Nathan Byers and the Belinda Singing School

"The History of Early Rural Education in Lucas County, Iowa," is the forepart of the title of a thesis that arrived at the Lucas County Historical Society this week. Written during 1942 by Helen Pfrimmer Price (1901-1895), native to Norwood, as part of her master's degree studies at the University of Iowa, the rest of the title reads, "As Told by Pioneer Residents." We're grateful to Dennis Pfrimmer of Fort Pierre, S.D., who shared his great-aunt's bound volume of the theses with us.

In the thesis, narrative by Ms. Pfrimmer-Price links accounts she collected from about a dozen pioneer Lucas Countyans, snapshots of her subjects and transcripts of documents from other sources, including several hand-written manuscripts already in the historical society collection.

Belinda's Nathan Byers (1854-1949), then nearing 90, was among the pioneers interviewed by Ms. Pfrimmer-Price and I was fascinated by his account of the singing school headquartered at Belinda Christian Church, the congregation my great-great-great-grandmother, Mary Clair, helped to found in 1849.

Nathan's parents were Addison R. and Charlotte M. (Vannoy) Byers, at rest now in the pioneer cemetery nearest Belinda, known as Strong. Nathan and his wife, Martha, are buried at Columbia, just over the line in Marion County. The photograph of the Byers is a reproduction of what I'm guessing was their wedding photo. This section also contains reproductions of four pages from early Belinda Christian Church records, referred to in the text but not included here.

Here is what Mr. Byers had to say:

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Mr. Nathan Byers was born March 28, 1854, in Monroe County, Indiana. The family came overland in 1860 to Lucas County,  arriving on October 5. One little girl who had not been able to stand the trip died on October eighth, three days after reaching the new home, and a little boy died a few days later. This left the father, mother and two children to move into the one-room log house a quarter mile north of Mr. Byers' present home. Five more children were born to the family and reared in this county. Nathan was the eldest of the children.

In 1875 a new family, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Fred Spiker and children, moved from La Harpe, Illinois, to the community where the Byers were settled. Martha Jane, one of the daughters, who was born February 12, 1859, at La Harpe, married Mr. Byers on March 10, 1878.

Mr. and Mrs. Byers took over the general store at Belinda and stayed there until 1893 when they traded the store for 80 acres of land a quarter mile south of where Mr. Byers' family had settled in 1860. On this farm they have lived ever since. Mr. Byers' account of his early life follows.

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"We came from Indiana with one ox team and one team of horses and brought with us one stirring plow, one single-shovel plow, a cradle and the iron teeth from a harrow which we put in a wooden frame after we arrived. We also brought two bedsteads with rope springs, two ticks for straw, two feather beds, a few dishes and our meager clothing.

"I started to school in a log school house standing on the line between Marion and Lucas County. The school house was built by Mr. T. L. Strong. It was a fair representation of most of the school houses of that period, being small with a puncheon floor and clapboard roof and having a wide fireplace. Miss Mary Crowley, now Mrs. Bebout, had taught the first term of this school in 1853, seven years before we came to the county.

"The terms of school, the equipment, and the subjects studied were much the same as those of other schools of the county at that time with one exception. School could not be held during the coldest weather because this was prairie country and fuel was very scarce. For this reason our main term was the spring and summer one, which fact cut the older boys and girls out of school. Even with this handicap, at least eight persons who attended that first school later became teachers.

"To make up partially for this lack of schooling the community provided other means of education. One of these was the singing school which was held each winter for a term of 32 lessons. Professor Ferguson from Chicago came for several different winters. During one of the winters he and the students became so interested that the term was extended to 64 lessons. Of course there were no musical instruments and a tuning fork was used to give the pitch, but a fine chorus, singing all four parts, was developed.

"My brother and I became the leaders of the chorus after the terms were over. We had one group at Belinda and another at Columbia, just over the Marion County line. The Columbia group happened to have more alto voices than the Belinda group so the two combined for practice. On one Sunday afternoon the Columbia group would come to Belinda and the next Sunday the Belinda group would go to Columbia.

"The church was used as a place to practice. After the chorus had been practicing for some time, some of the church trustees reported to my father that the group would have to quit using the church because we were not reverent enough. When Father told us this, we challenged the trustees to come and hear us sing. They accepted the challenge and came the next Sunday afternoon when the group met at Belinda. The trustees sat down in the back of the church and planned to listen a while before giving orders to quit using the church. I gave the note on my tuning fork (an A fork), each group found the tone and began singing. One of the trustees had never heard four-part singing. He got up and moved one seat closer, then another and another until he was right up beside the group. When they finished the song his only comment was, "Why don't you come and sing for church like that?" From that time on the young people were welcome to use the church for practice.

"The influences of those singing schools can still be recognized in the descendants of the families for the children of these families have an appreciation of good music.

"Another form of education was the church. The first one in our part of the country was the Campbellite, organized by Reverend Hiram Moon in 1849. The record of this first organization was written in longhand in a notebook and kept in the same handwriting for several years. My father received the original record book when he became secretary of the church and later it was passed on to me."

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Photostatic copies of representative pages from this early record appear on the subsequent pages. The leaf reproduced on page 32 is the record of the first members, then on page 33 of some new members received on confession of faith and by letter, the leaf on page 34 is a sample of the receipts and than on page 35, of the disbursements.

Items four and five on page 35 (Feb. the 20th of 1867 Skirt, thread, lead $1.68; Buttons for skirt, same date, 20 cents), as Mr. Byers explains them, are interesting for people of the present day.

"When new members were received into membership, they were baptized in the creek and women were embarrassed by the fact that their full skirts floated on top of the water. It was the custom for each church to buy material and make a full skirt weighted at the bottom with lead so that the women could fasten this over their own skirts before stopping into the water."

Another item from the fourth leaf is the expenditure for wine which was usually in a demijohn (a little wicker-basket cover for the bottle). (Aug. the 4th 1867, wine and demijohn, $4.89; additional gallons of wine 1868-70).

"This wine was purchased in a demijohn because the circuit riders carried it from one church to another and the demijohn was a protection against breakage. So much wine was necessary because it was served every Sunday at Communion. It was served in one large glass to all partakers. That is, everyone took his drink in turn from this same glass. Some of the men did not often get a drink of wine so when they had a chance, they took a big swallow. All this took a great deal of wine."

Mrs. Byers attended the Renfro and Davis Schools after coming to Lucas County. The Davis School at that time was a brick building standing some distance south of the present one. The brick for the building came from a brick kiln just northeast of where the old building stood.