One calamity piled upon another ....

This tragic little tale begins on an almost lighthearted note --- a report of the failed attempt to stop an  elopement that had brought a love-struck young couple from Van Wert, in Decatur County (Lucas County's neighbor to the southwest), to Chariton. Here's the story as published on Page 1 of The Chariton Herald of April 11, 1901:

"Mr. Roy Gould and Miss Dora Fierce of Van Wert, Decatur county, came to this city yesterday, procured a license and were married at the clerk's office by Justice W. S. Long. This occurred about 9:30 and they intended to take the south branch train at 10:20 to return to Van Wert. They had gotten aboard the train and thought all was well. Meanwhile, a telephone message was received here from the young lady's mother asking that they be arrested and brought back to Van Wert, but the message came too late for they had been pronounced man and wife almost an hour before it was received. They came back to the city again and remained here for a time when they left for Van Wert."

The bridegroom, age 24, was Leroy Gould, son of Newton Gould and his late wife, Isabel, a farmhand in the Van Wert neighborhood who had been only 3 when his mother died. The mother-in-law was Anna M. Fierce, 50, widow of a prosperous farmer, William, who had died at the age of 52 during 1895. Dora was their youngest child. One of the difficulties here was the fact that Dora lied about her age when applying for the marriage license. She claimed to be 20 but in reality --- born March 24, 1884 --- had only just turned 17 a few days earlier.

Nonetheless, the couple returned to Van Wert and settled into marriage --- sort of. But as it turned out they would not live happily ever after. Anna Fierce had been justified in her suspicions about young Gould. Eight months later Dora filed for divorce, as reported in The Leon Journal-Reporter of Dec. 19:

"Dora M. Gould vs. Roy Gould. The plaintiff asks for a decree of divorce on the grounds of cruel and inhuman treatment. It was a runaway wedding as the bride was not yet of legal age when they applied to Clerk Kehler for a license, but he refused, having been notified by her mother not to issue a license, but they went to Chariton and secured a license and were married. She alleges he has treated her  in a shameful manner, cursing her and calling her vile names and of being unfaithful to him. That since their marriage he has  squandered about $500 of her  money and has wholly neglected to provide for her. That since their marriage he has become addicted to the use of intoxicating liquors and is an habitual drunkard. She asks that she be granted a decree of divorce and be restored to her maiden name, Dora  M. Fierce."

The divorce was granted and Dora's heart seems to have mended quickly for some 10 months later she was prepared to tie the knot again --- in tandem with her sister, Bertha Fierce, whose bridegroom was a first-cousin of Dora's first husband, Roy. Here's the report from The Leon Journal-Reporter of Oct. 30, 1902:

"Mr. Lawrence Gould and Miss Bertha Fierce were married at the residence of Justice James Blair near Van Wert last Thursday, and on the same day the bride's sister, Miss Dora Fierce, was married to Mr. C.F. Reed at Van Wert by Rev. R.J. Tennant, pastor of the  M.E. church at Van Wert."

Charles F. Reed seems not to have been a native Decatur Countyan so I'm not sure exactly what he was doing in Van Wert, but it most likely was in a business or professional capacity. Whatever the case, the newlyweds moved into a new home during 1903 and settled into their marriage, expecting a child in the late summer.

That expectation ended in tragedy, however, as The Journal-Reporter of Aug. 20, 1903, reported:

"Mrs. Dora Fierce-Reed and infant baby died Saturday morning at her home in Van Wert within a few hours of each other, the baby living but a short time after being born. They were buried Sunday, the funeral being the largest ever seen in Van Wert."

Meanwhile, Bertha and Lawrence Gould, a railroad brakeman, continued to make their home in Van Wert until 1906 when they decided to move west --- a relatively easy transition for an experienced railroad man with easily marketable skills. Disaster overtook them in California a few weeks later, however, as reported in a dispatch datelined Nov. 29, 1906:

"The little village of Van Wert was shocked and shrouded in gloom Sunday, November 11th, as the message to Lester Gould flashed over the wires bearing the sad news of the death of his son, Lawrence B. Gould, who in company with his wife only a few short weeks before, had gone west to work on the railroad. They first went to Utah, near Salt Lake City, where he secured employment and remained there a short time when they concluded to go on farther west, which they did, arriving in San Bernardino, California, about September 22, where he again secured work as brakeman on the Santa Fe railroad and in which occupation he was still engaged when he so suddenly and unexpectedly met his death in a rear-end collision between two freight trains near Victorville, California.

"All hearts beat in sympathy with the bereaved little wife so far away among strangers and the almost distracted parents and brother and sister. Mrs. Gould was accompanied on her sad journey home by friends, Mr. and Mrs. Nichols, of San Bernardino, California, as far as Kansas City, where they were met by her mother, Mrs. Anna Fierce, and two brothers-in-law, Clyde Gould and Ralph Hoadley, who accompanied them on to Van Wert, where they arrived on the afternoon train Friday. They were met at the depot by a large crowd of relatives and friends and also four B of R.T. men from Des Moines, the lodge of which the deceased was a loved and honored member, who took charge of the body, remaining there until after the burial. As the casket was silently taken from the car and placed in the waiting hearse, the tear of sympathy was seen to flow down the cheek of almost every one present. It was pitiful indeed to hear the almost crazed father talking to the body that once contained the spirit of his beloved son.

"The remains were taken to the home of his father, north of town,  until Sunday afternoon, when funeral services were held in the Christian Church. After singing by the choir and a solo sweetly rendered by Mrs. Dr. Lindsay, followed by prayer by Rev. Mitchell, of Weldon, the pastor, Rev. Regan, of Des Moines, delivered a sermon full of comfort for the mourners. the casket and altar were beautifully decorated with floral designs silently speaking of the respect and esteem in which the deceased was held.

"Lawrence B. Gould, second son of Lester and Sarah Craft Gould, was born near Van Wert, Decatur County,  Iowa, January 29, 1883, being at the time of his death, 23 years, 10 months and 11 days old, all of which with the exception of the past few weeks were spent in this vicinity."

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I was unable to determine what became of Charles F. Reed after Dora's death, but he seems to have sold out in Van Wert during 1904 and moved along. Bertha Fierce Gould married as her second husband John R. Ross, a railroad fireman who died in 1928. She lived until 1957 then died at Indianola and was buried near her parents in the Van Wert Cemetery.

Only the best for Burlington Route diners

The Chariton Democrat's editor, back in late March of 1901, was invited aboard one of the C.B.&Q. Railroad's five brand new dining cars for a tour, thus introducing Lucas Countians to the luxuries awaiting them should they embark on a journey east to Chicago or west to Omaha, Denver and beyond. Providing, that is, they could afford the cost of an elegant sit-down meal.

Both the C.B.&Q. and its principal Midwest competitor, Union Pacific, had stoutly resisted adding dining cars to their trains until 1889, preferring to build into schedules brief stops at depots along the way where hungry passengers could grab something to eat, gulp it down and get back aboard. Sensible travelers brought along their own provisions.

That changed during 1889 when Union Pacific violated the gentlemen's agreement between the two lines and built its first restaurant on wheels. The C.B.&Q. followed and by 1900, most long-distance trains had dining cars attached. The new cars that began passing through the Chariton Depot during 1901 raised the dining standards of those cars to their highest level yet.

Here's the reporter's description as published on the front page of The Chariton Democrat of April 4, 1901. I found the image online. The time table was published weekly in Chariton newspapers during 1901.

