USA > Iowa > Dubuque County > The history of Dubuque County, Iowa : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc. > Part 1
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OF
UBUQUE COUNTY
1880
LIBRARY Brigham Young University
YOUNG
GHAM
MIVERSITY.
PROV.
OVO. UTAN
977.7
H62du
222112
DO NOT CIRCULATE
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Brigham Young University
https://archive.org/details/historyofdubuque00chic
-
Alex. Simplot, Artist and Designer, 124 Main Street.
VIEW OF DUBUQUE IN 1872.
977.1 H62 du
THE
HISTORY
OF
1 - + 05 L
DUBUQUE COUNTY,
IOWA,
-
CONTAINING
A History of the Bounty, its Cities, Downs, &t.,
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 Dubuque County, Constitution of the United States, Miscellaneous Matters, &c., &c.
-
-
ILLUSTR. TED. . -
A
22/112
CHICAGO : WESTERN HISTORICAL COMPANY, 1880.
.
ERRATA.
CITY OF DUBUQUE.
Dennis Gillian should read Dennis Gillan.
Henry §. Hetehrington should read Henry S. Hetherington.
CASCADE.
A. J. Kearney should read A. J. Kerney.
HISTORY OF CASCADE.
Rafferty should read Raffety.
Chauncey Thomas should read Augustus Cheeney Thomas.
J. B. Heniors should read J. B. Henion.
W. W. Hamilton was editor of Dubuque Transcript, a Whig sheet, instead Dubuque Times.
Judge Taylor has been identified with Cascade since 1841 instead of 1844.
Beuman should read Bauman.
Seely should read Seery. Muloy should read Maloy.
PERU TOWNSHIP.
John S. Contey should be placed in Jefferson Township.
JATU.OVO94
THE LIBRARY BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY PROVO, UTAH
PREFACE.
TN the following pages, purporting to relate the history of Dubuque County from its first settlements to the present day, the historian desires to state that he has labored faithfully to make it deserving the indulgence of its readers. Of the obstacles in the way of a faithful and, at the same time, an acceptable performance of his duty, he has been from the outset thoroughly sensible. To say that he has acquitted himself of that duty to his own satisfaction is more than he can pretend. All that he will venture to claim is an earnest desire to be correct, and an effort by industry to become so. That he has in many instances fallen short is not to be wondered at. To be infallible in that behalf is impossible. No person will be disposed to conclude that, in an undertaking of such magnitude, mistakes are avoidable. If, to many, the work seems incomplete, and they feel disposed to be hypercritical of its contents, the hope is ventured that, upon reflection, they will appreciate the difficulties he has had to contend with, and render judgment devoid of unchar- itable severity. A few of the mistakes which it will be claimed exist may have occurred by trusting to statements made second-hand ; more, by taking for granted what appeared, on reasonable evidence, to be facts, and others, by the extreme difficulty experienced in getting at the exact truth. Their pres- ence, however, is due to no lack of diligence on the part of the compiler, who has endeavored to furnish a reliable and complete, though, it may be, an imper- fect record of events which have occurred in Dubuque County during the Most fifty years.
In conclusion, it is no more than justice in the writer to acknowledge the obligations he is under to individuals and corporations for the courtesy shown him in the prosecution of his investigations. Whatever suggestions came from those familiar with the facts have been implicitly adopted, and the regret is expressed that they were not more numerous. The writer is particularly indebted to the collections of Lucius H. Langworthy for valuable information,
vi
PREFACE.
appropriated from the manuscript of that gentleman. To Mrs. R. H. Collier, Mrs. Lawrence, Edward and Solon Langworthy, Gen. G. W. Jones, the Hon. Platt Smith, A. H. Harrison, Orlando McCraney, Alexander Young ; Benja- min Rupert, President of the Old Settlers' Association ; P. W. Crawford, J. H. Shields, Gen. Booth, Gen. Lewis, Ham & Carver, F. A. Gniffke, the Telegraph, Times and other sources of information, he is especially grateful, not only for "history," but for many kind acts and much else that contributes to whatever of success may greet the succeeding pages. He trusts they may meet reasonable expectations.
" What is writ, is writ- Would it were worthier !"
THE AUTHOR.
CONTENTS.
HISTORY NORTHWEST AND STATE OF IOWA.
PAGE.
History Northwest Territory ...... 19
Geographical Position 19 Early Explorations ... 20 Discovery of the Ohio .. 32
English Explorations and Set- tlements. 34
American Settlements. 59
Division of the Northwest Ter- ritory 65
Tecumseh and the War of 1812 69
Black Hawk and the Black Hawk War. 73 Other Indian Troubles. 79
Present Condition of the North- west 79
Illinois 88 Spanish Grants 163 Illinois 257 Half-Breed Tract .. 164 Early Settlements. Indiana 259 166 Territorial History. 173
Iowa ....
