Langworthy Iowa. Situated on the original route of Old Military Road. I grew up 2 miles West of Langworthy. Until starting this local history project I didn’t have a clue where Langworthy got it’s name. Well here’s where:
Quoting from the Palimpsest Vol. 2 February 1921 # 2:
”The Langworthy brothers (James, Lucius and Edward) were given contracts for the construction of the road from Dubuque as far as the Cedar River. Edward Langworthy states that after the surveys were made Tilghman (the project engineer) engaged Lyman Dillon to plow a furrow along the route, under his direction, for the guidance of the contractors.”
The Langworthy brothers were big shakers and movers back in the 1830-40’s. That is who Langworthy is named after. The town of Langworthy is also where my family set down roots , coming from Germany. The family farm is about a mile West of town. Opa’s father ( Henry) was a hog buyer in Langworthy. Farmers would come to town, my great grandfather would then buy them and then ship them by rail to Chicago . (That is one detail I will need to do some additional verification).
Opa is low German for Grandpa. My Opa was a large man growing up. One of 8 brothers, he stood 6 ft 3 and in his prime weighed 240 pounds. Opa was not yet married when this incident happened. I supposed he was 19 or 20 yrs old. A shy hard working farm boy. It was a Saturday night, Opa had to stop at Clarence Heyen’s General store which would have looked something like this:
As grandpa recounts it, there were 4 or 5 young men hanging around outside the general store late on Saturday afternoon waiting for a dance to start. Grandpa told the guys “hi” but all he got were a few grunts. Grandpa was collecting $ for the Wayne Zion Lutheran Church and needed to talk to Clarence Heyen, owner of the general store. When he came back out the door a few minutes later, someone hit him from behind, knocking him down, at which point the 4 or 5 young men all piled on. Ever hear of the phrase…”Don’t mess with the bull or you’ll get the horn”?
Well, obviously those guys hadn’t either, and you’ll have to read my book On The Trail Of Lyman Dillon to find out what happens next to be published upon the completion of my “walkabout” 2008