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Recently the Burlington Route ordered five new dining cars from the Pullman Car Company at Pullman, Illinois, which have been completed and have been put on the road within the past week. These cars have the names of the following cities on the Burlington system, viz: Ottumwa, Galesburg, Peoria, Chicago and Aurora.

In the construction of these cars the utmost care was taken with every detail, and nothing was left undone to make them what they were intended to be, the very best dining cars in use on the American continent.

They are 70 feet long and are built on six wheel trucks. They differ in many ways from those in use heretofore, and are equipped with every device tending to the improvement of the service. The interiors are done in quarter sawed Flemish oak, with an orange colored wood above, which forms a striking contrast to the black woodwork below. A handsome red Wilton carpet covers the floor and the curtains are of red tapestry. Ten tables are placed in each car, which furnish a seating capacity of thirty. The tables and chairs are also of Flemish oak and the chairs are upholstered with dark red leather.

The locker in which the silver and chinaware and provisions are kept are up to date in every respect. Each car has been supplied with a fine new line of solid silver, made expressly for the Burlington Route.

The new cars are steam heated, lighted by Acetyline gas and fitted with a system of refrigeration of the latest and most improved design. In fact they possess all the modern improvements and the cars of no other line can compare with them in point of strength, convenience, comfort and elegance. These cars have been manufactured at a cost of about $18,000 each. The chinaware, silver and linen for each car are furnished at an additional expense of about $3,000.

The car which the reporter inspected most thoroughly was the "Galesburg" and was in charge of Conductor Chas. Lewis,  one of the most genial and popular conductors on the road. He is painstaking and courteous and gives the patrons every attention and the best accommodation at hand.

Experienced chefs and attendants alone are employed on the diners. The  linen is spotless. The menu is selected from the best the markets afford, and the cuisine and service is equal to that of first class hotels. Meals are served a la carte at popular prices.

The Burlington Route believes in having the best of everything and in giving their patrons the best of service. It is this careful thought and attention which makes the first class Burlington trains so popular.

Spring flowers and handwriting on the wall

So I went out to the museum early Sunday evening to check the status of the spring flowers.

And discovered two varieties of daffodil in bloom, solid gold near the Stephens House, two-tone near the school.

The blossoms on our baby Star Magnolia are beginning to burst their wrappings, preparing to unfold.

And then I sat down on the sidewalk alongside the south wall of the house to take a closer look at the tiny blue Siberian Squibb blooming there.

As I glanced up at the wall just west of the dining room bay window I saw the handwriting on the wall, something I've never noticed before.

The names appear to have been scratched into the blocks at the time they were formed, probably during 1911 when the house was built. So who were Carrol, B.L.E. and Pauline? As nearly as I can tell they were not members of the immediate A.J. Stephens family whose home this was.

Birthday gratitudes ...

I've posted a bouquet of woodland violets this morning, the day after a birthday, because my paternal grandfather reportedly brought my mother a bouquet of the same on that long-ago day in late March, 1946, when I was born at Yocom Hospital in Chariton. Spring must have been a little earlier that year.

I celebrated by not getting dressed until after lunch, so that's why I still was wearing pajamas when friends delivered cheesecake and Starbucks oatmeal-raisin cookies (thanks very much; I'll hold you to the promise not to judge). Thanks, too, to all who sent greetings, social media and otherwise. It's great to be remembered.

I've said far too often during recent years that I've been fortunate to survive two great plagues of my lifetime, Vietnam and AIDS, but that I expected the third, old age, to prove fatal. I'm in no hurry however.

And now a fourth can be added: COVID-19. I can't say I've suffered; always been good at amusing myself and am mildly antisocial anyway. But the need to prepare and feed myself three meals a day, day in and day out, is wearing thin.

So I am looking forward to that second shot during very early April. After the vaccine settles, a decent haircut is in order and new glasses to replace those currently held together by extra-sticky scotch tape. But, yes, I still expect to wear a mask in public places, sanitize and social distance. We're not out of the woods yet.

Nor are we out of the woods yet, politically and socially, from the Trump years --- a fifth plague if you like --- and that bears watching and caution, too. But that's a topic for another day.

Politicians come and politicians go ...

... but the memories of relatively few go on forever, including those of the trio who campaigned in Chariton back on Sept. 9, 1954. The occasion was Indian Summer Day, a community celebration sponsored by the business and professional community that included the serving of thousands of pancakes, a parade --- and a few speeches.

It was a bi-partisan event featuring addresses by incumbent Iowa U.S. Sen Guy Gillette (1879-1973), a Democrat; and Republican Harold E. Stassen (1907-2001), Minnesota's 25th governor and the nation's most persistent but unsuccessful presidential candidate, who was campaigning for (among others) Leo A. Hoegh (1908-2000), Chariton attorney and incumbent Iowa attorney general who was seeking his first term as governor.

The speakers' stand was set up on the east side of the square in front of Family Shoe Store where, after the early afternoon parade, Hoegh (top) introduced Stassen, who then took the stand (immediately above). Herring, as the only incumbent, had spoken first. John Baldridge, Chariton Newspapers publisher and master of ceremonies, a Democrat himself, had introduced Hoegh with a tongue-in-cheek order that Democrats clear the area.

In the election that followed two months later, Hoegh was elected to his only term as governor, but Gillette was defeated by Republican challenger Thomas E. Martin. Stassen, who had almost managed to snare the Republican nomination in 1948 after his first run for the presidency during 1944, just kept running --- in 1952, 1964, 1968, 1980, 1984, 1988 and 1992.

These two photographs, from the Lucas County Historical Society collection, were taken by the late Lloyd Moore.

A path no longer taken ....

I came across the other day this 1898 snapshot of the old underpass on Chariton's South Main Street, passing under what now are the Burlington, Northern & Santa Fe tracks and allowing direct access from the southwest corner of the square to the Chariton Cemetery and got to wondering when the traffic pattern had changed.

You're looking southwest here from a point west of the intersection of Woodlawn Avenue and South Grand. The house on the other side of the tracks is the old Penick house, replaced after a long-ago fire by the one-story house now owned by the Daniel Kaspar family. Southgate Apartments now are just beyond.

The answer is 1934. During that year the Iowa Highway Commission obtained public works funding for the project that created the current Highway 14 underpass some distance to the southeast and the broad curve that now leads from the south onto Woodlawn as the highway winds through town. The project also involved a good deal of paving --- from Grace Avenue on the south edge of town to the current intersection of South Grand, Woodlawn and Highway 14 just north of the new underpass.

The previous underpass, far too narrow to serve 20th century needs, was demolished and filled during 1935 and traffic has been following the same pattern, more or less, ever since.

Here's a brief report, from The Leader of May 15, 1934, about the beginning of the new project:

Work was slated to start this afternoon on removal of dirt from beneath the Burlington railroad near the corner of Woodlawn avenue and Grand street where a new subway is to be constructed this summer.

Contract for removal of the dirt, 2,695 yards, was let to the Kaser Construction Co. The successful bid was 58 cents per yard.

A "fill" will be made on the south of the subway structure with the dirt removed.

Work on the subway by the Alexander-Repass Co. is already underway and is expected to make a rapid advance as soon as the other project is finished.

Sixteen local men have been employed for an average of 30 hours a week on the public works job and it is expected that more will be placed with the enlargement of activities. Contracts for paving the new route of Highway 14 and the balance of the grading are to be let soon.

