The Book of Me, Written By You - Prompt 5: Your Childhood Home

The Book of Me, Written By You
Prompt 5: Your Childhood Home

"The Book of Me, Written By You" is a GeneaBloggers project created by Julie Goucher of the Anglers Rest blog. The concept: a series of blogging and writing prompts that help family historians capture their own memories and write about themselves.


Prompt 5: Your Childhood Home

Your Childhood Home - My parents rented farms the first couple of years of their marriage. I was about 2 or 3 when they bought the farm where I grew up - through High School - until I left for college. My parents and four younger brothers (who were each born while we lived here) continued to live there for many years after I left.

The farm was on 160 acres in Willow Township, Greene County, Iowa, about 7 miles northeast of Coon Rapids, Iowa. We were just a mile east of of the county line with Carroll County, Union Township. Most of our community relationships were there. The aerial photo of the farm was taken in the late 1940s. (Note: the one-room country school I attended through 7th grade was located a mile north of our corner - just to the left of the upper left corner of this photo!)



What was it like – describe it – each room. Fairly normal farm house, for the time, actually, with a couple of special features. Kitchen, Dining Room, Living Room, Bed Room on first level… this was my parents bedroom. Upstairs were two normal bedrooms, plus, over the kitchen, we made another bedroom (we called it the attic), that was used when brothers 3, 4, and 5 arrived. I got the first upstairs bedroom; later shared with one brother.

When Mom and Dad first bought the farm, there was a porch on the west (front - left, above), and also on the east (back) of the house. Early on, in the mid-1940s, the front porch was enclosed and made into a full bath room and entrance hall (though that door on the 'front' was NEVER used - everyone entered near the kitchen…on the side of the house). This was the status in the farm photo, above. In about 1949, the old, small porch, on the east, was replaced by THE PORCH. You can see it directly behind the family in the 1954 Easter photo. It was what we later called "a family room." Note: Entering that door, left, below, the kitchen was immediately to the left.

Bill holding Barry, Eileen, Pete, Thomas (T.K.) - brother Jim taking the photo

Was there a favorite room? THE PORCH was a special place for each of us. It was a large room. We moved the piano out there; there was always an upright freezer there, in later years, full of goodies. The east end was all mahogany bookcases built in the wall with a flagstone fireplace in the center. A long window seat under the big window. The television (we were one of the first in the neighborhood to have one) was in one corner - a Motorola. And, lots of space for boys to play. Couch and lounge chairs facing the fireplace. Many parties held here, family, friends, school, church, etc. 


Is there anything you particularly remember from the house? Everything. All family memories of the time are tied to this house, and the yard around the house. A very special place (of course!).



The road & area - We had a 'main' gravel rod running north and south west of the house. We also had an east to west road on the south side of the house - it ran to a house/farm a half mile east on a dead end. The drive came off the south road, past the house, and to the west. A nice lawn with apple and cherry trees occupied the corner, with walnut trees along the west road. Our farm was actually the 80 acres on the north and 80 acres on the south of that east-west road (this is the road you see along the bottom, in the photo. We later bought the land to the north, that is in the upper part of the photo, as well).

My additional comments: This was a fun exercise, because I always enjoy recalling those days, on the farm, the began my life. Thanks, for the memories!


Families are Forever!

Mappy Monday - Western Iowa of my hometown

Mappy Monday - Western Iowa of my hometown

I used this yesterday on a Shared Memories post, and promised to share more, today, on Mappy Monday. My hometown, Coon Rapids, Iowa, is about in the center of this map segment (2008 Iowa DOT map). I grew up in the corner of four counties: Carroll, Greene, Guthrie and Audubon. East of Guthrie is Dallas County; Des Moines has grown our into Dallas County. Notice that Iowa Highway 141 goes through Coon Rapids and southeast to Des Moines (past Grimes and Urbandale). Nancy's brother, Al, lives just east of Grimes, east of 141, with his wife, Joleen. We visit there once or twice a year.

