An Historical Sketch of Chester
Township, Poweshiek County, Iowa,
Read at the Quarter-Centennial, July 4, 1881,
by G. H. White.
GRINNELL, IOWA:
CRAVATH & SHAW,
STEAM PRINTERS.
1881
[p. 1, Title page, un-numbered in original]
[p. 2, blank, un-numbered in original]
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The year 1881 being the twenty-fifth year of the settlement of
CHESTER TOWNSHIP, Poweshiek County, Iowa, its citizens observed the
Fourth of July as a Quarter-Centennial. The place of meeting was
Henry Sherman's grove. The day was charming. Large numbers were
present, including many from Grinnell. Charles Fisher, one of the
Trustees of the Township, presided, and Thomas Fuller, the Clerk of
the Township, acted as Secretary. After prayer by Rev. D. B.
Davidson, Mr. Fisher, in a few fitting words, welcomed the people to
Chester. Miss Fanny H. Sherman, the oldest living person born in the
township, read the Declaration of Independence. An Historical Sketch
of the Township was read by Rev. G. H. White, and brief addresses
were made by Rev. J. G. Barton, Rev. D. B. Davidson, and D. F. Hays.
The exercises were enlivened by music by the Chester Band, a medley
by a male quartette, and "old-time music" on the violin by C. Skiff,
and on the fife by J. Holmes. A most sumptuous dinner, such as the
Chester ladies know so well how to prepare, was then served. The one
only drawback to the pleasure of the day was the thought of our
honored President, stricken down by the hand of the assassin. In
order to place on record facts, the memory of which would otherwise
soon fade out, the following sketch is printed.
[p. 3, un-numbered in original]
LETTER FROM HON. J. B. GRINNELL.
GRINNELL, IOWA, July 5th, 1881.
REV. G. H. WHITE, CHESTER: |
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My Dear Sir: — You know why I could not be at your
Quarter-Centennial Celebration. It was a sad day, and on any other
occasion I could have added little to your history — so true, in
fine taste, and with elegant delineation. CHESTER forever! The
township where the lamented Horace Greeley found the wide
corn-fields, yielding one hundred bushels to the acre; noted for
good roads, and live farmers, and intelligent stock-raisers;
sagacious in keeping out of courts of law, and with no saloons, no
candidates for jail or poor-house. You are giving a larger per cent.
of your youth a college education than any town in Iowa, and enjoy
like pre-eminence in churchgoing and benevolent contributions; with
many other solid but modest virtues, which give you rank as the
model and eminent rural town of this proud commonwealth.
Yours,
J. B. Grinnell.
[p. 4,
un-numbered in original]
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CHESTER TOWNSHIP. |
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Twenty-six years ago to-day, when the pealing of bells and the
booming of cannon ushered in the Fourth of July, 1855, this township
of Chester was unknown. Not a tree had been planted, not a rod of
fence had been built, not a road laid out. There was simply the
rolling prairie, on which, year by year, the flowers bloomed and
faded, the grass waved and withered, and the birds sang, as they had
for a thousand years before. But that summer the extension of the
Rock Island Railroad into Iowa gave a new impulse to immigration,
and the busy, enterprising hand of man was laid on the prairies of
Chester. The sod was turned, and corn rustled and grain waved where
before had grown only the rank grass. Houses were erected, roads
laid out, bridges built, groves planted, school-houses and churches
put up, and now, after the elapse of twenty-five years, here we are
to-day in this beautiful grove, to acknowledge the good hand of our
God upon us. Certainly it is very fitting, at the end of a quarter
of a century, that we assemble on this anniversary day, and trace
the way by which God hath led us.
In the autumn of 1854, William Sherman and Stillman Stockwell, both
formerly of Croydon, New Hampshire, but then residing in Lyons,
Iowa, were called upon by their friend, the Rev. Job Cushman, who
spoke in glowing terms of the beautiful prairies lying north of the
new town of Grinnell, and on Mr. Cushman's representations they
purchased eight hundred acres in what is now Chester Township. In
December, 1854, Mr. Sherman came to inspect the land he had
purchased, and was so pleased with the situation that he purchased a
thousand acres more, and made arrangements with Henry Lawrence,
Esq., of Grinnell, to have a few acres broken. The following spring,
that is, in the spring of 1855, Mr. Lawrence had ten acres of land
broken. This breaking was a little south of where Jason Sherman's
house now stands. The work was done by W. L. Carleton, a Campbellite
minister. Mr. Jehu Hayes, now of Rockwell, in Calhoun County, about
the same time turned a few furrows for planting locust trees, both
on his own quarter and on the quarter west of Jason Sherman's home
quarter, then owned by a Mr. Thomas, now residing in Newton. The
same spring Mr. Lawrence had a shanty, sixteen by eighteen feet, put
up for the breakers to live in. This was the first house put up in
Chester of which we have any certain knowledge, and is now used by
Mr. Sherman as a granary. There is a tradition, also, that in a
little grove a short distance below the Seymore Grove, the early
settlers found the remains of a cabin which once had been used by
counterfeiters; but of this we have no certain information.