Nate Thorpe, Justinian Ray & Aurora, Nebraska

I wrote Sunday in a post entitled "And Chariton gave birth --- to Aurora, Nebraska,"  about the seven men from Lucas County who are considered to be the founders of that city of roughly 4,500 souls some 265 miles due west. And I promised to follow up by exploring the fates of the seven, two of whom ended their days in Iowa; the other five, farther west.

The men who formed a company while living in Chariton during March of 1871 to found the town in Nebraska were David Stone, a grocer on the square; Darius Wilcox, a dealer in grain, hides, farm produce and agricultural implements who had a grocery operation on the side; Robert Miller, a carpenter and builder; James A. Doremus, a grocery man, too; Justinian Ray, a druggist, Nathaniel H. Thorpe, a fledgling lawyer;  and Stillman P. Lewis. a tailor who also operated an ice cream saloon, confectionary and bakery on the square.

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Mr. Thorpe was the only one of the seven who eventually came full circle and returned to Chariton to die  some 57 years later, during 1928. His remains rest in an unmarked grave in the Chariton Cemetery near the graves of his parents, also unmarked --- Eleazer M. Thorpe (1819-1898), an attorney, and his wife, Elizabeth (Hopping) Thorpe (1819-1898).

Nathaniel was born April 14, 1848, in Piatt County, Illinois, and arrived in Chariton with his parents and siblings during 1857, when he was 9. Like his father, he studied law and had been admitted to the bar by the spring of 1871 when the Nebraska adventure commenced.

Nat and one of his partners in the enterprise, Robert Miller, reportedly were the first of the founders to settle permanently in Hamilton County, Nebraska. The Chariton Democrat of May 20, 1871, carried the following report under the headline "Our Colony in Nebraska."

"The reports from the parties who have taken a claim upon the site of the future county seat of Hamilton county, Nebraska, are quite favorable. Mr. Stone and others will start for the same place in a few days. Nat Thorpe is there still, and has had a law case. A man was arrested for stealing lumber and got Nat to defend him. Of course the fellow was acquitted and Nat got $25, besides the lumber alleged to have been feloniously taken and carried away --- all of which is encouraging to the others who contemplate settling there, provided Nat remains."

With one exception, the others did move west to Aurora --- but Nat didn't stick around long after building an office for himself, one of Aurora's first buildings. He was sighted next at Red Cloud, Nebraska, and soon after that bounced back to Chariton, to Corydon, to Leon, back to Chariton, to Lacona and then to Chariton again. He married Sally Nicol along the route and they became the parents of two children, Harry and Vashti, who were raised at Lacona.

Nat's marriage had failed by the turn of the 20th century and he headed west again after 1900, launching a variety of unsuccessful enterprises in Oklahoma, Texas and elsewhere before finally limping home to Lucas County in the 1920s in failing health and with few assets. He died in poverty at the Lucas County Home on Feb. 20, 1928, just shy of his 70th birthday.

Editor Henry Gittinger had the following to say about Nathaniel in his Chariton Leader edition of Feb. 28, where Mr. Thorpe's brief obituary also appeared:

"The death of Nathaniel Thorpe at the county home is noted in another column of this paper. He was the son of the Late E. M. Thorpe, pioneer lawyer of Chariton, and 'Nat,' as he was called, had also been admitted to the bar and hung out his shingle in various places. In fact, the secret of his lack of success was through his failure to remain in one place long enough to get a foothold. And this should be an example to young men, although Mr. Thorpe had a fine mentality and ample scholarship to succeed. But he was constantly dabbbling into this and that."

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Although Justinian Ray was one of the seven who signed the Hamilton county seat's founding document, it doesn't look like he ever made the journey west. 

Born Dec. 17, 1826, in Fayette County, Indiana, Justinian generally was known as Capt. Ray, and was 45 --- considered rather advanced in years at the time --- when the Nebraska enterprise was launched.

He had married Mary A. McNeff in 1852 in Indiana and they had moved west to Sigourney in Keokuk County, Iowa, prior to her death five years later. He then married Lucy A. Howard. There were four children, Elizabeth, Mary, Martin and William.

Justinian enlisted during October of 1861 at Sigourney in Company D, 18th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and was appointed 2nd lieutenant. Promoted to captain on March 1, 1863, he served honorably until his discharge during 1865. A year later, looking for a fresh start after the war, the Ray family moved from Sigourney to Chariton.

In Chariton, Justinian established a drug store on the town square, joined the Masons and the Odd Fellows and quickly became a member of the establishment.

During 1872, however, as his fellow signatories were getting settled in Nebraska, he moved his family from Chariton to Leon in Decatur County and established another drug store there. He lived in Leon for the remainder of his life, dying there on Feb. 20, 1895, at the age of 58. He is buried with his family in the Leon Cemetery.

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I'll have more to write another time about the five other founders of Aurora, Nebraska.

The ongoing plague of stupid

My friend Nancy shared this cartoon late yesterday, a commentary on Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's claim that undocumented immigrants are responsible for that state's continuing struggle with COVID-19 (Abbott recently lifted mask mandates and business restrictions across the Lonestar State, in effect declaring victory).

There's little here for Iowans to crow about, it should be noted. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Trumpian disciple, lifted her limited mask mandate (just imposed in November) and relaxed other restrictions during late February, 

So I checked out the unmasked more carefully yesterday afternoon during a quick shopping trip to Hy-Vee. All the staff and a majority of the customers were masked and I suppose undocumented immigrants might have been among them, but there were still plenty of folks moving around bare-faced. None looked the part. I resisted the urge to strike up conversations, hoping some sign of an accent other than redneck drawl might give them away.

But as nearly as I could tell, those spreading the virus here most likely are native Iowans, if not native to Lucas County. So that's one less thing to worry about.

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Elsewhere, out in Washington, D.C., the usual post-massacre push for responsible gun control legislation --- doomed most likely to failure --- is under way. You may recall the slaughter last week in Atlanta and then again on Monday in Boulder, Colorado.

As you might expect, the Republicans in charge of the Iowa Legislature hope this week that the governor will sign legislation loosening those restrictions on handgun ownership still in place here.

So I was interested in this piece, headlined "Americans are stubbornly unmoved by death," by Robin Givhan in this morning's Washington Post. Americans are not numb to death --- either from a rogue virus or a rogue shooter --- Givhan argues. Instead, "We stubbornly, selfishly dismiss it."

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There are obvious ways to ease the effects of both plagues --- for COVID-19, get your shots as soon as you can, social distance, sanitize and wear masks until some semblance of "herd immunity" is achieved and perhaps even after that; and for guns, ban assault-style weapons and demand comprehensive background checks before handguns are sold.

"Stubbornly, selfishly dismissing" death certainly is one reason why these precautions are not universally adopted. 

But the overriding factor is stupidity. There's a heck of a lot of that going around. Influenza may make us sick and gunshots may wound us, but it's stupid that will prove fatal.

America as a gun ....

I came across the following this morning --- after 10 were slain in a Boulder, Colorado, grocery store --- a commentary in rhyme about how the United States increasingly is perceived in a world that once found much to admire here. 

And this is the morning, too, after Iowa's Repbulican-controlled Senate sent to Gov. Reynolds' desk a law that eliminates the requirement for both permit and background check for those who buy and sell handguns privately, without the involvement of a federally licensed dealer.

Just another morning in America, and Iowa, as we await mass shootings here.

"Beautiful Thing" is still a beautiful thing to behold

I happened to notice over the weekend, while looking for something on Amazon Prime Video to watch, that Hettie Macdonald's 1996 film adaption of Jonathan Harvey's 1993 gaycentric play, "Beautiful Thing," is scheduled to be dispatched behind a pay wall after March 31.

