USA > Iowa > Floyd County > History of Floyd County, Iowa : together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 59
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Mr. Gaylord was always frank in avowing his opinion upon mooted questions, even at the risk of losing in popularity. In re- gard to his religious views, he was equally honest; and, however much others may differ from him, they must credit him with being perfectly conscientious in his belief. To show his stand on certain points, the following is condensed from an editorial in the Nora Springs Reveille, Sept. 11, 1874, at which time Mr. Gaylord was connected with that paper as editor:
"Last Sunday morning and evening, we heard two most extra- ordinary and impressive sermons, from Rev. H. W. Bennett, of the M. E. church. In the morning he welted and whaled the church members over the head with the gospel cudgel, till there was not a spot as big as one's hand, where a blow had not fallen. We should suppose that the members and backsliders would after a while learn to dodge the blows aimed at their heads ; but prob- ably each for himself thinks the language used applied to the others, and probably each to himself says: 'How Brother Bennett gives it to the hypocrites and backsliders over in the other corner of the house. '
"But none of these admonitory thunderbolts are ever aimed at our heads. We don't belong to that class of sinners spoken of in the words of the text. It is our neighbor. It is that old gray-
638
HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY.
headed sinner over in the corner ; that woman over yonder with pendants swinging in her ears, and streamers flying from her bonnet.
" From all the preaching we have heard from our boyhood, we conclude that 'faith' is an essential article to have, and we some- times wish we had it in larger quantities. We are willing to be- lieve everything for the sake of eternal happiness, but we find it very difficult to believe anything of which our judgment is not con- vinced. We may shut our eyes and wish it were so ; we may even say we believe it is so ; and yet there is something that silently says to us, 'I doubt it.' We would give all the old clothes we have, and divide the new ones with any one who will instruct us how to believe whatever we desire to believe. It matters but little whether what we would believe is true or false, solong as it brings peace and contentment. That is what we are after. To be a hypo- crite we cannot. To say we believe what does not seem to us to be true, we cannot. To pray when we have no faith that our pray- ers will be answered, we cannot. The future to us is still a mys- tery. We wish it were otherwise, even were it a delusion."
Another extract from Gaylord's writings, showing his religious position, is taken from the Telephone:
" We would not give a dollar to better know that there is a God; a supreme ruler; a designer; a God infinite in power, and wisdom, and goodness, and perfection, for we believe that now; but we will give one liundred dollars to any one who will convince us that there is or is not an individual hereafter for man; a hereafter where we shall know ourselves as we know each other here. To accomplish this, we are willing to read any reasonable amount of books, and listen to any argument in or out of the pulpit. We want to believe this, and have tried to believe it from our childhood, but our faith does not grow stronger with our years, and we cannot avoid it. However, we advise others who can, to so believe and act as though they were in earnest. This saying that we believe there is a God, a devil, or a legion of devils, a heaven and a hell, and then acting as though there were neither, will bring remorse sooner or later. When we are true to ourselves and our neighbors we shall be true to God."
He frequently discussed death and the future. Often did he say that the only thing he feared or dreaded was death. The future was a mystery to him, one of which he could not form a satisfac- tory opinion. His idea was that God is a part of man and man
639
HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY.
is a part of God. So closely connected that neither can get along without the other. He was a very decided believer in the pre-ex- istence of man and at death he will return to his former habitation of the realms of God.
His death was almost instantaneous and probably painless. In the quietude of his home and the bosom of his family the dread angel, who must sooner or later visit all mankind, came unannounced and unheralded. He was in robust health up to the very moment of his decease. In the midst of the strength and vigor of man- hood, and in the rapid development of an onward and upward ca- reer, was he cut down.
On that day of his death, in his usual off-hand, friendly manner, he was meeting his associates, throwing a jest at one, wrestling with another, and exhibiting a vitality unequaled by most men.
During the evening he was as well as usual, and at about half past nine o'clock retired for the night. In fifteen or twenty minutes Mrs. Gaylord also retired. Soon after getting into bed she dis- covered that something unusual was the matter with Mr Gaylord. Before she could procure a light and call for help, he was dead. An autopsy on the body by Drs. S. G., and T. D. Blythe showed that the cause of death was heart disease.
