(The notes below are more than is
necessary just to tell the story of Newton Machlan and his marriage to Mary Arney.
I'm thinking that the evolution of the search itself may be of some interest:)
My initial information was from my
aunt Geraldine (their grand-daughter), and based on what she said I assumed
that Newton and his wife Mary lived happily together until their deaths in the
1930Õs. But when I started looking at census data, some puzzling information
began to emerge. They were buried in different cemeteries, and I started
finding a Newton Machlan who was married to a ÒMarthaÓ.
I dug deeper and deeper, including searching
on-line page-by-page through un-indexed censuses for the area around Weldon in
Decatur Co., Iowa. (At least this was a small township, and people tended to
stay in one place.) I questioned my sister Irene, who was just old enough to
remember them in the mid-1930Õs. I sent a note to MaryÕs still-living niece,
Winnie (Arney) Gambini (she remembered her mother writing to Mary).
FINALLY, I hit paydirt and
discovered Newton and Martha on ancestry.com. He had been recorded as ÒJohn
NewtonÓ Machlan, and there was no reference to his previous marriage to Mary. I
also found marriage records for MarthaÕs first marriage and for her second
marriage to Newton. Except for the first name ÒJohnÓ it was a perfect fit --
there is no doubt remaining.
(At first I wasnÕt really sure
whether ÒJohnÓ or ÒJoshuaÓ is correct for his first name -- he went by
ÒNewtonÓ, and signed things ÒJ.N.Ó or ÒJ. NewtonÓ. The ÒJoshuaÓ is from my aunt
GeraldineÕs recollections. The ÒJohnÓ appears to be from official marriage
records for his second marriage. However I found the 1860 census (see notes
with his father), he is 10 months old, and is clearly named ÒJoshua N.Ó)
BIRTH DATE NOTE: The 1860 census was taken on August 7, 1860, and ÒJoshua N.
MacklinÓ is shown as 10 months old. This means the birth date (as provided by
Aunt Geraldine) has to be wrong -- he cannot have been born on 17 October 1860!
I think his birth data was probably 17 October 1859 -- and this was confirmed
by the date on the records for his second marriage to Martha. I have changed
the date in my files to 1859.
The story is now reasonably clear.
Newton married Mary Arney in 1880, and they had 12 children by 1900 while
living on a farm near Weldon, Iowa. By 1910 Newton had moved out (census
questions hint of divorce in 1908), and Mary got the farm and the 11 remaining
kids (one having died at age 2). Mary continued to live on the farm with
varying numbers of their children until her death in 1935, she never remarried.
Census data showed that Newton was
divorced by 1910 (and living with his son Clarence in Garden Grove), and that
in about 1912 he married ÒMarthaÓ (full name later determined ÒMartha Emmaline
TINIUSÓ). At the time of marriage he was age 52 and she was age 24. She
appeared to have had one child by a previous relationship (now know Martha
previously married in Indiana), and between them they had 5 more. They lived in
Osceola in 1920, and in High Point in 1930. He died in 1936. Martha died in Des
Moines, Iowa, in January of 1969.
THE SEARCH: When the census data began to be puzzling, I called my
sister Irene in December 2003 and asked how much she could remember about
Newton and his wife. She said she did remember visiting them (she would have
been about 10 or 11 when Newton died), and remembered that one of them ÒHad
been married before.Ó. I asked if she remembered if NewtonÕs wife had been
named ÒMaryÓ or ÒMarthaÓ, but all she could remember was that it was ÒGreat
Grandma MachlanÓ. I asked if his wife was younger that Newton, and she didnÕt
think so.
In 1935, when Irene would have been
about age 10, Newton Machlan would have been age 75, and Mary (Arney) Machlan
would have been 74. The above ÒMarthaÓ would have been about 47. Was Irene
remembering ÒNewton and MaryÓ or remembering ÒNewton and MarthaÓ? To a 10-year
old, even age 47 is ÒancientÓ, and she does remember that Òone had been married
beforeÓ.)
