The History of Dallas County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., Part 1

Author: Union Historical Company, Des Moines
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Des Moines : Union Historical Company
Number of Pages: 686


USA > Iowa > Dallas County > The History of Dallas County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c. > Part 1


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OF


DALLAS COUNTY


1879


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THE


HISTORY


OF


DALLAS COUNTY,


IOWA,


CONTAINING


A History of the County, its Cities, Towns, &c.,


A Biographical Directory of its Citizens, War Record of its Volunteers in the late Re- bellion, General and Local Statistics, Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men, History of the Northwest, History of Iowa, Map of Dallas County, Constitution of the United States, Constitution of the State of Iowa, Miscellaneous Matters, &c.


ILLUSTRATED.


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Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1879, by


THE UNION HISTORICAL COMPANY,


In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.


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PREFACE.


IN presenting this work to the people of Dallas county, we have reason to believe that we are placing it in the hands of its friends. A friendly disposition was manifested toward our representatives during its compilation, and we trust the volume in its complete form may be in no sense a disappointment, though we by no means claim for it perfection. If we have accomplished nothing more, we have, at least, rescued much important matter from oblivion. Ten years more would have made the record of many important facts and incidents, which are herein presented, an impossibility, for much of it was recorded only in the memory of the early settlers, and must have passed away with them sooner or later, unless recorded in some more enduring form for future generations.


The first settlers of Dallas county have passed the mountain tops of life. Memory is one of the first faculties of mind which shows signs of decay, and even among those of the old guard still living, another decade would have found many a link rusted out from their chain of recollection.


More than thirty-three years have come and gone since white men came to occupy and develop the highly productive lands of Dallas county. These years were full of changes and interesting history, and had more of the vigorous minds and ready pens of the early settlers been directed to the keeping of a chronological journal or diary of events during the earliest days of settlement, as a very few have done through the later periods, it would be a compar- atively easy task now to write a much more full, interesting and correct history of the county. In the absence of such records the magnitude of the undertaking is very materially increased, and rendered still more intricate and difficult by reason of the absence of so many of the pioneer fathers and mothers who were first to make settlements in the county and were eye-witnesses to these various changes and events, and who themselves were the important actors in the scenes. In this history we have endeavored to present to the reader a picture of the past and present of Dallas county, noting also many of the more important changes intervening. We have labored to introduce him to the wigwams of its aborigines, to seat him by the hearth-stone of its pioneers, to trace the history of the county's organization, to complete a sketch of its leading institutions, as also of its towns and townships from their organization and establish- ment, and to represent the condition of the county while entering the last quarter of the nine- teenth century.


This has not been so much the work of ourselves as that of Dallas county's own citizens. We have compiled what many of these men and women have long known, and placed it in permanent form for the present generation and for those to come. We have not the confidence to presume that the work will contain no mistakes, for the fallibility of memory produces a hun- dred conflicting statements, and dates are slippery things to handle. Names will get twisted, and not a few things met with in preparing such a work are exceedingly crooked by nature so that they are unruly things to spread on paper. On these accounts errors will creep in, even with the best of care. Some of these will belong to our informants and some to ourselves. But we trust that a charitable public will not forget that " to err is human."


The sketches on the Northwest, and the articles, descriptive and historical, on Iowa, embrac- ing the first two hundred and fifty-six pages of the work, were prepared by A. R. Fulton, of Des Moines, and we doubt not will prove highly interesting and instructive, as showing the steps by which, within the present century, a vast region, inhabited by savages, has developed into mighty States.


In our "War Record " we have endeavored to give, in epitomized form, the part taken by .individual soldiers from Dallas county, with a full record of those who engaged in the service from this county during the late war.


The especial value of much we have presented, particularly in our biographical department, will be patent a generation hence. It will, we trust, be endeared to hundreds of firesides.


With regard to the important facts and incidents in the early history of the county we are especially indebted to Judge Lloyd D. Burns for the most valuable and reliable information given by important documents and verbal statements, and especially by his Centennial His- tory of Dallas county, which he had prepared by appointment of the Governor of the State for record, and a large portion of the first of which had been published in the Dallas County


iv


PREFACE.


