Emily Braden & her Chariton Polka

It's unlikely many have heard it performed, nor is the sheet music likely to turn up in an old piano bench, but there really is a "Chariton Polka" out there, composed during 1859 by Emily Braden, one of Chariton's most accomplished early musicians and exceptional early residents.

The Lucas County Historical Society's copy of the music turned up during the winter of 2010-11 as we sorted contents of a closet in the Stephens House where difficult-to-display items had been stored over the course of some 40 years. Our goal in doing the sort was to return these stored items to accessility by integrating displayable items into the collection and finding a more appropriate archivally-save environment for those items that because of their fragility cannot be on permanent display.

One of the items in that closet was a fragment of the September 1859 edition of Godey's Lady's Book in which Emily's "Chariton Polka" had been published. This fragment, originally in the Chariton Public Library collection, was passed on to the historical society by the library during the 1970s.

Because of the way that fragment is bound, I couldn't safely scan the entire polka, but you can see the opening bars of the piece here.

Godey's Lady's Book was published monthly for 48 years, from 1830 to 1878, by Louis A Godey of Philadelphia. By 1859, when this copy of the September issue arrived in Chariton, there were 40,000 subscribers across the United States. Aimed especially at women, it contained poetry, articles, music, engravings and fashion news produced in large part by prominent writers and other artists of the time. But reader submissions --- including Emily's polka --- were welcomed, too, and often published.

The composer, nee Emily Waterhouse, was born Oct. 2, 1837, in London and received there and in France what would have been considered then an exceptional education. She was the eldest daughter of George Waterhouse, a prosperous watch- and clock-maker, and Massey Gosden, his wife.

When the 1851 census of England was taken, the Waterhouse family was living in Clock House, Cranford, Middlesex.

Emily came with her family from England to Dubuque County, Iowa, in 1852, but her father died soon after. She married in Dubuque County on Dec. 10, 1855, Joseph Braden, of Chariton, also a native of London.

Joseph (left) had arrived in Chariton from Dubuque during 1853 as an employee of the U.S. Land Office, which had been moved west from Fairfiled during that year. He had emigrated from London to Dubuque during 1851 and gone to work as clerk and bookkeeper for Thomas Hart Benton Jr., then Iowa's superintendent of public instruction, but had moved quickly to the employ of the U.S. Land Office.

Once located in Chariton, Joseph returned to Dubuque County to marry Emily and the couple immediately settled together in Chariton. Joseph continued his employment with the land office until 1858, when all of Iowa's district land offices were consolidated in Des Moines. He then went on to become one of Lucas County's leading businessmen and public figures, principally known as a banker. Chariton's Braden Avenue is named after Joseph and Emily as is the Braden Subdivision.

The Bradens had no children of their own, but raised as their own daughter a niece, also named Emily and also born in London --- to Joseph's brother, George, and his wife, both of whom apparently died when Emily was a child. Emily Jr. married at Chariton Howard Culbertson, and they had several children.

Joseph Braden died during 1906, but Emily lived on until Jan. 22, 1922, when she died at the home of her niece, Emily (Braden) Culbertson, in Chariton and was buried beside her husband in the Chariton Cemetery.

Here's a portion of Emily's obituary, published in The Chariton Leader of Jan. 26, 1922, which gives some idea of talents, outlook and nature:

"Mrs. Braden was a woman of refinement, talent and keen intellect. Her educational training enabled her to come in contact with the best in life. Among her accomplishments was that of composing poetry and music, much of which was published, but some of her best work she would not allow to be published, preferring to keep it for her friends. Her best productions flowed from her pen and her heart after the death of her mother (in 1877) for whom she had a devoted love.

"Her long and alert life witnessed the coming and going of firm friends who were attracted to her by her sympathetic understanding, her wholesome wit, her intellectual insight and her ability to help in every time of need.

"She is among the few surviving early citizens of Chariton and the community who were active in formulating the contructive plans and policies of the city. Being such a worthy helpmate to her illustrious husband, she was enabled to make her life count effectively in all that was good for the upbuilding of her home community.

"She was a longtime member of the Historical Society of Chariton. Up until the time of her marriage she was a member of the Episcopal church, but since that time has been a faithful and energetic member of the First Presbyterian church, of which she was a member at the time of her death.

"For several years she was the efficient organist of the church, composing much of the organ music herself. She also taught a Sabbath school class for years and in every way walked hand in hand with her husband in church activity. When the cornerstone of the present edifice was laid, one of her poems written for the occasion entitled, 'From the Land of the Dead to the Land of the Living,' was placed by the stone."

My inner racist and me ....

The Register has an interesting centerpiece this morning, headlined "Iowa's black college students: We don't feel welcome." It's worth a read (and watch the videos, too).

Such stories always interest me, in part because of my inner racist --- and he's come to the fore more during the last few years when I've lived full-time in Chariton, so white it can hurt your eyes sometimes.

My inner racist is not violent, prejudiced or in any sense hostile --- just annoying. Here's how he works: I spot the rare person of color at the grocery store, on the square or elsewhere and my inner racist says to myself, "Wow --- it's a black guy (or girl)." And I stare. I start wondering how he or she came to be here and worrying that some redneck south-of-Iowan might have said or done something offensive --- or will.

Some guy in an old pickup plastered with Confederate flags pulled up beside me at Casey's on Court the other day, after all --- and there's another guy some blocks to the northwest who has a giant Confederate flag plastered all over the side of his pull-behind trailer. Golly, hope they stay out of sight.

Then I come to my senses and say to my inner self, "knock it off" --- stop staring (golly, that must be annoying --- if you're the one being stared at) and move along.

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After reading the Register piece, I did what any sensible person would --- went to "Yahoo Answers" and asked, "Is Iowa racist?"

The "best answer" --- the biggest number had favored it, as you might expect --- was, "not really." And that's maybe true, as far as it goes.

But the answer that resonated with me included the following: It's "kinda like 'OMG, whats he doing here?' or 'Is that a black guy? I've never seen one up close before.' Are all Iowans that way? NO! Are there more racists there than many other states? YES! Are they violently racist or vindictive? NO! Just mostly ignorant." 

Ouch!

Poor old, sad old man ...

It's kind of hard not to feel a pang of sympathy for Iowa's senior U.S. senator, Chuck Grassley, who currently chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee. We're all getting older, and are afraid sometimes.

Grassley, now 82, never has been eloquent, innovative or especially memorable. But he's been dutiful --- making the rounds of all 99 counties year after year since 1981, when he took office. Unlike many other senators of both parties, he's rarely missed a roll call vote. Occasionally, he's perked up --- usually when he sensed that taxpayer funds were being misspent. 

