The scandalous affairs of a pioneer preacher

This peculiar little tale of a preacher gone astray --- with an uncle of mine making a guest appearance --- begins with an item published by Moses Folsom, then-editor of The Chariton Patriot, in his edition of October 7, 1874. The approach was odd: Report in detail upon the scandal without naming the parties involved. Here's the result:

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"SCANDAL --- Sensation and crime seems to be the order of the day. We regret to narrate the story that follows but as a chronicler of events the Patriot must give its readers the correct version of whatever may be the common property of the public, thereby setting straight perverted or perhaps injurious hearsay statements. But what we have to say now is this: Two years ago, a minister, whose name we suppress for the sake of his family, entered the house of a neighbor and sought by violent means to gratify a base and unholy passion upon the person of the wife who was alone and unprotected in her house.

"The husband returned shortly after and hearing the story of wrong doing was at first impelled to take his revolver and settle the matter at once, but was finally persuaded out of taking the law into his own hands by the sorrow and agony displayed by the minister's wife, who happened to drop in neighbor-like, in time to hear the story of her husband's attempt at crime. The affair however was amicably hushed up and friendly relations again established between the two families. 

"Two weeks ago the lady made the preacher's wife a visit at this place and was aroused  one morning by someone trying to pull down the bed clothes. A glance revealed the preacher at her bedside and fearing another assault upon her person, demanded in a loud voice that he leave the room.  He urged her to be quiet, he had only stepped in to apologize for his bad conduct of two years before which, of course, was decidedly thin in view of the fact that the affair had been smoothed over, her presence in his house being sufficient evidence. This second attempt was too much and the husband proposed to prosecute the offender. 

"The matter was before the vestry of the church on Monday night and the resignation of the pastor asked for and given and the aggrieved husband agreed to drop the matter if the minister would leave this section, which he has promised to do."

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The accused preacher was not content, however, to allow The Patriot's reporting to go unchallenged and marched off to the offices of the competing Chariton Leader, edited by Dan Baker, who published this item in his edition of October 10:

"The Patriot of this week dishes up a lot of scandal affecting W. N. Colegrove of this city and Mrs. Fogg of Russell. Mr. Colegrove requests us to publish the facts concerning the matter, but the statement is too long and we have not the space for it this week. The circumstance is an unfortunate one for all concerned, but in these latter days of refined depravity we must confess that we see nothing either surprising or extraordinary about it; no matter how true the different statements, nor what the position of the parties.  Let him that is without sin cast the first stone. Prepare your dornicks (stones)."

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The Patriot belatedly identified the accused preacher, too, in its Oct. 14 edition as follows: "The Rev. Wm. N. Colegrove, the gentleman mentioned last week as being charged with an attempt at a serious crime, desires us to say that he committed no criminal offense, that he does not intend leaving here and that he invites an investigation before the courts."

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My uncle, Dempsey Etheredge, enters this story somewhat unexpectedly at this point via a brief report in the police news of The Leader's Oct. 17 edition: "On the 12th ult., one Dempsey Etheredge, of Russell, was arrested upon the information of Rev. W. N. Colegrove for proposing at gunpoint a speedy funeral in this vicinity, with said Colegrove as the corpse. Esq. Brown, before whom the case was pending, advised the enraged Etheredge to give a bond to keep the peace or go to jail. Dempsey gave it, and retired, cursing law and justice that prevented him from shooting a preacher."

I have no idea why Uncle Dempsey was enraged here --- unless it had something to do with his wife, Aunt Sarah, who had been involved in an interesting escapade herself before their marriage two years earlier.

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The Rev. Mr. Colegrove (upper left; photographed in old age), then age 36 and rector of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, was a Civil War veteran and an Episcopal deacon, ordained during 1869 by Bishop Lee at Christ Church in Burlington.

Born during 1838 near Elmira, New York, he had arrived in Lucas County prior to his 1860 marriage here to Susan Eliza McCann with his parents, Col. Nelson and Roxanna Fulkerson Colegrove, and brother, Miner.

He probably was a nephew of William and Elizabeth (Evans) Fulkerson, who opened up what I still refer to as the Kells place, southeast of Russell, during pioneer days. The Fulkersons and, presumably, the Colegroves were instrumental in founding Russell's first (but short-lived) church, St. Michael's Episcopal. 

Following their marriage, William and Susan Colegrove farmed in Washington Township, where Russell sprouted in 1867, both before and after the war --- until he decided to join the ranks of the clergy.

From June 1, 1869, and for some time thereafter, Colegrove was assigned as missionary in the southern half of the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa’s Western Convocation District, serving parishioners at St. Michael's as well as scattered Episcopalians in Osceola, Creston, Garden Grove, Corydon and Centerville. He lived with his family in the Episcopal rectory in Russell, reportedly the first two-story house built in that community.

The Rev. Mr. Colegrove was assigned as rector of St. Andrew's in Chariton during early 1874, moving with his family from Russell in April and completing by September, just before the scandal erupted, a new home in the west part of town. By this time, the couple had four children in tow.

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There were no further reports regarding the status of the Rev. Mr. Colegrove or his alleged philandering so the situation must have been resolved again without involving the courts. Family misfortune was compounded, however, on Jan. 21, 1875, when a daughter, Jennie, died at age 6 of the croup.

And then during April, the other shoe dropped --- as reported as follows in the court news column of The Leader of April 17, 1875:

"State vs. Rev. W. N. Colegrove, for assault with intent to commit rape on miss Sadie Scott; indicted at this term; plea of not guilty and continued. Defendant being held under $500 bonds."

There were no reports in the Chariton newspapers regarding this case until November of 1875, when both The Leader and The Patriot reported that the Rev. Mr. Colegrove had been granted a change of venue to Wayne County.

What happened there, we don't know. But the case seems to have been resolved without penalty.

Dan Baker dropped the following item into his edition of Jan. 13, 1876, without further comment: "From the Havana (New York) Journal we read an interesting account of a pleasant Christmas gathering at the home of Mr. Noble Cleveland, a near relative of Esquire Fulkerson, of this place. We notice that Rev. W.N. Colegrove, formerly of Chariton, who is now back in New York preparing to make it his home, was also there, and that the occasion was one of unusual pleasure and enjoyment, many of the friends and relatives present not having seen each other for years."

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Colegrove family members made new lives for themselves after that in New York, although William seems to have given up his ministry. He remained a licensed deacon in Iowa until June 22, 1881, when the license was withdrawn because he had “abandoned the communion of the (Episcopal) church.” 

His profession is listed variously in New York census records as upholsterer, carpenter and grocer. He was 77 when he died at Elmira on Jan. 19, 1915. Susan had preceded him in death during April of 1913, age 74. They are buried in Elmira's Woodlawn Cemetery.

What became of the women he was accused of assaulting I do not know.