History of Northwestern Iowa
Religions
The Coming of the Methodists to Sibley
The first settlers began coming to Osceola
County in the spring of 1871. Slight improvements were made during the
summer and most of the settlers returned to their former homes in the
fall to avoid the long winter under poorly prepared conditions.
The first preaching service was held at the house of Elbridge Morrison,
one and a half miles west of Sibley, by Rev. S. Aldrich, who was making
Osceola County his home at this time. Rev. Ira Brashears, a one-armed
soldier of the Civil war, was assigned to the missionary field of
O'Brien, Sioux, Lyon and Osceola counties. Rev. John Webb, who was in
charge of the work at Spirit Lake, was directed to divide his time with
Sibley. Accordingly on the 19th of April, 1872, the Rev. Messrs. Webb
and Aldrich met about a score of good Methodists at the house of A.M.
Culver, one and a half miles south of Sibley, and there organized a
class -the first religious organization in Osceola County.
At the first session of the Northwest Iowa Conference, held at Fort
Dodge, in September, 1872, Rev. John Webb was assigned to the Sibley
mission, which embraced Osceola County. In the following year, a
substantial frame meeting house was completed. Twenty years afterward,
then living in Des Moines, Rev. Mr. Webb had this to say of his early
experiences in Osceola County: "In June, 1872, in company with Mr. James
Block, I left Fayette County, this State, to visit my son and others,
who had gone to Osceola County to locate claims. I was directed from
Lakeville to go to Ocheyedan Mound, and was told that when on the mound
I could in all probability see the tents in which McCausland, Brooks and
W.W. Webb were living. I went to the mound and on top of it, but could
see no signs of life in any direction. Mr. Block and myself then went
down to the banks of the Ocheyedan and camped for the night. The next
morning we started in search of the boys, and about noon found them one
mile east of where Sibley now is. We spent a few days with them and our
horses were picketed out by the foreleg. While the horses were thus
secured, something gave them a fright, when they ran the full length of
the rope and brought up so suddenly that both turned somersaults and one
of them was killed. I liked the country and that fall took charge of the
Spirit Lake circuit; the next year took charge of the Sibley circuit,
and formed the first class ever formed in Osceola County at the house of
A.M. Culver. I built the first Methodist Episcopal church, or enclosed
it, and Rev. Mr. Brashears finished it.
"While I was living at Sibley that early day a young lawyer came to
town, who was not very scrupulous, and he persuaded the Board of
Supervisors to pay him $20,000 to recover certain monies due from
Woodbury County to Osceola. I heard of it and going to the courthouse
where the board was in session, requested them to hear me and they
consented. I told them they would regret the day that they issued the
warrant and gave the general reasons why such an official act should not
be done; and ever as an outsider I made a motion to the board and the
crowd that Blackmer be allowed $500 retainer and a per cent afterwards;
and I added to the motion that the hiring include all the lawyers, or
the remainder would be coming in for a share. J. T. Barclay, Esq., who
was standing close by me, moved an amendment that the preachers also be
added, but they were not. This was the last ever heard of the suit
against Woodbury County.
"When our Methodist church at Sibley was ready for dedication, we met
Sabbath morning, and just before the time to commence public worship and
while some of us were standing on the steps of the church, it was
discovered that something was coming from the Northwest, which looked
like a cloud; but still it could be seen that it was not a cloud, and
upon its nearer approach we could then see that it was a swarm of
grasshoppers. This so disconcerted and discouraged the people that it
was impossible to hold them for the purposes of dedication that day, and
it was deferred. The ravages of these pests which followed are known to
old settlers."
In 1896, the original church of the Sibley Methodists was sold to the
German Presbyterians, and a new building was erected on the old site.
CATHOLICS ALSO PIONEERS IN
OSCEOLA COUNTY
Osceola is one of the counties of Northwestern
Iowa in which the Catholics obtained a strong foothold at an early day.
In Osceola County they were the first of the religionists to organize.
The centers of their activities were at Ashton and Sibley. The German
Catholic families settled at and near Ashton, and the Irish Catholic
families in the Sibley neighborhood.