The role of fiscal watchdog has suited him. And his mediocrity has seemed suited somehow to a state that relishes mediocrity.

Now, as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he's apparently decided to settle the issue of how he'll be best remembered --- by blocking a hearing on any nomination President Obama might make to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Antonin Scalia. 

The rule of constitutional law, and precedent, requires that sitting presidents nominate justices when a vacancy occurs, then the Senate considers that nomination and votes it up or down. The fact that a president is or isn't in the final year of his term is of no consequence. And since the Senate has the ultimate say, it remains in the driver's seat.

Grassley probably is feeling a little sheepish about placing partisan loyalty to further an obstructionist agenda before his constitutional responsibility --- even though he says otherwise, telling reporters he doesn't care how history views him. I doubt that.

But this is what he's been told to do and that's how he'll be remembered. Eighty-two years needn't weigh that heavily --- I know some who are remarkably "young" at that age. But not Grassley, poor old, sad old man.

How to buy a Lucas County farm, 1846-1858

Joseph Braden

Say you want to buy a Lucas County farm this spring, having deep pockets or the promise of alternate financing lined up. Chances are, you'll see it advertised somewhere and contact a Realtor, who with his or her staff will handle many of the time-consuming details for you. When you go out to take a look at the property, its boundaries will be clearly marked. Somewhere, there will be an abstract recording all previous transactions involving the land, commencing with the original patent. If you've got the cash, it's relatively smooth sailing.

That was not the case for pioneer Lucas Countyans, arriving on horseback or by wagon --- often with their families --- during the decade after settlement commenced in 1846. In fact, the survey of the county wasn't completed until late fall, 1847, and it was 1848 before land could be purchased. The nearest land office at the time was in Fairfield, where doors had opened during 1842.

Life got a whole lot easier during February of 1853, when the federal land office serving the southern district of Iowa was moved west to Chariton. Joseph Braden, a young man of 22, born in England and a former resident of Dubuque, arrived with the land office and went to work as clerk. He remained an employee of the office until 1858, when all of Iowa's district land offices were consolidated in Des Moines. By that time, he was registrar --- head of the office.

After that, Joseph went into business in Chariton and by 1897 was one of the city's most highly revered pioneers. Called upon to address the Sept. 7, 1897, gathering of Lucas County's Old Settlers Association, he covered many topics --- including the daunting task our ancestors faced when they set about purchasing for $1.25 an acre all the land they could afford, perhaps even a bit more. Here's a portion of his address, published in The Chariton Patriot of Sept. 16, 1897:

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"In the year 1848 at the time the first purchase in Lucas county was made, all land in the county was subject to sale at $1.25 per acre payable in gold, or subject to location with U.S. Land Warrants. No limit was made by the government as to the number of acres any one person could purchase. The only limit was the size of one's purse.

"These land warrants, seldom seen now-a-days, were issued by the government to old soldiers, and were transferable under regulations of the U.S. Land Commissioner on location. At the local or district land office, the locator, soldier or assignee paid a fee of one dollar for every forty acres located, as a compensation to the Register and Receiver of the land office. Most of these land warrants were purchased of the ex-soldier by speculators, and the warrants duly assigned in blank had a regular market price or value. In 1851, when I first saw the state of Iowa, to 1858, the price ranged from 85 cents to $1.00 per acre.

"the would-be settler seeking a home for his family, travelling over the western prairies on wagon with wife and family and all his belongings, on finding a location contiguous to timber with good water and fertile soil --- the spot he desired to own --- set himself to work in order to "know where he was at" by hunting corners fixed by the government surveyors. When he had found a corner (he could set about ascertaining) the number of the township and the range, the number of the section, and the part of the section he desired (and remember this was no light task, no near neighbors to give him the information and show him the corners; the stakes, many of them, indicating the corners, had been destroyed by the prairie fires which used to sweep with terrific violence over all these prairies every year)."

Here is the original survey map of English Township. John Ball and his party surveyed the township lines during November of 1846; John W. Webber and his party, the township subdivisions during November of 1847. The corners of townships, sections and quarter-sections were marked by the survey party with "monuments," usually wooden stakes.

"Having found the description of his claim, the next thing for him to learn was whether it was still vacant land or had already been sold by the government. This necessitated a journey to the local land office; then, when the first purchase was made, at Fairfield (in 1853, the Fairfield district was divided, and an office located at Chariton). Not much of a trip nowadays to Fairfield; you can step on board the train in the morning after breakfast and return again in the evening before supper. At that time, Fairfield was a good deal farther off than now; then the trip had to be made on horseback, with bad roads, consisting merely of trails, perhaps high water and no bridges, occupying several days.

"Usually, in the 50s, the settler would take with him the numbers of several quarters (quarter-sections of land) in case he found the first choice entered.

"Whilst the whole state of Iowa is honey-combed (today) with organizations called clubs, clubs formed for almost every conceivable purpose, political, religious, business, temperance, anti-temperance, for the improvement of the mind, for the improvement of the body, and for recreation; for the formation of clubs there is no end.

"It is well to remember that the first club organized in Lucas county was in about the year 1848. Not many members at its formation, with no written or printed constitution and by-laws, yet every member, and every actual settler was a member of this club, was thoroughly posted as to its power and its laws. It was organized for the purpose of securing him in the possession of his homestead. These early settlers, not overstocked with money, would make improvements on their claims to the best of their ability, and rely on their club to prevent their claims from being jumped, and woe betide any stranger that might be seen prowling around hunting section corners anywhere in their vicinity.

"At that time there was a United States law especially for the benefit of those settlers who had not the ready cash to pay down for their land, known as the pre-emption law. Under its provisions the settler was required within thirty days of the time he had commenced improving his land, to file a notice at the land office giving a description, that is the number (i.e., township, range, section, subdivision of section) of land claimed. He then was allowed twelve months to perfect his purchase. If at the expiration of that time he could prove by credible witnesses that he had built him a house on the claim and was living in it, he was allowed to enter (and pay for) the land.

"The pre-emption claim being filed at the land office did not preclude the land from being located by other parties, but if so located the location was subject to the (original) claim. Should two parties at the same time apply for the same piece of land it was put up at auction to the highest bidder of the two.

"In 1854, 1855 and 1856 it was no uncommon thing for this to occur; men would be seen racing into town on horseback, their horses turned loose, no danger of them running away as they would be completely fagged out, and the riders would rush for the office door for the coveted 80 or 160. 

