New Feature: Have You Seen . . . ?

Posted on June 8, 2011 by SCblogger

One of our ongoing projects is to scan and research each image in our photograph collections.   Most of the time, this is relatively (no pun intended) easy.

The majority of our Hostetler glass negatives, for example, came with an original envelope that usually included the name of the person who ordered the images  (but who may not necessarily be the person in the image).  We take this name—plus any other information on the envelope, the dress, apparent age, and props of the photograph subjects, and the approximate dates of the images in the same carton—and use our genealogical and historical resources to find out more about the person(s)  in the picture.

Much of this effort can be viewed at the Upper Mississippi Valley Digital Image Archive.

But sometimes, despite our best efforts,  “no definitive information” can be located.

So we’ve decided to try a new feature:  Have You Seen . . . ?

Every so often, we’re going to post the image (and available information) of a person, place, or thing  about which we would like to know more.  We would like to invite you to take a good look, and if you have any information, to please share in the comments or through our website.   If the information is confirmed, we will do a follow up post and award you permanent bragging rights to your excellent sleuthing skills.

Our first subject today a mother and child who had their photograph taken by the Hostetler Studio in Davenport, Iowa, mostly likely between 1900 and 1910.   The negatives were numbered  x1178 by the studio and labeled Cabel, Don:

There are four negatives of mother and child.  We’ve cropped and enlarged one of them to feature the faces:

Does anyone recognize the mother, the christening blanket, facial features, or some other detail?  We would love to know!

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“One of the grandest soldiers the North had . . . “

Posted on May 30, 2011 by SCblogger

While we take the time to remember and honor  the men and women of our armed forces who have fought to keep our country and people safe, it seems fitting that we also remember those civilians who have fought to keep them safe.

 

Hiram Price was born on 10 January 1814 in Washington County, Pennsylvania. He and his wife, Susan Betts Price, whom he married in 1834, moved their family to Davenport in 1844. They built their first home on Front Street (now River Drive) between Brady and Perry Streets.*

Mr. Price, a banker by trade, was a civic-minded man—and possibly one of the busiest men in the history of Davenport, Scott County, or Iowa. He was appointed the Scott County School Fund Commissioner in 1847, the Scott County Recorder and Treasurer in 1848, and was elected to the Davenport City Council in 1852.  He held all of these posts until 1856, during which time he also assisted in drafting Iowa’s first Prohibition bill, which became law, briefly, in 1854, and was editor of the Temperance Organ. 

After the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which was viewed by Price and many others as an attempt to establish slavery in the north, he left the Democratic Party and helped establish the newly created Republican Party in Iowa.  In 1859, he became the president of the State Bank of Iowa.

When the Civil War began in 1861, Hiram Price assisted in raising the money to enable Governor Kirkwood to equip the first 2 Iowa regiments. He was an advocate of the most energetic war measures and of legislation to strengthen the credit of the Government.  Soon, he was appointed Paymaster of the State of Iowa, and fought to not only send regular paychecks to the Iowa Volunteer soldiers, but to equip them with the basic necessities.  While acting as Paymaster, he made the acquaintance of Annie Wittenmyer, the first female Sanitation Agent in Iowa.  Later, Mr. Price was instrumental in the founding of the Iowa Soldiers Orphans Home.

In 1863, Mr. Price was elected to his first term as a United States Representative, where he argued in favor of the proposed Bureau of Freeman’s Affairs. He was reelected for a second term in 1866, and in his acceptance letter, stated:

 “We who are styled ‘radicals’ seek to make all men equal before the law, to give all men in every State equal rights and equal protection, so that in the future any person may travel from one State to another conscious that wherever the American flag floats he will be secure in person and property. Heretofore this has not been so. We seek to crystallize into a fact the theory of the past, that ‘all men are created equal’. We wish to re-enact the Declaration of Independence so that all men everywhere shall understand and know that is means what is says.”

After the War ended, Mr. Price did not visibly slow down.  Already the secretary of the Mississippi & Missouri Railroad since 1869, in 1873, he became the president of the First National Bank of Davenport as well.  Five years later, he was elected again to the House of Representatives, after which, in 1881, he was appointed the United Stated Commissioner of Indian Affairs. 

Before he left Davenport for Washington, DC, he provided funds for a free reading room in the public library of Davenport.

