Home - Table of Contents - Next Chapter
Home - Table of Contents - Next
Chapter
Social life in the English colony does not seem to have suffered seriously from the fact that its participants, trained in the best traditions of England, had been transplanted to a frontier country. Their workaday duties as farmers and business men did not prevent them, however widely scattered throughout several counties, from continuing the customs and habits so thoroughly acquired in Old England. Although they never attained any startling numerical strength as compared with their American neighbors, the English made their presence felt in no uncertain way. Those who cut themselves off from their countrymen in northwestern Iowa must have felt like exiles among strangers and life to them must have lacked the sunshine of sociability: they could not enjoy the priceless advantage of being among people of their own tastes and home associations. It is well known how young Englishmen have adapted themselves to all sorts of conditions in every part of the world; but whether they maintained their reputation in that respect in Iowa there are at least some reasons to doubt.
One of the most flourishing social institutions of the city of Le Mars for many, years was the Prairie Club founded by Englishmen shortly before New Year's, 1881, at Captain Moreton's Dromore Farm. Present at the first meeting were M. J. Chapman, A. Ronaldson, H. J. Moreton, Arthur Gee, A. R. T. Dent, Lord Hobart, Captain Moreton, Captain F. R. Robinson, H. A. and J. G. Watson, A. C. Colledge, J. H. Preston, F. R. Price, G. C. Maclagan, W. Stubbs, T. Dealtry, M. B. Dodsworth, C. Eller, and O. T. Raymond. Elegant rooms in the business block built by Frank C. Cobden, an Englishman of means, became the club's home on December 17, 1881, its inauguration being marked by a conversazione to which a number of friends received special invitations. Shortly after prohibition went into effect in 1882 the club rooms underwent improvements that added "vastly to their elegant appearance and not a little to their convenience". According to a contemporaneous account of the event:
This club is composed entirely of English residents who have thus banded together for mutual pleasure and profit and in the arrangement and decoration of their apartments have spared no expense. The apartments of the club consist in all of five large rooms, the parlors and writing rooms being particularly noticeable for their beautiful furniture and fine finish. In the first of these rooms is a fine billiard table of the latest improved manufacture, elegantly upholstered easy chairs, sofas, etc. In the room just back of this and into which it opens through large folding doors is another room corresponding in size and finish with the first. Here are books, magazines, papers, etc. This room is also supplied with tables, easy chairs and lamps and affords a very pleasant place in which to while away an hour or two. Directly back of this room is a smaller room very finely finished and furnished with writing desks and writing material. The sample or refreshment room is located just at the right of the main entrance and is supplied almost exclusively with imported goods. The sleeping apartments are just across the hall from the refreshment room and are very neatly furnished. All have been arranged with an eye to comfort as well as beauty and are under the management of some of the leading English residents. At present, we learn, the club has about forty-five members and is in a very flourishing condition both socially and financially. (271)
A special event in the early history of the club was the entertainment contributed by the Prairie Minstrels, an organization of the younger members whose musical talent simply had to find expression: H. Ri.ckards, piano; C. H. Eccles, flute; F. E. Romanes, violin; B. H. Thomson., violincello; W. H. Stevens, banjo; James Douglas, drum; Jack Walkinshaw, bones; J. H. Grayson, triangle; C. E. Dacres, tamborine; F. Horsburgh, A. W. Maitland, D. Hewett, E. F. Robertson, F. R. Price, and Richard Walker, voice.
After some rehearsing, the Prairie Minstrels emerged "in all the glory of burnt cork and collars a yard long", played to the Prairie Club and then to the public in Apollo Hall, and later showered their melody on neighboring towns. At a later date the English boys were declared a success also as "Home Minstrels". As the Le Mars Dramatic Company they appeared at Sheldon and Sibley where their English friends banqueted them royally. (272)
The Prairie Club became well-known to Americans for its courtesy and hospitality. Its social evenings and other gatherings attained wide popularity among those who were so fortunate as to be invited. Every year, on the anniversary of the club's founding, each member invited an American as guest for the birthday celebration. In recognition of these repeated courtesies, Americans in 1885 tendered their English hosts a dinner-dance at the Le Mars hotel. The remarks made by Colonel Emery in his address to the gentlemen of the club and their response as publicly reported are worthy of repetition here:
You came among us when the grasshopper was a burden, when the outlook for this beautiful northwest was anything but flattering, but bringing with you financial ability and social worth and putting these factors into immediate and effective use, you were instrumental largely in saving us from financial embarrassment, and forming a social attachment unsullied. You have also manifested your social ability by throwing open the doors of your club parlors to our citizens, and giving us delightful entertainment and social intercourse, and to more fully reciprocate your kindness, your American friends of Le Mars have tendered this social reception and trust that it may be an oasis in the memory of all. Allow me, Mr. President, to present to you this banner in behalf of your American friends, and as it decorates the walls of your club room with its letters of gold and appearance of beauty may the golden chord of friendship encircle us for time infinitum.
