SMITHBURG Family Recollections - 1927

MENDENHALL, SMITHBURG, DANIELSON, ANDERSON, PECK, HOWARD, GUNDERSON

Posted By: "Jen Babos"
Date: 8/24/2011 at 14:55:49

Pioneer Family Recollections
by Mrs. Alberta MENDENHALL in 1927

In August 1848, after a sea voyage of eleven weeks in a sail vessel, there arrived from Sweden in Jefferson County, Iowa, a man and his wife by the name of Peter and Annie SMITHBURG. Beside the husband and wife, there were six children whose names were as follows: Charles, Inga, Sophia, David, Gustavus, Adolphus, and Alberta.

Mr. SMITHBURG was financially prosperous in his homeland and owned a considerable amount of property. The lure of the New World and glowing descriptions of it written back to Sweden by its former citizens induced him to sell his property and immigrate to the United States. A Mr. DANIELSON, who had preceded them to Jefferson County from Sweden, had become nicely settled in his new home and he very kindly received them into it. The DANIELSON family was composed of the father and mother, three sons and two daughters. In the loft of this farm home the strangers in a strange land were cordially welcomed and temporarily located until they could arrange a home of their own.

The hospitality of this family toward the strangers it had received knew no bounds. Many times at the dinner hour there would be sent to them a large plate of roasting ears and other vegetables, luxuries – the product of the rich soil they were cultivating.

In a week or two, the farm was purchased by Mr. SMITHBURG near what is now know as Four Corners, and the new family was moved to it and comfortably situated. The house on this farm was somewhat out of repair. It was decided to immediately commence hauling lumber for the improvements before winter arrived. This was followed by a great sorrow that came to the home. After it had been raining all night, the father and son, Charles, started in the morning for the last load of lumber. When they came to Brush Creek, which was swollen by the rain, the son begged his father not to drive in, but he thinking there was no danger started to cross. The swift current upset the wagon and the team turned toward home and managed to get out. The son caught the limb of a tree which saved his own life. The father was carried down the steam and his body was not found until three days later. Could anyone imagine the feelings or the broken hearted boy as he wended his steps homeward alone to tell the sad news to his mother and the other members of his family? The sorrow of that family was the sorrow of the whole neighborhood as the body of the husband and father was laid to rest in the Hopkirk graveyard.

People came from far and near offering and giving assistance, which was much appreciated by the bereaved ones. The mother did not give up in despair, but she said to the elder son Charles, “We must be brave now because on us is laid the task of making a home for the younger children of the family.” The father was a man of thrift and had amply provided for his dear ones until the farm would make them a living.

After this sad event, all went well for a few years until it became evident that the eldest son Charles was rapidly failing in health. Soon the end drew near and in his twenty-first year he entered peacefully into his eternal rest. He was the first person buried in the Methodist cemetery near Four Corners. A year or two before his death, a minister had come from the East and organized a Methodist class at the place last named. A tract of land large enough to bury their dead and on which to build a log church had been secure.

As the farm work increased, Mrs. SMITHBURG and the children were not able to do all that needed to be done, and it became necessary, occasionally, to hire someone to assist, There lived a man in the neighborhood by the name of Phillip ANDERSON who later became a local preacher in the Swedish Methodist church. Mrs. SMITHBURG found he was a good farmer and mechanic and he was employed at times to work on the farm. As he had no home of his owns, but was living with his children, he proposed to come and take full charge of the farm and relieve the mother of all responsibility. His proposition was accepted and he proved to be a very congenial and efficient farmer. Some years later, Mr. ANDERSON and Mrs. SMITHBURG were married. Their marriage relation was very happy and prosperous, plenty abounding on every side. They both soon became Americanized in the New World and found they were in a country of wonderful opportunities with a great outlook for the future.

Gradually, the national lines between the American and Swedish peoples faded away and they mingled freely together. You will pardon me for saying that the young ladies were very much in demand among the young American gentleman. There was a romance that began in a very unusual way in these early times. A group of Swedish girls were returning from Fairfield. They came to Glendale on the cars as the roads very muddy; they removed their shoes and stockings before stating to walk home from this place. Three younger men were in a barn as the girls were passing on the road. They heard the laughing and talking, looked out of the window of the barn and saw the girls.

One young man by the name of Eben PECK saw for the first time in this groups the girl whom afterwards he married. This must have been love at first sight under peculiar circumstances with a happy ending. The young lady of his choice was Miss Inga Smithburg and this was the first wedding in the SMITHBURG family.

Afterwards the members of the family one by one began to leave the parental circle for homes of their own. David married Miss Emeline HOWARD. Gustavus Adolphus – Miss Christina ANDERSON. Sophia married a preacher by the name of GUNDERSON, who was for years a presiding elder in the Swedish Methodist church. All of the original SMITHBURG family are now dead aside from Gustavus and Alberta. The farm where Gustavus now lives contains the land that his father bought in 1848 which consists of 160 acres.

David and Gustavus on November 25th, 1861 enlisted in the Union Army and served throughout the Civil War. David, in one battle, was struck by a ball that hit a large knife in his pocket and knocked him from his horse. It was thought when he died years afterward from an abscess in his side that it was the result of this wound. They were both in many engagements. Gustavus was on nineteen years old when he enlisted for the service.

When the mother died in 1870, all the living children of the family were married except the youngest daughter Alberta. She then came to Fairfield and learned dressmaking finding a home with a splendid family. She discovered that she could make her own living and settled down to independently work at her trade. During this time, she became acquainted with a young minister living in Fairfield. This acquaintanceship grew in two years until it ended in a marriage ceremony on March 20th, 1877. On this date in 1927, Mr. & Mrs. MENDENHALL, if living will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

They still prefer to live in the little cottage where they moved 45 years ago and sit under the trees where their children and grandchildren have played so many hours. While life with them, according to the general trend of human affairs, will not last many more years, yet they are living in glad anticipation of a golden sunset when mortality will be swallowed up in eternal life***

Since Mrs. MENDENHALL wrote this, some eleven years ago, Gustavus her brother, has passed on and about two years ago her husband died. At this time, June 1938, Mrs. MENDENHALL is still living in her cottage and attends to her household duties. Now at the age of 92, she regularly attends Sunday school and church two blocks away from her home and walks the distance with no apparent effort. She is still happy in the faith of our fathers and is a blessing and inspiration to all who come in contact with her.