davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Charlevoix county herald., 1912-06-15
Wilson

A refreshing rain visited US Tues
day evening.
/, Frank Smith, Jr., moved into his
new house on his own place the first
OF this week.
Mrs. Chas. Hudklns was quite nj
the first OF the week. DIR. Sweet OF
East Jordan was In attencance.
'Thos. Locke and family and Mrs,
George Hayner of East Jerdan spent
Sunday with friends in Alton.
Miss Esther Shepard went TO Char
levoix Oh Wednesday to visit friends
and relatives for few days.
Mrs. Joel Sutton spent several days
in Boyne City recently caring for heI
daughter Mrs. Oleson. who was quite
i'll.
Mrs. Emerson Collins and son Rich
ard OF Boyne City, visited relatives
and friends in Wilson several days
this yeek.
Gladys and Florine Hudkins at.
tended the class day exercies al
Temple Theatre last Tuesday evening
the latter remaining In town for q
few days TO attend the Junior ban.
quet and commencement exercises
latter in the week.
An attendance OF about 80 at VIII.
son Grange meeting last SATURDAY.
evening. During the business session
Florine Hudkins was elected organisl
TO dill the vacancy caused by Mis-!
Hamlin's return To her home at Ba,
| Shore.
Charlevoix county herald., 1912-06-15
Leave your laundry at Mack's.

Leave your laundry at Mack's.
Dandy line Of Go-Carts at Whit,
tington's.
Over 5000 rolls of Wall Paper at
Whittington's.
Bargains in children's Dresses from
CSC to $500 at M. e. Ashley and Co. IS
Have your house wired now for cleo
trio lights while you are cleaning
house. See MHss & MURRAY
Charlevoix county herald., 1912-06-15

Call and see the two wheel Sulkies
at Whlttington's.
Good residence to rent Centrally
located. +. A. LEWIS.
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-08-10
EARLY OTTUMWA-BY VIDA
WAHLE.

Ottumwa is called "Iowa's Greatest
City" and Is described as the greatest
in coal, railroads, advantages and
manufactures"
| wonder how many of the Ottumwa
Juniors can shut their eyes and ina
CINE what is now South Ottumwa, was
once nothing but beautiful plain COW
cred with grass.
It certainly is astonishing how rap
idly Ottumwa has grown since the
year and day of its settlement.
Paris Caldwell Zone Of the earliest
settlers) staked his claim in 1843 at
the edge of the city overlooking the
valley that looked to him a real Car
den Of Eden" as he tramped about the
waving grass on that May morning.
It is hard to realize that on what Is
now Main street, there were various
ponds that we're made the resort OF
wild fowl in proper season. The site
of Ottumwa and the surrounding coun-
try was beautiful and picturesque. All
the land on the north side Of the
river was covered at an early period
with a dense growth of forest trees.
All the bluffs that are now traversed
by streets, some of which are paved,
were thickly studded with oak, elm
and hickory and the low places or
flats near the river bank were over
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-08-10

grown either with tall prairie grass or
by thickets Of haw, plum or hazel
brush. 1t was to this wild but beauti-
full country that the settlers made
their homes on the first day Of May,
1913 Before night of that day there
were not less than two thousand per-
sons actually inhabiting the country.
The greater part of these early set
tiers were engaged the last half of the
night of the Both of April and the first
of May, 1S43, in marking out their
claims. This was, done by setting
stakes in the prairies and blazing trees
in the timber. These claims contained
from 80 to 800 acres. AS might be ex-
pected the work of locating and de-
filming these claims, much Of it being
done in the night, was very inartisti-
cally done. Many Of the boundary
lines were crooked, disjointed and en-
croached the one upon the other. This,
of course, led to many disturbances
called claim difficulties" settled fort
tunately by the claim committees"
When in May, 1874, Ottumwa was
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-08-10
FOR THE CHILDREN

