Recipes for Living Slaymaker Family

I, Suzanne Slaymaker, am the sole member of this Clarke County pioneer family to be left in this area. I feel a strong sense of responsibility to those who are deceased to capture some of their personalities and contributions to the history of the county.

This homestead is typical of early settlers who traveled westward along the route of the Mormons and gold seekers. John Kyte and his brother-in-law, Robert Jamison, came to Clarke County, Iowa with the Mormon Company that was led by Brigham Young. John Kyte and Robert Jamison, like many other settlers that traveled the Momion Trail, stopped when they found an area that they wanted to settle.

They staked a claim in 1849. In 1850 Robert Jamison and John Kyte returned to Indiana and brought their family to Clarke County to live. The Kyte (Slaymaker) farmstead is a Clarke County historic treasure. This farmstead is one of the twenty-four intact farmsteads in the state of Iowa.

In March 1999, Michael and Tracy K. Shay purchased 300 acres of land from the Slaymaker estate. At the time of purchase they were unaware of the historic significance of the farm buildings. The house has been vandalized. They asked the Weldon Fire Department if they would like to burn it as a training session for their volunteer fire department. The fire department inspected the house and felt it was very structurally sound, and Mrs. Whitham, from the fire department, felt that it would be disastrous to destroy such a historic, rare, intact farmstead that dates back to 1849, just three years after Iowa became a state.

We have researched the property, and the history indeed dates back to 1849, when John Kyte following the Mormon Trace and gold seekers westward with his brother-in-law, Robert Jamison, became the first permanent settlers in Clarke County.

John Kyte lived with his sister and brother-in-law Robert Jamison nntil 1856 when he married Miss Mary Jane Bogg and moved into his new home, the farm house that still stands on the farmstead today.

Historically, the Kyte (Slaymaker) Farmstead is significant Iowa history as an example of the agricultural backbone of our state. It contains the woodlands used for building and fuel. The soil that produced the income, the wells that provided water. The farmstead is intact on the original land claim made in 1849. There are only nine farmsteads in Iowa listed on the National Historic Registry that are older. The Kyte (Slaymaker) farmstead remains a tribute to the men and women of the frontier who came, made their homes, raised their families and left a heritage of which we can be proud.

O.M. Slaymaker purchased the Kyte Farmstead in 1914. Ora M. Slaymaker was for over thirty years a leader at the bar of Clarke County, practicing at Osceola. Mr. Slaymaker is said to have had the largest and most complete private Law Library in the state. He often tried cases before the Iowa Supreme Court. The farmstead was owned by the Slaymaker Family from 1914 until January 1999.

O.M. Slaymaker in his law office above 116 West Jefferson Street. It was destroyed by fire, and
arson was suspected. He moved to 111 South Main, the office decorated by Younkers Department
Store in Des Moines. .

The John Kyte (Slaymaker) Farmstead is an intricate part of Iowa history. This site, chosen by John Kyte in 1849, as he traveled westward was the example of the Iowa agricultural history. These men were poor but visioned Iowa as their land of opportunity. They broke the sod, raised corn and oats. Many Mormons and gold seekers traveled this trail, stopping to replenish their supply of corn and oats for the animals. Garden Grove was one of the winter encampments on the trail to Mt. Pisgah and Salt Lake. The Mormons and Gold Seekers were the regular travelers along the trail. The railroad came through Weldon in 1880. This was an outlet for the oak timber to make road bed for the rails.

This farmstead is on the Mormon Trail in the midst of hunt country. Stevens State Forest is easy access (six miles). Osceola is on I-35 Highway, and the Amtrak ...45 miles from Des Moines.

Restoration of this farmstead is imperative if it is to be saved. Few intact farmsteads personify the average Iowa Agricultural development and growth as accurately as this complex. Today the estate has been sold and divided among several owners. The timber, approximately 500 acres, has been purchased by hunters. We purchased 300 acres for the row cropping and hay potential. Another buyer bought 120 acres for row cropping.

The farmstead (20 acres) is not an intricate part of our farming operation. If it is to be preserved it must become available for assistance provided by grants and potential owners wishing to start bread and breakfast business, or, hunt clubs wishing a base for their activities. It would be an ideal county home for people wishing to move from city life style.

