Fred and Adellah Spiker and their farm

Joseph Frederick "Fred" and Adellah Spiker (above in an image found at ancestry.com) were not exactly typical Lucas County farmers --- they owned more acres than most and operated on a larger scale than a majority of their neighbors just northeast of where the village of Williamson eventually would be located.

During August of 1882, the editor of the Chariton Democrat-Leader called at the Spiker farm and published a profile of their operation in his edition of the 24th.

Fred (1837-1915) was an Ohio native who grew up in Illinois where he married Adellah Brightwell (1839-1908) during 1857. They farmed in Illinois until 1875 when they relocated to Iowa, perhaps attracted to Lucas County because some of Adellah's siblings already had settled here. There were eight children --- seven sons and a daughter.

The Spikers were neighbors of my family in that neighborhood and all were early and enduring members of Central Christian Church, established where Williamson now is during the 1890s. During 1903, Fred and Adellah retired and moved into Chariton, where both died.

Here's the text of the Democrat-Leader report --- a snapshot of sorts of a prosperous Lucas County farming operation some 140 years ago:

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We had the pleasure this week of visiting another of the extensive farmers and stock men of Lucas county, Mr. Fred Spiker of English township. Fred came to this county about seven years ago from Hancock county, Illinois. His first purchase was a half section of land, but he has added to it until at present his broad acres number about twelve hundred.

On this ranch  he now has 170 head of cattle, 200 head of hogs, 40 head of horses and mules, and 500 head of sheep. He also keeps 25 milch cows, the surplus product of which he disposes of to the Chariton Creamery.

The farm and everything about it wears and air of thrift and enterprise which at once attracts attention. During the past year he has built a fine residence and a large and commodious barn. His residence is a model of neatness and comfort combined. Fred was his own architect, but we opine he received valuable suggestions from his excellent lady who presides over it. His barn is about 50x60 foot, and at present he has stored in it between 75 and 80 tons of hay, all of which he succeeded in saving in first-class order. Near his home place he has about 50 tons saved in what he called (if we remember rightly) a "barrack." It is simply a roof which is made to slide up on five poles. He raises the roof just as he increases the quantity of hay, and when all the space between the poles is filled, he allows the roof to slide down on it.

He has given close attention to fruit, and now has the satisfaction of seeing eight orchards all in good thrifty condition and all bearing. He was one of those who seemed to know that Iowa was a good fruit country, and now he has his expectations realized.

Everything about his farm looks well except his corn, and he has one field of that which is not surpassed by any we have seen in the country. He says he feels confident that he will get 50 bushels from all told. He is, however, getting his farm down to grass as rapidly as possible, and then it will be a perfect beauty. It is almost enough to make one wish he were a farmer when driving over such a ranch as Fred has.

The Waynick sisters and "saccharine diabetes"

This mighty chunk of granite in the Waynick Cemetery, southwest of Chariton, marks collectively the graves of Iverson H. and Elizabeth (Mitchell) Waynick, seven of their 10 children and a grandchild. Each has a substantial headstone inscribed with his or her given name, too, so it's a most efficient (and expensive) way of organizing the deceased.

Daughter Sue (Waynick) Valentine is commemorated on the south end of the big monument; and daughter Lulu (Waynick) Crozier and her infant are commemorated on its east face where "Crozier" is carved into the base. The empty spot next to Elvis's inscription most likely was intended for her husband, Wiley M. Householder, but he remarried after Elvis died and is buried instead in the Chariton Cemetery.

Lulu was the first wife of prominent Chariton merchant James T. Crozier, also buried with his second family in the Chariton Cemetery, so it's likely that he along with some combination of surviving Waynick siblings footed the bill for all of this.

At least three of the Waynick siblings --- Lulu, Florence and Juno --- died of diabetes, generally fatal before insulin was first used in 1922 to treat it and a disease that sometimes runs in families, but rarely to this extent.

I happened upon Juno's obituary while exploring what had happened in Lucas County 120 years ago, during August of 1891, and was mildly surprised by the detailed description of her death but interested in the fact a little medical history of the family also was included. Here's the obituary from The Chariton Herald of Aug. 27, 1891:

"DIED --- At the home of her mother in Chariton, Iowa, Tuesday evening, Aug. 25, 1891, about 9 o'clock, Miss Juno Maud Waynick, aged 17 years, of saccharine diabetes.

"Miss Juno returned from a visit to her sister at Kansas City last Thursday, somewhat impaired in health, sang in the Methodist church choir on Sunday, took to her bed on Monday and at bedtime Tuesday night was a corpse. Thus three of the this family have died within a few short years with this same dread malady.

"Juno was an interesting young lady with a large circle of friends to whom her sudden demise is a painful shock. Her aged mother, bowed down with her load of grief, and sorrowing brothers and sisters have the deep sympathy of the entire community. The funeral services will be held this afternoon at 3 o'clock at the M.E. Church, conducted by Rev. Austin, and the remains interred in the Waynick cemetery southwest of Chariton."

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As a footnote, it would appear that Iverson and Elizabeth were somewhat adventuresome when naming their children. Juno was the female counterpart of the mythological Jupiter, so that makes sense. Elvis, however, was (and is) an almost exclusively male given name, popularized by a musician widely known in some circles years ago.

George B. Routt and his very durable bricks

Where in the world did all of those bricks come from? That's a question that could be asked while walking around the business districts of most older Iowa towns that still are populated by vintage buildings, including Chariton's. 

The answer is, "it depends" --- mostly on when a building was built. Prior to the 1890s or so, most of the bricks were manufactured locally. After that, most were brought in by rail as the "brick and tile" industry became more sophisticated.

In Chariton, George B. Routt (1827-1906) was the most prolific brickmaker, working from brickyards located in the river bottom southwest of town where the right mix of clay, sand, water and wood (for firing) was readily available.

Newspaper reports tell us that he made and laid (or supervised the laying of) the bricks of the Manning & Penick block on the west side of the square during 1869.

During 1879, he still was making brick, as evidenced by this brief report in The Chariton Patriot of August 13:

"G. B. Routt, of this city, has done a very large business in brickmaking this year. He has made already a million bricks, and expects to make many more before the season's over. His brick are all first class, specimens may be seen in Dr. W.H. Gibson's handsome new building on the North East corner. The brick masonry is also under the supervision of Mr. Routt, and is a fine specimen of brick laying."

Both of these buildings still stand and both have been given facelifts in recent years as part of a facade improvement project in the Courthouse Square Historic District. 

Dr. Gibbon's building was about ready for its roof when the 1879 report was published and he moved his drug store into the completed building (top) during December of that year.

George's bricks still are doing their duty, although the Gibbon building's elaborate cast metal cornicing has vanished and it has been merged with the storefront just to the south to form what used to be Klaassen Health Mart, now Iowa Realty.

