Leon Reporter, Leon, Iowa
Thursday, September 15, l904

The only pioneers at Garden Grove who came Oct. l7, l848, were MR. and MRS. ENOS DAVIS, and MERRICK DAVIS who came at the age of five years. He gave use of limb and almost of life at Pea Ridge for the United States. Senator Blake gave an interesting picture of Garden Grove and vicinity in his time but the pioneers had been preparing the way more than seven years. Our nearest post office was Princeton, Mo., forty miles across a trackless waste, and there was a weekly mail of about 40 pounds. Very few letters and never a paper reached us for months. HIRAM CHASE and family were the first to come through from Dodge's Point, forty miles east, on the road staked out by our men in September, l849. It saved a detour of sixty-five miles. All have regard for the senator and as he here met the winning lady who has helped make his life a success, he must always have pleasant recollections of his sojourn in this new country. He seemed much like the beardless youth we knew and doubtless felt young the day we met him. The rainy day was a disappointment to many who were in from a distance. Yet to hear the old settlers recount their hardships and privations provokes a smile from an "old guard."

--MRS. ENOS DAVIS
in GARDEN GROVE EXPRESS.

Copied by Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert
June 29, 2003