Red barn, redbuds

Sunshine finally has returned, just in time for Lucas County's annual display of redbud blossoms. This modest display is on the historical society grounds, looking southwest toward the barn. The most lavish display is at Red Haw State Park, just east of town. If you're not here to see it, you should be. If there's time, I'm going to run out late this afternoon.

The home computer has been diagnosed with acute motherboard failure, a transplant is scheduled and the darned things should be home Monday --- providing all goes well.

Withdrawal isn't that bad --- just early in the morning when I'm accustomed to catching up on the world and writing a little. So now I wash dishes, read, do laundry and other stuff.

And mow the lawn --- that's finally almost done, for the first time this season --- and that's late. But it's been so chilly the grass hasn't grown that fast.

The boiler inspector made his annual visit to St. Andrew's yesterday --- coinciding as it happened with the visit of the plumber we finally convinced to come correct the minor "irregularity" discovered by said inspector last year.

The inspector seems to discover irregularities in direct proportion to which side of the bed he got up on the morning of his visit, since they tend to be odd and mystifying --- like a joint made of a material now deemed inappropriate after having been examined yearly for, oh, 20 years.

So that joint now has been replaced along with a few other bits and pieces the inspector, with plumber at hand, decided weren't appropriate either. That took the whole day. What the plumber discovered on his own was an ailing pump for one of the zones, so that now must be replaced, too. If it's not one thing, it's another!

Another bus tour here later today, this one a church group of some sort from Des Moines.

Vagabond blogger

The home computer is hospitalized at the moment, so I'm roaming from computer to computer elsewhere. Coming to you live at the moment from the Lucas County Historical Society office. E-mail goes on as usual.

We had a heck of a busy Monday here, surprised last week when the Chamber informed us two bus tours would be arriving this week, one on Tuesday; the other, on Friday. We've not gotten our spring housecleaning done since the museum won't be officially open full-time until Memorial Day. And "clean-up day" in Chariton, when we usually have a good deal of help from volunteer high school students, isn't until next week.

So I got out a broom and dustpan and headed first thing for the log cabin, not heated or cleaned during the winter and not especially resistant to critters, especially bugs. That took the morning. The cleaning lady already had taken care of the church and school.

Then the tour, which was fun --- a group of 33 from Greenfield. "Tourists" are interesting because they notice things we don't. We failed in only one instance --- a display of saddles in a lower gallery that we already knew was badly in need of attention. That requires sunshine so we can haul them outdoors for a day --- and we've had little of that lately.

Then, in the post-Easter absence of the vicar, I ended up leading Compline for a small group at one of the apartment complexes in the evening. One thing after another.

And now, I expect, I'd better get to work.

John Hill Aughey and "Tupelo"

John Hill Aughey in 1860.

One of this week’s challenges is to condense into a few words, suitable for a museum case explainer card, the significance of the Rev. John Hill Aughey and his book, “Tupelo,” part of a Civil War sesquicentennial display.

Aughey, who was born in New York and died in New Jersey, actually is little more than a footnote to Lucas County history. He was pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Chariton during the mid-1880s, then returned in old age to serve again.

During the Civil War, however, he was a Union firebrand, celebrated author of 1863’s “The Iron Furnace: or, Slavery and Secession,” widely influential in the North. “Tupelo,” completed during the 1880s when Aughey was preaching in Chariton, was a revised and expanded version of “The Iron Furnace,” and it, too, was something of a best-seller. Aughey was a compelling writer.

Say “Aughey” now, however, and the result would be a blank stare. That’s too bad. He was an interesting and, in his time, influential guy.

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Born May 8, 1828, in New Hartford, New York, John moved with his family to Ohio as a child and graduated from Franklin College in New Athens in 1851, then moved south to teach in Mississippi.

He entered the ministry in 1856 as pastor of Bethany Presbyterian Church at Iuka, Mississippi. A year later, on Jan. 22, 1857, he married Mary J. Paden, daughter of an affluent Iuka-area planter.

As relations between the North and South worsened during the late 1850s, Aughey remained a staunch Unionist. And when war was declared, he declined either to hold his tongue or leave Mississippi and move north.

That landed the Rev. Mr. Aughey in a good deal of hot water. He was still preaching, serving as head of the Rienzi Female Institute near Jacinto, Mississippi, and expressing himself freely when he was arrested as a Union spy during the summer of 1862 and imprisoned at Tupelo.

He escaped from prison once, but was captured, returned to Tupelo and placed in manacles. Reportedly three days away from a date with a hangman’s noose, he managed to escape again --- and this time reached safety. Aughey and his family then were escorted out of the South by Union troops, eventually reaching his father’s home in Ohio.

Aughey wrote “The Iron Furnace,” an account of his trials and tribulations in Mississippi, the Tupelo prison in particular, while recuperating in Ohio, then went on to serve two years as a Union chaplain.

After the war ended, Aughey resumed the Presbyterian pastorate in Indiana, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and other states before accepting the call to Chariton during the 1880s.

While at Chariton, the first edition of “Tupelo” was readied for publication during 1888. A second edition was published during 1905 when Aughey again was living in Lucas County.

It was during the Augheys’ first stay in Chariton that their daughter, Gertrude, became acquainted with John H. Stanton, a member of one of the city’s leading families of physicians.

The Augheys left Chariton during the late 1880s, moving first to a pastorate in West Virginia; then during 1891 to Oklahoma territory as missionaries. John became pastor of the Presbyterian church at Mulhall, Oklahoma, during 1892 but continued to serve a broad area of the state.

“He has probably organized more churches and done more to extend the cause of Presbyterianism in this territory than any other minister here,” The Mulhall Enterprise reported in 1907.

During 1894, Gertrude Aughey and Dr. John Stanton were married in Chariton, providing the link that brought the John H. Augheys back to Lucas County as he neared retirement from the active ministry at the turn of the 20th century.

By 1907, the couple had moved to Newton, New Jersey, to take advantage of services offered at the new Merriam Home for Aged (Presbyterian) Ministers, opened during 1903 in the former mansion of its benefactor, Henry Merriam.

The couple lived there comfortably until his death on July 30, 1911. Mary (Paden) Aughey died at the Merriam Home during 1921. Both are buried in the Newton Cemetery.

