'A CENTURY OF MEMORIES'
1880 - 1980 |
| ROUND KNOLL CUMMUNITY CURCH The Round Knoll Community Church was located in Section No. 4. Although no dates were available as to when the church was organized or discontinued, it is believed that the first services may have been held in a schoolhouse until the country church was built in September, 1910. Mrs. Lonnie Cowden has recalled that the church was located on the corner of her father, Lige Parmer's farm, and she went to Sunday School there. WOODWARD SCHOOL Another school which doubled as a place of worship in possibly as early as the years 1910 through 1919, was the Woodward School. H.O. Tuttle served as minister for several summers with Rev. E.C. Vanderpool and others also holding meetings. Mrs. Fred (Lenna) Beers led in organizing the Sunday School and church here. For some time services were discontinued until 1950, when "Winifred and Mildred Macumbet of the Christian Union Faith, from Indianola, reorganized Sunday School and church here, taking quite an active part in the community and will be remembered by many." Our community as with thousands of others in the midwest and the rest of the nation placed a high value on the worship of God and the houses of worship. Thus, the following poem by Ben Burroughs seems appropriate: |
| How we mortals look to Heaven When the tides of life run low, Reaching out for consolation To help drive away our woe. How we look to God for mercy When there is impending pain, Seeking strength to struggle onward And to weather all the rain. No one else but God in Heaven Gives us courage to go on, He gives help when faith is waning And all worldly hope is gone. If a mortal ever doubted That there is a God above, They should listen to the pleading Of the ones who need His love. How we pray when bad luck beckons And our eyes are wet with tears, Don't forget to keep on praying When the trouble disappears. |
| In the Leon Journal-Reporter, December 4, 1975, all
county churches were binding together in a type of program they called,
"Calling our Continent to Christ". In this article, the two Van Wert
churches operating then and today, included their programs, the Assembly
of God and the United Methodist Church. It somehow seems appropriate now in 1980, as it did in 1975, and in pioneer days that we work to firstly call our Community to Christ, then let them, in turn, spread the Good News even farther. To do this we must create the enthusiasm and exuberance caused by genuine Christian love. If this is applied, fewer will have the problems of "growing listless and indifferent" as our Pathfinder Layman mentioned. The words of a song concerning the human being who loved more than any other says, "Jesus is the answer in the world today, above him there's no other. Jesus is the way." Perhaps if we all strive to be like this one perfect Man, lives would be better in our city, our community, our nation and our world. When it's time for your journey to Jordan, may you meet your Maker and hear Him say: THY WORK IS WELL DONE, THY RACE IS WELL RUN, THY CROWN IS WELL WON. (Closing three lines taken from the dedication prayer of the Christian Church of Van Wert, November 29, 1914 |
| CEMETERIES |
 As
sure as there is life, there is death, and so it was with the community
of Van Wert. Several cemeteries are located throughout the countryside
surrounding Van Wert, the largest being, of course, the Van Wert
Cemetery, located one mile south of town.An early person buried in Long Creek Township was Mrs. H. Louthan. Brother Anderson helped to bury her. He said they went down on Long Creek, cut down a Lyn Tree, split out slabs as thin as they could with a broad axe and fastened them together with wooden pins to bury the lady's remains. This information was taken from a letter written by J.M. Palmer of Lawrence, Kansas, to his brother, W.W. Palmer of Conway, Iowa, in June, 1934. (Both gentlemen lived in north Richland Township, Decatur County, Iowa.) Unfortunately, the letter did not tell where she was buried exactly or what she died from. THE CLINTON CEMETERY On top of a hill northeast of William Hall's present home in Section 15 of Decatur county, is a little graveyard near a large old tree where no fence surrounds it and no care is taken of it. There are at least ten stones in the ruins with possibly more buried beneath the soil. William S. DeVore, grandfather of William E. DeVore and Harry Devore (both of Van Wert), was buried here March 26, 1863 at the age of thirty-one years. He died shortly after returning home from the Civil War, from injuries incurred in action. Among the stones remaining are dates from 1858 to 1869 and most of those buried here were children. THE MCKEE CEMETERY The McKee Cemetery in Section 16 is located at the top of a big hill west of Long Creek. No record of early burials is available but Josiah Ramsey, who died in August, 1956, at the age of 92 