps\\na small quantity of flour. In that way they supplied a\\nwhole neighborhood, and when the supply would run low\\nagain somebody else would go. By the time the second\\ncrop of corn was raised there were two mills on Skunk", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0171.jp2"}, "172": {"fulltext": "170 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nriver, each about four miles from Oskaloosa. One was\\nbuilt by a man by the name of Duncan and the other by a\\nman named Comstock. Mr. Comstock s son, Captain\\nComstock, lives now near the place where that mill was\\nbuilt. A few years ago Captain Comstock laid out and\\nimproved a beautiful park along the river, and called it\\nRiverside Park. He made circuitous drives, had boats\\non the river, built a boat-house and pavilions, and did\\nmany other things for the accommodation and pleasure\\nof his patrons.\\nThe Mr. Bonham whom I have mentioned as the man\\nwho delivered that memorable funeral oration was a son-\\nin-law of John Cameron, who was a prominent minister\\nin the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Mr. Cameron\\nand his numerous family came to Oskaloosa in 1845. He\\nhad ten daughters and one son. That son, Thomas Cam-\\neron, was one of the proprietors of the firm of Smith\\nCameron, who established one of the first stores; some\\nsay the first. Others have told me that the Jones Broth-\\ners were the first. I know that on my first visit to Oska-\\nloosa both of these mercantile houses were among the\\nfifteen cabins which I counted. Mrs. Cameron s daugh-\\nters were nearly all married. The whole set, sons-in-law\\nand all, came to Oskaloosa in the course of a year or two\\nafter the first settlement. Mrs. Purvine, wife of the\\nfirst tavern keeper, was Mrs. Cameron s daughter. The\\nwhole Cameron family without a single exception, sons-\\nin-law and daughter-in-law, were members of the same\\nchurch. Mr. Berry, one of the sons-in-law, built the\\nfront part of the house where Dr. Wiley lived; which was\\none of the first, if not the first, brick house built in Oska-", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0172.jp2"}, "173": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 171\\nloosa. They all came here with the purpose of locating-\\npermanently, but in 1848 gold was discovered in Cali-\\nfornia. In that gold excitement, with others, the whole\\nCameron family except one daughter, Mrs. Lister, sold\\nout and in 1849 went across the plains to California.\\nThe Cumberland Presbyterian Church was strong for\\nso new a county. They had the only church building in\\nOskaloosa, and when the Cameron family all went off at\\nonce it came near breaking up the society. That church\\nwas located on Lots 5 and 6, Block 36, O. P. Patterson\\nMartin and his brother, Silas, furnished the timber, hewed\\nthe sills, and hauled and placed them on the ground for\\nthat church. I remember seeing them in the summer of\\n1846 hauling those long sills from what was called Skunk\\nriver timber. Dr. Hugg owns that house now and has\\nconverted it into a pretty and comfortable dwelling The\\nmembers of that church were ambitious enough to want\\na bell, and a bell was procured in Keokuk and hauled\\nfrom there in a two-horse wagon, and it was so arranged\\non a frame that it rang all the way from Keokuk to Oska-\\nloosa. We heard the bell ringing as it came up the lane\\njust east of town. We all went out to the fence to see\\nwhat it meant, and I well remember the look of pride on\\nthat driver s face as he passed the gazing group.\\nOne of the prominent families among the first inhab-\\nitants was the Jones family. Mrs. Jones, an elderly\\nlady, was a widow with an unmarried son and a daughter.\\nJohn W. Jones was a handsome young man; tall and\\nstraight, with dark hair and eyes. His eyes always had\\na twinkle, for he was brim-full of mischief and humor\\nand always had a joke ready. The Joneses were all tall", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0173.jp2"}, "174": {"fulltext": "172 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nand straight and handsome, with dark hair and eyes and\\nfine complexions. George W. Jones was married before\\nhe came and his wife was a handsome woman. These\\nbrothers were together in business and were successful\\nmerchants in Oskaloosa for many years. John W. was\\nelected state treasurer during the war of the rebellion.\\nFor many years the homes of these brothers were in Des\\nMoines, where both died a few years ago. Mrs. Jones,\\ntheir mother, died in Oskaloosa in the Autumn of 1845.\\nSarah, the daughter, was a young girl when they came\\nhere. She was as fair as a lily, and as witty and pos-\\nsessed of as much genuine, solid humor as her brother\\nJohn. She married Mr. Samuel McWilliams. Mrs. Mc-\\nWilliams has been a widow many years, but is blessed\\nwith three charming daughters and a son, Gus McWil-\\nliams, a talented young business man, who recently re-\\nsigned a lucrative position in an honorable and responsible\\nbusiness to enlist in one of Uncle Sam s fighting squad-\\nrons. Mrs. McWilliams has reason to be proud of her\\ndaughters, who were all wise enough to choose fine bus-\\niness men for husbands. Two of them are engaged in\\nraising citrons and other fruits near Tampa, Florida.\\nMrs. McWilliams eldest daughter, Ellen, was one of the\\nbright girls of Oskaloosa College in its palmiest days.\\nHer school days were hardly over when she was married\\nto Mr. Chamberlain, who was not only possessed of\\nwealth as regards this world s goods, but is endowed\\nwith honor and every other quality which goes to make a\\nmanly man. They are a broad minded pair and have\\ntraveled much. Mrs. Chamberlain, as I said before, was\\na brisrht irirl in school; but when she laid aside her school", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0174.jp2"}, "175": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 173\\nbooks and united her life and future prospects with that\\nexcellent man, Mr. Chamberlain, mental culture with her\\nhad only fairly beg-un. She has gone on from one degree\\nof development to another until we find her at what is\\ntermed middle age a spicy writer, and a brilliant\\ntalker before audiences of brilliant men and women. Mrs.\\nMc Williams, though well advanced in years, is a stately\\nlooking woman, and can relate more incidents of the\\nearly days than anybody I know; especially if there was\\na ludicrous side to the event she relates it in an amusing-\\nstyle.\\nThere were a great many families came and settled\\nin Oskaloosa in 1845. The Hetheringtons; Dr. Owen,\\nwho was a practicing physican here for forty years; Geo.\\nBaer and family, whose son John Baer is a citizen of\\nOskaloosa to-day. George Baer was a tailor by trade,\\nand built and occupied a small frame shop on the west\\nside of the square. That shop w^as burned in the first\\nfire which ever occurred in the town. The Roops also\\ncame in 45. Benjamin Roop and wife came here with a\\nfamily of five daughters and one son. David Roop was\\nthe son. Mary, the eldest daughter, married R. R. Har-\\nbour, a mechanic, a bricklayer by occupation. It w^as\\nsoon discovered that Mr. Harbour was a young man of\\nmore than ordinary mental ability. He was elected to\\nthe State Senate soon after Iowa became a State. One\\nof Mr. Harbour s sons, whom we all called Jetf when\\na boy, is now on the editorial staff of the Youth s Com-\\npanion and resides in Boston. Another son of the Har-\\nbours is a member of the Senate in Utah. The Harbour\\nchildren are all bright.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0175.jp2"}, "176": {"fulltext": "174 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nBenjamin Roop and family came from Ohio, and it\\nis said they only had a few dollars when they landed in\\nOskaloosa. Mr. Roop was an energetic and shrewd bus-\\niness man, and in a very few years had erected ^nd was\\nrunning- a large distillery and flouring mill. The distillery\\nhas Jong since gone into oblivion, but the flouring mill\\nstands there yet grinding wheat for the multitude, and\\nis now known as Siebel s Mill. Mr. Roop in the late\\nforties built what was thought then to be a fine two-story\\nand basement frame dwelling on North A street. That\\nhouse is now owned and occupied by a family by the\\nname of Avey. Mr. Roop flourished and grew rich so\\nfast that in two or three years after he built near his mill\\na very large and commodious brick dwelling house. That\\nhouse was built in the early fifties, and was at that time\\nsupposed to be one of the finest private residences in\\nIowa. It has changed owners many times, and has been\\noccupied by many different parties as a hotel. Mr.\\nRoop s daughters were every one practical, sensible,\\nsplendid women.\\nIn 1845 Orson Kinsman built a two-story frame on\\nthe southwest corner of the square (Lot 8, Block 20) for\\na tavern, and called it The Oskaloosa House. Mr.\\nKinsman kept that house about a year and then sold it in\\nthe Spring of 46 to Wm. Dart, from Mt. Pleasant, Iowa.\\nMr. Dart kept a drug store in one room of that hotel,\\nwhich was the first drug store in Oskaloosa. Before that\\nthe doctors kept a stock of medicine by them. Mr. Dart\\nsold that hostelry in a year or so to Mr. John N. Kins-\\nman, a brother to Orson. Property changed hands fre-\\nquently in those days. If anybody wanted to sell there", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0176.jp2"}, "177": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES 175\\nwas no troul)le in finding a pnrcliaser. John N. Kins-\\nman s fnll name was John Newton Kinsman, and he was\\none of the commissioners that located tlie town of New-\\nton, county seat of Jasper County, and Newton was\\nnamed after Mr. Kinsman. Mr. and Mrs. John N. Kins-\\nman were excellent peo])le, honored and beloved by all\\nwdio knew them; they sleep side by side in White Oak\\ncemetery.\\nMr. A. S. Nichols came in 1844 and built a dwelling\\nhouse and blacksmith shop on West Hig-h avenue. He\\nworked at his trade in the early days and made money.\\nMrs. Nichols sister, Mrs. Shepherd, a handsome young\\nwidow, came to Oskaloosa in the early times. She and\\nher two little boys had a home with the Nicholses. Mrs.\\nShepherd married Dr. Porter, and they both died many\\nyears ag^o. One of Mrs. Shepherd s sons. Will Shepherd,\\nhas long been a resident of San Buena Ventura, Cali-\\nfornia. He is a lawyer and was once in partnership with\\nHon. John F. Lacey, and has several times been in the\\nnewspaper business. Mrs. Shepherd, who w^as Miss\\nTheodocia Hall, daug hter of Judg^e Hall, a prominent man\\nin Iowa years ago, but who has long since passed aw^ay.\\nMrs. Shepherd is a niece of Mrs. Judge Seevers, and is\\na florist of national reputation; notices of her work, her\\nbulbs and flowers, are frequently to be seen in the news-\\npapers. Time brings about strange revolutions in fami-\\nlies and communities as well as nations. The Roops who\\ndid so much in the early days to build up Oskaloosa are\\nscattered here and there, and not one of the original\\nfamily are citizens of Oskaloosa to-day. Mr. and Mrs.\\nRoop and some of their children sleep their last sleep.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0177.jp2"}, "178": {"fulltext": "176 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nCHAPTER XIV.\\nIn the early summer of 1845, when I had finished my\\nsecond term of school in that much mentioned first school-\\nhouse and collected a few dollars, I made a visit to Oska-\\nloosa; my main object being to invest these few dollars\\nin dry goods for my own personal use and adornment. A\\ngood plain road had been cleared out by that time and\\nthe distance shortened, so that it was a small matter to\\nwalk to town, which I did with ease. I was then staying\\nwith my cousins, Dr. Hobbs and wife. Their home w^as\\non what is known as the Wing farm now, and a part of\\nthe Carbonado coal lands. When I started on that trip\\nto town it was a perfect summer morning. The birds\\nwere singing as I tripped through the woods and crossed\\nthat little babbling brook called Spring Creek. When I\\nhad climbed the hill, there I was, with Oskaloosa spread\\nout in full view. Oskaloosa had spread out and looked\\nlike a pretty big town. The Smiths, the Camerons, the\\nWeatherfords, the Joneses, the Purvines, and others had\\ntreated me with great kindness and had invited me time\\nand again to visit them. About the first person I met on", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0178.jp2"}, "179": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 177\\nreaching the square was Dr. Weatherford, who gave me\\nsuch a cordial invitation that I went liome with him.\\nMrs. Weatherford was a lovely lady, full of genuine hos-\\npitality. They had just moved into their new frame\\nhouse on the west side of the square. The house had\\nthree rooms and was on the ground where the Golden\\nEagle clothing store now is. After dinner I visited A.\\nJ. Davis store, bought two calico dresses and a pair of\\npicnic mits. Then I visited Mr. James Johnson s\\nschool, wdiich was kept in an unfinished dwelling-house\\non the south side of the public square. Mr. Johnson s\\nschool was composed of about twenty scholars. x\\\\t that\\nschool I met Rachel Phillips, a young girl about thirteen,\\ndaughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. G. Phillips. I had become\\na little acquainted with Rachel and her older sister, Mar-\\ntha, on my previous visits to Oskaloosa. Rachel asked\\nme how long I was going to be in town. I told her I\\nwas going home the next morning, and she exacted of me\\na promise to call at their house, as my road led by it.\\nI had met so many pleasant people and had such a pleas-\\nant time, that when I started out the next morning I had\\nforgotten my promise to Rachel until I was just by the\\nhouse. When it came to my mind I turned about and\\nstarted toward the house, where I met Mr. Phillips just\\ncoming out. He met me in the most friendly manner,\\nshook hands, led me in and introduced me to his wife,\\nwho was friendly like the rest. Martha and Rachel,\\ntheir father and mother all joined in an urgent invitation\\nto stay and take dinner with them and not go home until\\nlate in the afternoon. Martha and Rachel, before I had\\nentirely decided to stay, commenced relieving me of my\\n12", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0179.jp2"}, "180": {"fulltext": "178 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nwraps and bundles, and as a further inducement told me\\nthat Mary Mosier was coming to spend the afternoon and\\nhelp them quilt, and we would have a splendid time.\\nThe quilt was hanging- in the frames, and I thought I\\nwas a good quilter, and liked to quilt, so I stayed. The\\nPhillipses were originally from Kentucky, and had lived\\nin a neighborhood of Kentuckians in Illinois. They were\\npossessed of the typical Kentucky hospitality. Mr. and\\nMrs. Phillips were not old people, though they had\\ngrown-up children. They both were between forty and\\nfifty.\\nMusical instruments such as are seen in almost every\\nhouse now were unknown to the New Purchase folks\\nthen, but people could sing without instruments. Mr.\\nPhillips was one of the old-time singing teachers. He\\nwas a good singer and all his family could sing. At the\\ntime I am speaking of he was leader of a society of\\nyoung people who met every Friday evening at -the\\ncourt house to practice singing, and that was the young\\npeople s chief means of entertainment. I hadn t been\\nthere long that day when Mr. Phillips broughts out a pile\\nof music books and proposed that we have some singing.\\nHe told one of the girls to go and tell her brothers to\\ncome in. Those brothers were young men. The elder,\\nThomas Gorrell, was called Gorrell, and the other,\\nJohn Watson, was never called anything but Wat in\\nthe family. I had seen those young men at church but\\nhad not become acquainted with them more than just to\\nspeak. Gorrell was the young man whose voice had at-\\ntracted my attention at the McMurray meeting the year\\nbefore. Those young men were engaged in walling a", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0180.jp2"}, "181": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 179\\nwell with rock a little way from the house. Rachel came\\nback and reported that the boys demurred; said their\\nclothes were all covered with mud, and they were not in\\na suitable plight to meet a strang-e young lady. Their\\nfather said, Tell them to come along and never mind the\\nmud. I thought it my time to say something, so I said:\\nRachel, tell your brothers not to mind me; I don t ex-\\npect men to be dressed in their Sunday clothes when they\\nare walling wells. They came in then and we all sang.\\nThe young men seemed a little ill at ease on account of\\ntheir muddy clothes, and after we had sung a few pieces\\nthey hitched up a team and went to Skunk river for\\nmore rock.\\nAfter dinner Mary Mosier came and we four girls\\ngathered around that quilt; we laughed and talked and\\nquilted. Mary Mosier was rather a bright girl, and the\\ndaughter of a widow who owned and lived on a claim just\\nsouth of town. Their house was on the hill just south-\\neast of South Spring Mill. There was no mill there\\nthen, but the big spring was there. Mary Mosier mar-\\nried M. T. Peters, a young lawyer located in Oskaloosa.\\nMr. Peters was an industrious and smart young attorney,\\nand was making a good start in his profession; but when\\ngold was discovered in California he was siezed with the\\ngold fever, packed up, and with his wife and baby crossed\\nthe plains to California.\\nThe day which I have been telling about and its\\nseeming trivial occurrences which I have related, lead to\\nthings of much more importance to me and many others\\nthan I ever dreamed of when I called at the Phillips\\nhome that summer morning. After we had talked a", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0181.jp2"}, "182": {"fulltext": "J 80 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nwhile, and sang a while, and the boys had gone to Skunk\\nriver for stone, Mr. Phillips asked me if I would like to\\nteach a school in Oskaloosa. I replied, If I could get a\\nschool and a place to teach, I would be glad to do so,\\nHe said, There will be no trouble about that. 1 know\\nof a house which is unoccupied, the Methodist parsonage:\\nI will furnish live pupils, which will be a good beginning,\\nand there are several families who will patronize your\\nschool. If you say you will teach, T will get the house\\nand the scholars. I had never had things in that line\\nmade quite so easy. Before I left that afternoon things\\nwere all arranged. I was to come to their house the\\nnext Friday, have my article ready, go to the singing at\\nthe court house with the family, stay all nig ht, and Sat-\\nurday all the arrangements for my school w^ould be made.\\nI told Mr. Phillips I felt under obligations to him and\\nwas thankful for his kindness, when he replied: I don t\\nwant you to think I am doing- this disinterestedly. I feel\\nthat you will be doing me as great a favor in teaching my\\nchildren as I am doing you in assisting you to get\\nthe school. When I mentioned a boarding-place,\\nthey all said I should board there: that their family was\\nj)retty large, but one more wouldn t make much differ-\\nence. When I started home late in the afternoon the\\ngirls went with me nearly a mile. We sat down on the\\ngrass and talked a while, and in that talk it was ag-reed\\nthat when I came up on Friday, Martha and I would\\nspend the afternoon with Mary Mosier and go from there\\nto the singing society in the court house.\\nI went on home with my mind full of the day s\\nevents. I was charmed with the Phillips family; their", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0182.jp2"}, "183": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 181\\ng^enuine whole-souled sociability and hospitality just\\nsuited me. I saw so little of the youn men that day\\nthat I didn t think much about them. But the father,\\nmother, and daufj^hters! In fact, when I went that morn-\\ning the young men in the family never entered my mind:\\nI only thought of the girls. When I told the doctor and\\nhis wife of my adventure, they were pleased and con-\\ngratulated me. The next day I v/ent over to my uncle s\\nand told them all about it and they were jileased, too.\\nI wrote my article of agreement, placing my price\\nat two dollars per scholar, as Mr. Phillips had advised\\nme to do, made one of my calico dresses, and when the\\nnext Friday morning came, donned that new calico dress\\nand hied me away to Oskaloosa where I found the Phil-\\nlips family expecting me and ready to greet me with a\\ncordial welcome. Mr. Phillips took my article, went out\\nin town and in an hour or two came back with nine schol-\\nars subscribed besides his own. John White, Stephen\\nGessford, Henry Blackburn, D. S. Canfieid and Leper\\nSmith had signed the article. Then I took it and went\\nto Esquire Edmundson and Dr. Weatherford, who both\\nbecame my patrons, and I had the promise in black and\\nwhite of seventeen scholars. Some others declined to\\nsign the article, but said they would send their children\\nto school and I could keep an account of the time. I\\ndon t know how that Methodist parsonage came to be\\nvacated, but it was and I taught that school in it free of\\nrent. I suppose it was considered common property. It\\nwas a good deal better than the first school-house; it had\\none glass window, a very good door, and a fireplace lined\\nwith stone and a stone hearth. Mr. Phillips had some", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0183.jp2"}, "184": {"fulltext": "182 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nbenches put in and a slanting shelf for a writing-desk\\nplaced along the side of the window ways. That little\\nlog house was about fifteen feet square, the logs were\\nhewed and the puncheon floor was quite nicely fitted\\ndown. The Methodist tolks had taken pains to make\\ntheir minister s home as nice as any cabin in the country.\\nThere was a well near the door, too, which everybody\\ndidn t have then. That building was located on the\\nnortheast corner of the intersection of A Avenue and\\nThird Street. Dr. Beaudry s elegant home is located on\\nthe spot where that cabin stood.\\nThe families who lived nearest the school were the\\nHetheringtons. who lived in a log house at the intersec-\\ntion of A Avenue and Third Street, and the Edmundson\\nfamily who lived on the lot where the Catholic Church is\\nlocated, Lots 7 and 8, Block 18, o. p., Oskaloosa. The\\nEdmundsons lived in a cabin with wide fireplace, lined\\nwith stone. The chimney from the fireplace up was\\nmade of mud and sticks. I was taken into the Phillips\\nfamily to board, and everything being satisfactorily ar-\\nranged I began my school on Monday, September 8th,\\n1845. There were five of the Phillips children in my\\nschool. There were Martha, Rachel, Sam, Joan and\\nJames, usually called Jim. Everybody knows where\\nthe John White place is. Well, Edmond and Mary White\\nwere there promptly every morning, coming diagonally\\nacross hills and hollows about a mile. Edmond died at\\ntwenty-five, and Mary wiis thirteen when she died. Two\\nof the Canfield children, Ellen and Oscar, Henry Black-\\nburn s two little girls, Hettie and Cassie, Leper Smith s\\ndaughter Euphemia, three of the Gessford children. Dr.", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0184.jp2"}, "185": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES 183\\nWeatherford s daug-hter Mary and son Willie, some of\\nthe Hethering-ton children and the Camerons dropped in\\noccasionally, but the little Edmundson boys, Jimmie and\\nWillie, were there every day. Their father, William Ed-\\nmundson, Esquire Edmundson as he was called, was one\\nof the best known and most respected of Mahaska s first\\nsettlers. He was appointed justice of the peace in the\\nbeginning- of thing s here, and was elected Mahaska s first\\nsheriff. I heard Mr. Edmundson spoken of often before\\nI ever saw him, and everybody seemed to have a word of\\npraise for him who mentioned his name.\\nWhile I was teaching that school I became quite well\\nacquainted with the whole family. It consisted of Mat-\\nthew and William Edmundson, who were both widowers:\\ntheir mother, Mrs. Edmundson, who was a very ag-ed lady,\\nor at least we young- folks thoug ht her quite ag ed. We\\nthought everybody old if they were past fift}^ Most\\npeople called her Grandmother Edmundson wlien\\nspeaking- of her, and when addressing her called lier\\ngrandmother. I don t think I assumed that liberty,\\nbut when I had occasion to address her I let Mrs. Ed-\\nmundson suffice. Then there were Mrs. Edmundson s\\nunmarried daughter, Margaret; Matthew s daughter,\\nMary, a girl some twelve or thirteen years old; and Wil-\\nliam s two little boys, Jimmie and Willie. The Edmund-\\nson home being- on my road to school and also on my way\\nto town, I often called in and had many a pleasant and\\nprofitable visit with Mrs. Edmundson and her daughter.\\nMrs. Edmundson was one of the brig-htest and most in-\\nteresting old ladies I ever met. She had had a wonder-\\nful and varied experience which she would relate in an", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0185.jp2"}, "186": {"fulltext": "184 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nentertaining manner. She was born in Greenbriar\\nCounty, Virginia, in 1768. She went to Kentucky when\\na girl and rode all the way on horseback. I have heard\\nher tell of the hardships they endured in the first settling-\\nof Kentucky, where they were weeks without bread, and\\nlived in a state of terror for fear of being devoured by\\nwild beasts or massacred by the Indians. Mrs. Edmund-\\nson was well on toward eighty when I first became ac-\\nquainted with her, but showed no sign of imbecility. She\\nhad fed her mind and taken an interest in youngs people\\nand the things which were happening in the world, and\\nby so doing had retained her mental faculties. I used to\\ntell her that her grandsons were among the nicest be-\\nhaved bo3^s I ever saw, and that I never had occasion to\\nreprove them in school. She would reply, Well, they\\nought to be good boys, for they had as nice a mother as\\nboys ever had, but they were so young Vv^hen she died that\\nthey will not rember much about her.\\nThe mother of these little boys was a Miss Depew,\\nsister of Wesley Depew, who in the early days was a cit-\\nizen of Oskaloosa. Another Depew, brother to Wesley\\nand Mrs. Edmundson, married a sister of Micajah Wil-\\nliams. He made a claim immediately north of the orig--\\ninal town quarter. That Mr. Depew died in the early\\ndays and never improved any part of his land. It was\\nowned by his heirs a great many years, and went by the\\nname of the Depew^ eig hty. The children, Jimmie\\nand W^illie, must have been very young when their mother\\ndied, for she died before their father came to Mahaska\\nCounty in 1843.\\nWilliam Edmundson was rather tall, slender, and", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0186.jp2"}, "187": {"fulltext": "RExMINISCENCES. 185\\nstraight. His complexion was neither li rht nor dark; his\\nmanners were g entle, never loud nor boisterous, digni-\\nfied yet easily approached; he was well informed, an in-\\nteresting- talker but a good listener, and was witty without\\nbeing sarcastic. When another was talking, he didn t\\ninterrupt him or her in the middle of a sentence, but po-\\nlitely waited until they were through. He was generous\\nand obliging, and was the owner of the only buggy in\\nOskaloosa at the tirrie of which I am writing. He would\\nlend it to the young fellows to take their girls driving,\\nand when Micajah T. Williams and Virginia Seevers were\\nmarried they made their bridal trip to Mt. Pleasant in\\nthat buggy.\\nMr. Edmundson was a Kentuckian, with the charac-\\nteristics attributed to the gentlemen of the Blue grass\\nregion. He was polite and courteous to laidies, but\\npaid no special attention to any; yet he was ready to\\nrender any little kindness to his young men friends who\\ndid. I have heard it said that he was the possessor of\\nthe only respectable overcoat in the town in the winter\\nof 44 and 45, and would lend it around among his less\\nfortunate young friends. The young men of the town\\nwere in the liabit of congregating in A. J. Davis store\\non winter evenings, and when Mr. Edmundson would\\ncome in from his official trips around and through the\\ncountry he was sure to find some young fellow there who\\nwanted to go to see his girl, waiting for that overcoat.\\nHe became so accustomed to supplying that particular\\nwant that immediately upon entering that resort he,\\nwithout an}^ ceremon}^, would smilingly doff that useful\\narticle of wearing apparel and hand it over to the one", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0187.jp2"}, "188": {"fulltext": "186 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nwhose turn it seemed to be to wear it. Frank Reeves,\\na handsome, brig-ht and witty boy, some eighteen or nine-\\nteen years old, was a clerk in Mr. Davis store. Frank\\nwas a g^eneral favorite and was permitted to say about\\nwhat he pleased. When one of those young- fellows on a\\nwinter evening would walk into the store and look about\\nand seem to be restless, Frank was ^pt to remark: Be\\npatient, Mr. I think the Squire will be in soon. I\\nam expecting him every minute.\\nThe Edmundson family stands out conspicuously\\namong- my recollections of the days when Oskaloosa was\\nan infant. Matthew was quiet in his ways, but was an\\nintellig ent Christian g^entleman. His daughter Mary\\nmarried Mr. Frank Alumbaugh, who it was said could\\nrepeat volumes of poetry from memory, and was a poet\\nhimself. I once went to hear John G. Saxe read some of\\nhis own productions. Mr. Alumbaugh was in the audi-\\nence, and after Mr. Saxe had finished his proposed read-\\nings Mr. Alumbaugh requested him to recite his Proud\\nMiss McBride. Mr. Saxe remarked: To please the\\ngentleman I will try it, though it has been so long since\\nI thought of that particular effort I am not sure that I\\ncan repeat the lines correctly, but feeling confident that\\nI understand the author s meaning, I will make the\\neffort. He did make the eft ort, but after reciting a\\nverse or two he halted; he had forgotten his lines. Mr.\\nAlumbaugh came to the rescue and kindly prompted him.\\nThen without another failure he finished Proud Miss\\nMcBride.\\nMrs. Edmundson, mother of Matthew and William,\\ndied in her ninety-fifth year. She was not only an inter-", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0188.jp2"}, "189": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 187\\nestiiig talker, but was endowed with great good sense.\\nShe was a devout member of the Christian Church. I\\npresume she had much to do with shaping the characters\\nof her grandsons, James and William, who have done\\nhonor to their ancestors. James is and has for many\\nyears been one of Council Bluffs most prominent and\\nsuccessful citizens; he is a man of jjleasing manners, line\\ntaste and highly cultivated mind. He and his charming\\nwife are enjoying the historic scenes and wonders on the\\nother side of the Atlantic, and at the present writing\\n(June 29, 1898), are somewhere in Europe, Asia or Africa.\\nI received a paper from him the otlier day printed in\\nRome. William chose the science of medicine as a pro-\\nfession, and I understand that he is a successful practi-\\ntioner in Denver, Colorado. I never think or hear of\\ntheir success without a feeling of pride. I don t take to\\nmyself the credit of having done much toward shaping\\nthe characters of these Edmundson brothers, but when\\nanybody speaks of them in my presence I am pretty apt\\nto mention their once having gone to school to me.\\nJames and William are all that are left of that interesting\\nfamily. When I drive about the winding ways of Forest\\nCemetery, the spot so sacred and so dear to many of us,\\nI see on its eastern slope, neath the shade of native oaks\\nand elms, a massive gray stone, beautifully carved. On\\nevery side are beautifully-polished panels, whereon are\\nengraved letters and Hgures telling the passers-by the\\nnames, the dates of birth, and the dates of death of var-\\nious members of the Edmundson familv.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0189.jp2"}, "190": {"fulltext": "188 MAHASKA COUNTY.\\nCHAPTER XV.\\nThe Majors family came in 1844 from Morgan County,\\nIlls., near the place where the Phillipses came from, and\\nmade a large claim in the extreme west part of Mahaska\\nCounty. Mr. Majors died soon after they came, leaving\\na widow and a large family of children. Their two sons,\\nJacob and John P., were men. Their widowed daughter,\\nMrs. Louisa Majors Lyons, came with them. There was\\nanother daughter, Nancy, a young lady. There were two\\nsons and two daughters not grown.\\nThe Phillips family and the Majors family were\\nfriends in Illinois, and after coming to the New Pur-\\nchase their friendly relations continued. The young\\npeople sometimes visited each other, though the Majorses\\nlived some fourteen miles west of Oskaloosa. They\\ndidn t have carriages and buggies then, but almost every\\nyoung man owned a good horse, saddle, and bridle. The\\ngirls thought nothing of mounting a spirited horse and\\ncantering off fourteen or fifteen miles over the prairies.\\nAfter I had taught a week of that school, and it was Sat-\\nurday, Sept IHth, the Phillips young people, or Gorrell", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0190.jp2"}, "191": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 189\\nand Martha, proposed to visit the Majorses and invited\\nme to ^o with them. I was anxious enough to go, but\\nfelt a little reluctance in thrusting myself on entire\\nstrangers. I mentioned that fact, but they assured me\\nthat any friend of theirs would be more than welcome at\\nthe ^Majors home. It was soon settled, for I was very\\nglad of a chance to go; and another thing was, I had be-\\ngun to think that Gorrell Phillips was a pretty nice young\\nman. After the matter of my going had been settled,\\nGorrell said, I will go and see Johnson Edgar, as he has\\nbeen wanting to make the acquaintance of Nancy Majors,\\nand I will invite him to go with us. Gorrell Hew off up\\ntown and was back in a little bit. Johnson was more\\nthan pleased and would be ready to join us when the time\\ncame to go. Johnson Edgar was a nice young man, a\\ncarpenter by trade; was a brother to Mrs. A. S. Nichols\\nand an uncle to Rev. Snowden a man well known in\\nIowa, and highly esteemed as a minister in the Congre-\\ngational Church. Mr. vSnowden looks much like his uncle,\\nJohnson Edgar.\\nMr. Phillips owned several good horses. Among\\nthem was a high-headed, spirited bay which they called\\nBill,^ which Mr. Phillips offered to me. I said, Per-\\nhaps Martha will want Bill. Bill was my choice, but I\\ndidn t want to seem anxious about it. Oh, no, said\\nMr. Phillips, Martha claims Kit and wouldn t ride any\\nother. Kit was a fine sorrel mare with a heavy fore-\\ntop which always seemed to be hanging over her eyes. I\\nasked Gorrell one day why he didn t trim Kit s foretop;\\nit looked like it was in the way of her seeing. Oh, no,\\nhe said, That would spoil her looks. It always parts in", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0191.jp2"}, "192": {"fulltext": "190 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nthe rig-ht place and don t interfere with her seeing-.\\nGorrelKs horse was a fiery young- chestnut sorrel named\\nTinker. Tinker had never had harness on, and was\\nonly used as a saddle horse. He was young and wild and\\ntricky, and was hard to mount, but Gorrell was a fine\\nhorseman and felt safe enough when once on his back,\\nthough as soon as he struck the saddle Tinker would rear\\nand pitch and jump and look like he was going to do\\nsomething terrible, but never succeeded in unseating his\\nrider. When the time came for us to start on that wild\\nride, Mr. Johnson Edgar was there on a handsome black\\nhorse with more gentle manners than Tinker, but full of\\nlife and ready enough to go.\\nAbout three o clock in the afternoon we all mounted\\nour horses, the family all standing out by the fence to\\nsee us off. While Tinker was getting over his tantrum,\\nMr. Phillips came and examined our girths and surcingles\\nto be sure that all was safe, then said, Now, girls, when\\nyou get out of town you needn t be afraid to let your\\nhorses go; you can t hurt them. We didn t need en-\\ncouragement to let our horses go, but I suppose Mr.\\nPhillips wanted to let us know that he didn t care how\\nfast we ran his horses. When Tinker had settled down to\\na respectabe gait, Gorrell and I took the lead. Bill bowed\\nhis neck, held his head high in the air, and assumed a\\nstately step; but with all his airs, wasn t dangerous.\\nOur horses were all on their mettle, but we managed\\nto keep them at a moderate gait as we rode along Main\\nStreet on the south side of the public square where sev-\\neral of (mr young men friends were sitting in front of the\\nstores. The town of Oskaloosa at that time was of such", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0192.jp2"}, "193": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 191\\nnarrow limits that a thing of so much importance as that\\nequestrian excursion was very soon known by the most\\nremote inhabitant. We were not at all surprised in\\nfact, we expected to see men, women and children out to\\nsee the procession. Our spirits were so buoyant and we\\nwere on such excellent terms with ourselv^es, and were\\nexpecting such a good time that we imagined everybody,\\nespecially those young men in front of the stores, were\\nlooking on us with eyes of envy. After leaving the town\\nwe only passed two houses before reaching the Majors\\nplace. One was Judge White s, about a mile out south-\\nwest, on the place which has since become a coal mining\\ntown called Acme, and a little cabin in a grove about five\\nmiles out, a little south of west. The road wound about\\non the high ground and was one unbroken stretch of\\nprairie all that fourteen miles. The little cabin which\\nwe saw was some distance from the road and we could\\njust see its clapboard roof above the bushes. I never\\nknew who lived there. There was a plain road all the\\nway, though it had not been traveled sufficiently to wear\\nout the grass entirely. The sloughs were not washed\\ninto deep gutters then, but were covered with sod; there\\nwas not a field nor fence between Judge White s farm and\\nthe Majors ])lace, but one unbroken stretch of undulating\\nprairie. People had their choice of ground to travel on.\\nThere was quite a settlement about where the Majors\\nlived not near neighbors, but in that region. On that\\nSeptember day the weather was all that could be desired,\\nand the road was splendid all the way. Occasionally we\\nwould come to a long piece of level road, then we would\\ngive our horses a tap with the whip and away we would", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0193.jp2"}, "194": {"fulltext": "192 MAHASKA COUNTY\\ngo on a full runfor perhaps a mile; then we would slow\\nup for a little while until we came to another level stretch\\nand off we would go again. With all that dashing and\\nrunning, no accident happened to us. We never raised\\nthe sweat on our horses, nor did they seem tired when\\nwe reached the Majors farm, which we did a long time\\nbefore night. We dashed over that fourteen miles of\\ncharming prairie solitude without meeting a single human\\nbeing, nor even any tame animal. Once we saw two deer\\nscampering over toward the Des Moines river timber, and\\na gray wolf jumped out of the grass a little way ahead\\nof us and v/ent loping over toward the north. Gorrell\\nsaid, If I was out here alone on_ Tinker, with a good\\nclub, I would run that wolf down and kill it. I remarked\\nto him: I think that would be something of a feat to\\nrun a wolf down with a horse. Oh! he said, That\\nhas been done often; I killed one that way myself. I was\\ndown toward White Oak grove on Tinker one morning\\nhunting our oxen. I had an ox-whip with a long lash and\\na short club of a handle, when a wolf jumped up just in\\nfront of me and started out on the prairie on a long lope,\\nI let Tinker out and he fairly flew after that wolf. I\\nwound that whip-lash around my arm and siezed that club\\nof a handle in my hand. We soon began to gain on that\\nwolf, and when we had run about a mile we were right on\\nhim. Tinker struck him with his fore-feet and the wolf\\ncommenced snapping at the horse s legs. I reached\\ndown and struck him a blow on the head with that club\\nwhich stunned him; then Tinker and I soon flnished him.\\nThe Majorses were not expecting us, but received us\\nwith all the demonstrations of hospitality and smiling", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0194.jp2"}, "195": {"fulltext": "REiAIINISCENCES. 193\\nfriendliness that was possible to show visitors. Mrs.\\nMajors, with her sons and daughters, all came out to\\nmeet us, and when Mr, Edg^ar and I were introduced, re-\\nceived us like we had been their dearest friends. If I\\nhad had any misgiving s about being an intruder they\\nwould have been dispelled at once. The Majors famil}^\\nwere the most comfortably fixed for living of any famil}^\\nI had yet seen in this wild, new country. There was a\\nlook of comfort and restf ulness all about the place. They\\nhad a great big liouse with one immense room down\\nstairs, and some kind of arrangement for sleeping above.\\nThat big room had in it four beds all made up nicel}^ with\\nsnowy pillows and clean patchwork quilts. The walls\\nwere whitewashed as white as snow; there was no carpet\\non the floor, but tlie puncheons were scrubbed as clean\\nas a floor could be made. There were plenty of old-\\nfashioned splint- bottomed chairs, a shelf on the wall with\\na looking-glass above it: a Bible and some other books\\nwere on the shelf. Under the shelf was a table with a\\nclean white cloth spread on it, where was a glass pitcher\\nin which was placed an immense boquet of old-fashioned\\nflowers intermingled with sprigs of asparagus. I glanced\\nabout that room and thought, how clean and fresh and\\ncomfortable everything looks. A little way from that\\nbig log house was another of less pretentions which was\\nused as a kitchen and dining-room; there was the big\\nwide fireplace with crane and hooks, and when we were\\nall invited out to supper we were seated at a long table\\nwith snowy cloth and a supper good enough for a king.\\nThe Majors home outside and in was a scene of rustic\\nbeauty. The masses of morning-glories and c\\\\ press\\n13", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0195.jp2"}, "196": {"fulltext": "194 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nvines and flower beans climbed and wound themselves in\\nfantastic shapes about the windows and clear up to the\\neaves.\\nThe Majors women, like the most of farmers wives\\nand daughters in that day, spun and wove. The old-\\nfashioned loom was a rather unsightly piece of furniture,\\nbut seemed to be indispensable in a well regulated far-\\nmer s home. I had seen many a loom-house, but never\\none quite so unique as the Majors Just a roof w^as\\nbuilt out from the kitchen, and in place of the sides being\\nenclosed with lumber or any other solid kind of wall,\\nmorning-glory vines were trained all around except an\\nopening for a door. Instead of an unsightly shed, that\\nloom-house was made a bower of rustic beauty. I think\\nI never saw anywhere but in the Majors garden so many\\nof the old-fashioned flowers. There hadn t been frost\\nenough to kill them, though it was near the middle of\\nSeptember. The Majors men took as much pride and\\npains to make that rustic home attractive as did the\\nwomen. The men did not neglect the more substantial\\nthings pertaining to farming. Their immense fields of\\nbig, tall corn, with long ears hanging, and yellow pump-\\nkins almost covering the ground, gave evidence that\\nsomething had been done besides raising flowers. It was\\neasy to raise corn and pum]ikins and morning-glories in\\nthat day, for the ground was new and rich and mellow,\\nwithout a single weed to be seen anywhere.\\nGorrell, Martha, and I enjoyed ourselves amazingly,\\nbut Mr. Edgar s visit was somewhat interfered with by\\nMiss Nancy Majcn s having to divide her attentions be-\\ntween himself and another young gentleman who seemed", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0196.jp2"}, "197": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 195\\nto have gone there with the self-same purpose. The\\nother gentleman, whose name was Clark, was a very fine\\nlooking young man; was tall and straight, wdth dark hair\\nand eyes; was dressed in a nicely fitting and handsome\\nsuit of black broadcloth. I thought him a handsimie man.\\nMr. Clark lived somewhere in that region and perhaps\\nlives there yet, with that nice dark hair all turned white.\\nFor all I know his children and grandchildren may be\\nliving about him, and he with spectacles on may be spend-\\ning these summer mornings in an easy chair on his porch,\\nreading about Cervera s awful defeat and Hawaii s an-\\nnexation. I have never seen Mr. Clark from that day to\\nthis, and I don t think Mr. Edgar made any more visits\\nto the Majors place, but married another girl. He has\\nlong been sleeping with his fathers.\\nWe young folks spent the evening out in the yard and\\namong the flowers, talking nonsense which we imagined\\nwas the most brilliant repartee. When the time came to\\nretire, we were taken into that big room which we found\\nall partitioned off with white curtains. Each one of those\\nfour beds was in a cozy little room all to itself. The\\nMajors women seemed to be equal to any emergency. I\\nnever go into a sleeping car without being reminded of\\nthat night at the Majors place. Sometimes my young-\\nlady friends get me to telling about the way people lived\\nand managed in those days of crudeness, when men and\\nw^omen and children all lived and slept in a single room.\\nI tell them that the people who first settled this part of\\nIowa had good sense, good principles, and lots of tact,\\nand could adapt themselves to circumstances. Women\\nwhose circumstances made it necessary for them to live in", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0197.jp2"}, "198": {"fulltext": "196 MAHASKA COUNTY\\na cabin of one room were as modest and self-respecting\\nas they are to-day in elegant homes where every individ-\\nual member of a household has his or her own room. In\\nthose pioneer times when people did as they could and\\nnot as they would, men were imbued with the kind of\\nchivalry which forbids the thought of taking advantage\\nof circumstances such as I have reference to. The chiv-\\nalry which shields and protects- women; the chivalry that\\nwomen admire in men.