North of Perry, in northern Dallas county, is Ogden, in Boone county. I have two brothers with homes there. Speaking of brothers, Jim lives in Defiance - at the far left edge of the map image, between Denison and Harlan. Carroll, the county seat of Carroll county, is a regional center. To the east of Carroll, are Glidden (Nancy's sister, Carolyn, lives there), Ralston and Scranton. Directly north of Scranton, in Calhoun county, is Lohrville. Leo Kinnick and his family lived there much of the 1940s, 50s and 60s. We also have close relatives living in Jefferson, Greene County Seat, and Audubon, Audubon County Seat. It really is a small world, after all. P.S. Now that tune will be in your head the rest of the day!  ;-)


Families are Forever!  ;-)

Those Places Thursday - Willow#3 School, Greene County, Iowa

Those Places Thursday

Willow#3 School, Greene County, Iowa

Recently, I shared a "Those Places Thursday - Star Church 1955" that was a social center of the community where my wife and I grew up in the 1940s and 1950s in west central Iowa. Today, I continue this series by sharing photos including the one-room country school that I attended for Kindergarten through seventh grade: Willow #3 in Greene County, Willow Township, Iowa. This school was located two miles directly east, across the county line, from the Star Church.

Iowa one-room country schools were originally located on the center corner of every four square miles. The Iowa I grew up in consisted of a very homogeneous checkerboard of regular roads every mile, both north and south and east and west. Only rivers, lakes and such natural barriers prevents a road every mile. Interesting, looking back; and fairly distinctive, it now seems. [Our farm house was also on a corner, one mile directly south of the Willow #3 school house.]

A few years ago, I created a web page in my The Early Years series on Willow #3. Today, I will add another photo taken at the school. I'm at the far right, with suspenders.

Families are Forever!  ;-)

Those Places Thursday - Star Church 1955

Those Places Thursday

Star Church 1955

This photo would have been taken between my sophmore and junior year in high school. This is the rural Methodist Church that was the focal point of our rural community. The left hand side of the building was the original church, see below. The right side was originally the Star School building that had been located across the road to the far left, above. It was moved, a new basement was built, the school building "set on top" and it became a "Community Hall" - very nice, for the times.

The Bolger family, my wife's family, lived a mile to the north of this intersection, and a half mile west. She attended the school from kindergarten through seventh grade, then went to Coon Rapids Consolidated School. My family (Smith) lived a mile south and two miles to the east, across the county line in Greene County. I went to Coon Rapids school starting in the eighth grade. After we graduated from high school, a few years, this church closed and the members all went to Coon Rapids for church, as well.

For comparison, this is the original church, a few years earlier.

This physical location is a few miles north of Coon Rapid, Carroll County, Iowa.

Note: The Carrollton School and Store I wrote about a few weeks ago, was located just a few miles directly west of this location.  ;-)

Families are Forever!  ;-)

Monday at My Hometown - Week 1

My Hometown is Coon Rapids, in West Central Iowa, in Carroll County but near the corner with Audubon, Guthrie and Greene Counties. I would like to one day to have a place-based blog of social history and genealogy on Coon Rapids, but in the meantime I am going to post some of my existing information on Mondays each week in 2010.

Coon Rapids, Iowa, in Wikipedia, is a good place to start in getting a feel for the current status of the community. The Coon Rapids Enterprise is the local newspaper has been 'the weekly newspaper' for over 100 year - established in 1881. The Coon Rapids Development Group has a newly designed website. The Coon Rapids-Bayard Community Schools serve both Coon Rapids and Bayard (about 7 miles to the east on Highway 141) as well as the neighboring areas in all four counties. The Coon Rapids Bayard Alumni wikipages provide a useful service to the community, as well. The local Coon Rapids Municipal Utilities is a model for small rural communities utility services.

I first published the following on a Geocities-hosted website (closed in late 2009) in July 1997:

This is a brief account of the origins of Coon Rapids, Union township, Carroll county, Iowa [Sources cited are listed at the end. Please go to the source document for more complete information.]:

