To fallen soldiers --- and photojournalists ...

As a minor rite of spring, I usually have posted something here on the April 30ths of later life  commemorating the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, some years after I returned home. Saigon after all had been my home for a year. This is the 45th anniversary of the fall.

Yesterday, April 29, was the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Cambodian Campaign --- or invasion --- and I was in country for that, flooded in the intelligence center where I worked by material captured there and sent back to Saigon to be assessed.

This morning, I came across an article entitled "A homage to the photojournalists lost to decades of war in Vietnam." Like LIFE photographer Larry Burrows, who took this iconic photograph of Marine Gunnery Sgt. Jeremiah Purdie reaching out to a wounded friend after a firefight south of the DMZ during 1966. Burrows and three other journalists were killed on Feb. 10, 1971, when their helicopter was shot down over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos.

It's impossible to overstate the importance of the raw images these men and women sent home to media outlets in awaking a generally complacent American public to the horrors of that futile war, and the cost.

Naturally, there were those who thought photographs and similar footage depicting the realities of war should not be published. You see that thread of human nature still present among those who, during our current troubles, prefer to blame the messengers and tellers of truth for our restless uncertainties. 

And here's a clip of the West Point Band and Glee Club performing "Mansions of the Lord" from the 2002 film, "We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young," as a small tribute to all who died during that dreadful time.

To fallen soldiers let us sing
Where no rockets fly nor bullets wing
Our broken brothers let us bring
To the Mansions of the Lord

No more bleeding, no more fight
No prayers pleading through the night
Just divine embrace, Eternal light
In the Mansions of the Lord

Where no mothers cry and no children weep
We will stand and guard though the angels sleep
All through the ages safely keep
The Mansions of the Lord

   

COVID-19 and the imaginary nature of county lines

My friend Mary Ellen shared this chart overnight --- one of the more useful among countless items shared on social media during the COVID-19 crisis; and after passing it along in turn I decided this morning to plant it here.

I love to know where stuff comes from, but the source of this chart remains elusive. It seems to be based upon a learning zone model put forward ca. 2000 by a Tom Senninger, usually described as a German academic. I tried following it down that rabbit hole --- and gave up.

I suspect we'll never know who recast the model in this form --- many agencies, organizations and individuals have stamped their mark on various reproductions of it. The wording differs slightly in some.

But it's a useful way to think about how we're reacting to the current situation and perhaps an aid to the task of setting goals.

The situation in Lucas County has been unchanged --- no confirmed cases of COVID-19. But then testing in Iowa is just getting off the ground.

The governor is attempting to "re-open" those counties with fewer (or no) COVID-19 cases while continuing to impose stricter rules in "hot spots." She seems to have ignored advice from the medical community in doing this. It seems like a hazardous --- politicized --- thing to do.

But the thing of it is, no one really knows for sure --- we will find out in the coming days.

Meanwhile, ignore your social media (and other) friends who tell you extreme precautions are the stuff of sissies --- they're insecure and feel threatened now in situations beyond their control. And remember that there is no anti-COVID-19 vaccine, there are no anti-viral medications, medical personnel can do little more than treat symptoms and the virus has no idea what a county line is.

Buried, exhumed, identified and buried again

The Chariton Cemetery is home to a good number of permanent residents who had no real relationship with Lucas County but were buried near where they fell, including the unfortunate Alfred Anderson. Mr. Anderson had the additional challenges of being wrongly identified at death, then exhumed and reburied so that positive identification could be made.

Anderson, 59, was a day laborer employed by Donald Jeffrey, a contractor building bridges on the new Rock Island Railroad line under construction through Lucas County during 1911 when he was killed. The death was reported in The Herald-Patriot of Sept. 21 as follows. The victim was misidentified as "Andrew" rather than as "Alfred" Anderson, a mistake also embedded in Lucas County death records.

+++

While unloading a train of dump cars on a trestle at the first camp of Donald Jeffrey, about five miles northeast of Chariton, last Thursday afternoon at two o'clock, part of the trestle collapsed, throwing the cars into the ditch. Andrew Anderson, one of the men working on the trestle was killed, something striking him in the face as he fell. Two other workmen named John Miller, but no relation to each other, were injured, one having his right arm broken and the other his nose and cheek bones broken. Both were brought to Mercy Hospital and are being cared for there. Another man, Andy Horan, was bruised in the face, but did not go to the hospital. Only part of the trestle collapsed, and on the end that did not fall there were six other men working. Had the whole trestle given away there would probably have been others killed or badly injured.

The dead man was taken to Froggat's undertaking rooms where Coroner John Stanton held an inquest over his body on Friday, with Frank Darrah, W.C. Largey, and Chester Wilson as the jury. They returned a verdict of accidental death, not placing any blame for carelessness on anyone. The body was interred in the Chariton cemetery on Saturday afternoon, with short services at the grave by Rev Aszman.

Deceased has no family or relatives, so far as is known, except a son who is either in Alliance, Nebr., or somewhere in South Dakota. He was aged about fifty years.

This is the first accident of the kind that Mr. Jeffrey has ever had in his many years of railroad building. He has always been particularly careful to have his trestles even stronger than seemed necessary, and this trestle was inspected only a couple of days before the accident, and seemed sound and in good condition. What caused its collapse is not known, unless it was a defective timber that looked sound. Mr. Jeffrey is doing everything possible for the comfort of the men who were injured.

+++

Two weeks later, in their editions of October 5, both The Leader and The Herald-Patriot reported that Mr. Anderson's son, identified by the Herald-Patriot as H.G. Anderson of Alliance, Nebraska, had visited Chariton to identify the remains of his father. Here's The Leader report, the most detailed of the two:

Attorney W.W. Bulman located the son of the gentleman, Anderson by name, who was recently killed on the railroad works out north of Chariton by the falling of a trestle. The young man arrived from a Nebraska point yesterday and asked to have the body exhumed to see if he could identify the dead man as his father, whom he had not seen for several years. The state board of health was communicated with, who gave the local board authority to act, so the body was exhumed and the young man identified the dead man as his father, after which the remains were re-interred. It seems that the deceased had been divorced from his wife, and had not been with his family for several years.

