A Penney Worth a Lot

Most of you know about the J.C. Penney chain of stores. But do you know who J.C. Penney was? Perhaps only a few of you have ever been to his hometown of Hamilton, Missouri. And probably none of you have played basketball in the Penney High School in Hamilton as I did as a high school student. 

Penney’s Early Life

Since I received more-than-expected responses to the blog post I made on my birthday last month, the post in which I wrote about being a Missouri farmboy, let me introduce you to another northwest Missouri farmboy, a Penney who came to be worth a lot.

James Cash Penney was born 145 years ago (on September 16, 1875) on a farm two miles east of Hamilton, Missouri, about 75 miles mostly south of Grant City, my hometown, and a long drive home after a night basketball game.

J.C.’s father was a farmer—and an unpaid Primitive Baptist preacher. Even though the Penney farm was a fairly large one, the family was rather challenged financially, and J.C. started earning his own money at an early age—raising pigs (as I did) and watermelons (which I certainly never did.)

Penney’s Successful Life

Since he was financially unable to go to college, J.C. Penney worked locally for a while then moved to Colorado. In 1898, he began working for the Golden Rule dry goods stores in Colorado and Wyoming.

After buying one-third interest in a Golden Rule store in 1902, just five years later he was able to become not only the sole owner of it but of the other two stores. In 1912, he changed the name of all the Golden Rule stores, of which there were then 40, to the J.C. Penney Stores—but he never forgot the Golden Rule.

By the early 1920s, the J.C. Penney Company was one of the largest retail organizations in the country. But then in 1929 financial disaster struck. The stock market crash caused Penney to lose some $40,000,000.

Following a period of despair and then a period of rest in a sanitarium, he began to fight back, and he and his company became financially successful again.

In the 1930s he purchased the farm once owned by his parents. In later years, he gave money for the construction of a new library and then a new high school in his hometown of Hamilton.

Even though he had made numerous charitable contributions, at the time of his death in 1971 his estate was valued at $25,000,000. Truly, he was a Penney worth a lot.

But throughout his life, he sought to live by the Golden Rule, which was more than just the name of a dry goods chain store. In 1950 he published an autobiography titled Fifty Years with the Golden Rule.

Penney and Polk County

Many of you who are my personal friends know that June, my wife, is from Polk County in southwest Missouri, and you may even remember that she is a graduate of Humansville High School. But I didn’t know of J.C. Penney’s indirect connection to Humansville until earlier this year.

In 2012, the George Dimmitt Memorial Hospital in Humansville was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

In a lengthy PDF document about that hospital, I learned that Charles Dimmitt, the son of a pastor of the Methodist church in Humansville, donated funds for the construction of that hospital as a memorial to his son George, who died in 1928.

It turns out that Charles Dimmitt had been employed by the Golden Rule stores and then between 1913 and 1922 had become wealthy as an executive in the J.C. Penney Company.

The same document says that Dimmitt also purchased and donated the site for a city park and made a substantial contribution toward the community building in Humansville, which was the venue of June’s high school graduation service.

All of this, it says, was perhaps because of “the example for philanthropy set by J.C. Penney.”

Yes, J.C. Penney was worth a lot—and in ways other than financial.

My Old Missouri Home

There are few people who don’t know about Stephen Foster’s “My Old Kentucky Home.” But there are not many who do know about my old Missouri home to which I moved 75 years ago this month, so let me tell you a bit about it.

Becoming a Farmboy

I was born 82 years ago today (on August 15, 1938) in the little town of Grant City, the county seat of Worth County, Missouri. My father was born on a farm in the southeast part of that county and my mother moved to Grant City with her birth family when she was a young teen. My parents graduated in the same high school class in 1933 and married two years later.

During World War II, my father and then my mother also worked in the Sunflower Ordnance Plant in western Johnson County, Kansas. In 1945 as the war was winding down, they went in with my mother’s parents to buy a 480-acre farm (for $16,000!) about six miles northeast of Grant City.

My grandparents moved into the old farmhouse, which did not have electricity or indoor plumbing, and not long after my seventh birthday I went to live with them in order to start the school year in Grant City.

