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PAST AND PRESENT OF
Winneshiek County IOWA
A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement
By EDWIN C. BAILEY
ILLUSTRATED
VOLUME I
CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1913
1
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY 638677 ASTOR, LENOX AND TILOEN FOUNDATIONS R 1914
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
INDIAN HISTORY 7
CHAPTER II
55
CHAPTER III
SETTLEMENTS OF FOREIGN BORN; . . 65
CHAPTER IV
67
COUNTY ORGANIZATION
CHAPTER V
COUNTY SEAT CONTESTS.
75
CHAPTER VI
85
POLITICS AND POLITICIANS.
CHAPTER VII
THE COMING OF THE RAILROADS.
CHAPTER VIII
THE BOYS IN BLUE .105
CHAPTER IX
AGRICULTURE AND DAIRYING.
CHAPTER X
THIE SCHOOLS 127
CHAPTER XI
THIE NEWSPAPERS
.143
1
.121
99
THE PIONEERS
2
CONTENTS CHAPTER XH
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION . . . . . . 147
CHAPTER XIII
THE LEGAL PROFESSION
... 151
CHAPTER XIV
BANKS AND BANKERS 157
CHAPTER AT
MANUFACTURING
. . 165
CHAPTER XVI
PARKS AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
CHAPTER AVH
GEOLOGY
.171
THE CHURCHES CHAPTER XVIII
173
PATRIOTIC AND FRATERNAL SOCIETIES .183
HARTER AX
CITY OF DECORAH . . .189
CHAPTER XXI
CALMAR TOWNSHIP AND ITS MUNICIPALITIES.
CHAPTER XXI
SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP
CHAPTER XXIII
BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP
.223
CHAPTER XXI
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP
.227
CHAPTER XXV
MILITARY TOWNSHIP
235
CHAPTER XXVI
BLUFFTON TOWNSHIP
.241
CANOE TOWNSHIP
CHAPTER XXVII . . 245
. . 167
.. 199
.213
3
CONTENTS CHAPTER XXVIII
GLENWOOD TOWNSIHP
.. 253
CHAPTER XXIX
HIGHLAND TOWNSHIP 257
CHAPTER XXX
HESPER TOWNSHIP
. . 261
CHAPTER XXXI
FRANKVILLE TOWNSHIP
CHAPTER XXXII
.269
CHAPTER XXXIII
FREMONT TOWNSHIP
.273
CHAPTER XXXIV
279
CHAPTER XXXV
.
.
. . 283
CHAPTER XXXVI
PLEASANT TOWNSHIP
.287
CHAPTER XXXVII
JACKSON TOWNSHIP
.291
SUMNER TOWNSHIP
. . . . 293
CHAPTER XXXIX
MADISON TOWNSHIP
297
CHRONOLOGY 30
.265
LINCOLN TOWNSHIP
BURR OAK TOWNSIHIP
ORLEANS TOWNSHIP
CHAPTER XXXVIII
1
E. C. BAILEY
PREFACE
In the preparation of this article it has been the compiler's aim to make the work as complete and correct as possible. Diligent search has been made for information, and considerable pains have been taken to give the people of Win- neshiek county a reliable account of the Indians who once inhabited this section of the country. The writer has discovered that a number of erroneous state- ments in regard to these Indians have unfortunately found their way into print. In such instances every effort has been made to procure accurate information.
In gathering the data here assembled the writer has had the kind assistance of the Wisconsin Historical Society, the Iowa Library Commission, and the United States Etlinological Burean. Thanks are also due to 'Oliver Lamere (a first cousin of Angel De Cora), who has made diligent search for desired in- formation among members of his tribe on their reservation in Nebraska; Geo. W. Kingsley, Angel De Cora, Little Winneshiek, and Antoine Grignon (all of whom are Winnebago Indians, except the last, who is part Winnebago and part Sioux) ; Dr. Eben D. Pierce; Roger C. Mackenstadt ; Chias. H. Saunders, and H. J. Goddard.
