USA > Iowa > Van Buren County > The history of Van Buren County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c, a biographical directory of citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics history of the Northwest, history of Iowa &c > Part 1
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THE
HISTORY
OF
VAN BUREN COUNTY,
IOWA.
CONTAINING
A history of the County, its Cities, Gowns, &t.,
A Biographical Directory of 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 Van Buren County, Constitution of the United States, Miscellaneous Matters, &c.
.
ILLUSTRATED.
CHICAGO: WESTERN HISTORICAL COMPANY,
1878.
THE NEW !( PUBLIC LIBRARY 298989
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS R 1904 L
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1878, hy
THE WESTERN HISTORICAL COMPANY
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
PREFACE.
T THE history of Van Buren County differs from that of almost every other county in Iowa. in one essential respect. viz., the records of its towns. No one locality, outside of the county seat. calls for special elaboration. but many sections present about equal opportunities for comment. It is a cause of sincere regret to us, and will, no doubt, be to our readers, that the official papers and books of the several towns are no longer in existence. The pages here offered were prepared under serious difficulties, and are the product of much hard labor. If inaccuracies appear in them, the fault is not with the compiler, for every effort was put forth to secure correct data.
The Western Historical Company extends its thanks to those who have so generously aided in the work of securing reliable information.
The importance of the task here undertaken will be more fully realized and admitted in years to come, when time shall have added to the obstacles in the way of determining proper historic truth.
DECEMBER, 1878.
THE PUBLISHERS.
CONTENTS.
HISTORY NORTHWEST AND STATE OF IOWA.
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 Nortli- west 86
Chicago. 95
Illinois 257
Indiana
259
Early Settlements.
166
Iowa .. .
260
Michigan 263
Wisconsin. 264
Minnesota
266
Nebraska.
267
History of Iowa :
Geographical Situation 109
Topography .. 109
Drainage System 110
HISTORY VAN BUREN COUNTY.
PAGE.
Geology
323
Formation of Lime-Beds .324
Great Coal-Basin. .325 County Seat Question. .384
Cretaceous 327
Glacial Period 327
Drift Period. 329
Bowlders 331
Origin of the Prairies 331
Descriptive Geography 332
Unknown Race 334
Aborigines 341 Schemes. 416
Origin of the Name Des Moines. .428
War Record
.429
Black Hawk City 507
Columbus 507
Rochester 507
Population and General Statistics ... 455 , Business Corners 508
Educational
.456
Oakland 50%
Upton. 508
Utica 508
Kilbourn .508
Pierceville 508
Watertown 509
Willits 509
Oak Point .. 509
Lebanon
509
Salubria 509
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE.
A Pioneer Dwelling .. ..... 61 Breaking Prairie ... 63
Tecumseh, the Shawanoe Chieftain 69 Indians Attacking a Stockade ..... 72 1
Black Hawk, the Sac Chieftain 75
Big Eagle 80
Captain Jack, the Modoc Chieftain 83 Kinzie House 85
A Representative Pioneer. 86
Lincoln Monument. 87
Pontiac, the Ottawa Chieftain ... Indians Attacking Frontiersmen .. 56 43 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.
9]
Chicago in 1833.
95
Old Fort Dearborn, 1830.
98
Present Site Lake Street Bridge, Chicago, 1833. 98
Ruins of Chicago ...
104
Vjew of the City of Chicago. 106
Hunting Prairie Wolves.
268
PAGE.
Ilistory of Iowa :
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
Political Record 223
War Record. 229
Infantry 233
Cavalry 244
Artillery 247
Miscellaneous 248
Promotions from lowa Reg- iments. 249 Number Casualties-Officers.250 Number Casualties-Enlist- ed Men .. 25
Boundary Question.
177
State Organization. 181
Growth and Progress 185
Agricultural College and Farm.186
State University 187
State Historical Society ..
.193
Penitentiaries.
194
History of lowa :
Insane Hospitals 195
College for the Blind .. .197
Deaf and Dumb Institution. 199
Soldiers' Orphans' Homes 199
State Normal School .. 201
Asylum for Feeble Minded Children 201
Reform School. 20%
lowaville .494
Pittsburg. .496
Mt. Sterling 497
Milton 498
Cantril 500
Independent 502
Portland 502
Winchester 503
Summit 503
Doud's Station 504
Plymouth 507
Advent of the White Man 354 Roster 431 Pioneers. 357 Memoriam 453
First Birth
358
358 First Marriage. 358
Anecdotes of the Trading-Posts. ... 358 Organization of the County .361
First Court 362 Press. 464
First Militia 363 First Records 363
Official Roster of the County .. 364
Early Politics. 367
Reminiscences
.. 368
PAGE.
PAGE.
Distinguished Men of the County .. 378
Birmingham .492
How Pioneers Lived. 379
County Commissioners 385
Early Criminal Events. .387
Legislative Enactments. 388
W. G. Clark 391
A Poem 397
State Boundary Difficulty.
407
Des Moines River Improvement
Keokuk 342 Black Hawk .346
First Death.
Miller-Thompson Contested Election. 458
Kneeland Movement.
.164
Keosanqua.
467
Farmington 1811
Bonaparte
484
Bentonsport
489
Vernon .. -19]
PAGE.