Mr. Garnett, vice-president of the Prairie club, in the absence of President Eccles, accepted the banner, in a few well chosen words in substance as follows That it afforded him great pleasure in behalf of his club to accept this emblem of friendship from American friends; that this elegant reception and musical and social entertainment could only more closely cement the tie of friendship, which already existed; that his people have no reason to regret coming here, and as this was to be the future home of many of them the evening's manifestation of good feeling could only tend to bring the people of the two lands nearer together; and that the occasion would be long remembered and his trust was that the future might be as fruitful of pleasures as the present and the past. He spoke with much feeling and closed with a proposal of three cheers for the American friends. Mr. Chapman proposed three cheers for the ladies and Col. Emery suggested that all unite in three cheers for the old and new country. The thunders that followed made numerous and sundry of the regular guests of the hotel to turn over in their beds and wonder if it was a baby cyclone or a London edition of dynamiting. Many then departed for home, others repaired again to the dancing hall spending two hours or more in revelry of musical motion - and thus ended an event that makes a new era in the fellowship between England and America in Le Mars. (273)
Down to the year 1892 the Prairie Club admitted to membership only those who were or had been British subjects, the entrance fee being $25 and annual dues about as much more. As the club's numbers dwindled, it was decided to admit Americans as "sustaining members": (274) the latter have in fact enabled the organization to survive until to-day, but with prohibition in force the club is not what it was in the olden days.
From the beginning of the English settlement dancing parties were a frequent feature of the social life. The Closes and their friends enjoyed the ball room at Le Mars, especially in the winter months of 1880. On one occasion the Closes chartered an engine and coach to convey from Sioux City certain guests invited to a festival at the Albion House. Nor were masquerades uncommon. As a charming close to the Le Mars Races in June, 1881, the Close brothers gave a "Soiree Dansante" to visiting friends. A news item of the day told of the event as follows:
The invited guests gathered in the brilliantly lighted room, the north wall of which was draped with American and English flags. In the southeast corner a boudoir was extemporized, in which a fine collation was served. About sixty couples were present, among whom we noticed, besides the English ladies and gentlemen, W. H. Dent and wife, P. F. Dalton and wife, Miss Jennie Buchanan - all of Lemars. From Sioux City we noted Judge Allison, wife and daughters, Fannie and Hattie; Miss Goewey; Miss Pease; Miss Davis; Miss Cornish; Miss Weare; S. M. Marsh; J. H. Bolton; A. J. Moore; F. D. Peters; C. M. Swan; W. H. Beck; and Ehla Allen of St. Paul. Music was furnished by the Sioux City Quadrille Band. The gentlemen were dressed in the most approved style prevailing at English evening parties, and the ladies wore the rich and varied toilets, it is their privilege to assume. The dance was entered into with spirit, and at an early hour the party broke up, with a lively sense of the generosity and urbanity of their hosts. (275)
The Le Mars Jockey Club very frequently ended an exciting day of races in June or October with a grand race ball.
Sometimes the colonists came from the four corners to picnic together. Thus, one day in July a merry cavalcade led by a four-in-hand drove north down Main Street, "Jack Wakefield winding the horn and waking the echoes in old English style", all seeking the cool shades of Payne's grove. Mr. and Mrs. A. Ronaldson, as host and hostess, were ably assisted by the Eller brothers; "and never did the festal bowers of this popular picnic ground witness a jollier gathering." Besides those mentioned there were present the Morgans, Hirsts, Chapmans, Humbles, Bensons, and the Messrs. F. B. Close, Christian, Desmoulins, Ewen, Farquhar, Gaskell, Grayson, Grouse, Maclagan, Paley, Rickards, Romanes, Wakefield, Walker, Warren, Watson, and Wilde. "After the wants of the inner man had been supplied, the woods became vocal with the songs of merrie England, and in the lull of lively carols reminiscences of the tight little Isle were indulged in, and memories of happy gatherings were recalled."