The original town of Coon Rapids was, next to Carrollton, the first town in the county. It was not known by that name, but there was a sort of frontier outpost at that point, on the route from Des Moines, Panora, Sioux City and points farther northwest [1].
The land was first taken up by one O.J. Niles, a peculiar character, who attracted the attention of the early pioneers. He was elected justice of the peace and was an important individual in the transaction of business for his neighbors [1]. It is related that a man named Tuttle, of Tuttle's Grove, felt a grievance over a horse trade he had made with Samuel Wilson, and stated the details of the transaction to 'Squire Niles.' The 'squire' listened patiently, and at the close advised Mr. Tuttle that the law in the case was so complicated that he couldn't obtain justice. Some suspicious persons, always inquiring as to the relations of cause to effect, remarked that Wilson was a splendid shot, and Niles was very fond of venison [2].
O.J. Niles entered the land on which Coon Rapids stands, in Union Township, in 1855. Mr. Niles was from Western Michigan, and probably of Yankee birth[2]. He lived in a 16 x 36 log house [2], the site of the present funeral home [3]. (The centennial report says: The earliest record of any settlement is in 1854; one of the earliest in Carroll County. In 1853, Obediah Niles, a Yankee by birth, came from Michigan. He purchased 200 acres of land from the government and the tract included almost all of the present town site [3].) His (Obedian Niles) nearest neighbors were at Tuttle's Grove where Mr. Charles Cretsinger now lives [3].
The nearest railroad was at Des Moines [3]. A mail route was established in 1858 between Panora and Sioux City, with intermediate offices at Carrollton and Denison [2].
The earliest record of a 4th of July gathering was in 1859 at Tuttle's Grove. Lawson Mingus stood barefooted at the foot of a huge oak and read the Declaration of Independence. That evening, a dance was held at Sammy Wilson's on Brushy Creek and many danced barefooted. It is recorded that people from the little hamlet of Coon Rapids attended the event [3].
In 1861, he (O.J. Niles) sold a few acres of his land to a man by the name of Winfred who started to improve the mill site, on Middle Coon [1]. The settlers were so enthusiastic over the prospect of a mill in their vicinity that they held their Fourth of July celebration that year on the proposed mill-site [2].
In 1863 Crockett Ribble, County Treasurer, bought the site and commenced to improve it, with financial assistance from the county. A Mr. Frizzell set up a store to supply the men with tobacco and other "necessaries," and John J. McCollum started a blacksmith shop [2].
Jacob Cretsinger lived on Wilson Hill, east of the mill. He carried mail from Panora to Sioux City on horseback. Anxious to have a mail station nearer his home, he petitioned the government for a post office for Coon Rapids and suggested the name [3].
William Minnich bought the land in 1865 and laid out a town, and built the house (where William Schnepps now lives - in 1887), to rent as a store [2]. The first occupant was Shoemaker & Endicott [2].
But the old town did not prosper, and when the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad built through, in 1882, there were but few families there. The Western Town Lot Company then laid out the new town, along side the
railroad, a mile or so west from the old site, and newcomers were numerous and the town grew rapidly [1].
The Coon Rapids Bank was opened in June, 1882, by Lyons & Cooney [2]. The City Bank was established in the autumn of 1882, by H.L. Miller & Co., the present proprietors (1887) [2].
The first graded school building was put up in 1883 [2].
In the Enterprise of 1883 is the earliest printed record of a 4th of July celebration. A brass band of 12 instruments was organized for the event. The program was as follows: National salute of 107 guns at sunrise. Prayer by the Chaplain. Reading of the Declaration of Independence. Address of State Senator from Panora. Music by the brass band. Vocal Selection. Basket dinner followed by toasts and responses. There were races, baseball and other amusements. In the evening following supper, the program consisted of music by the band, fireworks and dancing [3].
Coon Rapids was incorporated in 1884, the result of an election held December 19, 1882 [2]. Officers were elected in January following, and J.H. Louthan was the first mayor. The officers for 1886-1887 were: Mayor, T.C. Reid; Recorder, D.M. Grove; Councilmen, A.R. Harfield, C.E. Morris, B.H. Shute; H.L. Miller, Henry Wallace and I.L. Dermond; Treasurer, J.H. Louthan; Assessor, Theophilus George; Marshal, James Mulford; Street Commissioner, Geroge Miller [2].
In 1885, the population of the town was 729 [1].
The first class was graduated from Coon Rapids High School in 1888. The class contained eight seniors [3].

Sources:

[1] From History of Carroll County, Iowa: A Record of Settlement, Organization,
Progress and Achievement, by Paul Maclean, Volume I, Chicago: The S.J.
Clarke Publishing Company (1912).

[2] Biographical and Historical Record of Greene and Carroll Counties,
Iowa. Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company (1887).

[3] Coon Rapids Centenial Page

I hope you enjoyed a few words about My Hometown. ;-)