All of the above have responded in a most gratifying manner to requests for information, some of them taking the trouble to prepare long communications, which have been indispensable in the preparation of the following article and which the writer cherishes as among his most valued possessions. All quotations credited to them in this article have been taken from letters received by the writer since December, 1912.
In regard to Angel De Cora, a summary of her career is given in the body of the article, where the main facts about Antoine Grignon's life will also be found. That the reader may form a proper conception of the value of the in- formation imparted by other individuals mentioned above (and all this has a bearing on the trustworthiness of the article), the following statements are appended :-
"During the month of August, 1911, there came to Madison from the Nebraska reservation two Winnebago Indians, Mr. Oliver Lamere and Mr. John Rave. Both men were in the employ of Dr. Paul Radin of the American Bureau of Ethnology, who for several years past has been conducting researches among their tribe for the Government. They remained in Wisconsin until the first weeks in September. Both were Indians of exceptional intelligence. Mr. Lamere is a grandson of Alexander Lamere, one of the group of early Lake
5
6
PREFACE
Koshkonong fur-traders, and a grandson of Oliver Armel. an early Madison fur- trader. Mr. Lamere [ Oliver] acted as Dr. Radin's assistant and interpreter." From an article in "The Wisconsin Archeologist," 1911. by Charles E. Brown, secretary and curator of The Wisconsin Archeological Society, and chief of The State (WVis.) Historical Museum, Madison, Wisconsin.
"George Kingsley * * a member of the Wisconsin Branch of the Winnebago Tribe of Indians, I consider to be the best authority on these mat- ters."-L. M. Compton, superintendent of Tomah School ( United States Indian Service), Wisconsin.
Dr. Eben D. Pierce is a member of the state ( Wis.) and county ( Trempea- Jean) historical societies. He has written a biography of Antoine Grignon, a short history of the Winnebago Indians, and has contributed several articles on the history of that section.
Roger C. Mackenstadt, now at the Uintah and Ouray Indian Agency, Utah, was formerly chief clerk at the Winnebago reservation in Nebraska.
Chas. H. Saunders is a white man who has lived with the Indians most of the time (since he was thirteen years okl). He married into the Waukon family of Winnebago Indians, whose language he speaks fluently. Ile was raised at Lansing, lowa, and was for a number of years a resident of Wisconsin. Hle now resides in Nebraska.
11. J. Goddard of Fort Atkinson has been a resident of Winneshick county since 1849. Mr. Goddard has willingly placed at the disposal of the writer his well-stored memory of early recollections. He is a Civil war veteran and is thus especially competent to speak with authority in regard to military matters con- nected with the fort.
Other old settlers have also responded cheerfully to requests for informa- tion. In most instances their names appear in the article. The writer acknowl- edges a debt of gratitude to them all.
The following authorities have been consulted :
"History of Winneshiek and Allamakee Counties."-W. E. Alexander. 1882.
"Atlas of Winneshiek County."-Anderson & Goodwin, 1905.
"The Making of Iowa."-Henry Sabin, LL. D., 1900.
"History of Iowa," v. 1 .- G. F. Gue, 1903.
"The Red Men of Towa." -- A. R. Fulton, 1882.
"The Indian, The Northwest."-C. & N. W. Ry., 1901.
"North Americans of Yesterday." -- F. S. DeHenbangh.
"Handbook of American Indians."-B. of A. E., 1911.
"Smithsonian Report," 1885.
"Annals of Iowa." 1
"The Wisconsin Archeologist." 2
CHIARLES PHILLIP HEXOM. June 18, 1913.
1 Articles by Eliphalet Price, C. A. Clark, and War Dept. Records of Fort Atkinson.
2 "The Winnebago Tribe," by P. V. Lawson, L.L. B.
Past and Present of Winneshiek County
CHAPTER I
INDIAN HISTORY OF WINNESHIEK COUNTY *
COMPILED BY CHARLES PHILIP HEXOM
TIIE WINNEBAGO TRIBE
Taki maka a-icha 'gha hena mita 'wa-ye lo-Yo, yoyo! Taki maka a-icha gha hena mita'wa-ye lo-Yo, yoyo! -Translation of a Sioux song.
