Finding a mate for our Civil War guy

I wrote a little yesterday about the distinctive (for Iowa) costuming of the Civil War soldier (left) atop Chariton's 1916 courthouse square memorial --- a slouch hat and sack coat as opposed to the more common forage hat and greatcoat.

So rather than doing anything useful yesterday while anticipating a post-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving dinner (thanks, Bonnie), I worked my way rapidly through the directory of Iowa Civil War monuments provided by the Iowa Chapter, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.

The only other similarly costumed soldier I could find (among dozens) in Iowa is located in the park in Eddyville (top). It's much older than the Chariton statue and the pose is different --- but the costume is roughly the same. So our guy does have at least one mate in the state.

I remember stopping to take a closer look at this guy many years ago in a former life when I passed through Eddyville en route to Iowa City quite frequently. At that time, he was in pretty bad shape. But quite recently he's been restored and holds pride of place in the Eddyville park again.

The process reminded me of another distinctive Civil War statue that I once knew well --- on the east approach to the Winnebago County Courithouse in Forest City. He dates from 1900, tops a fountain and was crafted in painted zinc by the J.L. Mott Iron Works of Trenton, N.J.

When I knew him, he'd accumulated a few too many coats of paint and was looking a little shabby; he's been restored, too, and is looking good. So far as I know he's the only painted statue in the state. The photographs of the Eddyville and Forest City statues are borrowed from the Sons.

Our Civil War guy's slouch hat and sack coat ...

Someone asked this morning about the similarity of the statue atop Chariton's Civil War monument and others in Iowa, which brings up an interesting point.

Chariton's guy is not the archetypal soldier who crowns most Iowa Civil War memorials of this type. The Lucas County monument has the added distinction of being extraordinarily tall although the veteran who crowns it is similar in size to his mates across the state.

Most veteran statues in Iowa are wearing greatcoats and forage caps, as is the soldier atop the Wayne County monument, below. A soldier clad in slouch hat and sack coat actually is more common atop monuments honoring Confederate dead in the South.

The great push to erect monuments of this sort came about during the late 19th century and pre-World War I years of the 20th century, both north and south. Nearly all were supplied by New England granite works and/or monument companies. Many were made of cast "white bronze" --- actually, zinc --- and these are virtually identical.

The statues in both Chariton and Corydon are granite, but carved to patterns using the latest technology of the time, then finished by hand.

When Chariton's Grand Army of the Republic Iseminger Post finally got around to ordering its memorial, the contract went to a local monument firm, Harding & Viers, which ordered all of the components from New England, probably working from a catalog (presumably reviewed by G.A.R. members).

The components arrived in Chariton by rail during late spring, 1916, along with a specialist from the manufacturer who oversaw assembly on the southeast corner of the square. The monument was put into place during May, in time for Memorial Day.

The gear being worn by statues north and south really has little to do with what soldiers of the opposing armies actually wore. Few on either side wore slouch hats, caps were favored; all on both sides wore the warmest coats they could lay hands on when it was cold but nothing elaborate unless occasions were ceremonial.

Initially, the New England firms thought they could get away with providing nearly identical statues to fill orders from both the North and South. Eventually, the South complained and the slouch-hatted version became more popular down there.

If you'd like to review the costuming of all of Iowa's Union soldier statues, the Iowa chapter of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War maintains an excellent site here, "Iowa Civil War Monuments.com."

An interfaith prayer at Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving, it seems sometimes, has developed into a celebration of abundance that edges near to the borders of smugness.

Which is among the reasons I liked this simple prayer delivered during an ecumenical service last Sunday at Central Synagogue in Manhattan. The clergy are Pastor Jared R. Stahler, of St. Peter's Church (ELCA), and Rabbi Daniel S. Ross, of Central Synagogue.

Happy Thanksgiving, one and all!

Thanksgiving greetings (from a century ago)

This seems like a good morning, with Thanksgiving just around the corner, to share again two postcards from the family album --- both mailed during the "teens" of the 20th century to my grandmother, Jessie Frances (Brown) Miller, rural Chariton, by her niece and best friend, Ida (Brown) Rogers, Midland, South Dakota.

I like the sentiment on the first, postmarked Midland on Nov. 22, 1915.

Ida noted on the back that the mid-November weather in South Dakota had been fine and mild, but that she was feeling stressed because of the need to feed six extra farmhands then engaged in hauling hay, a cash crop on the Rogers farm/ranch.

The Midland postmark date is smudged on the second card, but that's a great ear of corn.

End-of-the-year holidays were not then the frenzied extravaganzas they've developed into now --- but you were more likely a hundred years ago to go to the mailbox and find a handful of colorful Thanksgiving greeting cards as November neared its end.

Lucas County newspapering's bumpy start

George M. Binckley

I came across the other day the text of an 1893 letter written by John Edwards, founder of The Chariton Patriot, explaining how this pioneer newspaper got its name. Founded in 1857, The Patriot continues to publish but under the name Herald-Patriot --- the result of a 1909 consolidation --- and is Lucas County's oldest business enterprise. I'll share that letter another day.

Chariton's first newspaper, with the unlikely name "Little Giant," had been founded a year earlier by George M. Binckley, 27, an itinerant printer from Ohio who arrived in town during 1856 with a Washington hand press and a few cases of type. He seems to have been an admirer of Stephen A. Douglas, also known as the "little giant," the Illinois politician who went on to become Abraham Lincoln's Democratic party rival for the presidency in 1860.

Chariton, however, was a Republican town --- and that may explain why after a couple of issues Binckley changed the newspaper's name to "The Chariton Mail." That's Mr. Binckley, at left. We know what he looked like (the photo is dated 1858) but not that much about him.

Binckley soon took on a business partner, Anderson Chenault Cameron, then 24 --- also a printer and the son of an Ohio newspaperman. Unlike Binckley, Cameron was married --- to Emily --- and had a rapidly expanding family.