+++

Alfred Anderson, after all his troubles, was given a small but decent tombstone. Although it's difficult to read, the inscription identifies him as "Brother" and gives his dates as July 1852-Sept. 14, 1911. So apparently, in addition to a son who went to considerable trouble to identify him, Mr. Anderson also had a sibling who thought enough of him to mark his grave.

War photography and 45th anniversary of the fall

The social media offer an aid to those of us prone to forgetfulness --- by "liking," "following" or "friending" you can keep track of people whose names may (temporarily) slip your mind.

That was the case this morning when I went looking for the Facebook page of Christopher Gaynor, who I follow. Gaynor lives on Vashon Island (in Puget Sound) with his husband and is a Vietnam veteran who attracted positive attention a few years ago when he resurrected some remarkable photographs he had taken while in service and made them public.

I remembered all of that and had been trying to tell someone about Gaynor's work (but had forgotten his name). So now we all know.

This seems an appropriate time to do a little looking back --- April 30 will be the 45th anniversary of the fall of Saigon and the end of the U.S. war in Vietnam. By going to his Facebook page you can find links to some of those photographs. Here's a link.

Mothers Day? Bah humbug!

Chariton's Virginia Branner was a veteran campaigner for women's suffrage and, along with other women, had suffered disappointment after disappointment over the years as men consistently declined to endorse universal suffrage.

As Mother's Day 1910 arrived and was duly celebrated --- traditional womanly virtues celebrated by menfolk across America --- ten more years of hard work remained. Virginia sat down and wrote the following response to the editor of The Chariton Leader, published on May 19:

Mr. Editor ---

We have lately been reading and hearing from press and pulpits a good deal about Mother's Day, honoring our mothers, etc. How much does it mean after all? Let us leave sentiment, and get down to facts; one fact, just now, will suffice to show how little there is in it.

How can men truly honor their mothers, to say nothing of sisters, wives and daughters, when they not only placidly permit them to be classed with lunatics, criminals and idiots, but persistently refuse to removed them from that class? Cant it be that they think that is where they properly belong? If so, how can they honor them? We do not usually consider lunatics, idiots and criminals fit persons to honor.

Now if men really mean to honor mothers, the beings to whom they owe most in this world, and also to honor all women worthy of being honored, and that is the larger part of them, let them remove from our statute books that relic of the Dark Ages,that blot on civilization that deliberately classes women with the lowest and most degraded of our people. Quoting Dr. Johnson, I close by imploring our "dear (political) Lords to clear their mind of cant."

V.M. Branner

President of the Chariton Equal Suffrage Society

Nine years later, the U.S. House passed the 19th Amendment on May 21, 1919, and the U.S. Senate followed suit on June 4. Tennessee became the necessary 36th state to endorse it on Aug. 18, 1920, and the amendment was formally adopted on Aug. 26.

Virginia had little more than a year left to celebrate the successful conclusion of the work she had been engaged in for at least 30 years. She died on Sept. 16, 1921, at the age of 68 after having cast her first and last presidential vote in 1920.

A coal miner's lost grave

Fry Hill Cemetery at Lucas dates from the late 1870s, developed on land owned by the White Breast Fuel & Mining Co. on the highest point north of its new town of Cleveland (commenced in 1876)  overlooking the village, the mines and the White Breast Creek valley to the south beyond. 

The cemetery takes its name from Shadrack Hill, 24, a coal miner who came to the United States from England with his family during 1861 and died in Cleveland of a "lung complaint" on Nov. 30, 1880. His grave is marked.

Others had been buried there before, however, including Thomas Gray, another Englishman, who died in the mines on May 21, 1880. His death was reported in a brief item datelined "Cleveland" and published in The Chariton Patriot of May 26:

+++

CLEVELAND --- A sad accident happened in the mines at this place on Friday last. Thos. Gray, a miner, was killed by a fall of roof slate. Not having come home from work at the usual time, Mr. James Birchell, whom he boarded with, went into the mines to seek him, and on coming near the place where the deceased work, and seeing his dinner pail and going a little farther and seeing the fallen roof, the tale was soon told. He was quite dead when found.

It is quite evident he had fired his shots or blasts, the detached coal having knocked some props out. He resorted to a foolish practice among some miners, of going to see what work the blasts had done, and in so doing lost his life. The coroner's jury pronounced a verdict of accidental death.

Deceased had no relatives of any kind whatever in this country, but the esteem in which he was held by the community was manifestly shown by the large concourse of people attending his burial, which took place within the twenty-four in which he was killed. A word of commendation should be given the managers of the mine for the part they took in this sad affair. We understand the bore the greater part of the burial expenses.

+++

The mortality schedule attached to the 1880 federal census states that Thomas was 40, single and had been born in England, but there seems to be no further record of him.

It's unlikely that Thomas was the first to die in the Cleveland mines and he certainly was not the last. Others rest in many graves, marked and unmarked, at Fry Hill. We know nothing about Mr. Gray other than the fact he was here and still his --- somewhere in that big hilltop cemetery with wonderful views that has long outlived the White Breast mines and the mining town it was established to serve.

Flowers and sunshine ...

Curiously, much of the natural world doesn't seem to be aware of the angst now prevalent among its human component. So there were blooms aplenty to take a closer look at late yesterday when I went out to the museum to push the bin to curb.

Our tulips are not as enthusiastic this year as in the past --- I think an infusion of fresh bulbs is due, something to remember in the fall. But I did find these.

And a small shrub in full bloom just south of the A.J. Stephens House. Soon the iris and peonies will be along, then lilies and phlox.

Not to burst your bubble, but sunshine and fresh air do not kill the COVID-19 virus. They can do wonders for the human spirit, however.

Should have watched cute animal videos instead ....

