LOOKING BACK in the Early Files by Lora Stull

Stories of Great Indians: By Elmo Scott Watson

Warrior Tecumseh Became A British General.

 (I found this very interesting because my family can trace Chief Tecumseh back in my families ancestry on my paternal grandmother’s side of the family.)

In the year 1768 Meetheetashe, wife of the Shawnees, gave birth to triplets. One of them, Tecumtha or Tecumseh, “The Shooting Star,” a name strangely prophetic of his meteoric career, was destined to be called by many historians “the greatest American Indian.”

Tecumseh distinguished himself in battle early. Although he was a great warrior, he was not a cruel one and due to his influence, the Shawnees gradually gave up the practice of torturing captives. He was a proud chieftain, too. At a council with Gen. William Henry Harrison, governor of Indiana, in 1810, the interpreter handed Tecumseh a chair with the remark, “Your father requests you to take this chair.” “My father? The sun is my father and the earth is my mother and I will rest upon her bosom,” replied Tecumseh haughtily as he took his place among his warriors on the ground.

Tecumseh had come to protest against the cession of Shawnee lands under the Treaty of Fort Wayne, but his objections gained him nothing. He traveled throughout the Middle West gaining recruits for his confederation. His scheme failed.

While he was absent, his brother, the loud-mouthed Prophet, rashly precipitated an attack upon Harrison and the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811 ended Tecumseh’s dream forever. He immediately enlisted in the service of the British, who, at the outbreak of the War of 1812, made him a brigadier general. Once while he discovered some of his Indians butchering helpless captives, he hotly rebuked General Proctor for allowing it.

“Sir,” replied the general, “Your Indians could not be restrained.”

“Begone!” shouted Tecumseh. “Your Indians are not fit to command. Go home and put on petticoats.”

Later in the campaign when the cowardly Proctor continued retreating, Tecumseh forced him to make a stand on the Thames River in Ontario. He seems to have had a presentiment of death for he discarded “his general’s uniform and went into battle wearing the deerskin garb of a Shawnee warrior. He was killed in that battle.

His had been the career of a shooting star, truly. From to Mad River in Ohio, his birthplace, to the Thames, it had been only 45 years. But in that short time Tecumseh made his place in history.

F.D.Burns last week installed a new electric ice cream refrigerator in handling his ice cream trade. No ice is necessary as chemicals are used entirely. An automatic motor regulates the temperature and starts operation when the temperature reaches 18 degrees above zero and stops at 6 degrees above. It is a neat looking affair and is quite in keeping with farmers up-to-date way of handling business.

“With all farm property selling at the prices now prevailing at public sales and practically everything being paid in cash” said Col. W.P. Turner this morning, “it would seem that  the agitation about everybody in the corn belt being hard up is unwarranted.” “If politicians, big business men and leaders of farm organizations,” said Col. Turner, “would do as much boasting as they are knocking it wouldn’t be long until there would be general satisfaction and money now seeking investment in Florida would flow towards Iowa real estate as the safest and best investment to be found.”

Marriages: December 25, Lois Calhoun and James Brown..December 22, Lola Keller and Francis Wahl..December 9, Ellen Krase and Weldon Greimann..December 25, Lloyd Gorman and Anna Stabe..December 25, Carrie Stetzler and Orville Poore..December 14, Muriel Patton and Donald Wood.

Birth: December 30, a son, Ralph, to Mr. and Mrs. John Buck Jr.

Obituaries in this edition were: John S. Glendenning and Charles Lloyd Barrett.

The Diagonal sale pavilion, which has been operated for the past seventeen years under the partnership of B.W. Brown and John F. Denhart, was sold Thursday to Paul and Harold Miller, of Creston. The Millers also own and operate the community sale at Osceola.

The Diagonal community sale, started by Mr. Brown twenty-five years ago, is one of the first of it’s kind established in the state.

The Rideta Electric Cooperative last week purchased the H.K. Harden acreage on Hwy 2 & 169 in southeast Mount Ayr according to C.C. Brimmer, president of the cooperative.

The property consists of 9 and 2/3 acres, a residence property, barn and garage.

First place prize in the Christmas decorating contest, sponsored by the Mount Ayr Lions Club, was awarded to Bob Clarke for his work of art at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Clarke.

Marriage: December 16 Shirley Bear and Lawrence Chase..December 8, Dean Sickels and Ilene Raappana.

Obituary in this edition was Amelia Thompson Morris.

A capacity crowd was on hand Sunday night for the special organ concert, “Piping Christmas Your Way,” presented by Jane Thomas at the First Christian Church in Mount Ayr.

Mount Ayr dogs will no longer run loose, under the terms of an ordinance passed by the Mount Ayr city council at its meeting on December 17.

Almost $110,000 in sales. That’s the record of the Iowa state liquor store in Mount Ayr, in the first year of it’s existence. The store opened its doors December 9, 1974 when Ringgold County became the last county in Iowa to have a state liquor store. Since that time sales have totaled $109,936, according to manager Jerry Marler.

Marriage: December 20, Hollis Lepley and James Lawyer.

Birth: December 18, a daughter to Mr. and Mrs. George Brown.

Obituaries in this edition were: Floyd Edward Jones, Roy Arnold Foltz, Vinetta Mable Lockwood Hill.

The average value of an acre of farmland in Iowa reversed a trend of two years of small declines to post 4.3 percent gains in 2000, according to the annual survey of farmland value conducted by Iowa State University.

Mount Ayr community Raider Reader program received a $5,000 grant from lakeside Casino Pillars Grant and Clarke County Development Corporation December 13. The grant money will be put in the Margaret Ricker Endowment at South Central Iowa Community Foundation which will become the permanent funding source for both the Raider Reader and Maroon Reader programs.

Marriage: December 16, Norman Jennings and Marion England.

Obituaries in this edition were: Franklin Royce Davis, Dr. Gerald Downie, Bill Fearnot, Barbara Pace Gordon and Marlin Charles Ricker.

For the first time since 1977, there will be a full moon on Christmas. There will not be another full moon on Christmas until 2034. The December full moon is referred to as the Cold Moon, the Yuletide Moon and the Oak Moon.

Two named academic all-state. Two members of the Mount Ayr Raiders have been named to the Iowa Football Coaches Associatons Academic All-State football team for 2015. They are Lincoln Lutrick and Jacob Taylor.

Obituaries in this edition were: Eric L. Reasland, Curtis LeMay Turner, Jerry Pottorf, Patricia Lee Rusk Scott Braby and Barbara Novak.