him to talk, l asked him IL ha ever
fought the Indians. Z.
NO" and he shook his head "never
scalp n 10y
But" he said, "the Indians d,d
make us some trouble once" I was
now sure of story. SO I Question al
him eagerly. when, why. and how
did they?" exclaimed in one breath
We'll, the Indians said we whites
were going over the meridian onto
their land. The government had given
'em all land west Of the meridian
from Canada to Missouri on down mn
til 1t touched the Mississippi and over
to the Sioux and on. II I had man
I'd show you just which one II is :,
ne SAID. Its just fourth Of mile
from county line. The whites we've -
stay on the eastern side OF the n,arf,
dlan. Wen, the soldiers gave few
Jays not1ce for us to move back, but
OF course no one paid any attention to
II. IN few days If there didn't come
Wnole regiment Of cavalry in their
ollclotn mats and uniforms, and It a
roastln' hot, too. They had just come
from Dornsifes' where they had
burnt the house to the ground They
mad orders to destroy no personal be-
longings, so in many homes they set
the furniture out, pulled out the nails.
If there We're any, and burned the
house to the ground. When the sold
iers were hunting the boundary line.
they got up on hill and looked for
point from which they could mea.
sure and if the line didn't fall on the
middle Of one Of our neighbors chin.
neys. The house laid east and west
so all he had to do was to move from
the west room to the east. The sold.
iers destroyed the half that was on
the Indians and left the other stand.
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-08-10

town, Seymour, which is fifty miles
southwest Of Ottumwa..
In 1871 the town was laid out by ).
c. Fox, Hiram Evans, William Wade
and H. s. Rogers, who gave every
alternate lot to the railroad company
in order to get their good will. adver-
Using, etc. These men are now all
dead, the last, J. G. Fox, having died
last fall.
Several names were suggested Tor
the new town. Just west OF the town
is q tall cottonwood tree which at that
time was the only tree for miles and
miles around Seymour This tree had
been a landmark and a guide for trav-
elers and farmers. Many therefore fav-
ored the name of Lone Tree" but
when a charter for the town was ap-
piled for it was found there was an
other town by that name in the state.
It was remarked that as Seymour
was the name of the chief engineer or
the new railroad that had made the
town, and also the name of the gov
ernor of New York, it would be an ap-
propriate name for the new town.
Thus Seymour" was made the name
Of the town.
The first house and store was erect
ed in March, 1871. Others were built
soon and afterward and number OF
buildings were moved from Genoa, a
thriving village six miles south OF
Seymour This practically killed the
town Of Genoa, which has always been
only country village.
Although the name lone Tree
could not be used as the name OF the
town, it was perpetuated in the name
of newspaper which was called The
Lone Tree Press" The Rebekah lodge
is still called the Lone Tree Rebekah
lodge as is the Lone Tree |. 0. 0. r.
Seymour was Incorporated In Janu-
airy, 1874 The first child born In the
town was Bert Conger, son of c. A.
Conger on Oct II, 1871. He died In
California during the past winter.
In 1874 the Methodists, Presby-
terians and Christians each built
church buildings and in 1880 the Bap-
fists completed a church. These have
all been rebuilt in late years and the
United Brethren organized and have a
comfortable church.
The coal mining industry and good
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-08-10
THE COURIER JUNiOh
Published by 4
the COURIER PRINTING CO"
oTTuMWA, IOWA.
MATILDA DEvEREAUx
a EDITOR.
A LITTLE RESUME.

rodav the Courier Junior is seven
wears Old. and the big Courier Is
siY+v-Yonr wears old. Several OF the
Tnniors have written splendid stories
IN events of long ago. In 1act tne
Junior Judges think the stories on .u va;
page are the best in all the dig eul'
ton. 49,, ,,,ooa
since the Courier Junior was nrsl
started. The juniors OF seven years
500 think they are all too big 10 wrlVe
mr. this page now. And Of course tney
ara We do not consider one a
Junior when the fourteenth year mas
zone by. However, as we happeneu
fn have q few "cuts" of some or the
Juniors who formerly wrote for tnis
naaa. we thought we would let al
fhefr friends see how they Looked
1au wears ago. Two Of the juniors
N the row are not too old and nave
stories IN today's paper, Mildred and
Norma. :. hoe
since the Junior was started, 1t mas
nuhlished about 10000 letters anu
stories all contributed by the juniors.
r. has sent out 10000 post CARDS Pc
sidea awarding prizes to about 4oo
Juniors. When the earthquake desc
lated san Francisco in April 1906 these
same Juniors donated enough useful
articles (from pins to dresses) TO MI
three boxes. which were sent to some
- -, .littaa children out on the coast.
Then again each year the Juniors
have all responded generously TO the
cali issped BY the Christmas Stocking
club. and enrolled as it members.
We feel that in these short seven
years much pleasure has been given
to The readers Of this page, both little
and biz. We Will let the Juniors tell
of the interesting happenings Of long
ago. -
nounce a new contest today.
The prizes, according to. the judges
decisions 20 to Vida Wahle,f Norma
Daniels, Ruth Hutchings, Forest Web
or Constance Downey, Ellen owens,
Mildred Adams and lnez Grimes
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-08-10
WHEN MY GRANDPA WAS A LIT.
TIE BOY-RUTH HUTcHINGs

