Chapter 5, pages 27-34

As the Missouri River provided the first access to the southwest Iowa region, stage coaches were the second to give public transportation service and their routes provided some interesting history and settlements. Use of such facilities was limited for the early settlers came by their own wagons or on foot. When there was enough settlement that regular mail and transportation service was needed, stage coach companies started to provide it.

At best stage coach travel was extremely difficult and costly for there were few roads of any kind and scarcely any bridges over the many rivers and creeks. Nor could such transportation handle any but the lightest freight, or carry the produce of farms to eastern markets. Fortunately, the stages could carry the mail.

The county was served, in a very loose sense, by three stage lines: one north from St. Joseph, Missouri, through Tabor and Glenwood to Council Bluffs. The others were part of the Western Stage Line, one from Council Bluffs to Des Moines, coming south to the Plumer Settlement, easterly to Stage Coach Inn, on southeast again before striking north and east. The third linked the counties in south Iowa from the nearest eastern rail terminal.

Nor was "getting there half the fun." An early-day writer reported that the life of a traveler in those days "was by no means a pleasant one. When steep hills must be ascended, or muddy bottoms crossed, the passenger - wearied as he was by the swaying and rough usage of hard driving - was expected to descend and mount the hill or cross the bottom on foot." Upsets in crossing creeks were frequent occurrences and much mail arrived soaked and muddy.

W. H. Taft wrote in his History of Mills County: “A tri-weekly stage (or hack) ran from Glenwood to Frankfurt, county seat of Montgomery County, on to Ottumwa. Later (it followed) the road to White Cloud and on east to Red Oak Junction. As travel increased the daily mails replaced the tri-weekly hacks and four-horse coaches replaced the hacks. In December, 1869, the last of the Western Stage Co.’s wheels rolled through Mills County. Their old coaches were shipped to Idaho and Montana.

Tom Windom, an early-day citizen of Malvern, was one of Western’s drivers and after the line was discontinued in this area, drove for several years in Montana before retiring and returning to his home in this county. He described the hard, rough life of the driver who had to contend with difficult horses, roads that at best were mere trails, highway men who thought little of shooting the driver, and passengers wearied of the swaying, jolting rides, the dust, the heat of summer and the cold of winter.

As the last stage rolled through after the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad completed its line, Mr. Taft wrote: “. . the last accommodating driver was turned loose to repent of his profanity and to mediate on the instability of stables, while seeking a position as expert baggage smasher on the iron-horse coaches.”

Frequent stops were needed to feed and water the horses and for food and shelter accommodations for passengers. One of special interest was the Plumer Settlement in Oak township which was a stage coach “station.” There, accommodations for travelers were limited but they could sleep on the floor, of the large Plumer home which still stands as a comfortable reminder of pioneer shelter, on Highway 275 north of Glenwood.

Another was the Stage Coach Inn a few miles on southeast, which had excellent accommodations. Both of these are described by Maude Plumer (Mrs. J. A.) Burgoin, and we are reprinting her descriptions of these historic places. The first tells of the coming of the Plumer family to Iowa and the establishment of Salem Lutheran Church:

THE YESTERYEARS OF SALEM
EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH
1867 – 1958
by Maude Plumer (Mrs. Arthur) Burgoin

High on the bluffs east of the Missouri River cradled in a heavily wooded highland, the pioneer Lutherans of southwest Iowa built Salem Lutheran Church in 1867 at the Plumer Settlement. This little church was known as the "Little Brick Church.”

In 1900 the exterior was coated with cement which remains intact to this day. Here the forefathers of that faith in this area found strength and inspiration for their rugged existence.

In October, 1880, the Western District of the Iowa Synod was organized in this church. For 33 years Salem Church was served by Pastor H. E. Hoff, who was succeeded by his son, Alfred Hoff, the last minister to serve the congregation.

In 1933 the church was closed to services. After being neglected and struck by lighting, the old church was badly in need of repair. On June 11, 1956, a general meeting of friends and former members of Salem Lutheran Church was held at Plumer Settlement for the purpose of organizing a plan for restoring the church building. There had been considerable interest in such a project since the American Lutheran Church had voted to place a memorial plaque on the premises commemorating Salem Church as the mother church of the General District.

A church board was elected to determine a means of acquiring funds for the permanent restoration and maintenance of the church and to supervise the project. The floor needed to be replaced, permanent door and windows had to be installed, the replacement of some beams and rafters was necessary to put the roof in good condition. The restored church will be a wonderful memorial to our faithful departed, and an inspiration to our children and a shrine to early Lutheranism still standing in our time. The Salem Church is the mother church from which some one hundred Lutheran churches have stemmed.

The church board was named with Carl Green as General Chairman.

Church Board: Rudolph Miller, chairman; Arthur Burgoin, secretary; Alfred Plumer, treasurer; Walter Vorthmann, Walter Thieschafer, John Horn, Alfred Spetman.

Cemetery Board: Carl Green, chairman; Charles Plumer, Jr., secretary; Walther Brandt, treasurer; Harry Enselman.

