The abstract for our house dates back to July 15, 1856, when the land was originally granted from the United States government to John Courier. Between the years of 1856 & 1888, the land changed hands several times.
The Schwartz Family
John Theodore Schwartz was born October 3, 1830 in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. His wife, Charlotte Polk LaFlesh., was born August 26, 1832 in Portsmouth, Ohio. They had 7 children; Clarence George (1848), John Theodore (1855), Alice R. (1857), Emily Ann (1859), Froney (1864), Ella Mae (1866), and Ivie Wilkison (1872).
John Schwartz built our house in 1889, as a retirement home for he and his wife. Since John Schwartz was quite the colorful character, I decided to include a little bit of his history before he actually built the house we live in…
1880
The Schwartz’ were a pioneer farming family who owned a farm near Sergeant Bluffs (which is just south of Sioux City. In 1880-81, they left their farm and moved to Sioux City, with their first residence being very close to the downtown business district:
A notice in the Sioux City Journal dated September 15, 1880 has more details on the move and new residence:
A notice in the Sioux City Journal dated September 30, 1880 has more details of the progress on the new residence:
1881
By the summer of 1881, the new residence was nearing completion, as described in the Sioux City Journal dated July 21, 1881:
1884
An interesting notice in the Sioux City Journal dated February 5, 1884:
1885
Another interesting notice in the Sioux City Journal dated March 19, 1885:
Apparently, the Schwartz farm near Sergeant Bluffs was retained by the family and rented to tenants. There were some legal issues according to a notice in the Sioux City Journal dated March 20, 1885:
An update on the legal issues according to a notice in the Sioux City Journal dated March 24, 1885:
The legal issues escalated, according to a notice in the Sioux City Journal dated May 8, 1885:
Legal issue update, according to a notice in the Sioux City Journal dated May 15, 1885:
Legal issue update, according to a notice in the Sioux City Journal dated May 16, 1885:
Legal issue update, according to a notice in the Sioux City Journal dated September 8, 1885:
Legal issue update, according to a notice in the Sioux City Journal dated September 9, 1885:
Legal issue update, according to a notice in the Sioux City Journal dated September 10, 1885:
Legal issue update, according to a notice in the Sioux City Journal dated September 11, 1885:
Legal issue update, according to a notice in the Sioux City Journal dated September 12, 1885:
Possibly the end of the legal issues, according to a notice in the Sioux City Journal dated October 3, 1885:
Fire at the farm, according to a notice in the Sioux City Journal dated October 20, 1885:
Addition requested to the new residence, according to a notice in the Sioux City Journal dated December 2, 1885:
Addition approved to the new residence, according to a notice in the Sioux City Journal dated December 9, 1885:
1886
Business addition information, according to a notice in the Sioux City Journal dated March 4, 1886:
Evidently, the business front they added was a saloon. Between 1886 & 1887, the city began cracking down on liquor establishments, trying to enforce the 1882 Iowa Constitutional Liquor Prohibition.
Below are several articles from the Sioux City Journal with mentions of John Schwartz’ place of business:
1887
Specific raid information, according to a notice in the Sioux City Journal dated October 19, 1887:
1888
On December 28, 1888, the land to build the new residence was purchased by John Schwartz for $1500.00.
1889
We discovered the house was built in 1889 after locating a notice in the Sioux City Journal dated April 14, 1889. It states:
A notice in the Sioux City Journal dated June 27, 1889 describes how, nearing completion, the house was struck by lightning:
While rebuilding the chimney, in 2016, we were able to get some good photos of what looked like to be old fire damage up in the uppermost eastern dormer. I’m now wondering if this fire damage was the result of this lightning strike?
1890
A notice in the Sioux City Journal dated March 11, 1890 talks about the purchase of a horse team:
1892
A couple of notices in the Sioux City Journal dated December 23, 1892 refer to a new legal issue:
1893
A notice in the Sioux City Journal dated September 26, 1893 refer to yet another legal issue:
1894
A notice in the Sioux City Journal dated January 30, 1894 with updated information on the damages suit:
1897
A notice in the Sioux City Journal dated July 29, 1897 describing a pig pen dispute:
A notice in the Sioux City Journal dated October 30, 1897 describing a land use dispute:
1900
An article in the Sioux City Journal dated September 11, 1900 describing a legal case concerning estate mismanagement:
1902
A notice in the Sioux City Journal dated September 26, 1902 describing a legal case concerning a title:
1903
An article in the Sioux City Journal dated August 30, 1903 describing the judgement of the legal case concerning estate mismanagement:
1905
An article in the Sioux City Journal dated February 14, 1905 describing the aftermath of the legal case concerning estate mismanagement:
A notice in the Sioux City Journal dated March 10, 1905 about the continuing legal case concerning estate mismanagement:
1906
A notice in the Sioux City Journal dated April 8, 1906 listing juror selections:
1907
A notice in the Sioux City Journal dated December 11, 1907 concerning a real estate transfer:
1908
A notice in the Sioux City Journal dated January 14, 1908 concerning a property transfer:
A notice in the Sioux City Journal dated January 22, 1908 concerning a property transfer:
A notice in the Sioux City Journal dated January 26, 1908, John Schwartz’s (they misspelled his last name) obituary:
A notice in the Sioux City Journal dated February 1, 1908, more Schwartz family tragedy:
A notice in the Sioux City Journal dated February 27, 1908, Charlotte Schwartz’s obituary:
A funeral notice in the Sioux City Journal dated February 28, 1908:
Another funeral notice in the Sioux City Journal dated March 2, 1908:
An article in the Sioux City Journal dated March 6, 1908:
The house was left to their daughter, Emily (Emma) A. Cork.
1911
A notice in the Sioux City Journal dated November 10, 1911 concerning a property transfer:
Samuel and Mary Gibson become the new owners of the house.
Above is a photo of Samuel & Mary Gibson. This detail was taken out of a photograph that our next door neighbor, Marie Rembe, gave to us.
This is a scan of the full photograph (to view an extra large version, click here). This photo was taken sometime between 1911 and 1920, because Samuel died in 1920.
After Samuel died, Mary married Charles Wilsen. She was then known as Mary Gibson Wilsen. Charles died in 1961, and Mary died in 1963.
1954
The book, “History of Pioneer Valley – The Story of a Century at Sergeant Bluff” by Allienne Baker Lindgren was published. Within the book, there is an entire section about John & Charlotte Schwartz:
1963
The house was left to Inga Hernepont.
Inga was married to Delbert Hernepont at the time that the house became hers. In 1967, Delbert died. Inga owned the house until she died on January 19, 1995. We were told that Inga was conned into leaving the house to her “caretaker” Mary Ann Copenhaver. If true, this was a sad day for the house. Inga had inherited all of Mrs. Wilsen’s antiques along with the house. Shortly after Inga’s death, Mary Ann Copenhaver had an estate sale, where she sold everything, and then disappeared.
Miscellaneous Information
An interesting side note, right after we moved into the house, we discovered some initials painted on some of the rafters in the attic. They are “IWS.” We figured that John Schwartz had built the house, but at that time, we didn’t know that they had had any children. So, the initials were a mystery. Upon discovering the family listing in the 1880 census, we found that they had a son, Ivie Wilkison Schwartz! Even more interesting is while removing paint on the exterior, I was able to see the very first colors that the house was painted. The painted initials in the attic are in these very same colors! Since Ivie would have been about 17 when the house was built, we figure he was probably the one given the task to paint it and he decided to “leave his mark” in the attic rafters. Since then, I have discovered a few other places where Ivie carved his initials into the wood in the attic.
More to come…