CHAPTER XXXII FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP (CONT'D)

POST OFFICE.

The postoffice at Wiota was established in 1873, and Oliver Coomes was commissioned as the first postmaster. He held it but a short time, and has been succeeded in turn by T. L. Pollard, Thomas Whitmore, J. C. Whitmore, John Irving, and the present incumbent, Ichabod A. Boyd. Mr. Boyd came to Franklin township in 1873, and settled on a farm on section 16, where he lived until he came to Wiota. He was appointed postmaster on the 12th of July, 1884.

SOCIETY.

Wiota lodge, No. 346, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, was organized April 20, 1876, by J. P. James, P. G., of Anita Lodge, No. 262, with the following charter members: Oliver Coomes, P. G.; James Kempley, W. W. McClure, Theodore Jones, Joseph Turner, Hamilton Hemphill, George Ragan, James Morgan, Albert Beason, Nathaniel Bruyn. At the organization the following officers were installed: James Kempley, N. G.; Hamilton Hemphill, V. G.; Joseph Turner, Secretary; Theodore Jones, P. S.; Nathaniel Bruyn, Treasurer. The present officers of this order are: D. D. Hunt, N. G.; James Horign, V. G.; James McDermott, Jr., Secretary; Frank Nordman, P. S.; E. M. Brooks, Treasurer. The present membership of this lodge numbers about fifty.

PREV <== Continue Reading ==> NEXT

Transcribed by Deb Lightcap-Wagner, February, 2014 from:"History of Cass County, Together with Sketches of Its Towns, Villages and Townships, Educational, Civil, Military and Political History: Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Old Settlers and Reporesentative Citizens", published in 1884, Springfield, Ill: Continental Historical Co., pp. 806-807.