\\nThe government surveyors were encamped in the\\nMajors neighborhood at the time we were there. A young\\nman belonging to the surveying party was taken sick and\\nwas brought to the Majors home and Dr. Warren sent for.\\nI have not forgotten Dr. Warren s kind voice and gentle\\nways as he bent over emd talked to that sick young man;\\nnor those Majors men s tenderness toward him. Mrs.\\nMajors had him placed in one of her snowy soft feather\\nbeds, and she and her daughters brought dainty things to\\ntempt his appetite. After spending a day and a night at\\nthat charming and hospitable home, we again mounted\\nour steeds and had another wild and daring ride back to\\nOskaloosa.\\nThe reason we saw so few people and habitations on\\nthat long ride was, our road was out on the open prairie.\\nIn that early day, people settled in or near the timber; no\\none ventured far out on the prairie. They knew the land\\nwas all right, but in winter prairies were bleak, and the\\nnorthwest winds were piercing where there was not a\\ntree to break their force. The first settlers were obliged\\nto Imild their houses of logs, use wood for fuel and make\\nrails to fence their farms. They had to build strong", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0198.jp2"}, "199": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 107\\nstaked and ridered fences. Many of the early settlers\\nhad long strings of oxen to break the sod; 4;hose oxen\\nwere turned loose when not at work, to get their living\\nwherever the prairie grass suited them best; it took a\\nmighty strong fence to keep those oxen out of a corn-\\nfield. There were no laws then to prevent stock of all\\nkinds from running at large. All that could be done on\\nthat line was to make their fences as high and strong as\\nthe}^ could; under those circumstances the nearer they\\nwere to timber the better. No matter how beautiful the\\nprairie looked, how rich the soil, or how well the land lay\\nfor cultivation, to live in a little cabin away out where\\nthere was not a tree to break the force of wintry storms\\nnor shade one from Summer s scorching heat, was not a\\nsituation to be desired. But little by little, settlers\\nventured out on that charming expanse of rolling prairie\\nand in a few years, from the Des Moines timber to the\\nSkunk, the country was dotted over with houses and fields\\nand tiny groves. It don t take long for trees to grow\\nbig enough to shade a house in this countr3\\\\ If we\\nshould start out one of these Summer mornings t(^ drive to\\nwhat was once the Majors place, it would be through\\nlanes bordering a paradise of farms, with not only com-\\nfortable homes, but homes of architectural beauty,\\nsurrounded by grassy lawns, kept like velvet, V\\\\ith\\nborders and beds of flowers all about, and graceful vines\\ntrained over shady, coz}^ verandas. Orchards of big,\\nthrifty apple trees, full of apples, with not a dead limb\\nnor caterpillar s nest to be seen in them; great fields of\\nclover, red and fragrant; immense fields of waving corn\\njust laid by, when if you look as far as you can see be-", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0199.jp2"}, "200": {"fulltext": "198 MAHASKA COUNTY\\ntween the rows\u00e2\u0080\u0094 just from under the plow- not a weed\\nto be seen, only the fresh, clean, mellow soil. There are\\nfields of wheat, and fields of oats, and fields of potatoes,\\nand pastures with herds of Jersey cows, some busily nip-\\nping- grass, others lazily chewing- their cuds under clumps\\nof trees. There are great pens of black hogs looking- so\\nmuch alike one can t tell them apart. Great big sub-\\nstantial barns and every kind of an out-house which it is\\npossible to want. And besides all that, you would hardly\\nthink you were in a prairie country, trees are so numer-\\nous. This state of bounteous thrift does not alone\\nabound on the way to the place once the Majors home,\\nbut in every direction; no matter which way you g 0 you\\ncan see the same evidences of prosperity. A state of\\nbeauty, comfort and luxury the first inhabitants never\\ndreamed of.\\nBut I must go back to my school in that little cabin,\\nthe Methodist Parsonage, in September, 1845. The first\\ngreat event after beginning that school was our first visit\\nto the Majors ])lace; the next was Oskaloosa s first fire.\\nOn Wednesday, September 17th, as I was going- to my\\ndinner, and had just reached the stile at the Phillips\\nhome, I heard a commotion up in town, and on looking\\naround I saw flames leaping up from a house on the west\\nside of the square. I called to the folks in the house\\nand told them a house was on fire. I didn t g-o in, but\\nwent up town as fast as I could g-o, and found Dr. Weath-\\nerford s house all in flames and their household goods\\npiled and scattered about on the ground, the clock all\\nbroken to pieces. The nearest well was on the lot where\\nthe Merchants House now is (Lot 8, Block 21, o. p.. city", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0200.jp2"}, "201": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. lV)9\\nof Oskaloosa.) Men were running here and there in a\\nstate of frenzy; some ran to tlie stores and siezed all the\\nbuckets they could find, and commenced carrying water\\nfrom that well; the ground was clear between the burning\\nburning and the w^ell I have mentioned. The first house\\nsouth of the fire was Wm. B. Street s store, a small frame\\nbuilding; they kept throwing water on it and by hard\\nwork saved it. The house just north was George Baer s\\ntailor shop, which was quite close; it took fire and was\\nsoon past saving. The house just north of the tailor\\nshop was a cabinet shop, built of logs, and owned by a\\nman named Parish Ellis. That was also entirely con-\\nsumed. George W. and John W. Jones had a long frame\\nstore on the corner where Baldauf s store is now; that\\nwas scorched and began to blaze, but was saved with lit-\\ntle damage. When I got to the fire I siezed a bucket\\nand carried water as fast as I could. I was run-\\nning with a bucket of water when I met John Jones who\\nsnatched it out of my hand. I saw him run and dash it\\non their store just as the weatherboarding began to blaze.\\nThe Jones store was saved. John used to tell Gorrell\\nthat my bucket of water saved it. I don t deserve that\\ncredit, but John s gallantry was great. Just before that\\nfire a Mrs. Wright had bought that house of Dr. Weath-\\nerford, and I think they had some litigation over it.\\nMrs. Wright at the time owned and lived in a one-\\nstory frame house just back of Pickett s drug store.\\nThat same house is there to-day. She was a widow with\\ntwo daughters Anna and Levy. Perhaps her name was\\nOlivia, but I never heard her called anything but\\nLevy. After that fire had sul)sided I noticed Anna", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0201.jp2"}, "202": {"fulltext": "200 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nWright looking- at the ruins as complacently as if nothing-\\nserious had happened. She had a book under her arm.\\nI went up to her and asked her what she was reading;\\nshe handed me the book and I saw it was The Wander-\\ning Jew, a book much talked of then. Anna married\\nHenry Temple, a young lawyer of Oskaloosa, and Levy\\nmarried Isaac Dickerson, a merchant. They all left Os-\\nkaloosa long .ago, and when I last heard of them they\\nwere citizens of Atlantic, Iowa.\\nAs 1 was going home from that fire I met Virginia\\nSeevers and her cousin. Miss Anna Wilkins, who had seen\\nthe fire from their home a mile away and had come to see\\nthe ruins. The next morning Gorrell came in with an\\nexcited look and exclaimed:\\nWhat do you think! Cage and Virginia were mar-\\nried this morning and have gone to Mt. Pleasant! A\\nwedding in those days was not attended with much cere-\\nmony.\\nMy school went along smoothly. We young folks\\nassembled every Friday morning at the court-house and\\nMr. Phillips led us in singing. We attended meeting\\nevery Sunday, as there were services held by one denom-\\nination or another regularly in the court-house, which\\nwas the only public building of any kind in the town until\\nthe Cumberland Presbyterian Church was built, which\\nwas in 1846. Young men displayed their gallantry by\\nescorting the girls to and from those singing schools.\\nGorrell and I soon become quite good friends, and he\\nnever let me lack for an escort. Our friendship before a\\ngreat while culminated into something more serious, and\\nbefore that scliool closed we were engaged to be married.", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0202.jp2"}, "203": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 201\\nWhen my school closed I went back to the home of my\\nrelatives, where I made my simple and un])retentious\\nwedding- outfit, and on Sunday night, January 18th, 1846,\\nwe were married by the Rev. Thomas Kirkpatrick, a\\nMethodist minister who was holding a two days meeting\\nin that court-house. No invitations were issued to that\\nwedding. We just went in, walked up tov/ard the ros-\\ntrum, where the minister met us, and the marriage cere-\\nmony was performed before the religious services began.\\nI think I could tell this story better if it was about some\\none else.\\nGorrell s father and mother received me into their\\nfamily just like one of their very own children, and we\\nlived with them until the next October. My mother-in-\\nlaw was one of the loveliest women I ever knew; she was\\ngentle, kind and unselfish, a Methodist of the old stamp.\\nHer maiden name was Hannah Sinclair, The Sinclairs\\nwere all Methodists from away back. Her brother John\\nSinclair was a pioneer Methodist preacher in Illinois\\nalong with Peter Cartwright, Peter Acres, and others\\nwhose trials and hardships and eccentric preaching- are\\nmatters of history, and no doubt had much to do in mak-\\ning Hlinois the great State it is to-day and her people the\\ngreat people they are to-day. Through fire and flood,\\ncold and hunger and self-denial, they sowed the seeds of\\nrighteous heroism which no doubt to-day is bearing fruit\\na hundred fold.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0203.jp2"}, "204": {"fulltext": "202 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nCHAPTER XVI.\\nSo many thing s which I want to tell happened in\\nthat year (1846) I can hardly decide on the thing to tell\\nfirst. The Mexican war began, but no volunteers were\\ncalled for in this region. Facilities for getting news\\nwere so poor that we didn t hear of a battle until it had\\nbeen over for days. My father-in-law was quite well in-\\nformed for that day, and something of a politician; he\\nwould get hold of a newspaper occasionally, and we all\\nwould gather around him eager to hear while he read the\\nwar news to us. I remember how he grieved when he\\nheard of the death of Gen. Harden: he and Gen. Harden\\nwere friends in Illinois.\\nStephen A. Douglas was beginning to be known\\nthrough the country as a brilliant young and rising poli-\\ntician. Mr. Phillips knew him well, and used to regale\\nus with stories of Douglas smart sayings in debating so-\\ncieties and other occasicms when he was a delicate strip-\\nling and a mechanic who made spinning-wheels in Jack-\\nsonville. Mr. Phillips admired Mr. Douglas and liked\\nhim, but would have liked him better if he had been a", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0204.jp2"}, "205": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 203\\nwhig Mr. Phillips was a whig; and in the summer of\\n46 was a candidate on the whig ticket for Judge of Pro-\\nbate, but was defeated by John White. As there was no\\nprinting office anywhere in reach, the tickets had to be\\nwritten. I think I wrote all the whig tickets used in the\\ncounty at that election. I became very tired of that\\nmonotonous work, but my father-in-law kept me at it for\\nthree or four days, and wouldn t allow me to stop until I\\nhad written whig tickets all over one side of about a\\nquire of foolscap paper. After I was supposed to have\\nwritten enough I cut them all apart and did them up in\\npackages to be sent out to all the voting places in the\\ncounty. All that work was gratuitous, such a thing as\\nremuneration never entering my mind; and to think that\\nafter all that writing, and writing, and writing whig\\ntickets, my father-in-law was beaten. John White, the\\nsuccessful candidate, lived about a mile southwest of\\ntown. In 18.53 Judge White was thrown from a sulky or\\ngig and his leg was broken A day or two after, Dr.\\nHopkins amputated it and he died in two or three days\\nafter the operation.\\nIn the Spring of 1846 there was a great exodus of\\nMormons from Nauvoo, Illinois. Their Prophet, Joseph\\nSmith, was killed in 44 by a mob, and the whole set were\\nordered to leave the State. They were given time to\\ndispose of their effects and pack up and go to some other\\ncountry. Some of their shrewd and wise ones had dis-\\ncovered a country beautiful and productive away to the\\nsouthwest, where they supposed they could go and settle\\nand live and practice their peculiar religious rites with-\\nout being disturbed by the laws of any State. So in the", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0205.jp2"}, "206": {"fulltext": "204 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nSpring of 46 they made a grand rush for what they called\\nthe Promised Land/ For weeks in that Spring and\\nearly Summer, train after train of those people with their\\nwhite covered wagons could be seen slowly wending- their\\nway along the lane by my father-in-law s house and\\nthrough Oskaloosa. If one chanced to speak to one of\\nthem they didn t seem at all inclined to be sociable, but\\nwere uncommunicative, sullen and morose. They often\\nboug-ht corn of Mr. Phillips, but were not inclined to\\ntalk only of the business in hand. They were seeking\\na country where, when they reached it, they builded\\nbetter than they knew.\\nOne rainy, muddy evening in that Spring- a colony of\\nSwedes, about fifty in number, came driving- up and\\nwanted shelter. They were a forlorn looking set, and\\nsome of them were sick. Not one could speak a word of\\nEng-lish, except a man who was conducting them to their\\ndestination, and another young man who was fine-looking-\\nand had princely manners. He had golden hair and com-\\nplexion like a g-irl, was tall, straight and dig-nified and\\nlooked like a lord among a lot of beggars. The man who\\nwas conductor and interpreter informed us that this\\nlordly-looking young man belonged to a Swedish family\\nof wealth and high social standing, who had come to\\nAmerica with the rest on a tour of inspection. Mr. Phil-\\nlips had a large barn just finished, where all those people\\nslept that night except one woman who was sick. Mr.\\nPhillips had a hadsome three-year-old filly, and in the\\nmorning that lordly-looking young man got his eye on\\nher and proposed to purchase her. When Mr. Phillips\\ntold him he could have her for fifty dollars he just handed", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0206.jp2"}, "207": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 205\\nhim fifty dollars in brig ht ^old pieces, mounted his filly\\nand rode off. Those people, I heard, settled somewhere\\nnorthwest of what was then called Ft. Des Moines. They\\nwere the first Swedes I ever saw. I have a pretty g ood\\nopinion of Swedes and Norwegians, but liave not forg ot-\\nten my first experience with them, and the time we had\\ncleaning- out the mud after that set had gone.\\nOne of the prominent events of that Summer was the\\nkmd sales, which occurred on the Fourth of July. Al-\\nmost every man who ovv^ned a claim had a sack of silver\\ncoin buried or hidden in some way under their puncheon\\nfloors. How carefully they watched over and kept their\\nlittle hoard. Some actually denied themselves and fam-\\nilies what now would be called the necessaries of life, in\\norder to keep intact that little hoard. They knew to a\\ncent just how much it contained, and knew that on that\\nthey were dependent for food, raiment and shelter; or at\\nleast for the land on which to produce those thing s. I\\nhave known families to deny themselves flour, sugar and\\ncott ee rather than break in on that bag- of silver under\\nthe floor. It was g oing to take just so much to enter\\ntheir land, and that amount must be kept intact whether\\nthey had biscuit and coffee or not.\\nSo on the morning of the third of Jul}^ nearly all the\\nmen in the south part of Mahaska County dug up their\\nprecious hidden treasures and started for Fairfield. The\\nmost of the men in Oskaloosa went whether they were\\ngoing to enter land or not. Claim law^s were in vogue,\\nand every man carried a stout hickory club to defend\\nhimself and neighbors against over-bidders. My father-\\nin-law went and entered between three hundred and four", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0207.jp2"}, "208": {"fulltext": "206 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nhundred acres lying- along the east side of Oskaloosa.\\nThat land extended nearly as far south as the Rock\\nIsland depot and north almost to Spring Creek. What\\nis generally thought to be the most beautiful part of Os-\\nkaloosa is on that land.\\nMy husband s claim was eig-hty acres; the north\\nforty of that eighty is now Forest Cemetery. My hus-\\nband had done the amount of work required on his claim\\nin order to preempt, so he preempted his eighty, and\\nthe next year exactly to a day went to Fairfield and\\nentered it at a dollar and a quarter an acre. He bor-\\nrowed the money from the school fund commissioner, pay-\\ning- ten per cent interest on the same, and in addition to\\nthe one hundred dollars which was necessary to secure\\nthe eighty acres, he was compelled to borrow five dollars\\nmore to pay his expenses in making the trip to the land\\noffice. Money then was scarce and hard to obtain; people\\nmanaged to live by trading- one commodity for another.\\nNearly all the money in the country was paid out for\\nland to the government, and that had not been in circula-\\ntion. The money obtained from the sale of sixteenth sec-\\ntions went into the school fund and was loaned out, there\\nbeing no regulations for a long- time to use it for school\\npurposes. I used to heeu it said that the sixteenth sec-\\ntions nearly always happened to be valuable land.\\nThe first school whose teachers were })aid with\\nmoney drawn from the school fund was taug-ht in the\\ntwo-story brick school-house called Gospel Ridge\\nschool, in 1855. The first man elected as principal was a\\nMr. Goshorn, who died soon after accepting the position.\\nHe died in a house which stood on the southwest corner", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0208.jp2"}, "209": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES 207\\nof First Avenue and Seventh Street, where Esquire\\nWeaver lives. James Loughridj^e was the next principal.\\nIn 1855 Mr. Phillips, my father-in-law, had one hun-\\ndred acres of land fenced and in cultivation; an immense\\nstaked and ridered fence enclosed the whole of it. A\\nwide lane called the Fairfield Road divided it in about\\nequal portions. My husband, his brother Wat and a\\nhired man made all those rails, hauled them out and\\nbuilt that fence, high enough and strong enough to keep\\nout any prairie-breaking team, no matter how breachy.\\nThat hired man came to Mr. Phdlips in the Spring of 45\\nand olfered to do any kind of work on the farm for his\\nboard and washing and seven dollars a month in cash.\\nMr. Phillips hired him and kept him several months; the\\nfamily used to say they never saw a better worker nor a\\nmore honorable man. The most of that hundred acres\\nwas broken in 44 and w^as just right for a crop in 45,\\nwhich was a good season. The weather was favorable\\nfor early planting in the Spring, the Summer had just\\nenough of rain, and frost stayed away long enough in the\\nFall for corn and everything else to mature.\\nThe Phillipses had an immense crop of corn, acres\\nin shock and thousands of bushels in great high rail pens.\\nIt was easy to raise corn then twice plowing was suffi-\\ncient. The ground was new and rich and mellow, with\\nnot a weed to be seen; there were no weeds here to speak\\nof for three or four years. I used to pine for the sight\\nof a plaintain or a dandelion, and if I had come across a\\nsprig of dog fennel by the roadside I think I would have\\ngotten down and worshiped it. My heart fairly leaped\\nwith joy when I first saw a little patch of blue grass and", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0209.jp2"}, "210": {"fulltext": "208 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nwhite clover. But before many years the streets in the\\nlittle town of Oskaloosa were bordered with as luxuriant\\na growth of smartweed and dog- fennel as I had been ac-\\ncustomed to seeing in the little towns in the old Hoosier\\nState. In 1816 there was another bountiful crop raised\\nof corn and wheat and oats, and such gardens and melons\\nand pumpkins! There were few cattle and hogs to eat\\nthe corn, and no market to speak of where that great\\namount of stuff could be turned into money. My father-\\nin-law kept what was called a wagon yard, and disposed\\nof some of his surplus C()rn and oats to travelers, l)ut\\nmuch of it was wasted.\\nWhen I drive about the outskirts of Oskaloosa now\\nand see boys by the dozen engaged in weeding onions in\\nimmense gardens, I think of a time when acres of onions\\ncould have been raised by merely leveling the ground\\nand sowing the seed. No boys were needed to pull\\nweeds; there would have been nothing but the clean\\nground, and every individual onion standing out and\\nspreading itself. Wouldn t John Knight and the Kem-\\nbles think they had a bonanza if their ground was like\\nthat nowV I don t mean to say that the ground is not\\nrich to-day, for it is, but weeds will grow.\\nGorrell and I expected to go to housekeeping in the\\nSpring, but father Phillips persuaded us to wait till Fall,\\nwdien his barn would have been finished, the crop se-\\ncured, and the boys, Gorrell and Watt, could then build\\nus a little log house on our eighty acre claim. We all got\\nalong nicely at father Phillips but how we did look for-\\nward to the time when we would have a home of our own.\\nWe knew our hcmie would have to be very scantily fur-", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0210.jp2"}, "211": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENC ES. 209\\nnished, but we didn t mind tliat; homes generally in those\\ndays were humble and scantily furnished. Neither of\\nus had ever been accustomed to luxuries, and were con-\\ntent to begin in a very humble way. We were young\\nthen, and full of hope and energy; the world was before\\nus, and we had each other. We would often walk down\\nand look over the ground, and finally selected the spot\\nwhere our house was to be built. The place we selected\\nwas not a wise choice, though it was the prettiest place\\nin all the country a charming body of timber to the\\nnorth, the ground sloping to the east and to the west, a\\nlittle clear brook at the foot of that western slope, and\\nover the hill a stretch of prairie and groves which at sun-\\nset was like a picture. To the south was a view of open\\nprairie, and we could stand on that spot and see all over\\nthe little town of Oskaloosa. After that big barn was\\nfinished, the corn laid by, the wheat and oats stacked and\\nthe prairie hay cut and put in the barn, Gorrell and Wat\\nwent down into the timber and cut and hewed logs for\\nour house. Wat was a natural mechanic and could do\\nalmost anything in the construction of a house as crude\\nas that. Wat made the shingles to cover it, by hand.\\nThat house was a little more pretentious than many at\\nthat time, as it had a shingled roof and a brick chimney.\\nR. R. Harbour built the chimney, which was a good one,\\nhad a nice fireplace and did not smoke. The floor, too,\\nwas made of plank instead of puncheon. Some saw-mills\\nhad by that time been built about through the country\\nand a rough kind of lumber could be obtained. Our floor\\nwas of green oak plank just laid down without nailing.\\nThere was a door in the south and one in the north, one\\n14", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0211.jp2"}, "212": {"fulltext": "210 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nwindow in the south of nine panes of g^lass. There were\\ncracks between the logs, but Gorreli fitted in pieces of\\nwood to till them up, then g^ot sand and lime and made\\nmortar and plastered the cracks over until the wall was\\nquite smooth and tight. I said that Gorreli did that plas-\\ntering, but will take that back, as I did part of it myself.\\nI was so much interested in the building of that house I\\nwould go and look on and w^atch the progress of things,\\nand when he commenced putting on that mortar, I as usual\\nwas hanging around. No one was there but ourselves,\\nand I pro])osed to help him. He made some objection,\\nbut I persisted, took up the trowel and commenced laying\\non the mortar. I found it such delightful work that I\\njust kept on, and wouldn t let him have the trowel, but\\nkept calling out mort until I had plastered as high as\\nI could reach. We didn t suppose there was a human\\nbeing in a half mile of us, when suddenly we heard a\\nhorse s hoofs, and on looking around we beheld John\\nWhite sitting on his horse, whose head was fairly inside\\nthe door. Hello! said Mr. White, and seeing me with\\ntrowel in hand, wanted to know if I was helping to build\\nthe house, said he had thought all along that Gorreli had\\ndone well in marrying, but didn t imagine I was a house-\\nbuilder, with all my other qualifications. He must have\\nnoticed our embarrassment, which instead of making him\\nchange the subject, led him on more and more in his\\nquizzing remarks.\\nI went down the branch below Hosier s spring and\\ndug some white clay out of the bank and made a white-\\nwash and applied it to the walls of my little log house,\\nwhich made it as white as snow. I did that whitewashing", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0212.jp2"}, "213": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 211\\nbefore we moved into the house. When that white clay\\niirst came out of the bank it was almost as hard as rock,\\nbut a few days soaking in water reduced it to the proper\\nconsistency. One day I went alone to that little new\\nhouse and applied that solution to the walls as high up\\nas I could reach when standing on the floor, then I made\\na scaffold of the logs which had been sawed out to make\\nthe doors, climbed up on it and finished it to the (I was\\ngoing to say ceiling, but there was no ceiling, only\\njoists between the floor and roof), but I whitewashed to\\nthe top of the logs. It soon dried, and looked so white\\nand clean, and I felt so proud of my work I just stood\\nand gazed and admired, and kept thinking, Won t Gor-\\nrell think this is nice? The next day I took him down\\nto look at it. Gorrell always praised anything I did, and\\nwhen I showed him those white walls he couldn t say\\nenough nice things. He would look around the room,\\nand then look at me and break out with more praises.\\nOn the 14th of October, 1846, we moved into our little\\nnew cabin home. Though we had so few of what are\\ncalled the necessaries of life, and none of what could by\\nany means be considered luxuries, I think we were as\\nhappy as any young husband and wife ever were, even if\\nstarted out in life surrounded with elegant home and ele-\\ngant appointments. I discovered long ago that happi-\\nness does not depend on fine houses, fine furniture nor\\nfine clothes. It didn t take us long to arrange our furni-\\nture; we had no carpet to tack down, but I did wish I\\nhad a strip or two of rag carpet. We set our bed up,\\nwhich was quite respectable-looking, with nice pillows\\nand patch-work quilt, and a clean, starched calico valence,", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0213.jp2"}, "214": {"fulltext": "212 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nwhich stood out all around the bottom like a ruffle.\\nThere was a great deal of room under a bed in those\\ndays. It was a g ood thing too, that that style prevailed,\\nfor many unsightly things could be tucked under the bed\\nand hidden by the valence. We learned in those days\\nhow to utilize room, and boxes and bundles could be\\nstored away under the bed. Our cupboard consisted of\\nsome shelves without a door; there were strips to hold\\nthe plates up at the back of the shelves. I had some\\nvery pretty plates and didn t fail to set every individual\\nplate so it would show to the best advantage; my cups\\nand saucers, too, were made to show their best. I did\\nhave some pretty cups and saucers, and I am sure I\\nwould think them pretty to-day. They were decorated\\nand had handles, were a mulberry color and a pretty\\nshape. I had a set of knives and forks of which I was\\nvery proud. The handles were made of buck s horn,\\nwere of irregular shape, no two having the same curve.\\nI think I was more anxious to have a respectable table\\nthan I was about any other detail of housekeeping. A\\nbox with curtain in front served the joint purpose of\\nkitchen table and pot closet. I cooked by the fireplace,\\nwhich was nothing new to me, as I was raised that way.\\nWhen we commenced housekeeping we found ourselves\\nwithout many things which seemed to be necessary. I\\nhad no rolling-pin at first, but had immense ears of corn,\\nso I rolled my biscuit out with an ear of corn. I can\\nshut my eyes now and see the prints of the grains in the\\ndough. I did my washing at first in a dishpan and bucket;\\nwe carried water up that long slope from the little brook,\\nbut with it all we managed to be quite comf oi table we", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0214.jp2"}, "215": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 213\\nwere well and strong and not afraid of work. The fnture\\nlooked bright, and we had no heartaches or fears about\\nmaking a living. We were so satisfied with each other\\nthat it required but little besides to make us happy.\\nOur house was located just where the prairie and\\ntimber meet. The woods back of our house was a dense\\nforest almost unbroken to Skunk River. We used to\\nhear wolves howl at night, but never thought of being\\nafraid of them. I never heard of them attacking any-\\nbody about here. I was more afraid of snakes than any-\\nthing else. I killed many a rattlesnake about on that\\nridge. One day as I was going out of the back door a\\nrattlesnake was crawling toward the house and not more\\nthan two feet away from the door. It coiled and rattled\\n\u00e2\u0080\u0094that sound always so terrifying. I would have killed\\nit myself if nobody had been there but me, but Gorrell\\nwas and he put a quietus on it. It was nothing unusual\\nthen to hear of snakes crawling into people s cabins, but\\nI never heard of any one being bitten around here by\\nsnakes crawling into their houses. I heard of a few out\\non the prairie being l)itten, but of only one person dying\\nfrom rattlesnake bite in this part of Iowa, and that was\\na Mrs. Gray, in Harrison township. A little McAllister\\ngirl was bitten on the foot by a rattlesnake in the Lough-\\nridge neighborhood in 1844. Her people applied such\\nremedies as they had at hand, but before Dr. Hobbs got\\nthere she was unconscious and badly swollen. He saved\\nher life by wrapping her from head to foot in a poultice\\nmade of corn meal and cold water. The poultice was\\nchanged often and the child got well and is living to-day.\\nDr. Hobbs told me about it himself. The subject of", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0215.jp2"}, "216": {"fulltext": "214 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nsnakes is not a pleasant subject to write about, nor talk\\nabout, nor think about, but as they played a conspicuous\\npart in the early settling of this country. I thought it\\nproper to make some mention of them.\\nWild turkeys were thick about in the woods and\\nsometimes would come close to our house. We had a\\npen of corn out by the stable, and one day when I was\\nalone I heard that peculiar sound which turkeys make.\\nI opened the door gently and on looking out I beheld that\\ncorn pen covered with turkeys and about a dozen others\\nwalking about on the ground. I stood still and watched\\nthem a little while before they discovered me, but when\\nthey did get a glimpse of me they hied themselves off\\ndown through the grove. Quails were plentiful about in\\nthe woods and groves. One flock in particular made\\ntheir headquarters about our corn pen that first Fall.\\nGorrell made a trap and first and last caught the whole\\nflock, numbering sixteen. I don t think a flock of quails\\never behaved as satisfactorily to their captors as that\\nflock did. There were always two, and never more than\\nthree, found in that trap at one time. Gorrell and I al-\\nways had each a quail. If there were three I generally\\ngave Gorrell the extra one, though he would insist on\\ndividing.\\nOur cooking utensils consisted of a tea kettle, a cof-\\nfee pot, a skillet and a kettle, which answered the pur-\\npose of boiling, baking, stewing and roasting. We didn t\\nhave a great variety of things to cook, but the corn bread\\nI used to bake in that skillet would make a Kentuckian s\\nmouth water to-day. No corn bread in these days baked\\nin any of the modern ranges is half so good as that baked", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0216.jp2"}, "217": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 21.5\\nin a skillet by an old-fashioned fireplace. We used to\\nthink a dinner without corn bread was not a dinner at all.\\nDyspepsia and indigestion were words which very few\\npeople knew the meaning of in 46 I mean Mahaska\\npeople. Some words which were in common use and per-\\nfectly well understood by every man, woman and child\\nin this region in 46 are fast becoming obsolete, or going\\ninto desuetude. For instance: Egg bread, light\\npone, johnny cake, hoe cake, lye hominy. Not\\nlong ago a gentleman asked me what kind of a plant hom-\\niny grew on, and was it cultivated in this country?\\nOskaloosa to-day can boast of many institutions never\\ndreamed of by her inhabitants^ in 46. Among them a\\nsociety or organization whose object is to look after and\\nrelieve the city s poor, who are supposed to be worthy of\\nbenevolent consideration. This society is managed by\\nthe women of the city. A committee from each ward\\nlooks after the wants of its respective ward. My friend.\\nMiss Leoni McMillen, being one of a committee, when\\non a tour of investigation came upon a family who had\\napplied for help. Miss McMillen inquired into their\\nneeds, when the woman of the house informed lier that\\nthey wanted some first-class canned peaches, some\\noranges, raisins, granulated sugar, coffee and tea, porter-\\nhouse steak and a sack of flour she preferred Pills-\\nbury s Best. After Miss McMillen had taken her order\\nfor the foregoing articles she suggested that she send\\nthem some corn meal, when the woman informed her that\\nher family couldn t eat corn bread. Can t eat corn\\nbread! Miss McMillen exclaimed in indignant astonish-\\nment. Madam, I want to say to you that the bone and", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0217.jp2"}, "218": {"fulltext": "216 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nsinew of this country were raised on corn bread, and if\\nyou can t eat corn bread now, you had better go hungry\\nuntil you can eat it. Can t eat corn bread! Why, the\\nmen who fought to save our country were glad to get\\ncorn bread.", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0218.jp2"}, "219": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 217\\nCHAPTER XVII.\\nIn the early days, anywhere in Oskaloosa and ahnost\\nanywhere in the vicinity, a g^ood well of water could be\\nobtained by digg^ing from fifteen to twenty feet, and\\nwhen our little home was located on that beautiful spot\\nwe had no thoug ht that there would be any difficulty in\\nfinding water, as others had done. But when Gorrell\\ngot ready to dig a well he and Wat supposed they would\\nhave it completed in three or four days, but disappoint-\\nment awaited them. As soon as Wat had g^one throug^h\\nthe rich, black loam he struck a dry, hard clay. They\\nexpected to strike a vein of water down about twenty\\nfeet, but they dug and drew out that dry hard clay until\\nthey had gone fifty feet straight down in the g-round\\nwithout striking- a drop of water; then they encountered\\na slate stone so hard the fire would fiy from the pick as\\nthey tried to dig. Gorrell had an old well-digg^er come\\nand give his opinion of the prospect. The old well-dig-\\nger s opinion was, there were several feet of that hard\\nslate, and immediately under that slate was a vein or\\nstrata of coal, and if they found water at all it would not", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0219.jp2"}, "220": {"fulltext": "218 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nbe good. So after all that hard work of digg-ing straight\\ndown through clay as hard as rock without the least\\nprospect of finding water, the thing had to be abandoned.\\nWe were disgusted with the thought of a coal bank on our\\nplace we had no use for coal. Nobody but blacksmiths\\nhad any use for coal, and they could find all they wanted\\nby digging in a hillside or bluff down on Spring Creek or\\nMuchakinock. There was plenty of wood around here,\\nand what did anybody but a blacksmith want with that\\ndirty, foul-smelling stuff? So at intervals, as Gorrell\\nfound time, he would shovel the clay and slate back into\\nthat hole until it was all filled up. The failure to get\\nwater took a good deal of the charm off of that charming\\nspot. Hauling and carrying water became irksome after\\na while, and we decided to move our house to a grove\\nnear the southeast corner of our south forty, where we\\nknew we could get a well of water.\\nWhen the country was first settled, people died and\\nhad to be buried, many more in proportion to the number\\nthan now. In those days water was so near the surface\\nin most places that a grave was apt to have water in it\\nwhen a body was placed therein. That seemed horrible\\nto us, and when that well was dug and the ground found\\nso dry, the thought naturally came to us that it would be\\njust the place for a cemetery. We often talked about it,\\nbut had no idea of selling the land for any purpose, es-\\npecially for a cemetery. We expected that to be our\\nhome as long as we lived, but we talked so much about\\nits being a proper place for that purpose that I got to\\nimagining I could see graves all over that ridge, and on\\nthose gentle slopes to the east and to the west and down", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0220.jp2"}, "221": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 219\\nin the grove to the north. Sometimes I would be alone\\nall day and have nothing to do but sew carpet rags and\\npiece quilts and think and imag ine. I never was what\\npeople call lonesome. If I had no other company I\\ncould enjoy myself very well communing with my own\\nthoughts.\\nWhen we first went to housekeeping we had no land\\nfenced; ten acres had been broken the year before, and\\nGorrell made rails and fenced it after we had moved; he\\nraised his first crop of corn on his father s farm and gath-\\nered it after we went to our own home. The days were\\ngetting short and the evenings cool, and when I would be\\nlooking for him in the evening I would have a bright fire\\nburning in the fireplace and open the door so he could see\\nit as he drove up with his load of corn. I would have the\\nsupper all ready to take up, biscuit or cora bread in the\\nskillet, coffee boiling on the coals, and if we didn t have\\nquails we had sausage. We didn t have a cow at first,\\nbut mother Phillips kept us supplied with milk and cream;\\nshe was always good and never forgot her children. How\\nmy heart would bound with gladness when I would look\\nout and see my husband coming. I would throw a shawl\\nover my head and run out to meet him, get in the wagon\\nand help him throw the corn out; then while he was put-\\nting his horses in the stable and feeding, I would run in\\nand get my supper on the table, and see that the fire\\nlooked all right. I always expected a compliment and\\nnever failed to get one. A bright fire sending a glow all\\naround on the whitewashed walls of our little humble\\nhome, and a smoking supper on the table gave a look of\\ncheerfulness and comfort which was sure to be apprecia-", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0221.jp2"}, "222": {"fulltext": "220 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nted by my husband, and he never failed to let me know\\nhow much pleasure it gave him. Little acts of kindness\\nand little words of praise are the things w^hich go a great\\nway in making a happy home.\\nAs I have already stated, the failure to get water\\nmade us decide to move our house where we should have\\nbuilt it in the first place. Though not quite so handsome\\na location, it was nearly a half a mile nearer town. We\\nfound plenty of water, splendid and soft, at twenty feet.\\nWe were much attached to that first home, and many\\npleasant memories lingered around it. There we first\\nset up a home of our own, and there our two little boys\\nwere born. We lived there more than three years before\\nwe could find time and courage to tear down our house\\nand move it away. After we moved away and the place\\nbecame a common, with blue grass growing all about\\nthere, it was still beautiful. The town cows, with their\\nmany-toned and discordant bells, cropped the grass, and\\nwhen they had satisfied their appetite, laid down and\\nchewed their cuds in the shade of the beautiful oaks\\nwhich used to adorn our front yard.\\nA year or so ago David Evans and I were talking\\nabout the beauty of that place when he said to me:\\nYears ago when I was a young man, one day when\\nI had been away down nearly to Skunk River, in coming\\nhome 1 walked up through the woods, and as I came to\\nthat spot I looked about and thought I had never seen a\\nmore beautiful place. I was tired and threw myself\\ndown on the grass to rest. There was a gentle breeze\\nblowing, birds were singing in the trees above me, and\\nas 1 lay there I thought, this is the spot where I want to", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0222.jp2"}, "223": {"fulltext": "RExMINISCENCES. 221\\nbe buried/ When that place was being laid out and sold\\nin little plots of ground for homes for the dead, Mr.\\nEvans purchased the lot on which he had lain that da}\\nand now he and his wife lie side by side on the very\\nspot where once the little log house stood which was our\\nfirst home.\\nThere is a portion of Mahaska County lying to the\\nsouthwest of Oskaloosa, fertile and beautiful, called Six\\nMile Prairie. Six Mile Prairie was not allprairie, but\\nbordered around and dotted here and there with some fine\\ngroves of timber, and the beautiful Des Moines River\\ntouches its southwestern limit. That grand and rich ex-\\npanse of prairie and the wonderfully productive land on\\nthe border of that wide and clear and pebbly-bedded\\nriver attracted the attention of some of the shrewdest\\nand solidist men who came to the New Purchase to make\\nfor themselves homes in 1813. Dr. Boyer located on a\\nclaim of that valuable bottom land and from time to time\\nadded to his possessions until he owned hundreds and\\nhundreds of acres of the most valuable farming land in\\nall this region. The Dr. and Mrs. Boyer were young\\npeople when they came, with two small children. They\\nlived in a cabin like the rest at first, but before many\\nyears built and moved into a two-story brick house, which\\nat that time was talked of far and near as a very preten-\\ntious residence. Dr. Boyer was not only a fine business\\nman, but an educated man and a highly-esteemed physi-\\ncian and had an extensive practice.\\nThe Dr. became wealthy, but I don t think a great\\namount of his wealth was acquired by the practice of\\nmedicine, for I have often heard it said he would go", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0223.jp2"}, "224": {"fulltext": "222 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nmiles and miles through storms of rain and drifts of snow\\nwould, like Ian McLaren s Dr. McClure, risk his life\\nin crossing swollen streams, go cold and hungry in trying\\nto relieve the sick and suffering, when he never did and\\nnever expected to receive a cent of pay. Dr. and Mrs.\\nBoyer raised a large family of sons and daughters. They\\nstuck to the home they first made in the Des Moines\\nbottom. The Dr. died a few years ago, but Mrs. Boyer\\nlives there still, and though well along in years she is^ in\\nfull possession of all her mental faculties. Mrs. Boyer\\nis honored, respected and loved by a large circle of\\nneighbors and acquaintances; she has too noble a nature\\nto be puffed up with wealth; she is genial, generous, and\\nhas been for more than fifty years what is called a valu-\\nable neighbor. Her children, grandchildren and great-\\ngrandchildren may well rise up and call her blessed.\\nHer sons are fine business men. F. D. and T. H. Boyer,\\nsons of hers, carry on an extensive trade in clothing, F.\\nD. in Oskaloosa and T. H. in Sioux City. People of\\nSioux City call T. H. Boyer the finest-looking man in\\ntheir town. Dr. and Mrs. Boyer s oldest daughter is the\\nwife of one of Oskaloosa s most esteemed citizens and\\nbest business men, Mr. J. R. Barnes. Mr. Barnes is\\ncashier of the Mahaska County State Bank. F. D.,\\nFrank, as we call him, is not only a successful busi-\\nness man, but has a heart so full of kindness he can t\\nturn a deaf ear to those who go to him for sympathy or\\nmore substantial help. His wife, too, is never too busy\\nnor too tired to fly to the bedside of a sick neighbor.\\nHer deft hands know just what to do and just how to\\nsoothe the suffering.", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0224.jp2"}, "225": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 223\\nVan B. Delashmutt was another one of the substan-\\ntial men who came in 43, and was wise enoug h to secure\\na larg^e tract of that wonderful production, Des Moines\\nbottom land. He built his house where one could look\\nout of the front door and see that river, could look across\\nand see a border of trees festooned with wild grape vines\\nwhich, when let alone, take on varied and beautiful\\nshapes. In the early times, when there was no fruit but\\nwild fruit, we went with great baskets to the Des Moines\\nRiver, in the Delashmutt neighborhood, and gathered\\nbushels of wild grapes and plums.