CHAPTER XXII
Since writing
the preceding chapters in this book there
has come under the writer's observation an
article written by some clever writer in 1876
on the history of Viola township, and, although
it may be somewhat on the order of repetition,
I will here reproduce it. We think it was
written by Peter Shaw:
“VIOLA TOWNSHIP,
December 2, 1876.—In accordance with
the proclamation of Samuel J. Kirkwood, the
Governor of Iowa for 1876, the Centennial
year, the one hundredth anniversary of America,
that the several township clerks of each county
be requested to write a sketch or history
of their township, though I am not much skilled
in writing history or anything that would
be of much interest to the people, I will
endeavor to write something.
“This township was
first settled A. D. 1871. The first settlers,
or rather the pioneer settlers as we term
them, were as follows: C. C. Collison,
John Smith, J. V. Van Emburgh, H. W. Tinkum,
G. W. Ketchum, J. T. Sage, John Stamm, Hugh
and Oren Jones, W. H. Gates, and Mrs.
Beeman, Mrs. Jane Smith and Miss Carrie
Smith. These comprise the pioneers. C.
C. Collison, John Smith and John Stamm
were the first. C. C. Collison built
the first house that was built in the township.
There was considerable breaking done that
year, and some sod corn raised and a few potatoes.
The settlers worked at a great disadvantage
in building, as there was no timber within
fifteen or twenty miles and no lumber within
fifty miles, till late in the fall the cars
came as far as Worthington, a distance of
eighteen miles, the St. Paul Railroad being
completed no further. So most of the first
settlers built sod houses to live in, which
made very comfortable houses for the homesteaders
of Viola. But they had a pretty severe winter
to go through. They had their wood to haul
from fifteen to twenty miles, which made snug
work to keep warm, as they had not learned
to burn hay at that time.
“Mr. Beeman
was frozen to death. He got caught out in
a blizzard on his way home from the Big Rock
River, where he had been after a load of corn.
He left a wife and several children to provide
for themselves in the dead of winter in the
wilds of Osceola. Though the pioneers came
out
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in the spring fat and smoking,
for their houses were mostly covered over
with snow, as the snow fell very deep that
winter.
“The settlers of
A. D. 1872, were as follows: Peter Shaw,
John H. Douglass, N. I. Wetmore, S. Ford,
Abram Shapley, John Hart, M. D. Hadsell, C.
C. Hadsell, E. Headley, C. C. Ogan, E. S.
Bennett, C. G. Bennett, William Rubow, A.
Averill, D. Averill, O. Averill, A. B. Graves,
E. Mulmex, S. Smith, E. Smigh, John Tann,
W. M. Barnard, J. Blair, J. S. Patterson,
George Carew, L. Clark, G. S. Downend, D.
B. Wood, E. Nulton, J. Farren, H. Graham,
T. W. Graves, H. Jordan, L. McConnell, P.
L. Piesley, Levi Shell, C. T. Torrey, P. Wilcox,
M. Winchester, J. F. Ransom, A. Van Blockham.
These were the settlers of '72. But the settlers
of '72 had great advantages over the settlers
of '71. The St. Paul Railroad being completed
to Sibley in the early part of June, lumber
and wood were within three to eight miles,
and the settlers went right to work and built
their several shanties, and then proceeded
to break and plant sod corn and potatoes and
gardens, and as it was a fine growing season,
they had fine crops for sod crops. Some rented
land that had been broken the year before,
and had an excellent crop from it. I raised
206 bushels of wheat off of nine and one-half
acres of late breaking that season. Most of
the settlers that year raised their vegetables
and feed for their teams, but most of them
had their meat and flour to buy till the next
fall.
“Viola Township
was organized in the fall of 1872, and held
its first election in John H. Douglass'
shanty. The following township officers were
elected: Peter Shaw, township clerk;
M. D. Hadsell and John Smith,
justices of the peace; Jackson Blair,
assessor; T. J. Stage, C. C. Hadsell, C.
G. Bennett, trustees; C. C. Ogan
and John Stamm, constables; Hugh
Jones, road supervisor; U. S. Grant,
president of the United States, re-elected;
John H. Douglass, sheriff of Osceola
County, Iowa. The township polled thirty-six
votes, but part of the officers went away
that winter and left their offices vacant.
The following persons were appointed to fill
vacancies: W. H. Gates and David
Wood, trustees; N. I. Wetmore,
assessor; John Hart, road supervisor;
Abram Shapley, justice of the peace;
Mr. Shapley did not qualify.