Hiram Price died on May 30, 1901—Memorial Day— in DC and was buried in Oakdale Cemetery in Davenport, Iowa.  His obituary reads, in part:

“Mr. Price never bore arms, was never in the ranks of the men who followed the flag, but he was one of the grandest soldiers the North had in the struggle for the preservation of the Union. He was one of the stay-at-homes who made it possible for other men to go to the front. From his own means and the credit he could command, Hiram Price quartered and subsisted some 5,000 Iowa boys who had volunteered for the infantry and cavalry armies. He was not thinking so seriously about payment as he was of getting boots and blankets within reach of the foot-sore and shivering volunteers.”

—Davenport Democrat 31 May 1901, p.4

____

*The house was later known as the Peck Home.

____

Sources:

Biographical history and portrait gallery of Scott County, Iowa. (Chicago: American Biographical Publishing Company), 1895.

Downer, Harry E. History of Davenport and Scott County, Iowa. (Chicago: S. J. Clarke), 1910. Vol. 2.

“Hiram Price, Davenport statesman and patriot is gone.” The Davenport Democrat, 31 May 1901, p. 4

“Memorial Day sorrow.” The Davenport Democrat, 30 May 1901, p.3

“Mr. Price at rest.” The Davenport Democrat, 3 June 1901, p. 4.

Price, Hiram. “Letter of Acceptance.” A printed letter to some of my friends (Washington, 1889).

 

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The Davenport Glucose Works

Posted on May 25, 2011 by SCblogger

Corn, as everyone knows, isn’t just for eating on the cob.  The possibilities for corn products appear to be endless:  ethanol, plastics, liquors, starches, packing material, fabrics—and of course, corn syrups.

It seems like corn syrup has been part of our lives, and certainly the methods of extracting sugar from various starches has been around for centuries, though there was little commercial market for starch sugars in America until 1900, as real sugar wasn’t widely used nor prohibitively expensive. 

But in the mid-1800s, a Davenport man, Henry G. Weinert , started to experiment with making cornstarch sugars profitable.    He and his business partners, convinced some generous local gentlemen—including George L’oste Davenport— to invest, and built a large factory on Rockingham Road, just west of the City Cemetery.  The Davenport Glucose Works opened on May 26, 1873.

The Glucose Works was not an immediate success.  As the Davenport Democrat commented, “It was all a sort of charity donation to an inventive genius.” 

But in 1874, The Glucose Works hired Louis P. Best, who had experience in the European methods of manufacturing  glucose.  With his help, the Works became a thriving business that started to make an actual profit—over 1,157,200 pounds of grape sugar and 151,518 of glucose were produced in 1876, making the company an estimated $45,000 in sales, not including the money made by selling the refuse for cattle feed.   (Feb 12, 1877, p. 4)

The company was so confident that in 1877, it asked the shareholders to double their investments.  The company wished to enlarge the factory and “enter upon the manufacture of the best quality of glucose for confectioners’ use, and of the first grade of table syrup.”  The investors responded favorably and by the next year, the faithful (and longsuffering) stockholders were rewarded with dividends at 5%.

Things were looking up.  Until the fire.

On July 17, 1879, just after it had reopened after extensive renovations, the Glucose Works burned to the ground.  The fire was reported to have started in the shelling room , but it soon spread so quickly and with such heat that the fourth floor windows exploded, warning people on the street almost before the employees knew what was happening.  

All the fire companies of Davenport fought the blaze, but it was no use. The corn shelter, the old factories, the main factory, the boiler house, the blacksmith shop, the materials and the machinery were all destroyed.  Four people lost their lives, two from the fire itself, and two from a sixty-foot fall—John Hamm and John Raap, had fled the flames to the roof of one building, which collapsed underneath them.

Babcock & Snider, the Work’s insurance agent, estimated the fire at $52,400 damage.   The stockholders met and decided unanimously to rebuild.  Later that year, a special switch was added to the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad line to accommodate the factory’s shipping needs.  Soon, all the former employees of the factory were back working at what was now called the Glucose Sugar Refining Company.

Business boomed.  The company expanded across the country, and changed its name to the Corn Products Company, which in 1915, was reported to have 500 employees processing up to 20,000 bushels of corn per day.  

Everything looked to be smooth sailing.  Until the Federal Court in New York ruled that the company was a trust and ordered that a certain number of properties were to be sold.

In 1920, the old glucose factory at 1705 Rockingham Road was offered in a public action.  Its buildings were purchased by the  Nichols Wire company, the American Cotton Oil Company, and a few private citizens. 

But fate wasn’t finished with the Old Glucose Works. 

On March 29, 1922, a fire, set off by machinery sparks or a stray piece of superheated metal, razed the property, causing a quarter of a million dollars worth of damage and setting off a lawsuit that lasted three years, sending several of the owners in bankruptcy.

