USA > Iowa > Mills County > A biographical history of Fremont and Mills Counties, Iowa > Part 62
USA > Iowa > Fremont County > A biographical history of Fremont and Mills Counties, Iowa > Part 62
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JOHN DYSON.
For twenty-eight years John Dyson has been a resident of Mills county and through- out this period he has been particularly active in advancing the agricultural interests of the community. The broad prairies of the Hawkeye state afford an excellent oppor- tunity to the farmer, and by improving the possibilities that surrounded him Mr. Dyson has advanced to a very creditable position in the great department of business upon which the world's wealth depends,-that of agri- culture. He is of English birth, the place of his nativity being in Yorkshire, while his natal day was July 10, 1830. His par- ents, William and Hannah (Parkin) Dyson, were also natives of Yorkshire and there they spent their entire lives. The father had passed the sixtieth milestone on life's jour- ney when called to his final rest, and the mother had reached the advanced age of one hundred and one years and six months. They were the parents of ten children, two of whom are yet living.
Mr. Dyson of this review pursued his education in the public schools of his native country, but his privileges were limited, owing to the fact that at the age of thirteen years he started out in life to provide for his own support by working as a farm hand by the year. He remained in England until 1853, when, believing he could better his financial condition in the new world, he ar- ranged to become a resident of America. He crossed the broad Atlantic and made his
John Dyson
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way westward to Mellenry county, Illinois, where he remained for a year. Tle after- ward spent eighteen months in Hancock county, that state, and then came to lowa. locating first in Lee county, where he was engaged in farming for about eighteen years. On the 17th of April, 1872, he arrived in Mills county and was first employed at break- ing prairie for his brother William, who is How' deceased. He then took up his abode on section 5. in White Cloud township, about a mile south of Malvern, and has since re- sided upon that farm, continuing the work of cultivation and improvement as the years have passed, until now he has one of the most desirable and attractive properties in this section of the state. He is also a di- rector of the Silver City Bank, at Silver City, Iowa.
On the 8th of May, 1852, Mr. Dyson was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Doug- las, a native of England and a daughter of Anthony and Sarah Douglas, who spent their entire lives in that country. Mr. and Mrs. Dyson have a pleasant home and enjoy the warm regard of many friends in the community. Mr. Dyson exercises his right of franchise in support of men and meas- ures of the Republican party, his first presi- dential vote having been cast for Abraham Lincoln, in 1860. His fellow townsmen recognizing his worth and ability have fre- quently called him to public office, and his service as a member of the board of super- visors covered a period of fifteen years. He is at present a trustee of White Cloud town- ship and as an officer he has a public record that is above reproach. for he discharges his duties with a singleness of purpose, regard- ing only the best interests of the community. Ile was one of the organizers of the Mills
County Central Fair Association and for twenty-three years he served as its treasurer. This has done much to stimulate progres- siveness among the agriculturists and has therefore been an important and beneficial element to the farming community of Mills county. He has been a Mason for about twenty-five years. He was made a member in Malvern Lodge, No. 234. A. F. & A. M., and was treasurer for many years of that organization.
REV. SAMUEL ALLIS.
No tale of fiction can contain more in- teresting or exciting incidents than form a part of the life record of the Rev. Samuel Allis, who for forty years lived among the Indians, and on the eastern borders of Ne- braska labored to benefit the red men by in- troducing the customs of civilization and the refining and elevating influences of Chris- tianity among them.