Quite extraordinary was the amount of traveling back and forth between England and the Le Mars colony. William B. Close and his bride journeyed to the former's old home on business and pleasure bent. Jack Wakefield always returned "hale, hearty and happy as of yore", though his friends feared once that his vessel had gone down. John Hopkinson also found time one winter to visit old scenes. A delegation of healthy, substantial, well-to-do looking English settlers from Tete des Morts, Canada, came to look at the colony in March, 1881. Two brothers came to see John Milne of the Hawks Nest, and Captain Sturgess also visited his friends. Accompanying Mr. Sykes who left Manchester to inspect his holdings in Lyon County in the spring of 1881, John Brooks Close called upon his brothers at Le Mars.
In April almost every year Admiral Farquhar of Her Majesty's Navy journeyed to visit his daughter and six sons Albert, Joseph, Mowbray, Will, Charles, and James on his farm; and Captain Moreton, also formerly in the Royal Navy, entertained for him. Adair Colpoys, while on a visit to his old friend Herbert Cope with whom he had spent years in the Far East, decided to make his home in Le Mars. On their American tour Lord and Lady Harris included the colony where her brothers, the Jervis boys, were pupils of Captain Moreton. Great was the disappointment when the Duke of Sutherland passed through Le Mars without stopping to call upon his fellow countrymen. Lord Carlin, however, did better; and the Earl of Dunmore promised to look over the country before going extensively into the stock business. During her stay Lady Howard addressed the people of the Congregational Church. Lord Hobart, "a real live scion of the English nobility", after a few years' residence at Le Mars, left in 1885 to enter the British army for service in the Soudan, a large number of friends bidding him farewell. (276)
At various times visits were paid to the mother country, England or Scotland, by such colonists as W. A. Paulton, G. C. Maclagan, H. Rickards, F. C. S. Dodsworth ("whose eccentricities, recklessness, and genial nature had made him a general favorite") , J. H. Grayson, H. J. M. Dalton, A. W. Maitland (another popular youth), J. C. Cooper, Charles Eller (returning with his sister), Henry and Reginald Moreton, and "four as good fellows as the English colony could boast", Fred Horsburgh, H. Hillyard, Major Brockbank, and Tom Dowglass. Some of these gentlemen returned with brides, others with friends to join the colony. At least one Englishman, Herbert Cope, "a very intelligent and practical agriculturist and shrewd business man", who went to England to look after his affairs there and in China, brought his family back to Le Mars a year later, having found the old world not so attractive as he anticipated.
Of visiting within the colony there was not a little. Percy Prescott "had a large gathering of the boys" at his home between Alton and Orange City in Sioux County; and the Close brothers after removing to Sibley and Pipestone sometimes came as the guests of their friends at Le Mars, as did other English people from those towns and Sioux City and Akron, although English residents in the latter place very early scattered to the four quarters of the globe. At one time many of the colonists journeyed to Sioux City to hear their countryman, Oscar Wilde, "the great aesthete".
