He just wanted to see the elephant!

A little context: David Moats is my great-great-great-great-grandfather and $500 in 1880 would be about $11,600 in 2015 after adjusting for inflation.

The Elkader Register May 27, 1880, p. 3

TAKEN IN BY SHARPERS.

Mr. David Moats, an old and prominent citizen of Highland, did a very foolish thing the other day, one that will be a lesson to him as long as he lives. Last Friday was circus day and Mr. Moats came to town to see the elephant. In the course of the forenoon he became acquainted with several sleek talking men, who done the agreeable to him, and introducing him to the side show, proceeded to initiate him into some of the mysteries and tricks with cards. The careless manner in which the cards were handled convinced him that he could name the winning card and never fail. Mr. Moats is not a betting man, but just to learn these careless boys a lesson, he came down to town and borrowed $500, and returning to the side show, bet it and of course lost his money.

He took his loss philosophically and took measures to regain the money. Sheriff Place and Murdock & Larkin took the matter in hand and through the proprietors of the circus, induced the monte man to refund all but $50. The attorneys and sheriff were paid for their services, the net loss amounting to only $200. Mr. Moats is a highly respected and well to do farmer of Highland, and this experience though costly, is a valuable one to him.

Civil War Memories

Whenever I get frustrated with dead ends or brick walls in my research, I remember I am actually incredibly lucky with some of my ancestors. I have some ancestors whose lives are very well documented, and some who did the job themselves. John D. Shaffer is one of those. He was prominent in his home area, so people knew him, respected him, and listened to him. He also apparently liked to reminisce and tell stories of his early days. Since he was so well known (serving as county supervisor, state representative, and bank president over the course of his career), people listened. 

I have several accounts from local newspapers where Mr. Shaffer shared his recollections with readers. They're an amazing glimpse at the past and the little details of life that would escape the official records. One just discovered this morning shares his memories of life during the Civil War. Mr. Shaffer was just a child at the time, but old enough to remember where he was when he heard the news of President Lincoln's assassination: 

The West Union Argo-Gazette Dec. 29, 1926, p. 4

RECOLLECTI’N OF 60s

JOHN D. SHAFFER REMEMBERS WEST UNION DOINGS IN CIVIL WAR DAYS

John D. Shaffer of Elgin, formerly Fayette county’s representative in the legislature, puts more than sixty-four years of residence in Fayette county behind him, having come to West Union when four years of age, in 1862, with his father, Rev. Israel Shaffer. In the spring of 1866 they moved to Illyria township, where John D. farmed and bred draft horses till he moved to Elgin in 1917. Mr. Shaffer attended school in West Union, on the hill this side of the cemetery, with the Rogers, Hall, and Knox boys as his schoolmates. He remembers how the war news used to come by stagecoach, the drivers sending the teams along as fast as they could. He especially remembers that as he and his father were driving to West Union one day in 1865, the coach passed them at high speed, when one of the horses dropped over. The stage hands jumped off, cut the harness loose, and drove on as fast as they could with the remaining three horses. When the Shaffers got to West Union they found that the news which was being rushed was that of the assassination of President Lincoln. Mr. Shaffer distinctly remembers the incident as to one man in West Union cheering when he heard the news, and of his being given notice to leave town within a short specified time, which he did.

Mr. Shaffer and his partner, B.A. Cowen, herded cattle in 1877, on the prairie where Hawkeye now stands. They began herding cattle the year after John Hall quit, and had 1,128 head of cattle entrusted to their care by stock owners all the way from West Union to McGregor. At that date the farmers living beyond Hawkeye hauled all their wood for fuel from the timber east of West Union.

Throwback Thursday: Amy Richards

Amy Richards had a passion for music. It was in her blood. Her grandfather was a talented musician and her father, a native of England, told tall tales of reducing Queen Victoria to tears with his solos on the English stage. Amy’s career began at 17, teaching piano and voice between terms at Upper Iowa University. As a young woman, she was organist at Illyria Church, while offering lessons from her parents’ farmhouse across the street.

In 1912, the family moved to West Union and Amy set up her studio in the house at 103 South Vine Street. Her pupils were all ages, from children to housewives. She taught three generations of some families, leaving her home cluttered with photos, letters, and mementos from “her kids.” She taught her niece, and later three great-nieces, who would listen to Amy’s mother, their great-grandmother, tell stories of hoop skirts and covered wagons while waiting for their turn with Aunt Amy.

Families packed her parlor for recitals, with folding chairs crammed into every space and parents crowded on the front porch. Her dedication was unwavering. In 1968, at the age of 87, she was hospitalized after a fall in her home. As soon as she was well, she was back at the piano. “I couldn’t go on teaching if it weren’t for the kids,” she once said. “I’m full of humor and they amuse me so.”

She retired at age 88 and moved to a nursing home in Oelwein, where she died November 19, 1971, age 90 – 44 years ago today.