Although the Augheys had three children, their son and a daughter had died as young adults. Their daughter, Gertrude Stanton, and granddaughters were the only immediate survivors.

Billy and Kate, Chuck and Di

Golly, I guess I’m going to have to pass on Friday’s big do, uniting in matrimony (holy or otherwise) Billy Mountbatten-Windsor and Kate Middleton. Even if the inclination were there, the television --- now suitable only for watching DVDs --- isn’t. Besides, I’d have to get up at 3 a.m., when network coverage begins, and that’s a stretch even for someone usually up and about by 4:30 a.m.

I do enjoy a good royal funeral. There’s something so satisfyingly permanent about a royal death. But marriage tends to be fleeting these days, hardly worth the effort.

I didn’t get up for the 1981 nuptials of Chuck and Di either, though I did arise for Diana’s 1997 funeral. She turned out to be kind of a neat lady, counterpoint to that odd critter she married. Don’t think I’d get up for his farewells, however.

My souvenir of the train wreck that produced the British heir now poised to breed is framed and hanging on a wall in the living room --- a postal first-day cover bearing stamp portraits of the unfortunate couple.

This was brought home to me by a friend who happened to be in Windsor a day or two before or after the big wedding --- I forget which --- and stopped by the post office there in search of souvenirs. I had it framed; it’s a nice reminder of the sanctity of heterosexual marriage.

The envelope actually is a pristine white, by the way. It turned blue in the scanning process and returning it to white for an appearance here hardly seemed worth the Photoshop effort.

I’m sure the big wedding is just harmless entertainment, although it does seem the money involved might have been better invested elsewhere in these troubled times --- the taxpayer cost of security alone is estimated at between $8 and $33 million (not quite sure why the range is quite so broad).

The Mountbatten-Windsors will be paying most of the expenses, although they’re pretty heavily subsidized by the British people --- roughly $60 million in annual payments plus $300 million or so in annual tax breaks. I hope all those good folks in the UK get their money’s worth this time.

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Back in the real world, the death of the third Iowan killed so far in Afghanistan during April is being reported this morning. Staff Sgt. James A. Justice, 32, native to Manila but living in Grimes with his wife and 3-year-old daughter, was killed Saturday morning while attempting with other members of his unit to rescue the crew of a downed helicopter.

Funeral services for two earlier victims of the war were held on Friday and Saturday.

“He loved the military and he looked forward to every deployment,” his family said in a statement.

Maybe the British have the right idea --- invest in a royal wedding, no matter how pointless, rather than war, which invariably points toward death.

Easter anthems

We used to call  these tiny white wildflowers now rising in the woods Easter lilies, although that's not their official name. Quite a contrast to the greenhouse variety, gilded with ribbon and foil, that are or soon will be decorating countless Christian churches on this feast day of the Resurrection of our Lord.

Some years, Holy Week begins to seem a little like a marathon --- Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday.

After the Great Vigil of Easter ended late last night, we were sitting around companionably with friends, wine and food at First Lutheran. Easter breakfast there begins at 7 a.m. today. Might as well spend the night, someone joked.

Episcopalians are less sturdy than Lutherans --- we're having Easter brunch at 10:15.

The Great Vigil is among the most symbolically loaded of the rites of the liturgical church, commencing as it does with the return of light in the form of new fire to a dark church --- brought last night during light rain under shelter of an umbrella from the bonfire in the front yard to light the paschal candle, then the smaller candles we all carried into the church behind it.

The lessons fill approximately an hour, commencing as they do with creation and continuing through Resurrection. I was gratified to be assigned the Deliverance of Jonah (Jonah 1:1-2:1), almost as much an opportunity for a ham as the Valley of the Dry Bones, appropriated deservedly so for himself by Rich, the Lutheran pastor.

After the Gospel and the sermon (our vicar, Sue, managed that deftly in under five minutes), the great bell rang out and the "allelulias," silenced during Lent, joyfully returned. Then a baptism, incorporating renewal of our own baptismal vows; the Eucharist; and a triumphant concluding anthem.

We had by that time already given two rounds of applause to the young, very tall and somewhat embarrassed acolyte who succeeded in attaching with a pole after considerable trial the "He is Risen" banners to hooks high on the wall behind the altar in the now fully lighted church.

There will be more anthems this morning, but I've posted one of my favorites below --- a shape note singers' rendition of a William Billings' classic (No. 236 in the 1991 version of "Sacred Harp").

One of the points of shape note singing is that it's not performance art, but participatory art, so you're unlikely to experience a live group performing unless you're participating. Christianity should be like that, too.

The Light of Christ is present within us all, after all, and will rise perpetually within us and flow out in acts of love --- if only we open ourselves to grace and allow it.

The Light of Christ! The Light of Christ Indeed! Easter blessings.

 

Sic transit gloria & all that: Webb Hultz

Paula Mohr, of the State Historic Preservation Office, recently ran across material regarding this old Chariton house in a 1901 pattern book published by George Barber, one of America's most prolific Victorian architects. She forwarded it to the Chariton Historic Preservation Commission and we played identify-the-house with it for a while this week.

Two of us took home top prizes --- Alyse, who probably knows more about Chariton's buildings than anyone else; and me, who recognized the photograph as one published in a program booklet for the 1903 Lucas County Chautauqua Assembly.

Built during 1898 by Webb and Ida (Blizzard) Hultz, the house had been sold by 1903 to John Culbertson, a Chariton banker. As is the case with many other fine old Chariton houses, it has by now been demolished.

It was located in the 200 block of South Main Street --- the second block south of the southwest corner of the square --- west of the quarter block now occupied by Fielding Funeral Home (the oldest part of which was built by Frank and Minnie Arnold Crocker). First Baptist Church occupies the northeast corner of the block.

At some point the west half of the block fell vicitim to a Chariton-style scorched earth crusade. The northwest corner of the block, where at least two fine old homes once were located, now is a small park-like area and an overflow parking lot, both owned I believe by First Baptist.

The southwest quarter of the block consists of a large vacant lot (with Morton Building at its alley end), where the Hultz/Culbertson house was located, and a more modest home in need of paint  at the end, converted into apartments.