Binckley was a restless sort, it appears, and his interest in Lucas County expired before the year 1856 did. He found a willing buyer for his share of The Mail in Waitman Trippet Wade, then serving as perhaps the most incompetent county treasurer Lucas County ever has had. Wade was 43 at the time.

George moved on after that, first to Leon --- where he founded another newspaper --- and then to Colorado (he was living in Central City and still working as a printer in 1870). There, he developed dual interests in mining and printing and died during 1885, age 56.

It generally was acknowledged in Lucas County that W.T. Wade was scrupulously honest, but glitteringly incompetent. His supervision of construction of the 1858 courthouse turned into a debacle and when he finally was driven from office in 1859 he left the county several thousand dollars in arrears.

This may explain why Wade and Cameron folded The Mail in early 1857, selling the press, type and other items to John Edwards, a young lawyer with journalistic aspirations. It was Edwards who launched The Patriot a few months later.

Wade eventually ended up in Appanoose County, where he reportedly died on Nov. 18, 1873, age 60.

Cameron went to work for Edwards once The Patriot was launched, then was named Chariton postmaster in 1859. During 1861, he enlisted at Chariton for service in the Union army and served honorably --- advancing in rank to quartermaster sergeant --- until his discharge for disability a year later.

Eventually he received an appointment as clerk in the federal Post Office Department and moved to Washington, D.C., where he also edited The Post Office Gazette. Unfortunately, he came down with smallpox during late June, 1872, and died on July 1 at the age of 40. He is buried in Congressional Cemetery along with such luminaries as J. Edgar Hoover.

A little calm in this age of outrage

I woke up this morning thinking about how angry folks seem these days, scanned my social media feeds and found affirmation.

Actually, I'm not sure people are angrier now than ever (it's always been possible to scream at one another). Perhaps it's just that we have so few filters left to protect us.

Back in the good old days, once done with screaming or delivering personal insults and determined to share outrage more widely, it was necessary to sit down, write a letter and mail it --- or figure out some way to get it into print and distributed.

Now we have email, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

So I looked for solace in the Buddha and found two quotes I'm going to pin to my virtual bulletin board today --- the first from the Sutta Nipata (top) and the second from the Samyutta Nikaya, both elements of the Pali Canon.

Caleb and Dorcas James' Hill Crest Farm

I've been wondering this morning what Caleb and Dorcas James, who arrived in Chariton in an ox-drawn wagon during the late fall of 1851, would make of the 20th century developments in their old neighborhood just west of town --- an airport, a lake and a couple of major industrial operations.

The site of their 160-acre "homestead" --- called Hill Crest Farm during their tenure --- is circled on the maps above (from an 1896 plat book) and below (thanks, Google).

Here's a story about the property's sale during the fall of 1893 to French Whitmore, published in the Patriot of Nov. 1 that year:

A PIONEER FARM SOLD

Caleb James, of Whitebreast township, has sold his farm located three miles (actually two at the time, now more like a mile and a half) west of Chariton to French Whitmore and will shortly leave the homestead where he and his family have lived forty-two years. 

Mr. James bought the farm in 1848 from the government and came with his family in 1851 to take possession of the land. No improvement had been made thereon, and houses to rent were very scarce in Chariton at that early day. In addition, there came also the families of Alfred McFarland and E. Culbertson. All journeyed from Ohio together in the far-famed prairie schooner, which led the advance guard of civilization into the then comparatively unknown west in those pioneer days.

After a weary journey of weeks they arrived in Chariton in the fall of 1851. The only shelter obtainable was a one story house, partly log and frame, which stood where the Union Block now stands (Great Western Bank in 2019). There were two rooms only, about 16 feet square, and into these the three families moved and lived during the severe winter of that year.

In the spring he removed to his farm, having previously built a cabin for shelter, and then commenced the long and arduous struggle of converting the virgin soil of Lucas county into a well cultivated and productive farm. By frugality, good management and patient industry, he has made from the raw prairie one of the best improved farms in Lucas county, and now sells it for a price aggregating forty-four times the original cost of the land ($1.25 per acre).

The successful career of Mr. James has its counterpart in hundreds of the early settlers of the county. Wherever one of these original owners stuck persistently to the soil, was industrious and exercised good judgment they have been successful and prosperous. They fully demonstrated the splendid  capabilities of Lucas county soil and out of the wilderness have created comfortable and happy homes.

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The Whitmores, who were of what we would call retirement age when they bought the farm, lived there for only about five years before selling out in 1898 and moving into Chariton. The buyers were Isaac A. and Martha Victoria (James) Fain, son-in-law and daughter of Caleb and Dorcas James. So the old homestead was back in the family.

Isaac and Martha had married at Hill Crest Farm during November of 1876, but most of their married life was spent north of Lucas, in the neighborhood of Tallahoma, where Isaac farmed several hundred acres that were the remnants of big tracts acquired by investors from east Tennessee, including his own family, prior to the Civil War.

Isaac and Martha then moved to the farm where she had been born in 1853, then married, but she died there four years later, on Sept. 2, 1902, at the age of 49. Isaac continued to live on the farm until his own death on Jan. 9, 1917.

The property still was in the family, occupied by son Richard Rhea Fain and his family, when the big house on the farm burned to the ground during February of 1929.

Caleb and Dorcas James did live in Chariton briefly after leaving the farm, but eventually purchased a home in the new Highland Park neighborhood of Des Moines and moved there. She died in Des Moines during 1904; he died in 1910. Both are buried in Des Moines' Woodland Cemetery.

"... I thought turkeys could fly."

It's time once again for my favorite Thanksgiving tradition --- a replay of portions of this 1978 seasonal episode of "WKRP in Cincinnati." There's really nothing else to say. Sorry about the quality of the video, but this was 40 years ago.

