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* LOCAL/FAMILY HISTORY DEPT. * DONNELLSON PUBLIC LIBRARY * 500 PARK AVE. * DONNELLSON, IA * 52625 |
Bickle Files
The Bickel files, compiled by Romeo J. Bickel of Keokuk, IA, fill 33 volumes
of Lee County history. The article this month is the first of many from the
files in the coming months. Mr. Bickel was an avid history buff and had many
other interests which included postal history of Lee County, steam boat mail
history and stamp
collecting , to name a few.
The Bickel files, on hand at the Donnellson Library, contain information about
authors; Iowa, Illinois and Missouri towns; industries, bridges and rivers; and
much, much more. R.J. Bickel was also a member of several historical societies
and historical commissions.
Newspapers & Mark Twain
The selection this month comes from the volume entitled "Newspapers and Mark
Twain"; it shows a sample of the growing ability of the now celebrated humorist.
The following excerpt is taken verbatim from an article in the Daily Gate City,
dated July 6, 1886, entitled "Mark Twain is in Keokuk".
"Mr. Samuel L. Clemens, the foremost of American humorists, is spending with his
family a week in Keokuk. Before he was known to fame he was for some time
a
resident here and worked in a printing office. That was in "the fifties". It was
from the Mississippi River or rather boating on it that he found the
nom-de-plume he has made famous. We recall an idling trip when we lay musing in
a steamboat berth, looking vacantly at a great flood of moonlight as it put a
yellow crown upon
the river and the low dense woods near Cairo when all at once
a boatman throwing and pulling the lead began a monotonous chant of "mark twain"
kept up at interval hour and hour.
It may have been somewhere thereabouts that the humorist first heard the call
with keen enough notice to make it personal…."
This entire article in located on page 35 of the Mark Twain volume. ~ Researched
and submitted by Diane Kruse
February 2009
Although one article was promised each month, this month two
articles are taken verbatim from the second volume of the Mormon collection.
Since February is the anniversary month of the Mormon Trek of 1846 and there are
many records and historical information on file, these volumes provide
information from actual
newspapers and may not be on file elsewhere. The articles include how a local
painter records on canvas and in book format this exodus which began in
1846; the second article talks about an exciting discovery made in Keokuk.
Lane Newberry Traces Mormon Trail West
Lane K. Newberry, painter of historical pictures, has completed a series of
canvasses depicting the Mormon trail, and supplementing his pictures of
Nauvoo. He displayed these recently at Quincy, and has described them for his
friends. Mr. Newberry is a nephew of Mrs. George Seibert of this city. Mr.
Newberry’s painting shows the trek of the Mormons from Nauvoo westward, with one
stop at Sugar Creek near Argyle, where nine babies were born in a
bitter cold winter night, and all were saved by the efforts of the refugees who
were fleeing towards a new land. Mr. Newberry’s historical survey is to
make a record on canvas and in book form of this exodus from 1846 to 1854 in
3,000 covered wagons and to show the leading landmarks along the way. So
well laid out was this trek that the Burlington Railroad today parallels it to
Casper, Wyo.
Each of Mr. Newberry’s pictures shows significant progress along the trek. ~
Taken from the Daily Gate City, Tuesday, Oct 19, 1937, Mormon
Vol II, Pg 409
Old Mormon Temple Star Stone is Discovered in Keokuk Attic
An exciting discovery has been made in Keokuk. It is a Star Stone, one of 30
which were placed on the walls of the original Mormon Temple at Nauvoo in the
1840s but were feared to have vanished forever. Much excavation has been done on
the old temple site this summer in hope of turning up such an artifact but none
was found.
As a consequence, representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints (the Mormon Church) were delighted recently with the donation of
an original Star Stone which had been gathering dust in a Keokuk attic since the
1860’s.
The donor is Miss Elizabeth Baur who received the stone from her grandparents (O’Briens)
who found it among the ruins of the temple while on their honeymoon in the early
1860s. When she learned that the Mormons were searching for such relics from two
elders who visited her store, she was happy to present it to them as
a pat of the current restoration program.~ Taken from the Daily Gate City,
Thursday, Sept 27, 1962, Mormon Vol II, Pg 297
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