Prompted with the data below, Irene
sent the following note, expanding on her recollections: ÒThe Great Grandma I
knew did live on a farm with Olin, Homer, Pearl and Ester. I had forgotten Homer's name (Note:
Homer actually left before Irene was born). Do remember the other three (of her
children). Grandma (Linnie Machlan) and Edith were already married and away
from home. Mary WAS the real ancestor (and she was old, even to an eleven year
old. Ha). I do remember the big old
farm house. Therefore, I do not remember a Martha. I do not recall the death of either Mary
or Newton.Ó
HereÕs what I found from the census
information:
FEDERAL CENSUS, 1880, Newton Machlan and Mary Arney are both clearly ÒsingleÓ,
and living with their parents. Newton is 20, Mary is 19. They were married
later in that year on 19 December 1880, and this was thus very clearly their
first marriage. (See notes with their parents for more details on the 1880
census.)
THE IOWA CENSUSES, 1885 and 1895. The family
with Newton and Mary is found in Decatur County, Weldon, Franklin Twp. They
have increasing numbers of children consistent with the 12 known ultimate
descendents of Newton and Mary.
1900 CENSUS, IOWA, DECATUR CO., FRANKLIN TWP (WELDON):
Newton is 40, Mary is 39, and they
have been married 20 years. She has had 12 children, of which 11 are still
living. All 11 are living at home. They own the farm, and have a mortgage on
it.
1905 IOWA CENSUS, LEON POST OFFICE:
J. N. and Mary are still together.
(This census has no info except the names of people in the household.)
Now is when things began to get
complicated. After about 1905 I found no evidence of Newton and Mary Òbeing
togetherÓ. For example, even though they died within a year of each other, they
are buried in different cemeteries (Newton is in the Leon cemetery, Mary in the
Franklin cemetery buried next to a son Merritt who died in 1890 as an infant.)
I found cemetery records for each of them.
I have a 1905 picture of the two of
them together. I have 1906 and 1926 pictures of each of them, but not together.
Newton is in a 1906 picture, with granddaughters Elsie and Geraldine. Mary is
in a 1926 5-generation picture with her father Jacob Arney and
Great-Grandaughter Irene Coffey. From the data below, it is NOW clear that they
were separated by at least the year 1910:
DATA FROM 1910 CENSUS, IOWA, DECATUR CO., FRANKLIN TWP
(WELDON):
Mary is now the HEAD of the
household, and age 48. Marital status is hard to read, but appers to be
ÒdivorcedÓ. She had been married 28 years (suggesting her divorce may have been
in 1908), had 12 children of which 11 are still living. Still living at home
are children Gertrude age 18, Pearl 16, Olin 15, Homer 12, Edith 10, Ester 10.
And they have a boarder, Gertrude Swearingen, age 25, who is a teacher. Olin at
age 15 is listed as the only one with employment -- he is the ÒfarmerÓ of the
family. Everybody except Mary has attended school within the past year. They
own the farm, but have a mortgage on it.
DATA FROM 1910 CENSUS, IOWA, DECATUR
CO., GARDEN GROVE, PG 23 OF 30:
This was a tough one, since the 1910
index only shows head of household and Newton has been demoted! He is found
living in Garden Grove with his son Clarence Machlan (age 27), ClarenceÕs wife
Ella (25), and their baby son Beryl. He is tabulated as ÒJoshua N. MachlanÓ
(first time IÕve seen him use his first name), he is age 50, and divorced.
Under trade or profession he is listed as ÒOwn IncomeÓ, which I would interpret
as living on his savings?
FAMILY PICNIC, 1913:
I now know that Newton married
Martha TINIUS on 10 Mar 1912, and their first baby was born 17 Feb 1913. And
the new family went on a picnic in September 1913. And how do we know that?
The newspaper "Humeston New
Era" for 1 Oct 1913 reported the event. It seems the Garden Grove Corn
Club held their annual Corn Picnic west of town, with "at least 5000
people being present". And they awarded prizes in a babies' health
contest. And the report was that "ÉClara Elizabeth, daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. J. N. Machlan of Garden Grove won first prize in the girls
contest."
