USA > Iowa > Clinton County > The History of Clinton County, Iowa: Containing a History of the County, Its. > Part 1
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NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES 3 3433 08191945 2
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THE
HISTORY 1
OF
CLINTON COUNTY,
IOWA,
CONTAINING
A history of the County, its Cities, Gowns,
Biographical Sketches of Citizens, War Record of its Volunteers in the late Rebellion, General and Local Statistics, Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men, History of the Northwest, History of Iowa, Map of Clinton County, Constitution of the United States, Miscellaneous Matters, &c., &c.
ILLUSTRATED.
CHICAGO: WESTERN HISTORICAL COMPANY, 1879. i-
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urer PRINTERS 118 &120 MONROE ST CHICAGO C
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY 5431 Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. 1896
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PREFACE.
F FORTY-FOUR years have passed since civilization's advance guard, in the persons of MR. ELIJAH BUELL and family, first commenced the work of developing the rich agricultural lands now embraced within the boundaries of Clinton County. Had these pioneers, or those who soon followed them, directed their attention to keeping a diary of events, or a chronological journal, to write a history of the county at this date would be comparatively an easy task. In the absence of all such records, the difficulties of such a work were greatly increased, and still further by the death or removal of the larger pro- portion of the original settlers. More than this, the official records, many of which are altogether lost, are meager in the extreme. It must be further borne in mind that it was twenty years before the first newspaper was published in the county, and the files of that one were destroyed by fire. The struggles, changes and vicissitudes of forty-four years have made their marks upon the minds as well as bodies of those men who first "awoke the echoes" in the wilderness, and the memory of names, dates and events becomes lost in the confusion which seems to overtake them as they endeavor to bring up the scenes and events of their early manhood and womanhood, and the recollections of these events, which transpired nearly fifty years ago, come dimly and in shadowy outline. But enough has been written to show to the thoughtful reader the wonderful progress that has been made during those years, and to place before him a pict- ure of the "hundred-fold" harvest that has followed the first seedings of civilization-in the cultivated farms, schoolhouses, churches, cities, villages, rail- ways, telegraphs and manfacturing establishments-that are scattered throughout the whole county. The geology of the county was prepared by DR. P. J. FARNSWORTH, and also other valuable scientific assistance rendered to the
iii
PREFACE.
compiler in the succeeding chapters. The complete and exhaustive history of De Witt was prepared by R. J. CROUCH, EsQ., who also rendered other valuable assistance.
Acknowledgments are due to COL. J. VANDEVENTER, to MESSRS. ALLEN SLACK and B. B. HART for much valuable information ; to the county officials for courtesy in extending all possible aid during the examination of the rec- ords; to the newspaper publishers for the use of files; to J. D. FEGAN for his patience "under fire" during a multitude of interviews; to DR. CHARLES H. LOTHROP for medical data, and HON. A. R. COTTON for the list of early attorneys; to City Clerks for access to city records; to the clergy of all denominations for church statistics; to the Secretaries of the various Orders and Societies; to SUPERINTENDENT J. S. OLIVER and other railway officials for statistical information; to ELIJAH BUELL, J. D. BOURNE, FRANKLIN K. PECK, DAVID and DANIEL HESS, LEVI DECKER, MRS. DANIEL H. PEARCE, E. M. OSBORN, THOMAS WATTS, JOHN PREFFER, S. N. BEDFORD, L. T. SLOAN, and scores of others of old settlers, as well as new, who have cheerfully assisted in furnishing items of interest for this work. To these parties is due, . in a great measure, whatever of merit may be ascribed to this work. The compiler also acknowledges the valuable labors of MR. E. L. MOSES, who has assisted in the preparation of the work.
We would acknowledge our obligations to MR. LUCIUS P. ALLEN, the compiler of the history, who has labored with conscientious fidelity to make it thoroughly accurate. We have no doubt his energy and zeal in the prosecution of his duty have won for him not alone the approbation of his employers, but, also, of all with whom he has come in contact.
September, 1879.
THE PUBLISHERS.
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CONTENTS.
HISTORY NORTHWEST AND STATE OF IOWA.
PAGE.
History Northwest Territory ..