Osterholm

In the first place, I overslept this morning. In the second, I've been reading --- among other things --- this quote from Michael T. Osterholm, University of Minnesota infectious disease specialist, as  quoted by The Washington Post: "As a country, we’re unprepared not just logistically but mentally for this next phase. For a while, people were told all we need is to get past the peak. Then, they started hearing all we need is testing. Meanwhile, the president keeps telling everyone that things are going to reopen in a matter of weeks. The way you prepare people for a sprint and marathon are very different. As a country, we are utterly unprepared for the marathon ahead.”

In other words, as the Post puts it, "He worries most Americans do not grasp the long, hard months facing them and the likelihood of repeated surges of the virus." Here's a link to the entire Post article.

It's unnerving to realize that we're in a situation worldwide that no one now living has experienced before --- and that because of 20th and 21st century developments in transportation and other areas we've never been so precariously positioned universally; that so many of our support systems are so precarious and that the prevailing premise that we'll get back to normal in a matter of days or weeks is entirely false.

Being reminded of this is not an uplifting way to start a day. I should have watched cute animal videos instead ....

Tombstone Iconography: Confederate veteran stone

Government-issue tombstones that mark the graves of Confederate veterans are few and far between in Iowa --- only two in Lucas County. This one, in the Chariton Cemetery, marks the grave of George W. Alexander, unmarked until after 1930 --- when the stones became available for use in privately owned cemeteries.

Congress authorized these stones during 1906, but they were intended only to mark the graves of Confederate veterans buried in national cemeteries (eight Confederate veterans are buried in Keokuk National Cemetery, for example; and nearly 2,000 in the Confederate Cemetery on Arsenal Island, Rock Island, site of a prisoner of war camp).

From the outset, the stones had their distinctive pointed top to distinguish them from Union stones, with rounded tops. During 1929, Congress authorized use of the stones to mark previously unmarked graves in private cemeteries and the Confederate cross of honor was added to the design during 1930.

+++

Alexander was born during 1845 at Dandridge, Jefferson County, east Tennessee, in the same general area where the other two Confederate veterans buried in the Chariton Cemetery --- Napoleon B. Branner and Isaac Fain --- were born. He enlisted for service in Company C, 31st Tennessee Infantry, during 1861 and served throughout the war.

By his own account, he left east Tennessee after the war in large part because of the bitter disputes between Union and Confederate partisans that continued there and relocated to Dubuque in July of 1865, where he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1871. 

During 1872, he married Clara Dodson, an older widow with one son, and moved to Chariton at the urging of his friends, Branner and Fain. 

By all accounts, George was an attractive and charismatic man --- and an excellent attorney. But his devils included alcoholism, a problem that accelerated after the death of Clara during September of 1905.

He was elected mayor of Chariton on several occasions --- despite the fact his difficulties with alcohol were widely known and he was denounced upon occasion from the city's pulpits. During 1908, he was committed to the state hospital for inebriates, Knoxville, and prevailed upon to resign. But The Chariton Herald editor expressed what probably was the prevailing attitude in Chariton when reporting his hospitalization:

"Hundreds of people will turn their thoughts to him (Alexander) with kindly consideration for his interest and generosity during the many years he has been legal advisor, to the poor especially," the editor wrote. "He is a pension attorney and many veterans, soldiers' widows and their dependent children have been cared for through his zealous attention to the case in question. The many friends in this city and surrounding country will remember him in his affliction, hoping that his physical condition may respond to the combination of medical aid and splendid surroundings."

Alexander did recover and returned to his law practice --- but not to politics. He died eight years later, on Feb. 13, 1916, of injuries sustained when he fell down the stairs to his second-floor office on the square.

Since he had no money, he was buried with Clara on the Branner family lot in the Chariton Cemetery, but his grave remained unmarked. 

After government-issue veteran tombstones became available for use in private cemeteries, Chariton Cemetery and veteran affairs personnel worked together to locate unmarked veteran graves and ordered stones for them, which is why George's grave is marked. It has a G.A.R. flag holder because all three of the Confederate veterans buried in the cemetery were honorary affiliates of Iseminger Post, Grand Army of the Republic. 

Russell, prepare to meet thy maker ...

Henry Sturgis Russell, ca. 1867

Well, not exactly. But there is a long-standing misunderstanding about Russell's namesake, Henry Sturgis Russell, and the role he played in creation of the town that bears his name along newly-built Burlington & Missouri River Railroad tracks during October of 1867.

Much of this can be traced to Lucas County's 1881 history in which newspaper editor turned historian Dan Baker wrote, "The original town was platted by Mr. H.S. Russell, trustee for the owners of the land, on the 9th day of October, 1867, and contained 209 lots."

That account calls to mind images of a dusty pioneer civil engineer armed with surveying equipment encamped on the town site and transferring onto paper in the form of a plat the streets, alleys and lots of the new town he had just envisioned --- then named for himself.

Well, not exactly.

+++

Russell, just 29 when the town of Russell came into being, was a Massachusetts native, born June 21, 1838, at Savin Hill, then a seaside resort.  His father, Robert Russell, was a successful merchant and financier; young Henry, an 1860 graduate of Harvard College.

During 1861, as the Civil War began, Henry volunteered and began his service as 1st lieutenant in the 2nd Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. He concluded an exemplary military career in 1864 with the rank of colonel, breveted at war's end to brigadier general.

On May 6, 1864, he married Mary Hathaway Forbes, daughter of John Murray Forbes, a major mover and shaker in Boston-based financial endeavors nationwide. Quite naturally, he went to work for his father-in-law.

Forbes and his associate, Boston banker Nathaniel Thayer, were principals in financing construction of both the Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad and the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad. Forbes was Burlington & Missouri River president at the time it expanded across southern Iowa.

The partners also formed a company to buy and sell land (and establish towns) along the Burlington & Missouri route. The company was organized formally as the Russell Trust, named after Mr. Forbes' new son-in-law, and legal title to the land was placed in Henry's name as trustee.

John M. Forbes' point man in Iowa was his nephew, Charles Elliott Perkins, who lived in Burlington and went on to serve for many years as a highly respected president of the C.B.&Q. At the time the town of Russell was formed, he was superintendent of the B.&M.R. and responsible, too, for supervising operations of the Russell Trust.

