Joy Neal Kidney's Blog, page 72

Dexter (Iowa) Essentially a College Town–Dexter Normal College

It’s been a surprise to learn that at one time, tiny Dexter, Iowa–with a population never over 800 citizens–used to be a university town.

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Building the three-story Dexter Normal School was started the fall of 1878, and was ready for use by fall or winter of 1879. The brick structure measured 57 by 67 feet with a half mansard roof, tower, and all modern improvements. It sits on about three acres of land at the north end of Marshall Street, in Allen’s addition near the public school building.

Heated by hot air pipes, the school cost $6000 to build. Benjamin J. Bartlett of Des Moines was the architect, and was erected by a stock company, comprising the businessmen of Dexter and farmers from Dallas, Guthrie, Adair, and Madison Counties.

The main building was a fine, three-story brick structure, fully equipped for educational work of the highest efficiency, according to publications, and provided with all the necessary modern educational methods. On the first floor of the building shown was the physical culture rooms, the laboratory and the offices devoted to the business department. The second floor held the rooms for recitation, a library, and college offices. The chapel hall, the art studio, the conservatory of music, and the musical practice rooms were on the third floor.

The dormitory was large and commodious, where the students enjoy all the comforts of home life. A large steam plant furnished heat to all the rooms. In the dining hall, the students sat down daily to excellent fare, in company with the president and seven other members of the faculty, who made it their home.

Six Different Courses of Study

Six different courses were included in the college curriculum–a Normal course, a Classical course, a Literary and Scientific course, a Business department, and departments of Music and Art.

The Normal course was one of the strongest in the college, and “much thought and time has been employed in its arrangement. It covers three school years of forty-four weeks each. The teachers in this department are all graduates of good normal schools, and special attention is paid to psychology and methodology.”

The Classical course also required three years to complete, but students were allowed to take advanced classes when, upon examination, they were found sufficiently advanced. This was also true of the Literary and Scientific course.

The Business department “fully prepared its graduates for business life, affording very full teaching in theory, as well as a very large amount of practice in accordance with the best modern methods.” The conservatory of music was modeled after the “best and most progressive institutions of the kind in the country.”  The art department, under the direction of competent instructors, taught drawing of all kinds, specializing in oil and water color painting.

Dexter Essentially a College Town

No Evil Influences to Counter-act the Good Ones of the School

Although the college was entirely non-sectarian, every member of the faculty was a member of some church. “All persuasive influences are employed to have the students attend some church during their residence at the college.” Dexter was essentially a college town, in which there were “no evil influences to counter-act the good ones of the school. Viewing the institution from every standpoint there are few schools in the country more desirable, and parents and guardians seeking a suitable college for educating their children should write for a catalogue giving full particulars.”

According to Ron Howell, initially the curriculum included civil government, rhetoric, grammar, natural philosophy, arithmetic, orthography, didactics, algebra and vocal music. Students were housed on campus at the Bisbee Dormitory, or they could find off-campus housing for $2.24 per week.

Bisbee Dormitory. You can see the Normal College to the left.

The first commencement was held in 1883.

No names, no date.

From the 1890 Commencement Program, students were listed from Adel, Corning, Cottage, Correctionville, Danbury, Des Moines, Dexter, Earlham, Greenfield, Marne, Menlo, Maquoketa, Minburn, Newton, Redfield, Spencer, Shelby, Utica, Waukee, and Winterset.

In 1890, Dexter’s census was 607.

By 1892, enrollment neared 600 students, essentially doubling the town. The curriculum expanded by 1893, adding the departments for business, art, and music. The Normal department added sciences and mathematics. The curriculum also included Latin, Greek, French, and German.

Positions are Secured for Worthy Graduates

But by 1895, the Dexter Normal School was no longer active. The building was demolished in 1905 to make room for a new high school on the same site.

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Sources: Clipping from an 1893 Homestead publication, thanks to Byron Weesner.

1968 Dexter Centennial History pages 21 and 22.

“Normal College” by Ron Howell in the Rural Schools of Madison County, Iowa FB page, 2017.

