USA > Iowa > Taylor County > History of Taylor 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 statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men, history of Iowa and the Northwest, map of Taylor County, Constitution of the United States, reminiscences, miscellaneous matters, etc > Part 1
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HAROLD B. LES LIBRARY BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY PROVO, UTAH
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977,779 H629
HISTORY
OF
TAYLOR 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 TAYLOR COUNTY, CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, REMINISCENCES, MISCELLANE- OUS MATTERS, ETC.
ILLUSTRATED.
DES MOINES : STATE HISTORICAL COMPANY. 1881.
.
THE LIBRARY BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITT PROVO, UTAH
PREFACE.
THERE is no proper place in history for the element of fiction. In the correct delineation of the landscape the artist judiciously employs both lights and shades; so the historian must need contrast the true and the false, that the eternal beauty and symmetry of truth appear, but draw upon the imagination, he may never. As in the landscape, the true outline 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 ob- scured in the haze of tradition-itself never history.
The history of the growth of any branch of knowledge has a double interest; 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 limitation of their times; they reason on such material as they have; they form their estimate of changes from the facts 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 in 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- ence, 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. Here 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.
4
PREFACE.
Taylor county ranks among the first in political influence, and is not behind in the intelligence of its people and its jealous regard for education; its material resources are practically unlimited, and the promise for its future ever brightening. Now, to clearly 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 auspiciously borne fruit in this present generation were sown by men tried and true; men who deserve to be remembered, not merely as historic names, 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 positon.
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 na- tions 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, without favor or preju- dice.
It has heretofore been possible for the scholar, with leisure and compre- hensive library, to trace out the written history of his county by patient research among voluminous government documents and dusty records, sometimes old and scarce; but these sources of information, and the time to study them are not at the command of most of those who afe intelli- gently interested in local history; and there are many unpublished facts to be rescued from the failing memories of the oldest residents, who would soon have carried 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 history. This service of research and record, which very few could have undertaken for themselves, the publishers of this work have performed. While a few unimportant mistakes may, perhaps, be found in such a multi- tude of details, in spite of the care exercised in the production of the vol- ume, they still confidently present this result of many weeks' labor as a true and orderly narration of all the events in the history of the county which were of sufficient interest and value to merit such a record.
4
Authenticity is always difficult in history. Much passes for history which is mere anecdote, and that domain is always doubtful. Other facts,
5
PREFACE.
again, come to us through the prejudice and colors of personal narration. Great care has, therefore, been necessary to prevent publishing misconcep- tions as history. There has been admitted no statement of fact without ample authority, and mentioned not even the slightest incident without the support of creditable testimony. Attention is called to one feature, consid- ered of special value-the introduction of the original records for all trans- actions 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 early document, 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 presentment impossible. Accuracy, rather than finish, has been the object 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 us by placing at our disposition much valuable matter, but have themselves devoted much time to searching records, and afforded every opportunity in their power to perfect the chro- nological sequence and accuracy of the data used: All the several officers of Taylor county, together with the Argus, the Taylor County Republican, the Iowa South- West, and the Taylor County Democrat, of Bedford; the Time Table, of Lenox; the Champion, of Conway, and the old settlers in the various townships of the county. Throughont the county are many im- possible to name here, who have freely given what of history they had. The clergy and other church officers, and those of civic associations, have been universally obliging in placing at our command the needed statistics 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 cannot be justly written, out without consulting the influence of such a foreign element; nor can such a county history be understood in all its re- lations, 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 inhabitants of the county, for all take a just pride
6
PREFACE.
in whatever calls to mind the scenes and incidents of other days. It is pre- sented in the belief that the work done will meet with the heartiest ap- proval 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.
1
›
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
PAGR.
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY . 19
Geographical position
19
Early explorations
20
Spanish grants. . 163
Discovery of the Ohio.
32
The half-breed Tract. 164
Early settlements. 166
American settlements. 59
65
The boundary question 177
Black Hawk, and the Black Hawk War ...
73
The Agricultural College and Farm. 186
Present condition of the Northwest.
79
The State University. 187
88
State Historical Society 193 194 The Penitentiary .
First French occupation
91
Additional Penitentiary 195
195
Early settlements.
94
Iowa College for the Blind ..
197
The "Compact of 1787"
99
Soldiers' Orphans' Homes
199 201
MATERIAL RESOURCES OF THE STATE Coal is king.
103
The religion and morals
106
Fish Hatching Establishment.
203 204
THE STATE OF IOWA.
109
The public schools
218 223
Geographical situation
109
Topography .
109
War record.
229
Drainage system.
110
Infantry
233 244
Rivers .
111
Lakes. 118
Springs
119
Origin of the prairies .
120
Geology 120
The Azoic system .
121
Lower Silurian system.
122
Upper Silurian system
Number of troops furnished by the State of Iowa, etc.
254 255 257
Subcarboniferous system
Illinois
Indiana
259 260 263
Wisconsin
264
Minor deposits of Sulphate of Lime. Sulphate of Strontia.
