History of Kossuth and Humbolt counties, Iowa : together with sketches of their cities, villages, and townships, educational, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 51

Author:
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Springfield, Ill. : Union Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 898

USA > Iowa > Humboldt County > History of Kossuth and Humbolt counties, Iowa : together with sketches of their cities, villages, and townships, educational, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 51

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continued to edit for several years. For the last twenty years, Mr. Call has been a government mail contractor, and at the present time controlls a large number of routes throughout the northwest. He was united in marriage with Nancy E. Hen- derson, of Oskaloosa, Iowa, in October, 1859, a lady whose ancestors have a his- toric record in the settlement of Ken- tucky. Their,union has been blessed with seven living children-Florence M., Edith, Etta L., Bertha A., Chester C. and Roscoe and Myrtle, twins. In politics Mr. Call has ever affiliated with the republican party, and has taken great interest in the success of the measures advocated in the platforms of that party. Although fre- quently solicited, Mr. Call has persist- ently refused political preferment, and has never been an office seeker or holder. A prominent Mason, lie carries into every day life the teachings of the craft, and deals with his fellow man as he would be dealt with. With his brother he founded the city of Algona, and was also the founder of Bancroft, the second town of importance in the county. Ask him his occupation, and his reply will be, a farmer, which is in fact, true, as he has over 1,000 acres of this rich Iowa prairie, brought under subjection to the plough. Conservative in business, Mr. Call has had the good fortune to accumulate an easy competence by shrewd investments, and as the result of his mail business. He is at present, president of the Bank of Algona, and one of Kossuth county's most prominent representative citizens.

D H. Hutchins was born Sept. 20, 1823, in Franklin Co., N. Y. He was raised a "farmer boy," and received his education

in the district schools and Franklin Academy, where he attended three terms: He went to Indiana in the springof 1845; resided there two years, then returned to Franklin county, where for five years he worked on a farm summers and taught school winters. He went to California in the spring of 1852, in company with his brother; was engaged in mining and other pursuits for two years, and returned home in the spring of 1854. A year later he moved to Clayton Co., Iowa, and engaged in farming. In 1862 he enlisted as a pri- vate in company E, 27th regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry; was elected orderly sergeant by the company in the spring of 1863, and promoted to second lieutenant in the fall of 1864, participating in the battles of Little Rock, Fort De Russy, Pleasant Hill, Yellow Bayou, Fish Bayou, Tupelo and Nashville; was discharged May 15, 1865, while in hospital at Natchez, Miss. He returned to Clayton county, re- maining there until March, 1869, when he settled in Algona, and engaged in the im- plement trade. He has 250 acres of land under cultivation, and is now assistant cashier in the Bank of Algona. He mar- ried Helen M. Whitney, of Franklin Co., N. Y. They have had four children, three now living-Clayton B., auditor of Kos- suth county ; Lucina M., wife of A. F. Call, of Algona, and Celia V. Mr. . Hutchins was commissioned captain of uniformed .militia by Gov. Seymour, of New York, and of Home Guards, by Gov. Stone, of Iowa; was elected four times justice of the peace, and served one term as supervisor of Kossuth county.

The first hotel in the county was the hewn log building reared and kept by H.

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A. Ilenderson, in 1856, as is stated else- where. This was known as the Wiscon- sin Honse, and was for several years the only place of entertainment for the weary traveler.

In 1864 a Mr. Harrison built a frame structure on east State street, which he called the Kossuth County Hotel. This building is yet standing and is used for the same business, althongh overshad- owed by later built and more pretentious rivals. This hotel is at present under the management of A. Rutherford, who has a large patronage among the farming com- munity.

The Cliff House, afterwards known as the Commercial House, was for some years the principal stopping place in Al- gona, but it is now closed. McGraw was the last landlord whomet the guests at the door and made them welcome.

In 1870 a brick hotel, which went under the name of the Russell House, was erected opposite the court house. It was under the management and direction of several landlords until 1879, when G. N. Hancock became the proprietor. In Feb- ruary, 1883, Alexander Younie became owner and proprietor. The building was 66x90 feet in area, two stories high, and well constructed of brick. The ceilings were twelve feet high, and the house con- tained twenty-five good rooms, well for- nished, comfortable and good accommoda- tions, and an affable landlord. What more could the tired gnest ask? Mr. Yonnie is considerable of a capitalist and re il estate owner, and is one of the solid men of the community. This hotel burned down late in the winter of 1883.

