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took his seat Daniel
Stennett resigned as member. I. C. Hunt was assessor of
West Township in 1862; Perry Carr was clerk, and also
justice of the peace.
West
Township, substantially as now constituted, was
organized in 1861. The first Trustees were: John Culver,
Thomas Myers, Isaac Vanhorn; first clerk, Perry Carr.
There were nine school districts in the township and the
total school tax levy the previous year was 6 5/8 mills
on the dollar. The equalized value of real estate in
1861 was $14.00 per acre.
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Half Way House
The stage coach went
through West Township in the late 1800's. Also freight
was hauled over that same route by wagon from Des Moines
to Nebraska City. The half-way house, an Inn or Tavern
then owner by the Carr family, is where freighters and
travelers stopped for the night. This farm is now
owned by Mr. and Mrs. Henry Wookey, who live there. The
trail went down through what is now the Frank Norris and
Very Quarry farms, crossed Walnut Creek and on west to
cross the Missouri river on a ferry at Nebraska City.
It is reported that there were a great many rough
characters around in those days.
By
September 20, 1880, West Township had nine un-graded
schools, six male and twelve female teachers; 172 boys
and 155 girls of school age of whom 314 were enrolled
and an average of 162 attended school. The average cost
per pupil per month for tuition was $1.51. There were
nine frame school houses, valued at $3,700.00. $320.00
worth of school apparatus reported in West Township.
Maple Leaf
Grange No. 395 was organized May 18, 1872 with 26
charter members and is credited to ,
although its post office was Franklin Grove in Page
County. On June 30, 1874 it registered 40 members
with C. S. Woodin, Master, and J. C. Benz, Secretary.
The Climax
Methodist Protestant church was organized in 1856. In
the summer of 1875 a frame church edifice was built at a
cost of about $3,000.00, and it was dedicated in 1878 by
Rev. Alexander Clark from Pittsburg. The membership was
about 30.
The Methodist
Episcopal Church (at Carr's school house) was organized
about January 1865. The original members were W. G. Ewing
and wife, Perry Carr and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Parish, Mrs.
J. Culver, Charles Hascall and wife, Mrs. G. Figgins,
and Mr. Cunningham and wife. This society held its
church services in different school houses.
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Mr. and Mrs.
Chauncey Woodin and children:
Ed, Jess,
Bert, and Fanny.
Picture
taken in 1887. |
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Methodist
Episcopal church (at the Sutton school house) was
organized in 1871. First members: C. Hascall and wife,
J. Roosa and wife, J. H. Carr and wife, H. J. Carr, Wm.
Allen and wife, Mrs. O. A. Carr, W. H. Permfield and
wife, Jane Ewing and Nancy Ewing.
Salem Church
located in West Township, six and one-half miles
southwest of Red Oak was organized in 1888 by
Evangelical people from the eastern part of the state,
who at that time settled in the immediate vicinity, M.
P. Giles and wife, Jacob and Simon Rost and families,
Mrs. P. E. Buchanan, and Mother Bruce were among the
early promoters of the Salem Church. Though the church
has since been disposed of, Salem cemetery which lies
immediately across the public highway from Salem Church
is the burial place of many who formerly lived in West
Township. This country burying place is kept in fine
condition by the Salem Cemetery Association, a perpetual
fund provided by the people of the community for this
purpose.
The first
cemetery was near the center of Section 30, on Mr.
David's farm, but it has not been used for two years.
The one now used is on Mr. Hascall's land in Section 18.
In 1886, July
4th was first celebrated in Climax.
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Climax store of
many years ago.
It burned
to the ground in 1936 |
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First Events
Stephen
Glanden appears to have been the first settler in the
territory now comprised in West Township. He came from
Wapello county, Iowa. In 1852 and settled on section 31
of what is now Walnut Township (almost on the line
between Walnut and West), and then in 1854 he moved onto
Section 25 in present West Township. Mr. Glanden has
related that the first .....
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