RED OAK GROVE REPORTER – Issue No. VI, June 2010
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Red Oak Grove Reporter
Issue No. 6 June 2010
At left is a sketch of a kiosk
to be built near Red Oak
Grove Church. Over 40%
of the $9,500 cost will be
paid by a grant, with the
remainder coming from
donations. The article
below gives more details.
Fund drive announced for informational kiosk
At the Red Oak Grove Cemetery Association’s annual meeting May 16, plans were approved for construction of an informational kiosk near the church. Part of the cost will be financed by a $4,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Cedar County. The grant was received in April of this year, and must be spent on the specified project (the kiosk) within one year, said Cemetery Association president Bob Rickard of Tipton.
The kiosk will provide an attractive, weather-proof means of displaying a cemetery map, a listing of graves and lots, and other pertinent information. Bob said, “We need an effective way to help visitors locate their families’ graves. Consulting the kiosk will be much easier than walking up and down rows of tombstones searching.”
The kiosk will feature a base and two pillars of red brick that matches the foundation of the church. A Plexiglas display board will be sheltered by a gabled roof. A National Register of Historic Places plaque will be affixed. The preliminary kiosk design is the work of Zack Thumma of Tipton, with input from Dwight Hughes Jr. of Cedar Rapids.
The Board has set a Sept. 1 goal to raise the $5,500 needed. Bob said, “Gifts and pledges of any size are equally welcome. Some people may wish to commemorate a relative or friend who is buried at Red Oak Grove.” Donations may be sent to Bob at Box 452, Tipton, IA 52772, or to Mark Penningroth, Cemetery Association treasurer, at Latta Harris CPAs, 1201 North Ave., Tipton, IA 52772. Amounts will not be publicized.
(Continued on reverse)
Red Oak Grove Reporter – June 2010 – Page 2
Two new Board members elected
Lori Ostrich of Stanwood and Daisy Wingert of Tipton were elected to the Red Oak Grove Cemetery Association Board at the annual meeting May 16. Lori, who will serve a five-year term, researched and compiled the first comprehensive Red Oak Grove Cemetery Directory in 2009. She is an agent for Midwest Insurance Corporation, working primarily with farm and crop insurance. Daisy will serve a four-year term. She has owned Daisy’s on the Square, a gift and floral shop in downtown Tipton, since 1994.
Red Oak Grove family became ‘Forty-Niners’
Nine founding members of Red Oak Grove Church are buried in the adjoining cemetery. Absent is Elizabeth (Betsey) Sturrock Dallas, a native of Angus, Scotland. She was married to Charles Dallas in Eastown, Washington County, N.Y., April 1, 1835, and they moved to Red Oak Grove two years later. On March 1, 1841, Betsey was one of the ten Scottish immigrants who founded the Presbyterian Church of Red Oak Grove.
In 1849, Charles and Betsey Dallas and their five children left Cedar County, headed for California. In the Sierra Nevada Mountains Oct. 15, 1849, Betsey gave birth to a daughter, named Sarah. (As an adult, Sarah used the name Sierra Nevada Dallas.)
In California, Charles Dallas first mined for gold in Mariposa County (home of Yosemite). In 1850, he moved his family to a ranch near Hickman in Stanislaus County. Later he opened the first livery stable in Stockton, while continuing to run the ranch. In 1861, he moved to Merced County and prospered at farming. Betseydied in 1869 and Charles in 1883. They are buried in Stockton Rural Cemetery, Stockton, Calif.
(Thanks to Hugh R. Ferguson Jr. of League City, Texas, for researching Charles and Elizabeth Dallas. Hugh is a descendant of three Red Oak Grove Church founding members: John Safley, and John and Isabella Sturrock Ferguson. Isabella Ferguson and Elizabeth Dallas were sisters.)
Do you have comments, ideas, or suggestions? Do you know someone who would like
to receive the Red Oak Grove Reporter? Contact Bob Rickard, Board president,
at P.O. Box 452, Tipton, IA 52772 or [email protected] .
Red Oak Grove Reporter, Issue No. 6
Published at Tipton, Iowa, June 2010