In the summer of 1856, that is, twenty-five years ago this summer,
Mr. Sherman's shanty was occupied by two men named Atwood and Rich,
of Cape Cod, Mass., and familiarly known as "the Cape Cod boys."
They raised the first crop of corn ever raised in Chester, on the
aforesaid ten acres of Mr. Sherman's. These Cape Cod boys brought
with them water-lily bulbs and 1 pine seed from the Cape; and the
beautiful water-lilies now growing in Bear Creek, and the pine trees
on the premises of Henry and Jason Sherman and Albert Williams are
from the seed brought by them from Cape Cod. Atwood and Rich, in the
autumn of 1856, built a shanty near Mr. Bigelow's residence, but
after remaining in it a little while they returned east. In the
summer of 1856 a shanty was also put up on the Munson farm, then
owned by a military officer named Campbell, of Poughkeepsie, N. Y.,
and occupied till winter by George Farnham and his father and
mother. These were the first three shanties put up in Chester: Jason
Sherman's, in the spring of 1855; Mr. Campbell's, on the Munson
farm, in the summer of 1856, and the Cape Cod boys' shanty in the
autumn of 1856.
About Sept. 1, 1856, Jason W. Sherman and his wife moved into
Chester, and occupied the shanty before spoken of while building
their present home. That fall that little shanty teemed with life.
It contained Mr. and Mrs. Jason Sherman, Mr. and Mrs. Newton
Sherman, Henry Sherman, Harrison Wheelock, and at times two or three
visitors and workmen. And as into Paradise of old the serpent
entered, so into this little paradise the snakes would enter by
crawling through the floor, their glittering eyes peering over the
edge of the table, and anxiously inspecting the quality of the food
which these new comers to this prairie had brought. A little later
in the fall that shanty witnessed an experience of a different kind.
One November night a heavy snow storm fell, and the next morning
twelve baskets of snow were carried out before breakfast could be
prepared. The frame and common lumber of Mr. Sherman's house were
brought from Indian Town, but the doors, windows, nails and
finishing lumber were brought from Iowa City. The carpentering work
was done by H. W. Wheelock. That first winter Mr. Sherman's family
was the only family in the township.
May 18, 1857, Henry Sherman with his bride, fresh from the hills of
Newport, N. H., joined his brother, and began building his present
home. Much of its material was hauled from Iowa City. That summer
these two families, the only ones in the township, both occupied
Jason Sherman's house. Having with them a certain celebrated builder
named Kellogg, from Grinnell, engaged with his workmen in finishing
the house, the ladies did not wish that that first Fourth of July in
the township should pass unnoticed. So they procured large
quantities of roses and wild flowers, with which they adorned the
un-plastered walls, and prepared as good a dinner as the
conveniences of that early day would allow. But, much to their
regret, the carpenters were so anxious to spend the afternoon in
Grinnell that they hurriedly swallowed their dinner and started off,
without once acknowledging the elaborate decorations and sumptuous
viands, prepared for their benefit! Only another instance of woman's
unappreciated work!
In the spring of 1858, the infant settlement received a strong
acquisition in the persons of Joseph and John Hays with their
families, from Maryland. These two venerable men and their sister,
Aunt Betsey, now 81, are still with us. For many years may they be
yet spared to us. Their sons, Daniel F., and Joseph T., and Thomas,
and William M., and Joseph B., and their daughter, Mrs. S. G. Page,
have rendered invaluable service in every noble and praiseworthy
work. As far as we know Mr. John Hays was the first person, of those
now residing in the township, to visit these prairies. He was here
in the summer of 1854.
The year 1859 brought in Cornelius Skiff, Abram Hayes, Salvador
Hayes, Wilson Sherman, S. G. Page, and Samuel Hayes. The year 1860
brought in Charles and Edward Fisher, who settled first on what is
now known as the Carmichael farm. 1861 brought in John Lightner, and
1862 the Stockwells, and Albert Williams, and soon after came the
Wheelocks, the Rutherfords, the Rickards, the Fullers, the Shackleys
and Bigelows. In later years came the Parrishes, the Sanders Bros.,
A. R. Heald, Wm. Sherman, R. W. Clarke, who ever since have been
closely identified with the best interests of the township. Since
then, one by one, families have moved in, until now the entire
township is settled, and almost every acre of land is under
cultivation. The population — according to the last census — was
623.
