O.S. WIGHT, PIONEER
Orange
Scott Wight was born September 16, 1828 in Milan, New Hampshire. When
he was five years old, his parents moved to New York state. In 1845,
the family moved again, this time to Keokuk County, Iowa. I 1854, in
that county, he married Tillitha Osborn. In 1856, the young couple
moved to Crawford County, Iowa. In 1857 he was made a leader in the
Methodist church and was granted a license to preach.
In 1858 the newly ordained minister immigrated to Cherokee County which then had less than 60 people.
George
Brown who was then a mere lad recalled many years later that the
arrival of O. S. Wight was an event of importance for the whole county.
Wight was a Methodist preacher whose circuit reached from Spirit Lake
through Peterson to Cherokee. After the arrival of Wight, for the first
time, the settlement was able to have regular religious services. At
first, the new preacher held services in homes, but after the building
of the courthouse (1863) they were held there.
One of the
remarkable things about Mr. Wight was his ability to walk. On the
Sundays that church services were held in Cherokee, Mr. Wight held his
morning service at ten in the morning in Peterson, then he walked
eighteen miles and held the afternoon service at Cherokee at four in
the afternoon.
Amelia Parkhurst, one of the Milford colonists,
recalled those early days in her later years. She wrote: “Sabbath days
we listened to a pious man from a lower settlement. He sometimes came
barefooted, sometimes his shoes did not match and stockings as well. We
knew he was anxious for our spiritual welfare and gave him due respect.”
In 1859, he was elected superintendent of schools, an elected post he held continuously to 1864 being re-elected annually.
The
1860 census records Orange S . Wight as a 31 year old married male. A
man born in New Hampshire who was a farmer. He lived in Pilot Township
with his wife Tibitha, aged 31, who was born in Ohio. They had one son,
John W. who was 1 year old and had been born in Iowa.
That same
year (1860), he was elected County Judge, which then was the chief
executive legislative and judicial office in the county. There as yet
being no board of supervisors, the county judge had the powers since
vested in that body, along with many others. He served simultaneously
as County Judge and Superintendent of Schools. In 1861, he was
re-elected to the same two offices.
The year 1862 brought
formidable Indian outbreaks and most of the inhabitants of the county
fled to other and more protected places. In the fall of that year,
Carleton Corbett, the county treasurer, returned to the county. He was
followed by O.S. Wight, J. A. Brown and Robert Perry, all of whom were
accompanied by their families.
In 1862, the office of County
Judge was abolished by the state legislature. It was replaced by the
Board of Supervisors’ as chief executive and legislative body of the
county. Wight served out his term of office as County Judge. He had
been elected to the Board of Supervisors as well as County
Superintendent of Schools. He was one of two members of the original
Board of Supervisors, the other being James Brown.
It is said that during the Civil War he held four county offices at the same time, and filled them all admirably.
In
1864 he was elected Clerk of Courts and in 1865 County Coroner. He does
not seem to have held an elective county office after his term as
coroner was over in 1866.
When he came to the county in 1858, he
and his family settled on Section 16 of Pilot township. In 1865 he took
up a homestead on Section 28 of Pilot township. Here lived until 1873.
In his home on Section 28, the first post office in Pilot township was
begun with Wight as the postmaster. He served as postmaster until the
post office was moved to Roger’s Mills, a term that lasted from 5
October 1865 to 15 March 1871.
In 1873, he sold the homestead he had taken up and bought a farm of one hundred and twenty acres where he resided with his wife.
When
old ae made it difficult for him to continue farming, he moved with his
wife to Cherokee and lived in the city until his wife’s death, about
1903.
With the demise of his wife, he went to live with his daughter, Mrs. Sam Shook, where he resided until his death.
Orange
S. Wight, early in life devoted himself to the ministry. When he ceased
being an active minister and took up farming as a vocation, he
maintained his ties to the church. He was one of the trustees of Pilot
Rock Church, a Wesleyan Methodist church in Pilot Township. It is said
that he preached the first Methodist sermon in the county.
Orange S.
Wight died August 7, 1912 in the home of his daughter. He was 84 years
old, and had lived in Cherokee county for fifty-four years, being but
30 years old when he immigrated here.
His son, John, did not
survive him; his descendants at his death being two daughters, Mrs.
Samuel Shook and Mrs. M. S. Draper and a number of grandchildren.
(Source: Former Cherokee County Historical Society Newsletter, Vol 13, Number 3, March 1978, pg. 6)
****
On
August 18, 1858, two years after the settlers had arrived in Cherokee
County, O. S. Wight, his wife and 18 month old daughter crossed the
Little Sioux River on a small ferry boat. With Wight's arrival on the
west side of the river, the first chapter of the history of the
Methodist Church in Cherokee County could be written.
When Wight
was 17 years old, he and his parents left the state of New York and
settled in Keokuk County in southeastern Iowa. He was licensed to
preach in Crawford County, Iowa on May 30, 1857.
Eleven days
after his arrival, Wight preached the first Methodist sermon in
Cherokee County. He organized the first Methodist class of six members
at a cabin four miles north of Cherokee a few years later. The Wights
lived for two years near the town of Cherokee and later took a
homestead in Pilot Township where they lived for many years.
During
his circuit-riding years, he had charge of both the Cherokee and Spirit
Lake Circuits. These circuits reached from Smithland, which is south of
Correctionille, to Larrabee and on to Spirit Lake. This was a total
distance of 160 miles. He followed the Little Sioux River, making his
rounds by ox team or on foot.
Wight was a civic-minded man who
in addition to farming pursued various areas of interest and
employment. He was millwright at ----- Mill and the last postmaster of
the town of Pilot Rock.
An early history of Cherokee County
carries this .... "Mr. Wight has represented his township offices many
years as clerk and justice of the ..... was elected county ..... 1868,
serving three years and was also a member of the Board of County
Supervisors discharging his duties much credit to himself and the best
interests of the public. He is a worthy and ... member of the Methodist
Episcopal church. He has been a zealous worker in cause of his Master,
and he won the confidence and esteem of all who know him." (Source: Former Cherokee County Historical Society scrapbook)
See also...
|
|
|