The Kyte (Slaymaker) Farmstead is located 7 1/2 miles south and 6 1/2 miles east of Osceola, Iowa or 4 1/2 miles east and 1 1/2 miles north of Weldon in Clarke County, Iowa at 2875 Mormon Trail Road. It is near Stephen's State Forest. Osceola, which has Amtrak, Interstate 35, and an airport. Osceola itself is located 45 miles from Des Moines, Iowa's state capital and is at the center of the great state of Iowa.

The Kyte and Slaymaker men staked out their claims in 1849. They returned to Indiana and the two men, Kyte and his brother-in-law Robert Jamison returned in May 1850, with Robert's wife Christina. They were the first permanent settlers in the county.There were a few squatters living in various parts of the county but non remained long.

John Kyte and his brother-in-law broke out as much sod as they could and planted it to corn. It produced a good crop of 40 bushels per acre and proved to be the salvation of their existence. A stream of immigrants was beginning to pass the Jamison cabin, some headed for Salt Lake City and others for the famed Oregon and California countries. The corn sold readily for $1.00 per bushel to these travelers.

John Kyte lived with his sister and brother-in-law, Robert Jamison until 1856, when he married Miss Mary Jane Bogg and moved into his new home, the farm home that still stands on the farmstead today.

The house was fashioned similar to the one his neighbor and brother-in-law had built. The home, a two story wooden frame house is unique in that it has a front and back stairway. The front of the house has two rooms approximately 15 feet by 15 feet and a wide 9 foot stairway. The windows and doors are trimmed of walnut. The trim under the window and stairway has plain-coating made of walnut. A large room basically the kitchen, completes the first floor. Once this home was the typical house for the early pioneer. The lumber is a full 2x4 inch dimensional for the walls, 2"x 10" floors and ceiling joists were the lumber used to frame the house. This lumber was hauled from Ottumwa, approximately 75 miles away because there was no sawmill in this area. Historically, this is not a granduer building, but a house typical of most family farm houses built in Iowa in the 1850's through about 1900. It is the type of house most of today's Iowa farmer's grandparents lived in.

The house John Kyte built in section 17, Franklin Township, is one of the few still remaining. He was typical of the pioneers who stopped along the Mormon Trail to establish homes and raise families. They were modest hard working family-oriented men who measured success in a good life.

The barn, made of native timber, hewn by ax, and pegged instead of nailed, stands as rugged and sturdy as the farmer who built it in the 1860's. The barns' framing system is of heavy hewn timbers, with notched and pegged joinery. Its exterior was clad with claysboard siding. A full length shed roofed extension on the east side was apparently used as a loafing area. Originally the barn had horse stalls on both sides of a center driveway. An overhead loft was used for storing hay.

In the 1900s, O.M. Slaymaker, a prominent and prosperous attorney in Clarke County, Osceola, Iowa purchased the Kyte Farm. He apparently recognized the uniqueness of the barn and converted it to the needs of the 20th century farmer. He had concrete pillars put under the timbers, converted it from a basic horse barn to a more all-purpose barn. The horse stalls were removed. Metal siding was used to cover the deteriorating wooden board siding. This barn was constructed before hay was lifted to the second floor with a hay fork on a rail. A metal roof covers the wooden shingles. At one time a loafing shed was added to the east side of the structure. This barn today is in stable condition and should be usable for many years.

A granary was constructed from the old wooden elevator that stood beside the CB &Q Railroad tracks in Weldon, Iowa. In January 1946, the CB&Q Railroad abandoned the line to Weldon and started tearing up the tracks. O.M. Slaymaker bought the elevator, built in the 1880s, located in Weldon, Iowa that was used to load train cars in the days when the trains were going through many times a day. Slaymaker moved the lumber to his farm north of Weldon to build and restore as a granary. The bucket left that was used to transport grain to the upper level of the Weldon elevator was installed in the granary built on the farmstead. The granary has a cupola on the top that makes it unique as well as picturesque. The granary as used for oats, as in those days horses were the power that pulled the plow. It has been kept painted and with some repair could be restored. Pictures included showed the lift in the granary.

A hog farrowing building, rugged as the other buildings was added to the farm. There are 24 individual farrowing pens made of the same type of heavy lumber and the floor in concrete. A central driveway goes full length of the farrowing building. It has been said that when the litters were half grown, he turned the pigs into the timber to eat the acorns and grow fat. In the 1980s and early 90s many feeder pigs were raised as an additional source of income.