“The first blacksmith
shop was erected by J. F. Van Emburgh
in 1871, and in 1872 Abram Shapley
built another shop.
“The first school
house was erected in the summer of 1872 on
the southwest quarter of Section 25, and called
the
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Gates School House, and Miss
Carrie Smith was the first teacher.
She taught a term of six months. The first
half of the term was taught in one part of
C. C. Collison's house, and three months
in the Gates School House. The next two school
houses were built in the spring of 1875, one
on the northwest corner of Section 20, the
other one on the northeast quarter of Section
32. The first school directors were M.
D. Hadsell, N. I. Wetmore and D. B.
Wood.
“The first Sabbath
school was organized in the summer of 1871
and held at H. W. Tinkham's, and has
been held every summer in different parts
of the township. In the summer of 1875 the
Sunday school officers were all lady officers,
with Mrs. Ripley as superintendent.
“The first church
society was organized by Brother Mallory,
of Sibley, in the winter of 1875 and 1876,
at the Greaves School House, but meetings
had been held by different denominations.
Since the summer of 1872, Revs. B. A. Dean,
Brashears, Webb, Lowrie and several others
have held regular appointments here. G.
W. Ketchum's sod house was used for the
first meeting house, till the Gates School
House was built.
“The first white
child born in the township was the daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Nims, in June,
1871, and was the first child born in the
county, but it only lived to the age of 18
months.
“ The deaths have
been but few. The first was Mr. Beeman,
who was frozen to death in Lyon county in
the winter of 1871 and 1872, in a blizzard,
some time in February, while on his way home
from the Big Rock, where he had been after
a load of corn. The next was the daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. Nims. The next was
Mrs. Jennings, the daughter of Mrs.
Abram Shapley, who died very suddenly
at Mr. G. S. Downend's with heart disease.
The next was Mr. Wrightmire, though
a resident of Minnesota. The next was Mrs.
C. Collison, died in March, 1876. The
next was Mrs. Eliza J. Smith, died
in April, 1876. Mrs. Collison and Mrs.
Smith died but a month apart, and came
into the county together in 1872, and lived
near neighbors and were highly esteemed by
all who knew them. Mrs. Collison left
a large family of small children. Mrs.
Smith was the mother of John, Samuel,
Edwin and Carrie Smith. She took
a homestead when she came, and had lived within
a few weeks of her five years on the homestead.
“The first married
couple was Mr. John Tann to Miss
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Carrie A. Smith, in Sibley,
at the parsonage, by Elder Webb, January
1, 1873. The next was Edwin Smith to
Miss Greaves, and several of the bachelors
have married out of the county. They have
all taken a better half except Joseph Farren
and J. T. Sage, who still are waiting.
“The heavies farmers
are Abram Shapley, Peter Shaw, G. S. Downsend,
P. L. Piesley, J. Blair, J. Farren, W. H.
Gates, A. Averill, A. B. Greaves, John Tann,
M. D. Hadsell, S. F. Smith, Ed. Smith
and C. C. Collison.
“So far the farmers
have had rather discouraging farming on account
of the grasshoppers. They came here in June,
1873, and destroyed the greater part of the
crops that year, so that the people had to
apply for assistance in the way of relief.
The State Legislature appropriated $50,000
to the grasshopper sufferers in the way of
seed grain. But in 1874 the 'hoppers hatched
here and came in from Minnesota, and hurt
the crop from about one-fourth to a third.
In 1875 the crops were good except corn and
oats, which were badly eaten by the pests.
But the people began to feel considerably
encouraged, and in 1876, the centennial year,
they went in as if they were going to make
up for losses, and put in every foot of ground
that they had broken. And the grain was looking
fine and promising until within a few days
of harvesting, when the 'hoppers came again
from the north in great numbers and waded
into the grain, and destroyed almost the entire
crop in the township. So most of the farmers
are bankrupt, without seed or money.
“Many of the settlers
were compelled to go away for the winter in
order to make a living for their families
and get something to seed their places with
for the next year. Some are too poor to get
away and have been compelled to prove up on
their homesteads and mortgage their places
to raise money to carry them till they can
raise another crop. The people nearly all
burn hay for fuel because they have not the
wherewith to buy anything else to burn, but
if all other necessities could be remedied
as easily as the fuel we could manage to get
along very well. As it is, most of the farmers
will be compelled to let part of their farms
lie still next year, for the want of means
to get seed to seed their lands. Most of the
farmers did considerable breaking this season,
and now have more ground broken than they
have the means to carry on. There was about
fifteen hundred acres broken in this township
this summer. The lands in this township are
very rich and productive, and the face of
the country is most beautiful
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just rolling enough to drain
well, and it is as well watered as any part
of Osceola county. It has the Otter creek
running through on the east, the Little Rock
on the west and the Muddy creek on the north.