19
History of Iowa :
Rivers.
.111
Lakes
118
College for the Blind ...
.197
Springs.
.. 119
Deaf and Dumb Institution.
.199
Prairies.
.120
Soldiers' Orphans' Homes.
199
State Normal School ...
.. 201
Geology
120
Asylum for Feeble Minded
Children ..
201
American Settlements
59
Climatology
137
Division of the Northwest Ter-
Discovery and Occupation.
.139
ritory ...
65
Tecumseh and the War of 1812 69
Black Hawk and the Black
Pike's Expedition
151
Hawk War ..
73
Indian Wars ..
152
Territory
.147
Reform School
202
Indians ..
147
Fish Hatching Establishment .. 203
Public Lands
204
Public Schools
.218
Political Record.
223
War Record.
229
Infantry.
233
Cavalry ..
.. 244
Miscellaneous.
.248
Iowa ...
.260
Territorial History.
.173
Roundary Question
177
State Organization
.181
Growth and Progress.
.. 185
Agricultural College and Farm.186
History of Iowa :
Geographical Situation
109
Topography ...
-109
Drainage System.
110
ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS.
PAGE.
PAGE.
PAGE.
Adoption of Children
.. 303
Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes ... 293
Confession of Judgment.
... 306
Commercial Terms ..
.305
Lease
.. 312
Married Women ..
298
Mortgages.
310
Marks and Brands
.. 300
Notice to Quit ..
.309
Notes.
.306, 313
Roads and Bridges
302
Surveyors and Surveys ..
.. 303
Suggestions to Persons Purchasing Books by Subscription. 319
Support of Poor
303
Taxes ...
295
Wills and Estates.
293
Bond for Deed ..
315
Intoxicating Liquors ..
.. 317 | Wolf Scalpe.
.300
Bills of Purchase.
.306
Jurisdiction of Courts.
.207
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
PAGE.
Source of the Mississippi
22
La Salle Landing on the Shore of Green Bay. 24 Indians Attacking Frontiersmen .. 55 Present Site Lake Street Bridge, Chicago, 1833. 58 Buffalo Hunt 26 A Pioneer Dwelling 60
Old Fort Dearborn, 1830.
79
Lincoln Monument
80
A Ploneer School House
81
Chicago in 1833.
82
Trapping
28
Lake Bluff.
62
Hunting Prairie Wolves.
83
Month of the Mississippi
31
Tecumseh, the Shawanoe Chieftain
68
Kinzie House
87
Indians Attacking a Stockade .......
71
Starved Rock
89
74
An Early Settlement
.108
MISCELLANEOUS.
PAGE.
PAGE.
Map of Clinton County
.Front. ! Surveyor's Measure ..
288
How to Keep Accounts
.288
Constitution of United States ..
....... 269
Vote for President, Governor and
Interest Table.
.289
Congressmen .........
.283
Miscellaneous Tahle
.. 239
Practical Bules for Every-Day Use.284
United States Government Land
Names of the States of the Union
and their Significations.
.290
Messare ..
... 287
Population of the United States ..... 291
Population of Fifty Principal Cities
of the United States ..
... 291
Population and Area of the United
States.
.. 292
Population of the Principal Coun-
tries in the World.
202
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Forms:
Jurors
297
Chattel Mortgage ...
.314
Limitation of Actions.
.297
Landlord and Tenant.
.304
Capital Punishment. .298
Charitable, Scientific and Religious Amociations .. 316
Orders ..
.306
Descent .....
Quit Claim Deed.
.315
293
Damages frum Trespass.
.300
Exemptions from Execution
.. 298
Latrays ..
.299
Receipts ...
.. 306
Wills and Codicil
309
Forme :
Warranty Deed ..
.314
Articles of Agreement
.. 307
Bills of Sale ..
.. 308
Fences
300
Interest.
.293
Weights and Measures
.305
Mechanics' Liens.
.301
Promotions from Iowa Reg-
iments.
.. 249
Number Casualties-Officers.250
Number Casualties-Enlist-
ed Men ....
.. 252
Number Volunteers.
.254
Population ...
.255
State University
187
State Historical Society.
.. 193
Penitentiaries.
.. 194
History of Iowa:
Insane Hospitals.
