(sic)
next to a number or name means a recognized/found error in the original story.
rt
SILVER
CREEK STORY
about
A Community in
With
the family data available at the time of publication, together with miscellaneous
accounts of Silver Creek pioneers and their descendants, verified and published
by the community.
Copyright
1952 - Blanche Swindell
PREFACE
This little book is compiled from
information secured from descendants of Silver Creek pioneers, from old
records, old notebooks and faded diaries, from newspaper clippings, from any
source which was found to be authentic. The most valuable accounts have come
from the lips of the little group of Silver Creek pioneers still living for
they were children on this very ground when its history was being made. These
men and women, though now advanced in years, are possessed of keen, clear minds
to this day and date. We are thus indebted to Elizabeth Swindell Johnston, W.
B. Robinson, Mrs. Alice Falconer Robinson, Frank Swindle, Charles Swindle, W.
L. Carrothers, George W. Carrothers, and Mrs. Jemima Wilson Wood.
Wherever any person, dates, or other
data have been omitted, it was because we were unable to get the information
necessary. Whatever is recorded here is as nearly accurate as it is possible
for us to make it. If hearsay is included, it is stated as hearsay.
Much more material of historical and
human interest value in connection with the Silver Creek story should be
included were there time to search it out before the Centennial celebration
occurs. Perhaps what is here preserved will be the nucleus of a larger work in
the future.
We, the descendants of the Silver
Creek pioneers are ever mindful of the high intent of the men and women whose
labor and sacrifices took form in the fine community which is the heritage of
their children and their children's children now into the fifth generation. And
that is a long time in this fast moving and ever changing world.
"A people which takes no pride in
the noble achievements of ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be
remembered."
- Thomas B. Macaulay
SILVER
CREEK STORY
In the spring of 1852 Silver Creek
community had its beginning. Who it was that gave the picturesque name to the
stream that cuts diagonally through this tract of land is one of the things
that are lost. Never once has anyone thought of changing the name of stream or
neighborhood. Silver Creek it stands after 100 years.
There is not anything spectacular in
the story of Silver Creek. But then there is nothing spectacular about many
things that have proved good and worthy and even beautiful. Take for instance
the way the fields green up in spring and eventually turn into rich harvest. Or
the loveliness of bird song that drifts over our acres at the first streaks of
summer dawn. Or the steadfastness of true friends. This little
Turn back the pages to April, 1852.
So three of the group of Irish
relatives and friends, all of whom had contacted Uncle Alex, left the
"In the fall of 1851, James
Robinson and Anthony Swindle worked on a boat down the
"Anthony Swindle, while in
"Robinson returned and stopped
off at
"They set out from
"They followed the creek south
until they came to the beginning of the timber, where the old barn on the Alex
Robinson farm now stands. Here they found a small stream of pure spring water
and decided to make camp. They cooked their first meal, which included coon.
Next morning they saw to the west the smoke from McNulty home, almost straight
west of where the Silver Creek church now stands, and went to the McNulty
house.
"They met Terrence Gaffney and
through his help they located the original eight forties, located on the north
and the south sides of the present road, going west to the Buchanan county
line, and going one mile south of the Silver Creek church, except one forty
acres now the Cliff Robinson home. The next day they walked to Quasqueton, ten
miles west, where they obtained supplies of flour and groceries. Then they went
back to
"The homestead laws entitled a
buyer to buy 160 acres at $1.25 per acre, but did not restrict the purchase to
one tract. Thus the three entered for William Robinson, James Robinson, James
Lendrum, William Swindle, Anthony Swindle, John McKay, and John Robinson, with
an additional 120 acres, - land that later became their farms. They had, I
think, three years to pay for the last 120 acres. However, later they had to
pay a speculator $9.00 an acre for land."
When the three men were scouting for
land, quite naturally they wanted to find good land. It was the middle of April
and the winter frost was all out. It looked like fertile ground, but they
wanted to be as sure as possible. At last they hit upon it. Here and there over
the ground they saw gopher hills freshly thrown up. They stooped and examined
the black dirt the gophers had dug. It was rich and heavy and showed great
possibilities in tilth, they agreed. This was the place.
Thus it was done a hundred years
ago. They sent word to their relatives and friends in
According to best account now
possible, the next comers were James Lendrum and his wife, Elizabeth, twin
sister to Thomas Robinson. The Lendrums arrived in 1852, coming from
In due course came a time when the
parcels of land must be distributed, allotted, for the owners who were not
there would be arriving soon. The forties, eight in number, were properly
designated, each separate parcel described on a piece of paper. It is common
knowledge that the allocation was made in this way: The pieces of paper bearing
individual descriptions were put into a hat or a box-we do not know which--and
Mrs. Lendrum was asked to "draw lots" on the papers as the names were
called out. Each man wanted a piece of land with timber on it, for he needed
wood for his log house, for warmth, for a dozen good uses. There was
The drawing was done and each man
accepted his lot. To William Swindle (Swindell), who was not present when the
drawing was made, fell the odd lot. He
was not sure at the time that he had not been put upon. Today that forty is the
one which lies just south of the Swindell homestead. A hundred crops have been
grown upon it! Its landfall is such that year after year there are on it never
marked ravages of water or wind or snow. And, coincidentally, a few years later
William bought another of his forties for a team of horses.
In 1852 the country-side of Silver
Creek was primitive. It was rich and green and beautiful of summer, though
snowbound and rugged through long weeks of winter. But it was the
The timber was full of berries and
nuts,-"black-caps," red raspberries, blackberries, wild cherries,
wild grapes, wild crabs, haw apples, hazel nuts and hickory nuts bushel upon
bushel. The creek, which now and then spread out into what the settlers called
a lake, was full of fish, good fish. In fact, Anthony Swindle, during the
winter before his brother William and wife reached
W. B. Robinson, now almost
eighty-seven, says he can remember when the sky would actually be dark above
his young eyes from flights of wild geese and wild pigeons. He says that one
could stand still and shoot squirrels and bring down any number of them from
one position, so thick were they every where. W. B. maintains that frequently a
man would put himself into a range where he could kill two or three birds with
one shot.
In the timber were plenty of wolves
and foxes, coons, rabbits, rattle snakes, and other wild creatures that
populated the place generously. Through 100 years the timber has been cut away
in large part, but there are still spots in Adams township, in the timber
belonging to the Chas. A. Swindell and T. S. McRoberts properties, that are
thick with bracken, Jack-in-the-pulpits, bittersweet, wild grapes, May-apples,
ivy, woodbine, and the like, enough to give more than a faint idea of what the
woods was like a century ago.
THE
From the very beginning of the
Silver Creek Community its church has been at the center of all community life.
We have a little brown-covered book, bound in something like lightweight
calfskin, its pages saffron-yellow from time, its records set down in a
curiously fine and legible hand; in fact, there are several different hands,
but all of much the same character. The cover of the book carries the title
CLASS BOOK for use in the in the METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, NEW YORK,
PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PHILLIPS,
The first record of the
"Class-Meeting" (now we call it Congregation) was dated May 1855, and
shows twelve names, which were as follows: Frederick Young, Leader, Ann Young,
Jas. Landrum, Elizabeth Landrum, Wm. Robinson, Jas. Robinson, John Robinson,
Marget Robinson, John McCoy, Ann McCoy, Thomas Robinson, William Dover. On this
page under the column headed "Relations in Life", all the names are
marked M (married) except Wm. Dover's.
From May through August there are very few A's (absent); a few D's
(distant), and only five S's (sick).
This book leaves off with the 1855
record at the end of August. The next roll shows a membership of twenty.
Frederick Young's name is there, but is crossed out after an A is recorded for
him. Ann Young's name remains. The present research shows no other account of
the Young family. Probably Frederick died, for on the next page of record for
1859 Ann's name is there alone. In the latter half of the record she is marked
as "Removed".
On the 1857 roll are the new names
of John A. Parmiter, Leader, and Ann Parmiter. On the page of the 1859 roll the
Parmiter names are still there, but in the latter part of that record they are
marked as "Removed to Philadelphia". On the records after the first
one are written more Robinsons and Isabella Swindell. On the 1859 pages
Margaret Anderson and Mary Ann Robinson are marked as "Joined on
Probation, April 16, A. D., 1860."
Elizabeth Baxter's name shows on these 1859 pages. Added also are the new
names of Joshua Courtney, "On Probation on January 15, 1860", Jas.
Taylor, Katherine Taylor, Wm. McKay, John Bruce, and Mrs. Bruce, the latter
marked "Departed this life, January 5, A. D., 1861, Eliza Jane Landrum,
"Joined on Probation", Richard Carr, marked "Dropt April 1, A.
D., Maria Carr and Margaret Carr, "Joined on Probation, September 8, A.
D., 1861. No more heard from the above". (We copy the scribe exactly.)
By August 25, 1869, the membership
had increased to twenty-seven. To the names given at first were added the names
of James Taylor, James Johnson, Wm. West, Susan West, David Foy, Adellia Foy,
Jane West, Eliza West, John Viech. Susan
West is marked as "died", but no date is given. John Viech is marked
as "Remitted by Letter, Transcribed, February 26th, 1872. Wm. F. Dove P.
C. Below the last item above is written "Winthrop Ct. Fayette Dist. W. F.
Paxton P. E." The last two initials probably meant Presiding Elder.
Perhaps W. F. Dove was Presiding Elder and the writer slipped a little in the
writing.
This old brown book shows that in
1885 the membership had mounted to forty-six. For the sake of history this list
copied from the book may be of definite interest for all time: John Robinson,
Thomas Robinson, Elizabeth Robinson, T. J. Robinson, Catherine Robinson, Esther
E. Robinson, James Robinson, Robert Robinson, John Carrothers, Margaret
Carrothers, Ann Carrothers, John McKay, Ann McKay, Wm. Dover, Isabella
Swindell, Mary Carradus, Wm. Rockwell, Elizabeth Rockwell, Lucy Rockwell,
Amanda Short, Martha Rockwell, Mary Wilson, Ella Wilson, George Wilson (marked
on the second part of page "dead"), Annie Wilson, Ella Wilson, James
Landrum, Elizabeth Landrum, Martha E. Landrum, Wm. Fair, James Anderson, Mary
E. Anderson, (the latter three marked "gone"), Charles Buck, Rachell
Robinson, Maria Robinson, Robert Robinson, George Logan, Wm. Kennedy, Rachell
E. Landrum, George T. Robinson, Christopher Logan, Eliza Jane Logan, James
Lowery Moore, Mary E. Wilson, Eliza Robinson, James Dover, (marked
"gone"), Maggie Belle Wilson. (The double "l" on Rachel is
probably an error in spelling.)
Whether this latter was total
membership or an occasional congregation we are not able to tell. For by this
time the secretary had grown somewhat careless, and there was not the former
painstaking care in the matters of record. Too, we can no longer tell from the
book the "Relationships in Life". There were several "Joined on
Probation" lines here and there. By 1881 there were the Todd names,
Albert, Charlotte, Levi, and Ella added, as well as that of Albert Ward. The
Todds all were "Received by Letter, May, 1881". For those who will
look for certain names let us say there were undoubtedly errors of omission; or
perhaps we do not read the record quite clearly. But this is interesting data
on the early days of the Silver Creek church. At the very end is a notation
that many of the members of this group had "Paid in Full". On the
inside of the back page there is a line stating, "Meeting at Thomas
Robinson's in two weeks". Thus endeth the record of one period of our
church history - as the book gives it, though not all the record in this book
is here quoted.
The first church meetings in Silver
Creek were held in homes. These meetings began as soon as there were enough
people in the community to start church services. Not long after the first
settlers came they had need of a school house. They decided to erect a building
which would serve as both school and church. We do not know the date. The
architecture was simple, the building made of logs. It was set somewhat south
of the present cemetery line. This center of learning and of worship was not
unlike hundreds of other such buildings used for churches and schools over any
newly opened country. It served the people very well.
One night there was a spelling bee
in the log building and later in the night it caught fire from something and
burned completely. It's an ill wind that blows nobody good; the fire brought
about the building of a new church and a new school, housed separately. The
center section of the present church was begun in 1865. This new church was
completed and dedicated in 1867, without debt.
James Landrum, one of the very
earliest pioneers in our group, a master cabinet maker and carpenter, built the
first pulpit. It is said that the cabinet-like piece still used in the back of
the present church is what is left of that first pulpit. A fine new pulpit was
purchased when the frame church was built.
The
new church opened at the south end as does the present building, but inside it
was different. The seats ran east and west with an aisle in the middle. The
women sat on the east side and the men on the west.
The first child to receive baptism
in the new church was the infant Mary Ann Swindle. In 1892 she became Mrs. W.
B. Robinson. The first wedding in this church was that of Fannie Swindell and
John Scanlon, on June 2, 1877. The latest wedding in this little church was
that of Margaret Mary Robinson, daughter of Milton Robinson, and Glen Searcy,
on December 19, 1948.
After twenty - five years the church
was too small for its growing membership. In 1894 the building was remodeled
and enlarged to its present proportions. It was re-dedicated in that year, and
again without debt, during the pastorate of the Reverend C. W. Wheat. The next
improvement of consequence was the re-plastering of the church, at which time
the walls were covered with the embossed material now there. In 1938 the
interior of the church was refinished as it is today.
Other changes have been made from
time to time. The old foot-pedaled organ, faithfully played by Maria Robinson
for many, many years, and as faithfully played by her niece, Etna Carrothers,
after Maria was gone, was replaced in Etna's time by a piano. Now Marilyn
Robinson, daughter of A. T. Robinson, is the regular pianist, assisted on
occasion by Mrs. Cliff Robinson. On the altar of our church is a cross made
from the wood of the old organ. On the wall of the altar is a painting of the
Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, done by the Reverend Charles H. Hahn, who
was pastor in Silver Creek from 1928 to 1932, beloved by his parish. The two
old communion "cups", which are still among our families, were long
since replaced by modern individual glasses. A beautiful big Bible rests on the
pulpit. A new carpet was laid when the old red one wore out. New hymnals are
purchased when need arises.
In the 1850's when everyone was
young and healthy, there was no thought about a cemetery. In 1859 the Bruce
family lost a baby. Because there was no cemetery, the child was buried on the
family farm. Shortly after the baby's death a cemetery was secured and properly
laid out. The land for the first cemetery was given by Anthony Swindle from his
farm. Then James Robinson added to the cemetery on the south side, from his
home farm. Later on Alex Robinson, James's son who inherited his father's home
place, gave another addition to the south part of the cemetery. The very first
grave made in the "burying ground" was that of Mrs. Bruce, mother of
the infant whose small body was buried on the family farm. Later Baby Bruce's remains
were moved to the regular cemetery. All the first caskets were made by John
(sic) Lendrum. The diptheria epidemic of 1865 caused seventeen deaths in the
community.
The Silver Creek Cemetery
Association is an organization which handles all matters pertaining to the
cemetery. There is never any faltering on the part of this association. The
fine administration of its business; the excellence of its work in the care of
our cemetery; the vision behind its whole plan - all these attest the wisdom of
the government of this Association.
Now a fine new fence incloses the
resting place of our dead. To walk through Silver Creek's hallowed ground is to
walk through our history. Here is all that is mortal of our earliest settlers.
The stones that mark the graves of these men and women may be so beaten by wind
and weather that the lines graven there are almost gone, but we love our old
grave stones. There is the one that has at its top a little sliding marble door
behind which was once a clear photograph of the woman whose loved ones sought
thus to keep her human presence with them a little longer. Now the strong face
of that pioneer woman is only a blur - if you push back the marble door to
look. The slabs showing the clasped hands, the marble sheaf, the broken tree,
the recumbent lamb above a baby's couch - all these we cherish. Long ago they
were put there "In Loving Memory", above caskets that were wooden
boxes made by neighbors. There are costly and beautiful monuments too, often
replacing crumbling marble, erected by our generations which will never know
the sacrifices of pioneer times. But we have wished to express to our dead in
the only material way we know, these noble new memorials, our appreciation of
their courageous struggles to make the homes which now are ours.
On Memorial Day everybody who can
possibly do so comes back home and to the cemetery. We put flowers on the
graves of our fore-fathers. We decorate the graves of our soldiers of the Grand
Army of the Republic, and the graves of the boys who went out yonder in the
World Wars, the American Legion Post of Ryan assisting. On these we put flowers
and flags. There are lovely flowers for young mothers whose light was gone so
soon their children can scarcely recall the faces of those bore them. On Memorial
Day we remember especially all those who came back to us in death, home again
for the last long sleep. We never forget the graves of the few who were
strangers within our gates, but who wanted to stay. These are all our graves,
our dead gone toward the Bright Dawn.
One short sleep past, we
wake eternally,
And death shall be no
more: Death thou shalt die.
Across from the new church was built
in early days a long "buggy shed". There was a stall for every family,
where familiar horses in pairs or singles were tied on Sundays. The horses were
hitched to top buggies, to open buggies, to the elegant surreys with their
fringes, or in later days, their fancy if impractical lamps at each side. Of
course, the fore-runners of all these modes of carriage were the lowly wagon,
or the buck-board, or the cutter, or the sled. The buggy shed is gone,
converted so far as its lumber would serve, into the Community Hall. The wagon,
the sled, the top buggy - these are no more. Who can remember a horse at church
in a quarter of a century!
Now
a long row of shining cars, many of them the very latest models, reflect the
Sunday morning sun. The old order has passed, yielding place to new. But we
sing the old songs, and we read the old Scripture, and we pray the old prayer.
How often the congregation of this little country church has lifted up its
voice in the familiar words,
The church's one
foundation
Is Jesus Christ the
Lord.
Even
as we, our pioneer fathers and mothers no doubt often erred in their earthly
course. But now, at the end of a century, there is all about us evidence that
in spirit and in deed they constantly sought to build the sound foundation. May
we keep faith with those who paved our way!
Nellie Scanlon, (Mrs. Chas.), found
in an old record book of the Masonville church a sheet of a newspaper, date
July 1906. It looks like a sheet from a Winthrop paper and the story is in
special on the history of the Winthrop Methodist Church. In this writing there
is an article entitled "Silver Creek Church'. We quote the whole of the
article for its definite record of our church.
SILVER CREEK
CLASS
This class was
formed in 1852 by Mr. Phillips, a local preacher, and meetings were held during
the first two years at Mr. John McKay's house. In 1854 Rev. Brown, a missionary,
preached to the people at private houses. About the fall of 1857 Silver Creek
was made one of the preaching points of the Quasqueton circuit and Rev. Hood
was pastor in charge for two years. Then
followed Rev. Bailey one year, Rev. Shapper one year, Rev. Fawcett two years,
Rev. Baines one year, Rev. Smith two years. During the year 1866, Silver Creek
had no conference preacher. Rev.
Stoneman, local preacher, and Van Wyck supplied. At this time Silver Creek was
made a part of the Winthrop circuit, and Elder Stevens, a local preacher,
supplied for two years, during which time the old church was built.
This
same newspaper article gives a column of paragraphs under dates of succeeding
years. The paragraphs of interest to Silver Creek people are these, reproduced
exactly:
1875
At an annual conference
held at Charles City, September 30, 1874, Bishop Haven presiding, I (E. Ketchum) was appointed to Manchester. Our first
quarterly meeting was held at Masonville,
Nov. 21st and 22nd. The presiding elder; E. Skinner was present only on
Saturday afternoon. Elder Smith, a local preacher, supplied. During the winter,
people at Silver Creek made us a
donation amounting to $45.00. Also at Masonville they made us a present of a
fine Buffalo robe on New Year's Day. A third series of meetings were held in
the latter part of March and April, 5 professed conversion and 4 united with
the church on probation, three weekly prayer meetings have been sustained
during the entire spring and summer at
Masonville, Sand Creek and Portable.
At the annual conference held at
Dubuque, September 22-29, I was re-appointed to this charge. Our first quarterly meeting was held at
Silver Creek, October 30-31. There was about an inch of snow, and many places
about a foot of mud, but few from a distance could attend. Commenced a
protracted meeting at Portable on December 5th, and continued through the
month, whenever it was at all practicable. Began a series of meetings at Sand
Creek Church on January 16th. I was assisted by H. D. Hollenbeck for about two
weeks. Twenty-three went forward as seekers.
Many confessed conversion and sixteen united on probation, at another
meeting at Silver Creek in which Bro. Hollenbeck helped me a couple of weeks.
At the close of the meeting 17 united
with the church on probation, Sept. 18, 1876. The classes at Sand Creek and
Silver Creek have sustained
each weekly prayer meetings throughout the entire spring and summer up to the
present. E. Ketchum
1882
J. F. Hestwood was
appointed to the charge in 1882. It then consisted of Masonville, Silver Creek, Portable and Middlefield. The
work was getting too heavy for one man's labors.
1884
In the fall of 1884,
Silver Creek, Sand Creek, and Portable were set off as the Silver Creek Circuit, under the pastorate of W. H.
Keege, and E.R. Leaman was appointed to the
Masonville, Middlefield, and Fremont Center, the latter preaching point,
but no society formed. Bro. Leamon
stayed one year.
On October 25, 1942, Silver Creek
celebrated the seventy-fifth anniversary of the church. In the bulletin issued
on that date there is a brief church history, at the end of which there is a list of pastors
who have served the church, as nearly complete a list as the committee was able
to make. We give this list as it stands: The Reverends Stoneman, W. F. Dove,
Coleman, Fawcett, W. Cummings, E. Ketchum, James Hestwood, Stone, Kresge,
Montgomery, B. D. Alden, C. M. Wheat, J. D. Perry, F.C. Wolfe, C. H. Taylor, T.
S. Metcalf, D. C Perry, Charles Rodgers, T. Carson, T. B. Cooper, C. Rose, J.
C. Wharton, T. J. Elwick, W. E. Edie, H. Davis, C. H. Dunlevy, C. H. Hawn, F.
C. Griewe, A. R. Coover, B A. Wendtland,
R. McNichols, Paul Heath, H. D. Green, and the present man, Clarence
Thompson. We have been fortunate through
the years in that each pastor we have had left his mark. We took from each some
good and worthy things.
SILVER
CREEK SCHOOL
On the August day in 1936 when Mrs.
Ella Moles read a paper at the reunion held at the old Silver Creek school, she
made history come alive again. How fortunate we are to have her paper to record
in this brief history of Silver Creek! Nothing could be more opportune. Here is
the story from one who truly knew the school history of the community in
veriest detail. Mrs. Moles' paper was published in the Manchester Democrat and
we quote exactly the article, with the newspaper introduction:
Teachers and pupils of the Silver
Creek school, District 3, Adams township, together with their families and
friends, held a reunion on the school ground Aug. 23, 1936. The plans now are
to make this an annual affair. A bountiful picnic dinner was enjoyed by 155.
The afternoon program consisted of talks by Messrs. Frank Ryan, Sr., and W. B.
Robinson. Mrs. Ella Robinson Moles prepared and read the following paper:
"I have been asked to tell what
I can of the earlier school days especially in connection with the Silver Creek
school. When I first went to school, my sister Cassie and I attended a summer
term in a vacant log house which was across the creek and northwest of the
place called the Wigwam. At that time the Wigwam was a small grove, about 1 1/2
miles north of here. But as that was in Prairie township, it has nothing to do
with this Silver Creek school, which is in Adams township.
"About the year 1859, when I
was one year old, a log schoolhouse was built on the northwest corner of what
was then Uncle James Robinson's farm. At least some of those school grounds
have since been made a part of the Silver Creek cemetery. Uncle James Lendrum
was the carpenter who did the work on this well-built log schoolhouse. As I
recall, there was a door in the south, windows in the east and west, a
teacher's platform and a blackboard in the north, and the seats faced the
north. There were about five long desks and seats across the room which were
fastened solidly to the floor. The carpenter made these and planed them to a
very smooth finish. Recitation seats
were built against the east and west walls. This building was heated by a large
square stove which burned wood. Candles and lanterns were used for lighting
purposes when evening meetings were held. For equipment there was a globe and a
set of either ten or twelve maps. We used McGuffey's readers and McGuffey's spelling
books, Ray's arithmetics (first or primary, second part mental, and Ray's
practical or third part), Pinneo's grammar. We had copy books, slates and slate
pencils, but no tablets or lead pencils. Mr. Newcomb, a penmanship teacher from
Manchester, gave evening writing lessons in this log schoolhouse one winter.
Parents as well as pupils attended these meetings. I was pleased and proud to
sit beside my father and learn to write.
"This log schoolhouse also
served as a church until the Silver Creek church was built. I went to school in
the log schoolhouse for a number of years. I do not remember all of the
teachers' names, but I recall the following: Kate Henry, Libbie Frink, who
later married Uncle Anthony Robinson, Maggie Behan, Emma Butterfield, whose home
was at Quasqueton, and Marietta Cooley, who lived near Manchester. Nellie Gray,
whose home was north of Masonville in Coffin's Grove, was teaching the winter
term of 1868-1869 when the log schoolhouse burned one night after there had
been a spelling school in it. Some of the seats and desks, all of the maps and
the globe were saved and used in the next building. I remember a map of the
United States which had a number of small holes burned in it. My keenest loss
was a new McGuffey's sixth reader which I had had only a very short time. That
term of school was finished in a vacant log house on what was then the Terrance
Gaffney place. Carl Emerson lives on that place now. If there is any one here
today who attended school in this log schoolhouse, will you please stand at
this time? (Those responding were Mrs. Maggie Robinson Carrothers, Mrs. Lizzie
Dover Carradus, John Reilly, Mike and Frank Ryan, Sr. J. J. Carrothers visited
this school one day.)
"A new frame building
schoolhouse, the one we have here today, was built in time for the summer term
of 1869. Uncle James Lendrum and Uncle Robert Wilson were the carpenters who
built it. Mary Washburn from near Masonville was the first teacher. Mr. Gray,
the father of Nellie Gray; taught the first winter term in the new building.
Some of the other teachers who taught there during the years of 1870-1878 were
Isabel McGee from west of Manchester, Ella Graham, William James Robinson,
Maggie Smith, Matthew Kerr, C. A. Swindell, Frank Ryan, Sr., Anna Moles, and
myself. I taught a number of terms in this building, five terms, as I recall
it. My last term was the summer of 1878. During all of these years of which I
have been telling you, the school year was divided into two terms, a winter
term of four months and a summer term of three and one-half or four months.
When I taught here I was paid $35.00 per month for the winter term and $20.00
per month for the summer term. At that time the county superintendent of
Delaware County stated in an article printed in the Manchester paper that no
other rural schools in Delaware county were paying more wage than those in
Adams township, and many schools were not paying as much wage.
"Singing schools and spelling
schools were held in the evenings in Silver Creek school.
"In closing, I would like to
give in memory of those who used to be with us, but are absent today, the third
verse of the poem, The Family Meeting,' taken from McGuffey's sixth reader:
We are all here!
Even they, the dead though dead, so
dear.
Fond memory, to her duty true,
Brings back their faded forms to
view.
How life-like through the mist of
years,
Each well-remembered face appears!
We see them as in times long past;
From each to each kind looks are
cast;
We hear their words, their smiles
behold,
They're round us as they were of
old.
We are all here."
Those present from a distance were Bob
Robinson and nephew, Robert, and Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Buck and daughter, all of
Schaller, Ia.; Mr. and Mrs. Henry Robinson and Mary Lou, Cedar Rapids; Mrs.
Ella Moles and daughters, and Mr. and Mrs. Park Forest, Central City; Mr. and
Mrs. W. R. Carrothers and daughters, Waterloo.
Others present were Mr. and Mrs. W. B.
Robinson, Will Temple, Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Robinson, Mrs. C. A. Swindell and
Chas., Mrs. Margaret Guilgot, Mrs. Alice Robinson, Mr. and Mrs. Willard
Robinson and family, Mr. and Mrs. Clifford Robinson and family, Mr. and Mrs.
Roy Emerson and family, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Wenger and family, Mr. and Mrs.
Milton Robinson and family, J. J. Carrothers and Etna, Frank Swindle and sons,
Lacy brothers, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Robinson and family, Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur
Falconer, Mrs. Rebecca Rein-burg and daughters, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Gaffney and
family, Mr. and Mrs. John Reilly and family, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Wade and family,
Miss Maggie Robinson, Mr. and Mrs. Edgar McCloud, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Ryan and
daughter, Mike Ryan, Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Duggan, Mrs. Louise Preston and aunt,
Mr. and Mrs. Forrest Johnston and son, Mrs. Lizzie Johnson, Mrs. Isabel Sisler,
Mr. and Mrs. Ed. Annis, Mrs. Mary Rein-burg and Victor, Mrs. Alice Winnemark
and children, Mrs. Lucille Moss and children, Mrs. Lillian
Mitch, Mrs. Chas. Lemrond and children, Mr. and Mrs. Glen Robinson and family,
Mr. and Mrs. Jack Hahesy and daughter, Mrs. Paul Young and daughters, Mrs.
Lizzie Carradus and George, Mrs.
Maggie Carrothers and Robert, William Robinson and daughters, Mr. and
Mrs. Jack Hansen and family, Miss Annie Gaffney, Bernard Brophy, and Mr. and
Mrs. Alex Robinson and family.
