Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 August 1894 — A HOOSIER ROMANCE. [ARTICLE]

A HOOSIER ROMANCE.

A True Story of the. Charley Eon Type.'l • ’ I Osgood : Ind-i Journal- . A romance reaches a denouement in our very midst, which savors much of the Charley Ross type, yet in this case the lost is found, and returns to the mother to receive her blessings. Fourteen years ago an old man. accompanied by a little boy witlj long golden curls, stepped from a train and settled near the little hamlet of Poston, Ind. There was an air of mystery about the ill-mated couple, and wonderment increased when they sought a cabin and made it their home. The child was not allowed the liberty of mingling with the children in the neighborhood, and was even taught his lessons by the old man instead of entering and reciting in the country school house. The ever-watchful old gentleman seemed to have no earthly care other than the boy. and devoted a greater part of his time to his welfare. Soon a shingle posted up told that Dr. S. B. Townsend was ready to practice medicine, and the home was visited, hurriedly, however, by many in the vicinity who had sudden sickness in their households. The little boy grew up virtually under the wing of Sanford B. Townsend, and little was learned of him other than that his name was Reece. Time went on, curiosity wore off, and they became .permanent residents of the little town. The doctor became acquainted with and enamored of a Miss O’Brien and was married to her, when they removed to Holton. Here they lived for a short time, when they went to Napoleon, and about sevep years ago moved to Osgood. In all of these places particular notice was taken of the watchfur care given Reece from boyhobd to man’s estate by the father. Arriving at Osgood the Doctor gain ed quite a practice,and the now young man Reece was as secluded as ever, and yet had acquired a good education, and the old doctor's de sire to further push the young man knew no bounds. He employed every means visible and toiled unceasingly to advance Reece in the profession of medicine. He had been a close student and learned readily. After superhuman effort the doctor was rewarded by starting the young man in the best medical college in Cincinnati. Here he attended until he graduated with high honors and returned to Osgood a full-fledged physician.

Then the Drs. Townsend set up in partnership and their practice increased. c The senior doctor lived happily with his wife and four interesting children are the results of the marriage. The young doctor fell in love with Miss Olive Bevan, daughter of our fellow townsman M. H. Bevan, and they were wed more than a year ago. and a son came to brighten their home. But just at this juncture a letter comes through the mail from Gilson, Illinois, to Reece C. Townsend, from one who proved to be a dear, devoted mother, whom he had been learned in childhood to believe as dead.

And now the myterious appearance of the old man and little golden haired boy is in a way cleared by a eonfesssion from the supposed father which forms a romance in real life that eclipses the richest and most racy fiction ever produced, and, being founded on facts, furnishes a doubly interesting biography of a useful life, showing the power of a promise and the vicissitudes endured by Sanford Townsend to sustain a vow. Dr. Seneca Townsend, some thirty years ago married a well-to-do widow named Locke, at Knoxville. Ills. Two children were born to them, Reece Cary and a daughter Mamie. The father was a drunkard, and a separation occurred. She left him and was granted a divorce and custody of the daughter, and Seneca, the father, got possession of the son. The father being a traveling doctor, the little fellow was taken along and the two went from place to place for about nine years. One day the boy took severelv ill at a hotel in Keokuk, lowa. The father had registered under the name of his brother S. B. Townsend,whom he supposed was dead. But fate seemed to carry them together, and in returning from California the original Sanford B. Townsend went to the same hotel, and noticing his name upon the register, asked the clerk what ~it meant. The two brothers so closely resembled each other that the clerk thought the old man drunk again and showed him to the room. After an affectionate meeting of the brothers, the son was noticed to be in the grasp of a dreadful typhoid fever. They remained some time at the hotel for the son to recover, and strange to say one day Seneca took suddenly sick from heart disease, and what few words he could utter he told Sanford to assume his place with his offspring if the boy ever became conscious and lived, and swearing his brother to the vow, asainan and a Mason to never let the mother have the son, nor tell the secret until he became thirty years of age; to educate and care for the child as his own !son—and then Seneca lay back upoin the pillow and expired. How well this obligation was carried out the people, and the young* man’s prominence testifies. The very soul of the old gentleman seemed to be centered on the boy. The father was burred at Keokuk. Iowa ( and when the boj- got able

Sanford started for the East, settling at Poston, as above stated, in 1880. When young Reece gained consciousness, in a dazed way he asked, childish questions as to the difference in apparel from that worn by his fatheF, and later at several times asked why they had quit traveling, but by evasive answers the boy never recognized the truth. Reece now says he has a faint recollection of seeing two men in the room while he was sick, but supposed it was only a delusion while he was delirious. < While the mother mourned for her son all these long years, she never gave up, and something seemed to, spur her on in seeking his whereabouts. ¥ear after year she advertised, worried and worked for a trace until silver threads were numerous in her silken hair. She could never-shake off the feeling that he was alive, and every evening as the twilight hour threw a solemn stillness about her home, a prayer was offered for his deliverance. Rce mt ly the dear mother reel \ci a medical journal, probably through her husband being a doctor, and in it she beheld the name of Reece Cary Townsend. Her heart gave a great ■ bound, and almost overcome with joy and surprise she saw a clue. She began immediately to write letters, first to the State Board of Health and then to Postmaster Griffin at Osgood, and at last to her long-lost boy. Reece was loth to believe the romantic idea of the affair, but a few more letters passing and the revelation made by the supposed father, S. B. Townsend, unraveled a romance which was astounding. He at once prepared to visit his mother, and left, several weeks ago, for Gilson, HL, taking with him hia wife and babe. Arriving in Illinois it is said the "entirF populatiofr' of "the town were awaiting him. The three-year-old -baby, now grown to manhood, jdtk a wife and six-months-old babe, were welcomed by the gray-haired mother.. She could not speak for jby when! she beheld him: simply overcome. He found his sister Mamie married, and many other relatives, all well fixed and prominent people. That Sanford kept well the oath is demonstrated by Reece’s graduation from the Ohio Medical College. Ho is ex-member of the city Board of Health, and is at present County Coroner. He is a member of several secret societies. Among them being a Mason in good standing. He has a splendid practice as physician. Sanford B. can hardly throw oft the impression that he is other than his son, from so long being a protector. and the feelings of a father will never wear away. The old man seems lonely at his home here without Reece, aud hails with delight the time when he will return, which will be about the middle of nqxt month.