\\nMr. Delashmutt was a Virginian, from that part of\\nthe Old Dominion where there were big mountains,\\nbig trees and big broad-shouldered men with big souls.\\nHe belonged to the latter class, as I have often heard his\\nneighbors assert. One of his daughters married Judge\\nJ. A. L. Crookham, a prominent citizen of Oskaloosa.\\nShe died when a young woman, leaving two children,\\nWilliam and Elizabeth Euclid. Euclid, as she is usu-\\nally called, is a bright, well-informed, scholarly woman,\\nand has for several years been a teacher in Portland,\\nOregon. William Delashmutt, Van Delashmutt s oldest\\nson, is an honorable, respected citizen of Oskaloosa; he\\nwas a man when his father came in 43, and remembers\\nand can relate more incidents of the early settling than\\nany man I know. The Boyers and Delashmutts, have\\nfrom the first settling of Mahaska County to the present\\nday been prominent families.\\nWhen one hears the Six Mile Prairie spoken of they\\nare sure to associate it with the name of Wilson. Sever-\\nal families of Wilsons, more or less distantly related,", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0225.jp2"}, "226": {"fulltext": "224 MAHASKA COUNTY\\ncame in 1843 and took possession of large bodies of the\\npublic domain, situated in that region so famed for its\\nbeauty and fertility. The Wilsons, like the Boyers and\\nDelashmutts, it seems, knew when they had a good thing\\nand were wise enough to hold on to it. In driving about\\nthrough that region of line farms, ever and anon one\\ncomes to a substantial, thrifty-looking and well-kept\\nplace, belonging to one or another of the Wilsons. One\\nof the Wilsons whom I hear called Tom, has a fine\\nfarm and a fine house on the river s brink, where he\\nraises corn which is simply immense, and melons rivaling\\nthe tropics. In coming from the Tom W^ilson place to-\\nward Oskaloosa one sees another of the kind of farms\\nwhich delight the eye and makes one feel that this is in-\\ndeed a land of plenty. Milo Wilson lives there with his\\nintelligent wife and eight sons, surrounded by fields fairly\\ngroaning with their burden of that king of Iowa s pro-\\nductions, and smiling fields of clover. Not far from\\nMilo Wilson s and near the northern boundary of Six\\nMile Prairie lives another family of Wilsons, Mr. Blake\\nWilson, his charming wife and two bright children, and\\nwith them Mrs. Wilson, mother of Milo and Blake.\\nThis morning, which is the 7th day of August, 1898,\\nmy son Quincy and I proposed taking a drive. After\\nQuincy had harnessed our good old horse Jim to the\\nphaeton and we were seated therein, Quincy said: Now,\\nmother, where shall we drive? I proposed that we\\ndrive out to Blake Wilson s. Jim is in his twenty-first\\nyear, has been a faithful servant in our family for more\\nthan fourteen years, and in all that time has never been\\nknown to balk nor kick nor run away, nor anything unbe-", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0226.jp2"}, "227": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 225\\ncoming in a horse. He never comes to a railroad track\\nthat he don t look up and down to see if a train is coming-.\\nIf a train happens to be coming- he will stop at a proper\\ndistance and wait quietly until it has passed. Jim is of\\nancient and aristocratic lineage. Some of his ancestors\\nwere of pure Barb stock, which accounts for his sagac-\\nity, and also accounts for his being as nimble as a colt\\nat his advanced age. Jim never did a hard day s work in\\nhis life, but willingly takes us wherever we want him to.\\nSo this morning we turned his head toward Beacon,\\nwhich is the nicest mining town about here. Many years\\nago a good class of Welsh people emigrated to America\\nand settled in and around Beacon, among them being four\\nbrothers named Price, Jenkin, Joshua, Watkin and John\\nR. These, with many others, were quick to see the pos-\\nsibilities of acquiring wealth in this land of beauty and\\nvast resources. The coal which we used to think of so\\nlittle account was not overlooked by them, nor the rich\\nfarming lands above it. The Price brothers were edu-\\ncated men, and had the faculty of turning both their\\nmental and physical powers to account in many branches\\nof business. Many massive stone abutments where fine\\nbridges span Iowa s rivers are the work of the Prices.\\nThey have built hundreds of miles of railroad, have held\\ncounty offices, run stores and made successful farmers.\\nQnincy and I passed the Joshua Price farm to-day, where\\na substantial brick residence and barns and other out-\\nbuildings are so numerous one would almost take it for a\\nvillage.\\nNot far from Beacon, and just after reaching the top\\nof Muchakinock hill we come to the edge of Six Mile\\n15", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0227.jp2"}, "228": {"fulltext": "226 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nPrairie. It was there a scene of beauty met our gaze.\\nTo the right, to the left, in front of us, lay an expanse of\\ngreen richness which no tongue nor pen nor artist s brush\\ncan truly describe. On one side a vast field of great tall\\ncorn, the blades so green they were fairly black, and as\\nfar as we could see down the road, were great long ears\\nprotruding from the stalks, dressed in their red and white\\nsilk. Wheat stacks, oat stacks, green meadows and fields\\nof red clover send out a perfume which nothing but clover\\ncan give. Herds of Jersey cows were contentedly crop-\\nping nutritious grass, reminding one of rich cream and\\nyellow butter. My heart swelled with gratitude to the\\ngiver of all this beauty and luxury and plenty. I was\\nreading last night about the poor starving, famishing\\nwretches in Spain. The thought came to me: If those\\npoor hungry creatures could be transported from that\\nland of desolation and set down in the Six Mile Prairie,\\nhow like heaven it would seem to them.\\nAway over to the southwest was that smoky line\\nwhich we all know means over a. river. Farm houses\\nneat and commodious, surrounded by orchards, gardens\\nand flowers, loom up in various directions. Just in front\\nof us in plain view is a farm the lay of the land is per-\\nfect, the pleasant-looking residence, the substantial barn,\\nand every other building seems to be in exactly the right\\nplace. That is Blake Wilson s. We were on the main\\nroad to one of the Des Moines river bridges, but we\\nturned into a lane which led to Mr. Wilson s house. As\\nwe neared the gate we were struck with the neatness of\\nthe barn-yard, the lawn around the house, and even in\\nthe lane outside the grass was shorn and not a weed was", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0228.jp2"}, "229": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 227\\nallowed to raise its head along the fence. The grass on\\nthe lawn had been cut with a lawn-mower and was like\\nvelvet, with no scraggly ends about the fence, nor flower\\nbeds nor porch. Every tree and post stood out clean;\\nno straggling spears of grass were left about their roots.\\nYoung Mrs. Wilson saw us as we drove up to the\\ngate, and came flying out, her face beaming with hospi-\\ntality. We informed her that we had only come to make\\na short call. T just wanted to talk a little with her\\nmother about the early days on Six Mile. Quincy\\nhitched Jim to a post, then went to the barn to find Mr.\\nBlake. Mrs. Blake and I went in the house, and I never\\nsat down until I had seen all the rooms down stairs.\\nThere was no attempt at display, but everything looked\\norderly, cozy, comfortable and restful. Presently Mrs.\\nWilson, Sr., came in and we let our tongues run for about\\nan hour, me asking questions and she answering, all\\nabout her experiences in the beginning of things on the\\nSix Mile. Mrs. Wilson is over eighty years old, but\\ndon t look like she was near that old. She moves about\\nwith ease, her eyes are bright, her hair is a beautiful iron\\ngray, abundant for one of her age, and lies in waves.\\nHer mental faculties don t seem at all impaired, and she\\nis an interesting talker. She, with her husband and\\nyoung family came from Virginia in 42, stopped in Wash-\\nington County the first year, came to Mahaska County\\nand the Six Mile Prairie in 43, and moved into a cabin\\nwithout a floor. The first night a pouring rain wet every-\\nthing and flooded the house; they dug a ditch across the\\nroom to let the water out. They were glad to get corn\\nbread, and sometimes lived on hominy, but with it all she", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0229.jp2"}, "230": {"fulltext": "228 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nnever become discourag-ed nor low-spirited. Her experi-\\nences in those times of hardship and privation were like\\nmany others.\\nMr. Wilson died in 1872, leaving his family well pro-\\nvided for. Mrs. Wilson is well situated in her declining-\\nyears. While we were talking her g^randson came in, a\\nbrig-ht little boy of some seven or eig^ht years. She\\ncalled him to her and introduced him to me, then said:\\nHere is a boy who has never g-iven his grandmother a\\nsaucy word nor an unkind look. Both Mrs. Wilsons and\\nI went out on the lawn where were beds and borders of\\nflowers not many of the old-fashioned kind we used to\\nlove so much, but beg^onias, g-eraniums, pansies, and many\\nothers with great long scientific names never heard of by\\nSix Mile people in the forties. Pretty rocks and shells\\nfrom the Des Moines River were arranged around the\\nedges with delicate ferns growing between. While we\\nwere admiring the various colors and shades of the\\nbright-faced pansies, Quincy brought Mr. Wilson up from\\nthe barn, who, with face beaming all over with good wilt\\nand good humor, grasped my hand, gave it a hearty\\nshake, then immediately set about gathering and arrang-\\ning for me a boquet of those beautiful flowers. I was\\nsurprised to see the skill and taste which he displayed in\\narranging those flowers. One would have thought he\\nhad been brought up a florist, but it was just his innate\\nperception of beauty and harmony. When he had finished\\nthe boquet and presented it to me with the gallantry of a\\nChesterfield, he invited me to walk to the garden to see\\nhis California beans, which certainly were a curiosity,\\nwhether useful or not remains to be determined. But it", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0230.jp2"}, "231": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. ^29\\ndoes look curious to see a bean start out away up toward\\nthe top of a pole, and grow and grow so long- that its\\npoint drags the ground. That is the way Mr. Blake\\nWilson s California beans are threatening to do. I told\\nMr. Wilson he ought to sketch that scene as it appeared\\nfrom the point where we were standing. He seemed to\\nhave so much of the artist in himself I was sure he could\\ndo it.\\nThe country northwest of Oskaloosa and border-\\ning on the Skunk River timber was seized by some of the\\nsame sort of men I have been trying to tell about, who\\ncame in 4 and 44. There were the Troys, the Liters,\\nthe Padgetts, the Coffins, Samuel and John, all of whom\\nmade claims,- and with their families endured the same\\nkind of crude living I have so often described. Their\\nlittle cabins were built along the edge of the timber, with\\nplenty of prairie for farming lying to the south. There\\nwere numerous groves a little way out from the main\\ntimber, which made that region attractive in its primeval\\nstate. The land, like all other land in this region, was\\nrich and lay well for farming. John Coffin and Samuel\\nwere brothers. Their land joined. Both had families,\\neach having several children. John Coffin was killed by\\na horse in the summer of 1852, and was buried in the\\nFriends burying ground at Spring Creek. His wife\\nEleanor remained on the farm where they first settled and\\nbrought up her children, who are respected and useful\\nmembers of society.\\nI knew more about Samuel Coffin and his family than\\nany I have mentioned of the early inhabitants of that\\nneighborhood. Though Samuel Coffin was a distant rela-\\ntive of mine, I never met him until the fall of 44. He", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0231.jp2"}, "232": {"fulltext": "230 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nthen was about thirty-six years old, tall and straight and\\nfull of vigor, pluck and energy. He had all the qualities\\nnecessary in battling with the hardships which attend\\nthe settling of a new country. He was honest, honor-\\nable and brave. His ancestors were Nantucket whale-\\nfishers, who were not afraid of small things, and Samuel\\nCoffin inherited many of the traits of character which\\nthose hardy seaman were said to have possessed. They\\nwere said to be fearless, honorable, with an innate prin-\\nciple of justice pervading their whole nature. They\\nwere a law unto themselves. I think Samuel Coffin\\npossessed every trait which I have mentioned, and all\\nhis old neighbors will agree with me in saying: If\\nSamuel Coffin ever did a mean or dishonorable act, he\\ndid violence to his own nature. He provided well for\\nhis own household, and was always ready to help a friend\\nor neighbor if he found them in trouble. Samuel Coffin\\nwas a fine looking man when in his prime. His hair and\\neyes were dark. There was a look of strength and genu-\\nineness in his face which inspired one with confidence.\\nEven when in trouble himself, he could always find a\\ncomforting word for those who sought his sympathy and\\nhelp. A man like Samuel Coffin is a blessing to any\\nneighborhood. His wife Sophia, who came with him to\\nthis fair wildness, and shared with him the inconvenience\\nof a little cabin in a new country, was a handsome\\nwoman, with dark hair and dark blue eyes, and a com-\\nplexion like cream and roses, which the prairie winds even\\ncould not spoil. She was not only handsome, but a\\nlovely, gentle, sweet-spirited woman.\\nMy husband and I, in the early times would mount", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0232.jp2"}, "233": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 231\\nour horses and g o dashing- over the hills and hollows,\\nmany a time to Samuel and Sophia Coffin s, where we\\nwere sure to be received with a smiling- welcome from\\nboth. Samuel would take Gorrell off to look at his big-\\ncorn and his pigs, and after a while they would come\\nback with their arms full of great luscious melons. While\\nour husbands were looking at the crops, I would help\\nSophia g et dinner, and such quantities of fried chicken\\nand cream g-ravy and peas and potatoes, and hot biscuit\\nand honey and butter and coffee with good rich cream,\\nwe would have on the table in that little cabin when our\\nhusbands returned. We hardly ever saw an apple and\\nnever a peach in those days, but when the time of year\\ncame around we had melons and blackberries and plums.\\nIt was not unusual in those days to find a hollow tree\\nwherein was a colony of bees and g reat quantities of\\nhoney. I have heard of hundreds of pounds of honey\\nbeing- found in a single tree in the Skunk river timber.\\nIt was a fortunate thing- for the early settlers that the\\nLord sent the bees on ahead to prepare that excellent\\nsubstitute for sug-ar. Money and sug-ar both were scarce\\nthen. Wild grapes, wild plums and wild blackberries\\nabounded in the timber along- Skunk river, but none of\\nthem make very good pies or sauce without being sweet-\\nened, and that honey just fixed things. Many a black-\\nberry cobbler have I seen and tasted, which had been\\nsweetened with the product of those bee-trees. Samuel\\nCoffin was not only a successful farmer and cattle raiser\\nand pig- raiser, but could find a bee-tree if there hap-\\npened to be one any where in his region. When a man\\nfound a bee-tree he would cut his name or initials on it.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0233.jp2"}, "234": {"fulltext": "232 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nand it was about as dangerous to jump a bee-tree as it\\nwas to jump a claim.\\nSamuel and Sophia Coffin had an iateresting family,\\nfour sons and three daughters, bright, handsome chil-\\ndren. They added to their acres and other possessions,\\nand were beginning to be comfortably fixed, when death\\nbroke into that happy family and took the beautiful and\\ngentle wife and mother.\\nAfter seeing the last spade full of earth placed and\\nmade into a mound over all that was mortal of the wife\\nof his youth, that strong man, with a heavy heart, went\\nback to his desolate home and sat down among his\\nmotherless children and wept. His heart was sad, the\\nworld looked dark, all joy seemed to have departed, never\\nto return, but before long he began to realize that he\\ncould not afford to sit and nurse his grief, as there was a\\nfamily of children, some of them mere babies, who had\\nto be provided for. His cares were doubled. He had to\\nfill the place of father and mother too, but he possessed\\ngreat strength of character, could surmount difficulties\\nthat many a man would sink under. He cast his own\\ngriefs and heart-aches in the back-ground and went on\\ntoiling and planning and doing the best he could for his\\n\u00e2\u0080\u00a2own family and any others who came in his way and\\nneeded assistance. After a year or two he married Susan\\nLister, a daughter of Henry Lister, an old settler in\\nOskaloosa. Susan was a good girl, good looking and a\\nconscientious Christian. To that union were born nine\\nchildren, five daughters and four sons. Although Samuel\\nCoffin had an unusually numerous family to support, they\\nwere all well provided for. Every one of his eight", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0234.jp2"}, "235": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 2S3\\ndaug^hters grew to respectable womanhood, and I have\\nbeen told, married good men. Hampton Cruzen, one of\\nMahaska s prosperous farmers who died a year or two\\nago, married Sarah, the oldest. Eliza, the next, is the\\nwife of Mr. Stephen Pomeroy. another of Mahaska s suc-\\ncessful farmers and respected citizens. Mary, the beauty\\nof them all, married Mr. Carl Barr, and is living- in Ft.\\nMadison. When I say that Mary is the beauty, I don t\\nmean that the others are not g ood looking-, for every one\\nof them are more than ordinarily good looking But\\nMary was decidedly handsome. Several of that numer-\\nous household have joined the great majority, their\\ngraves are as widely separated as are the living mem-\\nbers.\\nSamuel and John Coffin, like all the other Coffins in\\nthe United States, are descendants of Tristram and\\nDiones Coffin, who came from England in 1642 and settled\\nat Salisbury in Massachusetts. In 1660 Tristram Coffin\\nand nine others purchased the island of Nantucket.\\nThere they settled in that year and not long after en-\\ngaged in the whale-fishing business. Those Nantucket\\npeople followed that business successfully through sev-\\neral generations. They traversed every known sea, (I\\nmean all the oceans) and sold their cargoes in every sea-\\nport in Europe and many other parts of the world. One\\nvisiting Nantucket to-day can see in those quaint old\\nhouses, relicts in the way of elegant furniture, paintings,\\nchina and silver ware brought by those whale -fishers to\\ntheir wives, mothers, daughters and sisters. In course\\nof time the little island of Nantucket became so thickly\\ninhabited with Coffins and Maceys, and Gardners and", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0235.jp2"}, "236": {"fulltext": "234 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nStarbucks and Michells and Folgers and Russells and so\\nforth, that they began to find homes and busmess in\\nother parts of the western hemisphere. There is said to\\nbe twenty-five thousand persons in the United States\\nwho can trace their lineage directly to Tristram and\\nDiones Coffin, those first settlers on that island. It is\\nsaid also that all the Coffins in this country are of that*\\nfamily. One William Coffin, a great grandson of Tris-\\ntram, and whose wife was Priscilla Paddock, emigrated\\nto North Carolina not very long before the Revolutionary\\nwar. These were the ancestors of Samuel and John,\\nwhom I have been telling about. The Coffins are great\\npeople to keep track of their lineage and most of them\\nreverence their ancestors, and many of the family names\\nare kept going from generation to generation. Priscilla\\nis a name common among the Coffins. I have heard that\\nPriscilla Paddock was a very superior woman and of an\\nexcellent family, therefore in every generation of Coffins\\nsince her time there has been many Priscillas. Mrs.\\nPriscilla Prine, of Oskaloosa, a very excellent and in-\\ntelligent lady, is a daughter of John Coffin. Samuel\\nCoffin was a Christian and died in peace at the age of\\nseventy one years, honored and respected by all who\\nknew him. The largest funeral procession ever seen in\\nMahaska county was said to be the one that followed the\\nremains of Samuel Coffin to their last resting place in\\nForest cemetery.\\nErastus and Thomas, sons of Samuel Coffin, own and\\noccupy farms and have commodious residences not far\\nfrom the old homestead where they were brought up.\\nFrank, another son, lives in Nebraska. I hear that", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0236.jp2"}, "237": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 235\\nFrank is not only a prosperous farmer, but is a man\\namongst men. Samuel, the youngest of that numerous\\nfamily, was a little boy when his father died, but now a\\ntall, fine looking man, and people say is a veritable chip\\noff the old block. He lives in Colorado and is engaged\\nin railroading. I was not at all surprised to hear a good\\nreport of little Sammy as we used to call him, for I\\nhad reason to know that he was an honest and honorable\\nlittle boy.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0237.jp2"}, "238": {"fulltext": "236 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nCHAPTER XVIII.\\nIf we drive out west from Oskaloosa on the Pella\\nroad, almost immediately on quitting- the town, we will\\nbeg-in to enter what is known as the Prine neighborhood,\\nand as we drive on we can see here and there and yonder\\nfine houses, g-reat barns, big- pastures wherein are herds\\nof big- fat cattle. Many of these fine places which show\\nsuch evidences of thrift belong- to one or another of the\\nPrines. The old set of Prines, Henry, Dan and Kin\\nPrine, came in an early day when land was cheap. They\\nboug-ht large tracts of that beautiful rolling prairie,\\nwhereon was only the wild prairie grass and flowers.\\nThey broke the sod, fenced their broad acres, and in the\\ncourse of time planted immense orchards, builded fine\\nhouses and barns, and now their children and grand-\\nchildren are living and flourishing all about them.\\nBeautiful and commodious houses and well kept\\nlawns, bright with flowers and surrounded with maples\\nand elms adorn the place where once was A. G. Phillips\\ndouble log house, big barn, log stables, and long row of\\ncorn -pens. The house was on the south side of the lane", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0238.jp2"}, "239": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 237\\nand opposite was a great gate with immense posts\\npainted red. Above these posts a sign was erected,\\nhigh enough for any wagon to pass under, whereon was\\npainted in letters large enough to be seen a long way off\\nthe words Wagon Yard, which meant a place where\\npeople traveling in wagons could find a stopping place\\nand could procure, not only provender for their teams,\\nbut shelter and food for themselves. If they chose they\\ncould find plenty of room to cami) and boil their coffee\\non a fire made on the ground. People with various pur-\\nposes in traveling and of various degrees of intelligence\\nand culture often made Mr. Phillips house a stopping\\nplace. I remember one gentleman in particular who was\\ntraveling in a two-horse wagon loaded with tobacco\\nwhich he was wholesaling to merchants or storekeepers\\nin the little towns which were springing up through the\\ncountry. This gentleman s name was Henderson and\\nwas from Illinois. Mr. Henderson seemed to be about\\nfifty years old, was rather heavy set, strong looking and\\nhad a fine head and face. His first appearance at my\\nfather-in-law s was on a Saturday, and he remained over\\nSunday. It did nt take long for us to discover that he\\nwas no ordinary man. My father-in-law soon engaged\\nliim in conversation, and the rest of us listened and\\nstared. They talked on politics, they talked of the\\nchurch, they talked about the Mexican war and its prob-\\nable consequences, they talked about the half-breed\\ntract and the legal intricasies attending it. Mr. Hender-\\nson made several trips through here and always managed\\nto come on Saturday and stay over Sunday. One Sunday\\nin the summer of 47, when my husband and I were living", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0239.jp2"}, "240": {"fulltext": "238 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nin our little log house, down on that beautiful ridge, my\\nfather-in-law brought Mr. Henderson to our house and I\\nprepared dinner for them. I felt that I was entertaining\\na very brilliant man, or that a very brilliant man was\\nentertaining me, for while I fried the chicken and pre-\\npared the best of everything else I could muster up for\\ndinner, I Was listening to the wise and brilliant things\\nthat man was saying with the greatest interest. I don t\\nthink he took much notice of me, for I felt myself too\\nignorant to take any part in the conversation. If he di-\\nrected a remark to me I could only say yes sir or no\\nsir, and simper and turn red in the face. But I could\\nlisten, and did listen, which I think now was better than\\nto have tried to carry on a conversation with a man who\\npossessed such a vast amount ot knowledge and was so\\ncapable of instructing those who were willing to listen.\\nMr. Henderson, we learned, had been a noted political\\nspeaker in Illinois, had been a candidate on the Whig\\nticket for lieutenant-governor, but was defeated. In one\\nof Mr. Henderson s trips through Iowa he stopped in\\nIowa City.\\nThe legislature was in session, and one of its mem-\\nbers who happened to know something about Mr. Hen-\\nderson s ability as a speaker, invited him to visit the\\nbody, introduced him to some of the members and hinted\\nthat he was able to interest an audience and so forth,\\nwhereupon he was invited to give a talk, which he did,\\nand it was said not only interested, but electrified the\\nwhole house. After it was over, Asberry Porter slapped\\nMicajah Williams on the shoulder and exclaimed, Cage!\\nDid you ever see such a common looking old codger that", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0240.jp2"}, "241": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 239\\ncould say so many smart things? Mr. Henderson was\\ndressed in a suit of home-made jeans, but did not apolo-\\ngize for his plain dress nor his seemingly humble\\noccupation.\\nIn the summer of 1847 the people in and around\\nOskaloosa were thrown into a state of excitement and\\nexpectation, on hearing that a large colony of Hollanders\\nwere coming through here and were going to settle and\\nbuild a town on the divide about eighteen miles north-\\nwest of Oskaloosa. We were told that these people were\\na very pious set of protestant Christians who had left\\ntheir native country on account of religious persecution.\\nWe knew very little of Holland and Hollanders. I mean\\nthe people generally. A few of us had learned from our\\ngeographies that Holland was a country of canals and\\nmuch of its land had been reclaimed from the sea, and\\nevery foot was utilized and cultivated until Holland was\\none vast garden and net work of water-ways, outside of\\nits towns and cities. We had some vague recollections\\nof having heard or read of Holland being a place of\\nrefuge for those who were persecuted for their religious\\nbelief. It seemed a little strange that Holland people\\nshould be seeking refuge among us for the same cause.\\nNot many of us had ever seen a Hollander, and when\\nthey came along the road in various kinds of wagons\\ndrawn by various kinds of teams, we gazed in wonder at\\ntheir quaint and unfamiliar ap23earance. Their dress\\nwas strange to us. Women were perched upon high piles\\nof queer looking chests and boxes and trunks, many of\\nthem wearing caps, but no bonnets. Some of the men,\\nand women too, wore wooden shoes, which was entirely", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0241.jp2"}, "242": {"fulltext": "240 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nnew to us. We were prepared to think well of this peo-\\nple, for we had heard only good of their character. We\\nhad been told that they were an honest, moral, industri-\\nous. God-fearing people, and from that time to the present\\nhave never heard it disputed. Many of them stopped at\\nmy father-in-law s place to purchase provender for their\\nteams. Some took meals with us, some camped out in\\nthe lane or barnyard. But whether they had their meals\\nin the house, or by a camp fire, or simply took a lunch in\\ntheir hands and sat on the wagon tongue to eat it, not\\none of them failed to bow their heads and give thanks.\\nIn the winter following there was much passing up\\nand down the road in quest of supplies for the colony.\\nThey would come in to warm, take off their wooden shoes\\nby the fire, throw a shovel full of coals and hot ashes in\\neach shoe, shake them around, throw the fire out, slap\\non their shoes again, light their pipes and be ready for\\nanother spell of battling with cold. All these Hollanders\\nhad money, some had a good deal, and they all seemed\\nto know the best way to invest it. That colony was an\\norganized body. Mr. H. P. Scholte was their president.\\nHe was a fine looking man, and looked like a leader of\\nmen. He was not only their leader in temporal affairs,\\nbut was their minister. People used to speak of Mr.\\nScholte as the Hollander s Prophet, Priest and\\nKing. Soon after the founding of the town of Pella,\\nMr. Scholte built and occupied near the center what in\\nthat day was thought to be a very fine house, and back\\nof it laid out a garden, covering many acres. Fruit\\ntrees, ornamental trees and flowering shrubs were taste-\\nfully arranged by a landscape gardner. Wide walks and", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0242.jp2"}, "243": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENC ES. 241\\nnarrow paths traversed it throughout. The useful was\\ninterming led with the ornamental. Evenly planted and\\ncarefully tended squares of cabbage and rows of peas\\nwere ornamented with boarders of flowers. A place like\\nthat would be called a park in these days. The fame of\\nScholte s garden spread far and near, and persons for\\nmiles around would drive to Pella on purpose to see it.\\nSome of the Holland families who came to Pella in\\nthe beginning were wealthy, educated and cultivated,\\namong whom were Mr. and Mrs. Bosquet and their boys,\\nPeter and Henry. Those boys as I recollect them forty-\\nsix years ago were perfect models of good breeding.\\nTheir mother was a handsome and a lovely lady. I have\\nbeen told by one who knows, that every member of that\\ncolony brought with them from their native home, a\\ncertificate of good character. It was nt long before their\\nsuperior farming and gardening began to be noticed and\\ntalked about, and many slovenly farmers were induced\\nto make more out of their rich lands through the example\\nof those frugal and thrifty Hollanders. They were not\\nonly industrious and prosperous but were hospitable. I\\nused to hear it said that in every Hollander s house the\\ncoffee pot was always on the fire and every stranger or\\nneighbor who entered was offered a cup of hot coffee and\\nsome kind of cakes, no matter what time of day it was.\\nThose people made the journey from their native land to\\nthe land of their adoption through great tribulation.\\nMany died at sea, and with aching hearts they witnessed\\nthe burying of precious ones in the deep, deep sea. But\\nthey were a people of faith, the kind of faith which gave\\ncourage to endure almost all things. We used to wonder\\n16", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0243.jp2"}, "244": {"fulltext": "242 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nat the pluck, the endurance and the patience of those\\npeople. I think every observing person who has watched\\ntheir progress and methods from that first colony s ar-\\nrival to the present time will say the Hollanders have\\nbeen no detriment to this country. Every man of them\\ntook the oath of allegiance to the United States soon\\nafter they came. Many of them enlisted in the army\\nand fought bravely in the war of the rebellion. They\\nlearned long ago how to manage the rich Iowa soil and\\ntheir magnificent farms with commodious buildings reach\\nout miles and miles in every direction from Pella. They\\nwere quick to learn the language and ways of Ameri-\\ncans, have engaged in many kinds of business and been\\nsuccessful. Have been elected to and faithfully filled\\noffices of trust. I have one now in my mind, Mr. Stephen\\nDeCook, who has served several terms as county com-\\nmissioner, with credit to himself and to his constituents.\\nMr. DeCook carries in his right arm the effects and scars\\nof a rebel bullet. He is one of Mahaska s successful\\nfarmers. Is an all around manly man fine looking\\nrather tall with broad shoulders. An honest face. Mr.\\nDeCook is a Christian gentleman and a man of peace. Is\\nalways on the right side of every moral or political\\nquestion. He is not given to controversy, but if at-\\ntacked is fully able to give a reason for the faith within\\nhim. He has a nice family and provides well for his own\\nhousehold, but is not forgetful in entertaining strangers.\\nHe could nt very well do any other way for the blood of\\nthe Huguenot runs in his veins, his ancestors having\\ntaken refuge in the Netherlands from persecution in\\nFrance.", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0244.jp2"}, "245": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 243\\nEven among those Pilgrims who had fled from relig-\\nious persecution in Holland and were professed lovers\\nof Democracy, there were deg^rees in the social scale.\\nThe wealthy and educated and more refined were ex-\\nclusive. They broug^ht their ideas of social position with\\nthem. The social line between master and servant, or\\nemployer and employed, was much moi-e marked than\\nwith Americans of this new western country. A young\\nlady who belong^ed to a family of upper ten Hollanders\\nonce said to me: I never worked in Holland for it was\\nconsidered disgraceful there for a lady to work, but in\\nAmerica I find it is thought to be disgraceful for a lady\\nnot to work.\\nLate in the forties and early in the fifties, to Oska-\\nloosa s inhabitants were added many worthy and inter-\\nesting people. In the autumn of 1847, Smith Cameron\\nhaving- sold out their store, a young man by the name of\\nJohn Rhodes, from Virginia, came and opened out a\\nstore in the room formerly occupied by them at the\\nsoutheast corner of the public square on the ground\\nwhere Will Neagle s store is now. Mr. Rhodes kept a\\nstore of general merchandise. In addition to the things\\nusually kept in a store at that time, he created a little\\nsensation by displaying a small stock of ready made\\nclothing for men. That being the first time such goods\\nhad been ottered for sale in Oskaloosa. Mr. Rhodes had\\ntact in displaying his goods and drawing customers. He\\nwas a tall, fine looking man, was genial and full of good\\nhumor was polite and kind to- everybody. He soon\\nmade friends of all the young men about town, and they\\nwould congregate in his store of evenings and he would", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0245.jp2"}, "246": {"fulltext": "244 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nentertain them with plantation songs, play on the banjo\\nand make things interesting generally. I don t think\\nOskaloosa citizens had ever heard Uncle Ned, Sus-\\nanna, Nellie Bly nor I m Just from Old Virginia\\nuntil Mr. Rhodes introduced those choice bits of song\\nand melody. But not long after boys could be heard on\\nthe streets whistling and singing snatches of Mr. Rhodes\\nsongs.\\nIn those days ladies did their shopping in the day\\ntime; they never ventured in a store at night unless the\\ncase was a very urgent one. But men would congregate\\nin the stores, on winter evenings especially, gather\\naround the stove and have a social time. Mr. Rhodes\\nstore was made especially attractive for such gatherings.\\nI never heard of anything more harmful being done in\\nthose meetings, than playing on the banjo, singing\\nnegro songs and telling funny stories.\\nIn a year or two Mr. Rhodes went back to Virginia,\\nmarried the girl he was engaged to before he came,\\nbrought her to Oskaloosa, but before long they left here.\\nMr. Rhodes was doing a good business, but I have heard\\nthat Mrr. Rhodes was not content to live in a small place\\nlike Oskaloosa.\\nTo us who had trodden down the wild prairie grass\\nin the public square and streets of Oskaloosa, and seen\\nit grow from a dozen of the smallest and crudest log\\ncabins to a town of eight or ten hundred people in three\\nor four years, it seemed like a town of some consequence\\nand we were proud of it, and jealous of its reputation.\\nWe had very little sympathy with anybody who made\\ndisparaging remarks about our town, or didn t think it\\na good enough place for anybody to live.", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0246.jp2"}, "247": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 245\\nA number of substantial and intellig^ent people came\\nand located in and about Oskaloosa along about the time\\nI am telling of \u00e2\u0080\u0094from 47 to 52. Among- others was D.\\nW. Loring. He came here when a young man, engaged\\nin mercantile business, was a steady, unpretending, in-\\ntelligent young man. There was no foolishness about\\nhim. He attended strictly to business and from the first\\nwas prosperous. I have known Mr. Loring for nearly\\nhalf a century, and in all these years have never know^n\\nor heard of his doing a dishonorable act.\\n_ After Mr. Loring had been in business here two or\\nthree years he went back to his old home in Ohio and\\nwas married to Miss Mary Soule, and straightway\\nbrought her to Oskaloosa. Mrs. Loring was strikingly\\nhandsome. Her form was graceful and willowy, her eyes\\nwere brown and sparkling, and an abundance of the most\\nbeautiful golden-brown hair adornod her shapely head.\\nShe was dignified without being haughty. Her tastes\\nwere* all refined, her manners gracious. Mrs. Loring\\nwas an educated, well-informed, lovely Christian lady.\\nMr. Loring perhaps had what was called a good start in\\na new country, but he and his young wife went to\\nhousekeeping in a small house, with not more than three\\nor four rooms, but before many years they were estab-\\nlished in a substantial and commodious residence fur-\\nnished with comfort and luxuries, among which is one of\\nthe largest and most select private libraries in Oskaloosa,\\nand that is saying a good deal, for there are many fine\\nprivate libraries in Oskaloosa.\\nMr. Loring has now retired from active business,\\nbut for more than forty years was one of Oskaloosa s", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0247.jp2"}, "248": {"fulltext": "246 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nleading merchants, having the confidence of all classes,\\nespecially Mahasiva county s substantial farmers. When\\none went to his store, he could always be found at his\\ndesk. I never heard of his being in financial trouble.\\nMany young men have learned g ood business habits by\\nworking in Mr. Loring- s store. Although Mr. Loring\\nhas always had the reputation of being an honest,\\nstraightforward, level-headed business man, it was not\\nat the expense of the culture of his own mind nor of the\\nminds of his family. When the business of the day was\\nover, he walked straight to his home, where, surround-\\ned by his interesting family, he enjoyed a feast of\\nreason and flow of soul. Mr. Loring supplied his family\\nwith valuable books and high class literature. They all\\nread and were well informed. When they surrounded\\ntheir beautiful and daintily spread table, they made it a\\nrule, or naturally fell into the habit of discussing ques-\\ntions of scientific, religious, historic or literary interest,\\nwhich rendered their meals a double feast. A talented\\ngentleman, who was also a minister once remarked to\\nme that Mrs. Loring was an exceedingly well informed\\nlady, especially in the Holy scriptures. Although Mr.\\nLoring has made what is called a success in life, he has\\nenjoyed the confidence and respect of the whole com-\\nmunity where he has lived so many years. He has had\\nto drink of the cup of sorrow. Has seen the wife of\\nhis youth fade away and go out of his home forever, and\\nnot long after all that was mortal of his gifted and gentle\\ndaughter. Mary was laid beside her mother. One\\nsolace is left to him in his declining years, his son Frank\\nhis only living child. Frank Loring is a young busi-", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0248.jp2"}, "249": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES 247\\nness man of unblemished reputation. The home, with\\nits beautiful grounds, which Mr. Loring- has owned and\\noccapied for so many years, was once the home of Mr.\\nA. F. Seeberg^er, who came to Oskaloosa in the fifties\\nand engaged in the hardware business on the north side\\nof the square where Huber c^ Kalbach s store is to-day.\\nA more highly-resjiected business man nor a more pol\\nished gentleman ever graced the town of Oskaloosa than\\nMr. Seeberger. He remained here a few years, then\\nwent to Chicago where he still resides and is one of the\\nprominent citizens of that wonderful city. He is the\\nMr. Seeberger who was treasurer of the World s Colum-\\nbian Exposition in 1893.\\nIn 1846 an elderly couple came to Oskaloosa and pur-\\nchased several pieces of property. They were Mr. and\\nMrs. Willard Cobb. They bought and occupied the house\\non Lots 7 and 8 in Block 29, o. p., Oskaloosa. Mr. Jolly,\\na Cumberland Presbyterian minister, built that house\\nand sold it to Mr. Cobb. Mr. Jolly and family went\\nacross the plains to Oregon in 1847 with ox teams. Mr.\\nand Mrs. Cobb s children were all married when they\\ncame to Oskaloosa except tvv^o daughters, Paulina and\\nEmma Cobb, who were young ladies then. Paulina Cobb\\nmarried Wm. B. Street, whom I have mentioned before\\nas one of Oskaloosa s first merchants. Their only child.\\nMiss Ida Street, is a graduate of O. H. S. and also of\\nVassar College. Ida Street is a gifted and charming-\\nyoung woman whom (Oskaloosa is proud to claim as one\\nof her daughters. Mrs. L. L. Hull, who is mistress of\\none of the most beautiful homes on East High Avenue,\\nis also a grand-daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Willard Cobb.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0249.jp2"}, "250": {"fulltext": "S4S MAHASKA COUNTY\\nMr. Wm. Dart, a son-in-law of Willard Cobb, also came\\nto Oskaloosa in 1846 and bought the Oskaloosa House\\nof (I think) Orson Kinsman. Mr. and Mrs. Dart kept\\nit a little while, then sold it to John N. Kinsman, who in\\n1851 sold it to A. G. Phillips, who in the Spring of 1852\\nsold it to his son, T. G. Phillips. In 1853 T. G. Phillips\\nsold it to Samuel McMurray and J(jhn Prest. Mr. Wil-\\nlard Cobb bought Lot 1, Block 31, o. p., in 1846; a cabin\\nwas standing thereon and the Cobbs lived in that cabin a\\nlittle while in the Summer of 46, until the Jolly family\\ncould vacate the better house. Mr. and Mrs. Cobb are\\nburied in White s cemetery, usually called the Old\\nCemetery.\\nThe California gold fever had not subsided, when in\\n1852 A. G. Phillips went across the plains by ox team to\\nCalifornia. Before starting he sold the undivided two-\\nthirds of the south forty feet of Lot 8, Block 20, o. p.,\\nOskaloosa, to his son, T. G. Phillips, and the undivided\\none-third of the same he deeded to his wife, Martha\\nPhillips. Mr. A. G. Phillips never returned from Cali-\\nfornia, but died and was buried there. The reason I am\\nso minute in my story of those people and places is this:\\nMany of Oskaloosa s young real estate men when getting\\nup abstracts of title come to me for information about\\nthe people who lived here long ago and the property\\nthey owned,\\nMr. Daniel Ogilvie was the first man to open out a\\nstore exclusively of ready-made clothing. He occupied\\nthe house at first on the west side of the public square\\nformerly occupied by Wm. B. Street; but immediately\\npreceding Mr. Ogilvie s occupancy a Mr. James Quinn", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0250.jp2"}, "251": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 249\\nhad a stock of books and stationery in that room. Mr.\\nQuinn and his wife were charming people, but the busi-\\nness w^as not satisfactory so he went back to Muscatine.\\nMr. Ogilvie and family came in 185 bought the house\\nat the northwest corner of A iV venue and Third Street,\\nwhich was one of the finest locations and pleasantest\\nhouses in Oskaloosa at that time. They improved and\\nadded to their house until it was commodious and very\\ncomfortable. Mrs. Ogilvie and her sisters. Misses Mary\\nand Maggie Young, had a way of making everything\\nabout them pretty and attractive. They were not only\\ncharming housekeepers, but were hospitable, generous,\\nand charming in their manners. Everybody liked to go\\nto Ogilvie s, and their friends were legion. They enter-\\ntained bountifully, and with a grace which made their\\nguests feel at ease. They never said anything flat or\\ninsipid, and their wit and repartee kept one interested\\nand amused from first to last. Lizzie Ogilvie, who was a\\nbaby when her parents came to Oskaloosa, grew to be a\\nbright and popular young lady, inheriting the taste and\\nskill in making things pretty and attractive which were\\nso marked in her mother and aunts. One day Mrs. Ogil-\\nvie took me to Lizzie s room just to show it to me. I\\njust stood and gazed and admired the order and beauty\\nwhich was everywhere. All those beautiful pieces of\\nembroidery and that perfect neatness were the work of\\nLizzie s hands. I thought I had never seen a room quite\\nso pretty. For many years Mr. Ogilvie was a prominent\\nand successful business man, having a large store on the\\nnorth side of the square; but some 24 or 25 years ago he\\nmoved to Denver, Colorado, where he died soon after", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0251.jp2"}, "252": {"fulltext": "250 Ad A MASK A COUNTY\\nsettling there. The Ogilvies didn t have to begin in a\\nlog cabin and rough it like the rest of us, who first set-\\ntled in Oskaloosa, but were well-to-do when they came.