He was born in Conway. Franklin coun- ty, Massachusetts, September 28, 1805. and was one of a family of eight children .- five sons and three daughters. His parents were consistent Christian people who held mem- bership in the Congregational church, and he was reared to honor God and keep his commandments. His educational advantages were somewhat limited. but experience. earn- est purpose and natural tact and discrimina- tion enabled him to meet the conditions of life in which he was placed. At the age of seventeen years he went to live with Phineas Bartlett, of Conway Center, Massachusetts, under whose direction he learned the trade of saddler and harnessmaker. continuing with him until twenty-one years of age. During that time he sat under the preach-
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ing of the Rev. Edward Hitchcock, after- ward the president of Amherst College. Sub- sequently he spent six months working at his trade in Williamstown, Massachusetts. There he first became actively identified with Christian work. At a later date he went to Troy, New York, where he was employed for sixteen months, followed by a period spent in Ithaca, New York, in the employ of a Mr. Kirkham, a good old Presbyterian, in whose employ he remained until he left for the west. While residing there he be- came a member of the Presbyterian church.
In the winter of 1834 a movement was inaugurated in Ithaca for establishing a mission among the Indians, and as the re- sult of this Rev. John Dunbar undertook the task of acting as a missionary, and chose as his assistant the Rev. Samuel Parker and Rev. Samuel Allis. In the spring of 1834 they left Ithaca, their destination being the country of the Nez Perce Indians. By steamer on the Erie canal and then again by steamer on Lake Erie they proceeded westward and by stage crossed Ohio. They then went down the Ohio river, and Messrs. Dunbar and Allis proceeded to the country of the Pawnee Indians. After conferring with the Pawnee agent they found they could effect nothing until the following fall, and so proceeded t> Fort Leavenworth, spending the summer there and at Liberty, Clay county, Missouri, among the missions of the Kickapoo, Shawnee and Delaware In- dians, learning much of the Indians' char- acter, customs and manners. They also spent some time at Fort Leavenworth, in which locality resided the Kickapoos, who had a sort of Catholic form of worship. They would meet on Sunday and the prophet of the Mormons, who were then on their west-
ward way, would preach to them in their language.
After spending the summer at and near Fort Leavenworth Mr. Allis and his friends proceeded to Bellevue, which was the agency for the Omahas, Otes and Pawnees. This tribe was divided into four bands. After remaining for three or four days in Bellevue, Nebraska. Mr. Allis went to the Pawnee Loups. Their first camp was at the Fur Company's fort, about two miles above the present city of Omaha. Declining the hos- pitality of Major Pitcher, Rev. Allis en- . tered upon his life work among the Indians, and for the first time slept on the ground. They encamped secondly near the Elk Horn river, and the subject of this review was awakened about three o'clock in the morn- ing by the Indians hurrying to saddle up and leave camp, as the prairies were on fire. It was the first sight of the kind he had ever witnessed, and the movements of the Indians showed that they were in danger. All were rapidly packing their ponies, and Rev. Allis found himself in somewhat of a predicament, for he had two horses, a saddle and a pack horse, but he had little knowledge how to prepare for such a journey. The old chief, however, deputized two young Indians to as- sist him, and afterward the red men talked and laughed over his first prairie experience. After that, however, he was often for six months at a time among the red men with- out seeing a. white man's house, sleeping on the ground and meeting the experiences of Indian life in every way. At other times he was exposed to prairie fires and sometimes had to fight to the utmost of his ability to escape with his life. The third night they camped on the bank of the Platte river, and there he learned his first Pawnee word-the
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name of the moon. His host and his braves and deputies took great pains to entertain him, and on the fourth night after they started on their journey they arrived at the Indian village, where Mr. Allis was in- troduced to the chief's queens, three in num- ber, and to his six children. As soon as he was seated the old queen placed before him a wooden bowl of buffalo meat and a dish which a French trader called bouillon. and the soup was eaten with a buffalo horn spoon. He had hardly finished that meal before he was invited to dine with one of the members of the cabinet. and there re- ceived similar honors and treatment, and the invitations came thick and fast after that. Åt length, after much feasting, he retired to rest in the lodge on a pair of blankets and a robe, with a deer-skin pillow filled with deer hair. The next day the Indians began distributing their goods and getting ready for the winter's hunt.