The Winnebago tribe is the fourth group of the great Siouan, or Dakota, family. The Winnebagoes were styled by the Sioux, Hotanke, or the "big- voiced people ;" by the Chippewas, IF'inipig, or "filthy water;" by the Sauks and Foxes, W'inipyagohagi, or "people of the filthy water." Allouez spells the name Ovenibigouts. The French frequently called them Puans, or Puants, names often roughly translated Stinkards. The Iowas called them Ochungaraw. They called themselves Ochungurah, or Hotcangara. Dr. J. O. Dorsey, the distinguished authority on the Siouan tribes, states that the Siouan root, "changa," or "hanga," signifies "first, foremost, original or ancestral." Thus the Winnebagoes call themselves Hotcangara, "the people speaking the original language," or "people of the parent speech." Traditional and linguistic evi- dence shows that the Iowa Indians sprang from the Winnebago stem, which appears to have been the mother stock of some other of the southwestern Sionan tribes.
The term "Sioux" is a French corruption of Nadowe-is-iw, the name given them by the Chippewa Indians of the Algonquin family. It signifies "snake," whence is derived the further meaning "enemy." The name Dakota, or Lakota, by which the principal tribes of the Siouan stock call themselves, means "con- federated," "allied."
Regarding the remote migrations that must have taken place in such a wide- spread stock as the Siouan, different theories are held. An eastern origin is now pretty well established for this stock; for in Virginia, North and South
* Copyright, 1913, Charles Philip Hexom. Permission is granted E. C. Bailey and the S. J. Clarke Publishing Company to use this article as a portion of The History of Winneshiek County edited by Mr. Bailey and published by the S. J. Clarke Publishing Company.
7
PAST AND PRESENT OF WINNESHIER COUNTY
Carolina, and Mississippi were the homes of tribes now extinct, which ethnol- ogists class as belonging to the Siouans." The prehistoric migration of these Indians, which undoubtedly was gradual, proceeded towards the west ; while the Dakotas, Winnebagoes, and cognate tribes, it appears, took a more northerly course.
Passing to the authentic history of the Winnebagoes the first known meet- ing between this tribe and the whites was in 1634, when the French ambassador, Jean Nicolet, found them in Wisconsin near Green Bay. At this time they probably extended to Lake Winnebago. How long the tribe had maintained its position in that territory previous to the coming of the whites is unknown. They were then numerous and powerful. Father Pierre Claude Allouez spent the winter of 1660-70 at Green Bay preaching to the Winnebagoes and their Central Algonquian neighbors.
The Winnebagoes constituted one party in a triple alliance, to which also the Sauks and Foxes belonged, and were always present with the Foxes in their battles against the French, and their ancient enemy, the Illinois Indians. In an effort to combine all the tribes against the Foxes, the French in some way won over the Winnebagoes. After being on unfriendly terms with the Foxes for several years, the old friendship was revived : yet the Winnebagoes managed to retain the friendship of the French and continue in uninterrupted trade relations with them, for, following the missionary, came the trader.
In 1763 France ceded Canada to England. The Winnebagoes, however, were reluctant to transfer their allegiance to the English; but when they did. they remained firm in their new fealty. The English were known to the Win- nebagoes as Monhintonga, meaning "Big Knife:" this term is said to have orig- inated from the kind of swords worn by the English.4 When the thirteen colonies declared their independence in 1776, the Winnebagoes allied themselves with the British and fought with them through the Revolutionary war. They participated in the border outbreaks in Ohio and were among the savages defeated by Gen. Anthony Wayne on August 20, 1794. In the War of 1812-15 they espoused the cause of England, and in the years immediately following this war they became quite insolent.
The so-called Winnebago War of 1827 was of short duration. The energetic movements of Governor Cass, the promptness of the militia under Col. Henry Dodge, and the despatch of General Atkinson of the federal army filled the Winnebagoes with such respect for the power of the United States that the disturbance was quelled before it had fairly begun. At this time the tribe numbered nearly seven thousand. It might also be mentioned that a few of the tribe secretly joined the Sauks and Foxes in the Black Hawk War of 1832.