A. Yomie, formerly owner of the Han- cock Honse, is a native of Quebec, Canada, born Feb. 22, 1841. He was there reared and educated. His parents, Alexander and Isabella (Lang) Younie, were natives of Scotland. His father was an old sol- dier, and was in the British service during the Napoleon Wars. He died in 1857. . Alexander is the eighth of a family of nine children. In the spring of 1865 Mr. Younie went to Fort Dodge, Iowa, and after a short residence there, went to Montana territory. In December, 1865, he returned to Fort Dodge, spending the summer of 1866 in Kansas and Missonri. In the fall of that year he engaged in farming in Humboldt Co., Iowa, and in the spring of 1870 he went to Palo Alto county, being engaged in farming and stock raising. In February, 1883, he be- came proprietor of the Hancock House at Algona, Iowa. Mr. Yonnie was married Jan. 26, 1870, to Lanra E. Elliott, a native of New York. They have three chil- dren-Nettie, Isabella and William A. Mr. Younie was a justice of the peace, a notary public, and a member of the board of supervisors while a resident of Palo Alto county. He was admitted to the bar in Humboldt county, and in 1876 prac- ticed at Roth, Iowa.

The present hotel known since its in- ception as the Bongey House started from a small beginning. In 1872 Alfred Bon- gey, the present proprietor, bnilt a small building, which is part of the present hotel, and commenced the business of taking care of travelers. This is said to have been the first structure built of pine Imnber in Algona. The material was hanled from Fort Dodge by team. As

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the years rolled on, these quarters grow- ing too confined for his ever increasing business, Mr. Bongey built the present commodious edifice. This now contains some forty-five rooms, and the presence of the genial host, draws a large share of the commercial travelers to the house.

Alfred Bougey, proprietor of the Bon- gey House, was born March 17, 1833, in York Co., Penn. In 1839 he removed with his parents to Jefferson Co., Ohio, where he lived until 1861. He then went to St. Joseph Co., Mich., remaining until 1869, then he came to Algona, and en- gaged in contraeting and building. He way thus employed about four years, his first contract being the college building. He also during that time worked on the court house. In 1872 Mr. Bongey erected a small building, being now a portion of his present hotel building, and engaged in the restaurant and boarding house business two years, then commenced keep- ing hotel. He has since that time made several additions to his hotel, until now he has one of the best equipped houses in the city. Mr. Bougey was married March 20, 1869, to Mary A. Hutchinson, a native of Michigan. They have four children- Clifford W., Naomi B., Jacob S. and Fred. Mr. Bongey has been a member of the city council and is an influential citizen.

Among the various businesses and pro- fessions carried on in Algona, but which are treated of in detail in the general county history, under their proper head, are two newspapers, the Upper Des Moines, under the management of Ing- ham & Warren, and the Republican, owned by Starr & Cowles; the following list of lawyers: George E. Clarke, C. P.

Dorland, J. B. Jones, W. L Joslyn, R. J. Danson, Quarton & Sutton, H. S. Vaughn, E. H. Clarke, B. F. Reed, F. M. Taylor, G. C. Wright, A. F. Call, J. N. Weaver, W. P. Coolbaugh; and doctors: L. A. Sheetz, L. K. Garfield, S. G. A. Read, James Barr, L. E. Potter and A. Richmond.

No better history of the early Churches of Algona and Kossuth county could be prepared than is given by the Rev. W. H. Burnard, of the Congregational So- ciety, in a sermon delivered Aug. 15, 1883. The care and trouble exercised hy this worthy divine in the compilation of these annals has been duly appreciated by the historian and the article is inserted in its entirety:

"Interest is always attached to the be- ginning of institutions; for the manner of their origin, and the reason for it, will usually account for what is peculiar to them afterwards; and then, the beginning itself is likely to have had a cause or at- tending circumstance, and to have »ng- gested certain measures and expedients united to the time and place, that could not have occurred in other conditions; while the subsequent growth, with fewer limitations, falls into a conventional method and becomes commonplace. This is particularly true of Churches. The majority of them have about the same experience. The history of one is the history of many, with slight variations. But though their mission and the need of them is always and forever the same, the conditions in which they are born differ with the difference of city and country, age and size of communities, traits of their founders, and life in old settlementx

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and on the frontier. For these reasons I shall give more time to the early than to the later history of the Church.

