West Branch Times, West Branch, Iowa, Thursday, September 12, 1901
Transcribed, as written, by Sharon Elijah, September 7, 2018
FIFTY YEARS OF HISTORY
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF GOWER TOWNSHIP, CEDAR COUNTY, IOWA
By A. W. Jackson
Chapter VII
From far away California I have a letter from Josiah Hoffman, a valued friend of the olden days, which throws additional light on matters of an early day, and gives evidence that he still has a keen interest in the home of his youth. He says:
“I am much interested in your history of Gower township, as I spent thirty-five of the best years of my life there. Allow me to give a little information in regard to two items. The first school in Gower township was taught in the Howard house, in part of the old log house, in the winter of ’51 and ’52. A few of the neighbors hired a young man named George Domlin. I went to school that winter. In the fall of ’52 the same people built the first schoolhouse in the township on the Howard land at the foot of the hill and Ed. Deming taught the school in the winter of ’52-3. The next teacher was one of the Strahl girls; the next one of the Bonsall girls; the next Wilson Kirk. By this time the township was divided into school districts and No. 1 built up on the hill. The little school house under the hill was pulled down.
“The Howard graveyard was started in 1844. A few children were buried that year and it was set apart as a place for the dead. I see by your history that the trustees of the township have charge of that sacred spot. I hope that they will keep it in good shape, as I have a mother and brother resting there.”
An old settler reminds me of another occasion when the genial and urbane R. E. Campbell was promptly called in endeavoring to run a bluff. Samuel Mather and Isaac Dean had each embarked on the matrimonial sea for the second time and a joint chavivari was in order. The B.C.R. & N. main line was then in process of construction and a large party was collected. The principal instrument of torture to the nerves was a plank covered with rosin. It was carried by two men, while two others spasmodically drew a rope across it. Its technical name was a “horse fiddle,” and it was capable of reproducing every note in the scale at a single touch, and several others that Beethoven didn’t have in his list. The party got through with Samuel and his spouse nicely and wended its way to the brow of the hill opposite where Harry Vincent now lives, where Mr. Dean and bride were supposed to be wrapped in slumber. “Bob” Campbell was marshal of the day and had planted his “horse fiddle” under the window and began to reel off a few “spasms” of the then popular song of the day ending “Still I love thee, my darling Daisy Dean,” when the gentleman or lady of the house threw a heavy maul through the window, taking out sash and all. It struck Mr. Campbell on the side of the head and stopped the music. He declared the job off and the party beat a hasty retreat in bad order.
A considerable number of the early settlers were members of the Society of Friends—sometimes called Quakers—who came principally from Ohio. Most prominent among these were the Gruwell, Hawley, Heacock and Macy families, all related to each other by the ties of kinship. There were other families of Friends, and very soon after their arrival the matter of a meeting house and a regularly-constituted meeting was agitated. One of the prime movers in the matter was John Heacock, who immediately upon his purchase of the land now owned by I. R. Hoffman, in 1855, donated two acres of ground in the southwest corner for the purpose of meeting-house and burial grounds. The record shows that this land was formally deeded to Red Cedar monthly meeting (later Springdale) on the 28th day of August, 1860. On April 9, 1856, an “indulged” meeting was authorized at Honey Grove by Red Cedar monthly meeting. This was continued until January, 1860, when the Honey Grove “preparative” meeting was duly established by the same authority. For these facts and dates I am indebted to Wm. Mather of Springdale, who had kindly furnished them for the monthly meeting records in his keeping.
Here I digress from the text long enough to say that these old records are frequently consulted. Some years ago a soldier’s widow made application for a pension. Proof of her marriage was lacking. It was known that she had married a Friend and the records were examined. No record of the marriage appeared, but the old volume did show that her husband had been regularly “dealt with” and “disowned” for marrying “out of meeting”. So the proof was established and the lady got her pension.