Little do we, who have come in later, know of the privations and
toils those early settlers experienced; the long rides in blinding
snow storms, over pathless prairies, with no house within miles; the
plunging with loaded teams through creeks and sloughs; the fires
sweeping across the prairies, threatening to burn up the little home
and its surroundings; the wearing loneliness, consequent upon the
isolated life on the prairies, loneliness sometimes deep-
ened into fear by the howling of the wolves around the house; the
long weeks of wasting sickness, far away from the loved and dear;
the dying hour of the wife or little child, and the tearful burial
upon the lonely prairie. We who have come later can never know of
those privations. And, herein is that saying true, "One soweth and
another reapeth," others have labored and we are entered into their
labors.
One of those early incidents might be called Chester's first
experience with the tramp. In the spring of '58, Mrs. Jason Sherman
was spending the day with Mrs. Henry Sherman, their husbands having
gone some miles to work. They observed a man with a club in his
hands coming toward the house. He was an Irishman, and of a powerful
frame. The ladies hurriedly bolted the doors and windows, and
retreated upstairs. The man shook the doors and windows violently,
endeavoring to force an entrance but failed. He then braced himself
against a window, trying to break it in, when Mrs. Henry Sherman
appeared at the window with a loaded gun, and told him if he did not
desist she would shoot. The man dropped on his knees in mortal
terror, crossing himself and calling upon the saints and virgin, and
pleading for mercy. He said he was hungry and wanted bread. Mrs.
Sherman, with the gun in one hand, and a loaf in the other, went
out, compelled him to sit down on a bench while he ate the bread,
and then to go away. So unruly, however, was the man afterwards,
that he was whipped out of the township by Jason Sherman.
The township was formally organized Oct. 22. 1860, and the first
election held in the house of Henry Sherman. Thirteen persons
exercised the right of franchise at that election, viz: J. Hays, D.
F. Hays, J. A. Hays, J. T. Hays W. M. Hays, Samuel Hays, Abram W.
Hays, S. G. Page, J. W. Sherman, Henry Sherman, Wilson Sherman,
Cornelius Skiff and H. P. Strain. Cornelius Skiff was elected the
first Township Clerk, W. M. Hays, Assessor, and Wilson Sherman, D.
F. Hays, and J. Hays, Trustees.
The Township was named Chester, after Chester, Vermont, the home of
the Fisher Brothers. The name Chester comes from an old Latin word
signifying a camp. When the Romans conquered England, they built a
very strong citadel thirteen miles from Liverpool, and called it "Devana
Castra." The Saxons called it "Caestre," and afterwards "Chester."
It is one of the most celebrated places in England, and probably
from it descended the name of all the modern Chesters. In the
Anglo-Saxon language Chester signified a city; so in the strict
meaning of the word, all our township is a city.
In the fall of 1860 nearly the entire population of the township
rode in a large wagon to Toledo, to hear Gov. Kirkwood speak. The
flag which floated over them that autumn day, like our glorious
Union, is still preserved, and after twenty years, is floating over
us to-day.
The first child born in the township was Sarah Francella Sherman, a
daughter of Jason W. Sherman, and was born Nov. 19th, 1857. She
lived about six years. The oldest living person born in the township
is Miss Fanny Sherman, a daughter of Henry Sherman, born June 10th,
18o9. The first male child born in the township is Milton Skiff,
born Oct. 22, 1859. The youngest child, at the expiration of this
quarter of a century, we believe is Maud Sellers.
The first death in the township was that of Miss Deborah Hays, a
young lady twenty-two years of age, and a daughter of Joseph Hays.
She died Dec. 2, 1859, of cerebral spinal meningitis, and was buried
in Grinnell. The first burial in the cemetery was that of Harry
Stockwell, a son, of B. F. Stockwell, aged four years, who was run
over by a loaded wagon. He died Sept. 9th, 1864. The same week two
other children died and were buried—in the cemetery—viz. Sept. 14,
Willie Fisher, a son of Charles Fisher, aged four months, and Sept.
15, Elmer Sherman, a son of Henry Sherman, aged two years.
The number of graves now in the cemetery is about seventy, mostly of
women and children. It is a remarkable fact that during the first
sixteen years of the township, only one man died, and he was an
invalid, who came to visit his brother and died while in the
township. Such another instance can hardly be found in the land; a
township settled for sixteen years, and not a young man nor an old
man dying in all these years. Elmer Potter, a young man of some
promise, was drowned while bathing in Bear Creek, July 1876.
