natives of Tennessee, settled in this township on section 10. James R. was a veteran of the Civil war.

Robert C. Baker, a native of Kentucky, married Margaret Parks, who was born in South Carolina. In 1849 they came to this county and entered three hundred and twenty acres of land in Bellair township. Among their ten children were Hugh H., James W., Harrison, Henry C., Benjamin F., William and James W. The last mentioned and Harrison were in the Civil war.

C. Baker died in 1868. Henry C. Baker was appointed superintendent of the county poor farm in 1878.

Benjamin P. Mells settled in this township in 1858. He was born in England. At one time he owned over five hundred acres of land here. Finally he removed to the county seat.

Michael Arbogast was a native of Virginia and left the Old Dominion in 1850 to seek a betterment of his financial condition in the west. With S150 in his pocket he reached Appanoose county and entered land in this township. In 1853 he went to California with an ox team and worked there on a farm and also got a taste of mining. He returned to this county in 1856, resumed farming and acquired a large tract of land.

W. H. Bradley was born in Indiana. He came from his native state to Iowa in 1856 and purchased land two miles north of Centerville. In 1859 the family removed to this township, where Mr. Bradley became possessed of several hundred acres of land.

Israel Garten came to Appanoose county in 1853 from Madison county, Ohio. He located in this township and became possessed of considerable land Jacob Shontz made his appearance in Appanoose county in 1858 and located in this community. At one time he owned over six hundred acres of land. He has held all the township offices.

William Strickler, a "Buckeye," was born in 1820. He came to the county in 1850 and settled on a farm. He was a good business man, notwithstanding the fact that he was a minister of the gospel, and accumulated much land and was prosperous. His son John was in the Civil war.

Dr. A. A. Keran brought his family to Appanoose county in 1854 and settled on a farm in Bellair township. Dr. Keran was also a Methodist minister. His daughter Armilda married John Kingsbury, long a resident of this township.

Levi Clemmens began to provide for his own maintenance by chopping wood, and when seventeen years of age he worked for a butcher in his native place, Wayne county, Indiana. In the spring of 1852 the young man became a resident of Bellair township. Leaving the farm in 1876, he opened a meat market in Centerville.

Robert M. Evans settled on a farm in this township in 1853 and remained a resident until 1871, when he retired to Centerville.

G. R. Moss, with his bride, Martha Bishop Moss, moved from Ohio in 1853 and settled in this township. He died in the spring of 1900. John A. Moss, a son, was born on the farm in 1857 and became a school teacher. Finally, Mr. Moss settled down on the farm and made quite a reputation as a breeder and dealer of shorthorn cattle.

William H. Wright, an Indianan, settled here in 1856, purchasing a farm

of two hundred and forty acres. He married Miss C. A. Mills, daughter of Henry and Rebecca Mills, early settlers of the county, in 1866.

Dr. H. C. Dukes and his parents, Alrearim and Mary Dukes, settled in Bellair township in 1850, and here the elder Dukes purchased a large tract of land. Dr. Dukes located in Numa in 1876.

VILLAGE OF BELLAIR

The village of Bellair was platted in October, 1854, by John Potts for Alexander Jones, and is situated on section 18. There were twenty lots. In 1855 J. L. Matkins started a store and in 1859 a postoffice was established, and by the year 1880 there were about a dozen residences. The growth of the village had been stunted, by the building of the Chicago & Southwestern Railroad in 1871 to the

VILLAGE OF NUMA

which had been created March 13, 1871, by G. R. Huston, Cindrilla Huston, E. E. Harvey and Emma Harvey. The survey was made by J. F. Stratton. Numa lies on section 18 and is a station on the Chicago & Southwestern. Its main support comes from the coal mines adjacent. Numa was incorporated in 1909 and now has a population of 660. The contiguous coal fields and mines have added largely to its growth. A majority of the people are of foreign origin. The Numa State Savings Bank is a strong institution, having a capital of $15,000. Its cashier is 1. L. Long.