260
Michigan
263
Wisconsin. 264 Minnesota. .266
Nebraska.
267
History of Iowa:
Geographical Situation 109 Topography .... 109
Drainage System.
.110
PAGE.
PAGE.
History of Iowa :
Rivers .
.111
Lakes
118
Springs
Prairies.
120
.119
College for the Blind ...
197
Deaf and Dumb Institution ...
.199
Geology
.120
Soldiers' Orphans' Homes
.199
State Normal School ..
201
Climatology. .137
Discovery and Occupation .139
Territory
147
Indians ...
147
Pike's Expedition
151
Indian Wars.
152
Black Hawk War.
.157
Indian Purchase, Reserves and Treaties .. 159
War Record.
229
Infantry.
233
Cavalry ..
244
Artillery.
247
Miscellaneous
248
Promotions from Iowa Reg-
iments.
.249
Number Casualties-Officers.250
Number Casualties-Enlist-
ed Men
252
Number Volunteers.
.254
Population ...
255
Agricultural Statistics
.320
ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS.
PAGE.
PAGE.
Forms: PAGE.
Jurisdiction of Courts.
297
Chattel Mortgage ..
....
314
Jurors
Lease.
Confession of Judgment.
.306
.. 312
297
Limitation of Actions.
297
Landlord and Tenant.
.304
Married Women ....
298
Mortgages ..
.310
Notice to Quit.
309
Marks and Brands.
300
Mechanics' Liens. 301 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
Weights and Measures
305
Wolf Scalps.
300
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE.
Old Fort Dearborn, 1830
79
Lincoln Monument.
80
A Pioneer School House
81
Chicago in 1833 ...
82
Mouth of the Mississippi ... 31
Tecumseh, the Shawanoe Chieftain 68 Indians Attacking a Stockade. ..... High Bridge 33
Pontiac, the Ottawa Chieftain 42
MISCELLANEOUS.
PAGE.
Map of Dubuque County. Front.
Constitution of United States ......... 269
Vote for President, Governor and
Practical Rules for Every-Day Use .. 284
United States Government Land
and their Significations 290 Measure .. 287
PAGE.
Surveyor's Measure. 288
How to Keep Accounts 288 Interest Table .289 Congressmen 283
Miscellaneous Tahle
289
Names of the States of the Union
71
Starved Rock.
89
Black Hawk, the Sac Chieftain .....
74
An Early Settlement.
108
PAGE.
PAGE.
Source of the Mississippi 22
Indians Attacking Frontiersmen .. 55
La Salle Landing on the Shore of Green Bay. 24 Present Site Lake Street Bridge, Chicago, 1833. 58 Buffalo Hunt .. 26 A Pioneer Dwelling. 60 Trapping 28 Lake Bluff .. 62 Hunting Prairie Wolves .. 85 Kinzie House 87
Notes ... .306, 313 Orders. .306 Descent .293 Damages from Trespass. 300 Exemptions from Execution 298
Quit Claim Deed 315 Receipts .306 Estrays 299 Wills and Codicils. .309 Warranty Deed. .. 314 Fences 300 Forms : Articles of Agreement .307 Bills of Sale 308 Bond for Deed. 315
State Organization
Growth and Progress. 185
Agricultural College and Farm.186
State University.
.187
State Historical Society.
.. 193
History of Iowa:
Penitentiaries.
.. 194
Insane Hospitals.
195
Asylum for Feeble Minded Children 201
Reform School
202
Fish Hatching Establishment .. 203
Public Lands
204
Public Schools.
218
Political Record.
.223
Boundary Question. 177
.181
Adoption of Children. 303
Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes 293 Commercial Terms .. .305 Capital Punishment. 298 Charitable, Scientific and Religious Associations 316
Interest.
.293
Intoxicating Liquors
.. 317
Bills of Purchase.
306
PAGE Population of the United States ..... 291 Population of Fifty Principal Cities of the United States ... 291 Population and Area of the United States .296 Population of the Principal Coun- tries in the World. .. 292
viii
CONTENTS.
HISTORY OF DUBUQUE COUNTY.
PAGE.
Topography. .. 323
Orthography. .332
Early Settlements.
.. 332
Black Hawk War and Permanent Settlement .. .342
The Massey Murder. .. 368 Kidnapiug Kin. .371
Fourth of July Celebration .373
War Record
413
Volunteer Roster
421
Criminal Record, 452
Mining
.459
The First Blast Furnace in Iowa .... 463 Rice's Cave 464
The Bonanza Mine 467
Early Mining.