 

“Leora’s Letters” Interview with John Busbee

I hadn’t heard this interview with John Busbee since it was first aired a year ago last December. He just sent me a link to it.

I felt so at ease in his studio at Mainframe, and he made me feel like a real writer!

He begins with how we met. I’m a fan of Iowa History Journal. John had written an award-winning story for it about Iowa’s Littleton Brothers, all six of whom died as a result of the Civil War. At the end, it mentioned that he was writing a a book about the brothers.

He and another man gave a program about it at my local library, so I attended. Afterwards, I asked John how the book was coming. Then I mentioned the Wilson family of Dallas County who’d lost three sons during WWII, and that I was about to publish a book about them. He whipped out his business card and said to let him know when it was ready, that he’d like to interview me about it.

This takes 13 1/2 minutes, if you’d like to listen in.

I look so serious, but I was having fun!

John Busbee has edited and written the Foreword for Leora’s Dexter Stories: The Scarcity Years of the Great Depression, which should be published later this spring.

The Neal Brothers During the Civil War

War Between the States

I was shocked to learn that my ancestor Thomas Neal had at least two sons, Jesse and John, who served during the War Between the States. One in blue, one in gray.

John, my great great grandfather, did serve with in the Confederate Army, with the 3rd Forrest’s Tennessee Cavalry. I had the records to prove it.

John Neal

Grandpa Kenneth Neal knew that his grandfather had been in the Civil War, but was stunned to learn that he’d fought with the rebels. John Neal’s military records did reveal that he’d deserted.

Grandpa insisted that his grandmother Rhoda received a pension after John died, as a Union veteran. I sent an application for records of John Neal, this time with “Union” on it. He had indeed joined the 9th Regiment of the Indiana Cavalry.

John and Rhoda Neal are buried, with his parents, in the Dexter Cemetery. His brother Jesse is buried in the remote Roberts Cemetery in Adair County, Iowa. He served in Co. C 1st Tennessee Cavalry. I’ve never found a picture of Jesse Neal.

Rhoda (Marshall) Neal’s 1920 obituary said that she was “part of the most perplexing periods in the history of this country.”  A very perplexing period indeed.

 

Spool Knitting: Growing Up on a Farm

Here’s more than you ever wanted to know about using a spool and a crochet hook to knit a little something.

Spool knitting, corking, French knitting or tomboy knitting uses a spool with nails around the rim to produce a narrow tube of fabric. The devices are called knitting spools, knitting nancys, or French knitters.

The technique is to wrap the yarn around the pegs, then lifting over yarn which creates a stitch. Repeat until the tube of knitting is the desired length.

In my case, I wanted pink shoelaces to go with my pink tennis shoes. Junior-high age. Everything needed to be pink. Dad didn’t have time to make the spool knitter for me, but he gave me small brads and a hammer, so I made my own. For some reason, I still have it. Looks like I had a little trouble with one nail.

I even used pink nail polish to pretty up the plain spool.

I didn’t know that spool knitting is a traditional way to teach kids the basics of knitting.  Spool knitters usually have four or five pegs or nails, although any number of them will work. The knitted tube that results can be wound in a spiral to produce a mat or rug.

Or left simply used as shoe laces.

I decided to see if I could still figure out how to do it, but only have four-ply yarn and regular crochet thread. I used pink crochet thread as a kid, so found some about the same weight. What a pain! My mantra is “tenacity trumps talent.” That must have been an early quality in my personality.

I must have been very determined to have those pink shoe laces.

Pink shoe laces rang a bell. They were even part of a song in 1959, “Tan Shoes and Pink Shoe Laces.” I probably made mine a couple of years before the song came out.

Kids still do spool knitting today. Here’s how to make your own knitter and get started. Better yet, get a commercial one with fatter “nails.” It’d certainly be easier to use.

These days, I just buy shoelaces.