Throwback Thursdays

About a month ago I started writing Throwback Thursday posts on Facebook. If you know anything about social media you know what I'm talking about - on Thursdays you post an old photo of yourself with the hashtag #TBT or #ThrowbackThursday. It's meant to be fun and nostalgic.

For mine, I decided to take a different approach. Instead of photos of myself, I started posting photos of ancestors. Usually I would create a photo collage with 5-10 photos of the person in question. That person had to have a link to the date on which that particular Thursday fell. For example, in late October one Thursday fell on the day my third-great-grandfather, Jacob Reinig, became a U.S. citizen in 1858. For that one, I posted photos of his naturalization papers, as well as a paragraph about his path to citizenship.

Last week, I quoted a newspaper article published on the same date in 1903, noting the election of another third-great-grandfather, John D. Shaffer, to his first term in the Iowa House of Representatives. This week, It was the anniversary of the death of Mr. Shaffer's wife, Susan (Robbins) Shaffer.

I have enjoyed writing these and family members have commented on them as well. It only occurred to me this morning that they would make excellent fodder for blog posts! I have been woefully neglectful of this blog for some time, so I don't know why I shouldn't re-post my #ThrowbackThursday items here as posts at the same time.

I'll go post some now and backdate them so the stories link to the dates. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them.

Throwback Thursday: Susan Robbins Shaffer

#TBT: On November 12, 1923, 92 years ago today, Susan Shaffer died at her home in Elgin, Iowa. Susan Christena Robbins grew up in Clayton County and married John D. Shaffer, a preacher's son and farmer, in 1878. They lived in Illyria Township, Fayette County, where John was prosperous in business and politics (last week's #TBT) and Susan raised eight children.

Her health began to decline in 1911 when she was diagnosed with diabetes. Six years later, she and John moved into small house in Elgin, as life on the farm had become to strenuous. In October 1922, the Shaffers visited Lindlahr Sanitarium in Elmhurst, Illinois, to seek "consultation and diagnosis" from Dr. Henry Lindlahr, whose "Natural Cure" approach focused on fresh air, exercise, and no surgical or medical interventions.

Upon returning to Elgin, she found her health no better, and quietly slipped away a year later on November 12 at the age of 64 years. Her funeral, held the afternoon of November 14, was large, with "Elgin stores closed during the hour of the service as a mark of respect."

In her own words

A few weeks ago I went to Community Day, an annual tradition at Illyria Community Church. A older woman came up to me with a cassette tape. In 1979 she had worked on gathering local stories about the church for a history book. She recorded her interviews, stashing them away in boxes in her basement until recently.

"This is an interview with Bessie Shaffer," she said. I let out an audible gasp. Bessie Shaffer was my great-great grandmother, who was born in 1883 and died in 1980. Bessie sat down for this interview when she was 96 years old, just a year before she died.

I gladly took the tape, eager to hear the voice of someone born in 1883 - and not just someone, but my ancestor! The trouble was, I didn't have a tape player. It's 2015! I don't even have a VCR!

Thank you, Internet, for providing me the answer. A quick Amazon purchase later and I had a cassette converter express mailed (I couldn't wait!). The interview was only about 10 minutes long and Bessie's voice was faint, as the recorder sat next to the interviewer. I had to remind myself not to be frustrated, as I wasn't alive when this tape was made, so I couldn't have changed things if I had wanted to anyway.

Hearing her voice was a thrill. Hearing her stories about childhood in the 1880s and 1890s was incredible. I have spent so much time researching Bessie and her family, that hearing her own words and her own perspective on her live was downright moving.

Oh yes. I remember winters where we didn’t get to school nearly all winter because the snow was so deep. [You] couldn’t get there. Father would take us with a sled when he could, but some winters – yes, we had some winters we didn’t get to school. Sometimes we had to go another way, you know, we couldn’t go our road because it was kind of a road through there where the snow filled in, it was always deep at this house. And the men, they had no way of shoveling it out and they’d wait until spring, you see…

She also talked about her love of family, something everyone in my family still remembers today:

My happiest was after the children all left, when they could all come home again and bring the grandchildren. They were all close enough to all come home for Thanksgiving or Christmas or something like that. I think I enjoyed that a lot.

I transcribed, digitized, and shared the interview with the family. Of course, there were so many more questions I would have asked Bessie if I had been able to do the interview. So many burning questions that I fear will never be answered.

But then again, I never thought I'd hear Bessie's voice for myself - so stranger things have happened.

Do you know this child?

A distant cousin and fellow researcher sent me this photo the other day. It's a cabinet photo of a young child taken in Marshalltown, Iowa. My cousin and I share several ancestors, including William and Sarah (Jester) Jackson and Jonathon and Mary (Upp) Zehrung (in her case, through their daughter, Maria (Zehrung) Hoffman).

So, if you are related, if you recognize this photo, if you have this photo... please, leave a comment.