USA > Iowa > Poweshiek County > History of Poweshiek County, Iowa: a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume 1 > Part 44
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GRINNELL FRIENDS CHURCH.
Early in the twentieth century there moved into Grinnell and vicinity a num- ber of families belonging to the Friends church. These often came together for prayer, but they felt the need of regular services, and during the year 1903 they secured the use of the Episcopal church on Main street and called N. Blanche Ford, a young minister then from Penn College at Oskaloosa, to come to Grin- nell and preach each Sunday. During the year Emma F. Coffin held evangelistic services, at the close of which twelve persons united with the church at Oska- loosa. Nine others had their membership transferred to the same place and a class of twenty-one members was organized.
During the fall of 1904 Florence Baker moved to Grinnell and became the first settled pastor. She had charge of the work most of the time for four years, during which time a new church was built.
New members were added from time to time until the spring of 1910, when there were eighty-three members. Oskaloosa meeting then organized these into a monthly meeting and they became Grinnell Friends church. Since then the membership has increased to 108, with an enrollment in the Sunday school of 135.
All the pastors, and especially Miss Viola Smith, have been self-denying and useful ministers. She is a very acceptable preacher.
NORWEGIAN LUTHERAN CHURCH.
There is an earnest body of men and women associated in the Norwegian Lutheran church, located at the corner of Elm street and Seventh avenue, of which Rev. Stenby is the pastor.
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ROMAN CATHOLIC.
There is a membership in Grinnell and vicinity of about 300 members. Rev. James Curtin, of Brooklyn, conducts services in the church, which is located at the corner of Main street and Washington avenue. J. J. Carroll is chairman of the board of directors of the church. The building of a new edifice is in contemplation and negotiations have already been entered into for another build- ing site. The present site was purchased early after the town was settled. St. Columbanus church was erected in 1884 under the administration of Rt. Rev. Henry Cosgrove, D. D., and served from Brooklyn by Rev. John O'Farrell.
THE SALVATION ARMY.
This church was organized here some years ago. Its songs and methods did not attract until it drew some into its fellowship, some who had been decidedly irreligious. They won some to industry, temperance and integrity, and won the good will and assistance of many in maintaining their services and in erecting their building for worship, some giving gladly $400 at once.
When the disagreement occurred between General Booth and his son Balling- ton, many outside lost a large part of their interest in the army and possibly in the church itself.
LODGES AND CLUBS.
Hermon Lodge, No. 273, A. F. & A. M., was organized November 22, 1869, and chartered June 8, 1870. The charter officers were :
C. G. Carmichael, W. M .; Willis Davis, S. W .; T. P. Matteson, J. W .; R. M. Kellogg, Treas .; C. N. Perry, Sec'y .; Wm. E. Sims, S. D .; Enoch Joy, J. D .; W. S. Bailey, S. S .; G. H. Outhank, J S .; J. A. Craver, Chaplain ; Frank Wyatt, Organist ; W. W. Sargent, Tyler.
The lodge is in a very prosperous condition, the present membership num- bering 195. A. R. Croft is worthy master and Jolin Laros secretary. Below is given a list of the past masters :
1870-1871, C. G. Carmichael; 1871-1872, Willis Davis; 1872-1873, W. E. Sims ; 1873-1874, C. N. Perry ; 1874-1875, W. S. Leisure ; 1875-1876, C. N. Perry ; 1876-1877, W. H. H. Lancaster : 1877-1878, C. G. Carmichael; 1878-1879, C. G. Penfield; 1879-1880, S. Needham; 1880-1881, C. N. Perry; 1881-1882, Willis Davis; 1882-1885, Geo. W. Clark; 1885-1887, Jas. Stewart; 1887-1889, A. F. Barnes ; 1889-1890, Willis Davis; 1890-1891, W. S. Simpson; 1891-1894, A. F. Barnes ; 1894-1896, W. F. Kepcke; 1896-1899, Will C. Rayburn; 1899-1901, C. W. Wessel; 1901-1903, J. H. Skeels; 1903-1906, J. E. Neely; 1906-1908, J. C. Kibby ; 1908-1909, H. Dean; 1909-1910, O. H. Gallagher ; 1910-1911, A. R. Croft.
