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HISTORY
OF
LINN COUNTY
1878
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THE
HISTORY
OF
LINN COUNTY,
IOWA,
CONTAINING
A history of the County, its Cities, Gowns, KP
-
A Biographical Directory of its Citizens, War Record of its Vol- unteers in the late Rebellion, General and Local Statistics, Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men, His- tory of the Northwest, History of Iowa, Map of Linn County, Constitution of the United States, Miscellaneous Matters, &c.
ILLUSTRATED.
·
0
-
222098
-
3
CHICAGO:
WESTERN HISTORICAL COMPANY, 1878.
1
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1878, by
THE WESTERN HISTORICAL COMPANY.
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
ulver Vage Moyne 22, PRINTERS 18 &120 MONROE ST CHICAGO C
PREFACE.
T HE historian who delves among the records of the far past, and weaves in continuous thread the story of former generations, for the instruction of ages yet to come, must be governed in the methods of his work by one invaria- ble rule, which is : the acceptance of such facts, and only such, as have become established, either by written evidence or by undoubted verbal testimony trans- mitted in consecutive order and bearing on its face the impress of truthfulness, from its consistency with known facts.
The historian who writes of the near past finds, oftentimes, more delicate questions arising for him to decide than does the contemporary of the musty pages. While the latter has but his own sense of consentaneousness to satisfy, the former has a wider constituency to win over to his mode of think- ing. The writer upon ancient events is stimulated to careful research by the hope of discovering that which will subvert the theories of his collaborators, and vindicate his own claim to literary fame. The man who treats of the early deeds of a generation yet living can have no such ambition. His duty is to tell the tale in a simple manner, leaving to those who shall come after him the more agreeable task of embellishment.
The historian has endeavored to adhere to the rules which should govern all volumes of this class. Rumors have been given only as such ; traditions find their appropriate place, and assumptions are treated with lightest stroke. Indisputable facts, based upon definite dates and corroborated by testimony admissible in courts of justice, alone stand recorded as facts.
Herein lies the greatest danger : the impartial observance of this rule plays havoc with individual claims in more than one instance. It is just to our- selves that we say : We have been actuated by no motives but the highest in the discharge of our duty. If statements made within these pages conflict with personal assertions, let it be remembered by the critic that majority judgment has, in every case, prevailed with us on all disputed points. We do not expect
iv
PREFACE.
to please every subscriber ; that would indicate a millennial condition of unity between the writer and the public which has never been attained, even in sacred history. We have tried to give a truthful record of events as the facts have been made known to us.
To those members of the county Press, those numerous Clergymen, In- structors, Pioneers and friends who have so generously aided in the prepara- tion of this work, the heartiest thanks are publicly expressed.
The papers on " The Geology of Linn County" and " The Mound Build- ers" are from the pen of MR. GEORGE W. BETTESWORTH, of Cedar Rapids, whose familiarity with the topics treated upon is recognized by all who know him. They form an especially interesting feature of this work, advancing, as they do, several original ideas in relation to the respective subjects.
When the present generation shall have passed into the silent grave, and the historian is no longer able to converse face to face with them, the value of this history will be conceded.
AUGUST, 1878.
THE PUBLISHERS.
CONTENTS.
HISTORICAL.
PAGE.
History Northwest Territory.
19
Geographical Position ... 19 Early Explorations .. 20 Discovery of the Ohio ... 33
English Explorations and Set- tlements. 35 American Settlements ... 60
Division of the Northwest Ter- ritory .. 66 Tecumseh and the War of 1812 70
Black Hawk and the Black
Hawk War.
74
Other Indian Troubles.
79
Present Condition of the North- west 86
Chicago ...... 95 Illinois .. 240
Indiana
242
Iowa ..
243
Michigan
244
Wisconsin 245
Minnesota
247
Nebraska.
248
History of Iowa :
Geographical Situation. 109
Topography ...
109
Drainage System 110
Rivers
111
Lakes
118
Springs
119
Prairies, 120 Geology 120 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
Era of Outlawry
.367
Social Development.
