Last month Past Times discussed the naming of the Marshall County town of Saint Anthony. San Antonio, Texas, home of the Alamo, was named after the beloved Christian saint, Anthony of Padua, Italy, who is widely celebrated as a humble man and a worker of miracles. The tiny village northwest of Marshalltown, however, is named after two of the men who helped found the town and plot out the property lots. These men were John Quincy Saint and Anthony Ritenour Pierce.
In early records of our county, Saint is listed as a “merchant” and owner of a general store. Pierce is listed as a “live stock and grain” farmer and a few years later as a “banker”.
The records are vague on what the townsite may have been called in its earliest days of settlement, but areas around large groves of trees nearby, Illinois Grove and Bevin’s Grove, were already becoming settled and had cemeteries in use. The County Recorder’s office reveal that the town was officially incorporated on February 22, 1882 as “Saint Anthony”, signed by Anthony R Pierce as the petitioner.
Pierce was born in Indiana in 1833. He came with a train of “prairie schooners” to this area in 1851, a few years after Iowa was granted statehood. In 1855 he married Charlotte Bevins who had migrated to Iowa with her family in 1840. The Bevin’s family later were the first recorded settlers in the area that became Liberty Township of Marshall County. Anthony bought a small piece of farmland and increased its size over the years. In 1878 he held 737 acres. Later accounts estimate he soon owned 1600 acres of prime ranchland. He became widely known as a breeder of quality beef cattle, surpassed perhaps only by D.M. Moninger’s award winning herds.
Around this time, he was heavily involved in the surveying, and selling of lots in the small town soon to bear his given name. He must also have been involved in helping loan money to potential buyers, so he was casually known as the banker, even though no official bank had yet been opened in the little but growing hamlet. He served as town clerk, justice of the peace and postmaster.
Pierce and Charlotte were parents to 10 children, but 2 died as very young toddlers. The girls were buried in the Bevin’s Grove cemetery. Anthony and Charlotte’s names appear on that family monument.
As his wealth grew, he was hearing of the tremendous success of local Marshall County men who had moved to Pasadena California. He learned about the Rose Parade initiated by Jabez Banbury, formerly of Marshalltown. He relocated to Pasadena just in time to participate in the second annual Celebration of Roses.
Their surviving children had become adults residing all over the US with successful lives of their own. Charlotte passed away in 1892. Anthony married a second time and died a wealthy man in Pasadena in October, 1910, He will be forever remembered locally as one of the founders of Saint Anthony.
Also, in last month’s Past Times, we learned a little of the of the beautiful and talented actress, Eva Marie Saint, and her family ties to Marshall County, Saint Anthony, and Marshalltown. Her grandfather, John Q. Saint was Anthony Pierce’s partner in the naming of the town, Saint Anthony.
Her father was John Merle Saint, born in Marshalltown to John Q. and his wife Lydia Gordon Saint, both natives of Indiana. John Q. and Lydia had several children born in Marshalltown, where he worked several years as postmaster (appointed by both Presidents McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt) and an insurance agent. John’s family was marked by tragedy. Daughter Nina died in 1900, aged 21, and her brother Gilbert died at age 21, also in 1900. Their 15-year old sister Ella died in 1901, the same year their mother Lydia G. Saint passed away. These 4 are said to have died of tuberculosis (TB) are buried together at Riverside alongside a young grandchild who is interred with them. (His obit lists these dates somewhat differently.)
A heartbroken and much bereaved John Q. Saint moved east to be with one of his surviving sons, John Merle Saint. (The other surviving son was Charles Logan Saint.) John Merle served in the Pennsylvania army during WW1, with a rank of 2nd Lieutenant. In June 1921, John M married Evan Marie Rice. The veteran and his wife are buried at Gettysburg National Cemetery.
John Quincy Saint died October 1927. He is buried in Siloam Cemetery, Vineland, N.J. in a grave that is said to be unmarked. Marked or not, his fitting and lasting memorial is the village named after him.
Early on, that village, named for Mr. Saint, was destroyed at least twice by fires, and once by a raging inland tornado-like wind, sounding much like our recent devastation by the 2020 derecho. The village still survives, and so does the memory of its founders.