"In those years, 1854, 1855 and 1856, there were a great many strangers from the different states hunting good quarters of land for settlement by their sons at some future day, or for speculation. Sometimes they would select some quarter section that someone in the neighborhood had coveted with a wistful eye, but was not ready to purchase. When the stranger had departed for the land office with the numbers secure in his pocket to purchase, the other would take his axe and in the presence of a witness cut four logs --- they were always called logs but frequently were logs in miniature --- and lay them across one another on the land and call it the foundation of a house and then make his way leisurely to the office and file his claim; if he had cut those logs before the stranger had entered the land his claim was good, providing he perfected it inside of twelve months. If the stranger had not left the town a compromise between them generally would be effected. If he had left town, his entry would be in jeopardy for twelve months, and if at the end of the twelve months the pre-emptor determined to prove his claim, he gave notice at the office of the time, and the officers notified the purchaser so that he might, if he chose, contest the claim.

"In all my experience I do not remember a claim under the pre-emption law to be rejected by the land officers; it always proved good as against the speculator, as all outsiders were termed those days. 

"Sometimes I must confess that if some of the claimants under the law had been subjected to a rigid cross-examination, the improvements they claimed to have made would have turned out to be extremely flimsy. The questions asked by the land officers were stereotyped questions, easily answered. I quite remember one occasion involving a claimant and it will give you an idea of how this might go. I thought I would have some fun, so I said to him: "Say my friend, how about that house of yours having a good solid floor as your witness testified?"

" 'Why of course it had a floor; that fool of a lawyer never asked me what the floor was made of, it has a good solid floor of earth.'

" 'But what about it having a door?'

" 'Why of course it has a door; how could one get in the house if there was not a door. The blamed fool never asked us if there was a shutter to the door, did he?'

" 'But you testified that there was glass in the window.'

" 'Well now friend, I was a little staggered for a moment about the glass, but remembered that Jim here had stuck the neck of a whiskey bottle in a knot hole, and was not that glass?' He had complied with the letter of the law and got his quarter section.

"Sometimes the settler who perhaps had already received the benefit of the law and reached out for another forty joining him, or did not want to bother himself to comply with the provisions of the law, and not having the ready money to purchase the coveted forty acres or quarter section, as the case may be, would "enter his land on time," as it was termed.

"He would give the numbers to a land agent who would enter the land in his (the agent's) name and give a bond for a deed, payable in one year at an advance of forty per cent over costs, pretty high rate of interest we would say today, but it was the regular interest at that time on most money transactions, although not the legal rate. A great deal of land was entered in this way, and land was in such brisk demand that the agent would just as soon as not that the bond should be forfeited and the land fall to him. By the year 1858, the demand for land had fallen off and was a drug on the market."

Lucas County, Johnny Green and the Potawatomi

Find A Grave photo by "Thoran"

I'm always intrigued by reports of encounters between Lucas County's first land-hungry white settlers and groups of native Americans who still camped and hunted here during the early days --- from the late 1840s through the Civil War.

Most of these were Prairie Band Potawatomi, some of whom returned from Kansas to hunt long after they had been evicted officially, others who had never left and never would. Johnny Green, or Che-Meuse, was perhaps the most widely known leader of one of these bands, numbering at times a couple of hundred people.

Joseph Braden, who arrived in Chariton during 1853 to work in the land office that had just been moved west from Fairfield, provided one of the most detailed descriptions of encounters with the Potawatomi  during an address before members of the Lucas County Old Settlers Association on Sept. 7, 1897. Here it is, as published in The Patriot of Sept. 9:

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"Among the early settlers of this county --- I take that back. Among the early inhabitants of this county, for those I speak of seldom settle anywhere unless permanently located by some of Uncle Sam's sharp shooters.

"Some of you remember them: Mr. 'Lo,' the poor Indian and his family. A tribe of Pottawattamie Indians, with their chiefs, Johnny Green and Wes-haw-we, frequently made their camp on the banks of the Chariton river and whilst their wives, for some of them were very much married, would be busy attending to the culinary department and their numerous household duties in their wigwams, the braves would pay us frequent visits in Chariton during their leisure moments.

"It was nothing uncommon in the dusk of the evening for ladies sitting at their ease alone in their homes, to see a dark shadow obscure the light from the window, looking to discover the cause, would find one, two or three of these stalwart, dusky Indians, hideously painted, peering through the window with their noses flattened against the glass --- not a very pretty picture in a glass frame. They, however, were always peaceable and would soon leave ....

"One of our citizens commenting on this rather disagreeable habit they had of peering through windows, said, 'What were windows made for anyway? One would be foolish to knock at the door unless he had first seen that there was someone in the house to answer the knock.'

"The young braves, boys, frequently gave us exhibitions of their skill with the bow and arrows. My knowledge of Indians had been derived from reading Cooper's novels, and from them I had gathered that they were extremely taciturn, their facial muscles being so formed that it was impossible for them to smile, therefore were never known to laugh. But one of the heartiest laughs I ever heard emanated from some six or seven Indian boys, ranging from 15 to 20 years old, who marching around the square in the customary Indian file, stopped in front of a store gazing in astonishment at a large pet squirrel in a cage. They no doubt had seen many squirrels as large and fat as this one, but this squirrel was in a revolving cage, and to see a squirrel running with all his might and not make any progress, was too much for their risibilities and they, looking at the squirrel and then at one another, broke out with roars of laughter regardless of the bystanders, as they stood watching its motions I should judge for ten or fifteen minutes.

"The full grown braves frequently edified us by giving a regular war dance on the public square, attired in their full regalia, war paint and feathers, simply this and nothing more.

"These two chiefs whom I have named bought of the United States eighty acres of land in Decatur county, paying therefor one hundred dollars in gold, in the year 1855. After this purchase their visits became more infrequent and finally they left this part of the state for the Northwest. All the petty stealing and all the cattle that strayed away from home within a radius of thirty miles of this eighty-acre tract, was laid to their charge, and these noble red men left rather ignobly."

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Braden would have been working in the land office in Chariton when that purchase was made and most likely remembered it, but stories from other areas of southern Iowa locate the 80-acre tract in Ringgold County rather than Decatur.

According to local lore there, the Potawatomi band's departure was related only indirectly to relations with white neighbors. Green may have looked upon to the newly purchased land as something of a home base, but these were not settled people and soon after the purchase he moved to camp elsewhere. 

Upon returning to Ringgold County after perhaps three years, Green was puzzled to discover others living on his property. No one had told him about property taxes --- and during his absence, the land had been sold for back-taxes. Rather than make a fuss, Green and his group moved on.