These streams all have fine grass land along
them, which produces the best of hay for stock.
It is not only good farming land, but well
adapted to raising stock and the dairying
business. We have one cheese factory in the
township, which is owned by David B. Wood,
and is located in the center of the township.
All that is lacking now is the means to get
the stock to make it one of the most productive
townships in the northwest. Some new settlers
have settled in this township.”
CHAPTER XXIII
TOWNSHIPS
To start
on there were only three townships. The congressional
township running east and west across the
county, numbered 100, was called Horton Township;
the same running east and west across the
county, numbered 99, was called Holman Township,
and the same numbered 98 called Goewey Township.
These remained in that way until October 7,
1872, when the board divided Horton Township
into three townships, making section 100,
range 42, Fenton, section 100, range 41, Wilson,
and section 100, range 40, and section 100,
range 39, Horton. Afterwards, by a demand
of the people in that township, Fenton was
changed to Viola. Fairview was set off September
7, 1874. Holman Township remained s established
until at the September 27, 1873, meeting the
board made two townships out of the four,
making the east, being section 99, range 39,
and section 99, range 40, one township, and
giving the name Ocheyedan. These townships,
remaining the same as Holman, comprise two
congressional townships, and Ocheyedan two,
which for convenience sake are called East
and West Ocheyedan. At the January 1, 1884,
meeting, Gilman Township was set off by itself.
June 7, 174, the board passed a resolution
that township 98, range 40, be set off and
called Baker, except sections 31, 32, 33,
34, 35, 36, and sections 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,
16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 28, 29 and 30, in
township 98, range 39. Harrison was set off
September 3, 1888, and that fall had its first
election.
EDUCATIONAL
If there
is any one thing that is distinctly American,
it is our educational system, which offers
to each rising generation the grandest facilities
for scholarship that can be found in the world.
The American boy knows
no barrier to distinction in the line of education
save in himself. Iowa is not behind any other
state in the Union in its legislative provisions
concerning schools, and Osceola County, as
a part of the great state, is ever active
in the organization of its school districts
and their effective management.
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If any
boy or girl lives in Osceola County during
their school days, and grows to manhood or
womanhood here without a good common school
education, the fault must be charged to the
parent or the child and not to lack of opportunity.
Immediately upon the
formation of the civil townships, as made
by the Woodbury County Board, the same townships
by operation of law became school districts,
and the school townships now are the same
size and name as the civil townships.
F. W. Hahn is
the present County Superintendent of Schools,
and his official management in that department
is efficient and highly satisfactory.
There are at present
in the county eighty-one school houses as
follows:
| Fairview............................................................................ |
3
|
| Horton............................................................................... |
6
|
| Wilson............................................................................... |
6
|
| Viola.................................................................................. |
6
|
| Ocheyedan....................................................................... |
12
|
| Harrison........................................................................... |
7
|
| Baker................................................................................ |
7
|
| Goewey............................................................................ |
7
|
| Gilman............................................................................. |
8
|
| Holman............................................................................ |
15
|
| Sibley, town.................................................................... |
2
|
| Ocheyedan, town........................................................... |
1
|
| Ashton, town.................................................................. |
1
|
The value of Osceola
County school houses is estimated at $44,000;
the value of school house apparatus at $12,000.
The present school officers
are as follows:
