The history of Wapello 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, Part 1

Author: Western Historical Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Chicago, Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 682


USA > Iowa > Wapello County > The history of Wapello 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 > Part 1


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1800


S


S


F627


Class


Book W2H6


THE


HISTORY


OF


WAPELLO COUNTY,


IOWA,


CONTAINING


A history of the County, its Cities, Gowns,


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 Wapello County, Constitution of the United States, Miscellaneous Matters, &c.


1


ILLUSTRATED. 1


CHICAGO : WESTERN HISTORICAL COMPANY, 1


1878.


-


& 1859 '01


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.


. W2HG


PREFACE.


T T THE history of Wapello County is one which contains many features iden-


tical with the history of Iowa. the preservation of which is essential to the truthful record of the State's life. The publishers of this volume have fully appreciated that fact, and have so arranged the order of compilation as to give each prominent characteristic due place.


There is no effort herein to reach literary excellence, but rather a decided attempt to capture vagrant items of interest, and weave them together upon the simplest thread of system. Many men will say that their own acts are not sufficiently expatiated upon, or commensurate credit given certain friends of theirs ; but the publishers have not aimed merely to please individuals. The work engaged in by them was of a higher nature. They have concentrated records for the benefit of posterity, rather than for the selfish gratification of the vanity of special patrons.


In their labors, they have been aided by Mr. SAMUEL B. EVANS, whose skill and information have given character to the paper on the Mounds of the Des Moines Valley, and whose files of the Ottumwa Democrat have been frequently referred to. They have been helped in many ways by the ready memory of Messrs. R. H. and C. C. WARDEN, and by the files of the Ottumwa Courier, the pioneer journal of the West, which made its appearance under the manage- ment of Mr. R. H. WARDEN. These valuable papers were placed at the writer's disposal through the courtesy of Mr. A. H. HAMILTON, the present pro- prietor. Mr. W. D. HORTON, of Agency City, had, fortunately, preserved those copies of the Independent containing the contributions of Major John Beach, and, by that act of forethought, future generations will be permitted to read of the Agency and the life therein. Of Judge HENDERSHOTT'S able address, nothing further need be said than that we have appropriated it bodily, without even asking the Judge if we might do so. The people will approve of the act,


PREFACE.


whether the Judge does or not. The county officers have given the publishers great aid, and done it, too, in such a cordial manner as to leave with us the most hearty feelings of friendliness. So it has been throughout the county. We can name but a moiety of those who have been kindly disposed, and so we say to one and all, We thank you.


If any one feels disposed to be hypercritical of the work, let that individual first realize that we have tried to do our work honestly and well. We leave the permanent verdict confidently to the future.


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 North- west 86


Chicago. 95


Illinois 257 Indiana 259


Iowa .. .


260


Michigan


263


Wisconsin.


264


Minnesota


266


Nebraska. 267


History of Iowa :


Geographical Situation 109


Topography. 109


Drainage System.


110


History of Iowa :


Rivers 111


Lakes


118


Springs


119


Prairies.


120


Geology


120


Climatology 137


Discovery and Occupation 139


Pike's Expedition 151


Indian Wars.


152


Black Hawk War. 157


Indian Purchase, Reserves and Treaties .. 159


Spanish Grants


163


Half-Breed Tract ..


164


Early Settlements. 166


Territorial History. 173


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 Iowa:


PAGE.


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


Public Schools


218


Political Record 223


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


HISTORY WAPELLO COUNTY.


PAGE.


Geology


323


Fruit Culture. 416


Formation of Limebeds ... 324 Eclipse, 1869 417


Great Coal-Basin 325 Educational 419


Cretaceous ..


327


Glacial Period ..


327


Drift Period 329


Bowlders


.331


Origin of the Prairies. 331


The Miller-Thompson Contested Election ... .429 Descriptive Geography .332 Resorces .334


Des Moines River Improvement


Schemes


.435


Origin of the Name Des Moines ....


445


Criminal Record.


.446


Laura Harvey Murder and Ex-


Willis Murder-Lynching of Kephart .... 452


Shooting of Albert M. Logan and Lynching of bis Mur- derer, John Smith .453


Agricultural Society


.456


Speculative and Prophetic.


456


Appanoose Rapids Company ... 462 First Mill. .465


County Seat .465 First Court House. .466


Name ...


.466


Location of Post Office .467


Original Plat .467


Indian Camp Grounds .468


Ottumwa in 1844 .. 468 Independence-Day Celebration.468


Primitive Justice.


.469


Ottumwa House


470


First Ferry 470


Official Roster of the County .403 Eldon . .529 Material Growth and Prosperity ... 407 First Jail 471 Agency City .. Samantha Shaffer 471 Chillicothe. .537 A Glance in 1845. 471 Kirkville. .538 533 Abstract Assessment, 1878 ... .409 Social Statistics .409 Population, 1875. .410 First Court House 471 Blakesburg 538


Dairy Business 410 Swine Culture . 415 First Settlers in Ottumwa. .472 Sheep Culture. 415 Land Sales. .472


Ottumwa:


Mail Contracts


473


Ottumwa in 1849. .. 473


Marine.


473


Lyceum


474


Plankroad Fever.


474


Staging in 1850 474


Ottumwa in 1853 475


Fall of a Landmark 475


Postmasters 475


Governmental Organization ... 475


Police Department ... 479 Fire Department. 480


County Buildings .482


City Hall


482


City Finances


483


Bridge Company 483


Press 483 Secret Societies. 485


Public Schools .. 487


Business College 494 Public Library .494


Churches


495


Railroads.


