F 589 .N55 S3 Copy 1 DOCUMENTING LOCAL HISTORY JOSEPH SCHAFER Reprinted from the Wisconsin Magazine of History Volurae V, Number 2, December, 1921 .UfV^SZ'^t DOCUMENTING LOCAL HISTORY Joseph Schafer The following essay on the town of Newton is presented not as a finished piece of local history writing, but rather as an outline of significant facts derived from manuscripts and printed sources, which may serve as a skeleton to be clothed upon and rendered lifelike by a more or less extended process of local study. The criticism on local histories as customarily produced is that they are (a) un- systematic, illustrating only one, or a few, of the multiform interests which make up the complex of local community life; and (b) largely worthless, because the sources of infor- mation are chiefly vague recollections of the author or others interviewed by him, instead of being thoroughly documented. A third defect often noted is the absence of a feeling for general historical results, on the part of workers in the local field, which makes so much local history work comparatively barren. With the vast collection of the primary sources of Wis- consin history filed at the State Historical Library, or available in Madison, it would be possible to prepare at that center an outline, similar to this one, on the history of every town in the state. In the first volume of the Wisconsin Domesday Book, now in course of preparation, we are bringing together the general materials on twenty-five selected towns. Some of these can be treated much more fully than I have treated Newton, for we have in the library much ampler data, and in most cases they will be in more extended form. There will be a plat or map showing the farms and farmers of 1860, with census data about the size, cultivation, value, and productions of the farms, also surveyors' notes descriptive of the land before it was set- tled; for 1860 there will be, also, a list of the inhabitants of 4 Joseph Schafer each town alphabetized according to heads of families as described in the census schedules, giving name of each person, age, nativity, and the occupations of adults. A general chart will supply comparative agricultural statis- tics, from the manuscript census schedules, for the periods 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880. Another chart will display similar statistics taken from the printed state census for the periods 1885, 1895, and 1905. The main facts about the political history of all the towns will occupy another chart. There will be a general introduction in which historical problems emerging from the comparative study of the twenty -five towns will be discussed. A reading of the subjoined sketch of Newton will con- vince the discriminating student that much remains to be done on almost every phase of the history. A part of the work will be in the nature of a study of local records — of the town, the school districts, the churches, and those near- by newspapers which reflected best, at different periods, the life of this community. Of course, the leaders in the distinctive lines of endeavor — farming, politics, teaching, and especially morals and religion — will have to be identified on the ground and studied as opportunity offers; here is a place for the interview with old men and women, also for the study of business records, private diaries, letters, and so forth. One entire section of the town history, and that by far the most important, will deal with moral, intellectual, and spiritual conditions. That is wholly left for the local researcher because general sources are too meager to help us much along these lines. A splendid opportunity for good work will be found in tracing the antecedents of individuals or groups, making clear the conditions out of which they came, the circum- stances inducing emigration from the old home and settle- ment in the new; the education and special training of the pioneer settlers, their personal characters and social ideals, are elements to be stressed in the study. Documenting Local History 5 There are numbers of rura- towns in Wisconsin, as well as villages and cities, whose history deserves to be written in the large and published for the benefit of their own chil- dren as well as for the benefit of the state. The time seems ripe for a movement to secure a good many individual town histories, especially since every community is anxious now to honor its soldiers, living and dead; and the State Histor- ical Society is prepared to help in the manner indicated herein, and in all other practicable ways. TOWN OF NEWTON, MANITOWOC COUNTY MATERIAL CONDITIONS The town of Newton occupies township 18 north of range 23 east, in the southeastern part of Manitowoc County, five miles southwest of Manitowoc. It lies in part on the shore