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One of my greataunts was one of the authors, she gave a copy to my grandmother and my mother when it came out. This is just one of the ways that I can help others, like other people have
helped me. So I hope that I have helped some people out there.
The Jasper County Yestertowns was Compiled - Edited - Published by The Jasper
County Writers Inc. and copywrited in 1963. Colette Miles at Seosaimhin8@aol.com
Towns with SurnamesAMBOYby author Opal M. SnyderAbout three and one-half miles northeast of Newton, located in Kellogg Township, lies the little neighborhood of Amboy, first named Hammer's Grove in honor of its first settlers, Elisha Hammer and his sons, one daughter and a grandson. Surnames: CLYDEby author Jean Gleaves PoageClyde, eighteen miles northwest of Newton, was the oldest trading center in that section of Jasper County, for twenty-five years or more, it grew and thrived, and hoped for a railroad to come and unite it with Green Castle, Newton, and the eastern markets, but like many other villages, the railroads bypassed the little hamlet. Surnames: DRAPERby author Irene Allison MortonWhy go west to see a ghost town surrounded by abandoned mines? Jasper County has several of them. They may not hold the glamour of gold and silver, one could hardly call coal glamorous, but the net result is the same. The coal mines, like gold and silver, have collapsed and filled up with water. Nothing is left but wreckage. Surnames: FAIRMOUNTby author Irene Allison MortonHere I lie still, a passing memory of a small, once flourishing town, close enough to the capitol sight which was once laid out for the state of Iowa, to almost a part of it. That was a dream which was soon abandoned however, because of the water shortage. I am alone and neglected, almost forgotten now. People pass on to more promising places. Surnames: GALESBURGby author Della Wade PeeryMany changes have taken place in Iowa since the first white settlers arrived. Most of these changes are the outcome of progress, a progress which could perhaps be described as a giant machine building towns, cities, highways, railroads and industries as it crouched the life out of the old frontier. Driving over Iowa's roads today, one can see rural schoolhouses with windows boarded up, abandoned railroads and coalmines and now and then a distant church spire towering above an obscure little village which has once been a booming frontier town. According to Frank Kroh, son of Henry Kroh, many of these first settlers were buried in a n old cemetery about two miles southeast of Galesburg on the Galesburg-Pella road. Jacob Dearinger donated the land for this necessary spot. Just north of this cemetery the settlers built their first schoolhouse, a log cabin. A man named L. D. Earp settled on a farm east of this school. His nephew named Wyatt Earp, who was destined to become a famous marshall of the old West, stayed with him for a time during the Civil War and attended school in the log school house along with the children of early settlers. page 12 Why Galesburg was the fightingest town! Take them Earps, for example. They would fight at the drop of a hat. But boys had to be able and willing to take their own part. A farm boy always got into town to do his trading but he had to fight his way out. There was no gun slingin' though. Just fist fightin'. The old man smiled as he remembered bygone days when boys and young men had to prove themselves, not only by ability to withstand hardship, but also by the strength of sinewes muscles. Truly Galesburg was an old time frontier town, crushed by the mighty wheels of progress. Surnames: GODDARDby author Pearl Haley PatrickAll that remains of Goddard, Iowa, is the lower half of the Goddard store, a brick building now remodeled in stucco. Even Watt Lake is no more. Once the end of it was spanned by the "biggest bridge in Jasper County, with abutments of 110 feet." Once gay skaters made much use of it. Surnames: GREENCASTLEby Catherine PoageOne of the most ghostly of all the ghost towns in Jasper County is the obsolete town of Greencastle. Perhaps this is because it was one of the very first villages to be established in that part of the county which lies north of the Skunk River. Surnames: HORNby author Jean Gleaves PoageMalaka Township, almost exclusively prairie land, has had to rely on Newton and neighboring towns for railroad and other market accommodations. Malaka can not boas to a town -- not even a ghost town. Surname: MONROE CITYby author Clarice McGriff HoaglandThough it never materialized to become, in turn, a ghost town, the proposed Iowa capital at Monroe City seemed a very real and promising dream for a time. Surname: MURPHYby author Opal M. SnyderGeneral James B. Weaver's history of Jasper County lists "Murphy" as a village. But this small section of land two miles southeast of the County Home, is more fondly remembered as the "Murphy Neighborhood" named after the owner of its only business enterprise, "Uncle John Murphy." Surnames: OLD BAXTERby author Jean Gleaves PoageIn the center of Independence Township one mile west of the Baxter Cemetery is a ghost town - Old Baxter. No one knows when the once thriving village began, but a few old timers remember the business houses, the school, and the dwellings. The countryside is rich in homespun lore. Surnames: OLD WITTEMBERG TOWNby author John E. SoderblomWittemberg was first settled in 1853. It was located in Newton Township in the east half of section 3, township 80, range 19. Surnames: OSWALTby author Olin C. BissellOswalt, Iowa was named after Mr. Barney Oswalt, and was platted in 1889. It was located pproximately three miles north and west of Colfax, with portions in sections 32 and 33 in Powshiek Township, and sections 2 and 3 in Washington Township. Surnames: PALMYRAby author Jean Gleaves PoageDuring the '50s and '60s town sites sprang up like mushrooms. Ambitious landowners hoping to attract settlers would have a likely location plotted. Frequently the site never advanced beyond a paper town. Surnames: PRAIRIE BELLEby author Della Wade PeeryPrairie Belle, located in section 32 of Washington Township had a post office as late as 1903. It consisted of a few houses, one of which, presumably, was a stage coach stop. Surnames: RUSHVILLEby author Clarice McGriff HoaglandRushville, which was located in Kellogg Township, had its beginning as a stage coach stop. The platted town was laid out by Jesse and Jane Young on March 24, 1857 on the Northeast Quarter in Section 9, Township 80, Range 18. Surnames: SEVERSby authors Della Wade Peery and Irene Allison MortonThe story of Severs could easliy begin "Once upon a time." Just off highway number six, two miles east of Colfax, is the old Blanford school. Here a gravel road leads straight south.Surnames: ST. THOMASby author Della Wade PeeryThe mining camp of St. Thomas was located northwest of Colfax in Powesheik Township. Although it was not a platted town, it can not be ignored, as it had a direct influence on the history, population and culture of the present town of Colfax. Surnames: TURNERby author Jean Gleaves PoageTurner, first called "Dixie" was platted April 19, 1899 in NE quarter, NW quarter of Section 34 in Rock Creek Township. Located along the Rock Island Railroad fourteen miles east of Newton, it came to be a busy trading post with a general merchandise store run by Lena Diehl, a creamery owned by E.B. Elliot, and Turner Coal and Lumber Company. There was also a tavern. Surnames: VALERIAby author Olin C. BissellValeria, Iowa, with its present population of seventy-six inhabitants, lies among the rolling hills, extending north and east of the South Skunk River, approximately one mile east of Poweshiek Township in Jasper County. Surnames: VANDALIAby Della Wade PeeryCome along with me to Vandalia in the southwest corner of Jasper County. We must take the trip by automobile since there are no longer hack lines between this town and Prairie City. Almost a hundred years ago we might have gone in the hack at a very reasonable fare. Surnames: ¹ Abandoned Towns, Villages and Post Offices, by David C. Mott from the Annals of Iowa, Vol. XVIII, Nos. 6,7,8 and Vol. XVIII, Nos. 1,2,3, 1930-1932, pp. 541-543 |
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