The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Compiled and Edited by Virginia Ross
Registrar for Daniel McMillan Chapter, N.S.D.A.R.1919
Stronghurst Graphic, August 14, 1919
LOCAL AND AREA HAPPENINGS: Another arrival of Ginger ale and Root Beer-25cents a bottle at Lovitt's Grocery. Miss Elizabeth Findley, daughter of W.E.Findley of Peoria has visited at the home of her uncle, Dr. Findley and family. Copious showers of the last few days have cooled the atmosphere somewhat and have also relieved the drought situation which was materially affecting the corn crop prospects. The indication in this locality now points to a good crop of Illinois great staple cereal.
Another car of road oil has been received and applied to the streets of the village. The quality of this latest shipment seems to be much superior to that of the former shipments and the dust on the streets where it has been applied seems to have been effectually laid. A young son, who will bear the name of William Francis, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Clayton Kemp on July 31st. The baby is being visited by his grandmother, Mrs. Henry France of Oquawka. Charles Beardsley and family of Kansas City, Mo. visited the gentleman's brothers, M.E. and Earl Beardsley and their families. Al Burg bought from W.B.Towler the property on Nichols St. now occupied by Mrs. Reburn and will take possession as soon as arrangements can be made. Many residents report seeing two aeroplanes pass over the village last Saturday evening at what was estimated to be an altitude of 2,000 ft.
One was headed in a westerly direction and the other was headed east. (Today, we may laugh at such reporting, but in 1919 this was big news and an event to be recorded as airplanes were an oddity.) Mr. and Mrs. C.E.Lant went to Chariton, Ia. where they were guests at the wedding of Miss Frances McDougal, a niece of Mrs. Lant and Dr. Joseph Maxwell. Both the bride and the groom have been engaged in missionary work in Egypt and expect to return to that field in the near future. E.R. Grandey went to Chicago where he will spend time selecting merchandise for his store after which he will journey to Grand Rapids, Mich.to visit relatives. Miss Ethel Brokaw returned from two weeks visit at Amboy and Rockford, Ill. with Northwestern University student friends where she was a guest at house parties. Del Dixson, I.H.Brokaw and son Russell, Bertie Russler, John Marshall and Joe Ross attended the Duroc-Jersey hog sale of Hanks and Bishop of New London, Iowa. They report an average of $800 per head (I think the editor made a mistake in this figure as that would be $10,376 today.)being realized from the animals sold.
1894 GRAPHIC: Trains NO. 4 and 5 on the Santa Fe met in a head-on collision near Gibbs, Mo.on Aug. 12th. A district reunion was being held at the Santa Fe Park in Stronghurst with Hon. Clark E. Carr and Hon. F.A.Freer of Galesburg and John W. January, the soldier who amputated his own feet in Andersonville prison, billed as speakers. The much discussed and "cussed" Wilson tariff bill had just been passed by Congress. On Sunday Aug. 12th the marriage of Prof. P.S.Gristy of Hobart, Ind.and Miss Effie Stine of this vicinity occurred at the Old Bedford Church south of Stronghurst. Miss Lizzie McQuown of Stronghurst and Mr. Julius Wilson of Emerson, Iowa were married at the home of the bride's parents in this village on Aug. 14th. The Prohibitionists of Henderson County had just nominated E.E.Duke for sheriff, F.M.Elliott for assessor, Marvin McKim for commissioner and H.N.Patterson for county clerk. (What is important in this announcement is that it labeled these men as prohibitionist.)
SCHOOL BEGINS, SEPT.2ND: School will "take up" in Stronghurst on Tuesday, Sept.2nd, at 9 o'clock with Prof. Carl E. Larsen, formerly of Knoxville, Ill.at the helm. He will have as his assistants in the high school Miss Thea Kirrle of Dallas City and Miss Irene Peterson of Wataga, Ill. One vacancy exists in the high school teaching force, the school officials having received word from a young lady living at Vincennes, Ind. who they had employed said that she had decided to accept a position nearer home.
There will be no change from last year in the personnel of the grade teaching staff. Miss Marjorie Thompson will be in charge of 1st and 2nd grades; Miss Ethel Hartquist of the 3rd and 4th ; Miss Hortense Harbinson of the 5th and 6th and Mrs. Ruth Wilson of the 7th and 8th.
HULL-MARSDEN WEDDING: Floyd B. Hull, proprietor of the F.B. Hull Jewelry Store at Dallas City and Miss Rhoda Beulah Marsden, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Marsden of Carman were united in marriage at Galesburg on Aug.4th.
CARMAN CONCERNS: Mrs. Sarah Clark and little grandson, Cecil Good, returned home from a two weeks visit with her son, Cyril and wife in northern Iowa. She also visited with Joe, Tom and Ed McIntire and families and Charlie Cargill and family. Miss Zelda Hamburg and two little nephews, Paul and Earl Wiegand, have returned home from visiting her mother Mrs. Hamburg in Monmouth.
