R.M. Crouch, Mr. & Mrs. (69 Yrs Together)

CROUCH, FOLTZ

Posted By: Linda Ziemann, volunteer (email)
Date: 4/13/2010 at 15:44:21

LeMars Sentinel
Oct. 25, 1935

FORMER LE MARS COUPLE MARRIED SIXTY-NINE YEARS
Mr. and Mrs. R. M. Crouch, of Los Angeles, Were Plymouth County Pioneers

[Wedding photograph of the couple with the following caption]
Mr. and Mrs. R. M. Crouch as they appeared on their wedding day, October 14,
1866. He was 19, she only 16.

[A 1935 photograph of the couple with the following caption]
Mr. and Mrs. R. M. Crouch as they appear today before California home. Still
attend big Iowa picnics.
--Cut Courtesy Des Moines Register and Tribune

An article in the Des Moines Sunday Register of October 13, written by
Joseph W. Lewellen, tells the following interesting story about two Plymouth
County pioneers, who are residing in sunny California:

In the days of “gin” and “dare” marriages, and Paris, Reno and Mexican
divorces, a marriage that has lasted 69 years shines out like a harvest moon
in the Iowa sky.

That is the record of Mr. and Mrs. R. M. Crouch, a pioneer Iowa couple now
residing in Los Angeles. Monday they celebrated their sixty-ninth wedding
anniversary and began their seventieth year together.

The story of the wedded life of Mr. and Mrs. Crouch is an American epic. In
passing from their humble beginning in a floorless, doorless and windowless
sod hut on a windswept Iowa prairie homestead to their charming modern home
in California is a story of terrific struggle, hard-won prosperity and
finally peace and rest.

It was during the turbulent days of the Civil War that Mr. and Mrs. Crouch
first met. Both lived in Grant county, Wisconsin. Both happened to attend a
“donation” party in the fall of ’62.

The took particular notice of each other through a peculiar circumstance.
Mrs. Crouch, then Marie Foltz, and a girl chum pulled a turkey wish-bone and
the chum won the “pull.”

She put her portion of the wish-bone over the door, declaring that the first
man to pass beneath would be her future husband. Mr. Crouch happened to be
the first man and found himself facing two laughing girls, one of whom he
learned he was slated to marry, by “wish-bone determination.” But that was
not to be his destiny.

A little more than a year later, on January 4, 1864, young Crouch, then only
16, marched away to the war with Company II of the 25th regiment, Wisconsin
Infantry. He served in the terrific fighting in northern Mississippi and was
with Sherman on his march to the sea. He spent his seventeenth birthday in
the Andersonville, Georgia, prison.

A Son Is Born
Upon the close of the war, Mr. Crouch returned to his home and again met
Marie Foltz, this time at a picnic for returned soldiers. Soon their romance
burst into full bloom and on October 14, 1866, they were married. Mr. Crouch
was only 19, Mrs. Crouch only 16.

For five years the young couple lived in Wisconsin. But those were lean
years following the war and the young husband was hard put to make
satisfactory living for his little family, and after a year and a half there
was another mouth to feed, a son being born to them.

At that time the great westward movement was on and the brave young people
decided to join it. So during the winter of 1870-71 they made arrangements
to emigrate to a 160-acre homestead 10 miles north of Sioux City.

One morning early in April 1871, the little family, now augmented by a girl
baby, climbed into their prairie schooner and started for their new home in
the great, unknown West. Their entire worldly possession consisted of one
yoke of oxen, the covered wagon, two cows, six chickens, four pigs, a dog,
clothing, bedding, feed for the stock, and supplies of food for themselves.

At the end of the second day of travel they arrived at Manchester, Iowa,
where Mrs. Crouch’s mother and stepfather lived. There they young bride bid
her husband a fearful goodby for she and the children were to stay in
Manchester until Mr. Crouch had provided living quarters on their homestead.

Crouch Pushes Westward
The young husband pushed on westward accompanied only by a cousin, who drove
another “ox-powered” prairie schooner. A trying trip it was for the little
caravan. The glaring sun was their only guide to a westerly course across
the billowing prairies.

Arriving on his homestead, Mr. Crouch constructed a rude, sod house about 10
by 12 feet in size, for a temporary shelter.