Especially enjoyable was the journey of a delegation in 1881 to take Christmas dinner with a number of British brethren at Florence, Kansas after a sumptuous repast, including Budweiser and English bottled ale, came a toast to Queen Victoria and the national anthem, followed by toasts to "The President of the United States", "The Ladies", and "Absent Friends". Montague Chapman of Le Mars then "made a neat little speech stating that, while the colony at that place numbered about 600, and was probably the' strongest in the , United States, their organization or club of sixty members was far behind what he had seen here, and could not get up such a dinner as they had just enjoyed." Mr. Colledge, having received vociferous applause for his singing, rendered several encores. (277) A few days later the guests while touring New Mexico were made the theme of a newspaper story:
The Pacific express was detained in Raton several hours on Monday which gave us an, opportunity for making the acquaintance of a jolly party of Britishers, a delegation from the famous English colony at Lemars, Iowa. The delegation consisted of Mr. M. J. Chapman, Secretary of the Colony, and his wife; Messrs. H. A. Watson, A. C. Colledge, C. Eller, H. C. Christian, A. G. M. MacNair, and H. DePledge. These young gentlemen are representative men in the colony, which includes members of families of high social standing in England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. The colony numbers about six hundred at present, and comprises fine agricultural and stock farms, in the neighborhood of $3,000,000 capital having already been invested. The Lemars delegation was in charge of Mr. S. Nugent Townshend, correspondent of the London Field and President of the British Association of Kansas. Mr. Townshend was assisted by Mr. W. P. Denton-Cardew also of the British Association, who visited Raton a few weeks since. The party paid a visit to Santa Fe and passed east by Thursday's Atlantic express. All of the party have accepted an invitation to join a fishing expedition that will start out from Raton next summer on a three-weeks tour of Colfax county. (278)
Considering the large number of handsome young Englishmen in northwestern Iowa, it is not surprising that weddings sometimes occurred. The distinction of contracting the first marriage within the colony belongs to Montague J. Chapman and Aimee de Pledge: their honeymoon consisted of a trip to the Mardi Gras and a weary return through a real western snow blockade. The first colonist to select a wife, however, was no less than the founder of the colony, William B. Close. At New York City he married the lady of his choice, Mary Paullin, whose father, Daniel Paullin, had induced the Close brothers to invest in lands adjacent to Le Mars. (279)
William Edgecomb, who had secured a license to wed Mary Fowler upon arrival at New York and lost it, married the lady at his farm near Sergeant's Bluff. Charles Kay and Walter Abraham Paulton returned from England with brides; and W. B. Young took a bride at Alva, Scotland. Other notable marriages within the settlement were those of Andrew Dowglass, John Campbell, Frederick Kingsbury Veal, James Brough Warren, Randolph Payne, Alfred Robert Tighe Dent, and Hugh Lyon Playfair Chiene, the latter to Florence Emily Sugden. A most interesting and elaborate society event in the autumn of 1881 was the marriage of Fred Brooks Close to Margaret Humble, both English residents of Le Mars. A formal dance at Apollo Hall preceded the wedding ceremony at Grace Church: attending this festal gathering were the elite of the English colony, a few Le Mars and Sioux City citizens, and most distinguished of all, John Walters, member of Parliament and proprietor of the London Times, who happened to be in the city on his tour of the United States, accompanied by his daughter. The popular bride and groom banqueted their guests at the Albion House, were showered with expensive wedding gifts, and later departed for a seven months' honeymoon in England, France, and other continental countries. (280)
But death came occasionally to interrupt the routine of workaday life and to mar the gaiety of social intercourse among the English colonists. When President Garfield died from the effects of an assassin's bullet, Englishmen at Le Mars quickly responded in the hour of the nation's sorrow by holding impressive memorial services. With the Union Jack draped beneath the portrait of the martyr president, Rev. Cunningham and Captain Moreton addressed a meeting of their friends and many of them penned a letter of sympathy to the grief-stricken widow. (281)
Nor did the Grim Reaper fail to take toll among the colonists themselves during the early years - especially in the winter months. At Albion House died John S. Grundy, but lately arrived from England; while pneumonia took the life of Hugh, aged twenty-three, eldest son of Sir Edward Hornby of Sussex. About the same time Ernest Taylor and Herbert Dalton, aged thirty-one, succumbed to diphtheria. News of the accidental death of Hugh Watson while hunting in Scotland spread deepest gloom among the many friends who were expecting to welcome him back to the ranch which he and his brother owned in the vicinity of the Big Sioux River.
If English settlers entertained any doubt about the uncertainty of life, the month of March, 1883, must have dispelled the last trace: the passing of Mrs. G. C. Maclagan and of Walter, son of General Lockhart of British India, due to consumption, occurred almost contemporaneously with the suicide of Basil Dempsey, a pleasant, good-natured, well-to-do young man who had just returned to his farm from a trip to Texas. Particularly shocking among the younger set was the end of Alexander W. Dunwaters, not yet aged twenty-one and once a farm pupil of Captain Moreton he had left a wealthy mother in England to visit and to hunt with his friends in Iowa; but after a short struggle with pneumonia he succumbed, and sorrowing countrymen laid him in the grave. (282)
Sad, too, were the tidings when a friend or relative passed away in the old home thousands of miles away. A telegram received at the Prairie Club told of the death of William E. Gladstone. Charles Dacres mourned the loss of his aged father, Admiral Sir Sydney Colpoys Dacres; and a brother grieved over the untimely end of Lord St. Vincent on the field of battle in the Soudan.