of Lake Michigan, the lake cutting off portions of sections 36, 25, and 24, grazing also the southeast corner of section 13 (see plat). The surface is undulating and it is well watered throughout, the principal streams being Silver Creek, Yellow Creek, and Paint Creek, all flowing southeast into Lake Michigan. Originally, the town was practically covered with a dense forest growth which included birch, linn, sugar maple, ash, cedar, elm, alder, beech, with some pine and tamarack in the sw^amps, also some oak, especially on the higher parts. The swamps were rather extensive while the country was still forest-covered, as shown by the surveyor's notes ;^ yet the township averages high in first-class land, and none of it was described as poorer than second-class. The soil near the lake was light, but yet fertile, while most of the balance was heavier and very productive when cleared. Much of the wet land was automatically reclaimed by removing the covering of timber, ^The township was surveyed in 1834 by Byron Kilbourn, who became famous as one of the founders of Milwaukee and president of the Milwaukee and Mississippi Rail- road Company. 6 Joseph Schafer But there were no prairies or "openings," the whole requiring the heavy labor and expense of clearing, which helps to explain the comparative slowness of agricultural development in the town. While most of the land was purchased as early as 1848, in which year seventy-seven entries were made, the census of 1860 shows that few of the farms were opened to more than half their acreage by that time, and that many were only well begun {Wisconsin Domesday Book — "Farms and Farmers of 1860"). Com- putations based on the agricultural statistics of the three census periods, 1860, 1870, and 1880, give the following results: In 1860 Newton had 228 farms, containing a total of 5,150 acres improved land and a total of 8,749 acres unimproved land. In other words, the average farm had 22 acres improved and 38 acres unimproved. This "average farm" would be valued at $541, its implements and machin- ery at $33. The suppositious average farmer owned one third of a horse, 1 ox, 1 cow, 1 head of "other cattle," 2 swine, one-third of a sheep, and his total livestock was val- ued at $64. He produced 16 bushels of wheat, 44 of rye, no corn, 46 of oats, 9 of peas, 45 of Irish potatoes, and 4 of barley. He made 57 pounds of butter, and put up 2 tons of hay. In 1870 the number of farms was 218, a decrease of 10. The improved land amounted to 8,401 acres, the unim- proved to 6,813, showing that more wild land was now included in the farms, even while the farms were growing fewer in number, thus increasing the acreage by a double process. The average farm now contained 38 improved acres and 31 unimproved. It was valued at $2,066. The value of implements and machinery was $86. There was, to each farm, on the average, 1 horse and half an ox, 2 cows, 1 "other cattle," 3 sheep, 2 swine, — a total livestock valua- tion of $315. The average farm now produced 110 bushels of wheat, 40 of rye, no corn, 109 of oats, 28 of potatoes, 24 Documenting Local History 7 of peas, 10 of barley, 10 pounds of wool, 195 pounds of butter, and it made 7 tons of hay. By 1880 the number of farms had increased to 292 and the total acreage in farms had increased greatly also. This was the decade of local railway construction, the Milwaukee, Lake Shore and Western being completed to Manitowoc in 1873. The amount of improved land is given as 13,991 acres, the unimproved at 9,508 acres. The average farm now had 47 acres improved land, to 32 acres unimproved, and was valued at $2,738. Implements and machinery are worth $142 and livestock $197. The total value of farm productions, on the average, was $342. There were 2 horses, nearly 4 milch cows and 2 "other cattle," 2 sheep, and 2 swine. The wheat crop amounted to 216 bushels from 13 acres, rye 18 from 1 acre, oats 184 from 7 acres, and barley 36 from 1 acre. There was still no Indian corn. The average farm produced 86 pounds of butter and 499 gallons of milk. The total number of milch cows in the town was 1,155. The farms may be regarded as "made" by 1880, and all the land of the township, swamps included, must have been reckoned within the farms to make the aggregate acreage; even then the total seems excessive. Averaging only 79 acres, the farms of this town were smaller on the whole than those of any other of twenty-two towns compared with it. But the acreage of improved land was greater than in Prairie du Chien and Sevastopol, though less than in the other twenty. The kinds of production and the annual value of the production both indicate that, as yet, no considerable specialization had occurred except in the growing of peas. This town led all in that particular, the total production