"Grandma" Mrs. Polly  Wheeler 100th Birthday, 24 Jul 1900

   They say the first hundred years are the hardest and no doubt this has proven true, for the pioneers who settled in had little but hardships in those first years.

   Washington township settlers first had the idea of devoting a few acres for a townsite at Arlington about 1857.  This was heavy timbered land and they thought it the best location. It didn't materialize, however, for Villisca got to be the flourishing town of the Nodaway valley and Arlington was just an obsolete spot.

   The first settler in Washington township was Sam Moore who settled there in 1850.  But another old history says he came in 1853 from the eastern part of Iowa.  His name does not appear among the voters in the county in 1853, and Isaac Bolt, originally from Kentucky, settled in section 16, in 1851, having walked from St. Joseph from St. Joseph, Mo., then a trading post. He carried provisions from St. Joe and had decided when his provisions gave out, that was where he would stop, and that point happened to be in Washington township.  He had nothing to lose and everything to gain, for he carried all of his belongings in a bandana handkerchief.  He gained --- taking over 1,000 acres  of government land. He built the old homestead on the original ground now owned by the J. P. Mayhew estate, J.P. Mayhew being the father of Harry P. Mayhew, present county assessor of .  This portion of the land carried but one transfer in all those years, a record which is hard to beat -- the transfer being from Isaac Bolt estate to J. P. Mayhew.  Isaac Bolt, grandfather of Darleen Luppold, was the first man arrested in , an incident which was often recalled by him in humorous talks to old timers.  He came from a place where they settled their own disputes.  His arrest was for fighting.

    In 1854 the first post office in the county was established at Sciola with Chauncey Sager, postmaster.  Sam Riggs, a Democrat, took the contract to carry the mail, and he carried it on horseback once a week.

   After the settlement of pioneers grew and homes were established, stage coaches made their advent as a means of travel.  The Western Stage went through this section and Washington township was one of the points where horses and drivers were changed.   

    The pioneers who blazed the trail on the lonesome mid-west prairies also had time for get-togethers. Dances then known as "hoe downs" were generally held when a settler built a new barn.  That was the dedication.  The dance generally ended with a wild turkey supper. Bob-sled rides also came in for the pleasure events.

   An event of more than ordinary interest occurred at the home of Merritt Wheeler when the 100th birthday of his mother, Mrs. Polly Wheeler was celebrated. A big tent was put up for the 800 people who attended the celebration.

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Grandma Wheeler's 100th Birthday Party

     She was born in Connecticut July 24, 1800 and had the unique distinction of having lived in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries and of having lived under every national administration except that of Washington. "Grandma" Wheeler, as she was familiarly called, was the mother of 10 children.  She weighed only 70 pounds and one of her greatest enjoyments was smoking a little clay pipe.  She enjoyed a smoke on the 100th birthday celebration.  She was seven years old when Robert Fulton propelled the first steamer up the Hudson.