LOUISA COUNTY, IOWA

Bethel School	Bethel School 2005

Early settler Merrit Jamison, who settled about six miles south of Wapello in the fall of 1840, donated the land for a church and cemetery. A small log structure first served as both a school and Methodist meeting house.

In 1855, the residents of the community decided to build a more permanent church and school house. The new church was built on the site of the log house with limestone quarried by Francis McGraw from nearby Honey Creek. The stone was hauled by teams of oxen to the cemetery and the men of the community helped lay the walls.

Once the church was completed, Bethel School was soon built a short distance southeast of the church. Both buildings were located along a main north-south trail. Merrit Jamison died in 1856 shortly before the project was completed.

The church building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The first quarterly conference of the Wapello mission held at Bethel was November 18,1854. The church was the site of a second conference in July 5, 1856.

The first burial at the cemetery was an infant. There are several graves in the cemetery as a result of an 1864 flux epidemic. McGraw's burial site is marked with a large granite boulder from the Honey Creek quarry. Services at the church ended in the 1930s.

The school district contained eight and one-quarter miles and was known as Bethel School District No. 4, but was often called the Jamison District.

Members of the Wapello Township Board of Directors in 1858 were John Drake, William Shipman, William Wright, Samuel Hamilton, James Brogan, D.W. Herrick, E.W. Siverly, William Williams, and W.R. Woodruff. The teacher that year was J.R. Wright. He was paid $27.50 a month. Heads of families with children attending the Bethel school in 1858 were John Deihl, D.W. Herrick, Jonathan Mason, Samuel Jamison, Francis McGraw, W.D. Jamison, George Jamison, George Van Horn, William Clark, Solomon Fitchhorn, Nathan Linden, Mr. Hoffman and Mr. Bivins. Textbooks were McGuffy's Reader, Ray's Arithmetic, Peneo's Grammar and Mitchell's Geography.

A student at Bethel, Oscar Hale, was later a teacher there and then became a judge.

The last class was in 1920, when the district was consolidated. Mrs. Marguerite Deihl Allen was the last teacher.

A portion of the south wall was later torn down and replaced with wood.