After the days Mrs. Moles so ably
recounts, Silver Creek school continued in its notable story. Were there time,
we should proudly give full chronicle of teachers and pupils (It does not seem
quite right here to use the more modern term "students") and events,
all bound up with the old school. We have not access to the school records in
the brief time open for research, but there is a roll of excellent teachers who
came after Maria Robinson and who helped to make the old school outstanding in
all its relations. In special we pay tribute to Maria Robinson, who taught in
this one school through a long, long period of years. Maria held her pupils to
highest standards and wherever they went after their years with her they bore
the hall-mark of this good teacher. Her pupils had special proficiency in
spelling. Several of her little flock won first honors in county spelling
contests. Her first eighth grade graduating class was made up of three, Byron
Robinson, Mollie Robinson, and Roy Emerson. There was never any question in
relation to Maria's procedures. Her best memorial is in the record of the
students she turned out through the years.
In 1947 the little old school was
closed forever. In the fall of that year the children who attended the Silver
Creek school began their first year in the Coggon Independent School District,
transported to the Coggon school by bus. Of course it is wonderful for the
youngsters to have the opportunities offered them in a school with all modern
facilities and a large and well-trained staff of teachers. It is wonderful for
them to be able to do work in specialized departments, like music, art,
athletics, manual training, home-making. The day of the community water pail,
the coal burner, the recesses of hide-and-seek around the big old trees, and
the bushes in the school-yard, the "last day" programs and picnic all
that is gone. Gone too are the excursions teachers and pupils used to make
along the creek, in the woods for bird-study or to pick early spring flowers,
or just to have fun. Parents want their children to keep step with the modern
world, but fond memories will ever cling to the plain little old school house
that sits along the Silver Creek road. Whoever went to W. B's with the water
pail will ever remember the hand-outs Aunt Mary Ann gave them, fresh bread,
cookies, apples -- by the bushel she gave apples -- whatever she was making or
had at hand. Clifford Robinson bought the old school building. The old horse
turned out to pasture, that's what our old school is now. So long, old friend!
THE
STAR LITERARY SOCIETY
There is much verbal account of the
Star Literary Society, which flourished about seventy years ago in Silver
Creek. "Almost everybody belonged to it, old and young" said W. B.
Robinson. The meetings were held in the school. The programs were carefully
planned by a duly appointed committee. There were debates, recitations,
discussions, even several full-sized plays, all done with serious effort and
intent. Every move of the society was governed, and very strictly, by Robert's
Rules of Order, which is still the highest authority on all parliamentarian
practice. Every member of the Star Literary Society had a thorough grounding in
Robert's Rules. W. B. says his brother, A. T., went to Upper Iowa University
after his earlier schooling. At the university, he took part in various public
presentations and he was possessed of such ease in his appearances and had such
sound knowledge of Robert's Rules of Order that inquiring went out as to what
college he had come from. His reply, of course, was that his Alma Mater was
Silver Creek country school, his training ground, the Star Literary Society of
his home community.
Careful record of the Society's
meetings and programs was kept. The time came when many of the most active
members married and moved away or went elsewhere for some other reason, and so
the society fell by the wayside. The records were sent with some other things
to be stored for safekeeping in the Wm. Swindell home. When the old Swindell
house burned long years ago, the society's minutes went too. That same record
book would have been a priceless help to us in the preparation of this history.
And, W. B. adds, "Looking back I think the Star Literary Society kept
people out of trouble. Nobody missed the programs and so nobody was in
mischief."
ANTHONY
SWINDLE FAMILY
The story of Anthony Swindle is so
bound up with Silver Creek that the two names are inseparable. In the
introductory part of this little book is an account of the beginnings of the community
with the arrival of Anthony Swindle, James Robinson, and John McCoy. Each man
has his individual history, which covers his life on his own land, his family,
and his general experience.
Anthony was one of a large family
whose home was near the town of Clonus in North Ireland. The parents died of
black diphtheria, within a few hours of each other. Quite naturally the old
home broke up and the children came to America. How Anthony reached Silver
Creek we have recounted.
Arriving in April, 1852, Anthony had
an important place among the settlers of Silver Creek to the very day of his
death, November 1, 1906, in the big white house he built for his family. For a number of years he was a bachelor, but
was always actively interested in helping the other men and women of the group
establish their homes. On April 9, 1863,
Anthony Swindle and Lucy Norris of Boston were married. Their first home was a typical log house
built on his own farm land.
Their first child, William, born
1864, died in infancy, of the dread diphtheria.
Almost immediately after that Anthony went to the Civil War in a period
of service that took him through the historic march of General Sherman to the
Sea. Mary Ann, his daughter, used to
tell the stories she had head from her father's lips, of the hardships the
soldiers suffered. The worst was their lack of food. Some of the men even took dry corn meant for
the mules and horses and chewed on it.
They were long, long days and hard.
In 1893, when Sherman's army had a grand reunion in Washington, Anthony
bought himself a fine new blue suit and joined his comrades in the
historic reunion.
Back to the young wife again. With
the help of her brother Benjamin, Lucy kept the farm going. They had a large
store of wheat they were supposed to sell. They did not get it sold, which was
a fortunate misfortune. The price of wheat doubled and when the store of wheat
was sold, there was a goodly amount of money which no doubt went into more
land.
The days passed and Anthony was home
again. He was a thrifty man, a far-seeing man. From the beginning he went on to
accumulate through the years large holdings of land and other property. He
built a large house, a house with a marble fire-place in the parlor, an open
stairway, and many green-shuttered windows. He loved beautiful surroundings,
and, no doubt, with the picture in mind of old-country places he had remembered
from his youth, he planted a lovely orchard and garden. In early spring the old
place still abounds in asparagus scattered along the road and over the grounds
from the bed he set out and cared for. Some of his old apple trees still bear
fruit. He put an ornate grilled iron fence about the houseyard and planted
along it an evergreen hedge which he kept clipped, each tree in pyramid shape,
to the time of his death. His farm will always be remembered for its white
paint, every building always a fresh white.
Anthony never came home from a trip
without thing new and fine for the house or family. Mary Ann, his daughter, never forgot the
thrill which was hers when her father brought home from one of his trips the
first kerosene lamp she had ever seen.
It was an elaborate affair which hung from the ceiling and could be
raised or lowered by chains. Many of
these things are still in the possession of members of the family.
Lucy, his wife, was a soft-spoken,
modest woman whose greatest pleasure was in her home and family. All her days
she kept her charge well. She had a long period of inactive life toward the end
of her days, when she was attended with greatest care by her daughter Bessie.
The words of the Psalmist, "Give her the fruits of her hands; and let her
own works praise her in the gates," aptly close a tribute to this good
woman.
Mary Ann, their first daughter,
married W. B. Robinson. Account of her
appears in the William Robinson family story.
Their second daughter, Bessie, married William Henderson, who died on
August 27, 1897. We have a yellowed
clipping, pasted into an old scrap book, which speaks of the great sympathy for
the young wife "left a widow and the babe left fatherless." This young wife carried on and reared her
son, Dale, and with never a breath of self-pity. Bessie and her son went back to her parents'
home where they lived for many years.
Later she and her mother moved to Manchester where Lucy Norris Swindle
spent her last days. For three years
she was a helpless invalid, unable even to speak. The care her daughter Bessie gave her could
not be surpassed. At the present time
Bessie is lying in helpless invalidism in a rest home. Her patient care of her
mother surely is finding its reward in the devotion given her by Dale and his
wife through these long, unhappy months.
Bessie's son, Dale, married Laura
Blair and they lived for a number of years on their farm near Thorpe. Dale is
at present in business with Russell Preston, husband of Dale's cousin Louise.
Russell is a buyer for the Dubuque Packing Company and Dale is his assistant.
Dale manages his own farm business in addition to his work with the Dubuque
company. Dale and Laura have a son, Robert, who married Mabel Keller of
Manchester. The couple lives in Ohio, where Robert is a salesman for the Rath
Packing Company.
The oldest son in Anthony's family
is Frank. He married Maude Briggs in 1896. Maude died in 1897. In 1903 Frank
married Florence Linderman and they were parents of three children, Louise,
Charles, and Paul. Louise married Russell, son of Herman and Melinda Preston,
and they make their home in Manchester. Charles is a farmer in the Silver Creek
community. He is married to Iva Wade, daughter of Fred and Etta (Robinson)
Wade, and they have three children, two bright-eyed little girls, Janice and
Lynda Ann, and a handsome little son, Wade. Paul married Imogene Meyers and
they have two attractive children, a boy, Larry, and a girl, Penny Lou. Young
Larry is troubled with asthma which has necessitated the family's leaving the
farm to go west in search of a climate suited to the boy's needs. At present
the family is living in Tucson, Arizona.
Frank has farmed most of his life.
For the last several years he has made his home with his son Charles. Frank was
one of Silver Creek's teachers in the school's long roll. He is an educated man
and has ever had keen interest in the world about him. He always took his
politics seriously and was ready any moment for a good argument or discussion.
Charles, the second son, married
Annie Pitts of Cherokee County, Iowa, in 1899. For years they lived on Charles'
farm here. Later they moved to Ryan where he managed a lumber yard. Still later
they went to western Iowa to make their home. They had two children, Francis
and Marian. Francis was accidentally killed while at work in a lumber yard,
leaving his young wife and two daughters, Francella and Joyce Ellen. Charlie's
daughter, Marian, married Ray S. Pierce and their home is in Cherokee, the town
to which Charles and Annie have retired. Ray and Marian have also retired from
their farm to their home in Cherokee. The granddaughter Francella and her
husband are living on Charles' farm, and the Pierces' son, Craig, is living on
the Pierce farm.
No one can be remembered with more
affection than Charles. He was always everyone's friend. His happy nature just
naturally endears him to people. It has been said he "would give you the
shirt off his back" and many a person can testify to the truth of that
statement. Readers of this little book are indebted in a large measure to
Charles for the history of the early days of Silver Creek. In a time of hard physical stress he labored for days to set down for
the Centennial occasion pages and pages of things he knew from his pioneer
father, Anthony, and from his own youthful experience in the neighborhood. He has a natural talent for retelling old
stories, and he possesses an unusually good memory. His wife, Annie, was one of
the most beloved women in Silver Creek's history.
Anthony, the third son, was
graduated in law from the University of Iowa.
He established his practice in Tacoma, Washington, where he carried on
in his profession for many years. In
1907 he was married to Ida McCloud, daughter of Erwin McCloud. Their only child, Glen Harold, died in
infancy. For many years Anthony has
been sponsor for groups of Rainbow girls in his home city. He has long been active in the civic
movements in Tacoma.
William Henry, the fourth son,
married Opal Van Fleet, daughter of H. J. Van Fleet of Earlville, in 1907. They lived on the home place and operated it
for a period of years, later moving to a farm they owned near Earlville. In 1917 "Willie", as his friends
all knew him, was stricken suddenly with an illness which took him without
warning. He was buried in a family lot
in Earlville. He left two small sons,
Earl and Duane. Opal is an artist and after Willie's death taught art for a
time in the college in Cedar Falls.
Later she married the Reverend W. J. Suckow, father of Ruth Suckow, an
author of note in the field of realistic writing on the Middle West scene. Since the death of Reverend Suckow, Opal has
been living in Earlville and at the present time is in charge of the Earlville
library. Her son, Earl, married Carmen Miller and is in business in Fort
Dodge. They have no children. Duane is married to Ethel Cameron and
they have two children, Jonathan
and Shannon, boy and girl. Both Earl and
Duane saw active service in World War II, Duane was seriously injured in
action. Duane is still serving in the army in an administrative capacity. The
boys and their mother own the old Swindle estate in Silver Creek, which they
have rented for many years.
Robert Norris, the youngest son, was
graduated in medicine and for many years has been a successful physician and
surgeon in Chicago. In 1908 he married Nancy Bergendorf and they had a
daughter, Marian. Nancy died when Marian was about two years old. Marian became
a graduate nurse and followed her profession for several years. She is married
to William Marteny and they live in Tomahawk, Wisconsin, where Bill is employed
as a chemist in one of Wisconsin's large paper factories. He is a graduate of
the Paper Institute of America, an exclusive training school for paper chemists
which accepts only specially prepared college graduates. Marian and Bill have
two children, Nancy and Michael.
In 1928 Robert married Mae Ruprecht
and they have two sons, Norris and Edgar. Norris is married to Ruth Curtis of
Richland, Iowa, and they are at present in California where Norris is in the
Air Force. He was in Service in World War II, flying planes over the famous
"Hump" in China. He re-enlisted because of his interest in the new
phase of aviation which is the Jet plane. Edgar is married to Patricia Warren
of Tulsa, Oklahoma, both graduates of Rollins College in Florida. They are now
living in Florida where Edgar is engaged in the brokerage business.
Robert, this youngest son of
Anthony, must have tended early toward medical science. The story is told by
his older brothers that when he was sent to a far field by his father, to do
farm work such as cultivating or harrowing, he was likely to spend most of his
time catching a squirrel or some other specimen to dissect. Anyway, he arrived
in a marked way in his chosen field.
RACHAEL
SWINDLE CRAEMER FAMILY
Besides Anthony, there were in
America two Swindle sisters, Margaret and Rachael, all connected with Silver
Creek. Rachel was married to Joe Craemer and they lived here for some years.
There are in our cemetery the graves of three Craemer children: John who died
July 14, 1861 (sic) age 9 yrs., 3 mo., 21 da; Rosela, 1861 (sic) age 6 yr., 2
mo., 20 da; Samuel, age 4 mo., 1862. We have no late information on the
Craemers. They did live in James, Iowa, where Joe died. Rachael died at the
home of a daughter in Montana, but was buried beside her husband in James. The
other Craemer children were: Ed, Caroline, Joe, Theodore, Addie, and Sadie. We
have no track of any of them.
JAMES
ROBINSON STORY
There was never any question in the
minds of the early settlers of Silver Creek about Jim Robinson. From the April
day 1852, when he and his two companions set foot on Delaware County soil to
the June day, 1909, when Jim's valiant spirit went out of the body, he was a
leader. There is not a record here where Jim's name is missing.
James Robinson was a man of large
physique. He carried himself in a manner that betokened the set of his mind and
his purpose. He had had good practical experience in his young years in
Ireland, and he was far-sighted. His judgment was good and his reputation for
fair dealing lives, long after his presence is gone.
We have much account of Jim Robinson
from the older people here who were children with his children, whose fathers
dealt with him in many relations. Mrs. Elizabeth (Swindell) Johnston told his
granddaughter Rebecca Robinson this story:
"Your grandfather was a very strong man, athletic. For example, the
first horse he owned was an unbroken colt he bought from the monks at New
Melleray monastery. One Sunday morning John Devlin and his wife, Kitty McEnany,
and her father, Art McEnany, were going to Mass. They had to ford Silver Creek
and the water was up, the creek so swollen that the high water raised the box
from their wagon. Jim Robinson rode his unbroken colt into the raging torrent
of the creek. He forced that colt into the water by main strength, threw a rope
to the people, which they tied to the standard of the wagon, and then he pulled
them to shore."
One person told us, "Jim
Robinson was strictly honest. He bought
a lot of cattle every fall. He always paid what he thought the cattle were
worth even though it was more than the seller asked."
Among Jim's contemporaries, if there
was a dispute or a question calling for decision, they wanted his judgment and
were willing to abide by it. When he had built his new home and things were
developing every where, James Robinson was the only man around who had a safe.
After his death, when the family emptied the old safe, they found various
things people had brought him for safe-keeping. There is here a box containing
some old papers. On top is Jim's naturalization paper, dated the Seventh Day of
September, A. D., 1855, showing that he "renounces forever, all allegiance
and fidelity to every foreign Prince, Potentate, State, or Sovereignty
whatsoever, and particularly the Queen of Great Britain, of whom he was at the
time a subject, and There of the Court admitted the said James Robinson to
become a CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES" etc., issued at the "Town of
Delhi''. There are in the box several formal sheets from the Department of the
Interior, General Land Office, showing land grants to descendants of men who
fought in the War of 1812. A number of these papers are signed by Franklin
Pierce, President of the United States of America, in his own handwriting, with
several signed by one of his assistants. There is here also, a "Subcontract
- Star Service, Route No. 34495", Guaranteeing the payment of $120 per
annum to Catherine Robinson, Silver Creek, Delaware County, Iowa, for
"transportating the mail" on this route "from Silver Creek to
Ryan and back 3 times a week from July, 1895, to June 30, 1899," etc. (A
number of older people here remember when Iowa, for "transporting the
mail" on this route "from Silver Route and Aunt Kate are long since
gone. The yellowed copy of the contract was secure in Uncle Jim's safe.)
Again, in recounting things in the
life of James Robinson, Mrs. Johnston told Mollie and Rebecca this story about
their grandfather: "Uncle Jim delighted in going bare-footed. Once went
bare-foot to the prairie to work. A pump needed fixing; the stock were not
getting water. As he worked, he threw his hat aside. He decided to ride on in
to Manchester for pump parts. His son R. R. was there and met his father. R. R.
was always what we called dressy, very particular about how he looked. Said he
to his father, 'Dad, where are your boots? Where's your hat?' All that wouldn't
concern Uncle Jim. And often he would take his cattle to the lake at Billy
Carrothers' school", said Mrs. Johnston.
Mollie and Rebecca, who grew up in
their grandfather's old home, recall that anyone who drove into the farm home
about meal time was always urged to stay and eat, regardless of whether the
"women folks" were prepared for an extra person. His philosophy was
that "What's good enough for us all the time is good enough for them
once". Until his death he maintained a lively interest in everything and
every body about him. He was not always able to accompany the men on cattle or
hog "drives", but he would help start them off. He could not always
accompany the men on winter rabbit hunts, but he always dressed the kill, much
to the pleasure of the hunters. The older members of the community will
remember Uncle Jim driving about the neighborhood in his road cart. Hitched to
it would be his big bay driving horse, Colonel, or the small white one, Stub.
He did not depend on the telephone to know how his neighbors were, but made
bi-weekly calls on the old settlers like Aunt Tillie, Aunt Ann McCay, and Aunt
Margaret.
In this box of relics there is a
sheaf of pages from an old ledger about 10 by 12 inches in size, carrying in a
fine, old-fashioned handwriting, with shaded letters, the Quarterly Conference
Record, Manchester Circuit, Dubuque District, Upper Iowa Conference. James
Robinson was secretary and scribe and all the records are here in the best of
order.
James Robinson married Mary Ann
Gregg, in 1854. She also was a native of County Fermanagh, Ireland. They set
out at once for Iowa and the log home Jim had prepared for his bride. Various
old-fashioned photographs which relatives have show Mary Ann at sixteen as a
really beautiful girl, and others in her maturity as a "fine figure of a
woman". A dark shadow in Jim's life was Mary Ann's death when she was only
forty-two. She had what we know now as appendicitis. In these days a
comparatively simple operation will take care of the ailment. James and Mary
Ann were the parents of twelve children. Repeatedly we hear the story of their
Mary Jane, a beautiful baby, old enough to talk. One morning she was sent
upstairs to call the boys. It was corn-shelling time and there was some shelled
corn in the boys' room. Little Mary Jane put some kernels into her mouth. She
threw back her head to laugh at some antics of the boys and a kernel lodged in
her windpipe. She died at four that afternoon." Mrs. Johnston, a cousin and near neighbor of
the family, recounted this story to James Robinson's granddaughters, Mollie and
Rebecca Robinson.
Through the years after Mary Ann's
death, James stayed at the helm and reared his big family. He educated them,
the oldest son becoming a minister, the second a doctor, all the others
stepping into roles that were worthy. In that family is reflection of their
father's vision and judgment, as well as his material success.
Chapters and chapters could be
written on this man. Before us lies a lengthy clipping from a Manchester paper
published on the occasion of James Robinson's death on June 25, 1909:
"The funeral of Mr.
Robinson was held on Saturday afternoon at
"Mr.
Robinson came to Delaware comity in the days of its veriest infancy. The
country was practically an untracked and unbroken wilderness, with but here and
there the log shack of some venturesome pioneer. He cast his lot in a settlement containing as
fine a body of citizens as exists in the county, but with its proportion forty
years ago of disputes and quarrels which Mr. Robinson adjudicated with eminent
fair ness and unfailing tact. He became known as the peace-maker of the
community, enjoying the respect and confidence of all and earning the affection
of the citizens of Silver Creek by the consistency and up rightness of his own
life."
William James was the oldest son of
James Robinson. He studied for the ministry, graduating from Upper Iowa University.
In his student days he roomed and boarded at the home of Professor Glasner.
William James was married to Emma Glasner on the night of his graduation. Said
our historian, "In that day ministers received very low salaries. Teachers
were scarce and William James augmented his salary by teaching during the week,
preaching on Sunday. At Chelsea, Iowa, he was superintendent of the school and
his wife, Emma, was principal. Two of their four sons were born at
Chelsea." Farming paid better than teaching or preaching, and a family had
to eat. William James moved to a farm in northeast Iowa, and later to South
Dakota.
William James was the father of four
sons. His granddaughter, Ruth (Mrs. Harold Chasta), lives in Washington, D. C.
where her husband is in the United States Government Service. She was formerly
debate coach of the Tyndall, S. D., high school. Having had a life-long
interest in family history, she has worked out a very complete family tree.
Their two adopted children are John Joseph, 2 1/2 years, and Ruth Ann, 1 1/2
years.
Margaret (Mrs. Christy Bleakly)
attended Upper Iowa University for one or two years. "She had no time to
teach school, said Mrs. Johnston to the Robinson granddaughters. "There were always one or two hired men
to cook for as well as the family of eleven. Her mother was not well".
"Maggie" Bleakly's name still rises in the community when people are
talking of the old days, old ways. Often they speak of Mrs. Bleakly and always
with kindliest of thoughts. They moved to Galva, Silver Creek Township, Ida
County, Iowa. They were the parents of three daughters and four sons. Three of
these children, Mamie, Jamie and Ruth, have passed away.
Mamie, the oldest daughter, was Mrs.
Fred Noll. Her husband, daughter, and one son live in or near Arthur, Iowa. The
daughter Margaret works on the Holstein Weekly at Holstein, Iowa, and edits the
Galva News. One son, Allen, died soon after graduation from high school. The
youngest son, Francis, is an electrical engineer in Davenport.
Jamie Bleakly was engaged in the
implement business in Cherokee at the time of his death. His wife and family
continue to live there.
Ruth (Mrs. Dick Bennett) passed away
at a very early age, leaving a husband and three small children who were
fortunate enough to have an aunt, Miss Sarah Bleakly, come to their home to
live.
One
son, Francis, has long lived in Schaller, Iowa, where he has been active in
propagating seed for the pop corn industry. His wife is Frances Meier, of
Schaller. They have recently moved to Storm Lake to educate their son Edward,
but Francis continues to hold his interest in the Schaller pop corn plant.
David Bleakly maintains one of the
most up to date seed corn plants in Iowa. He and his wife, Edith Cole, have
given over their entire farm to seed production and storage of thousands of
bushels of oats, soy beans, and corn.
Lewis, the youngest Bleakly son, is
an Electrical Engineer, and lives in Montana with his wife, Mary Isabell
Montgomery, and three sons.
Thomas Robinson, James' son, took his
pre-medic work at Upper Iowa University. He was graduated from Keokuk Medical
College. After graduation he arrived home in time to attend the wedding of
Fannie Swindell and John Scanlon in the Silver Creek Church. In a few days he
"drove through" to
Ida
Grove, where he was to practice. One of his generation put it this way:
"He had a beautiful bay team, an extra long wagon, and a large stock of
medicine. He joked with Billy Swindell, saying he planned to practice along the
way, all the way out to Ida County."
After leaving Iowa, Thomas practiced
in the South West. In 1903 he planned to visit his father and Silver Creek
friends. He stopped off in St. Louis to go to the Exposition, suffered an
attack of appendicitis, was operated on, and died.
Robert Robinson, or R. R., was
graduated from Epworth Seminary and Upper Iowa University, as well as Bayless
Business College of Dubuque. Then he farmed a large tract of land in Prairie
township, and his cousin Eliza Ann Robinson (the late Mrs. William Temple) kept
house for him until his marriage to Mabel Hixon. R. R. and Mabel had one child,
Robert Ray. She died in 1891 and he moved to Manchester where he was for a time
County Auditor before he organized the Delaware County Abstract Company. In
1893 he married Ella Parmalee, and they had two children Allen and Glenn. Allen
died in 1912. Glenn lives in Georgia. After his son Robert Ray was graduated
from high school and had returned from a European trip, the family moved to
Jacksonville, Florida. In 1913 Mr. Robinson met a tragic death in Jacksonville
when he was struck down by a brick hurled from the rear by a quarrelsome negro
of the town.
Eliza Robinson married the Reverend
J. D. Perry, a Methodist minister. Eliza was only sixteen years old when her
mother died. She went to Epworth Seminary for one year, after which she kept
house for her father and brothers until her marriage. Within the memory of many
persons living here now, the Reverend Perry and his wife Eliza often returned
to visit family and friends in Silver Creek.
Eliza's son Gregg lived for a time
in the Alex Robinson home before enlisting in World War I. He married Mary
Newton of Fayette, Iowa, and after his discharge, traveled for the Mid-West
Auto Supply Co. of Dubuque before his death. His wife is librarian at the U. S.
Naval Base, Corpus Christi, Texas.
Randall, the younger son, is
professor of History in a school in Benton Harbor, Michigan. He is married to
Helen Jaycox, and is the father of three children. His older daughter, Helen
Jeanette, is married. She and her husband are instructors in the University at
Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Alexander, better known as Alec,
attended Epworth Seminary for a short time. He later owned and operated the
homestead most of his life. He married Eva Falconer and they had five
daughters, Mollie, Rebecca, and Bertha, and two who died in infancy. Alec and
his family moved to Manchester on retirement from the farm, where he died in
1934. Mrs. Robinson died in 1944. Mollie graduated from the State University of
Iowa School of Nursing and is considered one of the best nurses to be found.
Rebecca is graduated from Iowa State Teachers College in Cedar Falls and has
taught most successfully ever since graduation. She has been teaching in
Clarion, Iowa, for number of years. Bertha also is a graduate of Iowa State
Teachers College and for a number of years she taught in the college at
Emporia, Kansas. She married George Humphrey and their home is in Deming, New
Mexico. Mr. Humphrey is a contractor. Bertha teaches in the Deming Public
Schools.
There never was a better neighbor or
friend than Alec Robinson. Quiet, unassuming, dependable, he was all his life a
pillar in any group with which he was associated. Mrs. Robinson, formerly Eva
Falconer, was a beloved woman, active in every worthy interest of her
community, a fine mother and home-maker.
John Burnside, James's fourth son,
was a lively young man, jolly and very energetic. He went to Epworth Seminary,
as did other members of his family. He was quite a horseman. It is said that
once he had a mustang which was a mean one. John was thrown from his mount over
and over, but he would get up and try it over. Finally he conquered the horse.
He was also interested in cattle and early in his life went to Nebraska where
he had a ranch and ran cattle in large numbers. He was gone from here a year
before his uncle Tom Robinson was shot in a fatal accident. Through a Mr.
Lister who once had a hardware store in Manchester, and who received immediate
word of the gun accident, John Burnside had the message. There was some
confusion of names in the communication and John came home at once, thinking it
was his own father who was dead. He came to the funeral of his father, in 1909,
the last time he was in Silver Creek.
John Burnside married Frances Adeline
Shain and they had two children. One daughter, Lillian Shain, married Clinton
Gross. They live in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and they have no children. The other
daughter is Nellie Burnside, who married Edward Leibel and has three children,
Lynn Lou, Patty Jean, and Charnell. Both John Burnside and his wife are dead.
Henry Robinson attended Upper Iowa
University for several years, and was graduated from Bayless Business College
of Dubuque. He married Ursa Hill of Manchester and they had three children. Mabel,
their youngest child, is married to Willard Robinson and they are parents of a
son, Robert, and a daughter, Joan. Account of these young people appears under
the Thomas Robinson family story.
Henry Robinson went to Pearl City,
Illinois, in the beginning of his career, to manage a branch lumber yard of the
Manchester Lumber Company, owned by Mr. Hollister of Manchester. Later he went
to Caldwell, Idaho, in lumber business and contracting, where the family lived
for years. Still later he came back to Iowa to look after his farm interests
here, and he continued in this business until his death. Henry was a favorite
neighbor and friend throughout all his days.
His son Sidney has been with the
Pacific Electric Power Company for more than twenty-five years. He married
Helen Rice and they have three children living. They had a son who died when he
was about ten years of age. Their daughter, Helen May, is married to Harry
Miller. Their son Bruce is married to Betty Jane Jones. Jerry, the youngest
son, is still in high school.
Henry's daughter Marion married
Lowell Morse and they had two children. Marion died untimely at their home in
Yakima, Washington. A fine young woman, her death was a heavy trial for all
connected with her. Her son's name is Glen Owen and he was in the Canadian army
during World War II.
Marion's
daughter, Betty Jane, is married and
lives in Saskatchewan, Ontario.