Mr. Allis there formed the acquaintance of three Canadian Frenchmen, and was glad to again hear the English language, although spoken somewhat brokenly. It was not again until Christmas that he met his French friends and heard his own language, but in the meantime he set to work in earnest to learn the Indian language and soon had a vocabulary sufficient to enable him to form sentences. During the winter he familiarized himself with Indian methods of work and modes of living, attending feasts, pow-wow balls and medicine dances, learning all that he could of the people whom he had come to help. He also attended the buffalo hunts with the Indians. He found that the women secured most of the wood and water and did most of the drudgery, while the men killed the game and the boys took care
of the horses. lle said that there were more brawls, jealousies and family quar- rels caused by horses than all other troubles combined, and that a horse frequently caused separations between man and wife. The Indians also gambled to a great extent and had continuous feasts of one kind or another. Mr. Allis often being called upon to attend twenty or thirty in one day.
Mr. Allis spent the first winter with the Indians on their hunting expedition, and in the spring they returned to their permanent village. The condition of the wandering tribe made the work for the benefit of their spiritual condition of little avail and was also interrupted by the Arickarees. The warlike spirit which existed among the dif- ferent tribes of Indians caused them to train their children to kill and steal from each other, and it is therefore very difficult for missionaries to make permanent peace among them. In the summer of 1836 there occurred a hunt which was much more successful than the one the previous winter, for they re- turned with a large amount of buffalo meat. On again reaching the village Mr. Allis started with Mr. Dunbar and sixteen Indians for Fort Leavenworth, going there to obtain their mail, to transact their business and to secure goods for the Indians. They arrived at their destination and returned by way of Bellevue. In the winter of 1836 a good hunt was made, in which they killed buffalo and also elk and deer at the head of Grand Island. They also caught many beavers and otters that autumn. They had a skir- mish with the Sioux, but had no success from the fact that there was an Indian with the Sioux who was once a Pawnee: so said an old tradition. He had been killed in
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battle by their enemies and left on the bat- tle-field to be devoured by wolves and ravens. The wolves finally gathered his bones to- gether and restored him to life, when he went among other tribes, on account of the barbarous treatment of his own people in leaving him to be so devoured. And when- ever he came to war with the enemy it was useless for the Pawnees to fight, for their muskets would flash in the pan and their bow-string's break. Many other superstitions existed among the tribe and made it difficult for the Christian religion to obtain a foot- hold : yet Rev. Allis said that in point of in- tellect many of the Indians were superior to the negroes. . He acted as United States in- terpreter for eight years, heard many speeches to the government officials from the president and other men of the tribes and found that many of them were good orators, and "in tact and good sense some of their speeches would not disgrace the halls of congress."
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In 1862 Rev. Mr. Allis discontinued his travels with the Indians with whom he had been for two winters and one summer,- in all about sixteen months,-having re- mained among them for the purpose of ac- quiring their language and also to gain a knowledge of their manners and customs. He had invariably met kind treatment from them, for the Indians are always kind and generous to one whom they believe to be a friend. In 1835 Rev. Samuel Parker and Rev. Marcus Whitman met the subject of this review while on their way to the Flat- head Indians. In the spring of 1836, hav- ing spent the winter in Washington, there transacting some important business, they again returned to the west with reinforce- ments, and among the number 'was Miss E.
Palmer, who a week later became the wife of Rev. Allis, the marriage ceremony being performed by Rev. Spaulding, who was on his way to the Oregon mission. Being dis- appointed in his expectation of proceeding up the river by boat, Rev. Allis purchased a wagon and three yoke of oxen and started on his journey overland. He and his wife separated from their companions at the Big Nemaha and proceeded up the Platte river to begin their labors in Nebraska. After ar- riving at Bellevue, in June, 1836, he pro- cured four acres of land and a garden spot and that year raised a good garden and some corn. In February Mr. Allis went to St. Louis on horseback, returning in April, ac- companied by the Rev. Mr. Dunbar and his wife. He lived in his home at Bellevue, con- tinuing his labors until they could take up their residence with the Pawnees, who about that time removed to a new reservation. On the 2d of August, 1837, while at Belle- vue, their first child was born. . He was given the name of Henry, but thirteen months later he was taken from them by death, the remains being interred in Belle- vue. On account of the hostilities of the Sioux Indians they remained at that place until the spring of 1842, when they went to the reservation and began their labors among the Pawnees. While there Otis Eddy Allis was born. December 4. 1843. In the same locality for a year resided George B. Gaston and his wife. The former then became one of the government farmers and broke con- siderable prairie for the Indians. As soon as buildings could be prepared the workers were divided into two settlements.