EASTERN STAR.
This organization was chartered in 1883. Its charter members numbered twenty-eight. Its present officers are as follows: Worthy matron, Mrs. Jennie
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Norris; worthy patron, John Sanders; secretary, Elsie Case; treasurer, Augusta Barnes. Its present membership is 162.
Grinnell Lodge, No 358, I. O. O. F., was organized December 13, 1876. It was first presided over by the following officers: H. W. Williams, N. G .; W. W. Simons, V. G .; George Mahler, Rec. Sec .; G. A. Parker, Fin. Sec .; W. A. Propst, Treas. This lodge has one of the handsomest buildings in Grinnell. It is two stories in height, has a stone front and affords the organization a splendid revenue each year from its business rooms on the ground floor. The structure was erected in 1901 and is probably worth $15,000.
The auxiliary lodge, the Rebekahs, No. 119, I. O. O. F., was instituted Au- gust 14, 1883. The first officers were: C. H. Lemon, N. G .; F. M. Mills, V. G .; G. A. Parker, Rec. Sec .; C. H. Lemon, Treas.
Grinnell Lodge, Knights of Pythias, No. 175, was instituted October 6, 1887, with a charter membership of twenty-eight. It now has a membership of 180, and assets of $2,500.
The Pythian Sisters of Grinnell Temple, No. 198, was organized August 4, 1905, with fifty-seven charter members. At the present time the membership numbers sixty-six knights and eighty-eight sisters.
THE HISTORICAL AND LITERARY CLUB.
The Historical and Literary Club was organized in Grinnell, March 27, 1881, with Mrs. T. H. H. McDonald as president. The members banded themselves together for intellectual improvement and social enjoyment but throughout its existence of twenty-nine years it has always 'taken an active interest in local af- fairs of the moment and contributed time and funds to such enterprises.
The continuity of the club's work has been unbroken, with the exception of a few meetings during the cyclone disaster of 1882. The club joined the state federation of clubs in 1897 and has taken an active interest in all conventions. The membership at present numbers thirty-five and excellent work is being done along lines of travel.
The present officers are : President, Mrs. W. C. Rayburn ; vice president, Mrs. W. S. Hendrixson; secretary, Mrs. E. H. Spaulding; treasurer, Mrs. O. S. Parislı.
DRUMMOND CLUB.
In the year 1890 or 1891, Mesdames Samuel Howe, Lewis Cass, K. M. Ramey, Wright Chamberlain and S. J. Baker met one afternoon for a social hour and to make plans for similar gatherings in the future. And thus these ladies became the charter members of what was afterwards known as the Drummond Club. Mrs. Howe was its first president.
A part of the afternoon has always been devoted to some literary work. The writings of Henry Drummond were first read, hence the name of the club.
The present officers are: President, Mrs. A. W. Child; vice president, Mrs. D. S. Morrison ; secretary and treasurer, Mrs. E. E. Harris. The club now num- bers twenty-four. Meetings are held bi-weekly. In the words of one of the charter members, the club has always stood for "love, loyalty, purity of thought
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and action." They have contributed money to the Uncle Sam's Club, the col- lege and foreign missions.
GORDON GRANGER POST, G. A. R.
Gordon Granger Post, G. A. R. was named after Major General Gordon Granger. He was born in 1821, at Canandaigua, New York, and graduated at West Point in 1845, when twenty-one years of age. He acquired marked dis- tinction in the Mexican and Civil wars. Called from duty on the frontier, he became captain of the Third Cavalry as aide to General Sturgis in the Civil war in 1861. He was then promoted to colonel of the" Second Michigan Cavalry in September, 1861, then to brigadier general of volunteers in March, 1862, while in the following September he became a major general. He rendered valuable assistance in opening the Mississippi river, repulsed the enemy under Van Dorn at Franklin, Tennessee, distinguished himself at Chickamauga and commanded the Fourth Army Corps at Missionary Ridge and aided in the capture of Mobile in 1865. After the war he held important military positions in Texas and Ken- tucky until his death. January 10, 1876.