Any business he conducted for the trust was done in the name of Henry S. Russell, trustee, but Mr. Russell remained  in Boston with Mr. Perkins at the helm in Iowa. It was Perkins who employed the engineers, surveyors, draftsmen and clerks who planned, platted and developed new towns like Russell, then Lucas, along the route. And it most likely was Charles who decided to name one of those new towns Russell in honor of his cousin by marriage, Henry S.

+++

Henry Russell seems to have had no particular interest in commercial pursuits --- and with plenty of family money didn't need to develop one. He retired from his father-in-law's firm after three years and retreated to his farms where he specialized in trotting horses and, later, Jersey cattle. But he did remain as titular head of the Russell Trust and also served on the C.B.&Q. Railroad board.

Henry also was civic minded and served in a number of positions of public trust --- Milton selectman, Boston police commissioner and Boston fire commissioner, a position he still held at the time of his death on Feb. 16, 1905, at the age of 66. A Unitarian, he was buried with neither pomp nor circumstance in the Milton Cemetery, survived by two sons and three daughters.

So did Henry ever visit his namesake town along the tracks in southern Iowa? If he did so, there's no record of it, but he did travel widely to and through Iowa pursuing his interests in livestock as the years passed. And since the C.B.&Q. was kind of a family business, it's entirely possible that he at least passed through.

Henry S. Russell's tombstone in the Milton, Massachusetts, Cemetery.

Update from the "real" Historical Society Museum

It's Monday, April 20, 2020, and time for a report from the "real" Lucas County Historical Society Museum --- in addition to the "virtual" museum launched a few weeks ago on Facebook to keep us in touch during the COVID-19 lockdown.

This would have been the week under ordinary circumstances that we'd have held our annual membership meeting, but obviously that's not going to happen (although we do hope later this year to reschedule the excellent program planned by the Events Committee).

Meanwhile, let's begin with a brief update from the dining room of the A.J. Stephens House where a new case (top) was installed during the winter that allows us to display parts off our vintage glassware and porcelain collection to better advantage. The case was purchased in memory of the late Esther Belle (Miller) Steinbach, using memorial funds donated by family and friends.

The old waist-high case that formerly stood here has been redeployed to a new toy display in the Crist Gallery, lower level of the Lewis Building. The old case had a few issues --- many of the items it contained were difficult to see and the set of china we use for display settings was stored there. Every time we wanted to use that china, it was necessary to push the case away from the wall and open it from the back, not especially convenient. Those dishes now are housed in the built-in buffet, designed for just that purpose back in 1911.

+++

Three meetings were on the April museum schedule before the COVID-19 situation developed. We cancelled the regular April board meeting, postponed until May the annual meeting of the board (usually held in conjunction with the regular April board meeting) and have postponed the annual membership meeting, originally scheduled for Tuesday.

We hope to reschedule the membership meeting later this year but timing will depend on COVID-19 and the availability of our speaker, Michael Plummer, historic sites manager for the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs.

Both the regular May board meeting and the postponed annual board meeting will be held --- if not in person then virtually.

+++

Under ordinary circumstances, the museum would open for the season on May 1, but it seems unlikely that will happen this year. We will open our doors to the public as soon as it is safe to do so and will keep you informed.

We were looking forward to a visit during May from Chariton Community School second-graders, something else that's not going to happen this year. So we're looking ahead to 2021.

We are continuing the plan for the Art at the Museum event on June 21 as scheduled. It's a complicated event and if we drop the organizational threads now we'll not be able to recover them. But --- we'll reassess the situation on May 1 and again on June 1 so nothing is guaranteed.

The remainder of the museum's public events schedule is on hold --- we'll just have to play everything by ear this year.

+++

We'll continue to maintain off-season business hours at the museum until we're able to open to the public. That means Kathleen will be working in the office or elsewhere on campus from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Behind-the-scenes work continues at other times, too, carried out by individuals taking all of the recommended safety precautions.

We cannot allow public access to museum buildings at this time, but will be glad to respond to telephone calls (641-774-4464) or e-mail messages (lchs@windstream.net).

Stay well, stay in touch and hopefully we'll be able to meet in person before too long.

National Organ Day and Iowa's mighty Kimball

Saturday had been designated National Organ Day in the UK --- we're talking about musical instruments --- until COVID-19 derailed it. The event's already been rescheduled for 2021 although a variety of virtual performances went forward, but I couldn't find anything online this morning that I liked.

So here, instead, is a brief presentation from the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs about one of Iowa's organ treasures, the 1896 Kimball in the Union Sunday School building at Clermont. The building --- and its organ --- are owned by the state of Iowa as part of the Montauk Historic Site. The house called Montauk, home of Iowa's 12th governor, William Larrabee and perched on a hilltop above the town, is the centerpiece of the site.

Gov. Larrabee bought and installed the organ for his daughter, Anna (1869-1965), longtime Union Sunday School organist. I've borrowed the exterior image here from The Oelwein Dailly Register; the shot of the organ from Iowa's Dobson Pipe Organ Builders, which repaired the instrument in recent years.

According to Dobson, "This instrument is the largest remaining unaltered tubular-pneumatic organ built by W.W. Kimball." A restoration was undertaken in 1979-80 by the Hendrickson Organ Co. of St. Peter, Minnesota, but miscalculations then brought about the need for further work --- by the Dobson staff. During ordinary times, the Department of Cultural Affairs offers a concert series featuring the organ, but we have no way of knowing how that will (or won't) develop this year.

I have a very modest history with this instrument. Years ago, on a whim, I dropped in at the tourism office then operating in Clermont while driving from one place to another and found myself the only tourist in down. The guide and I set out with a set of keys and stopped, among other places, at Union Sunday School where both us tried our hand (not at all skillfully) at the organ.

Russell's pioneering Calvin and Cordelia Post

Doris Christensen/Find a Grave

Cordelia Jolley was barely 15 back in January of 1859 when she married Calvin H. Post, 19, in Ohio, and just a few months later the young couple were aboard a covered wagon, making the long journey west to Lucas County, Iowa.