Bonnell, Hoy, Eisenhuth: Who were they?

Here's a genealogical puzzle for anyone interested in taking it on --- tracking down the "Bonnell," "Hoy" and "Eisenhuth" families mentioned in this record from the Lucas County Historical Society collection. 

The book that contains it was given to the society during 1967 by Everett (1897-1975) and Nina (1892-1978) Goltry, who had retired to the Goltry family farm northeast of Russell after distinguished careers. They married in 1936 after the death of his first wife, Nora Agan (1893-1934); none left descendants.

The book is identified in museum records as a Bible, but it's not that --- the fact that it's thick, the language is German and the opening pages contain a family record most likely confused whoever it was who first cataloged it. In addition, the title page is missing although the book itself is in good condition and the binding miraculously intact.

Instead, it's a copy of  German Lutheran theologian Johann Arndt's "Wahres Christentum" or "True Christianity." This was an extremely influential book in its time, sometimes considered one of the foundation stones of pietism because of its focus on Christ's life in his followers as opposed to the forensic approach of the Reformed movement --- Christ's death for his followers.

I was over confident when I sat down yesterday to figure out exactly who these people were --- and failed miserable. So here's your opportunity to sort it out.

Henry Hoy and Christena Eisenhuth was married January 25  in the year of our Lord 1824.

Thomas Bonnell and Catharene Eisenhuth was married August the 6th in the year of our Lord 1820.

Henry Hoy was Born December the 11th in the year of our Lord 1797.

Christena Eisenhuth was born March 21st in the year of our Lord 1806.

Thomas Bonnell was born December 14th in the year of our Lord 1784.

Susanna Brown, first wife of T.B., was born in the year of our Lord 1788.

Benjamin B. Bonnell was born April 22d A.D. 1812.

George H. Brown was born March the 10th A.D. 1821.

Susanna Bonnell was born March 2nd A.D. 1825.

Jackson Bonnell was born November the 3rd A.D. 1826.

Jeremiah Bonnell was born July the 30th A.D. 1828.

Lorenza Bonnell was born February 3rd A.D. 1831.

 

Short thermometers no longer will shield us

It's been pretty blamed hot here in the south of Iowa during these later days of August 2021, but I cooled down a little after looking back to August 1878 and finding this description in The Chariton Leader of a scorcher late in the month that year (published on Aug. 31):

"Last week the people in this part of Iowa were beginning to cheer up and console themselves with the reflection that the heated time was over. But man proposes and the Lord disposes. Saturday came, and with it came a sulphurous heated current from the regions of Pluto that caused everyone to wilt like a fresh cabbage leaf over a hot furnace. By noon the mercury had risen to 103, and soon after boiled over, so that for the want of a thermometer long enough we will probably never be able to tell how infernally hot it was. Nothing but short thermometers saved the people. Since then, delicious, balmy weather has prevailed, and now we know the hot weather has passed."

The wordsmith was Dan Baker (left), editor of The Leader during the 1870s, who was known far and wide for his way with the language.

Of course our measuring devices these days are digital, so short thermometers no longer will protect us from extreme heat.

Lucas County meets J. Ellen Foster

This is Judith Ellen Foster (1840-1910), of Clinton, generally believed to be the first woman to actually practice law in the courts of Iowa (although not the first Iowa woman admitted to the bar). Admitted in 1872, she also became in 1875 the fourth woman admitted to practice before the Iowa Supreme Court.

But it was in her role as a crusader for the temperance movement that she became widely known across the state --- promoting the idea (eventually embedded in the failed 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution ratified during 1919 --- and repealed in 1933) that many of society's woes would vanish if the manufacture, transportation and sale of intoxicating beverages were banned.

It was that crusade that brought her to Chariton during August of 1877 for two public appearances, one in the courtroom of the courthouse and the other at a temporary building called the tabernacle where Methodist revival meetings were in progress.

Representatives of both Chariton newspapers --- The Leader (politically Democrat) and The Patriot (politically Republican) --- attended, and their reports were quite different, reflecting their partisan positions. Here's The Leader report from its edition of August 18:

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"Many who attended the lecture of Mrs. J. Ellen Foster at the courthouse on Thursday night left in disgust. The lecture consisted almost entirely of bloody shirt oration, with a few allusions to the cause of temperance and saloons. The next time Mrs. Foster starts out in the interest of Morton and his followers she will gain reputation by staying at home; at least she will not lose what little she has got, but may possibly make it up in notoriety."

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Foster was a staunch Republican, as temperance crusaders tended to be. Morton was Indiana U.S. Sen. Oliver Perry Morton, a contender during 1876 for the Republican presidential nomination and a leader in the Senate among those most dedicated to preserving and fostering Republican-dominated governments in former Confederate states. And "bloody shirt oration" referred to speeches that included calls to avenge the Civil War dead, a tactic used by both Republicans and Democrats at the time, depending upon their geographical location.

The reporter for The Patriot would not have been fazed by political references that may have been included in Foster's remarks, so his report on Aug. 22 focused instead on her temperance message:

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"Mrs. J. Ellen Foster, of Clinton, Iowa, spoke at the Court House last Thursday night and at the Tabernacle on Friday night. Her remarks on both evenings were listened to with attention. Although not a fluent speaker she handled her subject --- temperance --- so forcibly and with such earnestness that it had marked effect upon the hearers. At the Friday evening meeting she presented some figures of startling import, viz: That during the first 15 days of August, 1,095 gallons of beer had been drunk in Chariton, which at retail prices would show $1,315.20 squandered for that one kind of drink alone. At that rate for a year it would foot up the large sum of over $30,000. We understand that Mrs. Foster organized a temperance society among the ladies, and succeeded in inducing quite a number to sign the pledge."

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My only question after reading these contrasting reports is, how many gallons of beer do you suppose were sold in Chariton during the first 15 days of August 2021?

Young John Ruble's fatal encounter with a pitchfork

Photograph via Ancestry.com

John Ruble shares a tombstone in Liberty Township's Arnold Cemetery, just south of the Lucas-Warren county line, with his parents, Andrew Jackson (1832-1862) and Mary (1837-1875) Ruble and a sister, Sarah (Ruble) McFarland (1860-1882).

Now Andrew J. Ruble isn't really buried here --- he perished during the Civil War, dying of disease in Missouri on Jan. 16, 1862, six months after he had enlisted in Company D, 1st Iowa Volunteer Cavalry. His remains, probably buried in the vanished Otterville Civil War Cemetery in Cooper County, Missouri, have been lost. So this stone near his home in Iowa is his cenotaph.