The Gallup Family of Nora Springs Also Lost Three Sons During World War II

I’d shared the February 6, 1943, clipping about the three Wilson brothers lost in WWII, when a man let me know that his great grandmother had also lost three sons. They were the Gallup brothers from Nora Springs, Iowa.

The man’s son had added a memorial to Gold Star Mothers to the Nora Springs Veterans Memorial as his Eagle Scout project, and to remember his great great grandmother.

Since then I’ve tried to learn more about their story.

The Gallup Family of Nora Springs, Iowa

The Gallup family had six sons and six daughters. One son was too young, but the older five served in the army. 

The siblings: Ruth, born 1908, Maybelle 1910, Linnie 1911, Eva 1913, Ruby 1914. Yes, five daughters born before their first son.

Then Harold Gallup, born 1915, served in WWII. 

Lucille, born 1917

Lloyd L. Gallup, born 1918, KIA 1943 in Italy, buried in Mason City, Iowa

Glenn Gallup, born 1920, served in WWII

Earl B. Gallup, born 1923, KIA 1944 in France, buried at Normandy.

Robert L. Gallup, born 1925, married with a child, KIA 1944 in Germany

LeRoy Gallup, no birth date but he was too young to serve in WWII.

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Robert Lynn Gallup (1925-1944)

ROBERT GALLUP OF NORA SPRINGS KILLED IN ACTION

THIRD MEMBER OF FAMILY TO LOSE LIFE IN SECOND WORLD WAR

Nora Springs, Ia. – Pfc. Robert L Gallup, son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Gallup, of Nora Springs, Iowa, is the third member of that family to lose his life in the present war.

Robert was killed in action in Germany, November 23rd, according to a telegram received by his relatives. He had previously been wounded in France, June 10th, and had received the Purple Heart.

Private Gallup went overseas last March and had not seen his baby Rosella Ann, born June 6th. He enlisted in October, 1943.

Robert’s wife lives with her mother, Mrs. Rose Watts, at Mason City. He was one of a family of 12 children. Surviving are three brothers and six sisters.

Previously killed in action in the present war were Pfc. Lloyd Gallup in Italy, October 14, 1943, and Pvt. Earl Gallup, in France, July 23, 1944.

Surviving brothers are Cpl. Glenn Gallup and Pvt. Harold Gallup, both overseas, and a younger brother, LeRoy, at home.

Waterloo Courier, Sunday December 17, 1944

When I noticed that their father had died in 1948, I expected it to be a similar death to Clabe Wilson after losing three sons–a stroke and a broken heart. But Mr. Gallup’s death was caused by thugs who’d been drinking:

Charles Floyd Gallup – May 23, 1888 – July 17, 1948

MURDER COUNT FILED AGAINST SIX IN FLOYD

Charles City, Iowa – Sheriff B. F. Atherton late Monday said he had filed charges of murder against Arthur Ubben 24, and Robert Garlock, 19, both of Thornton; Orin Lee Burns, 25, Hampton; Harold Riekens 31, Kenneth McClemmons 19, and Johnny Just 21, all of Sheffield in connection with the death of Charles Gallup, 60, farmer near Nora Springs, who died shortly after an altercation with the six men Sunday night.

Justice John W. McGeeney said the men waived a preliminary hearing and were bound over to the grand jury with bonds of $5,000 being set for all except Burns, whom he said he would not admit to bail, as he had admitted in a statement to Sheriff Atherton that he was the one who had struck Gallup, but did not see him fall. None of the five had posted bonds early Tuesday.

Funeral services for Gallup were Tuesday afternoon at the Christian Church in Nora Springs, with the pastor, Rev C. W. Hicks, officiating, and burial in Rock Grove Cemetery, south of Nora Springs.

Mr. Gallup was the father of three sons who were killed in the military service during the recent war. Earl was killed in France, Lloyd in Italy and Robert Lynn in Germany.