Gregg Robinson, the youngest child
in the James Robinson family, attended Upper Iowa University one year and
helped on the family farm until he went to Pearl City, Illinois, to manage his
brother's lumber yard when Henry came back to Iowa to develop his
"prairie" farm. Gregg married Elsie Wise. They have an adopted
daughter, Ardath, now Mrs. Kenneth Stimpson, who, since Gregg's death in 1925,
lives with her mother, in Orlando, Florida.
THE
STAGE COACH ROAD
In another letter mailed on July 28,
1952, Charlie Swindle continued his account of the first days of the three men who
took up the Silver Creek land. He wrote of the trip they made to Quasqueton for
supplies __ "following the old stage coach road. This old road, starting
back at Bailey's Ford, crossed over the old Alf Wells and the Barry land, the
Frank Ryan, the Sandiland place (now James Emerson's farm), and the Dover
property (now Harry Wenger's farm), over the John Robinson farm and the Swindle
farm, crossing Silver Creek about 40 rods south of the cross-roads that are
one-half mile north of the church, and continuing west through the Willard
Robinson farm and then southwest near the present McRoberts farm, and on west
by the Devlin and McKay farms, then northerly by the bridge west of the
McDowell farm, crossing the creek near the Dunn farm (later the George Johnston
land), and on west to Quasqueton.
"The Swindle house stands on
the stage coach road. The locations of the McRoberts, the Devlin, and the McKay
homes is explained by the fact that they were built on the stage road. Also the
road accounts for the fact that these places were not built on the section
lines or the road where it is now located. The stage route followed the high
land because of the impossibility of crossing the slough and the creeks much of
the year. As late as 1910 the wheel tracks of the coaches were plainly visible
on the Barry land, now owned by Art Lyness. Many Silver Creek people will
remember the road diagonally across the Sandilands farm until 1890 or 1891.
JOHN
McCAY
To the younger generations John
McCay seems like a legend. We have long looked at the huge, beautiful stone in
the cemetery, erected to the memory of Mr. and Mrs. McCay, and its tall granite
letters are fixed in our minds. The story of Mr. McCay's tragic death on the
first mechanical reaper in the neighborhood is part of the legend. Now that the
time has come to look into Mr. McCay's history more deeply, we have authentic
account of him. Fortunately there are still with us some who knew him in
person.
Mr. McCay was one of the three men
who came ahead of the larger group in the beginnings of Silver Creek. It was in
part his judgment that fixed this spot of America as our home place. From his
own original forty acres Mr. McCay went on to purchase more and more land until
he had 360 acres of good Iowa ground. He raised stock and grain on a large
scale. His business acumen was such that long before his death he had become a
wealthy man.
In 1852, and before he came to Iowa,
Mr. McCay had married Ann Robinson, in Alleghany. She was a most capable
helpmate for him. Their farmstead is located in the very western part of Silver
Creek community. In 1878 Mr. and Mrs. McCay made a trip to Ireland to their
native places. The next year they built their new house. It was a very fine
house indeed, one of the finest in all the country, costing over $4,000. Think
what that would mean today for the same scale of building. It was a large
house, made of choice wood and filled with the best furniture of that day, such
pieces as chairs and sofa covered with "horse-hair", and an eight-foot
mirror in a hand-carved walnut frame and with a little marble shelf below for
the metal-clasped family Bible. Mr. McCay had many plans for landscaping, for
orchards, for vineyards, and other things that grew out of his dreams of a home
in the New World, plans not completed, cut off by his sudden death.
Mr. McCay was a lover of good
horses. There are still present people who know the place where he maintained
on his farm a small race track for the sole purpose of exercising his horses.
He was proud of his saddles, harness, buggies and other equipment, all of which
he gave great care.
On July 31, 1880, he was reaping
with a four-horse team, and then came the fatal accident. Mr. McCay was a
strong man and knew his horses. It is easy to think that four spirited horses,
as Mr. McCay's horses always were, hitched to an unaccustomed and dangerous
piece of the new high-powered machinery, probably got away from him. He was
thrown in front of the machine and horribly cut. The story still lives that two
teams were ruined on that fateful day. Some one took a McCay team and drove to
Manchester for a doctor, Dr. C. C. Bradley, racing the horses unbelievably
fast. The return trip took another team. It was a hot day and both pairs of
horses were driven so hard they were winded and therefore of no further use.
Dr. Bradley had with him a young intern who was later Ryan's revered Dr. Wm.
Donnelly. It is said that the young doctor, unused to so gruesome a sight as
the mangled leg Dr. Bradley had to amputate with the help of his intern,
fainted dead away. Mr. McCay lived for two weeks after the accident. He lived
in his new house only seven months.
After the death of her husband, Mrs.
McCay lived on for many years, with the companionship of her faithful niece,
Bessie Reed. How many a person has passed this once beautiful home and looking
at it has meditated what change slow time can work on the best laid plans of
men! Mrs. McCay lived her long life almost alone in the big house. The McCays
had never had any children. There was a very large estate to be dispersed after
the death of Mrs. McCay.
A copy of a large folder showing the
pictures of Mr. and Mrs. McCay has come to light. Under the pictures is an
account of the couple, written by some unknown hand. We give the text of the
article exactly as it stands in the folder. We wish we could here print the
likeness of the strong faces of the McCays. With this tribute handed down from
1880 we close the record of John McCay, Pioneer.
"Mr.
John McCay, deceased, was born in Antrim County, Ireland, May 4, 1815. In that
country he spent his childhood and early manhood days. In the year 1847, he
came to America to share its liberal institutions and make his future home. His
first three years in this country were spent in the employ of a physician in New
York City, at the expiration of which time he went to Pittsburgh, Pa., and was
engaged as a laborer on the farm of a merchant with whom he remained two years.
On the eleventh day of June, 1852, he married Miss Ann Robinson, a lady of
Irish birth, born in Fermanagh County, in 1826, and came to America in 1850.
After their marriage they purchased forty acres of land in Iowa, where Mrs.
McCay still resides, in section one, Newton township, this county. They were
among the first substantial settlers of this county, and among the few who held
to the plow and did not look back, till the farm consists now of three hundred
and sixty acres. It is beautifully located, and is of the finest soil the west
affords. During Mr. McCay's life time he devoted this farm principally to the
interests of stock raising, learning its profits exceeded that of farming. In
the year, 1879, he built one of the finest farm residences in the county,
costing over four thousand dollars. But, sad to say, fate decreed that he
should enjoy it only seven short months.
On the thirty-first day of July,
1880, while he was engaged in reaping with a four-horse team, the horses became
frightened and threw him in front of the guards, where he was so mangled that
he died in two weeks afterward. Thus ended the career of a man whose life was a
beacon of hope to the poor man, and a model to the church. He was a man, who by
his exertions, won from the hard hand of toil one of the finest properties in
the west. When he first became a citizen of this country, his only possessions
were about three hundred dollars. But with his and his wife's combined efforts
they won for themselves a fortune that classed them not only among the
well-to-do farmers of the county, but among the wealthiest citizens of the
state.
Both Mr. and Mrs. McCay were earnest
members of the Methodist Episcopal church, which relation Mrs. McCay still
sustains. They commanded the highest respect of the community, and Mrs. McCay
still lives to enjoy it, while Mr. McCay only lives in the memory of his
friends and acquaintances, who will thank Mrs. McCay for the mark of respect
she has displayed for him, and the favor she has conferred upon them, by having
the above portraits in this work. Of Mrs. McCay we are pleased to state she is
a woman who has always had the will and dare to do, as the event of her coming
to this country alone, when only a little girl, testifies. She is a lady whose
morality, friendship and generosity cannot be excelled."
JOHN
AND MARGARET (SWINDLE) ROBINSON
The story of John and Margaret
Robinson, pioneers, is one that should not be compressed within a few pages.
They were both born in County Fermanagh, Ireland, and came to this country
before 1850. They were married in Pittsburg on March 16, 1854, and started
almost immediately for Iowa and their newly purchased land along Silver Creek.
In April, 1854, they came with a group of relatives and friends, making the
trip by boat over several rivers to Dubuque and by ox team and wagon from
Dubuque to Delaware County. They spent their first night in the John McCay
home. (Mrs. McCay was sister to John Robinson.) They built a log house, their
first home, along the creek in the field almost opposite the Anthony Swindle
place, a little southeast of where they later built the "big" house.
(Mrs. Robinson was sister to Anthony Swindle). In 1879 they built the frame
house which continued to be their home throughout their lives and which stands
now much as it was originally, occupied at the present time by Jack Robinson, a
descendant. In and out of both houses flowed a goodly share of the history of
Silver Creek settlement. The doors of their home were ever open to any one who
came their way. There is a story to explain in part their unusual hospitality:
When Uncle John first came to America,
he once went on a trip inland to the home of an uncle in Pittsburg. The boat he
was on was stranded and he undertook to make the rest of the trip a-foot. It
started to rain and he asked for shelter at several homes he came to, walking.
Each time he was turned away. He finally found shelter for the night under a
railroad bridge. Then and there he vowed that if ever he had a home of his own,
he would never turn a stranger from his door. So long as he lived he kept his
vow. Friends and relatives always found warm welcome, of course, but also there
was through the years a motley line of perfect strangers who came by and who
were always taken in and cared for. Hearsay has it that sometimes there were
visitors who stayed the night and who were of such character that a member of
the household would stay up on something like guard lest the guest be one with
ill intent. Uncle John feared nothing at all from those he befriended; and he
was never once the worse for his practice of taking in wayfarers who needed shelter.
In the early times, the log cabin days, the strangers slept on the cabin floor.
The Robinsons prospered. Their big
house was a fine one indeed. The parlor was upstairs, a custom brought with
them from the old country. There was in the "parlor bedroom"
downstairs a fireplace on the mantel of which sat a china cat from Ireland.
There was beautiful walnut furniture covered with horsehair cloth. There was a
tall old "secretary" in the living room, in which stood such books as
Josephus' History of the Jews, the McGuffey Readers the children used, and
other like works. The feather ticks and the pillows Aunt Margaret had were huge
things stuffed with the choicest of "down". None of this
chicken-feather stuffing for her. Her quilts were hand-made, from cloth in
bright colors, cotton or wool, and quilted in fine stitching. There is now in
use in the community one of Aunt Margaret's quilts in the Irish Chain pattern,
the background white, the chain in blue, the quilting pattern beautiful, done
by Aunt Margaret herself. Until her late years-and she lived to be almost
98-Aunt Margaret made her own soap and starch. She and her husband were thrifty
and far-sighted.
The Robinsons had six children, only
two of whom lived to maturity, George Thomas and Anthony. George Thomas died in
1902, at the age of forty-five. Anthony lived to be 74, dying in 1932. In his
babyhood he had some fearful sickness that left him crippled badly for life.
From the standpoint of modern diagnosis it would seem the child was a victim of
something like infantile paralysis. There were twin girls named Louisa and
Margaret who died a month apart, of black measles. There was a girl named Sarah
Ann who died of diphtheria in 1864, aged nine. There was an infant who died at
birth. After this last child Aunt Margaret suffered illness that finally
necessitated her going to a doctor in New York City, one famous for his skill
in the particularly difficult physical condition which was hers then.
When the young Margaret went to this
New York doctor, she found she would have to remain under treatment for a year.
It turned out that the doctor had come from Ireland, and doctor and patient had
knowledge of each other from the Irish family background. The doctor suggested
to Margaret that she work with the hospital nurses in the obstetrical
department and learn how to be a skillful "midwife". That she did and
when she came home at the end of her year of care and treatment, completely
well, she had also good training which she used freely and successfully in her
home community. She was all her active life considered the best nurse and
helper anywhere in time of sickness. It is said that there was not a home in
which she had not given, with her whole heart, all she could do in time of
illness (or of any other need, for that matter). She did not stop within the
borders of Silver Creek; she would go to any family in need of help, to any
place within range. And, she did not stay her steps because the illness might
be one of the dread contagious ailments that flourished too well in those days
of too few or no doctors, within reach.
Aunt Margaret and Uncle John once
went back to Ireland on a six-months visit to their early homes. When they
returned, Aunt Margaret brought with her a quantity of "oil boiled
calico", "fast color" and durable calico, which she gave to all
the relatives and friends in Silver Creek.
It is said that one of the patterns she brought was "a Chinese
design and very pretty". She brought also an egg-case full of duck eggs of
some breed of duck she especially wanted to have in America. She carried this
case of eggs on shipboard and to Iowa, successfully, hatching her Irish ducks
in due time and of course later distributing this kind of duck among her Silver
Creek friends. A relative of hers in the present generation said, "It was
some kind of gray duck she brought". There is in the community a gift she
brought with the many she gathered up on that trip to Ireland, this token a
white "mug" cup with "A Present from Largs" in gold letters
on it.
There is a story of Uncle John's
finding an ox yoke on a road one day long ago, a yoke lost by some one. He
carried it home and cut it up into chunks and planted the chunks in watered
holes. The ox yoke grew into a row of poplar trees finally. There is another
story of Aunt Margaret's picking up a teamster's green willow whip lying along
a wagon trail when she went on a long trip across unfenced country-side, after
their milk cows. She planted her willow whip and from it came the willow trees
some of which still grow along the creek that lies to the east of the old home.
Their big outdoor oven was in use until Aunt Margaret was in her nineties.
Uncle John and Aunt Margaret had the
devoted care of nieces who came from Ireland to live in their home and who
stood in the capacity of daughters. Mary Robinson, later Mrs. T. S. McRoberts,
was with them for a number of years. Later her sister Martha came and stayed
for a year before returning to be married in Ireland. In 1910 Sarah Robinson
came and spent forty years in devoted care of Aunt Margaret and Anthony. Sarah
died only last summer (1951), leaving behind her the memory of a woman kind and
faithful to all whose lives she touched. For several years after Anthony died
Sarah lived on in the old home, and at the last she, in turn, had all the
kindly care possible to give any one, in the home of her niece Sarah McRoberts
Robinson (Mrs. Milton Robinson).
Uncle John died in 1908; Aunt
Margaret died in 1917. They are buried in Silver Creek cemetery, where is
erected a beautiful stone in their memory. We have barely touched the surface
of their story. Through a long stretch of time they stood as leaders in the
community they helped to found. "Their works do praise their name".
JAMES
LENDRUM FAMILY
The Lendrum name figures prominently
in all accounts of early times in Silver Creek. The records there are show two
spellings of the name. The first version was spelled with an a, Landrum. For
some reason we do not know the name finally appeared consistently with the
letter e, Lendrum. There are in most of the old homes here photographs of Mr.
and Mrs. Lendrum in their later years, showing him as a man of fine appearance.
Mrs. Lendrum, always referred to as "Aunt Lizzie Lendrum", is in her
photograph a woman of unusually keen eyes, of strong features, of kindly
aspect. She was twin sister of Thomas Robinson, father of Wesley. She died
within two weeks after Thomas's tragic death by a gun accident, seemingly
unable to recover from the shock of his passing. Lately one of the older people
here, who knew Mrs. Lendrum personally, said, "Everybody went to Aunt
Lizzie when they wanted anything. She was a capable, resourceful, fine woman in
all ways".
We know that Mr. Lendrum was a
skilled cabinet maker and carpenter. There are a good many pieces of his work
in the old homes here at the present time. He had been apprenticed in Ireland
for three years and came out of that experience possessed of great skill. He
made many of the "what-nots'' our people have. Mollie and Rebecca have a
walnut bedstead, a bookcase of cherry wood, a walnut chest of drawers, and a
cherry dish-cupboard all made by Mr. Lendrum. Elsewhere in this booklet is
mention of the fact that he made most of the caskets used for his neighbors and
friends. He was almost fanatical about his tools, said one of the persons who
knew him. He would not let a stranger touch the things he worked with. There is
here Mr. Lendrum' s tool box, which he gave or sold to William Swindell, whose
daughter, Lizzie insists she wants to keep this box for sentiment's sake. In
the winter months Mr. Lendrum made by hand the shingles he wanted to use in his
building. All in all, Mr. Lendrum must have been one of the most useful and
esteemed of all the pioneer group.
The story of their trip from Pittsburgh
to Iowa stays in the minds of the older people. The family came by train, and
there was a curious accident. A cow went onto the railroad track and the engine
of the train hit her, causing a train wreck. An iron bar was dislodged some way
and came through the train window and struck and killed the Lendrums' baby boy
about six weeks old, the only son they ever had. They had two daughters who
died of black diphtheria. They had also a daughter Eliza Jane, who married
James Taylor. They were the grandparents of Miss Stella Taylor who is a popular
teacher in Manchester High School. Another daughter, Maggie, married Ben
Taylor. The daughter Martha, or Mattie, married John Anderson. Rachel Lendrum
married Ed Foster and went to Ohio to live.
The Lendrums owned the farm where
Art Goos now lives, just east of the Wigwam. They lived at another location in
log house days, on the McGuire road, according to various accounts. In his
later years Mr. Lendrum moved to Manchester and died there. He and Lizzie are buried
in Silver Creek cemetery.
We have a letter written several
weeks ago by Mrs. Luther Wiltse of Manchester, granddaughter of James Lendrum.
She writes: "James Landrum was born June 9, 1822, in County Tyrone,
Ireland, and was united in marriage with Elizabeth Robinson on February 8,
1842. They came to America in 1845 and lived in Alleghany, Pennsylvania. In
1852 they joined the tide of immigrants to the new west and settled in the
Silver Creek neighborhood, living there most of their lives. After the death of
his first wife he remarried and later went to Manchester to live. He was the
father of nine children. One infant son was killed in a train wreck when they
were coming to Iowa.
"Mrs. Eliza Jane (Lendrum)
Taylor daughter of James and Eliza, had four children, Tom, Walter, Anna, and
Lou. She had two grandchildren. Mrs. Maggie (Lendrum) Taylor was mother to six
children; Bess (Taylor) Knapp, Mattie C., Jim, Nell (Taylor) Canfield, Will,
and Reuben. I think there were two grand-children, Stella and Raymond.
"Mrs. Martha (Lendrum) Anderson
was mother to six children: Edith Wiltse of Manchester ; Earl Anderson of
Arnold's Park, Iowa; Archie, who died in 1914; William who died in 1936;
Herbert who lives at DeKalb, Illinois; Bess (Anderson) DeMoss who lives at
Albuquerque, New Mexico. Edith Wiltse has two children, Gerald Wiltse, who
lives in Des Moines; Jean who married Tom Hattel and they live at Loves Grove,
Illinois. They have two children, Marcia, age eight; Alan age three.
"Bess (Taylor) Knapp (sic) had one
girl, Dorothy, who died in Albuquerque in 1944. There were no other
grandchildren in the Anderson family. There was Rachel Lendrum (James'
daughter) who married Ed Foster and they lived in Ohio. They had no children.
The older children of Grandpa Lendrum - I don't remember their names. Someone
else may be able to help you out on that."
John R. Lendrum was born near Five
Mile Town, County Tyrone, Ireland. He
lived three years with Uncle James Lendrum in Delaware County and moved to a
homestead at Minatare, Nebraska, in 1886.
Three months after his marriage to a Miss Harshman of Minatare he met
his death by drowning. His body was
never recovered. It is believed that
John Lendrum came to this country with James Emerson, father of James, Roy, and
Carl, and William McKeown, in the year 1882.
McKeown died this same year at the age of 20.
WILLIAM
and ISABELLE (CARROTHERS) SWINDELL FAMILY
William and Isabelle (Carrothers)
Swindell were both born in County Fermanagh, Ireland, not very far apart. The
Carrothers family lived near a town named Lisnaskae, a place where the famous
Belleek china and pottery are made. The Carrothers house is still used as a
dwelling, occupied twenty years ago by a family named Warnock. It is a long
house, a typical Irish country cottage, covered on the outside by something
like white plaster, and thatched as to roof.
Isabelle, born November 13, 1824,
was the third sister. A sister named Eliza married a man named Montgomery and
the couple lived and died in Ireland. Their daughter Mary came to America when
she was a young woman and lived for a time with her aunt Isabelle. She married
Jimmy Robinson here and an account of her and her family appears elsewhere in
this booklet.
Isabelle's brothers, Christopher,
John, and Thomas, came to America. Christy lived his life out in Silver Creek,
dying here in 1891. John lived here for a time on what we know as the Baxter
place on the Ryan road east from Cottonwood Lane. Later he and his family moved
to Ida County, Iowa, and eventually to California. Account of this family
appears in a separate section of this writing. Thomas stayed in the East long
enough to be taken into the army in the Civil War, and he died on Gettysburg
field on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg.
Isabelle came to America in October,
1850. with Ann Robinson (later the wife of John McCay) and Ann's half-brother,
Johnston Robinson (sic). Isabelle had an
aunt in Alleghany, Pennsylvania, whom the family called Aunt Graham. Isabelle
was married to William Swindell in 1852, at the home of this aunt. They went to
live in Pittsburg and they had a baby son named John who died just before the
family was to leave Pittsburg for Iowa, in 1854. William and Isabelle traveled
to Iowa with John and Margaret Robinson and James Robinson and his wife Mary
Ann (Gregg) Robinson. (Mary Ann was the daughter of Isabelle's (sic) sister who
died and left the child to the care of her aunts and uncles.) They went down
the Monongahela river by tow boat. Then they traveled the Ohio river and the Mississippi
river by steamboat to Dubuque. William's brother, Anthony, had managed some way
to get an ox team and wagon and met the party in Dubuque. The women walked from
Dubuque to Delhi, arriving there about three o'clock in the afternoon. John and
Margaret stayed the first night in Silver Creek with the John McCays. The rest
of the party stayed all night with the Lendrums. One wonders how they all
crowded into the Lendrum log house, the visitors and the Lendrum family.
Mrs. Johnston described her parents'
first home. Immediately William made a dug-out 14 feet square, near the bank of
the creek. He cut poles and put them across the dug-out and on the poles laid a
thatching of long grass. This hay thatch turned the rain well. They left one
side open the width of a door and made a big sheaf of grass for this doorway,
to keep out snakes and other marauders. On bad days they kept the sheaf in
place all day. On good days the sheaf
was put outside. Isabelle had the things she had brought from Ireland, a feather
tick and two pillows, and some blankets and sheets she, herself had woven. She
had also some black-handled knives and forks and a pair of brass candle sticks
Aunt Graham had given her when she left Pittsburg. These candle sticks stand in
the family home at the present moment. Brother Anthony had found them a spring
for their drinking water. William and Isabelle lived in this dug-out from April
19, 1854, until December 22. William and his brother Anthony worked all summer
building the new log house and had it ready for occupancy by December 22, and
in time for the first Christmas dinner, to which they invited everybody.
Elsewhere in this writing is a little story of this Christmas dinner.
On the first Sunday after they
reached here, William and Isabelle and Margaret started out to follow the creek
to see where it sprang up. They followed it to "the lake", which
spread out at the place where the upper school stands. The lake had a limestone
bottom and the water was very clear and full of big fish. Elsewhere is record
of the provisions of game and fish salted away ready for the newcomers when
they arrived that April day in 1854. As soon as he could get brick, William
built a brick oven down by the creek. Before that there was only a fireplace
for all the cooking and baking to be done. A Dutch oven was the main utensil
for fire-place cooking.
On February 22, 1855, a few months
after William and his wife moved into their log house, their first child here
was born, Charles A. Swindell, whose name is familiar to young and old. In
eighteen months the second child was born, William. In all there were ten
children, counting the infant son who died in Pittsburg and the baby girl who
died of diptheria in 1864. Charles A. once told his remembrance of that event
in their family life. The baby had been ill for several days. They were all
sitting at supper one evening, the sick baby in its cradle near by. The baby
made a strange sound. The mother stooped over the child, trying to give some
relief to the little one. Then she straightened up and said, "The baby is
dead". Diptheria was a dread disease then, for there was no doctor or
other help when diptheria struck.
On the other side of the family is
this account. The house in which the Swindle (Swindell) family were all born still stands, the old
home place near the town of Clonus, in County Fermanagh, Ireland. It is owned
by a man named John Liddle whose father, Robert, bought "the place in
Kiltern". (The term "Kiltern" probably is the same as the name
Silver Creek; that is, each is the name of a community or area.) The house is
the same typical Irish cottage. Mr. Liddle was not using it as a dwelling
twenty years ago, though it was in fairly good repair. The little house is not
very far from one of the old Irish castles, called Castle Crom. It is part of
the estate owned by the Earl of Erin. The castle is like the pictures we have
all seen in books, a big, towered, ornate building with basements. It is a
strange sight to American eyes, but the castles have their own stories that
belong to an order of things quite different from this modern world. Aunt
Margaret used often to tell of hearing from their cottage home the clock on the
Crom Castle tower strike the hour. Too, she often talked about "Loch
Erne" (Lake Erin). The men in her family were slaters and had worked on
Crom Castle.
Mrs. Johnston says her father had
two brothers who came to America, but not to Iowa. One brother, named Charles,
settled in Michigan; another named Frank went to New Orleans, where he died of
"ship fever", probably yellow fever. Communication a hundred years
ago was not easy and the brothers lost track of each other.
In 1903 Charles and family returned
to Iowa and to the old home place. Anthony, his brother, had been running the
farm, but Anthony's sight failed and he was forced to give up farming. So, C.
A. operated the old farm, doing general farming and stock raising. He developed
a fine herd of Shorthorn cattle over a period of years. He had particular
interest in raising excellent quality grains, and on several occasions was
awarded medals and other tokens for his top quality grains. He was a member of
the County Board of Supervisors for nine years, 1914 to 1923, and was active in
many other county or state relationships. He was deeply interested in his
church and taught the Adult Bible Class of the Silver Creek church over a long
period of years. He pored over his Bible lessons evening after evening through
all that time, in making the best preparation a good teacher could give to his
lessons. It would be difficult to say in a page or two what deep and abiding
feeling Charles had for his home community and its people or what his always
ready to take time for anyone. A line spoken by his minister in the funeral
address expresses aptly the whole tenor of his life, for it truly was filled by
"his little, nameless, un-remembered acts of kindness and of love",
as his pastor said.
Charles' wife, Ida, was a woman of
unusual capability. She was able mistress of the old home, active in all
neighborhood projects, always with her mind on doing her part in all good
works. The home of which she and Charles were heads was a haven for many a
person in time of need. They gave to a number of persons a home and the gift of
friendship as well as material sustenance. Their names are indelible in Silver
Creek's story.
Their son, Charles W., was born in
New York City and came here at the age of seventeen. He lived his life out on
the family farm. He was an upright man, always interested in doing any kindly
thing in his power for a neighbor or friend. Mr. Swindell's niece Blanche made
her home with the family most of her life and following the deaths of her
uncle, aunt, and cousin inherited the family home,
A strand in the home life of Mr. and
Mrs. Swindell is bound up with Mrs. Marguerite Guilgot, a French war widow, who
came to America after her husband was killed in World War I. She arrived with
her two children, Paul and Suzanne. They came to Silver Creek because
Marguerite had two brothers living here at that time. Shortly after their
arrival Marguerite and Suzanne came to the Swindell home and remained for 26
years. The faithfulness of Mrs. Guilgot in her consideration of Uncle Anthony's
need in his blindness was enough for continued praise; but when there was need
for similar care of the older members of the household who were growing in
years, she gave unstinted devotion to them. Close ties developed between the
Swindell family and Mrs. Guilgot and her family. Suzanne grew up in the home
and Paul was there from time to time. Mrs. Guilgot made a place for herself in
the community too, insomuch that we consider her part of it basically. She now
lives with Suzanne and her husband, Fay Johnston, in Long Beach, California.
William's second son was William B.,
who left Iowa in his early twenties, for the Nebraska frontier. He died in 1943
at the age of 88. He married Ida Johnston of New York state, on her eighteenth
birthday, and they went west to a life of rugged pioneering, as rugged as his
father's generation had known. They had two sons, Earl and Donald W. Earl has
retired from an active business life and is living in Polson, Montana. He
married Clara B. Smith and they have two children. The son, Bill, is a captain
in the army Air Force. He is now stationed at Ft. Worth, Texas, with the 7th
Wing, Bomber Group. Bill is married to Adelaide Smith and has a son named
Charles William Jr. Earl's daughter, Erla Mae, is married to James F. Crowley,
an Attorney in Hastings, Nebraska. They have three children, Thomas Jerome, Mary
Patricia, and Joseph Earle.
W. B. Swindell refused his father's
request that he stay in his home surroundings and he set off for Nebraska. He
had a world of experience in his life as a pioneer and was an important figure
in the development of that part of the west. He was a rancher, a surveyor, a
stock raiser, a post master. On the occasion of his death, in 1943, another
"old timer" said, "Billy needs no big monument, lying here in
the old pioneer cemetery that the Wilbergers and he established. His monument
is all about him, in this fine farming country he helped to develop". He
filed the first homestead entry on the table lands northwest of Minatare. He
built the first frame house in Minatare. He served as post master in Minatare
under Presidents Grover Cleveland, McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, and Wm. H.
Taft. He was secretary of the Farmers Irrigation district during the first
construction period of that canal, and he promoted and financed the first
survey. He also promoted the building of the irrigation systems of which
Nebraska now boasts. The Gering, Nebraska Historical Society has all his
pioneer records, to be used in compiling a history of western Nebraska.