Gazette, 1877. On this important document we have relied for the principal information con- cerning the early history of the county. And it is exceedingly fortunate for all parties con- cerned that such a document was in existence, otherwise much of the early history would have been lost, and especially the political record during the first three or four years, as the records of those years are most imperfect, and Judge Burns is the only one found in the county who has kept anything of a full record of that period. Articles of a similar character also were prepared by Mr. Benjamin Greene, and published in the Dallas County News a year pre- vious to the others above mentioned, from which, also, we have received important information, but were unable to get access to more than three numbers of the paper.


We wish thus publicly to express thanks for these favors and for this valuable work in thus presenting the early records and history of the county, which service is not less valuable to the readers than to the publishers of this work. We desire, also, thus publicly to express our ap- preciation of the kindness which has been shown us in this enterprise. To the several hundred citizens who have co-operated with our representatives in securing the information which made the accompanying work a possibility, we tender our hearty thanks-to the Press of the county, especially to editors of the New Era and Dallas County News, for the use of files of papers and for general information; to Judge Jeremiah Perkins for Masonic history and important informa- tion regarding his town and the political matters of the county; to Mr. Cole Noel for aid in pre- paring the list of county officers, and other valuable assistance and information; to Mr. Thos. C. Walsh for generous aid and valuable statistics so freely rendered; to Mr. L. Swearingen, the county auditor, for free access to the records and for such liberal kindness displayed to all our representatives; to all the county and town officials for similar acts of kindness and aid rendered; to the various pastors and officers of churches for the numerous and valuable sketches and statistics regarding their several churches; to the county superintendent, Captain Amos Dilley, and the various principals and teachers of the county, for educational reports and statistics, and to the various citizens in towns, townships and county who so kindly and will- ingly rendered us important aid in furnishing statistics and particulars regarding the early history and present condition of their respective towns, townships and localities, to all such we tender our heartfelt thanks.


Whatever of satisfaction, instruction, or enjoyment the perusal of these pages may bring to the reader, will be a gratification to


THE PUBLISHERS.


willey.


CONTENTS.


HISTORICAL.


PAGE.


History of Dallas County :


The First Lot Fund Agency .. 314


The First Assessment


316


The Second Election ..


316


Early


Settlements


in


the


Northwest ..


14


The First District Court


318


Fifteenth Infantry


410


The First Grand Jury ..


318


Judge James P. Charlton 319


The Lost Records


320


Petit Jury


322


The First School


323


The First Church 324


Claim Clubs versus


Claim


Jumpers ....


324


The Third Election.


326


Sketches of Western


and


Northwestern States


67


The First Court-house


327


Mormon Raid 329


Presidential Election


332


The First Water Mill 334


The Owens' Mill 335


A Cabin-raising 338


A Pioneer Courtship


341


A Pioneer Doctor ..


344


Dexter


466


Dallas Center


473


Redfield


477


Wiscotta ..


481


Van Meter


482


Minburn


485


Booneville


487


Second District Court


351


Waukee


489


Xenia.


492


Townships :


Organization of 493


The First Deed


356


Adel


496


The Elections of 1850


357


Boone.


500


Van Meter


503


The First Ferry.


360


Adams.


506


Valuation of Out-lots. 361


Third Presidential Election .. 362


List of County Officers 366


County Finances 374


Bridges ..


377


Poor Farm


378


County Jail 379


Stock-raising


379


Agricultural Society


383


Log Cabins ..


293


A Pioneer Mill


294


Railroads


384


Going to Mill. 296 Temperance. 389


Incidents


297


Religious.


392


Organization


303


Educational.


394


County Seat.


312


The Press


399


ILLUSTRATIONS.


PAGE.


Westward the Star of Empire


takes its Way .. 17


An Indian Camp 33 Chicago in 1820 97


Indians trying a Prisoner.


49


A Pioneer Winter


65


Chicago, 1833.


97


War History :


Dallas County War Record .. . 403 Fourth Infantry 407 Tenth Infantry 409


Seventeenth Infantry 411


Eighteenth Infantry .


412


Twenty-third Infantry


413


Thirty-ninth Infantry


415


Forty-fourth Infantry.


425


Forty-sixth Infantry


425


Miscellaneous Enlistments. 426


Second Cavalry


427


Fourth Cavalry


427


Ninth Cavalry.


428


Second Light Artillery


429


Expedition of


Lewis


and


Clarke


..


