Remembering Glenn Jones

Lots of changes came to America after the conclusion of World War I.  Even though the United States was only involved in “The Great War” for a short time at the conclusion of the conflict, the effects on the country were great.

            When the German leaders signed the armistice on November 11, 1918, the actual fighting ceased, but it also ushered in a contentious time of “making peace” after the war.  American President Woodrow Wilson had laid out a plan for the post-war world in his “Fourteen Points” speech to Congress in January 1918.  Wilson sought to do away with practices that could lead countries into war – such as abolishing secret diplomacy and having treaties be “open covenants openly arrived at”.  President Wilson also advocated for the creation of a “League of Nations” to preserve peace and insure justice for all.

            When the Paris Peace Conference began after the war ended, Wilson was an active participant and became the first American President to travel to Europe.  Although the leaders of the victorious Allies (Great Britain, France and Italy most notably) sought retribution from and punishment for Germany and the other Central Powers, Wilson petitioned at the Paris conference for justice and lasting world peace.  To this end, the formation of a “League of Nations” became a part of the Versailles Treaty.

            In America, the country had to realign the nation’s economy and social order from a wartime footing back to what it was before the 1917 entrance into the war.  Often, it is hard to go back to where you were before – especially on a national scale.  Indeed, some of the American troops stationed in France and the Western Front did not return to their homeland.  Instead, several thousand American soldiers joined with British, French and Japanese forces in fighting in Russia’s Great Civil War from 1918-1920.  The military invasion that invaded Russia was supposed to stop the Communists from taking control there, but the venture proved unsuccessful.

            Back in America, the Russian venture stoked fears that Communists might come after the United States next and fostered a time of mass hysteria known as the “Red Scare”.  Government agencies were created to look everywhere for “Commies” and any disruption were blamed on the “Reds”.  And there were plenty of disruptions in the United States after World War I.

            Labor strife was rampant in America as the country shifted back to a peacetime economy after the war.  During the war, higher wages and benefits had kept the workers of American factories working long and hard to support military and other wartime needs.  Workers did not want to loose what they had which led to strikes across the country.  The police went on strike in Boston and the National Guard was called out to maintain order.  A failed strike against U.S. Steel left 18 workers dead in bloody confrontations.

Racial friction also intensified after the war ended.  During the year after the Armistice, 70 African-Americans were lynched in the United States, including 10 Black soldiers in uniform.  A six-day race riot in Chicago in the summer of 1919 left 38 dead.

  A reemergence of the Ku Klux Klan appeared in America in the 1920s.  The newer KKK was anti-black, anti-foreigner, and anti-Catholic in philosophy and was no longer just an organization of the American South.  The new Klan spread into the Midwest and even the Kickapoo Valley.  (Check my earlier two writings of the “Local History Notebook” published in September 2016 where the KKK in La Farge is discussed.  These can also be found on my history blog.)  

The observance of Memorial Day also changed after World War I.  In 1868, General John Logan had issued an order that May 30^th should be set aside as a day of remembrance for those soldiers who had died in America’s Civil War.  The order by General Logan specifically called “for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades”.  Forty years later, America was still celebrating “Decoration Day” at the end of May, but now had a new group of fallen soldiers to remember.  New names were added to the honor roll of fallen warriors that were read in the cemeteries of La Farge.

Soon after the war ended, young men in the military began to return to their hometowns.  Most of the earliest to return were still stationed in training camps in the United States awaiting ships for the crossing to Europe.  By early 1919, some of the men who had been on the Western Front were also returning to the Kickapoo Valley.  One of the boys from La Farge never came back.

Glenn Jones was the son of Reverend D. G. Jones and his wife.  Reverend Jones was the minister for the church at Potts Corners and the family lived on Weister Creek.  Glenn attended high school in La Farge as a “boarding” student (rural students at that time were not part of the school district in La Farge and had to pay tuition to attend.  Many of them boarded in the village while attending school.), beginning in 1912.  He can be seen in the front row of that iconic photograph of the 1912 LHS Football Team, staring with wide eyes from beneath his leather helmet.  Glenn also participated in other sports while attending school in La Farge.  He was an active and well-liked student.