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There are a number of other accounts of Green and his people elsewhere in southwest and central Iowa, most notably in Marshall County, where he is considered something of a hero for coming to the aid of white settlers when they felt threatened by more aggressive Sioux. Another favored camp site reportedly was in Union County, between the current sites of Creston and Afton.

There was an affinity, too, between the Green band of Potawatomi and the Meskwaki, some of whom had never left Iowa and who during 1857 purchased the land in Tama County that forms the nucleus of the current Meskwaki Settlement. 

Green himself died during December of 1868 in the vicinity of Marshalltown and was buried on a bluff overlooking the Iowa River on what now are the grounds of the Iowa Veterans Home. I swiped the Find A Grave photo of the marker erected there early in the 20th century to mark the approximate site.

The remnants of the Green band reportedly were integrated into the Meskwaki settlement --- and many believe that family members removed Johnny Green's remains from their original place of burial at Marshalltown to the Meskwaki Settlement cemetery.

Green's tribal affiliation is a little vague, too. Although his band was described as Potawatomi, Lance Foster in his recent "The Indians of Iowa," describes him as Ojibwa by birth. Other suggest that one of his parents may have been Meskwaki.

Whatever the case, there is no doubt that a number of Potawatomi groups interacted with Lucas County's early white settlers and there are other less detailed stories set along White Breast, English and Cedar creeks. Maybe one day I'll pull these together.

The highs and the lows of museum renovation

Nash Cox

I'm generally not very optimistic when it comes to calculating how long complicated projects are going to take, but so far have been pleasantly surprised at how smoothly work in the Lewis Gallery and library in the Lucas County Historical Society's big John L. Lewis Building has gone. We're repainting and recarpeting both of those rooms, then will add four new display cases in the military section as the collection is moved back in.

All of this is made possible by a grant from the Vredenburg Foundation, named in honor of the late Dwight and Ruth Vredenburg (the "Vee" in Hy-Vee), longtime friends of the society and everything else in Chariton.

Nash Cox and Bob Ulrich

It's amazing what a core crew of hard-working board and staff members can accomplish, including Kay Brown, Kathleen Dittmer, Karoline Dittmer, Kylie Dittmer, Nash Cox, Jim Secor and Bob Ulrich (I was there, too) with assistance from others when their schedules permitted.

The first huge job was removing thousands of items to storage elsewhere --- without breaking anything. That took only a couple of days.

The Lewis Gallery and the library are on the upper floor of the oldest part of the Lewis Building, completed in 1976. Additional wings have been added since and the Lewis now contains, in addition to those two areas, the commons room, museum office, restrooms and three other, larger galleries. The red carpet, which I'm sure seemed like a good idea at the time, has been in place since 1976.

We had the first of three paint sessions yesterday --- all the walls got one coat and a couple of walls, two. We'll be back Thursday to finish the second coat and work in the storeroom, where Jim had to do some work on the drywall. Then finish that phase of the project next Tuesday. 

On the Thursday and Friday following, our friends from Interiors & More will be there to remove and replace half the carpeting, then return on the Monday and Tuesday after that to finish up. As this work goes forward, picture rail will go up and after the carpet is down, new baseboard will be installed. Then we'll have about two and a half months to redeploy the artifacts that belong in these areas before opening for the season.

Nash arrived yesterday with drywall stilts (top), which meant that he got the challenging job of working high up. These work wonderfully, as long as you're agile, have good balance and don't need an item lying on the floor when there's no one in the room to hand it to you. He'll also be painting the ceiling molding --- probably the only person in the room capable of doing this neatly.

Jim Secor

Some items in these rooms are just too large to remove, so we're working around the wonderful secretary that came to us from Dr. David O. and Harriett (Copeland) Holman when they sold her  grand old family home in east Chariton and moved to Arizona a good many years ago. Two huge vintage cases in the military section also were a challenge.

But --- we discovered the miracle of inexpensive "sliders" that slip under heavy pieces of furniture and allow them to be moved around by a couple of people with relatively little effort.

Anyhow, this is what we've been up to at the museum this winter --- and look forward to showing off the results during an open house in June.

Karoline Dittmer

Buddy, can ya spare five bucks?

 

This is the Lucas County Historical Society membership letter that went out last week, just in case you missed it. Our membership year runs from April 1 (with the annual meeting on April 18 this year) through March 31 and this is the opening round of the 2016-17 membership campaign.

Dues remain at $5 per person per year, which doesn't seem like much --- but every little bit helps pay the bills and, we think, is a good investment in the effort to conserve, collect, interpret and present Lucas County's history.

If you didn't receive a letter, feel free to write a check payable to Lucas County Historical Society and mail it to P.O. Box 807, Chariton, IA 50049. If you received a letter, a return envelope was enclosed.

And even if you can't spare 5 bucks, please take a look at the letter to learn more about the society, its campus and some of our activities.

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Speaking of the historical society, we're set to begin painting today in the Lewis Gallery and the Library, which fill the top floor of the 1976 wing of the Lewis Building (this building was built in three stages and contains four galleries on two levels, the library, the commons room, restrooms and office).

These two areas are being redecorated and realigned with a major boost from a Vredenburg Foundation grant. All the walls will get fresh coats of paint, a picture rail will be installed around the tops of both rooms and the original 1976 carpet --- a dark red and black figured design that must have seemed like a good idea at the time --- replaced with something far lighter and of an industrial grade.

It's a huge undertaking --- try moving a jam-packed museum sometime and let me know how it goes. With the exception of a few larger pieces that will have to be moved around as carpet goes down, everything already has been removed to the commons room or elsewhere by volunteers and is stacked to the ceiling.

So the great painting project will begin today. Once that's done, the old carpet will come out and the new carpet will go in, then the museum displays will be reinstalled --- hopefully by May 1.

There will be some realignment, especially in the military section where four new display cases will be installed, again thanks to the Vredenburg Foundation. One of these cases has arrived, but the other three will not be coming in until May just because we have no place to put them until the Lewis Gallery is ready for use again.

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As if that weren't enough, we're deep-cleaning the public areas of the 1911 Stephens House, too --- thanks to Kathleen and Karoline; and Marilyn and her crew continue to work at the seemingly endless task of pairing thousands and thousands of entries in our computer-based cataloging system with images of the artifacts.

Ordinarily we like to say you're always welcome at the museum, but this probably isn't the best time to plan an off-season visit. Unless you'd like to help. In that case, put on some old clothes and come on out!

Chariton's first "model home"

Many Chariton homes have both personalities --- and interesting stories behind them. This well-maintained but modest structure at 511 East Orchard Avenue, now on the market via Chariton Iowa Realty, is no exception. 