1915 IOWA CENSUS, DECATUR, FRANKLIN:
Mary Machlan is found. She is a
Methodist, has completed 12 grades of education. She owns a farm worth $5600,
with encumbrance (mortgage) of $700.
1915 IOWA CENSUS, WARREN CO,
INDIANOLA:
"Joshua N" is age 55, a farmer who earned $720 in 1914. He has a farm
worth $5200, with encumbrance of $3200. Says he has an 8th grade
education.
DATA FROM 1920 CENSUS, IOWA, DECATUR CO., FRANKLIN
TWP. (WELDON):
Mary Machlan is 58 and DIVORCED,
living on a farm with sons Olin age 25, Homer age 22, and daughters Esther age
20, and Pearl age 27.
1920 CENSUS, IOWA, CLARKE CO., OSCEOLA:
Newton is age 58, and Martha is age
32. They rent their home, and he is now working as a carpenter. They have 5
children living at home. Louise is age 11, Clare is age 6, Ralph is age 5,
George is age 3 years 8 months, Frank is 2 years and 2 months. Martha and
Louise were born in Indiana (perhaps suggesting that Louise was MarthaÕs
daughter by a previous marriage?), everybody else born in Iowa. MarthaÕs father
was born in Kentucky, and her mother in Indiana.
1925
IOWA CENSUS, POLK CO., DES MOINES
Newton (61) and Martha (37) are found
living with Clara (11), Ralph (9), George (8) and Frank (7). They rent their
home for $25/month. Newton has completed school through the 6th
grade, and Martha through 11th grade. All the kids are attending
school full time. Martha's parents were Frank Tinius and Emma Low. All the
children were born in Des Moines. (Curiously, the census lists the maiden name
of the children's mother as Clara Tinius, not Martha Tinius. But the age, etc.
is the same as for Martha.)
1925 IOWA CENSUS, DECATUR:
Mary "Macklin" is found
living with Pearl, Olin, and Ester.
DATA FROM 1930 CENSUS, IOWA, DECATUR CO., FRANKLIN TWP.
(NEAR WELDON):
Mary Machlan is living on a farm
with her son Olin, and two daughters Pearl and Esther. She is 69, Olin is 35,
Pearl 37, Esther 30. The farm is rented, and they own a radio. Olin has
attended some kind of school in the last year, and everybody can read and
write. Olin is a veteran of the World War.
1930 CENSUS, IOWA, DECATUR CO., HIGH POINT TWP:
Newton is 70, and Martha is 42.
Daughter Louise has moved on, but they have added a son Paul, who is 8. They
own their house, and have a radio. They were married when he was age 52, and
she was age 24. All of the kids have been attending school. He is now farming
again.
FOR MORE DETAILED INFORMATION ON SECOND MARRIAGE
FAMILY:
www.jrtinius.net (Martha is
Person #47)
I have also now found marriage
records for MarthaÕs first marriage (see notes with her record) and for her
second marriage to Newton on 10 Mar 1912 in Des Moines, Iowa.
CONTACTS WITH SECOND FAMILY:
With some help from my third cousin
Pat Welch of Ankeny, IA (she is descended from NewtonÕs sister Edna) I have
learned more about NewtonÕs second family and have made some initial contacts.
Pat forwarded to me obituaries of
NewtonÕs son George Machlan, who lived in Des Moines. GeorgeÕs wife Doris died
July 26, 2005, and George died August 30, 2005. I learned George and Doris had
a son, Keith Machlan, and a daughter, Glenys (Machlan) Earle of Des Moines.
I exchanged a few notes with
descendants of Clara, Newton and Martha's daughter. Their impressions were
second hand, based on discussions with Clara as she grew older. Their
observations are paraphrased below:
"Newton was relatively old when
he married Martha, and apparently descended into something at least resembling
senility as he grew older. Family legend has it that he moved away from many
acres of prime Iowa farmland, leaving my grandmother and her children extremely
poor – destitute even. All five of their children graduated high school.