When my grandpa was little boy
he lived in Missouri and his papa
built log house for them to live in.
He and a few of the neighbor men
would cut down the trees and cut the
logs the size they wanted 10 build
the house. They would hew them
down to fit as close together as they
could. Then they would chink the
cracks with mud and hew slabs to
cover their houses. Grandpa's papa
would take slabs and make benches
for his family to use for chairs He
made their tables and made holes in
the logs, put pins in and put slabs
on those pins. He put legs on the 9TH
er end and side and that is the kind
Of bedsteads they had He hawed out
spoons to mix their bread with and
made bowls to mix it in and they
built fireplace in one corner of the
house. They had an oven, DIS they
called it, to bake their bread liz, but
would have called it some kind of a
well, when they came to our house
they had to ccme through a field Of
wheat about SO high and he mea-
sured off about 3 feet 1T was just
heading and the horses only ate about
a half bushel of it and trampled lot
of it down. The captain ordered the
men to bring our furniture cut and
then to take off the roof Father said,
If you burn the house you'll have to
tear it down first and make a fire Of
it, because it was built of such heavy
logs it wouldn't burn quickly and the
soldiers left it too We moved back
east of the meridian and after the
Indians sold their land to the govern
ment in '43, we moved back to our old
home"
.What did you do when you came
back from the eastern side of the
meridian?" asked.
"Just went to a little school. There
wasn't any windows but there was
plenty of switches, and if I didn't get
licked every day l felt like my buck
skin breeches wouldn't be busted, he
said.
There was big over-grown boy by
the name of Starr who went to this
school and was sort Of bully over
us smaller boys. One morning he
came in late, and of course class
was going one, and to break it up he
pulled off his hat and yelled as he
threw it to the floor, Lay there,
Baptist" He didn't prove to be a
very rising Starr, for the soldiers shot
him ten or fifteen years afterwards
for stealing mules in southern Kan
sas"
Concluded Next Weekly
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-08-10
OLDEST LANDMARK
BY Forest Weber.

! About one of the Oldest landmarks
in Ottumwa stands on high hill
between Van Buren, and Foster ave-
nues. It is a two story brick house
(which was one day farm house and
was considered fine house.
One February 26, 1845, Thomas
Large secured this tract of land from
the United States.
This same piece of land was bought
$500.
On March Is. 1863, this same piece
of land was sold to Benjamin Ladd
| for the sum Of S. 900.
| November 8, 1875 this same piece
of land went into the hands Of Edwin
Manning at the price of $4,000, into
whose hands it stayed and was used
as farm land, with great fields Of
corn.
When my mamma was little girl
there was a man by the name Of Viii
liam Rydout who had a cooper shop
or mill He lived in this house AND
she often visited them. Surrounding
1t was large corn field.
Mr.. Rydout had a milk dairy at the
same time
About 20 years ago this piece Of
land was laid out in town lots, which
sold at about $3.50 lot. Our home is
on the and lots in this same plat.
To look at it now one would never
think years ago this was out in the
country and was corn field.
| There is story connected With
this place. Years ago man was NOV.
| ing young married couple through
Ottumwa in wagons, of course, for
there were no railroads at that time.
This man murdered the man and
woman and a posse ran him down
and captured him He was brought to
this same brick house and hung on
an old tree that still stands by the
house. l expect if this old tree could
talk it could tell good many good
stories.
| Anyone can see this house that
passes along Main street in the east
end of town, just after you pass Iowa
avenue going east, on the north side.
In looking over this letter one can
have an idea what land was worth, for
the piece of land that was bought for
$500 the last time was sold for $4,000
and when it was laid out in lots It
must have brought about eight times
as much.
\ Forest Weber, age II.
] 1913 E. Main St., Ottumwa, Iowa.
SEYMOUR-BY MILDRED ADAMS
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-08-10
UNCLE IkE'S STORIES-BY NORMA
DANIELS.