John would have been four years old when his father died. The inscription on the family tombstone states that he died Aug. 8, 1877, age 19 years, 6 months and 10 days, 15 years after his father and two years after his mother.

But what killed him? The usual suspects in the deaths of young adults at this time are diseases, ranging in the years before immunizations, appropriate sanitation and science-based treatments, from measles through cholera to tuberculosis.

John's death was dramatic enough, however, to be mentioned in area newspapers, including The Chariton Patriot of Aug. 15, 1877, where the following paragraph, headline "A Singular Accident," is found:

"One of the most singular accidents that we have ever chronicled befell a young man named John Ruble, of Liberty Township, this county, on Wednesday last. Young Ruble was engaged in hauling sheaves of grain from the field, and having a pitchfork in his hand struck one of the horse with the handle which the frightened animal resented by kicking and striking the fork, the prongs of which were toward the unfortunate man. The sharp steel was forced into his body inflicting injuries from which death resulted in a short time. He was buried on the following day."

Recent additions to the historical society collection

It was too hot to think creatively yesterday, so I plucked the lowest hanging fruit and took some photos of a few new arrivals that we've processed and moved into display areas at the Lucas County Historical Society Museum recently.

Marge Didier, of Des Moines, contacted us early in the year and offered to return to Lucas County the Newell family Bible, an item she had rescued several years ago from an antiques shop in Manning (I wrote about that here). The Bible, which includes family record pages, commemorates a Russell family devastated by murder-suicide during 1898.

We picked the Bible up recently and now it's displayed for the time being near the registration desk in the Lewis Building. The explainer reads, "William M. Newell, 51, a Russell businessman, shot and killed his wife, Josie, 9-year-old daughter, Madge, and then himself during the predawn hours of August 23, 1898. Son Floyd, who was older and visiting in Omaha with friends, was spared, but died at age 37 on March 8, 1913, in South Dakota, when he fell from a train while working as a brakeman. The family possessions were scattered and this Bible ended up in an antiques shop in Manning, Iowa, where it was purchased by Marge Didier, who donated it to the Lucas County Historical Society."

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Corliss and Jeanne Klaassen, long-time friends of the historical society, downsized this summer after selling their beautiful lake home in west Chariton and brought an extensive collection of pharmaceutical memorabilia to the museum for safe-keeping. Corliss operated Klaassen Health Mart on the northeast corner of the square until 2001.

This is just a small fraction of the items now on display with the earlier Loren Edwards pharmaceutical collection in the Vredenburg Gallery --- including dozens and dozens of mortars and pestles.

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The late Don Kingsbury's Honor Flight jacket, commemorating Lucas County World War II veterans who participated in the Honor Flight program, giving them opportunities to visit the World War II memorial in Washington, D.C., also is displayed in the Vredenburg Gallery.

The explainer reads as follows: "Don B. Kingsbury (4 August 1924-27 March 2015) was one of 16  young men, most from Lucas County, sworn into the U.S. Navy at the Lucas County Courthouse on July 4, 1942. He went on to serve on four ships in the Pacific Theater during three years at sea and was honorably discharged as a Signalman Second Class on Dec. 22, 1945, at the end of World War II.

"Don returned to a successful business career in Chariton, but always remembered his military experiences. A long-time member of Carl L. Caviness American Legion Post No. 102, he also performed with Iowa's Military Veterans Band. He placed a monument in the Chariton Cemetery commemorating those 16 men who enlisted during 1942 and his likeness is included in a mural commemorating that event in Lucas County's Veterans Memorial Park.

"During the fall of 2009, Don was an early participant in Iowa's 'Honor Flight' program, affording veterans an opportunity to visit the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. Don's jacket and commemorative baseball cap were given to him on that trip."

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The museum is open from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and at any other time by appointment. Admission is free. Sadly, two of our largest display areas, the Crist Gallery and the Mine Gallery, both on the lower level of the Lewis Building, will remain closed for the balanced of the season. 

As many know, the exterior entrances to these galleries were badly damaged when a vehicle slammed into them earlier this summer and it now looks as if the rebuilding project will not begin until fall. Until that project is completed, there's only one way into and out of the two galleries --- a long flight of stairs. We cannot allow public access to the galleries until secondary exits are operable again.

Zack Giffin and the pursuit of peace

I follow this guy named Zack Giffin on social media because of his involvement in what sometimes is called the "tiny house movement." Even though I'm far too old to seriously consider moving into a tiny house, climbing nightly into one of the lofts that provide sleeping quarters in most of these contraptions. And composting toilets have little appeal.

Giffin probably is best known as host of a program entitled "Tiny House Nation," broadcast on various platforms since 2014.

Anyhow, Giffin also is the product of a Quaker family, thus inclined to pacifism, and has posted a couple of times recently about the current situation in Afghanistan.

I came across the following line (lifted out of the context of physical warfare, which was his principal topic) from his most recent post while searching the social media for the meaning of life this morning: 

"Unless our culture stops confusing violence for strength, we will likely continue to push our unresolved quarrels onto the shoulders of our kids because we didn’t have the patience or discipline to restrain our reactive impulses."

This is a sentiment that's broadly applicable to all of the disputes we are involved in at the moment, some war-related, many related to COVID-19 and its variants, others to politics and social and religious perspectives --- or to messy mixtures from multiple fronts.

I've used Giffin's line to remind myself that words often are used violently, too --- and that happens whenever we use the written or spoken language to hurt, anger or inflame rather that to encourage reflection and constructive thought. 

That doesn't translate into silence on divisive subjects, just into making the extra effort to respond in ways that encourage constructive thought and response rather than "reactively" by lashing out.

The scandalous parting of Basil & Hester Prather

Find a Grave/St. George Cemetery, Victoria, Kansas

Dr. Basil R. Prather has for the most part vanished from the collective memory of Lucas County, but back during the centennial year of 1876 and well into the next this unfortunate physician's marital woes were big news. Then, as now, everyone appreciated a good scandal --- except, perhaps, those directly involved.

There are no extant Lucas County newspaper files for the long hot summer of 1876 when all hell broke loose within the extended Prather and Lind families in the neighborhood of LaGrange --- on the Lucas-Monroe county line just north of what now is U.S. Highway 34.

So I'm relying on the following report from The Fairfield Ledger of Aug. 24 for the basic outline of the situation:

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"Dr. Lind, sixty years old, went to board with his brother-in-law, Dr. Prather, of Lucas county, Iowa, whose wife was young and not unhandsome, and now Dr. Lind and Mrs. Prather are dodging around the country as Mr. Anybody and wife, and Dr.  Prather sues for a divorce from his wife and ten thousand dollars damages from Dr. L. Dr. P. don't care about getting Mrs. P. back, but he wants the ten thousand dollars badly.