amounting to over nine thousand bushels, or 30 bushels to the average farm. The annual value of the total productions was, however, the lowest of the towns compared, with the single exception of Prairie du Chien, and one is forced to look upon the community as 8 Joseph Schafer made up at that time (1880) of families who were generally in very moderate circumstances. However, the census shows us a few good-sized farms. Four had 100 acres or more of improved land each, and an annual production of $1,000. These four farmers were distinctly in advance of the rest pecuniarily, other incomes ranging usually between $150 and $500, with a few below the minimum and a few above the maximum. It would be interesting to know to what extent differing incomes were evened by the fact that some of the surplus labor of the smaller farms was employed for wages on the larger farms. There was actually paid out, in wages, from incomes aggregating $16,300, the sum of $3,900, or a little less than 24 per cent. By means of the state census it is possible to trace the agricultural history of the town down to the year 1905. We find that in 1885 Newton was credited with 13,374 acres improved land, and 8,080 unimproved and wood land. The cash value of the farms was given as $495,640. One of the new productions appearing prominently in the 1885 schedule is cheese, Newton being credited with a total production of 564,781 pounds, valued at $51,150. The butter record was missed, the town being accidentally omitted from the schedule exhibiting that item. Peas continued to be produced in considerable quantities, but there were only 14 acres of corn in the town. In 1895 the improved acreage had risen to 17,539, and the unimproved had fallen to 4,457. The value had risen to $1,123,550, an increase of more than 100 per cent in ten years. The cheese production was 141,661 pounds man- ufactured in 11 factories located within the town, which drew milk from 928 cows. The production of butter totaled 85,000 pounds. There was one creamery. The combined value of the butter and cheese was less than that of the cheese produced in 1885, so that one suspects errors in reporting or in printing the returns. Documenting Local History 9 In 1905 Newton had 304 farms, only 12 more than in 1880. The total acreage was 21,114 — improved 17,299, unimproved 3,815. The cash value of farms was given as $1,690,000. The town was producing a little wheat, but more rye, oats, and barley, and especially peas. Its chief wealth was in cattle, particularly cows, of which it had 2,039, valued at $50,880. It produced 78,739 gallons of milk, valued at $7,662; also 63,914 pounds of butter, valued at $13,498. Its 4 creameries, with 144 patrons milking 1,028 cows, produced 146,059 pounds of butter valued at $30,494; and its 5 cheese factories, with 181 patrons milking 1,150 cows, produced 349,170 pounds of cheese valued at $34,233. The combined value of the products of dairy, field, pasture, and poultry yard was $228,600; and this, divided among 304 farms, assigns to them an average income of $745 — a decided increase since 1880, when the average was only $342. The forested condition of the township, while a distinct hindrance to the agricultural subjection of the land, afforded opportunity to the settlers not merely to obtain fuel, which for many years was over-abundant, and to obtain free fencing material, but also to add to their limited incomes by getting out for the market saw logs, hoop-poles, cord wood, and railroad ties. The presence of sawmills in the town or on its borders also made building material cheap to those owning saw timber. "Persons engaged in clearing," said the editor of the Manitowoc County Herald, Jan. 11, 1851, "always find more or less valuable timber which has a ready market and is thus made a valuable source of assistance in promoting early improvements." iVs late as 1869, and doubtless for some years thereafter, the majority of the farmers were still marketing "forest products" — some of them to the extent of $200 to $300, and from these figures down to $10 or $15. The great road to Green Bay entered the town of Newton at section 30, and running northeast emerged at section 10 Joseph S chafer 3 near Silver Lake. A branch of this road led east to Manitowoc, and other roads reached the county town from the south. From early times there were piers near where later the village of Northeim grew up, and stores at that point (with later a creamery) made it a great convenience to the farmers living in the southeastern and southern portions of the town. The rail line of the Milwaukee, Lake Shore and Western Railway enters from the south at section 34 and leaves the town at the northeast corner of section 1. Its station of Newport is in section 34. This line was completed to Manitowoc in 