"Stories were that he was old
and distant, odd, embarrassing the children with his sometimes strange
behavior. Including going barefoot. He was religious, often carrying a bible. His
hair was still black when he died and that he was still straight and handsome. He
supposedly died from a fall from a church roof, where he was working on the
steeple.
"All their children were good,
decent, respectable and hard-working people. And Martha was the best. Quiet,
reserved, humble, and plain.
OTHER NOTES:
Although it is not relevant to
determining ancestry, it does appear that J. Newton Machlan was writing
articles for the Leon Journal Reporter in the early 1900Õs. One of them is very
interesting in that it talks about his life plus that of his Iowa pioneer
father George Washington Machlan. Here is the transcript:
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Decatur County Journal, May 9, l907
EARLY
FARM METHODS
J.N. MACHLAN Tells How it was Done in the Pioneer Days
of Decatur County.
Through the kindness of the JOURNAL
EDITOR we are permitted to give to the young a glimpse of farm life in the
early days of Decatur County.
My parents erected a little cabin in
the brush near the present site of the county bridge, on Little River, west from
the Fairview School House, and called it home; e're long my father with a good
team of horses and an old fashioned sod plow began to cut and turn the virgin
soil preparatory to raising a crop. The plowman's necessary equipments for
success were as follows: plenty of patience, a whip, a plow file, a heavy
hammer and a hunk of iron, to use as an anvil on which to cold hammer the
plowshare occasionally; the file to put the finishing touch on with; and the
patience came in good play when he encountered a stone, a root, or some
obstacle that jerked the plow, plowman and all clear out of the furrow. There
were also numerous snakes to contend with, the rattle snakes, the bull snake,
the hissing viper, the blue racer, the house snake, the garter snake, the green
joint snake, the blue black joint snake and a few other species, besides the
nasty lizzards that could be seen by the hundreds.
Now as the virgin soil had been
turned bottom side up and time had arrived for corn planting, we proceeded to
plant corn by one of the following methods; by axing it in, hoeing it in,
healing it in or dropping by hand following the plow every third round and
dropping the grain on top of the furrow, at such a place that the next furrow
would barely cover it with its upper edge. This would produce what we called a
crop of sod corn either good or bad according to the season and condition of
the sod. Plenty of rain was generally essential to a good crop. It was also
essential for the sod to be well rotted. Scores of snakes would be cut in twain
with the plow every season, among which a great many rattle snakes became
victims of the cruel plowshare. The early settlers did not have implement
stores to which they could go and purchase farming tools, but were compelled of
necessity to make them.
When the ground was in condition for
harrowing, we set to work with three sticks of timber some four or five inches
square and perhaps six feet in length and frame or bolt them together, which
when joined, would be a good representation of the letter A, next with an inch
and a half or a two inch auger we bored holes in the side pieces and cross
section into which we inserted huge pegs made from good hickory or oak timber,
then sharpened the lower end of the pegs and our harrow was completed. Our wooden
harrow rotted down in the fence corner after many years of good service. A few
years later, the sod tearer was invented, it was such a peculiarly constructed
implement that to the writer it baffles description, therefore, we beg leave to
not attempt it; however, it did pretty good work at that time.
_files/image002.png)
(Note from
Fred: Here's a modern "Pioneer Walking Plow with a Sod Breaker". You
can still buy these!)
Much of the virgin soil contained so
many tough roots it was not uncommon to see a furrow of sod one-half mile long
without a break in it. Some of the toughest roots were, the wild indigo, shoe
string, blue stem, rosin weed and some times a patch of hazel or buck brush.
The rosin weed above referred to produced a white gum which constituted the
chewing gum of the yough of the early settlers.
After a few months spent in the
little cabin in the brush, we decided to venture out onto the broad, bleak
prairie and erect another log cabin which we did in course of time. A well was
dug which furnished water for the house, but for years our stock had to be
taken across the prairie to some creek or spring to quench their thirst and as
for ourselves when working in the field or on the prairie making hay, we have
many times drank from a puddle containing many angle worms, crawfish and bugs,
the water would often be warm enough for dish water.