\\nTheir house was nicely furnished, their table was boun-\\ntifully supplied with all the good things the town and\\ncounty afforded, and their meals were served on snowy\\nlinen and exquisite china, such as few in those days could\\nafford. Mrs. Ogilvie and her sisters were self-respect-\\ning and unaffected in manner liad none of what is\\ntermed company manners. The}^ were generous, be-\\nnevolent and helpful.\\nMrs. Ogilvie resides in Denver, near her daughter\\nLizzie, whose husband, Mr. Croft, is a prominent railroad\\nman. I hear her spoken of as a model wife and mother.\\nWhat used to be Miss Mary Young is now the wife of\\nJudge Mann, a prominent citizen of Golden, Colorado,\\nwhere she presides in a home made beautiful by her taste\\nand skill. Maggie, Mrs. Babcock, lives in Pueblo, Colo-\\nrado, and has been a widow many years.\\nEver and anon those charming ladies visit Oskaloosa,\\ntheir old home, where they are welcomed by hosts of old\\ntime friends. Mr. Milton Young, a brother of Mrs.\\nOgilvie s, came to Mahaska county when a young man\\nand by industry and honest dealing has accumulated a\\ncompetence. He is now a citizen of Oskaloosa, where\\nhe and his excellent wife and children own and occupy\\none of Oskaloosa s line homes. Mr. Young came in the\\nfifties and through all these years has been an honorable\\ncitizen of unblemished reputation.\\nAndrew Young, another brother, was the first of\\nthat family to locate in Oskaloosa. He was a young man", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0252.jp2"}, "253": {"fulltext": "Reminiscences. 251\\nof honor and business ability. When the war of the re-\\nbellion broke out Andrew Youn*; was one of the first of\\nOskaloosa s splendid young men to enlist in the army,\\nand one of the first of Oskaloosa s splendid young men\\nto sacrifice his life in defense of his country. Andrew\\nYoung- fell at the battle of Belmont.\\nBetween 1844 and 185() the old tavern built by\\nCharles Purvine on lot 5, block 19, O. P., Oskaloosa, had\\nmany owners, many proprietors and many names. Some-\\ntimes it was not kept as a tavern at all, but was rented\\nto various families as a dwelling I can think of several\\nfamilies who have occupied that historic old house, not\\nas tavern keepers; among- them Leper Smith, George\\nRoland, Johnson Edgar and Christian Houtz, and others.\\nSometimes two or three families would occupy it at the\\nsame time. That was along in 184(3 and 1847 when peo-\\nple were coming in so fast they were glad to find any\\nplace to shelter them. In 1848 the Porter brothers\\nbought it and fitted it up and kept it as a hotel for a short\\ntime; then a man named Paine kept it a little while. In\\n1851 a family by the name of Sooy from Montezuma pur-\\nchased the house and undertook to keep a house of en-\\ntertainment for the accommodation of the traveling pub-\\nlic, but it w^as not a success. Then the Stanleys, a nice\\nfamily, were there a short time. The Cvertons, very\\ngood people, went in and went out. Mr. J. M. White\\npurchased the house in 1853 and rented it to Hugh Mc-\\nNeely, who was one of the first proprietors of the Oxl-a-\\nlooxK IlemJil. Mr. McNeely only stayed a year or so,\\nthen a Mr. Eastman was, I think, the next to tr}^ his\\nhand at running that much occupied hostelry. I have", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0253.jp2"}, "254": {"fulltext": "252 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nmentioned a few, but not near all the people who in the\\nyears from 1844 to 1855 catered to the wants of travelers\\nand others desiring- food and shelter in that house. The\\nname of the house was changed nearly as often but not\\nquite, as its ov/ners and proprietors. Mahaska House,\\nIowa House, Porter House and Eag-le Hotel were\\nsome of the names painted on a board and hung- on a hig^h\\npost out in front far enoug^h for the stag^es and other\\nvehicles to pass between.\\nAfter ten or twelve years of sudden chang^es of pro-\\nprietors, names and reputation, there was a stop to that\\nprecarious shifting about. Mr. F. L. Downing who\\ncame to Oskaloosa from London, Ohio, in 1856, purchased\\nthe house a ad grounds belong^ing thereto from Mr.\\nJerome M. White. Mr. and Mrs. Downing understood\\ntheir business. They soon brought order out of chaos,\\nand neatness out of confusion. Mrs. Croney and her\\ndaughter Caroline were members of the Downing family.\\nMrs. Croney was a host within herself, and her excellent\\nideas and deft fing ers added to Mr. and Mrs. Downing s\\nknowledge and ability soon made that much-abused house\\ninviting, attractive and popular. Mr. Downing thought\\nit best to give the house a new name, so he named it\\nMadison House, They were model hotel-keepers, Mr.\\nDowning being called the prince of landlords. He\\nmade some additions, thoroughly repaired the old part,\\nfurnished it comfortably and respectably from one end to\\nthe other and always kept it in first-class order. Their\\ntable was always supplied with the very best the town\\nand county afforded, and their meals were faultless. No\\nmatter at what labor or expense, the Downings always", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0254.jp2"}, "255": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 253\\nkept the Madison House in excellent order. Both Mr.\\nand Mrs. Downing- were not only persons of good taste,\\nbut were g^enial, friendly and hospitable. Their hotel\\nwas popular. They made money and added to their pos-\\nsessions.\\nMrs. Croney, Mrs. Downing s mother, w^as a promi-\\nnent factor in making that hostlery an attractive place.\\nHer room was one of the coziest and most charming\\nplaces imaginable for the ladies about town to drop into\\nand enjoy a pleasant chat. She and her daughter Caro-\\nline always had something amusing or interesting to re-\\nlate, as their needles flew in and out of some useful or\\nornamental piece of work. Mrs. Croney was a devout\\nMethodist, and while she was stitching away would often\\nbring tears to her listeners eyes as she would relate the\\nsayings of this or that preacher of the by-gone days, or\\nincidents she had witnessed in revivals in the days of her\\nyouth. Mrs Croney lived and died in the faith, and as I\\ndrive about in Forest Cemetery my old horse Jim is\\nsure to stop by a marble slab while I read thereon the\\nname of Lydia Croney, which always brings to my mind\\nincidents I have heard her relate in that charming, cozy\\nroom in the Madison House. Her daughter Caroline was\\na handsome girl. She married Mr. Stephen F. Downing,\\na brother of F. L. They own and occupy a comfortable\\nand pretty home in one of the finest locations about Os-\\nkaloosa. Stephen Downing is a trusted and successful\\ncommercial traveler and one of the most genial of men.\\nStephen and Caroline have three daughters. Cora, the\\noldest, is the wife of Mr. Ed Howard, an intelligent and\\nprosperous young business man of Oskaloosa. Cora is", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0255.jp2"}, "256": {"fulltext": "254 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nhandsome, sparkling, and a model housekeeper. There\\nare no brighter children in Oskaloosa than her little\\ndaughter Hazel and her son Bailey. There is not a home\\non the outskirts of Oskaloosa where one can have a finer\\nview. of the town than at the home of Stephen and Caro-\\nline Downing. Their place was beautiful as I saw it be-\\nfore a white man had ever cut down a tree or turned a\\nshovel full of soil. Utilit^^ neatness and good taste seem\\nto be inherent in the Dovs^iing and Croney blood. Kate\\nand Mabel, the young ladies of that house, like their\\nmother and grandmother, know how^ to make everything\\nabout them useful and attractive. Their rooms are filled\\nwith their handiwork and borders of flowers adorn their\\ngrounds.\\nCharles Croney, Mrs. Croney s son, was not much\\nbeyond boyhood when the war of the rebellion broke out,\\nbut he enlisted in the army, went through the war with-\\nout getting killed or seriously wounded, but came home\\nbroken in health. He died a few years ago in Washing-\\nton, D. C, leaving a wife and daughter, who live there\\nstill.\\nMr. and Mrs. F. L. Downing s daughter Ollie and son\\nD wight were little children when their parents came to\\nOskaloosa and they grew to womanhood and manhood in\\nOskaloosa. Ollie married Mr. John Lord, a very su-\\nperior young man. They went to California years ago.\\nD wight chose the law as a profession, married one of\\nOskaloosa s nicest and best girls, Miss Grace Durfee,\\nand settled down in the town where he was brought up,\\nand enjoys the reputation of being a reliable, honest and\\npainstaking business man. He looks like his father,", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0256.jp2"}, "257": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 255\\nwhich is saying a good deal. Mr. and Mrs. F. L. Down-\\ning were a handsome and disting-nished looking conple.\\nThey were not only leaders in the hotel business, but\\nwere leaders in society. Their happy manners and good\\ntaste made them favorites among the fashionable. Their\\nbenevolence and kindness of heart made them loved by\\nthe needy and unfortunate. When Sarah Croney Down-\\ning was still young and time had made no wrinkles in that\\nfair face, death, that ruthless reaper, who is no respecter\\nof persons, broke into that family, and that charming\\nwife and mother and friend was his victim. Mrs. Down-\\ning^ s death was not only a sad bereavement to her im-\\nmediate family, but her wide circle of friends. Very\\nmany of Oskaloosa s best jDeople felt her death to be a\\npersonal loss to themselves. Though Mrs. Downing- had\\nmuch to make life dear and this world look bright, she\\ndied in the hope and faith of a better life beyond. I can\\nnever forg^et the earnest praj^ers and comforting words\\nuttered by the dying bed of that suffering w^oman, by\\nthat sweet, saintly Quaker lady, Mary Jane Cook, who\\nhas since g-one to her reward, and who knows but Sarah\\nDowning was one of the first of the redeemed ones to\\ngreet her on the shining shore? Mrs. Downing s fun-\\neral occurred on the fifth day of Aug ust, 1869, at the\\nFirst M. E. church in Oskaloosa. Multitudes from all\\nclasses gathered in and about the church, the fashion-\\nable and prosperous to sympathize with the bereaved\\nfamily and manifest their respect for a departed comrade,\\nthe poor and lowly to weep for one who had fed and\\nclothed and sheltered them. The Rev. E. H. Waring,\\nunder whose ministry Mrs. Downing was converted, con-", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0257.jp2"}, "258": {"fulltext": "256 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nducted the funeral services. In his discourse, among\\nother things I remember of his saying: Among all my\\nacquaintances I know of no Christian lady who had so\\nwide a circle of friends. Mr. Downing was a devoted\\nhusband. All through his wife s lingering and painful\\nsickness everything that money could purchase or love\\ninvent was lavished on her. Mr. Downing rented the\\nMadison house to Messrs. Vermillion and Ong. Some\\ntwo or three years after he married Miss Eunice Dart, a\\ndaughter of Dr. and Mrs. Albert Dart, of Oskaloosa.\\nMiss Eunice was a popular and handsome young lady.\\nIn 1874 Mr. Downing moved the Madison house away,\\nand on the ground where it stood erected a three-story\\nbrick hotel he named The Downing House. The Down-\\ning House seemed very complete and grand to Oskaloosa\\npeople then, and we were proud of it. Not long after\\nMr. Downing built the Downing House his health began\\nto fail. He visited various watering places and health\\nresorts, hoping to regain his health, but was not mater-\\nially benefited. He wouldn t give up, but kept going.\\nOne morning feeling unusually depressed, he took the\\ntrain and fiew off to Colfax. In a few hours a dispatch\\ncame to his family, saying, Mr. Downing is dying!\\nNot long after, another dispatch came, saying, Mr.\\nDowning is dead! His family was heart-broken his\\nfriends shocked and grieved.\\nIn one of the most beautiful lots in Forest Cemetery\\ntwo graves lie side by side. At the head a tall marble\\nmonument, on which is carved the dates of the birth and\\ndeath of Foster and Sarah Downing. On the same lot is\\nanother grave on which the grass has been growing for", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0258.jp2"}, "259": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 257\\nmany years, and there on a marble slab the same kind of\\na little story is told, only it is Lydia Croney. They\\nwere united in life, and in death they are not parted.\\nAll the time I have been writing about the Downings\\nI kept thinking- about the McMullins. Major McMullin\\nand Mr. Downing were in business together many years,\\nand when I think of one I am sure to think of the other.\\nMrs. Downing and Mrs. McMullin were very intimate\\nfriends, too. When Major and Mrs. McMullin and their\\nlittle daughter Sallie came to Oskaloosa it was Mr. Mc-\\nMullin. There had been no war in his lifetime to make\\nMajors, and Captains, and Colonels, and Generals of our\\nmen as there was not long after. The McMullins came\\nfrom Ohio, where so many of Oskaloosa s nice people\\ncame from. They came in 1855, not quite early enough\\nto live in a log cabin, but they lived in some houses not\\noverly good or roomy at first, but wherever they lived,\\neverything about them was made as neat and pretty as\\nit was possible for them to be made. It didn t take the\\ncitizens of Oskaloosa long to discover that the McMul-\\nlins were superior people. They soon drew hosts of\\nfriends around them composed of Oskaloosa s best citi-\\nzens.\\nMr. and Mrs. McMullin have been worthy and\\nvalued members of the Methodist Episcopal church for\\nmore than forty years. Their seats are never vacant\\nunless they are unavoidably detained from attending.\\nThey are not very loud in their professions, but are al-\\nways ready to do their full share in maintaining the\\nchurch. Maj. and Mrs. McMullin are exceedingly hos-\\npitable. They entertain with a grace and ease not often\\n17", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0259.jp2"}, "260": {"fulltext": "258 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nattained. One reason why things move along so charm-\\ningly in that elegant and dainty home is this: There is\\nperfect harmony between husband and wife. Their\\ntastes are alike, there is no jarring nor discord. I have\\nheard it said by persons who know well their habits, that\\nthere is never an unkind or disrespectful word spoken\\nby one to the other. When the war of the rebellion\\ncame Maj. McMullin was one of the first of Oskaloosa s\\nstrong and brave and patriotic young men to enlist in the\\narmy. He was in many hard fought battles. He was\\npromoted and commissioned Majorat Pittsburg Landing.\\nHe came out of the war alive by the skin of his teeth\\ncarrying a scar made by a rebel bullet. Among others\\nof the Major s good qualities, he had sense enough to\\nsave his money and when the war was over he had the\\nmeans to go into a good business and fix himself and\\nfamily to live in comfort. Sallie was a gentle child. She\\ngrew to be a sweet-spirited and gentle young lady. She\\nmarried Mr. J. R. Noble, but while yet a young woman,\\nthose worthy and tender parents saw the eyes forever\\nclosed to the things of this world, and the daughter they\\nhad loved so much and so tenderly brought up, laid to\\nrest in Forest cemetery, leaving to their care three little\\ndaughters. Not many little girls left motherless are\\nblessed with so good a home, kind treatment and proper\\ntraining as they receive at the hands of those worthy\\ngrandparents, Major and Mrs. McMullin.", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0260.jp2"}, "261": {"fulltext": "KEMINISCENCES. 259\\nCHAPTER XIX.\\nWhen I begin writing about the friends I have known\\nso long and so well I can hardly find a place to stop. I\\nwant to follow them up from generation to generation.\\nWhen I began this story my purpose was to tell as true\\na story, as I could of the days when all, or nearly all, of\\nthis beautiful and grand country was an unbroken wilder-\\nness; of its fir^sf settlers and their heroism. I wanted\\nthis generaticm to understand how people some of them\\ntheir ancestors, could live in log huts away from\\nchurches and schools and railroads, with little to wear\\nand coarse food to eat, and yet be good and great. But\\nI find myself wandering away from my first object and\\nsaying a good deal about a generation that was unborn\\nwhen these scenes were being enacted. Some of Oska-\\nloosa s most brilliant and prosperous business and pro-\\nfessional men are, sons of these pioneers, and many of\\nher brightest, best, and most charming women are their\\ndaughters. Some of them I have known from their child-\\nhood, some I have held in my arms when they were\\nbabies. Their parents and grandparents were my friends,", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0261.jp2"}, "262": {"fulltext": "260 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nand friends of the husband of my youth. It will not be\\nthoug^ht strange that I feel an interest and want to tell\\nabout their children. So few of the first settlers are left\\nI have to depend on my own memory for nearly all I\\nhave to say about them. Some were seized with the gold\\nfever and went across the plains to California with ox\\nteams late in the forties and early in the fifties. Some\\nmoved away to other new places and never came back.\\nSome are sleeping in Forest cemetery, among them my\\nown precious dead.\\nI love to think of the early days and people. I love\\nto talk about them, and I am glad to have the privilege\\nand inclination to write about them. I want these splen-\\ndid young men and women in Cskaloosa and the country\\nround about, who are descended from those courageous,\\nself-sacrificing early settlers to know that they are not\\nso altogether self-made as they may possibly think they\\nare. Book learning and polish may be acquired, but\\nbrains, honor and courage have to be born in people.\\nNearly every one of the people who firi^t settled around\\nhere were endowed with brains, courage and honor.\\nWhat they lacked was opportunity. The best part of\\ntheir lives were spent in toiling to make the opportunity\\nof which their descendants are reaping the benefit. But\\nI see, if I don t mind I will fall into a habit T detest,\\nnamely, moralizing. It s too much like explaining a\\njoke. To tell the story and let the reader do his or her\\nown moralizing I think is better.\\nWhen I was a young girl my home was on the border\\nof a neighborhood composed of people of German ex-\\ntraction, who had emigrated from Pennsylvania and set-", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0262.jp2"}, "263": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 261\\ntied there when Indiana was new. They were called\\nPennsylvania Dutch. They were thrifty, honest, good\\nneighbors and all round good citizens. As far as my\\nknowledge goes the Pennsylvania Germans are good citi-\\nzens anywhere.\\nThe family I want to talk about now is of that old\\nand respectable stock. Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Kalbach,\\nwith some of their older children came from Pennsyl-\\nvania and located in Oskaloosa in 1851. They, like the\\nmajority of Oskaloosa s new comers in that day, had but\\nlittle means, and lived in houses of small dimensions at\\nfirst. Their family increased until there were four sons\\nand five daughters, who were brought up to be industri-\\nous, self-reliant and self-respecting. The children were\\nall well educated, nearly, if not altogether in Oskaloosa s\\npublic schools, Although for several years Mr. Kal-\\nbach s means were limited, and his family numerous, by\\nhonest industry and good management, he not only main-\\ntained his family respectably, but laid by enough to\\nenable him to embark in a lucrative business. Mr. and\\nMrs. Kalbach had the great good sense to live within\\ntheir means. They were rather quiet people, but their\\nhabits and manners were of the kind which command the\\nrespect of their neighbors. Mr. Kalbach engaged in the\\nlumber business, and was prosperous from the first. He\\nhas retired now from active business, but two of his sons,\\nJohn and George Kalbach, are carrying on the lumber\\nbusiness extensively and profitably. John, the eldest of\\nMr. Kalbach s sons, married Miss Louise Patterson, an\\nexcellent young lady. Their home is one of the nicest\\nin the city. Their son Warren is a fine looking young", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0263.jp2"}, "264": {"fulltext": "S6^ MASASKA COUNTY\\nman, works in his father s office and bids fair to become\\na fine business man, like his father and uncles. Their\\ndaughters, Helen and Annette, are charming- girls.\\nA few years ago Mr. John Kalbach made the regular\\nround of sight-seeing in Europe. While on that trip he\\nfavored us with some charming and very interesting let-\\nters. When he came home somebody asked him what\\npleased him most of all the things he saw on that trip.\\nHis reply was: The sight which delighted me most\\nwas the group standing on the lawn to greet me when I\\nreached my home.\\nGeorge Kalbach is the only unmarried one of the\\nfamily. He has traveled much, and his letters from\\nabroad, especially from South America, were entertain-\\ning, instructive and written in a pleasing style. John\\nand George Kalbach certainly have always been looked\\nupon as intelligent, level-headed business men, but who\\nwas looking for the literary ability shown in the letters\\nboth of these gentlemen favored us with while traveling\\nin foreign lands? William, another of the Kalbach broth-\\ners, in partnership with Mr. Chas. Huber (another of\\nOskaloosa s fine business men and good citizens), is doing\\nan extensive business in hardware, both wholesale and\\nretail. Mr. William Kalbach is also president of the\\nOskaloosa National Bank. He married one of Oskaloo-\\nsa s nicest girls, Miss Nellie Seevers, daughter of Judge\\nand Mrs. W. H. Seevers.\\nZ. T. Kalbach, Taylor, as we always called him,\\nmarried Miss Rose Cole, a charming girl. Taylor located\\nand launched out in business in the town of New Sharon,\\nand like the rest of the Kalbach men, was not only very", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0264.jp2"}, "265": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 1^63\\nprosperous, but. a valued citizen. But Taylor, in the\\npride of young manhood, was cut down by death. Mr.\\nand Mrs. Kalbach s five daughters every one grew to\\nwomanhood honored, admired, and loved by all who\\nknew them, especially by those who knew them best.\\nThe Kalbach lot is one of the prettiest in Forest Cem-\\netery. There Taylor and Emma sleep, where a few\\nmonths ag o the beloved mother of that excellent family\\nwas laid to rest.\\nThough Isaac Kalbach s home is one of the most ele-\\ngant and substantial in the city of Oskaloosa, and his\\nsons and his daughters are so near, and pleasantly locat-\\ned, and are so kind and thoughtful of their father s com-^\\nfort, yet she who was the wife of his youth, the mother\\nof his children, the one wlio shared his joys and griefs\\nfor more than half a century has gone out of that home,\\nleaving a void nothing can ever fill; though Isaac Kal-\\nbach has had to drink of that l^itter cup which nearly ail\\nmust drink sooner or later, he has much to comfort liim\\nand to be thankful for in his declining years more than\\nusually falls to the lot of man. His daughters and his\\ndaughters-in-law are all that he could desire in daughters;\\nhis sons and sons-in-law are honorable and prosperous\\nmen. Not long ago a gentleman who knows them well,\\nsaid to me: The Kalbachs can make money witliout re-\\nsorting to questionable methods.\\nChristian Iloutz, another of the Pennsylvania Ger\\nman stock, with his wife and only child Ev^aline, came\\nand located in Oskaloosa in 1847. Mr. Houtz bouglit a\\ntract of land adjoining the town on the east, where he\\nbuilt a comfortable home, surrounding it with fruit trees,", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0265.jp2"}, "266": {"fulltext": "264 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nvines and flowers. Mrs. Houtz had fine roses when fine\\nroses were rare in this country; she had other fine\\nflowers too. I think the Houtzes and the Fredericks\\nwere the first tamilies anywhere about Oskaloosa to\\npropog-ate and cultivate dahlias, g-eraniums and fine\\nroses. Mr. Houtz built that home in 1848. It stands\\nthere yet, a good and respectable residence. Mrs.\\nHoutz died early in the seventies, but Mr. Houtz lived\\nto an advanced age. They both died in the house they\\nbuilt in 48. Mr. Houtz laid out an addition to Oska-\\nloosa, which is known as Houtz s addition. His land in-\\ncreased in value as the town grew; he became quite\\nwealthy, and when he died he left a considerable estate.\\nEvaline was a bright little girl, and grew up to be a\\nbright young lady. She married John R. Needham, a\\npopular young lawyer, who was elected to the State\\nSenate in 1852. He was Lieutenant Governor during the\\nwar of the rebellion. By virtue of his office Mr. Need-\\nham was speaker of the house. When Ft. Donaldson\\nfell, and a dispatch came telling of the same, it was\\nhanded to Mr. Needham. After glancing it over, he\\ncalled the attention of the house and with joy beaming\\nall over his face, he proceeded to read to that eager\\nassembly:\\nOur Troops Victorious!\\nFt. Donaldson has Fallen!\\nIt is said that such a scene was never enacted in\\nIowa s Legislature before nor since. One big shout went\\nup. Tears of joy sprung to their eyes. They grasped\\neach other s hands. They embraced, they laughed, they\\nwept.", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0266.jp2"}, "267": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 265\\nJohn R, Needham was the first editor of the Oska-\\nloom Herald^ which was the first newspaper published in\\nOskaloosa. Mr. Needham died of consumption, when\\ncomparatively a young man. leaving two children, Minnie\\nand Willie. Mrs. Evaline Houtz Needham is still a citi-\\nzen of Oskaloosa, and is considered one of the best-in-\\nformed women in the town. She is an inveterate reader,\\nand her knowledg e of prominent people and events is\\nsomething wonderful. Mrs. Needham spends much of\\nher time in one or another of the cities or watering places\\nin the east. Her winters are usually spent in Washing-\\nton, D. C. She sometimes favors her home papers with\\nletters telling of the interesting places she has visited\\nand the prominent and interesting people she has met.\\nMrs. Needham is a graceful writer. When she was Eva-\\nline Houtz and a little girl in school her essays were re-\\nmarkably well written. Mrs. Needham is a fine-looking\\nwoman, has a young face and not a gray hair, though she\\nhas grand-daughters who are young ladies. Her daugh-\\nter Minnie was a bright and studious child, was one of\\nthe first to graduate from Oskaloosa High School, and\\nwas quite proficient in music. She married Mr. W. R.\\nLacey, a prominent young attorney, and is now mistress\\nof one ot the finest homes in Oskaloosa, where she and\\nher husband and daughters entertain their hosts of\\nfriends in the most delightful manner. Every room,\\nnook and corner is furnished in an elegant, comfortable\\nand restful manner. The daughters charm one with\\nmusic, and the choicest of literature greets the eye on\\nevery hand. Their conservatory is filled with the choic-\\nest plants and flowers, and their grounds are a bower of", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0267.jp2"}, "268": {"fulltext": "266 MAHASKA COUNT V\\nbeauty. Broad verandas festooned with graceful vines\\nand surrounded with ferns, beg-onias and palms make one\\nalmost imagine they are in the tropics. Their grounds\\nreach from street to street, and are pretty on all sides,\\nwith no unsightly places at all.\\nW. R. Lacey is a successful attorney, a careful busi-\\nness man and is steadily adding to his possessions. Mrs.\\nNeedham s son, William Houtz Needham, was a bright\\nand handsome boy, and when he reached young man-\\nhood, was tall, broad-shouldered and handsome; was well\\neducated, studied law, was admitted to the bar, began\\npracticing his profession with bright prospects of suc-\\ncess. He was courteous in his manners towards every-\\nbody, and everybody was his friend. He married Miss\\nElla Moore, daughter and only child of Mr. and Mrs.\\nH. C. Moore, one of Oskaloosa s most accomplished\\nyoung ladies. Those worthy young people had just\\ntaken possession of their beautiful home when the young\\nhusband was stricken with typhoid fever. Its progress\\nwas rapid: in a few days William H. Needham was no\\nmore.\\nColonel W. W. Chapman, who was a delegate to\\ncongress from Iowa when it was a territor}^ once re-\\nsided in Oskaloosa. He, with his family, came here in\\nthe spring of 184(). They occupied a rambling kind of\\nlog cabin on the south side of High street about where\\nthe Narrow Guage depot stands. Some wag had given\\nit the name of Ft. Baker. An eccentric sort of man\\nwho was called Colonel Baker had built and occupied it\\nwhen Oskaloosa was first a town. I don t know why he was\\ncalled Colonel. I don t know why Chapman was called", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0268.jp2"}, "269": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 267\\nColonel, but he was. That was even before the Mexican\\nwar. Colonel Chapman was a brother-in-law to Van B.\\nDelashmutt. He was a lawyer, a devout Methodist and\\na very nice man. In the spring of 1847 Col. Chapman\\nand family moved to Portland, Oregon, He crossed the\\nplains with ox teams.\\nI am sure Col. Chapman owned the largest library\\nof anybody in the county when they lived here. I know\\nI gazed with wonder and astonishment to see so many\\nbooks in a little dark cabin,\\n.John Montgomery was one of the first to stake out a\\nclaim in Mahaska county on the first day of May, 1843.\\nHe with John White, Felix Gessford and W. D. Canfield\\nwere hidden somewhere on the night of April 30.. They\\ndidn t go to sleep, but waited until the hands of some-\\nbody s watch pointed to the figure XII; then they grab-\\nbed their torches and sharpened sticks and flew around\\nthe land they had been secretly spying out. Mr. Mont-\\ngomery had chosen about the nicest piece of land to be\\nfound anywhere \u00e2\u0080\u0094right on the divide. The government\\nreserves the privilege of taking a quarter section of land\\nanywhere on the public domain if they want to locate a\\ncounty seat, no matter who claims it. So the commis-\\nsioners who located Oskaloosa, liked Mr. Montgomery s\\nclaim and pounced on it, and laid out the town, with a\\npublic square not exactly in the center of the town, but\\nexactly on top of the ridge, where the waters from the\\nnorth side find their way to Skunk river, and the waters\\nfrom the south side find their way to the Des Moines.\\nMr. Montgomery had land left after giving up that\\nsplendid quarter, and was allowed a claiai at the south-", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0269.jp2"}, "270": {"fulltext": "268 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nwest corner of town, besides, he had a splendid tract\\nadjoining the town quarter on the south. On these lands\\nMr. Montgomery has laid out what is known as Mont-\\ngomery s first and second additions to Oskaloosa. Mr.\\nMontgomery has a comfortable home at the corner of\\nFirst Street and Third Avenue. He is one of the very\\nfew persons who own and occupy a home on the claim\\nthey staked out on the first day of May, 1843. Mr.\\nMontgomery has owned many valuable pieces of prop-\\nerty, and still owns a good deal in the town and country\\nround about. He is now old and feeble and much broken,\\nbut keeps his lawn and garden in good order with liis\\nown hands. He has been twice married, and both wives\\nwere excellent women. They sleep in Old Cemetery.\\nHis three sons and one daughter are married and gone.\\nHis young lady daughters, Laura and Jessie, keep the\\ninside of their home in as good order as the father does\\nthe outside. Mr. Montgomery is the oldest settler of\\nOskaloosa now living in the town, and the only one living\\nof the men who drove stakes around their claims in this\\nregion on May 1st, 1843. Mr. Montgomery has always\\nbeen an honest, liberal and kind-hearted man.\\nAfter the Mexican war was over and terms of peace\\nadjusted, there was a considerable scope of territory\\nadded to the United States. Our people didn t seem to\\nthink expansion a bad thing then, and M^hen some new\\nmaps of the United States were made, with seven or\\neight hundred miles more of our domain bordering on\\nthe Pacific Ocean, and a vast territory to the southwest,\\nour country assumed a better shape, was better propor-\\ntioned. I always liked to study maps, and never look on", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0270.jp2"}, "271": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 269\\na map of our country without a feeling of pride, nor with-\\nout seeing with the mind s eye the maps used when I\\nwent to scliool; that long stretch of Atlantic sea coast\\nand the little strip on the Pacilic. But after the Mexican\\nwar was over it w^as squared out to about the right shape.\\nIn July, 1848, about the time matters were fairly ad-\\njusted between the United States and Mexico, gold in\\nthat newly acquired country was discovered in great\\nquanities. The news flew from one end of the land to\\nthe other. There was great excitement among the peo-\\nple, even here in Mahaska county and Oskaloosa. Nearly\\nall of our young men, and some who were not very young,\\nwere ready to sacrifice all they possessed for a California\\noutfit. A California outfit for three or four men con-\\nsisted of three yoke of oxen, a wagon, loaded with flour,\\nbacon, coffee, tea, sugar and dried apples, with the\\nnecessary condiments, enough to last five or six months;\\nbedding and two suits of substantial clothes. Yes, and\\neach man must have a gun and a supply of amunition.\\nSome of our young men were willing and glad to ex-\\nchange a quarter section of good land for such an out\\nfit. What was a quarter section of land in Iowa com-\\npared with the bags of gold they were going to pick up\\nin California? They could go out there and in a year or\\ntwo come back with gold enough to buy a township.\\nSuch wonderful stories were told us of fortunes being\\npicked up, sometimes in a day, that half the people,\\nwomen as well as men, were crazy to go.\\nThe agricultural and horticultural resources of that\\ngrand country were scarcely thought of it was nothing\\nbut gold. In the Spring of 1849 a large company of Os-", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0271.jp2"}, "272": {"fulltext": "270 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nkaloosa people and others from the country round, more\\nor less comfortably fixed for the trip, started on that\\nlong and tedious journey across the plains. The end of\\ncivilization was Kanesville, a small town or trading\\npoint on the Missouri River, since known by the name of\\nCouncil Bluffs. Immediately on crossing that river the\\nplains began, which stretched away off to the West for\\nhundreds and hundreds of miles, a barren waste, only in-\\nhabited by Indians and buffalo, and nobody seemed to\\nthink it ever would be inhabited by anything else noth-\\ning would grow there but buifalo grass. Some whole\\nfamilies, and many of our splendid young men were in\\nthat train which left Oskaloosa for California in the\\nSpring of 49, and on the spot where the great town of\\nOmaha now^ stands, and that wonderful Inter-State Ex-\\nposition is now being held, dth tears in their eyes they\\nlooked across that mighty, muddy river and bade fare-\\nwell to Iowa and to civilization. They then cracked\\ntheir whips and started across the plains.\\nSome of the families went with the intention of stay-\\ning and making California their home, among them John\\nCameron, the good old Cumberland Presbyterian preach-\\ner, with his wife, eight daughters, one son, six sons-in-\\nlaw, one daughter-in-law and a host of grandchildren.\\nEvery one of that numerous family, old enough to know\\nwhat piety meant, were pious people, and I have heard,\\nhad worship every night and morning on that long and\\nperilous journey. I think, all that went in that first\\ncompany from Oskaloosa lived to get through. But some\\nof those strong young men who started with such glow-\\ning expectations, never came back. James and Th(mias", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0272.jp2"}, "273": {"fulltext": "UEMINiSCENC ES. 27 1\\nMcMurray, two excellent young- men, ^Yere cut down\\nby death in young- manhood. Their bones are resting-,\\nperhaps, in lonely g-raves in California. Rolla Smith, a\\nfine young- man, tall and straigiit as an arrow, and Dr.\\nSampsell. a brilliant young physician, after working- in\\nthe g-old mines a year or two, with, no one knows wdiat\\nsuccess, boarded a vessel at San Francisco to come home,\\nbut vessel nor young- men v/ere ever heard of after.\\nStephen Edwards went to California with the Camerons,\\nworked in the mines a few years, then went to the Wil-\\nlamette Valley in Oreg-on, engaged in farming- and is now\\na wealthy retired old bachelor of Eugene City.\\nSome of those stalwart young men who went in that\\ntrain of 40ers, lived to return to their friends and homes.\\nPerhaps none of them brought a very great amount of\\ngold, but they all brought with them a much greater\\namount of knowledge than they had when they started\\nawa}^ California was a good place to learn. Brilliant\\nand scholarly men from all over the eastern states were\\ndigging gold along the creeks. Scholars, statesmen,\\npoets, actors and politicians were mixed up with the un-\\nlearned prairie breaker from Iowa, or the hoop pole mer-\\nchant from Illinois. The graduate from Yale washed\\nout gold by the side of the champion corn-husker on the\\nWabash. The man who could recite every line of\\nHamlet from memory, had for his partner the man who\\ncould make more rails in a day than any man on Skunk\\nriver.\\nThe Nantucket whale fisher who had sailed on every\\nocean and knew every seaport in the world, bunked with\\nthe young fellow whose ambition had been to carry up", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0273.jp2"}, "274": {"fulltext": "272 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nthe truest corner in a log cabin and hew a puncheon the\\nsmoothest. Not all of our boys who went in 49 were\\nunlettered and unlearned. Some of them were as bright\\nas a new silver dollar, and could hold their own any-\\nwhere, but others had not had the advantages of schools\\nand knew little of what was in books. But most of them\\nhad been brought up in a school of honor and could be\\ntrusted with uncounted gold.\\nx\\\\fter their day s work had been done on the creek,\\nthis mixture of learned and unlearned would gather\\nabout the fire in their cabins, or shanties, and talk they\\nwould talk of the countries they had seen, the books they\\nhad read, the speeches they had heard delivered by great\\nstatesmen and orators, the sermons heard by this or that\\nbishop, the acts of congress, the different peoples of dif-\\nferent countries, with their ditferent characteristics, and\\na hundred other things. Our unsophisticated prairie\\nbreakers, corn buskers and hoop-pole cutters, listened,\\ncaught on, and by that means and their own observa-\\ntion gained a store of knowledge. When they came\\nhome it was easy to be seen they had acquired a self-\\npossession and ease of manner, could talk fluently of\\ncourts and laws, and empires and republics, and the dif-\\nferent races inhabiting the different parts of the world,\\nand so forth. They were as bright as the new gold coin\\nin their pockets.\\nWe lost many excellent citizens in the great exodus\\nto California in 184U and 1850, but their places were soon\\nfilled by other excellent people. While there was a rush\\nto California to find gold, there was a rush to Iowa to\\nfind farms, and suitable locations for many other kinds", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0274.jp2"}, "275": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 273\\nof business. Many of our prominent people came and\\nsettled here about that time, and among- others, Judge\\nJ. A. L. Crookham, who came here a young- man, and\\nlong before he was an old man he had acquired fortune\\nand fame.\\nEarly in the fifties Mr. and Mrs. Jerome M. White\\ncame from Ohio and located in Oskaloosa. Mr. White\\nopened out a store of g-eneral merchandise on the south\\nside of the public square and did a good business. He\\nwas a many-sided business man, and could make things\\ng-o in whatever line he chose to direct his efforts. He\\ncould sell goods, he could deal in horses, he could buy\\nand sell lots, could build a house, move in, could sell it\\nand move out again a little quicker than anybody I knew.\\nMany of Oskaloosa s nice and valuable places were once\\nthe property of Mr. and Mrs. J. M. White. The lots\\nupon which Mr. Hostetter s eleg-ant residence now stands\\nwas once their home. Thoug-h the house Mr. White\\nbuilt and occupied on that ground in 1854 was thought to\\nbe quite pretentious, it w^as long- since torn down and\\nmoved away. They once owned the ground and occupied\\na small frame house where Mr. McNeill s fine livery barn\\nis now. That little frame house was moved away over\\non a hill on East C avenue Luid is standing- there to-day.\\nI often drive by it, but never without thinking- of the\\nhappy times my husband and myself have enjoyed in that\\nlittle old house with those charming people. My husband\\nand I became acquainted with Mr. and Mrs. J. M. White\\nvery soon after they came to Oskaloosa, and a strong-\\nfriendship, such a friendship as only occurs between two\\nfamilies a few times in a whole lifetime, was formed be-\\n18", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0275.jp2"}, "276": {"fulltext": "274 MAHASKA COUNTY\\ntween us. The kind of friendship which neither time,\\nnor distance, nor prosperity, nor adversity, nor any other\\ncreature lias ever broken.\\nWe were all young- away back in 1852; our hearts\\nwere light, the world looked bright, and everything-\\nhad a charm. My husband would hitch his chestnut\\nsorrels to his wag^on in the Summer, and we would go\\nout tog ether on the Spring Creek hills and g^ather black-\\nberries. In September we would drive over to the Des\\nMoines and come home loaded down with wild g^rapes and\\nplums. On the Fourth of July we would invite a few\\nfriends to join us and we would hie away to the banks of\\nthat beautiful river and have a pic-nic so full of inci-\\ndents\u00e2\u0080\u0094they are fresh in our memories to-day! On Winter\\nnights our song s rningled with the jing^le of sleigh-bells as\\nwe swiftly glided over the snowy ]3rairies or on the streets\\nof the little town of Oskaloosa. We sang, we joked, we\\nlaughed! Nobody could tell more funny stories than\\nJerome, and nobody could tell them better. Jerome\\nand Lizzie seemed to be a part of ourselves. It was al-\\nways a joy to see them come into our house, or for us to\\ngo to theirs. How much there was in a Summer or a\\nWinter then!\\nThe prairies with their native grasses and Howxrs,\\nthe groves scattered here and there with their borders of\\nhazel bushes, crab apples and crimson sumach; the great\\nfeathery bunches of golden rod and purple chrysanthe-\\nmums, those beauties just completed the border, purple\\nand gold. Nature knows how to arrange colors; the river\\nwdth banks atangle with trees and vines, made us joy-\\nous, yet we hardly knew why. But we were young then,", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0276.jp2"}, "277": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 275\\nand full of life and health and energy; little perplexities\\nand annoyances were soon forgotten. The time when\\nany of our little band would close their eyes forever on\\nall that looked so bright, seemed vague and far away.\\nThough we have been bereft of dear ones and had many\\na sorrow, we love to think and talk of the friends of long\\nago and of the by-gone da3^s. Our pleasure was not al-\\ntogether in the frivolous; even if we were young, we en-\\njoyed many a talk of the more serious and practical side\\nof life.\\nMr, and Mrs. White were bright, educated and cul-\\ntured people, and were gifted with a high sense of honor.\\nMrs. White had the distinction of being the possessor of\\nthe first piano ever brought to Oskaloosa, which was in\\nthe Summer of 1853. At that time they owned the hotel\\nwhere the Downing is now, and Hugh McNeely was its\\nproprietor. Mr. and Mrs. White took their meals at the\\nhotel, but had rooms at our house we never stayed apart\\nvery long in those days. We owned and occupied a two-\\nstory house at that time on the ground where the Bashaw\\nLivery is now, Lot 5, Block 20, o. p., Oskaloosa. Mr.\\nand Mrs. White occupied the east room up-stairs, and\\nwhen that piano came and was being taken up to that\\nroom, it created a sensation. A crowd gathered about\\nthe door and gazed in wonder. Many of them had never\\nseen a piano.\\nMrs. White was born and brought up in Brownsville,\\nPenn. She practiced on that piano when she was Lizzie\\nCopeland. When Mrs. White was a little girl she went\\nto school with James G. Blaine and his cousins, the Gil-\\nlespie girls. Her father was prominent in that part of", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0277.jp2"}, "278": {"fulltext": "276 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nPennsylvania as a journalist and politician, and was a\\nmember of the State Senate. He used to visit his daug^h-\\nter and her hasband in Oskaloosa. Mr. Copeland was\\none of the finest-looking men and most elegant gentle-\\nmen I ever met.