1873. There was a mill in section 7, one at Silver Lake, one at Manitowoc Rapids two miles from the north line of the town, and of course others at Manitowoc about five miles away. Black- smiths and wagon makers were located within the town, and from the year 1855 there was a post office at Newton- burg in section 8, with later one at Northeim in section 35. By 1878 the town had two cheese factories, one in section 5 and another in section 28. From that time, factory dairying gradually developed until it became the dominant industry of the people, as we have seen. SOCIAL CONDITIONS Newton is known as one of the most distinctively German towns of Wisconsin. Among the original entry- men of the land were a goodly proportion of American names. But some of these were speculators taking up numerous tracts for resale to settlers. The earliest entries, numbering ten, in 1836 were all by Americans. After that no more entries are recorded until the year 1847, when 36 were made by Americans, but a larger number — 41 — by persons with foreign names. In the year 1848 the number of entries was 77, mostly made by foreigners. The latest date of entry for any of the lands in the township is 1858. It is noticeable that, while Americans frequently took up scattered tracts, showing that they were taken Documenting Local History 11 for speculation, the foreigners generally bought one, two, or three forties in compact form for home making. In the total, foreigners entered 110 tracts, as against 81 entered by Americans (at least by English-speaking persons). An analysis of the population has been made from the manuscript census schedules of 1850, 1860, and 1870. The results may be tabulated as follows : NATIVITY U. S., except Wisconsin. Wisconsin Austria Baden Bavaria Bohemia Brandenburg Canada Denmark England France Hanover Hesse Holland Holstein Ireland Lippe Luxemburg Mecklenburg Nassau Norway Oldenburg Poland Prussia Russia Sardinia Saxony Scotland Sweden Switzerland Wlirttemberg Total, Foreign -born Total, Native-born . 1850 1860 1870 30 29 1 1 35 1 38 112 64 1 272 59 33 409 34 13 52 26 7 6 3 14 57 24 13 8 61 128 5 3 6 24 446 2 1 22 3 1 12 2 973 442 28 965 31 20 39 52 36 6 154 578 953 993 12 Joseph S chafer Some of the facts which emerge from this investigation are rather astonishing. For example, it was found that in 1860 only two heads of families were of American origin, all the rest being foreign and, with few exceptions, German. Many of the children of German parents, of course, were of American nativity, which gave the town its total of 442 natives as against 973 foreign-born. The census of 1850 shows 272 foreign-born and 59 native-born, or only 20 per cent native. By 1870 a decided change has come about, the native element being now slightly in the majority. From this point we rely on the state census, which was taken at the middle of the decade, and we find in Newton in 1885 a total of 1,892, of which 597 were foreign-born, or 31.5 per cent of the whole number, while 1,295, or 68.5 per cent, were American-born. Ten years later, 1895, the figures stand: 1,607 American and 532 foreign, or a fraction over 75 per cent American and a fraction under 25 per cent foreign. The last state census examined, that of 1905, shows a reduction in the total population of the town from 2,139 (in 1895) to 1,741. This is doubtless due to the high mortality rate among the older generation and the partial dispersion of families through the withdrawal of adult young persons, the trend to the city having set in strongly. The proportions of native and foreign now stand: 1,451 native to 290 foreign. In other words, only 16f per cent of the population were of foreign birth, while the native element made up 83% per cent of the whole. Inasmuch as the entire state, in 1905, showed a native element which was only 77.34 per cent of the whole, it is clear that this town had been "Americanizing" at an exceptional rate, relatively to other communities. A comparative study of nativities of twenty -five towns, including Newton, from the state censuses of 1895 and 1905 yields this result: In 1895 the town of Newton stood Documenting Local History 13 number 14 on the list arranged to show the smallness of the percentage of foreign-born in the population, while in 1905 this town stood number 8. This proves that the process of change from foreign to native, as it proceeded in the town of Newton, was exceptionally rapid both positively and comparatively. To understand how this came about it is only necessary to contemplate the permanent occupation of the farms by the original German entrymen of the land, or the German emigrant purchasers of privately owned wild land. These emigrants, coming in the forties and fifties of the last century, were, as the census record shows, mainly