86


Sketch of Chicago


96


History of Iowa:


Descriptive and Geographical Sketch 105


Geology of Iowa. 117


Economic Geology. 125


How the Title to Iowa Lands


is derived


130


Early Settlements and Terri-


torial Organization


141


Territory of Iowa


153


Flood of 1849.


A Fruitful Year


345


Educational 162


State Institutions


169


Railroads


172


Official Record 174


The Judiciary .. 176


Congressional Representation 177


State Agricultural Society. 178


Centennial Awards ...


191


History of Dallas County :


Indian Affairs.


257


Statistics


361


Geography -Descriptive


and


Physical $264


Geology


277


Economic Geology


281


Early Settlement ..


287


The First Settler


287


The Nearest Trading Point .. 292


Walnut.


529


Dallas.


530


Spring Valley 532


Beaver


534


Colfax


536


Lincoln


538


Grant.


540


PAGE.


Old Fort Dearborn, 1830.


103


The " Old Kinzie House"


103


A Prairie Home.


129


Breaking Prairie


145


LITHOGRAPHIC PORTRAITS.


PAGE.


Burns, L. D ..


320


Chandler, W. H.


423


Peppard, J. .


441


Caldwell, T. J.


336


Conger, E. H.


369


Pierce, G. G.


387


Callvert, S. A.


352


Pattee, D. J.


405


Van Meter, J. R.


459


PAGE.


The Northwest Territory:


Early French Explorations in the Mississippi Valley 7


The Northwestern Territory .. 22


The Lousiana Purchase 28


Indian Wars in the Northwest 34


Sketches of Black Hawk and other Chiefs 42


Early Navigation of Western Rivers. 56


Archæology of the Northwest 59


A Hard Winter ..


346


The First Post-office 348


A Welcome Spring. 349


350


351


Elections of 1849. 352


Gold-hunters of 1850. 354


General Prosperity in 1850 355


The First Probate. 360


Union


510


Des Moines


515


Washington ..


518


Sugar Grove.


522


Linn


525


PAGE.


Lincoln Monument, Springfield,


Illinois .. 72


Present Site Lake Street Bridge,


PAGE.


PAGE.


Dallas County Soldiers' Union 431 Sherman's March to the Sea .. 433 Cities and Towns :


The Pioneer Mimic 337 Adel. 435


De Soto


451


Perry


457


State Organization


158


Flood of 1851


PAGE.


vi


CONTENTS.


BIOGRAPHICAL TOWNSHIP DIRECTORY.


PAGE.


Adams


564


Adel (City). 443 De Soto (Van Meter Township) 570


Adel (Township) 588


Dexter (Union Township) 553


Beaver.


632


Grant.


627


Boone.


580


Colfax


601


Dallas


644


Perry (Spring Valley Township) 635


Washington 616


ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS.


PAGE.


Adoption of Children 203


Forms:


Confession of Judgment .. .. 208


Lease


214


Limitation of Actions . 199


Capital Punishment


199


Mortgages. .212, 213


Notice to Quit. 210


Notes


207,


215


Descent


195


Estrays


201


Exemption from Executions 200


Fences


202


Forms :


Article of Agreement 209


Game Laws :


Birds and Quadrupeds 217


Wills and Estates 196


Bond for Deed 217 Fish and Fish Ways 218


Bills of Purchase 207


Chattel Mortgage.


215


MISCELLANEOUS.


PAGE.


PAGE.


Map of Dallas County. Front.


Statistics ... 183


Practical Rules for every-day


use. 252


Population of Iowa Cities. .... 255


The Pioneer


256


Constitution of the State of


Iowa.


220


PAGE.


Des Moines. 629 Spring Valley 639


Sugar Grove ... 620


Union. . 556


Van Meter (City). 572


Van Meter (Township). 574


Married Women. 200


Marks and Brands. 201


Mechanics' Liens 204


Purchasing Books by Subscrip-


tion ... 219


Roads and Bridges 204


Surveyors and Surveys 204


Support of Poor 205 Taxes .. 197


Weiglits and Measures


207


Interest


195


Wolf Scalps


201


Jurisdiction of Courts


198


Jurors 199


Landlord and Tenant. 206


Bills of Exchange and Promis- sory Notes. 195


Commercial Terms 208


Damages from Trespass 201


Orders 207


Quit-claim Deed 216


Receipts


208


Wills and Codicils 211, 212


Warranty Deed .. 216


Bills of Sale 210


PAGE.