Smallpox visited the tribe twice before 1836, and in that year more than one- fourth of the tribe died. Mr. George Catlin, famous painter of the Indians, made the statement, when at Prairie du Chien in 1836, that, "The only war that suggests itself to the eye of the traveler through their country is the war of sympathy and pity."
3 "The Siouan Tribes of the East," by James Mooney, Bulletin Bureau of Ethnology, 1804. Washington.
" "The Omaha Tribe." by Alice C. Fletcher and Francis La Flesche, Eth. Ann. 27, pg. 611.
9
PAST AND PRESENT OF WINNESHIEK COUNTY
REMOVAL TO 10WA
Historical evidence reveals the fact that at one time the northern part of Winneshiek county formed a small part of the vast hunting grounds of the Sioux Indians, and that the southern portion was given over to the Sauks and Foxes. In a council held at Prairie du Chien August 19, 1825, a boundary line was established between the Sioux, on the north, and the Sauks and Foxes, on the south. The principal object of this treaty was to make peace between these contending tribes as to the limits of their respective hunting grounds in Iowa.
This boundary line began at the mouth of the Upper Iowa river and fol- lowed the stream, which traverses Winneshiek county, to its source. In order to decrease still further the encounters between the Sauks and Foxes, on the one hand, and the Sioux, on the other, the United States secured, at a council held at Prairie du Chien July 15, 1830, a strip of territory twenty miles wide on each side of the boundary line already established and extending from the Mississippi to the east fork of the Des Moines. This strip, forty miles in width, was termed the "Neutral Ground." The tribes on either side were to hunt and fish on it unmolested, a privilege they ceased to enjoy when this territory was ceded to the Winnebagoes. In this way the tract of land now known as Winneshiek county became a part of the Neutral Ground.
September 15. 1832, the Winnebagoes ceded to the United States their lands south of the Wisconsin and Fox rivers, east of the Mississippi. The Government, on its part, by this treaty granted to the Winnebagoes, "to be held as other Indian lands are held, that part of the tract of country on the west side of the Mississippi river known as the Neutral Ground, embraced within the following limits." The boundaries specified confined the Winnebagoes to that portion of the Neutral Ground extending forty miles west of the Mississippi. By the terms of this treaty they were to be paid $10,000 annually for twenty- seven years, beginning in September, 1833.
November 1, 1837, a treaty was concluded with the Winnebagoes at Wash- ington, by the provisions of which they ceded to the United States the remainder of their lands on the east side and certain interests on the west side of the Mississippi river, and agreed to remove to a portion of the Neutral Giround in northeastern Iowa, set aside for them in the previous treaty of September 15, 1832. This treaty of 1837 was loudly proclaimed by the tribe to be a fraud. It was stated that the delegation which visited Washington in that year had no authority to execute such an instrument. Chiefs, also, who were of this party all made the same declaration.5
The first attempt to remove the Winnebagoes was made in 1840, when a considerable number were induced to move to the Turkey river. That year a portion of the Fifth and Eighth regiments of United States infantry came to Portage, Wisconsin, to conduct their removal. Antoine Grignon and others were connected with this force as interpreters.
Two large boats were provided to transport the Indians down the Wis- consin river to Prairie du Chien. Captain Sumner, who later was a commanding
5 Wisconsin Archeologist, Vol. 6, No. 3, pg. 112.
10
PAST AND PRESENT OF WINNESHIER COUNTY
officer at Fort Atkinson, secured 250 Winnebagoes in southern Wisconsin. These were also taken to Prairie du Chien. They first disliked the idea of going on to the Neutral Ground, because on the south were the Sauks and Foxes, and on the north were the Sioux, and with these tribes they were not on friendly terms. Considerable resentment was felt by the Sauks and Foxes towards the Winnebagoes for having delivered Black Hawk over to the whites, although previous to this occasion the Winnebagoes had been in intimate relationship with these tribes. However, they soon grew to love the lowa reservation.