In his Senior year at LHS, Glenn Jones participated in the local LHS oratory contest and was a member of the cast of the LHS Senior Class Play performed for the community at the Opera House on Main Street of La Farge.  A month later, at the end of May 1916, Glenn joined fifteen of his Senior classmates for the La Farge High School graduation ceremonies, also held at the Opera House.

A few weeks after that commencement ceremony in 1916, there was this item in the “Local News” section of the La Farge Enterprise newspaper, “Glen Jones, Floyd Rittenhouse and Layton Perkins were Yuba callers Saturday.”  It is supposed that some young ladies of Yuba may have been the impetus for the visit.

Later, Reverend Jones and his family left the La Farge area where he preached at other churches in Wisconsin.  Glenn probably went with his family when they moved, but he may have remained in La Farge.  When America entered the war in the Spring of 1918, Glenn Jones joined the military.  He trained at Camp Grant, a huge American military training facility located near Rockford, Illinois.  Glenn Jones was a member of the 47^th Infantry, Company E, which was formed in May 1917 and organized in June at Syracuse, New York.  The unit was fighting on the front lines of the Western Front in France by July 1918.  In the six months of his time in the service, Glenn Jones attained the rank of corporal.

In the October 10, 1918 issue of the Enterprise, mention of the La Farge lad was made in the “Local News” column, “A report has been circulated that Glenn Jones had been killed in France.  At this writing confirmation of this report has not been received.”  Several months went by, including the Armistice signing to end the war, before La Farge’s newspaper could get the confirmation about Glenn Jones.

“Mr and Mrs Geo. Burnard received a card Wednesday from Rev. D. G. Jones of Pardeeville, which stated that their son Glenn was killed in France sometime between the 3^rd and 13^th of August.  The report had reached them sometime ago that he was missing but nothing definite was learned until this time.  The sad news of Glenn’s death is a severe blow to his parents and relatives and they have the deepest sympathy of their many friends in this village.” – from the La Farge Enterprise, “Local News” section, January 2, 1919 issue.

The United States lost 50,280 men in World War I including La Farge’s Glenn Jones.  Glenn Jones was killed in action on August 7, 1918 while cleaning out a nest of machine gunners with hand grenades in the Argonne Forest region.  He was wounded with a shot to the leg and died before he could be evacuated.  The body of Glenn Jones was buried in a military cemetery in France alongside his fallen American comrades.

The body of Glenn Jones was later returned to the United States on August 4, 1921 and was buried with full military honors at the National Cemetery at Arlington, Virginia.  The La Farge V.F.W. Post 9075 was named after Corporal David Glenn Jones to honor La Farge’s only World War I veteran killed in action. 

4th of July Festivities in La Farge

Another 4^th of July is quickly approaching, a big day each year for the town of La Farge. I don’t know if La Farge’s celebration of Independence Day is the oldest in the area, but the little village on the Kickapoo has feted our nation’s birthday regularly for over 130 years. That would take us back to around 1880, twenty years before there was even a Village of La Farge. But at that time, the folks from Seelyburg, DeJean’s Corners and the Lawton District where the La Farge Post Office was located were gathering on July 4^th to celebrate the day.

Many times the gathering for the 4^th would take place on the property of Dred Bean, who owned what today is the northwest corner of La Farge. Sometimes the people would gather on his sloping front lawn for the festivities, that lawn today is Bean Park. In the 1880’s, people would gather for patriotic speeches given by politicians or county officials brought in for the day. Races and games would be held for children and adults alike to test their fleetness of foot or strength of arm. The La Farge Cornet Band, already one of the premier musical groups by the 1880’s, would play patriotic music. Perhaps some of the Civil War veterans would don their old military uniforms and caps and play some wartime lilts in the GAR Fife & Drum Band. They might play tunes like “The Girl I Left Behind Me” or “Let’s Rally Round The Flag Boys”.

