USA > Iowa > Davis County > History of Davis County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc. > Part 1
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C
A. M.Trimble
WESTERN LITH CO DES MOINES LA
HISTORY
OF
DAVIS COUNTY,
IOWA,
CONTAINING
A HISTORY OF THE COUNTY, ITS CITIES, TOWNS, ETC.,
A BIOGRAPHICAL DIRECTORY OF MANY OF ITS LEADING CITIZENS, WAR RECORD OF ITS VOLUNTEERS IN THE LATE REBELLION, GENERAL AND LOCAL STATIS- TICS, PORTRAITS OF EARLY SETTLERS AND PROMINENT MEN, HISTORY OF IOWA AND THE NORTHWEST, MAP OF DAVIS COUNTY, CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, REMINISCENCES, MISCELLANE- OUS MATTERS, ETC.
ILLUSTRATED.
DES MOINES: STATE HISTORICAL COMPANY. 1882.
16-9227
0,01
?
PRESS OF MILLS & COMPANY, DES MOINES.
228606 16
PREFACE.
-
THERE is no proper place in history for the element of fiction. In the correct delineation of a landscape the artist judiciously employs both lights and shades; so the historian must need contrast the true and the false, that the eternal beanty and symmetry of truth appear, but draw upon the imagi- nation, he may never. As in the landscape, the true ontline of objects is obscured in the shadows, requiring the full blaze of day to bring them into proper view, so history brings out the facts partially obscured in the haze of tradition-itself never history.
The history of the growth of any branch of knowledge has a double inter-
that which comes to it from the knowledge itself, and that which comes from its relations to the history of the operation of the human mind. Men think under the limitations of their times; they reason on such material as they have; they form their estimate of changes from the faets immediately known to them. What Matthew Arnold has written of man's thoughts, as he floats adown the " River of Time," is most true. Says he:
" As is the world on the banks, So is the mind of man. Only the track where he sails He wots of: only the thoughts Raised by the objects he passes, are his."
Impressions thus received, the mind will modify and work upon, trans- mitting the products to other minds in shapes that often seem new, strange and arbitrary, but which yet result from processes familiar to our experi- enee, and to be found at work in our own individual consciousness. And this is the necessity that renders history, as entirely distinct from tradition, imperative. Ilere the province of the historian begins. It is imperative on him that he record facts as they are, freed from the gloss given them by verbal transmissions.
DAVIS COUNTY ranks among the first in political influence, and is not be- hind in the intelligence of its people and its jealous regard for education; its material resources are practically unlimited, and the promise for its fu- ture ever brightening. Now, to elearly understand this happy present, its glories and its greatness, its opportunities and its wonders, it is our duty to look back to their sources. We shall find that the seeds which have so au- spiciously borne fruit in this present generation, were sown by men tried and true; men who deserve to be remembered, not merely as historie names,
4
PREFACE.
but as men in whose broad breasts beat the noblest hearts, and within whose rustic homes were to be found the very bone and sinew of this Western world; men whose sterling worth and integrity have contributed very largely to its present high position.
The whole history of this county is one of surpassing interest, and the more it is studied the clearer does it become that underlying its records are certain truths, which afford a clew to the causes that have contributed so powerfully to bring it to its present marked prominence. They will be found identical with those which have influenced the history of the nations during many centuries. To narrate these facts is the object of these pages; with what success this has been done, we do not presume to say. It has been our aim to learn and present the truth, withont favor or prejudice.
1} It has heretofore been possible for the seliolar, with leisure and a compre- hensive library, to trace ont the written history of his county by patient re- search among voluminous government documents and dusty records, some- times old and scarce; but these sources of information, and the time to study them, are not at the command of most of those who are intelligently inter- ested in local history; and there are many unpublished facts to be resened from the failing memories of the oldest residents, who would soon have car- ried their information with them to the grave; and others to be obtained from the citizens best informed in regard to the various present interests and institutions of the county, which should be treated of in giving its his- tory. This service of research and record, which very few could have un- dertaken for themselves, the publishers of this work have performed. While a few unimportant mistakes may, perhaps, be found in such a multitude of details, in spite of the care exercised in the production of the volume, they still confidently present this result of many weeks' labor, as a true and or- derly narration of all the events in the history of the county which were of sufficient interest and value to merit such a record.
