Peeking Into Lake City's Past

The Jesse Marmon Family

LAKE CITY'S FOURTH SETTLER

One of the great assets of our state of Iowa, founded in 1846, is the Living History Farms near Des Moines where hypnotic nostalgia exists for those who are proud of our culture, which is steeped in the virtues of Christianity, love and prudent relations with friends and neighbors. A culture where the free rights of individuals took precedence over the domination of kings, barons and lords who forced their wishes on people in most European and Asiatic countries, causing much of the migration to America when this area was in process of development.

Now, that Iowa has the Living History Farms, many of our more patriotic and modern citizens are able to look in the past and mentally share the joys and sorrows, the faith and determination, the hardships and romance involved in the price our ancestors paid, along with the bountiful rewards they received, for their dedication to the magnificent obsession called Freedom. The ultimate earthly reward for many of them was the creation of an economic culture that became the basis for the luxurious living conditions enjoyed by their descendants who live in the twentieth century.

In order to understand some of the events in Lake City's history, let us peek into the cabin of Ebenezer Comstock, Calhoun county's first white settler, back on September 27, 1854.

A knock on his door revealed the presence of six young hunters named Peter and Christian Smith, Jesse Marmon, Allen McCoy, and the Crumley brothers. The hunting party made camp on Lake Creek located near what is now the west edge of Lake City. The hunters found wild game abundant and land rich in timber and other natural resources.

After killing three elk, the Smith brothers and Jesse Marmon decided they should file homestead claims immediately before others looking for land picked the choicest spots. This was the land they called Utopia. Immediately thereafter, Peter Smith purchased Ebenezer Comstock's cabin while brother Christian and Jesse Marmon proved up on selected claims and started to build log cabins for shelter from the on-coming winter. The boundary line for government land claims ran through Lake City, Peter's claim was in range 34 while Jesse's claim was in range 33.

The Government Land Office for range 34 was in Council Bluffs while the office for Marmon's claim in range 33 was in Des Moines. A portion of Jesse Marmon's original claim was located in an area that was to become the village of Lake City, as was some of the land Peter Smith purchased later.

Our subject for this story is Jesse Marmon, who by registration was the fourth white man to settle in Calhoun county. Some of Jesse's descendants, including Mrs. Bertha Kurth, still live in Lake City and Calhoun county.

Some readers may ask , what kind of people settle in this community? And just who was Jesse Marmon? Jesse's parents were Peter and Marion (Paull) Marmon of North Carolina. The Marmon ancestry was French, however the first Marmon recorded in America was registered at Prince George county, Virginia, in the year 1736, 40 years before the American Revolution. The Marmons were pioneers by nature and were they settled is named Marmon Valley and its geographic location is just across the line from Cassapolis, in Cass county, Michigan, where a large number of our earliest settlers including Peter Smith originated, before coming to the Lake City area.

The Marmons left Cassapolis, Michigan with five children, Jesse and his four sisters. They were accompanied by the Ishmael Lee family, migrating to Warren County, Iowa in 1852. A year later, in 1853, they moved to Polk County. Peter Marmon went to his demise in 1856 while in Polk County. Two and one half years after arriving in Polk County, Jesse Marmon came with the Smiths and Crumleys to Calhoun County to hunt elk and deer and thereby became the fourth white settler in what is now Lake City.

The Marmons are historically recorded as a devoutly religious family of the Quaker faith. The early Quakers worshipped their God in silence. During religious meetings, they would split the sanctuary by hanging a curtain down the center of the room, seating the women folks on one side, the men on the other. By this method, they could not see each other during the worship session thereby avoiding any physical distraction during a spiritual communion with their God. The early Quakers were vehemently opposed to slavery but found they could not stop the practice, hence the reason most Quakers left the southern states, migrating north and west, as an act of protest and denouncement of a capital sin against the human race.

Two years before Jesse Marmon came with the Smiths and Crumleys to Calhoun county to hunt big game, Jesse was united in marriage to Miss Priscilla Reams of Cassapolis, Michigan. Priscilla was a daughter of Silas and Elizabeth Reams, who with their other eight children migrated to Iowa soon after the Marmons.

The newlyweds, Jesse and Priscilla, moved into their newly constructed log cabin located within the boundary of what was to become Lake City. They are remembered as a happy, loving and devoted young couple who gladly shared their humble abode and frugal meals with any weary traveler who chanced to come their way. Priscilla, a most compassionate woman, raised in the strict religious philosophy of the Quakers, was always willing to lend a helping hand to any neighbor in case of sickness and death. The Marmons, unlike most early day pioneer couples, were not blessed with a large family. They had only one child, a daughter named Lydia, who later grew up to become the wife of Frank P. Sifford, a well known name in this community. The Marmons raised another child named Wesley Reams, who to our knowledge, is thought to have been an orphaned child of one of Priscilla's close relatives. When the Lake City Christian Church was founded, Jesse and Priscilla Marmon became active members.

Jesse and Priscilla Marmon, like numerous other early settlers in Lake City, touched the lives of many people while living and left to succeed them descendants whose actions have carried on their tradition of good and kind works. However, after many successful years developing their home and family life, they reached retirement age. In 1891 the Marmons purchased a Lake City home on West Street. where they lived until Priscilla's health began to fail, making it necessary to move in with their daughter and son-in-law, Frank and Lydia Sifford. Priscilla was called to her demise on February 11, 1920 at the age of 88 years.

Graphic readers near and past 50 years of age may remember the casket bearers at Priscilla Marmon's funeral. They were: Bert Brittsan, Albert Binkert, Charlie Peebles, Mel Peebles, Frank Madden and E. T. Gorton. Both Jesse and Priscilla are interred in the Lake City Cemetery. Their daughter, Lydia and husband, Frank Sifford, raised three sons and three daughters as follows: Frank Jr., J. H. Sifford, (third son not listed) Mrs. G. W. Puckett, Mrs. D. E. Bosley, and Mrs. R. G. Schaffer. Because the Marmons had no sons, Jesse did not perpetuate the name.

Jesse Marmon had a sister who married a Lake city business man, Mr. J. L. Hibbs, and another sister who married one of the very early farm homesteaders, who will be the subject of an article to be published at a later date. Some Graphic readers may remember the Hibbs family, one was a doctor in Lohrville, Dr. F. V. Hibbs, Roland and Oren Hibbs, who lived in Lake City for a number of years. If I remember correctly, the Hibbs family owned a nice, spacious home on East Main Street. When I came to Lake City, there was Hibbs Variety Store located on South Center Street.

When we study the origin of our people before coming to America and we learn about their national and religious backgrounds, the reasons why they settled her, their goals, achievements, and match such factors with the end result of their dedicated efforts, we have just reason to swell with pride for our community, state and nation.

Lest we forget, we have been richly blessed because of the lives of our ancestors and therefore we are charged with the moral responsibility of preserving and improving this great land of ours to be passed on to those hereafter.

With God's help, let it be so. Such is our franchise and our heritage.