136
Sulphate of Baryta.
137
Sulphate of Magnesia 137 Climatology. 137 139
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA.
Discovery and occupation
139
Vote for congressmen, 1876.
283
Practical rules for every day use. 284
Pike's Expedition.
151
U. S. Government land measure ... 287
Surveyor's measure 288
The Black Hawk War
157
How to keep accounts. 288
247 248
Miscellaneous
Casualties among officers of Iowa regi- ments during the war .. 250
Casualties among enlisted men of Iowa regiments during the war. 252
Devonian system.
Carboniferous system .
Population of Iowa.
The Coal-measure group.
Cretaceous system. .
Peat.
Gypsum
131
135
Minnesota. 266 Nebraska . 267
Constitution of the United States and its Amendments.
269
Vote for governor, 1879, and president, 1876.
283
The original owners 147
Indian Wars .. 152
69
State organization. 181
Growth and progress 185
THE EARLY HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. . Early discoveries.
88
Genius of La Salle
92
Iowa Hospital for the Insane.
95
Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. . 199
Physical features of prairie States. . Progress of development.
101 102
State Normal School
201 Asylum for Feeble-minded Children The Reform School .. 202
Education .
107
The public lands.
Political record.
Cavalry
Artillery
123 123 124 124 127 129 130
Iowa ..
Michigan
Indian purchases, reserves, and trea- ties. . 159
English explorations and settlement 34
Territorial history. 173
Division of the Northwest Territory Tecumseh, and the War of 1812. ...
8
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
PAGE.
Names of the States of the Union,
and their significations .. .
290
Weights and measures. 305
291
Definitions of commercial terms. 305
291
Notes
306
Orders
306
292
Receipts. 306
ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS .. 293
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
Limitation of actions.
297
Satisfaction of mortgage.
310
Jurors .. .
297
Forms of mortgage.
311
Capital punishment.
298
Form of lease.
312
Married women ..
298
Form of note.
313
Exemptions from execution.
298
Chattel mortgage.
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' liens. 301
Intoxicating liquors. 317
Roads and bridges
302
Adoption of children
303
Surveyors and surveys. 303
Support of poor.
303
Statistics of agriculture of Iowa (census of 1875). 320
HISTORY OF TAYLOR COUNTY.
PAGE.
PAGE.
Introduction
321
First land entries. 389
Name and position.
323
Statement of Adam Vinnedge. 391
Surface, features and drainage. 324
Location of county seat. .. 392
Streams
325
Some early legal documents 394
Timber
327
First marriage record.
394
Soil .
328
Climate
332
Second deed of record
Quitclaim deeds. 396
Loess
336
First mortgage of real estate. 396
Drift.
338
First chattel mortgage 398
398
Mineral resources.
341
Legal history ..
399
Natural history
342
County, district and circuit courts. .
399
Avidæ-birds
343
Letters of administration
400
Notes. .
354
An incident . 409
411
General flora. ..
367
Township boundaries on organiza-
412
Orders concerning.
413
Ophidia
370
415
Batrachia
371
Mollusca
373
Election of 1853.
418
Land mollusks.
375
Complete returns since 1866. 421
431
Court-house -- action concerning
431
County organization
County jail
433
Organizing election
386
Poor-farnı .
434
First commissioner's court.
386
Bridges and roads . 436
First session of commissioner's court. First tax-list.
387
Population and finance. . 437
387
Abstract of assessment, 1880. ....
438
Judge Sears' charge
406
Injurious, indifferent and beneficial. Plantæ. ..
365
The circuit court .
Medicinal plants
369
Reptilia.
370
Election returns and official canvasses. First election.
416 418
Fresh-water mollusks.
374
Second election for representative .. . Records not preserved . 419
Mammalia
375 377
Indian affairs
County buildings and institutions.
395
First deed. 395
Geology
335
Coal-measures
339
Ordination of John Lambert
314
Estrays.
299
Warranty deed.
Fences. 300
Suggestions to those purchasing books by subscription. . 319
364
tion.
The Rocky Mountain locust 380 384
Landlord and tenant. 304
Population of the United States .... Population of fifty principal cities. . Population of principal countries of the world . .
Bills of purchase 30€
9
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Live stock ...
439
Incorporations. 562
Valuation and tax report, 1880 439
Valuation and assessments by town- ships. . 440
The swamp lands and American emi- grant company.
442
The timber act ..
457
Benton township
567
Tax levies for 1881
458
Its history.
567
School report
569
Officers 460
Privates .
461
Pioneer reminiscences
569
Church organization
572
county.
461 463
Agricultural interests
School matters.
573
Reflections .
463
Dallas township.
573
Taylor county agricultural society,
Early settlement
574 575
from its beginning down to the present time ..
490
Normal school.
576
Appointment of "' central com- mittee".
491
Incidents.
577
First fair, 1857.