Time rolls on and it becomes
necessary to fence our farm; the father proceeded to the timber some eleven
miles distant and splits rails and hauls them and a fence is built called a
worm fence, which when completed is from seven to ten rails in height; but soon
a new difficulty arose, more settlers were coming in, fires were started in the
prairie grass; some were started by accident, some purposely and on quite a few
occasions, campers have left fire where they had stopped for the night, the
wind would rise and the fire would be scattered. Soon a conflagration would be
raging across the prairies and perhaps hundreds or even thousands of acres
would be burned over before the fire went out. In many cases the fires would
burn all night. It was at such times that our rail fences would suffer
destruction and how to prevent the loss we soon grasped an idea. The fires of
course, would do most of the mischief in the spring, and at some convenient
time we would plow a few furrows around the farm near the fence then perhaps
two or three rods farther from the fence, we would plow a few more, the strip
between we called a fireland. At the favorable time, when the wind was not
blowing (generally of an evening) father would say, "Well boys, this is a
good time to burn out those firelands." Of course, this pleased the boys
and after the day's work was done we equipped ourselves with small boards and
brush to fight fire with and on some occasions we would take along from one to
three barrels of water; in case fire should get into the fence. All things
ready, we commenced firing along the side so the fire would have to burn
against the wind, but it matters not how calm it was, when the fire was started
the hot air rising creates a vacuum and the cold air rushing in to take its
place would cause a breeze and sometimes the fire would get beyond control,
despite our best efforts and sometimes we would not reach home until a very
late hour in the night.
A weed, well known to early
settlers, called the tumble weed or careless weed, which grew in great numbers
on new cultivated land, the tops of which were almost spherical in shape and
ranging in diameter from twelve to thirty-six inches, when assisted by a breeze
would carry fire for some distance. They were so near round they would roll for
miles without stopping when a stiff wind was blowing.
When the soil had become well rotted
and the corn big enough to need attention, we plowed it with a cultivator having
but one shovel which was made from a triangular shaped piece of iron, with
which it was necessary to plow two rounds to each row of corn. The cultivator
was used in the field more or less until the silk made its appearance on the
young ears of corn. The worst weed we had to contend with in the corn field in
those days, was a species of smart weed, rarely seen except on new land. It
grew down close to the ground and had a firm grip upon it. Hoes were
extensively used in those days in the corn fields. Another advance step was
taken in the method of planting corn, the cultivator referred to is used to
draw a shallow furrow for each row of corn, the corn is then dropped into the
furrow about every three feet, then covered either with a hoe or by cross harrowing.
Three of us dropping and one furrowing off, planting as much as seven acres in
a day.
The time had come when we were
raising a little spring wheat, oats and flax. The method of threshing grain
after it had been harvested with the cradling scythe and is well cured was to
prepare a circular piece of ground usually from sixteen to twenty feet in
diameter by taking a sharp spade and shaving off the surface until it is quite
smooth and level; after this was done a pole some eight or ten feet high was set
upright in a hole dug in the center of the circular patch of ground, to this
pole usually two horses abreast are tied with long ropes and a lad mounted on
one of the horses with a small gad, the grain had been evenly spread upon the
prepared ground and the horses were started on a long tramp, tramping out the
grain on the new tramping floor, a process that was very monotonous to the
horses, and speaking from experience, the rider was very glad when the noon
hour or nightfall had arrived. The grain during the tramping process was turned
over with a forked stick and as soon the grain was tramped out the straw was
removed and the grain gathered up and winnowed out, a fresh supply was spread
upon the floor and the tramping process was continued.
The snowfall during some of the
winters was very heavy. I believe it was in the winter of l866, we arose one
morning and discovered that the snow had drifted to the eaves of the little
cabin, our fences were all snowed under and our stock scattered hither and
thither and our enclosures for stock were all under snow. After the snow fell
the weather turned colder and the snow froze hard. We could drive in any
direction across the prairie over high fences. We had just put out a washing
before the snow and it was six weeks before we were enabled to find it all.