I remember the Hultz/Culbertson house, converted by the time I was a kid into what looked like a well-maintained apartment building although minus its porches. The turret made it hard to miss. I'm not sure why it was taken down --- perhaps someone had a plan for the site that never was carried out. That seems a shame.

As I recall it, the quarter block north of the alley contained a home at the northwest corner that probably was brick covered in pinkish-colored stucco with quite elaborate rear gardens. This had been a physician's home, although I don't recall which one. Another old house converted into a nursing home came next. There may or may have been a third house in this quarter block --- I just don't remember.

Whatever the case, all of this is gone now.

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The Chariton Patriot of July 28, 1898, contained on its front page the following article headlined "The Hultz Residence."

"Mr. and Mrs. Webb Hultz will move into the upstairs of their handsome residence the first of next week. It will be a couple of weeks before the carpenters will be through with the lower floor. This elegant and commodious dwelling will cost $7,000, without furnishings, before it is completed. The rooms of the first floor are very large and pleasant and will be furnished in oak. They will have parquetry flooring and will probably be the finest floors of any in the city. The parlor is 18x22 (18x18 according to the plan), the dining room 14x36 (also 18x18 according to the plan), and the reception hall is 12x14.

"The kitchen is large and has a large kitchen-cupboard and pantry built in the wall. The laundry is in the basement. A twelve-foot porch extends along the entire north and west sides of the house. In the second story is found the sitting room and nursery, bed room and bath rooms, all well appointed and conveniently built. A dumb waiter is built to run from the basement to the third story.

The structure of the entire house points to comfort and convenience as the chief considerations noted. No expense was spared to provide elegance along with the foregoing essential characteristics of a truly beautiful home. Johnson & Best are the contractors, and they surely have a worthy work of art in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Hultz."

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Webb (Isaac Webster)  Hultz was born Feb. 10, 1855, at Pittsburgh, and apparently arrived in Chariton during the early 1880s.

A front-page article in the Patriot of Sept. 25, 1902, when the Hultz family was preparing to move to Nebraska, states that "Mr. Hultz has been a traveling salesman for the firm of Tone Brothers, Des Moines (manufacturer and distributor of spices then and now), twenty-two years in the same territory, and during that long period never missed a single trip nor failed to call on every customer in the territory under his charge. Fidelity and good common sense are his prominent characteristics."

Webb and Ida Hultz had four children, all born in Chariton --- Kenneth, Louise, Donald and Dorothy --- and, their fine new 1898 home suggests, did not plan to leave.

But circumstances somehow changed and the Patriot of Sept. 25 reported that "Webb Hultz will remove with his family Oct. 1, to Alliance, Neb., where Mr. Hultz is interested in a large cattle ranch."

The family remained in Nebraska for about eight years, but had sold out there and returned to Chariton by 1910 where he was named vice-president of the State Savings Bank.

Early in 1913, however, Webb's health began to fail and he was diagnosed with "valvular heart trouble." He resigned his banking position and invested in a ranch near Phoenix, Arizona, where the family moved during April of that year, hoping the change in climate would facilitate recovery of good health. That was not to be, however, and he died of an apparent heart attack in Arizona on May 20, 1913. Funeral services took place in Phoenix and burial was in Greenwood Cemetery there. Ida Hultz continued to live in Phoenix until her death during April of 1942.

Here's a portion of the tribute to Webb Hultz published on the front page of The Patriot of May 22, 1913, just after news of his death had reached Chariton:

"Webb Hultz was one of the best citizens Chariton ever had. He was affable and pleasant to all, a careful and painstaking business man, progressive in his ideas, and advocated and was ever ready to assist in the things which promoted the public welfare. He was a good christian man, and had been an active and faithful member of the First Presbyterian church of this city for many years, filling the office of trustee for some time. He possessed a fine tenor voice and for some time assisted in the choir. He was conscientious and upright in his dealings and lived a life worthy of emulation."

Hope for Iowa: Onward Atheist Soldiers

Billboards like this advertising the Easter weekend atheist convention have been attracting attention in Des Moines for several months.

There's interesting news arising this morning from Iowa's sea of Bible-thumping sanctimony --- the American Atheists association is attracting a record crowd for its Easter weekend national convention in downtown Des Moines.

So far, more than 700 have registered, overflowing Embassy Suites and, once all the rooms were filled in that particular inn, causing late-comers to seek refuge at the Marriott. Organizers are hoping for a thousand.

Des Moines was a logical fit for the convention, said David Silverman, American Atheists president: The Iowa Caucuses, for one thing; the politcization of our state's judicial system by Christianist extremists for another.

Beyond the "debaptisms," a featured event, the convention menu sounds fairly conventional --- seminars, speakers and socialization. Protesters are welcome, Silverman said. I should think so. Great publicity.

With Maundy Thursday down and Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday to go, I can't fit the convention into my schedule --- but God bless 'em anyhow. You've gotta love the juxtaposition (and the skillful marketing).

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As if on cue, five members of the Christianist brigade in the Iowa House --- Kim Pearson of Pleasant Hill, Tom Shaw of Laurens, Betty De Boef of What Cheer, Dwayne Alons of Hull and Glen Massie of Des Moines --- introduced resolutions Thursday to impeach the four remaining Iowa Supreme Court justices who ruled in Varnum v. Brien during 2009 that Iowa's Constitution did not preclude same-sex marriage.

Three other justices were dispatched by retention ballot during the November just past, you may remember.

Other Republicans say the resolutions are unlikely to advance, but it was good to be reminded as Easter approaches of why atheism increasingly seems to be a less damaging option.

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Speaking of politics, I was interested in this column in today's Manchester (New Hampshire) Union Leader by Fergus Cullen, that state's former GOP chair, suggesting that Iowa's prized first-in-the-nation caucus status could be further undermined by the Christianist takeover of the Hawkeye State's GOP.

There's certainly unlikely to be much excitement among Democrats because of Barack Obama's incumbency. And Republican candidates who are neither born again nor willing to pander hypocritically to those who are seems increasingly likely to bypass the state, Cullen suggests.

"This week came another troubling sign that Iowa Republicans are outside the party mainstream: a birther epidemic," Cullen wrote. "A Public Policy Polling survey found that 48 percent of Iowa Republicans don't believe President Obama was born in the United States, and another 26 percent said they weren't sure if he was or if he wasn't. It's hard to talk about real issues when three quarters of the audience wears tin foil hats.