In about two weeks he had himself, the livestock and his meager belongings
established and he wrote for his wife and family to join him. They traveled
to Sioux City by rail, where Mr. Crouch met them with the oxen and wagon and
drove them to their new home.

At the same time they took a load of lumber along. The next several days Mr.
and Mrs. Crouch worked hard and long making their “house” more livable. When
they were ready to call it a home a plank floor had been added, windows
made, rugs and quilts put up at the openings, and a homemade bedstead,
trundle bed, table and chairs put in place.

Crops Were Sparse
The first season on the homestead was so dry that Mr. Crouch was able to
break only twenty acres of land and the crops of corn and potatoes were
sparse. But the little family managed to stretch their supplies of food over
the winter, aided by the cows and chickens, and by the unwary prairie hens
which wandered within range of Mr. Crouch’s shotgun.

The next season nature smiled on the little homestead. Crops were excellent
and prices were high. Mr. and Mrs. Crouch hugged each other with joy and
told themselves that they had indeed found a land of plenty.

The next season Mother Nature’s smile turned to a frown, and she continued
to frown for four wary years. Crops were poor….or the grasshoppers came.
Great was the devastation wrought by the ‘hoppers. They came in swarms so
great as to almost hide the sun and when they took their leave the once lush
fields were bare as a floor.

Home Burned by Prairie Fire
Mr. Crouch was convinced of the wonderful fertility of the soil, but in the
light of the repeated setbacks year after year, he knew he could not hope to
prosper growing crops. He decided to turn to livestock raising, as the
prairie land was ideal for grazing and hay could be grown in great
quantities. And in the fall of 1875, he invested in cattle, hogs, and
horses. For three season he made splendid profits.

The fourth season, however, in 1878, a tremendous prairie fire came roaring
down out of the Dakotas, driving by a wind of fifty to sixty miles per hour
velocity. The monster jumped the Sioux River, a stream 100 feet wide, and
swept down the Iowa side of the river. It consumed everything in its path,
including the Crouch’s new house, their stable and cattle barns, and more
than 100 tons of hay.

Mr. Crouch was in Sioux City the day of the fire and Mrs. Crouch saw the
fire approaching in time to run up a high hill, over which the fire did not
pass. The children were in a school house outside the path of the fire.

The cattle and horses were spared, too, being in a field which, by some
quirk of fate, was not ignited.

Undaunted by this devastating loss, Mr. and Mrs. Crouch obtained a loan and
built a new home and barns. From then on, they had only minor
disappointments and enjoyed prosperous times.

In 1890 the Crouch family, which now included two boys and a girl, moved to
Merrill, Iowa. There Mr. Crouch became a grain buyer and later managed an
investment business, in addition. Each succeeding year he widened the scope
of his activities, which included, later on, the operation of a bank at
Hinton, Iowa.

Move To California
In 1903 the Crouches removed to LeMars and in 1909 Mr. Crouch retired from
his various business interests and moved his family to California. They
lived on a ranch near the town of Orange for five years, moving to the city
of Los Angeles in 1914.

There Mr. and Mrs. Crouch continue to reside, in a charming white bungalow,
attended by a housekeeper. Their three children, Frank A., Blaine, and Mrs.
Lillie C. McNeil, also live in Los Angeles.

Up until ten years ago, they had returned to Iowa every summer, but now the
trip is too arduous for them.

Mrs. Crouch finds her chief relaxation in quilting, while Mr. Crouch sits in
his big chair and watches his helpmate of so many years. Often they remain
silent for hours, each enjoying the pleasant pageant of memories of bygone
days.

The big event of each year for Mr. and Mrs. Crouch is the picnic of the Iowa
Association at Long Beach, in August. For there they proudly lead the parade
of the Golden Wedding Club.

Sixty-nine years it is that this gentle old couple have been married. Happy
they have been…happy they are, but they cannot venture a formula for their
happiness.

It is easy to see, however, why they have been happy…why their union has
persisted for almost three score and ten years. They struggled shoulder to
shoulder, against terrific odds, for happiness. And when they had won it,
they preserved it, through kindness and gentleness toward each other.

Today this little gray-haired lady and this tall gray-haired gentleman are
enjoying the full peace and security which they have surely earned.