History of Northwestern Iowa
- The Coming of the Methodist to Sibley
- Catholics Also Pioneers in Osceola County
- Other Churches at Sibley
The Coming of the Methodists to Sibley
The first settlers began coming to Osceola County in the
spring of 1871. Slight improvements were made during the summer
and most of the settlers returned to their former homes in the
fall to avoid the long winter under poorly prepared conditions.
The first preaching service was held at the house of Elbridge
Morrison, one and a half miles west of Sibley, by Rev. S.
Aldrich, who was making Osceola County his home at this time.
Rev. Ira Brashears, a one-armed soldier of the Civil war, was
assigned to the missionary field of O'Brien, Sioux, Lyon and
Osceola counties. Rev. John Webb, who was in charge of the work
at Spirit Lake, was directed to divide his time with Sibley.
Accordingly on the 19th of April, 1872, the Rev. Messrs. Webb and
Aldrich met about a score of good Methodists at the house of A.M.
Culver, one and a half miles south of Sibley, and there organized
a class -the first religious organization in Osceola County.
At the first session of the Northwest Iowa Conference, held at
Fort Dodge, in September, 1872, Rev. John Webb was assigned to
the Sibley mission, which embraced Osceola County. In the
following year, a substantial frame meeting house was completed.
Twenty years afterward, then living in Des Moines, Rev. Mr. Webb
had this to say of his early experiences in Osceola County:
"In June, 1872, in company with Mr. James Block, I left
Fayette County, this State, to visit my son and others, who had
gone to Osceola County to locate claims. I was directed from
Lakeville to go to Ocheyedan Mound, and was told that when on the
mound I could in all probability see the tents in which
McCausland, Brooks and W.W. Webb were living. I went to the mound
and on top of it, but could see no signs of life in any
direction. Mr. Block and myself then went down to the banks of
the Ocheyedan and camped for the night. The next morning we
started in search of the boys, and about noon found them one mile
east of where Sibley now is. We spent a few days with them and
our horses were picketed out by the foreleg. While the horses
were thus secured, something gave them a fright, when they ran the
full length of the rope and brought up so suddenly that both
turned somersaults and one of them was killed. I liked the
country and that fall took charge of the Spirit Lake circuit; the
next year took charge of the Sibley circuit, and formed the first
class ever formed in Osceola County at the house of A.M. Culver.
I built the first Methodist Episcopal church, or enclosed it, and
Rev. Mr. Brashears finished it.
"While I was living at Sibley that early day a young lawyer
came to town, who was not very scrupulous, and he persuaded the
Board of Supervisors to pay him $20,000 to recover certain monies
due from Woodbury County to Osceola. I heard of it and going to
the courthouse where the board was in session, requested them to
hear me and they consented. I told them they would regret the day
that they issued the warrant and gave the general reasons why
such an official act should not be done; and ever as an outsider
I made a motion to the board and the crowd that Blackmer be
allowed $500 retainer and a per cent afterwards; and I added to
the motion that the hiring include all the lawyers, or the
remainder would be coming in for a share. J. T. Barclay, Esq., who
was standing close by me, moved an amendment that the preachers
also be added, but they were not. This was the last ever heard of
the suit against Woodbury County.
"When our Methodist church at Sibley was ready for
dedication, we met Sabbath morning, and just before the time to
commence public worship and while some of us were standing on
the steps of the church, it was discovered that something was
coming from the Northwest, which looked like a cloud; but still
it could be seen that it was not a cloud, and upon its nearer
approach we could then see that it was a swarm of grasshoppers.
This so disconcerted and discouraged the people that it was
impossible to hold them for the purposes of dedication that day,
and it was deferred. The ravages of these pests which followed
are known to old settlers."
In 1896, the original church of the Sibley Methodists was sold to
the German Presbyterians, and a new building was erected on the
old site.
CATHOLICS ALSO PIONEERS IN OSCEOLA COUNTY
Osceola is one of the counties of Northwestern Iowa in which
the Catholics obtained a strong foothold at an early day. In
Osceola County they were the first of the religionists to
organize. The centers of their activities were at Ashton and
Sibley. The German Catholic families settled at and near Ashton,
and the Irish Catholic families in the Sibley neighborhood.