"Iowa Republicans didn't set out to marginalize themselves, but it's happened -- to New Hampshire's benefit. With several major candidates likely to bypass Iowa, and the odds rising that Iowa's skewed caucus electorate could support candidates with limited general election appeal, the likelihood of New Hampshire being called upon to make a correction grow."

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And finally, down in Texas, Republican Gov. Rick Perry has proclaimed Easter weekend "Days of Prayer for Rain in the State of Texas."

I don't mean to make light of drought conditions in Texas and adjoining states manifested by dangerous wildfires, crop failures and general angst. But so far the reports have not included revelations from preachers about just why God is aggravated at the Lone Star State.

Can't be gay marriage, unlikely to be atheists and Texas still has the death penalty. Could it be Southern Baptists? Now there's a thought.

Violets, geese & Republicans

My part of this hill is now an island of shaginess in a sea of neaty clipped. While all the neighbors have been busy mowing,  I've been watching violets grow. They were late this year and deserve some space.

The configuration is interesting. White violets flourish on the slope immediately east of the house, shaded by two maples; blue violets are exclusively deployed across the back-40, in full sun much of the time.

Sometimes I call the white violets "confederate" (they aren't; confederate violets are blueish-gray) and the blue violets "union" and imagine a peacable frontline, blue vs. white.

Geese have reclaimed the clipped picnic area sloping down to the marsh south of town, parking themselves there to watch the world go buy or think deep goose thoughts when not feeding or nesting. I feel a little guilty disturbing them, but understand why they waddle and honk away to water as I make my way toward the bridge that leads to the trail. I wouldn't trust me either were I a goose.

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Public Policy Polling came out with a new report on Tuesday that may help to clarify things a little for those of us who try to look upon the GOP political freak show as a form of entertainment.

Not surprisingly, that greasy old sinner Mike Huckabee still holds 27 percent support among usual Republican caucusgoers with Mitt Romney lagging at 16 percent. Huckabee still has the pulpit edge among the Christianist cabal while Romney suffers from Mormon factor, I suppose.

At least Iowa Republicans don't seem overly impressed with has-been hypocrites Donald Trump (14 percent) and Newt Gingrich (12 percent). Sarah Palin, maintaining a low profile of late, also came in at 12 percent.

Another interesting aspect of the poll was its suggestion that roughly half of likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers believe Barack Obama was born somewhere other than the United States, a fairly clear indication of just how deeply racism (not to mention downright rocks-are-smarter stupidity) is embedded in the Grand Old Party.

A letter home before the Battle of Shiloh

There's not much to this brief letter written home on April 2, 1862, by my uncle, James M. Rhea, to his younger sister, Lucinda Etheredge, then nearly 18 and living with her widowed mother and brothers, Robert and Dempsy,  in Cedar Township. It was found among my maternal grandfather's papers and the fact that it survived for more than 150 years is in itself notable.

From an historical standpoint, it is interesting because James wrote it at Pittsburg Landing, Tenn., four days before the awful Civil War battle we know now as Shiloh commenced.

It also is the last surviving physical trace of James, who survived Shiloh but was killed at Vicksburg a year later, during the summer of 1863. He is buried among the "unknowns" on that battlefield.

James's mother, Elizabeth (Rhea) Rhea/Etheredge/Sargent, lost two sons to the Civil War. His younger brother, Robert, who became critically ill while serving, was sent home to Lucas County to die, and did so two months before James was killed. Robert, at least, has a marked grave --- in what now is known as Bethel Cemetery.

It was not unusual among Lucas County families to sustain such losses --- cousins, brothers, fathers and sons.

"tenasee camp pitsburg

aprile the 2, 1862

"dear sister: it is with pleasure that i take the opertunity in leting you know that i am well and harty at present and tolerable well sadisfied and i hope these few lines may find you and the rest of the folks well and doing well. i have ben well sense we have been here with the except a bad could. there is a heap of sickness here for there is so many here. there is one out of our company at the hospitle. there is a few that is not able for duty. the wether is warm and nice. the timber is green nice. in a few days catle can liv. we have plenty of hard crackers to eat and meat. it is geting late and i must go and eat some of the hard crackers. i am very lazy this evening. tell demcy to not hurt the oald blu hen and so also no more at present.

"James M. Rhea

lucinderia etheredge"

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James was born Feb. 17, 1834, in Sangamon County, Illinois, to first-cousins who had married --- Richard Rhea, a farmer and Baptist preacher, and Elizabeth Rhea --- an amazing woman.

When James was 5, his father died; and Elizabeth married soon thereafter Thomas Etheredge, who brought the family to Iowa about 1849. James had two full sisters, Mary and Elizabeth Rachel (my great-great-grandmother); and three Etheredge half-siblings --- Lucinda, Robert and Dempsy.

About 1854, the family moved from the hills south of Columbia in far south Marion County to Cedar Township, Lucas County, where they settled on land that included the oldest part of what now is called Bethel Cemetery. This was, and is, located a few miles east of Chariton.

James was 27 when he enlisted in Co. I, Eighth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, on Aug. 10, 1861. His military records contain a brief physical description, so at least we have some idea of what he looked like --- 5 feet, 10 and a half inches tall with a light complexion, blue eyes and sandy hair. He gave his occupation as farmer.

His brother, Robert, lied about his age when he enlisted as a private in Co. F, 36th Regiment, Iowa Infantry, on 9 August 1862 at Iconium in Appanoose County, Iowa. He said he was 19, but was only 16.

Robert was discharged on Feb. 20, 1863, at Helena, Arkansas, due to disability, and somehow made it home to his mother in Lucas County, where he died 9 April 1863, three months before James was killed on July 25, 1863, at Vicksburg.

Their sister, Lucinda, to whom the letter was addressed, married Amos Hixon on May 6, 1864, and they settled on a nearby Cedar Township farm where their six children were born: Flora (Long), Anna (Cooper), Lenna (Carson), Mildred (Foster), Rocella (who died as an infant) and Harry Schwimley.

Lucinda developed diabetes, untreatable at the time, and died of its complications on June 11, 1882, when she was 38. She is buried at Bethel near her parents and her brothers, Robert and Dempsy.