If any member of the English colony in the early years had the fortune to become a peer of the British realm, a vigilant press at Le Mars failed to record the fact; and when in a burst of enthusiasm a newspaper announced that the Hon. Henry Frank Sugden of Arlington Township, Woodbury County ("Old Sug" as the colonists familiarly called him), had just succeeded to the barony of St. Leonard, by the death of his brother, Mrs. Sugden entered a prompt, if not vigorous, denial. (283)
Home - Table of Contents - Next Chapter
271 Freeman's History of Plymouth County, Iowa, Vol. I, pp. 431, 432. The Minute Book of the Prairie Club, which still has rooms but not much support, is in possession of Mr. Adair Colpoys - minutes of the Organization meeting are not recorded. See also The Lemars Sentinel, February 10, December 15, 22, 1881, August 24, 1882.
272 The Lemars Sentinel, January 25, 1883, January 18, 1884, June 5, 1885.
273 The Lemars Sentinel, January 22, 29, 1884, January 13, February 6, 1885.
274 Minute Book of the Prairie Club, p. 71. During the first twelve years of the club's existence, the treasurer's book contains the names of nearly three hundred Britishers. The complete list deserves a place here
ABBOT, F. W.
ALDERSEY, T.
ALLAN, W. T. B.
ALLEN, C. T. R.
ALLEN, E. T.
ANDREW, O.
ANSON, O. H.
ANSON, J. O.
ASHTON, J. D. W.
AUBERTIN, J. D.
BAKER, F. P.
BANKS, R. F.
BARCHARD, H. S.
BATHER, G. G.
BENECKE, W. E. T.
BENSON, C. F.
BENSON, C. W.
BIDGOOD, H. W.
BLACKWELL, J. H.
BLACKWELL, W. F.
BLOMEFIELD, M.
BRIGGS, H. E.
BRIGGS, W. C.
BRISTOWE, L. H.
BROCKBANK, J. C.
BRODIE, F. G.
BRODIE, M. F.
BUCKLAND, J. B.
BURNSIDE, E. F.
BURTON, A. G. T.
CAMPBELL, W. M. O.
CARMICHAEL, J. M. G.
CARTER, H. E.
CARVER, F.
CHAMBERLIN, R. F.
CHAPMAN, M. J.
CHRISTIAN, H. C.
CLARKE, G. A. C.
CLARKSON, A.
CLIFTON, W. H.
CLOSE, F.
CLOSE, J.
CLOSE, J. H.
CLOSE, W.
CLOWES, S.
CLOWES, W. L.
COBBE, L. C.
COKE, R. G.
COLEBANK, S.
COLLEDGE, A. C.
COLLEDGE, A. J.
COLLINS, J. VICTOR
COLLINS, L. H.
COLPOYS, A. G.
COLSTON, A. V.
COOPER, J. C.
CORBETT, H. E.
COURAGE, H. M.
COWAN, J. I.
COWAN, W. B.
CRAWLEY, E. M.
CROFT, G. B.
CUMBERHATCH, L. T.
CUNNINGHAM, H. N.
DACRES, C.
DAWSON, S. B. M.
DAWSON, W. B.
DE MOLEYNS, E.
DE PLEDGE, H.
DEALTRY, T.
DENT, A. R. T.
DODSWORTH, F. C. S.
DODSWORTH, M. B.
DOUGLAS, J.
DOWGLASS, T.
DOWNING, G. C.
DRAKE, H.
DUFF, W. G.
DUNCAN, C. M.
DUNWATERS, A. G.
ECCLES, C. H.
ECCLES, P. C.
EDGELL, W. F.
ELLER, C.
ELLER, H.
ELLER, J.
ELLIOTT, GUY P.
ELLIOTT, N. L.
ELLIOTT, P. N.
EUSTACE, J. S.
EYKYN, F. B.
FAIRBAIRN, F. R.
FARQUHAR, ALBERT
FARQUHAR, CHARLES
FARQUHAR, JAS.
FARQUHAR, JOE
FARQUHAR, MOWBRAY
FARQUHAR, WILL R.
FENTON, JAMES
FENTON, R. O.
FFOULKES, S. W.
FIGGIS, W. W.