386
Vote, 1876-1877
388
Treaties ...
.159
Spanish Grants
.163
History of Iowa:
PAGE.
History of Linn County :
Butter and Cheese ... 392
Early Settlements ..
166
Judiciary ...
.394
Territorial History ..
173
Criminal Mention
396
Boundary Question
177
Indian Scare.
.. 399
Bill Johnson's War.
.400
State Organization 181
Growth and Progress. 185
Agricultural College and Farm.186 State University. 187
State Historical Society. .193
Penitentiaries
194
Insane Hospitals
.195
College for the Blind.
197
Press
448
Educational
455
Cornell College.
456
Deaf and Dumb Institution .. 199 Soldiers' Orphans' Homes 199
State Normal School. 201
Asylum for Feeble Minded
Children .. 201
Reform School 202 Fish Hatching Establishment .. 203 Public Lands 204
Public Schools
218
Political Record.
223
War Record.
229
Number Volunteers. 233 Number Casualties-Officers ... 234
Number Casualties-Enlisted
Men ... 236
Population.
238
Ely
584
Agricultural Statistics.
274
Palo
585
History of Linn County.
307
Fairfax.
588
Geology.
307
Mound Builders.
317
Waubeck
594
General Summary.
321
Personal Sketches.
.344
General Sketches
348
Organization 357
601
La Fayette
602
Springville.
603
Viola
.609
Toddville
611
Too Lates and Errata.
612
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE.
Mouth of the Mississippi 21
Source of the Mississippi 21
Tecumseh, the Shawanoe Chieftain 69 Wild Prairie. 23
La Salle Landing on the Shore of Green Bay. 25
27 · Big Eagle ... 80 Trapping 29
Buffalo Hunt
Captain Jack, the Modoc Chieftain 83 Hunting ... 32 Kinzie House .. 85 Iroquois Chief 34
Pontiac, the Ottawa Chieftain Lincoln Monument 87 43 Indians Attacking Frontiersmen .. 56 A Pioneer School House. 88 A Prairie Storm. 59
PAGE.
Pioneers' First Winter 94 Great Iron Bridge of C., R. I. & P. R. R., Crossing the Mississippi at Davenport, Iowa 91
Black Hawk, tlie Sac Chieftain ....
75
Chicago in 1833.
95
Old Fort Dearborn, 1830
98
Present Site Lake Street Bridge,
Chicago, 1833.
98
A Representative Pioneer. 86 Ruins of Chicago 104 View of the City of Chicago. 106
Hunting Prairie Wolves ..
249
Agricultural Societye
401
Natural Phenomena. 402
War History .. 411
Roster
417
Post Offices.
448
Western College.
463
Coe Collegiate Institute 479 Homoeopathic Medical Society.481 Iowa Union Medical Society .. 481 Hog Culture 48L
Miscellaneous . 482
History of Towns :
Cedar Rapids. 484
Marion.
534
Mount Vernon
557
Lisbon
568
Center Point ..
574
Western
580
Bertranı. 583
Central City.
.592
Paris
596
Prairieburg.
.597
Walker.
600
Troy Mills.
Material Growth and Prosperi-
ty .. .389
PAGE.
A Pioneer Dwelling .. 61
Breaking Prairie. 63
Indians Attacking a Stockade 72
PAGE.
Half-Breed Tract ... 164
CONTENTS.
LITHOGRAPHIC PORTRAITS.
PAGE.
Brown, H. N
589
Ellison, Samuel
279
Mckean, Thos. J. 541
Butler, J. V ... 747
Higley, H. G. .162
Peet, John .. 297
Crowe, Edward M 607
Kurtz, John E. .713
Phillips, F. M. 581
Smyth, Wm, 227
Davis, W. L 441
Ellis, Robt .. 509
McKean, A. J.
261 Stephens, R. D 305
LINN COUNTY VOLUNTEERS.
PAGE.
PAGE.
PAGE.