The first marriage was that of Mr. Frank Burleigh and Miss Mary
Thompson, Nov., '63, at the residence of Wm. Thompson. Jehu A. Hayes
and Miss Caroline Maltbie, then residents of the township, were
married in September previous; but as they went to Grinnell and were
married by Rev. L. C. Rouse, they failed of having the first wedding
in the township. The first school in the township was taught by Miss
Jennie Howard, in the spring of '62, in a house built by Sam'l Hays,
but then unoccupied. This house stood about 40 rods, directly north
of the north-east corner of Henry Sherman's farm—some forty rods
south of Abner Wood's house. Some of the scholars in that first
school were Frances Williams, now Mrs. W. M. Hays; Mary Hays, now
Mrs. Salvador Hays of Nebraska; Thomas Hays; Joseph B. Hays; Belle,
Nellie and Frank Skiff; Eddie Sherman and two Holliday children.
The first school-house, now known as No. 2, was built in the summer
of 1862. The township now contains nine school-houses; and about
twenty-five hundred dollars per year is expended on the schools.
The first religious service held in the township was at the house of
J. W. Sherman, July 18, 1858, when the Rev. Job Cushman preached to
an audience of fifteen persons. In the summer of '62 a Sunday school
and Prayer Meeting were organized in the Samuel Hays house, and on
the erection of the first school-house the Sunday school and Prayer
Meetings were transferred there.
The numbers and interest increasing, the services of L. J. Rouse, of
Grinnell, were secured, and he preached during the summers of '63—4.
June 15, 1865, the first Congregational Church was organized with
sixteen members, Pres. Magoun preaching the sermon. Prof. Buck was
then employed to preach, and the congregation outgrowing the limits
of the school-house, the present Congregational Church edifice was
erected in 1868, at a cost of three thousand dollars.
The ministers of this Church have been Prof. S. J. Buck, Prof. C. W.
Clapp, Pres. G. F. Magoun, and G. H. White. The present membership
is about one hundred and fifty. The Sabbath School averages an
attendance of one hundred. W. J. Rutherford is the present
Superintendent. A Parsonage was put up adjacent to the Church
building in 1874, at a cost of $1,500.00, and furnishes an excellent
residence for the Pastor.
The M. E. Church was organized March 18, 1867, by Rev. D. Murphy, of
Grinnell. For some years the services were held in the school-house
and private dwellings, but in 1874 their present edifice was erected
at a cost of $3,400.00. Its pastors have been Revs. Dennis Murphy,
J. D. De Tarr, Dr. L. N. Busby, James M. Coates, J. E. Corley, W. H.
Honn, E. P. Michener, J. W. Robinson, J. B. Brown, E. L. Briggs, O.
Cessna, W. F. Cowles, R. Neilson, S. R. Ferguson, and J. G. Barton.
The Sabbath School averages an attendance of 75 scholars. J. W.
Harpster is Superintendent.
The Chester Library Association was organized in February, 1877, and
contains one hundred and sixty standard volumes. Two Post offices
exist in the township - "Chester Center". established in '77, and of
which C. B. Smith has been Postmaster since its organization, and
"Sonora", founded in 1878, of which I. T. James is Postmaster. There
is also one store and one Cheese Factory, both under the care of C.
B. Smith.
About 40,000 pounds of cheese are made annually, of a deservedly
high reputation. On the breaking out of the Rebellion, in 1861,
Chester was thoroughly loyal to the Union, and great interest was
felt in the success of the Union arms. Out of the families then in
the township—numbering hardly over a dozen-eleven men enlisted, viz:
W. M. Hayes, Walter P. Blanchard, Hugh P. Strain, Adam Spade,
Salvador Hays, Edward Fisher, Daniel F. Hays, Leonard Wilmouth, S.
C. Carter, Samuel Thompson, and W. R. Look.
Arthur Manfield of Highland Township was also employed by this
township as a substitute. These eleven men from Chester rendered
very efficient service in the war for the Union. W. M. Hayes,
Blanchard, Spade, and Wilmouth were in the service, each nearly four
years, and did not leave it till the war was ended. W. M. Hayes was
in nineteen battles and twenty-one skirmishes, and did not receive a
scratch. Edward Fisher's death was undoubtedly hastened by the
injury his constitution received in the cavalry. Samuel Thompson
died in the service, and lies buried near Gravelly Springs. Ala. D.