The members of the post are survivors of different military organizations en- gaged in the war of the rebellion and residing in this immediate vicinity. It was organized November 7, 1883, with the following charter members: Charles Por- ter. W. P. Wallace, W. Medley, B. F. Howard, S. E. Guthrie, J. W. Jones, Bar- ney Worrell, A. J. Sebring, I. C. Lilly, E. H. Grinnell, William Martins, P. D. Burton, P. G. C. Merrill, J. S. Rollins, Amos Ford, James Hamlin, E. W. Allen ; Willis Davis, W. O. Willard, C. Bennett, E. M. Fuller, C. F. Longfellow, J. M. Dawson, G. H. Outhank, W. W. Sargent, H. H. Day, P. D. Inman, R. J. La- grange, C. M. Black, Thomas Stafford, J. H. Pierson, G. R. Thorp, Charles L. Gardner, George L. Smith, L. McGregor, W. L. Jennings, W. C. Warren, L. H. Barton, H. Medley, J. W. Satchell, John Hews, E. Beard, R. H. Errett, O. P. Coho, H. T. Lattimer, J. M. Kirk, Robert Tillotson, D. C. Clapp.
It is said that a Grand Army post was organized at an earlier date and that a Colonel Batty was the commander, that the hall where the meetings were held, together with the charter and all the records, were blown away in the cyclone, June 17, 1882. The charter was later found near Cedar Rapids and sent to Captain Livingston in Des Moines, who reorganized this post free of charge.
Of the original forty-eight members, who were the charter members and those who joined the present post at the date of its reorganization, November 7, 1883, but thirteen, one more than one-fourth, are now living here in Grinnell or in this immediate vicinity, Eighteen are known to have died and seventeen have removed to other places, some to California and other places on the Pacific coast and many have died, though we have no record that such is the case.
The following have served as commanders: P. D. Inman, F. W. Porter, H. H. Day, Willis Davis, Professor L. F. Parker, Hon. J. P. Lyman, Rev. George M. Adams, Charles Porter, H. I. Davis, B. V. Ruff, A. K. Hostetter and C. L. Gardner. About one-third of the rank and file have died.
In the early history of the post a fund, called the Relief Fund, was estab- lished and maintained for years, to be distributed among those who were sick
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COLONIAL OPERA HOUSE, GRINNELL
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and in need of assistance. Colonel S. F. Cooper, an honored citizen of Grin- nell, first established this fund by a liberal contribution and it was kept up by other donations until discontinued. Two hundred and five members have joined and been regularly mustered in as members of the post in addition to the original forty-eight who composed the charter members, making a total of two hundred and fifty-three in all. The post has maintained an organization, meeting twice each month in a hall regularly used for that purpose. It kept track of members sick and in distress, by visiting them and ministering to their comfort and wants and comrades have always made it a duty to attend the funeral of deceased vet- erans.
The observance of Decoration Day has been faithfully and fully performed on each and every occasion since the post was organized, the members annually decorating the graves of deceased comrades in Hazelwood, also those buried in the Westfield cemetery.
The members of the post have each set out and cared for two ornamental shade trees on land immediately east of Arbor lake, with the object in view of making a park for the comfort and enjoyment of the coming generations and in the hope when they have grown up sufficiently to afford shade that those who enjoy that shade will be led to think of the old soldiers who planted the trees and remember them with some feeling of gratitude. To A. K. Hostetter, past commander, belongs the credit of originating and carrying out this plan. It has been an object of certain members to at some time erect a soldiers' monument and place it in the city park. Colonel Cooper at one time offered to contribute one hundred dollars for that purpose, but he removed to California and the plan has not been carried out.
P. E. O.
Chapter B. M., P. E. O., was organized July 7, 1898. The charter members were Mrs. W. C. Rayburn, Mrs. W. T. Moyle, Flora Goodfellow (Halsey), Mrs. W. S. Roby, Alma Christian, Mrs. E. Kemmerer and Mrs. G. W. Cowden.