Built during 1940, this was Chariton's first "model home," opening round in Kenneth E. Threlkeld's effort to jump start the city's sluggish --- for practical purposes non-existent --- new housing market. It also was home for some years to Threlkeld, his wife, Lucylle, and their daughter, Mary Ann.

"An example of what can be accomplished in low-cost home ownership will be shown to the public when Chariton's first model home will be opened for inspection next Sunday, July 14," The Chariton Leader announced in a prominent front-page story in its edition of July 9, 1940.

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To understand what was going on here, it's useful to know more about both Threlkeld and the impact of the Great Depression on the housing market nationwide.

He was born during 1909 on the Threlkeld family farm east of Chariton and after graduating from Chariton High School and Chariton Junior College when on to study at the University of Nebraska, where he met and married Lucylle Winkler, a Kansas girl, in 1930. 

Back home in Chariton, he founded during 1936 the Kenneth Threlkeld Insurance Agency and, two years later, the Central Savings & Loan Association, authorized to serve residents of eight south central Iowa counties. Prior to his untimely death at age 61 during 1970, Threlkeld had built the latter into a multi-million-dollar enterprise.

Savings and Loan associations were springing up rapidly during the 1930s to take advantage of low-cost funding for mortgage lending available through the Federal Home Loan Bank, established in 1932 to shift the mortgage business from insurance companies to banks and to encourage home ownership in a devastated economy. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) came along in 1934 to underwrite and insure loans for new home building.

While lenders in other communities were taking advantage of these new funding sources, that apparently was not the case in Chariton where few new houses were being built. The Chariton newspapers scolded about this lag as the decade ended and Threlkeld seems to have been among the first to act.

He commissioned this home, intentionally modest but incorporating all the latest amenities, to whet the appetite for new housing and to show what could be accomplished.

Dean Ferguson was the contractor, Central Savings & Loan sponsored the open house and various other Chariton businesses furnished and decorated the interior. It opened to the public on Sunday, July 14, and remained open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. through Sunday, July 21. More than 3,500 Lucas Countyans trooped through, according to newspaper reports.

After that, the Threlkelds moved in with their own belongings.

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The house was described as being "of the early American type" and featured six rooms (including bath), a detached one-car garage and a basement, where the forced-air furnace and laundry were located. The area under the roof was unfinished, but there was sufficient head room there for additional small bedrooms if a later owner cared to create them.

Here's part of the description, as published in The Leader on July 9:

The kitchen is 8x15 with a built-in unit on one side giving working space, cupboards, etc., and with space for the refrigerator and stove. The sink and drain board joins with windows above the sink. In one end of the kitchen is space for a breakfast nook.

The large bay window (is a feature of) the dining room, which measures 8 1/2 by 10 1/2 feet. One side is made up of a Welsh cupboard while the finishing is distinctive. Finished in knotty pine stained white the knots were rubbed out to natural color and waxed. The ceiling is grooved wood painted a bright pale blue and a scalloped molding completes the effect.

The fireplace dominates the living room which is 12x20 feet. A 6-foot arch connects with the dining room and two walls are finished in knotty pine. A large double window and built-in bookcases complete the picture. The fireplace and mantel are 6 feet wide.

In the west end of the living room, which faces the south, is a small arch with a back panel of knotty pine. The arch leads into a hall which contains a built-in broom closet with storage space above, a linen closet and a clothes chute.

A new type of synthetic tile was used to cover the lower half of the walls in the bathroom. A full recessed tub with shower and lavatory and toilet to match make up the plumbing equipment. In one corner is a powder nook. This room is 6x8 feet.

The north bedroom measures 11x12 feet. The walls are papered in this room and the closet is papered in cedar paper. The south bedroom is slightly larger, measuring 11x15 feet and the closet is 2 feet 6 inches by 5 feet, also slightly larger than the one in the north room; it also is papered and cedar paper is used in the closet which has a small window. The ceiling in the south room is of grooved wood (with) scalloped molding similar to that used in the dining room.

The entire house is cross ventilated with large windows on two sides in each of the larger rooms. 

When you visit the home be sure to note the light fixtures and the hardware. It all harmonizes with the period of the home, early American. The entire house is insulated, both the sidewalls and the ceiling. Windows are of a new design and further enhance the colonial spirit. They are completely weatherstripped and work on a spiral operating inside a tube which eliminates any type of stop, etc.

Interior decoration is light and airy. Colors used in the papers and paints all blend as the visitor proceeds from one room to the next and yet there is contrast and surprise in each room because no two are finished in the same manner, making the home thoroughly "livable" and very unique in design and arrangement.

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The Threlkelds lived in this home into the 1950s, but were living elsewhere when they began to divide their time between Monterey, California, and Chariton, maintaining homes in both places. Their final home in Chariton was sold during the spring of 1970 and Kenneth Threlkeld died of a heart attack on May 17 of that year in Monterey. Lucylle Threlkeld died in Monterey during June of 2001. Both are buried in the Chariton Cemetery.

Their 1940 home seems to have held up well, although the single garage has been taken down and a large new garage that opens on the alley to the north constructed. A substantial deck also has been added to the rear of the home.

If you're curious about what the interior looks like today, there are a few small photos here, at the Chariton Iowa Realty listing.

A lake by any other name ...

There was considerable excitement in Chariton during 1905 when after a frustrating 40-year wait for a reliable water supply, the C.B.&Q. Railroad took matters into its own hands, purchased land just west of town and built a big reservoir --- a mile and a half long, a quarter mile wide in some places, covering 85 acres and impounding an estimated 250,000 gallons of water.

It took the latest in excavating equipment and a crew averaging 45 men and 23 teams three months to build. Work commenced on August 25 and was completed on November 17. By the summer of 1906, Lucas County had its first lake --- the largest body of water for miles around. Most, at the time, called it the "Q Reservoir" or the "Railroad Lake." A pumping station along its shoreline propelled water to a tower in the C.B.&Q. railyards northwest of the square to supply steam-powered locomotives.

Today, although we sometimes call it Country Club Lake or West Lake, it's officially Crystal Lake, a name applied during March of 1910 by the Chariton Gun Club, by this time lease-holder for railroad property around the lake as well as the recreational rights to its water.

I wish I could date this photo taken along Crystal Lake's east shoreline more precisely, but can only guess at ca. 1915. Someone who can identify by year the magnificent automobile parked between the concession stand and changing cubicles might be able to do better. These buildings, along with the dock and benches, were among the Gun Club's early improvements to the property.