More of this story is included in an earlier post, entitled "Faded letters and tattered flags."  I've just added image of this letter to that post as well.

A photo journey, pies and pelicans

Trains are rumbling past in the distance again, punctuating early-morning silence with whistles at the Law Enforcement Center crossing a block northeast, so all is right in that aspect of the world today. And rain is banging against the east window behind me with thunder for accompaniment. It's chilly (about 37 degrees), the furnace is running and it looks like a damp day ahead.

But the rain didn't descend until after midnight, so one of my main hopes for Monday --- that it would remain dry through the evening annual historical society meeting at Pin Oak Lodge --- was fulfilled. We had a packed house (it's gratifying at a meeting like this when you have to set up more chairs --- and struggle to figure out where to put them).

And Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer David Peterson's presentation was stunning --- I'm not sure when I've been part of a more attentive audience.

David had used 21st Century technology to turn his award-winning "Shattered Dreams" photo essay of the mid-1980s, dealing with Iowa's farm crisis of that decade, into a multi-media presentation accompanied by appropriate music and narration. There was plenty of time for questions and answers after as well as updates on some of the families he covered then.

This version of his essay had only been presented only twice previously, once at Drake University and again during January at Simpson College --- so we were very lucky to be able to see it and to be able to visit with the photographer.

Since many in the audience had been affected in some manner by that economic crisis, during which hundreds of Iowa farmers lost their land to foreclosure, families that had farmed for generations were forced to change course and our small towns were badly battered, the presentation may even have hit a little too close to home for some.

I wish I could show some of the photos here, but they are copyrighted material. You can, however, see the photos as well as other examples of Peterson's extraordinary work in the portfolio on his Web site, which is here. Scroll down to "Pulitzer Prize Farm Crisis Essay."

I was especially interested in Peterson's account of how the essay came to be. He had developed the idea while traveling widely in Iowa on assignment for The Des Moines Register and on his own, but was told by his editors when he approached them that they didn't feel much more needed to be done to cover the situtation.

Peterson persisted, however; applied for a Nikon Foundation grant; and with the $10,000 it provided ($10,000 was a lot of money in the 1980s, remember) was able to follow his vision while on sabbatical from The Register. Unsure initially who would publish it, the quality of Peterson's work convinced the Register to come through in the end (while not paying his salary, of course) and it agreed to do so. Part of the agreement was that Peterson would have complete editorial control. The product was published as "Shattered Dreams: The Iowa Farm Crisis" in December of 1986 and won the Pulitzer for feature photography in 1987.

Peterson no longer works for The Register, among the many exceptional journalists who have left or who have been dismissed as the newspaper Iowa once depended upon reduces itself to a shadow of its former self. That's a loss for The Register, but perhaps not for Peterson --- who worked there for 30 years.

He and his wife, he told us, have their Pleasant Hill home on the market and when it sells plan to become full-time RVers, roaming the country so that a terrific photographer can continue to follow his vision.

During the brief annual meeting that followed, we let long-time historical society board member and society president Jack Young off the hook, finally, at age 85, and allowed him to retire. Having moved mountains in his time, he'll be missed.

But we added to the board Darlene Arnold, immersed for many years in Lucas County-related genealogy and local history --- and I'm really excited about that.

A bonus for those of us at Pin Oak Monday evening was the fact pelicans had flown in during the day and were settling down for the night along the east shore, opposite the big windows in the main room of the lodge. So we were able to use the viewing scope in the lodge to snoop on these wonderful birds.

All in all, it was a great evening. And the pie served up by curator emeritus Betty Cross (foreground) and retired LCHS board member and officer Martha Milnes was darned good, too.

Train wrecks and resurrection

The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy depot and hotel served rail travelers in Chariton from the 1870s until well into the 20th century, when it was replaced.

It's too darned quiet here before dawn this morning, waiting for the trains to run again after a major crash on the Burlington Northern & Santa Fe tracks west of Red Oak early Sunday.

Both the engineer and conductor of a coal train were killed when it slammed into the rear of a maintenance train on the east-bound tracks, closing the BN&SF main line across southern Iowa until wreckage is cleared and the tracks repaired. Such things aren't supposed to happen, but now and then they do, sometimes with tragic results.

The tracks are supposed to be open again early today, but apparently that hasn't happened. When it does, there will be a long procession as backed up traffic rolls east and west.

The odd thing about living with rail traffic, as nearly everying one in Chariton (where the BN&SF and Union Pacific intersect) does, is that we stop noticing the trains --- until someone tells us they're not running; then it begins to seem eerily quiet. So I'm looking forward to hearing the first whistles at the crossing a block east of here sometime today.

The trains have been running on the same route through town since the 4th of July, 1867, when the Burlington & Missouri River line (later CB&Q and now BN&SF) reached Chariton. A north-south route was added a few years later; then in 1913, the Rock Island's north-south route (now Union Pacific) was built through East Chariton.

And accidents always have happened. The tombstone here belongs to an uncle some generations removed, Dempsy Etheredge, who is buried in Bethel Cemetery --- known at that time as McDermott or Sargent.

Dempsy, a CB&Q conductor, died at Creston on Aug. 6, 1896, after being critically injured near Murray.

"On Wednesday night of last week he was doing the work of his brakeman, U.G. Wright, when in some unaccountable way he fell from a flat car and one limb was crushed by the wheels and the other dislocated at the ankle. He was conveyed to Creston in his own way car and at 6:05 Thursday morning died. The news of his death was a fearful shock to thousands of friends," the Albia Tuesday Union reported.

Dempsy's funeral was held at the Methodist Church in Russell after special rail cars had delivered his railroad friends and acquaintances from across southern Iowa to the depot and a procession of carriages then had transported them to the church. Since Dempsy had no children, he has by now for the most part been forgotten.

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This week seems as if it's going to be a little too busy, or at least that's the way it looks before it  begins.

The Lucas County Historical  Society's annual meeting begins at 7 p.m. today at Pin Oak Lodge, at the marsh just south of town along Highway 14.

Our guest presenter will be David Peterson of Des Moines, who during his career as a newspaper photographer (he now freelances), earned two Pulitzers. The focus of the program tonight will be his award-winning coverage of the Iowa farm crisis of the mid-1980s (He gave these photographs recently to the Iowa History Center at Simpson College in Indianola).