George Kinkead's "Souvenir de Luxemburg"

The date was March 18, 1919, World War I had ended four months earlier and within two months these three young combat veterans would sail home to the United States and return to civilian life. They were in Luxembourg City that day and sat for this souvenir portrait, now in the Lucas County Historical Society collection.

All were draftees who most likely met first during late 1917 at Iowa's Camp Dodge. By the spring of 1919, they were corporals in Company E, 130th Infantry Regiment, 33rd Infantry Division --- from left, John Kintz of West Branch, Elmer Miller of Carterville, Illinois, and George W. Kinkead of Chariton.

We also have George's World War I Victory Medal at the museum and its rainbow-colored ribbon is gripped by three battle clasps signifying engagements in which he (and the others, too) had been involved: Somme-Offensive, Meuse-Argonne, and Defensive Sector, the latter representing battles without specific clasps.

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Assigned initially to Camp Dodge after they were drafted, George, Elmer and John were among 1,000 men shipped to Camp Logan in Houston, Texas, during late October and early November of 1917, then allocated among units of the 33rd Infantry --- a U.S. Army National Guard division.

After their training was complete, the men arrived in Hoboken, New Jersey, expecting to sail to France aboard the U.S.S. Agamemnon on May 16, 1918. There was, however, an outbreak of scarlet fever among the men of Company E and all three were among those held back and placed in quarantine for a week. They eventually sailed aboard the U.S. Tunisian on May 27, arriving in France a week and a few days later.

All units of the 33rd had arrived in France by mid-June --- and were dispatched into combat soon after. During the course of the war, 691 solders of the 33rd were killed, 6,173 wounded.

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Less than two months after this photo was taken --- on May 11, 1919 --- the men set sail from Brest aboard the U.S.S. Siboney, arriving back in Hoboken on May 20. Soon thereafter they returned to their homes and civilian life. We have no idea if George, John and Elmer ever met again.

A farmer and carpenter in his early years, George went to work for the Chariton Post Office, beginning a 37-year career and rising from substitute mail carrier at the beginning to assistant postmaster at the time of his retirement.

Among the organizers of Carl L. Caviness American Legion Post No. 102, he married Hildreth Miller and they had two sons, Richard and Robert. Following Hildreth's death during 1962, he married Ethel Ewald Price. He was 92 when he died on Oct. 20, 1987, having outlived both his wives and both of his sons. He is buried in the Norwood Cemetery.

An undertaker's lament

Edmund B. Bradrick may not have been Chariton's first undertaker, but he surely was among the most enduring. 

Arriving in Chariton from his native Ohio with wife, Mary, during 1857, it was Mr. Bradrick who handled the arrangements for Sheriff Gaylord Lyman, fatally wounded in the streets of Chariton on July 6, 1870 (there's no record of who handled the arrangements for his killer, lynched that evening).

And it was Mr. Bradrick who buried, then reburied, Maggie Corbett, after her remains were snatched from their resting place on Oct. 30, 1887, at the behest of a medical student, and shipped to Des Moines.

And these were just two among hundreds.

During the 1880s, Edmund was joined in the family business of undertaking and carpentry by his son, Calvin, and they made a number of improvements to their parlor and woodworking shop, located in an earlier building on the Ameriprise Financial site on North Main.

Personal sorrows entered the picture during 1890 when his son and business partner died at the age of 30 of tuberculosis, leaving the senior member of the firm --- then nearing 60 --- on his own again.

That's a little of the background behind the small advertisement, almost a lament, that he caused to be published in Chariton newspapers as 1893 dawned:

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CHARITON, IOWA, JANUARY 3rd, 1893

Editor Patriot --- I have now been handling the dead of Chariton and vicinity for more than thirty years --- with what success I leave those I have served to judge. The question now is --- shall I be sustained? Many times I have labored hard while others have slept and taken ease and comfort, and I have been faithful to the trust you have committed to my care.

To those who have patronized me on account of loved ones gone, I would say I sympathize with you in your bereavement and thank you kindly for your patronage. Those who have never lost a dear friend, I congratulate upon your good fortune, but this will not always be so --- death enters and there is no defense. His time of coming none can tell.

My hearse is now nicely refit and my stock of funeral supplies is full and complete, consisting of a full line of varnished and cloth covered coffins and caskets, robes, linings, shoes, slippers and hardwares --- all from the best houses in the land.

My residence is on the second block east of the M.E. church. When not in my office call at my house day or night. It will pay you now and don't you forget it. Be careful where your leave your orders for burial goods.

E. BRADRICK

Funeral Director

Chariton, Ia.

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Mr. Bradrick did continue in the business for a few years after than, but Chariton Cemetery records suggest that he retired during 1901, leaving the field open to the Melvilles, his long-time competitors. They handled the arrangement for his wife, Mary, when she died during 1904.

Edmund lived until July 31, 1920, when he died at the home of his only surviving child, Lydia Temple, at the age of 87. 

He was buried beside his wife and children in the Chariton Cemetery but a tombstone never was erected, so the grave of this venerable undertaker is unmarked. Sam Beardsley, the new boy in town at the time, handled the arrangements.

John W. Mauk and the Spanish-American War

Veterans of the 1898 Spanish-American War are sometimes overlooked --- the conflict was brief, overshadowed by World War I 20 years later, and (as wars go) losses were minimal.

Four young men from Lucas County died during (or shortly after) the war, all of disease: brothers Walter E. and William T. Black, Benjamin F. Dinsmore and John W. Mauk.

I intended to write a little about John, who is buried with his parents in the northwestern corner of the Chariton Cemetery, a little nearer Veterans Day --- but it was unseasonably cold and a trip to the cemetery didn't seem like a good idea. 

But we've had mild days recently --- and Tuesday was a beautiful late Autumn day.

Two reports from Chariton newspapers tell John's story, the first published in The Democrat on Nov. 10, 1899, just after news of his death had reached his parents: 

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While many homes have been gladdened this week by the return of the Iowa soldiers from Manila, one home in this county has been plunged into the deepest sorrow.

