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Isaac C. Moon

A Newspaper Man for Three-quarters of a Century


Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Moon moved to Leonardville in October, 1923, after buying The Leonardville Monitor from John M. Best.

In taking over the paper Mr. Moon was continuing in what was a long lifetime in newspaper work. When he was fifteen on his father's farm near May Day he bought a small hand press and some type, first printing name cards and other small items. At seventeen, he started a little paper he called The May Day News Gleaner. Some time later he went to Riley Center, as it was then called, and went in with the Southwicks in publishing the Riley paper. He left there and worked for two or three years in Seneca.

In 1885 Isaac Clark Moon and Rachel Ann Atkinson were married at her home near Council Grove. They lived in Junction City, where he was working on the Tribune. For a short time he worked in Manhattan. In 1890 Mr. Moon went to Randolph and worked for a Mr. Lewis, later buying the paper, and from then until the move to Leonardville most of the years he was publisher or co-publisher of the Randolph paper.

Mr. and Mrs. Moon, with their daughter, Edna, and son, Tom, moved into the house in the west part of Leonardville, now occupied by Mrs. Lucy Erb. Edna was married in January, 1924, to Elmer Anderson, and went to live on the farm, so she did not help in the office very long. Tom stayed for some time and helped his father. He joined the Navy and served there for twenty years.

Miss Lois Peterson had worked for Mr. Best as Linotype operator and chief news gatherer, and she continued in the office until her marriage to Burnel Olson.

Mr. and Mrs. Moon were both active in the Methodist Church. Mrs. Moon was an active member of the Women's Society, and Mr. Moon served as church treasurer for many years.

They also took part in civic affairs. Mr. Moon served on the city council, and was mayor for a term or two. Mrs. Moon served as city clerk for a term.

Mr. Sikes and Mr. Moon were good friends. Many times Mr. Sikes came to the office to talk over current events, politics, or possibly sometimes, his troubles. Mr. Sikes always found Mr. Moon a good listener and an exchange of ideas was good for both of them. One time when Mr. Sikes was introducing a visitor to Mr. Moon he remarked, "Mr. Moon is a man of peace." A perfect word to use in describing him!

For nearly thirty years Mr. Moon put out a good, clean paper, full of hometown news -- who visited here, who traveled there, who was married, who had a new baby, who died, as well as news of greater or lesser importance. Each issue contained a number of news letters from the various communities around: Walsburg, Mound Meadow, Arbor, Alert, Green, Stockdale, Sherman, May Day, Winkler, and others. Each Thursday morning, almost without fail, the paper was in the post office in time to get on the rural routes and for distribution to the town subscribers.

Mrs. Moon proved to be an able helpmate through their fifty-six years together, until her death in 1941 as the result of an automobile accident. In 1943 Edna and Elmer Anderson moved into town to help with the work on the paper. In 1950 they moved to Manhattan.

For many years the paper was printed in the Randolph office and for a short time in Riley. In 1950 Tom and Del Moon came from California and the paper was again printed in Leonardville. They moved back to California the next year and Mr. Moon sold the business to Larry and Dee Marcellus.

Mr. Moon went to Manhattan and made his home with the Andersons until his death in January, 1954, at the age of ninety-three, after three-quarters of a century as a newspaper man.

Burnel Olson sent a clipping to Mr. Moon in 1931 from M. Shillerston of San Jose, Ca. In it he informed the editor that the Leonardville Monitor was famous, almost overnight. It happened that Mr. Shillerston had written a story, printed in the Monitor, on the life and manners of the Swedish people in the old country, and that this article was then reprinted in a daily metropolitan newspaper in Sweden, the East Gottland Correspondence. The story was translated into Swedish, entitled "Necken of the North," and due credit was given in Sweden to the Kansas newspaper, the Leonardville Monitor, in which the story first appeared.

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Written by Edna Moon Anderson, his daughter, and was taken from the Leonardville Centennial book, City of the Plains, A Story of Leonardville.

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Obituary

Issac C. Moon

1860 - 1954

Isaac Clark Moon, son of Elihu and Mary Moon, was born in northern Riley County, Kansas on September 16, 1860.  At the age of 16 he bought a 5" x 7" hand press and printed name cards and did small printing jobs. In December of 1879 he started a 4-page newspaper he called "The May Day News Gleaner" which consisted of two columns of five inches on each page and each page had to be printed separately. This was issued once a month for a few months, then was printed twice a month. He had planned to enlarge the paper, but in December of 1880 he went to Riley Center and joined Aaron Southwick and sons in publishing the "Independent" newspaper there.

During the next few years Isaac worked on a number of papers in Kansas. He continued in newspaper work until he retired in 1951 at the age of 91 after spending most of three-quarters of a century in the work he loved.

Isaac returned to the farm a few times for short periods and in 1910 moved to eastern Colorado and took time out to prove up on a homestead. He was never satisfied away from newspaper work so was soon back in it.

