History of Osceola County
by D. A. W. Perkins 1892
Chapter VI
Referring again to the incoming of Messrs. Brooks,
McCausland, Webb and Campbell who settled on Section 8 in the
spring of 1871; they went to work and made continued improvements
on their claims. While they were visiting with each other one day
during the summer, they saw a covered wagon approaching and heard
the sound of a voice singing "One Day's Journey Nearer
Home." When the wagon had got up and stopped, it was found
to contain John Cronk, _________ Coy and James Hankins, this last
mentioned being a Methodist preacher, and it was he who was
singing a Methodist hymn. The following day Hankins preached in
Brook's house, to an audience of about twelve, and these were the
first religious exercises held in the County, according to Webb's
account of it. During the preaching Mrs. Brooks kept on with her
bread making, for they couldn't live on faith alone, and this is
told in the following article, written by John F. Glover, on the
death of Mrs. Brooks which occurred at Denver in 1884:
DEATH OF PIONEER WOMAN.
In the summer and fall of 1871, the wives of C. M.
Brooks, M. J. Campbell, W. W. Webb and D. L. McCausland entered on
pioneer life with their husbands, all four families having claims
on Section 8, Range 99, Township 41, the section on which are now
the farms of Deacon Herbert and Mr. Deitz. The settlements were
made on Section 8 before there was a single soul on Section 13,
Range 99, Township 42, where is now the flourishing town of
Sibley. Mr. Brooks was in the land locating business, and his
house was a home that summer for several of the women. Mrs.
Brooks was the daughter of Rev. John Webb, a Methodist minister
of Fayette, Iowa, later a pioneer settler and minister in Osceola
County, still later a pioneer Presiding Elder in Dakota
Territory, and now residing in Des Moines. She was very
attractive in person, possessed of a good mind, and had a
sensible way of doing the best that circumstances would permit,
for the comfort of her household, and doing the best she could to
be content. The following anecdote will illustrate her faithful
performance of household duties: The greater than usual number of
new comers at Mr. Brooks' made it necessary to bake bread on the
Lord's Day, and while the baking was going on, the little pioneer
congregation gathered in the room to listen to a preacher-one of
the new comers. In the same room were the baker and the preacher,
and as the minister went forward with his discourse, so did
"Mel," as Melvina Brooks was called by her relatives
and near friends, go on with her baking. She realized that on her
depended the feeding of hungry men, with appetites such as only
pioneering brings to the table Mrs. Brooks was the Martha of this
little company. While others had nothing to do but listen, she
had work to do for the listeners. She could both hear and work,
and right down before the minister she baked the bread of earth
while he spoke the bread of Heaven, and she did her work as well
and as honestly as the preacher did his. It was thus she went
forward doing the things most necessary to be done, and though
possessed of a not very bad robust constitution did her full
measure of work-having less in mind her own strength than the
comfort of those around her.