Stopping near LaGrange, he found work with a neighborhood farmer, Milton Allen, and the prudent young couple soon had enough cash to buy land of their own --- due north of Russell --- and moved there about 1863, some years before Russell itself had been dreamed of.

In due course, they had nine children, three of whom died young, and acquired more than 400 acres of land --- separate farms, but all on a trajectory due north of Russell in Cedar Township.

So there was a good deal to celebrate during January of 1909 when the Posts, who had moved into Russell about 1897, planned a celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary. Here's the announcement, published in The Chariton Herald of Jan. 28, 1909.

+++

Tomorrow, January 29, 1909, Mr. and Mrs. C.H. Post, of Russell, will celebrate their golden wedding. A number of relatives and friends will be entertained at their hospitable home at a dinner, and many will call to extend their congratulations to the worthy couple, who for half a century have trod life's pathway together.

Calvin H. Post and Miss Cordelia A. Jolley were united by marriage in Athens county, Ohio, near Hibbardsville, on January 29, 1859, the ceremony being performed by the groom's cousin, Rev. W.E. Post. They came to this county in the fall of that year, locating in Lagrange, where they lived four years. They then moved to the farm in Cedar township which was their home until 1897 when they moved to Russell.

Nine children have been born to them, six of whom are living. They are Mrs. Lillie Doane, of Cedar township; Sherman, now of San Diego, California; Charles, of Des Moines; Fred and Harley, who operate the home farm in Cedar township; and Mabel, of Russell.

When Mr. and Mrs. Post came to Iowa they made the journey on the road, camping out nearly every night. They crossed the Illinois river in a leaky flat boat, and crossed the Des Moines river in a tramp wheel boat, the tramping being done by a mule.

Their experiences in founding a home in this new country were varied and sometimes thrilling, but in spite of their youth (he being but 19 years old and she a few years his junior), they triumphed over all difficulties and have been successful in their undertakings.

They have lived a quiet, peaceful life and enjoy the high regard of all who know them. Their friends are numbered by their acquaintances, and all trust that their declining days may be peaceful and tranquil and filled with happiness. May they have many more happy wedding anniversaries.

+++

The weather, however, failed to cooperate with the Post family's plans to celebrate, as the opening sentences of a report in The Herald of Feb. 4 suggests:

The blizzard of Friday, January 29, 1909, will be remembered as one of the severest storms that ever struck this section of Iowa. The wind blew a perfect gale for 24 hours and caused considerable damage to window glass, trees, roofs and other property....  Stock suffered terrible and reports from the country furnish information of the perishing of a large number of animals. People on the rural routes received no mail Friday or Saturday, and the carriers did not get entirely over their routes until the middle of the week. Business in Chariton was almost entirely suspended, the schools were dismissed and everything was at a standstill while the storm continued. During the 50 years this writer has lived in Iowa we do not remember of as severe a storm as that of Friday, Jan. 29.

+++

The Posts continued to live in Russell, acquiring a second home in California where they spent winters near children who had settled there, until Calvin died, age 77, on April 6, 1918. His obituary in The Herald-Patriot of April 12 provides a few more insights into character and experience:

Calvin Hudson Post was born in Washington county, Penn., September 1st, 1839. Pneumonia caused his death after ten days illness, on April 6th, 1917, aged 77 years, 7 months and 7 days. Interment was in the Russell cemetery.

A mere boy, he removed from Pennsylvania to Athens county, Ohio, where he was married on January 29th, 1859, to Cordelia Annetta Jolley. Within a year, they removed to near LaGrange, Ia.

The trip was made overland in a wagon with goods not exceeding $25. The Mississippi was crossed in a rickety paddle wheel ferry at Keokuk. A log house was put up near LaGrange. Mrs. Post had a brother, Alfred Jolley, who was preaching in Iowa. This was what determined their direction of emigration to Iowa.

Activity and strenuousness always characterized Mr. Post's life. Being thrown on his own resources very young, little book learning was received. For him it was hewing rails alongside the school house at noon and recess to earn money, instead of play. Many other privations and hardships were undergone.

He undertook extensive stock buying from New York and other states. The cattle being shipped to Iowa. There were many dangers and hardships incidental to the trips. But, later in life Mr. Post was able to travel more comfortably, as in going to California, over which distance he traversed eighteen times, with and without his family. Within a day of taking to his bed for the last time, he was in the timber with an axe doing work.

+++

The next year, Cordelia moved permanently to the couple's California home and continued to live there until her own death on June 16, 1931, age 87. Her remains were returned to Russell for burial in the town cemetery.

This brief account of two lives has no moral (feel free to develop your own) and is intended merely as a reminder that Lucas County's history is filled with the stories of people, now largely forgotten, who did not consider their lives remarkable but who were, in fact, remarkable indeed.

The Sound of Music reimagined ....

One finds joy these days where one can, so I turned to Shirley Serban yesterday after returning from the grocery store in an advanced state of despair after discovering that the supply of dish washing detergent had been wiped out and the shelves of applesauce severely depleted.

Shirley describes herself on her YouTube channel as "from the West Coast of New Zealand. School principal by day --- kayaker, photographer and musician whenever I can be. I don't share much publicly on here, but feel free to subscribe for when I do. (With Covid-19 lockdown, my creative juices have time to flow, so I'm hoping to make more parody songs over time.)"

Here's her version of a few songs from The Sound of Music.

I would write more, but now have to get dressed and make my way through this winter wonderland to curbside in order to upright the garbage bin, sent flying by a snow plow. It's April 17. Wonderful.

Tombstone iconography: The Quaker way

Quakers formed a significant component of Iowa's pioneers, including the West Branch Hoovers, who produced Iowa's only native-born president, Herbert.

But Friends were few and far between in Lucas County, never arriving in sufficient numbers to gather a meeting --- the nearest were at Smyrna, just across the Clarke County line to the west; to the north in Warren County; and to the northeast, in Mahaska.