The oldest Wm. Swindell daughter was
Fannie, who married John Scanlon. Full account of Fannie is given in the
Scanlon family history.
Anthony, the third son, farmed the
home place for a number of years after his father's death. He and his mother
and sister Elizabeth lived together on the place until Elizabeth's marriage to
Henry Johnston. In a few years Anthony's eye sight failed. For some years he
was treated by specialists in New York City and by other doctors in Iowa City,
but there was no help for him. He finally became entirely blind and had to give
up active life. When Charles and family came from New York City to operate the
home place, Anthony made his home with them until his death in 1932. Anthony
was never married. He was a kind man, gentle and considerate in every least
way. Blindness is a sore affliction for any one. Few people would accept such a
lot so patiently as did Anthony. He is remembered with affection.
Mary Ann, second daughter, married
W. R. Swindal and lived all her married life in Poweshiek County, Iowa, where
her husband had extensive holdings in farms. He was also a stock raiser. Mary
Ann's whole life was given unreservedly to her home and her family. She lived
her 86 years in the quietness of her own home circle. She was entirely loyal to
the friends and the community of her youth. She was often home on visits, and
she never failed to respond to any call of her parental home or of old friends.
There seemed to be a special bond between her, and all the cousins back home.
The story "Little Girl Lost'', to be found in this booklet, covers one
memorable event of her childhood in Silver Creek. She lived the latter half of
her life in a home that tops the high hill one sees on approaching Brooklyn.
After her husband's death, her daughter Alice and her family came to live with
Mary Ann, and they gave her the tender and considerate care that made her last
days peaceful and full.
Mary Ann's oldest child, Willie,
died at 14, from pneumonia. The boy's father had set his hopes on this son as
his successor in his successful business and the lad's passing was a heavy blow
to the family. The oldest child, Mabel, married John Goff and they have lived
all their married life in Brooklyn, where John had his business as a baker.
They had two children, Marjorie and Randall. Marjorie married George Foley of
Chicago. She died just before Christmas, 1951, as result of a car accident. She
left four very young children. Randall is unmarried, and his home is, of
course, in Brooklyn.
Alice married Earl Evans, a farmer,
and they live in the home at the top of the hill at Brooklyn. They have one child,
a son, Robert, who married Glenna Keller. They have a baby daughter, Karen Rae.
Robert is a young man of unusual ability in mechanics and in farming.
Nellie, third daughter, married
Homer Simmons and they had a daughter and three sons. The daughter, Evelyn,
died as a small child. The oldest son, Lloyd, married Marian Boky and they had
a daughter, Sharon. Lloyd was killed in World War II. The second son is Leslie,
who married Kathryn Combs. They have three children, Connie, Cherry, and Leslie
Kay. The third son, Leland, married Marilyn Morgan and they have one child,
David. These young men live away from their maternal relatives so far that we
have comparatively little information on them save names.
Mary Ann and William had another
son, Charles, whose birth was the delight of all the family; a boy would help
take Willie's place. Charles was a student at the University of Iowa for
several years, finally going into business in Iowa City. Later he went to
Arizona on account of his health and he died there. He was married to Retta
Norris of Grinnell and they had one daughter, Phyllis Jane. Phyllis Jane is
married and lives in Maine. Charles was a highly intelligent young man and his
passing was a sad thing.
John H. was the youngest son. He was
married to Flora Davis and they lived on John's large farm in Silver Creek most
of their married life. They moved to Manchester for three years and there Flora
died, a young woman, leaving four small children. John sold his Silver Creek
farm and moved to Missouri. Later he moved to Kansas and he died in Dodge City,
Kansas. His body was brought back to his home and he was buried beside his wife
Flora.
The oldest of the family is Blanche,
who was graduated from Cornell College and from Columbia University in New
York, with a Master's degree in English. She has been a teacher of literature
and writing all her professional life. She is presently an instructor in
English for the University of Wisconsin. Florence, second daughter, is a
graduate of Presbyterian Hospital in Chicago and is a registered nurse. Her
home is in Altadena, California. She has had a successful career as a nurse.
Howard Anthony, the only son, is a graduate of Iowa State College at Ames, in
electrical engineering. He has been with the Northwest Bell Telephone Company
ever since his graduation. He married Lillian Nelson of Garfield, Kansas, and
they have a son, Howard Jr., a junior in high school. Their home is in Sioux
City, Iowa, where Howard's office is located.
Lucy Isabelle, third daughter, was
graduated from Cornell College and from Columbia University in New York, with a
Master's degree in English. She taught English for a number
of
years in Washington High School, East Chicago, Illinois, before her marriage to
Ernest R. Hegi, who is with the American Express Company in Chicago. Lucy is
presently an instructor in English for the University of Illinois in the Navy
Pier branch in Chicago. She and Ernest have their home on the South Side in
Chicago.
Margaret, third daughter of William
and Isabelle, married Henry Johnston, and they had a son, Forrest Anthony.
Margaret died when her son was about two years old. Forrest married Gladys
Marolf and they have a son, Donald. Forrest has long been a rural mail carrier.
He and Gladys have a very nice home in Coggon. Don is a junior in high school,
a young man with marked interest in things mechanical.
Elizabeth, youngest child in the
Swindell family, married Henry Johnston and they bought a farm in Silver Creek,
the old Dover farm, a pioneer holding. Later they sold this and bought property
in Coggon. Later still they bought a farm on the edge of Coggon, where Henry
died. Elizabeth finally bought a house in Hopkinton, to be near her daughter,
Marion. Mrs. Johnston has been spending winters in California for several
years, but returns to her home surroundings when spring arrives. The Johnstons
had five children besides Forrest, Margaret's son. Elizabeth and Henry's oldest
child, Harlan, died in infancy. Margaret, the older daughter, was graduated
from Iowa State Teachers College in Cedar Falls, and from Pestalozzi Teachers
College in Chicago. She is now principal of a school in Wheaton, Illinois,
where she has spent most of her teaching career. She has had much success in
her work as teacher and administrator.
The third child in this family was
Charlie, who died at six years of age, of pneumonia. He was a bright,
attractive little boy and his passing was a grievous event in the family life.
The next child was Fay Milton, who is in the army, now stationed in Alaska. He
is a staff sergeant. Fay married Hollis White and they had two children, Jack
and Linda Sue. Jack is a promising young man, graduated just last June from
high school, and he is planning to go to the University of Iowa in the fall.
Linda is in high school, doing well. Fay married Suzanne Guilgot and they have
a fine new home in Long Beach, where they have lived for several years.
Marion, youngest child in the
family, taught for several years and then married Harold Taylor. Harold has a
thriving business in Hopkinton, the Taylor Implement Company. Their home is in
Hopkinton.
W.
B. ROBINSON FAMILY
The beginnings of the William
Robinson family in America were with William and his wife, Matilda
(Williamson). William, son of James and Margaret (Johnston) Robinson, was born
in North Ireland, in 1814. He died in Silver Creek in 1873. He came west in
1852 and settled in Silver Creek where two of his brothers, James and Thomas,
were also settling. He married Matilda Williamson, who was born in Ireland and
died in Silver Creek in 1910.
Like all their neighbors, William
and "Tillie" lived at first in a log house, which was situated a
little north of his own land on the property of his brother, James. The
pioneers always looked for timber when they built. Timber provided warmth and
protection. He set the log house on his brother's property because there was
the very surrounding of trees he wanted. Later they built, on their own land,
the first frame house in the community. The same house is in use on the family
farm at the present time. Six children were born to the couple, part of them in
the new frame house. In the high tide of their family development the heavy
blow fell. William contracted typhoid fever at a time when that disease was
taking its toll in the community. Within the next two years the remaining
members of the family, including the mother, had typhoid fever and two
children, Sarah and James died. Anyone looking back across the years feels an
inexpressible sympathy for this young mother left with a broken home and the
mountainous task before her of wresting a home from what was then largely a
wilderness.
Through the years Aunt Tillie and
the four children, Maggie, Eliza Ann, William B., and Anthony T., carried on.
Eventually theirs was one of the best farms in the country. The two daughters
married and established homes of their own. Maggie (later Mrs. William
Carrothers) lived all her active life in Silver Creek and was beloved of
relatives and neighbors, a woman given to good works. More account of her
appears under the Carrothers story. Eliza Ann married William Temple and they
lived most of their years in Ft. Dodge, where Mr. Temple was employed. They had
one son, William, Jr., who is an artist. He married Elsie McMahan who is also
an artist and both are employed by Younker's Store in Des Moines, Elsie in
charge of the Art Department and William an executive of another department. It
is interesting to know that William made the excellent drawing of the Silver
Creek church which was used in making the Centennial plates showing this
church. Eliza Ann's name always comes up when old friends get together, and she
is remembered happily by one and all who grew up in the neighborhood.
W. B. is a term as familiar in our
community as the name Silver Creek itself. Throughout their life together, the
couple, W. B. and Mary Ann, his wife, were foremost in every project, every
move for the good of the community. The fact that W. B. very naturally fell
into the position early vacated by the untimely passing of his father accounts
in part for his place in leadership among his group. When W. B. married, he
built a larger house beside the first frame dwelling, in which he and his wife,
Mary Ann, lived and reared their five children. Mary Ann was the oldest child
of pioneer Anthony Swindle and his wife Lucy Norris. Mary Ann had seen the
growth of her home community almost from its very beginning. In her young years
she went to Epworth Seminary and later to Cornell College. She was a woman of
energy, warm-hearted, and unselfish, always loyal and kind to family and
friends, giving of her time and strength all her days. W. B. and Mary Ann
celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary on February 26, 1942. Mary Ann died
on January 12, 1948, and was laid to well-earned rest in the cemetery her own
father helped to lay out nearly a century ago.
W. B. was for eighteen years a
member of the County Board of Supervisors. He was a director in several county
banks and served in other official capacities in these same banks. In almost
every civic project in the neighborhood and the county W. B. has always been a
staunch promoter. Many of us remember the enthusiasm and the fun which were his
when he was helping with the annual Ryan Colt Show not many years ago. Now
grown in years, W. B. lives in his own little frame house, the very house in
which he was born, helping about the farm, and watching the flock of children
that keep the old place lively even as did his own five. His grandson, seven
year old Jimmy Robinson, was born on Grandpa W. B.' birthday, November 12.
Byron, the oldest son of W. B. and
Mary Ann, finished his grade school education in Silver Creek school, a stone's
throw from his home. Then he went to
Upper Iowa University and after that to Cedar Rapids Business College from which
he was graduated. He served in the last
year of World War I. For several years he worked as cashier in two small banks
in the county, of which his great-uncle, W. H. Norris, was president. Then he bought and operated Elk Creek ranch,
which lies in the Black Forest region between Denver and Colorado Springs. He
married Beulah Larabee, daughter of Frank Larabee of Dundee. They had three children, William (Billy), Betty, and Lucille, account of whom
appears in the family tree. Byron died
untimely, a victim of the dust storms that swept the western region in
1934. He is buried in Colorado
Springs. His wife, Beulah, disposed of
the ranch and taught school in Colorado and reared the three children. In 1942 Beulah died and was buried beside
Byron in Colorado Springs. The children are fine young people, all married
happily and established in their own homes.
Milton, the second son of W. B.,
followed the family pattern in the Silver Creek home school. Then he was
graduated from Manchester High School. After high school he farmed with his
father on the home place, doing general farming and raising pure-bred cattle
for the Robinson Shorthorn herd. In 1921 Milton married Sarah, daughter of T.
S. McRoberts, and they went to live on the farm which is their home, just east
of Wigwam hill. For a long period of years Milton was employed by Delaware
County, operating the Road Maintainer until his youngest son went into Service
and the total responsibility of the farm fell on Milton's shoulders.
Sarah and Milton have eight
children, whose account is in the family tree. They have reared these children
in the mold of their families on each side-country school, high school, and
further training in whatever pursuit each child chose. The two older sons,
Raymond and Wayne, are married and in business positions is Cedar Rapids. They
both were in the Service during World War II. Raymond saw heavy fighting all
the way, starting at Casa Blanca across Africa to Bizerte, from there into the
Italian campaign at Anzio Beachhead and southern France, working with the
Seventh Army into southern Germany. Wayne was in the Navy and his service was
in the Pacific. The oldest daughter, Mary Margaret, was graduated from the
Moody Bible Institute in Chicago in preparation for work in religious
leadership. She married Glenn Searcy whom she met during their training at
Moody Institute, and who also is a graduate of that school. The couple are at
present engaged in religious work in Arkansas. Milton has two sons. Jack, the
third son, is married and living on the John Robinson estate in Silver Creek.
Jack and his wife, Lesta Jean, have just become the parents of a son named (by
Jack) Kelly Dean, their first-born. Howard, the youngest son, is in Service.
The daughter Lois was graduated from high school last June and has a position
in the office of a Cedar Rapids business firm. The other two girls, Virginia
and Carol, are at home.
Anthony, third son of the W. B.
family, and his wife, Alice, live in the big home on the family estate and are
rearing their children in the tradition of the two earlier families on this
home place. Tony and Alice are continuing in a marked way the community
leadership which is a heritage for them. Tony operates the home farm and, in
partnership with his brother Lloyd, continues the Silver Vale purebred herd of
Shorthorn cattle. Their home is open to all who come. Their two daughters,
Marilyn and Donna Jean, are in high school. Twelve-year old Roger and Jimmy,
the youngest, are in grade school, all in the Coggon Independent District.
Roger is active in 4-H Club work and is following most aptly in the family
footsteps in the cattle business.
Lucy, W. B's. daughter, was
graduated from Manchester High School and Cornell College. She taught for
several years in Lincoln High School in Council Bluffs. Her field was Speech,
Interpretation, and Dramatics. She married Dr. John W. Baird of Council Bluffs,
where they built a home and where Dr. Baird is in practice in dentistry. The
Bairds have one child, Barbara, who this year will be graduated from the
University of Colorado. At the present time Barbara is on a trip through Europe
with a group of college girls.
Lloyd, youngest in the W. B. family,
married Borghild Haukland, born in Norway, a niece of Mrs. Urban Baxter of
Ryan, Iowa. Borghild was graduated from Morningside College and took her
Masters Degree at the University of Wisconsin. Later she spent a year studying
languages at Munich, Germany. They live in Algona, Iowa, where Lloyd is Farm
Loan Manager for Banker's Life, engaged in appraising farms the farm loans for
this insurance company. Lloyd was graduated from Manchester High School after
which he went one year to Cornell College and then to Iowa State College at
Ames for two years. Interested in the family cattle business, he is frequently
a visitor to the home place, and he continues actively his interest in his home
surroundings.
Anthony T., youngest son of the
original William Robinson family in America, grew up on the home farm. After
his schooling on the home ground, A. T. went to Upper Iowa University where in
those days it was possible for young people to do secondary school work in the
old-time academy. He worked for the Hollister Lumber Company and finally became
manager of the Winthrop Lumber Company.
Later he was manager for the Hollister firm in their lumber company in
Columbia Falls, Montana, where he remained for ten years. Later still he was manager for lumber
companies in Delaware County. To his
death he was engaged in lumber business. He married Irene Biglow and theirs was
a happy home. A. T. was away from
Silver Creek for many years, but his roots were here and he came at last to
live in his home surroundings, He had a stepson, Norman Biglow, but no child of
his own.
THOMAS
ROBINSON FAMILY
Thomas Robinson was born in Ireland
on September 16, 1816, and died in Silver Creek on August 11, 1889. He was one
of the very early pioneers, having come to Iowa in 1852. His brother James, who
had come ahead with two other men and made the purchase of the "parcels"
of land to be distributed among the group, was in Silver Creek and had
something like a welcome waiting for his brother Tom. Thomas married Elizabeth
Robinson (last names the same) and they settled on their farmstead where they
lived all their lives. Thomas built a log house near the creek, their first
home here. It is noteworthy that a few years ago Clifford Robinson, grandson of
Tom, moved this same log house to a farm he bought from the estate of his aunt
Maria, and had it encased in a shingle covering. It is now used as a dwelling
by Cliff's renters. The Tom Robinson home, both log and later frame, was a
center of hospitality all through the years.
A story which is told and retold in
Silver Creek is a little drama of deeds. Thomas Robinson and his brother James
had purchased their farms and had all rights clear except the recording of the
deeds. In common with all their countrymen here they were so busy settling in
their new homes that they had neglected going to the courthouse in Dubuque to
do the registering of their papers. One day they saw a stranger on horseback
riding around inspecting various pieces of land in the community. For some
reason-shall we say providential warning-they suddenly thought "land
speculators". The speculator was a grim threat to early settlers.
"Land shark" is the bald term used for the unscrupulous man who would
come around to find any loose spot in a settler's claim on his holdings and
snatch the land from the unwary owner. It was done many a time. So, acting on
their premonition, the brothers, Thomas and James, set off at once, about four
o'clock in the afternoon, the two men and one horse. History does not record
why there was but one horse. The supposition is that one was all they had. One
man rode the horse and the other walked. The man on the horse would go a
distance, get off and tie the horse, and walk on. When the second man had
walked to where the horse was tied, he would mount and ride ahead, pass the man
on foot, and ride to another stopping place, where he would tie the horse and
go on, walking. They kept this procedure up all night and were in Dubuque, on
the courthouse steps, when the building was opened next morning. Sure enough,
while they were waiting for the doors to open, who should arrive but the land shark.
But the brothers Robinson were a step ahead at the recorder's desk, had their
deeds recorded, and went back home next day. We have no account of the homeward
journey; we need none. We rejoice in spirit with Tom and James.
Elizabeth, Tom's wife, or Eliza as
she was usually called, was a woman of strong qualities. We have account of her
as Silver Creek's very first teacher; that she had classes in her own home in
the days when there was no such thing as a school building. "Aunt
Eliza" as the neighborhood youngsters knew her, set in her teaching a
worthy pattern followed by her daughters, Ella (later Mrs. John Moles), Almyra,
and Maria, all of whom taught in the old Silver Creek school, Maria's tenure
far exceeding that of any other teacher in the history of the community.
There is a story that has to do with
Ella Robinson as a child. Little Ella one day had a bad cold. Her mother
persuaded father Tom to take the two little girls, Ella and Maria, to school in
the bob sled because of Ella's indisposition. Father hitched the team to the
sled to take the girls, but Ella - with the cold - walked behind the conveyance
because walking in the snow was so delightful. The episodes in the life of any
family here are legion had we only time to find out and record that side of the
Silver Creek story before the Centennial celebration. The Tom Robinson family
had its share and to spare of experiences that were trying, happy, significant
in the history of the area. It is all there among these pioneer families. We
regret that Ella Robinson Moles's daughters are in Europe as we write, for they
have done considerable research on family history and would have much to
contribute to the whole story of the days when their mother was a girl "on
the creek."
Uncle Tom Robinson's death is a
tragic story. On an August morning he was sitting at table in his own home. It
was after family devotions and he was still in his chair, reading in the Bible
when the others had gone about their daily business. Upstairs were two young
men, not family members. Innocently one of them picked up an unusually
high-powered gun which Uncle Tom had bought for his son, Wesley. The
"lad" did not realize the gun was loaded and there was an accident.
The bullet went through the floor and mortally wounded Uncle Tom sitting at his
table. He died shortly. And so ended the personal story of another pioneer. The
Robinson log house still shows the bullet hole in the floor, sad token of a
fatal moment in the household.
Aunt Eliza lived on until April 13,
1899, ten years after Uncle Tom, faithfully and tenderly cared for by her
family. She was wife and mother and friend whose story would be a chapter all
composed of important early history and of real human interest.
Tom and Eliza Robinson had ten
children. The oldest was Eliza Jane who died in infancy. The second was James
Alexander, who lived one short year. The third was Thomas Johnston, so tall he
was often called "Long Tom'' among his companions. He left Silver Creek
early. He bought a farm near Madison, Kansas, where he lived all his life. He
married Sadie File (sic) of Delaware County and they had three children,
Stella, Grace, and Rex. Rex lived for some years in Salt Lake City, but is now
dead. We do not at this time have much account of this Tom Robinson family.
Time has not permitted our going into their history. Tom is remembered as a man
of strict principle, an upright man and a good neighbor.
The fourth was Catherine Ann
(Cassie) whom we all knew well in the Silver Creek neighborhood. She married
John Carrothers and their home place is in the north end of the community was
well-known to all neighbors and friends. There never was a kindlier, more
sincere person than Aunt Cassie. A thing treasured in our group is the
photograph of Cassie and John in their wedding finery, with all the wedding
guests ranged to each side of the bride and groom. There are the young faces of
many a person we knew in his older years, and the picture makes us think it was
really a great day among all the friends and neighbors. John was a happy,
fun-loving man, proud and happy in his home. Cassie and John are dead. Their
two children, Etna B. and Wesley, lived most of their lives in Silver Creek.
Etna is now living in Los Angeles, California. She is interested in every least
thing that happens in her Iowa family-and-friend group, though she says she has
now fallen under the spell of sunny California and loves it. Wesley married
Clara Cox and they have three children. The family lives in their own home near
Oneida. Their son Earl has just graduated from Upper Iowa University and
expects to teach in the fall. Vera is married to Kenneth Sickels and has three
children. Donald, Wesley's youngest child, is in high school.
A son of Thomas named William
Alexander lived only a year. Esther Ella, who married John Moles, was a woman
of unusual qualities. An account of the old Silver Creek school is token of her
type, appreciative of good things, loyal to friend or group, a woman whose
vision took definite form in the family she and John Moles reared. The members
of this family unit have gone out to do their part in the world, educated,
established in professions, making excellent records, one and all. In the old
home of the Moles family are pieces of beautiful furniture which the mother
planned for and purchased, some with her "school teaching" money.
Ella taught for several years before her marriage.
Rachel Almyra (Myra to us) was wife
of James J. Carrothers. She taught school before her marriage. She and Jimmy
her husband, were leaders in the community all their years with us - in
particular, leaders in church work. They sold their farm and moved to Fayette
when their sons came of age to continue advanced schooling. Under the
Carrothers family story is further account of Myra and Jimmy's three sons.
Maria B. was the teacher, the mentor
of a long line of Silver Creek young people. She lived with her mother for the
period of years the mother survived Uncle Tom. Maria then made her home with
her brother Wesley and his family until she retired from teaching and moved to
Manchester where she spent the last years of her life. In Manchester she
established a home which she opened to many of her old pupils who went to
Manchester High School. (They "boarded" with her.) Thus she was still
teacher and friend to a goodly number of her flock, and she loved the continued
association. Maria was a faithful Sunday School teacher all her years, and as
faithfully the organist of the Silver Creek church in the days when the
congregation sang with the old organ pumped by the player who must regulate
certain parts of the music by pulling out the right stops,
"Fortissimo", "Pianissimo", "Oboe",
"Flute". Indeed Maria was faithful to the end, in whatever she
undertook.
There is record of another daughter,
Margaret Eliza, who died in infancy. The youngest child was John Wesley, always
called Wesley. There is here a clipping from the Manchester Press of September,
1921, date, which ran a prominent headline, "J. W. Robinson Dies in Iowa
City. Was Only 54". That was over thirty years ago - Wesley's passing, but
his memory is very clear in our group. The newspaper account is lengthy. It
states that Wesley went to Epworth Seminary and Upper Iowa University, that
"he spent his life on the farm and was in love with his work", A
statement of his minister, the Reverend Warton, made in the funeral address is
given: "Mr. Robinson lived a useful Christian life, a member and faithful
worker in the Methodist Church. His life was an example of right living and
Christian leadership, and his sound judgment and loving guidance will be a
priceless boon to the two sons who are left to care for their mother and
sisters.'' Those words say what Wesley's neighbors and friends truly felt.
Wesley and Alice Falconer were
married on October 17, 1897, and they lived all their married life in the
homestead of Wesley's family. They had five children. Alice continued to live
in the family home after her husband's death. "Aunt Alice," to us, is
a beloved figure in our midst. Quiet and somewhat retiring, she has always had
secure place in the esteem and affection of all who know her. How happy we are
that she is here to take part in the honoring of the pioneers of Silver Creek,
of whom her own parents were important part, as were the parents of her
husband, Wesley!
Willard, oldest child in Wesley's
family, married Mabel Robinson (same surname) and they have two children,
Robert and Joan. Willard built up one of the finest farmsteads in the country
on his part of the original home acres. There for some years he carried on
general farming and with his brother Clifford developed a fine herd of Aberdeen
Angus cattle. Three years ago Willard and Mabel retired from the farm and
established their home in Coggon. North Glenside, the name of their Silver
Creek farm, remains chief interest with Willard, though his son, Robert, lives
on North Glenside and operates it. Willard and his wife have been from the
beginning of their married life outstanding in every community relation.
Robert, son of Willard, married Ruth
Walsdorf and they have a little son, Gary. Bob was in the Navy for a period of
service before his marriage and received a Presidential citation for
distinguished service on the destroyer "Jarvis". Bob is a thriving
young farmer just getting a toe-hold in his father's business. Joan is a
graduate nurse. She married Richard Miller and is at present living in San
Diego, California, to which base Dick was returned after two years in Korea in
Navy duty. Joan is in practice of her profession there, she and Dick both
waiting for the glad news of his release from a worthy period of service.
Ethel, second child in Wesley's
family, married Harry Wenger and they operate one of the best farms in the
county. Their farm was once the possession of one of the early pioneers,
William Dover. Harry is a prosperous farmer, dealing in DeKalb Seed Corn in
connection with his farm business.
They
have two sons, Dean and Dick. Dean married Patricia LeClere and they have four
small children, Kathie, Harriet, Terry,
and Sandra. Dean was in Service for three years. He enlisted in the Air Force and spent 28 months
in the European theater. On his return he established himself on the home estate and is farming with his father.
Dean is a most promising young agriculturist. The second son of Ethel and
Harry
is Dick. For one year Dick was in the
University of Dubuque. Then he entered Service. He is in the Medical Corps and is now located in
Darmstadt, Germany. His present plan is that when his time in the Service is over,
he will go into farming as his father
and his brother, Dean, did.
Clifford, third child of Wesley,
married Helen Daniels and they live in the big white house which was the Wesley
Robinson home. Cliff and Helen have five sons. Dan, the oldest, was within a
few months of his degree from Iowa State College at Ames when he gave up school
to help his father in the family business before the army would require him.
Dan is in the 28th Division, now stationed at Augsburg, Germany. Paul, his
brother, was in college one year, at Upper Iowa University. He married Mary Lou
Henderson and they lived on Cliffs "Upper 80" farm until Paul entered
service. Paul is in Military Police in the army and is at present in Kreuznach,
Germany, only 175 miles from Dan,-so near and yet so far.
Post Script: Since the above was
written and set for print, Paul and Mary Lou have become the parents of a baby
girl, born September 3, 1952, as yet unnamed. Happily we record this latest
addition to our book, - Baby Robinson, a girl in Cliff's Family.
At home is Dave, graduated from high
school last June. Dave as a small boy was the neighborhood bird-lover,
acquainted with all the birds hereabouts, and their habits. Dave is an avid
reader, probably headed toward a professional career when the day of freedom
comes for all young men in our land. Clifford John, better known as C. J., is
the family strong-man, a young boy compounded of muscle, good sense, and
somewhat marked ability as a farmer though he is only a sophomore in high
school. Stephen is five, still very much monarch of all his young eyes survey,
happy addition to the Robinson Boys. South Glenside is the name of this family
farm, where is part of the excellent Angus herd previously mentioned.
Carmine, youngest child in the
Wesley Robinson family, taught school for a number of years before her marriage
to John Hansen. The couple has lived away from Silver Creek most of their
married life, but they are familiar to the friends here from their occasional
visits to the old home. They have three children. The oldest is a son, Douglas,
who has been in the army for five years. He was in Alaska for one and one-half
years of that time. He is a staff sergeant and is now stationed at Columbus,
Ohio. Douglas is married and has a baby daughter, Susan Kay. Carmine's second
child is Yvonne, who is living in Columbus, Ohio, at the present time, near to
her brother. The youngest child is John Lee, still in lower grades of school.
Carmine and her husband live in Dubuque.
WILLIAM
DOVER FAMILY STORY
From Mrs. George McDowell we have
account of the William Dover family. Her mother was a daughter of the Dovers.
We set the story down largely as Mamie wrote it.
William A. Dover was born at Murton
Parish, Westmorland, England. He was a gardener there. He emigrated to this
country in 1848, stopping at Watertown, Massachusetts, where he met Lucy B.
Pratt. He came west by train to Dubuque and walked from there to Silver Creek
community, in 1854. He worked around Silver Creek that year. In 1855 he
purchased some land one mile north and one mile east of where the church
stands. He put in a crop and built a log house on the north side of the road,
later building a nice frame house on the south side of the road. This farm is
the Wenger farm today.
Lucy B. Pratt was born in Watertown,
Massachusetts, on January 24, 1832. She came west in 1856, to Delhi, Iowa,
where she was united in marriage with William Dover on July 26, 1856. They
lived together fifty-three years. They lived on their farm until they sold it
and retired to Manchester in 1898. Henry H. Johnston bought their farm, and he
and his wife, Elizabeth Swindell, lived there for a number of years.