Later that year, my parents moved from Kansas to the farmhouse and my grandparents moved back to their farm on the other side of town.

The next spring, we were able to have the house wired for electricity, and maybe the next year we installed indoor plumbing. It was great to no longer have to use the outdoor toilet! Year by year we improved the house, first inside and then the outside.

So, even though it was 75 years ago this month that I began living in my old Missouri home and became a farmboy, I have deep appreciation for the many blessings of having had such a childhood.

My old Missouri home in 1950; improvements were made inside first.

The Benefits of Being a Farmboy

1947 school picture
of farmboy Leroy

In the briefest fashion, these are some of the main boons I experienced from being a farmboy. 

1) I was part of a close-knit unit that worked together for the wellbeing of the whole family.

2) I learned how to work and to work hard.

3) I was able to raise my own livestock and was thereby able to become relatively independent financially at an early age.

Even though it was 65 years ago that I left my old Missouri home/farm to start to college, I still have great memories and deep appreciation for the ten years that I lived there.

The New Book of a Farmboy

Yesterday I basically finished writing my newest book. There will be some more editing, proofreading, and technical work before it is published, but I have completed the writing of it.

The title of this new book is A Wonderful Life: The Story of My Life from Birth until my 82^nd Birthday (1938~2020). I have long said that I would never write an autobiography—but a couple of years ago I decided that I should write my life story for my children and especially for my grandchildren.

(I do not plan to do any marketing of this book when it is published later this year—not that I have done very well marketing the books that I did hope to sell!—but it will be available for purchase for the few people who might like to get a copy.)

As I explain on the first page, the title “A Wonderful Life” is not an evaluation I have heard from others. In fact, some may well think my life has not been particularly wonderful—and that’s all right.

The point is that I believe that I’ve had a wonderful life from the beginning up until today—and that includes, of course, the ten highly significant years I spent as a farmboy.

Naturally, not everything during the past 82 years has been wonderful. But yes, overall, I believe it’s been a wonderful life, and I am profoundly grateful. 

The Election of 1868 (and 2018)

Since my hometown is Grant City (Mo.), I have long had an interest in, but not much knowledge of, Ulysses S. Grant. My recent reading about him, though, has convinced me that he is a man who should not be taken for granted and that his election in 1868 was one of great importance.

The Election of 1868

Even though my Oct. 30, 2016, blog article was about the presidential election of 1868 (see here), I didn’t write much about Grant, who was the winner of that election and thus became the 18^th POTUS.

For whatever reason, during most of my lifetime Grant seems not to have received the attention and the accolades he has deserved. But he and his accomplishments as President should not be taken lightly.

In one of the most important elections in U.S. history, 150 years ago on November 3, 1868, Grant won a decisive victory that was of great significance to the nation.

His election was especially significant for the American Indians and for the “freedmen,” the former enslaved persons who had a new birth of freedom because of the Civil War.

The Background of the 1868 Election

Hiram Ulysses Grant was born in Ohio in 1822, the son of a tanner—and a fervent abolitionist. When he was 16, Ulysses, the name by which he was called, was nominated to West Point by the district’s U.S. Representative—but his name was mistakenly given as Ulysses S., and the name stuck.

After graduation, Grant distinguished himself as a daring and competent soldier during the Mexican-American War of 1846-48. He left the army in 1854 but joined again in 1861, the beginning year of the Civil War.

Grant distinguished himself as a war hero, and after being elevated to the rank of lieutenant general in 1864, he forced and then received Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s surrender in April 1865.

Results of the 1868 Election

Because of his great popularity across the nation—and it has been said that he was more popular in the 19^th century then Lincoln—Grant was nominated unanimously as the Republican candidate for the presidency in 1868.

In spite of his political opponents calling Grant a drunk and accusing him of trying to “Africanize” the South, he won the 1868 election decisively: 214 to 80 electoral votes.

Among the premier accomplishments of Grant’s presidency are these:

** Organized (in April 1869) the Board of Indian Commissioners; this was Grant’s attempt to formulate a new humane policy towards Native American tribes. While not without problems, this “Peace Policy” was a great advancement in the way American Indians had been treated in the U.S. up to this time.