On Sunday the city papers contained the following dispatch from San Francisco: "The United States transport Ohio arrived here yesterday from Manila via Guam and Honolulu. Two deaths occurred on this voyage, John Mauk of the First Colorado, and Private F. Cullum of the Fourteenth infantry. Both died of the diarrhea.

John Mauk was a son of Mr. and Mrs. John Mauk of Whitebreast township. When the late war broke out he was in Cripple Creek, Colorado, and he immediately enlisted in the First Colorado and was a member of Company I. His regiment was among the first to be sent to the Philippines and he served his country faithfully until the regiment was mustered out a few months ago.

In a letter written to his parents and received by them the first of August he stated that he expected to start home in a few weeks but would complete the tour of the world and return by way of New York. It is needless to say that the parents were inexpressibly happy in the thought that their beloved son would soon be at home again. But for a few weeks past, as no further message had been received from him, fears had been entertained that all was not well. It is now supposed that he was taken ill at Manila and started home the nearest way.

On Monday Mr. Mauk telegraphed the mayor of San Francisco and received a reply stating that the body of his son was in charge of I. S. Quartermaster Sergeant Long. A later message received from that gentleman stated that the remains were shipped from there Wednesday evening. It is not known when they will reach here, possible not before next Monday.

Thus the house of rejoicing has been changed to one of mourning. The heartfelt sympathy of the entire community goes out to the grief stricken relatives.

John Mauk was born in Whitebreast township on Christmas day, 1872, where he resided until a few years ago. He was industrious and energetic, of a pleasant disposition, and was held in high regard by all who knew him. The news of his untimely death has brought sorrow to the hearts of numerous Lucas county friends.

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A week later, on Nov. 17, The Democrat reported the details of his funeral:

The funeral services for John Mauk, late of Company I, First Colorado Volunteer Infantry, were held at the residence of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John W. Mauk, in Whitebreast township, on Tuesday afternoon, November 14, 1899, at one o'clock, and were conducted by Rev. A. C. Ormond, of the Presbyterian church.

The ceremonies were in charge of Company H, Fiftieth Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry, assisted by Company H, Iowa National Guard. The services were very impressive and the cortege attending the body to the cemetery was unusually large. The procession was headed by the City Guard Band and the funeral car was guarded by a military escort.

All day long the flag on the courthouse hung at half mast, testifying that a soldier's death was being mourned. At the cemetery the military salute was given, "Taps" was sounded, and the remains of John Mauk were lowered to the grave.

As stated in our notice last week, John Mauk died at sea, aboard the United States transport Ohio, on October 22, while on his way home from Manila. A letter, received by his relatives from the nurse, stated that he was conscious until the end came and that he was resigned to his fate and ready to meet his God.

To the sorrowing parents, brothers and sisters, the deepest sympathy of the community is extended.

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One hundred and twenty years have passed since that afternoon. John's headstone is small, erected by his family; and although its inscription details his service it is easily overlooked. The flag-holder next to it identifies him as a veteran of the Spanish-American war. Like so many others buried in the Chariton Cemetery, he gave up his life while in service to his country and deserves to be remembered.

Pvt. Hoel C. Wright's letter home from Virginia

The remarkable thing about this letter, dated June 10, 1862, is not so much its content as the fact it  survived for more than 150 years. Written by a young man named Hoel C. Wright, it passed through three generations and traveled from Virginia to Michigan to Iowa and to Kansas before his niece, Helen (Wright) Ohme, then living at Leavenworth, Kansas, donated it to the Lucas County Historical Society in 1969.

The author was a native of Ohio who grew up in Berrien County, Michigan, and was 27 when he enlisted on Nov. 2, 1861, at Grand Rapids, in Brady's Sharpshooters --- a semi-independent company of riflemen attached as Company A to the 16th Michigan Volunteer Infantry.

It's not clear why Hoel was writing on colorful stationery of the Excelsior Brigade, composed largely of units from New York, but the 16th Michigan was part of the Army of the Potomac, too, at the time. The Sharpshooters were camped near New Bridge, Virginia, when the letter was written to Hoel's younger brother, George, back home in Michigan. The Caroline mentioned in the letter was their little sister.

The most notable thing about the letter's content is how anxious he was to hear from his family. Even 157 years later, you're tempted to sit down and write the guy a letter. Here's a transcription:

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First Regiment, Excelsior Brigade.

Col. Dwight, Commanding

Camp Near New Bridge, Va., June the 10th 1862

Dear Brother,

It has not been long since I wroat you, but as I have not much to do just now I will write a few lines to you. I have not much to write. We expect a big fight in a few days. We was call out yesterday and once last night expecting to meet the rebels on our own ground, but they did not come on. I think that it will not be long before we will have a chance to meet them. We are having very good times hear just now. It is quiet warm today. I have not much more news to write for I expect you get more news than what I can write you. You will find inclose a check of $20. I want you to  write as soon as you get this. I receve a letter from Caroline about the 15th of April and I answered it the next day but I have not receive no answer from it yet. I hope that you will all write as often as you can. Good bye for this time.

H.W.

Direct as you did before. I sent you a book a few days ago.

P.S. June the 16th

I went out on picket yesterday and got back today. Our picket lines and the rebels lines are about 20 or 30 rods apart. Now don't forget to write as soon as you get this.

Mr. Hoel C. Wright

Stockton's Regiment

Brady's Sharpshooters

in care of Capt. Kins ---

Washington, D.C.

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Prior to the letter's date, the 16th Michigan had participated in the Siege of Yorktown and had been engaged at Hanover Courthouse.

Not long after the letter was written, on June 27, the 16th engaged in the deadly Battle of Gaines Mills  --- three officers and 46 men were killed, six officers and 110 men were wounded and 2 officers and 53 men were reported missing. Capt. Thomas W. Stockton's horse was shot out from under him, he was captured and held prisoner for the remainder of the war.

