LUCINDA (STANLEY) WIMER

WIMER, STANLEY, PULLEN

Posted By: Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert (email)
Date: 8/3/2002 at 15:14:18

Leon Reporter, Leon, Iowa
April 24, l924

MRS. LUCINDA WIMER, an aunt of MRS. MATT PULLEN, of Leon, one of the oldest if not the oldest person in Decatur County, died at her home in Lamoni last Saturday, being 94 years of age. Recently the Lamoni Chronicle published the following interesting account of MRS. WIMER's life:

MRS. LUCINDA WIMER is one of the very aged ones of Lamoni and is in many ways a remarkable woman for one of her years. She will soon reach her 94th birthday and still lives a great part of the time by herself. During the school year sometimes her grandchildren stay with her but she cooks and helps herself in many ways.

Grandma WIMER, as she is known here, has never worn glasses, and up until about five years ago she could see to read or do anything else which she did when young. Now she sees through a mist, she says.

MRS. WIMER is the mother of eleven children, the youngest of whom was born when she was forty-five years of age. She has survived the entire family of husband and eleven children, six of whom grew to manhood and womanhood. MR. WIMER died about twenty years ago.

The WIMERS were among the earliest settlers of this section, coming here in l855, from Indiana. Their first home was in the edge of Missouri on l25 acres of land which they bought from the Government for $l.25 an acre. It was rough pasture land on Big Creek, and they raised a great deal of stock including many sheep.

A rude log hut with clapboard roof and one room, holds precious memories for Grandma WIMER, for there were seven of her children born, and around this crude home were enacted many happy scenes. It is with difficulty that she retains the sigh and tear when speaking of those early days.

Soon after establishing their home, the Civil War broke out and while her husband was not an enlisted soldier, he was often on duty with the home guards and away from home a great deal. Grandma WIMER says she has fed many a rebel soldier and "glad to do it to get rid of them." Other times they would march into the yard, help themselves to chickens from the barnyard, potatoes from the patch, or anything available, build a fire and prepare a feast within sight of the house. "However," she says, "I was never molested or harmed, and we never lost anything very valuable except a cow which was stolen one night." Others of the neighbors, including BILLIE ANDERSON, grandfather of C.V. ANDERSON, lost valuable horses. MRS. WIMER had five brothers in the war, one of whom died at Chattanooga.

In those days spent in the little log cabin, venison, quail and rabbit were their principal meats and wild honey, formed an important part of their diet. Deer roamed at large and often visited their dooryard. They were much more plentiful on the timber land than on the prairie.

They had no stoves for years but the fire place was a substitute. "Many a Johnny cake I've baked," said this aged lady, "on a board set up by the fire place." The Johnny cake was a mixture of corn meal and water, with a pinch of salt and a small bit of shortening, baked.

"Did you weave your own clothes," we asked. "Yes, I sheared the sheep, washed the wool in the creek, picked the wool and had it carded, then I wove it into cloth and made our own clothes for many years." Then she proudly displayed a pair of wool blankets in use on her bed which were the work of her own hands. After the death of her husband, MRS. WIMER made her own living for years weaving rugs and rag carpet. She laid aside her loom less than five years ago.

The wolves were one of the greatest enemies of the early settlers, and the timber land of course, harbored them. High pens were built as a protection for the sheep, but sometimes one would get over the wall and play havoc. Grandma WIMER remembers one night when they heard a commotion in the barn yard and investigation revealed such a condition. A wolf was preying on a young lamb. They hastened to the scene in time to save its life, she said, but not without performing a surgical operation requiring several stitches on its throat.

Indians were not infrequent visitors of those times, but were very peaceable bringing with them wild game and honey to trade for bread. Grandma WIMER says she rather enjoyed them as it broke the monotony.

Grandma WIMER still lives in the little cottage where she has lived for over thirty years. She is very interesting company, her mind being very alert and her memory of early days clear. She like many others, speaks of the sociability and brotherly love existent in pioneer days when every body battled to keep the wolf from the door, literally and physically, but all joined hands in a common purpose and were happy in so doing.

--Lamoni Chronicle.

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Leon Reporter, Leon, Iowa
Thursday, May l, l924

LUCINDA STANLEY, daughter of SAMUEL and REBECCA STANLEY, was born January l5, l83l, near Logansport, Indiana. On April 6, l848, she was married to EDWARD H. WIMER and they made their home on a farm near Logansport for seven years. During that period, five children came to bless their home. In the year l855, they left their home and started for the great West, passing through Illinois. When they came to the Mississippi River they crossed by ferry at Burlington and came through Iowa and settled on the State line. One child having died in Indiana, the other four were brought with them and this was indeed a pioneer home.

In l858, the children contracted whooping cough and all four of them died in a few weeks. Amidst the struggles and privations of that frontier life they labored and loved and were happy. Six children were born while living south of Lamoni; WINFIELD, ELIZABETH, HANNAH, ANNIE, JENNIE and FANNIE, and they all grew to manhood and womanhood.

March l, l884, Grandma WIMER moved to Lamoni, where she has since made her home. Her husband died April 24, l897, and then one child after another until she has outlived her father's and mother's folks and her own family.

Grandma WIMER was a kind and helpful soul during her entire life. She could tell of the many men and women she had helped take care of when they were small children. Since she had lived in Lamoni that same helpful spirit has been shown. A number of girls and boys stayed with her while attending the public school and today a dozen or more of them tell of the help she was to them while gaining their education. She did not bequeath millions to her posterity, but a far richer gift has she bestowed upon those who knew her. Perhaps no one has ever lived in Lamoni who was richer in friends than she, or who helped more people along life's road.

She leaves l3 grandchildren and ll great grandchildren, a number of nieces and a sister-in-law at Leon, besides hosts of friends. Her long life came to its close about 4:20 Thursday afternoon, April l7, l924, having lived to the ripe old age of over 93 years.

Funeral services from the M.E. Church Sunday, in charge of Rev. J.V. Gray. Interment in Lily Cemetery.

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Copied by Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert
List Administrator; Decatur County, Iowa GenWeb
"With permission from the Leon Journal Reporter"
July 30, 2002