Descendants of the late Harry Fletcher (1892-1988) and Hazel P. Jones (1892-1965) and collateral family lines will celebrate their heritage at 1 p.m. Sunday, July 4, 2004, at the L. J. Thompson River Road Park in Wapello, Iowa. All family members and collateral family line members are invited. The history of Louisa County would not be complete without mentioning the ancestors of Harry Fletcher and wife, Hazel P. Jones. Their ancestors helped to make Louisa County what it is today. Both were born in Louisa County and are descendants of its earliest pioneers' families. Harry's Louisa County roots go back to 1842 when his great grandparents, Arthur Griffith (1816-1876) and Margaret Jones (1816-1888) immigrated from Wales to Louisa County. One year later his great-great grandparents, David Arthur (1781-1843) and Elizabeth (1872-1853) migrated from Ohio to Louisa County. Arthur had two brothers, John (1808-1877) and Humphrey (1823-?), and one sister, Ann (1818-1888), who also immigrated from Wales to Louisa County. The Griffith family was an early driving force in Louisa County's growing Welsh community.

Arthur Griffith purchased property at Long Creek four miles west of where Columbus City is now built. The family's first house was built of clay. Two years later Arthur built a log house, which stood on the property until 1886.There were few white families in the area; therefore, the Griffith children became more familiar with Indian children than with white children. The Indians were very friendly and showed a great curiosity in everything the white settlers were doing. Plowing was done by oxen and plows were made of a millboard pattern. Arthur made the first shovel plows which became very popular with the early settlers. The first span of horses in the county was owned by Arthur Griffith.

Arthur and his brothers were all carpenters and during those early years they built almost every log cabin in the county.

For many years Arthur's brother, John, was a leader in the Welsh settlement. He spoke English better than many of the early Welsh immigrants and understood American culture. The first Welsh Congregational Church organized west of the Mississippi river was formed at the log house of John Griffith. Their sister, Ann, was married to the Rev. David Knowles (1811-1899) who preached the first Welsh Congregational Church sermon in September 1845. It is thought that Arthur was the first deacon of the church.

Harry's grandfather, David Humphrey Griffith (1846-1928), married Mary A. Jones (1848-1885). Mary's father, Lewis Jones (1824-1896), and mother, Mary Davis (1825-1899), migrated to Louisa County in 1857, farmed 190 acres, and raised a family of three daughters and three sons.

Harry's father, Royal W. Fletcher (1872-1948), and mother, Alice Griffith (1871-1954), owned several farms in the Wyman-Spring Run area. Royal was a farmer, stock buyer, and was known to deal in farm equipment, and other items he purchased at auctions. The couple retired to Winfield in 1944. Royal was born in Bureau County, Illinois and his family migrated to Crawfordsville, Washington County, Iowa in 1884.

Hazel's Louisa County roots go back to her great grandparents George VanHorn (1800-1882) and Clarissa Higbee (1803-1882). We are not sure of the exact year the VanHorns migrated from Ohio to Louisa County but in1847, their daughter, Mary Ann (1826-1904), married Joseph Mickey (1821-1899) in Louisa County. Joseph and Mary Ann farmed and raised a family of eight children. Joseph was a state census enumerator in Columbus City Township 1852.

Clarissa Higbee's brother, Joseph Fenton Higbee (1806-1891), migrated from Ohio to Louisa County in 1835-36, he and his wife, Rachel Mathews (1813-1891)were the first settlers in Virginia Grove, and have the distinction of parenting the first white child, James (1836-1910), born in Louisa County. Another brother, James Fenton Higbee (1818-1809), came four years later in the spring of 1839. James spent his summer months driving oxen and breaking prairie sod for three dollars per acre. During the winter months, he engaged in teaching school. In the fall of 1841, James married Mary Lewin (1822-1895) whose family migrated to Louisa County in 1833. After their marriage, this couple retired to Michigan where they farmed and James eventually built the Higbee Hotel.

The Mickeys' families were also early pioneers in Louisa County. In 1836,John Roberts (1812-1849) Mickey, cousin to Joseph Mickey, moved to the head of Virginia Grove, one mile west of Morning Sun. John' son, John Murray Mickey(1834-1924), writes in his diary of the many native Indian camps in Virginia Grove, playing with native Indian children, and Chief Wapello's visits to their farm. Young John was an ox driver and helped his father break prairie sod. In 1854, John Murray, walked the Oregon trail to California and then on to Oregon where he prospected for gold. He returned to Louisa County in1859 and in 1862 married Susan E. Ashbaugh (1840-1930).

Hazel's grandparents, Barton Jones (1829-1899) and Martha Enyart (1834-1905)migrated from Bureau County, Illinois to Louisa County in November of 1853.Barton purchased uncultivated land in Elm Grove Township. Over the year she worked the land and developed a beautiful farm with numerous shade trees and hedgerow fences.

Hazel's father, James Hayes Jones (1860-1921), and Sophronia Alice Mickey(1862-1910), farmed in the community of Spring Run. J. Hayes, like his father, Barton, was a successful farmer. J. Hayes and Sophronia raised five children.

Harry and Hazel were married in 1909 and a few years later moved to a farm in Cairo, where the family farmed until 1946. They raised ten children on the Cairo farm. When the children were old enough to help with the farm choirs, Harry took a job working for the Louisa County Engineer's Office, later the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant in Burlington, and in the early 40's the Ordinance Plant in Grand Island, Nebraska. He was a Louisa County Assessor and also worked for the Louisa County Conservation Office. Harry was an enterprising man. He was the first person in the county to have a radio. He built and installed the radios around the county and had several offers to work for General Electric Company, which he declined as he did not want to leave the farm. Harry also loved photography and built himself a dark room to develop his own photographs. Hazel and the children ran the farm. In 1946, Harry and Hazel sold the Cairo farm and moved to Wapello but neither of them could retire. Harry opened a saw repair shop in the basement of their Wapello home and Hazel went to work in the Army Ammunition Plant in Burlington.

Because of this family's long heritage in Louisa County, today they have ties to many Des Moines County, Henry County, Louisa County, Muscatine County, and Washington County families. Some additional collateral family line surnames are Anderson, Boysen, Buffington, Bush, Cherry, Holmes, Cowles, Delzell, Erwin, Faulkner, Gipple, Guffey, Hewitt, Hoag, Hogan, Howard, Humphreys, Jackson, Johnson, Klopfenstein, Metzgar, Peterson, Richardson, Rosauer, Schoonover, Stewart, Talbot, Tisor, Trees, Todd, and Wasson.

Our ancestors all came to this country for many different reasons and we can certainly agree that it took them courage to leave their homelands. We owe our ancestors respect for the endurance, fortitude, and hard work it took them to tame a wilderness, carve out a living in a harsh new land, and build a future for their descendants. They have left us rich with a heritage of values and ethics we can be proud of.