506


Water-Power Company. .. 507


Water Works


.511


Manufacturing. 513


Gas-Light Company 516 Post Offices in Wapello County.516 County Poor Farm .. 516 Commercial Interests. .51


Loan & Building Association .. 516 Missing Book Found. .517


Eddyville 519


District Court.


.402


First Public Buildings. .468 List of First Grand Jury. 402 Circuit Court. 403


Legislative Enactments.


398


First Probate Business .398


Marriage Record.


401


First Post Office 370


lowa as it was .370


First Settlers 373


Judge Hendershott's Address .. 377


How Pioneers Lived .391


Organization of the County


396


First Marriage .370 Ottumwa. 461


First Grist-Mill 370


Pashepaho. .350


Maj. Beach's History of the Agency .. Wapello's Death .369 351 First White Child born in County .. 369 First Death 370


Approach of Civilization. .334 Unknown Race. .336


Ilistory of the Aborigines.


342


Black Hawk


343


Wapello and other Chiefs


.345


Early Newspaper Items 421


Coal Interests


427


Dalılonega War


429


PAGE.


PAQE.


First Mill Built. 472


Dahlonega


539


Vote, 1876-78


540


War Record


.541


PAGE.


Territory


147


Indians.


147


Reform School


202


Fish Hatching Establishnient .. 203


Public Lands


204


ecution of McComb ..


.446


Large Fires.


480


CONTENTS.


ILLUSTRATIONS.


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 Pontiac, the Ottawa Chieftain 43


Indians Attacking Frontiersmen .. 56


A Prairie Storm 59


WAPELLO COUNTY VOLUNTEERS.


Infantry:


PAGE.


Infantry : PAGE.


Cavalry : PAGE


Second


541


Thirty-sixth 547


Fourth 552


Seventh .. 542 Thirty-seventh. .550


Fifteenth


544


Forty-seventh .551


Eighth


554


Seventeenth


.545


Cavalry:


Eighteenthı


546


Twenty-second .546


Third


.552


BIOGRAPHICAL TOWNSHIP DIRECTORY.


PAGE.


.609


Competine ...


666


Ottumwa City .457


Pleasant .. 657


Cass. .643


Green.


662


Polk


647


Center.


603


Highland. 640


Richland


622


Columbia .633


Keokuk. .655


Washington.


616


LITHOGRAPHIC PORTRAITS.


Page.


Page.


Page.


Blake, Charles F .457


Fisher, John C.


.491


IIutchison, J. G ... 525


Stiles, Edward H.


.. 279


Daggett, William. 423


Hedrick, J. M


227


Wilson, Harvey.


.389


ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS.


PAGE.


Adoption of Children .. .. 303


Forms :


Chattel Mortgage .. .314


Confession of Judgment ... .. 306


Commercial Terms 305


Lease 312 Married Women. 298


Mortgages. 310 Marks and Brands. .300


Notice to Quit. 309


Notes. 306, 313


Orders .... .306


Quit Claim Deed .315


Receipts .306


Wills and Codicils. .309 Estrays 299 Forms : Warranty Deed. .314 Articles of Agreement 307 Fences 300


Bills of Sale .308 Bond for Deed. .315


Bills of Purchase. .306


MISCELLANEOUS.


PAGE.


Map of Wapello County. .Front.


Constitution of United States ......... 269


Vote for President, Governor and


Miscellaneous Table. .289 Congressmen,. 283 Practical Rules for Every-Day Use .. 284


and their Significations. .290 United States Government Land


Measure. 287


Population of the United States ..... 291


PAGE.


Surveyor's Measure .. .288


How to Keep Accounts .288 Interest Table. .289


Names of the States of the Union


Population of the Principal Coun-


tries in the World.


292


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


Wolt Scalps.


300


Jurisdiction of Courts. .297


Jurors. 297


Limitation of Actions 297


Landlord and Tenant. 304


Capital Punishment. 298


Charitable, Scientific and Religious Associations .316


Mechanics' Liens.


301


Roads and Bridges


Descent 293 Damages from Trespass. 300 Exemptions from Execution 298


PAGE.


PAGE.


Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes 293


Seventh


553


Ninth 555


First .551


A Representative Pioneer.


86


Ruins of Chicago.


104


View of the City of Chicago.


106


A Pioneer School House 88


Pioneers' First Winter 94 Great Iron Bridge of C., R. I. & P. R. R., Crossing the Mississippi at


Tecnmseh, the Shawanoe Chieftain 69 Indians Attacking a Stockade ....... 72 Davenport, Iowa. 91


Black Hawk, the Sac Chieftain .....


75


Chicago in 1833 ...


95


Old Fort Dearborn, 1830


98


Big Eagle .. 80


Captain Jack, the Modoc Chieftain 83 Kinzie House


85


Present Site Lake Street Bridge, Chicago, 1833. 98


Lincoln Monument 87


PAGE.


PAGE.


A Pioneer Dwelling .......... 61


Breaking Prairie. ... 63


PAGE.


PAGE.


r


Agency


Adams ... .. 652 Dahlonega .. 631


Burton, E. L ... .355 Hendershott, H. B. .321


Interest. 293 Intoxicating Liquors .. .317


PAGE.


Population of Fifty Principal Cities of the United States. 291 Population and Area of the United States. 292


Hunting Prairie Wolves.


268


Miscellaneous


555


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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)


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


·


.


1


SOURCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI.


THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.


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.


TIIE 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 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,


CO


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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