The Star GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) Post of Civil War veterans was established at Seelyburg in 1884. (Star was the official name of the place, but locally it was called Seelyburg after the mill owner who made the place a town.) The gathering of the veterans for a reunion became a yearly activity, which sometimes occurred on the 4^th of July. Dred Bean was a charter member of that Star GAR Post and was very active in arranging the reunions of his former comrades in arms. Bean had a sugar maple bush on a hillside on the northern end of his property, which he would have cleared of weeds in the summer months for the veteran’s gatherings and the 4^th of July Celebrations. It became known as Bean’s Grove and was a favorite for summertime gatherings like family picnics and the 4^th of July celebrations because of its shade and cool breezes.

Mrs. R. E. Wolfgram provides us a wonderful account of one of those early Independence Day Celebrations in Bean’s Grove. Mrs. Wolfgram (nee Myrtle Griffin) wrote historic articles about Seelyburg and La Farge for the Vernon County Broadcaster & Censor and La Crosse Tribune for several decades. As a little girl, she grew up in the Seelyburg area and saw the lumber boomtown at its busiest as well as witnessing the birth of La Farge to the south. In 1974, she wrote an article titled “A Little Girl’s Memories: Seeleyburg’s 4^th of July”, which detailed her recollections of those 4^th of July festivities held in Bean’s Grove. Although Wolfgram gives no exact dates, the time that she writes would be around 1900 or a little earlier. Her article might be a compilation of several years of memories of the 4^th from her youth.

Of course, a girl had to have a special dress for the big day and this little Seelyburg lass had one with “fine valenciennes lace edged the ruffles of the dresses worn with red saches”. She and five of her classmates dressed alike for the day because they were to sing patriotic songs at the celebration. The songs were taught to them by Alice Nixon (Wolfgram called her “Allie”), who taught many children in Seelyburg over the years. The chorus of one of their songs was “Hurrah for the flag, our Country’s flag, with its stripes and bright stars, too. There is no flag in any land like our own red, white and blue”.

The festivities for the 4^th began with the shooting of a cannon at dawn. Wolfgram said she could not sleep after the shot and put on her fine white dress and red sash. The family packed a lunch of fried chicken, homemade buns and cakes and a lemon pie. Lemon pie was a special dessert made just for the 4^th as the first crates of lemons came to Kickapoo Valley stores around the first of July. A dance bowery was set up in the Grove and around the dance floor were rows of planks nailed to wooden blocks for seating. She remembered a Viroqua politician giving a speech to the gathered crowd and her uncle saying that it was a good day for anyone running in the fall elections to speak to that many people.

Indeed, the crowd was immense for the time, measured in thousands of people and not hundreds. “People had come from South and North Bear Creek, Warner, Otter and Weister Creek, Rockton, Ontario, West Lima, and the Kickapoo towns from Wilton to Wauzeka.”

There was a baseball game played near the grove with young men from La Farge and Viola competing. She remembers the Rittenhouse boys and Ray Calhoon being good players for La Farge and Lee and Lester Griffin playing for Viola. Wolfgram didn’t pay too much attention to the ball game, but instead focused on the music and dancing in the Grove at the bowery. The music went on into the night and continued on even after a little girl from Seelyburg fell asleep under the plank seating and had to be carried home on the shoulder of her father. The last jig from the fiddles would often welcome in July 5^th before the music would end.

Wolfgram remembered how her uncle praised Dred Bean for his patriotic spirit for having the celebration held in his Grove. “Mr. Bean was a staunch Democrat. His grove was open to Democratic and Republican groups alike, and for reunions of families. He would not accept a penny for the use of it.” Wolfgram did remember that Bean asked the girls to put a button on their new white dresses of one of his favorite political candidates. “Allie Nixon felt it would not be in good taste.”