A majority of Lucas County's Quakers joined congregations of other denominations, but the most influential did not. The Lewis family, editors and publishers of The Chariton Patriot from the 1870s until after the turn of the 20th century, held on to their Quaker beliefs and practices until the end.

Which is why dates on some of the family tombstones in the Chariton Cemetery are inscribed in the unique Quaker way, including that of Hettie Lewis, who died 4th Month, 16th Day, 1880 (or April 16, 1880), age 39, of tuberculosis.

Quakers, from the earliest times, had objected to the pagan linguistic roots of the words used to represent days of the week, Sunday-Saturday, and all of the months except September-December. After 1752, Quakers worldwide began to use a consistent numbering system for those words --- 1st Day through 7th Day for Sunday-Saturday; and 1st Month through 12th Month for January-December.

Some Quakers still use the traditional numbering system, but many do not --- and the transition from one system to another is evident on the Lewis family tombstones. Later stones are inscribed in the more common way.

Three Lewis brothers, Elijah, Evan and Joseph, arrived in Chariton from Chester County, Pennsylvania, immediately after the Civil War. Trained as millers, in addition to other skills as teachers and farmers, they purchased the Phoenix Flouring Mill. During 1873, they were joined by their parents, Thomas M. and Susanna Lewis, and sisters Lucretia and Hettie.

Joseph moved on, but Lucretia, Elijah and Evan formed a company and purchased The Chariton Patriot, which remained in family hands until after the turn of the 20th century.

Hettie was the first to die in Lucas County. Here's her brief obituary from The Patriot of April 21, 1880:

DIED

LEWIS --- At the residence of her mother, Susanna Lewis, in this city on Friday afternoon at 2 o'clock of consumption, Hettie M. Lewis.

She was attacked with the fatal disease some months since, and has been confined to the house a greater portion of the time. During her long illness she was never known to utter a word of complaint, and bore her suffering with a resignation rarely equaled. She was the pet of the household and admired by all of her acquaintances for her warm hearted, generous good nature, and will be sadly missed. The afflicted family are almost inconsolable for their loss, and will receive in their trying hour, the utmost sympathy of the entire community.

Drunken debauchery rampant in Lucas County

It seems unlikely that our forebears actually were more wicked than we are, but newspaper editors of the day kept a sharp eye out for transgressions and rarely hesitated to report them. Here are three examples, all involving demon rum, published on the local news page of The Chariton Herald of Feb. 10, 1898:

+++

The boisterousness and drunkeness that was evident on the streets last Sunday afternoon kept growing until about the second watch of the night, when it came to a crisis in a drunken brawl on the north side of the square. The police took a hand in the affair and escorted Frank Tate around to the county jail, where he is being detained on an old mittimus. Information was field against William Campbell for disorderly conduct and others may be summoned to answer for like behavior. There seems to be an epidemic of disorder about town of late, and the only way to stamp it out is to give those infected a course of treatment in the Manning hospital (the county jail). Last Sunday evening it was almost dangerous for a lady to go in the vicinity of the post office because of insults likely to be thrust upon her from the assembled drunks.

+++

In front of the post office last Thursday night occurred a little sparring match in which Fred Mauk, Earn Pulliam and a young man named Smith tried to settle a difference. In the fray that followed, Fred was knocked down and the two triumphant lads, flushed with victory, went to the restaurant of Avitt & Berghman, put the proprietors out and took charge of the establishment themselves. It is said the boys had been drinking, but this did not lessen the mortification of the restaurant men who had to watch the intruders from a window. No arrests were made.

+++

At the instance of Chas. Tansey, a United States Deputy Marshal went down to Derby last week and took into custody Drs. R. Fred Throckmorton and W.E. Moore on the charge of selling intoxicating liquor without a license. They were taken before the commission in Ottumwa for preliminary hearing. A plea of not guilty was entered and they will be tried in the federal court in Des Moines. If they succeed in vindicating themselves, Tansey will take a slump in favor of the public, but if they are convicted, to worm themselves back into the confidence of the good people of Derby will be something for them to live for in the future.

+++

At the time, physicians were licensed to dispense strong drink for medicinal purposes --- but nothing else. And apparently the Derby doctors had stepped over the line. Other newspaper reports state that they eventually rescinded the "not guilty" plea, paid a $50 fine and had few difficulties "worming" themselves back into the confidence of the good people of Derby.

The Chariton History Club's extraordinary loving cup

Sallie Leffler Edwards

I'm doubling up this morning --- the Chariton History Club's extraordinary 1896 loving cup, from the Lucas County Historical Society collection, will be the topic both here at the Lucas Countyan and at "The Virtual Museum," a Facebook feature I launched for the museum at the outset of the COVID-19 lockdown and hope to continue daily until life returns to normal. 

There's more to say about the loving cup than seems practical for the usual "Museum" format; here, I can just ramble on and on.

That's the loving cup above, bearing the History Club's monogram and the inscription, "1878-1896, Feb. 14." It was presented to the club by Sarah "Sallie" (Leffler) Edwards, a charter member who by 1896 was living in Los Angeles with her husband, Col. Eugene E. Edwards.

The inscription on the bottom of the cup tells more of the story: "Presented to 'The History Club' Chariton Iowa. Sallie Leffler Edwards, Los Angeles, California, 1896. For 'Auld Lang Syne."

A loving cup ceremony or "service" was part of the History Club's ritual on grand occasions and this cup was intended for that purpose.

+++

The History Club, launched on Valentines Day 1878, generally was recognized as the oldest of Chariton's many women's clubs and perhaps the most prestigious. Its charter members were Annie L. Mallory, Laura R. Gibbon, Harriet C. Underhill, Della A. Storie, Ellen M. Brant, Elizabeth Jane Temple, Sallie Edwards, Emily McCormick, Margaret McCormick and Julia Palmer.

Annie Mallory was married to Smith H. Mallory and her home, the Ilion, the site of many glittering social occasions. Elizabeth Temple was married to Edward Ames Temple, founder of what now is the Iowa-based Principal Financial Group. Emily and Margaret McCormick and Julia Palmer were influential and affluent single women.