"These parties stopped in our city a day or two several weeks ago, and then hied them away to other but not fairer fields of bliss. Dr. Prather is a sensible man in trying to get $10,000 instead of the frail Mrs.  P."

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The actual suit for damages seems not to have been filed until almost a year later, however, during October of 1877, when this notice was published in consecutive editions of the Chariton newspapers.

The Muscatine Weekly Journal of Oct. 12, 1877, reported upon the situation as follows under the headline, "Seduction Suit:"

"Basil R. Prather, of Lucas county, has sued Dr. W.H.H. Lind for $10,000 for the seduction of his wife. Lind eloped with Mrs. Prather nearly a year ago. She is said to be a buxom woman of about 40 and Lind is a tall, scraggy looking individual of about 60 years of age, and is about the last man in the world we should expect a woman to fall in love with."

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I can't say if Dr. Lind mounted a defense against the suit, only that a report in The Chariton Patriot of Nov. 14, 1877, stated that a jury had awarded damages totaling $1,000 in the case of B.R. Prather vs. W.H.H. Lind "for seduction of wife," a substantial amount but far short of the $10,000 asked.

The November 1877 term of Lucas County District Court had been a busy one and several other cases give indication of what our forbears were up to in the good old days.

In the case of State vs. John Osenbaugh for mayhem in biting off the lower lip of Benj. Young, for example, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty.

The case of the State vs. James Van Sickle for seduction was continued but the case of State vs. J.A. Stanley, also for seduction, was dismissed at the defendant's cost.

In the case of the State vs. George Draper, bastardy, on a  change of venue from Wayne County, the defendant was order to pay $150 down and $100 annually to the girl involved.

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Dr. Basil R. Prather was a son of Iowa pioneers David J. and Matilda (Noon) Prather, who settled near the Monroe-Lucas county line in Iowa about 1850 and who are buried in Prather Pioneer Cemetery, along U.S. Highway 34 between the Lucas county line and the Melrose corner. 

Here's a brief paragraph about Basil 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."

So rather than removing to Iowa with his family, Basil had remained in Indiana, where he married in 1850 Mary Ann Lind. Medicine was not an especially lucrative profession at the time, so Basil also farmed and was a sometimes Methodist preacher.

The new Mrs. Prather, nee Mary Ann Lind, had an older brother, Dr. William Henry Harrison Lind (born Sept. 29, 1817), who during 1846 had married Basil R. Prather's sister, Rachel Prather, and they seem to have accompanied the Prather family west to Iowa ca. 1850.

So Dr. William H.H. Lind was related to Dr. Basil R. Prather on two fronts --- as his wife's brother and as the husband of his sister, Rachel. During those early years, the two men were colleagues, both practicing medicine in the LaGrange area. Dr. Lind also served as postmaster at LaGrange for a time.

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Some 11 years after their marriage, Mary Ann (Lind) Prather died on Jan. 25, 1861, leaving behind the widowed Basil and two daughters, Ella, who lived a relatively long life, and Clara, who probably survived her mother but not for long. Basil buried Mary Ann in the Prather Cemetery and identified her as "wife of the Rev. Dr. B.R. Prather" --- utilizing both his courtesy titles --- on a nice tombstone (at the top here).

A year later, during August of 1862, Basil enlisted in Company G, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and served until March of 1863 when he was discharged because of poor health.

Soon after his discharge and back home in Lucas County, he married Hester A. McEldowney on her 23rd birthday, April 22, 1862. A daughter of John and Margaret McEldowney, also pioneers of the LaGrange area and also buried in the Prather Cemetery, Hester was 16 years younger than Basil.

Hester and Basil would have four sons during the next seven years --- Alfred, Charles, L. Grant and Hardan --- but all four died young. So say what you may about Hester, her life would not have been an easy one.

Five years later, on Dec. 11, 1867, Rachel (Prather) Lind, wife of William H.H. Lind and sister of Basil R. Prather, died and was buried, too, in the Prather Cemetery.

When the 1870 census was taken, William and his younger children were living just over the line from LaGrange in Wayne Township, Monroe County. It seems likely that Basil and Hester invited his widowed brother-in-law to move in with them during the mid-1870s, after the youngest Lind children were on their own. It must have seemed like a good idea at the time.

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Following his marital disaster, Basil R. Prather moved away from LaGrange and built an office for himself in the village of Belinda, located in northeast Lucas County. A few years later, prior to 1880, he purchased a drug store in the nearby town of Columbia and moved his medical practice there. 

While living at Columbia he married as his third wife Margaret Bellamy Van Dyke and during the early 1880s, the couple moved west to Rooks County, Kansas, then to Victoria in Ellis County, Kansas. His profession was given as "minister" rather than "physician" in an 1885 Kansas state census. Basil died at Victoria on March 18, 1890, at the age of 66 and is buried there.

Hester Prather and William H.H. Lind kept going east until they reached Washington County, Maryland, where they were married on the 9th of October, 1876.

They settled in Rockingham County, Virginia, where they became the parents of three children, Margaret and Henry G., who survived their father, and Robert, who didn't. Dr. Lind died on April 14, 1893, at the age of 75.

Hester outlived both her husbands by more than 30 years, dying at the age of 91 on July 2, 1930, at the home of her son in Edinburg, Indiana, age 91. Her remains were taken to Covington, Virginia, for burial.

Find a Grave/Cedar Hill Cemetery, Covington, Virginia

Who among us knows where Afghanistan is located?

I got to wondering this morning how many U.S. citizens actually know where Afghanistan is located. A relatively small percentage I'd bet --- geography is not high on our list of educational priorities (although it should be). So here's a small map. If you're unsure about the locations of India, China and the Arabian Sea, there is no hope.

Location is only part of the problem, but a look at the map and some basic understanding of cultural factors --- the strongly traditional nature of the majority of the population in this landlocked and ancient "graveyard of empires" --- go a long way toward explaining our current debacle.

Here's a piece I benefitted from reading this morning --- an analysis by Adam Nossiter, Kabul bureau chief for The New York Times, entitled "America's Afghan War: A Defeat Foretold?"

The circumstances of Henry Chapman's demise

Only the top part of the inscribed "Henry" was visible when "Cloudy Daze" photographed Henry Chapman's tombstone at Lucas County's Last Chance Cemetery some years ago and posted the resulting image to Find a Grave.

A son of Union Township pioneers Simeon B. and Sarah Jane (Mitchell) Chapman, Henry was born in Union Township on July 25, 1858, and had just celebrated his 17th birthday when he was killed on Aug. 24, 1875, near Derby.