is believed to be the last. Not much is available in regard to the last. MUNYON CEMETERY Not much is available in regard to the MUNYON CEMETERY, located in Section 31, except that it was once known as the WOODARD CEMETERY. ,P. A deed dated 1866 to Francis and Mary Varga for the sum of $1.00 for a 3/4 acre of land shows the transaction was made so that a cemetery could be opened. The deed shows Stephen Varga as Notary Public and Robert Woodard's grandfather, E.P. Woodard, G.W. Wells and L. Madarasz as trustees. No other information was available to our knowledge. THE WEST CEMETERY The WEST CEMETERY is located in Section 20. It is a small family plot of only three graves (10' x 10') enclosed with a rusty iron fence and gate; overgrown with day lilies and weeds. The cemetery is very close to the road. On some county maps, two cemeteries are shown, one on the north side of the road and one on the south. As far as we know, there is only the one cemetery on the north side of the road, the discrepancy possibly being caused by the fact that the road was changed several years ago and may have been marked twice at that time. The ancestors of Russell Fierce of Van Wert, buried in this cemetery, are: Row 1, stone 1, Elizabeth West, wife of William, who died July 13, 1893 at the age of 70 years, 6 mos. and 21 days. Row 1, stone 2, William West, husband of Elizabeth, who died June 11, 1861 at the age of 63 years, 2 mos. and 13 days. Stone 3 is Lincoln, son of William and Elizabeth West, who died January 27, 1865 at the age of 1 year and 6 days (his stone was found propped against his mother's). Since we have the history on this family, perhaps this is the place to remember them: William West was born in Ohio in 1817, the son of Daniel and Mary West, who were natives of the State of Virginia. He was raised on a farm and married Elizabeth Robinson (the daughter of Isaac and Ann Humms Robinson) in 1843 near Columbus, Ohio. Their living children, at the last report, are Charles of Decatur County; Hamilton, Allen and John, all three of Nebraska; Elmina Hubbard, also of Nebraska, and Jefferson N. and Isaac, and Mrs. Ann M. Fierce of Iowa. Deceased children, other than Lincoln, buried here are Daniel, Mary and Martin L. They came to Decatur County in 1854 starting out poor and building an estate of 900 acres. William was Republican and held the office of assessor and other school offices. He was also a member of the Granger Order. Very early in Van Wert's history, James Irving (grandfather of Cecil Pelsor) donated an acre of land from the southeast corner of his quarter section, for a public burying ground, when it became necessary to bury a baby that had died in the night. The baby belonged to an emigrant, Dr. Powell, who was camped near the roadside. This plot of ground became the original Van Wert Cemetery. An Indian woman was also buried in the original acre, but no record of where, is found. No lots were ever sold on this ground, but everyone's right was respected where the lots were marked. Wilson and Smith was the first addition. It started with the George Pelsor grave. The second addition is known as the Pleasant View or Gould's Addition. It was 16 feet wide and ran the full length of the old cemetery. King's Addition added in 1936 was the new cemetery. Louis Simmerman was the first buried here on December 20, 1936. The center part was opened first, then the front section and lastly the back part. (This addition was once part of the J.W. King farm in 1895. String sold to S.C. Moreland who then sold to Sidney W. Johnson in July, 1897 who in turn sold to Mann in 1898. Corbett later bought it from Mann. Walter King and Ethel King Blair, son and daughter, deeded a parcel of land to the trustees for cemetery expansion in 1936). Again in 1951, land was acquired from Paul and Mary Beardsley. Dennis Fierce is a present trustee of the cemetery; lots are sold at this time for $40.00 (a full lot will bury four people). TENNESSEE (a.k.a. WHEELIS) CEMETERY  Several
relatives and friends of our community are buried in the TENNESSEE
CEMETERY. A few of those are as follows: Susan Hall, daughter of Al and
Nora Cain, Al Cain Hall, Nora (Warrick) Hall, parents of William, Arthur
E. and Ira Hall and Dora Lewis; Dave Woods, Ellen (Boles) Woods, parents
of Etta Fry; Grant Hatfield, Elizabeth (Collins) Hatfield, parents of
Dewey, Bunk, Wilbur, Alva Hatfield, Pearl Schultz, Irene Neff, Edith
Boles, Jesse Lee, Nealy Murphy, Marie Boles, Merle Davis; Pearl
(Hatfield) Schuldt, Louis Schuldt, parents of Lane, Lyman, Boyd & Layton
Schuldt, Darlyne Norman and Wanda Baughman; Fuel Collins, Sarah
(Anderson) Collis, parents of Elizabeth Collins Hatfield; Wayne Schuldt,
son of Pearl and Louis Schuldt.In 1897-1898 F.W. Fay had a marble works whereby monuments and tombstones were made in this community. Pages 43 - 47 |
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