The “indulged” meeting was first held at John Heacock’s house and later at Samuel Macy’s on the present-day Scully farm. As to the exact date of construction of the first meeting house there is a considerable difference of opinion among those of the patriarchs who yet remain in the land of the living. Some say as early as 1856 and others as late at 1860. From the best information obtainable I am of the opinion that it was built in 1857 or 1858. It was a very plain structure, the material and labor being largely voluntarily contributed. John Heacock furnished much of the lumber from his sawmill on the river and assisted in the building with his own hands. Moses Stanley was the master mechanic in charge, and Joseph and James Hawley and Jesse Negus and others assisted in the work. The temple of worship, severely plain and unpretentious, served the purpose for which it was intended until 1877, when it was succeeded by a modern meeting house and sold to parties who moved it to West Branch and converted it into a dwelling. It now stands on the corner of Fifth and Water streets, a portion of the estate of the late John Stewart.
In the middle of the 70’s the agitation began for a larger and more modern meeting house. The membership had assumed goodly proportions and many felt that the little old building was no longer a fitting temple in which to offer up their adorations to Deity. So a subscription paper was circulated and a fund of something like $1,500 secured to build a new house. It was completed in 1877 and was a model so far as country meeting-houses go. But this new building proved rather more of a stumbling block than an incentive to increase vigor in religious matters. It was occupied for about ten years, during which time the preparative meeting went into a gradual decline and finally was wholly abandoned. For some years the meeting-house stood practically idle, and in 1896 it was purchased by N. C. Heacock, torn asunder and brought to West Branch, where he erected a commodious and substantial residence from the lumber obtained, standing on the lot north of the old mill. It is quite a coincidence that three churches and the old lodge hall were all removed from Gower township to aid in building up West Branch.
When the “indulged” meeting was authorized at Honey Grove there was considerable speculation as to whether it would be a “Gurney” or “Wilbur” meeting, as there were followers of both men in the community. On the day when the first meeting was held at John Heacock’s house the friends filed in and took their places as was the custom. There was considerable consternation when Uncle “Danny” Green, a pronounced follower of Wilbur, took the chair at the “head of the meeting.” He continued to hold the place for some years, later yielding it and becoming associated with the Wilbur Friends. The Gurney following predominated and Caleb Hawley succeeded as “head of the meeting,” which place he retained until his death.
The separation, locally, between the followers of Wilbur and Gurney occurred in 1854, and the following of the former held meetings at various private houses until the Hickory Grove meeting house was built. A friend tells me that his folks had dressed a beef and started him out peddling it among the neighbors. He knocked at the door of a certain house, which was opened by the owner thereof when the young man asked in a loud tone of voice if he wanted to buy any beef. “Thee should be more careful, John,” replied the man of the house. “Dost thou not know thou art disturbing a religious meeting?” And looking in he saw a number of Friends engaged in divine worship.
On a certain occasion a Friend was being “dealt with” by the monthly meeting for the grave offense of buying and selling soldiers’ land warrants. He acknowledged his guilt but made the statement, “For this offense I was long ago forgiven by my Heavenly Father.” Whereupon another good Friend arose and inquired, “How is it that thou could be forgiven by thy Heavenly Father before the monthly meeting forgave thee?” This was a poser and the offending member was stricken off “dis-owned.”
There were some features in connection with religious worship in the olden days which would not be considered good form at the present time. While the “indulged” meeting was held at John Heacock’s house Joseph D. Hoag, a recorded minister of considerable ability from abroad, held therein an “appointed” meeting on a certain occasion which began at “early candle-lighting”. He delivered a discourse of much power and eloquence. At its conclusion and before the meeting was entirely “broken,” he pulled from his pockets an old stone pipe with a peculiar stem fashioned from the “nine bark” (honeysuckle) shrub, and a bag of home-grown tobacco. Making a bee line for the fire place he secured a live coal and calmly sat down and pulled away like a river tug.