young adults. Their children, so far as they were born in Wisconsin, would be natives and some of these children would inherit the lands on the death of the parents. When the older generation had passed away, the population would be entirely native, save for that comparatively small number of the younger generation who were born in Ger- many prior to the emigration of their parents. That the above is essentially the process which changed the town of Newton in fifty years from an almost purely German to an almost purely American community is nearly, if not quite, demonstrable from documentary sources. It is noteworthy that, out of the 1,451 American-born in 1905, 1,434 (or all but 17) were natives of Wisconsin. Doubtless nearly all of them were born in the town of Newton itself. This view is strengthened by a comparison of the names of landowners in 1860 with those of later dates, as shown by the county maps. On the map of the year 1903 we identify 82 names of persons who owned land in the township in 1860. In most cases the land held was in the same sections and constituted in part or in whole the original farms. Recalling that the number of farm owners in 1860, according to the census, was 228, we see that the proportion of persisting families must have been very large. The biographies in the county history include 14 Joseph Schafer the names of 18 persons who resided in the town of Newton in 1910. In all cases they were then living on the farms on which they were born. We implied above that the farms of Newton could hardly be said to be "made" until about 1880. And no doubt there was for a number of years some shifting about — some buying, mortgaging, and selling — among those hold- ing inferior or small tracts. It would be more normal, therefore, to compare the owners of about 1880 with those of 1903. We have a county plat book for 1878, on which we identify 140 names appearing on the plat of 1903, twenty-five years later.^ This shows that nearly one-half of the original farm makers' names cling to the soil of the township. Were we able to determine the cases where men from outside married daughters of the old families and substituted their own names, it would increase still further the roll of the permanent families. No comparisons with other towns have yet been made on this head, but one risks little in asserting that Newton has been socially one of the most stable farming communities in the state. When we ask the reason for this stability, the answer will have to be sought partly in racial characteristics, partly in economic conditions, and doubtless largely in the facts of the early social organization. There is probably some truth in the oft reiterated assertion that the Germans "stick to the land" much more tenaciously than native Americans and most foreign immigrants. That would be more true, however, of those who live together in groups that are organized to practise their native speech, to enjoy their chosen religion and distinctive recreational and social life, than among those who are racially scattered depend- ently in the midst of an alien life to which at first they can but imperfectly adapt themselves. Now the Germans of Newton town, who were at first largely of the Lutheran * Many names are badly misspelled but can be identified under their disguises. Documenting Local History 15 and Evangelical Reformed faiths, had their own churches and parochial schools within the town, and at these doubt- less much of the social and recreational life was centered. Stores, mills, taverns, repair shops, all existed locally at points convenient for the farmers, thus minimizing the necessity for frequent visits to towns, so unsettling to the habits of rural youth. The fact that the land was hard to subdue to cultiva- tion, but generously productive when cleared, may have had its effect. The original settlers bent themselves to the heavy task of "grubbing and breaking," devoting to it, with their families, in not infrequent instances as many as twenty or twenty -five years. Fields won by such persistent and prolonged toil, especially if they be rich and fruitful, are apt to be appreciated from a sentimental as well as an economic viewpoint. 'T spent my life making this farm in order that my children may have a stake in the country," is an idea often heard among pioneer farmers, especially foreigners to whom landholding seems to confer social distinction and the founding of a family implies a landed property as a basis. But there is another fact to consider in this connection. The period of farm making, which invariably deprives the children of those opportunities for education which become so abundant in later stages, and which readily fit youth to pursue almost any career, was here just about long enough to absorb the entire energies of the older children. These would be well trained to the routine of farm life, but having no other hope than to farm on the hard-won acres, would be very ready to take their parents' places. The younger children drifted easily into new occupations and fitted into new surroundings. It will be interesting to determine, from comparative studies, whether the forest settler's family tends more strongly to persist than does the prairie settler's family. 