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From: "Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert" <>
Subject: Re: Bits of History
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 20:49:19 -0500
References: <59.11afafb3.2900cff7@aol.com>


Hi Carm: We believe JAMES WELDON (who the WELDON fork of the Grand River
was named after) was the brother of my gggg grandfather, ANDREW JACKSON
WELDON--have not been able to prove it yet. I didn't know GARRET GIBSON
was so young when he worked for JAMES WELDON.. They took horses to the
Indians at Ft. Des Moines by way of the Dragoon Trail;
or so many 'history writings' have said. Thanks again, Nancee

wrote:
>
> Copied from: The History of Decatur County Iowa 1839-1970 by Himena V.
> Hoffman
>
> p47-48
> While there were no christening parties, going to see the new baby was a
> neighborly custom just as well observed as the welcome of new comers.
> Sometimes the two could be combined if the first visit was long delayed. For
> instance, baby Anna Gardner was born soon after the John W. Gardners were
> settled in their newly built log cabin and little Willie Young (Bill Young)
> was born in the newly established home of the V. L. Youngs who came to Iowa
> in the spring of 1852.
>
> There were no organizations of veterans, but it can be assumed that some ties
> existed between veterans of the Mexican War. These included Eli Alexander
> who fought at Buena Vista, Miles Wasson, Garret Gibson, who when but sixteen
> had been employed by James Weldon, first settler on a fork of Grand River and
> who served in the Mexican War with the Indian Battalion, James Rogers who
> captured four pieces of artillery at the battle of Reseca, John Fisher one of
> the first to settle in Morgan township. Doubtless there were others with
> similar records.
>
> Neither were there any organizations that represented distinguished ancestry,
> but even on the democratic frontier, there were those with family pride.
> Francis Ross did not forget that his great-grandfather, Jacob Ross, signed
> the Declaration of Independence. Elizabeth Lee Loving remembered that her
> father was a Lee of Virginia related to Richard Henry Lee. Her cousin
> perhaps twice removed, Robert E. Lee, stopped at the Rowell home near Decatur
> City while hunting in Iowa territory before it became a state. Mary Davis'
> father was a descendent of John Anthony, New England colonist. Wyllis
> Dickinson was a nephew of Emma Willard, the writer and founder of a college
> for women. Baron Van Lelar, a young German of distinguished family fleeing
> to this country because of too liberal political views, spent time in Garden
> Grove. Nor in such a list can we omit the Hungarians, Ladislas Madaraz,
> whose first wife was said to have been a baroness; Francis Varga whose first
> wife was said to have been a countess and who had held the title of vice Lord
> Lieutenant of Torontal; Ignace Hainer, Hungarian attorney and journalist who
> had been Secretary to Minister of Foreign Affairs on Kosuth's cabinet; Baron
> Majthenji, close associate of Governor Ujhazi who bought Asa Budrell's claim
> to add to the Hungarian land claims.
>
> The Hungarians were proud of their past and of their learning. Ignace Hainer
> in later years, too, listed himself as the county's most extensive traveler.
> Francis Varga was called the finest Latinist in this section and shared
> distinction as a linguist with Ignace Hainer, who had not only studied Latin
> but spoke four modern languages.
>
> As I have said there were no exclusive clubs or social cliques, but if there
> was an aristocracy in Decatur County before the War, it was in Garden Grove
> where the Kelloggs, the Arnolds, the McLeans, the two Davis families with
> their friends were highly respected and much depended upon in leadership.
> That the Hungarians agreed as to their status can be seen by the fact that
> quite close friendship developed between this group of what Mrs. Kellogg
> calls "Tiffinites" and the leaders of the Hungarian settlement.
>
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> Carla Rae, ; Coordinator
> Decatur County IA Genweb - http://www.rootsweb.com/~iadecatu
>
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