The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye of Aug. 26, 1875, reported his death as follows in a brief item headlined "Fatal Accident: A Young Man Killed by the Caving in of a Sand Bank" which reads as follows:

"Derby, Iowa, August 24 --- Henry Chapman, aged twenty years, was killed at this place about four o'clock this afternoon by the caving in of a sand bank where he was getting sand. His father, Simeon Chapman, is well known, is an old settler and lives in town."

The village of Derby was brand new in 1875 and it probably was the recently installed telegraph line that allowed the news of Henry's death to spread so fast and so widely. It would appear that his parents had just recently moved from their farm to a new home in the village.

The Chariton Leader of Aug. 28 included a little more information in its report:

"We are sorry to learn of the sad and terrible death of Henry Chapman, of Derby, a young man, 20 years of age, son of our old acquaintance Simeon B. Chapman. It seems that the young man was engaged in getting out sand for his father, and that on Tuesday afternoon, while his father had gone to town with a load, the young man remained in the bank to get out another load by the time his father returned. When Mr. Chapman got back with his team he was alarmed at observing a large amount of dirt and sand that had caved in and upon digging down his worst fears were realized by finding his son lifeless beneath it. To the sorrowing parents and friends of the youth, we extend our sympathies."

By now young Henry has been forgotten except by a few family historians. It's been 146 years after all. But thanks to digitalized newspaper archives we know the circumstances of his death.

The Chariton Methodist Choir is taken to task

As a retired church musician, I have some appreciation for the challenges faced by choir directors and organists. But poisonous reviews in the local press generally are not among them.

That was not the case in Chariton during December of 1888 when the editor of The Herald attended a Sunday evening service at First Methodist Episcopal Church, was scandalized by the music and then published a scathing review of the situation in his edition of the 20th.

The setting was the congregation's old brick church, located on the site of the current church. The cast of characters included Brother Pepper --- Robert L. Pepper, then launching a 21-year-career as freight agent in Chariton for the Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad; and Mrs. Nellie Clow, nee Waynick, daughter of David and Martha Waynick, two of the foundation stones of the congregation.

Bro. Pepper was serving as chorister --- attempting to lead the congregation in song. Among the other crosses Nellie had to bear was her husband, Peter, whom she eventually divorced. Here's the text of the review:

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Last Sunday evening, the regular quarterly meeting services were held at the M.E. church, the pulpit being filled by the Presiding Elder, Rev. W.C. Martin. The choir was composed of two bass voices and one alto, Bro. Pepper, the chorister, being compelled to furnish the soprano although there were a number of good soprano voices down in the audience where some of the members of the choir seemed to have taken refuge as disinterested observers.

Where there is such an abundance of musical talent as there is in the M.E. church it is a positive shame that the chorister should be placed in such embarrassing circumstances. But Bro. Pepper proved himself equal to the occasion, and if the music was not made up of the most exquisitely soothing tones, what it lacked in this regard was more than compensated for by the life and strength imparted, and, under the circumstances, we don't see how it could have been done any better.

Mrs. Nellie Clow presided at the organ with becoming grace, proving herself to be master of the situation, though the rapidly succeeding cadences at times seemed to betray an anxiety to be done with a disagreeable task at the early possible moment, indicating that she too was not wholly oblivious to the surrounding embarrassments.

Such treatment of a chorister and organist on the occasion of the most important public services of the church, to say the least, is not very flattering to the sense of obligation to the musical talent of the church who refuse to join the choir and assist in the worship of song.

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Neither Mr. Pepper nor Mrs. Clow seem to have been permanently scarred by the review. When Robert died at the age of 62 in 1907 he was lauded as First Methodist's long-time choir director and Sunday School chorister. He is buried in the Chariton Cemetery. Nellie remained active in the musical program of the church until about 1908 when she removed to California to live near her son, Raymond, a professional clarinetist. She died in San Francisco during 1949.

The delights & the drunks of circus day in Chariton

James A. Bailey (aka James A. McGinnis) brought his circus --- The Great International Menagerie --- to Chariton on Thursday, Aug. 20, 1874. For those interested in footnotes, this was the same Bailey who would partner with Phineas T. Barnum in 1880 to form the Barnum & Bailey Circus. But that pivotal event in entertainment history still was six years in the future.

Anyhow, the Bailey troupe was met with enthusiasm by Lucas Countyans, as reported by Chariton Leader editor Dan Baker in his edition of Aug 22 (Dan, however, was not especially impressed).

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The big International Show was here on Thursday, and again our town was a scene of stirring activity that it seldom witnesses. Men, women, boys, girls, and suffering, screaming, tortured infants were here ready to greet the company with their accustomed zeal and promptness. The day was extremely hot and the streets, fearfully dusty. The largest audience was gathered under the canvas we ever before saw in Chariton.

The circus was below our expectations, and the menagerie about as good as the ordinary ones that travel over the country. The company undoubtedly made money, as well as the restaurant and refreshment stands that were so numerous during the day. The usual order and quiet of the town were observed, and but few deadbeats made their appearance. The people all went away happy, and it is to be hoped that the circus did.

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Dan had a way with words, and that extended to his account in the same edition of the justice meted out to the drunks of the week by Mayor Emmett B. Woodward, who functioned at the time as magistrate. Several of the defendants apparently were among the "few deadbeats" who had made their appearance on circus day. Here's that report, under the heading "Police Items."

On the 18th Mike Barry, for getting drunk, was escorted by the city marshal before the mayor and urged to deposit his loose change in the city treasury for fear of losing it, which he did to the extent of $3 and costs.

On the 20th, it being show day, Thomas O'Day got on his muscle and fiercely swore he would whip someone. The marshal asked him to get a permit from His Honor, the Mayor, first; the mayor, however, not only refused to grant the said permit, but opened the doors of the city treasury for a deposit from Thomas. Thomas gave security that he would ante promptly in 30 days, and was released.

Aus Wayland, who imagined show day was the 4th of July, indulged in one of his chronic drunks, and was introduced to the mayor again, who soundly lectured him on the error of his ways, fined him $6 and costs, and sent him home. Aus is getting to be a tough case, and anyone who sells or gives him anything to drink ought to be punished to the full extent of the law.

Willis Cackler, who also thought show day was as good a day to celebrate as any other day, took too much benzine on a weak stomach, consequently Willis got tight. Mayor Woodward charged him $3 and costs for the rights his forefathers had fought for, and after giving him some fatherly advice, discharged him.

West Ferguson thought that the people of Chariton needed a variety in the shape of amusing entertainments on show day, so he got drunk, but he unfortunately found it was an old thing in Chariton, long before he gave his first exhibition. Consequently West was fined $3 and costs by the disgusted mayor for his impudent presumption in attempting to teach the Charitonians new tricks. West shelled out and departed, singing, "This is the way I long have sought."

