HARDIN COUNTY, IOWA "FIRSTS" IN THE TOWNSHIPS

 

BUCKEYE TOWNSHIP

 

First Marriage:
The first couple united in the holy bonds of matrimony in the township were L.T. Beard and Mary E. White, by Rev. John Wilcox. they were married on the 27th day of July, 1857. Mr. and Mrs. Beard are yet residents of the township.

First Death:
The first birth was that of a child to John and Mary Snider, in the fall of 1855. It lived but a short time, and was also the first death.

Educational:
The first school house was a frame building erected in the fall of 1857, on the southeast quarter of section 11, by L.T. Beard, at a cost of $700. The first school taught therein was the summer of 1858, by Maria Moss. There were 8 scholars in attendance. In the winter following, L.T. Beard taught a term of four months.

In the district of Buckeye there are four school houses, valued at $1,000. there are 117 persons between the ages of five and twenty-one years. There were eight teachers employed during the year ending October 1, 1881, at an average compensation of $28.54 per month.

Thomas and Alexander Knutson and Oliver Munson built a school house for their own use, 20x16, at a cost of $200. The township rents the building, in which school is regularly held.

Religious:
The first religious services were held at the house of John Snider, on section 2, in May, 1856, by Deacon Fabian Beard, of the Congregational Church. There are no church edifices in the township, and no organized bodies of Christians, the believers having their membership in some congregation in proximity to the township. The Congregational Society, of Alden, has quite a large membership in the township, the society being known as the Alden and Buckeye Congregational Society.