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1889-1939The Mennonites In This Community(Continued from Page 2)valent in some counties than in others. But at least the '‘hundred German families' 'that the vigilantes had feared did not make their appearance during the forties.'^ The two Amish families were often discouraged during those first years in Johnson County. Sickness in the Guengerich family during 1S46 delayed their plans for the construction of a home, but early in 1847 they bought a claim north of what is now Kalona, in Washington County. On it they erected a log cabin which to the young son looked more like a stable than a dwelling house. But the cabin was improved from time to time, although for many years on winter mornings, the boys would find their beds covered with snow.blacksmith, he had many contacts with the Indians of Iowa. They would often come to his home at meal time, and he would invite them to share the meal with his family. He decided ■one day to return this visit and appeared at the Indian lodge at their meal time. They invited him to join them in eating their meat stew and courteously urged him to dip deep and get more dog. vSickness and .misfortune often made these people homesick for the East, but they were so impoverished that they could not have left Iowa had they desired to do so. One year they lost the team and two colts they had brought with them, and the father traded his pocket knife to have liis patch of corn plowed. Later they obtained an ox team which they used for many years, even driving them to church services. Often the mother sat by the fireplace with tears in her eyes, but the sons were too’ young at that time to realize that this was caused by the' difficulties and privations of frontier life. But this couple lived to see the day when their first congregation of six members had grown into four churches with a totalmembership of four, blinded.The William Wertz family, continued to live on the tract Wertz had entered at Dubuque in the spring of 1846. He was a -blacksmith by trade, and. while ho was passing through West Libert}', Iowa, on his way to his claim in Johnson County an attempt was made to have him locate there. But he had promised his elder, David Zook of Fairfield County,. Ohio, that he and Guengerich would set-, tie in the same neighborhood and attempt to build. up a church. As aWertz was an able blacksmith. Before his marriage to Magdalena Gin-gerich, he made her a flatiron which was not only serviceable but also beautiful. In 1938 it was still a treasured relic in the possession of one of the Wertz grandchildren. At first Wertz did his blacksmithing by using very small blocks of hickory wood for fuel instead of coal. Later on. coal became available, but when the supply was exhausted, he was not able to procure additional fuel quickly. One time an Indian came to Wertz to have his horse shod, but he replied he was out of coal. The In' dian then volunteered to get him a supply and rode off southwestward. In less than an hour, the Indian returned with a sack full of coal. The incident gave rise to a tradition persisting to this day that there is a deposit of coal somewhere in southwestern Johnson County.The Peter Miller family was the third to move to Johnson County. They came from Knox County, Ohio, in the fall of 1846, and settled a few miles northeast of what is now Kalona. Miller was a brother of Mrs. D. P. Guengerich. It is this family as they were in 1851 that J. F. Swart-zendruber described in the following words: . - • - . ■This family consisted of father and mother, ^two girls in their teens, and seven boys. Several of the older children were of age, yet they were contented in the paternal home. The youngest was five years old.’ They were a jolly set of boys, always in good humor. There was- apparently no end of vocal music and whistling. Their needs were but few and easily supplied, and I dare say, as I have known them since, they lived more contented than the ordinary person does today with all the improvements and modem conveniences.It was several years, .before these three families were privileged to eii-
Newspaper Details
Webster City Daily Freeman Journal
Webster City, Iowa, US
Sat, Jun 08, 1957
Page 80
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
IA, USA 19 Feb 2017
Other Publications Near Webster City, Iowa
Hamilton County Journal
Webster City Tribune
Webster City Daily Freeman Journal
Standard Atlas of Hamilton County Iowa
