John S. KIRBY and wife and two children, George M., or commonly known as Gum, and one daughter, Winnie May, arrived in Mount Ayr in the Spring of 1867. They started from Corydon, Iowa, in a covered wagon with all their household goods, arriving at Grand River in Decatur County. They found the river was out of its banks and a quarter of a mile wide, due to recent heavy rains.

The wagon was left at Decatur City and the family was taken across the flood in a flat boat which some farmers operated. After crossing the river a team of horses and a wagon was procured and the family brought to Mount Ayr.

They landed at a double log house which was owned by Uncle Charley LESAN that stood just south of the southeast corner of the square [present-day site of the Princess Theatre].

George B. ROBY and mother, Nancy ROBY, and sisters Ruth and Tish (later Mrs. W. I. BERKEY) and Jennie (later Mrs. D. B. MARSHALL) were living in the east end of the house and the Adam WARNER family living in the west end. (Mrs. John S. KIRBY was Naomi, daughter of Nancy ROBY.)

J. S. KIRBY built the house long owned by John ARMSTRONG (owned by Mattie ABRAMS in 1936) and moved into it in 1868. From 1868 until 1885 or 1886, John S. KIRBY was in the grocery business, his being one of the early grocery stores in Mount Ayr. For some years all goods were hauled from Ottumwa, Iowa, or St. Joseph, Missouri, mostly from the latter place. Jasper HAGANS, father of Mrs. Ben THOMPSON, was the drayman.

Mr. HAGANS would start from Mount Ayr for St. Joseph with a load of farm produce: Hides, honey, beeswax, dry beans, feathers, eggs, timothy seed, onions and sometimes a tub of butter if in cool weather. He camped on the road, slept under or in the wagon, and returned in a week or ten days with a load of groceries, sugar, coffee, tea, tobacco and dried fruit which were the staples.

In 1869 the railroad was extended to Afton, and that became our shipping point.

J. BASTOW'S place of business [on the east side of the square] was built after we came to Mount Ayr (Council Room in 1936). A Mr. William HARVEY owned it and sold feed and groceries. Next was WHITMAN'S grocery and bakery, [the building] owned by Mr. HARVEY also. It was later sold to John S. KIRBY, who sold it to William TIMBY who built the old PLATT and SLENTZ stores. The next building was built after we came and was J. S. KIRBY'S grocery. The next building was there in 1867 and was W. T. LAUGHLIN'S office. When we came in 1867, Jesse GILLILAND had a place of business in the third building and lived in the back part and upstairs.

George B. ROBY, my mother's brother, came to Mount Ayr to start a newspaper. He founded the Ringgold Record. Jennie MARSHALL and Mrs. W. S. BERKEY, the Jennie and Tish ROBY, were the typesetters until the paper was sold to D. D. PRATT who sold it to George R. STEPHENS, and he sold it to WISDOM & WILLIAMS, and they sold it to TEDFORD and SPURRIER. Randolph S. BEALL'S father, Ith S. BEALL, had a small press and type before ROBY came and I think he sold what he had to ROBY. But ROBY bought a large Washington hand press (now in the museums) on which the Record was printed until STEPHENS bought the office.

By 1875 Mount Ayr was rapidly settling and was busier than it is today. The railroad came in 1879 and since then the town has been about the same size.

The first brick school building was made and finished in 1875, the second brick building in 1895, and the present building in 1914.

NOTE: John S. KIRBY was born in 1834, and died in 1918. Naomi S. KIRBY was born in 1838, and died in 1925. Jennie (ROBY) MARSHALL was born in 1850, and died in 1945. Major D. B. MARSHALL was born in 1839, and died in 1917. They were interred at Rose Hill Cemetery, Mount Ayr, Iowa.

SOURCE:
LESAN, Mrs. B. M. Early History of Ringgold County: 1844 - 1937 p. 60. Blair Pub. House. Lamoni IA. 1937.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, May of 2010