The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, December 16, 2015 C-9 HISTORY Submit history photos: Call: 812-354-8500 Email: news@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg Written at Clay Center, Kansas, July 4, 1925 Transcribed by: Sandy McBeth (This letter was donated to the Pike County Historical Society by the descendants of W.P. Anthony). To My Children: I have been astonished to find that there are many persons who seem to have no adequate knowledge of their family his- tory. Especially was that no- ticeable during the late war when young men came for- ward and were required by the government to answer a questionnaire which, among other things, wished to know the maiden name of their mother, and they were un- able to give it. Also while I served as Probate Judge, I found ma- ny that were unable to state their prospective mother-in- law's maiden name, when ap- plication was made for a mar- riage license. One would sup- pose that few would have so little curiosity concerning the lives of their immediate rela- tives as to not gleen the facts and that parents would dis- cuss their family relationships in the presence of their chil- dren and that they would be- come familiar with their fam- ily history. Of course, I know that each of you is quite familiar with such matters, yet I know that their are many facts concern- ing the lives of your father and mother with which you have no familiar knowledge or ac- quaintance and that you may have this knowledge, I am committing to writing such facts as I possess of those who have preceded you in life. First, as to myself, I was born October 11th, 1848 on my father's twenty-fifth birth- day, in Hoosierdom, in the southern portion, fifty miles from Evansville, at Peters- burg, in Pike County, Indiana. Here my parents lived until I was eight years old then they moved to Edina, Know Coun- ty, Missouri. The county in which I was born was principally a tim- bered county with massive trees - oak, hickory, walnut and poplar - and of a size that would seem to you almost in- credible. To open up a farm required almost herculean efforts, but the type of men and women that carved out their homes in these primeval forests were sturdy people, not dismayed by the toil incident to making a home. My native town was located on a branch of the Erie Canal and there being no railroads in the county, this canal long served as a means of shipping products of all kinds in and out of the county; large farmers, though, put their crops upon flat boats, and in the spring time, when heavy rains came, floated them down White Riv- er to the Ohio River at Evans- ville on the Ohio River, thence on it to the Mississippi to New Orleans, and then their pro- duce was sold, brought back a supply for the year of coffee, tea, sugar and molasses. My boyhood home was a wonderful fruit country, and in the summer time, it was not unusual to find in the woods, peach and apple trees, the seed having been cast down by some one, loaded with choice fruit. Numerous ponds, filled with bass, weighing, some of them four to five pounds, were within one mile of town. Petersburg was my moth- er's native place and there her relatives lived, and I be- ing of an impressionable age, possess a vivid memory of the scenes of my early child- hood, consequently, I am writ- ing here of things which have but little to do with facts I in- tended to relate. My parents remained on- ly a short time at Edina, Mis- souri, and in less than a year removed to Muncie, Indiana, my father's boyhood home, where he practiced law for 5 years. Then my parents, at the beginning of the Civil War, moved to a farm in Coles County, Illinois, seven miles from Charleston, the coun- ty seat. Coles County is in southern Illinois, in the por- tion called Egypt, and I sup- pose because settled most- ly by northerners who were very illiterate, and who gave most of their sympathies to the Confederate cause, the government found it neces- sary to keep troops at Charles- ton and at Paris, about 30 mi. away from where we lived, in Edgar Co. to which my par- ents moved after a year in Coles Co. Oakland, a little town in an oak woods, seven miles from where we lived, was our nearest trading point. Here I saw Rebel meetings of "Cop- perheads," and Union people dare not open their mouths. There were speeches by Reb- els and guards patrolling their boats, with guns in their hands, as though it were a sol- dier's camp - but this condi- tion did not last long because some furloughed Union sol- diers were shot - and in a short time soldiers were went home, with orders to shoot to kill any who dared to utter treasonable words. In 1864 we removed to Muscatine County, Iowa, set- tling upon the farm where my grandfather Anthony had spent the later days of his life. This was our home for five years until the fall of 1869 when we winded our way to Clay Center