Senator Gaylord was a self-made man, he was of the people, wit h the people and for the people in every enterprise, improvement and measure. His record we are not writing for the benefit of the living; it is engraved on the hearts and memories of all his fellow citizens. Like every public and prominent man, he had his friends, and he had his opposers-the latter on political grounds. To the former he was ever faithful, and the latter he fearlessly, and gen- erally successfully, met.
A New Englander by birth, he was of that stock from whose loins came the sturdy race who are the natural frontiersmen. As has been fitly said by Senator Hoar, the eminent statesman from Massachusetts, on a recent occasion: " It is no race of boors that has struck its axes into the forests of this continent. These inen knew how to build themselves log houses in the wilderness; they were more skilled still in building constitutions and framing stat- utes; slow, cautious, conservative, sluggish, unready in ordinary life; their brains more quick, and as sure as their rifle's flash, when great controversies that determine the fate of States are to be de- cided, when great interests that brook no delay are at stake, and great battles that admit no indecision are to be fought."
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HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY.
As a pioneer he understood all the hardships of a frontier life, but his rugged honesty and close application to business, enabled him to enltivate his mind and qualify himself for the various walks of life. We find the language of another extolling the mer- its of one most lamented citizen: " It is one of the most beneficent results of our American institutions. that we have ceased to speak of poverty and hardships, and the necessity for hard and humble toil, as disadvantages to a spirit endowed by nature with a capacity for generous ambition. When labor is honorable and where every place in social or public life is open to merit, early poverty is no more a disadvantage, than a gymnasium to an athlete, or drill and discipline to a soldier."
All he had was the fruit of his own labors, and the result of un- tiring industry and honorable frngality practiced through a busy life. He had a good farm and a pleasant home that he had put in excellent shape in which to enjoy his declining years. Bnt such was not to be his pleasure. And as we write we are reminded of the frailty and weakness of even the strongest and the wisest. Life is indeed a panorama; men are the flitting object, death is the end of the scene, and eternity the great circle to which all feet are hast ening.
We can close our sketch of Wilberforce P. Gaylord with no more appropriate and merited words than were uttered by Senator Waley preparatory to his offering resolutions of condolence and re- spect at the second session of the Eighteenth General Assembly at Des Moines. The able Senator said :- In his death his family mourn the loss of the kindest of husbands and fathers. His friends and neighbors mourn a kind, accommodating, courteous and ever genial friend. The farmers, lawyers, and editors, each feel that they have lost a representative man from their profession and ranks. The country and district mourn the loss of one whom they have often honored. In the person of W. P. Gaylord this Senate Cham- ber, and the State of Iowa, have lost an able, prudent and wise leg- islator. His dust has returned to dust, and his spirit to the God who gave it. Though he responds to the call of the Senate roll no more, yet may we not trust his name is enrolled in the Lamb's book of life, and while we mourn our deceased friend, may we be able, when we are called from the stage of action, to feel that we have done our duty as faithfully and as well.
641
HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY.
COLONEL DAVID RIPLEY
Was born in the State of New York, in the year 1798; came to Gallia County, Ohio, when a young man; married in the year 1819; visited this county in 1852-'3, settling here in 1854, during which year he had the courage to follow the Indians into Minnesota alone, when nearly all other settlers were frightened out of the country. He located on or near section 12, of township 94, 17. In 1862 he visited Colorado, where he enlisted to fight the Indians and had a number of remarkable experiences. After making a short residence in this county again, he went to Missouri, then to Fremont County, this State, then to Decatur County, and finally back to Riverton Township, where he died July 26, 1881. During his life he had been a member of the Legislature both in Ohio and in Colorado, and was County Judge of Floyd during the exciting times of the great county-seat contest. His son, Sanford Ripley, whose sketch appears more in full elsewhere, resides in Riverton Township. The four daughters left by the deceased are Mrs. W. B. Carter, Mrs. James Wood, Mrs. John Allison and Mrs. Henry Allen.