\\nIn 1854 or 1855 a town was laid out on the Missouri\\nRiver and called Sioux City. Mr. White, ccmceiving the\\nidea that Sioux City was going to be a great place,\\nrushed out there and bought a large tract of land in and\\naround the town. It wasn t long until those dear friends\\nof ours hied them away over miles and miles of unbroken\\nand uninhabited country, to the little village w^hich it\\nwas expected was going to be the metropolis of the\\nnorthwest. Sioux City was making a fair start toward\\ngreatness when the financial crash of 1857 gave it a back-\\nset. The war of the rebellion coming on soon after gave\\nit another backset. Mr. White abandoned his specula-\\ntions in corner lots and went to the war. When the war\\nwas over, instead of going back to Sioux City, they loca-\\nted at Atchison, Kansas, where they made for themselves\\na lovely home on the Missouri bluff just above that city.\\nI thought that home a charming place. Every room was\\njust the right size and shape. Their grounds were one\\nmass of fine fruits and flowers, and there was the most\\ndelightful view up and down the river from their broad\\nveranda.\\nMr. and Mrs. White have no children, so when they\\nfeel disposed to take a trip they take one. They spent\\nthe whole winter in New Orleans during the Exposition,\\nand they spent another winter in Florida. They visit\\nthe Federal Capital frequently. Mrs. White sometimes", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0278.jp2"}, "279": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES 277\\nfavors her home papers with spicy and interesting let-\\nters, and she is perfectly capable of doing that kind of\\nthing. She is a brilliant woman. Some five or six years\\nago they decided to spend a winter on the Pacific Coast.\\nThey went to Seattle, and made up their minds to spend\\nthe rest of their natural lives in a suburb of that city, as\\nthey had at last found the garden spot of the earth.\\nA lady asked me not long ago if I remembered an\\nentertainment which was given here a long time ago,\\ncalled the bear party, or the bear supper, it was\\nsomething with Jieav to it. To which I replied: I\\nshould say I did remember it, for I was there and par-\\ntook of a good-sized piece of that bear. Do tell me\\nabout it, she remarked. Then I proceeded to tell her\\nthe following story of that function:\\nAway back in the early fifties some old and very dear\\nfriends of ours, Mr. and Mrs. J. M. White, owned the old\\nframe hotel where the Downing House now stands, and for\\na tenant and proprietor they had one Hugh McNeely, a\\ngentleman possessing various gifts and accomplishments.\\nHe was one of the first proprietors of the Oskaloosa\\nHerald. His talents as a journalist were sometimes\\ndisplayed in the editorial columns of that paper. Mr.\\nMcNeely was versatile; he was vivacious; he was full of\\nresources! After he had ceased to cater to the mental\\nappetites of the resident public, he tried his hand at\\ncatering to the physical appetites of the traveling public.\\nAs a caterer Mr. McNeely was a success for a while.\\nHis table fairly groaned with, the weight of good things\\nspread thereon. To sit down to a dinner at that hostelry,\\nwhere roast pig, roast turkey, venison and peach-cobbler", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0279.jp2"}, "280": {"fulltext": "S7B MAHASKA COUNTY\\nwas served, was nothing- unusual. Mr. McNeely was\\ngifted with wonderful powers of conversation. There\\nseemed to be no limit to his resources in that respect.\\nHe knew about all that was known in that day, and he\\nseemed willing and anxious to give his guests the benefit\\nof his knowledg-e. His log^ic was something- wonderful,\\nand he could argue on any side of a question with equal\\nclearness. His guests gazed, and listened with astonish-\\nment:\\nAnd still they gazed, and still the wonder grew,\\n\u00e2\u0080\u00a2How one small head could carry all he knew.\\nOur friend, Mr. Jerome White, had a wonderful liking\\nfor pets, in the way of wild animals. He bought a young\\ndeer and succeeded in making it very tame. It would\\ncome up to them and eat out of their hands. They al-\\nlowed that deer great liberty, it was so tame. Everybody\\nabout town knew that deer, but to make sure no one\\nwould mistake it for a wild deer when it might chance to\\nbe grazing on the common, Mrs. White fastened a piece\\nof red flannel around its neck. But with all that, some\\none was ruthless enough to shoot that deer.\\nMr. White s next attempt at taming a wild animal for\\nthe solid pleasure of its society was with a badger. The\\nbadger was not a success; boys would come around and\\npoke sticks at it, which didn t seem to be particularly\\nenjoyed by the badger, however much it may have been\\nenjoyed by the boys. So one day the badger became\\ndesperate, broke his chain, and escaped to parts unknown.\\nThese misfortunes happened to Mr. White in the year\\n1852. He was almost inconsolable when the badger made\\nhis escape, but in a few months after, some time in the", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0280.jp2"}, "281": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 279\\nsummer of 1853, he met a man somewhere who had for\\nsale a larg^e black bear, already sufficiently domesticated\\nto be led by a chain. Mr. White purchased the bear and\\nwas happy. He had him taken around to the back-yard\\nof his hotel, had the chain made fast to a stake, and the\\nbear was placed in Mr. McNeely s care. Mr. McNeely\\nwas delighted. His foresight was keen. A great feast\\nand a great hit in the hotel business loomed up before\\nhis mental vision. Game of other kinds was quite plen-\\ntiful, but a whole bear served at one meal was something\\nunusual. And that was what Mr. McNeely mentally\\nproposed to do, if Mr. White could be induced to have\\nthat bear slain. Mr. McNeely knew his powers of per-\\nsuasion; he would manage it. That bear soon became\\nso accustomed to seeing a crowd of men and boys around\\nthat he paid no attention to them, but just kept on eating.\\nHe fared sumptuously every day; devoured great quan-\\ntities of food from Mr. McNeely s table, and waxed fatter In\\nand fatter. Mr. McNeely did not reckon without his\\nhost, for in course of time, after many persuasions and\\nlogical arguments, Mr. White was led to see that a great\\nbear feast would not only be a bonanza for Mr. McNeel}^\\nin the hotel business, but w^ould advertise the house and\\nthereby bring him a purchaser. In those days every-\\nbody s property was for sale or trade. Speculation w^as\\nrife in Oskaloosa; so Mr. White consented to have the\\nbear sacrificed, but it was stipulated in the bond that\\nMrs. White should retain a considerable portion of the\\noil. Pure bear s oil at that time was valuable. It was\\nsupposed to add greatly to the beauty of the hair, and\\nwas much used for that purpose. I remember seeing a", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0281.jp2"}, "282": {"fulltext": "^80 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nyoung man in church one day whose hair was so com-\\npletely saturated with bear s oil that it fairly dripped off.\\nMr. McNeely did not swerve from his purpose. A\\nweek or two before Christmas he made know^n to the cit-\\nizens of Oskaloosa and surrounding- country, that a func-\\ntion such as had never been witnessed nor enjoyed by\\nsociety in this part of Iowa would be given at the Eagle\\nHotel, on December 24th, 1853. Dinner would be served\\nat 3:30 p. m. The cuisine would surpass anything ever\\nattempted in this community. Many rare viands would\\nbe served at that banquet, but wdiat was most unique, a\\nlarge black bear would be slaughtered and the whole of\\nit placed before the guests, prepared in every manner\\nknown to the cuisine art. After dinner the dining-room\\nwould be cleared and those who chose to do so could\\ntrip the light fantastic toe.\\nWhen the afternoon of the 24th arrived, the ellfe of\\nOskaloosa and country round began to arrive, and soon\\nthe Eagle Hotel was filled to overflowing. Mr. McNeely\\ndid all, and more than he had led the people to think he\\nwould do. The bear was fine; the banquet was a grand\\nsuccess financially, and every other way. Everybody\\nwent away more than satisfied. They had had all the\\nbear meat they wanted. As the bear was the principal\\nfeature of the entertainment, some of the young men\\ncalled it the Bear party, and some were rude enough\\nto call it the Bear dance. Tliat bear was large and fat,\\nand when he come to be slaughtered and dressed, such\\nquantities of y;?//-^ bear s oil I don t think had ever\\nbeen seen by the oldest inhabitant. It took a great\\nbig kettle to hold it. Mrs. White was an expert in what-", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0282.jp2"}, "283": {"fulltext": "nEMlNlSCENCES. 281\\never she undertook, and she made a success in rendering\\nthat oil, as she did of everything else, and gallons of nice\\nclear oil was the result. After she had given me a great\\nbig bottle full, and had shared liberally with her other\\nfriends, she had quantities of it left.\\nMrs. White had a brother living here, a young gen-\\ntleman, Mr. Tern Copeland. Though I have not men-\\ntioned him before in this story, he was one of us, and\\nwas generally, like Mr. and Mrs. White, mixed up in all\\nour social affairs. Tern was engaged to a young lady in\\nBrownsville, Penn. The ceremony was to take place in\\nthe Spring of 1854. There being an excellent tailor in\\nOskaloosa, and Mr. Copeland being fastidious in dress,\\nemployed this tailor to make his wedding suit, of black\\nbroadcloth; everything belonging to that suit was perfect.\\nWhen he brought it home from the tailor, his sister, Mrs.\\nWhite, assisted him in folding every individual piece and\\nplacing them in his trunk. After those wedding gar-\\nments, and some other articles belonging to Mr. Cope-\\nland s wardrobe were all neatly folded and placed in that\\ntrunk, there seemed to be a little space left, where some-\\nthing else might be put in. The packing was supposed\\nto be done, and Fern went off down town, but as Mrs.\\nWhite was putting on the finishing touches, she fell to\\nsoliloquizing: This trunk is not packed tight at all; it\\nhad just as well be as full as it will hold, as any other\\nway in fact, I know it will be better to have things\\npacked in ais close as they can be\u00e2\u0080\u0094 won t be near so apt\\nto jostle around and get mussed. I m going to send a\\nlot of that bear s oil to the folks at Brownsville. Won t\\nit surprise them to get a bottle of bear s oil from me and", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0283.jp2"}, "284": {"fulltext": "282 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nlearn that I rendered that oil my own self? I imagine I\\nhear their remarks about Lizzie frying out bear s oil away\\nin the wilds of Iowa. But they will be glad enough to\\nget it.\\nLet me see! There s Aunt Charlotte, I ll send her a\\nbottle. I imagine I see her trying to put some of it on\\nUncle Josie s hair, and Uncle Josie saying: Ah, Char-\\nlotte, go away with that foolishness! I ll send Jennie\\nSeawright a bottle, and oh, there s Lib Gillespie! I ll\\nsend her a bottle; I believe I ll send her two bottles with\\na note saying: You can, if you choose, present this to\\nthat delectable cousin of yours, Jim Blaine, with the\\ncompliments of the chief manager of the Bear s Oil Fac-\\ntory, situated near the mighty Skunk. I ll write a note\\nand fasten it around each bottle, and be particular to in-\\nform each one that I know this oil to be absolutely pure.\\nSo she proceeded to fill up some bottles with bear s oil\\nand cork them, as she supposed, so tight that not a drop\\ncould escape. Then she slipped them down in the cor-\\nners of the trunk. Then everything was packed and\\nready for Tern to start oft to get married.\\nMy husband frequently made trips to Keokuk with a\\ntwo-horse wagon and would haul back a load of goods.\\nThere were no railroads. Sometimes several gentlemen\\nhaving business in Keokuk would go with him and return\\nby stage. It was on one of these trips, as Mr. Copeland\\nwas starting on that momentous journey, that he, with\\nseveral other gentlemen, accompanied him to Keokuk.\\nMr. Phillips drove a spirited team and drove fast, paying\\nlittle attention to ruts and rough places, regardless of\\nthe damage which might accrue to Mr. C. s trunk. They", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0284.jp2"}, "285": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 283\\njoked and told funny stories and had a lively time, and\\nwhen they reached Keokuk Mr. Copeland found that his\\nboat would not go down the river for a day or two. He\\nand Mr. Phillips roomed together at a hotel. When they\\nawoke in the morning Mr. Copeland looked out of the\\nwindow and remarked, Well, this is a fine morning, and\\nas I am going to be in the city all day I think I will dress\\nup and be somebody. I will run out and get shaved, and\\nyou just wait; I will be back directly and dress up and\\nlet you see how I will look in my standing up suit.\\nMr. Phillips waited. Pretty soon Tern came back look-\\ning the very picture of happiness. He went to his trunk,\\nunlocked it, raised the lid, when Oh, horrors! The\\nstoppers had come out and that bear s oil had run all\\nover his wedding clothes. I think I will not record the\\nremarks he made when he found utterance. He was for-\\ntunate in finding somebody in Keokuk who was skillful\\nenough to remove the bear s oil from that elegant wed-\\nding suit, so he went on to Brownsville and was married\\nto Miss Libbie Duncan, and straightway brought her to\\nOskaloosa. We had many a laugh at his expense over\\nthat bear s oil calamity.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0285.jp2"}, "286": {"fulltext": "284 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nCHAPTER XX.\\nAs T have remarked before, along- in the early fifties\\nthere was much buying and selling- and building- and\\nmoving-. My husband and I boug ht and sold and moved\\nnearly as often as Mr. and Mrs. White did. In the\\nSpring- of 1852 we bought the Oskaloosa House and\\nmoved from our farm, where we had first gone to house-\\nkeeping, into that hostlery, kept it one year, then sold it\\nto Samuel McMurray and John Prest. In the Spring of\\n1853 we bought and moved to the place where the Bashaw\\nLivery barn now is. In April, 1854, we traded that place\\nto John N. Kinsman for what we thought the nicest home\\nin the suburbs of Oskaloosa. It contained about three\\nacres of land, a frame house of five rooms, a cellar, good\\nstable, lots of fruit trees and shade trees. It was about\\nhalf way between the public square and our farm. The\\nhouse stood on the spot where Mr. Esgen s elegant resi-\\ndence is now; was moved after we sold it to a place a\\nlittle farther west, and is now the home of Mrs. O Hara.\\nThat house was built and owned and all those trees\\nplanted by Charles Blackburn. Mr. Blackburn was an", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0286.jp2"}, "287": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 285\\nEngiishman, and was a carpenter by trade. He was a\\nbrother to Henry Blackburn, who was once treasurer of\\nMahaska County. Charles Blackburn and family went\\nto California in 1852. When we moved there in the\\nSpring of 1854 our nearest neighbors were the Hobsons,\\nwho lived on an acre lot which I heard him say he paid\\none hundred dollars tor. That lot has since been subdi-\\nvided and part of it is occupied by the handsome resi-\\ndences of Colonel McNeill and Thomas Seevers. When\\nwe moved to that place Wm. T. Smith was building the\\nbrick house where Mrs. Judg e Johnson now lives. In a\\nfew months Mr. Smith and family moved in, then they\\nwere our nearest neig hbors. They were charming neigh-\\nbors and very superior people, and to drop in and spend\\nan evening with them was a joy. Their conversation\\nwas not a string of platitudes. When they talked they\\nsaid something. They had two little children. Omer\\nwas a baby, and Laura, who is now Mrs. Byron V. Seev-\\ners, and one of Oskaloosa s most intellectual and cultured\\nwomen, was then a little girl three or four years old.\\nShe never romped and played, liked children usually do,\\nbut was the quietest little lady I ever saw.\\nWhen we lived at that place the forty acres where\\nthe boulevard and so many nice residences now are was\\na common, where our cows and pigs grazed and rooted\\nat their own pleasure. The first house buUt on that forty\\nwas in 1856 by the Macons; the house is there yet, at the\\nsoutheast corner of Eighth Street and C Avenue. There\\nwere three brothers of the Macons, very brilliant and\\nfine-looking men. One was a doctor, the others lawyers.\\nThey only lived in Oskaloosa a few years. The house", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0287.jp2"}, "288": {"fulltext": "286 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nthey built was thought to be very elegant at the time.\\nThat house for many years was the home of the saintly\\nMary Jane Cook. Many houses were built in 1854 and\\n1855. between our house and the town proper. The\\nGospel Ridge school-house was built in 1854, and the\\nfirst school strictly under school laws was opened in that\\nschool-house in the Spring of 1855. There w^ere several\\ncandidates for the position of principal. My brother,\\nCalvin W. Pritchard, who had come to visit me, among\\nthe rest. He was just from Earlham College, Richmond,\\nIndiana. My brother failed to get the place. The suc-\\ncessful man was a Mr. Goshorn, who only lived a couple\\nof months. He died in a house which stood where Esquire\\nWeaver lives, corner Seventh Street and First Avenue.\\nIn the course of a year or two many families had built\\nhouses and settled about us. Among others was a Mr.\\nand Mrs. John Lacey, who came from Virginia, and for\\na time occupied a house in our neighborhood. Mr. and\\nMrs. Lacey were unostentatious, common sense kind of\\npeople. Mr. Lacey was a brick layer by occupation.\\nOskaloosa was growing so rapidly that Mr. Lacey found\\nplenty to do in his line.\\nThey had three sons\u00e2\u0080\u0094 James, John F., and William\\nR. James, the eldest, had not quite reached the age\\nwhen a boy begins to be called a young man. John and\\nWill were lads in their early teens. Those Lacey boys\\nwere bright without being pert. They assisted their\\nfather in his business, and went to the public school\\nwhen they had a chance. I never heard of their sowing\\na crop of wild oats, therefore they have not had the ne-\\ncessity of reaping what is generally thought to be an", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0288.jp2"}, "289": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 287\\nunprofitable crop. ]Mr. and Mrs. John Lacey were pos-\\nsessed of g-ood principles, good judg-ment, and were\\npatriotic. When the war of the rebellion came, they\\nsaw their sons, James and John F., like many others of\\nMahaska s splendid young men, march away, filled with\\nthe fire of patriotism, to that terrible confiict. James\\nLacey s young life was sacrificed on tlie altar of his\\ncountry. He sleeps in Forest Cemetery, where rest his\\nfather and mother, John and Eleanor Lacey. John F.\\nLacey looks just like his father looked at his age. John\\nF. was only twenty years old when he went to the war.\\nHe sutfered hunger and thirst and cold and heat and\\nloathsome prisons. He was in many terrible battles,\\nwhere rebel bullets fiew thick around him, but some way\\nhe escaped those bullets, and when the war was over he\\ncame home all safe and sound, covered with honor. He\\nstudied law, was admitted to the bar, and from the first\\nwas prosperous in his profession. He didn t wait until\\nhe got rich, but went right oft and married Miss Mattie\\nNewell, one of Oskaloosd. s popular and bright girls.\\nJohn F. Lacey has gone on from one degree of prosper-\\nity and popularity to another through all these years. He\\nwas a member of the Iowa Legislature before he was\\nthirty. From the first day his shingle was hung out as\\nattorney-at-law he has been considered one of the most\\nprominent attorneys in the town. He was able to build\\nand furnish an elegant home when elegant homes in Oska-\\nloosa were few and far between. That home to-day is\\none of the fine places of which Oskaloosa can boast of\\nso many. Not only the people of Mr. Lacey s own town\\nand county love to honor him, but the Sixth District has", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0289.jp2"}, "290": {"fulltext": "288 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nrepeatedly chosen him to represent them in Congress.\\nThey have never had reason to be ashamed of his acts in\\nthat responsible position. Mr. and Mrs. Lacey are hos-\\npitable almost to a fault and charming- entertainers.\\nThey are not only that, but are what we all understand to\\nmean good neighbors. I know what I am talking about\\nwhen I say they are good neighbors.\\nMr. and Mrs. John F. Lacey would get out of bed at\\nany hour in the night, no matter how cold or stormy or\\nsleety, and go, if necessary, to the relief of a sick neigh-\\nbor or neighbor s child, without seeming to think they\\nhad done anything worth speaking of. Wealth, nor\\nhonor, nor attention in high places have any power to\\ntake that manly and womanly tenderness out of their\\nhearts. They know from experience w^hat it is to be\\nbereft. Four bright, and beautiful, and happy children\\nonce filled their home with love and joy and hopes which\\ncome to the hearts of tender and alfectionate parents.\\nThere were Nellie and Ray and Katie and Bernice. But\\ndeath broke into that worthy and happy family. Ray and\\nKatie, within a few days of each other, were taken from\\ntheir lovely home on earth to Him who said: Suffer the\\nlittle children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for\\nof such is the Kingdom of God. There is a beautiful\\nspot in Forest Cemetery where two little graves lie side\\nby side shaded by native forest trees. The birds of many\\nsummers have come and sang a requiem over the spot\\nwhere lie all that is mortal of Ray and Dumpsie.\\nNellie married Mr. James B. Brewster, son of Dr.\\nBrewster, a prominent citizen of Oskaloosa. James B.\\nBrewster is a bright young business man, who from his", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0290.jp2"}, "291": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 289\\nboyhood has been a favorite among Oskaloosa s people.\\nMr. and Mrs. Brewster now live in San Francisco, and\\nfrom what our soldier boys say, dispense hospitality much\\non the Lacey style. Bernice is a charming young lady,\\nand is having what girls of her age call a good time in\\nWashington. Mr. and Mrs. John F. Lacey have seen\\nmuch of our own country, and have twice made extensive\\ntours through Europe. Mrs. John F. Lacey is a talented\\nwoman, knows what is going on in the world, and when\\nit comes to state affairs is about as bright as her husband,\\nwhich is saying a good deal.\\nA gentleman who was well acquainted with Iowa,\\nher towns and prominent citizens, was once talking to me\\nabout the peculiarities of different towns. He said:\\nTowns, like people, have each an individuality. Then\\nhe went on to say: Knoxville has more good singers\\nthan any town of its size I know. Fairfield has more\\nreading people and reading circles in proportion to the\\nnumber of its inhabitants, and Grinnell s hobby is tem-\\nperance. He mentioned a number of other Iowa towns\\nand the habits and tastes of their people. I asked him,\\nWhat about Oskaloosa? Well, he said, Oskaloosa\\nhas more brilliant and well-informed women and beautiful\\nlawns than any town of its size in the State of Iowa.\\nThere are scores of brilliant and well-informed\\nwomen in Oskaloosa. Some I have already mentioned in\\nthis story, but some I have not mentioned. There is Mrs.\\nAlbert W. Swalm. For all around scholarship, breadth\\nof knowledge, gentle manners, and general level-headed-\\nness, she has no superior among all the superior women\\nof my acquaintance, and I know a good many, The\\n19", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0291.jp2"}, "292": {"fulltext": "290 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nheart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he\\nshall have no need of spoil. Her husband, Albert W.\\nSwalm, is a man of whom Oskaloosa s people feel proud.\\nWe old settlers remember when his father, after a linger-\\ning sickness, died and left a wife and family of small\\nchildren almost penniless. Albert was a brave boy, not\\nafraid nor ashamed to do anything in his power that was\\nhonest and honorable to maintain himself and help his\\nwidowed mother. People were not long in discovering\\nthat Albert W. Swalm was a boy of more than ordinary\\nability. He was employed in a printing office, which is\\na good place for a boy to learn. He went to the war and\\ncame home with an honorable record. He engaged in\\nnewspaper business, and directly papers from all over\\nIowa were copying smart things from Al Swalm s\\npaper. He was a success in the newspaper business and\\nwas a success financially, but his greatest achievement\\nwas in winning Miss Pauline Given for his wife. Albert\\nW. Swalm has the confidence and respect of his fellow\\ncitizens, and has been chosen to fill many positions of\\nhonor and trust. By sheer force of character he has\\nrisen step by step until he has been given the position of\\nUnited States Consul at Montevideo. His letters from\\nthat far-away place are full of his old-time, original say-\\nings which strike one where and when they are not ex-\\npecting to be struck. He always had the faculty of\\nsaying things in a way that nobody else ever thought of.\\nMr. and Mrs. Swalm own one of Oskaloosa s nice and\\ncommodious homes, with one of those lawns my friend\\nwas talking about. Their daughter and only child, Nina,\\nis a very talented girl, inheriting the level-headed sense\\nof her parents.", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0292.jp2"}, "293": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 291\\nMr. Swalm s house is in a neighborhood of fine houses\\nand fine lawns. There is John Kalbach s and the Seev-\\nerses, Will Kalbach s, Will Hawkins and Mrs. Ninde s\\ncharming place all along there. No wonder they call\\nthat place Paradise Block. If I should name all the\\ngrand and elegant homes in that part of Oskaloosa, the\\ncatalogue would fill a page. To drive by those places\\nwhen roses are in bloom, and the grass is so evenly shorn\\nthat not a straggling spire is to be seen about the roots\\nof any of those fine trees, is a joy. To me it is a joy\\nmingled with sadness. I remember a time when that\\nbeautiful place was a field, enclosed with a high staked\\nand ridered rail fence, and my young husband plowed the\\nground and marked it off in rows and I followed him and\\ndropped corn. Yes, I have droppe d the corn and my\\nhusband plowed it and raised a magnificent crop on Par-\\nadise Block and Elvyn Place, and where dozens of\\nfine mansions are standing now. That was more than\\nhalf a century ago. Such beautiful grounds, and homes\\nof such architectural beauty had never entered my imag-\\nination. Two of the finest residences which were in Os-\\nkaloosa when I dropped that corn are here to-day and\\nare standing on the same places they stood on then. If\\nany of Oskaloosa s young folks would like to see them, I\\ncan tell them exactly where they are to be found. One\\nis the first house east of the Salvation Army Barracks,\\nand the other is the first house north of Pickett s drug\\nstore, on First Street. I hope those old houses will not\\nbe torn down nor moved away while I live, there are so\\nmany pleasant recollections connected with them. The\\nhouse on First Street was owned in the very early days", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0293.jp2"}, "294": {"fulltext": "292 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nby a Mrs. Wrigiit; her daug-hter Anna was married to\\nHenry Temple in that house on the 18th of January, 184(3,\\nthe same day that I was married. Weddings in this re-\\ngion in those days were not attended with much cere-\\nmony. But Mrs. Wright went a little beyond the usual\\ncustom by inviting quite a number of guests to her\\ndaughter s wedding.\\nBut I must go back to the place where I planted\\ncorn. I want to tell something more about the Judge\\nSeevers place and its twin, the Ninde mansion. I re-\\nmember when the Judge Seevers home was tht fine place\\nof Oskaloosa, though it was thought to be almost out of\\ntown. It was the first house erected in this region with\\nMansard, or French roof, or approaching modern archi-\\ntecture. When I drove by it not long ago and saw those\\nhandsome verandas torn down, and piles of brick on that\\nlovely lawn, I wondered what they wanted to change it\\nfor. It had always looked so grand, so solid and so per-\\nfect. But the thought came to me, One generation\\npasseth away and another followeth, with more ad-\\nvanced ideas and tastes. The new generation want new\\nthings. Four generations have inhabited that stately\\nhome at the same time. James Seevers, the Judge s\\nfather, and Mrs. Lee, Mrs. Seevers mother, occupied\\nhonored places in that home for many years, before they\\nwere called to a home not made with hands, eternal in\\nthe heavens. I thought as I drove by of the compli-\\nmentary things I had heard said, of tenderness and rev-\\nerence shown that aged father and mother by Judge and\\nMrs. Seevers and their children. With only a driveway\\nbetween, the beautiful grounds of the Seevers and Ninde", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0294.jp2"}, "295": {"fulltext": "UE M IN ISC ENC ES t 98\\nplaces reach from street to street, in one expanse of\\nwell-kept lawn, shaded by fine trees. Mrs. Ninde s resi-\\ndence, like its mate, is well back from the street, and\\nwhile not quite so elaborate in its architecture, is hand-\\nsome, commodious, solid, and is the picture of comfort\\nand restfulness.\\nHenry P. Ninde came to Oskaloosa with his wife and\\nfamily of small children something over thirty years ago\\nwith rather small means, but was just in the prime of\\nlife, and was full of energy and the very picture of\\nhealthy, vigorous manhood. Mr. Ninde was a fine look-\\ning man, rather tall, and had a pleasant word and smile\\nfor everybody. He was a worker who not only sought to\\nprovide well for his own family but was an earnest pro-\\nmoter of every public enterprise moral, educational, or\\nfinancial, for the advancement of Oskaloosa. He worked\\nto locate railroads in Oskaloosa, worked for the perfect-\\ning of our public schools, and was a prominent factor in\\nlocating and establishing Penn College. I think his\\ndaughter was the first graduate from that institution.\\nAlthough Mr. Ninde labored much for the public good,\\nhis heart and affections were in his own home. He loved\\nhis family and was proud of them.\\nMr. Ninde and my husband were at one time in bus-\\niness together. They were always warm friends and had\\nmany confidential talks. One day my husband, on coming\\nhome from their office, remarked to me, Well, I had a\\nlong talk with Henry to-day about our families and per-\\nsonal affairs. Henry thinks his wife and children are\\nabout right, and I guess they are. He said in our talk\\nto-day, H ever a man was blessed with wife and chil-", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0295.jp2"}, "296": {"fulltext": "294 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nclreii, I am that man. Every individual member of my\\nfamily are all that I could desire.\\nMr. Ninde was quite successful in business. In a\\nfew years he was able to purchase the ground and build\\nthe fine house I have been trying to describe, and besides\\nhe owned many other pieces of property in and around\\nOskaloosa. To the surprise of everybody that strong\\nman was cut down by death in the midst of his days. On\\na massive granite block in Forest Cemetery are some\\nwords and figures which tell the passer-by when Henry\\nP. Ninde was born and when he died. His son Linden is\\nsleeping near by, and Summer s blossoms shed their fra-\\ngrance o er their graves. Linden Ninde gave up his\\nyoung life in the very bloom of youth, but not before he\\nhad shown himself to be a fine business man and a de-\\nvoted son and brother.\\nMrs. Ninde is a lovely lady, interesting and intelli-\\ngent, honored and respected by her neighbors and all\\nwho are favored with her acquaintance. Though bereft\\nof a devoted husband and a devoted son, Mrs. Ninde is\\nblessed with five lovely daughters, every one of whom a\\nmother might well be proud, and a son whose generous\\nacts and lavish kindness toward his mother and sisters\\ndeserve stronger words of praise than I am capable of\\nexpressing. I have read in fiction, perhaps, of sons and\\nbrothers as generous, capable, and filial. But in real\\nlife I have never known but one Elvyn Ninde. He is a\\ngreat traveller, and has visited and done a successful\\nbusiness in every civilized and almost every uncivilized\\ncountry on the face of the earth. He has accumulated\\nwealth, and has gathered trophies, valuable, beautiful.", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0296.jp2"}, "297": {"fulltext": "IIEMINISCENC ES. 295\\nand curious, from every part of every continent and\\nfrom the isles of the sea. He has spent his wealth lav-\\nishly, not only in beautifying- and making- comfortable\\nand eleg-ant his mother s home, but his given his sisters\\nevery advantag-e of education. After lavishing- wealth\\nand luxuries on his mother and sisters until they had all\\nthat heart could wish, he turned his attention and ener-\\ng-ies to improving- the town. A park laid out and g-raded\\nand planted in trees at great expense, a long- row of\\nstylish and commodious dwelling-s with terraced g-rounds\\nof g-reat beauty, is the result. That part of Oskaloosa\\nwhich we all admire and feel proud of is very api)ropri-\\nately named Elvyn Place.\\nDr. M. L. Jackson came and located in Oskaloosa in\\n1853 when he was a very young- man, a dentist by profes-\\nsion. Though he was young he had already, by good\\nbusiness sense, sober habits and industry, acccumulated\\nmeans sufficient to make a fair start in the little town of\\nOskaloosa. In 1852 A. G. Phillips, my father-in-law,\\nwent to California, leaving four of his younger children,\\nwho became members of our family. They were: Joan,\\nJames, Sinclair and Louellin. Joan, whom we called\\nJo, was a lovely girl, handsome, sweet and womanly.\\nNot long after Dr. Jackson hung out his shingle in Oska-\\nloosa he began to come to our house a courting, and when\\nJo was only a little more than eighteen years old, on\\nNovember 1st, 1855, she and Dr. Jackson were married.\\nWe were living then in what we called the Charley Black-\\nburn house, which I have already mentioned, and the\\nwedding occurred in the house in which Mrs, O Hara\\nlives. The marriage ceremony was performed by Rev.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0297.jp2"}, "298": {"fulltext": "296 maSaska county\\nErwin Carson, a Presbyterian minister. Dr. Jackson\\nwas a tall, fine-looking man; everybody called him a\\nhandsome man. Jo was handsome, too. Though more\\nthan forty years have come and gone, I can see her as\\nshe looked then, with fair hair, fair complexion, pink\\ncheeks and a pleasant smile. The Dr. and Jo straight-\\nway went to housekeeping in a small house a little way\\nup the street, west of our house. That street, which is\\nnow A Avenue was then called Liberty Street. The Dr.\\nhas always been careful and prosperous in business; has\\nalways loved his home and provided bountifully for his\\nfamily. In a few years he built a beautiful and commo-\\ndious home on East High Avenue, which at that time\\nwas the handsomest place in that part of town, where\\nare so many nice places now. The Dr. took much pains\\nin beautifying his grounds, and Jo was a model house-\\nkeeper. Their three sons and two daughters have grown\\nto be men and women in that home; some have married\\nand left the home where they were born, to make homes\\nfor themselves. Harry, the eldest, was tall and hand-\\nsome, with the most pleasing manners.\\nSome ten or twelve years ago Harry and his brother\\nDwight, being seized with the spirit of adventure, went\\nwith Elvyn Ninde to Australia. Dwight came home in\\nthree or four years full of knowledge and experience,\\nbut all that is mortal of handsome, smiling Harry lies\\nburied in an Episcopal cemetery in that far away country.\\nGertrude, the oldest daughter, who was idolized by\\nher parents, and had a happy and light-hearted girlhood,\\nmarried Oscar Green, one of the solid business men of\\nFort Dodge, Iowa. Oscar and Gertrude have two of the", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0298.jp2"}, "299": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 297\\nsmartest little boys that ever was. They can tell more\\nabout the wars oar country has eng-aged in than any boys\\nof their age I ever knew. They are nice boys, and have\\nnice names, Robert and Richard. Gertrude is a model\\nmother, and Oscar is a son that Dr. Jackson is justly\\nproud of.\\nDwight and Will are fine looking men, are tall and\\nstraight, and are bright and capable business men. The\\nDr. and Jo traveled life s journey and shared each\\nother s joys and griefs for more than forty years. But a\\ntime came when that devoted wife and mother went out\\nof that home she had so g^racefully adorned, never to re-\\nturn. The husband, whose life from young manhood up\\nhad been a life of devoted tenderness to wife and chil-\\ndren, was faithful to the end. He and their sons and\\ndaughters left nothing undone which love could devise.\\nLizzie, the youngest daughter and petted child, was un-\\ntiring in devotion and kindness to her sick mother, and\\nnow she alone is left to comfort her father in that home\\nonce so full of life.\\nD wight and Will have launched out in business for\\nthemselves. Will, the youngest, who looks like his father\\ndid when a young man, is not married, but Dwight, after\\nwaiting until he was bordering on old bachelorhood, mar-\\nried Miss Myrtle Dixon, a young lady possessing many\\namiable traits of character.\\nWhen I think of the time when Dr. Jackson was a\\nyoung man, there comes to my mind many other young\\nmen who were his friends and associates in the days when\\nlife looked bright, fame and fortune were just a little\\nway ahead, and death seemed far away. There were", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0299.jp2"}, "300": {"fulltext": "208 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nSamuel A. Rice and his brother, Elliott Rice, William\\nLoug-hridge, Joseph F. Smith, William Wells, Dr. Rhine-\\nhart, Philip Myers, Dr. Hopkins, John R. Needham, Fos-\\nter L. Downing-, Jesse Loring^ and John Jones not one\\nof them of the commonplace or mediocre sort of young\\nmen. Whether in a business or professional line, every\\none made his mark. They were among the men who\\nwere the pride of Oskaloosa in her young days. But\\nwhere are they now? Those young men who started out\\nin life with Dr. Jackson and were his associates in young\\nmanhood have, every one that I have mentioned, joined\\nthe great majority. Most of their names can be found\\ncarved on marble shaft or granite block in Forest Ceme-\\ntery, our sacred city of the dead. Their graves have\\nbeen covered with the grass of many summers and the\\nsnows of many winters.\\nThere is a spot in Forest Cemetery where sleeps\\none who in childhood, on that very spot, with her little\\nbrothers ran and played and laughed and gathered nuts\\nand wild flowers. A bending willow growls there now,\\nunder whose sweeping branches is a slab of granite\\nwhereon is carved:\\nJoan Phillips Jackson,\\nWife of Dr. M. L. Jackson,\\nBorn, August 9th, 1837,\\nDied, March 19th, 1896.\\nI have mentioned a good many of Oskaloosa s nice\\nhouses, nice lawns, and nice people, but have only noticed\\na few in comparison to the number. If I should tell of\\nhalf the nice places I know with their pretty surround-\\nings, my story would reach a great length.", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0300.jp2"}, "301": {"fulltext": "IIEMINISCENCES. 290\\nMr. L. L. Hull has done much toward making thing s\\npretty in and around Oskaloosa. He owns and occupies\\none of the finest homes on East High avenue, which he\\nkeeps in such a high state of neatness and order that it\\nis a pleasure to drive by and look at it. Mr. Hull owns\\nmany houses in town, and all are so well kept that one\\nwho knows him and his tastes could drive about the city\\nand pick out the places belong-ing to him. Mr. Hull\\nbrought the first lawm mower to Oskaloosa, and is entitled\\nto the credit of setting the example of beautifying lawns\\nby using that implement. He has been a successful bus-\\niness man. Having come from Virginia to Oskaloosa\\nwhen a young man away back in the sixties, with only a\\nfew hundred dollars, he is now one of the wealthy men\\nof the town. He married Miss Eliza Cobb, grand-\\ndaughter of Willard Cobb and niece of Mrs. Dart and\\nMrs. Street, whom I have mentioned before in this story.\\nMr. and Mrs. Hull are both fine looking, what one would\\ncall distinguished looking persons. Mr. Hull is one of\\nthe directors of Forest Cemetery, and has done much to-\\nward making that place so sacred to many of us, and the\\nbeautiful place that it is. Lena, only daughter and only\\nchild of Mr. and Mrs. Hull, was taken from her home on\\nearth to that house not made with hands, eternal in the\\nheavens, when a beautiful little girl of ten years. No\\nspot in Forest Cemetery is more lovingly cared for nor\\nmore beautifully adorned than the spot where in her mar-\\nble bed sleeps little Lena Hull. I give Mr. Hull credit,\\nwhich he justly deserves, for a large share in making\\nthings attractive in and around Oskaloosa.\\nBut there is another man who, away back in the early", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0301.jp2"}, "302": {"fulltext": "300 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nfifties, had the means and the taste and the energ-y, and\\nhad much to do with making- Paradise Block and its\\nneighbors the charming places their owners enjoy, and\\nwe all admire to-day. That man is Wm. T. Smith. Mr.\\nSmith owned several acres of land in what was then the\\nsuburbs of Oskaloosa. He built a house which we thought\\nvery stately and elegant, and it was for that day. Mrs.\\nJudge Johnson owns and lives in it now. It is a nice\\nhome even in this day of nice homes. We were Mr.\\nSmith s neighbors for about two years, and we thought\\nthe land lay about right all around there, just as nature\\nmade it. We thought it had about the proper slope and\\ndidn t need any digging down or filling up. There was a\\ngentle slope to the west and off to the east it was level.\\nMr. Smith s house was only a little below the highest\\npoint on his land, but he seemed to think it would add to\\nthe beauty of his grounds to be leveled up on the west\\nand north. There were no trees there then, only bare\\nprairies. Directly after Mr. Smith moved in his new\\nhouse, he set a man to hauling dirt and placing it on the\\nwest side of his house, and as long- as we lived there he\\nkept one team, and sometimes several teams, hauling\\ndirt from the east end of his land and piling it on the\\nwest. Month in and month out that dirt hauling went\\non. I don t think Mr. Smith expected it would be quite\\nsuch a job when he begun; but after beginning, it was\\nhard to find a stopping-place. I had never seen a private\\nenterprise on quite so extensive a scale. I used to think\\nof the time when I was a child, and watched men digging-\\ndown hills and filling up valleys in building the national\\nroad in Indiana. After Mr. Smith had gotten the grounds", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0302.jp2"}, "303": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 301\\nabout his house sufficiently filled and leveled, he had the\\nplace which is now called Paradise Block raised sev-\\neral feet higher than it was in its natural state. Then\\nhe planted trees all over and around that block. They\\nwere beautiful trees, some of rare varieties. He also\\nplanted many rare trees about his own home. Mr. Hull,\\ntoo, may thank Mr. Smith for some of the rare trees of\\nwhich he is so proud.\\nI don t believe that John Kalbach, nor Albert Swalm,\\nnor Henry Wetherell, nor Dr. Crowder, nor James Atch-\\nison, nor L. L. Hull, nor lots of others around there are\\nas grateful as they ought to be to Mr. Smith for making\\nParadise Block and surroundings the high and dry and\\nattractive place they are so proud of. One man spends\\nhis time, his energies, and his money in planting trees\\nand beautifying grounds another enjoys the fruits\\nthereof. The dwellers on Paradise Block swing in their\\nhammocks, read their newspapers, and smoke their\\ncigars in the shade of the trees on those fine grounds,\\njust as like as not without giving a thought to the man\\nwho planned and made them so charming.\\nWhen we lived in tlie Charley Blackburn house and\\nin the neighborhood of what is now Paradise Block, the\\nstreet which is now called A Avenue did not reach our\\nplace, but merged into the Iowa City road a block or two\\nwest of our house, and in order to straighten that street\\nand make it run parallel with High Street the city bought\\nthirty feet off of our front yard, which made Wm. T.\\nSmith s grounds extend that much farther north. I don t\\nknow how Mr. Smith fixed it with the city. A part at\\nleast, of Mr. Achison s and Mr. Hull s fine places, w^as", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0303.jp2"}, "304": {"fulltext": "302 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nonce the Iowa City road. Somewhere near the north-\\nwest corner of John Kalbach s fine grounds was a high\\npost on which was a sign informing the traveling public\\nthat it was sixty-eight miles to Iowa City. In order that\\nthe wayfaring man might know which way to go to reach\\nthe capital of Iowa, a hand was painted on the signboard\\nwith the index finger pointing east.\\nOur grounds extended west to that little creek or\\nslough with the willow fringed banks. Just across the\\nslough west, was a grassy place of a few acres, all open\\ncommon, and while we lived there, in 1855 or 1856, Jim\\nLane, with four hundred men, camped there a day and a\\nnight. They were on their way to Kansas to fight Bor-\\nder Rulfains. What exciting times those were! Mis-\\nsouri and Arkansas sending men to Kansas to vote and\\nfight for slavery. New England and many of the North-\\nwestern states sending men to Kansas to vote and fight\\nagainst slavery, or against making Kansas a slave state.