Lewis McIntyre

     I'm jumping around a bit, I admit it.  There seem to be all these little tidbits that I find interesting, so I want to share them with you.

     Grandpa Earl had a brother, Lewis McIntyre (b. August 1889), who died in 1913 while riding his motorcycle, reportedly in the tornado that hit on Easter Sunday.  That would make the date of his death April 23rd, but some of the records say July 3rd.  I can't explain the descrepancy, but I did find an interesting photo.  Lewis died at 30th and California in Omaha, NE.  There are several photos online showing the aftermath of the storm, and among them was this photo taken at 38th and California.  The destruction is amazing.

And being me, I went off on a tangent wondering what a motorcyle would look like in 1913.  So, here's an ad for the 1909 Indian.  A blurb says that 1907 was the first year that Indian put out a street bike.

1909 ad for Indian motorcycle



-Cheri

Christopher Columbus Sexton

 

Nancy and Christopher Sexton's children

      Christopher Columbus Sexton, Nancy Belle Waters' maternal grandfather, and his friend, Leonadus Smith, fought together during the Civil War. “On” made Chris promise to take care of his wife if he didn‘t return. Smith, died in 1862, during the war, and Chris took his responsibility seriously. Though they never married, between 1866 and 1876, Christopher and Sarah West Smith had three sons and one daughter. During the same years (1867-1881), he and Sarah’s cousin, Nancy V. Phillips, had nine children. Nancy V. and Christopher married in 1868. Nancy V. was Nancy Belle’s grandmother. There was a third companion, but apparently, that relationship was not as open, or perhaps not as “fruitful,” as the other two. The woman’s name may have been Honicutt or Honeycut, I've found no historical records. When the children of the first two relationships were in their teens, they became aware of their common father, and the West kids took the Sexton name.


 

The Great Smoky Mountains
of Tennessee

     At first, I made the assumption that Christopher Columbus had served the Confederacy. When I found copies of his pension, I realized that Sexton had been in Tennessee Cavalry and fought for the Union!  I double-checked, the record was correct. A little research led to an interesting set of facts. When the Civil War started, Scott County, Tennessee was rural with small family-owned farms. The entire county had sixty one slaves, a number smaller than any other county in the entire state. When the vote for Tennessee secession was taken on June 8, 1861, over seventy percent of those in Eastern Tennessee voted to not leave the Union. In Scott County, the vote was 385 against secession and only 29 for. However, the more populous western part of Tennessee dominated; the state seceded and joined the Confederacy. Scott County then decided to leave the state, and in December of 1861, they became the “Free and Independent State of Scott.”  The county didn't officially rejoin Tennessee until 1986. 

     



When Earl H. recounted a portion of the McIntyre history in Iowa, he mentioned a settlement named Preparation.  As I was doing a little research on Monona County, IA, I saw a list of state parks and was  surprised to see that Preparation Canyon is now a State Park.  I searched the site that tells about Iowa's State Parks and couldn't find a copyright.  So,  I'm posting the above picture and the description that website gives.  This is a slightly different story than Earl gave.

History     The 344 acre the park encompasses what was once the town of Preparation. In 1853, Charles B. Thompson broke from the Mormon wagon train to Utah after receiving a message from the "Spirit." The Mormon leader and elder led 50 to 60 Mormon families to Kanesville, now Council Bluffs. Upon much searching, Thompson and a few select men chose the area called "Monona," an Indian name meaning "Peaceful Valley." Here they organized the town of Preparation, complete with houses and schools and started Monona County's first newspaper which Thompson owned and operated.

     This place was their "School of Preparation for the Life Beyond." The Mormons soon learned they had discovered one of the richest farming valleys in the new territory. Realizing the valley's potential wealth, Thompson's newspaper printed this message from a spirit he called "Beneemy": "I appoint Charles B. Thompson chief steward of my house to receive, hold, manage and direct all the treasures of my house to him." Believing this, the people turned over all deeds and possessions to Thompson, who grew quite wealthy. Thompson also taught his followers to call him "Father Ephraim" after the Ephraim in the Holy Scriptures.

     In 1856, the people realized their mistake and asked for the return of their property, but "Father Ephraim" refused. Angered, the people decided to lynch Thompson. After receiving warning from a young follower, Thompson escaped the mob by hiding in a friend's attic in Onawa. Thompson fled the state, unable to secure the deeds. Many disillusioned Mormons then left the valley and headed for Utah.

      In 1856, the Iowa Supreme court divided the land equally among the remaining families, whereupon the town of Preparation began to grow. At one point, Preparation had sixty-seven houses, a post office, skating rink and blacksmith shop. But by 1900, the town had faded and all that survived was a stockyard operation which closed in 1946.

     Martha and Walter Perrin, descendants of the original Mormon families, sold 82 acres of their land to the state of Iowa in 1934. In 1969, Martha Perrin sold another 157 acres and, eventually, the Perrin family homestead site to the state. These acres of land once contained the town of Preparation, including the valley the Mormons had settled many years ago for their "Preparation for the Life Beyond."

I'm including the directions to the park, so those who want to visit the location of an era of family history. I wish I were close enough to do a little hiking.  It looks beautiful.

Nearby Towns     Preparation Canyon State Park is located approximately 5 miles southwest of Moorhead, Iowa and approximately 5 miles north of Pisgah, Iowa. Onawa, Iowa is approximately 20 miles northeast of the park.

Until next time, Cheri