F. Hays was in the army two years and nine months. Eighteen years
ago to-day, when the 4th of July. 1803, was celebrated by Vicksburg
surrendering to Gen. Grant, and when the shout of victory — a shout
like the roar of many waters — went up from 100,000 men, C. B.
Smith, D. F. Hays, and W. M. Hays, of Chester, joined in that shout.
The following persons, now residents of Chester, were also in the
army: H. T. Wheelock, A. J. Morford, W. C. Hafkey, C. B. Smith,
Holmes C. Lord, T. Fuller, R. Wescoe, R. Marsh, Howard Morris, A.
Armstrong, Henry Schraeder, Leroy Forehand, W. J. Rutherford and J.
B. Hanson.
At the time of the celebrated "Blue Point War," below Grinnell, but
one man remained in the township. This sketch would not be complete
without a remembrance of the departed, some of whom rendered such
efficient service in the early days of the township. Among these are
Mrs. Angenette Sherman, wife of Jason W. Sherman; Mrs. Sophronia A.
Sherman, wife of Wilson Sherman; Mrs. Sarah Hays, Mrs. C. Skiff,
Edward Fisher, Mrs. William Thompson, Mrs. Mahala Sherman, Alvin
Rickard, Mrs. Frank Burleigh, Mrs. E. Cocking, Mr. and Mrs. Clay,
Mr. Edelblute, Mr. Johnston, and Mr. Childs.
Over their graves, on this anniversary day, we drop the tears of
affection, and wreathe afresh their tombs with the flowers of our
loving remembrance. And so, after twenty-five years of toil, here we
are to-day to thank God for the kind hand with which He has blessed
Chester. Truly, He has given to us a goodly heritage. And as we look
to-day upon these fertile farms, these pleasant homes, these
beautiful groves, these school-houses and churches, this happy
people, ought we not to sing, "Praise God, from whom all Blessings
flow?"
There is hardly a township in the State with a better soil, with a
more healthful climate, with better farms, or a better people. I
have never lived in a community where there was so little of evil as
in Chester. True, we cannot boast of a College, but we have twenty
young men and young women who are making their way through college,
and who rank high in their classes, and who were long will be heard
from on the great field of life. One of our numbers, Prof. Charles
Davidson, is the founder and Principal of Minneapolis Academy, an
institution which has already gained an acknowledged place in that
city; and one member of the Congregational Church, Miss Mary
Pinkerton, has been laboring for seven years as a missionary in
Southern Africa.
True, we have no Bank to boast of, but we have an untold amount of
greenbacks — in the greenbacks of God's bank; in the greensward and
growing grain and corn on twenty-two thousand acres. True, we have
neither Lawyer nor Physician, and we can also gratefully add we have
no saloon and no drunkard in Chester. Our people are all engaged in
a vocation that will be needed as long as the earth stands. When
that golden age comes, of which prophets have spoken and poets sung,
there will be no longer any need of lawyers, for everyone will do
right. There may be no need of physicians, for all will obey the
laws of nature. There may possibly be no need of teachers and
preachers, for all will know the Lord.
But while the world stands there will be need of the tiller of the
soil — of the sturdy, honest farmer, to raise the wheat and corn for
the sustenance of human life. And that Chester is not remiss in
this, we may state that in the year 1879 she produced 259,295
bushels of corn, 58,716 bushels of oats, 17,162 bushels of wheat,
39,000 pounds of butter, 6.238 head of swine, while 650 head of
horses performed the farm work, and 812 cows furnished milk. Her
Holstein and Short-Horned cattle are known all over Central Iowa,
and her fatted cattle attract attention in the Chicago markets.
And so at the end of our First Quarter of a Century, thankfully we
raise here to-day our Ebenezer, saying, "Hitherto hath the Lord
helped us." But when the next quarter of a century has rolled
around, and Chester celebrates her jubilee, how many of us here
to-day will then be absent. Some of us perhaps in other places, some
in that city whose builder and maker is God. Said an Iowa statesman
at the Centennial, "But while America exhibits to the Monarchies of
the old world her stately jewels, she points with pride and says
this, the center of ray diadem, is Iowa." And may we add, while Iowa
exhibits to her sister states her children, may she never blush to
say, this, one of my noblest and truest, is Chester.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Bar code
016 086 464 3
Author: White, G. H. [from old catalog]
Publisher: Cravath & Shaw, Steam Printers, Grinnell, lowa; 1881
Possible copyright status: NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT
Language: English
Call number: 9595514
Digitizing sponsor: Sloan Foundation
Book contributor: The Library of Congress
Collection: library_of_congress; americana
Notes: no TOC page
Transcribed by Cherie J. McNaul, 25 Dec. 2010
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