in a covered wag- on - and in November, 1925, the first week, fifty six years will have been spent since we came. That fall I was twenty-one years old, and before leaving Iowa, I cast my first vote for General Grant, elected presi- dent of the United States. Clay Center possibly con- tained fifty actual residents; the county eighteen hun- dred inhabitants, mostly liv- ing along the creek and riv- er valleys. On the uplands there were no people living, and one might travel in any direction from Clay Center and not see a house or a hu- man being. It was forty miles to the railroad at Manhattan, and everything was hauled in wagons from that place. The mails came only once a week, and it seemed like living out of the world. Soon after com- ing here I began clerking in Dexter's store, the only one in Clay Center, at $ 30 per month. In the spring of 1870, C. O. Huntress, clerk of the district Court, resigned, and I was ap- pointed to the office by Judge Canfield of Manhattan. My duties were very light, and I hardly went to the office once in thirty days. A fter going to Clay Center, I wanted to correspond with some one in Iowa, and my sister Laura suggested that I write to your mother, which I did under protest, feeling that I had hardly an acquaintance with her, and that it was rath- er presumptuous on my part to expect any reply. But I re- ceived one, and was wonder- fully pleased, and it was not long before I was watching the mails for her letters, and in a little while we exchanged photographs, which you chil- dren have often seen. Before a year was up she had expressed her willing- ness to share my lot. Just be- fore the Fourth of July, 1871, I paid a visit to Iowa and, as pre- arranged, met her in a grove not far from High Prairie Chapel, and almost the first time, for I had seen her very few times in Iowa before we moved to Kansas. That was, of course, the finest "Fourth" I ever had, and it was wonderful to not feel shy in a girl's presence. When evening came I went to her father's house and spent the evening, and then mount- ed my horse, a colt that had not been ridden much, and rode twelve miles to my Un- cle George Satterthwaite's, where I stopped while away from home. I think your mother was a very trusting and confiding girl - to take me for better or worse, in truth a stranger to her, but then she has never been anything else but that and Providence indeed smiled upon me when she became mine; through the fifty-three years nearly that we have jour- neyed through life together, I have yet to see her out of humor and is there another husband in Kansas who can say as much about his wife? I doubt it! I know that my own girls (and I think they are fair specimens of humanity) have not a tithe of their mother's gentleness and lovableness, but then girls get from their father, if psychology is to be believed, most of their char- acter elements. So I feel that I can subscribe to the poet's sentiments when he alludes to his helpmate as follows: "The hours I've spent with thee, dearheart, are as a string of pearls to me, I count them over, each one apart, My Rosary, My Rosary." On September the 25, 1872, we were married at the High Prairie Chapel, at 8 o'clock in the evening, and went to Muscatine soon after, taking the Rock Island at 11 o'clock for Kansas - and it happened that the train was 20 min. late, whistling just as we reached the depot, or we would have spent that night in Musca- tine. Next day at 4 o'clock we reached Manhattan, my father meeting your mother and me, also my sister Laura, who accompanied me to Iowa, to begin our journey to Clay Center in a two horse wag- on next morning, which we reached as the sun was dis- appearing in the west. (to be continued) Files of the past Pike County Historical Society W.P. Anthony letter written to his children Spurgeon Cardinals flying high – 1952 Spurgeon's high-flying Cardinals competed in a holiday tournament at Du- bois. Front row (l to r): James Nixon, Jackie Skinner, Urban Oskins and Don- ald Edrington. Middle row (l to r): Donald Johnson, James Julian, Paul France and Carroll Edrington. Back row (l to r): Orville Skinner, Jr., student man- ager; James Oxby, assistant coach; Kermit Henke, James Gieselman, James Winland, student manager; and Ralph Cato, head coach. Contributed by Kath- leen Weitkamp. SIXTY YEARS AGO The Petersburg Press Friday, Nov. 4, 1955 Lt. Col. Howard C. Bone, son of Mr. and Mrs. Curtis Bone, of Stendal, is scheduled to take part in Exercise Sage Brush, the largest Army Air Force maneuver since World War II. The exercise will be conducted in Louisiana Nov. 1-Dec. 15. Some 1110,000 Ar- my troops will test the latest concepts of atomic bacteri- ological, chemical and elec- tronic warfare. Lt. Col. Bone is regularly stationed at Fort Knox, Ky. He is a graduate of Otwell High School. Mrs. Mertis Marsee and daughter, Carmen Eck, Larry and Karen, visited