WINFIELD SCOTT RIDER,
A young man of more than ordinary promise, died at Wav- erly, Ia., Aug. 17, 1865, aged twenty-five years. His death resulted from injuries caused by a steamboat explosion. While the boat, "Joseph Pierce," was taking on board the Sixty- fourth U. S. Colored Infantry, Colonel Meatyard command- ing, her starboard boiler exploded with terrible force, after she had been lying at the bank about half an hour, blowing away fifty feet of the center of the boat. Hundreds were blown into the river, but, strange to say, the loss of life was very small. About twenty miles below Vicksburg this catastrophe occurred, and July 31, 1865. Among the victims was Mr. Rider, who was thrown out upon the land, and seriously injured internally. He set out for home, and arriving at Waverly, was unable to travel further. His brother from Floyd went down August 15, to that place, with an easy carriage, bedding, etc., to bring him home; but he was too late, and Mr. Rider died as before stated.
His remains were taken to Floyd, where, at the Methodist chapel, the Friday following, a large concourse of people assembled to pay respect to his memory. The sermon was preached by Rev. Mr. Bronson. Many citizens from Charles City 'attended the funeral, including the Charles City Cornet Band, and soldiers
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HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY.
under arms, many of them compatriots with the deceased through long years of bloody war. The coffin was richly ornamented with silver trimmings and over it was thrown the U. S. flag, that ban- ner which in life young Rider had loved so well and had so nobly defended on many a field of battle. The burial took place under military honors.
Mr. Rider was best known to the citizens of Floyd County, as the army correspondent of the Charles City Intelligencer, although he had also contributed poetic compositions and articles of other description. In the war he was for some time clerk in the Quarter- masters' Department at Vicksburg, Postmaster of the Sixteenth Army Corps, and enjoyed to the fullest extent the confidence and friendship of Major Gens. Sherman, Mc Pherson, Logan and others. He had a warm genial heart, full of generosity and frankness, ever grateful for favors, and overflowing with kindness toward others.
Roswell Rider, father of the deceased, sent four sons to the war: two of whom lost their lives in their country's service, and the other two were several times seriously wounded.
CHESTER BUTTERFIELD,
For many years one of the most influential men in Floyd County, and for a time Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, was a native of Vermont; and spent the middle part of his life in Lake County, Ill., near Waukegan. He came to Floyd County in the winter of 1855, settling near the village of Floyd. He was a zealous and exemplary member of the M. E. church, and some times occupied the pulpit as a preacher. Some years ago he emigrated to Kansas, where he, in the summer of 1881, attended a camp meeting, and was taken sick. He died Aug. 22, aged seventy-five years. His diseases were typhoid fever and a bowel complaint, and his sufferings were severe and pro- tracted. He was held in high esteem by all who knew him.
J. W. LEHMKUHL,
A thorough business man and public-spirited citizen of Charles City, died in Bremen, Germany, Oct. 6, 1880. He was born at Delmenhorst, Oldenburg, Germany, March 20, 1830. In 1850 he came to Ohio, and in 1855 to Waverly, Ia., where he formed a partnership in business with Theodore Hullman; but in June of the same year a new partnership was formed, under the firm name of Rumpf, Lehmkuhl & Co., the senior member having been a fellow clerk with Mr. Lehmkuhl in Bremen. Mr. Lehmkuhl then
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HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY.
came to Charles City, and, assisted by Wm. Hausberg as clerk, built and opened a store of general merchandise on the site of the present store of Hausberg & Holbrook. Here Mr. Lehmkuhl con- tinued in business until March, 1877, when he sold out to Mr. Hausberg. During a part of this time, he had an interest with Mr. H. in a branch store at Floyd, and also with W. Schmedes, in a store at Osage, Mitchell County. In the fall of 1877, Mr. Lehm- kuhl sailed to Europe for recreation and visiting friends and inter- esting localities on the continent.
He was a bachelor until June, 1880, when he was married to Miss Elizabeth Grelle, of Bremen. He and his wife spent the summer in Switzerland and Italy, stopping some time at Lake Como. In September he returned to Bremen, suffering from a cold. Soon his symptoms assumed the form of gastric fever, inclining to typhoid fever, from which he did not rally, but died at the home of his sister, in Bremen.
Mr. Lehmkuhl was prominently identified with many of the liberal and philanthropic enterprises of Charles City and vicinity, and his death caused a very large community to mourn.