The work is along literary, social and philanthropic lines. Mrs. W. C. Ray- burn, Mrs. E. R. Potter, Miss Alliene Holson, Mrs. W. T. Moyle, Miss Sara Viets, Mrs. Keith Blow and Mrs. Paul Peck have served as presidents. The present officers are : President, Mrs. Eugene Henely ; vice president, Mrs. A. J. Sibley; recording secretary, Miss Clara Taylor; corresponding secretary, Miss Victoria Swan; treasurer, Miss Sara Viets; chaplain, Mrs. E. Kemmerer ; guard, Miss Edith Beyer; journalist, Mrs. W. S. Hendrixson. The present member- ship is forty-four.
ENTRE-NOUS CLUB.
The Entre-Nous Club was originally a social organization, founded in 1897 by a few young women who attended Iowa College together. There were seven charter members. During the winter of 1909-10 a formal organization was ef- fected with all the necessary officers and a written constitution. The membership was increased to twenty-five and a course of study undertaken. The club is do- ing some altruistic work and is especially interested in the city hospital.
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THE READ AND REFLECT CLUB.
The Read and Reflect Club was organized in 1892 and was among the first clubs of the town. Its officers are a president, vice president, secretary and treas- urer. The membership is limited to twenty. Its object is for recreation and mutual improvement. The club has purchased a number of books which have been donated to the Stewart Library. It also has contributed to the endowment fund for the college.
THE TUESDAY CLUB.
The Tuesday Club was organized in the fall of 1898, at the home of Mrs. E. A. Wadsworth, the first president. Mrs. B. J. Ricker was the first vice president, and Miss Kate Hibbard, the first secretary and treasurer.
The present officers are: Mrs. E. A. Marsh, president; Mrs. V. G. Preston, vice president ; and Mrs. L. G. Lemley, treasurer. This is a club for study and social enjoyment and one of the best in the city.
ELIZABETH EARLE MAGOUN CLUB.
The Elizabeth Earle Magoun Club was originated as a Shakespeare reading circle in 1870 or 1871, and was composed of both men and women. A year or two later it developed into a woman's club with wide literary, artistic and historic interests. The wife of Dr. George F. Magoun, president of Iowa College, was the founder and almost to the day of her death, in 1897, its inspiring leader. In 1896 the club honored itself by the adoption of her name.
The present officers are: President, Mrs. J. H. T. Main; first vice president, Mrs. R. M. Haines; second vice president, Mrs. H. S. Viets; secretary, Mrs. G. L. Miles; treasurer, Mrs. H. W. Somers.
HAZELWOOD CEMETERY ASSOCIATION.
In 1890 a small group of women formed an organization for the sole purpose of supervising the sexton's work in Hazelwood cemetery, with hopes that this interest might result in a marked improvement of the grounds.
The success which met their efforts the first year encouraged these workers to found a permanent organization to be called The Ladies Cemetery Association of Grinnell, Iowa, which was chartered as a corporate body, May 27, 1891.
The first officers signing the articles of incorporation were: President, Mrs. A. B. Mack; first vice president, Mrs. F. Wyatt ; second vice president, Mrs. A. R. Turner; secretary, Mrs. Wright Chamberlain ; assistant secretary, Mrs. W. S. Roby; treasurer, Mrs. W. A. Little. Directresses: Mesdames A. B. Gage, H. M. Gue, Lewis Cass, E. M. Hathaway, J. P. Lyman, Willis Davis.
Since the time of this incorporation the association has been earnestly en- gaged in a large labor of love in memory of those who have entered the life be- yond, and as trustees for the city of Grinnell in the department of cemetery work.
CITY HOSPITAL, GRINNELL
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In 1909 this association purchased the I. O. O. F. cemetery, lying west of the original Hazelwood-which was named and then deeded to the city of Grin- nell, -- the care of which is likewise a part of their responsibility.
The present membership is eighty-three, a very representative company of women, including leaders in the churches and nearly every organization of the town, all of whom most loyally support this non-denominational and worthy pub- lic cause.
The officers elected in April, 1911, are as follows: President, Mrs. J. E. Van Evera ; vice president, Mrs. J. E. Neely ; treasurer, Miss Mary Chamberlain ; sec- retary, Miss Mae Miles; assistant secretary, Miss Sara Viets. Directresses, Mrs. J. F. Reiter, Mrs. H. B. Gifford, Mrs. S. C. Forsyth, Mrs. N. W. Cessna, Mrs. A. E. Fraser, Mrs. D. J. Herter. Superintendent and sexton, Ellis Kinnan.