Authenticity is always difficult in history. Much passes for history which is mere anecdote, and that domain is always doubtful. Other facts again, come to us through the prejudice and colors of personal narration. Great care has, therefore, been necessary to prevent publishing misconceptions as history. There has been admitted no statement of fact without ample au- thority, and mentioned not even the slightest incident without the support of ereditable testimony. Attention is called to one feature, considered of special value-the introduction of the original records for all transactions directly affecting the interests of the county. Concerning the first records and the facts they teach, little or nothing need be said. Of this period in the county's history there have been explored for evidence, every known ear-
5
PREFACE.
ly doenment, and, where not mutilated, they have been presented in full. If, among the pages devoted to early settlers and settlements, the sentences seem short and broken, and the method of treatment faulty, it should be borne in mind that the nature of the data renders any other method of pre- sentment impossible. Accuracy, rather than finish, has been the objeet held steadily in view.
In the preparation of this volume, the oldest residents and others have cheerfully volunteered their services in the undertaking, adding largely to the value of the results obtained. Special thanks are due to the following named persons, who have not only aided ns by placing at our disposition much val- vable matter, but have themselves devoted much time to searching records, and afforded every opportunity in their power to perfeet the chronological sequence and accuracy of the data used: Col. S. A. Moore, M. H. Jones, A. II. Hill, Col. H. H. Trimble. William S. Stevens, county auditor; Dr. Sell- man, Dr. D. C. Greenleaf, William Taylor, county clerk: S. M. Eppley, county treasurer; A. C. Lester, county recorder; Crawford Davis, proprietor of the Legal Tender Greenback; J. J. Hamilton, editor of the Republican; T. O. Walker, editor of the Democrat; J. R. Anderson, ex-county superin- tendent; F. W. Moore, deputy auditor; Samuel Russell; S. B. Downing, rep- resentative; James Jordon, the oldest resident of the county, and other old settlers in the various townships of the county. Throughout the county are many impossible to name here, who have freely given what of history they had. The elergy and other ehureh officers, and those of eivie associations, have been universally obliging in placing at our command the needed statis- ties of their several societies.
Under the sway of cause and effect, historic events cannot stand alone; they form an unbroken chain. This history of so limited a territory as a county in Iowa, has its roots not only in remote times, but in distant lands, and eannot be justly written out without consulting the influence of such a foreign ele- ment; nor can such a county history be understood in all its relations, without a historic review of at least the State of which the county is a part; hence, we feel that in giving such an outline we have been more faithful to the main purpose of the work, while we have added an element of independent interest and value. We little doubt that this book will be a welcome one to the in- habitants of the county, for all take a just pride in whatever calls to mind the seenes and incidents of other days. It is presented in the belief that the work done will meet with the heartiest approval of our readers; and if, through that commendation, it awakens an earnest spirit of enterprise and emulation among the younger citizens of the county, it will be a source of just pleasure and congratulation to
THE PUBLISHERS.
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
PAGE.
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY 19
Indian purchases, reserves and treat-
Geographical position.
19
ies. . 159
Early explorations.
20
Spanish Grants. . 163
Discovery of the Ohio.
32
The Half-breed Tract. 164
English explorations and settlement American settlements.
59
Territorial history. 173
177
69
State organization.
181
Growth and progress.
185
73
The Agricultural College and Farm.
186
79
The State University 187
193
88
The Penitentiary.
194
First French occupation.
91
Additional Penitentiary
195
Genius of La Salle
92
Iowa Hospital for the Insane
195
Early settlements
94
lowa College for the Blind.
197
The "Compact of 1787"
95
Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. . Soldiers' Orphans' Homes
199 199
Physical features of prairie States. . Progress of development.
101
State Normal School
201
MATERIAL RESOURCES OF THE STATE Coal is king
103
The Reform School ..
202
The religion and morals.
106
Fish Hatching establishment.
203
Education. . .