Mr. Roosevelt's Cotton Mattress Program in Chariton

Kansas State Historical Society photograph

I had no idea until this week ---- when I happened upon an article headlined "Mattress Plan Started Again" on the front page of The Chariton Leader of Aug. 19, 1941 --- that rural Lucas County families then still living in relative poverty due to the Great Depression had manufactured more than 700 mattresses for themselves during that year.

The Cotton Mattress Program was one among many Depression-era federal strategies with multiple purposes --- to market and use surplus commodities, in this case cotton from the South; to benefit the rural poor; and to provide practical instruction in a skill, mattress making. Its sponsors were the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, the Surplus Marketing Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Extension Service acting through Iowa State University Extension administered at the time by local Farm Bureau councils and offices.

In Lucas County, publicity for the program commenced during December of 1940 and during the opening months of 1941, 216 participants produced 360 mattresses. Because of the popularity of the program, it resumed during August of 1941 and by the end of September an additional 363 mattresses had been produced. Here's the text of the Leader article announcing the second round of mattress making:

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The cotton mattress program has been resumed in Lucas county.

The local AAA office has received 3,600 yards of ticking and 18,000 pounds of cotton to be used in making 360 mattresses. All families in Lucas county but outside of Chariton whose net income last year was $500 are eligible to participate.

Each family must make its own mattress since the program is educational as well as providing families with mattresses, leaders pointed out.

A few more applications are to be accepted at either the Farm Bureau or AAA offices, both located on the south side of the square. Cost of each mattress is $1 which pays for supervision, needles, thread and building. All other material is furnished free by the surplus marketing corporation.

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The community work center where the mattresses were produced was described as "the old recreation hall" a block and a half northwest of the northwest corner of the Chariton square. John Shelton was work center supervisor and Wilma Werts, Farm Bureau office assistant, was in charge of collecting $1 per mattress from participating families. There were 12 work stations.

Representatives from participating families helped one another in actual construction of the mattresses --- as a rule two people from two families were divided into groups of four to produce each one. Eligible families received material to make one full-size double-bed mattress for each two persons in the family, but the total could not exceed three mattresses to a family.

The program was considered a success, but the United States was plunged into full-scale war after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, so it was not resumed during 1942 or thereafter.

I found no photographs related to this footnote to Lucas County history, so borrowed this one from the Kansas State Historical Society. It depicts representatives of two families working on a mattress in Columbus, Kansas, under the program, also during 1941.

King of Jazz and his bride were just passing through

Back in 1931, when giants still roamed the land, trains remained the principal means of long-distance travel and Paul "The King of Jazz" Whiteman was among the most popular of U.S. orchestra leaders. So it was big news when his engagement to Margaret Livingston, described elsewhere as "one of the screen's wickedest and most alluring vamps," was announced. That's the happy couple at left.

It was especially big news in Chariton when the pair passed through aboard a Burlington Route fast train on Monday, Aug. 17, en route from Chicago to Denver, where their marriage was to occur. There was no interview --- the couple had rebuffed a photographer in Ottumwa --- but someone affiliated with the Chariton newspapers apparently visited them in their stateroom and prepared the following report for publication in The Herald-Patriot of Aug. 20.

The headline reads, "King of Jazz and Actress Bride-to-be Pass Through Chariton Monday Evening: Miss Livingston Puffs Cigaret as Fiance Slams Door in Photo Man's Face." Here's the text:

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The "King of Jazz," none other than Paul Whiteman himself, and his bride of Tuesday afternoon, the red-headed movie actress Margaret Livingston, passed through Chariton Monday evening on the Burlington Train No. 9 en route from Chicago to Denver, where they were married.

Although train travel these days is rather warm, Whiteman and his bride-to-be did not seem to mind it, at least they did not attempt to venture from their stateroom aboard the coach.

Few in Chariton knew of the presence of the "King" on board the Burlington fast train and consequently his reception here was a small one.

Miss Livingston was attired in pajamas, her golden hair encircled with a bandeaux. She moved leisurely about the stateroom puffing a cigaret. Whiteman sat at a window, the shade drawn to separate him from curious eyes.

The  famous pair had previously rebuffed a newspaper photographer at Ottumwa with the complaint, "Can't a public man have any privacy?" and consequently no interview with the altar-bound couple was attempted here.

Whiteman and Miss  Livingston arrived in Denver Tuesday afternoon and heard the marriage ceremony pronounced over them at the home of Whiteman's parents, Mr. and  Mrs.  J.J. Whiteman, just outside Denver.

After a few days, Whiteman will return to Chicago where his orchestra is filling an engagement. Then, Miss Livingston said, they will go to Hollywood, where she will resume her work before the camera.

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Unlike many celebrity marriages, The Whitemans' endured until his death in 1967. Miss Livingston retired from the silver screen in 1934 to devote her attention to raising their four adopted children. She then devoted her attention to investments in oil and real estate until her death during 1984 at the age of 89.

Cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war

News sources report that the Taliban entered Kabul this morning, that the U.S. Embassy staff is burning sensitive documents on the roof and that additional U.S. troops are headed for Afghanistan to aid in evacuation. Sound familiar? Well, perhaps not --- unless you're as old and grouchy as I am.

I've been trying to remember if I designed and edited this front page from Oct. 8, 2001, one among countless others worldwide in newspapers large and small that marked the beginning of this 20-year debacle. That was what I did professionally for many years, but too many lines of type have passed under the bridge and I can't say for sure.

Since then, some 7,000 U.S. troops have died in Afghanistan and Iraq --- a relatively small number when compared to the hundreds of thousands of deaths among allied forces, civilians and enemy forces. But still notable when you consider the fact they died for no particular reason, as did the 50,000 or so who perished during "my" war, Vietnam.

I thought often of Vietnam over the years while playing a small part in reporting on our various wars in that part of the world --- most notably during 2003 when the U.S., having declared victory in Afghanistan, led an invasion of Iraq, justifying it with false intelligence reports.

There's bound to be a good deal of pontificating in the days that follow, but I liked this piece in today's The Washington Post: "From hubris to humiliation: America’s warrior class contends with the abject failure of its Afghanistan project."

End of the line for Chariton's Iseminger Post No. 18

I got to wondering yesterday, after sharing here a 1922 photograph of remaining members of Chariton's Iseminger Post No. 18, Grand Army of the Republic, if the passing of that organization had been noted in Lucas County newspapers.

Unlike most U.S. veterans' organizations, the G.A.R. was not intended to survive the death of the last Civil War veterans. In Iowa, the end came during September 1949 when James Martin, of Sutherland, died. But Amy Noll, G.A.R. secretary, continued to occupy the office in the capitol building that the Legislature had provided for the organization and to curate its collection of documents and memorabilia until 1954, when the office was moved to the Historical Building and the organization's archives added to the State Historical Society of Iowa collection.