So I watched it again --- and was not disappointed. Besides, who could resist a track of background and featured music composed almost entirely by works of The Mamas & The Papas with special emphasis on Cass Elliot solo pieces.

I'm not especially good at writing about film, so looked for a review to do that for me and found this 2016 retrospective from "The Atlantic" written by Brandon Tensley to do the job.

That review concludes, "Departing from the tired and tiring depictions of gay people as outcasts, seedy sexaholics, and victims, Beautiful Thing offers complicated characters moored in a world in which any sort of gay nuance or texture is often redacted. On its release two decades ago, Beautiful Thing achieved a level of artistic complexity that created not only a more interesting, but also a more relevant expression of queerness. It still does this today. That was, and is, a beautiful thing to behold."

Set in a London council estate (subsidized low-rent apartment complex), the centerpiece of the film is the gentle coming out love story of teen-agers Jamie and Ste backed by an amazing assortment of characters, all portrayed by outstanding actors no one in the Americas really had heard of before or has heard from since although most of them remain in the profession.

1996 also was the year Mike Nichol's and Elaine May's "The Birdcage" (a mainstream adaption from the French La Cage aux Folles) premiered. But for the most part the lower-budget gay cinema of the time,  while it could be moving and beautifully done ("Parting Glances" 1986, "Longtime Companion" 1989, "Jeffrey" 1995), offered few happy endings. We all were preoccupied with AIDS, staying alive and avoiding the homophobic wrath of family and neighbors.

So "Beautiful Thing" was breath of fresh air --- and it continues to hold up remarkably well.

And Chariton gave birth --- to Aurora, Nebraska

I had a really interesting conversation on Friday with a representative of the Hamilton County, Nebraska, Historical Society --- the organization behind the impressive Plainsman Museum complex in Aurora. It was so interesting that I neglected to write down the name of the person I was talking to, figuring I'd remember it --- and then didn't. I'm sorry.

For the record, Aurora is located in south central Nebraska, 265 miles due west of Chariton astraddle U.S. Highway 34, just as Chariton is. Further, as it turns out, Chariton is Aurora's mother ship. And that was what our conversation was about.

Aurora is preparing to observe it's 150th birthday, or sesquicentennial, and the historical society is co-producing a film to celebrate that event. Chariton can expect honorable mention in it. So I was able to provide a some information about our hometown, including directions about how to pronounce the name. I know that seems unusual to those of us who live here, but others sometimes find it difficult. It's SHARE-a-ton.

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Aurora was founded during 1871 by seven young Lucas County men who formed a company in Chariton during March of that year to govern a joint enterprise that involved traveling west to central Nebraska into the newly organized county of Hamilton in order to found a town they hoped would become the county seat, as in 1876 it did. 

Several of the men were fairly recent arrivals in Chariton, part of the westward explosion that commenced when the Civil War ended. David Stone was a grocer on the square. Darius Wilcox was a dealer in grain, hides, farm produce and agricultural implements who had a grocery operation on the side. Robert Miller was a carpenter and builder. James A. Doremus was a grocery man, too. Justinian Ray was a druggist, Nathaniel Thorpe was a fledgling lawyer and Stillman P. Lewis was a tailor who also operated an ice cream saloon, confectionary and bakery.

Why Nebraska? Opportunity --- and there was lots of in what at the time was sparsely settled territory. Iowa was filling up fast.

Why Hamilton County? The closest I've been able to come to an answer was found in a 1917 obituary of Robert Miller, the last surviving Aurora founding father. The Chariton men had heard glowing reports about opportunities in Hamilton County from a railroad surveyor, according to the obituary.

The Burlington & Missouri River Railroad, which had arrived in Chariton during 1867, arrived in Aurora during 1879. Chariton was an aspiring rail hub in 1871 and home and headquarters for Smith H. Mallory, a major contractor for the B.&M.R.R. and other lines. So a surveyor as a source of information, perhaps shared casually in conversation with friends, is entirely plausible.

The fact that the seven men knew the precise tract of land that they wanted to enter increases the likelihood that they had talked to someone familiar with the lay of the land --- perhaps a surveyor who already knew the route of a projected rail line through Nebraska.

I'll have more to say about the seven men credited with founding Aurora in another post. But here's the somewhat abbreviated text of Aurora's creation story as reported in The Aurora Republican-Register of April 3, 1942. The opening paragraphs of that story as well as the headline are shown above. Although the organizing document transcribed into the story refers to eight partners, there apparently were only seven.

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Arora had its beginnings in Chariton, Iowa, in 1871, yet grew to prominence in central Nebraska, nearly three hundred miles to the west, in later years. The story behind the planning of seven men is the foundation of our story of Aurora's birth and its first growing pains. This is not a story of modern development, but a story of graphic incidents which made the Aurora of the seventies and eighties.

Aurora is named for Aurora, Ill., as a compliment to David Stone's wife, a native of that community and as it later turned out, the eastern terminus of the railroad soon to contribute so much to the development of Hamilton county and Aurora itself. This David Stone was one of the members of the original townsite company founded in Chariton, Iowa, on March 7, 1871, when seven men agreed to locate a town in Hamilton county, which had been organized the previous year. And it was Stone who had been delegated to go to Hamilton county on a reconnoitering expedition that same month after S.P. Lewis, another original signer of the agreement, had reported favorable. And it was to Stone's credit again that the first building erected for business purposes, located where the Highlander building now stands, was built by himself and opened with the first stock of merchandise.

The town that originated in Iowa grew out of an agreement by seven men who were eying the possibilities of the new territory in central Nebraska that was rapidly being developed. The agreement signed by the men is as follows:

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"This agreement made and entered into this 9th day of March, 1871, by and between David Stone, Darius Wilcox, Robert Miller, James Doremus, J. Ray, N.H. Thorpe, S.P. Lewis of Lucas County, Iowa, for the purpose of securing a title to section 4, town 10, range 6 west.

"First: The parties hereto agree and by these presents do hereby form themselves together and organize a company for the purpose of laying out and organizing and locating county seat, town or village in the county of Hamilton and state of Nebraska, upon the following express conditions:

"It is hereby agreed that David Stone be selected as a suitable person to visit Hamilton county, Nebraska, for the purpose of securing land for the location of said county seat, town or village.

"Said Stone hereby agrees to homestead in the name of the eight individual members of the company if title can be procured in that manner; if not, locate in the name of each individual member of the company. It is further agreed that after said Stone secures the land described, being section four (4); township ten (10); range six (6) west, in Hamilton county, Nebraska, each of the above members, named parties, is to execute to each other, a bond for a deed for the individual conveyance of the undivided eight part of the entire section, or for the conveyance of the lots to each other in any manner they may select to divide the same as soon as title to same can be obtained; that the entire section shall be owned by common by all the parties named to this contract, eight in number, and each shall share and share alike in all the profits and losses, and each be entitled to the one-eighth part in virtue of the section.

"It is agreed and understood by all the parties that individuals shall be and reside upon said land, by the 1st of June, 1871, in person or agent, to assist in building up said town; a failure to comply with this stipulation shall work as a forfeiture of all his rights under this contract.

"The said Stone agrees that during this extended trip to Nebraska he will keep a true account of all moneys expended by him and the expenses of said Stone shall be equally borne by all  parties to this contract.