The Dovers were the parents of eight
children, two dying in infancy. They had seventeen grandchildren and fourteen great-grand-children.
Mrs. Dover joined the Silver Creek church during the pastorate of the Reverend
B. D. Alden. Mrs. Dover died three years later, on November 30, 1912. The Dover
family tree shows the descendants of the Dovers.
JAMES
DOVER, BROTHER OF WILLIAM
James Dover, with his wife, Jane
Nicholsen, and their family and his mother-in-law, Mrs. Jane Nicholsen, came to
America from Murton Parish, Westmorland, England, early in 1860. They settled
first in Winchester, New York, leaving there a few years later to come to
Silver Creek community where his brother William lived. They lived here for a
time, but finally went on to Nebraska where members of the family still live.
They were the parents of nine children, who are John, James, Sarah, Jane,
Alfred, Thomas, Henry, Bessie, and Annie. Both Mr. and Mrs. Dover died a number
of years ago. The Dover family tree will give further data on this group.
CHRISTOPHER
CARROTHERS FAMILY
No direct descendant of Uncle Christy
and Aunt Ann Carrothers is now living in Silver Creek, but the mark of the
family is ever present. Two sons of a large family survive and from them we
have brief account. But, it is relatively easy to give a record of the
Carrothers family, for we have full and pleasant memories of them all. Uncle
Christy died in 1891, but many persons in Silver Creek knew Aunt Ann
personally.
Christopher Carrothers was born in
North Ireland, near the town of Lisnaskea, and died on May 22, 1891. He was the
son of John and Dorcas (Robinson) Carrothers. There is a record to show that
Christy's father, John, was born in 1766 and died in 1863, aged 97 years and 3
months. For this latter data we were indebted to Judge George E. Crothers
(Carrothers) of San Francisco, whose father was John, brother to Christy. Judge
Crothers verified much family data firsthand, in Europe. He writes further of
the family: My little grandmother Dorcas had eight children and died of the
'decline', as I understand it, before she was 40 years of age."
Aunt Ann Carrothers' maiden name was
Johnston and she was born in County Fermanagh, Ireland, May 15, 1833. She died
on June 17, 1919, at 86 years. She too was of Scotch-Irish descent. She was
married to Christopher Carrothers in 1860, in Alleghany, Pennsylvania.
Throughout her life Aunt Ann was
completely the mistress of her home, a gracious mistress. In the last two or
three years of her life she had an ailment which finally necessitated the
amputation of one limb and in a year or so, of the other. Patiently she sat in
her wheel-chair through that difficult time, attended lovingly by her family,
who, one and all, gave her most devoted care; and secure in her trust
"that somehow good would be the final goal of ill", in the words of
the poet Tennyson.
The Carrothers' son, Wm. L., writes
this: "My parents left Alleghany on February 16, 1860, for Iowa, by boat
on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to Dubuque. On October 21, 1864, father left
for Nashville and joined the Union army and was a member of General Sherman's
campaign through Georgia. Father kept a diary while in service, but being so
old it is scarcely readable. On the last page I deciphered that he arrived in
Dubuque on his way home on July 5, 1865, walked 15 miles, was picked up by a
wagon near Epworth, rode to Dyersville, arriving about one, and slept in the
wagon till morning. Thus ended the record.
"I have a small book presented
to my mother by a church she attended in Belfast, Ireland, for having committed
to memory the entire book of Romans.
"The only name I can give of
grandparents is mother's father's name, James Johnston, who made his home with
us for years, after his wife's death in Ireland. He died in 1883 and is buried
in front of the church in the lot just north of ours, with his son, Wm. and
daughter Susan."
The Christopher Carrothers home was
on a hill called the Wigwam, so named because long ago Indians camped there
from time to time. The Wigwam in early days was about an acre of wild cherry,
poplar, and plum trees, and much hazel brush. The first Carrothers house was of
logs, of course, and stood south from the site of the frame dwelling built
later and still occupied as it was originally. When the time came, Christy
built the large frame house at almost the crest of the hill, and this was long
the family home. North of the house was a large orchard. The farm land sloped
away from the buildings on all sides. A windmill topped the rise of ground to
the east in the 600 acres, a mill that is still in important use. This farm was
one of Delaware County's most imposing farm properties.
When the farm descended to the
brothers, Wm. L. and Thomas H., they built large stock barns on the place.
These brothers formed a partnership and for years carried on an expansive
stock-breeding farm, dealing in both pure-bred cattle and horses. In 1921 they
dissolved this partnership and sold the farm. W. L. and his wife now live in
Grand Junction, Iowa. Thomas died in Denver in 1936, in the midst of a somewhat
notably successful career as representative and salesman for a large feed
company. Both men were well-known in the county and the state, and highly
esteemed. Both were very active in the Silver Creek church and in the general
life of the community. W. L. returns to his native ground now and then and is
always a welcome figure. He married Tressie Elliot on June 29, 1916. She died
September 12, 1917. Some years later he married Maude Moore, who has long been
his devoted helpmate. Thomas was never married.
James J., or Jimmy as he was best
known, the oldest son, owned a farm at the north end of Silver Creek. He and
Almyra Robinson, daughter of Thomas Robinson, were married on August 27, 1891,
and made their home in "Silver Creek for many years. They sold their farm
and moved to Fayette to give their sons the opportunity to go through college.
Their oldest son, Chester, went on to do graduate work and he earned a Ph. D.
He is now a university professor. The second son, Randall, is in advertising
business in Charles City, Iowa. Wilson, the youngest of the family, has a
produce business in Jacksonville, Texas.
George Carrothers, the youngest son
of the Christopher Carrothers family, in his young years studied in Chicago.
There is an edition of a large book entitled the Soper School of Oratory in
which are numerous illustrations showing the handsome young George Carrothers
in his student days. He was featured by the college in pictorial demonstration
of their courses. George now lives in Milwaukee where he has been engaged in
business for many years. He was never married.
The Carrothers daughters, Bessie and
Mary, both married Ida Grove men. Bessie was the wife of R. J. Graham, one of
Ida County's most extensive land owners. Both Mr. and Mrs. Graham were leaders
in Methodist church work all their lives. Their two sons, Wesley J. and
Leonard, are graduates of Northwestern University. Wesley is a land owner and
farm manager in Ida County. Leonard is an attorney.
Mary married Wm. J. Anderson, who
for many years was a banker in Ida Grove. He died in 1945. Mrs. Anderson and
her son, Wm. Jr., went to California to live and Mrs. Anderson died there on
May 19, 1950. Her son is in automobile business in California. Mrs. Anderson
was a most gracious person, an unusually fine home-maker.
It will forever be recalled that
Uncle Christy Carrothers' family were all their lives sincerely devoted to good
works. The interests of their church were always paramount in their thinking.
They believed in education. No history of Silver Creek could fail to record
them, parents and children, as men and women who followed the high road. Their
home was open to all comers. The Wigwam always reminds Silver Creek people of
the Carrothers family.
WM.
CARROTHERS FAMILY
William (Billy) and Margaret
(Maggie) Carrothers began their married life on a farm they purchased in
Buchanan County, in the Monti
neighborhood. Wishing to be near their people and their church, they
purchased what was the Christy Logan farm, which lay between the farms owned by
John and Christy Carrothers, his brothers.
Here Billy and Maggie resided during all the years of their active
life. A deep sorrow came to the home of
William and Margaret Carrothers when their oldest son, Willie, in childhood
accidentally drank a quantity of lye which left him a semi-invalid for life.
The best doctors in Chicago were unable to do for him what medical scientists
could do quite easily now. In 1915 Billy's twenty-two year old son, James, a
boy of promise and very dearly beloved, died of peritonitis following an
appendectomy.
William R., son of William and
Margaret (Robinson) Carrothers, was born in Buchanan County, in 1883, and moved
with his parents to the home farm in Silver Creek in 1891, where he lived until
his marriage to Blanche Raus, a teacher in the schools of Delaware County. After several years residence in this
county, W. R. moved his family to Waterloo.
He secured employment with the John Deere Co. and was there to the time
of his last illness. Always more or less
an invalid, Willie lived only a few months to enjoy a comfortable home they
bought in Waterloo.
Madonna, the oldest daughter, was a
public school teacher for several years, but is now a very efficient worker in
the Hinson Mfg. Co. in Waterloo. She is interested in the work of the Y.W.C.A.,
especially among employed colored girls.
The second daughter, Garnet, like
her sisters, was employed by the Hinson Co. and was one of their best
employees. Following her marriage to Harry Wagoner, son of a Waterloo
contractor, they answered the call to go as foreign missionaries to Africa.
They enrolled in Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, where they graduated. Eight
years ago they went to the Sudan district in Africa. Their work there has been
very successful. They will return home
next year for a year's furlough.
Hazel finished high school and later
worked at the Hinson Co. She has an attractive modern home in Cedar Falls where
she is Mrs. Clifford Paulus and the mother of Douglas and Marlys. Clifford is
an office worker for a trucking company.
Laurel has been a bookkeeper in
various banks and insurance companies in Waterloo the past several years, a
very competent worker. She lives at home with her mother and sister Madonna, in
Waterloo.
Ruth is Mrs. Gunnar Frey of Storm
Lake. Ruth is a bookkeeper in a bank in Storm Lake and Gunnar is an agent for
the International Harvester Co. They have bought a home and plan to make Storm
Lake their permanent residence.
Edna, the eldest daughter of Billy
and Maggie, married William, son of Robert and Katharine Robinson. They lived
in Silver Creek for many years, later moving to Manchester. They are now
residents of Ryan where they purchased a home four years ago. Theirs is a
friendly little home, shared by their daughter, Irene, who has taught with
success in rural schools for a number of years. She is now a teacher in the
Ryan public school.
The son, Everett, has always worked
in Manchester, where he has been an industrious and trusted employee of several
business houses. His wife, Iola, is court reporter for the tenth judicial district.
They are both members of the popular Manchester Riding Club.
Roberta's home is in Ryan, close by
that of her parents. She married Wilbur Wade, son of Fred and Etta Wade, and
they have four children, Sharon, Richard, Keith, and Douglas. Roberta is devoted
to her home and family. Wilbur has been employed for a number of years by the
LaPlante Choate Mfg. Co. in Cedar Rapids. He is a veteran of World War II.
May, the second daughter in the
Carrothers family, taught for several years and then married Roy Emerson. The
couple lived on the old Swindle farm for thirty-six years. They then retired
from farming and bought a house in Robinson, where they are now living. May and
Roy have six children, Leslie, Margaret, Alice, Frances, Roy, Jr., and Maxine.
Leslie has served with marked success in the United States Army since 1941,
entering with the invasion and serving until the end of the war, returning
overseas twice since, once to Manchuria in 1946, and to Japan, in 1949. He rose
to the rank of Major in the reserves and is now a Warrant Officer in the
regular army, stationed at Ft. Riley, Kansas. He has earned the Purple Heart
and the Bronze Star medals, and he was decorated by the Belgian, English, and
Chinese governments.
Margaret, second child in the Emerson
family, taught for several years and then married Roy McDowell, son of George
McDowell. They live on their farm here, and they have two sons, Jimmy and
Jerry. Roy is a successful farmer and stock raiser. Both Margaret and Roy enter
into the life of their group to full extent.
Alice married Harlan Carradus and
they live on their farm on Highway 20, not far from Manchester. They continue
their church and other relations in Silver Creek. They have two attractive
young daughters, Mary Lou and Judy Ann. Harlan has qualities of leadership that
give him definite place in the community. Alice carries well all her
responsibilities in the neighborhood.
Frances taught for a few years and
then married Verle Graybill. They have four sons who keep their parents busy on
home grounds most of the time. The family lives on a farm on the Ryan road.
Roy, Jr., farmed with his father
until he took over the farm on his father's retirement. He married June Ayers,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Ayers of Robinson, and they have a daughter,
Nancy Sue.
Maxine, youngest Emerson child, has
taught for several years. She lives at home with her parents and carries her
share of all activities in the youth group of Silver Creek.
May and Roy have from the beginning
taken an unusually active part in the life of Silver Creek. May has done much
work with church groups.
Leslie, son of Billie and Maggie,
for many years connected with Congdon and Battles, nationally famous Angus
cattle breeders, is now a resident of Pine Plains, New York, where he, his wife
Christine, and son Bobby operate a famous little restaurant in the Stissing
Mountains.
The son Anthony served overseas
during World War I, an experience which left him in discouraging health. Many,
many months he spent in veterans' hospitals, but courage and hope prevailed and
he now enjoys fair health. He is a florist at Daly City, California, where he
purchased a home. His wife, Mildred, is a registered nurse.
Robert, the fifth son of Wm. and
Margaret, and a veteran of World War II, is married and he and his wife,
DeVonna, live in Tacoma, Washington, where he is employed by the Northern
Pacific Railroad. Bob, as he is familiarly known, is a typical "chip off
the old block", witty, full of fun.
Victor has been employed by the
Quaker Oats Company of Cedar Rapids for the past twenty-three years. In the
city he has purchased a home. His family consists of his wife, Maude, and
children, Roberta and Dale.
Henry, son of Robert and Mary
McMullen, came to this country when he was a lad. His sister Maggie, who came
with him, remained with an aunt in New York. Henry came to Delaware County. He
was joined by two sisters, Sarah and Fannie, in 1892. Henry had two children,
Mary and Roy. Mary was a high school teacher until she suffered a break in her
health, since when she has been at home. Roy, an educator, founded the Mankato,
Minnesota, Business College. He has two sons, Dean and Keith, who are both in
service and in Korea at the present time.
Sarah McMullan married Ben Falconer.
Their children have remained close to the family home with the exception of
Willard, who is district superintendent of the Bell Telephone Company, at Sioux
Falls, South Dakota. Harold is a special agent for the Quaker Oats Company and
his home is in Madison, Wisconsin. Howard was a veteran of World War I. His
death lately occurred (1952) in Greeley, Colorado, where he had gone because of
ill health. His wife, Olga, and their son, Howard, are living in Greeley.
Iola Falconer married Elzo Powell,
and they live on the original Falconer homestead in Silver Creek. They have two
small children, Diana and Benny James. Elzo saw service in Italy. The other
Falconer children, Dale, Douglas, Oswald, and Esther Hauessler, are successful
farmers and farmer's wife. Douglas lives with his mother on the home place and
farms with his brother Dale, who also has a farm home there with his wife and
family.
Fannie McMullan married Richard
Condon and they were residents of Manchester during their entire married life.
Four children were born to them, Robert, William, Marguerite, and Dorothy.
THE
CHARLES FALCONER FAMILY
Charles Lowe Falconer (1826-1918),
son of James and Isabelle Cunningham Falconer, was born at Cambe Farms,
Scotland, where his father was head gardener for Lord Kelly and Sir David
Erskin. At the age of fifteen years and five months he left Scotland for
America.
His entire possessions consisted of
3 pounds or $15.00 in his pocket and his "goods" stored in a
hand-made chest (today in the possession of his granddaughter, Miss Mollie
Robinson).
He took passage in the sailing
vessel, "Stirling", under protection of Captain Anderson. After nine
weeks, he landed in New York and went directly to Brockton, Massachusetts,
where his elder brother, John, was head gardener in a large nursery. After
looking for work for two or three weeks, he was employed as gardener on one of
the large colonial estates near Boston, where he remained for fourteen years.
In 1855 he came to Delaware County
and purchased land in Adams Township. In 1857 he returned to Boston to marry
Rebecca Pierce, of Beverly, a town in Massachusetts.
Prosperity in those times was
measured by the amount of property a man owned and by the size of his family.
What matter if each boy had only one shirt to his name and had to be put to bed
so his shirt could be washed! Soon the original 120 acres purchased from the
government was increased to 200 acres. Later 600 acres were purchased in Sac
County, Iowa. Most of this land is still in the Falconer family.
Shortly after establishing his
Silver Creek homestead, Mr. Falconer answered his country's call. Leaving his
young wife and four small children to carry on the farm work, he volunteered
for service in Company I, 4th Iowa Infantry. He was fortunate in missing the
"thick of the battle"; he was on the skirmish line only once. He was
in Sherman's March to the Sea, and was honorably discharged at Clinton, Iowa.
His grandson Carl Emerson tells this
story: "There is no denying the Scotch are thrifty! As grandfather was on
his way home from the war, walking most of the way, and cutting through the
fields, he came to his potato patch which was quite a distance from his house.
It was about the noon hour; so he stopped and dug potatoes, until supper time,
before proceeding to the house to receive a hero's welcome and to make the
acquaintance of his new son, Frank, born after the father had left for
war."
Evidence of his early experience as
a gardener was in the enormous flower beds surrounding the large lawn of his
homestead. Beautiful flower gardens do not just happen; they take endless
planning, great care and much hard work. In his later years, Grandpa Falconer
depended a great deal on his grandson Carl Emerson who, on the untimely death
of his own father, came to live with his grandparents. Grandpa would
diplomatically ask the young boy, "Carl, may I have the loan of your
powerful right arm for a minute?" "To this day," says Carl,
"I hate the sight of a hoe."
As though the flowers themselves
were not brilliant enough, Mr. Falconer always had peacocks about the place, as
did the Mike Gaffney family, his neighbors to the west.
Grandpa Falconer is still remembered
by the older people of our community as a man of military bearing, with
snow-white hair, and snow-white beard, driving about the country with "Old
Bess" (also snow-white) hitched to the road cart.
Mrs. Falconer is remembered as a
pioneer mother of dauntless courage. Born in a large Eastern city, she had had
no contact with country living. Mrs. Elizabeth Johnston tells us this story:
"On their way here from Dubuque as bride and groom, the Falconers stayed
over night in the home of a Mr. Risk (believed to live somewhere near Epworth,
Iowa). Mr. Risk welcomed her with these words, 'So you're the city girl that's
to live on a farm! Can you milk a cow?' Her reply was, 'No, but I can learn.'
'Well, take this pail and go learn', he challenged her. She picked up the pail,
and went to the barn, not knowing which side of the cow to approach. One of the
men in the barn showed her. She knelt by the cow and started to pull, pull,
pull. He showed her 'how to milk' and she milked a quart. Next morning she
arose before the family did, went to the barn and milked the cow. When she
brought the pail brimming full of milk to Mr. Risk, he was sure she'd make a
good farm wife."
Farming in those days was not just a
man's job. Wives and children did their share. Garnet Falconer Main, who grew
up in her grandfather's home, recounts from family stories how women and
children would gather the grain cut by the scythe and tie it into bundles. The
entire family would work in the field. Children too young to work played about
and kept an "eye" on the baby wrapped in a shawl and lying on a sheaf
of oats.
Mrs. Falconer's grandson, Will
Scanlan, relates this story: "Grandmother was equal to almost any
emergency. Mr. A. O. Moore, George Lister's father-in-law, was cutting wood for
Granddad. He accidentally chopped his foot, almost severing his big toe.
Grandmother took needle and thread and sewed the toe back on. No complications."
Mrs. Asenath Falconer McCloud
remembers being vaccinated by her mother and says it was a common practice in
those pioneer homes for the mother to vaccinate the rest of the family after
one member had been vaccinated by the doctor, scratching a place on the child's
arm with a needle and using a "scab" from the first vaccination.
Carl Emerson remembers how once a
month, when the milk check came, he would hitch the team to the democrat wagon
and drive his grandmother to Ryan. This was a typical grocery order: one 30-lb.
box of large, square, unsalted soda crackers; one barrel of oatmeal; three or
four sacks of flour; and a large beef-roast as well as countless smaller items;
and, course, beans, because for every Saturday night supper this New
England-born grandmother served baked beans and brown bread.
What
more fitting epitaph could be found for a pioneer other than that inscriped on
her tombstone in the Silver Creek cemetery: "Her children rise up to call
her blessed".
ROBERT
ROBINSON FAMILY
The family record of the Robert
Robinson Family, which is given in this booklet, tells us the same story that
all the rest of the records do. There was a large family of nine children, four
girls and five boys. One son, Charles, died in infancy, and as, was true of all
the other families, one or two babies died when very young. Our cemetery in
Silver Creek has so many babies and young children buried in it that it is a
silent reminder of the days when doctors were not available and the knowledge
of child care was not the science it is now.
Robert Robinson was the son of James
and Margaret (Johnson or Johnston) Robinson, and he married Katherine Simpson.
They were both born in County Fermanagh, Ireland. The father of Robert Robinson
was married twice, both times to a Margaret Johnson (or Johnston), though the
women were not related. The children of the second marriage of whom we have
record were Robert, Anthony, and Johnston Robinson, who came to Silver Creek
several years later than did their half-brothers, James, Thomas and William,
who were of the original group. Robert's mother made her home with him in
Silver Creek; in fact, she kept house for him in his log house until his
marriage. She was known to all as "Aunt Peggy". It is her monument in
the Silver Creek cemetery that has a circle of marble attached in such a way
that it can be moved aside to show her picture, which has gradually grown
dimmer with the years. She was the "Aunt Peggy'', who went from home to
home in the neighborhood and stayed for a week or two at a time and knitted
socks for the children and other members of the family. W. B. Robinson says his
remembrance of her is that she was always knitting.
Robert Robinson served in the Civil
War and marched with Sherman from Atlanta to the Sea. It is told that he was
one in his group entrusted to carry the precious supply of food because the men
could depend upon him to distribute it fairly. He was a prosperous farmer, at
one time owning all the land that bordered the creek from where it starts near
the Mike Ryan farm to the bridge at Robinson, except for two small points.
"Aunt Kate", his wife was
a happy, generous person and very sociable. We are told that theirs was the
musical family of the neighborhood. Silver Creek has never had very many
musicians, but the Robert Robinson family were talented in music. They were
first in the neighborhood to own one of the old cylinder type phonographs. They
also were noted for the fine "rigs" and fancy horses with which each
son of the family liked to drive out. "Aunt Kate'' is the one mentioned
elsewhere who left her contract for safekeeping in the James Robinson safe, to
carry the mail "from Silver Creek to Ryan and back 3 times a week from
July, 1895, to June 30, 1899''. So we have an idea that she could drive pretty
well too.
Their daughter Mary married William
Reinbird and they had four daughters and one son, Victor. Account of their
family will be found in the family tree which follows. Will Reinbird was
accidentally drowned in the Maquoketa river at Manchester. Mary is now living
in Cedar Rapids, where most of her children are located.
James married Mary Montgomery and
they were the parents of five girls and four boys. Robert, married Hope Buck,
and their children are John, who served during World War II in the army, Fred
(deceased), and Mary Viola. They make their home at Shaller, Iowa. Florence
married Maurice Duggan and they have had a family of two sons and two daughters
living and two sons who died in infancy. The Duggans have farmed in the
vicinity most of their lives and are now retired and live in Ryan. Kathryn
married John Hahesy, who died suddenly leaving his family of three young
children, Beverly, Billy, and John, to the care of their mother who has bravely
and successfully gone ahead.
Lewis
is married to Opal Falconer, daughter of Charles and Adelaide (Reinbird)
Falconer. They have one son, Donald, who was in the service in the Navy during
World War II, enlisting when he was sixteen. He is married to Kathleen Pickle
and they have two boys, Lewis and Charles. Wanda, their older daughter
graduated from Coggon High School and attended Iowa State Teachers College at
Cedar Falls. She is married to Donald Henderson, who is a florist. They live in
Texas and have two sons, Rex and Randy. Their youngest child, Beverly, is in
grade school at Coggon. Lewis and Opal live at Robinson, where they own a farm.
They are highly respected in their community.
Esther married Charles Lemrond, who
is deceased. They had two children, Billy and Marilyn. After the death of
Charles, Esther married Jack Miller and their home is in Anamosa. Victor married Angeline Adams and they have
three children, Bernard, Virgil, and Dennis. Their home is at Storm Lake.
Marjorie married Marshall Arduser
and they have two children, John and Sharon. Their home is Boise, Idaho, where
Marshall has employment in the shoe business. Glenn Robinson, married Irene
Hahesy, and their home is at Manchester where Glenn works with the County Road Department.
They have three children, Agnes, Delores, and Jimmy. One child, Marieta, died
in infancy. Elsie married Ray Hutchinson and lives in Manchester. They have a
family of five boys and three girls. Leo and Robert have both served in the
Navy. Their other children are Harold, Jimmy, Richard, Delia, Irene, and Betty.
Rebecca Robinson married John
Reinbird and they had a home in Robinson for a great many years, until the
death of John. After that they moved to Manchester, where Rebecca lives with
her daughters, Ida and Ella. John and Rebecca were a congenial couple, good
neighbors, ready to help anyone in trouble. They were always loyal in their
support of the Silver Creek church. They were the parents of five girls, Emma
and Ella, twins; Ida, Fern, and Grace. Account of their family will be found in
the Robert Robinson family tree which follows.
Robert married Annie Buck and they
were the parents of two sons and four daughters. Robert is now deceased and
Annie makes her home at Shaller with her daughter, Blanche, who is Mrs. Don
Pfrimmer, and her son, Robert, who served in the army in Alaska and Germany
during World War II. Their daughter Hope is married to Glenn Wade, son of Fred
and Etta Wade. Account of their family will be found in the Wade history. The
rest of the family of Robert and Annie are living at Shaller, Iowa.
Henry Robinson, who is now deceased,
married Cecelia Meyers. They farmed in Delaware County for some time before
moving to Cedar Rapids, where they made their home for many years. Their three
daughters are married and live far apart. Lillian is Mrs. John Mitch and her home is in Texas. The
Mitch parents have a son, Douglas. Mildred married Robert Hedges and they have
four boys, Richard, Robert, David and James. They are living in California.
Mary Louise is married to Don Dolezal and their home is at Mount Vernon.
Etta married Fred Wade and account
of their family is given in the Wade family history elsewhere in this booklet.
Maggie, daughter of Robert and
Kathryn Robinson, was never married. She has been making her home in Cedar
Rapids with her sister, Mary, but at the present is in Manchester with Mrs.
Kathryn Hahesy.
William Robinson married Edna
Carrothers, daughter of William Carrothers. They lived for many years in
Manchester, but now have a home in Ryan. Their son Everett is married to lola
Barker and they live in Manchester where they are both employed. They are both
active in civic affairs of the town and much interested in fine horses. Irene
lives with her parents and Roberta is married to Wilbur Wade and they live in
Ryan. Irene teaches in the Ryan Public School. Wilbur has employment in Cedar
Rapids. Their children are Sharon,
Richard, Keith, and Douglas.
JAMES
REINBIRD FAMILY
The Reinbird family came to Delaware
County in the year 1882 and settled on a farm at Silver Creek. Since that time
they have been an integral part of the life and happenings of the community.
Mrs. Virginia (Reinbird) Annis has sent us a history of the family which we
present just as she gave it to us:
"James Reinbird was born in
Ireland in the year 1842, and grew to young manhood in the land of his birth.
At the age of twenty-five he was united in marriage with Miss Margaret J.
Tarleton, who was born March 4, 1852. Her mother's maiden name was Swindle. She
was a sister of the late Anthony and Wm. Swindle, and Mrs. John Robinson. Six
children were born to them in their native land. They are as follows: Mary A.,
William, John J., Katherine, Isaac, and Sam.
"They are all deceased except
Isaac who always made his home with his grandparents in Ireland. In 1879 the
family took passage on a sailing vessel, and made the slow trip across the
Atlantic, to this the land of promise. They landed in New York city, where
another daughter, Virginia, now Mrs. Ed Annis, was born. In the year 1882 they
came to Delaware County, and settled on a farm at Silver Creek, which was long
their home. Three children were born to them at this place, Adelaide, Anthony
and Margaret. Mrs. Reinbird died July 24, 1907, and Mr. Reinbird died on
November 4, 1926. They, together with one daughter and two sons, are laid to
rest in the Silver Creek cemetery. The son Sam, whose home was at Townley,
Alabama, for a number of years, passed away in 1930 and he was buried at that
place."
JOHN
SCANLON FAMILY
Whoever of the older people made
report to us of the outstanding events of pioneer days was sure to give the
wedding of Fannie Swindell and John Scanlon. This wedding occurred on June 2,
1877 the Silver Creek church, with the
wedding dinner at the bride's home, of course. And a wedding dinner in those
days was really a dinner. Fannie was the oldest daughter of William and
Isabelle Swindell. John Scanlon was born in County Longford, Ireland, and came
to America with his parents, in 1867. Fannie and John went at once to live on
their farm at the north end of Silver Creek, where they spent all their lives
and on which the Scanlon Brothers, William and Charles, now live. It is a very
fine farm indeed, modernized, tilled according to the best methods, in all ways
good.
Fannie and John had ten children,
five girls and five boys, in that order. Account of all these children and
their children is given in the Scanlon family tree to follow. Fannie's death
occurred on April 2, 1928, two days after her 70th birthday. She lived and died
on her beloved home place. She always had an excellent garden and she enjoyed
tending it and watching over her fruit trees and bushes. We all remember her
pleasure in her "house plants", purchased or grown from "slips"
she had collected from everywhere. Quilts were her foremost hobby. She made
quilt after quilt in all sorts of patterns and designs. She and John were
familiar figures at every Silver Creek gathering of whatever nature; or driving
along together, always together, to make a visit or to go on some other
mission.