** Ratification (in February 1870) of the 15^th Amendment giving the freed slaves the right to vote.

** Passage of the “Ku Klux Klan” Act (in April 1871) that curtailed the activities of the KKK and other white supremacy organizations; this bill is also called the Civil Rights Act of 1871.  

(Actual 1868 campaign poster with an explanation added)

And What about the Election of 2018?

While not a presidential election, U.S. voters will go to the polls tomorrow (Nov. 6) to determine whether the racist, xenophobic, pro-white supremacy policies and rhetoric of the current administration are going to remain unchecked by a supportive Congress or whether there will be a better balance of power in the U.S. government.

The election of 1868 proved greatly beneficial for people of color then, and I fervently hope and pray that tomorrow’s election will similarly turn out well for people of color, immigrants, Jews, and the poor in contemporary society.

For further reading:

Two recommended books for further study of Grant (and the election of 1868):
** Grant (2002) by Jean Edward Smith, which presents Grant much more positively than most biographies up to that time.
** Grant (2017) by Ron Chernow, the latest, highly-acclaimed, 1000-page tome about Grant.

Remembering Glenn Miller

Most of you know well who Glenn Miller was. You likely listened to and enjoyed his music years ago—and maybe even recently. As I write this, I am listening to a 2005 CD titled “The Essential Glenn Miller.” It got me “in the mood” to write about the talented musician, arranger, composer, and bandleader. 

I am writing about Miller at this particular time because it was on December 15, 1944, that his airplane went missing over the English Channel. It is thus assumed that he died 70 years ago today.

Most of you may not know that Glenn got his first trombone and had the beginning of his musical career in the little town of Grant City, Missouri—which just happens to be my hometown. Miller was born in Clarinda, Iowa, on March 1, 1904, but in 1915 his family moved to Grant City where they resided until 1918.

According to the memorial erected on the courthouse lawn by the Worth County Historical Society in 1999, it was in the county seat town of Grant City that Glenn “acquired his first trombone and taught to play by John Mosbarger, the town band director. Young Miller worked as a shoe shine boy in Mosbarger’s cleaning parlor.”

I couldn’t find it documented anywhere, but I remember hearing how some of the people in the Grant City town band didn’t particularly like for young Glenn, who apparently looked sort of tacky, to march with them. In response to their grumbling, Mr. Mosbarger (1881-1956) told them than if they didn’t want Glenn to march with them, then he could walk with him at the front of the band.

On the front page of the June 11 issue of The Times-Tribune, my hometown weekly newspaper, there was an article titled “70 years After His Death, Glenn Miller’s Legacy Lives On.” That weekend was the 39th annual Glenn Miller Festival in Clarinda.

I wish I could have attended those festivities, for in addition to the current Glenn Miller Orchestra being there, the Tamana Girls High School Band from Japan also performed. (Tamana is a town about 60 miles from where I lived in Japan for so many years.)

The 1954 movie “The Glenn Miller Story” premiered in Clarinda. During my high school years in Grant City, my only girlfriend was Chloris King. Her mother, Verga (1896-1974), was John Mosbarger’s sister, and I remember Chloris telling about her parents going to Clarinda with Uncle John and his wife Effie for the premier of that film. Jimmy Stewart, who played Miller in the movie, was there for that gala opening.

People from Worth County were disappointed that the movie started after the Miller family had moved away from Grant City, so the town is not mentioned at all. But Grant City is referred to in various online websites about Glenn Miller, including Wikipedia.

The town is also mentioned in Scott Stanton’s 2003 book “The Trombone Tourist,” and John Mosbarger is quoted: “Grant City, Missouri, in 1917 wasn’t a very big place, and when a strong-lunged youngster cut loose on a trombone, you heard him all over town” (p. 171).

In 1942 Miller, at the age of 38, volunteered for the U.S. military and formed the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band. On Dec. 15, 1944, Glenn boarded an airplane in England and set off for France, where he was going to perform in a Christmas program. He was never heard from again; his plane apparently crashed in the English Channel. What a tragedy!