Today, nothing remains of the Davenport Glucose Works, one of Davenport’s most lucrative and tenacious businesses.

____

Sources:

Davenport Daily Gazette, March 19, 1878, p.4

Davenport Daily Gazette, July 17, 1879, p. 4

Davenport Daily Gazette, July 18, 1879, p. 4

Davenport Democrat, June 5, 1923, p. 11

Davenport Democrat, October 8, 1955, p. 44

Downer, Harry E.  History of Davenport and Scott County, Iowa,  1915, volume 1.

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Remembering Police Officer James W. Means

Posted on May 17, 2011 by SCblogger

Grave of James W. Means in Oakdale Memorial Gardens, Davenport, Iowa. Photo by Amy D.

James Wilson Means was born in Pennsylvania around 1824, reared and married in Ohio, and then settled in Davenport around 1855 with his young family.  By the spring of 1883, Mr. Means was a respected officer with the Davenport Police Department. 

Early in the morning on May 17, 1883 Officer Means was patrolling the dusty streets of downtown.  Passing by a saloon on the corner of Fifth and Perry Streets,  he encountered and arrested an intoxicated man by the name of John McAuliffe.  The pair began to walk the two blocks to the police station on the corner of Fifth and Main Streets. 

One block away from the station, at the corner of Fifth and Brady, Mr. McAuliffe, who was not wearing handcuffs, grabbed part of an iron fence and refused to let go.  A scuffle ensued and grocer Ed Moore, who was walking nearby,  heard the two men struggling.  He ran to the police department and alerted Officer E. A. Tilebein of the commotion.

As Mr. Moore was on his way to the police department for help, Officer Means finally pried Mr. McAuliffe off the iron fence and they once again began to walk toward the station.  But after only a few feet, Officer Means collapsed on the street.  Saloon owner P. J. Smith saw Officer Means fall and ran to the police department for assistance. 

According to witnesses, Mr. McAuliffe looked down at Officer Means before turning and walking up Brady Street.  Several business owners and pedestrians rushed to assist Officer Means.  Officer Tilebein arrived, instructed those nearby to call a doctor and went in pursuit of Mr. McAuliffe.  He was caught one block away and quickly taken to the police station*.

As more officers arrived, the stricken man was carried back to the station on a stretcher.  The doctor arrived quickly, but Officer Means died before reaching the station.   An autopsy was performed and the cornor concluded that heart disease or a heart attack was the cause of death.

The city went into mourning. 

Mrs. Elizabeth Means, his wife of thirty-five years, was called home from a daughter’s out of town residence where she had been visiting.  She was joined by their four children at the family home at 219 East Twelfth Street where the funeral took place the following afternoon.

During the years he had lived in Davenport, Mr. Means had served as City Marshal,** as a member of the Board of Supervisors of Scott County, as a private watchman, a special policeman, and an officer with the Davenport Police Department.  He was also a member of the former Fire King Volunteer Engine Company, State Lodge of United Workers, and Davenport Lodge of Odd Fellows.   His  funeral was well attended by citizens, police departments, and fraternal and volunteer organizations. 

After religious services in his home, Mr. Means’ coffin was escorted by family and a large procession to Oakdale Memorial Cemetery.  The escort was headed by Davenport Police Chief Kessler, Marshal Miller of Rock Island, and Marshal Kittleson of Moline. Following behind these officials were every available officer from the Davenport, Rock Island, and Moline Police Departments.  Members of Mr. Means’ various fraternal and volunteer organizations brought up the rear.

 The procession walked from Brady Street, to Locust Street, to Grand Avenue where everyone boarded street cars bound for Oakdale Cemetery.  Once at Oakdale, the funeral concluded with burial and honors by the Odd Fellowship and the order of United Workman.*

Marker at grave of James W. Means in Oakdale Memorial Gardens, Davenport, Iowa. Photo by Amy D.

Officer Means was not the first, nor the last, officer to die while on duty at the Davenport Police Department.  While his death was health related, we remember Officer Means and all the officers who have given of themselves for our safety and protection during National Police Week 2011 (May 15 – 21).