In Lucas County, the last two surviving veterans died on the same day, Jan. 25, 1941, both 96 --- William Humphreys at Oakley and Robert Killen at Norwood. The following news item, headlined "Death Closes G.A.R, Books; Last Vets Die; Once 250 Strong," was published in The Herald Patriot of Jan. 30.

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With the deaths of William Humphreys and Robert Killen, last two Civil War veterans living in Lucas county, the Iseminger Post of the G.A.R. was disbanded.

For approximately 60 years the influences of this post had been felt in this community until recent years when the surviving veterans grew feebler and their meetings were discontinued.

But from the post's organization on Oct. 18, 1879, until recent years, this group was active in the life of Chariton. Old timers will remember how the veterans turned out on such occasions as Decoration Day or on the Fourth of July.

At one time, the local post had a membership of 250 soldiers. The charter members of the group were Warren S. Dungan, John H. Cowen, John L. Brown, Moses E. Thorpe, Emmett B. Woodward, Nelson Be Gardner, Glark T. Brant, A.U. McCormick, George H. Ragsdale, J.H. McFarland, John O. Coles and Joe R. Landes. 

Of this group, eight were privates, two were sergeants, one a lieutenant and one a captain.

The post was named after Daniel Iseminger, a captain in Company B. of the Sixth Iowa Infantry who was killed in action at the battle of Shiloh.

The group met fairly regularly until about 1934 when only a few of the once large membership remained.

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The article is not exactly accurate, however. The Iseminger Post actually disbanded formally on Dec. 31, 1933, when surviving members became too old to sustain the organization, according to State Historical Society records. The post always had been Lucas County's largest with a total of 260 members during its more than 50 years of existence. 

On June 6, 1941, Gertrude Hatcher of Chariton --- then state president of Iowa's Daughters of Union Veterans organization --- delivered Iseminger Post records to Miss Noll in Des Moines. The organization's charter and other memorabilia turned up in the courthouse attic during late summer and were delivered to Miss Noll on Sept. 9.

Here's a link to a Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War site that provides a good deal of information about the organization in Iowa and its surviving records. You'll also find a link there to the LDS FamilySearch site where digital images of membership records may be examined. This is a free service, but you will have to register in order to use it.

Records also are available there for Lucas County's other three G.A.R. Posts --- Francis M. Nolan No. 208 at Russell (active 1886-1920); Griggsby Foster No. 320 at Lucas, active 1884-1894; and William H. McKnight No. 491 at Derby, active 1891-1917.

Diminishing ranks of Lucas County Civil War veterans

The ranks of Lucas County Civil War veterans had thinned from hundreds to dozens by the afternoon of Memorial Sunday 1922 --- May 28 --- when surviving members of Daniel Iseminger Post 18, Grand Army of the Republic, and their auxiliary, the Woman's Relief Corps, gathered at the First Methodist Church in Chariton for their annual service of remembrance.

No reporter was on hand, but we do know that the sermon was entitled, "The Struggle for Manhood," and that two days later, on May 30, the veterans and the auxiliary marched from the courthouse to the Chariton Cemetery to mark Memorial Day.

Someone did have the presence of mind to make sure that Harold Hedger, of the Hedger Studio, was on hand to record this image of the group on Sunday, posed on the front steps of the church. This original print of that large image has survived in the Lucas County Historical Society collection.

No one here is identified, but the image is clear and sharp --- descendants who know what their ancestors looked like most likely would be able to locate them in it.

When bad things happen to good photographs

The bad news: When Inda VanArsdale Post shipped this oversize photograph of the Chariton High School Class of 1896 from Florida back to her childhood home (and the Lucas County Historical Society) in 1967, the heavy card backing snapped, breaking the image into two pieces.

The good news --- the break occurred between subjects, so we're still able to see all 24 members of the class clearly. Because of the miracle of Photoshop, it would be a relatively simple matter to repair a scan of the image digitally were there a reason to do so.

But it's a lovely photo in its current battered condition --- taken by Clarence Rose at his Rose Studio. Clarence was a talented young man whose life would be claimed by tuberculosis three years later, during October of 1899. With the exception of one deer-in-the-headlights facial expression, everyone  appears to be relaxed, serene in their graduation finery.

This was the largest class to date graduated by Chariton High School, as reported in The Patriot of May 28, 1896: "The class of 1896, twenty-four in number, is the largest ever before graduated from the High school since its formal organization in 1878. The largest class preceding the present --- twenty-two in number --- was graduated in 1889. The total number of graduates of the High school since its establishment is one hundred and eighty-three. The first class, in 1878, were Susie Kubitshek, Lizzie Davidson, Jesse Waynick, Betty Burns, Harry Woodward and Lee Russell, six in all."

Inda identified members of the class of 1896 as follows (right click and open in a new window to enlarge): (First row from left) Gertie Baker, Louise Moore, Sylvia Douglass, Ethel Dorsey, Ila Myers and Nellie Hanlin; (second row) May McMasters, Mabel Dorsey, Bess Brant, Sue Copeland and Minnie Main; (third row) Anna Lyman, Myrtle Dungan, Maude Malone, Emily Rogers, Daisy Dent, Ferne Brown, Gem Coles and Laura Kull; (fourth row) James Treasure, Lloyd Penick, Delman Threlkeld, Clarence Dalin and Roy Gittinger.

Across the great divide in Chariton, 1870

From the 1875 Andreas Atlas

The fact that Chariton sits squarely atop a ridge dividing the Missouri and Mississippi river drainages has been a talking point --- for about as long as folks have been talking about Chariton. It came up yesterday on Facebook thanks to Ben Wantland, who used a contemporary map to trace that ridge's northwesterly path through part of the state --- and I've borrowed a part of his map (without asking permission). The heavy red line follows the ridge.

Stolen from Ben Wantland

The "bird's eye" view of Chariton at the top is from the 1875 Andreas Atlas of Iowa.

If you're driving around the square today, imagine a line cutting at an angle from southeast to northwest through the courthouse. The area to the southwest drains down West Court Avenue (an old creek bed) into the Chariton River, then the Missouri River. The area to the northeast drains east through Yocom Park to the Little Whitebreast, then the Whitebreast, and then the Des Moines River to the Mississippi.

I've come across many published references to Lucas County's relationship to the ridge over the years, including yesterday the one that follows, from The Chariton Democrat of April 26, 1870:

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W.R. Vaughn has published a pamphlet entitled "The Traveler's Companion and Emigrant's Hand Book to the Country Along the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad," in which we find the following sketch of our own town of Chariton. Strangers always make much allowance for what citizens may say of their own place, and statements of the growth and prosperity of our towns are considered as exaggerated. Mr. Vaughn spent several days in town last winter, and had good opportunities for ascertaining our condition. We reprint the more important portions of his sketch:

Chariton is one of the most enterprising and beautiful towns on the line of the B. & M. R. Railroad, and is situated very nearly in the geographical center of the State, east and west. It is located on a fine rolling prairie near the center of Lucas County, and within three-fourths of a mile of the Chariton river. The population of this growing town has about doubled within the last three years, and is now near 3,000.