Heavy snows were common but this one was the heaviest I ever saw. Our cabin was
covered with clapboards, as was the custom in those days, and the snow would
blow between them and sift down through the loft into our faces as we lay in
bed during a snow storm. The last thing the good mother would do before
retiring was to see if the five children were in bed covered up head and all so
the snow would not lodge in our faces. It was a common occurrence after a snow
storm had subsided, for someone of the family to ascend to the loft and scoop
the snow out before it melted.
As we pass along it might be well to
describe the bedsteads installed in some of the cabins. One method of
constructing a bedstead was to place a log in the walls angling across the
corner of the cabin at a convenient height into which pegs were set about six
inches apart, a small rope was then procured and strung back and forth from the
pegs in the lot to corresponding pegs in the walls of the cabin. A later method
of construction was to procure two round poles to serve as side rails, set the
pegs into them, fasten them to corner posts, nail on end rails then string the
pegs with rope and the bedstead was completed.
No cabin was complete without the
fireplace, the hearth of which was laid of brick or stone and the chimney
usually built of brick or stone, or wooden slats built up in mud or lime
mortar. In our cabin, the hearth was made of flat lime stone under which the
rats burrowed and made nests and reared their young, and as their disgusting
habits are nocturnal, the saucy little rodents would emerge from beneath the
hearth during the night, especially in the winter, and skip about the fire
evidently warming themselves and eating such things as suited their taste. They
would sometimes bite some of the family or anyone who chanced to be there
during the night. My brother, who resides in Des Moines, was bitten on the
great toe while asleep. A servant girl, who was employed to assist wth the
household duties, was also bitten whereupon she yelled out "murder,"
but as that was a common expression with some people in those days when they
were frightened, hurt or alarmed, the family thought nothing of the expression,
but someone proceeded to make a light to ascertain how badly she was bitten.
The various kinds of lights used in
those days were, first the grease light, consisting of a saucer or pan
containing grease with a rag placed in it with one end standing above the
grease, which when lighted served to light the cabin. Next came the grease
lamp, then the tallow candle.
When the sod had become well rotted,
watermelons, pumpkins and potatoes did quite well. Among the various kinds of
potatoes grown were: the calico, white meshanic, California peach blow, long
red and lady finger; the long red being the most prolific of any grown.
For several years after Iowa became
a State, apples were hauled in from Missouri, many of them coming from what was
known as the famous crab orchard. So called because the apple scions were
grafted into the root of the wild crab. The first apples the writer ever saw
growing, were in the small orchard of young trees planted on the old homestead.
I think there were less than a dozen of them which were guarded very closely
lest something befell them before they matured.
After the chaff-piling threshing
machine was introduced, the threshing of grain was not so great a task as it
formerly was, but as the straw carrier had not yet been invented, it became
necessary to remove the straw and chaff from the rear end of the machine,
either with horses or by some other method, any of which were very
disagreeable, as the chaff and dust would fill the eyes, nose, ears and mouth,
if you should fail to keep it shut; but being as it was, it was quite an improvement
over the tramping floor method.
_files/image004.png)
(Note from
Fred: Here's a "Horse Powered Chaff Piler"!)