Other buildings were added. An ear corn and all purpose shed were added probably in the 1940s-50s. The garage (machine shed) is made from lumber and material from a homestead purchased from Carlie McWilliams. This farmstead adjoined the Slaymaker farm. The buildings were torn down and the usable lumber was brought to the complex next to the house and barn. The three-car garage — tractor shed — is one of the more recent additions to the farmstead.

Four large 5000-6000 grain bins are across the driveway to the house. These were added approximately 35 years ago.

It is through the efforts of the Slaymaker family that this early frame house and barn were preserved. Many additions and improvements were made. The farmstead now consists of the house, barn, granary, garage, machine shed, corn crib, and hog farrowing.

This site is probably one of the last remaining farmsteads left in Iowa. It is my goal to preserve and restore this historic treasure by getting it accepted on the National Registry.

A newspaper article titled "Wanted: Someone to restore historic homestead," appeared in the Osceola Sentinel-Tribune, no date given. It is quoted in part from the original article by Jane McCall.

"Can this historic Kyte homestead on the Mormon Trail southeast of Osceola be saved? That's a question 81-year-old Mabel Shay has been working to answer for some time. She put a lot of effort into getting the mid-1800s barn on the Franklin Township property on the National Register of Historic Places. Her intent was to make the homestead qualify for grant money to restore the house and she now hopes someone else will take over.

"Shay's son, Mike, and his wife, Tracy, of Des Moines, became owners of the homestead when they purchased the Slaymaker estate in the spring of 1999. They wanted the 300 acres of farmland that adjoins property they already owned. The estate was offered as a package, including the house and outbuildings. In a moment of weakness, Mabel said, they bought the whole kit and kaboodle.

"Mike, a Des Moines policeman, will retire in six years and he and his wife will build a house on the land north of Weldon. Mabel and her late husband, William, bought land in the area of the 1960s. For the past 18 years, Mabel lived just down the road from the Kyte homestead...

"During the time Mabel was researching the property (she) discovered the barn, built as an English or threshing-type barn constructed of hand-hewn heavy timber frame and mortise-and-tenon joinery, was in good repair. While it had been covered and roofed with metal, the older material was basically intact underneath.

"Walking into the barn is like stepping into the past. You can almost hear it being raised and joined together. The massive timbers used in its construction aren't seen today.

"Just one month ago, Mabel succeeded in securing a spot for the barn on the National Register of Historic Places — no easy task. It included months of research and documentation. Mabel is now a member of the Iowa Barn Foundation, a group founded in 1997, to save the state's historic barns. According to the organization, there were 100,000 barns in Iowa in 1930. Today, there are half that many. The foundation assists people seeking National Register designation and grant money for restoration of barns.

"The significance of the homestead is partly that it is one of only 18 complete homesteads left in Iowa. For Clarke County, it is a piece of history honoring the original settlers here."

Pictured above are four officers of the law involved in bringing to justice murderers of C.W. Jones of Murray: Judge Homer A Fuller, Sheriff J.E. West, O.M. Slaymaker, and County Attorney J.P. Dyer. The newspaper account follows:

Osceola, Ia., March 11. (Special) These four officers of the law have accounted for three of the bandits who killed C.W. Jones at Murray, October 19 and wounded three members of the posse of the sheriff, one of whom, R.W. Fuller, will be paralyzed and helpless all the rest of his life. The three bandits who have been disposed of are Edward Adams, who was killed by a Wichita policemen; Frank Foster, who confessed the Murray crime and was sentenced to life imprisonment, and William Fentleman, who tried to prove an alibi and whose fiancee, Annie Jones, declares the alibi was "framed up" and all a fake. The fourth member of the gang, according to Foster, is "Slim" Weisberger, who escaped from the Kansas penitentiary with Adams and Foster.

Judge Homer A. Fuller presided at the Fentleman trial and heard Foster's confession. He sentenced Foster to life imprisonment because the jury had fixed Fentleman's penalty at life imprisonment; personally he believed Fentleman should hang and has pledged himself to do nothing as judge to defeat justice and secure a parole for either man.

Sheriff West and County Attorney Dyer worked night and day on the case since the murder of Jones. West and his deputies were positive in their identification of Fentleman, Foster and Adams. Mr. Slaymaker assisted the county attorney in the trial of the Fentleman case and secured the confession of the Jones girl that she had perjured herself to make an alibi for Fentleman.