We have no idea, without additional research, how Hoel fared. What remained of the unit was at Malvern Hill on July 1, at Manassas on August 30 and then at Antietam.

On the 9th of October, 1862, Hoel was discharged for disability at Fort Monroe, Virginia, and sent home. Had he been wounded or was he chronically ill? We don't know.

What we do know is that he lived a long and productive life in his home county of Michigan, married, raised a family, farmed and was 88 when he died on Feb. 15, 1923. Commencing in the 1870s, he also received a modest pension for his disability.

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Meanwhile, his brother, George Wright, moved to Iowa during 1871, married Antoinette Boss during January 1872 in Des Moines County and the newlyweds settled near Derby in Lucas County that spring and spent the remainder of their lives there. They named their second son Eugene Hoel Wright, in part in his uncle's honor.

George Wright, too, lived a long life --- he was 94 when he passed on Feb. 4, 1932.

Eugene Wright married Maud Champlin and they had two surviving children, Max and Helen. It was Helen (who married Albert Ohme) who inherited her uncle's letter home and eventually passed it on to the historical society.

Simple gifts of a Monday morning

Well, what better way to begin the week --- as Thanksgiving approaches --- than with "Simple Gifts," a Shaker dance song now sometimes classified as a hymn, performed here by the Gay Mens Chorus of Los Angeles.

Like many others my age I heard the tune first --- as the principal theme in Aaron Copland's 1945 orchestral suite adapted from his 1944 score for the Martha Graham ballet named "Appalachian Spring" although it really had nothing to do with Appalachia and we're free to debate whether "spring" refers to the season or to a source of living water.

The composer was Elder Joseph Brackett and the date, 1848, during a time when he was a member of the Shaker community at Alfred, Maine.

Although his words seem to preach, it seems to have been created primarily for dance. Shakers, among many creative American religious expressions of the first half of the 19th century, were big on integrating faith and life, including religious expression and dance.

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free'

Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gained,

To bow and to bend we shan't be ashamed,

To turn, turn will be our delight,

Till by turning, turning we come 'round right.

Pete Buttigieg and the Iowa Poll

I signed a caucus pledge for Pete Buttigieg the first time one was offered, hardly surprising when you consider my sexual orientation and all of that. But there's more involved.

Only four candidates in a big field have managed to get their campaigns off the ground --- Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and "Mayor Pete." Biden and Sanders are too old, in my opinion. Sorry, Joe, but your recent ad --- "I'm experienced, steady and ready to step in" --- didn't resonate. Sanders just had a heart attack, for heaven's sake.

Love Warren, but Buttigieg is a more effective campaigner who pulled himself out of relative obscurity and up by his own bootstraps in quick time. 

So it was interesting to see this morning that Buttigieg has "rocketed" to the top of the field in Iowa, according to the latest Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa Poll.  The South Bend mayor pulled down 25 percent support among likely Democratic caucus-goers (up from 9 percent in September); Warren, 16 percent; and Biden and Sanders, 15 percent each.

Some say Warren and Sanders are "too liberal"; others suggest that Buttigieg is not liberal enough. Nonsense. All bring similar progressive agendas into the campaign with them. 

Can a gay guy with a husband and two dogs get himself elected? Probably.

But of course I'll vote gladly for whoever the Democrat nominee turns out to be.

I've been thinking of a couple of statements by the late Harvey Milk, generally acknowledged to have been the first honest LGBTQ person to win elective office:

"If you help elect more gay people, that gives a green light to all who feel disenfranchised, a green light to move forward. It means hope to a nation that has given up, because if a gay person makes it, the doors are open to everyone."

And: "A gay person in office can set a tone, can command respect not only from the larger community but from the young people in our own community who need both examples and hope."

I wish that there had been role models like Mr. Buttigieg when I was growing up.

The "scandalous" state of Chariton schools (in 1889)

Few paid much attention to Samuel S. King, fire-breathing editor of The Chariton Democrat during the 1880s --- in large part because of his tendencies toward exaggeration, overstatement and sometimes downright hysteria. He was described after his death during the 1920s on the west coast as "brilliant but erratic" by a former colleague.

Those tendencies all came to the fore during November of 1889 when Mr. King attempted to inflate what actually were relatively minor personnel issues in the Chariton Public School District into a full-blown crisis. His opening salvo was fired in an editorial on the local news page of  The Democrat of Nov. 21, 1889.

Among those targeted in the editorial were Joseph A. Brown, school board chair who also was an influential (and prosperous) entrepreneur, and his brother-in-law, Laban F. Maple, school board treasurer and operator of Maple's Book Store on the north side of the square. The two men were married to sisters, Bella and Ella Wright, daughters of Dr. James D. Wright, a Quaker physician revered by nearly everyone. King refers to Brown as "Barnacle."

At the time, the Chariton scholars were housed in three buildings --- South (later Columbus), above, the largest and home to the high school and upper grades; East (later Garfield) and North (later Bancroft), located on the current site of Johnson Auditorium and the Chariton Community Center. The latter two buildings contained four classrooms each and house elementary grades.

Here's the editorial:

THE CHARITON SCHOOLS

A Roaring Farce and a Miserable Failure

Last spring when the Democrat saw where our public schools were drifting it sounded the alarm and made the best fight it could for the schools. A horde of conscienceless scoundrels and gibbering idiots of both sexes raised the cry that we were fighting against the schools, and thereupon set in to cry down the Democrat and its editor. By a preconcerted and well arranged system of lying they succeeded, no doubt, in making a few weak-minded men and decrepit old women believe their falsehoods.

So this fall after the board had made a cowardly surrender of principle in order to placate the malcontents, and had employed their Superintendent and teachers, the Democrat resolved to keep aloof from the school question and see it work out its own success or failure. We very well knew which it would be. In the nature of things, it could not be otherwise than a failure. A cowardly compromise with Wrong never has been and never can be a success. And the failure has come.