her sister, Mrs. Oscar Dixon and fami- ly at Champaign, Ill. over the weekend. Births: To Mr. and Mrs. Bob O'Dell. of St. Louis, Mo., twin sons, Oct. 25; to Mr. and Mrs. Ray Dyer, of Cari- bou, Maine, a daughter, Con- nie Rae, Oct. 30 ; to Capt. and Mrs. William J. Doty, of Og- den, Utah, a son, James Alvan, Oct. 15; to Mr. and Mrs. Mau- rice Sheridan, Jr., a son, Sat- urday. Marriages: Shirley L. Freeman, of Evansville, and Albert G. Stephenson, for- merly of Petersburg, Oct. 28; June Wilson, of Petersburg, and Larry K. Scott, of Louis- ville, Ky., recently; Janice Sen- delweck, of Otwell, and Jerry Lemond, Oct. 30. Deaths: John W. Cain, 80, of Petersburg, died Oct. 29; Sherman D. Patterson, 82, of Petersburg, died Oct. 29 at the home of his son, Charles Pat- terson in Petersburg; How- ard Dodson, 12, son of Sher- man and Edna Dodson, of Pe- tersburg, died Oct. 30 suffer- ing from leukemia; Mrs. Kate Brust, 86, of Stendal, died re- cently. FIFTY-NINE YEARS AGO The Pike County Dispatch Friday, Nov. 9, 1956 Maurice McGlasson, for- mer Winslow school teacher, has accepted a position at In- diana University as an associ- ate professor of education. He will begin his teaching at the University Dec. 15. He was born and raised in Winslow. His wife is the for- mer Ruth Hurt, also a native of Winslow. McGlasson has an A.B. de- gree from DePauw University; an A.M. degree from Indiana University; and has complet- ed a Doctor of Education de- gree from Indiana University. Fred Pancake was guest of honor at a dinner party giv- en by the postal employees of Winslow post office on Thurs- day, Oct. 25 at the Tracer-Do- ris Tea Room. Pancake retired on Oct. 21 after serving 32 years as ru- ral mail carrier from Win- slow post office. He received his appointment in Aug. 1924 and has served on old Route 4 and 5 and Route 1 which he was serving at the time of his retirement. Other guests in attendance were Mrs. Pancake, Postmas- ter and Mrs. Evart Julian, Mr. and Mrs. Homer Robling, Mr. and Mrs. Clayton Curtis, Mr. and Mrs. John D. Dedman, Mr. and Mrs. Sampson Alex- ander, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Hume, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Russ, Lisle Gray, former act- ing Postmaster, Mrs. L. Pres- ton Potter, and Elmer J. Green, retired substitute postal clerk. Saxton Coal Corporation, of Petersburg, has announced that operation of the new Knox County coal field and loading of coal at the new hopper at the edge of Petersburg began Tuesday, Oct. 30. The new pit is located about five miles from Peters- burg across White River. The operation is in the river bot- toms. The new hopper is locat- ed at the north edge of Peters- burg where the old Atlas Num- ber One mine used to be. Em- ployment of the new operation will soon reach a full produc- tion number of 29. "This Is Your Life" was giv- en for Rev. Herschel Long, of Campbelltown, Sunday after- noon at Winslow General Bap- tist Church. His life was re- vealed for him by friends be- fore a crowd which filled the spacious church. It was a complete surprise to Rev. Long, planned by his daughter, Mary Martha Long and niece, Shirley Sue Schmett. They were six weeks in preparing the program. He has pastored 15 churches and is now pastor of Petersburg G.B. Church. Births: To Mr. and Mrs. Richard Lemond, of Arthur, a son, Oct. 25; to Mr. and Mrs. Bobby Dale Willis, of Glezen, a daughter, Oct. 25; to Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Smith, of Pe- tersburg, a daughter, Nov. 4; to Mr. and Mrs. David Wool- sey, of Ayrshire, a son, Ed- ward Eugene, Oct. 29. Marriages: Catherine Mul- lins, of Winslow, and William Spaulding, of Lawrence, Ind., Saturday; Carolyn Sue Craw- ford, of Evansville, and John Smith, Jr., of Glezen; Marilyn Patton and Richard Padgett, both of Otwell, Nov. 3. Deaths: Mary Etta Jones, 76, of Ayrshire, died Nov. 3 at the home of her daughter, Nancy Jackson, in Ayrshire; Dora Edna Julian, 67, of Spur- geon, died Saturday suffering a stroke; Tillman Keith, 81, of Ayrshire, died Monday at his home suffering from a stroke; Roy F. Tislow, 59, of Peters- burg, died Friday; Arthur L. Woodward, 25, of Terre Haute, brother of Albert Woodward, of Winslow, was killed Nov, 3 in a motorcycle accident. FIFTY YEARS AGO The Pike County Dispatch Thursday, Nov. 18, 1956 Mr. and Mrs. T. E. Hassee, of Denver, Colo.; Mrs. Murl Abell and Julia Carter, of Lyn- nville were Wednesday din- ner guests of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Julian in Spurgeon. The Hassees' have just re- turned from Europe. Rita Austin came by plane to visit her parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Austin in Peters- burg weekend before last. She was accompanied by her friend and co-worker, Judy Simpson, who also visited her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Simpson in Petersburg. Both girls are employed by the