|
FAIRVIEW
|
| President - |
J. C. Ward |
| Secretary - |
M. B. Smith |
| Treasurer - |
Wm. Mowthorpe |
| Directors - |
Geo. Hamilton, B. F. Webster |
| |
|
|
HORTON
|
| President - |
Dick Wassmann |
| Secretary - |
John Robertson |
| Treasurer - |
N. W. Emery |
| Directors - |
I. B. Titus, August Bremer |
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WILSON
|
| President - |
W. A. Cloud |
| Secretary - |
A. B. Evarts |
| Treasurer - |
Will Thomas |
| Directors - |
W. C. Connor, Mons. Soren, C. E.
Yates, F. A. Klampe, Joseph Zweck |
| |
|
|
VIOLA
|
| President - |
Joseph Raine |
| Secretary - |
George Downend |
| Treasurer - |
J. P. Wallran |
| Directors - |
S. Newman, Pat Piesley |
| |
|
|
HOLMAN
|
| President - |
W. L. Taylor |
| Secretary - |
M. Harvey |
| Treasurer - |
P. A. Cajacob |
| Directors - |
T. Ling, John Gallagher, Thomas Reycraft,
D. W. Whiteney, John Karpen, James Hunter,
O. C. Staplin, John Shroeder, Will Morse,
J. B. Jenny, John Wagner, John Melcher. |
| |
|
|
OCHEYEDAN
|
| President - |
W. E. Ely |
| Secretary - |
E. N. Moore |
| Treasurer- |
L. B. Boyd |
| Directors - |
G. W. Thomas, Joseph Smith |
| |
|
|
HARRISON
|
| President - |
J. W. Wardrip |
| Secretary- |
T. Hemmig |
| Treasurer- |
F. H. Newkirk |
| Directors - |
George Krukenberg, Daniel Tzards. |
| |
|
|
BAKER
|
| President- |
Hans Graves |
| Secretary- |
C. W. Bryan |
| Treasurer- |
W. H. Lean |
| Directors- |
J. L. McAnnich, Fred. Kuester |
| |
|
|
GOEWEY
|
| President - |
H. C. Allen |
| Secretary - |
Henry Huffman |
| Treasurer- |
Alex. Gilkinson |
| Directors - |
O. B. Harding, A. Brunson, Charles
Bangert, Jacob Brandt, George Spaulding,
Eugene Girton |
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|
GILMAN
|
| President - |
B. T. Pettingell |
| Secretary - |
J. C. Wilmarth |
| Treasurer - |
W. C. Craig |
| Directors - |
A. Schent, R. Lensen, H. H. Nolte,
R. J. Stemm, E. Beckwith, Nels Porter |
| |
|
|
INDEPENDENT
DISTRICT OF SIBLEY
|
| President - |
H. Neill |
| Secretary - |
W. P. Webster |
| Treasurer - |
Levi Shell |
| Directors - |
A. Romey, M. J. Campbell, J. B. Lent,
Geo. Learned, W. H. Chambers |
| |
|
|
INDEPENDENT
DISTRICT OF ASHTON
|
| President - |
I. B. Lucas |
| Secretary - |
J. W. Reagan |
| Treasurer - |
W. L. Benjamin |
| Directors - |
N. Boor, H. S. Grant |
The school
sections, so-called, are numbered sixteen
in each township, which were donated by the
general government, to the State, for the
benefit of the schools. These sections are
sold, and the proceeds constitute a fund which
remains and not disposed of, but it is loaned
out upon good real estate security, and the
income from it by way of interest, is distributed
over the State to each township according
to it number of scholars. Osceola County has
now of this fund, and as proceeds from the
sale of land in this county, about $100,000.
The first sale made of school lands in Osceola,
was in July, 1881, and the first quarter sold
was bought by Close Bros. in Gilman Township.
These school lands have all been disposed
of except one quarter, and this will go to
sale soon.
There are in Osceola
County at the present time, about twenty-one
hundred persons of school age, and the best
of teachers are secured, so that our schools
are of a high order and the means of much
advancement. Several school buildings have
been erected this present season. Prof.
Trainer, mentioned elsewhere, did much
for Osceola County in the line of education.
He constantly contributed to the public press
articles intended to stimulate the young in
the line of their studies. The following is
one of his contributions:
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“A PLEA
FOR THE CHILDREN.
“Children
hunger perpetually for new ideas. They will
learn with pleasure from the lips of others
what they deem drudgery to study in books;
and even if they have the misfortune to be
deprived of many educational advantages, they
grow up intelligent people.
“We sometimes see
people who are the life of every company which
they enter, dull, silent and uninteresting
among children; such cannot teach. The teacher
must be the life of the school. How can we
expect life and energy to come from dry, cold,
silent books! The use of books is a detriment
rather than an aid to the younger pupils.
When the pupil enters school at the age of
five years he already has learned more than
any teacher on earth can teach him in a long
life time. Teachers, did you ever think that
the child at that age has learned two of the
most difficult things mortals have to learn—walking
and talking? How many works in philosophy
has it been necessary for him to consult?
What university has he graduated from to be
able to walk perfectly? What authors on language
has he studied, or how many lectures on philosophy
has he heard to be able to make known his
thoughts by talking? We know that these and
a thousand other attainments have been reached
by doing for himself. Yet without a knowledge
of these things, from the first hour the child
enters school many teachers attempt to change
the whole course of nature by forcing upon
him that which is as foreign to his nature
as day is from night. What we need is the
teacher who will give the children a chance
to observe, experiment and to think for themselves,
and let us remember that language is the instrument
of thought, and that without language there
can be no thought.”
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