Isaac married Rachel Atkinson on November 8, 1885. They moved into a house he had built in Junction City, Kansas, where he was working. In 1891 he bought "The Randolph Enterprise" and except for two short periods of time, he either owned or had an interest in the paper until 1923. In October of 1923 he sold his interest to Eldon C. Newby, who continued to publish it until they retired because of the building of Tuttle Creek dam.

Isaac bought The Leonardville Monitor from John M. Best and was owner and publisher of that paper until he sold it in 1951 to Larry Marcellus.

Rachel died on August 17, 1941 at Clay Center and is buried in the Leonardville Cemetery. After his retirement Isaac moved to Manhattan to live with his daughter Edna and family. Isaac died on January 27, 1954 and is buried in the Leonardville Cemetery.

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Some History of Northern Riley County Kansas

written by Isaac Moon in 1950

Before writing a little of the early history of the northern part of Riley County, it might be well to give a brief account of my own life. I was born in a log cabin on the bank of Fancy Creek, about two miles west of Randolph, September 16, 1860. My father and mother, Elihu and Mary Moon and their three children came to Kansas in the spring of 1858 and located on Fancy Creek. About three years later they moved to a homestead on Fancy Creek, about a half mile east of the Clay County line. There I grew up and shared the work of a farm boy. My first schooling was in a small log building, covered with sod. In 1874 the Star school house was built on the corner of my father's homestead and there for a few years I received the balance of the schooling I was permitted to get.

In 1876 I bought a small printing press and printing equipment and began doing a little printing at my home on the farm. In 1880, I published a small local newspaper for May Day. In December 1880, I combined my printing outfit with the Independent newspaper at Riley Center and for a year I worked there. After that I put in two years in printing and newspaper work in Seneca, about a year in Junction City and about a year in Manhattan. I then bought the Randolph Enterprise office and for thirty years was editor and publisher there. Since than I have been editor and publisher of the Leonardville Monitor for twenty-seven years.

The first settlers in this part of Kansas located along the creeks and rivers, where they could get wood for fuel and secure water for house and livestock. Among the pioneers along Fancy Creek, we recall Edward and Solomon Secrest, Henry Shellembaum, William and John Fryhofer, Peter Heller, Henry Weisendanger, N. DeWyke, William and Charles Peter, George Polson, August and Fred Winkler, Charles and Victor Gebhardt, Ralph Neihenke, the Boettchers, Frank and Philip Droll, Louis and William Kunze, George Pickett, S.F. Dugan, O.E. Osbourn, Fred Schwartz, A.S. Edgerton, Reuben Norris, Hamilton Gridley, J.M. Byarlay, Elihu Moon, Roland Spurrier and Gabriel Spurrier.

The first settlers could get a few needed supplies at Manhattan, but for much of what they needed they had to go to the river towns of Atchison and Leavenworth, the trip lasting several days with a slow ox team and wagon or with horses.

Think for a moment of the pioneers. Coming to the land selected for a home, but no house to move into. Logs had to be cut and a cabin built and shelter provided for the livestock. As soon as possible some ground had to be broken and seeds planted for garden and some grain. No neighbors close that you could go to to borrow articles you needed. No stores close to get supplies of food or clothing.

Randolph was the first small town in this part of the county. A postoffice was established there and for a number of years mail was brought from Manhattan.

My first remembrance of a postoffice was the Parallel office, about six miles northeast of May Day. Mail was brought there on a route from Waterville to Clay Center. A little later a postoffice was established at May Day with A.S. Edgertson as postmaster.

Soon after this Theodore Weichselbaum of Ogden erected a store building in what is now May Day and his cousin, Solomon Weichselbaum was placed in charge and appointed postmaster. The building and contents were destroyed by fire in 1883, but part of the stone walls still stand.

Most of the land on the prairies away from the creeks was settled by homesteaders in the early seventies and there are many fine homes and well equipped farms.

Many Riley County people may not know that one of the largest springs of water in this part of Kansas is about one mile south of May Day on land homesteaded many years ago by Owen E. Osbourn, one of the pioneers.

The first settlers along Fancy Creek are all dead and in most cases the next generation is dead also. The pioneers built well and today we have a county dotted with beautiful homes occupied by a thrifty and happy people.

Some of the pioneers along the Blue River were C.J. Dalhberg, N. Christenson, William Meyer, A.J. Axelton, Magnus Vilander and others. Fred and Herman Toburen were pioneers on Swede Creek, among those in the Parallel vicinity were George and Nathan Cloud, Richard Pickett, H.A. Freeman, Henry and August Wohler.

For many years there was grist mill at Randolph. The power was furnished by water from Fancy Creek. A dam across the creek backed up the water and a ditch ran the water past the mill.

The Winkler Brothers, August and Fred, built a mill on the bank of Fancy Creek, about a half mile south of the present village of Winkler and water from the creek furnished the power to run the mill for a number of years. These mills made it convenient for the homesteaders to get flour and feed ground.