\\nBut I am not going to talk of politics. I couldn t say\\nanything worth mentioning if I should try. I only wanted\\nto tell that Jim Lane and his men had camped close to\\nour house. I don t suppose that Mr. L. L. Hull knows\\nthat an army with banners once had their white tents\\nspread over the ground where those nice tenant houses\\nof his are, with their pretty lawns, for that happened\\nlong before he came to Osbaloosa.", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0304.jp2"}, "305": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES ^U)3\\nCHAPTER XXI.\\nI think it was in 3850 that two families came and lo-\\ncated in Oskaloosa who were originally from Tennessee,\\nbut lived for a while before coming to Oskaloosa on\\nfarms a few miles east of Pella. Mr. John Shoemake\\nand Mr. Wesley Moreland were brothers-in-law. Both\\nmen were full of business and did much to improve the\\ntown. At one time Mr. Moreland was in partnership\\nwith Mr. A. G. Phillips in a store of general merchandise.\\nTheir store was at the southwest corner of the public\\nsquare, on the ground where Boyer s clothing store now\\nis. Property and business changed hands very frequent-\\nly about that time. In 1852 Mr. Moreland and Mr. Shoe-\\nmake each built for themselves what at that time was\\nthought to be very line brick residences, on Second Ave-\\nnue West. They are respectable residences to-day. The\\nShoemake house is owned and occupied by Mr. Henry\\nStafford, and the Moreland house is owned by Mrs.\\nMariah Rhinehart.\\nMrs. Moreland was a sister of John Shoemake, and\\nalso of M. L. Shoemake, who came from Tennessee when", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0305.jp2"}, "306": {"fulltext": "304 MAHASKA COUNTY\\na boy, and has been a resident of Oskaloosa more than\\nforty years. He owns an elegant home, and his wife is\\nsaid to be one of the finest housekeepers in this region.\\nMr, John Shoemake built the house which has been the\\nFrankel home for many years. John Shoemake died of\\nconsumption more than thirty years ago, leaving a wife\\nand two daughters, Virginia and Pony.\\nMr. Moreland was at one t me treasurer-recorder of\\nMahaska County. He was prosperous in business and\\nowned many valuable pieces of property, but reverses\\ncame to liim in the financial crash of 1857. When the\\nwar came he enlisted in the army; he died in St. Louis\\nfrom sickness contracted in the service of his country,\\nleaving his wife in straightened circumstances, with five\\nchildren, none of them grown.\\nMrs. Moreland was brave, honest, honorable and in-\\ndustrious. Through great tribulation she educated her\\nchildren. They were all bright and capable. John Wes-\\nley, who looks just like his father, is a capable news-\\npaper man, and Mollie, now Mrs. Walter Campbell, is\\none of the brightest women in Oskaloosa. Her husband,\\nMr. Walter Campbell, is one of the nicest young business\\nmen to be found anywhere. Mrs. Moreland has always\\nhad many friends, and her children idolize lier.\\nAmong many other valuable places owned by More-\\nland and Shoemake, was a large and valuable feirm in\\nHarrison township, known as the Rhinehart farm sit-\\nuated in sections 8 and 9, about five miles a little south-\\neast of Oskaloosa. That claim was located in 1843 by Mr.\\nThomas Brooks. Mr. Brooks soon sold the claim to Louis\\nRhinehart, from Adams C(^unty, Illinois. Mr. Rhinehart", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0306.jp2"}, "307": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 305\\nhad a numerous family (3f sons and daughters, all worthy,\\nrespectable and thrifty people. In 1854 Mr. Rhinehart\\nsold his farm to Judg e Rhinehart, from Ohio, and went\\nto Oregon. Judge Rhinehart and the other Rhineharts\\nwere not related. Mr. and Mrs. Louis Rhinehart were\\nthe parents of thirteen children, who all went to Oregon\\nwith them except one daughter, Mrs. Thomas Ratlilf,\\nwho remained in Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Ratliff are\\nsleeping in Forest Cemetery. They died in Harrison\\ntownship, where theyhad lived for many years, respected\\nby all their neighbors. Their eldest daughter, Ellen,\\nmarried Valentine Brubaker, who is a successful farmer\\nand much respected citizen of Harrison township. Ellen\\ndied in a year or two after she and Mr. Brubaker were\\nmarried, leaving an infant son, Edward, who has a family\\nof his own now, and is said to possess the honesty and\\ngood farming sense of all the Brubakers, Rhineharts and\\nRatliffs combined, which is saying a good deal for the\\nboy. Maggie, another daughter of Thomas Ratliff, mar-\\nried Mr. William Stephenson. She and her husband are\\ncharming people and have a charming home just south of\\nOskaloosa. Lizzie, another daughter who married Mr.\\nThomas Harper, is a fine looking woman, and is as su-\\nperior in character as she is in looks. Thomas Ratlitf\\nhas two sons, James and John. James lives in Louisiana.\\nJohn is a citizen of Oskaloosa, but is about to emigrate\\nwith his excellent family to Oregon and make his home\\namong his rich Rhinehart relations.\\nMr. Louis Rhinehart died in Oregon fifteen years\\nago; his wife is still living but is away up in the nineties.\\nShe has seen her great, great-grandchildren. I was told\\n20", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0307.jp2"}, "308": {"fulltext": "306 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nrecently by one of her grandsons that she had more than\\nfour hundred descendants and that she had seen seven\\ngenerations of her family, counting her own grandpar-\\nents. All of her thirteen children lived to be married\\nand raise families. I never heard an evil report of a sin-\\ngle member of that numerous family, Mr. and Mrs. Louis\\nRhinehart lived in Harrison township ten years. All of\\ntheir children lived there. Three daughters and one son\\nwere married before they went to Oregon. All were\\ngood, substantial citizens, attended strictly to their own\\nbusiness and were thrifty.\\nJames Rhinehart, a lawyer who came from Ohio\\nearly in the fifties, purchased Louis Rhinehart s farm,\\nlived there a year or two, then moved to Oskaloosa and\\nwas soon after elected county judge. He was a shrewd\\nbusiness man and when he died, some twenty years ago,\\nleft a considerable estate to his three daughters, Mrs.\\nJane Johnson, Mrs. Minerva McKinley, Mrs. Letitia\\nSmith and the heirs of his son. Dr. S. E. Rhinehart. Dr.\\nRhinehart came to Oskaloosa when a young man, was a\\npopular physician and a much respected citizen. He mar-\\nried one of Mahaska s handsomest girls. Miss Maria\\nDavis. Dr. Rhinehart died of consumption in the prime\\nof mature manhood, Mrs. Letitia Smith and her family\\nmoved to Colorado years ago. Mrs. Johnson (now Mrs.\\nBallinger) and Mrs, McKinley, reside in Oskaloosa, They\\nare lovely women, I don t know where a woman can be\\nfound who deserves the gratitude of her neighbors more\\nthan Mrs, McKinley. Who of Oskaloosa s noble women\\nhave ever been so capable and so ready to respond to\\nthe needs of the sick, sorrowing and dying as Mrs,", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0308.jp2"}, "309": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 307\\nMinerva McKinleyV Dr. Rhinehart lived on the Rhine-\\nhart farm a year or so after his father moved to town.\\nIn the Summer or early Autumn of 1855, while Dr. Rhine-\\nhart was living there, my husband and I drove down\\nthere one day. We found everything looking lovely.\\nPeaches were ripe. I had never seen so many peaches\\ngoing to waste. There were great big peach trees around\\nthe yard and around the garden and a long row along the\\nedge of the apple orchard. The trees were bending over\\nwith the weight of great velvety peaches, and the ground\\nunder them was literally covered. Great Shanghai chick-\\nens were walking about under the trees pecking at those\\ndelicious peaches. They would peck a little on one great,\\nred, mellow peach, then leave it and take a bite out of\\nanother. Mrs. Rhinehart was making peach butter and\\nthe doctor had gone to town with a wagon load of\\npeaches. We asked Mrs. Rhinehart to sell us a bushel,\\nwhich she did. We gathered them ourselves and had\\npick and choice. We came away thinking that plenty\\nabounded on the Rhinehart farm. About that time Mr.\\nFrank Farmer, brother-in-law to Messrs. Moreland and\\nShoemake, came from Tennessee and purchased that\\nfarm from Judge Rhinehart. Mr. Farmer lived there a\\nfew months, but became homesick. Moreland and Shoe-\\nmake took the farm oft of his hands and let him go back\\nto the hills of Tennessee.\\nIn the Autumn of 1856 my husband bought the Rhine-\\nhart farm from these gentlemen. We rented our nice\\nhome to Mr. A. F. Seeberger and on the 11th of Novem-\\nber, 185(), moved to the Rhinehart farm. That wonderful\\ncrop of peaches and other evidences of thrift around", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0309.jp2"}, "310": {"fulltext": "308 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nthere made us think it a veritable paradise. We traded\\nour farm on the border of Oskaloosa in that deal. The\\nwinter of 55 and 56 was an extremely severe one and all\\nthose peach trees were killed, root and branch.\\nThe Winter of 56 and 57 was a severe one. A deep\\nsnow lay (m the ground all Winter, and the cold weather\\nlasted until away late in the Spring-, On the 7th day of\\nMay, 1857, the ground was frozen hard. My husband\\nsowed wheat about the 17th of May. He hesitated about\\nsowing so late in the Spring, but he never raised so good\\na crop of wheat before nor since it was simply superb.\\nOur folks began planting corn on the 21st of May. The\\nplum trees were in blossom. I used to keep a record of\\nthings of that kind, and have observed that the ground\\nis alw^ays right for ]3lanting corn when the plum trees\\nwere in blossom. While I think of it I want to say that\\nthe first frost which appeared in the Fall of 1857 was on\\nOctober 16th. I have never known frost to hang back\\nlike that in Iowa since.\\nWe knew several families in the Rhinehart neighbor-\\nhood before we went there to live. Mr. Wm. Bean and\\nfamily, whose farm joined ours on the south, were excel-\\nlent neighbors. They came from Adams County, Illinois,\\nin 1843, and lived at first in a wigwam on Skunk River in\\nthe Indian village of Kishkekosh. They sold their claim\\non Skunk River in 44, and bought Samuel Tibbetts claim\\nin Harrison Township. Mr. and Mrs. Bean, like nearly\\neverybody else in the Rhinehart neighborhood, were\\nMethodists of the old-fashioned kind; their oldest daugh-\\nter, Emily, married Mr. John M. Loughridge, who after-\\nwards became a Methodist minister. Anna, the second", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0310.jp2"}, "311": {"fulltext": "Reminiscences. 309\\ndaughter, married the Rev. George Clark, a minister also\\nin the Methodist Church. Dr. Samuel Clark and Miss\\nNannie Clark, of Oskaloosa, are their only living- chil-\\ndren. Mrs. Anna Bean Clark was a handsome, bright,\\nsweet-spirited Christian lady.\\nMr. and Mrs. Bean had two daughters, charming\\ngirls, when we first went to the Rhinehart neighborhood.\\nThey were beginning to be called young ladies when I\\nfirst became acquainted with them. Jennie married a\\nMr. Lindley, and Armilda married a Mr. Orton. They\\nboth went to Nebraska long ago. They (the Beans) had\\nthree sons: James, the oldest, who went to Pike s Peak\\nwhen gold was first discovered there; I think he went in\\n59 or 60. I hear that Thomas, the second son, is chief\\nof police in San Francisco, and a grand man. Will, tlie\\nyoungest, is a fine-looking, intelligent man, and a much-\\nrespected citizen of Council Bluffs. Thomas and William\\nwere not much older than my little boys, Orlando and\\nQuincy, when we became their neighbors. They went\\nto school together in the old log school-house; they\\ncoasted and hunted rabbits together in Winter, and v/hen\\na little older would .test the speed and mettle of their\\nhorses when sent out on the prairie of a summer evening\\nto bring home the cows.\\nAmong the first settlers in that region was a family\\nby the name of Edwards, who were formerly from New\\nJersey. They came in 43. Mr. Britton Edwards died a\\nfew years after, leaving a wife, one daughter and two\\ngrown sons. Sarah Elizabeth, the daughter, married\\nJohn Rhinehart, son of Louis Rhinehart. Thomas Ed-\\nwards, one of the sons, married Miss Barbara Rhinehart,", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0311.jp2"}, "312": {"fulltext": "310 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nsister to John. Stephen, the other son, went to Califor-\\nnia m 49. He never married and is living in Oregon; a\\nrich, retired old bachelor. Mrs. Edwards the mother,\\nwas related to our family by marriage. She made her\\nhome with her son, Thomas Edwards, and when he went\\nto Oregon in 1854 she went with him.\\nWhile they were living in Harrison Township Mrs.\\nEdwards often came to Oskaloosa to visit us. The great-\\ner part of her conversation during those visits was about\\na boy who was a member of her son s family, whom she\\ncalled Pierce Ratliff. Pierce Ratlitt in her estima-\\ntion, was all that could be desired in a boy. He was a\\nmanly boy. He was an honest, obliging, good-hearted\\nboy, never shirked a duty, was respectful to elderly peo-\\nple, was kind to everybody, was bright and witty. In\\nfact, he was the life of the household. Mrs. Edwards\\nwould regale us by the hour in relating the smart and\\nnice things which Pierce Ratliff said and did. Thomas\\nEdwards sold his farm, and in the Spring of 1854 went\\nwith his father-in-law and the rest of that numerous fam-\\nily of Rhineharts to Oregon. Thomas Edwards had a\\nsale just before leaving, and my husband and I wishing\\nto make some purchases at that sale, drove down there.\\nMen and boys, women and girls, were there from all over\\nthe country. I knew some of them, but many were\\nstrangers. The yard was full, the porch was full, and\\npeople were all about in the house. The women of the\\nfamily were in the kitchen preparing an elaborate dinner.\\nI was in the sitting-room conversing with some ladies\\nwhen a boy came in with two books in his hand which\\nlooked like school books. He remarked to a gentleman", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0312.jp2"}, "313": {"fulltext": "REMINtSCENCES. 311\\nas he walked to a bureau and put them in a drawer, I\\nam going to take these with me. The boy attracted my\\nattention, though I had no idea who he was. There was\\nsomething- in his voice and manners which led me to think\\nhe was no ordinary or commonplace boy. He had an\\nhonest, open, intelligent face, and something in his voice\\nand the few words he spoke struck me at once. I was\\ninterested in the boy and wondered who he could be.\\nThe boy went out and mingled with the crowd, and I\\nwent to the kitchen where Mrs. Edwards was, pointed\\nthe boy out to her and asked her if she knew who that\\nboy was. I have not forgotten the pleased look which\\ncame into her face as she glanced from the boy back to\\nme and said, Why that is Pierce Ratliff, the boy you\\nhave heard me talk so much about. When Mr. Edwards\\nwent to Oregon the l)oy Pierce went with him and drove\\nan ox team across the plains.\\nWhen we first went to that neighborhood to live we\\nhad for neighbors a family by the name of Loper, who\\nwere excellent neighbors. Mrs. Loper was a woman of\\ngreat kindness of heart and full of energy. Mr. and\\nMrs. Loper had several children, among them a boy\\nabout the age of my Quincy, whom they called Jolm.\\nJohn Loper is Colonel of the 51st Iowa Regiment, now in\\nthe Philippine Islands.\\nM. M. B. Davis, from Maine, owned a fine farm not\\nfar from ours, where he and his mother lived in a cozy,\\ncomfortable home. Everything about them was orderly,\\nand one could see the evidence of Yankee thrift at a\\nglance. Directly after we became his neighbor, Mr.\\nDavis was married to Miss Ida Earl, a lovely and culti-", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0313.jp2"}, "314": {"fulltext": "312 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nvated lady from New York. One baby after another\\ncame to them, until they had four sons and one daughter.\\nIda Augusta, the daughter, is a charming woman and a\\nlovely character. There is Will and Harry and John and\\nFred, all nice men. I have known every one of them\\nfrom their infancy, and never heard of one of them doing\\na mean trick in their lives. Mr. Davis provided bounti-\\nfully for his family and was one of the tenderest sons,\\nhusbands and fathers I was ever acquainted with. Mrs.\\nDavis possessed much strength of character, though\\nher body was frail. Her children, every one of them,\\nwere models of kindness. They never slacked in loving\\ntenderness to that frail little mother, and when she fell\\nasleep to wake no more, her four sons laid her tenderly\\nto rest in a beautiful spot in Forest Cemetery. I never\\ndrive by the Davis lot in our city of the dead without\\nthinking of the time that I stood by and saw those four\\nsons place their mother gently in her last resting-place.\\nMr. Davis came with hTs parents from Maine to Iowa\\nin 1848. His father died soon after coming to Iowa.\\nHis mother lived many years and was one of the lovliest\\nold ladies that anybody ever saw. Her home, as long as\\nshe lived, was with that son and his family, every mem-\\nber of which treated her w^ith the most unfeigned tender-\\nness. Mr. Davis was not only a model of kindness in his\\nown family, but w^as an exceedingly kind and obliging\\nneighbor. Their home was a charming place to visit.\\nMr. and Mrs. Davis were well informed, were good talk-\\ners. A dinner prepared by Mrs. Davis was a marvel of\\ndainty cooking and she honored her guests by serving\\nthem on rare pieces of old Dutch china brought from", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0314.jp2"}, "315": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 313\\nHolland by her ancestors. Her mother was a Vanderbilt,\\nIda Augusta, the lovely daug^hter of that house, possesses\\nthe taste and skill of her excellent lady mother, as well\\nas the hospitable and tender ways of her father.\\nWhen we went to the Rhinehart farm in November,\\n1856, the country between our place and the little villag^e\\nof Fremont, ten miles east, was almost an unbroken ex-\\npanse of prairie. If the sun was shining in the late after-\\nnoon we could stand on our front porch and see that vil-\\nlag e. There was one house in a grove of cottonwood\\ntrees some four or five miles away in that direction which\\nloomed up in plain view. There, lived a family by the\\nname of Haskell\u00e2\u0080\u0094 elderly people, with several grown-up\\nsons. W. W. Haskell, a lawyer and citizen of Oskaloosa,\\nis one of those sons. Mr. and Mrs. Haskell were intelli-\\ng ent Christian people. Mr. Haskell had read and thought\\nmuch; was an entertaining- talker. When I hear his\\ngranddaughters, Edith and Carrie Haskell, so highly\\nspoken of as scholarly girls, I think of that grandfather,\\nwhose words of wisdom I listened to with delight forty\\nyears ago.\\nThat ten mile stretch of prairie which in 185() we\\nthought was going to be a free pasture for flocks and\\nherds for ages to come, was, in the course of five or six\\nyears, dotted over with farmhouses, groves and young\\norchards. Great fields of waving grain were to be seen\\nwhere a short time before was a vast, native meadow.\\nWhat great prairie fires we used to see out east, between\\nour house and Fremont. There would seem to be a rim\\nof fire miles and miles long. People who were called\\nsmart used to say that prairie would never be settled up;", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0315.jp2"}, "316": {"fulltext": "314 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nit was too flat, and another thing was, it was too far\\nfrom timber. We used to wonder why Mr. Haskell went\\naway out there to live when there was so much land near\\nthe timber. The Rhinehart farm, the Bean farm, the\\nMorrow farm and the Stuart farm each had a background\\nof fine timber, with the best of prairie land for farming\\nAbout a half a mile northwest of our house, and near the\\nnorthwest corner of our land, was the Rhinehart school-\\nhouse a miserable log hut but the only public building\\nof any kind for miles around. There school was taug ht,\\nrelig ious meetings were held, and sometimes the honest\\nyoemen of Harrison township met there and cast their\\nballots for township officers. School laws have been\\nchanged since then, but at one of these elections my hus-\\nband was made school director, which office he held for\\ntwo or three years. A young man came to our house\\none day and applied for the school. He was so young he\\nhardly looked to be able to govern a lot of big, rough\\nboys. He was only nineteen but had taught one term of\\nschool successfully. Robert Wesley McBride was his\\nname. His father was a soldier in the Mexican war and\\ndied from the effects of exposure in the same and he was\\nmaking his way as best he could. Mr. Phillips knew his\\nfamily to be very superior people, and the boy Wesley\\nlooked all right, so Mr. Phillips employed him to teach\\nthe Rhinehart school in the winter of 1860 and 1861.\\nWesley McBride boarded with us while he was teaching\\nthat school. He proved to be capable of teaching all that\\nhe proposed to teach. He was quiet and modest, never\\ntried to make a display of his knowledge, but we soon\\ndiscovered that he had read much, was well-informed and", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0316.jp2"}, "317": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 315\\nexceeding-ly level-headed. He was al tog-ether trustwor-\\nthy, and was the very soul of honor. Was not at all in-\\nclined to push himself forward but at the same time was\\nself-respecting-. He had the manners of a g-entleman\\nand the brains of a statesman, or the kind of brains a\\nstatesman needs. He was not strong physically, but\\nwhen the war of the rebellion broke out, was wild to go\\nin the army, but was rejected on account of physical dis-\\nability. But before the war was over he managed some\\nway to join the army. I don t know what his position\\nwas, but he remained until the war was over, then went\\nto Washing-ton, D. C, studied law, was admitted to the\\nbar, began practicing law in Waterloo, Indiana, and was\\nprosperous from the first. Was elected Judg-e, was a\\ncandidate for Supreme Judg-e and was defeated, but was\\nafterward appointed by Governor Hovey to fill a place\\nmade vacant by the death of one of the Supreme Judg-es.\\nRobert Wesley McBride is now a prominent and success-\\nful attorney at law in the city of Indianapolis, Indiana.\\nOne day, after we had lived in the Rhinehart neigh-\\nborhood two or three years, Jennie Bean came flying\\nover to our house with the news that Pierce Ratliff had\\ncome back from California and was with his mother and\\nbrothers, who i-esided in Oskaloosa. In a few days this\\nparagon of a boy, whom everybody had a word of praise\\nfor, came down to visit his old friends. Everybody in\\nthe neighborhood who had lived there when Pierce went\\nto Oregon were his friends and were glad to welcome him\\nback. The Bean girls, .Jennie and Armilda, brought him\\nover to our house. I remember with what pride Jennie\\nBean introduced him to my husband and myself. We", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0317.jp2"}, "318": {"fulltext": "31B MAHASKA COUNTY\\nhad heard so many nice things about Pierce Ratlilf tliat\\nwe were prepared to like him. A friendship such as only\\nhappens once or twice in a lifetime immediately sprung\\nup between him and our family. He bought a farm in\\nthe neighborhood, and he and his widowed mother be-\\ncame our neighbors. Mrs. Ratliff, Pierce s mother, was\\na part of the salt of the earth. She lived up to the gold-\\nen rule, and I think she sometimes exceeded it, for she\\nwould do more kind acts for her neighbors than she ever\\nwanted them to do for her.\\nPierce, as I have before stated, went to Oregon when\\na boy, with Mr. Thomas Edwards. He stayed in Oregon\\na year or two, then with some other young fellows went\\nto California, packing their provisions and all the rest of\\ntheir worldly goods on mules. I have heard him relate\\nin an interesting and amusing manner his adventures on\\nthat tiresome and uncomfortable journey. They went\\nthrough rain and mud and slush and many other trying\\nthings on their way to the land of gold. Pierce was a\\nboy of nerve and energy and honesty of purpose. He\\nmade friends among the miners who washed out gold\\nalong the creeks in Northern California. Pierce s edu-\\ncational advantages had not been great when a boy, his\\nbook learning being confined to the crude country schools\\nof Adams County, Illinois. His mother was left a widow\\nwith seven children, Pierce being the youngest, and only\\none year old when his father died. Mrs. Ratliff s family\\nconsisted of four sons and three daughters. The sons\\nwere Thomas, John, James and Pierce. The daughters\\nwere Mary Ann, Elizabeth and Sallie. Mary Ann mar-\\nried Mr. Charles Gilmer, of Adams Countj^ Illinois, who", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0318.jp2"}, "319": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 317\\nwas a son of Dr. Gilmer, who was a hig^hly-respected and\\nprominent citizen of that county. Elizabeth married Mr.\\nRobert Gilmer, a planter from Louisiana, and a relative\\nof the doctor s. Sallie^ a handsome young girl, w^ent to\\nlive in the family of her brother-in-law and sister, near\\nShreevesport, Louisiana, where she married a southern\\ngentleman by the name of Nicholson. James, their\\nbrother, when a young man, also went south and estab-\\nlished himself in business in the city of Shreevesport.\\nThey all lived in ease and luxury until the war of the re-\\nbellion wrought havoc with their fortunes, as well as\\nwith many others who espoused the cause of the confed-\\neracy.\\nMr. Nicholson, Sallie s husband, went into the Con-\\nfederate army, was severely wounded, and died soon\\nafter the war was over. After Mr. Nicholson s death\\nSallie came to Iowa with her two lovely children, Mattie\\nand Robert, where she made an extended visit with her\\nmother and brothers. Mattie and Robert are married\\nand have families of their own now. Mrs. Nicholson\\npined for the Sunny South and is now living on a planta-\\ntion in Louisiana.\\nThomas Ratlift and family came to Iowa in an early\\nday and when there were none of Mrs. Ratliff s family\\nleft in their old home in Illinois except herself and her\\nboy Pierce, they came too to Harrison township, where I\\nfirst introduced them to the reader. While Pierce was\\nin Oregon and California his mother s home was with her\\nson Thomas family. Pierce Ratliff, though a mere boy,\\nand possessed of nothing but a healthy body, good sense,\\npluck and an honest heart when he went away, came", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0319.jp2"}, "320": {"fulltext": "318 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nback to his g-ood old mother with several thousand dol-\\nlars in bright g^old coin. I think everybody in the neig^h-\\nboihood was glad when it was known that Pierce had\\nboug ht a farm and he and his mother were established\\namong us as citizens of the Rhinehart neighborhood.\\nHow clean and comfortable and cozy they lived, Pierce\\nand his mother. Pierce was not much beyond boyhood\\nwhen he came home from California. What a jolly, rol-\\nlicking, witty, g^ood natured boy he was. He had come\\nhome full of knowledge of things and people and coun-\\ntries, and how he used to entertain and amuse us with\\nhis peculiar style of relating events. It was wisdom in-\\nterspersed with wit. I never heard him say a flat thing,\\nnor did he ever spoil a joke for his own or relations sake.\\nI have heard him relate his experience, when a boy and\\nengaged in the hoop-pole trade, in a manner which would\\nconvulse a whole room-full.\\nThough my husband was a good many years his\\nsenior, a friendship sprang up l)etween them at first\\nwhich v/as of the kind that lasts. I used to call them\\nJohn Halifax and Phineas Fletcher. The friendship\\nbetween Pierce Ratliff and our family was more like that\\nof Phineas and the Halifaxes than anything I ever knew.\\nWe came near having everything in common. Pierce\\nwould have gotten up at the hour of midnight and gone\\nthrough mud and slush and rain, or any other thing, if it\\nhad been necessary, to relieve any of our family. Any\\nmember of our family would have done the same for him\\nor his mother. That family and ours shared each other s\\njoys and sorrows. If Pierce had chosen to come to our\\nhouse every day in the week, and sit at our board, he", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0320.jp2"}, "321": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 319\\nwould have been a welcome guest every time. Pierce\\nwas not a member of any church organization when he\\ncame among us, though he was honest and honorable in\\nall his dealings and had a tender heart. He was a man\\nof peace and treated every one with kindness. By nature\\nhe was a man of fine feelings, and his regard for the feel-\\nings of others was peculiarly evident. At the same time,\\nif unjustly attacked, he was and is to-day capable of the\\nmost stinging sarcasm. He lacks a great deal of being a\\ncoward, and stands by what he says.\\nThe majority of the heads of families in the neigh-\\nborhood were members of some church, Methodists most-\\nly. The only place they had to worship, except private\\nhouses, which were mostly little log cabins, was that\\npoor, unsightly, uncomfortable school-house. But poor\\nand cold and crude as it was, the Lord blessed his chil-\\ndren who assembled there to worship. A few of the\\nmembers were pretty comfortably fixed, but the majority\\nwere living in poor quarters. They had land, and were\\nstruggling to get fixed to liv^e, but that was in the earlij\\ndays. Some of the earliest settlers the Beans, for in-\\nstance, who were thrifty people had a good home, a fine\\norchard, and many other comforts when such things were\\nscarce.\\nBut I must go back to the old school-house where\\nthe humble and unpretentious were wont to assemble in\\ntheir plain and shabby attire and worship God without\\nany feeling of restraint or embarrassment. I can think\\nof a number of them who were full of the Holy Spirit.\\nTheir plain, unvarnished stories of faith and love to God\\nand man ring in my ears even now. Nearly all of them", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0321.jp2"}, "322": {"fulltext": "320 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nhave gone to their reward. There was one woman in par-\\nticular, wlio a few months ago, at the age of seventy-\\nnine, laid down her burden of poverty, toil and affliction\\nand took up her abode in one of the mansions prepared\\nfor the faithful. That woman was Mrs. Lydia Noe.\\nEverybody called her Aunt Lydia. She possessed\\nvery little of what are called the good things of this world,\\nbut was so full of faith and the Holy Spirit she was al-\\nways rejoicing. She used to say to me, Sister Phillips,\\nwhen I think of my Heavenly home and the joys laid up\\nfor me there, I get in a hurry to go. I could write a\\nwhole chapter of Aunt Lydia s exhortations, prayers\\nand talks in love-feast meetings. She was unlearned in\\nwhat the world calls learning, but she knew how to take\\nhold of God s promises and how to cast her burden on\\nthe Lord.", "height": "3331", "width": "2133", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0322.jp2"}, "323": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES .\\\\2\\\\\\nCHAPTER XXII.\\nThe Rhinehart society belonged to the Eddyville\\ncircuit. The circuit preacher resided in Eddyville. His\\nappointments at the Rhinehart school-house were usual-\\nly on every alternate Sunday, but occassionally he would\\nhold a series of meetings in the neighborhood. Those\\nprotracted meetings were usually held in the winter and\\nif school was being taught the people would congregate\\nin the school-house of evenings, and in the daytime\\nwould meet at one or another of the small and unpreten-\\ntious homes of that neighborhood.\\nRev, Samuel Hestwood was once pastor of the Eddy-\\nville circuit. He came about the time the war of the re-\\nbellion broke out. Not long after coming, he held a pro-\\ntracted meeting in the Rhinehart neighborhood. He was\\na good man, a good singer and a forceful preacher. The\\nolder members seemed to take a new start for the\\nKingdom. A number of the young people became con-\\nverted among them our friend, Pierce Ratliff. What\\njoy there was that day in that little, plain congregation,\\nwhen Pierce jolly, good-hearted Pierce, who was the\\n21", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0323.jp2"}, "324": {"fulltext": "322 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nlife ()i the neighborhood and a favorite with every body-\\nrose np and told, with joy beaming in his face and tears\\nstreaming down his cheeks, that God, for Christ s sake\\nhad forgiven his sins. What a thrill ran through that\\nlittle company of worshipers! Every face beamed with\\njoy. I can never forget the glad look on the face of his\\nsaintly old mother as she went about shaking hands with\\neverybody and thanking the Lord for converting her son.\\nAnd Brother Hestwood, how happy he looked when\\nPierce, in giving his testimony, said: Mr. Hestwood,\\nI thank the Lord for permitting me to hear your preach-\\ning. You convinced me that I ought to be a Christian\\nevery time I heard you preach. Then he went on to\\nsay, Ever since this meeting began I have felt that I\\nought to give my heart to God and lead a new and better\\nlife. Early this morning I went away down a slough west\\nof my house and when I had reached a place where I\\nthought nobody but God could hear me, I fell on my\\nknees, I wrestled with my convictions, my pride and my\\nlove of the world. I told God all about it and promised\\nthen and there if He would for Christ s sake forgive my\\nsins, I would serve Him all the days of my life. When I\\narose from my knees I felt that the burden of sin was\\ntaken from my soul and I was a new creature in Christ\\nJesus.\\nThe next time that Pierce was at our house after\\nthat memorable meeting, we looked out and saw Gorrell\\ncoming up the lane. Pierce got up and walked quickly\\ndown to meet him. I watched them until they met, when\\nPierce threw his arms around Gorrell s neck and there\\nthey stood embracing each other, John and Phineas.", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0324.jp2"}, "325": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 323\\nI stood in the kitchen door and watched those strong,\\nmanly men as they came toward the house. Tears of joy\\nand sympathy were in my own eyes as I saw the tears\\nand look of tenderness in theirs. They both w^ere strong,\\nmanly men, w^ould scorn to go back on their word, were\\nsquare in their dealings, never took advantage of the\\nhelpless nor of widows and orphans, even when they\\nmade no pretentions to being Christians.\\nThey had been honest and honorable boys, but some-\\nthing beyond that had come to them. That something,\\nwhile it made them none the less manly, gave them tiie\\ncourage to stand up for Christ and accept the Kingdom\\nof Heaven as little children. They had a new exper-\\nience, a touch of the Spirit which was in Christ. That\\nday when we sat down to dinner. Pierce asked a bless-\\ning. He always had a good, honest face, but after the\\nexperience I have been telling about, his face fairly\\nshone. How well he talked in meeting. He had the gift\\nnaturally of expressing his thoughts clearly and inter-\\nestingly. He never said anything that sounded flat or\\ninsipid, no matter what his subject was, and especially\\nwhen he would rise up in a religious meeting we all felt\\nsure we were going to hear something interesting, in-\\nstructive and to the point. Many predicted that Pierce\\nwould be a preacher. In one sense, he was a preacher\\nfrom the time he was converted. Some of the ministers\\nand many others, members of the church, used to say to\\nhim: Brother Ratliff, you ought to be a minister.\\nHis reply usually was, Oh, I couldn t preach, I am not\\ngood enough, and if I was good enough I am not well\\nenough educated. He always regretted not having had", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0325.jp2"}, "326": {"fulltext": "324 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nbetter advantages of educati(jn in his youth, and after he\\ncame from California and he and his mother settled down\\nto living on a farm, the way never seemed to be open for\\nhim to go to school. He was a prosperous farmer, made\\nmoney and added to his acres. Was liberal in his dona-\\ntions to the church and to the poor.\\nThere was a very poor family living in our neighbor-\\nhood. One morning Pierce was driving down the lane.\\nThere was snow on the ground. The man was over in\\nthe field gathering corn. Pierce stopped to speak to\\nhim, and as the man came toward him he observed his\\nbare toes sticking out of his ragged shoes. As the poor\\nman came toward him smiling, Pierce said, Why, man,\\naren t your feet nearly frozen? I don t mind it much,\\nsaid the man, whereupon Pierce put his hand down in his\\npocket, took out some money and handed it to him, say-\\ning: Stop gathering that corn and go right straight\\ndown to Eddyville and get yourself a pair of boots.\\nThen Pierce drove on. That is just one of many kind\\nacts performed by Pierce Ratliff. He had a kind heart\\nand a good mind, much as he talked about his want of\\nbook learning. He lacked a good deal of being ignorant.\\nBeing a close observ^er of men and things, he was quite\\nwell informed. I used to think he understood what he\\nread the best of anybody I ever knew who made so little\\npretensions to being learned. But whether he be called\\nlearned or unlearned, he possessed the instincts of a gen-\\ntleman, and as he has gone along life s journey he has\\nmanaged to find out a great deal about some things and\\na little about a great many things.\\nPierce stuck to the faith, led class meetings and", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0326.jp2"}, "327": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 325\\nprayer meeting s, and was never absent from meeting-\\nunless unavoidably detained. He and his good old saint-\\nly mother continued to live together on his farm until\\nPierce began to be called an old bachelor. But finally\\nhe became acquainted with, courted and married a hand-\\nsome, accomplished young lady. Miss Addie F. Thomas.\\nHe and his young wife idolized each other. He made for\\nher a nice home, furnished with many comforts. Pierce\\nhad been a good son, a good brother, a good friend, and\\ntrue to that noble manliness born in him, was a devoted\\nhusband. How often they used to come flying into our\\nhouse to see Gorrell and me, with joy beaming all over\\ntheir faces. But that dream of happiness was cut short\\nby death. Addie, the happy young wife, was suddenly\\nsnatched away by that uncompromising reaper, who paid\\nno attention to the breaking- heart of the stricken hus-\\nband nor the pitiful wailing of his little motherless baby.\\nHow vividly that terrible day is stamped on my memory\\nA large mirror fell from the wall and was shivered into a\\nthousand pieces. I had scarcely gotten the glass swept\\nup when there was a ring at my door. I went to the\\ndoor and there stood a boy with a telegram. I tore it\\nopen and read:\\nCome at Once. Addie is Very Sick.\\nPierce.\\nI immediately began preparing- to goto them, hoping-\\nall the time that Pierce in his fright had thought things\\nmore serious than they really were. But as I was hur-\\nrying to the train I met Taylor Kalbach coming from\\nthere. I knew from the look or tenderness in his face\\nthat something terrible had happened. We halted a mo-", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0327.jp2"}, "328": {"fulltext": "326 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nment, and all that he said was: She is dead! Then we\\nhurried on.\\nHow my heart ached for Pierce and how I dreaded\\nto meet him. I found him walking the floor, wringing\\nhis hands in the agony of despair. There Addie lay,\\ncold and white and still. Kind friends had done all that\\nit was possible to do. Neither the agonizing prayers of\\nthe heart-broken liusband, the skill of physicians, nor\\nthe sympathy and efforts of friends could keep back that\\nterrible messenger. The young life had gone out; there\\nAddie lay, so white and so still, dressed as I had seen\\nher thirteen months before, when she and Pierce stood\\nhand in hand while Brother Pillsbury pronounced them\\nhusband and wife. Addie was an only child, idolized by\\nher parents. I went into another room, where I found\\nher father sitting in silent, motionless, tearless grief.\\nHer mother, who happened at that time to be many miles\\naway, was notified by telegram of her daughter s serious\\nillness. She flew^ as fast as railroad trains could carry\\nher, but when she arrived that beloved daughter was\\ncold and still.\\nI can never forget the agonizing grief of that mother.\\nThese terrible sorrows come we can t tell why. Per-\\nhaps it will all be revealed to us some time. Addie was\\nlaid to rest in Forest Cemetery, and in a few months a\\nlittle grave was made close to hers. Pierce had moved\\nheaven and earth in trying to keep their baby boy, but\\nit was not to be. The Lord took him. On that self -same\\nday that baby s aged and saintly grandmother, Margaret\\nWade Ratlilf entered into the rest prepared for the just.\\nI love to think of the life of that honest, unpretentious,", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0328.jp2"}, "329": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 327\\nunselfish Christian woman. I sometimes tell Pierce that\\nhe ougiit to thank the Lord for his having- sprung- from\\nsuch an honorable and Christian stock. I was intimately\\nacquainted with that saintly woman for a quarter of a\\ncentury, and in all those years I never knew her to do an\\nact or sciy a word which I thoug-ht was sinful. She was\\nnot a long-faced, canting Christian, who was always see-\\ning- something in others to condemn, but was charitable,\\ncheerful, hospitable, and was not g-iven to seeing- faults\\nin others. She was exceedingly obliging to her neigh-\\nbors, without seeming to think she had done anything\\nout of the ordinary, or usual. The man who was born of\\na woman with a character like hers, and had the example\\nof a life like hers all through his boyhood and early man-\\nhood, surely has something to be grateful for.\\nPierce chose one of the beautiful spots in Forest\\nCemetery wherein to lay his precious dead. There lie\\nhis young wife, his baby and his mother. By the\\nmother s side lies all that is mortal of her son John, who\\nmany years ago met a sudden and tragic death by being\\nthrown from a horse. John was as charming and at-\\ntractive in his manners as his brother Pierce. A gray\\ngranite monument is there to tell who are the occupants\\nof that lovely, shady, grassy spot. All the Summer\\nthrough the grass is kept shorn and flowers bloom on the\\ngraves.\\nPierce has endured many sore trials and fiery or\\ndeals, but with it all has steadfastly clung to his faith in\\nChrist. He has been an active business man, has made\\nmuch money, and might have been wealthy if his heart\\nhad been less tender and less inclined to respond to the", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0329.jp2"}, "330": {"fulltext": "328 MAHASKA COUNTY\\ncalls of Christian work and the needy poor. Some years\\nago he was engaged as a traveling salesman for a large\\nagricultural implement house in Minneapolis, which busi-\\nness kept him on the road and in hotels, where he was\\ncontinually coming in contact with infidels, agnostics and\\nscoffers at the religion of Jesus Christ, and at the teach-\\ning of the Bible. I used to wonder if he would withstand\\nthe scoff s and jeers, criticisms and cunning sophistry a\\nChristian is compelled to hear on railroad trains, in the\\noffices of hotels, and the many circumstances surrounding\\na man engaged as a traveling salesman, and come out of\\nit all with his faith unshaken. I must confess I some-\\ntimes felt afraid he would not. But I might have given\\nto the winds my fears, for God gave him grace to stand\\nup for Christ and defend the faith whenever and where\\never he heard it defamed. Instead of growing weaker\\nin the faith he came out stronger. When in the city he\\nworked in missions, talked on the street, and whenever\\nan opportunity was presented, held up Christ and salva-\\ntion to the ungodly. He has given much to foreign mis-\\nsions, and is now conducting a mission in Sioux City,\\nwhere he resides and is in business.\\nPierce Ratliff is a self-made man, if any man can\\ntruly be called self-made. He started out when a boy,\\nwithftut money or influential friends; he worked for\\ntwenty-five cents a day. The time came when he could\\ncommand fifteen hundred dollars a year as a traveling\\nsalesman. Pierce Ratliff has shown himself a hero in\\nmore than one instance and on more than one occasion.\\nI was talking with a gentleman not long ago who crossed\\nthe plains in 1854 in the same train in which Pierce Rat-", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0330.jp2"}, "331": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 329\\nliff went and drove an ox team for Thomas Edwards.\\nHe eng-ag-ed to drive that team throug-h, and do anything-\\nelse which mig^ht come up and need doing- in the way of\\nguarding their teams and other animals which they were\\ndriving through to Oregon. The gentleman remarked\\nduring our talk that Pierce, though a mere boy, never\\nshirked a duty no matter how irksome or how dangerous.