"A Church is usually a thought, a wish, a prayer, before it is an institution. And sometimes the thought not only begins to live a long while before the Church does, but it is born a long distance from the place where the Church is established and before the future site is selected. God, who gives the thought, knows where, when and how its prophecy will be ful- filled. This Church, on an Iowa prairie, was a thought floating in a good man's brain among the Green mountains of Ver- mont twenty years before it was organ- ized. For it was in 1838 that the Rev. Chauncey Taylor's attention was first called to Iowa, and he felt then the missionary in- stinct to come here and organize Churches. Eighteen years later he started with a commission from the A. M. S. in his pocket, to labor in Iowa ; like Abraham, 'not knowing whither he went,' but, doubtless, with God's voice saying to him: 'Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred and from thy father's house, into a land that I will show thee.' 'And, al- though his attention had been called to Fort Dodge, which place he visited on his way, God showed him Algona, which the surveyors were just laying out, as he walked, about 3 o'clock P. M., April 19, 1856, into the town.

"As Father Taylor's name will be for- ever associated with the organization and early history of this Church, and as the more recent comers among us never saw him, and yet have often heard him spoken of, I will try to bring him more dis- tinctly before you. He was born on a

farm in Williamsburg, Vt., Feb. 17, 1805, and was one of five brothers who became Congregational ministers. One other brother had the ministry in view but died before he reached that goal. One of his first religious impressions was upon hearing his parents talk about the heathen, at the time of the departure of the first mission- aries from this country, and he formed a resolution, which, through all his years of vanity and sin, as he tells us, he ever kept before hin, to go to them with the glad tidings of salvation. He was converted at the age of seventeen and at once de- cided to become a minister. To be the better prepared to obtain an education, for which he depended on his own exer- tions, he learned the trade of clothier, and by working at this and teaching school and singing school, and working in the bible and Sabbath school cause, with alternate periods of study, he passed through acad- emy and college, graduating at the Uni- versity of Vermont in August, 1831. He was licensed to preach Dec. 11, 1833, by the Rutland Association, having held meetings some months previously, and studying theology, as he himself said, in the chimney corner. On the 17th of the same month he was married. Before coming west, he labored in Vermont for twenty years ; James Island, South Car- olina, one year ; and in New Hampshire two years; in all about twenty-three years. So when he came to this place to do harder work, doubtless, than he had ever done before, with more exposure, and a call for new and original methods, at the age of fifty-one, he was ripe in experience and in the maturity of his powers. The older residents present remember his per-

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sonal appearance as though he were be- fore them. Here is a description of him which the Rev. Dr. Whiting, of Dubuque, wrote to an eastern paper under the head- ing of 'The Patriarch of the Prairies,' eleven years later : 'His head is white as the almond blossoms. The mild gray eye, gentle voice, alert motion and unbent form are yet his. This man who was not rugged, but who was strong of purpose, industrious, methodical and capable of deriving much happiness from humble sources, was the right person to step on the site of a new town, in a new country, even while the surveyor was still at work, to hunt and mess with the young men who had come west to make their for- tunes, and rear his home near theirs and live among them. The true pioneer must be able to dispense with luxuries and ele- gance, and in lieu of the established ways and ample resources of older communi- tie», he must be fertile of expedients and know how to make rude contrivances do efficient work. Yet he is not the man to mould the habits of new society and lay the foundation of future empire unless his innate taste and sterling moral earnestness are conspicnous.' Happily, the pioneers of recent times were not men of the Dan- iel Boone type, hardy and adventurous, but hostile to refinement and wanting elbow room. The frontier is now being occupied by educated and religious men and women who carry the elements of civilization with them and welcome the gospel and the missionary. Father Taylor received as cordial a greeting from the young men who were here at the time as he would have had if he had come with a belt of money on his person to buy land.

Some who do not seem now to care much for religion or the Church then dispensed a generous hospitality to the self-invited missionary and encouraged him to stay. They would do just so again. The next day was Sunday, and the missionary preached to an audience of about twenty- five persons, which he said seemed like baptizing the town in its infancy, because it was so new. This was not the first ser- mon that was preached in Algona, for Rev. T. N. Skinner, then of Otho, had preached in Judge Call's house once in the preceding November, and somebody else had preached here before that, but it was the beginning of the first stated ser- vices by the first minister of any denomi- nation who came here to stay.