Surviving are the widow and the following children: Mrs. Justus Borchers and Harold Gallup, Chico, California; Glenn, Dearborn Michigan; Mrs. Roy Wilson, Rockford; Mrs. D. L. Billings, Mrs. George Wilson and Mrs. John Keith, all of Nora Springs; Mrs. Henry Stepleton, Mason City, and Ray, at home.

He is also survived by two brothers, Frank, Nora Springs, and Will,, Chicago, Illinois; two sisters, Mrs. Clarence Mathieson, Estherville, and Mrs. Helen Batdorf, Patton Pennsylvania, a stepfather, Miles Fenn, Rudd, and two half- sisters, Mrs. Earl Johnson, Rudd, and Mrs. Eleanor Steffin, Chicago, Illinois.

Sheriff Atherton said all the men had made written statements except Just, admitting their part in what he termed a beer drinking party Sunday afternoon. According to their statements, Atherton said, the six had started drinking right after dinner and had driven from their homes through Rockwell and on to Rockford. There they bought gas and went on to Nora Springs on highway 18, about 8 p.m. Apparently Gallup came out to investigate and, according to the men’s statements, told them to “clear out”. In an argument which followed, according to their statements Gallup picked up a rock in each hand and there was a scuffle. After Burns had struck Gallup, the men drove away, stopping at Clear Lake before returning home they said. The car, Sheriff Atherton said was traced by Highway Patrolman Victor Rima, through a dent inflicted in the side of the car by a rock thrown by Gallup’s son, LeRoy, 14, and a shield on the license plate reading “Thornton Fire Department”.

Waterloo Daily Courier, Tuesday July 20, 1948.

I’ve not been able to find photographs of any of the brothers who were KIA, or any who served.

 

 

Danny’s Mastoid Surgery (poem)

Danny’s Mastoid Surgery

Dad blew smoke in Danny’s aching ear. A neighbornoticed the swelling. The Dexter doctor said to takeour four-year-old to Des Moines. Dad and Dannyboarded the train while Mom and the rest of usstayed home. My twelve-year-old brother cried.Dad came home alone. He’d watched themcut away bone to drain the mastoid. No visitingfor ten days, the nurses had warned, so Dannywouldn’t cry to go home. But Mom ‘phoned the nursesevery day until they said we could come get him.Our hearts were hopeful when we chugged all the wayto the big-city hospital in our Model-T. Danny,his head all bandaged and toenails polished by the nurses,spied Mom’s hat. He laughed and cried all at once.He reached out for her, spilling crayons everywhere.(2005)—–Leora’s Dexter Stories: The Scarcity Years of the Great Depression will be published this spring. This episode is in one of the first chapters.

Guns and Gods in My Genes by Neill McKee

The Book

Neill McKee, author of the award-winning travel memoir Finding Myself in Borneo, takes the reader through 400 years and 15,000 miles of an on-the-road adventure, discovering stories of his Scots-Irish ancestors in Canada, while uncovering their attitudes towards religion and guns.

His adventure turns south and west as he follows the trail of his maternal grandfather, a Canadian preacher who married an American woman in Wisconsin, and braved the American Wild West from 1904 to 1907, finding a two-story brothel across from one of his churches and a sheriff who owned a saloon and dance hall, while carrying a gun with 20 notches, one for each man he had killed.

Much to his surprise, McKee finds his American ancestors were involved in every major conflict on North American soil: the Civil War, the American Revolution, and the French and Indian War. In the last chapters, McKee discovers and documents his Pilgrim ancestors who arrived on the Mayflower, landing at Plymouth in 1620, and their Puritan descendants who fought in the early Indian Wars of New England.

With the help of professional genealogical research, he tracks down and tells the stories of the heroes, villains, rascals, as well as, the godly and ordinary folk in his genes, discovering many facts and exposing myths. He also lets readers in on a personal struggle: whether to apply for Canadian-United States dual citizenship or remain only a Canadian.

Print Length: 352 Pages

Genre: Historical Travel Memoir

ISBN-13: 9781732945739

Guns and Gods in My Genes  is available to purchase now on  Amazon.com .