Thinking there might be profit in
sheep raising, we purchased a flock of two or three hundred, with a guarantee
from the owner that none of them were more than four years old, but soon they
began to die of old age and we discovered we were beaten in the deal, however,
we kept on trying. We had plenty of range, but they must have a shepherd, which
lot usually fell upon the writer, and permit me to say it was a very
monotonous, lonesome occupation watching sheep on the broad prairie, and not a
human being in sight for hours at a time. For years we were compelled to lot
the sheep at night near the cabin, to prevent the wolves from killing them, but
even then they would get among them and kill the lambs. One day while the
writer was tending the sheep a short distance from the cabin, a wolf came into
the flock and seizing a lamb by the back of the nect and trotted off with it. I
waved my stick that I uaually carried vigorously in the air and yelled with the
force I could summons, the wolf dropped the lamb and I took it to the cabin,
but it was so badly injured it only lived a few days. Our flock increased and
the extremely old ones died off and we had better success for a while. In our
flock was a large fellow with curled horns; he had been teased quite a little
and had become quite mischievous. On a certain occasion, by accident the sheep
became imprisoned in the smoke house; some member of the family had closed the door,
not knowing that he was in there. The servant of the kitchen, who was commonly
called an old maid, went to the smoke house for something to serve for dinner
meal and on opening the door, the sheep made a dive for her, running between
her feet, carrying her for a long distance, bleating as if in great agony,
while the maid was screaming and trying to alight from his back. The situation
seemed a critical one as the sheep did not know how to unload his burden and
the maid feared trying to let loose for fear of getting hurt in the attempt,
but finally by some kind of maneuvers they came out of the fracas none the
worse for wear, save being a little frightened. Another advance had been made
in the corn cultivator which then had two shovels instead of one and a row of
corn was plowed every round of the horse and plowman, which was quite
gratifying to the farmer. But while this was true, new and additional weeds
were added to the farmers' list of pests among which were the milk weed and the
black eyed swan, both of which are with us unto the present day. The black eyed
swan was introduced into this country as a garden flower by some English
people. Time rolls around and the rats under the old hearth having increased in
numbers and boldness, as well, they became almost unbearable and father set
traps and caught quite a number of them. The cabin all being in one room, we
could watch them by the light of the fireplace from all quarters of the room
and I must say it was amusing to see father spring out of bed, on hearing the
trap spring, and kill the rat, set the trap again and retire, sometimes only
remaining in bed but a short time when he would spring up and repeat the
operation. Someone prescribed a remedy for getting rid of the saucy rodents; it
was as follows: Catch a rat, singe it over the fire and turn it loose and the
rats would all take a leave of absence. Father caught the rat but his heart
failed him when it came to the singeing process and the rat never got singed.
So much for rat trapping around the old fireside. Other improvements had been
made to facilitate corn planting. A farmer a few miles distant had purchased a
two horse planter for about $75 and we could hire it for about l5 cents per
acre. The ground when ready to plant was first marked off with a kind of sled,
the first one to appear made two marks at a time, in a few years someone made
an improvement on the marker and it made three marks at a time. About this time
we thought we would cap the climax. We made two wooden axles that would fit our
wagon wheels, one short and one long one, coupled them together and made four
marks at a time, which was easy on the team and by this improvement, forty
acres could be marked off in a few hours. The ground being marked, two persons,
a driver and a dropper, a team of horses and the new corn planter, would plant
from ten to fifteen acres per day. The most common variety of corn planted
those days was the bloody butcher, although more or less white corn was grown.
A threshing machine had been
introduced with a short straw carrier attachment known as the Buffalo Pitts,
which was quite an improvement over the old chaff piler. In connection with the
Buffalo Pitts thresher was introduced a system of tallying the number of
bushels of grain threshed. It consisted mainly of a board attached to the side
of the machine where the grain came out. It had a number of one-fourth inch
holes in it arranged in rows into which pegs were moved for each bushel of
grain threshed. The board would tally up to one thousand bushels, when it
became necessary to commence again at the first.
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By this time Osceola had a railroad.
The Leon merchants had their goods shipped to Osceola and hired them hauled in
wagons across the country. Engaged in the hauling of goods was a MR. HUGHES,
MR. GOINS, MR. LINDSEY and others, all of whom were residents of Leon. MR.
HUGHES was engaged at a certain time in hauling shingles. One day while enroute
for Leon with a load of shingles his horses became frightened and ran away,
scattering shingles along the highway for some distance. MR. HUGHES received
the name "shingle sower".
Another step forward was taken and
the two-horse cultivator was being introduced to the farmers. We bargained for
a Blackhawk walking cultivator, with the firm of Richards & Close, whose ad
appeared in the Decatur County Journal of that time. The plow was delivered at
our gate at the old homestead by the MR. HUGHES referred to, while enroute to
Leon. The plow I believe cost $35 and was the first two-horse cultivator the
writer ever saw and pardon me for saying, it gives me pleasure still to look at
the old cultivator, the principal parts of which are in good condition, and
with some repairs it is still used by its purchaser in north Leon, to cultivate
garden truck or anything that needs cultivation.