The location is considered a very fortunate one, partly on account of its being so near the center of the line of railroad running through it, and partly because of the "divider," (as they are calling it) converging at this point, rendering it of easy of access, by means of the good roads leading to it from all points of the compass. The latter fact makes it highly probable that it will at some time be a point at which other railroads will intersect the Burlington & Missouri.

The construction of a line running southeast from this point to St. Louis is considered by many as almost certain, on account of the great temptation presented by the natural "lay of the country."

The land office was for some years located here, giving the place a start ahead of many of its neighbors, which advance it has maintained so that now its business is considered greater than that of other county seats in this part of the State.

One rather novel fact in connection with this place is that the water from its public square flows partly into the Mississippi and part into the Missouri rivers, which shows conclusively its great elevation, and hence the healthfulness of the place.

The country in its vicinity is abundantly supplied with timber and native coal. The latter is furnished on the streets at from 15 to 18 cents per bushel and promises to become cheaper on account of the great number of "banks" now being opened in the immediate vicinity. One of the best elevators in the State, operated by steam, stands on the tract of the railroad, ready to load for market the grain raised in this section, while the competition among buyers insures the farmer the highest price for his crop.

A school house of fine architecture, costing some $25,000 and well furnished, indicates the interest manifested in the cause of education, while six neat and commodious churches vouch for the good morals of the place. The denominations having buildings are the Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, Christian and Catholic. Other organizations expect to build soon. there are two papers published in Chariton, the Patriot and Democrat, both of which are ably managed by their wide-awake proprietors.

In showing the business capacity of this place, we have the number of business houses and professional men as follows:

Twelve Attorneys, three insurance agents, five real estate agents, three agricultural implements, two bankers, eight builders and contractors, six bakers and confectioners, five blacksmiths, two barbers.

Two books and stationery, four boots and shoes, three clothing stores, three druggists, two dentists, two furniture stores, eleven groceries, eleven general merchandise, four hardware and stoves, six hotels, two jewelers.

Three lumber yards, four milliners, one marble works, three meat markets, one machine shop, six physicians, three photographers, three saddle and harness shops, three wagon factories.

On the whole we say to  persons looking for homes in the west, that no more beautiful and healthy location can be found than in Lucas county and in the vicinity of Chariton.

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I was interested in the speculation in the article that a rail line linking St. Louis and Chariton might be built. That didn't happen. Chariton looked to the west instead and during the early 1870s the line heading southwest out of town, leading eventually to St. Joseph, Missouri, was constructed. Later on, a line to the northwest was built to connect Chariton with Indianola and Des Moines and finally, during 1913, the north-south Rock Island line was completed.

Everything's going to Hel... ens

James E. Bates, proprietor of Bates Studio in Chariton since 1916 and a talented self-promoter, had a bright idea during August 1931 --- offer anyone named "Helen" a free sitting and single photograph in the hope of course that the subjects would order more copies.

He got a bit more than he bargained for, according to a front-page report in The Leader of August 11 under the headline, "Goodness Sakes! Who'd ever Thought There Were So Many Helens Hereabout."

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Helen is a popular name for the fair sex hereabouts and J.E. Bates, west side photographer, can testify to this fact.

In the Chariton Leader of last Tuesday, Mr. Bates advertised that on Monday, August 10, between the hours of 9 and 2 o'clock he would give a free sitting and one free photograph to all whose first name is Helen who came to his studio. The results far exceeded the hopes of Mr. Bates and during the hours specified 75 Helens took advantage of his offer.

All of which also proves that Chariton Leader advertising results will bring the same pleasant surprise to all who announce quality merchandise, just as they did for Mr. Bates. We thank you.

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Just for the heck of it, I counted the number of Helens mentioned elsewhere in The Leader of August 11 and came up with 10 --- Helen Woodman, Helen Mulligan, Helen Lyman, Helen Clark, Helen Shore, Helen Niswender, Helen Nickolson, Helen White, Helen Peterson and Helen Ludwig.

I can't say if any of these Helens sat for Mr. Bates on the 10th, but perhaps one or two did.

By golly, it's Ruth Huff Stuart (1844-1933)

I keep encouraging people to hang on to (or find safe homes for) vintage photographs of unidentified people they're tempted to dispose of --- just because they're unidentified. My argument is that there's a chance, if a photograph survives, that someone somewhere sometime will recognize its subject. That becomes more likely as the number of digital images available online continues to increase.

My theory paid off recently when this beautifully preserved and presented image of a woman tentatively identified as Almira (Strock) McFarland (1844-1936) --- known as Mira --- arrived at the Lucas County Historical Society.

I knew immediately that it wasn't Mira because we have a clear image of her in the collection in this wonderful image dated April 20, 1898, portraying members of the Zetamatheans, one of many women's clubs that flourished in Chariton during the late 19th and early 20th century. Founded in 1892, the Zetamatheans disbanded in 1929 when only four members were left. Mira is seated third from left.

However, I'm as certain as I can be of anything that the woman in the portrait is at far left among the Zetamatheans --- Ruth (Huff) Stuart (1844-1933). It may be that her portrait was taken at the same time as the group shot --- she appears to be wearing the same dress and the quality and presentation of the two images are similar.

Ruth, born during 1844 in Illinois, grew up in Fremont County, Iowa, where she attended Tabor College and then married a young Methodist minister, the Rev. Thomas McKendree Stuart, during 1867 at her family's home near Sidney.

The Stuarts arrived in Chariton for the first time during 1874 when he was assigned as pastor to the Chariton Methodist Episcopal Church. After that, he served as presiding elder of the Chariton District of the Iowa Conference until 1882, when he returned to the regular ministry and the family moved elsewhere. They returned in 1892, when the Rev. Mr. Stuart was appointed to a second term as presiding elder of the Chariton District and remained until his term expired in 1897, moving the next year --- the year the Zetamathean image was taken --- to Des Moines.

When the Rev. Mr. Stuart retired, the couple moved to Council Bluffs where he died on April 3, 1911, at the age of 67. Ruth continued to live in Council Bluffs until Feb. 27, 1933, when she died at the age of 88. Both are buried in that city's Walnut Hill Cemetery.

I'm assuming the friendship that linked Mira and Ruth was why the former's descendants found a photograph of the latter among her possessions. And now you know what both looked like.