The Author

Neill McKee is a creative nonfiction writer based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His first travel memoir, Finding Myself in Borneo, won a bronze medal in the Independent Publishers Book Awards, 2020, as well as other awards. McKee holds a Bachelor’s Degree, from the University of Calgary and a Master’s Degree in Communication from Florida State University. He worked internationally for 45 years, becoming an expert in the field of communication for social change. He directed and produced a number of award-winning documentary films/videos and multimedia initiatives, and has written numerous articles and books in the field of development communication. During his international career, McKee worked for Canadian University Service Overseas (CUSO); Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC); UNICEF; Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland; Academy for Educational Development and FHI 360, Washington, DC. He worked and lived in Malaysia, Bangladesh, Kenya, Uganda, and Russia for a total of 18 years and traveled to over 80 countries on short-term assignments. In 2015, he settled in New Mexico, using his varied experiences, memories, and imagination in creative writing.

Find him online at:

Author’s website: www.neillmckeeauthor.com/

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/neill-mckee-b9971b65/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/McKeeNeill/

Twitter: twitter.com/MckeeNeill

NBFS: www.northborneofrodotolkien.org

My Thoughts

His early graphic memories of deer hunting as a boy opens this treatise of Neill McKee’s hunt for ancestors. The reader not only goes along on his treks, but is also privy to his thinking and the lens through which he even asks questions about the past.

Made clear by the title, two themes run through the historical sleuthing are indeed guns and gods. At each generation he wonders whether or not his ancestor owned guns, and if so, what kind and for what. Some of his ancestors were pastors. McKee visits at least two services in churches where his ancestors had ministered, and from his own contemporary notes, extrapolates what kind of religion his forebears may have preached there.

The author documents how he learns everything, also adding his own imaginings. He has fun during several encounters, even naming a couple of dogs that come along to help check out ancestral holdings. At one point, to share information in a “more digestible form,” he does it through a rhyming poem.

Each generation is set in historical context as McKee also offers his own speculation as to how his predecessors may have reacted to what was current news at the time. The book is enhanced by a genealogy flow chart, maps, tables of ancestors, and extensive chapter notes.

If you enjoy genealogy, mystery or a fascinating search for history, Guns and Gods in My Genes is a compelling trek with the author to the places where his own ancestors actually lived.

Babies Named for Political Figures

I know people who were named for a revered family member or someone they greatly admired, but have you ever known anyone named after a political figure?

When Clabe and Leora Wilson’s second son was born, in September 1916, it was an election year. They waited until after the election to choose baby Donald’s middle name. Woodrow.

Incumbent Democratic President Woodrow Wilson defeated “Pussyfoot” Hughes, according to Leora Wilson’s memoirs, referring to former Governor of New York Charles Evans Hughes, the Republican candidate.

Donald, Clabe, Leora, and Delbert Wilson August 3, 1917, Guthrie County, Iowa

This wasn’t the first time a family member was named for a politician. A generation earlier, before Leora was old enough to go to school, the Goff family tried to make a go of farming in Knox County, Nebraska.

Leora father, M. S. “Sherd” Goff, was a fan of Nebraska’s William Jennings Bryan, an orator and politician. Because of his faith in the wisdom of the common people, this populist was often called “The Great Commoner.”  At the 1896 Democratic National Convention, Bryan delivered his “Cross of Gold speech” which attacked the gold standard. The Democratic convention nominated Bryan for president, making Bryan the youngest major party presidential nominee in U.S. history.

When Sherd and Laura Goff’s third son was born in January 1896, they named him Jennings Bryan Goff.

J. B. Goff was one of the three Goff brothers drafted for WWII and shipped to France. All three survived.

The Goff’s “went bust” in Nebraska and returned to Guthrie County, Iowa. According to Leora Wilson’s memoirs, she and two brothers wore Bryan caps to school at Stuart.

Probably only people interested in history would have any idea that these two relatives were named for admired politicians. As an adult, Jennings Goff went by “J.B. Goff.”