For weeks past the parents of the district have been filling our ears with stories of the worse than useless waste of time to their children while attending. While but poor advancement is being made in any of the grades, in the Grammar and High School departments the pupils appear to be "advancing backward," and disorder runs riot throughout. Miss Shepherd has been compelled to resign from the Grammar department, and Mr. E:vans will doubtless be compelled to give up the High School. Like horses with the bits in their teeth, the pupils have run things to suit themselves, utterly refusing to respond to the drawing of the reins which the teachers have unsuccessfully tried. In several of the lower rooms the pupils have no respect whatever for the fledgling Amazons who nose as teachers, and several resignations will doubtless occur there, or the board will be compelled to turn them out.

It is a lamentable condition of affairs to be earnestly regretted by all. Yet, in the nature of things, it could not be different under the cowardly and vascilating course pursued by the board. A stream cannot rise above its fountain. A school cannot rise above the business sense, courage, honesty and intelligence of the brain and heart that direct it.

Look at it a moment. There is Barnacle Brown holding on to a place on the board although repudiated by the people by a vote of two to one. Although repudiated and spewed out by the people three times in one year in his three several efforts to get some little office where he could fleece the people and serve his relations. Barnacle Brown has grown immensely rich on tax-titles, subsisting on the misfortunes of others as a toad feasts on the vapor of a dungeon. He was anxious to keep his brother-in-law, Maple, in as treasurer in order that he may have the district money to run his business on, and thus be in a position, by reason of special favors shown him, to monopolize the book trade of the district at his own prices. Barnacle Brown had his faithful servant Routt on the Board to help him. Last year he had a principal who would kindly assist in running all the book trade to Maple. This last year's principal, who was lacking in education, never having taken even a high school course, became extremely jealous of her subordinate, the high school teacher, who was a college graduate. So these persons all conspired to defeat, and so far as they could, disgrace the high school teacher. Then the Democrat showed up their villainies, and the unprincipled principal was forced to resign. The high school teacher was vindicated and re-elected. Then the conspirators howled.

The board surrendered. At the demand of Barnacle Brown the high school teacher was asked to resign and the present one elected in her place. At the demand of Barnacle Brown, brother-in-law Maple was again elected treasurer in order that he may have another year in which to line his pockets and fleece the people. It was a complete, disgraceful and cowardly surrender of the Board, and the men who compromised with Wrong for the sake of peace can now see the result of their action.

Now, what is to be done. It costs about $1,000 a month to run the schools. It is worse than a waste of money to run them as they are now. Insubordination runs all through the schools. The children understand the situation as well as their parents. They have no respect for the board, and consequently they have no respect for the teacher. All the clubbing that the principal and the janitor can do, and they do a deal of it, can't beat into Young America a spirit of obedience and good behavior. No man ever worked worthily who was not moved by a love of his work. No child will ever study worthily who is not moved by love. No changes of teachers now can accomplish much, if any good.

Perhaps the best thing to do would be to close the schools and thus save the money that is now being wasted. The children will do no good this year. That matter is firmly settled. There being three directors to elect next spring, there is hope that the people will see to it that next year's board shall have at least three members fit to conduct school matters. Whether or not the closing of the school would be the best to do, we are not quite certain. It would be a humiliating position to place our little city in to say that by reason of the conspiracy of Barnacle Brown and his satellites we are compelled to close our schools, but it may be the best.

One thing, however, we are certain of. The board should promptly and unconditionally resign --- every many of them. There is no a man among them who is fit for the place --- not one. Every one has contributed his full share toward the present unfortunate and disgraceful condition that exists ---- some ignorantly, perhaps, and others designedly. But no matter how.

They should resign and give the people a chance. Then if the people every again elect any of them to a position, the people will deserve all the suffering they will have to bear.

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Editor King's campaign seems to have been  inspired, in part, because he hoped to help elect three new school board members more to his liking during March of 1890, when those positions opened.

And he did show up at the nominating convention that spring with a slate, rejected by those who attended. Instead, the school board seats went to three more prominent (Republican) males: N.B. Gardiner, George W. Larimer and Albert E. Dent.

According to the editor of the competing Chariton Herald, Mr. King was heard to mutter as he walked away from the tally site after votes had been counted, "Those damned Methodists are still on top."

And actually, obscured by the editor's overstatement, some of his concerns were justified. Most likely the fact that board treasurer Maple operated the book store at which a majority of Chariton scholars purchased their texts would be recognized today as a conflict of interest. 

And some 20 years later, when the county presented Mr. Brown with a bill for $55,000 in back property taxes, it became evident that he had been cheating for decades.

Restoring context to "Palmer" and "Cecil"

Two small headstones shaped like pillows stand side by side, each bearing a name in raised lettering --- "Palmer" and "Cecil." Located just south of the Chariton Cemetery's north driveway, a quarter of its length in, they are separated from the asphalt by another grave, this one marked by an even smaller stone of red granite inscribed, "Nellie Libby, 1873-1926," still snowed in after this year's mid-November storms.

There's no way to tell from the stones who these people were and no clue other than proximity and the similarity of their stones to tell us who Palmer and Cecil were. 

Cecil, as it turns out, was a little girl, only eight years old when she died on July 6, 1897. Her death was attributed, according to a brief obituary published in The Chariton Herald of July 8, to inflammation of the stomach that resulted from consuming too many green apples two weeks earlier. "Inflammation of the stomach" is the cause of death given in Lucas County records. Was it appendicitis? We'll never know.

Palmer was Cecil's little brother, only seven when he was killed two years later in an accident on the northeast corner of the the square at the intersection of North Grand and Braden on Nov. 20, 1899. Both were children of Nellie (Proctor) and Carl Amos although their parents had divorced in 1894 and Nellie was raising them as a single mother.