"The meeting was held in a little log house belonging to J. W. Moore, which was situated under the oaks near the pres- ent residence of Mr. Vaughn, and occu- pied as a bachelor's hall by several young men. And here the meetings continued to be held during the summer, or until Father Taylor's own house was ready and his family had joined him, when the min- ister's house became his study and the place of worship until the town hall was built. Occasionally, however, that sum- mer he preached in other houses, and he preached also statedly in Irvington, then the rival of Algona, and in other parts of the county. 'The seats then in style in these extemporized meeting houses were made of slabs, without backs, and were favorable to wakefulness and close atten- tion. A bed also was usually in the room. The first meeting in the town hall was held May 21, 1857-forty present.

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"The materials for a Church organiza- tion at this time were very scarce. Few of the early settlers professed religion, and none of those who canre first belonged to Congregational Churches. Still many people seemed to have faith for Algona, small as it was, first, that it would become a place of importance, and second, that

the Church which could get the first start might become strong and influential. Ministers of other denominations soon followed Father Taylor, looking up lost sheep, and having a truly apostate zeal to organize Churches. Rev. Mr. McComb, a Presbyterian minister, came sometime that summer, and a missionary agent named Wells made a visit here soon after and organized a Presbyterian Church, the first in the county I believe. It is now extinct. The Congregational Church was next in order of time, but it was not or- ganized until more than two years after the missiouary came. For the minister to come first and call for a Church, rather than to wait for a Church to call him, is the true way for a new country. This Church might never have come into being if the minister had waited for the few Congregationalists, who came here in an early day, to form a Church and invite some one to preach to them. As it was, only five persons were found who were ready to enter into it when the Church was organized, Aug. 15, 1858, which was the Sabbath. These were: Rev. C. Tay- lor, George D. Wheeler and wife, Mrs. Maria T. Wheeler, Engenia Rist, now Mrs. L. II. Smith, and Harriet E. Taylor, danghter of the minister, now Mrs. J. E. Stacy. Mrs. Taylor died Oct. 12, 1837, too soon to join. T. N. Skinner, already

spoken of, was present and assisted in the work. Let ns try to see all the scene. The town hall was the nucleus of this, our present house of worship. Meetings of various kinds had been held in it since May 16, 1857; religious meetings of all the denominations in the town, political meetings, club meetings, dances, shows, and the like. It stood on the lot, corner of State and Moore streets, east of Mr. Ford's warehouse, smaller of course than it is now. Cut off twenty feet of the rear of the house, and the entry, with the cupola and bell, bring the ceiling down to eleven feet, with no arch, let the wains- coting and doors be bare, unoiled black walnut, the walls lathed with thin split boards but not plastered, the seats of slab, and you have the scene inside. Outside of the house, inclosing quite a large space, perhaps the entire lot, was a stockade of perpendicular logs with the flat sides close together, with another log outside to cover each crack, making almost a double row of standing logs, put there at the time of the 'Indian scare' and mas- sacre at Spirit Lake, in March, 1857, and left standing until persons who wanted such logs had helped themselves to them all. It was feared at one time that the people would all have to crowd in there for safety. When the needless scare was over, as the people sat and worshipped in their snug retreat, they could have sung:

** With salvation's walls surrounded Thou may'st smile at all thy foes."

"Such was the place of meeting when the five persons above named, all of whom came from other Churches, stood up be- fore God and entered into covenant with Him and each other and became a Church

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of Christ, and a branch of the universal Church. We do not know where Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler are now. The organizer has joined the Church triumphant above. The other two are with ns. One of this number soon went back east, taking a letter-though she returned again-reduc- ing the number to four. But Ja'nes L. Paine united on profession March 10, 1859, making the original number good. On Feb. 20, 1860, Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler took letters, and the little band was re- duced to three. A Church of only three members after four years of hard mission- ary labor! Was not that discouraging? Who would have thought it strange if they had disbanded and the minister had sought a more promising field? Certainly few Churches have had a more feeble be- ginning and a more cheerless outlook soon after, even in a new country. The other Churches in the place, starting a little later, must have done better. I cannot find out when the Methodist Church was organized. The records which are at hand only run back to 1862. Perhaps the Church never had a distinct beginning but came by evolution. According to Father Taylor, a Methodist minister by the name of Lawton, from Fort Dodge, commenced preaching here early in No- vember, 1857, and he held a protracted meeting in December with good results. The Baptist Church was organized on the 18th of May, 1861, with sixteen members, one year after the discouraging period for this Church referred to.