491
Gay township
579
First settlers.
579 580
Additional meetings, 1860
495
Religious
580
Educational
581
Meeting of October 31, 1863.
Grant township
581
Meetings in 1864.
497
Clearfield. .
583
First things
583
Fair of 1865. .
498
Death of first society
499
Reorganization in 1874.
499
Grove township
Organization .
585
Meetings and fair in 1876.
503
Transactions in 1877.
503
An incident.
586
Holt township.
587 588 591
Jackson township . Boundary in 1851.
592 592
Admission of Missouri.
510
Pioneers. .
592
Kansas-Nebraska bill .
511
Primitive school and school-houses. 592
593
The Fourth infantry
515
The Twenty-ninth infantry
520
The Forty-sixth infantry
526
Fourth cavalry, Missouri State mili- tia
528
Ninth Iowa cavalry
531
Mormontown
Platteville .. 599
600
Lexington .
600
Matters of interest.
601
Conway. ..
602
The Taylor County Republican
542
The Conway mill.
603
Creamery
604
Officers . 605
Masonic.
605
Mason township.
606
Old settlers .
606
School history
607
Nodaway township 607
Professor Jeffrey's report. 608
Churches . 609
Platte township. 609
Boundary prior to 1866. ...
609
Churches 555
PAGE.
Manufactories . 564
Grain business. 565
Horticultural
566
Buildings
566
Hotels . 566
Fifth regiment, I. N. G., Co. I. 460
The Methodist church in Taylor
Religious.
Superintendent's report. 577
Reorganization in 1859 492
Regular meeting, 1860 494
Soil.
Period of dormancy 496 497
Membership in 1864.
497
School statistics 583 584 585
Meetings in 1875.
499
Proceedings during the year 1878. The year 1879.
505 506
The last exhibition.
507 508
Post-offices. ..
591
Taylor county and the civil war Beginnings of the struggle.
508
President Lincoln's proclamation .. . . Proclamation of Governor Kirkwood.
513
Methodist Church. 593 594 594 594
School affairs. .
Names of some early settlers 596
Religious.
597 597
Southern border brigade. 536
The press of Taylor county. 539 Present papers . .. 539 Oldest paper, The South- West. 539 541
Taylor County Democrat
542
A nameless child. 542
The Conway Champion 543
Lenox Time Table .. 543
Mormontown's paper. 543 543 544 544
Early matters
Schools . 550
Benevolent organizations 553
Townships, towns and their growth . ..
Bedford township
504
Educational progress
Annual fair of 1880.
In the beginning
512
Later settlers ..
Report of county superintendent. . Jefferson Township
Marshall township
The Bedford Argus ...
School statistics 585
Churches
Clayton township 569
Accident and crime. 572
10
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
PAGE.
First election.
610
Geography
612
First post-office
610
Buchanan
621
Winter of 1855 -- 6.
610
Schools and post-office.
622
Value of land.
611
Civic societies.
623
Schools
Miscellaneous matters
623
Lenox
613
Ross township.
626
Platted.
613
First seat of justice.
626
School affairs.
614
Location.
628
Flouring-mills
615
Churches.
631
Paper. .
615
School Report.
631
Business men.
615
Washington township
631
Civic societies
617
Earliest settlers
632
Churches ..
618
Religious. .
633
Polk township
621
Schools and school-houses.
633
Name .
621
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
PAGE.
PAGE.
Explanatory
634
Jefferson township.
724
Bedford township.
635
Marshall township
740
Benton township
665
Mason township . 754
Clayton township
671
Nodaway township
763
Dallas township
676
Platte township.
772
Grant towhship.
689
Polk township
796
Grove township.
695
Ross township.
801
Holt township.
707
Washington township
807
Jackson township
719
PORTRAITS.
PAGE.
PAGE.
Lyman Evans
Front.
P C. King.
· opposite
512
N. S. Hornaday
227
J. A Hudson
560
Daniel Leonard.
261
J. T. Wherry
608
E. L. Osborn
279
N. P. Nelson
6 6
656
Capt. L. S. Brooks.
opposite
320
J. W. Barnes
66
704
M. A. Lunn.
368
Geo. Beach .....
752
H. H. White.
416
J. W. Combs.
66
800,
Geo. Van Houten .
66
464
..
.. .....
612
MAP OF TAYLOR COUNTY, IOWA.
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Sip
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 flow 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.
(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 Jesuit 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 Allouez 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 Michillimackinac.
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
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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 terrific 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. He 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 ventured. The guides, having conducted them across the portage, returned. The explorers launched their canoes upon the Wisconsin, which they descended to the Mississippi and proceeded down its unknown waters. What emotions must have swelled their breasts as they struck out into the broadening current and became conscious that they were now upon the bosom of the Father of Waters. The mystery was about to be lifted from the long-sought river. The scenery in that locality is beautiful, and on that delightful seventeenth of June must have been clad in all its primeval loveliness as it had been adorned by the hand of
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