Constitution of the United States 240


PAGE.


PAGE.


Lincoln 613


Linn ..


607


Walnut


583


PAGE.


MAP OF DALLAS COUNTY.


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RACCOON


THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.


EARLY FRENCH EXPLORATIONS IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.


De Soto-Le Caron-Samuel de Champlain-French Adventurers-James Marquette-Louis Joliet - Embarkation to Explore New Countries - Lake Michigan and Green Bay -The "Quisconsin "- Indian Accounts of the Country - Discovering the Great River - Indian Name of the River -- Joy of the Explorers-Interview with Indians on Iowa Soil-Feast- Speech of an Indian Chief-The Des Moines River-" Muddy Water " - The Arkansas- Return-Indian Nations - Marquette's Record - His Subsequent Voyage-La Vantum- Marquette's Death -- Removal of His Remains-Joliet's Subsequent Explorations-Robert La Salle-Louis Hennepin-Chevalier de Tonti-De La Motte-Fort Crevecoeur-Henne- pin's Voyage-Falls of St. Anthony-Seur de Luth-Hennepin's Claims as an Explorer -- Colonization of Louisiana-Dissensions-Murder of La Salle.


THE three great colonizing powers of the Old World first to raise the standard of civilization within the limits of North America were France, England, and Spain. The French made their earliest settlements in the cold and inhospitable regions of Quebec; the English at Jamestown, Vir- ginia, and at Plymouth, Massachusetts; and the Spaniards on the barren sands of Florida. To the French belongs the honor of discovering and colo- nizing that portion of our country known as the Valley of the Mississippi, including all that magnificent region watered by the tributaries of the Great River. It is true that more than one hundred years earlier (1538-41) the Spanish explorer, De Soto, had landed on the coast of Florida, penetrated the everglades and unbroken forests of the south, finally reaching the banks of the Great River, probably near where the city of Memphis now stands. Crossing the river, he and his companions pursued their journey for some distance along the west bank, thence to the Ozark Mountains and the Hot Springs of Arkansas, and returning to the place of his death on the banks of the Mississippi. It was a perilous expedition indeed, characterized by all the splendor, romance and valor which usually attended Spanish adventurers of that age. De Soto and his companions were the first Europeans to behold . the waters of the Mississippi, but the expedition was a failure so far as related to colonization. The requiem chanted by his companions as his remains were committed to the waters of the great river he had discovered, died away with the solemn murmurs of the stream, and the white man's voice


was not heard again in the valley for more than a hundred years. De Soto had landed at Tampa Bay, on the coast of Florida, with a fleet of nine ves- sels and seven hundred men. More than half of them died, and the remainder made their way to Cuba, and finally back to Spain.


Four years before the pilgrims "moored their bark on the wild New Eng- land shore," a French Franciscan, named Le Caron, penetrated the region of


8


THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.


the great lakes of the north, then the home of the Iroquois and the Hurons, but a French settlement had been established at Quebec by Samuel de Champlain in 1608. This was followed by the establishment of various colonies in Canada, and the hardy French adventurers penetrated the coun- try by the way of the St. Lawrence and the lakes. In 1625 a number of missionaries of the Society of Jesus arrived in Canada from France, and during the succeeding forty years extended their missions all along the shores of Lake Superior.


