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         HONEY CREEK DISTRICT. For the following account of Honey Creek District we are indebted to William M. Wilson. This district was named Honey Creek by John M. Wilson, Samuel Hamilton and Hiram Morgan. Among its early settlers were Mark Davison, Robert McElhaney, John Wilson, William Lee, J. Dowell, Robert Lee, John O’Loughlin, John Hamilton, E. W. Siverly and James Morgan. The first school was taught about the winter of 1839-40, by Mr. Siverly, in a cabin used for a blacksmith-shop, near the bank of Honey Creek. The boundaries of the district at that time were about from Morning Sun to James McCray’s, and from Linn Grove to Wapello. About 1845 it was permanently organized and the district erected a substantial log school-house, which was used until 1856, when it was burned. In the summer of 1857 the frame building now occupied was built, in which the first school was taught by David Tolbert. The first persons born in the bounds of the district were Elizabeth McFall, Philip Lee and T. R. Wilson. The first two marriages were James Joy to Nancy Hamilton, and Jane Lee to Henry McFall.

The pioneer young ladies of the district were Vina Lee, Catharine Lee, Katy, Mary and Betty Hamilton, Melinda Pace, Charity Payne, Mary Joy, Nancy and Margaret Wilson. The pioneer young men were D. R. Lee, Alex and Samuel Hamilton, Hiram Morgan, William, James and Ed Joy. The first brick residence was built by T. McClurkin. John Wilson had the first well dug by Ed Joy, and walled by Tobias Brogan. The following named served as soldiers from Honey Creek in the late war: Thomas Brown, J. J. Conway, Patrick Coin, Robert Gillenwater, Alex Kerr, Ira Linton, Harvey Linton, Edmond Linton, James Milton, Dan Milton, Finley Paisley, Josiah Paisley, Ezra Paisley, Frank Paisley, John Paisley, George Simpson, Ed . . .

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. . . Skiwinski, J. W. Wilson, G. W. Woolverine, J. C. Williams.

Two and one-half miles north of Newport is the Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church. The first meetings were held as early as 1840. A house of worship was soon erected at a cost of $100. The contractors were Mark Davison and George Jamison. They felled the trees, scored the logs, hewed the timbers and hauled to the spot selected. This building was occupied and used as a church and school-house until 1844-45, when the present church was erected. It is of stone which was quarried in the immediate vicinity.