The first Catholic settlers in Osceola County were Nicholas Boor
and John Streit, who came on the 19th of June, 1871, and filed
an claims in Gilman Township. The first mass celebrated was in
May,1873, on the southwest quarter of section 16, Holman
Township, at the home of Patrick Larkin, by an assistant priest
of Rev. Father Lenehan, of Sioux City. This was the commencement
of the Sibley parish and the St. Andrew's Roman Catholic Church.
The parish was first served by priests from Sioux City, Le Mars
and Sheldon. In 1883, the congregation bought the old Sibley
schoolhouse for church purposes, but in 1897 erected a house of
worship and purchased cemetery grounds.
In 1880, the part of the congregation residing in the Ashton
neighborhood consisting of German Catholic families had greatly
increased in numbers, and decided to form a separate
organization. In September of that year a meeting was held to
decide upon a location for a church building. The Sioux City
& St. Paul Railroad Company had offered to donate five acres
of land if the Catholics would build the church near the Ashton
station, but John Streit donated the same amount of land from his
farm, two and a half miles from the station, but nearer to the
center of the settlement. Mr. Streit's offer was accepted, and in
September, 1880, Rev. Father Lynch, resident priest at Sheldon,
celebrated mass in Mr. Streit's house. In March of the following
year, Rev. Father Lynch said mass for the first time in the new
but un-plastered little church, representing the parish of Our
Lady of Perpetual Help. The congregation did not grow much until
church was moved to the railroad station in 1885. Land was then
bought for a parish cemetery. The first resident priest was
Rev. James McCormack, who came in June, 1888, and in the following
spring erected a substantial building for a parochial school,
which he placed in charge of the Sisters of St. Francis. In
October, 1893, a new and worthy house of worship was erected, and
five years later the growth of the parish and consequent increase
of child population made it necessary to have a larger and more
complete school building and an enlarged Sisters' residence.
These expansions and accommodations have made the Sibley
congregations secondary to the church in Ashton.
In the fall of the year that the Methodists
organized their first class at Sibley (1872) the
Congregationalists organized a society in the public schoolhouse.
Most of its members lived east of Ocheyedan Creek. The home
missionary on the field and first pastor on the new church was
Rev. Benjamin A. Dean. In the year following the organization of
the church it was admitted to membership in the Sioux Association
of Congregational Churches, a district association of the State
body. In 1875, the first meeting house of the society was erected
opposite the northeast corner of the courthouse square - the
building which was purchased by the German Lutheran Church in
1896. In the latter year, the Congregationalists built their
larger church, one of the features of which is a fine memorial
window placed in honor of Mrs. Ellen P. Dean, wife of the first
pastor, both of whom did so much to establish the organization.
The first Congregational Church of Sibley is one of the strongest
religious bodies in Osceola County.
The German Lutheran Church of Sibley is a flourishing
organization and its pastor also serves congregations at Harris
and in Viols Township. The Baptists have also supported a church
since 1974; and there is a German Presbyterian Church, which
dates fro 1895.
Besides the Catholic Church of Ashton, the Methodists have been
well organized since 1882. Ocheyedan, in the northern part of the
county, is the center of quite a religious field, represented by
the Methodist Episcopal Church, which has been in existence since
1872 and owes it to Rev. John Webb, the first Methodist minister
of Sibley; the Congregational Church, organized in 1888, and the
St. Peters Evangelical Lutheran Church, established in 1901.
The first German Lutherans of Horton Township came into Osceola
County from Will County, Illinois, in 1883, and in 1887 organized
a church known as the Evangelical Lutheran Church. About 1896,
some Presbyterian Germans in West Holman Township, a few
miles west of Sibley, organized Hope Church, and in 1899 the First
Methodist Episcopal Church of Harris was dedicated by Rev.
Dr. Wilson S. Lewis (afterward Bishop Lewis). These are three
representative churches of rural districts.
- Source: History of Northwestern Iowa, Its History and
Traditions 1804--1926; by Arthur F. Allen; Volume I; Chapter
16; Pages 553-557
-Transcribed by Kevin Tadd