" Providentially the time of gloom did not last long. The little band held to- gethier and slowly their number increased. One person was added to them by profes-

sion in 1861, and another in 1862, and then the next year the pastor held a pro- tracted meeting, assisted by Rev. Mr. Os- borne, of Webster City, the result of which four were added to the Church on profession of their faith and one by letter, thus doubling the original number. From this time on the records show that the Church had a slow but steady growth.

"On the 16th of December, 1865, the Church voted to take steps to organize as a corporate body. This resulted in the organization, Feb. 6, 1866, of the Con- gregational Society, which is distinct from the Church, and holds its property. No deacons were appointed for the Church until Jan. 27, 1866, over seven years after the Church was formed, when Matthew Hudson, M. D. and August Zahlten were chosen, and they have been our deacons ever since, with the addition of David Paterson, who was first elected in March, 1877. The Church and minister engaged in Sabbath school work almost, perhaps quite, from the beginning, but I give no account of our present flourishing Sab- bath school because that will be given in a separate paper. The deaths, too, will receive fitting mention by another, so I will not need to speak on that sad theme. The baptisms in the Church, infant and adult, interesting parts as they are, will have to go nnchronicled. I find in the minutes the first mention made of the ladies' sewing circle, under date of Aug. 31, 1867, when they presented a beautiful communion set to the Clmreh, the same that we now use A separate paper will tell of the ceaseless and beneficent activi- ties of that society from its beginning, and of how much the present prosperity

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of the Church is due to its always timely help.

"This Church was one of five which en- tered into the organization of the North- western Association at Webster City, Feb. 10, 1859. Its minister was one of the three who were present and took part on that occasion. This act brought the Church into formal fellowship with the other Congregational Churches of the State. In the year 1876 the Church with- drew from this connection and united with the Mitchell Association, along with the minister, for the better convenience of attending the annual meetings.

"Up to 1867 Father Taylor had only been the stated supply, or acting pastor of the Church. That year he was installed by a unanimous vote of the Church, the society concurring. This was the first in- stallation in northwestern Iowa, and one of the very few that have ever taken place here. The Church then had over thirty members, and felt sure of its exis- tence and hopeful for the future. This marriage after a nine years courtship took place on the 8th of September, 1867,which was the Sabbath. The council called by the Church, consisting of the Churches of the Northwestern Association and their ministers, and other Churches and minis- ters, had convened on the 6th, had exam- ined the candidate and sustained all the action of the Church and pastor elect. It must have been a very interesting event to the Church, and a rich treat for the com- munity. A crowded house witnessed the services. Dr. Whiting, of Dubnque, preached the sermon. Dr. Guernsey, then superintendent of the American Home Missionary Society for Iowa, moderator

of the council, a giant in stature and in- tellect, with a heart correspondingly big, gave the charge to the pastor. Other parts were by Revs. J. C. Strong, W. F. Harvey, H. T. Thompson and C. F. Boyn- ton. This new and closer relation to the Church made the pastor very happy.

"But up to this time the Church had no house of worship of its own, but contrived to hold its meetings in the town hall. This building, with the lot, belonged to a joint stock company and was held by shares of $10 each. There were twenty of these shares. Why the society chose to buy this property rather to build anew, I have not been informed. Neither do I know how much money, if any, was given by the Church and congregation for this purpose. The American Congregational mission made the society a present of 8250, and Deacon Field, of Arlington, Mass., gave $50 more. And with the money raised the house was purchased, as the record says, extended, remodeled and repaired, and was dedicated on the 20th of September, 1868, to the service of the Triune God.

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History of Kossuth and Humbolt counties, Iowa : together with sketches of their cities, villages, and townships, educational, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 51

Author: Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Springfield, Ill. : Union Publishing Company Number of Pages: 898

Author:
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Springfield, Ill. : Union Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 898