An old scrap book we have used
almost constantly in assembling material for this historical booklet was
Fannie's. She had kept faithful record of the things that happened, pasting her
accounts into a copy of "Pollard's Synthetic First Reader", dated
1891. On the fly-sheets of this old reader are pencil drawn stick-pictures and
childish hieroglyphics. Fannie kept in it obituaries, stories of weddings,
anniversaries and other such events, together with pieces of poetry and recipes
(One is "Hot Onion Remedy"), almost anything is to be found pasted
into her book.
A clipping she did not see is there,
taken from a Manchester paper on the occasion of her, death, April 2, 1928. The
long article on her life closes with lines which aptly put the general feeling
about Mrs. Scanlon: "The passing of this widely known woman is a grievous
blow to the neighborhood and to all attached to her by ties of friendship and
family. All will attest to her fidelity and the unselfishness of her life,
always thinking of the comforts of others. During the years of her illness she
was tenderly and devotedly cared for by all of her family and her
daughter-in-law (Mrs. Charles Scanlon), who spared no time or labor in making
her comfortable and happy. Her children and friends revere the memory of her
faithful life, dedicated to the simple pursuits of home, and rich in
helpfulness and service to those she loved."
John Scanlon was a great
story-teller. He had a favorite expression he used over and over, "Now,
boys, there never was such-" He loved getting together with old friends
and covering ground verbally, by the hour. There is here an article published
on his death, June 3, 1932, from which we take these lines: "An immense
gathering of relatives and friends assembled to pay last honors to his memory.
The death of Mr. ScanIon terminates a residence of sixty-five years in Delaware
County-by far the most eventful years in the history of the country from the
standpoint of progress and development of invention and science. A lover of the
soil, Mr. Scanlon would not have been happy save in those familiar surroundings
amid which he reared his family, and he found deep satisfaction and peace of
mind in the reflection that life had been good to him".
The Scanlon family, like any large
family, has had diversified history, though the children of the first
generation have not gone far from home grounds for any length of time.
Margaret, the oldest daughter, married John O. Johnston, on February 20, 1901.
They were married in a double wedding with Margaret's sister, Ida, who married
Merton Joslyn, the beloved pastor, the Reverend C. H. Taylor, performing the
ceremony. There were many gifts at this big wedding, most of which were duplicates;
that is, a gift of a kind for each couple. The J. O. Johnstons had seven
children, all married and established in their own homes. The family tree gives
the marriage relationships of this large family. Margaret was a devoted
daughter, wife, and mother. She died on January 30, 1939.
Edna, second daughter, married
Verner T. Joslyn, and they were the parents of nine children, two of whom died
very young. During most of their married life, Edna and Vern farmed, and always
not far from their home ground. Like all of her sisters, Edna gave her
undivided attention to her home and family. Her children are all married and
prospering well. Edna died on May 29, 1941, sincerely mourned by her large
family relationship and a wide circle of friends.
Ida, third daughter, married Merton
J. Joslyn, in the double wedding with her sister, Margaret, in 1901. Ida and
Mert moved at once to the Barr farm on the edge of Oneida, and did general
farming and stock raising. They lived on this farm until they retired in 1945
and bought a home in the village of Oneida. Their son, Harold, continues on the
farm. Detailed account of the whole family is shown in the family tree to
follow.
Mamie, fourth daughter, married
Alvin R. Johnston. They have one daughter, Mildred, who still is at home,
devoted to her parents. Mamie and Alvin have farmed, and successfully, all
their married life. They live near Manchester.
Maude, the youngest daughter, died
untimely, and within forty-eight hours of the death of her brother, Fred, the
youngest son. The two died of kidney and rheumatic ailments. On Easter Sunday,
April, 1911, these two young people were buried in a double funeral attended by
a large concourse of relatives and friends. It was a heavy day for the family
and for the whole community.
William, the oldest son, farms the
home place with his brother, Charles. Will was married to Mabel Mosher of
Masonville on November 15, 1917. Mabel and Will had a short, but unusually
happy married life. She died on September 23, 1923, after an operation from
which she was unable to rally. We have a sheaf of clippings all of which
emphasize the grief and sorrow Mabel's death brought to the young husband and
the families of the two and to the entire community as well. She had made a
large place for herself in Silver Creek though she had lived in the
neighborhood only six years. She died at twenty-nine.
Harry was the Scanlon family's
second son. Those of us who knew Harry remember him as a most likable young
man, always happy and kind, a boy with much promise. He died on June 4, 1905,
when he was sixteen years and eight months old, of an unusual illness for one
so young, namely dropsy. His death was a shock to his family, the first break
in their large circle. The whole community was bowed in sorrow with the parents
and the other nine children. Even now, in looking back, Harry's friends have
painful remembrance of the untimely passing of that fine boy in our
neighborhood.
Charles, third son, inherited with
his brothers, Will and Ross, the home place. Will and Charles operate a
prosperous farm business with the full and capable cooperation of Charlie's
wife, Nellie. She was Nellie Rose, daughter of John L. Rose of Masonville, a
well-known farmer and business man of the county. Charlie and Nellie, and Will
as well, are acknowledged leaders in this generation of Silver Creek people.
Their home is a hospitable one, comfortable and comforting to all who enter.
Charlie was particularly active in promoting the Lord's Acre day in the church
here.
Ross, the fourth son, married Ora
Joslyn, sister of Verner and Merton who married Scanlon sisters. Ross and Ora
had four children, all daughters, a family group which was broken by the death
of the daughter Iola Muriel, who was married to John Van Engelenberg, They had
been married not a year when Iola's death occurred as result of a curious blood
disease which defied satisfactory diagnosis. The girl wife's death called out
large sympathy from alt who knew her and the family. Ross and Ora farmed for
some time. Within a few years they bought a home in Masonville where Ross is
employed.
The brief life of Fred, the youngest
Scanlon child, was discussed earlier in this article. An adequate coverage of
this large family and the children's children would require more time and space
than are possible for us in the scope of this booklet. The family of Fannie and
John Scanlon are integrated with the whole of Silver Creek.
THE
KENNEDY STORY
Sarah (Scanlon) Kennedy was born in
County Longford, Ireland, a daughter of Wm. and Sarah (Mills) Scanlon. The
father emigrated with his family to America, arriving here October 31, 1867. He
made his way to the interior of the country and decided to make their home in
Delaware County, where they spent the rest of their lives.
Sarah married David Kennedy, son of
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Kennedy of Ireland. Sarah and Dave made their home in
Prairie Township in the Silver Creek settlement for many years. Then they moved
to a farm in Sand Creek where they spent the rest of their days.
Sarah and Dave were the parents of
four girls and four boys. The girls married and made their homes in or near Ida
Grove, Iowa. William died on November 22, 1895. John, Robert, and Thomas, the
other Kennedy brothers, were all successful farmers in Prairie Township.
Recently, John moved to Cedar Rapids. Thomas and Robert still live in Prairie
Township, Robert and family on the old homestead.
Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy were very
active members of the Sand Creek Methodist Church, and have reared their family
to live by a good Christian faith. The Kennedy family were, and are, all very
active in all Township and County affairs.
BAXTER
FAMILY STORY
The Baxter family name is an old one
in Silver Creek. There is a piece of land lying along the south side of the
Ryan road which is always referred to as "the old Baxter place."
There is nothing left there of the Baxter property but a drilled well pump, but
still it is the Baxter place. We have been unable in the short time we had to
secure a proper history of this family. We do know there were four Baxter
sisters who lived most of their lives among Silver Creek people-Sarah, who was
Mrs. Erwin McCloud; Maria, who was Mrs. John Preston; Martha, who was Mrs.
Quintin Searight; Jennie, who married James
McCay.
Sarah married Erwin McCloud and they
lived most of their active life on their large farm on the Ryan road. There was
a time when Erwin McCloud owned nearly all of the land in the community called
Tower Hill. For years he and John Reilly owned a large part of the land known
as the Devil's Backbone. They sold this tract to the State of Iowa and it was
converted into the beautiful Backbone State Park.
The
McClouds had eight children, but five of them died in infancy or later
childhood. Austin, the oldest son, went to Canada where he lived for many years.
He had large holdings in Canadian land to the time of his death. He was
unmarried.
Edgar E., the second son, married
Asenath Woodberry Falconer and they were the parents of five children. Rita,
the oldest, married Parley Carr and they lived on the McCloud homestead for
several years. They had three children, the oldest of whom died early. Rita
died when she was quite young, leaving two small children.
Amber, second daughter, married
Elmer Richardson and they had two children, Elmer Jr. and Doran. Elmer Sr. died
and Amber married Wayne Alderson. They live in Strawberry Point. Elmer Jr. is
in the Navy, now working in the Sonar school in San Diego, in a line of work
like radar only this work is done under water. Erwin II married Maycel Porter
and they live on the McCloud homestead. They have had five children, one of
whom is dead. Alice, Edgar's third daughter, married Marlowe Raeburn and they
have two children, Calvin Marlowe and Kenneth Earl. They live in Manchester.
Pierce, the youngest child, is a graduate of Iowa State College in Ames. He has
a government position in research in the field of mechanics, in Peoria,
Illinois.
Ida McCloud married Anthony J.
Swindle. Account of them is given in the Swindle family story.
The McCloud family, all the way through,
has always held a prominent place in the community. Mr. McCloud, Sr., was an
unusually good business man, and he had the respect of his neighbors and
friends everywhere. Mrs. McCloud was a genial person, sociable, kindly,
neighborly. Their home was open to everyone. The later generations have
inherited many of the traits of their elders.
We have this brief account bearing
on the John Handel Preston family: John Handel Preston came from Manchester, England,
to Manchester, Iowa, at the age of eighteen, or about 1858, to the George
Lister farm about five miles from Silver Creek. It is said that John Preston
often walked from the farm to the church at Silver Creek to attend services. In
1867, he was married to Maria Baxter, who was born in Ireland. They bought 160
acres of land from the Listers and spent most of their lives on that farm
except for a few years when they lived in Coggon and Ryan. Maria died in 1912,
and John, in 1914.
Martha Baxter married Quintin
Searight. They had both come from Ireland, probably around 1860. They bought a
farm of 160 acres just east of the John Preston farm. They had no children of
their own, but they reared Charles McCay. Many of the older people here knew
the Searights well and respected them. There was undoubtedly much of interest
in their experiences as pioneers, but we cannot at this time get a proper
account.
Jennie Baxter married James McCay
and they lived in Milo Township on a farm northwest of Billy Carrothers' old
farm. They had four children, Annie, Sarah, Jimmy, and Robert. In this section
we can not give more account of the McCays at the moment.
Urban Baxter is the one person who
bears the name and who is well-known to us. He married Joanna Craning of Norway
who came to America and taught school in Ida Grove, Iowa. For a time after
their marriage the Baxters lived on his farm near Ida Grove. Later he retired
from the farm and worked in a bank in Ida Grove. Later still the Baxters moved
to Ryan, where he was cashier of the Security State Savings Bank. Now he is
owner and manager of the Ryan Oil Company.
The Baxters have no children. Mrs.
Baxter's niece, Borghild Haukland, came from Norway after her high school years
and made her home with the Baxters until her marriage to Lloyd Robinson. Mrs.
Baxter is a member of P. E. O. and has various other social activities, besides
being the mistress of a lovely home. The Baxters take an active part in the
life of Ryan. Mr. Baxter does a great deal of work in assisting business men
and farmers in the area roundabout Ryan in making up their Income Tax reports.
THE
JOHN DOVER FAMILY
John Carradus and Mary E. Dover
married on Oct. 18, 1883, and they made their home in Silver Creek until 1918,
when they retired and moved to Manchester. They celebrated their Golden Wedding
in 1933. John died November 20, 1935, at seventy-five years, and Mary died on
February 7, 1948, at seventy-eight. Mr. and Mrs. Carradus were both people who
did not ever seek the lime-light. They were good, responsible citizens,
attending to their home and farm business steadfastly, rearing a large family,
and carrying their share of all neighborhood affairs. They stood high in the
estimation of neighbors and friends.
Mr. and Mrs. Carradus had eight
children. We have some account of the families who live nearest to Silver
Creek, and the family tree gives pertinent facts about the others. The oldest,
William, married Nellie McAdaragh and they live on the David Carradus
homestead. They have a family of five, two sons, James and Francis, three
daughters, Marian, Artazena, and Hazel. John R. Carradus married Mae Hamilton.
They farmed for many years on their home place until they retired to Manchester
where they now live. They were always active in the community, and loyal
supporters of the Silver Creek church. They are now just as active in the
Methodist church in Manchester. Their son LeRoy, who is married to Grace
Wickman, now lives on the home farm. Their youngest son Ellison was in the
service a period of years. Their daughter Eleanor married John Lyness and they
have a family of two girls and two boys. A daughter is deceased. The Carradus's
son, Harlan married Alice Emerson, and though this couple and their children
live near Masonville, they take an active part in the life of the Silver Creek
community.
Mary E. (Mamie) married George
McDowell. They lived on their farm until they retired to Manchester in 1941.
George has long farmed on an extensive scale, raising grain, buying and feeding
cattle. He and Mamie lived on the John Carradus home place until their
retirement, when their twin sons, Merle and Verle, took over the farm and
business. These boys and their families are an asset to the community. The
oldest son, Roy, married Margaret Emerson and they have a farm in the west part
of Silver Creek, where they operate a farming business on a large scale. They
have two sons, James and Gerald.
Iva, the older daughter, is at home
with her parents in Manchester. Arlene, the second daughter, married Floyd Kuhn
and they live near Lamont. They have a daughter, Elaine, and a son, Bruce.
Elmer F. Carradus married Lavina Pratt and they farmed for some time on their
place here. About six years ago they moved to New Hampton, Iowa, and their son
Bob took over his father's farm. Bob is married to Geneva LeGassick and they
have a son, Gary Lee. Their daughter Emily is married to Wilbur Wendt and they
have a son, Ronald. Dean is married to Francis Stimson and they have a son,
Allen Dean. Dean is in the Service.
Lucy Carradus married Earl Basquin
and has lived all her married life in Davenport, Iowa. Earl Basquin died and
Lucy married Harla Connor of Davenport. Lucy's three daughters are married.
George Carradus is unmarried and he makes his home with his sister Mrs. George
McDowell in Manchester. The youngest Carradus son, Fred, has been dead for many
years.
JOHN
McDOWELL
John McDowell was born in County
Antrim, Ireland, June 1, 1844, and in 1865 came from there to Newton Township,
Buchanan County. He was married July 3, 1871 to Matilda McKay, daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. William McKay.
They farmed on the McKay homestead
and reared a family of twelve children. They were William of Ryan, Robert and
Charles (deceased), Harry on the homestead, Gordon of Quasqueton, Russell of
Washington state, Claire, British Columbia, George of Manchester, Mrs. Sarah
Crawford of Waterloo, Mrs. Mayme Hammersmith of California, and Mrs. Tillie
McKay of Winthrop, also deceased. John and Matilda McDowell lived to celebrate
their 64th wedding anniversary.
In March, 1910, they retired and
moved to Quasqueton, Iowa, where Mr. McDowell passed away in 1935 at the age of
91 years. Mrs. McDowell died one year later, July 14, 1936, aged 83 years.
TODD
FAMILY
The Todd family are recorded in an
old church book as "joining by letter" in May, 1881. From Ella Todd
Emerson, oldest daughter of Albert Todd, we have record that her grandfather,
Andrew G. Todd, and family arrived in Iowa, March 19, 1868, from Fredonia, New
York. They crossed Lake Erie on a ferry boat. They first settled on the farm
where Glen Henderson now lives, near Ryan, after which the son Salah took over
the place and Elihu lived across the road on the farm owned by the late Chris
Enabnit. Then Andrew Todd and wife and the other children, Albert, Lottie,
Levi, Isaac, and Nancy, moved to the old David Carradus place in Silver Creek,
"the brick house". The Todds had nine children. Ella married Lowery
Moore. Nancy died. Mrs. Andrew Todd died on May 14, 1890, and after that Andrew
went to Carroll, Minnesota, to locate his son Isaac on a farm. In the meantime,
Albert and Levi bought the old Todd farm. Lottie married Orin Richardson and
lived on a farm south of the old McDowell place on the Linn County Line. She
now resides in California.
Albert attended Epworth Seminary,
and he married Ada Manchester at Fairfield, Iowa. He and Levi farmed together
on the old Todd place until Andrew, their father, died, in Minnesota in 1896.
Then Levi moved to Edge wood to a farm and Albert continued on the homestead.
In 1910, while Albert and his daughter Lottie were in Colorado on a vacation,
lightning struck the large barn on their farm and it was completely burned. He
built a new barn and then sold the farm to T. S. McRoberts and C. A. Swindell.
Mr. McRoberts later bought the whole farm and this is now the McRoberts home
place. Albert then bought the old McCay place. The family moved to Coggon where
Mrs. Todd died on August 8, 1919, when their youngest child was six years old.
When the C. A. N. railroad was built
through this part of the country, the right of way fence ran through the Todd
orchard, just south of the old log house in which the McCays lived before they
built the fine big square house. On top of this big house was a cupalo built as
a small-size duplicate of
the
large house. That cupalo and the rail fences here and there on the McCay place
were the novelty of the neighborhood. The cupalo stood until 1936.
Albert and his three daughters
farmed the place for a few years. Ella married James Emerson, grandson of pioneer
Charles Falconer, the wedding taking place in the McCay house. They went to
live for a year on the old James Robinson place. On November 14, 1928, during a
tornado, Lottie, Albert's second daughter, who had married Alpha Hawkins, was
killed in the storm. She had gone to close a door on the south side of the barn
and was struck by some flying object. The two daughters, Ella and Lottie, had
bought from their father the McCay place and Ella and Jim lived on it for
several years. Albert Todd died on January 75, 1940.
Ella and Jim Emerson now own and
live on the old Thomas Sandilands homestead, which Mr. Sandiland bequeathed to
them. The Emersons have had five daughters, one dying in infancy. The oldest
daughter, Isabel is married to Roger Hammond and they live in Cedar Rapids.
They have a little red-haired daughter named Karen. Bernita is taking nurses
training in Ravenswood Hospital in Chicago. Marjorie graduate from high school;
Wilda is a senior this year in the Coggon High School.
Ruth Alice, Albert's youngest child,
was graduated from Fletcher College, which was in University Park, Iowa, but is
now incorporated with another institution. Ruth taught for a number of years
and then went into a position with the Printograph Company of Kansas City, and
still later into a position with the Hollywood Eastern Incorporated of
Hollywood, California. She has had unusual success in her selling and commands
excellent ranking in her field, as well as a fine salary. Ruth is a regular and
very substantial contributor to the financial budget of her home church in
Silver Creek, according to the officers who handle the business of the church
and who admire and esteem this young woman's loyalty.
THE
WADE FAMILY
Robert Montgomery Wade was born in
Tipperara, Ireland, in 1840, and was educated at Wesleyan University in Dublin,
for work as a medical missionary, going to school the year around. He came to the United States right after the
close of the Civil War. He was married
in 1868 to Cassie Homan of Tama, Iowa.
In 1883 he moved to Masonville from Parley and practiced there as a
physician until 1893, when he moved with his family to Independence. Later he moved to Rowley, where he passed
away very quietly, while his family were attending church.
Robert's father, who was born in
Ireland, was a surveyor, and he had been in the British Army. Robert had one
brother, Christopher, who went to Australia from Ireland. Another brother,
Irving, settled in New York and another brother John Wade engaged in farming
near Mount Vernon, Iowa, John Wade and his wife were the first couple to obtain
a marriage license in the vicinity. They had three sons and three daughters,
all of whom were graduated from Cornell College in Mount Vernon. In later years
the Wade home was just across the campus from the college. The three sons were
all doctors.
Dr. Robert Wade had three sons and
four daughters, Lulu, Mrs. Carl Evans, (Mrs. Carl Evans is deceased. Her
husband is 83 years of age. They had
two daughters, Florence, who is at home with her father, and Fern, now Mrs.
Bill Channing of Spokane); Elenore, Mrs. Joe Henkel; Vinnie, Mrs.
Bert
Kragelund, (Mrs. Bert Kragelund had one son, Wade, who married Lenora Miller of
Spokane. They have three daughters,
Karen, age nine; Linda, age eight; and Christine, age four); Miss Lillian, and
William, these all of Spokane, Washington.
Harry Wade of Iowa, deceased, married Mabel Bullis of Minneapolis. They
had one daughter, Dorothy, who married Douglas Baber. The Babers have one
daughter, Susan Kay, who is about twelve years old now. Fred Wade, deceased, married Esther Ella
(Etta) Robinson, also deceased. Fred and
Etta had nine children. Their oldest son, Glenn, of Manchester, married Hope
Robinson and they have three children, Roger, Glenda and Barbara. Muriel, of
Robinson, married Wilbur Falconer. Vivian died at the age of one and a half
years. Iva, married Charles Swindle, and they have three children, Janet, Lynda
and Wade. Wayne was killed in action in the Infantry in Italy, September 13,
1943. He was married to La Vina Ammeter and they had one son Marshall. Wilbur
of Ryan served in the armed forces and came home in October 1945. He is married
to Roberta Robinson and they have four children, Sharon, Richard, Keith and
Douglas. Robert enlisted in the armed forces and served in the Infantry in the
South Pacific. He is married to Lois Topping and they have one son, Gary.
Leland, of Cedar Rapids, married Corrine Hilsenbeck. Marlyn, who is fighting
with the 8th Army in Korea, is married to Patricia Hess.
The above paragraphs were written by
Iva Wade Swindle.
Many people in Silver Creek remember
Harry Wade, for he used to work in this neighborhood when he was young. Fred
Wade and his wife, Etta, lived here for many years and the family took an
active part in community affairs. The death of their son Wayne, in Italy, sat
heavily on both Fred and Etta. The general feeling is that this break in their
family circle hastened the death of both parents. Iva (Wade) Swindle, and her
sister Muriel (Wade) Falconer are both gracious kindly women, and faithful
workers in the Silver Creek church and community.
THOMAS MCROBERTS FAMILY
Thomas S. McRoberts came to Silver
Creek in 1894, married Mary Robinson and established a family home, first on
the farm in Prairie Township where Milton and Sarah Robinson now live and then
on the old Todd place which is now McRobert's homestead. His family is now a
definite part of the Silver Creek community. Mr. McRoberts was born in County
Antrim, Ireland, in 1874. He is the son of Thomas and Elizabeth McWilliams
McRoberts. His mother died when he was eight and at the age of fifteen he came
to America, to his uncle, Samuel McWilliams of Memphis, Missouri. He had three
sisters who lived and died in Ireland, Elizabeth, Margaret, and Minnie. Also,
he had three brothers and one sister, all of whom came to America. William
lives in Scotland County, Missouri; John lived in Detroit, Michigan, and died
there; James lived and died in Wilmington, Delaware; Ethel lives in Detroit, Michigan.
Mary (Robinson) McRoberts was born
in Ireland. She was the daughter of Anthony Robinson of Ireland. She came to
America to make her home with her uncle, John Robinson. Mrs. McRoberts was a
retiring woman whose greatest happiness was in tending her home and family. She
died two years ago at the home of her daughter Margaret, in Michigan, where she
had gone for a visit. She was truly an estimable woman.
The McRoberts family numbers six.
All of these children grew up here and took part in the young people's life in
the community. Three of them are established in their own homes in Silver
Creek. Sarah, the oldest, married Milton Robinson. Account of Sarah and her
family is given in the W. B. Robinson family record. John Burnside has farmed
with his father and brother all his life. At present he and his brother,
Thomas, operate the big family home place. They are excellent farmers and raise
much grain and stock.
Margaret E. married Emmet G. Lee,
who is in the lumber business in Michigan. They lived for years in Battle
Creek, Michigan. They now live at Luzerne, Michigan, where Mr. Lee's business
is located.
Ethel was graduated from the
University of Iowa in the Liberal Arts Course. She married Dr. Robert Barker
and they live in Sequim, Washington, where he practices medicine. Their son
died in childhood. Their daughter, Sandra, is now fourteen and is in high
school.
Thomas A. married Minnie Haren and
the couple lives on the family home place. They are the parents of five bright,
lively youngsters whose names spread the family tree considerably.
Viola was the baby of the family of
Thomas and Mary McRoberts. She died at the age of eight after a year of
distressing illness.
T. S. McRoberts has proved himself
an able farmer and a good business man. His holdings in farm property include
some of the best and most productive land in the country. His family are
integrated with the Silver Creek community in all ways.
TERRANCE
GAFFNEY FAMILY
Frank Gaffney, son of Mike, who now
lives on his father’s home place at the southeast of Silver Creek community
wrote the following account. It is good history.
"I will attempt to outline a
little sketch of our granddad and family, Terrence and Ann Gaffney. They
immigrated into Iowa in 1849 from Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. My father was six
months old at that time. They came across the Mississippi on a ferry. They had
a small amount of livestock, a few chickens, pigs, a few cows and oxen, and a
team of horses. They crossed the rough country and prairie until they came to
Adams township where they settled a mile south of Silver Creek, and built a log
house. The old pioneers always tried to settle near a stream and timber. The
first thing they needed was wood and water to survive. They also brought a
small flock of sheep which were full of cockleburs which are known to a lot of
the old settlers as the ‘Gaffney burs’.
A few years later came the Swindles,
Colemans, Robinsons. They would butcher their hogs in winter, freeze them, and
haul them to Delhi in sleighs. The neighbors would have a bee-butchering (sic).
I recall my father saying he stuck 90 hogs in a day. My grandma would give the
new settlers a few chickens to get started. They broke the old prairie sod and
sowed wheat. There wasn’t a road or a bridge; so they hauled their wheat to
Manchester in wagons, with horses and oxen. I recall the story that my Dad one
very hot day came to a ford and there was a load of wheat and a very nice span
of chestnut sorrel horses, stuck in the midst of the stream. So Dad said,
‘Unhitch your horses and I’ll pull you out with these oxen’. The man gave a
hearty laugh but finally consented to let Dad pull him through. In a few
minutes they were on their way. I forget that man’s name, but he said, ‘Til
help unload your load of wheat in Manchester if you get there today. So the man
and team went ahead. When they came to the railroad siding to unload into a
boxcar, the oxen’s heads were bumping the back of his wagon.
Patrick Gaffney was killed in the
Civil War and Tom was wounded. He had
one of his toes shot off. At the time of the Civil War, while Tom and Patrick
Gaffney were fighting in the far South, their father was called to the colors
in the northwest to help quiet the Indians. But it didn’t take long to subdue
them and put them back in their place. In later years Uncle Sam provided a
tract of land now known as the Indian Reservation.
"In the old days most of the
visiting was done on foot. People would walk across the prairies on foot and
take their children with them and stay a week or more at a time."
DENNIS
COLEMAN FAMILY
The Coleman family has long been a
part of our community life in all the things that go with neighboring. Dennis
Coleman wrote the following account of his family. No one has shown keener
interest in the revival and recording of the early history of Silver Creek than
Dennis. Here are his original lines:
"Dennis Coleman was born in
County Monahan, Ireland. Also, Mary (Woods) Coleman his wife was born in County
Monahan. Dennis Coleman came to Iowa in 1854 and his first night was spent in
the home of William Swindell. His wife and children came to Iowa in 1854. It
was in 1854 they filed claim to the land now owned by Joe Coleman and known as
the James Coleman, Sr., farm. They had a family of seven children, Patrick M.,
Bernard, Rosy (McBride), William, John, and James and Thomas the twins.
"My grandparents on my mother's
side were Patrick Keenan, born in County Down, Ireland, and his wife, Susan
(Trainor) Keenan, who was born in County Down. They came to this country in the
late sixties and settled at Troy Mills near a brother, Peter Keenan. In the
early seventies they moved to the home which they bought on what is known now
as the James McGuire farm and is owned by Wm. Gavin. They had a family of seven
children: Catherine (Coleman), Daniel, Susan (Mangold), Rosy (Burns), Arthur
and Frank the twins, and Peter.
"My father, Thomas Coleman, was
born at "Quality Ridge", a few miles south of the Coleman homestead,
in the year 1859. He attended school on the banks of the Buffalo and among some
of his schoolmates were Robinson Baxter and Erwin McCloud. My mother was born
in County Down, Ireland. She came to Iowa with her mother, brother, and sister
at the age of four-and-a-half years. She attended Silver Creek school and some
of her school companions were John Carrothers, Sarah Patton Carrothers, James
Anderson, and many others of the Silver Creek settlement.
"Thomas and Catherine (Keenan)
Coleman were the parents of six children: Mary Ann, Francis, James, Dennis,
Susan (Burke), and Bernice (McCarthy). Three of this family have passed away,
Mary Ann, Francis, and James Coleman.
