Early Tiffin businesses

Tiffin Brick & Tile Co. first appears in the 1884-1885 H.R. Page & Co. Business Directory for the state of Iowa. E. L. Chamberlain, A. D. Finley and E. E. Dennis are listed as owners. The factory operated until 1925 when it was destroyed in a fire of an unknown origin. Fifteen men were employed and three kilns turned out a carload of tile each day. The Tiffin Savings Bank, now Slim’s Tavern, is constructed of brick from the Tiffin Brick & Tile Co.

In 1860, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad service came to Clear Creek Township. In 1935, the Tiffin Depot was destroyed when the train jumped tracks. Agent George R. Seigle, who was new to the area, was asleep on a cot in the station when the accident occurred. The accident was caused by a broken archbar on a railcar containing cement. The accident involved a second locomotive and 16 loaded freight cars including one filled with California navel oranges.  Others contained produce, livestock, cement and tractors. Residents recall buying bushels of oranges for $1.

The Don Brant Store on Main Street was the site of Tiffin’s first grocery store, owned by the Hamilton Bros. The two-story store included a community hall on the second floor. Brant occupied his store on the same site until Robert and Jessie Madden bought the store in 1946. Later, Perry & Judy Becker operated the grocery. Local artist and Tiffin council member Rusty Brotherton acquired the store for a residence and studio. Today, a duplex stands on the lot.

In the 1930s Jay Baldwin operated a grocery store along Marengo Road, Highway 32 (now Highway 6). In December 1933, the Tiffin Post Office located to the grocery and Jay served as postmaster. Clifford Reynolds was a mail carrier. In 1962, following Baldwin’s retirement, Ned Langenberg became postmaster of the post office in the same location.  Since then the post office has moved twice, each time to a new building. Currently, the post office is located at 424 State Street.

Joseph M. Douglass owned the first sawmill along Clear Creek in an area known as Copi (now a ghost town), according to the 1865 Iowa Gazetteer. The Iowa State Gazetteer and Business Directory for 1881 lists Tiffin among the state’s cities, villages and post offices. This Gazetter identifies Plymisser & Douglass as owners of grain, coal and lumber enterprise. The Tiffin Lumberyard pictured was located south of Railroad Street in Tiffin.

Oak Hill Cemetery

Township history documented in tombstones

The final resting place for most Tiffin residents is on a hillside just west of the city limits in section 29. However Oak Hill wasn’t the first or the only cemetery to be located in the township.

In early days, pioneers chose hilltops for cemeteries. The hilltop symbolism represented closeness to God as well as a safe haven from lowland flooding. The cemetery that measures 4.83 acres in size is adjacent to U. S. Highway 6, which previously was a westward trail and later a stagecoach route.

In 1842, the Clear Creek Township Cemetery Association organized and made a deed for the first cemetery located on the Stage Farm occupied by the Keeler family; however the deed was never recorded. When the farm was sold, the new owner, Paster, notified people to remove their deceased family members. The following spring he plowed the land and planted grain.

With no record of who may have been removed, “The History of Johnson County 1836-1882” reports the following were buried in the Stage Farm Cemetery (located in Section 26): wife and two children of J. R. Trillis, Lyman Frost, Dr. Frost, Jackson Frost, Jaravis Frost, wife of Samuel Heuston (also spelled Huston), Henry Headly, Thos. King, Mr. Keeler, Mrs. Clapp and Wm. Clark.

According to the 1985 Iowa Genealogical Society report on Johnson County cemeteries the Summerhays family also had a cemetery located on their property (Section 32). However no records were kept.

In its early years, the Oak Hill Township Cemetery was declared such by common consent. It was first used by the Dowd family, on whose claim it was located, to bury two of his children. In 1863, a deed was presented to the association by J. C. Hamilton, son of Yale Hamilton who bought and entered the Dowd claim and lived on the land until he died. Yale Hamilton became the first recorded burial in the cemetery. There was an effort to plat the ground, but early graves were placed irregularly and Hamilton heirs opposed the plan.