"It is further agreed that each party of this contract will, at the signing of the same, pay to said Stone the sum of thirty dollars, to be used by him in the securing of the title of said land by pre-emption or homestead subject to the laws of the United States in such case made and provided.

"Witness our hands and seal this 7th day of March, 1871. (signed) David Stone, Darius Wilcox, Robert Miller, James O. Doremus, Justinian Ray, Nathaniel Thorpe, Stillman P. Lewis"

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Shortly after the signing of this historical document David Stone left Iowa and arrived at the S.W. Spafford place on Lincoln Creek. He made an examination of the county and the proposed site and returned to Iowa. About this time, disunion arose in the members of the company and the plans at first appeared to come to a standstill. On April 6, 1871, Nathan  Thorpe and Robert Miller came to Hamilton county and first sighted the Twin Cottonwoods which because they were the only trees of consequence located in the broad expanses of the prairie made the location an easy one to identify, and around those trees tradition has been built for through all the early days those trees were permitted to remain symbols of the pioneers.

Those two men, the first of the original company to arrive, settled in northeast and northwest quarter of section 4, town ten, range six, now part of Aurora. Shortly after, David Stone, Darius Wilcox and S.P. Lewis left Iowa and arrived June 10, 1871. They camped on Lincoln Creek, in the northeast corner of Section 4. David Stone soon platted a townsite on the northeast quarter of section 4 and at a meeting on the night of June 19, 1871, a suitable name for the new town was subject of considerable debate. However Stone, who wanted the town named Aurora (for Aurora, Ill.) and he held two proxies besides his own vote, finally persuaded Miller, who held one proxy besides his own vote, to cast his votes with him. Thorpe and Wilcox held but their own votes and were thus outnumbered and to Miller's votes must go credit for the naming of Aurora.

Mr. Wilcox soon pre-empted the northeast quarter of section 4. Stone homesteaded eighty acres on the west half of section 4, township 11, range 5, and E.D. Preston, who arrived during this time with a R.W. Graybill, took a "claim" on the southeast quarter, section 4, and Robert Miller, on the northwest quarter of the same section.

Darius Wilcox and Mary A.E. Stone surveyed and platted the original town site and it was entered for record December 20, 1872. The original site comprised the south half of the northeast quarter and the south half of the north half of the northeast quarter, a tract of 120 acres....

The southeast corner of Block 11, original town, where the Fidelity building now stands, was the site of the first building in the new town of Aurora, (not yet incorporated, but slyly contemplated for some time as seen in the original agreement, to be the county seat). On this site David Stone built a frame building in August and moved in with the first stock of general merchandise and provisions.

The first building in the community's newly platted original town was a dug-out built on the southwest corner of Block 12, where the Woodbine Apartment building now stands. Built in June, 1871, it was located there several years before it was replaced by an implement building.

Stone's first frame building was for some time the only building of any consequence in the location of the townsite and after no longer serviceable for a merchandise store was used by Chapman for a livery stable but in 1890 was torn down to make room for the pretentious building we see on the corner today --- the Highlander building.

Darius Wilcox built the third building on the northwest corner of Block 17, south of the Woodbine building today. Wilcox occupied the building for about a year and he then sold it to the Bromestedt and Kleinschmidt general merchandise store. Mr. Thorpe added his bit to the progress of the townsite when he erected an office building just south of the Wilcox building.

In 1872, the Spafford's Grove post office, which was located about a mile and a half northeast of Aurora and had been in operation about a year on Lincoln creek, was moved to Aurora and David Stone, who was the properitor of the general merchandise store became the first postmaster.

And the photographer apparently said, "don't smile"

This image caught my eye Friday while I was filing --- partly because of the intense expressions of the youngsters and partly because of how alike they look. The latter's not surprising since they're siblings, children of Charles W. Brown (1851-1920) and Mary Jane (Calhoun) Johnston-Brown (1848-1928), and the two younger children are twins.

The photograph has been in the Lucas County Historical Society collection since 1967, when it was donated by Inda Van Arsdale Post.

The Brown family lived northeast of Chariton in the Oxford neighborhood of Lincoln Township. The children are Carl D. Brown (1878-1957), Clare M. Brown (1881-1955), and the twins --- Gertrude Brown Lucas (1884-1943) and Gale D. Brown (1884-1956).

With the exception of Gale, all of the Browns are buried at Oxford Cemetery. Gale died in Long Beach, California, where he had located in 1944, and is buried there.

The James Gang, Corydon and a sesquicentennial

I'm always on the lookout for significant anniversaries and the upcoming sesquicentennial of the Jesse and Frank James gang's June 3, 1871, armed robbery of the Ocobock Brothers' bank on the north side of the square in Corydon, Chariton's neighbor to the south, certainly qualifies. (That's Jesse at left.)

Goodness only knows, Corydon has gotten a lot of mileage out of that robbery over the years. So I'm hoping the pandemic, now easing a little, will allow for some sort of bang-up celebration down thataway this year.

The bare bones of the story are these. Four masked and armed strangers rode up to the Ocobock bank at approximately 2 p.m. that long-ago Saturday; two remaining outside; two going inside and forcing the banker in charge to open the safe. Nearly the entire population of the town was gathered at the time at the Methodist church just northwest of the square to hear an address by Henry Clay Dean.

Mr. Dean, a Confederate sympathizer and noted Copperhead during the late war, was an acclaimed orator and author (who rarely bathed and even more rarely changed clothes, but that's a story for another day) whose home, Rebel's Cove, was located on the Chariton River in northern Missouri, just southeast of Exline in Appanoose County. Dean was promoting fund-raising efforts for the Missouri, Iowa & Nebraska Railroad, then expanding from Centerville to Corydon. But no one in his or her right mind, at the time, would have wanted to miss an appearance by the renowned/notorious Mr. Dean.

The robbers' haul most often is given as $6,000 in early reports, although it probably was closer to $5,200. The gang rode off into the sunset without incident, although once what had happened dawned on the men at the church, a posse soon was in hot pursuit. No one ever was captured, although gang member Clell Miller was arrested during March of 1872 at Kearney, Missouri, charged with the robbery, returned to Corydon for trial --- and acquitted. Frank and Jesse most certainly were among the robbers. The fourth man most often is identified as Cole Younger, although there is some doubt about that.

The story of the robbery made front pages from border to border and coast to coast, but there were no wire services (or live satellite feeds) back in those days, so most of the reports were picked up from newspapers near the scene of the crime and reprinted. Sadly, no reports from Corydon newspapers seem to have survived. Almost immediately, the basic story was embellished and myths, legends and tall tales became associated with it --- the amount of the take, for example, expanded in some accounts to as much as $40,000.

When I was growing up on the Lucas-Wayne county line, it sometimes seemed as if the James gang had camped the night before the robbery on every wooded hilltop in the region --- including one just southeast of Bethlehem that my dad would point out now and then.

The robbery was reported in The Chariton Democrat of Saturday, June 10, a week after it occurred. This report is interesting because it's one of very few published that can be traced to a specific person, Corydon merchant Samuel J. Hunt. Here it is:

The Corydon Bank Robbed in Broad Day-Light

$6,000 Stolen --- The Robbers Escape

On Saturday night we learned that the bank at Corydon had been robbed that day by parties supposed to hail from Missouri. It seems that it was a premeditated raid, and that the plans had been well laid. After committing the act, the robbers jumped upon their horses, and swinging their revolvers called upon all whom they saw to follow them if they dared. It also appears that they first tried to induce the county treasurer to go into his office, evidently with the purpose of robbing him, but they failed to make it work. A citizen of this place (Chariton) has received a private letter from Corydon from which we take the following extracts:

Our town has been greatly excited since Saturday about 2 o'clock p.m. Two men entered the bank (at each door, the front and rear), closed and locked them and with revolvers at the head of the banker, forced him to open the safe. They obtained $6,000 in currency and some revenue stamps. They found a package of government bonds, broke into the envelope and then threw it upon the floor and left it.