107
The public lands
204 218 223
Geographical situation.
109
Political record.
Topography.
109
Drainage system
110
Rivers. .
111
Cavalry
247
Springs
Miscellaneous
248
Origin of the prairies. 120
Casualties among officers of Iowa regi- ments during the war.
250
The Azoic system .
121
Casualties among enlisted men of Iowa regiments during the war ..
252
Upper Silurian system.
Number of troops furnished by the State of Iowa, etc.
254
Carboniferous system. 124
Population of lowa.
255
Subcarboniferons system
124
Illinois.
257
The Coal-measure group.
127
Indiana
259 260 263
Minor deposits of Sulphate of Lime Sulphate of Strontia.
136
Nebraska ..
267
Sulphate of Baryta.
137
Sulphate of Magnesia. 137 137
Climatology
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA
139 139
The original owners
147
Practical rules for every day use.
284
Pike's Expedition.
151
U. S. government land measure.
287
Indian Wars ..
152
Surveyor's measure. 288
The Black Hawk War.
157
How to keep accounts 288
269
Vote for governor 1879, and president, 1876. .
283
Vote for congressmen, 1876.
283
Discovery and occupation
131
Wisconsin.
264
135
Minnesota.
266
Cretaceous system
129
Iowa. .
Peat
130
Michigan
Gypsum.
109
The public schools
War record.
229 233 244
Lakes. 118 119
Geology . 120
Lower Silurian system
122 123 123
Devonian system.
102
Asylum for Feeble-minded Children
201
Division of the Northwest Territory Tecumseh, and the War of 1812. ... Black Hawk and the Black Hawk War ......
34
Early settlements. 166
65
The boundary question
Present condition of the Northwest THE EARLY HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. .. Early discoveries. .
88
State Historical Society.
99
THE STATE OF IOWA.
Infantry
Artillery
Constitution of the United States and its Amendments. ..
8
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
PAGE ..
Names of the States of the Union,
Landlord and tenant. 304
and their significations. . ..
290
Weights and measures. 305
Population of the United States. ...
291
Definitions of commercial terms. 305
Population of fifty principal cities. .
291
Notes.
306
Population of principal countries of the world ..
292
Receipts
306
ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS.
293
Bills of purchase.
306
Bills of exchange and notes.
293
Confession of judgment.
306
Interest.
293
Articles of agreement. 307
Descent. .
293
Bills of sale.
308
Wills and estates.
294
Notice to quit.
309
Taxes.
295
Form of will.
309
Jurisdiction of courts.
297
Codicil.
310
Limitations of actions
297
Satisfaction of mortgage.
310
Jurors. .
297
Forms of mortgage.
Capital punishment.
298
Form of lease.
Married women . .
298
Form of note.
Exemptions from execution
298
Estrays.
299
Warranty deed.
314
Wolf-scalps.
300
Quitclaim deed.
315
Marks and brands.
300
Bond for deed
315
Damages from trespass
300
Charitable, scientific and religious associations.
316
Mechanics' lien 301
Intoxicating liquors
317
Roads and bridges
302
Suggestions to those purchasing books by subscription. . .
319
Surveyors and surveys 303
Support of poor
303
Statistics of agriculture of Iowa (census of 1875). 320
HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY.
PAGE.
PAGE.
Introduction.
323
Mammals.
380-
Name and location
325
The red man.
381
Name. .
325
The pioneers-their settlements and careers.
385
Physical features.
328
The Pioneer. The Hairy Nation.
393
Timber.
331
First United States land entries. 395
399
Soil.
332
History of county and township or- ganization.
399
Table of temperature from 1839 to 1869. .
339
Act to amend the militia law
401
Fixing terms of court.
402 403
Observations of Miss Hamilton Geology.
345
Constitutional convention.
405
Alluvium
346
Early courts and judges
406
Drift.
First murder case.
408
Coal-measures.
348
First divorce case.
408
Economical resources
350
First grand jury.
408
Natural history.
351
Petit jurors
409
Avidie-birds.
352
Circuit court.
409
Notes. .
361
County court.
412
General flora ..