In the early part of January, 1844, Rev. Allis removed his family to the upper sta- tion. The winter was a very severe one,
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the coldest in all his remembrance, says Mr. Allis. At this time he and his wife and three children all slept in one bed, with the last calf at the foot, and then the young animal died. ( Otis Eddy Allis was the baby with the calf. ) Mr. Allis several times froze his fingers while milking. The In- dians lost most of their horses and several of the red men froze to death. In the spring he fenced a garden and in the fall broke the ground, completed his house, built stables and sheds and was well prepared for winter when the cold season again set in. In the summer of 1845 he erected a school-house, doing all of the work himself. In the spring preceding he had begun holding a school,and the chiefs would set their old criers to lia- ranguing the village and then came two or three braves leading a band of some one hun- dred and fifty children. Not more than thir- teen could get into the house He had a card with large letters on it, and, pointing with a long stick to a letter, would tell its name and the Indian children would repeat it after him. When they had read, the braves would turn them out and fill the house with another lot, and so on until they had all finished reading, when the braves would lead the children home. The attendance was very fluctuating, but soon, however, the children could read the letters without being told what they were. When winter came, how- ever, the Indians would take their children with them on their hunts, so that when spring again came they had largely forgotten what they had learned the previous year. The Indians felt that they were forced to take their children because of the hostilities of the Sioux.
The Sioux and Poncas lost no opportu- nity to harass their enemy, and on one oc-
casion Mrs. Allis was shot at when in the yard at Mr. Kaney's going from the chick- en house toward the home. Hearing a noise like the snapping of a gun, she turned and saw two Indians standing about four rods from her. She had a child in her arms and with the little one started to run. There were two balls in the gun that was fired and one lodged in a log, while the other passed through the chinking and was im- bedded in the back of the house. As Mrs. Allis ran past the corner of the house she staggered, and the Indians supposed they had shot her and reported that they had killed a white lady. On reaching the house she fell or sat down on the floor and said that a Sioux shot at her; so Mr. Allis caught up his gun and ran after the In- dians, who were then about twenty rods away. He called them and they turned and shot at him, also at his dog and at his oxen, one of which was killed.
Mr. Allis and his family remained among the Pawnees for about four years and four months, leaving there in Au- gust. 1846. Hle had labored here in building houses and sheds for the cattle, in breaking ground for fields and gar- dens, and at the same time attempt- ed to teach the Indians, hoping that a way would be open for still further work. but the neglect of the government to give the Pawnees protection against the Sioux made their labors of little avail. After eight years spent in that country he realized that it was not safe to remain there with his family, and left for Bellevue. There the Indian agent placed the boarding school for Indian children in charge of Mr. Allis, who conducted the school for two years. He remained in Bellevue until 1851 and then
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removed to St. Mary's, Mills county, Iowa, living on a farm there for two years.
For about eight years the government urged him to become United States inter- preter and he acted in that capacity at the time General Danver's treaty was made with the Pawnees, in August, 1856. After President Buchanan's inauguration he went to Washington with Major W. W. Deni- son and a delegation of sixteen Pawnees to have the treaty ratified, spending the entire winter there owing to the fact that congress was agitated over the Kansas question and could give no time to the con- sideration of Indian affairs. In April, 1857, however, he arrived at his home. The Indians lived on the south side of the Platte, opposite and below where Fremont, Nebraska, is now located. They received one payment there and then removed to the reservation near Beaver Creek, Nebraska.