In 1637 a child was born at the little city of Laon, in France, whose destiny it was in the fullness of time to be instrumental in the hands of Providence in giving to the world a definite knowledge of the grandest and most fertile region ever opened up to civilization. That child was James Marquette, the descendant of a family of Celtic nobles. He entered the Society of Jesus when seventeen years of age, and soon conceived a desire to engage in the labors of a missionary among the Indians. He sailed for Quebec in 1666, and two years later founded the mission of Sault Ste. Marie at the Falls of St. Mary. The winter of 1669-70 he spent at Point St. Ignatius, where he established another mission. Here the old town of Michillimackinac, afterward called Mackinaw, was founded. It was from Indians of the different tribes who came to this mission that he received some vague intimations of the great river-the father of all the rivers. He at once conceived a desire to penetrate to the banks of the wonderful river, and carry his missionary work to the tribes which he had learned inhabited its borders. He applied to his Superior, Claude Dablon, for permission to "seek new nations toward the Southern sea." The authorities at Quebec were equally desirous of having new regions explored, and therefore appointed Louis Joliet to embark upon a voyage of discovery. Joliet was a native of Quebec and had been educated in a Jesuit College. He had at the age of eighteen taken minor orders, but had abandoned all thoughts of the priest- hood and engaged in the fur trade. He was now twenty-seven years of age, with a mind ripe for adventure. He left Quebec, and arriving at Mackinaw found Father Marquette highly delighted with the information that they were to be companions in a voyage which was to extend the domain of the King of France, as well as to carry the Gospel to new nations of people. The explorers, accompanied by five assistants, who were French Canadians, started on their journey, May 13, 1673. Marquette has himself recorded in the fol- lowing simple language their feelings on this occasion: "We were embark- ing on a voyage the character of which we could not foresee. Indian corn, with some dried meat, was our whole stock of provisions. With this we set out in two bark canoes, M. Joliet, myself and five men, firmly resolved to do all and suffer all for so glorious an enterprise." They coasted along the northern shore of Lake Michigan, entered Green Bay, and passed up the Fox river, carrying their canoes across the Portage to the "Ouisconsin," now called Wisconsin. At Lake Winnebago, before crossing the Portage, they stopped at an Indian village, which was the furthest outpost to which Dab- lon and Allouez had extended their missionary work. Here they assembled the chiefs and old men of the village and told them of the objects of the voyage. Pointing to Joliet, Father Marquette said: "My friend is an envoy of France to discover new countries, and I am an ambassador from God to enlighten them with the truths of the Gospel." The Indians furnished two guides to conduct them to the Wisconsin river. It is related that a tribe of Indians endeavored to dissuade them from pursuing their perilous journey


9


THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.


by telling of desperate and savage tribes that they would meet; that the forests and the rivers were infested with frightful monsters; that there were great fish in the rivers that would swallow up men and canoes together, and of a demon who could be heard from a great distance, and who destroyed all who approached. Unmoved by these frightful stories, Marquette, Joliet, and their five brave assistants, launched their little canoes on the waters of the Wisconsin, and moved slowly down the current. After a lapse of seven days, June 17th, 1673, they reached the mouth of the Wisconsin and glided into the current of the Mississippi, a few miles below the place now known as Prairie du Chien. Here, and on this day, the eye of the white man for the first time looked upon the waters of the Upper Mississippi. Marquette called the river "The Broad River of the Conception." The Indian name is derived from the Algonquin language, one of the original tongues of the continent. It is a compound of the words Missi, signifying great, and Sepe, a river.


The explorers felt the most intense joy on beholding the scene presented to their enraptured vision. Here was the great river whose waters somewhere thousands of miles away flowed into a Southern sea, and whose broad valley was the fairest and richest in the world, but unknown to civilized man, save as an almost forgotten dream or a vague romance. They had solved one of the great mysteries of the age in which they lived. As they glided down the stream the bold bluffs reminded Marquette of the "castled shores of his own beautiful rivers in France." The far stretching prairies alternating with forests, on either side, were adorned in all the wild glories of June. Birds sang the same notes that they had sung for ages amid those "forests prime- val," while herds of buffalo, deer and elk were alarmed and fled to the dense retreats of the forest or the broad prairies beyond. Not until the 25th June did they discover any signs of human habitation. Then, about sixty leagues, as they thought, below the mouth of the Wisconsin, at a place where they landed on the west bank of the river, they found in the sand the foot-prints of man. Marquette and Joliet left their five companions in charge of the canoes and journeyed away from the river, knowing that they must be near the habitation of men. They followed a trail leading across a prairie clothed in the wild luxuriance of summer for a distance of about six miles, when they beheld another river and on its banks an Indian village, with other vil- lages on higher land a mile and a half from the first. The Indians greeted the two white strangers, as far as their ability permitted, with a splendid ovation. They appointed four of their old men to meet the strangers in council. Marquette could speak their language. They informed him that they were "Illini" (meaning "we are men"), and presenting the calumet of peace, invited them to share the hospitalities of their village. Marquette told them of the object of their visit, and that they had been sent by the French, who were their friends. He told them of the great God that the white man worshiped who was the same Great Spirit that they adored. In answer, one of the chiefs addressed them as follows:




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