"One of the hardships the early
pioneers had to contend with was the lack of transportation. I recall my grandfather
Dennis Coleman's telling of going with Anthony Swindle on foot to Dubuque. and
walking back carrying a sack of white flour and a walking-plow home. The white
flour was divided between them and was used entirely for pastry cooking.
"Dennis Coleman was Justice of
the Peace of Adams township for a long time and I recall a story of a case that
was tried in his court, involving two Silver Creek neighbors. One man's hogs
damaged the other man's wheat crop. My grandfather was blind in one eye and almost
blind in the other and had a catalogue from a mail order house to help him
detect numbers. In this particular case he opened the catalogue to a grinding
stone advertisement which was priced around fourteen dollars. He awarded the
man whose crop was damaged that sum. The other man put up a very strong
argument and was not going to pay it, but the man whose crop was damaged said,
'John, you better be thankful-on the opposite page there is a buggy priced at
$149.50."
JAMES
LYNESS FAMILY
The Lyness and the Devine families
were ever the best of neighbors and friends. We give here a family account
written by Mrs. Arthur Lyness of Ryan, she who was "Kit" Devine.
"Catherine and James Lyness
came from Grant County, Wisconsin, with their nine children, six boys and three
girls, and settled in Hazel Green township. The following year they purchased
one hundred sixty acres of land along the southern line of Prairie township.
This land was purchased from Roy B. Griffen, at twenty-five dollars an acre, in
March, 1872.
"James Lyness was born in
County Down, Ireland, and came to America with his three brothers at the
invitation of a friend who had lived in Ireland, but later settled in
Wisconsin. Catherine (Keenan) Lyness, also born in County Down, Ireland, came
to the United States at the age of 17. After seven weeks at sea in a sailing
vessel, the passengers were brought up the Mississippi river by boat as far as
McGregor. The remainder of the journey to St. Paul was made by stagecoach.
Catherine Keenan worked at a fur trading post in what is now St. Paul, for two
years, and made friends with many of the Indians. The offer of land for
homesteading, even though it was the land on which the capital city now stands,
was not sufficient to keep Catherine Keenan from going to former countrymen and
friends who had settled in Wisconsin. While visiting these friends in Grant
County, Catherine met James Lyness. They were married and lived in Wisconsin
for several years. Iowa was open for settlement and Catherine wanted to be near
her brother, Patrick Keenan, who had settled just two miles west of the Silver
Creek community; so the family came to Iowa. Catherine and James Lyness had
nine children: George, Joseph, Less, Rose, James, Daniel, Arthur, Ella, and
Catherine.
"Their land has been in the
family possession ever since it was purchased from Mr. Griffen. The youngest
son, Arthur, married Catherine Devine in 1906 and they lived on the farm for
forty-two years. Their son, Louis, now lives on this farm.
"Arthur Lyness can tell many
interesting happenings of earlier days. He was working for Robert Robinson when
Robert bought the first corn planter in the Silver Creek community. Art recalls
how he sat on the new machine and dropped the corn while Robert drove along the
marked line. Great improvement was made on the next model three years later,
when the planter did its own dropping by means of a wire.
"Elihu Todd improvised a hay
loader that was given a trial run on his brother's farm. Art was to build the
load and all were eager to watch the operation. It caused considerable
excitement and trouble, too, for the 'teeth' were not only not tempered, but
reversed.
"Art recalls hauling milk to
the creamery where it was weighed and churned into butter. The creamery located
on Anthony Swindle's land was built by George Packer and Clare Lillibridge. Art
went to Barryville for his mail."
JOHN
CROTHERS FAMILY
The family of John Crothers belongs
to the era of our pioneers, though they moved west when their children were
still quite young. Mr. Crothers was brother to Christopher Carrothers and
Isabelle Swindell, of the earliest pioneer group here. John Crothers' wife was
Margaret Fair, sister to James Fair whose name is prominent in the history of
the American West in connection with the early fabulous fortunes of the gold
and silver mines there, and with consequent developments in business and other
expansions in the west. He was one of the four "Bonanza Kings".
John and Margaret Fair Crothers were
both born in North Ireland. After 1868 they came to America, first to Illinois,
and then Wapello, Iowa, where they lived for a time. Mrs. Crothers' father had
come to America in the 40's and purchased land in several places. Later the
Crothers family lived in Silver Creek on a farm which lies along the Ryan road,
one often referred to as the Baxter place, because the Baxters later owned it.
The buildings of this place have long since been removed, but there is still an
old pump to mark the spot. Some of the Crothers children went to Silver Creek
school for some years. One of the brothers, now Judge George E. Crothers wrote
this interesting bit in setting down memories of his childhood years here. He
said, "My chum was Wesley Robinson, who later visited us in Ida County.
When we parted in Ida County, where he bought me an orange, he said goodbye in
tears, and I planned for years to go back to Silver Creek to see him. Also, I
wanted to see Aunt Tillie Robinson, mother of W. B. Robinson, for whom I had a
feeling of devoted friendship and appreciation. Afternoons when we left school
to walk to our home, she would always give us something to eat, to make our
trip shorter and pleasanter. I had often planned to write her to send Christmas
greetings until I heard she had passed away. I always regretted I did not let
her know how much I cared for her and how I appreciated her kindness to us
children."
Three years ago Judge Crothers
stopped here on his way home from a business trip to Washington D. C, to see
the places among which he had lived as a child. He had a long visit with W. B.
Robinson, but in the few hours he was here he was unable to contact any others
he might have known in the early days. The family moved from here to Ida Grove,
Iowa, and later to California at the urgence of Mrs. Crothers' brother, James
Fair. The Crothers established a family home in San Jose where the parents and
their oldest son, John James, died. The family members have kept in touch with
their Silver Creek associations all these years and Judge Crothers is
particularly interested in this historical booklet. He has for years been
accumulating family history and wants record of the Silver Creek background.
We have here account of the Crothers
family which will be of interest to many people connected with them on the
Crothers side, as well as those who are related through the Andersons of Ida
Grove, Mrs. Crothers' relatives, most of whom once lived here. The name, which
was originally Carrothers, was abbreviated to Crothers at the request of the
mother, Margaret Fair, because of the varied pronunciation of the Carrothers
name. Over the country there are several well-known families who have
abbreviated the name in a like manner.
There were eight children in the
John Crothers family. The oldest son was John James, who became a successful
orchardist in Santa Clara County, California. The oldest daughter, Fannie Jane,
married Robert Graham of Ida County and had one son, Earl, now a farmer with
extensive holdings in Ida County. Fannie
died and Mr. Graham married Bessie Carrothers of Silver Creek, cousin to his
first wife. Account of this second family appears in the Carrothers family
tree.
William Henry Crothers was graduated
from Stanford University and from Cooper Medical College. He married Blanche
Cook and spent a year in Berlin and Vienna, studying medicine. He practiced
medicine in California all his life.
Thomas Graham Crothers was graduated
from Stanford University and later from Michigan Law School. He has practiced
law in San Francisco for more than fifty-six years. He is a member of the firm,
Crothers and Crothers.
George E. Crothers was graduated
from Stanford University with B. A., Masters, and Law degrees. He has practiced
law in San Francisco for over fifty years, in association with his brother
Thomas, except for seven and a half years when he was on the Superior Court
Bench of San Francisco. Judge Crothers' name has appeared in Who's Who in
America since 1901.
Mary E., second daughter, was
graduated from the University of the Pacific and married Samuel R. Cook, a
professor of Physics and Mathematics. She had one son, Richard Crothers Cook,
who is one of the Chief Engineers of the Buick plant in Flint, Michigan.
Charles Fair Crothers was graduated from the University of Michigan Law School
and practiced law and operated a real estate and loan business in San Jose,
California, all his life.
Theresa, third daughter, was
graduated from the University of the Pacific with a degree of Master of Music.
She married Robert Craig, a minister. Theresa died in childbirth. Her husband is
noted for his work in the religious field, as pastor and as administrator.
Virginia, the little sister of the family, died in early childhood. Wesley
Elsworth Crothers attended Stanford University, made two trips around the
world, and served in the Canadian army in World War I. Wesley spent years of
his life in mining enterprises in California and Nevada, wintering in Palm
Springs usually. All the Crothers family are deceased except Thomas and George.
Judge George E. Crothers gave to
Stanford University Crothers Hall, a Dormitory and Library for Law School
students, together with 6,000 volumes for use in the Law School. The gift has
been widely publicized and we here present a cut of Crothers Hall. This is done
as token of our appreciation of Judge Crothers' continued interest in the
community where he spent part of his boyhood, and in the families represented
here whose elders he remembers with the pleasure that attends recollections of
our earliest years. Here we also acknowledge with sincere gratitude Judge
Crothers gift to us of a sum of money to be used in the production of this
little historical book.
WILLIAM
CARROTHERS FAMILY
The Carrothers name is identified with
Silver Creek from the beginning of the "neighborhood". Only a few
remaining sons and daughters of the original settlers here have any personal
remembrance of the first William Carrothers and his wife, Margaret Ramsay. But
through the third generation we all have definite - better say vivid memories
of the three sons who lived among us, Christy, Billy, and Johnny, as they were
always called. After much persuasion, May Carrothers Emerson, daughter of
Billy, set down account of her father's family as she knows it from family
narration. And there never was in our midst anyone with quicker wit or greater
gift in storytelling than Billy Carrothers. We quote from Mrs. Emerson:
"Grandfather's family, so typical
of all the pioneers of that time, consisted of the father and mother, eight
daughters, and four sons. Three children, Jane, Christy, and Andrew, came to
America in 1864. There was no railroad west of Dubuque; so these three young
people found it necessary to make the trip to the Silver Creek settlement on
foot. Exhausted and hungry, they stopped at a farm house east of Earlville to
rest. There they were given cold buttermilk to drink, and they often declared
this was the most delicious and welcome nourishment they ever had. Mary, who
married Robert McMullan, remained in Ireland. Christy came to take over the
work for his uncle, Christy Carrothers, Sr., who was called to duty in the
Civil War. Young Christy found the work much different from that of his native
land. For instance, he had to milk the cows. In Ireland that was a woman's
work, and most families had but one cow. At Uncle Christy's he would milk a
while and cry a while; for after all, he was only a boy.
"His sister, Jane, was employed in
the John Robinson home, where she helped with both the house and farm work,
receiving fifty cents a week for her labor. Christy and Jane shared a great sorrow
in this strange place when their brother, Andrew, aged 17, died two months
after their arrival. This was surely heart-breaking word for the rest of the
family when they arrived here a year later. The father and mother and eight
remaining children came in 1865.
"An amusing incident happened when
the family arrived in the harbor of New York City. Seeing all the negroes at
work around the dock, one of the children asked a policeman if the black-smiths
were having a holiday. And, a great misfortune befell this family after their
arrival in New York, when they lost their passes to Dubuque. A friendly negro
informed the police of their loss and contact was made with Paxton and Seeds of
Manchester, Iowa, who arranged a guarantee for their fares to Dubuque.
"Upon arrival here, the family was
taken into the homes of friends where they were given the warm welcome always
extended by those early pioneers. The family soon moved into a log cabin which
stood just south of the William Swindell home, and here they remained until
spring. Then they moved into a house just west of what was then known as
McGuire's bridge, where they lived until they purchased land in Buchanan
County, land now owned by Reuben Gentz. The husband and father died less than
two years after his arrival here, leaving the mother the burden of a large
family that was trying to get a foothold in this new, strange world.
Fortunately, hers was a family of sturdy, industrious children, who as they
reached maturity, married and immediately purchased land, built their homes,
and became good citizens, devoted to their homes and to their God.
"William, John, and Christy
purchased several hundred acres of land close together and built comfortable
and commodious farmsteads. Outstanding for their hospitality and native Irish
wit, these men headed homes that were happy places where old and young alike
were welcome, homes where everybody enjoyed himself and enjoyed the company.
"William Carrothers married
Margaret, daughter of William Robinson, and John Carrothers married Catherine,
daughter of Thomas Robinson, these fathers both pioneers among the first who
came to Silver Creek. Christy married Ann Jane Anderson, also the daughter of a
well-known pioneer family. Jane and Sarah married Nathan and John Patton, both
residents of the south part of Delaware County, Through hard work and honesty
the Patton family acquired large farms, and comfortable homes; and they were
outstanding in community and church work.
"Two sisters, Annie, wife of James
Baxter of Silver Creek, and Fannie, who married Charles Leidy, moved to
homesteads in Nebraska. They spent their entire lives in these homes and were
industrious citizens. Some members of their families still live on the Nebraska
home places and many of the children live close by. Shortly after the Baxters
arrival in Nebraska, a rattlesnake bit little Maggie, their small daughter, and
she died from the snake-bite. Another daughter, Alma, died many years later at
the age of seventeen.
"Maggie, another daughter, married
Henry Manz and they took up residence at Merrill, Iowa. They reared a large
family, who today are among the most respected and prosperous members of their
community.
"Lettie, who married John Berg,
and a sister, Lizzie, went to Kansas where they have always lived. As is
sometimes the case, distance and the unending duties of everyday life have
prohibited personal contact among the members of this family for now many
years. But the ideas of the original home have always been maintained in the
families of Grandfather William. This large family has given good account of
itself.
"The story of Jane Carrothers and
Nathan Patton is another pioneer family story. Their outstanding
characteristics were industry, honesty, and devotion to their family and their
church. Their family consisted of two daughters and four sons. One son, Charles
died in infancy. Their sons, Tom, William, and Dave, assisted their parents on
their farm of several hundred acres. These men had adequate rural and advanced
educations, married, and lived their entire lives on the farms given to them by
their parents. Thomas and Lena had one daughter, Alberta, now Mrs. James
Gardner of Dayton, Ohio, and an only son, Dorrance, who died from a foot injury
when he was ten years old. This boy's death was a life-long sorrow to the
parents; they were devoted to their son.
"Dave Patton and his wife Bessie
had two sons. Dale lives on the home place since the death of his father.
Kenneth is a teacher and coach in the school at Wilton Junction. Kenneth was a
captain in World War II and saw service in the Pacific.
"Mary Jane, daughter of Nathan and
Jane Patton, married Bert Henderson, pioneer storekeeper and stock buyer at
Ehler. Will Henderson, another son of James, married Bessie, daughter of
Anthony and Lucy Swindle. James Henderson built a large brick store building
and sold groceries and dry goods. The post office was also in this building.
The farmers in the Silver Creek community sold their stock to the Hendersons
for years. Will Patton remembers going into Chicago with eleven car loads of
hogs at one shipment.
"Two children, Ruth and Esther,
were born to Mr. and Mrs. Bert Henderson while they were residents of Ehler.
They later removed to Wessington, South Dakota, where Bert was in the banking
business. Two more children, Willard and Marian, were born there.
"Ruth,
their oldest daughter, married Bill McDonald (deceased) and their son, Julian,
lives with his wife and two daughters at Highmore, South Dakota. Esther, their
second daughter, married Oscar Pedicord and lives at Wessington. Willard is a
dentist and is living in New Orleans with his wife, Ruth and three children,
Peter, Mary and Joe. Marian married Millard Kiel and is living at Highmore,
South Dakota.
"Leona, the youngest daughter of
Nathan and Jane Patton, married Charles Boeke of Wessington, in 1913. They
lived on their farm there for many years, later moving to Rockford, Illinois,
to be near their sons. Their only daughter, Wilma, a girl in her teens, died in
1938 while still in Dakota. Her sudden death of peritonitis was a great sorrow
to her family. Of the boys of the Boeke family, two sons, Howard and Loal, are
living near Rockford. Duane, who is unmarried, and Harlan, who is married, are
in the lumber business in Rockford. Carl is married and living at Clear Lake,
South Dakota. Each of the Boeke boys has served in some branch of the service.
(Account of Christy and Ann Jane
Carrothers is given separately.)
(Account of the John Carrothers family
will be found in the Thomas Robinson history.)
"Sarah Carrothers married John
Patton. Their home was famous for its friendliness, its old-fashioned Irish
wit, the kindliness and generosity that lived there, and its never-failing a
cup of tea". Sarah and John Patton had two sons and two daughters. George
died at seventeen after a long illness from an incurable kidney ailment.
Stella, a skillful teacher, died on Christmas morning, 1947. Mamie married
Harley Williams and they live on the old Williams place. Charles, the younger
son, lived a self-sacrificing life. He cared for his invalid wife, Rilla, over
a long period of years, at the same time carrying the responsibilities of
father and mother to his four sons. Charles had the hard experience of seeing
all four of his sons go into military service. James, Leland, and Merl served
overseas. Merl was wounded in Italy and hospitalized for months in Italy and in
America. He has a twin brother Verl. All of Charles's sons are married and have
established their own homes."
CHRISTY
CARROTHERS FAMILY
Christy Carrothers married Ann Jane
Anderson and they went immediately to live on their farm, one of the old farms
of Silver Creek, situated at the north end of the community. They had twelve
children. Sickness and death darkened the home of this pioneer couple many
times, as it did so many pioneer homes.
Christy and Ann Jane's oldest daughter,
Effie, died at eighteen years of age. There were three infants who died in
succession, and later they lost a son named Archie, their youngest child.
William, the oldest son in the
Carrothers family, remained on the home farm until his marriage in 1904 to
Grace Simons of Earlville, a teacher in the country schools. This couple met
while they were students at Epworth Seminary. After their marriage they lived
on their farm here for many years, later moving to Manchester. They had a son,
Raymond, a veteran of World War II. He is now a successful chef, employed by
some of the largest hotels in Iowa.
Henry, second son, attended Epworth
Seminary and helped on the home farm until his marriage to Florence Baskerville
of Earlville. Florence was a teacher in the schools of Delaware County and upon
taking up residence here quickly identified herself with community and church
work. Henry and Florence had five children, two sons and three daughters.
Vinton, the oldest, married Hazel Mangold and they have a fine farm near
Coggon. They have one son, Marshall. Donald has taught in Iowa's high schools
and, always interested in athletics, he was a successful coach. His wife was
Louise Reinking of Central City and they have two sons, Nile and Dicky. Donald
is now a farm manager and lives in Kansas City, Missouri.
Arnett, oldest daughter, went through
high school and later obtained a good position in office work. She is now
married to Edward Bruntz and living in California, where she is stenographer
for the Standard Oil Company. Her husband is department manager in a gas
furnace manufacturing company. Mary Jane married Dale Patton. The have a most
comfortable farm home near Coggon. They have a daughter, Beverly, and three sons,
Jimmy, David and Mark. Ilene, the youngest daughter of Henry and Florence, was
a teacher and is married to Miles Gulick. Their home is in Fresno, California.
After graduating from the Forestry Department in college, Miles went to Frenso
where he is in Civil Service.
Frank, who remained on the home farm
after his parents retired to Manchester, married Binnie Lane of Masonville.
They lived on the farm until their eldest son, Albert, married and took over.
Frank and Binnie spend their winters in Mesa, Arizona. Albert married Naomi
Haynes and they have a son, Eugene. Allyn, the second son, attended college,
taught school, and then became a Baptist minister. His wife was Jean Cocking, a
teacher, and they have a son, Ronald. Their home is in Denver, Colorado.
Annabel, Frank's daughter, married Nyle
Bergstrand and they live in Manchester. Nyle works for the Stearns and
McCormick Furniture Company. They have a son named Kevin.
Erwin, the fourth son, went to Denver,
Colorado, to live, because that climate was suited to his health, which was
somewhat impaired by a long siege of whooping cough in his childhood. He
married Lucile Burnett. Erwin, with his other brothers attended school and then
helped on the home farm until his removal to Denver.
Charles, youngest living son of Christy
and Ann Jane, also attended school and helped on the home farm. He never
married. Never very strong physically, he was given affectionate care at home.
He and his brother Will were in the restaurant business in Manchester for
several years, after which he moved to his own farm where he lived during his
active life.
Sarah, the oldest living daughter of
Christy and Ann Jane, attended Epworth Seminary after which she helped her mother
at home. She married Ray Childs, son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Childs of the
Masonville neighborhood. Sarah and Ray lived many years on their farm near
Masonville and are residents of that village. They spend their winters in Mesa,
Arizona. Their only child, Willard, lives on the home farm. His wife was Emily
Sacks of Kansas. They have one son, Gerald. A baby daughter died in infancy.
Mabel, after finishing high school,
lived with her parents until their death. Capable and kind, she was a blessing
to them during their older years and final illness. After their death she
traveled through the west for a few years and now makes her home with her
sister, Sarah, in Masonville.
ODDMENTS
There is a story that it was James
Emerson, Sr., who taught Henry Logan to smoke. Jim played the flute and he also
smoked a pipe. No man can play a flute and smoke at the same time. So, he would
give Henry his pipe to "keep it alive" while he played. Result, the
first thing Henry knew he was a pipe smoker too.
There was a band here way back when,
probably a fife and drum band in those early days along the creek. The names
that linger in the memory of the teller are those of Jim Emerson, Jim Landrum,
Henry Logan. There no doubt would be a Robinson, a Taylor, and a Dover.
When the first settlers needed to buy
some cattle, they went to the Monks at New Melleray and purchased several cows.
The monks "trusted" them on the matter of payment, The Silver Creek
people never forgot that.
EMERSON
- SISLER FAMILY
Isabel Falconer married James Emerson
and they went to Minatare, Nebraska, to a homestead, in 1887, a year after
their marriage. They had three sons, James Jr., Roy, and Carl.
On July 11, 1892, James died suddenly
and untimely; he was only twenty-nine. He had appendicitis, an ailment which
now is comparatively simple to care for. Isabel and her three sons returned to
her parents' home in Silver Creek. She kept Carl with her; James stayed for a
time in the Ben Falconer home (his uncle Ben); Roy went to live with his aunt
Alice and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Wesley Robinson. James now owns and
operates the old Thomas Sandilands homestead; Roy farmed almost all his life,
but moved to Robinson three years ago where he bought a home; Carl bought his
mother's house in Coggon and now lives and works in Coggon.
Mrs. Emerson later married Thomas
Sisler and they had two children, Rufus and Ruth, twins. Rufus is a banker in
Coggon. Ruth lives in Anderson, Indiana, and works as a bookkeeper in the Delco
Remy Plant located in Anderson. She is married to Roy Hon and they have three
children. Mr. Sisler was a man who was esteemed by all those who knew him. His
son Rufus has, on request, written a sketch which presents such interesting
account of strands of his father's life that we quote Rufus's paragraphs.
"My father's grandfather was born
on a sailing vessel on the way from Switzerland to America. He died in 1793 and
is buried at East Aurora, New York. He had seven sons. One of them was my
father's father. Another was George Sisler's father (the famous 1st baseman of
the St. Louis Browns and a member of the baseball hall of fame at Tarrytown, N.
Y.).
My father, Thomas Jefferson Sisler, was
named by his father after the great Democrat. However, after he grew up and
attended the College of the City of Akron, Ohio, he became an ardent student of
political history and all of his mature life was a Republican. It is still
recalled by the older people how aggressive he was in all political matters. In
Adams Township, where the Democrats were predominant, he never hesitated to
expound Republican principles, and at one election had to be restrained from
getting closer to the polling place than the law permitted.
In his early years he was a lumberman
in the Berkshires in Massachusetts. He was the only one of a family of nine
children to leave the original home in Akron. While logging in Massachusetts,
he had both feet badly frozen and nearly lost them. I have heard him tell of
the chewing gum of those days; they would take the pitch from the spruce trees
and chew it.
I have heard him tell of how his father
took him to Cleveland to hear Abraham Lincoln speak during his second campaign
for the presidency. He said he looked "seven feet tall with his hat
on". I have also heard him tell of an uncle who was in the battle of
Gettysburg, who said that "the peach orchard", where the battle was
the fiercest, could be crossed afterwards by walking upon the dead and never
touching the ground. It changed hands seven times in one afternoon. It covered
several acres. (I have been there.)
Father was a man that could stand a
great amount of cold. It is said that in his earlier years he never wore
anything on his hands, or an overcoat. At one time he and Jim Dunn, afterwards
a Linn County supervisor, were partners in the produce business. He was going
home with a load of turkeys to West Prairie where he lived, and became
snowbound at R. W. Trumbull's, four miles southwest of Coggon. He finally got
out to go home, but left the turkeys to the care of Mr. Trumbull, intending to
come back in a few days to get them. It was several weeks before he was able to
return.
He was a good swimmer. Once my twin
sister and I were at the edge of a hole at the end of a bridge after a storm,
looking down at the high-water, for the creek was bank full. The bank gave way
and I went with it. I went down and lodged against the fence across the creek
at the edge of the road and only my feet were above the water. Father swam out
and got me, and I came to in front of the open door of an old-fashioned oven
and on my mother's lap."
Isabel Sisler died in 1947, surviving
Mr. Sisler by quite a number of years.
ORRY
JONES
On
a plain little stone in our cemetery is the name Ora Jones, 1865-1944. Nobody
ever called him anything but Orry Jones; and nobody ever knew much about him.
When he was about nine years old, John Scanlon brought him home from the
"poor farm" at Delhi and he stayed at the Scanlon home for a time.
Later he worked around at different farms. For many years he worked for Jimmy
Robinson. When Jimmy left the farm, Orry worked other places around here except
for nine or ten years he spent in one of the Dakotas. In his later years Mr.
and Mrs. Charles Falconer gave him a room in their home. When Mr. and Mrs.
Wilbur Falconer took possession of this home, Orry stayed on in his room until
his death on December 30, 1941. On a stormy day he was buried in our cemetery
near the graves of those he had known best and longest. Ora Jones was a quiet
man. Whatever he knew about himself the general public did not know. No one
spoke ill of him. Out of the unknown, he was befriended in our community. It is
simple story.
THE
FIRST CHRISTMAS DINNER
On December 22, 1854, William and
Isabelle Swindell moved into their new long house. William's brother Anthony
had helped build it and it was a good one. It even had a partition upstairs. It
was done, ready for Christmas. There was but one thing to do, - have every body
for Christmas dinner.
Every body came, the men and their
wives, the Lendrums' two little girls, Anthony the bachelor. It was a potluck
dinner and every body brought what they had. There was Isabella's rooster, and
there was Margaret's goose. There were potatoes and bread, big brown loaves of
bread. In summer the women had picked and dried ripe berries and other fruits
they could get. There would have been that, of course, in sauce. Whatever it
was they had for the potluck Christmas dinner that day, the details are long
gone by. But it was a good dinner.
They had a blessing and then they
ate. "I remember my mother's saying they had a good time that day, such a
good time", said Elizabeth Swindell Johnston. They ate at a table James
Lendrum had made, a cherry table with a drawer in it, said Elizabeth. And they
had a gracious plenty, and the story of that Christmas dinner comes down to us.
That was the first of the dinners
for which Silver Creek has long been known. How many a time those same men and
women and their children shared food and all else, through good times and bad!
Hearsay has it that once an agent for
President William McKinley bought a horse that Anthony Swindle, Sr. had raised,
the horse to be used in the president's driving team.
This was one way the pioneers got
shoe strings. Anthony Swindle shot a deer one day and his brother helped him
tan the hide. From that hide they made shoe-strings by the dozen.
LITTLE
GIRL LOST
A story that still lives in Silver
Creek still strikes chill into the hearts of parents, for it is the tale of a
child lost in the woods. The story goes back to July 17, 1861 (sic), the fifth
birthday of little Mary Ann, daughter of William and Isabelle Swindell.
On the afternoon of that day all the
grown-up children of the Swindell and William Carrothers families were going
berrying in the woods. Mary Ann had received a little tin pail on her birthday,
a pail for her very own. She wanted to go berrying too, with her new pail. The
older ones protested because she was so small, but she cried to go and her
father said the others should take her. Because Mary Ann was going, "Johnny"
Carrothers, who was about her age, wanted to go too. So off they went, tagging
along behind the big boys and girls.
The berry pickers went hither and
yon in the woods, picking great handfuls of the ripe berries. Mary Ann wanted
to fill her new pail; so she wandered in and out among the bushes and the rest
forgot to keep track of her.
About four o'clock, when the older
children were ready to go home, they missed Mary Ann. They called and looked,
but could not find the little girl. They finally decided they should go home
and tell the father and mother Mary Ann was lost.
There were no telephones in those
days, but the word spread rapidly and from several square miles roundabout men
came to hunt for the child. A storm was gathering and too soon it became so
dark that search was difficult. The men separated into two parties and kept
looking through the timber until they could no longer see anything. They then
decided to go home and wait until daylight, when they would take up the search
again. All except Mary Ann's father. He continued to walk the woods, calling
her.
"Uncle Tom" Robinson, the
next door neighbor north, went to his home and lay down to rest, instructing
his wife, Eliza, to call him at two o'clock in the morning, when it would be
light enough to see. He fell asleep and had a dream. The rest of his life he
maintained that this dream prompted what he did. In the dream he saw Mary Ann a
few miles below where the berrying party had been, at a place where there was a
foot-log, a tree cut to fall over the stream so passers-by could cross the
water. Uncle Tom awoke and got up, telling his wife he was taking his horse
"Arabia" and going to the foot-log place to look for Mary Ann.
