"An Interesting Early History of Decatur County"by Mrs. O.N. Kellogg |
| Chapter Fifteen THE ARNOLD FAMILY-FIRST PIANO- FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION-PRESBYTERIAN ORGANIZATION |
| March first, 1854, Sylvanus Arnold with his family arrived at Garden
Grove from Tiffin, Ohio, having previously visited it and decided to
settle there. He also bought property at Decatur City. It is unusual for
men of Mr. Arnold's means to emigrate to a new country; he being owner
of a brick block in Tiffin, Ohio, with a suburban residence comprising
thirty acres of ground, and was at the time cashier of a bank in Tiffin.
He also owned a large farm, stocked with choice cattle and sheep, and
containing farm building of a superior order within a few miles of
Tiffin, in the neighborhood of Melmore. They had visited Mrs. Ann Knapp,
a sister of Mrs. Arnold and, finding the country not only beautiful but
healthful and productive, they made their decision in favor of coming
which, though it subjected them to many inconveniences, proved a godsend
indeed to the county of their adoption as a home for life. Mr. Arnold immediately became a power in the land, discountenancing infidelity and fostering with maternal care and solicitude every plant which gave promise of fruitage in the vineyard of Christ. A church of six members was organized at their house by Father Davis, who was at that time a supply on the work. The following were the names of the members of the class when organized: Sylvanus Arnold, Lucretia Arnold, Nancy Arnold, Jacob Henning, Mary Henning, and a brother, Jackson, who was class leader. Later came Solomon and Ann Shepard, son-in-law and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Arnold, and united with the church, and the following year Stephen Arnold and Eve, his wife, and her mother, Lucretia, coming added to the class their names and influence. Of these twelve, eight have gone, let us trust, to a better world. Only two that we know of remain; Mrs. Lucretia Arnold and her daughter, Mrs. Shepard. Brother Jackson moved away in a short time. He may be living. They had meetings every Sabbath though preaching was frequently on week days. Father Lennett, a good old man, preached on a week day that I recollect particularly, as it was the last time, and I might also say the only time that Eugene and I went to the house of God together; so meager had been our religious privileges, as he so soon be taken away. Oh, how plainly I see him now, how quickly he dropped upon his knees when prayer was offered. Our young people know not what they do when they slight the many privileges with which their lives are crowned. The Presbyterian Church of Leon was organized July 9th, 1856, at the house of Stephen Carrithers by a committee from the Presbytery of Des Moines. Rev. James L. Brengle, the pastor, was assisted by Rev. John Bachelder and Father Wills, a visiting elder from the church at Albia. Mr. Carrithers, at whose house the organization was made, lived five miles northeast of Leon. The first members were: Calvin Johnson and Sarah, his wife; Thomas and Elizabeth Chamberlin; James and Sarah Irven; Joseph and Eliza Johns; Maria L. Brengle; Anna A. Moore; Elizabeth Carrithers; Harriet Brown; and Mary Burns. Mrs. Moore was the only member that lived in Leon and after some time, she having left there, the Presbytery changed the name of the church to Garden Grove Presbyterian Church. Mr. Brengle held regular services at the house of Sylvanus Arnold, one in two weeks. Mr. Brengle came to the county upon representation of the situation made by Calvin Johnson when he went back to Indiana to collect money due him, and has remained ever since an ornament to Decatur and Wayne Counties; his steady nature, persistently devoted to the right, his learning and piety having constituted him a landmark for twenty years similar to the “lone tree” or “point of timber” or other stationary object that we used to steer by in an early day. Hon. John A. Kasson, M.C., in his speech at Garden Grove, July 4, 1873, stated that this county, though settled earlier than any of the adjoining counties, had not made an equal relative advancement. The reason of this he could not even conjecture, and to a stranger it must be puzzling, but the solution of the mystery involves a fact well understood twenty years ago, or more. We have too much timberland, but like the frogs in the fable, that which has proved damaging to us has been the making of adjoining counties, and proves the correctness of my husband's judgment in investing largely in the school lands that were located in the heavily timbered southeast portion of the county, intending to buy prairie land for farms in Wayne County and parcel out the timber thus making the timber sell the prairie. Those who pioneer a new country ought to reap some superior advantages to compensate them, but how seldom do they. Losing a beloved son, Eugene, aged thirteen years, in September, 1854, the father's health rapidly declined and he followed him in September, 1855, aged thirty-nine years. Miss Nancy Arnold (afterward Mrs. McNeil) being an expert equestrienne, made herself useful in the early time in which they came to Iowa by acting an umpire when other herds of cattle got mixed up with her father's. As he had quite a large drove, and she could pick out every one of them without the slightest hesitation, consequently in cases where there was any doubt she was appealed to and would mount her own beautiful steed and gallop out over the prairie. In June, 1856, her piano was brought out all the way in a wagon, a hundred and sixty miles from Burlington. It was the first musical instrument of any kind in the county, except the inevitable violins which, like the Methodist preachers, go everywhere. We celebrated the Fourth of July at the Dawes house that year in a sort of a picnic fashion. The dinner was furnished by the citizens and the table was set out of doors in the shade of the large willow. Guests were present from Leon and New Buda; Mr. and Mrs. George W. Hawley, Mr. Francis Varga and young Mythenge, a Hungarian lady and Mr. George Poweritz. Before leaving the table toasts were given and gracefully responded to. Toward evening several of the company called on Miss Arnold and were treated to a song with piano accompaniment. Mr. Arnold playfully remarked that Guy must put on a clean dickie and be on had to turn the music. Guy was a boy of twelve or fourteen and more at home driving his breaking team of oxen, but was a good singer nevertheless when he chose to exercise the gift. Miss Nancy persuaded him to sing “The Old Folks at Home” one evening at our house to the great delight of the children. The foreign lady before alluded to was invited to sing but declined, saying she had promised her mother she would never again sing until Hungary should be free. John Arnold, who went to California overland at eighteen years of age, by dint of strenuous exertions joined to natural business qualities, amassed a handsome fortune and returned to the States in the Winter of 1855-56 and, while visiting his father's, took note of the country and subsequently bought a half section of prairie which he intended to improve at some future time, but his business made it necessary for him to return to California and in 1859 he had would up his affairs there and came back, but only to die. Just before leaving California about the last work he did, he became overheated and contracted a severe cold which finally resulted in consumption. He was a noble specimen of a grand type of manhood and apparently had a future before him of no common order, but he was enabled to resign all his earthly hopes and earnestly address himself to the all important interest of the life that is beyond, upon which he was so soon to enter. That his family was crushed and desolated by such a loss was natural and still further by the father's death which occurred in California a few years later. But the death of Mrs. McNeil, so sudden and unexpectedly, was almost tragic in its terribleness. An aged mother and stricken husband, and group of children bereft of such a mother was a sight to make an anger weep, even though sent to bear her company to the presence of her little cherub who had gone before. Mr. and Mrs. Hawley soon left Leon and returned to St. Louis, I believe, where they buried their darling Willie, five or six years of age, a lovely, promising little fellow, their only child. Mr. Hawley as a lawyer was useful in the early days as citizens and as members of the M.E. Church they were missed in Leon Society. |
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