Mr.. Nelson, Uncle Ike" to most
people especially the younger ones, is
a very good narrator and also an in
teresting one. All of his stories are
true, being Of experiences which oc-
CURED in his youth On afternoon
when at his home, asked him to tell
me something that happened in
Eldon sixty-four years ago or more.
There wasn't any Eldon, them" he
said Nothing but shack which the
,ferryman lived in. l lived half mile
from there"
1 kept asking him questions but it
was hard to draw him out; so to get
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-08-10

ings stood where the Courier building
is now. In the rear was large yard
where my mother with other children
played The Courier was then located
on South Court street. Silberman's
hide store has been there many years.
But where Lowenberg's bakery is,
thirty years ago there was large
frame barn owned by A. T. Peck. Near
ly all the buildings on the street thirty
years ago were frame. They had
street cars then about the size of our
bus and were drawn by two little
mules with little bells on their collars.
Constance DoWney,
236 Bashaw street, Ottumwa, la.
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-08-10

and saw the first train come in that
ever came in Charlton.
The town of Russell was sot even
begun.
Melrose was just small place OF
one store, post Office and few
dwellings. 1t now has quite number
of dwellings, four general stores, two
hardware stores furniture store,
three hotels, three restaurants, bank
two blacksmith shops, two livery
barns, lumber yard, an opera house,
two drug stores, depot and post
office from which five rural routes are
running daily.
Lovilia was little place and went
by the name Of Brennan. / guess my
letter is long enough so | Will close. l
am Junior reader
Inez Grimes.
~
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-08-10
JUNIOR STORIES
PROGRESS SINCE 1866-BY INEz
GRIMES.

Az do not live in the vicinity OF
Ottu1nwa. I thought would write OF
some of the developments Of Monroe
and Lucas counties.
NV grandparents came to Iowa from
Huntersville, w. Va, in 1866 Ihey
first settled at Moravia, Ia, where they
remained for one year. Morav1a was
only very small place at that time.
At.the beginning Of the second year.
they removed to a farm ten miles
northwest OF MelrOse, Ia. They pur-
chased eighty acres from John Dirty,
who had purchased It from the man
Il have forgotten his name )that had
entered It from the government and as
my zran6father never sold 1t, 1t Is one
OF the few farms that have never
changed hands much. My grandfather
lived on It until his death in 1899 and
nv grandmother until the fifteenth OF
last December, when she passed away.
NV father is living on the farm at
present. My grandfather added more
TO his first purchase from time to
time as he could until it numbered
over four hundred acres. 1t is stu
ated on the county line, one hundred
and twenty acres lying just across the
road in Lucas county. They first lived
IN little log cabin later building a
frame house IS by "a containing four
rooms and just few months before
my grandfather death he built a
large square house of nine rooms.
There was no railroads through this
county when they first came here and
only few scattered settlements.
'Alhta and Charlton were only small
villages with just few stores.
Ny grandfather was in Charlton
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-08-10
A FEW FAcrs-BY ELLEN OWEN

Iowa was admitted to the union
in 1846, which was sixty-six years ago.
Tho Courier, according to the Junior
page, is sixty-four years old, SO of
course the Courier must have been
started two years after Iowa was ad-
mitted.
Iowa is taken from an Indian word
meaning drowsy ones. I have asked
several old ladies to tell me some Incl
dent in their lives but they, too, seem
to be drowsy ones as they could not
remember anything worth mention
ing, but the first old man asked gave
me his history, and l will give it to you
as he gave it to me.
At the time am beginning my story
about Iowa, Eldon was not thought of.
1t was all white timber and the trees
were full of warbling birds, and among
the woods valuable fur animals
roamed, such as bears, wolves, tigers,
etc. ....
Harry Cain and his young friend
Dick Ward together with their par
ents, came to make their home in
Washington township, Iowa, about the
year 1848.
Mr.. Cain took up 240 acres Of land
on which he built himself and family
a log cabin, the farm Harry now owns,
but the log cabin has been replaced by
a strong frame house.
There were no railroads at that
time, so they had to haul all their
household necessities from Keokuk in
covered wagons.
Steamboats, were running up the
Des Moines river at that time.
About a mile away from Gains lived
a family named Goff who had a
beautiful daughter named Ruth.
The young Harry Cain got acquaint-
ed with the daughter through his
father, who became quite an intimate
friend of Mr.. Golf.
It finally got SO that Harry and
Ruth appeared at all the parties to-
gether and he went to see her every
other Sunday night but he had to
walk as his father refused to let him
have the horse.
One night party of young boys and
girls including Ruth and Harry went
out for a sleigh ride They were going
at pretty fair gait and had gotten
about three miles from home when
their sleigh broke down, but luckily
no one was hurt.
On top of the hill near where the
accident occurred there was fine
house A Mr.. Baker lived there. and
the girls were most frozen, so they
decided to 60 up there and get warm.
When they got there they were re-
ceived with warm welcome and as
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-08-10
there happened to be a young girl In
the family the sleigh ride was turned