The first sermon preached in this neighborhood was by Rev. Haynes, a Cumberland Presbyterian minister, in 1853. In 1857 school children were gathering at a schoolhouse that had been built and soon thereafter a mill was erected at Numa.

A Methodist society was formed at Bellair in 1857 by Asa Thornburg and wife, William Fox and wife, Perry Steward and wife and Russell Matkins and wife. In 1864 a stone building at Bellair was purchased and converted into a church. The structure was used until 1874, when the society built a new one at Numa. This church was dedicated in 1874 and cost about $650. Among the first pastors were Revs. Jesse Hill, George Clark, Charles Clark, Thomas Stevenson, John Orr and James Hunter.

The Christian church was formed about 1858 by Henry Adamson and wife, Dr. Ball and wife, Dr. Morris and wife, James Steward and wife and John Steward and wife. The society built a church at Bellair in 1871, at a cost of $1,200. The dedicatory sermon was preached by Elder Sevey, of Centerville, in the fall of that year. Among the early ministers were Rev. John Humphrey, Dr. Combs, Captain L. E. Harvey and Elder Judd.

BELLAIR LODGE, NO. 133, A. F. & A. M.

received its dispensation and held its first meeting September 30, 1857, in the upper story of the schoolhouse, with James Hagan, W. M.; John V. Criswell, S. W.; Peter Sidles, J. W. The other charter members were E. E. Harvey,

Gavin Morrison, G. W. Fisher, G. R. Houston and A. Jones. A charter was granted by the grand lodge in June, 1858, and in 1879 it was moved to Numa.

VILLAGE OF MYSTIC

The newest little city in the county is Mystic and is the largest town in the county outside of Centerville, its population now numbering about 3,000. The plat of Mystic was filed for record May 28, 1887. The site was surveyed by S. T. Stratton for James S. Elgin, and is the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 17, township 69, range 18. Several additions have since been made and the village is still growing.

The coming of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad in 1886 made the future of the projected city certain, as it gave an outlet to the products of the splendid mines then operated and later to be opened in that vicinity. The town grew apace, but in 1910 and in 1911 disastrous fires overtook it and practically destroyed all of the business district, entailing heavy losses. No one seemed to be discouraged, however, and frame buildings were replaced by substantial and neat-appearing brick structures. Building is still going on and Mystic's business street looks well, indeed. The traveling public, which enters the place by way of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway and the interurban from Centerville, is entertained nicely at a new brick hotel. There are quite a number of mercantile concerns, two banks, churches, lodges and a moving picture theater.

POSTOFFICE

A postoffice was established at Mystic, October 7, 1887, and Dennis M. Van Dyke was appointed the first postmaster. His successors have been: Eva I. Griffith, November 2, 1889; John F. Page, October 14, 1893; George Studebaker, August 5, 1897; Joseph D. Ball, August 27, 1901; John H. Luse, February 28, 1907.

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH

The Methodists in this vicinity, with the assistance of Rev. C. W. Powelson, organized a church in September, 1886, and in the same year erected a house of worship, which was rebuilt in 1907. A.parsonage adjoining the church was built in 1910 at a cost of $2,000. There are now 265 members and an attendance at the Sunday school of 205. Those who succeeded the first pastor are: W. E. Green, 1891-2; Elias Handy, 1892-4; P. H. Macbeth, 1894-5: W. S. Sharer, part of 1895; J. J. Beckham, 1896; E. J. Smith, April-September, 1897; R. Breeden, part of 1897; R. Collier, 1898; J. W. Carson, 1901; George Blogg, 1903; M. A. Banker, 1906; C. A. Field, 1909; C. B. Hankins, 1910; A. B. Hightshoe, 1911.

The Christian church which has been established a number of, years, has for its pastor, E. W. Killian, and the United Brethren church's pulpit is filled by Donnie Minton.