FBI in Washington, D.C. On Thursday, Mrs. Vo- na Thomas, Mrs. George Poehlein, Mr. and Mrs. Pat Gilmour were in Indianapolis to visit with a brother-in-law and uncle, Gilbert Morgan in the Methodist Hospital. Mor- gan was seriously injured in a car accident four weeks ago. His condition has made it im- possible for the doctor to set his broken back, They will vis- it him again this Thursday. Weekend visitors of Mr. and Mrs. Roy Marshall in Ayrshire were Carl Houchins and chil- dren, of Jasper. Sunday after- noon visitors were Minnie Bel- lamy, Shelena Goble and Ron- nie Sharp. SP4 Michael Mason re- ceived his discharge from the service Wednesday of last week. He has been stationed at Ft. Meade, Md. He and his wife, Dottie Fella, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Fella, north of Spurgeon, arrived home Thursday. They are staying with her parents and with his mother, Mrs. Eleanor France in Spurgeon until they decide where they will locate. Mr. and Mrs. Otis Barnett, of Petersburg; Mr. and Mrs. Adrain Brenton, of Oakland City; Dr. and Mrs. D. W. Haley and Greg, of Princeton, were in Dundas, Ill. recently to help celebrate the 40th birthday of Mr. and Mrs. Barnett's son, Lyndall. Mr. and Mrs. Barnett were Sunday dinner guests of their daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Adrain Brenton in Oakland City. Births: To Rev. and Mrs. James Walters, of Dana, a son, Jon David, Oct. 26; to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Hunt, of Eng- lish, a son, Darin Keith, Nov. 12; to Mr. and Mrs. Ben Mor- ris, of Scranton, Kan., a son, Bradley, Nov. 12; to Mr. and Mrs. Fred Roeder, Jr., of Ot- well, a son, Todd James, Nov. 13; to Mr. and Mrs. John Per- ry, of Enos Corners, a daugh- ter, Jane Ann, Nov. 8. Deaths: Jesse Michael Fowler, formerly of Glezen, was killed in auto accident, Saturday; Sue Ann Roberson, 20, and her daughter, Sue Ann Roberson, 2, were killed in au- to accident, Saturday; Newton Elwood Maxey, 56, of Stendal, died Tuesday following a heart attack; Sarah E. Rhodes, 55, of Petersburg, died Nov. 10 suf- fering from cancer; Thomas M. Spurlock, 78, of Velpen, died Nov. 15; Ruby Coleman Harrison, 68, of Evansville, formerly of Winslow, died Saturday; Helen Miller, 71, of Madison, Wisc., formerly of Petersburg, died Nov. 10 suf- fering from cancer; Rev. For- est E. Preston, of Indianapo- lis, formerly of Winslow, died Nov. 15 suffering from a rare blood disease; Carlos Comer, 82, of Evansville, formerly of Evansville, died Nov. 14 suf- fering from heart failure. TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO The Petersburg Press Thursday, Nov. 15, 1990 Gov. Evan Bayh participat- ed in a Veterans Day flag ded- ication ceremony at Hornady Park in Petersburg Monday afternoon. He also bestowed the rank of Brigadier Gener- al on Bob Mitchell. In addressing the large crowd that gathered for the ceremony, Bayh said, "I hope that we can remember as we gather here to rededicate this part and town, that we also in a very real sense rededicate ourselves to the traditional Hoosier values of helping one another in times of difficulty and distress." Businesses and organiza- tions that contributed to the flag display at Hornady Park were recognized and present- ed certificates during dedi- cation ceremonies: Morris Meals of the Petersburg Po- lice Department; Loren Rich- ardson of Indianapolis Power and Light; Tom Walthan and Newt Crenshaw of Four Star Fabricators/Star Metals; Nan- cy Carey of the Women of the Moose; and Ed Warner of Warner and Son Welding. Recent visitors of Mary Ann Julian in Spurgeon were her sisters-in-law, Delores Roy, of Interlache, Fla. and Minnette Roy, of Elberfeld. Recent weekend visitors of Mr. and Mrs. Delmer Pride on the occasion of their 50th wed- ding anniversary were Mary Bellamy and Bessie Young, of Winslow. Tricia Deffendoll, a 5 -7 se- nior guard on the Lady Char- gers basketball team, made a verbal commitment Monday to play basketball at the Uni- versity of Evansville. Deffendoll is the school's all-time leading scorer, with 1,116 points. She was named to the 1990 all-tourney team in the Hall of Fame Classic. She is the daughter of Bob- by and Sherrie Deffendoll, of Winslow. She planned to sign her national letter of intent Wednesday morning. Births: To Greg and Jody Craig, of Otwell, a daughter, Allyson Michelle, Nov. 7; to Mr. and Mrs. Grant Cannon, of Petersburg, a son, Zackery Grant, Oct. 31. Deaths: Kolumun Morton, 74, of Petersburg, died Nov. 9 at the residence of a daugh- ter, Debbie Robling, in Pe- tersburg; Gladys Thompson, 89, of Evansville, formerly of Winslow, died Nov. 8; James Williams, 70, of Bicknell, fa- ther of Jim Williams, of Peters- burg, died Nov. 6; Robert Lee Knowles, 60, of Mesa, Ariz., formerly of Pike County, died Nov. 5; June Wilson Scott, 66, formerly of Petersburg, died Nov. 2 at her residence in Jen- sen Beach, Fla.