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Rerick Family |
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Rerick Family |
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Born in Tippecanoe County, Indiana (area around Lafayette) on May 4, 1834, I.L. was the son of Henry and Julia (Lamb) Rerick who were pioneer settlers of that region. The family contained three boys including Isaac and three girls. When I.L. was a year old, the Rerick's moved to St. Joseph County, Indiana (near South Bend). His mother died when he was eight; Henry remarried and had several more children.
I.L. was reared and educated in Indiana. At the age of 21, he located in Delaware County, Iowa (area of Dyersville) for a couple of months, then moved to Jones County (area of Anamosa) and hired out as a wood chopper. In. 1856 he returned to Delaware County and worked as farm help with another young man. They eventually combined their efforts and purchased 80 acres of prairie and 20 acres of timber. Their first crop sold for ninety dollars. Isaac's next move was to Boone County (northwest of Des Moines) where he worked for $15.00 a month. While there he met and married Samantha Ellen Clark, daughter of Louis Clark, a merchant at Swede Point (former name of Madrid, southwest of Ames) where the wedding took place on March 22, 1857. They became parents of a son, Henry, who joined them August 8, 1858. The young family moved to Vandalia in Jasper County (just southeast of Des Moines) where another son, Manford, was born in 1861.
The same year, Isaac enlisted in the Iowa Volunteer Infantry. His grandfather Rerick lost his life in the War of 1812 and although Isaac had some harrowing experiences, he survived the 1860's conflict. Following a few months m the southwest, I.L. participated in battles at Fort Henry, Tupelo, Jackson, Fort Donelson, Pilot Knob and Corinth. He was captured at Shiloh and spent 52 days imprisoned at Macon, GA. During the battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, he was severely wounded in the shoulder which required six months of hospitalization. Following a furlough, he was back in action between Meridian and Vicksburg, surviving two weeks of heavy fire. His discharge occurred December of 1864 at Davenport and he returned to Jasper County. Three daughters were born during the next several years.
Not unlike many other Civil War veterans, Isaac heard about the farming opportunity in northwest Iowa and moved his family to O'Brien County in March of 1871. Their homestead was located on the west half of the NW quarter of Section 28 in Liberty Township, a little southeast of where Calumet is today. Isaac was involved in the planning of Primghar, donating the second "r" and was elected to the board of supervisors in the fall of 1872. In March of 1875 another daughter joined the family. Early that summer, a column from Liberty Township signed R.L.I, appeared in the PIONEER reporting promising crops and that Mr. Brown's store at Erie (NE Sec. 33 Liberty) was doing a good business. In August, the family enjoyed a visit from Dr. J.H. Rerick, Isaac's brother who was editor of the LeGrange Standard, LeGrange, Indiana.
In 1878, I.L. Rerick obtained the government contract to carry mail from Primghar to Cherokee and Primghar to Spencer, so the family moved to the county seat town. Sons Henry (20) and Manford (17) did most of the driving.
The Primghar/Cherokee route was established in April of 1874 (#27459) and put out for bids. A.H. Titus was the first contractor and A.M. Cleghorn the carrier when the route actually went into service on July 1st. By the time Isaac acquired the contract, several operators/drivers had come and gone. Carrying mail, passengers and freight across rough terrain wasn't the easiest job. There were no roads; only wandering trails which could easily become unusable during inclement weather. The area north of Larrabee known then as Newman's Slough was a source of grief especially in wet times of the year. The mail schedule remained constant no matter what the weather related obstacles might be, so when the roads became impassable, Manford carried the mail on horseback.
The typical stage/mail schedule: left Primghar at 7am Monday; arrived in Cherokee via Erie at 4pm. Left Cherokee Tuesday at 6AM and arrived in Primghar via Erie at 4pm. The same schedule was repeated on Friday and Saturday of every week. Charges were $1.50 per passenger each way and $1.50 for each 100 pounds of freight. Sometimes residents of Primghar would send "shopping lists" with the carrier for items they could not obtain in Primghar. The stage drivers were armed; it was not uncommon to encounter groups of up to sixteen "vagrants" along the route. A relic at Heritage Park provides tangible testimony to this 1870's mode of travel. Henry Rerick's monogrammed black leather satchel demonstrates the wear of countless trips across the prairie in the stage. If only it could speak!
A word about "Erie": located on the NE corner of Section 33 in Liberty Township (about a mile and a half south of Calumet), Erie was first established in 1872 as a post office for settlers in that area to receive and send mail & was called South O'Brien. The name was changed two years later and James Brown the postmaster also operated a country store in the 16' x 32', two storey [sic] structure.