FLOWERS, C. A.
FULLBROOK, E. A.
FULLBROOK, R.
GARNETT, G.
GASKELL, S. W.
GEE, A.
GEOFFREY, R.
GIBSON, A. B. C.
GILMORE, WM. G.
GOLIGHTLY, C. H.
GRAHAM, R. G. M.
GRAYSON, J. H.
GREY, ALGERNON
GROUSE, R.
GUINNESS, C.
GUNNER, H. D.
HANBURY, H.
HANSON, S. G.
HARBORD, R. A.
HARPER, A. E.
HARRISON, R. W.
HARVEY, I. A.
HATHAWAY, H, P.
HAWTREY, G.
HEAP, S.
HEITLAND, A. R.
HENSLOW, G. G.
HILL, E. T.
HILL, R. G.
HILLYARD, H.
HOBART, LORD
HOPE, J. G.
HOPKINSON, J.
HORSBURGH, F.
HOTHAM, GEO.
HULBERT, W. G.
HURLE, J. C.
HYDE, E.
JAMESON, S. B.
JERVIS, C. L.
JERVIS, R. C.
JOHNSON, D. G.
KAY, CHAS.
KENNARD, R. B.
KING, E. W. G.
KIRWAN, G.
KIRWAN, L.
LANE, CHAS.
LANGDON, G. H.
LANGLEY, A.
LASCELLES, A. G.
LEYCESTER, L.
LITTLEDALE, E.
LOCKHART, W. C.
LONG, JOHN
LORD, A. H. M.
LUCAS, ADOLPHE
MACLAGAN, C. D.
MACLAGAN, G. C.
MACLAGAN, R. B.
MADDEN, J. B.
MAITLAND
MAITLAND, A. W.
MANSEL, H. G.
MARGESSON, H. P.
MARGESSON, M.
MARGESSON, R.
MARSH, PERCY
MASTER, A. C. C.
MEDD, W. H. B.
MILNE, S.
MONTGOMERY, R. H.
MORETON, CAPT. R
MORETON, F. J.
MORETON, H. J.
MORGAN, T.
MOWBRAY, A.
MYLIUS, C.
NASH, J. R.
NESFIELD, E.
NEWMAN, A.
NEWMARCH, L. A.
NICHOLSON, B.
NICHOLSON, R.
OLDFIELD, C. B.
ORDE, JULIAN W.
PAGET, A. H.
PALEY, F.
PARDOE, O. T.
PARKE, A.
PARKE, C.
PARKE, E. R.
PARKE, W.
PATTEN, H. S.
PAULTON, W.
PAULTON, W. A.
PAYNE, F.
PAYNE, R.
PAYNE, W. W. PAUL, H.
PHILSON, MR.
PIERCE, J. T.
POTTER, R. E.
PRESCOTT, P. E.
PRESTON, A. G.
PRESTON, J. H.
PRICE, F. R.
PRICE, H. J.
RATLIFF, THOS.
RAYMOND, O. T.
REID, A. A. P.
REID, F. R.
RICHARDS, G. J.
RICHARDS, H. O. K.
RICHARDS, H. W.
RICKARDS, H.
ROBERTS, F. C.
ROBERTSON, C. L.
ROBERTSON, E. F.
ROBINSON, CAPT. F. R.
ROLLO, HON. ERIC
ROLLO, HON. H. E.
ROMANES, F. E.
RONALDSON, A.
SHARP, R. W.
SHARP, W. A.
SIMMS, H. A.
SIMPSON, W. D.
SINCLAIR, A. C.
SMALLEY, J.
SMYTH, CHAS. G.
SOWERBY, C.
STANHOPE, R.
STANIER, GUY
STARKY, B. B.
STATTER, G. F.
STEVENS, W. H. P.
STONER, W. G.
STOUGHTON, H.
STUBBS, J. W. H.
STURGESS, A. H.
STURGESS, EDW. D.
SUGDEN, HON. H. F.
SUTTON, A. T.
SWINBURNE, W.
SWINTON, J, C. B.
TARLETON, H.
TAYLOR, H. L.
TAYLOR, L.
TAYLOR, T. C.
TAYLOUR, E. E.
THELWELL, E. L.
THOMSON, B. H.
THURSBY, E. H.
TIBBITT, J.
TOTTENHAM, E. H.
