SANDS, JOHN DOZIER (REV.)

SANDS, WATTS, AMES

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 8/21/2003 at 21:51:21

Biography reproduced from page 37 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

When one pauses to reflect the life work of such a man as the Rev. J. D. Sands, realizing even to a limited extent how potent was his influence for good and for moral progress, one must feel that such a spirit can never be lost to the world and must have stepped into a greater, more beautiful life when the door closed upon him and shut him from mortal vision. The life and character of J. D. Sands were as clear as the sunlight. No man came in contact with him but speedily appreciated him at his true worth and knew he was a man who not only cherished a high ideal of duty but he lived up to it. He constantly labored for the right and from his earliest youth devoted a portion of his time to the service of others. He was not an idle sentimentalist but a worker and a student and it was his rule to set apart some time each day for the labors of love to which he was so devoted. For forty years he remained a pastor of the Congregational church at Belmond and at his death on the 7th of March, 1909, at venerable age of ninety-four years, the Iowa Valley Press wrote of him:

“It would seem an easy task to write an obituary for a good man – one whose whole life has been that of intrinsic worth, one for whom there was no cause for an apology or explanation—but in this life there was so much of unselfishness, so much of Christian heroism, that one in attempting the task is lost in amazement and naturally shrinks from the task. A few facts, however, as I have gathered them in an intimate acquaintance for forty years or more are here jotted down.

“John Dozier Sands was born at Fakenham, Norfolk, England, February 8, 1815. His parents, John and Elizabeth (Watts) Sands, were industrious Christian people, he being by occupation a coach builder. Young John was alert, energetic and withal a natural mechanic and much of his young life when not in school was spent in the shop with his father. As the young mind broadened he conceived the idea that better methods might be introduced in the home shop, so at the age of seventeen he started out on foot to visit the principal cities of England, Scotland and Ireland and work in the various factories and shops. In 1835 the Papinian rebellion broke out in Canada and England called for volunteers, foremost among which was the subject of this sketch. His regiment came to Canada and for nearly four years he served as a private in the ranks. It is fair to presume, however, that his time was not spent in idleness; on the contrary, when not on duty he was storing his mind with useful information. When the rebellion was over it was the policy of the government to reduce the army by releasing the soldiers upon the payment of a stipulated sum of money, say one hundred dollars. One morning as the regiment was in line call was made by the commanding officer for those who wished a discharge on the above terms to step two paces to the front. Young Sands wanted his release but had no money. A gentleman, a stranger, stepped up behind him and asked him if he wanted his discharge. Sands replied: ‘I want to go to school.’ The gentleman at once became responsible for the money and Sands stepped to the front. This is perhaps the first noticeable step in providence to fit this young man for a life of usefulness. Immediately he entered Grand Signe Academy for a term of three years, mastering the French language and the common English branches. In 1842 he started out as a French Bible reader, distributing French Bibles and testaments which were furnished him by Christian people in Montreal, for he was acting independently of all societies. While thus engaged he met with Protestant clergymen, who urged him to take a course of study for the gospel ministry, so in 1844 he entered the Yale theological department at New Haven, Connecticut, and graduated in 1847. He was at once married to Miss Emily Ames, of New Haven, and they went to Essex, Vermont, where he was ordained and supplied a Congregational church for nine years. In 1855 they left Vermont and came to Keosauqua, Van Buren county, Iowa, where they lived until the breaking out of the Civil war. At this time he was forty-six years old. A man of his age, ability and military experience might have easily secured the position of colonel or even higher in military rank, but he went as chaplain of the Nineteenth Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and thus served until the close of the war. Chaplains are considered non combatants, consequently are supposed to be in a safe place during an engagement; not so with Chaplain Sands. In the time of an engagement, as members of his old regiment have told me, Chaplain Sands was always found on the firing line with musket in hand and his watchword was always ‘Come on boys.’ After the war the good man took up again the work of the ministry, preaching in Adams county, this state, and Wataga, Illinois, until January, 1869, when he came to Belmond. Here he found a small church organization without a pastor. Here they went to work and as time went on the work enlarged. In 1871 he was nominated county superintendent of schools on the republican ticket. The contest was close but when he came to the polls he took his pencil and drew it across the name of John D. Sands and wrote in the name of his opponent, saying, ‘I’ll not vote for John, that is pretty certain, I know him too well.’ But he was elected and that gave him a wider field of earnest work, preaching and lecturing in all the schoolhouses as he visited the schools. In January, 1872, as he went on horseback to Clarion on his official duties, one terrible stormy day, his dwelling with all its contents burned, without insurance. His library had been under insurance of eighteen hundred dollars but had just run out. There was no telegraph or telephone in those days. One of the boys met him as he neared home saying: ‘Father, everything is burned up.’ The father said: ‘You are all alive, aren’t you?’ The boy answered, ‘Yes.’ ‘Well, thank the Lord for that’.”

All this was characteristic of the man. If his family was left to him he did not consider the disaster an irretrievable one. He recognized that poverty and riches are of the spirit and not represented by material things and he knew that even with the loss of his home his opportunities for good were still existent and that he was still to remain a factor in the world’s work.

A detailed account of the life of the Rev. J. D. Sands would touch the life history of many others, for his influence was almost immeasurable and those who sat under his teaching felt the quickening influence of his instruction and spirit. He came to be popularly and lovingly known throughout the county as “Father Sands,” a term not only indicative of his patriarchal age but also the attitude of kindly protection and care which he had for all of his people. C. J. Broughton, a long time friend, wrote of him:

“During the forty years that Father John D. Sands has lived and labored among us here in Belmond, thirty-four years of that time have been spent as the active and only pastor of the Congregational church. . . . He was unselfish in all his plans of work. He never asked the question ‘Which is the easiest way?’ but ‘What is my duty?’ He has married our children and buried our dead and the words of sympathy that he has spoken at the open grave have been like the benediction of Heaven to our sad hearts.”

S. N. Hinman, writing of the Rev. Sands, said: “Words can only dimly portray any phase of so long, eventful and useful a life. He was not a man of a single idea; fixedness of purpose seems now to me to be his leading characteristic. He was mild mannered, loving and gentle as a woman, but where the principle was at stake, unchanging as the eternal blue. In forty years of the most intimate acquaintance I have never known him for policy’s sake to wink at evil or compromise with wrong in the least degree.”

Among external evidences of Mr. Sands’ prominence in the community and the regard and honor everywhere entertained for him none was more fitting nor a more creditable monument to his life work than the Sands Memorial Congregational church, named in his honor. The beautiful and attractive house of worship, erected at a cost of ten thousand dollars by the people whom he had so long served as pastor, was dedicated November 12, 1905, on which occasion he himself offered the dedicatory prayer. A still more splendid monument, however, is found in the lives of those who embraced Christianity under his teachings, who were influenced to choose the better part because of his words of guidance and of wisdom. The memory of such a man can never die while living monuments remain upon which were imprinted the touch of his noble soul.

“Were a star quenched on high,

For ages would its light,

Still traveling downward from the sky,

Shine on our mortal sight.

“So when a good man dies,

For years beyond our ken,

The light he leaves behind him lies

Upon the paths of men.