Isaac Rerick owned eight horses reserved for the mail routes using two horses at a time. Typically, stages averaged around 5-8 miles an hour (consider the terrain they were crossing) and stage stops were usually about 10-15 miles apart (The usual horse and wagon averaged about twenty miles a day.) Horses were switched; passengers stretched and grabbed a bite to eat or in some instances, stayed the night. At Erie, horses were exchanged, mail was delivered or picked up and lunch could be had. This post office was discontinued July 10, 1884 when all the mail was sent to Sutherland, new town on the Chicago-Northwestern railroad.
According to an article by O.H. Montzheimer, the original structure for store and post office still existed with some additions in 1939, was owned by Oscar Reimers and served as a residence for Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Meyer.
The Primghar/Spencer mail route is also interesting. Established in 1875, the first run occurred on Wednesday, July 7 with John Richardson as carrier. It left Primghar at 7am and reached Spencer at 6pm via post offices at Elcho in O'Brien County, Trimello (Sec. 6 Clay Township) and Ingleville (northern Clay Township) in Clay County. This route headed slightly southeast from Primghar and picked up mail at the Elcho post office located in the home of Thompson Shepherd on the SW of Section 6, Grant Township just one mile west of the Covey Church. From there it appeared to follow section lines for a time, as a member of the James Magee family the stage passing their farm on the NE of Section 10. She also remembered a time when the mailbag fell into Waterman Creek and was rescued by boys attending country school located on a hill just west of the crossing (Grant SE of Section 4). The driver on this route carried mail, passengers and express goods, spent the night in Spencer, left at 7am and arrived in Primghar at 6pm on Thursday. The Elcho post office was discontinued in October of 1878.
Isaac Rerick handled the mail contract for three years. Sometime during 1881, he opened a lumber business in Primghar but moved it to Sutherland in 1882. He was appointed marshal in Sanborn the same year and owned a dwelling on east First Street for a short while before resigning and moving to Paullina where he began an insurance/real estate business in the fall of 1882. He was elected that town's first mayor in 1883 and served as president of the school board in 1886.
In the deathly blizzard of January, 1888, Rerick averted a near disaster when he and two companions, L.A. Douglass and H. Godfrey were caught in the sudden fierce storm somewhere between Primghar and Paullina. They lost their way and struggled against the driving snow until nearly exhausted. Luckily, they ran into a fence and followed it until the safety of Godfrey's house was reached.
He continued in the insurance business at Paullina until 1898, when he was elected county recorder and moved back to Primghar where he served two terms before continuing with his previous business, remaining in the county seat. I.L. was a member of the Methodist Church and the Jordan Post GAR, holding several positions in both entities during his lifetime. He also belonged to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. From 1910-1914 he served as assistant doorkeeper for the Iowa Senate. In 1917, Isaac and Samantha celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary at their home east of the Methodist Church.
Samantha died September 30, 1919 at the age of 78 following a long struggle with stomach cancer. Her funeral was large, attended by many relatives and friends who paid tribute to one who was highly respected in the community. The flag on her coffin was the property of the Women's Relief Corps, used by that body since Samantha had become a member years before. She was buried in the Primghar cemetery.
For a time, it appears that Isaac may have lived with his "local" children; the 1920 census finds him in the home of his youngest son Ross and family.
In 1922, Isaac married Mrs. Mary Hastings (71) of Primghar.
On Saturday, June 20, 1925, the only remaining founder of the county seat town joined the other seven in death. The event occurred at 9:15 pm at his home in the village he helped name fifty-three years earlier. Isaac Lamb Rerick was 91.
According to the BELL, he was held in the highest esteem by everyone and his passing cast a gloom over the entire community. Primghar businesses were closed during the funeral which was held from the Methodist Church on Monday afternoon. He was survived by his second wife and seven children: Henry of Primghar, Manford of Seattle, Mrs. Ida Bunco of Calumet, Mrs. Mary Wilkinson from Westboro, Missouri, Mrs. Dora Yuill of Des Moines, Mrs. Bertha Yeager from Popejoy, IA and Ross of Sioux City.
I.L. Rerick was buried beside his wife in Pleasant Hill Cemetery.
Submitted by Fay Schall
O'Brien County Historic Society
Published in the O'Brien County Bell on October 17, 2013.
Contributed by Ronald Bennett