GLADSTONE GLEANINGS: Mrs. Willis Law has bought the D.S.Bryans house in the east part of town and will move into it soon. Quite a few of the U.P.Church people had a picnic in Crapo Park going in autos. On Aug.6th at 8 p.m. Sam Knutstrom married Miss Elsie Snider at the home of the bride's sister, Mrs. Mabel Darnell, 1535 Osborn St., Burlington, Iowa. The home was decorated with a profusion of flowers blending daintily in the color scheme of yellow and white. The occasion was simple and only immediate relatives of the bride and groom were present.
The couple was attended by Miss Emma Wiesoner as bridesmaid and Mr. John Knustrom, a brother of the groom as best man. The couple entered the parlor to the strains of Mendelsshon's wedding march played by Miss Ruth Darnell. The ceremony was performed by Rev. Krueger with the ring service. The bride was charming in her gown of white stain. She wore a veil and carried bridal roses. Lois Curtis, niece of the groom, acted as ring bearer.
The groom is a son of Mr. and Mrs. John Knutstrom of Gladstone. When the world war began, he was among the first to enter service. He made good and soon was a corporal but was never sent overseas. The couple left for Chicago and Denver, Colo. to spend a short honeymoon sightseeing before returning home to Gladstone. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Rhoads have bought the J.W.Hancock house and will make it their home.
FAMILY REUNION: The W.L.Spiker home in this village was the scene of a happy social event last Sunday when 55 guests representing 15 families sat down to a sumptuous feast at a long table set on the lawn. The affair was given in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Charter of Arbuckle, California; Charles Charter and daughter Eula of Guss, Iowa; and Mrs. Nettie Shearer of Osawatomie, Kans.-the two gentlemen named and Mrs. Shearer being brothers and sister of Mrs. Spiker. Mrs. Peter VanAlstine of Media and Mrs. Nancy Brown of Smithshire completed a sextet of brothers and sisters reunited after many years of separation.
Each family brought a basket filled with substantial viands and delicacies and the feast and social fellowship constituted an event which will linger long in the memory of participants. Before the group separated, several group pictures of the assemblage were taken.
Those present were as follows: Mr. and Mrs. W.L.Spiker and son Ernie; Mr. and Mrs. Robt. Chase and children, Glenn, Garnet and Gail of Burlington, Ia; Mrs. Nettie Moore, Ada Moore, Bernerd Moore, Mr. and Mrs. Marshall Groat and two children; Mr. and Mrs. Lon Woodside and five children and Mr. Jos. Lefler, all of Burnside, Ill.; Mr. and Mrs. Sherman Hall and two sons of Swan Creek, Ill.; Mr. and Mrs. Peter VanAlstine and little granddaughter of Media, Ill.; Mr. Alfred Brown and two children, Mr. and Mrs. Will Woods, Miss Ina Brown, Miss Elizabeth Kane, Mrs. Nancy Brown, Mr. and Mrs. Wesley Milligan and sons, James, Keith and Kyle, all of Smithshire, Ill; Mr. and Mrs. William Charter of Arbuckle, Calif.; Mr. Charles Charter and daughter Eula of Guss, Iowa; Mrs. Nettie Shearer of Osawatomie, Kans.; Mr. and Mrs. L.A.Wilson and son Eugene; Mrs. Sarah Wilson and sons Jesse and Robert and Mrs. Elise Crane, all of Stronghurst. (If this is your family, what a research gift this is!)
LOCAL AND AREA HAPPENINGS: J.R.Justice, the Galesburg horse buyer, was in town. Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Staley and family visited his brother, Ernest Staley and family near Lomax. Bert Moore returned from a two weeks visit at Winnipeg, Can., where he formerly resided. He reports that there is a big boom in Canadian real estate and that indications point to prosperous times in the Dominion. Mr. and Mrs. Lester Herndon of Chicago visited friends here. Mr. Herndon was a high school student here a few years ago and now has a responsible position with Swift & Co. in Chicago. C. E. Peasley has been selected by the Illinois Agricultural Association as one of seven farmers outside Warren County to assist the local committee in securing memberships to their farm bureau. Last Friday evening, Prof. J.K.Spence and family were surprised by about 15 or 30 of their neighbors and friends who came to wish him success in his new field of endeavor, principal ship of the schools at Denver, Ill. Sam Curry came over from Winfield, Iowa to visit his brother N.E. and other relatives. His daughter, Evelyn has been here since Aug. 5th. E.P. Brown, former editor of the Warren County Democrat, dropped dead at his home in Burlington, Iowa shortly after noon last Tuesday. Apoplexy is given as the cause of his death. J.F.McMillan with his mother, Mrs. Elizabeth McMillan, and his sister, Miss Hortense Harbinson, left in their Dort car for Eden, Ill where they will spend a week at the home of Mrs. McMillan's daughter, Mrs. Henry Turner. Will and Ed Mohr, who live on the Lomax road east of Dallas City, suffered the loss of their Ford car by theft, the car being taken from the shed where it was housed and evidently pushed some distance by hand before being started.