The first Catholic settlers in Osceola County were Nicholas Boor and
John Streit, who came on the 19th of June, 1871, and filed an claims in
Gilman Township. The first mass celebrated was in May,1873, on the
southwest quarter of section 16, Holman Township, at the home of Patrick
Larkin, by an assistant priest of Rev. Father Lenehan, of Sioux City.
This was the commencement of the Sibley parish and the St. Andrew's
Roman Catholic Church. The parish was first served by priests from Sioux
City, Le Mars and Sheldon. In 1883, the congregation bought the old
Sibley schoolhouse for church purposes, but in 1897 erected a house of
worship and purchased cemetery grounds.
In 1880, the part of the congregation residing in the Ashton
neighborhood consisting of German Catholic families had greatly
increased in numbers, and decided to form a separate organization. In
September of that year a meeting was held to decide upon a location for
a church building. The Sioux City & St. Paul Railroad Company had
offered to donate five acres of land if the Catholics would build the
church near the Ashton station, but John Streit donated the same amount
of land from his farm, two and a half miles from the station, but nearer
to the center of the settlement. Mr. Streit's offer was accepted, and in
September, 1880, Rev. Father Lynch, resident priest at Sheldon,
celebrated mass in Mr. Streit's house. In March of the following year,
Rev. Father Lynch said mass for the first time in the new but
un-plastered little church, representing the parish of Our Lady of
Perpetual Help. The congregation did not grow much until church was
moved to the railroad station in 1885. Land was then bought for a parish
cemetery. The first resident priest was Rev. James McCormack, who came
in June, 1888, and in the following spring erected a substantial
building for a parochial school, which he placed in charge of the
Sisters of St. Francis. In October, 1893, a new and worthy house of
worship was erected, and five years later the growth of the parish and
consequent increase of child population made it necessary to have a
larger and more complete school building and an enlarged Sisters'
residence. These expansions and accommodations have made the Sibley
congregations secondary to the church in Ashton.
OTHER CHURCHES AT SIBLEY
In the fall of the year that the
Methodists organized their first class at Sibley (1872) the
Congregationalists organized a society in the public schoolhouse. Most
of its members lived east of Ocheyedan Creek. The home missionary on the
field and first pastor on the new church was Rev. Benjamin A. Dean. In
the year following the organization of the church it was admitted to
membership in the Sioux Association of Congregational Churches, a
district association of the State body. In 1875, the first meeting house
of the society was erected opposite the northeast corner of the
courthouse square - the building which was purchased by the German
Lutheran Church in 1896. In the latter year, the Congregationalists
built their larger church, one of the features of which is a fine
memorial window placed in honor of Mrs. Ellen P. Dean, wife of the first
pastor, both of whom did so much to establish the organization. The
first Congregational Church of Sibley is one of the strongest religious
bodies in Osceola County.
The German Lutheran Church of Sibley is a flourishing organization and
its pastor also serves congregations at Harris and in Viols Township.
The Baptists have also supported a church since 1974; and there is a
German Presbyterian Church, which dates fro 1895.
Besides the Catholic Church of Ashton, the Methodists have been well
organized since 1882. Ocheyedan, in the northern part of the county, is
the center of quite a religious field, represented by the Methodist
Episcopal Church, which has been in existence since 1872 and owes it to
Rev. John Webb, the first Methodist minister of Sibley; the
Congregational Church, organized in 1888, and the St. Peters Evangelical
Lutheran Church, established in 1901.
The first German Lutherans of Horton Township came into Osceola County
from Will County, Illinois, in 1883, and in 1887 organized a church
known as the Evangelical Lutheran Church. About 1896, some Presbyterian
Germans in West Holman Township, a few miles west of Sibley, organized
Hope Church, and in 1899 the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Harris
was dedicated by Rev. Dr. Wilson S. Lewis (afterward Bishop Lewis).
These are three representative churches of rural districts.
Source: History of Northwestern Iowa,
Its History and Traditions 1804--1926;
by Arthur F. Allen;
Volume I; Chapter 16; Pages 553-557
Transcribed by Kevin Tadd