Under the supervision of these boards the reconstruction was started. By September of 1956, the restoration of the church had been completed. The hand hewn pews were in place again as well as the original chandelier. The Bible and Prayer Book found their places on the pulpit. On September 22, 1956, the re-dedication services were held. Member of neighboring congregations, who owe much to Salem for its pioneer service, and members and friends the original congregation have contributed funds and volunteer labor to restore this historic church to the glory of God. May it become for future visitors a place of remembrance, meditation, and respect.

The person for whom the Plumer Settlement was named and who was most influential in the building of the Salem Lutheran Church was Johann Heinrick Plumer, born in 1795 in Hanover, Germany. Johann was a soldier in the Napoleonic Wars and fought in the battle of Waterloo against the Duke of Wellington.

He came to the United States with his family from Hanover, Germany, in 1840. They first settled in California, Missouri. Being in an unhealthful climate the family was stricken with malaria. A migration was toward Iowa at this time so Johann decided to take his family to Iowa, hoping to find it more healthful.

It was quite a migration. With Johann came his sons, Chris, Fred, William and Henry; a married daughter, Sophia (Mrs. Henry Saar); and her family. A granddaughter, Mary Bower, orphaned when her parents died of cholera in St. Louis, Missouri, also came along. First they cleared the land of hickory brush. Then the sons and son-in-law settled on nearby farms. They brought stock, oxen, mules, cattle, and sheep, from Missouri. The sheep didn’t last very long – too many wolves.

Iowa farm land has gone up in price since those days. Chas. Plumer, Sr. has the original patent issued by the U. S. Government and signed by President Franklin Pierce, indicating that the price of the land purchased under the entry law was $1.25 per acre.

The huge white farmhouse, on land northwest of Glenwood, Iowa, now owned by Chas. Plumer, Sr., was built in 1864 since 13 years after the family settled in Southwest Iowa. The house rests on hand hewn walnut beams, some of them 40 feet in length.

Travel weary Mormons halted their wagon trains there to rest and feed horses and stock. Omaha Indian braves bartered horses there. Later Plumer Settlement was a stage coach station. There was a long front room and travelers would sleep on the floor, glad for the shelter and warmth.

Things were tough at first but after the Mormons came through, the community seemed to open up. The trading center was at St. Paul (Trader’s Point). It was a steamboat landing and settlement on the Iowa side of the Missouri River, opposite the site of the present town of Bellevue, Nebraska.

Johann kept his money in shop bags in walnut chests which he brought from Germany. In his declining years his sight failed but he could recognize the coins by the touch or ring as he would drop them on the table.

When the grandmother Maria Henrietta passed on she was laid to rest in "Saar’s Field": since there was no permanent burial ground. Being fearful that the graves would one day be lost, the Plumers and other early settlers decided to build the Salem Church and establish the community cemetery one mile east of the Plumer homestead. The grandmother Maria Henrietta – born 1798, died December 10, 1859 – was moved to the new plot where her name appears on the marker bedside Johann’s, who died in 1883. Other names appearing on the markers are Green, Saar, Spetman, and Brandt, to name a few. Each Memorial Day the descendants of these rugged pioneers gather for services beneath the trees in the cemetery. Before the church pass the new shiny cars, the same trail once trudged by Johann leading a team of oxen.

On the front of the church to the right of the door is a bronze plaque which reads:

The
Western District of The
Ev. Lutheran Synod of Iowa and other states
(Now part of the American Lutheran Church)
Was organized at Old Plumer Settlement
Salem Church – Oct. 1880

Other early-day churches also had an important part in the history of the development of Mills County. A Roman Catholic Church was established quite early in the town of St. Mary, but was lost when the Missouri River destroyed that community. The first church to be established that lasted until current times was the Christian Church of Wahbonsie which was organized March 9, 1853. It was active for many years and recently, after a period of inactivity, it was re-organized and regular services are again being held there.

The article of organization for this church was reprinted in the History of 1881 and is of interest: “The disciples of Rawles township, Mills County, Iowa, knowing it to be their privilege and duty to live together in a church baptistry to give themselves to the Lord one and another, taking the gospel of Christ for the rule of faith and practice.” This was drawn up by their first pastor, Elder John Mullis, who lived fifty miles distant and was able to visit the charge only two or three times a year. However, the services he held continued, when commenced, for two and sometimes three weeks.

Those who originally subscribed to the article of organization were Thompson Blair, H. P. Allison, Henry Cotreal, James McCord, Benjamin A. McCord, Christian Goodwin, Susan Cotreal, Elizabeth Estes, Mary Allison, Ellen Hayes, Jemima Hayes, Elizabeth Kerns, Rachel McCord, Charles Utterback, Garrett Dennison, Talbert Hayes, Nancy Linnville and Elizabeth Linnville. A new church building costing $1,000.00 was built in 1870. The church dissolved by mutual consent July 11, 1872, but three days later was again organized, forty-two of the old members re-entering the new.

The earliest church in east Mills County was the United Brethren in Christ, of Indian Creek township. This was organized in 1855 with an original membership of eight persons: Ephraim Cary, Deborah Cary, Shepherd Cary and wife, William Hutchens and wife and Mary J. Crouch. This society owned no house of worship but nonetheless kept up an active service for nearly twenty years.