Details of the accident that killed little Palmer were included in the following report, published in The Chariton Democrat of Nov. 24:

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On Monday evening, November 20, about five o'clock, Palmer Amos, the little seven year old son of Nellie Amos, met with an accident which resulted in almost instant death.

During the absence of his mother, who has been in Burlington at the hospital taking a course for trained nurses, he has been making his home with his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Thos. Proctor, who reside on North Grand street.

On Monday evening he started down town on an errand and jumped on a wagon loaded with coal. When he reached the northeast corner of the square, near Stanley's grocery, he either jumped off, or slipped and fell, and the hind wheel passed over his head, crushing it and causing death in about five minutes.

The driver of the wagon, Frank Wright, stated that he did not know that the boy was on the wagon. The unfortunate lad was carried to Dr. Yocom's office, but life was extinct. His mother was summoned from Burlington and arrived the same night.

The sad affair has cast a gloom over the entire community and expressions of sorrow were heard everywhere. Although a home has been rendered desolate and a lovely flower has died, the bereaved ones can console themselves with the assurance that he is now safe in heaven.

Palmer Amos was born in this city July 15, 1892, and his short life was spent here. He was a bright, lovable child, and all who knew him were much devoted to him.

Funeral services, conducted by Rev. Vollmar, were held at the family residence on Wednesday afternoon at three o'clock, the school children attending in a body. A large number followed the remains to the Chariton cemetery where they were laid to rest by the side of his sister, Cecil, who died two years ago.

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Some years after her children's deaths, Nellie --- who had trained as a nurse after her divorce --- moved to Vermont to work and married Palmer Mahew Libby, who died about 1920 in New Hampshire. About 1924, Nellie moved to Los Angeles, where a brother lived.  She died in Los Angeles of a stroke on Sept. 25, 1926 --- her 54th birthday.

Three of Nellie's sisters still were living in Chariton when she died --- Jennie Rose, Mary Ellen Curtis and Elizabeth McKinley --- and they arranged to have her remains returned to Chariton for burial beside her children.

Carl Amos? He apparently relocated to North Dakota where he lived and died.

In the Time of My Thanksgiving ....

Heaven knows I'd not want to be accused of rushing Thanksgiving, but came across "My Thanksgiving Prayer" this morning and took a liking to it.

The composer is Steve Schalchlin (left) and is part of a larger work, "New World Waking." But the lyrics are by the Rev. Peter J. Carman, a progressive Baptist preacher. 

The performers: A touring company of the San Francisco Gay Mens Chorus at First Congregational Church in Santa Cruz, Calif. And here are the lyrics:

In this time of My Thanksgiving

As my song begins to rise

Listen to the prayer within me

Look into my grateful eyes

As I humbly stand before you

As I reach out with my hand

May the music bring a healing

To this cold and troubled land

In this Time of My Thanksgiving

In this Time of My Thanksgiving

God of Love who made apostles

Out of every clan and race

In this time and in this valley

You are there in every face

As I face the burnished offerings

To the gods of power and fear

Make of me a living offering

Let me be your servant here

In this Time of My Thanksgiving

In this Time of My Thanksgiving

Give us grace to face the struggle

Which the world yet holds in store

Walk beside us ever loving

Grant us peace forevermore

In this time grant us peace

In this time grant us peace

Trouble Right Here in (Chariton) River City ....

Back in 1909, The Chariton Herald-Patriot accused Mayor George F. Carpenter of being soft on crime. In an attempt to prove that he wasn't, the mayor caused the following notice to be published on the front page of the Herald-Patriot's competitor --- The Leader --- in its edition of Nov. 27:

"To Whom It may Concern: Attention is called to Ordinance No. Thirty Five, 'An Ordinance regulating the keeping of Billiard Tables,' and I will endeavor to enforce the same. Geo. F. Carpenter, Mayor."

Now Chariton's older generations had been convinced since at least the 1870s that the younger generations were going to hell --- and that one of the major devices propelling young men in that direction was the public billiard table. Preachers preached against it; city councils legislated against it.

Some years later, during the early 1950s, Mason City's Meredith Willson even wrote a song about it, "Ya Got Trouble" --- "Trouble with a capital 'T' and that rhymes with 'P' and that stands for pool!"

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Mayor Carpenter's front-page notice included all of the relevant sections or Ordinance No. 35, including Section 4:

"It shall be unlawful for any person keeping a billiard table in any other place than his private residence, and who allows the same to be played upon, to permit or allow minors to play upon the same; any person violating this section shall be fined in the sum of twenty-five dollars for each offense, and stand committed until the same is paid; and any person violating this section, upon conviction thereof, without any further proceedings, all licenses or permits he shall hold to keep a billiard table or tables shall be forfeited and of no further effect, and the Mayor shall issue to such person no new license or permit to keep a billiard table or tables for the full term of one year from and after the date of said conviction."

And then there was Section 5 which declared it illegal "to permit or allow minors to be and remain in the hall, house, or building, or any place, house, or building, appurtenant thereto, where such table or tables are kept" and imposed penalties that included a $10 fine for every violation, imprisonment or hard labor on the public highways

Even the younger generation was not spared. Section 6 provided that "any person, under the age of twenty-one years, who shall have entered a public house, hall or building where a billiard table or tables are kept and allowed to be played upon, who shall refuse, fail or neglect to immediately retire from and leave said house, hall or building" should be fined $5, imprisoned or sentenced to hard labor on the public highways.

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Concern about pool tables waned during the World War I years, but sputtered on during the 1920s. And then in 1929, Carl L. Caviness American Legion Post No. 102 formed the American Legion Junior Band. And the rest is history.

An outbreak of polio in Russell

The Americas were declared polio-free in 1994, due to effective vaccines, and it was hoped that the same could be said for the world by 2018. But as October turned to November in 1949, that infectious, crippling and sometimes deadly disease still was very much on the mind of most Lucas Countyans.

