THE 1880’S IMMIGRATION AND OUTLAWS SCHOOL CONTINUES EXPANSION   There are no record books of the period between 1870 and 1898. During most of these twenty-eight years the school consisted of only 10 grades which were divided among the four rooms. According to the History of Hardin County, there were […]

THE 1880’S IMMIGRATION AND OUTLAWS CHURCH GROWTH The Methodist Episcopal church building built in 1893, and remodeled in 1897. With all that had happened in the early 1880’s one might think that the churches in Steamboat Rock had all closed. This was not the case at all. It seems however […]

THE 1880’S IMMIGRATION AND OUTLAWS THE MEDICAL PROFESSION Dr. J. W. Caldwell  As the 1880’s were ushered in there were two doctors in the community. Dr. Moab C. Caldwell, came in 1879. Dr. Caldwell, practiced for one year when he was joined by his son, who had recently completed medical […]

THE 1880’S IMMIGRATION AND OUTLAWS GRAIN ELEVATOR AND LUMBER German born Henry Potgeter came to Grundy county in the 1880’s and taught parochial school at the Christian Reformed Church three miles west of Wellsburg (now Timothy Christian School). He taught during the winter and carpentered in the summer. In 1889, […]

THE 1880’S IMMIGRATION AND OUTLAWS IMMIGRATION STORIES (Part V) “In 1876 I remember one day in early summer Father and Paul (who was now 21) were coming up the path from the field, each with a hoe. They were arguing about something and Father struck Paul across the shoulders with […]

THE 1880’S IMMIGRATION AND OUTLAWS IMMIGRATION STORIES (Part IV) “Several of the neighbor girls and women came to help cook for the gang and what a meal they did put out, or meals, I should say. Those old machines would break down and I have known the threshing to take […]

THE 1880’S IMMIGRATION AND OUTLAWS IMMIGRATION STORIES (Part III) In the chapters that follow a great deal more will be said about Willard Hartman’s struggle during the depression to save the family farm.  Best Friends, Willard Hartman on the left, Russell Holmes on the right. “Willard was a special person, […]

THE 1880’S IMMIGRATION AND OUTLAWS IMMIGRATION STORIES (Part II) “ When we were all kids at homes everyone sang. Chub had a Kate Smith-type of voice only more powerful and with greater range. However, she became a chronic asthma patient so she did not sing much in later years. If one […]

THE 1880’S IMMIGRATION AND OUTLAWS IMMIGRATION STORIES (Part I) An example of one of the early German settlers who arrived prior to the railroad is A. B. Jaspers and his wife Foektje who came separately and married in Steamboat Rock. They were among the earliest German immigrants to make their […]

THE 1880’S IMMIGRATION AND OUTLAWS HARD TO ACCEPT AT FIRST Herbert Quick, who was of Dutch extraction, considered his family Americans since he was born here as had his father been. His description of the German immigrants invasion of our area, may at first, seem offensive to those who descended […]