.. 195
Geographical Position .. 19 Early Explorations. 20 Discovery of the Ohio .. 32 English Explorations and Set- tlements .. 34
Other Indian Troubles ..
79
Black Hawk War
.157
Present Condition of the North-
Indian Purchase, Reserves and
Treaties
.159
west
79
Illinois ...
88
Spanish Grants
.163
Illinois
257
Half-Breed Tract ...
164
Artillery
247
Indiana
259
Early Settlements ..
166
Michigan
.263
Wisconsin ..
264
Minnesota
266
Nebraska.
267
Agricultural Statistics ..
. 320
PAGE.
PAGE
PAGE. '
High Bridge .......
33
Pontiac, the Ottawa Chieftain.
42
Black Hawk, the Sac Chieftain.
...
PAGE.
vi
CONTENTS.
HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
PAGE.
Prefatory.
.... 323
Name.
.. 324
Descriptive Geography ...
.324
Clinton Bridge
497
Churches.
589
Geology ..
.324
City Government ..
.. 503
Masonic.
593
Educational.
.505
Odd Fellows ..
.596
Public Libraries ...
508
Post Office.
.509
Water Works
509
Mythical ...
334
Gas Works.
General Summary ..
346
rganization. ..
.349
....
Board of County Commissioners. .. 350
Resumé ....
352
Knights of Maccabees.
.522
Street Railway
.603
Change of Township Boundaries ... 366
Jowa Legion of Honor.
522
. Water Works.
604
Board of Supervisors.
372
German Society
523
Paper Mill ..
604
First Courts.
.. 373
R. O. T. A. & B. S
523
Municipal Matters
605
District Court.
.377
County Judges.
.377
Circuit Court. 377
Clerks of the Court. .378
Sheriffs ..
378
County Officers. .378
Legislative ... 379 Territorial Legislation. 379 State Legislation. 379 Political Economy. 380
Sociological
382
Domestic Life .384 Summary.
Security ....
386
Roads and Traveling .. 387 Early History .540
Mail Routee. 388 Incidents, etc. 545 Olive Township. Calamus
Early Religious History ..
.391
Tornadoes.
.395
Incorporation
.550
Court House Controversy. 406
The Underground Railroad.
.413
Churches
557
Center Township.
639
Prose
.564 Welton Township 641
Medical.
.424
Societies
.565
Orange Township.
643
Attorneys ...
433
Camanche ..
567
First Schools 571
Newspapers ..
.571
Hanging of Warren. 439
Hanging of Bargor. .442
Hanging of Hiner
.443
Beaver Island " War"
.444
Claim Business
Lost Child. 446 Burglaries. 575
A Pioneer Woman's Expedient. .449
Legend of Jakey Lepper. 450 War History .. 453
Miscellaneous Incidents. 659 Camanche Township. 576 Roster 460 Spring Rock. 576 Population 661
Clinton ...
488
Iowa Land Co. 488 Original Plat and Additions .... 490
Churches
578
Land and Field Crops, 1875
664
County Expenses, 1878.
665
Taxes, 1878
.. 665
580
Valuation
.666
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
PAGE.
PAGE.
PAGE.
.806 De Witt .736 Berlin Olive 808 Orange 758 Brookfield .. 725 Eden . 754 Bloomfield. 708 Elk River. .789 Sharon .. .801
Spring Rock 790 Camanche 768 Hampshire. .. 722
Center
.775
Lincoln ..
751
Washington
814
Liberty
804
Clinton
669
Waterford
716
.697
Welton
764
LITHOGRAPHIC PORTRAITS.
PAGE.
.411
A. P. Hosford
.. 375
J. Stine
.393
P. S. Towle
519
G. W. Thorn ..
.447
A. R. Cotton
.339
Samuel Sedoris
.483
A. E. Winchell
.. 465
PAGP. 817
Errata ..
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PAGE.
Chicago, Iowa & Nebraska R. R.493
Chronicles.
.583
Railroad Property and Officials 495
City Government. .585
Meteorology .326
Botany. 328
Zoology.
330
Ethnology and Archeology .332
Early Settlement. 337
Religious
.511
Masonic.