Davenport Police Officers Killed in the Line of Duty:

Police Officer Emil Arthur Speth – Died January 26, 1917

Police Officer Bernard Herman Geerts – Died July 16, 1928

Detective Sergeant William Hans Jurgens – Died July 16, 1958

Police Officer Michael Lee Farnsworth – Died December 5, 1971 

_____

*The Davenport Daily Gazette, May 22, 1883 on Pg. 6 noted that Chief Kessler had released Mr. McAuliffe on Friday, May 18th.  Kessler felt the “…sad circumstances surrounding the case were sufficient to impress him deeper than any legal punishment.”  Mr. McAuliffe was reported to be from rural Wilton, Iowa.  A town not to far from Davenport.  He was not known to have been in any trouble with the police before the morning of May 17th.

**In 1862

The above information was acquired from the Davenport Daily Gazette & the Davenport Democrat newspapers dated May 17, 18 & 19, 1883.

(posted by Amy D.)

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A Flood of Images: 2011 edition

Posted on May 12, 2011 by SCblogger

Now that the River has receded from its crest of 20.7 feet,* we thought it was time to take a look back at this year’s flood, which knocked the 1892 flood out of fourth place by almost a foot and a half.

***

On River Drive, the traffic signs tried valiantly to keep their heads above water:

While our Front Porch got a little damp:

 

But Davenport had been warned and, with the help of volunteers  put up its defenses in record time:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We may be getting the hang of this flooding thing . . .

But that doesn’t mean the River didn’t try its best to wander afield:

Do a little window shopping downtown:

And maybe take in a baseball game:

 

But, as usual, the web-footed citizens of Davenport didn’t seem to mind at all:

 

 

(Pictures taken by our own intrepid Amy D.  We still aren’t sure what she was standing on for some of these)

___

* “River crests at 20.7 feet – Floodwaters in the Q-C begin to slowly recede, Quad-City Times, April 24, 2011, p.1

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How do your Mayflowers grow?

Posted on May 5, 2011 by SCblogger

If April showers bring May flowers, what do Mayflowers bring?

Ancestors!

If you’d like to research your Pilgrim ancestors, try searching our library catalog for “Mayflower”, “Pilgrim” and “Plymouth”, and see what we have available. Or try our subscription databases from home! (DPL library card required) Search the book collection on Heritage Quest or check out images of postcards from the Boston Public Library collections on Footnote.

Here are some of the Mayflower resources available at the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center of the Davenport Public Library.

Societies:

–    General Society of Mayflower Descendants. Meetings, officers and members arranged in state societies, ancestors and their descendants (1901); Proceedings of the general congress, 1915-1933. (SC 973.2 GEN); Mayflower ancestral index (SC 973 TER)

–    Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants. Pilgrim notes and queries, 1913-1917 (SC 974.4 PIL); Officers & committees, membership roll, publications, by-laws, 1916 (SC 973.2 MAS)

–    National Society of Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims. Lineage Book (SC 929.3 NAT)

Periodicals:

–    General Society of Mayflower Descendants. The Mayflower quarterly. Vols. 47 -current , 1981-current (SC 974.4 MAY)

–    Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants. The Mayflower descendant: a quarterly magazine of Pilgrim and history – Microfiche vols. 1-34 (index available); bound vols. 35-48, 1899-1998 (SC 974.4 MAY)

Vital & other records:

–    Ames, Azel. The May-flower and her log, July 15, 1620-May 6th, 1921: chiefly from original sources (SC CLOSED STACKS 974.4 AME)

–    Bangs, Jeremy Dupertuis. Indian deeds: land transactions in Plymouth Colony, 1620-1691 (SC 929.3 BAN)

–    New Plymouth Colony. Records of Plymouth Colony; birth, marriages, deaths, burials, and other records, 1633-1689 (SC 974.482 NEW)

–    Plymouth (Mass.) First Church. Plymouth Church Records, 1620-1859 (SC 974.482 PLY)

–    Records of the town of Plymouth (SC 974.482 PLY)

–    Roberts, Gary Boyd. Mayflower source records: primary data concerning southern Massachusetts, Cape Cod, and the islands of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard: from the New England Historical and genealogical register. (SC 974.4 ROB)

–    Roser, Susan E. Mayflower birth & deaths; marriages; deeds & probates: from the files of George Ernest Bowman at the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower descendants (SC 974.4 ROS)

–    Sherman, Ruth Ann Wilder. Plymouth colony probate guide: where to find wills and related data for 800 people of Plymouth Colony, 1620-1691 (SC 974.482 SHE)

–    Wood, Ralph V. Plymouth County Massachusetts probate index, 1886-1881 (SC 974.482 WOO)

Family histories and genealogies:

–    Anderson, Robert Charles. Pilgrim: a biography of William Brewster; The Pilgrim migration: immigrants to Plymouth colony, 1620-1633 (SC 974.482 AND)