Inc 1dlully Vic SIclSu IluS WOO SuIAOu
into party.
There were no pianos nor organs in
those times. but there were few
violins and it happened that Mr.. Baker
had one, and knew how to play, 80
they had a grand dance and then all
retired
The next morning Mr.. Baker loaned
them a sleigh and they went home as
merry as they started out, although all
had the scolding that they would sure
get when they got home on their
minds.
Harry Cain went with Ruth three
years and she then decided to share
his fate. They were married and this
union was blessed with four children.
two of whom died in infancy. They
then adopted two who became noble
men. Their names were before adop-
ton, Charles w. Pitman and Walter
Springer.
Harry Cain lived on this farm fifty
years, and has taken the Courier be-
tween forty and fifty years, and ex-
poets it to be his companion until he
goes to his reward.
Dick Warden was editor OF the
Courier at the time he began taking IT..
He moved to Eldon about 1907 with
his good wife and they celebrated
their fiftieth anniversary in 1904.
The only men that are living now In
Eldon that were Mr.. Gains boyhood
friends are John Vass and M. W..
Strickland.
Mr.. Cain and his wife are both mem
bers of the Baptist church and he be-
longs to the l. o. o. F. lodge and last,
but not least, he is staunch republi-
can.
Ellen Owen.
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-08-10
THIRTY YEARS AGO-BY CON-
STANCE DOWNEY.

Thirty years ago my mother played
on the ground where the Courier
building stands now. She lived up
stairs over Pierce's shoe store. 1t was
a two-story frame building owned by
|. N. Mast. Two one-story frame build
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-08-10

farming community have been the
source of Seymour's growth until now
it is prosperous little city Of $500 in
habitants with electric lights, water
works and good accredited schools.
Mildren Adams, aged II.
Seymour, Iowa.
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-08-10

HELEN ROWE THINKS SIZE -
TOO BIG TO WRITE FOR THE
COURIER JUNIOR NOW, BUT SHE
STILL BELONGS TO THE COUR-
Ter JUNIOR CHRISTMAS STOCK
ING CLUB.
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-08-10

AS l do not live in Ottumwa I will
write the history Of my own home
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-08-10

Melrose, Ia, R. R. No. 4.
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-08-10

Concluded Next Week.
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-08-10
sEYMoUR-BY MILDRED ADAMS

Forest Weber, age II.
1913 E. Main St., Ottumwa, Iowa.
The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1912-10-03


think you may net believe tl
all right
lie ring az
at the lio3ster house ! was
ia a once il % lol. Aellster ga
forming TIE yds'ef q ni nalsa
Rather i9ta 81 essifa
the coioae ZIP & MS fA
he VS. n9s haEly a& 1g
preston a esAi~a W ttsi
Size yoaa eaaamlps
ycl eos
imrg
81 e
g - ~
81
bea0 g
TIE g ae
STAIRS
been opeaea ka
been forced ang &
"a Dlain case 81
biz Who Fad studied tl.a
long ti1le 8aid Eoe ceia
assoc ae2 9t gNai9'i
ta4u an zee aesa1 8aa lh ssi
nlfaatlf1e ! zoos = eaesial s2@s ~ En-
in9o@ Il N ~ ls Al.ii t'i
GROUND, a g 1l #ii ioSFa u
The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1912-10-03

whom knew to be at liberty then.
None OF them seemed Of a class to
perform a job like this. There was
one man whom the job fitted-Peters,
the gentleman burglar-but Peters
was in the Federal prison at Leayen-
worth and SO was eliminated
I spent a long hour studying the
house in this fashion: then | went
back to the hotel and called up the
agency to report for the day CHEZ
Burns himself answered. my cali.
"say, Cornell" he said. HOLSTER
has been 'phoniug the insurance com
pany asking why they don't send cut
an investigator to look UP his claim
What's the matter2"
AS briefly ana succinetly as I could
! related all that I have here ted
"The thing doesn't iook right from
the outside, said l. That's why
I'm not reporting at the HOLSTER
house"
The chief was silent for moment
Are you sure her brother was out
there Saturday," he asked.
That's the information I got here. =
I replied.
@Well. said he, you 60 up to the
house and report, and make your IN
vestigation. Come back TO your hotel
for the evening And for heavens
sake. don't do anything to make them