A. 0 U. W.
.521
Odd Fellows. .521
Union Iron Works .. .524
Lumber Interests.
608
Paper Company
.525
Banks ...
.607
District Attorneys ..
.377
Lumber Interest
.625
Other Industries.
608
C. Lamb & Sons. 626
Clinton Lumber Company ... Sash Factory ..
.528
Banks
529
Press
530
Summary
611
531
Ringwood
612
Elk River Townebip.
.617
535
Waterford Township.
621
De Witt Township
540
Brookfield and Bloomfield Town- shi pe .636
631
.633
Town Officers
.550
Washington Township.
638
Liberty Township.
645
Sharon Township ..
646
Berlin Township.
.647
Hampshire Township. 648
Miscellaneous.
649
River Reminiscences .651 Railroads ve. Rivers. .652 Envoy 655 Dubuque Melee 657 Early Statistics. 658
An Eccentric Character. .575
Business Directory ...
.575
Sanitary
658
.571
Societies ....
572
Incorporation
573
City Officers
.. 573
Early Business Men 574
Wheatland .. 577 Vote, 1878 662-663
Lodges
579
Press ..
.579
Calico and other Chimerical Railways .491 Lyons ..
Deep Creek
784 | Lyons
PAGE.
PAGE.
N. Boardman
James D. Bourne .357 W. McQuigg. ...
Elijah Buell .. 323 H. A. Merrill. 429
.. 501
Knights of Pythias
596
Knights of Honor
596
Public Schools.
.597
611
Female College
.601
Our Lady of Angels Seminary ... 601
617
Riverside Institute ...
.601
Young Men's Library Associa- tion ... 602
Telephonic ..
808
.. 527 Newspapers. 508
Old-fashioned Fourth of July .. 609 Order, etc.
.610
Business Statistics
Finances
.532
Deep Creek Township
612
Clinton Institute. .. 533
Town of De Witt
.548
Eden Township.
+36
Churches
Insane and Poor. .436 Pioneer Detectives .. .437
Old Settlers' Meeting. .416
PAGE.
Clintou Bridge Co.
.523
Finances ...
806
.
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 fow 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.
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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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THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
Nature. Drifting rapidly, it is said that the bold bluffs on either hand "reminded them of the castled shores of their own beautiful rivers of France." By-and-by, as they drifted along, great herds of buffalo appeared on the banks. On going to the heads of the valley they could see a country of the greatest beauty and fertility, apparently destitute of inhab- itants yet presenting the appearance of extensive manors, under the fas- tidious cultivation of lordly proprietors.
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SOURCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
On June 25, they went ashore and found some fresh traces of men upon the sand, and a path which led to the prairie. The men remained in the boat, and Marquette and Joliet followed the path till they discovered a village on the banks of a river, and two other villages on a hill, within a half league of the first, inhabited by Indians. They were received most hospitably by these natives, who had never before seen a white person. After remaining a few days they re-embarked and descended the river to about latitude 33°, where they found a village of the Arkansas, and being satisfied that the river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico, turned their course
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THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
up the river, and ascending the stream to the mouth of the Illinois, rowed up that stream to its source, and procured guides from that point to the lakes. " Nowhere on this journey," says Marquette, "did we see such grounds, meadows, woods, stags, buffaloes, deer, wildcats, bustards, swans, ducks, parroquets, and even beavers, as on the Illinois River." The party, without loss or injury, reached Green Bay in September, and reported their discovery-one of the most important of the age, but of which no record was preserved save Marquette's, Joliet losing his by the upsetting of his canoe on his way to Quebec. Afterward Marquette returned to the Illinois Indians by their request, and ministered to them until 1675. On the 18th of May, in that year, as he was passing the mouth of a stream-going with his boatmen up Lake Michigan-he asked to land at its mouth and celebrate Mass. Leaving his men with the canoe, he retired a short distance and began his devotions. As much time passed and he did not return, his men went in search of him, and found him upon his knees, dead. He had peacefully passed away while at prayer. He was buried at this spot. Charlevoix, who visited the place fifty years after, found the waters had retreated from the grave, leaving the beloved missionary to repose in peace. The river has since been called Marquette.
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