The Fort Dodge Messenger: Aug. 2, 1905
Fifty Years Since They Saw Ft. Dodge
Tuesday Aug. 1 Marked The Half Ceutury (sic) Post For Family’s Record Here.
Vincent Family Are Pioneers
They Came Here in a Covered Wagon From Dubuque Over a Trail Thru Soughs and Rough Roads – City Was Pretty Young Then.
August 1, 1905, marked a milestone in the history of the Vincent family of this city. Fifty years ago on that day they came o (sic) the town of Fort Dodge. Mrs. George B. Sherman, Mr. Webb Vincent and Mr. (sic) Beth Vincent are the surviving members of the family of six and they tell interesting tales of the state and town as they then appeared.
They left the railroad at Dubuque, making the remainder of the journey in a covered wagon which, with a good span of horses they bought in Dubuque for just five hundred dollars in gold. ($11,554 today)
The road across the prairies and through many sloughs was hardly more than a trail so little was it traveled. They came by way of Webster City, then called Newcastle, and made the journey in about a week.
At Webster City they had the pleasure of spending the night in a hotel and sleeping on real beds. Their rest was broken by their first experience of a genuine thunderstorm. A building across the street from the hotel was struck by lightning and the more timid members of the family doubtless wished that they had not “left their happy homes.”
Factory chimneys and church spires being conspicuous by their absence, the site of the Fort Dodge was proclaimed to the travellers by a flag floating from a flagstaff on the height of the hill now occupied by the S.T. Meservey residence.
A bachelor uncle of the party not knowing what fate might have in store for him, made his toilet before entering the town. He shaved himself, using a pail of water as a mirror. If he did it today he would have to use a safety razor.
The inhabitants of the little town all crowded to doors and windows as the party made its way down the street, the addition of two comely women to society’s ranks being especially a subject of interest.
Among the families then living here whose names are still familiar were Mr. and Mrs. Albee, Dr. and Mrs. Olney, Mr. and Mrs. Plum. Mr. Dawley had brought his bride but a few months earlier. Mr. J.F. Duncombe, Mr. Beecher, Mr. Geo. B. Sherman, Mr. C.C. Carpenter were among the young men of whom the greater part of the population was then made up. Young ladies were at a premium.
The inhabitants of the town were settled in the old fort buildings and the Vincent family took up their abode in the theatre building, a relic of the soldier days. They lived in the dressing rooms and on the stage, stored their grain in the “pit” (the only wheat pit the city has ever boasted) and quartered their horses in the refreshment room. The children recall many pranks in this old theatre but the serious work of building a home (the first residence in Fort Dodge) was soon begun. The lumber was hauled from near Dubuque. The house was on the site of the present library building, but not to be confused with the brick house put up later by the family and only recently torn down. Webb Vincent, in a spirit of boyishness, turned the first shovel of earth in excavating for their dwelling so he can now say he did the first stroke of work on a residence building in Fort Dodge.
Tags: 1905, Albee, Beecher, Carpenter, Dawley, Duncombe, Meservey, Olney, Plum, Sherman, Vincent