Today, Lakeview Golf & Country Club --- current owners of the lake and the land surrounding it --- occupies the area south and west of the lake. Houses, many of them quite grand, sit on leased ground along both the northwest and eastern shoreline.

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The Q Reservoir, as soon as it filled, became a destination for nearly everyone, depending upon season --- swimmers, boaters, anglers after a year or two, hunters in the fall, even preachers scouting for a site to baptize converts by immersion. But this free-for-all was short-lived.

During 1908, the railroad leased the entire property (other than water and ice rights) for $300 annually to a neighboring farmer, E.E. Carroll, for grazing and hay. He announced promptly that trespassers would be prosecuted, locked the gates on access roads and published menacing notices in the Chariton newspapers.

There was a good deal of consternation about this and several groups in Chariton began to develop strategies that would allow controlled public access. During September of 1908, some 25 men organized the Chariton Gun Club and leased for $150 from Carroll recreational rights to lake waters and four rods (66 feet) of shoreline all the way around it as well as four acres where improvements were planned.

The Gun Club's first officers were H.J. Engebretsen, president; W.R. Briles, secretary; Elmer L. Gookin, treasurer; and L.B. Bartholomew, J.C. Flatt, J.W. Kridelbaugh, D.Q. Storie Jr., Dr. J.A. Bown and C.E. Noble, directors. The club was incorporated and immediate plans made to stock the lake with game fish.

The men enjoyed hunting at the lake that fall and, in the spring, "bath houses" were built --- but this was not a match made in heaven. Part of the agreement with Carroll was that his cattle would not be allowed to stand in or drink from the lake or to graze on shoreline leased by the club. No one had told the cattle this --- and the shoreline was not fenced. One thing led to another and Carroll locked the gates, claiming that the Gun Club's lease did not necessarily include access rights.

During August of 1908, the Gun Club took Mr. Carroll to court and obtained an injunction against his errant cattle, ordering them not to roam on land leased to the club or stand in or drink from the lake. The judge also ordered Carroll to allow Gun Club members access via two lanes and to work out ways to divide club and grazing lands with fences.

This uneasy arrangement continued until 1910, when the Carroll lease expired and the Gun Club leased the lake and its surrounding land directly from the railroad. The Chariton Herald was able to report in its issue of March 17, 1910, that: "The Gun Club is getting ready for the season at the railroad lake west of town, and the lake has been formally christened 'Crystal Lake.' the fish in the lake will be of good size this year, and much enjoyment is also expected from the bathing and boating, after the season arrives for those sports."

Dancing in the sky on top of the courthouse

I'm speculating this morning about how Lucas County's insurance provider would react if Larry, Steve or Dennis --- aka the supervisors --- called up and said, "Hey, we've told the Fourth of July Committee it can put a 100-foot pole on the courthouse roof and send two acrobats up on it to dance around; just thought you should know."

Those big companies can be so petty these days about liability concerns.

That apparently was not the case in 1940, when Tom and Betty Forrest, aka the "Sky Dancers," did indeed erect a 100-foot pole --- more of a light-weight ladder, actually --- on top of the courthouse, secure it with guy wires and at 2 and 9 p.m. on Thursday, July 4, climb to the top to dazzle a crowd of thousands gathered in the square below.

Lloyd Moore, who over the course of the years took many photographs for the Chariton newspapers in addition to being a pioneer in other fields, was on hand to capture the moment --- the first photographs here were published in The Chariton Leader of July 9, 1940. These versions are from the Lucas County Historical Society collection.

Water fights between the Chariton Volunteer Fire Department and departments from Russell and Williamson followed the Forrests' first performance, at 4 p.m. --- Chariton and Williamson were facing each other when the second photograph was taken.

The Leader estimated that the crowd in Chariton that day for the Fourth totaled about 12,500 --- the biggest ever assembled, although crowds during World War II would meet and exceed it. Cars were parked to the edge of town.

The entertainment featured a carnival midway, located on the north and east sides of the square, multiple performances by the Junior American Legion Band, races, a speech by Berry Halden whose topic was "Americanism," stage acts, boxing and, of course, fireworks after the second sky dancing performance. Sponsor for the event was Carl L. Caviness Post No. 102, American Legion.

"Greatest single assembly of merrymakers was at East Park during the colorful fireworks display at night," The Leader reported. "It was impossible to even estimate the number that jammed the park to watch the Legion Junior Band drill and see that part of the program.

"Despite a hot afternoon sun, the night was cool and the evening crowd was much larger than that during the day program. Everyone appeared to have a good time and estimates of the cold drinks, food, ice cream, beer, etc., consumed are tremendous. Places dispensing those refreshments were crowded all day, one firm selling 252 pounds of hamburger alone, or enough for 2,700 sandwiches."

The other photos here show the west side of the square as it looked in 1940, before post-World War II owners began remodeling their buildings in an effort to give them a "modern" look. Note the elaborate cast-metal cornices still in place on the three buildings at the south end of the block and the fact that the Manning & Penick Building, just north of the alley, still had a front rather than the bland wall of brick we've become accustomed to. So far as architectural integrity was concerned, 1940 was a banner year for the square, too.

Under construction (on the west side)

Anyone who has spent time uptown this winter has been aware of the facade improvement project aimed at renewing and restoring so far as possible or practical the fronts of vintage buildings in Chariton's Courthouse Square National Historic District.

The project will continue into summer, but because incremental work has been in progress throughout the district since last fall, it's sometimes difficult to remember just how much already has been accomplished. Here are some photos taken Thursday on the west side.

Earlier this week, the sidewalk-level canopy on the 1904 Hollinger & Larimer building (top), now occupied by Chariton Vision Center, came down so that work on the lower facade could begin. Earlier, upper level windows --- blinded for decades by wooden inserts --- opened their eyes again when restored windows were installed across the front. Work continues on north-side windows. Just in case you've forgotten how the building looked a year ago, here it is:

Farther down, the Stanton Building --- now Johansen Plumbing & Heating --- still features a good deal of plywood. Upper-level openings have been boarded so that the windows behind them could be taken out and restored. The long panel of plywood at the first-floor level covers the area from which prism glass was removed several weeks ago for restoration. It's ready to be reinstalled, according to workers, but the metal and glass storefront below it will be removed and a new front built before that happens.

The angled front you see now will be removed and the basement entrance to the left eliminated. It will be replaced with a central-entry front similar to what was here in 1915, when the new Richardson Romanesque stone facade was added to the original 1867 brick building behind it.

Next-door, work on the street-level facade of The Office turned up a surprise --- an earlier sign that had advertised the business. This will be replaced as the project advances, so enjoy a blast from the past while you can.