Those Two Sets of Twins

Among Clabe and Leora Wilson’s ten children were two sets of twins. I’d heard that twins were more likely every other generation, but no one else in the family had twins that I knew about.

Grandma Leora said she’d had miscarriages before both sets of twins. I believe the first time was while she suffered through the influenza pandemic of 1918-1920. She was a very strong young woman and yet she was miserable, so miserable that she said she would have been glad to die. But she had two small boys and a baby daughter whom she had to get well for.

Her recovery took months, borne out by family postcards and even a newspaper item.

Twins Dale and Darlene were born in Stuart, May 1921.

Wilson kids: Donald, Delbert, twins Darlene and Dale, Doris. Stuart, Iowa, April 1923

The second time, they’d just moved to a house south of Dexter that had bedbugs and was filthy. Leora scoured and scoured for her husband and seven children. She was hospitalized at least overnight, worn out, and perhaps another miscarriage?

That was in late 1926. Twins Jack and Jean were born in January 1929. (These twins succumbed to whooping cough when they were only a few weeks old.)

I finally discovered twins in Clabe Wilson’s ancestry. His father, Daniel Ross Wilson, had a twin named George A. Wilson. They were both born in Carroll County, Iowa, July 24, 1868.

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There is a good-sized Wilson burial plot at the east end of the Coon Rapids cemetery, but I could not find George buried there.

The story of the second set of twins will be part of Leora’s Dexter Stories: The Scarcity Years of the Great Depression, due out this spring.

One Hundred Years Ago, Stuart, Iowa

Clabe and Leora Wilson were struggling after the Great War, during the slump in farm prices during that time. Clabe and his father-in-law had lost farmland in Guthrie County.

Leora and Clabe had both survived after suffering through the influenza pandemic.

Clabe held a sale in February of 1921, on what was known as the Russell farm, 1 mile north and 1/2 mile east of Stuart, Iowa. This sale bill was among the keepsakes of Grandma Leora Wilson. Items listed under Miscellaneous are transcribed below.

After the sale, they moved into Stuart, but on the edge of town where they could still have a milk cow. Their young sons went with Clabe to buy a cow that windy day, while Leora and young daughter were stayed at the new home.

Leora tore off old wallpaper, burning it in the kitchen range. A neighbor man stopped by. “Lady, I think your house is on fire.” It sure was.

Leora quickly carried 18-month-old Doris and a rocking chair to the front yard, telling her to stay right there. Soon firemen came and neighbors helped haul out most of the family’s things. When Clabe and boys got home, their things were sitting in the yard.

The couple who’d bought the big stucco house, and moved in before Wilsons had moved out, invited them to stay there until they found a place.  The next day, Clabe learned that the Chittick house on Gaines Street was for rent, so they moved there right away. Mrs. Knox, who’d been widowed not long before, lived next door. Her husband was a retired Stuart doctor. She and Leora became good friends.

Photo provided from a neighbor from across the street. This house has been replaced.

The Wilsons’ twins, Dale and Darlene, would be born in the Chittick house just two months later.

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Miscellaneous

Good Ford Touring car; 1 new 3-in. wagon, complete; 1 new Oscillating bob sled; 1 Hayes Jr. corn planter, 80 rods wire; 1 drill planter; 1 See-Saw cultivator; 1 Champion 6-ft. mower; 1 2-section harrow; 1 14-inch stirring plow; 1 New DeLaval separator, No. 15; 1 1/2-inch harness; three 400 bushel hardwood picket corn cribs; 3 new hog crates; 135-ft. hay rope; one 50-ft. guy rope; one 100-ft. guy rope, 1 dozen galvanized chicken coops; 2 1/2 dozen pure bred White Leghorn pullets; some carpenter tools; about 60 lbs. Austlian [sic] hulless popcorn, and other articles too numerous to mention.

Terms:–All sums under $10., cash; on sums over $10. a credit of 6 months at 8 % will be given on bankable note. No property to be removed until settled for.

McKEE & DOUD, Auctioneers.

GEO. MARTIN, Clerk.