The History of Clinton County, Iowa: Containing a History of the County, Its., Part 1

Author: Western Historical Co , Western Historical Company
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 807


USA > Iowa > Clinton County > The History of Clinton County, Iowa: Containing a History of the County, Its. > Part 1


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.


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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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