HISTORY: Tidbits, Lyon Co., IA This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Roseanna Zehner April 2003 Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ______________________________________________________ NOTE: For more information on Lyon County, Iowa Please visit the Lyon County, IAGenWeb page at http://iagenweb.org/lyon/ ______________________________________________________ Lyon County Tidbits Judges of the Three District Courts Since 1887 On April 10, 1886, an act dividing the state into eighteen judicial districts was approved. Under its reorganization, the northwestern counties were arranged in the following districts: Fourth District--Cherokee, O'Brien, Osceola, Lyon, Sioux, Plymouth, Woodbury, Harrison and Monona. Other judges of the Fourth district have been: Anthony Van Wagenen, Rock Rapids, Lyon County, 1892-94. Standardized Rural Schools The standardized rural school law passed by the Thirty-eighth General Assembly marked a turning point in Iowa's educational policy, for it was the first time that the body had recognized the necessity and the desirability of extending direct financial aid and encouragement to the one-room rural school. During the school year 1923-23 rural schools located in ninety- four counties were standardized. County--Lyon--No. of Schools 9--6-Months Pupils 202. Enrollment and Average Daily Attendance Those matters which are most intimately related to the development of education in Northwestern Iowa have been traced, and of times, specific mention made of the useful participation of that section of the state in the general progress of institutions and measures in vital educational growth. The total enrollment in the ninety-nine counties of the state of those of school age, five to twenty-one years, was for the school year 1923-24, 561,873 and the average daily attendance, 449,391. The twenty counties of Northwestern Iowa covered by this history made the following showing: County--Lyon--Enrollment--3,873--Average Daily--3,055. Source: Northwestern Iowa Its History and Traditions 1804-1926 by Arthur F. Allen Volume 1 1927 Maturity, 1880-1889 At Doon, "Bonnie Doon," in a new community on a new road, Congregationalism proved to be the "solvent of the sects," although the sects outnumber the Congregational stock three or four to one. It is said that Congregationalism rode into Hawarden on the cow-cather of the first train. A church building and the round-house went up together. Ionia starting out with ninety-five members, was the result of an evangelistic campaign conducted by Rev. N.L. Packard of Nashua. He was called to attend a funeral in the community, and turned the service into an evangelistic meeting. The meetings went on until this number were ready for church membership. Later he added two other churches, Bassett and Chickasaw, by a like series of meetings held in these communities. Larchwood was the name of a twenty-two thousand acre farm owned by Sir Richard Sykes of Manchester, England. At the first service held on the farm, by Secretary Douglass, he gave out what to him were familiar hymns, but to his surprise, English carols, utterly foreign to Iowa soil, were sung. The church, however, has since been annexed to the United States, and has become just like the rest of us. Source: The Pilgrims of Iowa by Truman O. Douglass 1911. Petit Jurors Following are the Petit Jurors for the April term of Court, which convenes on the 8th: John Reesy, Little Rock J.S. Tumposky, Larchwood W.S. Hart, Larchwood Fred Alexander, Little Rock Ed Tracy, Larchwood Chas. Everett, Lester Henry Moon, Rock Rapids Henry Cuyan, Doon L. Miller, Rock Rapids M.H. Bahnson, Inwood Henry McKee, Rock Rapids J.J. Unhoefer, Alvord Wm. Zorn, Doon A.C. Burns, Larchwood G.M. Dell, Alvord W.D. Matthews, Doon F. Tauseh, Rock Rapids H. Schildt, Little Rock Theodore Schultz, Doon Will Marher, Ellsworth E. Brown, Rock Rapids H.J. Schneede, Alvord P. Kook, Rock Rapids T.J. McMains, Lester Ed Wheaton, Rock Rapids F. Hill, Rock Rapids A.J. Apple, Rock Rapids R.H. Spencer, Lester Herman Johnson, George Thos. Fitzgerald, Inwood C.H. Smith, Rock Rapids Tom Burgeson, Inwood