–    Banks, Charles Edward. The English ancestry and homes of the Pilgrim fathers who came to Plymouth on the “Mayflower” in 1620, the “Fortune” in 1621 and the “Little James” in 1623. (SC 973.2 BAN)

–    Davis, William T. Genealogical register of Plymouth families (SC 974.482 DAV)

–    Heath, Dwight B. A journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. (SC 974.482 MOU)

–    Hills, Leon Clark. History and genealogy of the Mayflower planters and first comers to ye olde colonie. (SC 974.492 HIL)

–    Kellogg, Lucy Mary. Mayflower families through five generations: descendants of the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth, Mass., December 1620. Vols. 1-22 (SC 929.2 MAY)

–    MacKenzie, George Norbury. Colonial families of the United States of America, in which is given the history, genealogy, and armorial bearings of colonial families who settled in the American colonies from the time of the settlement of Jamestown, 13th May 1607, to the Battle of Lexington, 19th April 1775. Vols. 1-7 (SC 973 MAC)

–    Mayflower Descendants and their marriages for two generations after the landing: including a short history of the church of the Pilgrim founders of New England (SC 974 MAY)

–    Steele, Ashbel. Chief of Pilgrims: or, the life and time of William Brewster, ruling elder of the Pilgrim company that founded New Plymouth, the parent colony of New England, in 1620. (SC 974.48 STE)

–    Stratton, Eugene Aubrey. Plymouth colony, it’s history and people, 1620-1691 (SC 974.02 STR)

–    Tracy, Sherman Weld. The Tracy genealogy; being some of the descendants of Stephen Tracy of Plymouth colony, 1623 (SC 929.2 TRA)

–    Underhill, Lora Altine (Woodbury). Descendants of Edward Small of New England and the allied families, with tracings of English ancestry. (SC 929.2 SMA)

–    Mayflower families series: (SC 929.2 MAY)

  • Degory Priest
  • Edward Fuller
  • Edward Winslow
  • Francis Cooke
  • George Soule
  • Henry Sampson
  • John Billington
  • Myles Standish
  • Peter Brown
  • Philip Delano
  • Richard Church
  • Richard Warren
  • Robert Bartlett
  • Stephen Hopkins
  • William Bradford
  • William Brewster

So, if your forefathers (and mothers) were Forefathers, come visit us!  We’ll help your family tree bloom.

(posted by Cristina)

Posted in Genealogy | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Now, about those flying cars . . .

Posted on April 26, 2011 by SCblogger

 All aboard!  Please fasten your seatbelts. Buckle up!  Lift off!

If you are traveling to another city, state, or country by land or air—or if you’re even one of the chosen few to travel though space—you have to have vehicle transportation (no Stargates yet!).

While you are traveling along, ever wonder what material makes up your ride, or where it comes from?

In this modern age, aluminum is definitely involved—and most of it probably came from the Aluminum Corporation of America, better known as Alcoa.  And of that amount, some of it probably came from Alcoa’s Davenport Works.

The Davenport Works plant cost thirty million dollars to build, according the Davenport Times of  May 23,1946. That would be about $ 350,000,000 (CPI)  in today’s economy. The groundbreaking was in July 1946 on 453 acres of what used to be onion and corn fields, as well as residential and commercial property.  

All the way from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, to Iowa, many minds and hands were involved to bring Alcoa here.  The Davenport Works plant has given jobs and lifted the quality of life for many, many people.

May they always continue to be one of our best employers and neighbors.

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Poets and Poetry: With a Mississippi Walking Stick

Posted on April 21, 2011 by SCblogger

April is National Poetry Month, so it seems fitting to share  the work of a few of our local poets each week.

Richard Stahl was born and raised in Davenport.  He graduated from Central High School in 1957 and later taught English there for 34 years.

His award-winning poems have been published  in many literary journals and appear in various anthologies. Mr. Stahl’s books include After the Milk Route (1988), Under the Green Tree Hotel (1996), and Mr. Farnam’s Guests (2004).

In 2001, Mr. Stahl was appointed the first Quad-City Poet Laureate, serving until 2003.