16 Joseph S chafer or vice versa. Casual observation seems to suggest that the prairie family shifted much more readily. One im- portant reason for this would seem to have been the habit and bent for wheat growing. No other form of early agriculture was so immediately remunerative under favor- able conditions. Accordingly, whenever the lands in one region refused longer to produce good crops, the farmers who had been wheat growers and were equipped for that business moved west to new and ever new wheat lands. It is apt to be so with the growers of staple crops. It was so with the Virginia tobacco growers and the Carolina cotton growers. The devotee of a single crop, especially if his capital is invested in equipment to a greater extent than in land, because he dreads to make more change than he is compelled to make in his occupational habits and expenditure shifts his location and continues in the old lines of endeavor. The "mixed farmer," on the other hand, who learns to raise equally well a variety of products — *'a little bit of everything" — is in much better case when new adaptations are demanded, for he can more readily modify his activities to suit the requirements. His training is more general and he is less bound by financial or social consideration to continue in the old path. So it is not surprising that the men of Newton,' who "made a hand" with ax and mattock at the outset, drove the breaking plow through soil, grubs, and undergrowth, reduced the raw land to a high state of tilth, and grew all of the small grains indifferently, as opportunity, seasons, and prices suggested, meantime tending cows and other cattle, should be prepared when the right time arrived to stress more and more one of the old occupations — caring for cows — until that business became almost a profession. Printed biographies of men and women who are natives of Newton tell us something about the early settlers, what manner of folk they were, what their worldly condition, Documenting Local History 17 their training, and the mode of their entry into the com- munity's Hfe, with facts about their achievements. The History of Manitowoc County presents about forty such sketches. We have in them accounts of famiHes setthng on the heavily timbered wild land, usually beginning home life in a log hut — in one case, in a temporary shelter of bark — and gradually working their way to independence; of sons and grandsons who became business men, profes- sional men, teachers, scientific farmers, inventors; of daughters and granddaughters who were the partners of successful men in all these pursuits. References to the pioneer ancestors reveal that the town of Newton was served by men of special training — that some who settled there were blacksmiths and worked at their trade, others wagon makers, others millers, others carpenters, and so forth. We learn that, while most of the immigrants were poor to begin with, a few came with appreciable sums of money, and these built grist mills, sawmills, taverns, and stores, and helped during the time of beginnings in pro- moting the construction of churches and schools, as well as in other public improvements. The Civil War record of Newton is expressed mainly in the soldiers the town furnished. These apparently num- bered forty-two,^ as given in the Roster, of whom two were killed in action; two died of wounds received in battle; three others were discharged on account of wounds and disability ; and six died of disease. Four earned the unenvi- able title of deserters. But it seems clear that these must have been "floaters," for their names — all non-German — are alien to the list of family names of the town in 1860. The amount raised by tax for bounties in the year ending May 31, 1865, was $2,100.4 * There may be a question about four of these. They are listed as from Manitowoc County, but their names seem to identify them as belonging to Newton families. * Durrie, D. S., Gazetteer of Wisconsin, MS. 18 Joseph S chafer When the vast labor of compiHng the records of soldiers of the World War shall have been completed in the form in which it has been begun by the Adjutant General of Wis- consin, it will be possible to give the results with measurable completeness. Politically, the town of Newton was for many years overwhelmingly Democratic, which is normal for the period up to 1860, considering the prevailing nationality of its people. So nearly unanimous were the voters in the gubernatorial election of 1859 that Randall, Republican, received but one single vote, while his Democratic oppo- nent, Hobart, polled 72 votes. Nevertheless, the next year, in the presidential contest, Lincoln was given a majority, 128, against 77 for Douglas and none for either Breckenridge or Bell. This was due, no doubt, to the powerful free-soil and antislavery sentiment which pre- vailed among the Germans. Manitowoc County gave Lincoln 2,041, Douglas 1,947, a result which astonished both Democrats and Republicans.