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THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONB.
J. Hering manatt
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DR. JAMES IRVING MANATT.
James Irving Manatt came to Poweshiek county from Holmes county, Ohio, in 1850, when he was five years old, seven years after the Foxes withdrew from this region and when they were beginning to return to relocate along the Iowa river. The earlier ancestry of Manatt seems to have had a home through some generations near Belfast in Ireland, yet their name and history suggest a Cale- donian origin, mingled perhaps with Huguenot experience and heroism. There seem to have been gleams of philological interest in their family life and of enter- prise and nobility in their unwritten story, but they come into clearest light on the unpoetic banks of Bear Creek, and they were unpoetic until James Irving came to be reproved for imitating, now and then, the dwellers on Parnassus.
A spark of divine fire had touched the father's heart as he lay on the hearth at fifteen to converse with angel spirits, as he deemed those whose words he could read by the firelight and whose thoughts he could recall while leveling the Ohio forests for another generation. In due time another generation appeared, and for those new arrivals he employed the best teachers available by adding to pioneer salaries or by making the teachers guests in his family. The Manatt youth began his predestined life work early as a teacher, and at once he showed himself an attractive speaker. The society which they formed where he taught to draw out the best thoughts of the hamlet, they called a temperance organ- ization, but their papers and their speeches were literary rather than "temperate," and the main paper that represented the society preeminently always contained an article from "the teacher" and sometimes, often wholly, as Bunyan would say, "from his fingers trickled." Men and women maintained that society, tal- ented men and women, especially Manatt and one woman of whom he always spoke in highest terms. That "lyceum," for lyceum it was, made more than one writer and speaker, as other debating societies have filled the country with em- inent thinkers and orators.
Ingersoll was talking for the sake of talking when he said that colleges were "places where brickbats are polished and diamonds dimmed." Young Manatt did not think so. He met a young college student. It was young Charlie Scott from Scotland, of a nation that Macaulay said "rose to the top," after education was widely introduced among them, "as easily as oil rises on water." Scott had the spirit to rise and to take others with him. He was a noble Scotchman and pre- pared Manatt for his own college at Grinnell. Thenceforth they were as Damon and Pythias until Manatt laid the proceeds of some of his literary work on the grave of "Charlie."
From that college he received his A. B. and A. M., which were most gladly given, the one in 1869 and the other in 1872, and Yale added Ph. D. in 1873 and Iowa College followed with LL. D. in 1886. Before the latter date he had been in- structor in Greek in Iowa College, editor of the Chicago Evening Post, student of Sanskrit and classical philology in Yale, teacher of the classics in Russell's
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Collegiate Institute in New Haven and a student of Sanskrit and classical phil- ology there in 1870-4. He was a professor of Greek in Denison University from 1874 until 1876 and also in 1877-1884, after a year of study of Greek and Ger- manic literatures at Leipsic with Curtins and Francke. He then accepted greater responsibilities as chancellor of the University of Nebraska five years, and after that there was no place so nearly native to him as Athens, and no place for whose duties he was better prepared than for the protection of American interests in the city of Athens. It was just the place for him to become as "familiar as a native" with the language in which Demosthenes spoke and Aeschylus sung, the language of oratory and of song, the speech in which Socrates entrapped the sophist and illuminated the peasant.
The papers written by the developing Manatt "in the words of Warren" mav not have been his first; they certainly were not his last. In his later and many- titled years larger assemblies listened to his thrilling speeches, which aroused delighted and full-grown men and won the cheers of scholars and statesmen. They were not like the old Greek lawyer whose speeches had no influence after a first reading. They should be heard again and again, or rather, should be studied until they become one's own. If one would know him at his best he should read or hear him when defending his beloved Greeks or guarding some great American interest. To such themes he is as responsive as a miser to the touch of gold. He loved Hellas as "the land of scholars and the nurse of arms," and admired America as the nation that attained the liberty which others knew only in name. In his sympathetic home he found the world's best benediction, and in his son's studio he may constantly see the work of that son's hands in the bronze faces of such men as Professor Harkness of Yale and of W. J. Bryan of the nation.
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