\\nThe gentleman went on to say: Pierce never seemed to\\nbe afraid to undertake anything which was necessary to\\nbe done. When we came to Green River we found the\\nstream deep and swift and cold. The teams and wagons\\nwere taken across in a ferry-boat, and the loose cattle\\nwere made to swim the stream. It was necessary for\\nsome one to mount a horse and keep in the stream to\\nmake the cattle take and keep the proper direction. It\\nlooked like taking a great risk; the rest hesitated, but\\nPierce mounted a horse and lunged right in. He soon\\nfound himself in great peril. The river swift and cold,\\nthe cattle frightened and swimming in every direction,\\nand he and his horse in the midst and in great peril. He\\nfound himself and horse being carried down that raging\\ntorrent in spite of all he could do. He slid off the\\nhorse, thinking he would be in less danger, but that\\nraging, seething torrent carried him on and on. He was\\nin the very jaws of death, but was lighting for life with\\nall the nerve and muscle he possessed. When almost\\nexhausted and ready to give it up, he struck a bar, and\\nwith almost superhuman strength threw himself on that\\nbar more dead than alive; the company were wrought up\\nto the highest pitch; they ran down and along the bank,\\nsome, shouting to give him courage and others trying to", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0331.jp2"}, "332": {"fulltext": "330 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nthrow him ropes, but with it all he had to save himself.\\nI have heard Pierce i:elate that terrible experience.\\nEvery act of his life passed before his mind like a pano-\\nrama and when he struck that bar he put forth every\\nparticle of strength in his body. Pierce made a terrible\\nstruggle for his life in Green river, but would risk his\\nlife for what some would consider a trifling matter.\\nWhen on that adventurous journey they had to be con-\\ntinually on the watch for Indians after they crossed the\\nMissouri river. Indians would steal their cattle and\\nhorses if they had a chance. In spite of all their watch-\\nfulness, one morning a lot of their stock was gone. Part\\nof their team was gone, which was a calamity indeed.\\nSo some of them must follow those Indians and, if pos-\\nsible, recover their oxen. Some of the men volunteered\\nto undertake that perilous adventure. Pierce Ratliff\\namong the rest. They mounted their horses and struck\\nout. A little colt belonging to the herd which they were\\ntaking, or trying to take to Oregon, followed, as its\\nmother had been pressed into the service.\\nThey found the trail over which the cattle had been\\ndriven by the Indians, followed it up, and after going, as\\nthey supposed, some eight or ten miles, discovered some\\nof their cattle grazing on the prairie. Near by was a\\nravine lined with willows where they had good reason to\\nsuppose the Indians who had driven off their stock were\\nin hiding. Some of the men got around the cattle in\\nsight and started them toward the camp. Others skir-\\nmished around among the willows (the little colt among\\nthe rest) hoping to find the balance of their property, all\\nthe time in mortal fear of being picked off by those", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0332.jp2"}, "333": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 331\\ntreacherous Indians. Those who had gone on called\\nback to them to come on and let the rest go. They\\nstarted to join the others, but as they were leaving that\\ndangerous ground a pitiful wail was heard. The poor\\nlittle colt had become entangled in the willows, and just\\nunder a bank some three or four feet high, and was making\\ndesperate efforts to climb the bank. Pierce was one of\\nthose who had been venturing among the willows. He\\nfelt, as well as the rest, that they were in danger, but\\nthe pitiful cries of that poor little colt touched his heart.\\nHe turned back, sprang off his horse, seized the colt by\\nthe head and drew it up the bank. It scampered off to\\novertake the others and Pierce mounted his horse and\\nmoved off on short notice too. When he joined the others\\nhe was told by some of them that he was the biggest\\nfool they ever saw to take the chance of being shot and\\nscalped by an Indian to save a colt that wasn t worth ten\\ndollars. Pierce s reply was, I may be a fool, but I\\ncouldn t go off and leave anything begging so pitifully\\nfor help as that colt was.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0333.jp2"}, "334": {"fulltext": "332 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nCHAPTER XXIII.\\nVery few people lived their lives out on the claims\\nthey made on the first of May, 1843. But now and then\\nan aged man or woman may be found living- on the iden-\\ntical spot where their first cabin was built in that long-\\nago time. There was Harry Brewer, who came with sev-\\neral others (all of whose names I have forg^otten except\\nEphriam Munsel.) Mr. Brewer, Mr. Munsel and two or\\nthree others, located claims close tog ether, on the\\ng^rounds and in the neighborhood where the little town of\\nGivin now stands.\\nLittle did they know or think or care anything about\\nthe rich veins of coal underlying the whole of that beau-\\ntiful farming land. All they thought of was getting their\\nland in condition to raise something to eat, and a cabin\\nto shelter them. They knew that coal was all about\\nthere, they could see it cropping out of the banks along\\nthe Muchakinock and its little tributaries, but what did\\nthey want with coal? They had no use for the black,\\nfoul smelling stutf. Who ever dreamed then that a time\\nwould come when tliat beautiful scenery would be", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0334.jp2"}, "335": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 333\\ndisfi ^ured with great, ugly coal shafts and immense piles\\nand ridges of unsightly, black, smoking slack, A black-\\nsmith shop was a necessity wherever a little settlement\\nwas made. Somebody would dig into a hillside and get\\nenough to supply them. That was about all the use peo-\\nple here had for coal in 43 and 44. There was plenty\\nof wood along the rivers to supply the wants of the early\\nsettlers. We knew very little about coal at first. .Where\\nI came from blacksmith shops used charcoal. The only\\ncoal I ever saw before coming to Iowa was a piece about\\nthe size of a hen s egg brought by a young man who had\\nbeen to Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, attending school. Said piece\\nof coal was placed as a curio on his father s mantel shelf\\nand shown to the neighbors when they came in, and its\\nuse explained. Blacksmiths had to use coal and black-\\nsmiths were a necessity\u00e2\u0080\u0094 people had to get their horses\\nshod and their big prairie plows sharpened and their iron\\nwedges sharpened, and if they broke the shovel or tongs\\nin putting on a big backlog or forestick, it took a black-\\nsmith to mend them.\\nBesides the Brewers and Munsells, there were the\\nHarper brothers, John, William, Jacob and Archer, Mr.\\nJames Bowen, Mr. Andrew Baughman, the Olneys and\\nmany others, all in that region and all owning tracts of\\nland, rich and productiv^e. Corn, wheat, oats, clover and\\ntimothy grew luxuriantly on all these lands. But before\\nmany years they began to discover that there was a mine\\nof wealth deep down under their fields and orchards and\\nunder everything else around there. There soon began\\nto be a demand for coal, in a small way. When that big\\nprairie toward Fremont began to be settled up, the pec-", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0335.jp2"}, "336": {"fulltext": "334 MAHASKA COUNTY\\npie used coal. They found it cheaper than wood and\\neasier to obtain. Those people out there used to haul\\nfrom Bowen s bank, which was said to turn out the best\\ncoal in that reg ion.\\nIn course of time a railroad was built from Keokuk\\nto Des Moines; then the Iowa Central, both roads run-\\nning through that neighborhood I have mentioned. A\\nrailroad company bought nearly all the farms around\\nthere, paying what seemed then to be fabulous prices for\\nthe same. Those mines of coal were opened up on a\\nlarge scale, managed by two brothers, W. A. and H. W.\\nMcNeill big-souled, brainy business men. The mining\\ntown of Muchakinock sprang up. Hundreds of men were\\nsoon working under the ground. Their houses soon\\nlined the creek and dotted the hills. Instead of a wagon\\nload being hauled away from there occasionally, thous-\\nands of tons were shipped out daily.\\nThe McNeills were the kind of men to make business\\ngo. They have not only done much toward developing\\nthe vast coal fields of Mahaska County, but have built\\nhandsome residences and substantial business houses in\\nOskaloosa. Our people are indebted to the McNeills for\\nmuch of our town and county s prosperity. Colonel Mc-\\nNeill, a brother, came later. He, too, is a fine business\\nman. He owns and occupies one of the handsome homes\\nin Oskaloosa. H. W. McNeill built one of the most ele-\\ngant and expensive suburban homes anywhere in this\\npart of Iowa. Oskaloosa people are proud of Park\\nPlace, and take pleasure in driving their visitors\\nthrough its winding ways, where are to be seen neatly-\\nshorn hedges, velvety grass plats, pond, fountain, rose", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0336.jp2"}, "337": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENC ES. 335\\ngarden, vines, ferns and flowers, besides trees great atid\\nsmall. Park Place is an ideal and a charming home.\\nThe McNeill brothers have made much money in an\\nhonorable business way, are very liberal, and make mag-\\nnificent presents to their relatives, no matter how re-\\nmote. They are not only generous with their owm kin,\\nbut give bountifully to hundreds and thousands of needy\\npoor. Besides many other gifts, they used to donate a\\nturkey to each miner s family in their employ for their\\nChristmas dinner.\\nWhen the coal companies offered the people about\\nGivin and Muchakinock a hundred dollars an acre for their\\nland they nearly all sold out. I can t think of any who\\nkept their farms and old homesteads except Wm. Harper\\nand Harry Brewer. Harry Brewer died several years\\nago, but Mrs. Brewer, the wife of his youth, is living on\\nthe spot where their claim cabin stood in 1843. Mrs.\\nBrewer is well preserved, retains her mental faculties\\nperfectly, has a very clear recollection of the early times\\nand can relate scenes and events of that long ago time in\\na clear and interesting manner. She tells about the\\ncabin in which they lived the first winter having no win-\\ndow; when she sewed on cold winter days she had to sit\\nalmost in the fireplace, where she could thread her needle\\nby the light which came down the chimney. Some of\\nMrs. Brewer s sons are successful business men in Oska-\\nloosa and have good substantial homes. Their sister\\nEmily, who married a Mr. Grew, was a lovely girl and is\\na noble and lovely woman.\\nFarmers who did not sell out and out to the coal\\ncompanies have found a market for their products in the", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0337.jp2"}, "338": {"fulltext": "336 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nmining towns which are to be seen in every direction\\nfrom Oskaloosa. Great fields of waving grain, orchards\\nand meadows flourish on the ground beneath which are\\nthousands of men digg ing and hauling out that valuable\\ncoal. Long trains of cars loaded with that useful com-\\nmodity are sent east, west, north and south. Railways\\nare run by it, and the dwellers on the vast woodless\\nplains of Northwestern Iowa and the Dakotas are\\nwarmed by fires made of coal from Mahaska County.\\nWhen we come to think of it, Mahaska County has many\\nthings which are considered essential in making up the\\nnecessaries and comforts of a home. Her natural re-\\nsources are numerous, her soil deep and rich, producing\\nimmense crops of grains, grasses, vegetables and fruits.\\nGreat veins or strata of coal underlie all this fine\\nfarming land. Both the Des Moines and Skunk rivers\\nrun diagonally through the county. They, with their\\nnumerous tributaries and many fine springs, make it a\\nwell watered county: and besides that, one can have a\\nwell almost anywhere by digging. In the bluffs along\\nour rivers and creeks limestone and sandstone abound,\\nsuitable for building purposes. There is an abundance\\nof clay suitable for making ordinary brick, tiling and\\npottery, and an unlimited amount of the kind of which\\npaving brick is made. If anybody wants to see paving\\nbrick that will stand almost anything on earth, let them\\ncome to Oskaloosa. I can speak for the paving in front\\nof my house, which is on South Market Street, a street\\nused as much for heavy hauling and fast driving as any\\nstreet in the city. I have seen sparks fly from the hoofs\\nof horses as they have gone tearing along on this", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0338.jp2"}, "339": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 337\\npavement, but have never seen a brick misplaced nor\\neven a corner chipped off, though it has been down over\\nfour years. I seem to be doing- a little unintentional ad-\\nvertising- for the people who make the brick and those\\nwho do the paving. But let it g o. If I knew who they\\nwere I mig^ht mention their names. Come to think of it,\\nI do know one man who is engaged in making paving\\nbrick just at the edge of town. That man is Mr. Will\\nHawkins, a highly respected citizen of Oskaloosa, whose\\nexcellent wife is a daughter of Isaac Kalbach and sister\\nof the Kalbach men who are counted among the honor-\\nable business men the bone and sinew of Oskaloosa s\\ncitizens.\\nWill Hawkins is a descendant of Quaker ancestors of\\nwhom no one need be ashamed. His parents, Isaac and\\nRuth Hawkins, came to Oskaloosa from Ohio many years\\nago when Will was a little boy. His brother, Seth Hawk-\\nins, is, and has been from young manhood up, a much re-\\nspected member of society. These Hawkins men have\\nfive sisters, Mrs. George Terrell, Mrs. Joseph Arnold,\\nMrs. Charles Johnson, Mrs. Anna Barton and Miss Lou\\nHawkins, every one superior and cultured women. Isaac\\nHawkins, their father, died soon after coming to Oska-\\nloosa, but Ruth, his gentle, sweet-spirited wife, survived\\nhim many years. But now she too is sleeping in the si-\\nlent city of the dead. Abram and Jane Hawkins, near\\nrelatives of the other Hawkins family, came and settled\\nin Oskaloosa more than thirty years ago. A more serene\\nand charming old couple it was never my pleasure to\\nmeet. Their genial bow and pleasant smile haunts me\\nstill as I, on summer evenings, drive by their once", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0339.jp2"}, "340": {"fulltext": "338 MAHASKA COUNTY\\ncharming home. I miss the bow of friendly recognition\\nand Ivincdy smile which used to greet me as I was wont to\\nsee that beloved and saintly couple sitting on their ve-\\nranda embowered in vines and flowers. A holy peace\\nseemed to rest on those placid faces, though they had\\nknown sorrows They had seen their manly sons and\\nsparkling daughters, while in the bloom of young man-\\nhood and young womanhood, fall asleep, to wake no\\nmore. Uncle Abram and Aunt Jane, as everybody called\\nthem, endured their bereavement with Christian resig-\\nnation. A peace the world knew not of was theirs.\\nNow they lie side by side in Forest Cemetery. A gray\\ngranite stone marks the spot where among their sons and\\ndaughters they are sleeping their long, last sleep. Two\\nsons survive them, William and Eli Hawkins, who are\\nprominent business men in Oskaloosa.\\nIf I had led anyone to suppose that I was going to\\ntell a connected story or relate events in the order in\\nwhich they occurred, I would feel like apologizing for\\nflying from one subject to another having so little bear-\\ning on each other. But I find if I tell the things I want\\nto tell, I must tell them just when I happen to think\\nof them.\\nI must go back to Harrison township where we lived\\non the Rhinehart farm from the 11th of November, 1856,\\nto November 9th, 1868. Many things happened during\\nthose twelve years. The great financial crash of 1857,\\nwhich made times so hard, and money so hard to obtain\\nthat some families came near suffering for the bare nec-\\nessaries of life; some could scarcely get corn bread.\\nThere came nearer being a famine than anything that", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0340.jp2"}, "341": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 339\\never happened to Iowa. Corn a dollar a bushel and no\\nmoney. In the summer of 1858 there was so much rain\\nthe crops were ruined. The roads were almost impass-\\nable. The rivers and creeks overflowed their bottom-\\nlands. The town of Eddyville was innundated, or a g^ood\\nportion of it was. The Des Moines river bridg e, the\\npride of the town, w^as partially carried off by the flood.\\nIf there was another bridg^e spanning the Des Moines\\nriver at that time, I don t know where it was. When the\\nriver was too hig^h to ford, it was crossed in ferry boats.\\nMr. William Fredrick and family lived about three\\nmiles south of us. They had come from Ohio in 1844.\\nMr. Fredrick was called a rich man. He bougdit a large\\ntract of land; I think he was said to own nine hundred\\nacres all in one body. He kept a large flock of sheep.\\nThe first dandelions I ever saw in Mahaska County grew\\non the common where Mr. Fredrick pastured his sheep.\\nIt was said that the seed was brought from Ohio in the\\nwool on the backs of those sheep. I remember how de-\\nlighted I was to see those yellow blossoms, reminding me\\nof my childhood days. Mr. Fredrick raised immense\\ncrops of the biggest and yellowest corn I ever saw. He\\nbrought the seed from Ohio. In a year or two every far-\\nmer around had that kind of corn. It was known as the\\nFredrick corn all over the country. Mr. Fredrick was a\\nvery peculiar man. If he didn t like people he was not\\nslow in letting them know it. At the same time he was\\ngenerous to those he liked, especially to the worthy\\npoor. He happened to have a large amount of corn on\\nhand when corn was selling at a dollar a bushel, but\\nwhen the poor went to him to buy for bread or seed he", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0341.jp2"}, "342": {"fulltext": "340 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nwould only take twenty-five cents. Mrs. Fredrick was a\\nlady of refined tastes; was a lover of flowers. When rare\\nshrubs, roses and other flowers were almost unknown in\\nthis new country, she had a garden full, brought from\\nher old home in Ohio. The first time I went to see her,\\nwhich was in the Spring of 57, she had my buggy filled\\nwith slips from those choice plants. Mrs. Fredrick died\\nin the Fall of 57.\\nWhen the Fredricks came to Iowa they had two sons,\\nyoung men, George and William, and three daughters,\\nMrs. Dr. C. G. Owen, Miss Clementina Fredrick, who\\nafterward married Mr. Sidney Smith, and Miss Cassie\\nFredrick. George and William both died in early man-\\nhood. Mrs. Electa Owen died a few years later in Oska-\\nloosa. Mrs. Sidney Smith and Miss Cassie are all that\\nare left of that family. A few years after Mrs. Fredrick\\ndied, Mr. Fredrick married Mrs. Reigart, a superior\\nlady. Mrs. Reigart had two charming daughters, Miss\\nKate and Miss Vena Reigart. I remember well what a\\nsensation the advent of these handsome and accomplished\\ngirls created among the young men of our neighborhood.\\nBut none of them succeeded in winning either of them.\\nKate married somebody and went to Chicago to live.\\nVinnie is the wife of Colonel Hammond, a prominent\\nbanker and an esteemed citizen of Oskaloosa, and has\\nbright and accomplished daughters of her own. The\\nsecond Mrs. Fredrick preceded her husband to the other\\nshore. Mr. Fredrick lived to a great age, away up in\\nthe nineties. He died while on a visit to his daughter,\\nMrs. Smith, in Kansas. That terrible conflict, the war\\nof the rebellion, began and ended while we were citizens", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0342.jp2"}, "343": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 341\\nof Harrison township. We were still feeling- the pres-\\nsure of the crash of 57 when that awful war broke out.\\nMoney was still scarce, dry goods and groceries were\\nhigh, and when the war was really upon us, things were\\nhigher.\\nPeople who had been thought well to do wore shab-\\nby, patched and threadbare clothes. Coit ee, tea and\\nsugar sold at enormous prices. Nearly everybody re-\\nsorted to some kind of substitute for coffee. We got\\nalong pretty well on coffee made of parched rye. But\\nfor sugar and molasses there was no substitute until the\\nLord sent us the sorghum. Sorghum was never known\\nin this country until about the time the war began. At\\nfirst, no one here knew how to make a very good article\\nof sorghum molasses, but they soon learned t(^ make\\nwhat we thought a very fair syrup. Esquire Sam Vance\\nbecame an expert on that necessary commodity. I re-\\nmember how proud I was when two barrels of that sac-\\ncharine product were brought and unloaded at my door:\\nWhen a thing which is essential to the living of His\\nchildren fails, the Lord sends something to supply that\\nneed.\\nWhen the Nantucket and New Bedford whale fishers\\ncould no longer supply lighting and lubricating oil to\\nanswer the demands of this country with its steadily in-\\ncreasing population and inventions, the God and Father\\nof us all ]iermitted his children to discover deep down in\\nthe earth great reservoirs of petroleum and stores of gas.\\nWhen that terrible conflict between the north and the\\nsouth came, and almost shut off the supply of sugar and\\nmolasses which we were wont to receive from our south-", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0343.jp2"}, "344": {"fulltext": "342 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nern neighbors, so cheap and so plentifully, the same kind\\nProvidence sent us the sorghum. It was surprising how\\nsoon the people learned to make a fine quality of molas-\\nses, and how pleased and satisfied we were with our jars\\nof crab-apple sauce, plum butter and blackberry jam\\nmade with sorghum molasses. Esquire Vance was sup-\\nposed to be the champion sorghum-maker in that region,\\nbut there were others who were not slow in the business.\\nUncle Jake Noe, for instance, a neighbor of ours, car-\\nried on the business to a considerable extent. Uncle\\nJake had a sorghum-mill of the regulation sort, propelled\\nby a horse of uncertain age which they called Colonel.\\nColonel in early life had been afflicted with a disease\\nknown as big head. Though he had recovered from\\nthat malady, his head was still out of proportion to the\\nrest of his body. Colonel would not have been called\\nfleet, nor symmetrical, nor spirited, yet if a boy kept at\\nhis heels with a cane stalk and gave him a lick occasion-\\nally he would keep that sorghum mill going pretty stead-\\nily from morning till night.\\nUncle Jake was kind-hearted and liberal and patient.\\nHe permitted all the boys around to congregate at his\\nsorghum factory of evenings, and with his own boys have\\nall the fun they chose to have, which is saying a good deal.\\nThere were my own boys, the Bean boys, and the Barber\\nboys, every one of them bubbling over with fun. Uncle\\nJake supervised the boiling himself, and when he would\\nhave an installment of molasses to dip out he would say:\\nNow, boys, git your paddles ready, and as soon as I git\\nthe batch dipped out you kin jist pitch in and scrape the\\npan, whereat a general licking of paddles and smart", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0344.jp2"}, "345": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 343\\nremarks would begin. The Noe boys were noted for a\\ndry wit peculiarly their own. That sorghum making\\ngave to our children a pleasure something like their par-\\nents experienced when children, as they congregated at\\nthe sugar camps in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. The\\nNoes came from Indiana, the region where Edward\\nEggleston found the material for his story of The\\nHoosier School-master. I didn t live far from there\\nmyself, and can testify that Edward Eggleston and James\\nWhitcomb Riley know what they are talking about.\\nMore than three score years have come and gone\\nsince I, with other happy children, played neath the\\nshade of big beech and sugar trees not far from the little\\ntown of Greenfield. Long afore we knowed who Santa\\nGlaus wuz we waded in gravelly- bedded creeks, peeled\\ngreat flakes of moss from logs which had been lying for\\ngenerations undisturbed, until we stripped them of their\\nmossy coats to make carpets for our play-houses and\\nbeds for our dolls. Little girls of Mahaska have many\\nbeautiful things never dreamed of when I was a child,\\nbut they have no such moss as we had.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0345.jp2"}, "346": {"fulltext": "344 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nCHAPTER XXIV.\\nThe war of the rebellion to our young school boys\\nand g irla seems as vague and far away as the war of the\\nrev^olution did to me when I was a school girl. I have\\nseen many old people in my childhood, and can remember\\nthem well, who had lived all through that war. My own\\ngrandmother lived near and heard the firing at the battle\\nof Guilford Court-house in North Carolina. My people\\n\u00e2\u0080\u00a2were Quakers and didn t do much fighting, though they\\ndid a good deal of nursing among the sick and wounded\\nsoldiers. My great grandfather and my great great\\ngrandfather lived near that battle ground, and their\\nhouses were made hospitals for the wounded American\\nsoldiers. William Coffin, my great great grandfather,\\nmarried Priscilla Paddock, daughter of a Nantucket\\nwhale fisher. The Coffins, her descendants, were proud\\nof the Paddock blood. Many daughters among them\\nhave borne the name of Priscilla in honor of that excel-\\nlent lady. I wonder if Priscilla Coffin Prine has ever\\nbeen told that she is a lineal descendant of the much-\\nesteemed Priscilla Paddock Coffin. Those old survivors", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0346.jp2"}, "347": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 345\\nof the revolution were rich in folk lore, and used to re-\\nlate to us children stories of pirates and tories and witch-\\nes until we were afraid to go to bed in the dark.\\nWhen another generation appears on the scene the\\nsurvivors of the civil war will be as few and far between\\nas the old revolutionary people were in my youth. That\\nterrible war among our own people is fresh in the minds\\nof many of us yet, though some of our brilliant young\\nmen and women were born long since that awful conflict\\nended. Even that brilliant young senator, Beveridge,\\nbegan life since that war. I read the charming speech\\nwhich he delivered in the United States Senate the other\\nday, and now I am prouder than ever of my native state.\\nI am not quite done with Harrison Township and the\\nthings which happened there between 1856 and 1869.\\nThe war and many things attending it loom up before my\\nmental vision. That war wonderfully transformed things.\\nOur nerves were strung up to the greatest tension week\\nin and week out. Sluggish people became energetic;\\nstingy people became liberal. Nearly all of our neigh-\\nbors were loyal a copperhead stood no show around\\nthere. I took it upon myself to propose forming a Sol-\\ndiers Aid Society among the women and girls of the\\nneighborhood. Nearly all seemed anxious to go into it,\\nand willing to do what they could. A meeting was ap-\\npointed at the residence of Mr. Wm. Bean for the pur-\\npose of organizing said society. We met, were organ-\\nized, your humble servant was chosen president, Mrs.\\nMary A. Ratliff vice president. Miss Eliza Stuart secre-\\ntary, and Mrs. Z. Loper treasurer. It is no wonder that\\nCol. John Loper is a brave soldier and a man amongst", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0347.jp2"}, "348": {"fulltext": "346 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nmen; his mother was a host within herself. Our soci-\\nety met at one or another of the houses in the neighbor-\\nhood one afternoon in each week. I look back to that\\ntime and wonder at the unselfishness practiced by all of\\nus. Times had been hard, we had practiced economy,\\nour wardrobes and household linen had ran low, but loy-\\nalty and anxiety about the sick and wounded soldiers was\\nso great any of us would have given the last sheet or\\ntable cloth if by so doing any suffering soldier would\\nhave been made more comfortable. We worked faith-\\nfully, made bandages, lint, pillows and hospital garments.\\nWe packed those articles in great boxes, in the center of\\nwhich we placed many things which we hoped would\\ntempt the appetite of our poor, sick soldiers. In one of\\nthose boxes I placed a can containing twelve dozen nice,\\nfresh eggs, packed in bran. Those eggs were donated\\nby Mrs. Andrew Baughman, and many a sick soldier who\\nhadn t had an egg for months was made glad.\\nWhen we were ready to make up a box to send away\\nsome of us would canvass the country all around for do-\\nnations and nearly everybody would gladly give what\\nthey could. I made a circuit like that and was surprised\\nat the liberality of people who had little of this world s\\ngoods. When I got home with my buggy loaded down\\nwith dainty and useful things, I told my folks I had only\\nmet one man who wanted to argue. He braced himself\\nand began by saying: The government provides for the\\ncrippled soldiers and all the good truck you send down\\nthar is grabbed up by the officers, whereupon I interrupt\\nhim. rude as it was, by remarking that I had no time to\\ndiscuss that question, and drove on. All through that", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0348.jp2"}, "349": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 347\\nwar we worked and prayed, we prayed and worked.\\nThat was a time when the souls of men and women too\\nwere tried. How we loved and reverenced the boys in\\nblue. No matter what we had thoug^ht of them before,\\nwhen we saw them with Uncle Sam s uniform on they\\nwere all rig^ht, nothing was too good for them. The\\nrailroad and telegraph line had only reached Eddyville\\nthen and our soldier boys, when starting to the war, had\\nto go there to take the train. One day my husband was\\ncoming out of Eddyville on horseback. About a half a\\nmile this side he met a soldier walking as fast as he\\ncould and almost out of breath. Mr. Phillips took in the\\nsituation at once, dismounted, handed the soldier the\\nbridle saying: Jump on this horse and put him through.\\nPerhaps you can make the train. Hitch him around\\nthere somewhere, I ll walk back and get him. The sol-\\ndier looked grateful, said Thank you, then flew as fast\\nas that horse could go. Mr. Phillips walked back to the\\nstation. The train had gone, the soldier had made it.\\nThe horse was hitched around there somewhere. Mr.\\nPhillips never knew who that soldier was. It was\\nenough to know he was a soldier.\\nWhen I think of that mighty conflict, I think of it as\\na four years of praying and weeping and working. The\\ntears come to my eyes now as I think of our splendid men\\nand boys as we used to see them go away so full of nerve\\nand pluck and patriotism, to endure all manner of hard-\\nships and die, if need be, for their country and their\\ncountry s flag. The day the 3.3d Iowa left, my husband\\nand boys came to Oskaloosa to see them oft I was at\\nhome all day alone. I was thinking all the time of those", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0349.jp2"}, "350": {"fulltext": "348 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nbrave and splendid men and boys, their wives, mothers,\\nsisters and sweethearts. After a while I heard the band\\naway over on the Eddyville road. I knew what it meant.\\nAll the rest of that day I could do nothing but walk about\\nthe house and yard and weep and think, They will never\\nall come back; they will never all come back.\\nMr. Gilchrist, Dawson s father, was in that regi-\\nment, a great, broad-shouldered, honest-faced man, just\\nin the prime of life and as sound as a dollar. He com-\\nmitted his wife and children to the care of the Father\\nabove, then went down into the jaws of death, a sacrifice\\non the altar of his country like many another whom I\\ncould mention. Yet I sometimes hear it said that this or\\nthat veteran of that awful war is drawing a pension un-\\ndeservedly. How anyone can think a man could leave\\nhis comfortable home and the dear ones therein, face\\nshot and shell, sleep in the mud, wake and find himself\\nfrozen to the ground, endure hunger, thirst and loath-\\nsome prisons, and many other things terrible to contem-\\nplate, and not be willing that this rich government should\\npay them a good sized pension, is something I cannot un-\\nderstand. Who endured that without the effects being\\nleft in his body? I want every man and boy who enlisted\\nin Uncle Sam s army, and is living today, to receive a\\npension. If they escaped the enemy s bullets it was not\\nbecause they did not stand up to be shot at.\\nNearly all the boys in our neighborhood who were\\nold enough enlisted in the army. There were the Ellis\\nboys, the Ball boys, the Zorns boys, John Phillips, B.\\nNoe, Gary Buntin, Jesse Barber, Man and Sam Yeric,\\nHamline Doll and others, all in the Rhinehart neighbor-", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0350.jp2"}, "351": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 349\\nhood. Jesse Barber and Gary Buntin died serving their\\ncountry. They both were excellent young men. I re-\\nmember well when Jesse Barber was converted. He was\\nalways a g^ood boy, had an honest face, but that night at\\nthe old log school-house his face fairly shone. He had\\nasked the pra3^ers of the church and knelt at the altar.\\nAfter a while he stood up, and looking straight up, ex-\\nclaimed: Glory be to God! I see the heavens opening-!\\nI don t think a person in that audience doubted Jesse s\\nsincerity. Word came to us that Jesse Barber died be-\\nlieving and rejoicing in Christ. I used to hear it said by\\nthe pessimistic sort, before the war had beg^un, but was\\nthreatening that war was so demoralizing that a man\\nwho was once a soldier was never fit for anything else.\\nI often think of the talk I used to hear of that kind when\\nI look about and see many of our best citizens and suc-\\ncessful business men who were soldiers in that war, some\\nof them from first to last.\\nI don t think that Wm. Shaw would be considered\\nvery badly demoralized, nor James Loug hridg e, nor Ste-\\nphen DeCook, nor Captain Evans, nor Major McMuUin,\\nnor John F. Lacey, nor Judge Ryan, nor the McNeill\\nbrothers, nor Capt. John H. Warren, nor Wm. R. Cowan,\\nnor Albert Swalm, nor Captain Woodruff, nor Major S.\\nH. M. Byers. O, they loom up before my mind so thick\\nand fast, I will have to stop or my list will be as long as\\nthe list of those who voted the other day in favor of ex-\\npelling the bigamist Roberts from the House of Repre-\\nsentatives. I am grateful to each and every one who\\nwas brave and loyal enough to face the unutterable hard-", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0351.jp2"}, "352": {"fulltext": "350 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nships, which often meant death itself, in defending our\\ncountry and our country s honor.\\nOur men were gentlemen when they went into the\\narmy, and they were gentlemen when they came out.\\nMany were wrecks physically, but I can t think of one\\nwho became a wreck morally or intellectually. Many of\\nour wealthy farmers and business men were soldiers, and\\nsome have made themselves famous as writers of books.\\nThere is Robert Kissick, a soldier all through the rebel-\\nlion, who has written a book which by critics is called a\\nvaluable work. Mr, and Mrs. Kissick are both gifted\\nwith more than ordinary ability. Their sons are bright\\nboys, and two of them were in the 51st Iowa Regiment.\\nOne, their precious Edwyn, laid down his young life for\\nhis country in the Philippine Islands. All that was mor-\\ntal of Edwyn Kissick was brought over that vast expanse\\nof ocean and land and laid to rest in our peaceful city of\\nthe dead, where sleeps his brother Ralph. Mr. and Mrs.\\nKissick have one daughter, Irene, who is one of the\\nnicest and brightest little ladies that I know.\\nThere is Major S. H. M. Byers, who went to the war\\nfrom Oskaloosa, a mere boy in years, and while enduring\\nthe horrors of loathsome rebel prisons managed by\\nstealth to send to the world outside, soul-stirring songs,\\nthe product of his brain, which were sung from one end\\nof the land to the other. And still his genius shines\\nbrighter and brighter. The products of Major Byers\\nbrain and pen are honored with a place in periodicals of\\nthe highest order of literature in our land. We were\\nproud to have Major and Mrs. Byers for neighbors and\\ncitizens of our town. They are hospitable, cultured,", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0352.jp2"}, "353": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 351\\ng ifted, and have the most charming^ manners. We were\\nloth to lose the Byerses, but congratulate Des Moines\\nsociety on having gained so valuable an addition. It is\\nnot surprising that Major Byers is a gentleman with tal-\\nents of a superior order. The blood of the Virginia Mar-\\nshalls flows in his veins, and blood will tell. They\\nhave one son, Lawrence, of whom it is said, he is a\\npromising young attorney. Major Byers while abroad\\nprocured many valuable works of art, a number of which,\\nthrough his liberality, adorn the halls of Penn College.\\nAnother of our solid and much-esteemed families have\\ntaken up their abode in the city of Des Moines, the\\nFrankels, Mrs. Frankel, her four manly sons and her\\nlovely and accomplished daughter. Rose. Somewhere\\nnear forty years ago Mr. Isaiah Frankel came to Oska-\\nloosa and opened out a store of ready made clothing.\\nHis means were not great, his store was small at first,\\nbut he, like the most of his people, was a man of great\\nbusiness ability, and was a born merchant. He pros-\\npered in whatever he undertook. He dealt in wool, he\\nengaged in banking, but all the time his clothing store\\nwas going on and gradually growing larger and finer.\\nHe bought houses and lands; he built substantial and\\nhandsome business houses; he purchased one of the (at\\nthat time) nicest homes in the town of Oskaloosa. He\\nremodeled and added to until that home was one of the\\nmost comfortable and commodious homes in the town.\\nTheir lawn was a thing of beauty.\\nNot long after Mr. Frankel became established in\\nbusiness, he was married to Miss Babetta Sheuerman,\\nwha through all the years she has lived among us has", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0353.jp2"}, "354": {"fulltext": "352 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nbeen a blessing and an ornament to Oskaloosa s society.\\nNo nobler character ever g-raced our town nor was more\\nappreciated and admired by our people. Her benevo-\\nlence and kindness was far reaching-. Her words of wis-\\ndom charmed the intellectual and cultured. The sick\\nand the poor found in her a g enuine, sympathizing-friend.\\nShe made her home the abode of hospitality. She beau-\\ntified everything about her. Mrs. Frankel is not only a\\nnoble character, but is a stately and dignified lady.\\nMr. Frankel was shrewd and brainy, but was honor-\\nable in his dealings, was a valuable citizen and did much\\nto build up our town. By proper management and strict\\nattention to business, he became one of the wealthiest\\nmen in Oskaloosa. He died a few years ago, respected\\nand lamented by the whole community and especially by\\nhis neighbors. Henrietta, Mr. and Mrs. Frankel s old-\\nest daughter, is the wife of Mr. Pfeifer, a prominent\\nmerchant of Oskaloosa. Mrs. Pfeifer is a cultured and\\nrefined lady. The Frankels were my neighbors for more\\nthan thirty years. I have known all of their six chil-\\ndren from babyhood to young manhood and young wom-\\nanhood. There are Anselm, Manassa, Nathan and Henry;\\nevery one fine looking and manly young men bearing the\\nevidences of good breeding whenever and wherever one\\nchances to meet them. They seem to be endowed with\\nthe business sense which made their father a success.\\nWe were sorry to lose the Frankels as neighbors and\\ncitizens, but pleased to hear of their success as business\\nmen in their magnificent store in Des Moines. Persons\\nemployed by the Frankel Brothers speak of the manly\\nway they deal with their employees. They put on no", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0354.jp2"}, "355": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCKS. DoS\\nsupercilious airs, but act in a respectful and manly way\\ntov/ard all. I think what I have said about the Frankel\\nfamily would be endorsed by every one of their old neigh-\\nbors. We feel the removal of that excellent family from\\nour neig hborhood a personal loss to each and every one\\nof us.\\nAway back in 1855 there was an unusual exodus from\\nOhio to low^a. I can think of a number of families that\\ncame that year. Some of them I have already mentioned,\\nbut there are some who have been prominent and valu-\\nable citizens through all these years whom I have not\\nyet spoken of. There was John Lofiand, his handsome\\nyoung wife and baby George. What a handsome couple\\nthey were. They soon drew many of Oskaloosa s best\\npeople about them and made many friends. They were\\npeople of fine taste and charming manners. In course\\nof time two more sons were added to their family. Then\\nthere were George. Frank and Charlie. When the civil\\nwar broke out, Mr. Lofiand was one who bade adieu to\\nhis beloved and charming wife and his three bright little\\nboys, donned a soldier s uniform and went off down to\\nthe swamps and canebrakes of the South to be shot at.\\nHe escaped Rebel bullets, though in many places of\\ngreat peril. John Lofiand was a brave man, he acquitted\\nhimself with honor and came home a Colonel. For many\\nyears Col. John Lofiand served his country as internal\\nrevenue collector. He had many thrilling adventures\\nwith moonshiners while in that office. George died on\\nhis twentieth birthday in Denver, where he had gone to\\nseek relief from lung trouble. George died suddenly.\\nJust a day or two before the dispatch came telling of his\\n23", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0355.jp2"}, "356": {"fulltext": "354 MAHASKA COUNTY\\ndeath, his father came to our house with joy beaming- all\\nover his face He had just received a letter from George\\nsaying he was getting on nicely was almost well\\nthought he would go to work in a day or two. Then\\ncame that tenible message:\\nGeorge is Dead. Horace Fisher will go to\\nOSKALOOSA with THE REMAINS.\\nThe night they were expecting the train which would\\nbring their precious dead boy, several of their friends,\\nmy husband and myself amcmg the rest, waited and\\nwatched with the stricken family. The night was cold,\\na deep snow lay on the ground. I remember how dis-\\ncordant the sleigh-bells sounded as they went jingling\\nalong the street. Away in the night some one came to the\\ndoor, and in a gentle and saddened voice, said: They\\nare here. When the casket was brought in and opened,\\nthere lay George, looking peaceful as a sleeping child.\\nOn his breast, placed there by some tender hand, was a\\nhyacinth, as fresh as if just plucked from the stem.\\nMore than a quarter of a century has passed since\\nthat sad night, but that scene of grief- stricken parents\\nand brothers is fresh in my memory yet. George Lof-\\nland was laid to rest in Forest Cemetery. A few years\\nago his father, the once stalwart, manly-looking Colonel\\nLofland, was laid to rest by his side, Mrs. Lofland, sad\\nand bereft, like many of us, is living in a comfortable and-\\npretty home. She has many friends and her sons are\\nmodels ot kindness. Frank and Charlie are fine looking,\\nand very superior business men moral and sober in\\ntheir habits, gentlemanly and kind in their manners.\\nFrank Lofland married Miss Bena Siebel, daughter of", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0356.jp2"}, "357": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 355\\nMr. and Mrs. John Siebel. The Siebels have been citi-\\nzens of Oskaloosa for nearly forty years; have always\\nbeen among- her substantial and highly respected fam-\\nilies. Mr. Siebel is the owner of Oskaloosa s largest\\nflouring mill, which was built and run for several years\\nby Benjamin Roop.\\nMore than fifty years ago I stood in my cabin door\\nand watched the first volume of smoke that ever poured\\nfrom its great chimney stack. I felt so proud of Oska-\\nloosa when I saw that great mill sending forth smoke\\nand steam. It seemed immense to us who had witnessed\\nOskaloosa s growth from the wild prairie to the dignity\\nof having a great steam mill.\\nFrank Lofiand, when a boy, was a clear-headed,\\ntrustworthy business boy. He is a clear-headed busi-\\nness man, and is said to be going on to fortune. Frank\\nlooks like his father but Charlie looks like his mother.\\nCharlie Lofiand married Miss Minnie Little, daughter of\\nMr. and Mrs. H. I. Little, and sister to the Little Bros.,\\nwho everybody here knows are hustlers, bright and pleas-\\nant men to deal with. Mrs. Minnie Little Lofiand is a\\nniece of the McNeills. She and Charlie have three chil-\\ndren who are said to be interesting, charming and very\\nbright. They could not help being bright with the blood\\nof all the Lofiands, Littles and McNeills in their veins.\\nCharlie Lofiand has for many years been a capable and\\ntrusted officer in the Oskaloosa National Bank. He and\\nhis charming family own and occu])y one of the handsom-\\nest and most commodious homes on East High Avenue,\\none of the streets noted for fine homes. Their lawn is\\nsimply superb. Mrs. Charlie Lofiand is a charming", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0357.jp2"}, "358": {"fulltext": "356 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nwoman. Iler manners are gracious, her voice is a de-\\nlight. Singing runs in the Little and McNeill blood.\\nMrs. Col. Lofland has reason to be very proud of her\\nsons, her daughters-in-law and her grandchildren.\\nMrs. Lofland, like so many Ohio ladies that I know,\\nis an exquisite housekeeper. She makes everything\\nabout her pretty and attractive. Her plants, her flowers;\\nher lawn, ever3^thing inside and outside of her house, is\\narranged in the very prettiest fashion.", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0358.jp2"}, "359": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 357\\nCHAPTER XXV.