With a Mississippi Walking Stick*

This river’s rhythms live
inside my sfot pine
leg, a crooked
branch some backwater pulled
down, nearly drowning its face,
before hte current listed it, peeling
it clean as a cane. This driftwood ran
the channel until it grounded
In my hand
on Davenport’s levee,
but it remembers the bends
and twists and whirlpools
of the river. This stick teases
my shoulders
like the heady fizz
of a Mississippi Highball.
My fingers drink the sweep’s straight
handle again, the hold I need
to work my lungs and shoulders
and river legs. No part of this stick
is straight. Some twists puff
into knots. The bark has been skinned off
for easier handling. As I walk back
to The Green Tree Hotel
asn wader
ten feet away,
the bottom
noses down, closing
its fork
like a divining rod,
driving me
back to the river
and The Hotel
to wait
for my next berth.

___
*From Under the Green Tree Hotel

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Early (Early) Education

Posted on April 18, 2011 by SCblogger

The Kindergarten was developed by Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852) in Blankenburg, Germany, beginning in the 1830’s and 1840’s. Germans that immigrated to the United States brought with them Froeble’s concept. The first English-speaking Kindergarten was opened by Elizabeth Palmer Peabody in Boston in 1860. Another pioneer of the Kindergarten movement was Elizabeth Harrison (1849-1927), who grew up in Davenport and attended Davenport Schools. She was President of the National Kindergarten College from 1890-1919 and wrote the book “Study of Child Nature”.

The first public kindergarten in Davenport was started by the Davenport Kindergarten Association on November 18th, 1901, at the old Methodist Church on 14th Street. On the first day they had 28 children in attendance, although many more were expected to enroll. Their hours were from 9am until 12 noon. The “tuition” was free, but they asked for 5 cents per week, to purchase materials. They had 4 instructors, so each child would get the attention they required.

By February of 1905, the Association was sponsoring 3 Kindergartens in Davenport, operating at a cost of $1,800. They had found that even after public subscriptions, they were still left with $600 to be paid.  The Davenport Morning star reported that “the time was not yet ripe for the matter to be taken up by the school board, but must be supported by public subscription.”

Apparently, this did not happen:  after that school year, the Davenport City Directory only lists the People’s Union Mission Kindergarten, located at 312 E 2nd Street, until 1909.

The Davenport School Board introduced Kindergartens at 5 of their public schools on January 27th, 1913. The participating schools were Tyler, Buchanan, Pierce, Jackson and Jefferson. On that first day, a total of 111 children had registered. Tyler school had the largest enrollment, with 48 children attending.

With such a large number, the school board felt they were going to need another Kindergarten at some of the schools in the east end of Davenport.  The school board had intended to establish a Kindergarten at Van Buren school, but they couldn’t open it on time because of repairs being made to the building.

The enrollment would have been much larger, but some parents kept their children home due to an epidemic of whooping cough. Because they had so much success with enrollment on the first day, the school board was certain they were going to add Kindergartens at other schools in September.

And they did.

Kindergarten round-up for the 2011-2012 school year is taking place this week at Davenport Community Schools.  Over twelve-hundred students are already enrolled in the twenty-two kindergartens in the district, but the total will probably be higher!

_____

Sources:

Branch, Sandra F.; Elizabeth Harrison and her contribution to the Kindergarten movement in Chicago 1880-1920. Chicago, IL, May 1922

Davenport Times.  Amuse children: a new institution is started in this city. 19 November 1901.

Davenport Morning Star. Are seeking to raise aid for Kindergartens. 11 February 1905.

Davenport Democrat and Leader. Big registration at Kindergartens. 29 January 1913.

(posted by Cristina)

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Poets and Poetry: Sonnets of a Portrait-Painter

Posted on April 14, 2011 by SCblogger

April is National Poetry Month, so it seems fitting to share  the work of a few of our local poets each week.

Arthur Davison Ficke, son of prominent businessman Charles August Ficke, was born in Davenport in 1883.  Although he studied law and worked with his father, he eventually made the decision to be a full time author and poet—a decision he never regretted.

He is best known for two things:  a poetry hoax he and his friend Harold Witter Bynner pulled on the literary world, and his lovely sonnets.  In 1914, a collection of some of his best sonnets were gathered into a single volume,  Sonnets of a Portrait-Painter.


XIX

Strange! To remember that I late was fain
To yield death back my poor undated lease,
So wearied had I at life’s gate in vain
Asked wonders, and been doled not even peace.
I had grown sceptic of the exalted will
That winds not ever nearer to its aim.
Grey seemed all lures, all calling voices still;
Rest only seems salvation . . . Then you came
And filled my dusk with stars. I understood
At last what coward languor had been mine.
And as your sweetness stung my brain and blood
Like the wild rapture of some winged wine
I stormed the gates that crusts to beggars give!
Life decks its halls for him who dares to live . . . .

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