No cases had been reported here during 1947, but two Lucas County youngsters, Tommy Mays and Johnny Fisher, were among the 1,247 affected statewide during 1948. Both survived, but remained under treatment well into 1949. Three-year-old Eric Atha, of Chariton, hospitalized at Blank Childrens Hospital in Des Moines on August 4, was the first case of 1949.

Then everyone's attention turned to Russell when The Chariton Leader carried this report on the front page of its Nov. 1, 1949, edition under the headline, "Polio Strikes Russell Vicinity."

FLASH: As we go to press, another case has been tentatively diagnosed as polio in the Russell community. It is that of John Boozell, 39, who was taken to Des Moines just before noon today.

The first case to be reported was that of Larry Turbot, son of Mr. and Mrs. Hilton Turbot. He was taken to the Blank Memorial Hospital in Des Moines Sunday.

Yesterday, two young girls were stricken. They were the Brong sisters, Mary, 6, and Martha, 7, daughters of the Rev. and Mrs. Donald Brong. The girls were taken to the Blank Memorial Hospital last night. Their cases were said to be light.

Mrs. Clyde Milnes, chairman of the Lucas County Infantile Paralysis Foundation, reports that her organization is ready with every available resource and will do everything possible to stem the outbreak and halt the spread of the disease. She is going to Russell this afternoon to survey the situation.

A meeting of the Russell school board was called this morning and school was dismissed for the week, the children being sent home right after the meeting. Pending further developments school is tentatively scheduled to reopen next Monday.

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The situation had not changed by Thursday, Nov. 3, when The Herald-Patriot reported, "As far as can be determined as we go to press today there is nothing new in the Russell polio epidemic. To date four cases are reported. They are Larry Turbot, Mary and Martha Brong and John Boozell. A couple of others are reported ill, but polio is not indicated, advices say. All public meetings have been banned for the week and schools closed until Monday in the Russell community."

The Leader of Nov. 8 was able to report "Russell Back to Normal --- Information from Russell today is that the situation is again normal after the polio scare of last week in which four were sent to Des Moines for treatment. There are no new cases reported. Schools opened as usual Monday morning and other public meetings are held as necessary. Condition of the patients has not been determined."

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Of the four Russell cases, I believe that Mary Brong and John Boozell were the most severely affected, handicapped to an extent for the remainder of their lives. Mary's father, Donald Brong, was pastor of Russell's First Baptist Church at the time.

Nine more cases of polio were diagnosed in Lucas County during 1950, but nothing quite like the concentration in and near Russell occurred again.

Introduction of the Salk, then Sabin, vaccines eventually assured that polio was not among the various diseases and disorders Lucas Countyans need worry about.

Lucas County, Matt Moul & "Surviving Home"

Matthew Moul

Snow covers the ground here this Veterans Day morning --- and the projected low tonight is 9 degrees. While not a rerun of the great Armistice Day blizzard of 1940, it is a good day to stay inside, if you can, and watch a remarkable new film by Iowa native Matthew Moul and Jillian Moul, his wife. "Surviving Home" now is live-streaming free on PBS and other platforms.

Here's a link that will take you to it.

As the title suggests, military veterans, especially combat veterans, face formidable challenges not easily understood by civilians after coming home, faced with the expectation that they'll be able to slip seamlessly back into the life and the lives of family, friends and loved ones they left behind.

Released in October of 2017, "Surving Home" had been on the independent film circuit, winning numerous awards, before it was picked up by America ReFramed, a weekly independent documentary series broadcast on PBS. It premiered Nov. 7 and will live-stream on various platforms, I believe, for 30 days.

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Matt Moul has roots in various parts of Iowa --- born in Dubuque, he was raised from third grade on in Mason City and graduated from high school there.

But the link to Lucas County is a strong one --- his paternal grandfather, a young man and native son named Mark Bingaman, who did not survive World War II. Mark's life is commemorated by a cenotaph at Oxford Cemetery near the graves of his parents, Robert and Elsie Bingaman.

Mark's son, Robert Lee, was not yet a year old when his father died on March 19, 1945, aboard the U.S.S. Franklin near the Japanese mainland when it was struck by two armor-piercing bombs dropped by a single Japanese bomber. Although the ship survived, barely, 836 members of its crew were killed. Mark, with the others, was buried at sea.

In the years that followed, Matt's grandmother, Marcella, remarried and Robert Lee was adopted, assuming the surname "Moul."

Matthew and I became acquainted during 2011 because the Lucas County Historical Society collection includes a photograph, uniform and correspondence related to his grandfather, Mark.

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Matt and Jillian and their associates have been at work on "Surviving Home" for about 10 years while employed full-time --- and winning numerous honors --- on other projects in the film industry.

Jillian and Matt Moul (right) with Richard Delgado (left) and Robert Henline during a post-screening discussion session at Texas A&M-San Antonio

All voices in the film are those of military veterans and the stories of a dozen or more are woven into the narrative, but four are featured.

Robert Henline, a U.S. Army veteran of the Gulf and Iraq wars, was catastrophically burned by the explosion of an IED that killed four others in his vehicle. Stand-up comedy has proved therapeutic in his case.

Claude AnShin Thomas, a Vietnam War combat veteran, studied with Thich Nhat Hanh, was ordained a Buddhist monk and now leads programs for other veterans facing the challenges of adjusting to life after combat.

Tracey Cooper-Harris, a 12-year Iraq War veteran, faced the additional challenge of winning spousal benefits for her wife, Maggie, from the Veterans Administration after returning to civilian life.

And Richard Green, a World War II veteran estranged from his biological family, who finds solace in fund-raising for veteran causes with the support of younger members of his VFW post.

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The expressed goal of "Surviving Home" is to build bridges between the sometimes estranged veteran and civilian communities as well as to provide veterans themselves with examples of how their brothers and sisters have faced challenges --- and thrived.

And if you stay tuned as the credits roll, you'll find Mark's name at the head of the list of those veterans to whom the film is dedicated.