From the Forest Republican of Crandon, Wis.: Perry Cooper, the Illinois man who came here about a year ago buying land near George Jacob's and Roy White's for himself and sons and also purchasing the former Crawford farm near Glen Park, has made wonderful improvements. He completely remodeled the residence on the latter property, changing it into a strictly modern dwelling and situated as it is on the shore of Lake Metonga, makes an ideal home:
T.W.Delaney, formerly of Media Township four miles east of Stronghurst, died at his home in North Dakota this week. Jos. Dixson is laid up with a very sore leg resulting from jabbing the time of a pitchfork into the calf of the limb while pulling straw from a stack. Mr. and Mrs. Roy Booth and family, who have been visiting the lady's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Graham, north of Stronghurst, returned to Red Oak, Iowa by auto.
***OBITUARY***MRS. CLAYTON KEMP: With much sorrow Tuesday night, people learned of the death of Mrs. Clayton Kemp at St. Mary's Hospital in Galesburg. A son had been born to Mr. and Mrs. Kemp at their home and both the mother and child seemed to be doing nicely until last Friday when the former suffered a relapse. She grew rapidly worse and on Monday evening was taken to the hospital in the hope of saving her life.
Mrs. Kemp was the daughter of Mrs. Isabelle Frances of Oquawka and was born Feb.6, 1897. She was married to Clayton C. Kemp on Oct. 3, 1917 and since that time her home has been in Stronghurst. The remains arrived here and were taken to the home in the west part of town. Brief services will be held there after which the remains will be taken to Oquawka and funeral services conducted at the M.E.Church there. Interment will be at Oquawka.
OLENA OBSERVATIONS: Mrs. John Lant and Mr. Elbridge Fort have been indisposed this past week.(sick) Mr. and Mrs. Oscar White have been entertaining relatives from Mexico, Mo. and Lomax. The Missouri relatives are thinking of locating here if they find a desirable farm. Elmer Carlson is visit at the Homer Justice home near Biggsville. A few from this neighborhood are delivering porkers to Mr. John Voorhees at 20 cents a pound. The timber land of Mr. Joseph White west of Olena has been a literal camping ground for blackberry pickers. Miss Milligan has been a recent guest of her sister, Mrs. Edith Claybaugh. Miss Milligan has been employed to teach the school 2 miles east of Olena. Georgetta Burrell will teach the South Prairie School the coming school year. Mr. Porter, our genial mail carrier of Gladstone, reports they had a heavy rain there Tuesday night. Corn here is looking fine and the farmers are now looking for a threshing machine so as to get that done before plowing and seeding.
WANTS TO COME HOME: George E. Matzka of this place, who is a wagoner with the 28th Inf. Of the 1st Div. in the army of occupation in Germany has sent us the following communication: "Dear Sir-I would like to ask a few questions. Why can the 1st Division not go home?
They have already discharged men who never saw any action and others, who married French girls and made the claim of dependency; but we are still winding our watches on the Rhine. We have voted for Wilson twice and he has made a great victory; but as soon as peace was signed, he returned home and we're still here. Now, is that what you call "Democracy"? If it is, when we do get home, you won't see democracy any more for a few years.
The 1st Div. must be rough and tough and must be made out of the best of stuff. We are first in everything and last to go home. The leaders much have a lot of faith in us as we are the only Div. that they trust. To our wives and sweethearts and dear mothers who are waiting behind while we poor "doughboys" wind our watches on the Rhine: may we return to greet you and not stay here all the time. Don't you think our luck is like the old Y.M.C.A?
We advanced through heavy shell fire and the Huns were doing their best; but they couldn't scare us Yanks. When the generals saw that we were there with the goods, they called us "shock troops" and left us to lead the way and here we are today winding the watch on the Rhine. Now the war is over and peace is signed so why in H-L can't we go home to the ones we left behind? (He closed his letter with two songs he had composed: "We want to go Home" and "The Argonne Forest.")
SERGEANT JIM: The four act drama entitled "Sergeant Jim of the U.S.Army" will be presented by local talent at the Lyric Theatre in Stronghurst on the evening of August 23rd for the benefit of the Stronghurst Band.
This is a war drama and represents a rural community getting ready for its part in the Great War and sending its boys out to take their place in the great U.S.Army.(a Synopsis of each act and a cast of characters is given in this issue.)