CHAPTER X.
UNION TOWNSHIP (CONT'D).
FIRST SETTLERS IN THE TOWNSHIP.
The first settler in Union township, as now constituted, was Peter Hedges, who was the father of Breckenridge township and opened his house to the first election for officers. In the fall of 1850 he came to Cass county from Logan county, Ill., and entered a claim on Seven-Mile creek, at what was then called Hickory Grove, afterward known as Hedges' Grove, and still later as Gaylord's Grove. In 1859 he went to Colorado, returning to Cass county in the fall. The following year found him again in the mining country, and in the autumn once more among his friends, the farmers of this locality. Notwithstanding his wanderings he retained his popularity, and in January, 1861, appeared at the court house at Lewis as one of the newly created Board of Supervisors of the county. He served for the one-year term, and remained in the county until about 1863, when he sold his property to D. F. Gaylord, who gave his own name to the grove upon it and represented Union township on the Board of Supervisors for four or five years after the war. Mr. Hedges removed to Albany, Gentry county, Mo., and in 1881 again changed his residence to Excelsior Springs, Clay county, that State, where he died in the spring of 1882.
Cyrus S. Newlon was also one of the earliest and most prominent settlers of Union township. He was an Edgar county (Ill.) farmer, and in June, 1858, located on section 31, his place being designated as Newlon's Grove. He remained until 1873 when he removed to Atlantic, where, during the later years of his life, he was engaged in the agricultural implement businesss. In 1861 he served on the first Board of Supervisors, was chairman in 1864, and also represented what was then Edna township in 1865, 1866 and 1867.
William Perkins, hunter, backwoodsman and irregular farmer, came from Ohio in 1858 and located at Edna Grove, but in the spring of the following year settled at Newlon's Grove. He never attained prominence, and died and was buried in Union township. After his death his family removed.
William Hoyt was the last of the earlier pioneers of Union township to survive the late 'eighties. Like Peter Hedges and Cyrus S. Newlon, he migrated from Illinois, where his father had settled when he was a boy of fourteen. In October, 1864, he located upon a farm of 120 acres, lying in sections 32 and 29, Union township, the land having been partially improved by Frank H. Whitney. At that time some five hundred Indians were encamped in the grove about a mile north of his residence. Mr. Hoyt remained upon the farm of his first choice for many years.
Hall G. Van Vlack had been a prominent builder and contractor in Pennsylvania before he came to Des Moines, Iowa, in 1868, and to Cass county in the following year. He settled on section 11, Bear Grove township, built a residence and began the improvement of the place. Upon the organization of the township and the election of officers, in the fall of 1869, Mr. Van Vlack was chosen a supervisor representing the township, and in 1872, 1873 and 1874, after the reorganization of the county government, he was elected supervisor-at-large. In 1870 he sold his property in Bear Grove township and purchased land in Union, which he afterward improved into one of the finest homesteads in the county.
After bravely serving throughout the war in the Twenty-third Iowa regiment, William L. Whistler took unto himself a wife and settled for a residence of many years on section 31, this township. His parents were pioneers of Edna township, settlers of '55. William L. reared a large family in Union township and was highly respected. In 1867 he served as township clerk of the territory including Victoria, Edna and Noble township. During his later years he was much interested in all matters concerning the welfare of the soldiers and their families, becoming a life member of the Iowa Soldiers' Orphans' Home Association.
SCHOOL DISTRICTS.
Union township is divided into seven school districts, and one of the earliest schools taught, if not the first, was presided over by a Mrs. Sterling, in a house built by John Newlon, on section 1. The building was a temporary affair, constructed of hickory poles, which were placed on end and thatched with mud. The Sterling family occupied the house at that time and the scholars, four in number, assisted their teacher in the care of her children. In the spring of 1865 Laura Woodward also taught a school in the southwest corner of the township.
Among the first buildings erected for educational purposes in the township was one constructed about 1868, in the district now known as No. 5, embracing sections 29, 30, 31 and 32. It cost about $500 and Mary Bennett was the first to teach in it. In 1873 District No. 2 secured its first regular building, and in the following year No. 4 was thus favored. In 1880 and 1884 school houses were erected in Districts Nos. 6 and 7, respectively.
"Compendium and History of Cass County, Iowa." Chicago: Henry and Taylor & Co., 1906, pg. 136-138.Transcribed by Cheryl Siebrass, August, 2018.