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
And they painted on the grave-posts On the graves yet unforgotten. Each his own ancestral Totem, Each the symbol of his household ;- -The Song of Hiawatha.
In each tribe there existed, on the basis of kinship, a division into clans and gentes. The names given to these divisions were usually those of the animals, birds, reptiles, or inanimate objects from which their members claimed descent, or which were regarded as guardian deities common to them all: these were known as their totems.
The term "clan" implies descent in the female, and "gens" in the male line. Clans and gentes were generally organized into phratries; and phratries, into tribes. A phratry was an organization for ceremonial and other festivals.
The Winnebago social organization was based on two phratries, known as the Upper. or Air, and the Lower, or Farth, divisions. The Upper division contained four clans: (1) Thunder-bird. (2) War People. (3) Eagle, (4) Pigeon (extinct ) ; while the Lower division contained eight clans: (1) Bear. (2) Wolf, (3) Water-spirit, (4) Deer, (5) Elk. (6) Buffalo, (7) Fish, (8) Snake.
The Thunder-bird and Bear clans were regarded as the leading clans of their respective phratries. Both had definite functions. The lodge of the former was the peace lodge, over which the chief of the tribe presided, while the lodge of the Bear clan was the war, or disciplinary, lodge. Each clan had a number of individual customs, relating to birth, the naming-feast, death, and the funeral- wake. An Upper individual must marry a Lower individual, and vice versa.
When Carver, an early traveler, first came in contact with the Winnebagoes. their chief was a woman. The man, however, was the head of each family. Where clans existed, a man could become a member of any particular clan only by birth, adoption, or transfer in infancy from his mother's to his father's clan, or vice versa. The place of woman in a tribe was not that of a slave or beast of burden. The existence of the gentile organization, in most tribes with descent in the female line, forbade that she be subjected to any such indignity.
Dr. J. O. Dorsey obtained a list of the gentes of the Hotcangara, or Winne- bagoes." They were ( t) Shungikikarachada ('Wolf') : (2) Honchikikarachada ('Black Bear') ; (3) Huwanikikarachada (Elk'); (4) Wakanikikarachada
" The late J. Owen Dorsey of the Bureau of American Ethnology, in Bull. 30, pg 001.
CHAS PHIL. HEXOM-13'
after J.O.LEWIS
WAA-KAUN-SEE-KAA (Rattle-Snake) Painted at the treaty of Prairie du Chien, 1825, by J. O. Lewis. and recently identified as the portrait of Waukon -. Decorah (Wakun-lia-ga, or Snake Skin).
13
PAST AND PRESENT OF WINNESHIEK COUNTY
('Snake') ; (5) Waninkikikarachada ('Bird') ; (6) Cheikikarachada ('Buffalo') ; (7) Chaikikarachada ('Deer') ; (8) Wakchekhiikikarachada ('Water-monster'). The Bird gens was composed of four sub-gentes, namely: (a) Hichakhshepara ('Eagle'), (b) Ruchke ('Pigeon'), (c) Kerechun ('Hawk'), (d) Wakanchara ('Thunder-bird'). It seems probable that each gens was thus subdivided into four sub-gentes.
In 1843 they were on the Neutral Ground in different bands, the principal one, called the School band, occupying territory along the Turkey river.
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS
The Winnebagoes are distinctly a timber people, and always confined them- selves to the larger streams. In early days their wearing apparel consisted commonly of breechclout, moccasins, leggings, and robes of dressed skins. The advent among them of the whites enabled them to add blankets, cloths, and ornaments to their scanty wardrobes.
Jonathan Emerson Fletcher, the Indian agent at the Turkey river, furnished Mr. Henry R. Schoolcraft, LL. D., at one time Indian agent for Wisconsin Territory and author of "Historical and Statistical Information Respecting the Ilistory. Condition and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States," a description of the costume of the Winnebagoes, from which the following is condensed: 7 "White blankets are preferred in winter, and colored in the sun- mer. Red is a favorite color among the young, and green with the aged. Calico shirts, cloth leggings, and buckskin moccasins are worn by both sexes. In addition to the above articles, the women wear a broadcloth petticoat, or mantelet, suspended from the hips and extending below the knee.