367
First marriage license.
Medicinal plants.
373
Quill pens.
Reptilia .. Ophidia.
375
Whiskey.
414
Batrachia
376
Town lot agency .
415
Mollusca. ..
378
Official salaries. .
416
Fresh-water mollnsks.
378
The first judgment. 418
Land mollusks
379
First town lot deed. 419
388
Streams
328
Coal and stone
331
County organization.
Climate.
337
Organizing act.
400
Number days rain and snow, period of thirty years.
340
Territorial roads.
341
Mail ronte. .
405
Plantæ. 367
Early recorded events.
412 412 413
374
Public well.
413
Location.
327
Chattel mortgage.
311 312 313 314
Fences. . 300
Adoption of children.
303
347
Orders.
306
CONTENTS.
9
PAGE.
PAGE.
Fourth Battery.
537
Additional enlistments :
Second Iowa Cavalry 537
Third lowa. Cavalry. 537, 543
Fifteenth lowa Infantry. 544
Seventeenth Iowa Infantry 538
"The old log court-house
431
New court-house to be erected . .
433
Description of new court-house.
434
Forty-fifth Iowa Infantry. 538
The jail .. 435
Poor-house and farm. 436
439
Tenth Missouri Infantry. 546
Political record.
444
Twenty-first Missouri Infantry. 547
Seventh Missouri Cavalry. 547
Second Cavalry, M. S. M. 548
Veteran re-enlistments :
Third Cavalry. 539
Second Infantry 542
Thirteenth Infantry.
542
Fourteenth Infantry.
542
Fifteenth Infantry.
542
Burlington & Southwestern
486
Chicago & Southwestern
486
Des Moines Valley.
487
Length and valuation, January 1, 1881 . ..
487
The press of Davis county. 487
Named.
567
Order of the board of supervisors.
568
List of papers living and dead.
494
Davis County Republican.
494
Legal Tender Greenback.
495
Election of officers
570
Bloomfield Democrat
495
Business houses in 1858.
571
Educational progress.
496
Officers from 1866 to 1281.
572
Table showing condition of schools in 1862.
502
Churches
574
Table showing condition of schools in 1879 ..
503
Infirmary 579
581
Southern lowa Normal School .. Banks
582
Public library .
582
The temperance cause. 508
Criminal history. 510
512
War record .
514
Plow factory. 583
Lawyer's jokes. 583 585
History . 585
585
First hirth.
586
Fourteenth Infantry
520
Fifteenth Infantry
521
Seventeenth Infantry
521
Geography 586
Name .. 586
Early settlers 586
L. N. English 586
First death. .. 586
587
Christian Church 587
Lodges. 587
Drakeville. 589
Seventh Cavalry
534
Fabius township
589
Eighth Cavalry 535
Ninth Cavalry
536
Pioneers
589
First chattel mortgage.
419
First real estate mortgage 420
Cemetery . .. 420
County commissioners 421
Township organizations
427
County institutions.
431
Thirtieth lowa Infantry. 538
Thirty-sixth Iowa Infantry 545
Forty-seventh Iowa Infantry 539
Southern Border Brigade. 545
Deed of the poor farm
Official canvass, election of ISS1 ... 467 Financial review . . 468
Taxation-general remarks
468
Tax levies from 1845 to 1880 473
Abstract of assessment for 1881.
478
Swamp and saline lands.
478
The railroads in the county
483
North Missouri. . 485
Seventeenth Infantry. 543
History of Davis county soldiers. 549
Southern border troubles .. 554
Townships, towns and their growth. . 567
Bloomfield City 567
General newspaper history .
487
Table showing condition of schools in 1880.
503
Statistical table for 1881
504
Religious advancement 505
Hotels. . 582 583
Foundry.
Wagon factory
583
P.roclamations 515
Second Infantry 516
Fourth Infantry 519
Sixth Infantry 519
Thirteenth Infantry 520
First physician .. 586
586
Nineteenth Infantry 521
522
Twenty-fifth Infantry. 522
Thirtieth Infantry. 522
Thirty-sixth Infantry. 525
Other "first things
Thirty-seventh Infantry
525
First Cavalry 525
Third Cavalry . 526
Lodges. 576
582
Deed conveying title .. 569
Adoption of charter. 570
Additions. 573
Schools.
