Iowa snow "in all its ghastly whiteness"

James M. and Esther (Newell) Neal

There's still snow cover here this morning, as spring approaches, so I was able to identify with Jim Neal, author of the following letter datelined Chariton that was published in The (Salinas) Californian of 27 January 1903.

Jim and his wife, Esther, were residents of Castroville, then a small town northwest of Salinas, south of San Francisco.

The Chariton Patriot of Sept. 11, 1902, had reported their arrival in Iowa for a prolonged visit as follows: "James M. Neal of Castroville, Cal., accompanied by his wife and granddaughter, arrived in Chariton Monday on a visit with Mrs. Ann Newell, mother of  Mrs. Neal, and other members of the Coles family. They expect to remain in the state some three months visiting friends. Comrade Neal was a  Union soldier serving in the  Twenty-fifth Iowa infantry, Col. George A. Stone, commanding. After the war Mr. Neal moved with his family to  California where he has lived during the last 26 years."

Here's the text of the letter:

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Chariton, Iowa, Jan. 22, 1903

Editor Index: We are at present in Chariton,  Iowa, where my wife was raised. From here we will go to Harrison county, Iowa. Then about the last of February we will start for our California home. My wife's health has much improved, but mine has been bad, although I am better now.

We have seen snow in all its ghastly whiteness, and would say that Iowa is not California. I can almost say in the language of a friend of ours  in Sonoma who visited friends in Massachusetts after a long absence. He said he would rather be hung in California than die a natural death in  Massachusetts. They have cyclones here that well nigh blow everything away and thunder and lightning that would make you think the world was coming to an and; while at the same time they hold up their hands in holy horror at the thought of an innocent little earthquake,  such as we are sometimes amused with in California.

I have experienced a joy I never hoped to know attend. I attended the reunion of the Twenty-fifth Iowa, my old regiment, and marched with the old boys, keeping step to the same old  fife and drums that we knew in the old days of the war and Col. D.J. Palmer at the head. I shall never forget it. It almost made me feel young again. Yours truly,

James M. Neal

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James J. Neal and Esther Eliza Newell had married in Chariton during 1872 but about 1874 had moved to California, where they farmed until retirement.

Hannah's widowed mother was Zipporah Ann (Coles) Newell, who had brought her family to Chariton from Eddyville in 1861 following the death of her husband, Thomas Newell, to make their home with her parents, Robert and Lydia (Hunt) Coles.

The Neals made it safely home to California in 1903 and two years later, Ann Newell died at age 77 while visiting in Castroville on the 4th of April 1905. Her remains were returned to Chariton for burial. Esther (Newell) Neal died during 1911 and James Neal, during 1912. They are buried at Castroville.