Two men were stationed in the street with revolvers drawn, but no man appeared and they were not interrupted, about everybody being at the church some distance away hearing  H.C. Dean speak. When the alarm was given at the church that the bank was robbed it was not believed for a few minutes.

There were several hundred men after the robbers at dusk, Saturday night. They were traced 26 miles from here, southwest about 7 miles south of Leon. $1,000 reward has been offered.

There were four men, three young, about twenty-three years old, one about forty or over. The oldest one was the largest, the others were about five feet eight inches and two had no whiskers, and had not been shaven for a week or more. The old man hand whiskers, sandy complexion and whiskers the same. The fourth man, a  young one, had chin shaved and perhaps lip also. Not gentlemanly exports, but rough in features, &c. (signed) S. J. Hunt

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The Chicago Tribune's front-page report was published on Tuesday, June 13, but was a reprint from the Bethany, Missouri, Watchman of June 8, as follows:

A very bold and daring robbery was committed at Corydon, Wayne County, Iowa, on last Saturday, as we learn from parties who were in pursuit of the robbers.

About 2 o'clock on Saturday, June 3, whilst the larger portion of the citizens of Corydon were attending a railroad meeting, four men on horseback rode up the Corydon Bank, and while three of them dismounted the fourth held the  horses. The three men then passed into the building, and there being but one man in, the cashier of the bank, they presented their revolvers and commanded the cashier to open the safe and keep quiet, which he did. One of the robbers held his revolver cocked and within a few inches of the Cashier's head, while the other two assisted themselves to whatever money they could get, supposed to be between $6,000 and $7,000. They then immediately passed out of the bank, mounted their horses and started south, yelling like savages and shouting, "Here goes the Corydon bank!"

As soon as the news began to radiate, a number of the citizens started in pursuit of the robbers, who came through our city (Bethany) about 10 o'clock Sunday night, the pursuers being less than an hour behind them.

About 12 o'clock Sunday night, Sheriff Baker and Deputy Sheriff Graham, of this city, started in pursuit of the robbers, and followed them  about 10 miles, and then lost trail, owing to the fact, as it has since been ascertained, of the fugitives going into the brush to camp. Deputy Sheriff Graham followed on after them, on Monday, with quite a  number of others, and traced them to Pattonsburg, Daviess County. Some six or seven miles south of Pattonsburg, six of the  pursuers came onto the robbers and had a little engagement with them, the  robbers taking shelter in an old stable. Several rounds were fired by both parties, resulting in mortally wounding one of the robbers and killing Mr. Cooper's horse (note --- this is an apparent error, no one was killed). Our fellow townsman, Noah Chasebolt, was in the fight and is said to have done good work. Some 10 miles beyond this place where the skirmish occurred, the pursuing party found the wounded man in the brush alive, but speechless. He died shortly afterward.

The other robbers are still making strenuous efforts to escape, but are hotly pursued, and it is to be hoped they may be all taken dead or alive. From the description of the parties, it is believed that two of the robbers were the James boys, who robbed the Gallatin Bank about a year ago.

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And here's a report from the Philadelphia Evening Telegraph of Saturday, June 21, as reprinted from an undated report in the Lineville (Iowa) Index:

The county seat of this county was visited by four men on Saturday night, who committed the boldest and most daring robbery ever committed in the West, robbing Ocobock Brothers' bank of $6,000, at the hour of two o'clock in the afternoon, and making their escape from a multitude of men who had assembled at that place to hear a speech in the interest of the Mo., I. and Nebraska Railroad by Henry Clay Dean.

For several days previous to the robbery four strange and suspicious characters had been seen in and about Corydon, whose business no one knew. Having heard that Mr. Dean was to address the people of Corydon on Saturday last, they armed themselves with four navy revolvers, and rode to Corydon, taking advantage of the large number of men in town who were at that hour collected at the Methodist Episcopal Church to hear Mr. Dean, the church being situated some distance from the square.

the robbers rode into town and  up to the front door of the bank. Mr. Ocobock, the junior member of the  firm, was seated in the back room of the bank. They quietly and coolly approached him, each presenting a revolver, and said --- "Get up, walk easy, don't say a d--d word, and unlock that safe." Mr. Ocobock, appreciating the situation went to the safe, and it seems found it difficult to hit the combination, either through excitement or from some other cause, when one of the robbers drew back his revolver and, in a commanding voice, demanded him to "open that safe within five seconds." The safe was unlocked by Mr. Ocobock, when one of the parties grabbed for the money and got it, crammed it into a pair of saddle-bags, which they had brought along for that purpose, and bid the banker "good day," mounting their horses and dashing through town and right by the church occupied by at least 600 men, defiantly flourishing their revolvers, inviting the already-alarmed crowd to "come on," and yelling at the top of their voices, "Hurrah for John Wilkes Booth" and "Take us if you can." One of them flourished a revolver and informed the crowd that that as "the tool that killed Abe Lincoln." Thus successfully committing their hellish deed and making their escape.

The Board of Supervisors of the county is in session, and has generously offered the liberal reward of $4,000 for the arrest of the parties, which we hope will be sufficient incentive to their capture.

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The James-Younger Gang returned to Iowa on July 1, 1873, to rob a Rock Island train west of Adair, then met its fate while attempting to rob a bank in Northfield, Minn., on Sept. 7, 1876.

Clell Miller, acquitted in Corydon, was shot dead in Northfield on Sept. 7. Cole Younger was seriously wounded, captured and sentenced to life in prison in Minnesota. He was paroled in 1901 and lived peaceably until his death in Lee's Summit, Missouri, on March 21, 1916. Jesse James escaped but was shot dead by Robert Ford in St. Joseph, Missouri, on April 3, 1881. Frank James also escaped, but eventually surrendered to the Missouri governor, got off very lightly and lived peaceably until his death at age 72 on Feb. 18, 1915.

 

The unexplained deaths of Martha and Almira Burns

I came across a brief report regarding the unexplained deaths of Martha Burns, 14, and her sister, Almira, 4, on August 1, 1879, while searching Knoxville newspapers of the 1870s for references to Columbia, just across Lucas County's north line in Marion County and hometown of my maternal grandmother.

Further online exploration made this post very easy to do. I discovered on Find a Grave that Marion County genealogist Carl Nollen had traveled this road before and posted a transcript there of The Knoxville Journal report of August 6, 1879,  and that Ron Rader, of Chariton, had added an excellent photograph of the girls' joint tombstone. So I merely copied both.

Here's how the article, published under the headline "Columbia: A Singular and Fatal Case," reads:

On Thursday, the 30th ult., three children belonging to Robert Burns, living four miles southwest of Columbia, were taken with severe griping and vomiting. Drs. Brownfield and Prather were sent for and found the children all seemingly in a dying condition, and two of them did die early Friday morning. The other one is still living, but in a critical condition. No clue has yet been discovered as to the cause of their death unless it was caused by some poisonous herb. Dr. Prather, who has the case of the living child in hand, tells me that it very much resembles that kind of poison.

