 In 1863 the Valley Creek School was first organized, meeting initially in the Bolles home until a schoolhouse could be moved onto land Erastus sold for the nominal fee of a dollar.In the early 1870s he opened a retail store, becoming postmaster of Valley Creek.Upon their daughter Emma's wedding to Silas Geer in 1873, Erastus and Sophronia gave them land across the road as a wedding present, upon which they built their own house.