Clayton Gospel Hall, IA
Clayton, Iowa is in the same county as Garnavillo, where Garnavillo Gospel Hall has operated for many years. It is located in Clayton County, Iowa in northeastern Iowa directly on the Mississippi River, and is only accessible via a very steep road. The population was 43 in the 2010 Census, down from 55 in the 2000 Census, though many others have summer homes there due to its proximity on the Mississippi River. The town was founded in 1849. In 1880, it had its peak population of 383, though shrinking to 170 by 1920, and has continued to shrink.
A series entitled Pioneer Work in Iowa by W.R. Simpson , in September 1946, credits Oliver Smith for the start of the Clayton assembly, from the time of his conversion in 1913 at Waterloo. The Clayton assembly is on a list of “good-sized assemblies” as a fruit of Oliver’s, along with Manchester, Garnavillo, Stout, Hitesville, Aredale and Cylinder.
The assembly in Clayton was at least in operation by 1927, as per the assembly address book from that year, and continues to be listed in 1936, and 1943, but is absent by 1965. The correspondent in all three editions was Edward Osthoff, Box 27.
In 1930, Edward and Frances Osthoff had a boarder, an unmarried schoolteacher named Emma L. Jacobs, who may have been in fellowship with the Clayton Assembly. In 1940, Emma was lodging with Mary Crefeld (1872-1945), still in Clayton, IA.
Sources
- [www.ancestry.com ancestry.com]
- 1927 Assembly Address Book, Faithful Words Publishing, St. Louis, MO
- 1936 Assembly Address Book, Light and Liberty Publishing, Fort Dodge, IA
- 1943 Assembly Address Book, Walterick Publishers, Fort Dodge, IA
- Letters of Interest, 1946 September