469
Rockdale Mills 473
Rockdale Calamity. .475
The Storm in Dubuque .. 488
Dubuque's Influence with the In- dians. .495
Reminiscences of an Old Settler .... 496
A Tale of Unrequited Love ......... .. 497
Murder will Out-A Two-year-old
Mystery Explained at Last ......... 498
A Dubuque County Hero ...
499
Human Skeleton Found .. .. 503
Among thie First Arrivals. .503
Dubuque's Bones. 504
PAGE.
Introductory 323 An Indian Reminiscence .. .505 Odd Fellows .. 679
Northwestern Agricultural & Me-
Geological Formations.
.. 324
chanical Association ...
.507
Other Secret Orders.
685
.. 517
Temperance Societies
.686
City of Dubuque.
.517
Other Societies.
688
The Town Clock
692
Military
694
The Storm King.
696
Early Steamboating. 698
Dyersville .. 701
Farley 715
Epworth
727
Centralia.
741
Worthington and Dodge Township.742
Schools. .. 552 Cascade Township ... 743 Whitewater Township. 746 Private Institutions. 579
The Press.
.. 582
Religious.
601
Banks and Banking. .619 Panic, September, 1873. .. 622
Board of Trade .. 626
Railroads, Express and Steam-
boats .626
Dubuque and Dunleitlı Bridge,637 City Railways .640
Manufactures. .. 644
Opera House.
.667
Hotels
.668
Benevolent Societies 670
Home of the Friendless .674
Masonic.
.. 677
LITHOGRAPHIC PORTRAITS.
PAGE.
C. H. Booth .. 411
Isaac W. Baldwin
.861
William Carter. .. 609
J. M. Emerson
843
501
John H. Floyd.
.. 897
J. K. Graves ..
771
Stephen Hempstead ..
483
Ава Ногг.
.573
Gen. Jolın Hodgdon 663
Thomas lIardie 699
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
PAGE.
PAGE.
PAGE.
Concord.
957
Jefferson
947
Prairie Creek
923
Center ..
961
Julien ..
965
Taylor
929
Cascadle ...
.906
Liberty 954
Table Mound. 923
Vernon ..... 928
Dodge
955
New Wine 943
Whitewater .920
Iowa. 953
Peru 972
Washingtou 922
PAGE.
M. Ilam.
.807
A. Levi 627
James Hill .. 879
Gen. George W. Jones. .393
Jolin King. 429
D. A. Mahony 519
Joseph Ogilby. 825
James L. Langworthy .321
William Rebman 789
H. W. Sanford .. 465
J. H. Thedinga. .537
S. M. Langworthy. 373
T. S. Wilson
591
Gen. Warner Lewis.
442
PAGE.
A. O. U. W.
.684
Assessment Roll, 1879.
....
..
Official Roster Town Officers .. 535 City Hall .540
Police . 541
Fire Departinent.
541
Water Works.
545
Washington Square.
.. 547
Jackson Square ..
547
Post Office and Custom House.548
Linwood Cemetery .. 551
New Vienna.
746
Miscellaneous :
New Melleray Corporation ....... 747
Zion Reformed Church, Cas-
cade Township .. 752
John's Creek M. E. Church ..... 755 Pleasant Grove Cath. Church ... 755 St. Joseph's Convent, Table Mound .. 756
Prairie Presbyterian Church ... 756
Spring Valley Mills, 757
Squire's Mills .. .757
Botsford Mill.
.757
South Dubuque Mills 758
PAGE.
Benjamin McCluer ... .681 H. Minges. 753
J. W. Finley.
P. Kiene .. 717
Lucius Langworthy 339
Edward Langworthy. .. 357
C. G. Wullweber.
645
Dubuque City. 759
Mosalen. .946
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11
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION.
When the Northwestern Territory was ceded to the United States by Virginia in 1784, it embraced only the territory lying between the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers, and north to the northern limits of the United States. It coincided with the area now embraced in the States of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and that portion of Minnesota lying on the east side of the Mississippi River. The United States itself at that period extended no farther west than the Mississippi River ; but by the purchase of Louisiana in 1803, the western boundary of the United States was extended to the Rocky Mountains and the Northern Pacific Ocean. The new territory thus added to the National domain, and subsequently opened to settlement, has been called the "New Northwest," in contradistinction from the old "Northwestern Territory."
In comparison with the old Northwest this is a territory of vast magnitude. It includes an area of 1,887,850 square miles ; being greater in extent than the united areas of all the Middle and Southern States, including Texas. Out of this magnificent territory have been erected eleven sovereign States and eight Territories, with an aggregate popula- tion, at the present time, of 13,000,000 inhabitants, or nearly one third of the entire population of the United States.