Upper-level brickwork on this this building --- repair and repointing --- already has taken place and windows have been replaced. The Office occupies the north half of what was known as the Exchange Block when it was built in 1883 (the south half of the block is not included in the facade program). Originally, the block was topped by an elaborate cast-metal cornice, long since destroyed, and the windows were much taller, evident from the brick fill above the current windows.

Keep in mind that the glaring white of new window frames will blend into completed projects when painted. Most building owners involved in the project already have selected the colors of paint that will be used from a palette of historically accurate shades.

Farther south on Tuesday, workers were removing for restoration the prism glass panels that topped the original street-level facades when the Day-Mooney Block was built in 1889. Upper level brickwork has been completed on this building, which many will remember as the location of Young's, and the windows replaced. This building, too, once had an elaborate cast-metal cornice and more elaborate fenestration.

Meanwhile, back on the north side, workers were back in action, doing the reconstruction work necessary before the big second-floor window of the Edward Jones portion of the Brown Block can be inserted.

Cousin Albert Dent's big window on the square

I think Cousin Albert would be gratified to know that the north-side storefront he commissioned in 1893 for his A.E. Dent & Co. Dry Goods store is going to look more like it did originally once restoration, which moved into high gear this week, is complete.

This is how the upper facade looked Wednesday, after facing brick had been removed as the first step in replacing a low 1960-ish replacement window in the upper facade with a taller and larger window that resembles this original. Restoration of the building's elaborate cast-metal cornice also will be part of the project. 

The building, which now houses Adam Bahr's Edward Jones office on its ground floor, is one of several around the square under restoration this winter as a facade improvement program financed by a mix of federal, owner and city funding advances.

The old Dent building is part of a three-front structure known as the Brown Block, after Joseph A. Brown, the Chariton entrepreneur who funded construction of its eastern two-thirds.

Herald, Nov. 15, 1893

Here's how it looked (in the center of this photo) shortly after construction and, no, I don't know what the occasion for a parade was, although it might have been related to the 1894 dedication of the new Lucas County Courthouse just to the south. The rest of the Brown Block is not part of the current round of facade improvements. Each of its three sections is owned separately.

Before the Brown Block was constructed, there were three two-story wood-frame buildings on this site, just east of the north-side alley. The Dent building's predecessor had for many years housed the dry goods store of A.E. Dent's father-in-law, David D. Waynick.

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David D. Waynick was one of Chariton's founders --- he arrived in 1849, the same year the town was located and first platted.

His son-in-law, Albert Dent, arrived in 1875 at the tail end of a family migration from Belmont County, Ohio, that began just after the Civil War when my great-great-grandmother, Eliza Jane (Brown) Dent-Chynoweth and her second husband, Joseph Turner Chynoweth, arrived. They brought with them my great-grandfather, Cassius M.C. Dent, Eliza's only surviving child from her first marriage, to George Asa Dent. Joseph Chynoweth's aged parents, William and Bridget (Turner) Chynoweth, came along, too.

Albert, as these complex relationships sometimes go, was both a cousin of Cassius Dent and a nephew of Joseph Chynoweth (Albert's parents were Joseph's sister, Emily Chynoweth, and her husband, William Young Dent). Other Chynoweth siblings settled here, too --- and it probably was at the urging of his Chynoweth aunts and uncles, as well as grandparents, that Albert decided to seek his fortune in the West at the age of 23.

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Upon arrival in Chariton, Albert immediately found a job as clerk in David Waynick's northside dry goods store and during September of 1879 married the boss's daughter --- Orilla Ann Waynick; generally a useful thing to do.

Soon thereafter, Albert and Orilla were dispatched to the small Wayne County town of Cambria to open a satellite store, and Albert became a partner in a firm known as Waynick & Dent.

David Waynick, unfortunately, fell off a ladder while making repairs to his home in northeast Chariton during the early summer of 1883 --- and died some weeks later, on June 29, of complications from his injuries. He was only 56.

As a result, Albert and Orilla moved back to Chariton and took over full-time management of the Waynick store which, by 1886, they owned outright.

Albert seems to have been a very good manager and by 1893 was in need of bigger quarters for the store. He reached an agreement with Joseph A. Brown, who owned the two somewhat rickety frame buildings just east of the Waynick store and the Brown Block was the result. Joseph Brown's two storefronts formed a pair, three identical second-floor windows marching across the facades of both. Albert and Orilla made their storefront distinctive by commissioning a large single window with elaborate cast-metal surround for the second-floor of their storefront.

What now was the Dent store evacuated its old quarters during the spring of 1893, moving to a room in the Maple building down the street to the west. The old building was demolished and the new block arose during the summer of 1893. A.E. Dent & Co. moved into its new quarters during November of 1893, just in time for the Christmas season.

Although this "clearing sale" adverisement is from a year later, it gives a good idea of just what sort of stock was available at a quality dry goods store of that era.

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Albert and Orilla prospered mightily during the 1890s and, with other family members, began to invest in land in the West, particularly in the vicinity of Spokane, Washington.

They liked the country out there and during 1903 decided to make a ranch they owned near Spokane their permanent home. A.E. Dent & Co. was sold during September of 1903 to a new firm called the Chariton Dry Goods Co., owned by several investors and managed by George A. Israel.

Prior to Christmas, Albert, Orilla and their three children --- Daisy, Blanche and Donald --- had moved to Washington.

Albert E. Dent died during 1936 at age 84 in Seattle; Orilla, during 1941, also in Seattle at the age of 83.

Death by prairie fire & other "natural" causes

Photo by J.S. Aber

Clarkson C. Burr (1861-1939), a genial man who for many years was Lucas County's preeminent weather observer, apparently was a talented story-teller, too --- if the manuscript he left behind of a talk prepared for a turn-of-the-20th-century Old Settlers Association meeting is any indication.

The undated manuscript came to the Lucas County Historical Society some years ago from the Chariton Free Public Library, which had been its custodian since the county's original historical society folded more than a century ago. The manuscript is undated, so I've not yet tracked down the date of its presentation, but it would have been shortly after 1900.

It is difficult to imagine now a time when life and property in Lucas County were under constant threat from prairie fires, but that certainly was the case as late as the 1870s, and Burr recalls those days and some of the troubles they caused. Relying upon oral tradition, he talks about several deaths from "natural causes" --- prairie fire and drowning --- in Warren Township, immediately southwest of Chariton. I'm guessing that no one in the audience nodded off while he was speaking; he knew how to grab and hold an audience's attention.