When he was about a quarter of a
mile from the log, Uncle Tom went into the water and kept calling, "Mary
Ann, Mary Ann''. Back came her voice, "Here I am". She was sitting on
the logs, holding on to a branch. Beneath her was ten feet of water. She knew
Uncle Tom, and he lifted her off the log. Strangely enough, when Uncle Tom found
the child, her father was only twenty rods or so away from her, calling too.
Uncle Tom took Mary Ann and wrapped
her in his coat. The he fired off his gun, which was to be the signal if any
one found the child. Every little while he fired his gun three times, that all
might hear it and know the glad news. The little girl was bare-footed and her
small body was scratched and insect-bitten from top to toe so it was swollen
all over. About six years ago Mary Ann, then past eighty years of age, told her
niece, Blanche Swindell, about that faraway experience. At the end she said,
"I cannot remember much about it except that my mother greased me all over
with goose grease and put me into her bed".
The little girl told at home that on
the berrying trip that day she got up from filling her tin pail and could not see the big folks
though she could hear their voices. She called, but no one heard her. She said
that she ran and ran and by and by she heard the family "bell cow'', Kate.
She thought she would follow the cows home, but they were across the creek and
the water was too deep for her. She then thought she would walk around the deep
place, but the cows were too quick and got away. So she climbed out on the log.
She looked down and the water was so deep she was afraid and had to hold on
tight. She spent the night there. Pioneer children were wise in their
generation and knew ways of helping themselves.
Mary Ann told her niece that years
later, on a day when in the old home preparations were going on for her
wedding, a man named Sherwin, who had been a well known auctioneer around the
country, came to the Swindell home. He had stopped to get some pet coons
Anthony wanted to be rid of and he was talking with Mary Ann. He told her of
his being at that farm once before when a little girl was lost. "But you
wouldn't remember it," he said, "It was years ago."
"Wouldn't I?' said Mary Ann. "I was the little girl."
Mr. Sherwin went on to tell her that
he had stopped the other time with two cattle buyers and they joined in the
search. They had stayed all night to continue the hunt in the morning. The next
day he and the drovers started off to go to Manchester and on the way turned
back six or eight wagons carrying men who were coming from Manchester to look
for the child.
More than four score years have gone
by since the little girl was lost in the woods of Silver Creek, but now and
then some one still goes to the place where the foot-log was, to point out the
spot where Uncle Tom found Mary Ann. These five years now Mary Ann has been
dead, but the story is told over and over. For the woods then were thick and
fearsome and the little girl was only five years old, five years to the day.
A
SOLDIER'S FAREWELL
Scarcely a dozen years after Silver
Creek came into being the call went out from Lincoln for men to serve in the
Union Army. Even as now there was heart-break in the community when a summons
came. Stories of these dark days still live, stories that stir the emotions
though the actors in each little drama are long since dead.
It is more than eighty-eight years
since the day when Christy Carrothers, two of whose sons still live, W. L., of
Grand Junction, Iowa, and George W. of Milwaukee, set off for war. He was to
report in Manchester and he had to walk the long trail to the county seat. The story runs that when Christy was leaving
that morning, he said to the family, "Don't go with me." He went out of the door and started off. When he reached the top of the Wigwam hill,
above his home, he turned to look back at what he was leaving behind. His eyes dwelt on the log house, the acres
he had tilled, on all that represented his triumph in the new world, on all his
hopes. Even across long years, in the mind one walks beside him, feeling
poignant sympathy for this young farmer every step of the twelve miles between
his cherished home and the departure center for soldiers that dark morning.
Christy's son George wrote, under
date of July 27, 1952:
"Father
was called to the service of his adopted country in the Civil War. He joined General Sherman's army and was in Sherman's march
from Atlanta to the Sea, in 1865.
Mother with two babies and the help of two of father's cousins, mere
boys, kept the home fires burning. With all the other work on the farm, she
husked corn in the snow while father was serving in the last months of the
Civil War.
"Father's
brother Thomas, who was a cooper by trade in Pittsburg, also joined the army of
the North and was killed in the battle of Gettysburg. They served in the Civil
War at $13 a month. Father died in 1891,
on the 22nd of May. He never received one dollar from the government as a
pension.
In further connection with the
brother, Thomas Carrothers, cited in the preceding paragraph, this incident we
record. Thomas served for two years and then was wounded and honorably
discharged. Later still, when a fresh division was being assembled for service,
Thomas re-enlisted in the Infantry. He was in close touch with his friend in
Pittsburg, Quintin Searight, later a Silver Creek pioneer. When Thomas was
leaving for his service in the Infantry, he gave Quintin Searight a dirk knife
he had carried during his first period of service under the colors. He asked of
Quintin this favor: "If anything happens to me, take this knife to Iowa
and give it to my sister Belle (Mrs. Isabelle Swindell)". Thomas was
killed on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg. The trust was carried
out; Belle received the knife. She gave this knife to her daughter, Mrs.
Elizabeth Johnston, its present possessor.
SILVER
CREEK SCHOOL TEACHERS
We have here what we think is a
complete list of the teachers in the Silver Creek school to the end of its
history, beginning with Maria Robinson, who taught there for many years.
Maria B. Robinson
Knowel Patty
Florence Linderman
Byrdie James
Maria B. Robinson (same as above)
Mrs. A. T. Robinson
Lillie M. Cornwell
Eva A. Butler
Alwida Courtney
Mollie A. Robinson
Bertha Robinson
Ethel Robinson
Lyonne Hopkins
Louise Kehrli
Gwen Daniels
Irene Robinson
Margaret Emerson
Suzanne Guilgot
Phyllis McElligott
ON
GOOD HEARTS
There are stories a-plenty which
give token of the human sympathy that lived in these early settlers. At the
front of the Silver Creek Cemetery is a simple stone that bears this brief legend:
WILLIAM
McKEOWN
Died
May 15, 1882
Age 20 Years
"For here have we
no continuing city, but we seek one to come".
The story is this: "Willie''
McKeown came to America from Ireland, a boy seeking his fortune in greener
fields. He came with James Emerson, father of James, Roy, and Carl who grew up
in Silver Creek. But just how he landed in Silver no one really knows. He was
here only a month when he died of measles at the home of "Red" Jim
Baxter, who lived in what was later the Alf Wells place. With their customary
kindliness the Silver Creek neighbors took over the situation of the young
Irish lad. They had a funeral for him at Jim and Annie Baxter's home, with
burial in Silver Creek cemetery. "They gave him a Christian burial", said
Mrs. Elizabeth Johnston, who retold the story just now. She knew the
circumstances first-hand. At the graveside on the day of the boy's burial,
Uncle Tom Robinson, one of the original pioneers, made a little talk to the
friends assembled. The theme of Uncle Tom's brief discourse was that here was a
boy in a strange land, one who had come with nothing but his youth and his
ambition. Misfortune had overtaken him and untimely he was cut down. So then
and there Mr. Robinson suggested that "we all raise an offering to pay
Willie's burial expenses and to buy a little stone." That was done and the
stone stands as a memorial to Willie McKeown, but also to the generous, warm
hearts of those early Silver Creek neighbors.
Another part of the story relates
how a Mrs. Morrison, who once lived where Erwin McCloud now lives, came back to
Silver Creek from her home in Ida County, to visit. In Ida County she had as a
neighbor a young woman who had been neighbor to Willie in Ireland. The boy's
sister in Ireland had written to ask the old friend in Ida County if she knew
where Willie was buried. Mrs. Morrison happened to be here on a Sunday which
was Children's Day in Silver Creek Church. Maria Robinson had charge of the
Children's Day program and she asked the children to take their bouquets of
flowers used in the exercises and put them on the graves. One of the bouquets
went to Willie's resting place. Mrs. Morrison took back to the Ida Grove friend
the bouquet that lay on Willie's grave, who sent these humble flowers all the
way to Ireland to the McKeown mother and sister, just to be able to say these
flowers had come from Willie's grave in America.
HORSE-THIEF
ROCK
A story lives here almost a century
after its events happened. Horses had been missing from the neighborhoods round
about and there was no law to help on the situation. There were times when a
man had to take the law into his own hands. This is the tale.
Where the horse-thieving business
was good, there would be men called spotters. Somebody with a sharp eye went
over the ground to find out where there was a likely horse and how to get at
him. There had been a man traveling around the country selling patent medicine.
He was there and he was there with his medicines. He did not look good to the
settlers. They watched him a while. Then men from all over the country-side got
together and made plans. They knew where the medicine man came from and knew
his brother-in-law traveled with him now and then. So the men gathered one
evening, and waited.
Just at daylight the posse saw him.
He was coming over a hill near "Squire" Donnelly's place north of
Coggon. He saw the posse and ran. They surrounded him and he took refuge behind
a big rock. They gave him time to say his prayers and offered him a running
chance up the hill. Every man had his gun loaded and everybody fired. Who would
know whose bullet did it?
They buried the poor spotter under
the big rock, Horse-Thief Rock. They gave the brother-in-law a matter of hours
to get out of the country. He went. Silver Creek was well represented in the
posse.
ANOTHER
STORY
Anthony Swindell, (son of William),
the patient, good Anthony who was forced to sit the years out in blindness that
overtook him before he was thirty, told of a prank he and "Willie"
Reinbird once played on one of their friends who had a haunting fear of ghosts.
One evening when the two boys knew their friend would be passing the churchyard
after dark, they lay down in the grass around the gravestones in Silver Creek
cemetery and when the friend came by on his horse, the pranksters moaned and
groaned and made weird noises. Horse and horseman fairly flew up the road; and
a new ghost story was born.
MRS.
FOY
In our revival of old memories, as
Silver Creek prepares for its Centennial, the name of Mrs. Foy, who "lived
on the prairie", has come up often. In an old church book the names of
David Foy and Adellia Foy appear in the 1869 and the 1870 record, but not
thereafter. No one really knows their story after the couple left here. Hearsay
was that Mrs. Foy was finally in an institution for the mentally ill and died
early in an eastern state. Mrs. Foy was known here as a woman who loved to
visit. She was happiest when she sat in on a good chat. When the urge to go
visiting seized her, nothing halted her. She was known to decide suddenly on a
trip to a neighbor, in the middle of bread-baking. Nothing daunted, she would
get into her wagon, take the breadpan on her lap, and start off. (We have to
assume that her husband was party to her visits, for the stories say she would
always take her rocking chair in the wagon and sit in it as she rode.) She
would let the bread rise as she visited and then bake it wherever she was. It
was said that on occasion she would take her "wash" along and do it
where she visited. If the bit of information we have on her experience after
she left here is true, we can reasonably think that perhaps there was cause for
her odd actions. It could very well be that she was not at all prepared to face
the loneliness she felt here, or to cope with the hardships of life in a raw
new country, and that trying to adjust herself unsettled her or made worse
something already there. Anyway, even as now, people then did not understand
much about the ills of mind and spirit. The stories went as stories. Had her
neighbors really known what was back of her arrival in a pioneer settlement,
perhaps the funny things she did would have taken on new light. She did do
queer things, no doubt.
The pioneer days were not without
their fun. There were parties, charivaris, (shivarees), dancing, quiltings, and
stories, stories without end. The native Irish wit - and most of the people
"on the creek'' were born on Erin's Isle - lightened many a load. Hearsay
has it that there were among them some who believed in ghosts. Within the memory
of people now present in the community are recollections of men who used to go
to spend an evening with a neighbor, when they would fall to telling ghost
stories. Oftener than once a visitor would grow more and more frightened by his
own tales of ghosts and their doings, so frightened that some one would have to
walk home with the storyteller.
NEGRO
BROWN
A figure that stands out in Silver
Creek's history is that of Negro Brown. Two generations ago a negro, called in
the vernacular of the time. "Nigger Brown", came to live near
Barryville. At the close of the Civil War, Colonel Van Anda of Delhi had
brought two colored boys from the South. These boys were about sixteen or
seventeen years of age. Negro Brown had been Colonel Van Anda's personal attendant
during the war. Negro Brown finally came to live with John S. Barry and stayed
to work for Mr. Barry for several years. Mr. Barry gave the negro forty acres
of land where he built a cabin in which he lived for a number of years.
When Silver Creek people who would
now be about eighty-five were young and having the fun the days afforded,
Nigger Brown was an important factor in their pastime. He played the violin,
played it with the feeling which only his race knows. He played for dances and
weddings all over the vicinity. He taught the young people the square dances.
He would "call" the dances and if any one became mixed up on the
floor, he would stop playing and say, "Get straight out there! Get it
right!" Here and there may still be found in Silver Creek a violin of
sorts on which some Irish lad tried his hand under the tutelage of Nigger
Brown.
Later Negro Brown moved to
Manchester where he lived for several years. He sold his land to the Brayton
family and moved away. For years no one knew where he had gone. About fourteen
or fifteen years ago Tom Donahue of Ryan had a letter from him. He was living
in Nebraska, and had married an Indian woman. About seven or eight years ago
Mr. Donahue received another letter enclosing a clipping on the death of the
old negro.
ODDMENTS
Charlie Swindle in the long letter
he wrote to help us on early history said this about relationships:
"James and William (W. B.'s
father), Thomas, and Mrs. James Lendrum were brothers and sister. Mrs. Lendrum
(Elizabeth) and Thomas were twins.
John Robinson and Mrs. John McCay
were brother and sister.
William and Anthony Swindle and
Margaret, John Robinson's wife and Rachael Craemer were brothers and sisters.
Those were the seven original
families, and all first cousins. Shortly afterward more brothers and sisters
and cousins, all from Pennsylvania, arrived and bought land.
A partial list of these later people
covers Thomas Robinson and his wife Eliza; Robert Robinson (sic) and his wife
Catherine; Robert (sic) Baxter and his wife Bessie, These three women were
sisters (sic); William McCay, Robert McCay, Christopher Carrothers, and Ann
Johnston, his wife; William Johnston; Robert Robinson; Joseph Craemer (His
wife, Rachel was a sister to William and Anthony and Margaret Swindle), Christopher
Anderson, James Anderson, William Dover, James Dover, David Carradus, Charles
Falconer. The nine named first above were all related by blood or marriage.
Christopher Carrothers, Isabel Swindle, and John Carrothers (Crothers) who came
later after Christy and Isabel, were brothers and sister.
In the Robinson family Thomas
Robinson and his twin sister Elizabeth, William Robinson (W. B.'s father).
James Robinson were brothers and sister and they had three half-brothers here,
Johnston Robinson, Robert Robinson, and Anthony Robinson. Thomas Williamson,
who came later, and Matilda Robinson, wife of the above named William, were
brother and sister. John Robinson, Ann McCay, and Bessie Baxter were brother
and sisters.
The seven original purchasers of the
Silver Creek land were these: Anthony Swindle, John McCay, James Robinson,
James Lendrum, William Robinson, William Swindle (Swindell), John Robinson.
Their relationships to each other have been covered above."
(sic
- Eliza Robinson (husband Thomas Robinson) and Catherine Robinson (husband
Robert Wilson) were sisters. Bessie
Robinson (husband George Baxter) was a cousin. rt)
DO
YOU REMEMBER-
It is a sad day in anybody's life
when there is no longer anyone to whom he can say, "Do you remember
--?" We touch on a few things here which are sure to bring back old
memories to a goodly number of people.
* * * *
Our present mail carrier is Joseph
W. McElliott, who has been on the route for fifteen years. Joe stopped one day
lately to tell us a piece of interesting historical matter. Joe said his
grandfather, John Ward, came West from Binghamton, New York in the 60's. He had
the first blacksmith shop in this community. He set up his shop on a spot about
where the Falconer house is now. He and his wife, Ann Thornton, lived here
about five years. He died unexpectedly and the Silver Creek neighbors helped to
bury him. They took his body to Castle Grove for burial. Joe said his
grandfather had a warm spot in his heart for his neighbors here.
Joe himself is a good friend. Come
day, go day, Joe drives his blue mail truck down Silver Creek road, bringing
the world to our doors. Of course he is still "a boy'' compared with Ollie
Wright and his successors. But time will help Joe on that.
* * * *
Do you remember Ollie Wright, our
first mailman when rural delivery went in? Ollie was everybody's friend. He
knew our daily doings, all about the crops, how the stock was getting along,
when the baby had its first tooth, where the hidden watermelon patches were. He
could deliver letters with never a fumble, no matter how they were addressed.
Once a letter came no address but "Aunt Myra, Ryan, Iowa''. Ollie took the
letter straight to the J. J. Carrothers' home, for there she was, Aunt Myra,
Mrs. J. J. How Ollie enjoyed the hand-outs on wintry days, hot coffee, a fresh
"biscuit", a piece of pie! And come Christmas there was sure to be a
present for our mailman, a chicken, a duck, a goose, or all three, shoved into
the mailbox or delivered first-hand by an eager and shivering youngster who
loved the hearty thanks Ollie was sure to give, with messages to be carried
home. And, do you remember Ollie's old team?
Do you remember Rich Houldan's red
hair and freckles? And God rest his soul - Rich always brought the mail on
Christmas; for even though he would have liked to be home on that day, he knew
that people out on the route wanted to have their Christmas packages and
letters for the family celebration. We lost Rich when a new administration
juggled the mail routes every where and we were changed from Ryan to
Masonville. People thought they just couldn't stand it to be taken away from
Ryan and lose Rich.
But they got used to it, and,
anyway, along came Willie McCool, who was all a mailman should be. After Rich
retired, he used sometimes to sit along the stores in Ryan, and everybody liked
to stop to greet him. He never forgot anyone either. He had watched so many of
us grow up, all the way from the crawling stage to maturity, that going back in
our memories we think of Rich as if he had been a member of the family.
Mr. McCool, our mailman after we
were changed to Masonville, must have been properly christened William, but
nobody ever called him anything but Willie McCool. Willie it was who always
carried stick candy with him to give to the children who waited at the mail box
for him. If Mom were along, she got a stick of candy too. Mr. McCool loves
flowers and truly has the green thumb. He and Mrs. McCool lived on the edge of
Masonville during his years as carrier. Their home was surrounded by beds of
beautiful flowers. Willie has in him, too, a little Izaac Walton; he loves to
fish. After he retired and had free days, he fished hither and yon in our quiet
spots; for instance, in the Buffalo at Gaffney's bridge, where we saw him
holding his rod of a summer's evening. He moved to Central City, where he still
lives, spending the winter months in Florida. He is still growing lovely
flowers, still fishing. Another thing everybody along his old route says about
him is that he was the most obliging person anywhere. We are all Willie's
friends.
*
* * *
Do you remember when every family
had a "rag bag"? Out of that bag would come, on call, strips of old
sheets, a right good piece of flannel, the back of an old blue shirt turned
gray from washing - almost anything you wanted from a bandage to a "scrub
rag".
Who still remembers the horse power
threshing machine? Jim Falconer had one he used around here. W. B. Robinson,
Wesley Robinson, and Alex Robinson owned a horse power thresher together and
operated it in partnership for two years. Then W. B. took it over and operated
it for ten years more. W. B. had a "buzz saw" with this machine and
he buzzed plenty of wood for everybody. The first steam power thresher here was
run by Ernie Crosky and Roy Joslyn. (Do you remember that Ernie had only one
arm? That was true of his father too.) Many of us remember W. L. Carrothers'
old threshing machine with its stately prow, moving in to "set" for
the next day's threshing.
In this vein, do you recall the
McAreavy creamery that sat by the bridge at the Robinson four corners? It was
John J. McAreavy who ran this creamery, and he had a store with it. Mr.
McAreavy, now advanced in years, lives in Coggon. His son John (he is William
John) is a rural delivery mailman out of Coggon.
* * * *
Do you remember George Packer
sitting up in his wagon with its double sideboards, the big wagon piled high
with butter tubs? Can't you just see George jogging along Silver Creek road,
looking out over every thing from his butter-tub throne? George is dead. Mrs.
Packer, now 80, is living in Annandale, Minnesota, with her daughter, Olive, a
teacher in the Minneapolis schools. From here the Packer family moved to St.
Cloud, Minnesota, where he was connected with a creamery or some allied
business. It was after 1909 that they left here. They lived in Manchester for a
few years before going to Minnesota.
Everybody who was around when the
Packers had the creamery that stood at the bridge where Chuck Swindle now lives
will remember the store, too. It was a thriving business and a sort of social
center and clearing house for the neighborhood. There was almost everything in
that store, even shoes. Once little Anthony Carrothers, Billy's son, rode down
on the milk wagon to the store on his mother's birthday, to get her a birthday
present. Mrs. Packer asked him as he knew the size of the "slippers"
he wanted. He said he did; he wanted size 20. Mrs. Packer helped him to figure
the size a little more closely.
This brings us to a consideration of
the old-fashioned creameries every county had in days gone by. The creamery was
an all-important business in a community. In a way the creameries flourished as
a necessary institution much as gas stations do now. Seven days in the week the
creamery smoke stacks sent up heavy black spirals. The machinery pounded away
until all the day's intake had been cared for, the milk separated, the cans
washed, the butter made and put away, the cleaning-up for next day's business
finished. Do you remember the buttermilk jug mother sent to get buttermilk for
the morning pancakes? Why doesn't buttermilk today taste the way it used to at
those old creameries?) At the creamery many a neighborhood agreement or difference
took form or found settlement. The creamery man himself stood aloof, lost
somewhere in the dim reaches of all the machinery he operated in taking care of
the milk. Usually there was a general store, which took in a goodly share of
the milk profits. It was all too easy to charge things, and the monthly
statements for each family were sometimes staggering. Of course, everybody had
to eat and wear shoestrings and buy candy and chewing gum and writing tablets
other things ad infinitum. The creamery was really an Institution.
* * * *
Do you remember when the first
telephones were put in? Uncle John Robinson didn't see how they could possibly
work, "unless", said he, "the wire had a wee hole in it."
Every home had a long box fastened to the wall. To make a call one had to turn
a little crank, - say five-and-a-half times, which procedure made the bell ring
out in every house to indicate somebody's call to the five-and-a-half party.
Receivers would clack down all along the line. After all, weren't we a "party"
line, and didn't we all want to know what was going on? If there were an
emergency like a fire or an accident; or if there were a car load of potatoes
or coal on the tracks at Ryan, there were eight rings to signal everybody to
listen.
* * * *
Does anyone remember going down to
the old "Can" railroad at Robinson on the day when T. H. and W. L.
Carrothers shipped thirteen loads of cattle, billed from Carrothers Bros, to
Paris, France? There were banners all over the cars to tell the story. That was
just before America went into World War L A good many of our boys saw Paris,
France, after the Carrothers Brothers' big consignment of cattle went overseas.
But that's another story.
When there was a "run-away'' in
the neighborhood, that was big news. Always there were all sorts of reasons
advanced as cause of the horses' revolt. The point is, the runaway made
conversation for days. Sometimes there was a broken bone or some other bad
result, but often the affair gave just a little scare to the community and
furnished a tingle of excitement.
* * * *
Do you remember when Nick Weiler's
Meat Wagon came around every week, right to our doors, with meat and fish
a-plenty, and really good meat and fish? Nick would ring a bell when he arrived
in the yard. If the order were a big one, Nick would throw in a link of
"bolony". When Nick himself was not on the wagon, his son Jimmy was
there. The same Jimmy, who with his wife, Pearl, operates the fine butcher shop
in Ryan, the Weiler Market, was a delegate to the Democratic National
Convention in Chicago this summer. We wager he did not feel half so important
on this political mission as he felt when he managed that meat wagon route for
his dad.
* * * *
Reviving old memories, we retrace in
mind the Farmers' Institute and Grain Show that was held in Manchester every
year for a long time. We recall that Tommy Carrothers was a leader in this
project among farmers. We think back to the corn C. A. Swindell used to grow
and exhibit at the grain shows. "Glenwood Dent" was one kind he bred,
the name taken from the name of his farm. C. A. would deliberate long and
earnestly over his every ear of corn. In his home are now plaques, ribbons, and
other awards he received for the corn he tended so carefully and so proudly.
* * *
*
Do you remember the excitement when
in winter a saw mill moved into the woods and stayed there for weeks on end,
sawing up lumber for the farmers roundabout? Now if we have any of our own
trees sawed up, the big trucks come in, take the felled trees away to the power
saws, and return the boards to their owner, all in the wink of an eye. There
are spots here and there through our woods where were the great piles of saw
dust, the remains now black from rain and years, but still recognizable as the
saw-mill places.
And do you remember Arch Clark who
for years had a "shanty" in Alec's timber, where he lived and from
which he set out every winter day when it was possible to work in the woods,
cutting posts or fire wood? Everybody took a turn with Arch. He cut wood, dug
ditches, tiled, or did anything else he could get in for the farmers all
around. Arch finally went to Cedar Rapids, where he died some years ago.
Sometimes Orry Jones lived with Arch and helped him at his jobs. Arch's shanty
was later moved across the road and taken over by "the Swedes". Carl
Roous, or Carl the Swede, still later had his shanty (Just why they were called
shanties we don't know.) on C. A. Swindell's land, where he set out some cedar
trees, dug a fuel cellar outside the shanty, and settled himself for life, and
was really quite comfortable. On Thanksgiving Day and Christmas and New Year
the neighbors liked to send Carl a share of their holiday dinners. One day when
Carl went off to work in the woods, his shanty burned down, probably set afire
from the cookstove he used. After Carl went away, he became ill and was cared
for by his sister in Illinois in whose home he died. For years scraggly cedars
grew around the ruins of Carl's shanty, and the fuel hole is still a depression
in the earth. Carl was a quiet man, a good soul, as was Arch Clark.
A
FORWARD LOOK
The turn of the century - that is
where we are at the present moment. The old names carry on in the community;
the old ways persist in large measure. But into our group have come new
families who have not taken anybody else's place, but have made places of their
own. The church shows new names on its roll, families who help carry on in the
life of our church - its worship, its business, its church school, its services
to individuals and to groups. The Ray Guthrie family is one of these. Ray and
Esther bear their full share of everything we undertake. Their attractive and
hospitable home is ever open to all.
The
Art Goos family, who live on the old Lendrum place, are another unit we prize.
Busy with their little flock of young children, they still find time to share
everything with us. It may be that by some subtle alchemy the spirit of the
Lendrum and Johnnie Carrothers families, who preceded them on their farm, has
passed to them. Whatever it is, pridefully we claim the Art Goos coterie.
The Elzo Powell family, on the edge
of Robinson, contribute greatly to Silver Creek life. They live on the Falconer
home place (lola is a Falconer) and they are carrying on the wholesome
tradition of the old family. They are good neighbors, good friends, good
workers in our group.
In this little book we have made no
account of the town of Robinson which sprang into being at the lower end of
Silver Creek, in 1911. A railroad was built through that area and for a few
years the sound of daily trains broke the quiet of our woods and country-side.
But before long the railroad was disbanded and Robinson folded its wings, - the
bank, the lumber yard, the hotel, the post office, the barber shop, the general
store - everything vanished except the store. Through the years the store
changed hands several times, but now for eighteen years it has been the
property and business of the Kolembar family. Joe and Mary Kolembar came here
from Brookfield, Illinois, and opened the Robinson store. Faithfully they
served us until their son, Charlie, took over. Charlie married Lillian Dvorak
and they are operating the Robinson store competently. We by groceries,
gasoline, paint, some hardware supplies, all necessary oddments, the Sunday
paper, in addition to all which we get a generous helping of great good will
from the Kolembar family.
Too, at Robinson is a family who are
now a part of us, that of Harold Ayres. Harold is an excellent plumber and
nothing is too much for him to do - come troubles with our pressure pumps, our
furnaces, our lights, or almost anything else. He is also a fine citizen. His
family are shoulder to shoulder with us. Mrs. Ayres and the children enter
heartily into our neighborhood affairs and help us dispatch whatever there is
to do.
The Dunham family, who live on the
old Art Keenan farm, have added their contribution to life here. Mr. Dunham did
his share in the Lord's Acre day, (and, by the way, we must record that day as
the time when every Silver Creek farm is represented with a load of corn which
is sold and the proceeds given to the church.)
With one more backward glance we
record the name of the James Riser family, long associated with Silver Creek
community, church, school, and general activities. They have all left us, but
we remember with gratitude their share in our life.
NEIGHBORS
Before the larger group of pioneers
came to Silver Creek, two families had come to the
Mrs. William Swindell, Belle, often
told how Mrs. Terrance Gaffney (great-great grandmother of the newest member of
the Gaffney family, six months old Kathy, daughter of Charles and Janet Gaffney
of
Out of Belle's eight eggs hatched
seven chickens, four pullets and three roosters. She gave Margaret two of the
pullets and one rooster. She kept two pullets and one rooster to start her own
flock of poultry, "dedicating" the rooster to Christmas dinner. The
seed potatoes were carefully cut not to waste an eye, and in the fall there was
a goodly load of potatoes for winter food, thanks to Mrs. Gaffney. Margaret's
goose eggs brought forth two ganders and one hen goose. Margaret set aside one
of the ganders for a Christmas dinner.
EPILOGUE
And now 'tis done. To assemble and
verify this material, to set it down in writing, to make it ready for
presentation - all this in the space of one short month - is something of a
feat. Forgive us our shortcomings.
Go, little book, and bring to many
readers fond memories. You are the record to a century's end of the history of
a little community that sits in the midst of
Contributed by Becky Teubner