NATHAN H. PALMER, M. D.,
Was born in Vermont, in 1797. He graduated from a “York State " medical college when in his twenty-seventh year, and up to the date of his death practiced in his profession the greater portion of the time. For several years he lived in Ohio, moving from there to Rockford, Ill., then a new settlement. In the fall of 1854, he came to Charles City. He married, for his first wife, Samantha Blair, Nov. 17, 1825. Their children were Margaret (now Mrs. Milo Gilbert), Martha and Mary. His first wife died in January, 1835. He married, for his second wife, Miranda F. Isbell, Nov. 19, 1835. Their children were named Melinda, Amanda, Elston A., Miranda and Olive. But two are living to-day-Elston A. and Melinda, the latter having the honor of having taught the first school in Floyd County. His second wife died April 8, 1848. For his third wife, Mr. Palmer married Deborah Rhodes, April 29, 1849. By this wife he had one child, named Ellen.
DR. E. J. WILLIAMS
Was a resident of Charles City from 1870 until the time of his death in February, 1881, at the age of sixty-seven. He was a man of great intellect, high honor and thoroughly devoted to his pro- fession. He was also a zealous member of the Masonic order.
CHAPTER XVI.
MISCELLANEOUS.
In this chapter we place those accounts which are too brief to make full chapters separately; and the material afforded us by the history of this county results in giving us for miscellany, first, the Temperance canse, Celebrations. Marriages, Postoffices and routes, Bridges, Miscellaneous organizations, Anecdotal, etc.
TEMPERANCE.
The citizens of Floyd County have been as active in the cause of temperance as those of any other part of the State, if not of the West. While every one advocates "temperance," one class are in favor of prohibitory law, and the other opposed. The pro- hibitionists do not regard moderate drinkers as thorough enough in their temperance principles. It is not temperance in the sense of moderation that the temperance party is working for, but total abstinence-from a poison that may enslave. Hence a continual warfare between the two classes, especially in the villages, where the moderate drinkers and their license friends are always more numerous. We are careful in our wording of the phrase " moder- ate drinkers and their license friends," who are all " license " men, while real drunkards are as apt to be prohibitionists as license men.
This county was not in existence in the early days of the "Wash- ingtonian " movement, the Sons of Temperance and the Good Templars, though each of these in later times have had a history in Floyd County.
During the winter of 1856-'7, a Washingtonian pledge was cir- culated through the village of St. Charles, and about 150 persons signed it. The " St. Charles Temperance Association " was soon organized, with constitution, by-laws and officers, to aid in enforc- ing the State law. This presentation of a formidable front so quelled the devotees of darkness that little remained to be done in the way of prosecution.
In 1858 temperance meetings were revived, earnest pleas made both in public and private, pledges circulated, etc. About this
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HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY.
time the Order of Good Templars established societies in this county, which flourished for years afterward.
By way of anecdote we may relate here that during the summer of 1859, a man in St. Charles City joined the Good Templars, de- termined that his wife should know nothing about it. He was quietly admitted and the night fixed for his initiation. So far, so good. But his wife suspected something of the kind going on, and contrived a pleasant sort of surprise for him. He kept "mum," and she kept "mum-er,"-he happy in blissful ignorance of his wife's knowledge, and she " laughing in her sleeves" to think how easy men are cheated. The expected evening came, and our hero presented himself at the ante-room and was admitted. His aston- ishment can better be imagined than described when the first voice to welcome him was that of his " own dear and thrice happy wife!"
The initiatory movements already mentioned are only represen- tative of the temperance work which followed in this county until 1874, when the temperance " crusade," as it was called, which orig- inated in Ohio that year, struck this community, and shortly after- ward organizations were effected among the women, auxiliary to the State and National "Woman's Christian Temperance Union." The one in Charles City edited a temperance column in the Intelli- gencer, where they made pretty lively reading under what to the license people seemed a very dull heading. Although this move- ment commenced, as new parties always do, with considerable noise and public demonstration, it soon quietly solidified down into beautiful crystals, thus becoming permanent and therefore effective against the enduring appetites of weak men. How much the late prohibition victory in Iowa is due to their quiet work, no one can tell.