During its heyday, the club met every Monday afternoon and on three other grander occasions during the year, including a "symposium" held on the club's anniversary date. Membership seems always to have been limited to 10-12, but as the number of eligible members grew, the History Club launched as an auxiliary the Clio Club, named after the mythological muse of history.

Here's a report of the "symposium" held on Valentines Day, 1903, as reported in The Chariton Herald of Feb. 19. The Misses McCormick lived in a fine new house that they had built for themselves at the southwest corner of the intersection of South 8th Street and Woodlawn, replaced after a fire by the house currently on that site.

On last Saturday evening, St. Valentines night, the members of the History Club, with the Clios as guests of honor, were entertained most delightfully at the home of the Misses McCormick. The occasion was the 25th or silver anniversary of the History Club.

The entertainment was in the form of a five-course banquet, 23 ladies being seated at the long table which was handsomely decorated with pink, white and green candles --- the colors of the two clubs --- and pink carnations. Dainty valentines served as plate cards, and the loving cup service was used, each lady responding to a toast in honor of the occasion.

the Clios have been organized for 14 years and are called the "daughters" of the History club, the latter having now been in existence for a quarter of a century. Mrs. Underhill, of Ottumwa, one of the charter members of the History club, was among those present at the banquet, and Mrs. Mitchell, of the Clio Club, was also present from Ottumwa.

Souvenirs of the occasion consisted of folders with the club monogram in silver on the outside and a carnation and a rose, the two club flowers, painted on the cover, the handiwork of Miss Eloise Copeland. Inside the folders each one present wrote her favorite quotation, with her autograph, so that the folders made a most appropriate and desirable souvenir of the quarter-century anniversary of the club.

The charter membership of the History Club, organized in 1878, was as follows: Mesdames Gibbon, Brant, Storie, Temple, Mallory, Underhill and Edwards and Misses Margaret Palmer, Emily and Margaret McCormick. Of those ten, Mrs. Temple is dead, Mrs. Underhill lives in Ottumwa, Mrs Edwards in Los Angeles and Miss Palmer in Lincoln. The others, with the addition of Miss Josephine Millan, Mesdames Rev. Russell, Arnold, T.M. Stuart, and Braden, constitute the present membership. Mrs. T.M. Stuart is president of the club. 

+++

Sarah "Sallie" Leffler (1844-1908) was a daughter of distinguished Lucas County pioneers Isaac and Lethenia (Mitchell) Leffler, he a former U.S. representative from Virginia and the recipient of many government appointments over the years --- the final one as receiver at the federal land office opened in Chariton during 1853. He died in Chariton during 1866, as did Lethenia during 1879. Their remains were returned to Aspen Grove Cemetery in Burlington for burial.

Sallie married Col. Edwards (1835-1915) in Chariton on May 1, 1863. He was a prominent attorney in Chariton after the war, but the couple eventually moved west and settled permanently in Los Angeles.

Sallie ordered the custom-made History Club loving cup from the Ceramic Art Co. (now Lenox) of Trenton, N.J., and that's the firm's mark on the bottom of the cup.

+++

Finally, here's a photograph --- also from the historical society collection --- of the History Club gathered for tea about 1901 in the southeast parlor of Annie Mallory's Ilion.

Laura R. Gibbon is at far left and Annie Mallory, in the center, behind the hot water dispenser. Laura's granddaughter, Harriet (Copeland) Holman, made an attempt to identify the others, but didn't recognize everyone. She thought the following other members might have been present, however: Margaret McCormick, Ellen Brant, Della Storie, Jennie Russell (wife of the Episcopal rector of the day), Sara (Mrs. Theodore M.) Stuart, Harriet Underhill and Emily McCormick.

Celebrating Easter while gathered round the belfry

That's Mark Babcock, organist at the Episcopal Cathedral Church of St. Paul in downtown Des Moines, taking a bow from the bell tower yesterday morning after performing a half-hour concert on the cathedral carillon --- one of the innovative ways Iowans found to celebrate Easter at a time when churches are for the most part closed.

As you can see from the news clip that follows, Sunday morning weather left a lot to be desired. But quite a few people turned out in their vehicles (and a couple of brave souls on foot) to listen.

The carillon's 12 original bells were cast in 1896, three more bells were added in 1989 and carillon status was achieved in 1991 when 10 more were installed. It's called the Windsor Carillon after the family that funded the last 13 bells as well as a rebuild of the cathedral tower to accommodate them.

It was a terrific inclusive way to celebrate this major Christian holiday, but I was perfectly content to watch from home rather than in person.

The preacher who drowned & other Easter disasters

Easter 1868 fell, as it does today, on April 12 and remains notable in part because it was the first Easter for which we have surviving, although very brief, newspaper reports. The early bound files of Lucas County's first newspaper, The Patriot, burned long ago; the files of The Democrat, founded in 1867, survived. The Democrat was published on Saturdays, so accounts of Easter Sunday 1868  and the days that followed appear in the edition of April 18.

Down in Russell, just a year old at the time, Episcopalians under the leadership of the Rev. Isaac P. Labagh had planned a county-wide Easter Sunday celebration to mark completion of that city's first church building --- St. Mark's. A special train was scheduled to leave Chariton early Sunday, then return later in the day, to accommodate those who wished to participate. Round-trip, 50 cents.

And then on Saturday night, April 11, the weather turned --- as it often does in Iowa --- and everyone's Easter plans were upset. Here's The Democrat report:

+++

The Storm --- If there are any of our local readers who are not aware that the past week has been exceedingly stormy, it must be that they are themselves direct descendants of old "Boreas" himself, for such another period does not come under the recollection of the oldest inhabitants.

It may at former times have blown harder and snowed as much, but we doubt whether it has been possible to get up such a general mix of wind, rain, hail, snow, sleet, mud, &tc., within the past twenty years. The storm has raged since Saturday night regardless of the discomfort and fear of timid individuals, and there is no fixed time when it shall stop. 