Execution of William Hinkle
Bloomfield township
Early officers
Drakeville township
Twenty-fourth Infantry
Description 589
2
10
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
PAGE
Monterey . .
589
Roscoe township.
597
Early events. .
589
Population and location.
597
Fox River township 590
Ajax.
598
Composition . .
590
Miscellaneous events.
598
Historical beginnings
590
Soap Creek township.
598
Grove township.
590
Name.
598
Place and name.
590
Early settlers, etc.
598
Stiles.
591
Stilesville Christian Church
591
Lodges. .
591
Christian Church. Mr. Jordan and the centennial . .
60(
Name. .
592
Union township
600
Floris post-office.
592
Early settlers, mills, etc.
601
Miscellaneons matters .
592
Churches
605
Chequest Union Baptist Church.
593
Lodges
602
Marion township.
593
Stringtown
605
For whom named.
593
Troy.
602
Railroads.
593
Troy Academy
60€
Belknap
593
West Grove township
60:
First marriage, etc.
593
Name, etc.
60
Wesley Chapel.
594
West Grove.
604
Perry township. .
594
Cumberland Presbyterian Church Christian Church . ..
604
Early settlers.
594
Wyacondah township
604
Other matters.
594
604
Prairie township.
595
The Hairy Nation.
60F
Physical geography
595
Savannah
60€
First happenings.
595
Martinsville.
606
Pulaski.
596
Springville.
.
60G
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
PAGE.
PAGE.
Explanatory .
607
Perry township.
688
Bloomfield City.
608
Prairie township
692
Bloomfield township.
642
Roscoe township. 701
Drakeville township
656
Salt Creek township.
70€
Fabius township ..
659
Soap Creek township.
710
Fox River township.
665
Union township ...
715
Grove township.
668
Wyacondah township.
727
Lick Creek township
675
West Grove township.
738
Marion township.
. . 680
PORTRAITS.
PAGE.
PAGE.
H. H. Trimble.
Front.
R. W. Anderson
423
C. F. Davis.
227
Samuel Russell .
opposite
457
W. A. Duckworth.
261
J. C. Dooley.
489
J. W. Beauchamp
279
P. H. Bence.
66
521
James H. Jordan . .
321
J. W. Young, M. D.
553
E. J. Shelton, M. D.
355
D. N. Dooley, M. D
585
W. H. Shelton, M. D
389
600
Lick Creek township
582
Salt Creek township. Name, etc.
599
599
604
Hero of Lake Erie.
594
Description .
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION.
When the Northwestern Territory was ceded to the United States by Virginia in 1784, it embraced only the territory lying between the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers, and north to the northern limits of the United States. It coincided with the area now embraced in the States of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and that portion of Minnesota lying on the east side of the Mississippi River. The United States itself at that period extended no farther west than the Mississippi River ; but by the purchase of Louisiana in 1803, the western boundary of the United States was extended to the Rocky Mountains and the Northern Pacific Ocean. The new territory thus added to the National domain, and subsequently opened to settlement, has been called the " New Northwest," in contradistinction from the old " Northwestern Territory."
In comparison with the old Northwest this is a territory of vast magnitude. It includes an area of 1,887.850 square miles ; being greater in extent than the united areas of all the Middle and Southern States, including Texas. Out of this magnificent territory have been erected eleven sovereign States and eight Territories, with an aggregate popula- tion, at the present time, of 13,000,000 inhabitants, or nearly one third of the entire population of the United States.
Its lakes are fresh-water seas, and the larger rivers of the continent Now for a thousand miles through its rich alluvial valleys and far- stretching prairies, more acres of which are arable and productive of the highest percentage of the cereals than of any other area of like extent on the globe.
For the last twenty years the increase of population in the North- west has been about as three to one in any other portion of the United States.
A
(19)
20
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
EARLY EXPLORATIONS.