There were no follow-up reports, so the deaths remain a mystery. The girls were children of Robert and Mary Burns, who lived near the Lucas-Marion county line with a Dallas post office address. They remained in the area with their surviving children and are buried, too, in the Columbia Cemetery.

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The same report from Columbia in that edition of The Journal also included this paragraph: "Dr. B. R. Prather is today moving into our town from Belinda. He will be found here to render professional services when called. We are glad to welcome the doctor to our town." Belinda was located southwest of Columbia, in Lucas County.

Prather is a surname closely associated with pioneer Lucas County and that area of Monroe County just to the east, so I explored a little further here, too, and discovered that B.R. Prather was Dr. Basil Robert Prather (1823-1890).

Here's a brief paragraph about him from a 1931 edition of The Journal of the Iowa State Medical Society: "Dr. B. R. Prather was a native of Bartholomew county, Indiana, and was born March 23, 1823. He commenced the study of medicine when twenty-one years of age. He then emigrated to LaGrange, Lucas county, Iowa, in 1860, and practiced medicine there for two years. In 1862 he helped make up Company G, 34th Iowa Infantry, and went to war as a private. He soon thereafter was surgeon of his company in which capacity he continued for seven months. The latter years of his life were spent in the practice of medicine at Columbia."

Dr. Prather was a son of pioneers David J. and Matilda (Noon) Prather, who are buried in Prather Cemetery, along U.S. Highway 34 between the Russell and Melrose corners. Also buried in the Prather Cemetery are Dr. Basil Prather's first wife, Mary Anna (1823-1861) and three of his infant children by his second marriage, to Hester Ann McEldowney.

Dr. Basil Prather eventually moved from Columbia to Ellis County, Kansas, where he died during 1890.

Ella's McCann Herald's country school memories

I mentioned yesterday that Jan Herald Conradt had donated to the Lucas County Historical Society several education-related items that had belonged to her mother, veteran educator Ella McCann Herald (1916-2005). Among them was a four-page manuscript containing memories of her career as a rural school teacher in Lucas County, which I've transcribed this morning as follows.

The illustration is one of Ella's teaching contracts, dated 1938 and containing a provision she referred to in the memoir --- "If the teacher marries during the term, she forfeits her position."

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I attended rural schools in Lucas County as a child --- Goshen, Pollard and Palestine. Teachers I remember with special love and affection were Ada Eaton, Vera Barger Herring, Gladys Viertz Sinclair, Leota Roberts Jones and Maude Throckmorton Blue.

From country school I went to Lucas High School, where I graduated in 1933. I then attended Chariton Junior College the next term where I received a Normal Training Teacher's Certificate. At this time there were many applicants (both boys and girls) for each teaching position. It was practically unheard of for a married woman to get a job as a teacher. In fact, I have one contract that states, "If the teacher marries during the term, she forfeits her position."

In November of 1935, County Superintendent Helen Pfrimmer phoned my folks to ask if I would be interested in substituting at Centennial School in Pleasant Township. The teacher was ill and they needed someone until she could return. Her illness progressed and I completed the term. Some memories of that first term are:

A wonderful home away from home boarding with Clell and Ellen Whitlatch and family.

The deep, deep snow of the winter of 1935-36. WPA crews spent days and days scooping snow to open the roads during the extremely cold winter.

Frosting parts of my body as a friend and I walked across a drifted field making a super effort to get back to my school district one Sunday afternoon.

The challenge of carrying coal and building a fire each Monday morning. One morning as I was impatiently waiting for the fire to catch I opened the stove door and it "Caught!" A spark ignited my stockings and they burned in a second. It really startled me, but I had no body burns.

The special togetherness of the 12 to 15 families of the school community. We enjoyed potluck suppers and school programs by lamplight.

The janitorial work. Coal carried from the coal house, sweeping the floors which were often wide rough boards with cracks between, and seeing that there was water when more often than not there was no well on the school property and it had to be carried from a nearby farmhouse.

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Hazel Dell, 1936-37: The winter was one of ice storms and slick roads. I remember Beverly Swainey Watsabaugh and I walking the mile to and from school. One long hill was so icy we sat down and worked our bodies down the hill. Families here were Swaineys, Dykes Stewarts, Gartins, Campbells and Starkeys --- a great group of parents. The Swaineys were another wonderful "home away from home."

Palestine, 1937-39: This was my home school and I boarded at home. I paid $4 per week which was the going rate at the time. Teachers' salaries ranged from $60 to $75 per month. This was a beautiful school building, almost new and so easy to keep clean, but still no electricity, no indoor plumbing and no water on the school ground. I walked the mile and a half to and from school. District families here were Veirtz, Culbertsons, Kents, Pims and Nelsons.

Pershing (Germany), 1951-52: Potluck dinners held once a month were memorable experiences. The food was superb, attendance was great and the fellowship was heartwarming. What a great way to keep the adults interested in school activities and the students interested in their elders and community. Families involved here were Wrights, Demings, Orwigs, Pattersons, Bartons, Barrows, Beatys, Blubaughs, Horners and Brees.

Dickerville (Cedar Grove), 1953-54: One fun time I recall was when my family and I, the students and parents were invited to the Bob Edwards home for a potluck and sledding party: Mary Ellen, Sheryl and Donna Edwards, Wisharts, Shores, Johnsons, Whites and Clanins. It was cold and there was lots of snow and it was a community fun time.

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Some more general memories of country school days:

1. Wall lamps for extra light, outside toilets with coal or wood stoves for heat. This was very primitive, but we all made do with what we had and I don't remember any complaints. Buildings were nice and clean at the beginning of each term and we worked hard to keep them that way.

2. Mud roads --- Teachers usually found a home in the district where she could room and board, then walk to school. Very few teachers in the 1930s had their own cars. A few young men teaching in the rural system were the exception.

3. Janitor work --- Carrying coal was a heavy and dirty job. Teachers often had to supply their own kindling.

4. The togetherness of rural communities and rural families. At the time I was teaching (1935-1958) I remember very few children from broken homes.

5. I remember how dark the school rooms were on gloomy, cloudy days.

6. Each teacher was expected to teach her own music. The State Department of Education required so many minutes of music per week. Very few schools had a piano or organ. This presented a real challenge to those of us who weren't very musical.

7. Libraries in the rural schools were not very adequate. A large library at the County Superintendent's Office in Chariton was a central library. I tried to get a new supply of reading and resource material twice a month. Students eagerly looked forward to the new books.

8. One very challenging aspect of teaching a country school was getting your paycheck! Most townships in our county had nine school districts. Some townships had a complete board (three directors, a secretary and a treasurer) for each school; while others had directors for each school but only one secretary and one treasurer for the township. When payday arrived, a teacher must first get a warrant from the secretary, find the president for his signature, then the treasurer for the check. What a challenge trying to locate three busy farmers (all were farmers and seldom a woman on the board; all this without a car!).

Incidents and Accidents

I remember a very frightening experience in the spring of 1949 near Union School in Warren Township. The youngsters had been dismissed for the day and had just crossed the highway south of the school. The warm sunny days had triggered much melting of ice and snow. There was a nice crust of ice covering the water in a very deep grader ditch. This must have looked interesting to the little ones because I soon heard them screaming, "Johnny's fallen in!" We were all there in a hurry.

Little Johnny Ballard was in the water up to his arm pits, with his arms flat out on the ice. An area farmer was on the scene in an instant, reaching out a long pole. Johnny grabbed hold and was soon on firm ground. Other families at this school were Ashby, Tuttle, Shelton, Blizzard, Etter and Daniels.