^ Thereafter the county again voted regularly for the Democratic presidential ticket until 1896. The town of Newton, on the other hand, shifted from Republican to Democratic and back again in a most eccentric fashion, the causes of which call for investigation. McClellan received a majority of 44 in 1864, while Grant won by 36 votes in '68 and Greeley by 46 in '72. Tilden had a major- ity of 27 in '76, Garfield 25 in 1880, and Blaine 3 in '84. In 1888 Harrison and Cleveland each received 173 votes, as did the gubernatorial candidates also.^ But in '92 Cleveland received 165 as against 98 for Harrison, the state ticket polling identically the same numbers. McKin- ley defeated Bryan 214 to 147 in '96, and 182 to 123 in 1900; ^ See Manitowoc County Herald, Nov. 15, 1860. • That makes the vote in 1890, for governor, appear on the face of it very strange. It stood: Peck, Democrat, 196; Hoard, Republican, 77. But the Bennett Law issue explains it. Documenting Local History 19 while Roosevelt in 1904 received 207 against Parker's 109. At that election 7 votes were cast for Swallow, Prohibi- tionist; and 3 for Debs, SociaHst. In 1908 Bryan obtained 132, Taft 182, Debs 8. Taft was leader in the town again in 1912, with 101; while Wilson received 77, Roosevelt 47, Debs 2, and Chapin 2. Newton was strongly Republican in 1916, giving Hughes 219 and Wilson 90, with no scatter- ing votes, Philipp for governor running even with Hughes. The 1920 vote stood: Harding, 287; Cox, 27; Watkins, 3; Debs, 54. INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND SPIRITUAL CONDITIONS The biographical sketches we have of pioneers tell us something of the intellectual and moral qualities of the makers of Newton, but on this head a large amount of local investigation is demanded. This section of the history cannot be written from existing documentary sources. A very little material can be gleaned with reference to the education of the young from the biographies of men reared in Newton. But we ought to know not only about the character of the public school and the parochial schools which existed in the town, and about the work of the most notable teachers who served them, but also about the young men and women who attended higher institutions of learning outside — normal schools, seminaries, colleges, and universities. A community's gift to the world lies largely in its trained young men and women. A similar statement can be made relative to its religious leaders. We obtain a few facts from the printed records of churches, but only a few. It is known that the first church in Newton was of the German Reformed faith, and we have the names of several clergymen of that faith, but little more. The census of 1860 notes, among the families, that of John A. Salzer, thirty -seven years of age, clergyman. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Joseph Schafer 20 ^.- ,-. 016 091 787 8 He has a wife and four children, the eldest being a boy of ten. Mr. Salzer was a native of Wiirttemberg, but since all the children were born in this country — in Illinois and Iowa — he must have come to America a number of years before. Presumably, Salzer was pastor of the church in Newton. A few years later we find the Reverend E. Wag- ner described as pastor of the Newtonburg church; and for at least ten years — 1874 to 1884 — the Reverend E. Strube occupied that post. The work of these men, their congregations and their school, for the moral and religious life of the town, deserves to be investigated. By the year 1878, according to the town plat of that year, there were five churches. We know from the Catholic History that St. Casimer's congregation (Catholic) was organized in 1868 and a church built at Northeim the same year, followed by a parochial school in 1874. Whether or not all of the other four churches were Lutheran or German Reformed we have no means here of determining. Nothing has been said about the fine arts, like music, carving, painting, sculpture, literature. The germs of these things are sometimes found in more unlikely places than such a rural community as Newton, and a complete historical survey would have to take them into account.