William H. & Ida Eveleth

EVELETH MCDONALD

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 8/27/2010 at 22:09:36

History of Woodbury County, Iowa 1984

William H & Ida Eveleth
By Blanche Smith

William Hartwell Eveleth was born in Lakeport Township, March 11, 1878, to James Edwin ‘Ed’ and Lena (McDonald) Eveleth. He was the eldest of five boys and three girls, one dying in infancy. He lived in the Salix Community all of his life, attending neighborhood schools, and graduated from Central High School, and later took a course at Brown’s Business College in Sioux City, Iowa. His father, a native of Massachusetts, came to this area with his brother, George. At times land was sold for delinquent taxes, and the land he purchased near Sandhill Lake, once had been sold for $362.50 plus a yoke of red oxen. There was an Indian trail along the rim of the lake. He married Lena McDonald in 1877 and they called it the Eveleth Ranch.

Ida Lucinda Johnosn was born March 7, 1880, near Madison, Wisconsin, to James B, and Theresa (Kretz) Johnson, the eldest of five boys and two girls. They homesteaded at Arlington, South Dakota, and lived three yars one mile south of Salix, and three years west of Sloan on the Gallagher Ranch. Ida was later married there to Will Eveleth on October 8, 1902, following which the Johnson family moved to Washington State. She taught county school at Arlington, Climbing Hil, and at the Boyer School west of Sloan. Then she chose to help at home with house and garden chores, including baskets of ironing and sad-irons, sewing most of their clothing and cooking for harvest crews. One day served forty meals to threshers. Will and Ida’s social life centered around the Methodist Church and Epworth Lague. They attended Revivals, Prohibition lectures, box socials, oyster stews, June-Bug picnics, and skating at Brown’s Lake by lantern light, on occasion. A ferry at Lakeport made family outings in Nebraska possible. Family gatherings featured organ music, singing, and Will playing the violin.

Sometimes a play or music group came to town, and it was a real treat when they saw their first moving picture film, shown at the Catholic Church. The Salix Cyclone, June 13, 1899, was never to be forgotten, with its terrible loss of life and devastation. Families worked hard and helped each other in times of sickness. Ida spent hours with a little girl, and the family said Dr Taylor didn’t charge them as he couldn’t help her get well. Small pox was a dread disease and the Johnsons were quarantined from November 14, 1901, through all the holidays until March 20, 1902. They were overjoyed when the sign finally came down. The first Rural Free Delivery started at Sloan, October 1, 1901. Letters were important. Ida wrote of a near train wreck, at Sloan, down near the mill, when a switching freight over-extending the sidetrack, went across the road, and smashed into a tree which saved the Shelton’s house. It managed to clear the main track as the passenger train came by, just missing the cow-catcher on thefreight. There was a close call for neighbor Charlie Christensen, too, who was hauling hay on a warm March day, across the Missour River. The leadteam, on a long logchain, fell through the ice, and only by quick action did he save the second team and himself. Somedays later, a man and his horse disappeared in the same hole-no trace of them. The shooting assassination of President McKinley left its impact on them and the whole nation in 1901. Will discontinued further education to take the responsibility of the Eveleth family, on his young shoulders.

After marriage, he worked for Southworth’s Hardware in Salix, where they extracted honey and had an undertaking department in the rear. They dug wells and erected windmills. He owned bees from the age to twelve. He was secretary to the Public School Board, I.O.O.F. Lodge, and his church. Once he rode his wheel (bicycle) to Cherokee, Iowa, as representative of a Church Conference, via LeMars, over dirt roads, and hills, makes the trip in one day with an afternoon storm at his heels. While farming, outbreaks of hog cholera prompted him to take a veterinary course at Ames, Iowa. Their wedding was mostly planned by letter (no telephones) and was followed by an excursion train trip to Des Moines, Iowa, where they saw the gold-leafed dome on the capitol building. When Laurence was born on Election Day, November 6, 1906, Will proudly announced they had a new voter in the family, as it was before Women’s Sufferage. Ida underwent major surgery at the original St Joseph’s Hospital in Sioux City, in 1910. Following this, she lived quietly, keeping her home and interests, and reading the ‘daily’ (Sioux City Journal). They lived to enjoy their Golden Wedding in 1952. She died at age 93 at Elmwood Home, at Onawa, February 6, 1974. Will died in his sleep, March 30, 1957, at the family farm, which was purchased over the years. Their children were: William Eloise, 1903-1961, Margaret Theresa, 1905, Laurence Johnson, 1906, and Blanche Elizabeth, 1908.