A bad accident at Prairie Hill, 1942-43, involved Leona and Leo Pierschbacher, who were 7th graders and first-cousins. During the noon hour, with lots of snow just right for sledding, Leona and Leo started down from opposite hills and met head-on at the bottom. I don't remember Leo being hurt, but Leona was unconscious, then only semi-conscious for six to eight weeks.

Another accident at that school the same year involved Dwaine Kunch as he came running around the corner of the school building. He hit the flag pole with his forehead and I could not believe the size of the "goose egg" on that little guy's head. He was probably about eight years old and made a quick recovery.

School days in Union Township's Goshen district

Several items that had belonged to veteran educator Ella (McCann) Herald arrived at the museum on Monday, courtesy of her daughter, Jan Herald Conradt. Among them were these two photographs taken at Goshen School in Union Township, Lucas County, not long after the turn of the 20th century.

Ella's grandparents, Lawrence and Anna (Dunn) McCann, lived just across what now is U.S. Highway 65 east of the school and the McCanns in the photographs were their children, including Ella's father, Thomas.

Judging by the apparent age of the McCann children in the photographs, the older of the two was taken about 1905, when Anne and Julia would have been 5 and 6 years old, respectively; and their oldest brothers, twins Edward and Thomas, about 14.

The scholars are identified as (first row from left) Anne MCann, Julia McCann, Zella Barger, Marie Stearns, Billy Williams, Lola Barger, Hal Barger and Bruce Brown; (second row) Tessie Williams, Belva Lee, Marie Stearns, John Jones, Eldon Jones and Elmer McCann; and (third row) Lucy Stearns, Cora Delmar, Ed McCann, Ora Barger, Fred Newsome (teacher), Tom McCann, Ralph Jones and Lonnie (Lawrence) McCann.

The second photo probably was taken about 10 years later, about 1915. By this time, Ed McCann, just 19, had been killed during 1911 by a deadly combination of measles, flu and pneumonia while teaching the Pollard School, west of Goshen.

The students in this photograph are identified as (first row from left) Noel Roberts, Leota Roberts, Floyd Johnson, Fern Humphrey, Lela Wheeler, Herman Cottrell, Willard Woods and Gerald Barger; (second row) Earnest Swanson, Hal Barger, Roy Woods, Vada Wheeler, Alberta Woods, George Pulley, Carl Cottrell, Zella Barger, Fern Mundell and Claude Humphrey; (third row) Anne McCann, Edith Roberts, Olive Woods, Ethel Sanders (teacher), John Jones, Julia McCann, Lola Barger and Clell Woods.

The land ownership map below, showing the location of Goshen School and Church, dates from 1912.

Ninety years in the life of a fine old home

I wrote the other day about the 90th anniversary of the F.W. Woolworth Co. 5 and 10 Cent Store's 1931 arrival in Chariton as first announced in The Herald-Patriot of March 5 that year. Two days earlier, The Leader had announced another business transaction that would have a lasting impact on the infrastructure of the city's business and professional community.

But unlike the "Dime Store," just a memory now, Fielding Funeral Home, originally Beardsley Funeral Home and then Beardsley-Fielding and housed in what in 1931 was one of Chariton's finest residential properties, still is with us. 

The photograph of the funeral home as it appeared in early 1965, 30 years after its conversion, is from the Lucas County Historical Society collection. It took this shot Sunday, on a damp and chilly afternoon.

Here's the story about the transaction as published under the headline "Sam Beardsley Purchases H.G. Larimer Home" in The Leader of March 3, 1931:

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A business transaction of unusual importance was completed Saturday when ownership of the Horace G. Larimer home on South Grand Street, now occupied by the Downs Funeral Home, passed into the hands of Sam Beardsley. Possession of the property will be given Mr. Beardsley April 1, according to the provisions of the contract, the cash consideration of which was not made public by the parties to the transaction.

The purchase of the property is a step in the plan of Mr. Beardsley to furnish one of the finest funeral homes in southern Iowa for Chariton. His present location on North Grand Street has been remodeled several times, as business demands made additional room imperative, and now Mr. Beardsley says, "Our present location is too small to care for our constantly increasing business."

The site on which the present Beardsley Funeral Home stands is not large enough to permit a larger building and the complete and well outlined surroundings that Mr. Beardsley desires, and this fact entered into the purchase of the Larimer property, where an extensive remodeling program, with beautifully landscaped lawn and surroundings, will make the new Beardsley Funeral Home one of the finest in this section, when the hopes of Mr. Beardsley are realized.

Work on placing the property in the desired condition will be started as soon after possession is given on April 1 as is possible. Mr. Beardsley stated today that he was unable to give a deailed outline of his remodeling plans at this time, but that his only thought was to give the city one of the finest institutions of its kind in this section.

Ralph Downs, of the Downs Funeral Home, stated today that no location had been definitely decided upon for the future of his institution. "We shall continue in Chariton with the same type of service we have rendered in this community in our new location, no matter where that location shall be." Numerous locations are now under consideration by Mr. Downs and a definite decision will probably be made within a few days.

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The house known in 1931 as the Horace G. (and Willie Blanche) Larimer residence had been built during 1888 for Frank and Minnie Crocker to a design by Frank's brother-in-law, Edward Stebbins of Minneapolis. By 1902, when this image of it was published in the city's Chautauqua program, the Crockers still lived there and porches with stone plinths and classical-revival pillars had been added to the facade, probably about 1900. Those porches would be expanded north and a porte cochere added a little later.

Crocker was cashier of Smith H. Mallory's National Bank at the time the house was built and still was in charge of that institution during late 1907 when he managed to bankrupt it by channeling funds into ill-advised investments.

That led to his suicide during the fall of 1907. Mrs. Crocker and her family moved almost immediately to Minneapolis but managed to retain ownership of the house after a lengthy court battle with bank receivers. 

And so during October of 1910, Minnie sold it to Horace G. and Willie Blanche (Hollinger) Larimer, for use by their family. Larimer was a prosperous merchant and civic leader.

Horace Larimer died at the age of 52 during February of 1928 and Mrs. Larimer moved soon thereafter to smaller quarters, placing the house on the market.

The house did not sell as rapidly as hoped for, so during October of 1929, Mrs. Larimer leased the building to Ed S. Downs and his son, Ralph, of Albia, to house a branch of their Monroe County undertaking business. This was a smart business move on the part of the Downs and also a way out of Albia for Ralph, who had raised many eyebrows there by divorcing his first wife and taking a new bride some 26 years his junior.

This photograph of the house was taken soon after the Downs had moved in for what turned out to be a short stay. After being forced from the building by its sale, Ralph purchased a house at 604 North 7th Street, but it proved to be too small. In October of 1932, he purchased the Dr. J.E. and Gertrude Stanton home on East Court Avenue and that became the permanent location of Downs Funeral Home, later Mosher Funeral Home.

Sam and Edith Beardsley completed their remodeling of the Crocker-Larimer house in time for an open house during November of 1931 and the building remained relatively unchanged for many years. Keith and Mary Fielding joined Edith Beardsley as partners in the operation during 1952 and purchased the business outright following her death in 1958.

The image of the home at the top of this post was taken shortly before the Fieldings undertook the first of two major remodeling projects. The first project involved removing the porches and enclosing the area they once had covered to create more ground-floor room and a new funeral home entrance.

The chapel wing was added to the north in 1976, incorporating masonry and pillars from the original porches into its facade and creating the funeral home we're familiar with now --- 90 years after conversion commenced.