I'm always amazed at what a photographer who also is an artist can accomplish. It's one thing, especially in these days of digital imaging, to stalk tombstones, chunks of scenery or even our friends and family and produce acceptable results.

It's quite another to approach people with an artist's eye and a camera and capture time in such a manner that when you look at the image at any point in the future you're drawn into it, reliving the instant with those who experienced it. A friend recently forwarded a series of amazing Dust Bowl-era shots that did just that. And so do Peterson's photos, reflecting a later time and another place. So I'm looking forward to the program.

We'll have a brief business meeting after the program with pie and coffee at the end. All are welcome, member or not. No charge.

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This also is Holy Week, something of a marathon in the liturgical church --- Maundy Thursday, when candles are extinguished, the altar stripped and the church left in darkness, hope poured out onto the ground; Good Friday, somber reflection in that barren room; then the return with new fire of light and hope during Saturday night's Easter Vigil; and finally, the all-out celebration of Easter Sunday.

We're pairing up for the Easter Vigil this year with First Lutheran in Chariton, beginning at 8:30 p.m. Saturday,  and I'm anxious to see how it goes. The Vigil is the longest service of the liturgical year and will stretch toward midnight, so a degree of endurance is required. At St. John's, we always retired to the parish hall for champagne (don't tell the Baptists; this'll only confirm their worst suspicious) after all was said and done. In these more austere times, I think we're settling for sparkling wine this year.

Let's face it --- life can be a train wreck and Christianity quite often is. But this is the season to celebrate, with or without orthodox faith, the human potential to transcend darkness --- and raise the dead.

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And now I've got to go bake two pies. Remind me why I decided to do this myself, rather than just placing orders --- as several others did. And rain's in the forecast again for much of the week. Oh well ...

Redistricting: Iowa Style

Lucas County, split up the middle into newly reconfigured state House districts 27 and 28, is among the losers (in a mild sort of way) under post-2010-census redistricting plans approved last week by the Iowa Legislature.

“Loser” is true, however, only in the sense that most of us who live here probably would have preferred to be in the same House district. No one’s complaining about the scrupulously nonpartisan redistricting process used in Iowa, generally considered among the best, if not the best, in the nation. Gov. Terry Branstad is expected to approve the plan next week.

Richard Arnold of Russell, lamentably a Republican, currently represents all of Lucas County in House District 72, which also includes all of Monroe County, lower Marion County and roughly the west half of Mahaska.

Under the new plan, the city of Chariton plus Otter Creek, Jackson, White Breast Union and Warren Townships will be combined with all of Wayne, Decatur and Clarke counties to form District 27.

Richard, who lives in Benton Township, will be the only resident incumbent (providing I’m reading things right) in reconfigured House District 28, which includes the Lucas County townships of Liberty, English, Pleasant, Lincoln (save Chariton), Cedar, Benton and Washington as well a substantial portion of Marion County and part of Jasper County.

The only House incumbent in Chariton's new House district, No. 27, is Republican Joel Fry, 36, of Osceola, elected to his first term in 2010. He heads up TEAM Restoration Ministries, which seems to be a right-wing Christian counseling service, and also preaches although it’s not clear (to me) for whom. Given the choice between two evils (aka Republicans), I’d take old Richard any day.

God spare us preachers in the Legislature --- unless they’re Democrats, of course. I would never want to be accused of being nonpartisan.

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Paul McKinley, another regrettable Republican, currently represents Senate District 36, which includes Lucas, Monroe and Marion counties as well as roughly the west half of Mahaska and a small chunk of Jasper.

Under the redistricting plan, Senate District 14 (in which Paul is the only resident incumbent) will include Lucas, Clarke, Decatur and Wayne Counties plus all of Marion save the Pella region and areas of southeast Jasper --- a substantially larger district geographically but more logically regional.

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Although Iowa grew between the 2000 and 2010 censuses, it didn’t grow fast enough to avoid losing one of its four seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The newly-reconfigured congressional district map moves Lucas County from the Third District (which includes Des Moines) into the Second District --- roughly all of southeast Iowa including the Peoples Republic of Johnson County. I love that, although being paired up with Des Moines was fine.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack, incumbent in the Second District, was moved into the First District along with his home county of Linn (Cedar Rapids). Fellow Democrat Bruce Braley, of Waterloo, already represents the First District.

As a result, Loebsack and his family will carpet-bag across the county line into Johnson so that he can run for re-election in the Second District (14 of the 15 counties he previously represented remain in the Second Distict with Lucas, Monroe, Marion, Jasper, Mahaska and Keokuk counties added to it).

Democrat Leonard Boswell, who currently represents Lucas County in District Three, has been redistricted into a reconfigured District Three that will include much of southwest Iowa, including Des Moines and its western and southern suburbs.

Republican Tom Latham, whose old north central district has for the most part been swallowed by the vast District 4 containing much of north central and northwest Iowa, will pack his carpet bag and move from Ames to Des Moines to challenge Boswell in Distirct 3.

That will leave the freakish Republican incumbent Steve King as the only candidate in the Fourth District which still includes Sioux City, but picked up Mason City and Ames.

Glad I don’t still live in Mason City. There’s a good possibility King might end up representing Cerro Gordo County in Washington, D.C. Yikes! Better work hard up that way boys and girls.

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Iowa started redistricting the right way during 1980 by turning the job over to an agency called the Legislative Service Agency, which also manages the legislative library, computer services and legal drafting.

The agency handles redistricting in as nonpartisan a way as probably is possible, with population equality (one person, one vote) the major factor to consider. When possible, proposed districts are to follow existing boundaries of political subdivisions (counties, for example) and avoid splitting counties and cities into more than one district (it apparently wasn’t possible to avoid splitting Lucas this time around). The districts also are supposed to be as compact as possible, avoiding bizarre shapes and extensions when possible.

The agency may not consider voter registration data, officeholders’ addresses, previous election results or population data other than census head counts.

All in all, it’s an excellent system --- something both Democrats and Republicans endorse --- and bipartisan endorsement is rare these days.