In the year 1541, DeSoto first saw the Great West in the New World. He, however, penetrated no farther north than the 35th parallel of latitude. The expedition resulted in his death and that of more than half his army, the remainder of whom found their way to Cuba, thence to Spain, in a famished and demoralized condition. DeSoto founded no settlements, produced no results, and left no traces, unless it were that he awakened the hostility of the red man against the white man, and disheartened such as might desire to follow up the career of discovery for better purposes. The French nation were eager and ready to seize upon any news from this extensive domain, and were the first to profit by DeSoto's defeat. Yet it was more than a century before any adventurer took advantage of these discoveries.
In 1616, four years before the pilgrims " moored their bark on the wild New England shore," Le Caron, a French Franciscan, had pene- trated through the Iroquois and Wyandots ( Hurons) to the streams which run into Lake Huron ; and in 1634, two Jesnit missionaries founded the first mission among the lake tribes. It was just one hundred years from the discovery of the Mississippi by DeSoto (1541) until the Canadian envoys met the savage nations of the Northwest at the Falls of St. Mary, below the outlet of Lake Superior. This visit led to no permanent result ; yet it was not until 1659 that any of the adventurous fur traders attempted to spend a Winter in the frozen wilds about the great lakes, nor was it until 1660 that a station was established upon their borders by Mesnard, who perished in the woods a few months after. In 1665, Claude Allonez built the earliest lasting habitation of the white man among the Indians of the Northwest. In 1668, Claude Dablon and James Marquette founded the mission of Sault Ste. Marie at the Falls of St. Mary, and two years afterward, Nicholas Perrot, as agent for M. Talon, Governor Gen- eral of Canada, explored Lake Illinois (Michigan) as far south as the present City of Chicago, and invited the Indian nations to meet him at a grand council at Sault Ste. Marie the following Spring, where they were taken under the protection of the king, and formal possession was taken of the Northwest. This same year Marquette established a mission at Point St. Ignatius, where was founded the old town of Miehillimackinac.
During M. Talon's explorations and Marquette's residence at St. Ignatius, they learned of a great river away to the west, and fancied -as all others did then-that upon its fertile banks whole tribes of God's children resided, to whom the sound of the Gospel had never come. Filled with a wish to go and preach to them, and in compliance with a
21
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
request of M. Talon, who earnestly desired to extend the domain of his king, and to ascertain whether the river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico or the Pacific Ocean, Marquette with Joliet, as commander of the expe- dition, prepared for the undertaking.
On the 13th of May, 1673, the explorers, accompanied by five assist- ant French Canadians, set out from Mackinaw on their daring voyage of discovery. The Indians, who gathered to witness their departure, were astonished at the boldness of the undertaking, and endeavored to dissuade them from their purpose by representing the tribes on the Mississippi as exceedingly savage and cruel, and the river itself as full of all sorts of frightful monsters ready to swallow them and their canoes together. But, nothing daunted by these terrifie descriptions, Marquette told them he was willing not only to encounter all the perils of the unknown region they were about to explore, but to lay down his life in a cause in which the salvation of souls was involved ; and having prayed together they separated. Coasting along the northern shore of Lake Michigan, the adventurers entered Green Bay, and passed thence up the Fox River and Lake Winnebago to a village of the Miamis and Kickapoos. Here Mar- quette was delighted to find a beautiful cross planted in the middle of the town ornamented with white skins, red girdles and bows and arrows, which these good people had offered to the Great Manitou, or God, to thank him for the pity he had bestowed on them during the Winter in giving them an abundant " chase." This was the farthest outpost to which Dablon and Allouez had extended their missionary labors the year previous. Here Marquette drank mineral waters and was instructed in the secret of a root which cures the bite of the venomous rattlesnake. Hle assembled the chiefs and old men of the village, and, pointing to Joliet, said : " My friend is an envoy of France, to discover new coun- tries, and I am an ambassador from God to enlighten them with the truths of the Gospel." Two Miami guides were here furnished to conduct them to the Wisconsin River, and they set out from the Indian village on the 10th of June, amidst a great crowd of natives who had assembled to witness their departure into a region where no white man had ever yet
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