Chimneys, loose boards and many other necessary conveniences have been thrown around in a most careless manner, and in some cases even larger consequences have been the results. Every little brook and gutter seemed to fill its banks, and even then have failed to afford sufficient outlet for the superfluous water.

These facts are stated for the benefit of our far off readers, merely to give them some idea of weather in Iowa, and if they imagine that they should not like it or that it does not afford variety enough, we recommend St. Thomas Island to their consideration.

+++

Down southwest of Chariton in Warren Township, a 22-year-old school teacher and recently ordained preacher (perhaps Presbyterian; he was a graduate of Oberlin College) named Charles O. Hanson who was teaching and boarding in the neighborhood arose at dawn, packed his Bible, saddled his horse and headed for an Easter Sunday preaching assignment in northwest Lucas County's Otter Creek Townshp. He didn't make it, as The Democrat reported: 

Drowned --- We regret to learn that a young man named Chas. O. Hanson, and who was well-known in this vicinity as a school teacher, was drowned in a slough on the other side of Whitebreast, while on his way to fill an appointment to  preach at a school house in Otter Creek township on Sunday last. He attempted to ride through the slough, which it appears was deeper than he supposed it was, and by some means he was thrown from his horse. He was seen to fall from the horse by some persons at a house nearby and they hastened to his rescue, but they were too late. They recovered his body in a few minutes after he  fell into the water, and it is said he gasped once after he was brought out, but as those present were probably not acquainted with the proper restorative means, they could not revive him. Mr. Hanson was a very worthy and intelligent young man and many will be deeply pained at this announcement of his untimely death.

The Rev. Mr. Hanson's friends claimed his body (he apparently had no family in Lucas County) and buried it in Waynick Cemetery, where his battered although partially restored tombstone still stands.

+++

Although the Easter celebration in Russell was held, it does not seem to have been largely attended. "On account of the severe storm that raged all day Sunday, there were but few that went to Russell to attend the Easter Sunday services in the Episcopal Church," The Democrat reported.

+++

The storm also disrupted rail transportation, such as it was, across southern Iowa. The first passenger trains on the Burlington & Missouri River route (later C.B.&Q.) had reached Chariton during early July, 1867, and tracks were completed to Osceola during January of 1868. Passengers bound for Creston and beyond boarded stage coaches there.

The big Easter storm took out part of the approach to the B.&M.R.'s White Breast Creek bridge just east of what now is Lucas, as The Democrat reported as follows:

"The Railroad Bridge --- One of the  railroad bridges between this city and Osceola was so washed by the freshet that it fell down and the trains are unable to proceed farther west. Passengers and the mail are carried by teams. Everything will have been repaired in a few days and railroad communication restored.

P.S. --- We learn that it was not a bridge, but a portion of the embankment on the other side of Whitebreast bridge that was carried away. A gap of about 70 feet was cut out by the water, but it has already been repaired by putting in a bridge and trains are now running through to Osceola."

+++

One hundred and fifty Easter Sundays have passed since the big storm of 1868, but Iowa's April weather remains unpredictable. And on this Easter Sunday, we face challenges our ancestors could not have envisioned as other circumstances keep us at home. 

Behold the bridegroom cometh --- but a little late

Doris Christensen/Find a Grave

I stumbled onto this anecdote regarding the first marriage performed in Lucas County's Washington Township, our most southeasterly township and the location now of Russell as well as the pioneer settlement of Greenville. 

The date was Saturday, June 7, 1851, and the bride and bridegroom were Julia Craddock, 30, never previously married; and Joseph H. McReynolds, 55, whose first wife, Tabitha, had died. Julia was living in a pioneer log cabin on the Mormon Trail at Greenville with her brother-in-law and sister, Abner and Mary "Polly" (Craddock) McKinley.

I'm not going to write much about Joseph this time --- he is one of Lucas County's War of 1812 veterans and I'm tracking his record down at the moment. Suffice it to say, he was not necessarily --- despite the title he claimed --- a physician; instead, a healer and herbalist.

The narrator is Leander O. McKinley, a nephew of Abner, 7 years old when the wedding occurred and writing to Henry Gittinger from his home in Miller, South Dakota, about 1899. Leander died at Creston in Union County during January of 1905. His letter was published by Gittinger in The Leader of Oct. 28, 1909. And Leander, not surprisingly, got a couple of details wrong --- including the year of the marriage and his estimate of McReynolds' age.

+++

Everything related to its pioneer settlers, other than the landscape, was very new in 1851 --- Lucas County had just been organized two years earlier. The courthouse in Chariton, a log building on the east side of the square, was a couple of hours west on the Mormon Trail from Greenville --- by horseback. Here's Leander's account of the marriage.

+++

The first marriage in (Washington) township was in 1852 at the home of Abner McKinley. The contracting parties were Dr. J.H. McReynolds and Julia A. Cradock. Rev. Wm. Wallace performed the marriage ceremony.

The doctor started early to Chariton after his license; was to be back by 2 o'clock p..m., the time set for the ceremony. Rev. Wallace commenced to preach a sermon about 1 o'clock so as to conclude the services about the time the doctor arrived with his license so there would be no break in the service until after the marriage, and took for his text, "Behold the bridegroom cometh."

But the doctor did not seem to be in any hurry as the text would imply, so Rev. Wallace had to lengthen out his sermon so as to make it fit the tardiness of the bridegroom. Rev. Wallace did not take into consideration that the doctor was no spring chicken (being 40) and was not so impulsive as a younger man would very likely have been.

Rev. Wallace stood in the door and would look over the Mormon trace to the west to see if that cloud of dust would appear to indicate the coming of the doctor. Finally he saw it and concluded the sermon and hitched onto the ceremony. Then we had a good dinner which was appreciated by us boys more than anything else, even if we did have to wait until the big people got done.

+++

Joseph and Julia had 10 years together in the Greenville neighborhood --- until her death on March 9, 1861. She was buried in the Greenville Cemetery. The next year, on Sept. 27. 1862, Joseph married Esther Robinson in Wayne County and they lived together until his own death on 9 December 1875, age 80. He was buried beside Julia at Greenville.