T. Park Coin's 1863 map of Chariton

I've been fussing about this map for two years, trying to figure out where --- in the vast pile of paper that the museum sits upon --- it had gotten to. It's a map of Chariton's plat drawn with pen and ink during 1863 by C. Park Coin during the months after he had been "invalided out" of Company K, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and sent home during the spring of that year to recover --- or die. Fortunately, he recovered --- but with health too impaired to serve again.

The map was among the prized possessions of the late Boyd Schotte, given to the historical society during the late 1970s by Mr. Schotte as he was preparing to enter a nursing home. His decorative plaster cast of Paul Revere's famous ride, part of that accession, hangs in the library; his hand-drawn map of Camp Lauman, where the 34th mustered at Burlington during the fall of 1862, is part of the military collection.

But where in the world had this map gotten to?

Finally on Monday, while doing a walk-through of one of the lower-level Lewis Building galleries, I glanced up while standing in the Oakley Post Office and spotted this hanging on the wall along with a dozen other framed artifiacts. So now the lost --- which wasn't really lost at all --- is found, I've brought it upstairs and will hang it in the library (one of these days). And I'll plug the location into the digital catalog --- so that it doesn't get "lost" again.

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Chariton's original 1849-50 plat, by 1863 slightly expanded, is at left --- 13 subdivided lots around the courthouse square supplemented to the east, south and west by 16 undivided "outlots."

By 1863, some of the outlots had been subdivided and small additions --- Edginton's and Braden's among them --- had been made to the west. No. 13 is the only undivided outlot remaining. Chariton's first cemetery was located here originally; it's now the site of Columbus School.

Newman & Vandeventer's Addition, to the southeast, had just recently nearly doubled the size of the city.

It's interesting to note the original street names of this map. Our current street names date from the 1890s.

Originally, many of the street names honored presidents. From north to south on the original plat were Pearce (intended to be Pierce?), Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Madison, Monroe and North; and from east to west, East, Jackson, Van Buren, Harrison, Polk, Taylor and West.

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The artist, T. Park Coin, was an Indiana native, born Sept. 10, 1835, in Carroll County. Orphaned at age 13, he spent the remainder of his boyhood with an uncle in Cass County and was educated at the Camden Seminary. He commenced to teach school at age 16, alternating between months in the classroom and months completing the seminary program.

Park came to Wapello County, Iowa, during the fall of 1856 to take charge of the Blakesburg schools and married there on April 9, 1857, Rebecca Johnston.

Shortly thereafter, the Coins came to Chariton where he taught, served as principal and studied law with James Baker. Admitted to the bar in 1859, he was practicing law in Chariton at the time of his enlistment during 1862 as a private in Company K.

A year after drawing this map --- during 1864 --- Coin moved his family from Chariton to Boone County where he resumed teaching and served as county superintendent of schools from 1872-1876.

In 1879, the Coins headed west to Superior in Nuckolls County, Nebraska, where he practiced law until 1884, served a two-year term as county judge and finally returned to education, working as teacher and principal until his death on Nov. 7, 1890. He is buried in Superior's Evergreen Cemetery behind a military tombstone that records his service in Co. K, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry.

Pardon the quality of the photos. The map is behind reflective glass --- and that was giving me fits.