Going back now to the days and
nights in the little cabin where things had been moving along quietly for some
time with a new house maid assisting with the indoor work; until one night the
family was startled by an unusual noise in the house, a light was struck and we
discovered that the maid of all work had taken her departure. A member of the
family was dispatched to search for the missing maiden, after a brief search
she was found a few rods from the house taking a ride on father's old shaving
horse. She was escorted back to the cabin and persuaded to retire again and on
being told of her conduct, the following morning, she was horror stricken. It
was a bad case of insomania (sic) and for a long time afterward the family was
often startled in the night by her queer actions.
In the early days of Decatur County,
considerable hay and grain was stolen. Movers and travelers going across the
country would often steal their horse feed and take rails from the fences and
make fuel out of them. One farmer, however, got even with a mover. He had
missed some rails from his fence and mounting a horse, went after him and
overtaking him before he reached Osceola, made him pay 50 cents each for the
rails he had burned. The farmers would often see them in the act. The writer on
one occasion caught some young well dressed fellows stealing hay. I asked what
they did that for and they asked me to set a price, which I did. They said that
it wasn't any too much and paid the price and drove on.
Good blooded horses were very
scarce, but at the same time there were a good many good, serviceable horses on
the farms, among which were the Canadian horses, as they were called, that were
excellent all service animals.
The first hogs were the well known
hazel splitters or razor backs that were allowed to rove the prairie at will,
and you might imagine yourself among the brush or in the tall prairie grass,
with a salamander in your hand searching for a hog to butcher or one that might
have a family of pigs to care for, it was not uncommon to fail in finding a
young litter of swine until they were several days old. As to cattle, they were
just cattle and a conglomeration of colors and kinds. They all had horns and
most of them good long ones. There were some excellent milchers (sic) and some
expert kickers among them.
Now, one more happening in the cabin
on the old homestead and we will bring these very incomplete sketches to a
close. One very cold winter day as the family were seated about the old
fireplace, a muffled rap was heard at the door, someone of the family went to
the door, pulled the string that lifted the wooden latch, the door swung on its
hinges and there stood a gentleman of perhaps thirty summers, who asked
permission to come in and warm. The privilege being instantly granted he was
proffered a chair by the fire which he soon occupied, and immediately began to
slip off a pair of new boots, which seemed rather tight for him, but after a
few hard pulls he succeeded in getting them off. It was not long, however,
until he was warm and contemplated resuming his journey. He seizes one of his
boots, gives it several vigorous pulls, but as his feet had swollen while
sitting by the fire, he fails to make the boot go on for the time being, but he
soon mastered the situation; he called for some soft soap, which was soon given
him, after which he proceeded to grease his heels thoroughly, the boots went on
and although the gentleman was from Missouri, he didn't have to be shown, and
we learned another Yankee trick.
J.N. MACHLAN.
Copied by Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert
September 7, 200l
MORE NEWTON MACHLAN ARTICLES:
Newton
Machlan wrote many articles, particularly where it concerned family:
Decatur
County Journal
March
l, l900
ROLLA
ARNEY, second son of J.S. ARNEY, weds an estimable young lady from Ft. Dodge
whose maiden name was ANNA CARROLL. Her girlhood days were passed in Ft. Dodge
but she has been employed at the Hotel Aborn, Des Moines, for some time. The
groom was reared in this county and is an excellent young man belonging to one
of our best families.
While
visiting at J.N. Machlan's, the happy couple were remembered by the groom's
chums who gave them a charavari of the old fashioned kind with horns, bells and
shotguns. The boys were invited in and treated liberally and the incident
closed with vocal and instrumental music.
The crowd demeaned themselves as gentlemen, and seemed to enjoy
themselves.
The
future home of the couple will probably be Valley Junction where MR. ARNEY will
devote his time to the business of a plasterer.
J.N.
MACHLAN.
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