Mouth of the Mississippi ... 21 Source of the Mississippi 21
Wild Prairie. 23
La Salle Landing on the Shore of Green Bay 25
Buffalo Hunt 27 Trapping 29 Hunting 32
Iroquois Chief 34
Fish Ilatching Establishment .. 203 Public Lands 204
Public Schools .218
Indian Purchase, Reserves and Treaties .. 159
Spanish Grants 163
llalf-Breed Tract .. 164
Territorial History.
173
Number Volunteers. 254
Population ..
.. 255
Agricultural Statistics
320
PAGE.
CONTENTS.
VAN BUREN COUNTY VOLUNTEERS.
Infantry:
PAGE.
Second. 431
Fifth ..
433
Thirty-seventh .. 442
Fourteenth 435 Forty-fifth .. 442
Fifteenth. 435
Seventeenth
437
Nineteenth.
438
Seventh.
448
Miscellaneous
451
BIOGRAPHICAL TOWNSHIP DIRECTORY.
l'AGE.
Bonaparte ..
.571
Henry
Jackson .. 587
Van Buren ...
511
Chequest. 555
Des Moines 561
Harrisburg
.60I . Washington. 542
LITHOGRAPHIC PORTRAITS.
PAGE.
PAGE.
421 Manning, Edwin. ....
.... .321
Meek, Willianı. .371
ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS.
PAGE.
PAGE.
PAGE.
Adoption of Children .. 303
Bills of Exchange and Promissory
Notes .. 293
Confession of Judgment. .. 306 Landlord and Tenant. 304
Commercial Terms
.305
Lease
.. 312
Married Women ..
298
Capital Punishment. 298
Notice to Quit. 309
Notes. 306,313
Orders 306
Quit Claim Deed .315 !
Receipts .. 306
Wills and Codicils Warranty Deed .. 314 309 Estrays 299 Forms : Articles of Agreement .. 307 Fences 300
Bills of Sale 308
Bond for Deed. 315
Bills of Purchase ..
.. 306
Jurisdiction of Courts
297
MISCELLANEOUS.
PAGE.
PAGE.
Map of Van Buren Conuty ....... Front. Constitution of United States ......... 269
Vote for President, Governor and
283 | Miscellaneous Table 289
Names of the States of the Union
Practical Rules for Every-Day Use .. 284
and their Significations. 290 United States Government Land
Population of the United States ..... 291 Measure. 287
Jurors. 297
Limitation of Actions
297
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
293 Interest .. Intoxicating Liquors. 317 Wolf Scalps 300
PAGE.
Population of Fifty Principal Cities
of the United States
.... 291
Population and Area of the United
States ..
29%
Population of the Principal Coun-
tries in the World
2292
First Infantry (Sixtieth U. S. Vols.) 449 Southern Border Brigade .. 450 Seventh Missouri Cavalry .450
Cavalry:
Third .. 443
Twenty-first Missouri Infantry. .. 450
Farmington. 565 · Union .592
Infantry : PAGE.
Cavalry : PAGE.
Eighth. .449
Thirtieth 440
PAGE.
PAQE.
Cresap, R. H. Sloan, Joshua S .471
Forms :
Chattel Mortgage ,314
Mortgages
.310
Marks and Brands
300
Charitable, Scientific and Religious Associations. 316
Descent 293
Damages fron Trespass ..
300
Exemptions from Execution .298
Surveyor's Measure 288 How to Keep Accounts 288 Interest Table .289 Congressmen ...
.558
Village.
.533
Cedar ..
582
Lick Creek
550
Vernon.
546
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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)
1
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.
ERICHAM
MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
SOURCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
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 ont 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 inen. 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 mnused long upon the pet projeet 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 .
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 prononneed 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
26
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
no inhabitants. The Seur de LaSalle being in want of some breadstuffs, took advantage of the absence of the Indians to help himself to a suffi- ciency of maize, large quantities of which he found concealed in holes under the wigwams. This village was situated near the present village of Utica in LaSalle County, Illinois. The corn being securely stored, the voyagers again betook themselves to the stream, and toward evening, on the 4th day of January, 1680, they came into a lake which must have been the lake of Peoria. This was called by the Indians Pim-i-te-wi, that is, a place where there are many fat beasts. Here the natives were met with in large numbers, but they were gentle and kind, and having spent some time with them, LaSalle determined to erect another fort in that place, for he had heard rumors that some of the adjoining tribes were trying to disturb the good feeling which existed, and some of his men were disposed to complain, owing to the hardships and perils of the travel. He called this fort " Crevecœur " (broken-heart), a name expressive of the very natural sorrow. and anxiety which the pretty certain loss of his ship, Griffin, and his consequent impoverishment, the danger of hostility on the part of the Indians, and of mutiny among his own men, might well cause him. His fears were not entirely groundless. At one time poison was placed in his food, but fortunately was discovered.
While building this fort, the Winter wore away, the prairies began to look green, and LaSalle, despairing of any reinforcements, concluded to return to Canada, raise new means and new men, and embark anew in the enterprise. For this purpose he made Hennepin the leader of a party to explore the head waters of the Mississippi, and he set out on his jour- ney. This journey was accomplished with the aid of a few persons, and was successfully made, though over an almost unknown route, and in a bad season of the year. He safely reached Cana la, and set out again for the object of his search.
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