"Wampum, ear-bobs, rings, bracelets, and bells are the most common orna- ments worn by them. Head-dresses ornamented with eagle's feathers are worn by the warriors on public occasions. The chiefs wear nothing peculiar to designate their office, except it be medals received from the President of the United States.
"Some of the young men and women paint their blankets with a variety of colors and figures. A large majority of the young and middle-aged of both sexes paint their faces when they dress for a dance.
"Old and young women divide their hair from the forehead to the back of the crown, and wear it collected in a roll on the back of the neck, confined with ribbons and bead-strings. The men and boys wear their hair cut similar to the whites, except that they all wear a small quantity on the back of the crown, long and braided, which braids are tied at the end with a ribbon. The men have but little beard, which is usually plucked out by tweezers."
One style of Winnebago wigwam consisted of an arched frame-work of poles firmly set in the ground and lashed together with strips of bark and so arranged as to give it sloping sides and a rounded top. Cross-pieces of wood secured the poles to one another. The roof and sides were covered with pieces of bark, or matting. The general outline was round or elliptical. Conical lodges were employed chiefly in the summer time. Fur robes, matting, and
? Wisconsin Archeologist, Vol. 6, No. 3, pg. 121.
1-4
PAST AND PRESENT OF WINNESITEK COUNTY
blankets served for bedding. Branches were heaped around the side walls, and these, covered with blankets, served as a bed.
Mr. Fletcher stated $ that the lodges at the Turkey river. lowa, were "from twelve to forty feet in length, and from ten to twenty feet in width, and fifteen feet in height from the ground to the top of the roof. The largest would accommodate three families of ten persons each. They generally have two doors. Fires, one for each family, are made along the space through the center. The smoke escapes through the apertures in the roof. The summer lodge is of lighter materials and is portable."
Council houses and other structures were erected in each village. Mr. Oliver Lamiere states: "It is said that all of their councils were held at the Turkey river, as that was their agency at the time. Usually everything went as the chiefs wanted it." Regarding the vicinity of Fort Atkinson, Mr. H. J. Goddard says: "There were two Indian camping grounds south of here. one about a quarter of a mile, and the other half a mile, distant. One had about 50 wigwams, and the other between 300 and 400. They took poles and stuck them in the ground, then bent them over and tied the tops together and covered them with bark. The bark was pealed from the water or slippery-elm trees during the spring."
Bark served the Indians in a multitude of ways. It was stripped from trees at the proper season by hacking it around so that it could be taken off in sheets of the desired length. The Winnebagoes also made a kind of drink from bark. Mr. Lamere says, "They also made a matting from reeds sewed or matted together with strings made out of bass-wood bark : of course, they used canvas when they could purchase it, but their permanent lodges would be of bark."
It was the man's duty to protect his village and family, and by hunting to provide meat and skins. The women dried the meat, dressed the hides, made the clothing, and, in general, performed all the household duties. The processes employed for dressing skins were various, such as fleshing, scraping, braining, stripping, graining, and working. In the domestic economy of the Indian, skins were his most valued and useful material, as they also later became his principal trading asset. A list of the articles made of this material would em- brace a great many of the Indian's principal possessions.
Moccasins and other articles made of skin were often covered with artistic bead-work, replete with tribal symbolism. The Winnebagoes also had, not long ago, a well developed porcupine quill industry.
In common with other tribes the Winnebagoes were accustomed to prepare dried and smoked fish and meat. Nuts, wild fruits, and edible roots of various kinds were also used for food. Corn was raised and such vegetables as squash, pumpkins, beans, potatoes and watermelons. Corn was often eaten green, but usually after it had been dried, ground, and made into bread; it was some- times boiled with meat. At the Turkey river near Fort Atkinson the Indians cached their corn in holes dug in the ground three or four feet square and about three feet deep. Wild rice was raised and was prepared by being boiled with meat and vegetables. Shelled dried corn, dried hulled fruit, and nuts
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