LEBECK, MISSOURI

The little town, near which we lived, was Lebeck. As near as I can locate it, it was about two and one-half or three miles northwest of Cedar Springs, Missouri. Cedar Springs is on Highway 54 and Lebeck would have been on Highway DD. Although the highways probably weren't there at that time. Lebeck is gone. There is nothing there now except the cemetery that was beside the church where members of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints worshiped. My parents were members and this is where I first attended church. I think the little village was south of the cemetery. Now there is a farmhouse near the location.

Church was always an important part of the lives of my parents. My heritage in the church goes back several generations in both my parents' families.

As far as I can find out, the Bronsons or Brunsons (the family has used both spellings thought-out the years) first became united with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Ohio in 1834. This would have been when it was a very young movement, having been organized April 6, 1830, by Joseph Smith, Jr. Records show that my great grandfather, Amos Bronson, was baptized June 30, 1841 at Princeville, Illinois. He was an elder in the church and served some time in the mission field.

After the martyrdom of Joseph Smith, Jr., in 1844, and the division of the church into groups following different leaders, the Bronsons became identified with the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, under the leadership of Joseph Smith, III, son of the founder.

My grandfather, William Bronson, was an elder in the church and assisted in the planning and building of the Stone Church in Plano, Illinois. The building still stands today and is in regular use.

The Bronson family has produced many ministers and many, many good and faithful members of the church.

My mother's people, the Wildermuths, didn't become acquainted with the church until after the death of Joseph Smith, Jr. Great grandparents, David and Anna Newkirk Wildermuth's baby son, David, died on August 5, 1850. My grandfather, Eli M. Wildermuth writes that his father, David, "...was a very positive and progressive man and had fallen out with the Methodist people, for he earnestly contended for the 'faith once delivered to the saints.' He delighted to quote the twelfth chapter of I Corinthians and the fourth chapter of Ephesians to them and contended that Christians ought to have the same kind of organization and enjoy the same spiritual blessings that the saints enjoyed in the days of the apostles. After some warm discussions on the subject, the Methodist people pronounced Father not orthodox and withdrew the hand of fellowship from him. So it happened that when my little brother died, Father and Mother were at a loss to get a minister to preach the sermon."

It happened that the day before the baby's death, Elder Zenas Gurley, a Latter Day Saint missionary, had come into the southern Wisconsin area where the Wildermuths lived. He was asked to preach the funeral sermon.

The Wildermuths were so pleased with the sermon that Elder Gurley was asked to stay and hold some meetings in their home. After hearing a few sermons, David and Anna Wildermuth, their daughter, and two sons were baptized. One of these sons was Eli Mozart Wildermuth, my grandfather. They became the nucleus of the Yellowstone, Wisconsin branch of the church, which, along with groups from Beloit, Zarahemla and others in the Wisconsin area, were in the forefront of the faction of the church to become known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints with Joseph Smith, III, as its--prophet and president.

Grandfather Eli Wildermuth served the church as a missionary for fifty years.

I don't know why or when my folks' families moved to Plano, Illinois. Mother was born in Inland, Iowa, June 8, 1870 and Dad was born in Plano, Illinois, January 4, 1871. The headquarters of the church had moved to Plano and President Joseph Smith III, moved his family there in January, 1866. This probably was the force that drew their families to the area.

I remember Dad telling me about being raised near the Smith family in Plano, as a boy. He played with President Smith's children, Audentia, later Audentia Anderson, and Fred M., who became president of the church after the death of his father.

I remember Dad saying, that as a young man, he worked in a steel millÄprobably the one in Plano. He also told about working in Chicago, as a carpenter getting ready for the Chicago World's Fair. This was most likely the World's Colombian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893. He also worked in Florida for a while.

Mother and Dad were married in Plano, Illinois, August 4, 1889. I've heard Dad talk about when they were first married, they went to western Kansas to work in the harvest. Mother worked as a cook for the crew in a cook wagon and Dad worked with the harvest crew. I'm not sure where, but I think it was around Sublett, Kansas. I've heard them talk about Sublett and I'm quite sure that's where they were.

I don't know why my folks moved from Plano to Lebeck. I just never questioned the details as to why they moved, but I do know that they came to Missouri in a covered wagon. I've heard my older sister, Ada, say that they crossed the line into Missouri on her sixth birthday so it must have been March 3, 1901, when they entered Missouri.

My brother, Hiel, was born in a log house in 1903 in Lebeck, I was told. We were living in a white frame house when I was born, so my folks must have lived in at least two different places in Lebeck. I don't think either was right in the village. We lived in a rented house. Dad never owned property in Lebeck.

I was only three years old, hadn't had my fourth birthday yet, when we left Lebeck, but I can remember some things about Lebeck.

I remember going to town with my dad. He was taking a load of wood to town to sell with a team and double box wagon. Dad had borrowed a well bucket. Ours was a drilled well, apparently, and they had to have a special bucket to go down in the well and clean it out. He had borrowed the bucket from a lady in town and was returning it and was taking this load of wood to the same lady. Who she was, I don't know. We spent all day going to town and back. I think it was Eldorado Springs because Cedar Springs was just three miles away.

I remember another time, Ray Gouldsmith and Ada got into a watermelon rind fight. They got watermelon rinds all over the place and made an awful mess. During our Lebeck years, my oldest sister, Ruby, married Ray Gouldsmith. I remember being out to their house for dinner sometimes. They lived north of our place over in St. Claire County, not very far from us.

One time, I'd come home from church, I remember Ada had charge of me. I suspect the other kids were along too, but we came home to find a strange man with my mother. I couldn't figure it out and I was scared to death. It took sometime for them to convince me that it was my father with his mustache shaved off.