Flowers that bloom in stone

I spent a while last Sunday, while at Gosport in Marion County's Washington Township, admiring this tombstone in the old cemetery, a minor masterpiece of a stone-carver's art. Look past the stone and the view is west down a draw that will lead eventually to English Creek.

The stone marks the graves of Sarah Jane (Lindsey) Wilson, who died March 13, 1873, at the age of 32; and her husband, Thomas M. Wilson, who followed her to the grave nine years later, on Feb. 10, 1882, at the age of 41. Both apparently died on the farm near Gosport where they lived.

This is the most elaborate stone of its age in the cemetery, perhaps motivated by Thomas's extreme grief after Sarah's death, but it's impossible to say now whether it was erected before or after his death. Thomas's inscription panel on the north face matches Sarah's on the south so perfectly that it almost suggests that the stone was completed in a stonecarver's yard, then brought to Gosport complete.

The panel on the west face (left) contains the traditional symbol of clasped hands, signifying  fidelity even in death. Thomas was a veteran of the Civil War and the couple married during 1867, a couple of years after his discharge. They had three children, Levi, Mary Celestia and Martha Adella. Martha was born March 2, 1873, suggesting that her mother's death a few days later was related to her birth.

The panel on the south face of the stone contains Sarah's inscription and an identical panel on the north face, Thomas's inscription.

Although slightly weathered, the stone is in remarkably good repair after more than 120 years, a testament to the quality of the marble used in its creation. And the flowers that bloom in the stone really are remarkable.

The Bully Project, Etc.

Because Sioux City is the home of that grotesque parody of Christianity Bob Vander Plaats, it’s hard to remember sometimes that good things come out of Siouxland, too.

“The Bully Project,” a new 90-minute film that will premiere April 23 during world documentary competition at the Tribeca Film Festival, looks like it will be one of those.

Directed by Lee Hirsch and underwritten by the Waitt Institute for Violence Prevention, headquartered in North Sioux City, S.D., the documentary, subtitled “A Year in the Life of America’s Bullying Crisis,” follows for a year the stories of five students and their families, including two families shattered by their sons’ suicides.

Although the stories are from a variety of places and the bullied “different” in a variety of ways, the work of the Sioux City Project, a multi-year concentrated anti-violence and anti-bullying program in the middle and high schools of Sioux City, also underritten by the Waitt Institute for Violence Protection, will be featured.

It seems like a film well worth seeing, although I suppose the fact that anti-gay bullying is part of the package  will prevent Christianist Republicans --- who look upon bullying and gay teen suicide as therapy --- from seeking it out. Here’s the trailer:

If the name Waitt seems familiar, that’s because Ted Waitt is the billionaire co-founder of Gateway, Inc., founded with Mike Hammond during 1985 on the cattle farm of Waitt’s father near Sioux City (remember those big computer boxes with Holstein patches?).

Waitt established the Waitt Foundation during 1993. It’s principal focus now is protecting and restoring the world’s oceans. Two operating institutes, the Waitt Institute and the Wiatt Institute for Violence Prevention, were created by the original foundation in 2005. The Waitt Institue focuses on enabling scientific pioneers; and the Violence Prevention institute, on “changing social norms that accept violence as a part of life.”

The Foundation moved its headquarters from Siouxland to California during 1999 and both it and the Waitt Institute are headquartered there. The Violence Prevention institute, headed by Ted Waitt’s sister, Cindy, is located in North Sioux City.

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It’s been a fairly eventful week on the same-sex marriage front. Delaware lawmakers gave final approval to a civil union, aka marriage lite, bill on Thursday that the governor will sign. Currently five states offer same-sex couples civil union options --- California, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon and Washington. Illinois couples can begin applying for civil union licenses on Jan 1; and Hawaiian couples, on Jan. 1, 2012. Same-sex couples may marry in five states, Iowa, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Connecticut, as well as the District of Columbia. Delaware brings the civil unions total to eight.

Back home in Iowa, that peculiar little man with the mustache who now lives in the attic of Terrace Hill, is hinting he’d kind of like to see another Supreme Court justice, David Wiggins, ousted in 2012 when his name is on the retention ballot. Apparently Wiggins, who chaired the the nominations committee that selected replacements for the three justices ousted by voters last fall, didn’t treat all applicants with the degree of deference Branstad would have liked.

Of course Terry B. won’t campaign against Wiggins --- he’s above all that; in fact, he’s above doing almost everything.

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And finally in the what-would-cause-Steve-King’s-head-to-explode? department, a bill is moving through the California legislature that would mandate that LGBT history be taught in public schools, much as black, Hispanic, American Indian and other histories now are. The bill’s fate is somewhat doubtful. Now I wonder who we could get to introduce something similar in the Iowa Legislature?

Magnolias and other stuff

More rain here this morning, another good excuse not to work outside --- where I'm lagging. Two neighbors mowed lawn yesterday, although that seems a little excessive. I'd be happy to have the flower beds cleared.

There was a question from farther south about the variety of magnolia now in full bloom around here. They certainly are not southern magnolias, a variety that can't tolerate the upper Midwest's cold.

Instead, they're what we call informally saucer magnolias (magnolia x soulangeana) because of the size and shape of their fully-open blossoms and are a deciduous hybrid apparently developed in France and popular in England as well as here.

This variety is cold-tolerant and flourishes around here, but becomes rarer the father north you go. This photo was taken in the arboretum near the Southgate apartments.

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The deaths of two Iowa National Guard soldiers in Afghanistan earlier this week serve as stark reminders that we're still at war, although it's not clear how many Iowans not related to or aquainted with someone serving there are paying attention.

The latest death reported is that of Spc. Donald L. Nichols (left), 21 of Shell Rock, killed by an improvised explosive device on Wednesday, according to a Department of Defense news release. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, Iowa Army National Guard 133rd Infantry, headquartered in Waterloo.

The death of Sg. Brent M. Maher, 31, of Council Bluffs (or Honey Creek, as The Register reports), killed Monday by another IED, was reported earlier.  He was assitned to 1st Battalion, Iowa Army National Guard 168th Infantry Regiment, headquartered in Shenandoah.

About 80 troops with Iowa ties have died since 2003 in Iraq or Afghanistan, less than the toll in many other states, but still far too many.

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The religious right has been so busy this year in Iowa demonizing LGBT people and pursuing the holy war against same-sex marriage that abortion apparently has been moved to a back burner.