Its lakes are fresh-water seas, and the larger rivers of the continent flow for a thousand miles through its rich alluvial valleys and far- stretching prairies, more acres of which are arable and productive of the highest percentage of the cereals than of any other area of like extent on the globe.
For the last twenty years the increase of population in the North- west has been about as three to one in any other portion of the United States.
(19)
20
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
EARLY EXPLORATIONS.
In the year 1541, DeSoto first saw the Great West in the New World. He, however, penetrated no farther north than the 35th parallel of latitude. The expedition resulted in his death and that of more than half his army, the remainder of whom found their way to Cuba, thence to Spain, in a famished and demoralized condition. DeSoto founded no settlements, produced no results, and left no traces, unless it were that he awakened the hostility of the red man against the white man, and disheartened such as might desire to follow up the career of discovery for better purposes. The French nation were eager and ready to seize upon any news from this extensive domain, and were the first to profit by DeSoto's defeat. Yet it was more than a century before any adventurer took advantage of these discoveries.
In 1616, four years before the pilgrims " moored their bark on the wild New England shore," Le Caron, a French Franciscan, had pene- trated through the Iroquois and Wyandots ( Hurons) to the streams which run into Lake Huron ; and in 1634, two Jesuit missionaries founded the first mission among the lake tribes. It was just one hundred years from the discovery of the Mississippi by DeSoto (1541) until the Canadian envoys met the savage nations of the Northwest at the Falls of St. Mary, below the outlet of Lake Superior. This visit led to no permanent result ; yet it was not until 1659 that any of the adventurous fur traders attempted to spend a Winter in the frozen wilds about the great lakes, nor was it until 1660 that a station was established upon their borders by Mesnard, who perished in the woods a few months after. In 1665, Claude Allouez built the earliest lasting habitation of the white man among the Indians of the Northwest. In 1668, Claude Dablon and James Marquette founded the mission of Sault Ste. Marie at the Falls of St. Mary, and two years afterward, Nicholas Perrot, as agent for M. Talon, Governor Gen- eral of Canada, explored Lake Illinois (Michigan) as far south as the present City of Chicago, and invited the Indian nations to meet him at a grand council at Sault Ste. Marie the following Spring, where they were taken under the protection of the king, and formal possession was taken of the Northwest. This same year Marquette established a mission at Point St. Ignatius, where was founded the old town of Michillimackinac.
During M. Talon's explorations and Marquette's residence at St. Ignatius, they learned of a great river away to the west, and fancied -as all others did then-that upon its fertile banks whole tribes of God's children resided, to whom the sound of the Gospel had never come. Filled with a wish to go and preach to them, and in compliance with a
21
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. HIe 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
22
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.
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
23
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.
While Marquette and his companions were pursuing their labors in the West, two men, differing widely from him and each other, were pre- paring to follow in his footsteps and perfect the discoveries so well begun by him. These were Robert de La Salle and Louis Hennepin.
After La Salle's return from the discovery of the Ohio River (see the narrative elsewhere), he established himself again among the French trading posts in Canada. Here he mused long upon the pet project of those ages-a short way to China and the East, and was busily planning an expedition up the great lakes, and so across the continent to the Pacific, when Marquette returned from the Mississippi. At once the vigorous mind of LaSalle received from his and his companions' stories the idea that by fol- lowing the Great River northward, or by turning up some of the numerous western tributaries, the object could easily be gained. He applied to Frontenac, Governor General of Canada, and laid before him the plan, dim but gigantic. Frontenac entered warmly into his plans, and saw that LaSalle's idea to connect the great lakes by a chain of forts with the Gulf of Mexico would bind the country so wonderfully together, give un- measured power to France, and glory to himself, under whose adminis- tration he earnestly hoped all would be realized.
LaSalle now repaired to France, laid his plans before the King, who warmly approved of them, and made him a Chevalier. He also received from all the noblemen the warmest wishes for his success. The Chev .-
24
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
alier returned to Canada, and busily entered upon his work. He at once rebuilt Fort Frontenac and constructed the first ship to sail on these fresh-water seas. On the 7th of August, 1679, having been joined by Hennepin, he began his voyage in the Griffin up Lake Erie. He passed over this lake, through the straits beyond, up Lake St. Clair and into Huron. In this lake they encountered heavy storms. They were some time at Michillimackinac, where LaSalle founded a fort, and passed on to Green Bay, the " Baie des Puans " of the French, where he found a large quantity of furs collected for him. He loaded the Griffin with these, and placing her under the care of a pilot and fourteen sailors,
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