\\nOskaloosa never had what is called a boom, l)ut\\nhas just gone on in the even tenor of its way, grow-\\ning a little every year, sometime a little faster than other\\ntimes. There have always been good and substantial\\npeople in Oskaloosa from the time the first settler built\\nhis log cabin in the place called The Narrows, down to\\nthe present time. If our town and country ever had a\\nboom, it was from 1850 to 1856. Along in those years, if\\nanybody wanted to sell, all they had to do was to make\\nit known. There was no trouble in finding a purchaser.\\nThere was no such thing to be seen then as a card tacked\\non a house with to rent printed on it. Any sort of a\\nhouse could be rented without advertising. Many of the\\nnew comers from Ohio and elsewhei e, who had been used\\nto better things, were glad to find shelter in one room,\\nand a poor room at that.\\nI can think of many families who came here about\\nthat time. The heads of many of those families have\\nentei ed the vast beyond, and some are still among us.\\nThe children of some of those who have gone before are", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0359.jp2"}, "360": {"fulltext": "358 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nwith US still, and are g-ood citizens. There are the Down-\\nings, the Lorings, the Kalbachs, the Cowans, the Mc-\\nMullins, the Laceys, the Rhineharts, the Ketners, and\\nmany others I could mention.\\nAmong the many others are the Myerses, Mr. J. C.\\nMyers and wife and baby Alice, who came to Oskaloosa\\nfrom Cincinnati in 1855. The Myerses come to stay.\\nThey were what we called well off when they came,\\nbut money could not procure for them a better place to\\ng-o to housekeeping in than a little unfinished doctor s\\noffice which stood on the ground where McNeill s livery\\nbarn now is. The owner of that property then w^as Dr.\\nCnsick, a brother-in-law to Mitch Wilson. Mr. Myers\\nwas a carpenter and his first job was to fix the window\\nand door of that office so the cows and pigs which were\\ngrazing- and rooting in the streets at will could not have\\naccess thereto.\\nThe Myerses did not stay long- in their small quar-\\nters, but straightway boug-ht a lot northwest of the square\\nand built a nice, comfortable home. That property was\\nowned afterwards by the Blattners. Mr. Myers many\\nyears ago purchased lots 7 and 8, Block 29, o. p., w^hich\\nat that time was one of the most desirable homes in Os-\\nkaloosa. There they lived in comfort and luxury; there\\ntheir three daughters, Alice, Clara and Emma, passed a\\n\u00e2\u0096\u00a0happy childhood. There Alice was married to Mr. Case,\\na young man of good family, from Indianapolis, Indiana,\\nto which place she went a happy bride. In a fewyears\\nAlice returned to her father s house a widow, with two\\nbright little daughters. She is now the wife of Mr.\\nJohn J. Targgart, and is living in Monroe, Iowa. Clara", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0360.jp2"}, "361": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 359\\nand Emma were both handsome girls. Their parents\\nwere well-to-do and gave their daughters the advantage\\nof a good education. Their home was handsomely fur-\\nnished, and those girls, like their mother, had the faculty\\nof making everything about them pretty and attractive.\\nLook where one would in that home, some beautiful piece\\nof fancy work, wrought by the skillful hands of those\\ndaughters, met the eye.\\nThey made their home a center of attraction for the\\nyoung people of the town, and nothing that would add to\\nthe happiness of their children was withheld by Mr. and\\nMrs. Myers. To see their children joyous was their joy.\\nBut there came a time in that home in which was wont to\\nbe heard the ring of merry voices and the sounds of mirth,\\nwhen it was broken into by death, who is no respecter of\\nhomes or persons. Clara, handsome, happy, light-heart-\\ned Clara, went out of that home to return no more. They\\nmade her a grave in a lovely spot in Forest Cemeter\\\\%\\nwhereon the snows of a score of Winters have lain as a\\nmantle, and the birds of a score of Summers have sung\\nand twittered. Blossoms send out their fragrance from\\nthe spot where rests all that is mortal of Clara M3^ers.\\nEmma, the youngest daughter, married Mr. A. T,\\nBarnes; Tim, as everybody calls him, a son of Mr.\\nand Mrs. John Barnes, residents of Oskaloosa. Tim is\\ndoing a fine business in general merchandise in the town\\nof Leighton, nine miles west of Oskaloosa. Emma has\\nan eye for the beautiful and is called a superb house-\\nkeeper. Her table is a marvel of taste, her cooking\\ndaintiness itself.\\nMr. J. C. Myers has always been an honorable, in", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0361.jp2"}, "362": {"fulltext": "360 MAHASKA COUNTY\\ndustrious, careful and prosperous business man. He\\nhas, by honest dealing and good management, accumu-\\nlated a considerable fortune. Mr. and Mrs. Myers seem\\nto be of one mind and one purpose. Both knov/ how\\nbest to use their honestly earned dollars. The poor are\\nnot suffered to go hungry or cold if in reach of the\\nMyerses. They are the most kind and obliging neigh-\\nbors. No one receives his pay grudgingly who works\\nfor them. If they happen to owe anybody, they take su-\\npreme delight in paying every last cent, if not a little\\nmore. There is a happy medium, not often attained, be-\\ntween extravagance and stinginess. But Mr. and Mrs.\\nMyers have just exactly struck it. They take care of\\nall they have but spend their money wisely.\\nTo have the privilege of living in a neighborhood of\\nupright and honest people is a blessing which the Lord\\nhas permitted me to enjoy for twenty-five years, con-\\nsecutively. When I say neighborhood, I mean the peo-\\nple living within a block or two of each other. There\\nare several families, or remnants of families, within that\\nlimit, who liave been here all these years. We have\\ngone in and out among each other some have gone out\\nnever to return. There was David Evans and his wife,\\ndiagonally across the street, who twenty-nine years ago\\nlived in the same cottage which stands there today. Two\\nl)right children played about their house, Mae and Carl.\\nTwo more came to them after, Dula and Walter. Mr.\\nand Mrs. Evans were upright and honorable, took great\\npains and were successful in bringing their children up\\nwith the ideas which make successful and respected men\\nand women. Mae is a charming woman, a fine scholar,", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0362.jp2"}, "363": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 361\\nand fills one of the most important positions in Oska-\\nloosa s hig-h school. Dula is a student in a school of art\\nin the city of Chicago, with prospects of success in that\\nprofession. She, like her sister Mae, has from childhood\\nbore an untarnished reputation. Carl and Walter are\\ncareful and successful young merchants in the town of\\ntheir nativity. Mrs. Evans preceded her husband only a\\nfew months to the other shore. They died in peace and\\nare lying side by side in Forest Cemetery on the identical\\nspot where my young husband and I first went to house-\\nkeeping. Their children own and occupy the house\\nwhere they were born. Mr. Evans built the block known\\nas the Evans block, which belongs to his estate.\\nThis is a neighborhood of old folks\u00e2\u0080\u0094 a few young\\nfolks are sprinkled in Dr. Clarks, the Neagles and\\nKents, for instance. The Dr. and his excellent wife have\\na handsome home, a well-kept lawn, and the very pret-\\ntiest elm tree in all the town. Its trunk is straight, its\\ntop is wide-spreading, without a dead branch to mar its\\nbeauty. The Dr. may claim ownership, but he can t\\nenjoy the symmetry and shade of that great old tree a\\nbit more than his neighbors. Mrs. Ketner and I were\\nsaying this very day that on Summer afternoons it sent\\nits cooling shadow across the street to our homes and\\ngave us more pleasure than it did the real owners. Men\\nand women cannot live to themselves alone, neither can\\nthey have a monopoly on their great big trees.\\nJust a little way down the street is the home of Mr.\\nand Mrs. R. P. Bacon, which in Summer is a bower of\\nbeaut3\\\\ That place don t wait for Summer, but before\\nSummer comes their tulip beds are ablaze with gorgeous", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0363.jp2"}, "364": {"fulltext": "362 MAHASKA COUNTY\\ncoloring. Mr. and Mrs. Bacon seem to have gathered\\nfrom every clime all the beautiful shrubs and flowers that\\nwill flourish in this climate. Mr. and Mrs. Bacon are\\nintelligent and interesting. Both love and tend their\\nflowers, read books by the best authors, go on in the even\\ntenor of their way year after year, without seeming to\\ngrow older. Their tastes are alike and they are of one\\nmind and purpose. Their forty or more years of married\\nlife seem to have been one continuous honeymoon. Every\\nSunday morning they can be seen wending their way to\\nthe house of God. It is no wonder they don t grow old.\\nMr. and Mrs. Bacon have lived in Mahaska County since\\ntheir youth. Mrs. Bacon is a sister to Mrs. Baugh, wife\\nof the Rev. John M. Baugh, who has been a popular min-\\nister in the Presbyterian Church of Oskaloosa for more\\nthan twenty years.\\nMr. Baugh is a cultured gentleman of fine mind and\\nmanners, and has fine social qualities, though in his\\nboyhood he knew what plowing corn and living in log\\ncabins meant. He relates in an amusing way the exper-\\niences of his boyhood. There were several of the Baugh\\nbrothers, and all attained prominence in one way or an-\\nother. George Baugh has been many times elected\\nmayor of Oskaloosa. Thomas Baugh, another brother,\\nwas a physician in high standing, and when his death oc-\\ncurred a few years ago many of Oskaloosa s citizens felt\\nthat an honored citizen, a useful and good man had been\\ntaken from us.\\nRev. John Baugh and his excellent family own and\\noccupy one of the most charming homes on East First\\nAvenue, one of the prettiest streets in town. Who that", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0364.jp2"}, "365": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 363\\nhas an eye for the beautiful does not linger and gaze\\nwith delight when passing that charming, vine-covered\\nhome\\nI realize that my story of reminiscenses is assuming\\ngreat length, much greater than I dreamed of in the be-\\nginning, but there are so many nice people whose char-\\nacters I admire and who have shown me great kindness,\\nI want to tell about them. It is hard to find a stopping\\nplace. The house just across the street west of mine was\\nbuilt by Dr. J. Y. Hopkins during the war of the rebel-\\nlion, or rather by Mrs. Hopkins, who was a woman of\\nmuch executive ability. The doctor went to the war and\\nMrs. Hopkins built that house while he was gone. Dr.\\nHopkins was counted among Oskaloosa s most learned\\nand successful practitioners. In 1868 the Hopkinses sold\\nthat substantial and commodious home to Mr. D. M.\\nWalton, who with his excellent wife occupy that home\\ntoday. They came from Waynesburg, Penn. The Wal-\\ntons are well-to-do; are excellent neighbors. Mr. Wal-\\nton is a gentleman of the old school, always kind and po-\\nlite. Mrs. Walton s girlhood home was in Canton, Ohio.\\nShe is a charming lady, full of benevolence, and can in-\\nterest one by the hour. Mr. Walton has been an invalid\\nfor many years and her kindness and tender care of him\\nthrough it all has won for her the respect and admira-\\ntion of all her neighbors. Mr. Walton s eyesight failed\\nmany years ago. He was compelled to retire from ac-\\ntive business; has borne his great affliction with patience\\nand Christian resignation. I can remember when he\\nwas tall, erect and capable of holding his own with the\\nbest business man in the country. But now he is aged", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0365.jp2"}, "366": {"fulltext": "364 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nand feeble, being several years past four score, and is\\nfrequently prostrated with the infirmities of age. His\\nfaithful wife reads to him, cheers him with words of\\nkindness and nurses him back to his usual health. Mrs.\\nWalton is a handsome woman as well as charming in\\nmanner. I told Mr. Walton one day I w^as sorry he\\ncouldn t see her, for as the years go by she grows hand-\\nsomer.\\nMrs. Col. Pond, a sister of Mrs. Walton s, makes her\\nan extended visit occasionally. Her visits are hailed\\nwith delight by the neighbors. Mrs. Pond, too, was\\nbrought up in the town of Canton, Ohio, where she was\\na teacher many years. She once chaperoned a bevy of\\ngirls on a tour through Europe, Miss Ida Saxton, who is\\nnow the wife of President McKinley, among the rest.\\nMrs.. Pond is a lady of fine mind, great good sense and\\ncharming manners. Her society is delightful, her con-\\nversation entertaining and instructive. She has traveled\\nmuch, has met and become acquainted with many promi-\\nnent people besides President McKinley and his family,\\nwho were her near neighbors and intimate friends. Mrs.\\nPond is exceedingly well informed; is dignified without a\\nparticle of haughtiness. To have the privilege of the\\nsociety of a lady like Mrs. Pond is a pleasure indeed.\\nMr. and Mrs. Eli Ketner lived just across the street\\nfrom me twenty-nine years ago, and they live there to-\\nday. They have a very comfortable and cozy home,\\nwhere they sit in their easy chairs, read their news-\\npapers, and wait for the change which will soon come to\\nus all. When we first became such near neighbors each\\nfamily had two sons strong, robust young men, full of", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0366.jp2"}, "367": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 365\\nlife and brig-ht expectations. Will and Charlie Ketner\\nwere in school in Iowa University. Charlie s health\\nfailed, he left schoc^l and went into business in Minne-\\nsota, but before long- he came home to his father s house,\\nand after ling-ering- for months in great ]iain he died in\\npeace and was laid to rest in Forest Cemetery. Will fin-\\nished a full course in school, graduated in medicine, then\\ntook Miss Mary Pearson, a splendid young- woman, for\\nhis wife. Their home is in Colorado, where I hear they\\nare prospering-, and have a pleasant home, brightened by\\ntwo splendid sons and two splendid daughters, and pre-\\nsided over by a gentle, intelligent, Christian mother.\\nMr. and Mrs. Ketner have ahvays been well-to-do,\\nand have provided for the proverbial rainy day. They\\nattend strictly to their own, and very little to other- peo-\\nple s business. They, like the rest of us, know what it\\nis to have their home made desolate by the hand of death.\\nOnly a few months ago their beloved and only daughter,\\nMrs, Mary Smith, while seemingly in the prime of life,\\nwas suddenly called to join the great majority. I think\\nit has been six years since Mr. and Mrs. Ketner passed\\nthe fiftieth anniversary of their journey together.\\nIn the next house but one below the Ketner place\\nlive Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Stevens, who invited their\\nfriends, neighbors and kin folks to their home to cele-\\nbrate with them their golden wedding, in the month of\\nMay, 1893, and yet on any pleasant Sabbath morning Mr.\\nand Mrs. Stevens can be seen walking side by side, their\\nfaces turned toward the Presbyterian Church. They,\\nlike Mr. and Mrs. Ketner, live alone and are still able to\\ntake care of themselves. Both the Ketners and the Ste-", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0367.jp2"}, "368": {"fulltext": "366 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nvenses came from Ohio to Oskaloosa away back in the\\nfifties.\\nAs I have ah eady remarked, this is a neighborhood\\nof old folks. I don t think another can be found in Oska-\\nloosa where so many men and women are living in two\\nblocks of each other who have passed the three score and\\nten mark. There are lots of great grandfathers and\\ngreat grandmothers in the two square limit. Mr. Walton\\nhas seen the fourth generation long ago. Dr. and Mrs.\\nClark s babies, Anna Lois and George Hadley. not only\\nhave a grandfather and a grandmother Hadley, but a\\ngreat grandfather Hadley, all living so near together\\nthat one cannot tell where the Dr. Clark lawn ends and\\nthe Hadley lawn begins.\\nMrs. Thomas Newell, who has a cozy home and a\\nnicely-kept lawn which is bright with flowers every Sum-\\nmer, is great grandmother to little Dorris Brewster,\\ngranddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. John F. Lacey.\\nMrs. Norris, who is away past ninety, lives only a\\nblock from me. She is a sweet-spirited, saintly woman,\\nretains her mental faculties, and is ready to depart when\\nthe Master calls. No mother w^as ever blessed with a\\nmore devoted daughter than is Mrs. Norris. Mary Nor-\\nris is a model of affectionate tenderness an interesting,\\nintelligent woman. Their cozy cottage is the abode of\\npeace, and that mother and daughter are all the world to\\neach other.\\nOskaloosa was founded by superior people and has\\nalways held her own in that respect. Several of them\\nare dwelling in my two- block limit. I am afraid I am\\nnot going to have time and space to say all that I want to", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0368.jp2"}, "369": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 367\\nsay about them. There is Mr. Frank E. Smith and his\\nbright and handsome wife, who have a family of bright\\nchildren. Lena, the oldest, is a capable business girl and\\nhas gentle manners. Nye, their first born son, was a\\nmember of the 51st Iowa regiment, crossed the mighty\\nPacific to fight Spaniards and Filipinos. Nye acquitted\\nhimself with credit and his parents, brothers and sisters,\\nhad the joy of seeing him come home safe and sound.\\nMr. Frank E. Smith has been known by Mahaska s peo-\\nple ever since he was a bo}^ Everybody around thought\\nhim a tip-top boy, and since arriving at man s estate he\\nhas had the confidence of all who knew him. He has\\nbeen many times elected to fill important offices and was\\nnever known to betray the trust placed in him. Mr.\\nSmith is an honorable, capable, obliging business man;\\nan unassuming, manly man; a gentleman; all of which I\\ncan testify to from personal knowledge.\\nDr. Pardun and his wife have been my neighbors for\\nmany years. They have one of the prettiest places in\\nOskaloosa. Their house is elegant. Their walks, their\\nlawn, their flowers, their trees, everything about their\\npremises, is in the best order it could be. Mrs. Pardun\\nhas the reputation all over this end of town of being the\\nmost scrupulously orderly person to be found anywhere.\\nShe is a nice neighbor and an intelligent woman. The\\ndoctor has an infirmary and is what is called a mag-\\nnetic healer. He is an honest, upright man, has no evil\\nto say of anybody, but attends strictly to his own busi-\\nness. Dr. Pardun has an extensive practice, not only\\namong our own citizens but many come to him to be\\ntreated from abroad.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0369.jp2"}, "370": {"fulltext": "368 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nDoctors are numerous in my neighborhood, there are\\nalready four in less than two blocks, and I am told that\\nanother is soon to be my next door neighbor, Dr. Ripley\\nHoffman, son and partner of Dr. D. A. Hoffman, who has\\nbeen a successful physician in Oskaloosa and all over\\nMahaska County for nearly forty years. He had a good\\npractice from the first and still has the confidence of\\nhundreds of our citizens. Though the weight of j^ears\\nis beginning to tell, the Old Dr., as he is called, can\\nbe seen almost any day, wrapped and tucked up in his\\nbuggy, striking out in the country to see some patient\\nwho thinks that no other doctor can relieve their aches\\nand pains as readily as Dr. Hoffman.\\nDr. Hoffman, with his wife and four children, came\\nfrom Ohio and located in Oskaloosa in 1801. They were\\na remarkably fine-looking couple. The Dr. was a tall,\\nmanly-looking man, with broad shoulders and a strong\\nface. Mrs. Hoffman has always had scores of friends,\\nwas an elegant-looking lady forty years ago and is an\\nelegant-looking lady to-day. Dr. Ripley, Rip, as he\\nis usually called, the one who is going to be my neighbor,\\nis about as popular a doctor as his father is. Dr. Hoff\\nman Sr. and his wife have a home on First Avenue East,\\na complete, pleasant home, surrounded by one of Oska-\\nloosa s typical lawns, which in Summer is bright with\\nroses. That home is also the home of their widowed\\ndaughter, Mrs. Effie Hoffman Rogers, a lady possessed\\nof many admirable qualities, among which are kindness,\\nself-reliance and unaffected manners. Mrs. Rogers has\\nbeen county superintendent of public schools, w^hich re-\\nsponsible position she filled with credit to herself and\\nsatisfaction to her constituents.", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0370.jp2"}, "371": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 369\\nEdgar, Dr. and Mrs. Hoffman s oldest son, is a tiller\\nof the soil, preferred farming- to a profession. He and\\nhis worthy wife and bright children occupy and cultivate\\na fine farm four or five miles west of Oskaloosa. John,\\nthe next son, is a lawyer, practicing his chosen profes-\\nsion in Great Falls, Montana. Ripley, as I have before\\nstated, is the doctor. The Dr. and Mrs. Hoffman are\\ngrandparents many times over and, I have heard it said,\\nhave a bevy of mighty smart grandchildren.\\nEdgar married the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Mc-\\nCabe, who came from the city of Dublin, Ireland, and lo-\\ncated in Mahaska County nearly half a century ago.\\nBoth having been bred and brought up in the higher\\nwalks of life, were highly accomplished and exceedingly\\nwell educated. The doctor, who died several years ago,\\nwas said to be very learned in his profession, and not\\nonly that, but was wont to be styled a walking en-\\nclyclopedia. In addition to his literary attainments, Dr.\\nMcCabe was a distinguished looking gentleman. Mrs.\\nMcCabe is a lady possessed of many and varied accom-\\nplishments; scholarly, exceedingly well informed in both\\nancient and modern history, literature of the day and\\npoetry of the long ago, brilliant in reparte, a fine per-\\nformer on the piano, writes and speaks French like a na-\\ntive (it is said by those who know.) Her faculty for con-\\nversing in the purest English is not surpassed. I told\\nher one day that I had never known but one except her-\\nself who had the faculty of expressing every shadow of a\\nthought in the purest English, and that other was Henry\\nWard Beecher. Mrs. Swalm uttered a truth when she\\nsaid, In all the wide, wide world, there is but one Mary\\n24", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0371.jp2"}, "372": {"fulltext": "370 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nMcCabe. The Dr. and Mrs. McCabe have some inter-\\nesting-, bright and witty sons and daughters. Maggie is\\na superior young lady in many respects and Will has the\\nreputation of being a young man of honor, who was\\nnever known to do a mean thing nor say a flat one.\\nFrancis, another son, is engaged on the staif of the Neui\\nYork World. Louis, another son, fine looking and gen-\\ntlemanly in manner, is filling a responsible and lucrative\\nposition as train dispatcher in the city of Fort Worth,\\nTexas.\\nMrs. Baker is another of my old neighbors not\\ncounted among the old set, though she is a grand-\\nmother. Her daughter and only child, Margery, mar-\\nried Mr. Rominger, a young attorney of Bloomfield,\\nIowa, who is said to be a young man of ability and moral\\ncharacter. Mrs. Baker spared neither pains nor money\\nin giving her daughter the advantages of an education.\\nMargery attained quite a reputation as an elocutionist.\\nMrs. Baker has been a widow many years. Her husband,\\nErwin Baker, was a scholar and much esteemed citizen.\\nHas filled the position of county superintendent; was\\nwhat is called an educator. Mr. Baker provided boun-\\ntifully for his family and left them in comfortable cir-\\ncumstances. Mrs. Baker has a comfortable, well-fur-\\nnished home, has many valuable books, is a reader, re-\\ntains what she reads and is interesting in conversation.\\nMrs. Baker s home is on South First Street, only a block\\nfrom mine, where she has lived more than a quarter of a\\ncentury. Margery was born there and there she was\\nmarried.\\nImmediately aci oss the street to the east of Mrs.", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0372.jp2"}, "373": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 371\\nBaker s place is the home of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Hos-\\ntetter, one of the very nicest places in the town. Their\\nhouse is a model house. Their lawn is beautiful and al-\\nw^ays kept in perfect trim. The Hostetters are not old\\nfolks but they have a charming- way of greeting- w^e old\\nfolks when we chance to meet them.\\nMrs. Rhinehart s fine home is close by and she, too,\\nhas a nice lawn, all of which I can see from my window.\\nIn looking over these homes of architectural beauty,\\nwith their vine-covered verandas surrounded with plats\\nof velvety grass and bright flowers, my mind sometimes\\ng-oes back to a time half a century ag-o when those lovely\\nlawms, cement walks, paved streets with little green\\nparks along their sides, was John Montg-omery s corn-\\nfield, surrounded by a great high staked and ridered\\nrail fence.\\nAmong the young people of my neighborhood are\\nMr. and Mrs. Charles Kent. They both come from good\\nfamilies and are scholarly. Mr Kent was at one time\\nprincipal of Oskaloosa s public schools, and was elected\\nto the office of county superintendent and served one\\nterm. I never heard that he did not fill both places sat-\\nisfactorily. Mr. and Mrs. Kent have a little son whom\\nthey call Forest. It is not often that one has seen six\\ngenerations of one family, but I have seen and known six\\ng-enerations of that family. I have seen little Forest s\\ngreat g-reat great grandmother.\\nThe Neagle young- people live in my neighborhood\\nWill and Jim and Lizzie. They have lived in Oskaloosa\\nnearly all their lives. Lizzie keeps house for her broth-\\ners, who are business men of untarnished reputation.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0373.jp2"}, "374": {"fulltext": "372 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nThey are fine-looking young men and have faultless man-\\nners. Lizzie Neagle is a charming girl, tall and hand-\\nsome, with the manners of a well-bred lady. The par-\\nents of these worthy young people have long been sleep-\\ning in Forest Cemetery. I used to know their mother,\\nwho was one of the loveliest ladies I ever met. As these\\nstately sons and daughter pass my door I often think,\\nhow proud their mother would have been to see them as\\nI see them.\\nI see John Montgomery mowing his lawn; he has\\nbeen cleaning up his garden and lawn for two or three\\ndays. This is April 2bth, 1900. Every Spring for many\\nyears I have seen Mr. Montgomery employed in the\\nsame way. As I watch him feebly pushing that lawn-\\nmower I think of a time fifty-six years ago when he was\\na strong, energetic, stalwart young man, holding the\\nhandles of a great prairie plow which was being drawn\\nby four yoke of oxen. He was one of the company of\\nfour or five who staked out their claims at The Narrows\\nso early in the morning of May first, 1843.\\nMr. Montgomery is the only man living of that eager\\ngroup, and the only man that I can think of in Oska-\\nfoosa or in miles around (unless, possibly, William B.\\nCampbell, who lives three or four miles east of town, was\\none) who was on the ground in the beginning.\\nThose pioneers are nearly all gone. Their places of\\nburial are as diversified as were their homes before\\nthey found this garden spot of Iowa. John White\\nwas the only one who lived and died and was buried on\\nthe land they took possession of on that memorable first\\nof May. Mr. Canfield started to Oregon in 1846 or 1847.", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0374.jp2"}, "375": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 373\\nI heard that he was killed by Indians and his wife and\\ndaug-hter Ellen taken captives. Felix Gessford died not\\nlong- ago at Bentonsport, Iowa.\\nA. G. Phillips went to California in 1852 and all that\\nis mortal of one who was so prominent a factor in Oska-\\nloosa s start in life lies buried in Calaveras Co., Califor-\\nnia. When I introduced the Phillipses to the reader,\\nthere were nine sons and daughters in that family, their\\nages ranging- from twenty-six down to baby Ella, who\\nnow is the wife of Capt. J. R. C. Hunter, an honorable\\nman and a gentleman. Their home is in Webster City,\\nIowa. They are grandparents man}^ times over. Sin-\\nclair, the next older, married Flora Collins, sister to\\nMrs. Shara, Mrs. Washburn and Miss Myra Collins, who\\nhave been engaged in Oskaloosa s schools for many\\nyears. They are all highly cultured ladies. Sinclair\\ndied in 1885 in Audubon Co., Iowa, leaving a wife and\\nseveral children. Hazel, who lives with her aunts, the\\nCollins ladies, is Sinclair s daughter. We are all proud\\nof Hazel; she is well educated, has nice manners and is a\\nfirst-class girl generally. Her aunts have g-iven her op-\\nportunities and shown her g reat kindness.\\nJames, the next, lives in Oklahoma. I have already\\nmentioned Mrs. Jackson (Jo). Sam, the next older than\\nJoan, was a handsome and smart boy. When he was\\nonly seventeen years old, in 1852, he went to California,\\nwhere he died and was buried at San Jose. Rachel, the\\nnext, was a g irl of superior mind and developed into an\\nintellectual, superior, tactful woman, full of resources\\nand charming- in manners. Rachel married Mr. Robert\\nTomlinson, who died years ago. Rachel s home for many", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0375.jp2"}, "376": {"fulltext": "374 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nyears has been in Washington, D. C. Martha, who was\\nan excellent young lady, married Dr. A. C. Cunningham\\nin 1848. They settled in Knoxville when that town was\\nvery new. Martha died in 1868 leaving three little\\ndaughters. Florence, who is the wife of Mr. William\\nGamble, is an intelligent and interesting woman. Alice\\nis the wife of a Mr, Culver, a fine business man of Knox-\\nville and Lola is now Mrs. Phelps, of the same place.\\nAll are superior women.\\nWatson, the next older than Martha, married Lois\\nRamey. They went to California thirty years ago, loca-\\nted in Calaveras County, where in 1899 Watson died and\\nwas buried. His wife Lois and two daughters survive\\nhim. Gorrell was next, and the eldest son in the Phillips\\nfamily. Elizabeth, who is the oldest of that family,\\nwas the wife of Nathaniel Lindsay, and was married be-\\nfore the Phillipses came to Iowa. She still lives near\\nthe place where she and her husband went to house-\\nkeeping; she is eighty years old and has been a widow\\nnearly forty years. Watson and Lois were married in\\nin 1846, the same year that Gorrell and I were married.\\nWe all went to housekeeping at nearly the same time,\\nWatson and Lois on a forty joining ours on the east; how\\nhappy and light-hearted we were. I don t think anything\\nmore serious happened to mar our happiness than a little\\njealousy on my part because Lois tomatoes would ripen\\nbefore mine did, and she always had better luck with\\nchickens.\\nWatson sold his beautiful land part of it being the\\nforty acres where Mr. Kalbach s fine home, the Matti-\\nsons, the Kemble greenhouse, and so many other fine", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0376.jp2"}, "377": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. o/O\\nplaces are now to the Majors brothers, Jacob and John\\nP., the same Majorses I have ah eady mentioned. And\\njust here I want to say that the Phillips family all\\nthought Jacob Majors was greatly wronged in a difficulty\\nhe had with some parties in the early days regarding a\\nclaim. A frenzied mob went to his home, destroyed his\\nstock and growing crops and shamefully abused him. I\\ndon t suppose there was one in ten of that mob knew\\nwhat the grievance was, and yet some parties about\\ntwenty years ago compiled a book called A History of\\nMahaska County, in which they treated in a flippant\\nmanner that savage and brutal outrage on a good citizen\\nand a decent man.\\nAmos Gorrell Phillips was born near Chillicothe,\\nOhio, October 6th, 1796. His parents, Thomas and\\nMartha Gorrell Phillips, emigrated to that new place\\nfrom near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1 795. Amos was\\nthe youngest of twelve children. The family moved to\\nKentucky when he was a boy, where in 1819 he was mar-\\nried to Hannah Sinclair, who was the mother of all the\\nten children I have mentioned. Mrs. Phillips died No-\\nvember 19th, 1847. They had four children when they\\nleft Kentucky and settled in Morgan County, Illinois, in\\n1832. They lived there twelve years, then came to this\\nplace, and purchased all those broad acres I have so\\noften mentioned, thinking there was enough for all his\\nboys. Not one of them own a rod of that fine land, save\\na little square plot in Forest Cemetery, where my pre-\\ncious dead are sleeping.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0377.jp2"}, "378": {"fulltext": "376 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nCHAPTER XXVI.\\nMr. A. G. Phillips was a friend of Judge J. A. L.\\nCrookbam, who came and located in Oskaloosa away\\nback in the forties. Mr. Phillips bad been a pupil in a\\nschool taug-bt by Mr. Crookbam s father in Southern\\nOhio in the early part of this century. The elder Crook-\\nliam was said to be the most learned man in all that re-\\ngion. I have heard it said that he would have been\\ncalled a g reat scholar anywhere. There were some su-\\nperior families living in Southern Ohio, even in that early\\ntime, who were ambitious to have their sons instructed\\nin the higher branches of learning. Many a bright boy\\nwho in manhood became famous, was for his start on the\\nroad to fame indebted to instruction received at the feet\\nof that modern Aristotle of the Wilderness. That\\nlearned man was father of a numerous family, all posses-\\nsing more than ordinary ability. J. A. L. Crookbam is a\\nlawyer, and had been a citizen of Oskaloosa only a short\\ntime when he was elected county judge. He is now re-\\ntired on account of the infirmities of age, but was a suc-\\ncessful attorney at law for nearly a half century. He,", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0378.jp2"}, "379": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 377\\nlike nearly all the Crookhams, is a financier, has accum-\\nulated a considerable fortune, and has always been a\\nprominent factor in the business affairs and politics of\\nthe town and county.\\nJudge Crookham is a man of noble impulses, and\\nalways has a kind word to say of everybody. Many\\nyoung men have read law in his office and received in-\\nstruction in the same from him, my son Orlando among\\nthe rest. Judge Crookham has an individuality, and has\\nalways been called eccentric, but his eccentricities are\\nnot of the kind that hurt people. He is honorable, just\\nand charitable. Judge Crookham has been twice mar-\\nried, has three sons and two daughters. The scholarly\\npropensities of their illustrious grandfather seem to have\\ndescended to the third generation. Elizabeth Euclid and\\nSara, the daughters, are among the most learned of Oska-\\nloosa s brilliant daughters; both, after receiving a good ed-\\nucation in our schools, graduated from Holyoke. Elizabeth\\nEuclid has taught for years in the schools of Portland,\\nOregon, has traveled much and been twice in Europe.\\nBoth are practical women as well as learned. Sara, too,\\nhas taught abroad, but came home to assist her mother\\nin nursing her invalid father, and not long ago was mar-\\nried to Mr. Rufus Davis, one of Oskaloosa s very best\\nyoung men. Mr. Davis is clerk of Mahaska County and\\nhas the reputation of being a superior young business\\nman. Judge Crookham is now four score, was less than\\nthirty when he opened up a little office on the south side\\nof the square. He has known nearly all the Mahaska\\npeople I have mentioned and if he was able to read my\\nstory, would say, I know what she is talking about.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0379.jp2"}, "380": {"fulltext": "378 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nI have reason to think and speak kindly of the peo-\\nple of Mahaska County. From my youth up, whether in\\nprosperity or adversity, health or sickness, joy or sor-\\nrow, they have shown me g reat kindness. When the hus-\\nband of my youth, after we had traveled life s journey\\ntog ether for almost half a century, closed his eyes for-\\never on the thing s of earth and darkness and desolation\\nsurrounded me, they came to me with tender words of\\nsympathy, they filled my house with flowers. The same\\nkind acts were repeated when but a few weeks after that\\ng reat bereavement my bright grandson Willie was taken\\nfrom us. Willie and his sisters, Daughter and Anne, my\\nson Orlando s children, had lived with me and been like\\nmy own ever since their gentle mother died, twelve\\nyears ago. In less than one year death had claimed four\\nof my dear ones; husband, grandson Willie, sister Jo and\\nmy beloved and only brother Calvin. Each dear one has\\nhis or her own place in our hearts. That brother was\\none of the truest men I ever knew. How I used to look\\nforward to the times when he would visit us. How we\\nenjoyed talking over our own special affairs, not particu-\\nlarly interesting to any but just our two selves. But\\none morning, it was the 30th of May, Decoration day,\\n1896, I received a telegram saying:\\nThere is no Hope. Prepare for the Worst.\\nIn the afternoon I received another saying:\\nFather Died at 4 p. m. Edwin.\\nThe dear brother whom I had loved so much had\\nentered the great beyond. From boyhood up he had\\nbeen a conscientious and devout Christian. He was pas-", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0380.jp2"}, "381": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 379\\ntor of Friends church at Kokomo, Inch, where he died.\\nHe was laid to rest by the side of the wife of his youth in\\nWilming-ton, Ohio. Esther, his present wife, a woman of\\nfine mind and strong Christian character, and four manly\\nsons survive him. I never knew a more devoted husband\\nand father than Calvin W. Pritchard.\\nDeath had not broken into our immediate family un-\\ntil my husband and I had traveled thirty-six years of\\nlife s journey together. We had been so happy and\\nproud of our two little boys, Orlando and Quincy. How\\ntheir father loved them. They didn t cease playing,\\ncower and shrink off in a corner when they saw their\\nfather coming, nor was that father ever too tired to take\\nhis little boys in his loving arms or have them climb on\\nhis knee. He was a chivalrous, manly man, always true\\nto his word. It meant something to him when he plighted\\nhis troth at the marriage altar. The woman whose right\\nhand was held in his when the solemn words were spoken,\\nuntil death shall separate you, was always the first\\nlady in the land to him. No word or hint of anything\\nbut death separating us was ever uttered between us.\\nSuch words, to us, would have seemed akin to blasphemy.\\nWhen our sons had grown to young manhood and Orlan-\\ndo, after reading law and being admitted to the bar,\\nopened out an office and began practicing law, he went\\nto Delaware, Ohio, where he had been a student in the\\nWesleyan University, and married Miss Sallie J. New-\\nhall, a beautiful and gentle young lady, and brought her\\nto our home, where she was received with open arms.\\nSallie was modest and unassuming and not at all vain,\\nthough she was very beautiful. Her complexion was", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0381.jp2"}, "382": {"fulltext": "380 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nlike cream and roses, dark brown hair and g reat liquid\\nbrown eyes. We all loved her and were very proud of\\nour daughter. She made many friends. There was\\nnever an unkind word between us, though we were to-\\ngether almost daily for fifteen years. Sallie was a\\nsweet-spirited Christian woman and when death came\\nwas not afraid to die. Four children were born to Or-\\nlando and Sallie.\\nSemira Jane, whom we have always called Daughter,\\nwas named for her grandmothers. John Gorrell, Jackie\\nas we called him, was the next. The first grave made on\\nour little square of ground in Forest Cemetery was for\\ndear, bright, handsome Jackie, who had been with us\\na little less than six years when the Lord took him.\\nAnne Lee was the next, now a tall, handsome, fine look-\\ning woman married to Mr. Jenkin Davis, an energetic\\nyoung business man of Oskaloosa. Two sons have been\\nborn to Jenkin and Anne, which makes me a great grand-\\nmother. William Phillips Davis, my first great grandson,\\nis handsome and smart, we think, and tries to do every-\\nthing he sees anybody else do. John Quincy, his little\\nbrother, after a brief stay with us, was laid beside his\\ngrandmother and little uncle Jackie. William Lacey,\\nWillie, the last of Orlando and Sallie s four children,\\nwas only eight years old when his mother died. Willie\\ndied September 15, 1895. He was a bright, energetic,\\nmanly boy. He, too, sleeps among his kin.\\nDaughter was a sweet and lovely child, was her\\ngrandpapa s darling, though he dearly loved all his\\ngrandchildren. Daughter was the first, and the first\\nlittle girl to come into our family. She has developed", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0382.jp2"}, "383": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCKS. 381\\ninto a noble, intellig^ent, j^i actical and handsome woman.\\nThree years ago she was married to Mr. David William\\nWoodruff, son of Captain Woodruff, of Oskaloosa. Mr.\\nWoodruff is a fine-looking- young business man, full of\\nenergy, and a fine mechanic. Daughter and her husband\\nlive with me, and they relieve me (\u00c2\u00bbf many cares and\\ntreat me with great kindness.\\nMr. Moody, the great evangelist, once said: If you\\nwant your hearts filled with love, take the New Testa-\\nment and look for, read and study all the passages which\\nspeak of love, and the first you know your hearts will be\\nfull of love.\\nI have tried to tell a true story of the times when\\nMahaska was a wilderness of the pioneers, and many\\nwho came later. I have written and thought so much\\nabout their noble traits and deeds, that if I ever thought\\nthey had any faults, I have forgotten them. I have en-\\ndeavored to tell my story with charity toward all and\\nmalice toward none. It is a good thing to cast the\\nbeam out of one s own eye.\\nThis simple and unpretentious story has assumed\\nmuch greater length than I had any thought of its doing\\nwhen I began to tell it. I hope it will be received in the\\nspirit in which it was told. Much of it has been told\\nwith an aching heart, and with tears blinding my eyes,\\nin the dead hours of night, in loneliness, in desolation,\\nwith thoughts ever and anon flying to the little square of\\nearth in Forest Cemetery where so many of my precious\\ndead are sleeping, and where by the husband of my youth\\nand my beloved son Quincy I will soon be sleeping myself.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0383.jp2"}, "384": {"fulltext": "382 MAHASKA COUNTY\\nMy noble, great-hearted Quincy, who loved his\\nmother with all his true, manly nature. Whom I\\nthought would be the solace of my old age, the stay of\\nmy declining years. Quincy was in all my plans for the\\nfuture, but he went out from his home one night with a\\ntender word of leave-taking, expecting to be back in a\\nfew hours, as was his habit; but in a few hours he was\\nbrought home to his mother with eyes closed forever to\\nthe things of earth, and the voice we all loved so much\\nto hear, forever stilled. We don t know what terrible\\nshocks of grief we can endure until we are compelled to\\nendure them. When I was told that a stroke of apo-\\nplexy had ended the life of my precious son, I thought I\\nwould be stricken myself. I kept looking for it to come,\\nbut the stroke did not come. The Lord gave me grace\\nto bear that terrible blow, and to go on with my story, a\\nconsiderable part of which had been written and read to\\nthat dear son, who would laugh and say: Mother, it\\ntakes you a long time to reach Mahaska County, but go\\non; it s all right. His brothers of the Masonic order,\\nof which he was a member and to which he was much at-\\ntached, came to me in that time of deep sorrow with\\ntender sympathy and kind acts which I hope never to\\nbecome ungrateful enough to forget. Those noble\\nfriends watched by his lifeless body, they manifested\\nthe greatest respect, they followed him to the grave and\\ntenderly laid him to rest with the rites peculiar to their\\norder.\\nSince I began this story, in January, 1898, some of\\nthe old settlers have lain down life s burdens and have\\nentered into rest. There was Mrs. Brewer, one of the", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0384.jp2"}, "385": {"fulltext": "REMINISCENCES. 383\\nbrig-htest women of her age I ever knew; and Aunt Sade\\nBoswell, who had endeared herself to many Oskaloosa\\npeople; and D. W. Loring, who was an honored citizen\\nof Oskaloosa to the day of his death just the other day\\nhe crossed the dark river.\\nI have witnessed the gradual development of this\\ngoodly land from wild woods and wild prairies to beauti-\\nful, cultivated farms; from the crudest kind of log cabins\\nto elegant mansions, such as we never dreamed of in the\\nearly days; from no school-houses nor churches at all to\\nsuch magnificent structures as are to be seen all over\\nOskaloosa, in her houses of worship and temples of\\nlearning.\\nI did not plan to finish my story on Oskaloosa s\\nfifty-sixth birthday, but that is what I have done.", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0385.jp2"}, "386": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0386.jp2"}, "387": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0387.jp2"}, "388": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3285", "width": "2144", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0388.jp2"}, "389": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3319", "width": "2163", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0389.jp2"}, "390": {"fulltext": "LIBRARY OF CONGRESS\\nnil II iiii iiiiiii iiii iiiiiImIII iiiiit\\n016 086 657 3\\nm\\n*^M", "height": "3434", "width": "2058", "jp2-path": "proudmahaska184300phil_0390.jp2"}}