Perhaps that will change after Planned Parenthood of the Heartland's announcement yesterday, as reported in The Register, that it plans to open 12 new offices in Iowa and Nebraska during the next five years. The closest to Lucas County would be in Ottumwa, although it's not known yet if abortions would be offered there.

Most likely the emphasis won't change, however, since abortion is for the most part a heterosexual issue --- gay people seem actually to value their children, born and unborn --- so the big money's still in scapegoating based on sexual orientation. Sin is relative you know, based upon its fund-raising potential.

House File 657, which would ban abortions at the 20th week of pregnancy, still is alive in the Senate I believe, but its fate is unclear as the legislative session winds down. That bill does contain an exemption for cases where the mother's life is endangered, which is the only reason the huge majority of late-term abortions are performed in the first place, so it's really kind of a pointless piece of legislation.

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It occurred to me the other day that reinstating the death penaty in Iowa, usually a Republican favorite, hasn't come up this year (or if it did, I missed it). Perhaps authorizing huting seasons for mourning doves satisfied the GOP lust for blood.

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Finally, on a somewhat lighter note, Register columnist Kyle Munson has paid visits to Iowa's two smallest incorporated cities --- Le Roy, over northwest of Humeston in Decatur County; and Beaconsfield, out north of Kellerton in Ringgold County --- both in southern Iowa. Each has 15 residents according to census figures.

Here's a link to the story (temporary), which incorporates brief videos shot in both communities --- although you see far more of Munson than the little towns themselves.

I pass through Le Roy fairly often, but think I was last in Beaconsfield some years ago when HyVee, celebrating an anniversary, restored the small brick building there that was its first store. That building is now the community center.

Lucas County doesn't have any contenders, since its smallest places are unincorporated. Among those, I think a good case could be made for Purdy, in English Township, or if a single house doesn't count, for Norwood out in the northwestern part of the county.

Spring in Iowa City, Lynnville & Pella

We stopped Wednesday afternoon at the Dominie H.P. Scholte house in Pella to check out the progress of tulips in the public garden behind it.

About two months after we first decided to do it, Marilyn and I (with Betty riding shotgun) finally got around Wednesday to hand-delivering two rare Lucas County atlases, one from 1896 and the other, 1912, to University Libraries in Iowa City to be digitalized and conserved. It was a beautiful day; we stopped here and there to snoop on the way home; and the atlases themselves will follow us back to Chariton later this year.

When the project is complete, images of our maps will be available online as part of  the Iowa Maps Digital Collection, which can be accessed here. In return for sharing them, the University Libraries conservation department will build archival boxes for the two atlases, as well as making minor repairs.

Mary McInroy, head of the University Libraries Map Collection, very kindly spent a good deal of time with us and allowed us to snoop to our hearts content, so it was an interesting morning (for people who love maps).

What I did not do in Iowa City, although we poked around for a while, was take photos --- although it would have been a great day to do so. But the University of Iowa Campus, which because of where it was established and how it grew merges with downtown Iowa City, is not an especially friendly place for day-tripping tourists when classes are in session. Non-football weekends and summer-session months are better.

Established in 1847, the University moved into Iowa's first state capitol building, Old Capitol,  when lawmakers moved west to Des Moines soon after 1855. Old Capitol and the Pentacrest, containing four early University buildings in addition to the Capitol in a park-like setting, remain at the heart of the campus. But subsequent growth has involved swallowing old neighborhoods and sprawling on both sides of the Iowa River in a configuration I don't mind but that some find disconcerting. It is definately a place for pedestrians, however, not drivers.

I earned two degrees here, one pre- and the other post-Vietnam, and always plan to get back during a lull in the academic year to spend time just poking around again rather than flying in and out for a meeting or event --- if I ever get around to actually doing that, I'll take photos.

The pen is indeed mighty at the Iowa Department of Transportation rest area along Interstate 80's eastbound lanes just west of Iowa City.

Headed in along eastbound I-80, I did take a shot of the new rest area just west of Iowa City. Both the east-bound and west-bound rest areas here have educational themes because of their proximity to Iowa City, but I especially like east-bound, which focuses on writing. Probably because of the world-renowned University of Iowa Writers Workshop. Here, the pen really is mightier than the sword in a sculptural sense at least; and even the picnic pavilions feature huge panels pierced with the writing of various poets and writers. It's a cool place.

Wagaman Mill as seen from the footbridge across the North Skunk River.

Anyhow, we headed home after lunch, stopping first at the Wagaman Mill, dating from 1848 and located on the North Skunk River at the end of main street in the little Jasper County Quaker town of Lynnville and operated as a museum by the Lynnville Historical Society and the Jasper County Conservation Board.

We were there to take a look specifically at museum signage, but took a little time just to wander around and admire the river view.

The mill from the north side of the river.

The next stop was Pella, just to check out the progress of the tulips --- if all goes well most of the thousands upon thousands of carefully chosen tulips will burst into full bloom just in time for this year's Tulip Time, May 5-7, one of the nation's biggest festivals of Dutchness, and everything looked promising.

The Scholte House rambles along for almost half a block along the north side of the Pella town square.

I especially like the public garden behind the Scholte House --- the first part of which was built during 1847-48 as the home of Dominie H.P. Scholte, Pella's founder. Although a few early bulbs were out what was most evident around town, and in the Scholte garden, was potential.

Until the tulips come out, statuary is the principal attraction in the public garden near the Scholte House.

Tulip Time is a great event, but can be a little much if you're not into either wooden shoes or multitudes of people, so I'll probably head back up to Pella to admire the tulips in bloom a day or two before or after the festival itself.

The magnolias, including this one at the Scholte House, have burst into full bloom across southern Iowa this week.

After that, we finished up the last brief leg of the trip home through Knoxville, since the shortcut road across Red Rock Dam still is closed. I always think of Lucas County's second permanent settler, William McDermott, when headed home from Pella. That old boy, who planted his family first where Pella developed once the Dutch arrived, always said he moved on  south to Lucas County because all those Hollanders made him nervous. Quite frankly, they make me a little nervous, too --- all that righteousness represented by the 1st through the 37th Reformed Church --- but Pella is still a pretty town.