Infantry :
Infantry :
Infantry :
Forty-sixth 443
Sixth 418
Sixteenth .. 426
Cavalry :
Eighth 419
Eighteenth 427
Second 434
Ninth. 419
Twentieth 428
Sixth .. 444
Eleventh 420
Twenty-fourth 435
Eighth 445
Twelfth
421
Thirty-first ..... 438
Ninth 445
Thirteentli
423
Thirty-seventh. 440
Miscellaneous 146
Fourteenth 425
Forty-fourth 440
BIOGRAPHICAL TOWNSHIP DIRECTORY.
PAGE.
L'AGE.
PAGE.
Bertram
796
Fayette 762
Maine. .687
Bowlder 698 Franklin 705
Brown 721
Grant 783
Otter Creek 775
Buffalo 814
Jackson 681
Putnam
780
Cedar Rapids 651
Linn 736
Rapids. follows Cedar Rapids
Clinton .. .741
790
College
Fairfax 807
ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS.
PAGE.
Adoption of Children ... .287
Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes
275
Commercial Terms .. 289
Lease .296
Married Women ...
282
Marks and Brands.
.284
Notice to Quit. .293
Notes .. .290, 297
Orders. 290
Quit Claim Deed .299
Receipts .. .290
Wills and Codicils. 293
Warranty Deed. 298
Taxes. 277
Forms : Articles of Agreement 291 Fences 284
Bills of Sale .. 292
Bond for Deed 299
Intoxicating Liquors. 301
Jurisdiction of Courts
281
MISCELLANEOUS.
PAGE.
Map of Linn County Front.
How to Keep Accounts .. .269 Interest Table. 270
Miscellaneous Table 270 ident ..... .. 264 Practical Rules for Every-Day Use .. 265
Names of the States of the Union
Population of the Principal Coun-
and their Significations 271 tries in the World. 273
Population of the United States ..... 272
PAGE.
PAGE.
Population of Fifty Principal Cities of the United States ... ......... 272 Population and Area of the United States. .273
United States Government Land
Measure. 268
Forms :
Chattel Mortgage .298
Limitation of Actions .281
Confession of Judgment. 290
Landlord and Tenant. .288
Capital Punishment. 282
Charitable, Scientific and Religious Associations. 300
Mechanics' Liens. 285
Roads and Bridges
286
Surveyors and Surveys .. .287
Suggestions to Persons Purchasing Books by Subscription. 303
Support of Poor .287
Wills and Estates.
276
Weights and Measures
.289
Wolf Scalps.
.284
Bills of Purchase .290
PAGE.
PAGE.
Jurors 281
Descent 275
Damages from Trespass. 284
Exemptions from Execution 282
Estrays 283
Marion City .. 613
Spring Grove 801
Marion Township. 636
Washington 765
417
Fifteenth 426
First
PAGE.
PAGE.
Daniels, Addison. 373 Leigh, John B. 407
McClelland, F. 475
Stephens, Louisa B., Mrs 339
Population of Linn County ......... .304
Surveyor's Measure . 269 Constitution of United States. 250 Vote for President and Vice Pres-
Interest. 275
Monroe .811
Mortgages. 294
MAP OF
IOWA.
DELAWARE
4
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10
12
7
8
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15
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29
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30
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32
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35
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P.O.
COUNTY
13
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2
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 tliese 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
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
SOURCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
BRIGHAM
MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
21
22
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
23
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.
THE WILD PRAIRIE.
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
24
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 Chey.
25
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,
LA SALLE LANDING ON THE SHORE OF GREEN BAY.
started her on her return voyage. The vessel was never afterward heard of. He remained about these parts until early in the Winter, when, hear- ing nothing from the Griffin, he collected all the men-thirty working men and three monks-and started again upon his great undertaking.
By a short portage they passed to the Illinois or Kankakee, called by the Indians, "Theakeke," wolf, because of the tribes of Indians called by that name, commonly known as the Mahingans, dwelling there. The French pronounced it Kiakiki, which became corrupted to Kankakee. "Falling down the said river by easy journeys, the better to observe the country," about the last of December they reached a village of the Illi- nois Indians, containing some five hundred cabins, but at that moment
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