TOUCH, J. W.
TROTTER, H. G.
VAN SOMMER, J.
VEAL, F. K.
VERNON, W. G. HARCOURT
WADDILOVE, J. C.
WAKE, T.
WAKEFIELD, J. W.
WALKER, RICHARD
WALKER, ROBERT
WALKINSHAW, J.
WALLER, H. N.
WANN, W. H.
WARREN, J. B.
WATSON, H. A.
WATSON, J. G.
WEBSTER, D.
WEIR, A. Y.
WILD, J.
WILLIAMSON, E. P.
WILSON, G.
WINSTANLEY, E.
WRAIGHT, P.
YONGE, F. A.
YOUNG, DAVID A.
YOUNG, WM.
275 The Iowa Liberal (Le Mars), January 21, 1880; The Lemars Sentinel, February 12, July 7, 1881, June 15, 1882, February 29, June 6, October 7, 1884, June 9, 1885.
276 The Lemars Sentinel, March 3, 1885. These journeys to and from England were chronicled in the Le Mars newspapers with such frequency that references are not deemed important here.
277 The Lemars Sentinel, December 22, 1881, January 5, 1882.
278 New Mexico News and Express, December 31, 1881.
279 The Lemars Sentinel, February 3, March 24, April
14, 1881. The Paullin boys had a great wheat farm of 4000 acres in Elkhorn
Township, Plymouth County, and another in O'Brien County. See also Perkins's History
of O'Brien County, Iowa, p. 352.
The death of Daniel Paullin is recorded in the
following editorial:
"Mr. James B. Close received word last week of the death of a very dear friend of his, D. Paullin, Esq. late of Quincy, Illinois, at Dubuque, on Thursday April 7th. It was largely through Mr. Paullin's favorable representations that the Close Bros. were induced to come here, for in their intercourse with him they had learned to attach great weight to his judgment. They had found him to be a gentleman of integrity and honor, and the longer they knew him, the more they came to respect and revere him. About a year ago Wm. B. Close married Mr. Paullin's daughter, Mary, in New York, and went to England where they now are. Henry and D. Edward, sons of the deceased are well known here, especially the former who at present resides in Cherokee, and very largely engaged in stock raising. Though the elder Paullin was wholly unknown to our people, yet the fact that he was remotely instrumental in turning such a healthy stream of home seekers, in this direction, entitles his memory to grateful recognition." - The Lemars Sentinel, April 14, 1881.
Henry and D. Edward Paullin, graduates of Harvard, became engaged in stock farming, the former at Cherokee and the latter on the site of the present town of Paullina in O'Brien County.
280 The Lemars Sentinel, October 6, 1881, May 11,
1882, August 25, 1884.
James B. Close and Samuel H. Graves later married sisters of Mrs. Fred B. Close.
281 The Lemars Sentinel, September 29, 1881. The letter was published in The Lemars Sentinel, October 6, 1881, and reads as follows
"Lemars, Iowa, 27th September 1881.
DEAR MADAM:-As representing probably the largest colony of Englishmen in the United States, we venture to intrude upon your great sorrow so far as to send you a letter expressing our hearty sympathy with you in your loss.
"You stand in the sad position of chief mourner among a world of mourners. The sorrow by which all are touched is focussed upon you. In the presence of such grief as yours we cannot but stand awe struck.
"We can assure you that the nobility of the late President's character both public and private, and his patient courage and resignation in the face of death, have excited our warmest admiration.
"We can only hope and pray that the strength which has sustained you through the late long, patient struggle between life and death, may be granted to you in the remaining duties of life. We are Madam,
Yours in true sympathy,
H. N. CUNNINGHAM, G. C. MACLAGAN, R. MORETON, JOHN H. GRAYSON, JAMES B. CLOSE, JAMES S. FENTON, J. C. COOPER.
282 The Lemars Sentinel, February 2, OctOber 19,
November 9, 1882, March 28, 1884.
Captain Moreton made an address at the graves Of Hornby and Dalton, on the
Occasion of a double funeral. - The Daily Liberal (Le Mars), January 30,
1882.
283 The Lemars Sentinel, January 5, March 28, 1884, January 27, 1885.
Home - Table of Contents - Next Chapter
Copyright 2003. These electronic pages are posted for the benefit of individuals only who are researching their family histories. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of Gayle Harper