Dred Bean passed away in 1913 and the family offered to sell the Grove to the village for a park. There was some anguish over the asking price for the parcel (After all, Bean had never charged a penny for its use!), but eventually a village referendum approved of the purchase. The Grove of Dred Bean was formally dedicated as La Farge’s Village Park on the 4^th of July in 1916.

Over the years, structures were built in the park to facilitate the 4^th celebrations. Wooden food stands were built to house the church ladies groups that provided the first food for sale at the festivities. Bandstands and speaking platforms were added. A wooden floor for dancing was laid at the bowery each year and larger outdoor bathrooms were installed in the park along the east border. Over the years, a midway of carnival games and sales tents stretched along a path from the north end of the park down the hill towards the school.

After World War II, the newly created VFW Post built a cement bowery for dances and an enclosed food stand next to it. The La Farge Firemen put up a ring toss stand that paid off better than most of the carnival games. Chief Whitehorse sold rattlesnake soap from his wheelchair and put on a remarkable show. A pony ring offered rides for the little ones in the bottom of the park.

The parades continued over the years, leading the crowds up to the “grounds” at the Grove for fun on the 4^th. In the early 1970’s, the focus of La Farge’s 4^th of July celebrations shifted to Calhoon Park when the Lions Shelter was built there. Softball tournaments, a beer tent, water fights and truck & tractor pulls drew people to the ballpark area and away from the Grove over the years. The bowery deteriorated from nonuse and other than some family picnics, the Village Park was no longer the focus on the 4^th of July. Then in the mid-1980’s an effort was made to save the old bowery in the park. A new cement pad was laid to replace the old crumbling concrete and in 1986 a large shelter roof was built over the dance floor. Eventually music returned to the old park bowery on the 4^th of July. The village built new bathrooms next to the bowery. The La Farge Lions Club started a free “Music In The Park” program in the Village Park on the 4^th of July in 2004. The program, featuring popular area bands playing a variety of music, has grown in popularity and draws crowds back to the park. Crowds of folks once again return to enjoy the shade and cool breezes of Bean’s Grove on the 4^th of July.

Memorial Day

On this Memorial Day, I'm going to list the soldiers from the La Farge area who lost their lives during World War II.

We are losing the WW II veterans at a startling rate now and La Farge is honoring their surviving WW II vets by having them as parade marshals at this year's 4th of July parade.

This listing of the men from the La Farge area lost in WW II is taken from the "Service Record - World War I and II - La Farge & Community" published in 1949 by the La Farge VFW Post. Harry Lounsbury was the commander of the post at that time. The book lists 291 men and women who were from La Farge, the surrounding community, or had connections to the village and served during World War II. Twelve are listed as "Gold Star Boys", those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. They are:

Lee Lawrence - April 6, 1943 - plane went down off coast of north Africa

Harold McElhose - May 23, 1943 - died during North Africa & Italian campaigns

Floyd Smith - March 22, 1944 - plane crashed in Northern Ireland

Asa Lawrence - September 10, 1944 - died in Italy

Russ Alderman - September 15, 1944 - died near Moselle River in France

Joe Strait - January 19, 1945 - died in Luzon, Philippines

Fay Alderman - April 10, 1945 - died at Okinawa in Pacific

Orville Hisel - May 9, 1945 - died in Luzon, Philippines

Graydon DeVern Gilman - September 3, 1945 - drowned in Arkansas

Van Brokaw - August 29, 1946 - plane crashed at Grenoble in Alps

Lysle Ewing - no date listed - no information

Vic Willie - no date listed - died in Pacific

Each Memorial Day, an honor roll of the deceased veterans is read at ceremonies held in La Farge. The names of these twelve men , La Farge's "Gold Star Boys" are included in that calling.