sold to good men. From this start Mr. Talbott soon opened a good trade, part of which came from adjoining counties.
Among the settlers not named elsewhere who settled in. Nevada and its neighborhood from 1854 to 1856, may be named R. H. Mitchell, Sam S. Statler, J. C. Hempstead, E. G. Day, John Scott, W. K. Smith, J. L. Dana, J. D. Ferrier, S. E. Harrison, W. G. Allen, Wm. Lockridge, David Child, James Green, H. F. Murphey, E. S. Hoag, C. P. Robinson, J. G. Tanner, James Hawthorn, Ellis ARMSTRONG, G. A. Kellogg John Hail, D. L. Stephens, J. W. Cessna, Henry Bailey, Smith Goodin, and many others.
The first celebration of
INDEPENDENCE DAY
in Story County was in 1854, at Iowa Center. John G. Woods was president; Rev. W. B. Hand was the orator, and Peter Gordy read the Declaration. Cannon were extemporized from the blacksmith's anvils, and " Uncle Tommy " furnished the stars and stripes, the same consisting of a piece of white cloth on which he exhausted himself in painting an eagle in lamp-black. His own testimony is that the portrait would stand much better for that of a crow, but the crows would probably deny the resemblance in everything but color. Two travelers rode up while Mr. Hand was speaking, and on loud calls for another speech from somebody, one of the visitors addressed the crowd, much to their edification. The exercises closed with a bountiful dinner.
RELIGION AND MORALITY.
Story County has long been noted for the religious and moral character of its population. It has had less drunkenness, fewer broils, and less litigation than almost any county with an equal population. Whisky has never been sold at a bar except in violation of law, and followed by punishment. Beer and wine have sometimes been retailed as a beverage, but there is also a strong sentiment against even that, and at some period of the county's history these have been prohibited for years at a time.
I give now a short history of that Pioneer corps, the religious sappers and miners, known as the
METHODIST CHURCH.
The earliest records of this church relate to a quarterly meeting on the ninth day of December, 1854, for the Story Mission, held at Barker's school house, in the north part of Jasper County, on the road from Iowa Center to Newton. The minutes show that Wm. Simpson was presiding elder, John Anderson was preacher in charge; Elisha Alderman was an exhorter; Wm. M. Allen and Geo. Hestell were class leaders, and that Benjamin Culyer, H. Alderman, Wm. H. Allen, Huper Parsons, and W. W. Utterback were elected stewards.
The minutes of the next meeting, which was held at the school house near Iowa Center, February 24, 1855, show that the Mission