C.J. Locker, George T.E. Wade, Rock Rapids G.T. Nagle, Rock Rapids Source: Rock Rapids Review, March 1, 1901 The Honored Dead The following is a list of the old soldiers buried in the Rock Rapids cemetery as shown by the records of the Dunlap Post: James H. Wagner, Company G, 24th Iowa Infantry, died December 15, 1884 George Griggs, Company K, 12th Vermont Infantry, died August 3, 1898 Lorenzo Ecker, Company M, 3rd New York Light Artillery, died February 21, 1900 Levi Allison, Company C 2nd Ohio Cavalry, died February 24, 1900 John Apple, Company B, 5th Pennsylvania Infantry, died October 6, 1885 David Frear, Company C, 5th Pennsylvania Cavalry, died September 19, 1899 S.B. Newcomb, Company B, 166 Ohio Infantry, died July 26, 1894 Simeon Reynolds, Company G, 92nd Illinois Infantry, died October 24, 1895 D.C. Whitehead, Company H. 92nd Illinois Infantry, died November 5, 1875 P.C. Young, Company B, 48th Iowa Infantry, died in June 1884 H. Alspaugh, Company H, 21st Ohio Infantry, died May 10, 1875 Robert Gray, Company I, 112th, Illinois Infantry, died August 17, 1891 Source: Rock Rapids Review, Rock Rapids, Lyon County, Iowa May 31, 1900 THE LITTLE ROCK BANK The Little Rock Bank is known as one of the solid business institutions of Lyon County. It was opened for business, on June 4, 1888, by C.S. and J.L. McLaury, with a paid capital of a little less than $1,000. In the summer of 1891 C.B. McKinstry and M.C. Bilsborough bought out the McLaurys and conducted the business under the firm name of McKinstry & Bilsborough with a paid capital of $4,000, until the fall of 1892 when C.B. McKinstry retired from the business, and A.J. Bilsborough and Charles C. Armour became partners of the firm, under the name of A.J. Bilsborough & Co., with a paid in capital of $14,000, which was increased on January 1, 1896 to $18,000. The business of the bank is now conducted by the same firm under the management of M.D. Bilsborough, the business having increased from $4,945-47, deposits on July 6, 1891, when M.D. Bilsborough went into the bank, to a little more than $80,000 deposits in 1902. The condition as shown by its official statement of February 16, 1903, is as follows: RESOURCES Loans and discounts...... $ 63,567.10 Overdrafts............ 10.24 Real estate and fixtures.. 3,100.00 Cash on hand and deposited with other banks...... 33,468.30 $ 100,145.64 LIABILITIES Capital stock $ 18,000.00 Undivided profits...... 338.14 Deposits .................................. 81,807.50 $100,145.64 This is a showing of which any financial institution may well be proud especially when accomplished under such safe and sound conditions of business as have prevailed over the destinies of the Little Rock Bank from the beginning. Source: Compendium of History Reminiscence and Biography of Lyon County, Iowa. Published under the Auspices of the Pioneer Association of Lyon County. Geo. Monlun, Pres.; Hon. E. C. Roach Sec'y; and Col. F. M. Thompson, Historian. Geo. A. Ogle & CO., Published, Engravers and Book Manufacturers. Chicago, 1904-1905 The Sale of War Bonds LOAN CHAIRMAN BONDS SOLD QUOTA NUMBER OF SUBSCRIBERS First O. P. Miller $307,880 $159,900 Second O. P. Miller $484,575 $819,850 $2,915 Third M. A. Cox $518,665 $891,350 $3,940 Fourth E. O. Carpenter $1,255,000 $1,300,850 $3,699 Fifth E. O. Carpenter $941,250 $939,250 $3,003 Source: Chronicles of the World War edited by Benjamin F. Shambaugh The Sale of War Bonds in Iowa by Nathaniel R. Whitney, published at Iowa City, Iowa in 1923 by the State Historical Society of Iowa. The Food Administrators Official List of County Food Administrators on November 11, 1918 FOOD ADMINISTRATOR COUNTY ADDRESS E. C. Roach Lyon Rock Rapids Samuel D. Riniker Lyon Rock Rapids COUNTY CHAIRMAN WOMEN'S COMMITTEE COUNTY ADDRESS Mrs. W. J. Purchase Lyon Rock Rapids Source: Chronicles of the World War edited by Benjamin F. Shambaugh The Food Administration in Iowa by Ivan L. Pollock Volume 11, published at Iowa City, Iowa in 1923 by the State Historical Society of Iowa People 90+ in 1885 STANTON, Rufus, 95 years, Rock Rapids, Lyon county Source: The Daily Blade, Des Moines, Iowa; Friday, November 13, 1885