Clark Burr was a son of Milton J. and Alcinda (Bond) Burr, Quakers who came from Belmont County, Ohio, to Warren Township in 1861, the year of his birth. So he would not have remembered any of these incidents, but no doubt heard about them from his neighbors --- he died of a heart attack at age 78 on the farm where he was born. Here the text of his history of Warren Township:

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Sam’l Francis is supposed to be the first permanent settler in our township. He entered land here in 1849. Peter Waynick in 1851; followed by Ezra James in 1852; S. D. Waynick in 1853; G.W. Hopkins in ’54 and G.W. Mitchell in ’55. In the year 1850, a man and his wife were moving west, with wagon and ox team; near five miles southwest of Chariton, on land now owned by S.D. Waynick. They saw a prairie fire coming; the oxen became frightened and turned back, running north; the man followed the team, but his wife became confused and was burned to death in the public highway.

In 1862 a most disastrous fire swept over this part of (the) county, leaving desolation and ruin in the path, and in some places destroying human life. The fire started near Osceola and it is said the fleetest horse could not keep out of its way as it was accompanied with a strong N.W. wind. In the path of the fire nothing was saved, but the settlers for miles around fought it, and by heroic effort saved many a cabin that was in imminent danger of destruction. A family named Burley, near west township line, escaped from fire, but saw his house, crop and stock entirely destroyed.

Near this time, possibly in 1863, a vast drove of Texas cattle passed through here, still remembered by many citizens. The drove was continuous for two miles, accompanied by “herders” who had complete control of them ususally, but an occasional stampede would give sudden animation to their lives of usual monotony.

In an early day the old “Brick” school house was a place of much interest. Here the children for two or three miles in every direction would come for instruction. Near the schoolhouse was a small creek that usually had very little water in it. On the third day of a term of school taught by a Miss Mitchell of Chariton a sudden storm caused the creek to overflow and carry away the floor of the bridge; when school was dismissed, the bridge still being covered with water, two children of Wm. Chance, walked as they supposed on the bridge and fell into the foaming mass of water; one child was saved by clinging to the brush until help arrived, the other was taken out dead.

The difficulties of the early settler is hard for us to realize. To get a grist of corn or wheat ground, necessitated a trip to Albia. About 1860 a corn mill was started at Bethlehem, in Wayne Co., and S. D. Waynick related to me an incident in regard to it. He said one morning he loaded up 14 bushels of corn, and started for the mill with the hope of getting home by the next day; upon arriving at Bethlehem found mill broke and could not start for several days. He had provision for one day, but no money; after telling his trouble to the miller, it was finally arranged by Mr. Waynick chopping wood for the miller and made his expenses in that way. 

Near this time a saw mill was started by Lot Curtis and M. J. Burr. Mr. Waynick relates of having lumber sawed there for his house; he then went to Eddyville and bought shingles for the roof at $9.50 per thousand. He also spoke of the price of hogs near this time as $1.90 for cwt. Wheat flour was something almost impossible to obtain; it truth it was about as scarce as money. One day a farmer drove up to the old Vansickle store in Chariton, and bought a sack of flour; he had no box on his wagon, so placed the flour on the running gears and stepped back in the store for something; when he returned he found his flour in the possession of an old hog, that had pulled it from the wagon and scattered it in the mud; under the circumstances that man’s loss could hardly be computed in dollars and cents.

At a very early date a tragedy occurred near the Wayne Co. line, that perhaps should go into history. A widow, with a family of children, lived alone; one son almost a man, one day went hunting and failed to return. He was gone and no trace of him could be found. He disappeared in early winter, and the next spring, his mother was one day getting a bucket of water from the creek near the house, when she was horrified to see the body of her lost boy; he had evidently been drowned and lay under the ice all winter.

Briefly, this gives us an idea of the condition of our country as it was a half century ago. The Indians was a frequent caller by day, and the wolf howled around the cabin door by night. Comparatively, we now have little to do but enjoy the pleasures of life. Some may not consider our early history of (much) value, but our children will one day read it with interest and our children’s children will consider it a priceless heritage.

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Of course its difficult to substantiate some of these stories of early days. Lucas County had no regularly published newspaper until 1857 when The Patriot came along, and its earliest files have vanished. So there were no reporters on hand to record the details, and I've been unable to track down more about the drownings of either the Chance child or the unfortunate young man who died in a creek near the Wayne County line.

But here's a somewhat different account of death by fire on the Warren Township prairie.  You'll find this on Page 644 of Dan Baker's 1881 History of Lucas County, Iowa (Des Moines: State Historical Co.). Although the details differ, I suspect it's the same event:

"It will be remembered that the first clerk of the board of (Lucas) county commissioners was William H. Moore, chosen at the first meeting, held August 10, 1849. In 1852, he determined to move to Missouri; and on one fine October day of that year, he started on his journey with a team and wagon, in which were his wife and one child, together with some cattle, which he was driving along after. After crossing a stream, some five miles southwest from Chariton, and ascending the opposite bluffs, Mr. Moore saw the prairie on fire, and the leaping flames sweeping toward them. He at once directed his wife to turn the team and retrace their course over the stream, while he was attempting to turn his cattle back, to get the team and all back over the stream; but, before he could accomplish this, the flames in their mad fury, overtook them. They first dashed upon the helpless child and enwrapped it in fire, when its mother, in her wild frenzy, seized it and leaped from the wagon; but, alas! Notwithstanding the heroic efforts of the husband and father the little one met almost instant death upon the ground, and the wife was burned well nigh unto death. The remains of the child, and the dying woman were taken back to a room at the court house where she survived some ten hours only. Thus, the wife and child of Mr. Moore met a terrible death. They went to their rest in the grave, while he, mournful and alone, soon found a home amid other scenes."

Other sources tell us that William H. Moore was indeed Lucas County's first clerk. As it happens, he also was Chariton's founding postmaster, appointed December 26, 1849. And neither Moore nor his family appears in census records later than 1850.

But the 1850 census suggests that his family was larger than Baker's story implies. In that record, William H. Moore, 37, a native of Ohio, and his wife, Mary, age 32, were enumerated with six children --- Madison, 13; Sarah, 12; Isabella, 8; William, 7; Albert, 4; and Alvin, 10 months. So perhaps there were other children present that long-ago day on the prairie to witness the deaths of their mother and brother. Most likely, we'll never know.

If the Baker story is accurate and Mary Moore did indeed die at the courthouse, then she would have been buried at either the cemetery southwest of the square on Columbus School hill, or in Douglass Cemetery, just southeast of town. Whatever the case, there are no marked graves.