The metal sign at the top of the Oak Hill Cemetery states the cemetery was established in 1845. The sign was moved to its present location on higher ground to avoid contact with cars whose drivers didn’t make the curve that runs along Buffalo Creek west of the cemetery. Currently, the Oak Hill Cemetery entrance heralds a new brick sign constructed by Ralph Keupker.

Clear Creek Township Clerk Patricia “Pat” Pirkl says it’s likely the cemetery was located on the hillside near Copi, which was established in 1844. The Copi Post Office, located at the Bond place in February 1847, served area residents. This post office officially closed in 1877.

In 2002, Pirkl assumed the township duties from longtime clerk Adelyn (Siegling) Campbell when her health was failing. Campbell served as township clerk for 18 years before her retirement. Both women maintained a three-ring binder containing newspaper clippings of obituaries and funeral memorials of the deceased buried in the township cemetery. The notebook contains many lessons in Tiffin’s history.

When she started her duties, Pirkl spent three and a half weeks cataloging and recording cemetery burials. Her minute book of township meetings dates back to 1940s. Each year the township clerk prepares and presents a report to the Johnson County Auditor’s office detailing income and expenses associated with the cemetery’s care and upkeep.

Pirkl, who is bonded, says the township assesses a small tax to help with cemetery maintenance such as mowing and snow removal for a wintertime funeral. The cost to mow the cemetery has increased through the years to $300 (reported in 2008).

Typically, the three township trustees set aside a day each spring to clean the cemetery’s more than 500 graves and landscape. The elected officials remove winter decorations and prepare for the summer mowing season.

“Old headstones are special,” Pirkl says. A four-sided metal sculpture is among her favorites. “Modern headstones are very personal.”

A headstone commemorating Wayne Forman includes a picture of the deceased holding a guitar. Kenny Brant’s headstone includes a picture of a school bus. Brant was a longtime bus driver for the Clear Creek Community School District. Lowell Vogt’s headstone displays a UPS truck, farm and hogs one of the newer ones . . . .

Pirkl says, “My husband Don thinks caring for the cemetery is a lot of work, but I love it. There’s a lot of history in cemeteries. We love walking through it.”

Noted Oak Hill Cemetery burials

Honorable Robert Walker was born in Schenectady County, New York, on October 1802. In 1838, he moved to Johnson County and was the first justice of the peace in the new Iowa Territory. In his official capacity he administered the oath of office to the Capital Commissioners who located the territorial capital in Iowa City. In 1853, he married Hon. Le Grand Byington’s sister. In 1860, he moved to his farm near Tiffin, where he died on October 28, 1879. During his life and Johnson County residence, Judge Walker filled an influential position and earned the respect bestowed him. His home and property was listed in the 1870 Thompson & Evert Atlas.

A former Indiana resident, Yale Hamilton was persuaded to move to the Iowa Territory along with several others by a close friend Judge Harris. Hamilton lived for a time in Lucas Township before settling in Clear Creek. Hamilton’s name appears on the 1838 Johnson County Tax List. His household and merchandise was valued at $50. He also owned 8 cattle valued at $200; two cows and 40 cattle more than three years old; and three head of cattle under three years old. At the time he reportedly paid $1.33 for property valued at $265.50.

Hamilton was a member of Claim Association of Johnson County, which represented a number of settlers who lived on land that had not been surveyed. The group adopted a constitution or code of laws that each one pledged to observe to defend their land claims.

Hamilton’s son J. C. Hamilton married Mary A. Hamilton (March 2, 1862) and lived on the Clear Creek farm near Tiffin. Together they had eight children. Her husband had two children with his first wife. Though Mary A. Hamilton received little formal education she passed examinations to teach school at age 15. She also wrote under the signature of “Kitty Carroll” for leading newspapers in Iowa including the Muscatine Journal, Dubuque Herald, Burlington Hawkeye, Keokuk Post and Tipton Advertiser. She also wrote a series of local letters from Tiffin which was said to be the genesis of “country correspondence” in the state.