The next and the last great temperance wave, which rolled over Floyd County, is, for short, called the " Amendment" move, being an effort to incorporate into the organic law of the State a section prohibiting the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors as a beverage. This wave, which ultimately covered the State and proved victorious at the polls, was greatly aided by the Charles City Postmater, B. F. Wright. When Mrs. J. Ellen Foster was lecturing on temperance in this place in 1879, Mr. Wright proposed that all the temperance efforts in the State unite on a movement to place a prohibitory clause in the Constitution. She at first thought it was too soon to inaugurate such a measure, but some time subsequently she changed her mind, and joined the move-
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HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY.
ment. Further particulars may be found in the biographical .sketch of Mr. Wright, in the history of Charles City, on a subse- quent page. We make here one extract from his argument:
" The public policy of prohibiting saloons receives its strongest argument of opposition in the assertion that it will injure the com- merce of a town or State. Is it not singular, indeed, that men who are skilled in all the craft and drive of trade should believe that a traffic which simply steals away the muscle and brain of men, can contribute to that market out of which honest profits are gleaned ; increase the physical endurance and prowess of an army by im- poverishing its health, breaking a large percentage of its legs and arms: increase the trade of a town by upholding a business, which results, year by year, in crippling every man who is its patron, and makes their families public beggars!"
The license party claim that while prohibition harasses the legitimate liberty which every one should enjoy, it does not pre- vent drunkenness, and that prohibitory laws prevent the immigra- tion of Germans and others who are good citizens.
In the winter of 1878- 9, a large and strong temperance organi- zation was effected in Charles City under the name of the " Tribe of Jonathan," with an elaborate constitution, by-laws and many signatures to the same. This organization is said to have been started by Captain Curtis, of Waterloo, Ia. Under the auspices of the "Tribe," branch organizations were formed in this and adjoin- ing counties, mass meetings held, and much efficient aid rendered to the cause of temperance. A small periodical campaign sheet was started in the winter of 1880-'1 of four twelve-inch columns, and edited by Mr. Wright. It was named "The Amendment."
On the other hand the license inen"formed a few organizations, and worked against the amendment. In Charles City, for exam- ple, the Deutscher Maessigkertsverein (German Temperance Union) was organized, also in the spring of 1881, with constitution, by-laws and officers, to work against the proposed amendment.
The following is the wording of the amendment.
SECTION 26. No person shall manufacture for sale, sell or keep for sale as a beverage, any intoxicating liquors whatever, including ale, wine and beer. The General Assembly shall, by law, pre- scribe regulations for the enforcement of the provisions herein con- tained, and shall thereby provide suitable penalties for violations of the provisions thereof.
CA, Oakes
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HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY.
The vote on the above was taken on the 27th of June, 1882, with the following result in Floyd County:
Township.
For.
Against
St. Charles
365
448
Floyd.
143
77
Ulster.
83
65
Niles
37
127
Pleasant Grove
50
65
Rudd.
70
75
Rock Grove.
93
181
Union
131
134
Scott.
42
78
Rockford
159
144
Riverton
121
64
Cedar
79
19
1,373
1,457
Majority against the amendment, 84.
The majority in the State, however, was about 30,000 in favor of the amendment, and the victory was celebrated in public meet- ings, where speeches were made, etc. A grand celebration of this kind was held in the public park in Charles City on the 14th of July.
CELEBRATIONS.
The people of Floyd County are eminently social and have always had great respect for days made prominent in history by a great and good act. This regard they have shown by holding appropriate exercises, which have generally been well and peacea- bly attended. We arrange here the most prominent of them chron- ologically.
The 4th of July celebration in St. Charles City, in 1857, passed off quietly and pleasantly, excepting a single accident. The weather was remarkably fine. At noon the people assembled in the grove above the Square, where the Declaration was read by W. B. Fairfield, of St. Charles, and an oration delivered by D. W. Poindexter, of Mitchell, succeeded by remarks from Moses Conger, of Floyd, and Mr. Fairfield. Dinner was enjoyed at the St. Charles Hotel. Sociability was extended and cultivated, and in the evening were fire-works, and a ball. The accident referred to hap- pened to John Hill, who resided about two miles above town. He charged the eye of a sledge hammer, piled anvils upon it, and ap- plied a match, when the hammer burst and carried away the most of his leg. The accident cast a gloom over the people the rest of the day.
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