Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1913-06-20
EDITORS OBSERVATIONS.
BY John L. Thompson.

BY John L. Thompson.
On leaving the metropolis Of Iowa
on Wednesday for southwestern Iowa
our first stop was in Creston, the
county seat of Union county. Here
lives about fifty colored people, the
most of them doing we'll. c. F. Bur-
naugh is perhaps one Of the Oldest
settlers here and one of the longest
in point of service as porter for the
Summit hotel, where he has been for
nearly thirty years. He is we'll fixed.
His daughter, May, is married and
lives in Chicago. suppose Mr.. Bur-
naugh knows every travelling man in
southern Iowa. Mr.. and Mrs. Martin
are other old citizens highly respect
ed. He is the man who made min
iature Noah's ark out of wood and
travelled with it on a wagon for
many years. Mr.. G. w. Dow is we'll
and doing nicely. He is employed at
the Summit hotel. He owns a nice
truck garden of several acres in the
city. forgot to mention Mr.. Mar
tins valuable lots, covered with the
best of fruit. Also he has lots of
early vegetables. We made brief
visit to the Baldwin brothers farm
just two miles east of Creston, and
I must say it was astonishing to
me to find those brohers farming on
such a large scale. Ye editor was
born and spent the first quarter of a
century on farm, but I have not
seen any colored farmer that is op-
Grating such a large farm in Iowa.
They rent and own altogether 500
acres of as pretty and level laying
land as you ever looked at. They
have 40 acres of corn in, 12O head
of cattle, 70 head of steers, $50 head
Of hogs, more than twenty-five head
of horses. Their horses are the best
that the country affords, Norman
and Percheron, weighing from 1,400
to 1900 pounds. They have cow
barns, hog barns, implement barns
and now have about 5000 bushels Of
old corn to feed their steers. This
mammoth farm has been run by
Sherman Elrey and Charley Baldwin,
who live with their aged mother,
who is a widow. Sherman, who was
the head of this enterprise, was the
young man who recently died last
month, and it is said that so highly
respected was he that his funeral
was the largest farm funeral ever
held in Union county, over one mile
long. These brothers ship their own
hogs and cattle and horses direct to
Chicago and get the best prices, be-
cause their stock is very fine. We
only wish that some of those street
corner loafers and curbstone politi-
clans and would-be race leaders who
claim to know how to solve the race
problem could visit these boys farm.
They were born and raised here and
have run this farm for eight years.
They have many thousands Of dollars
invested here. These two living
brothers are yet single, great
chance for our good girls.
Gravity was our next STOP. Here
lives just two colored families, w.
H. and r. H. Johnson, brothers.
Each owns eighty acres Of land ad-
joining the town. w. H. is rural
mail carrier. His wife is his assist
ant, while his only son, Fred, is also
a rural mail carrier. They manage
to farm their land at odd hours. His
Industrious wife and daughter,
Mabel, have nearly 400 young chick
ems, perhaps more before this letter
reaches my readers. r. H. and son
run the first class barber shop and
they also farm their eighty acres.
They also own valuable town prop
erty. Their daughter graduated last
year from the Bedford high school.
Clarinda was our next stop. Here
is located one of our large state asy-
lums. We find about 300 colored
people here, with two churches, the
A. M. E. and the Baptist. The FORM
er is pastored by Rev. N. r. Morgan,
a veteran in the ministry, and a fine
Christian gentleman. Mr.. J. Jones
is still working at the same place,
doing we'll. Ed Pemberton is also
doing we'll. They own their homes.
H. H. Cook is still running the gro
Gerry store. His wife is assisting him.
They are nice people, highly respect
ed. Allen Jones is still working in
the blacksmithing. He owns a beau
tiful home and they have been rails
ing the house, remodeling it, making
it modern. They have a fine bunch
of yonug chickens. His brother,
Fred, is working here. He is keep
ing house for his mother, who has
moved in from their old homestead,
two miles from town. VIM. Headly
is still working for the ice company,
driving the ice wagon. He is rep
race man. Mrs. Lu Nash
has lost one of her young sons, who
died few weeks ago. L. w. Will
liams is still running his restaurant
and rooming house. He is the dis
trict grand master Of the Knights Of
Pythias of Iowa. Rev. R. T. Lane is
here. He is the supply minister to
the A. M. E. denomination for this
section of Iowa. Mr.. Carl Looney is
cook at the Washington hotel. Mr..
E., Cook is still in the carpet clean
ing business, doing we'll. He owns a
beautiful home. L. F. Montgomery
is still hauling for the city. He
owns valuable property and is doing
we'll. He is highly respected. Mr..
Noah Pemberton is one Of the four
- ..,.:.s. - rI,r;nIo ,uLo :, ,ol