In the spring of 1851 Rev. Allis took up his abode at St. Mary's, Iowa, and for two and a half years occupied what is known as the Fielder farm, removing thence to a farm three-fourths of a mile to the north, where he resided up to the time of his death. He was absent much of the time among the Indians, acting as United States interpreter, but returned to the old home in Iowa, there to resume the pursuits of private life, carrying on agriculture as a means of livelihood for himself and his family. His death occurred December 12, 1885, when he was eighty years of age. The work which he acomplished cannot be over-estimated. He was one of the advance guards of civilization among the Indians and paved the way for the work of others. He won the entire confidence of the red men by reason of his exact justice and great
kindness, and, though he did not accom- plish what he wished in intellectual ad- vancement and Christian education, his labors nevertheless were productive of great good. He carried the torch which shed the first glimmer of light into their lives, making them acquainted with something else besides their own manner of living. He opened the way to frontier life more than any other living man; but on account of his quiet manner there was not much said about him and due credit was not given him by the public for his heroic and per- severing work. "Buffalo Bill," who has had so wide a reputation, came in after the way had been opened by Mr. Allis, and had a much easier time. The govern- ment recognized his services, and, though the Indian problem is still unsettled, the key to the situation was found in such work as Mr. Allis did among the red men, a work which was prompted by his belief in the brotherhood of man and the father- hood of God.
OTIS E. ALLIS.
A very prominent agriculturalist of Mills county, who has acceptably served his township for many years in various offi- cial positions, is Otis Eddy Allis, who is the subject of this article. He was born on Cedar creek, Nance county, Nebraska, on the 4th of December, 1843, and was a son of Samuel and Emeline (Palmer) Allis. The father was a native of Massa- chusetts, and was of Scotch lineage, while the mother was born in Ithaca, New York, and was of French and German descent. Samuel Allis became a noted man. In early life he learned the harness-maker's
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trade. but in 1833 was one of a trio who were appointed missionaries to the Pawnee tribe of Indians. He then made his way westward and for forty years lived among the Indians on the border of civilization in Nebraska. He endured many hardships in his labors for Christianity, an account of which was published by the State Histori- cal Society under the caption, "Forty Years Among the Indians." His death took place December 12, 1885, when he was eighty years of age.
Otis E. Allis is the third in a family of six children, the first white male child born in Nebraska being his brother Henry. The second was Gascon and the third was Otis E. Allis, who is now the only survivor of the family. He was reared in the west- ern portion of the country in a frontier setlement. He has been an important fac- tor in the growth and development of Mills county, and can relate many interesting in- cidents of its early improvement. He early became familiar with all the duties and la- bors that fall to the lot of the agriculturist and to-day he is one of the leading farmers of Mills county, being the owner of seven hundred and eight acres of land here. He also has a great amount of stock and has been very successful in the management of both branches of the business. In his pastures are seen fine herds of cattle, good grades of other stock, and his broad fields of waving grain give promise of abundant harvests.
In 1871 Mr. Allis was united in mar- riage to Miss Ellen Edwards, and unto them have been born seven children, name- ly: Sadie, who became the wife of Gus Plumer and resides in Pottawattamie coun- ty, lowa, near Council Bluffs: Oliver E.,
who is bookkeeper and collector for the Hoagland Lumber Company and also re- sides in Council Bluffs: William R., Sam- uel. Emeline, Harriet and Otis E., who are with their parents. The last named was a candidate for county clerk in 1898 and made a very successful canvass.
While widely known in his affairs Mr. Allis has also performed much service in his township and county and has acceptably filled many public offices. In politics he is a stalwart Democrat, unswerving in his sup- port of the principles of that organization. For fifteen years he has held the office of school director and has been the treasurer and secretary of the school board. He has also been justice of the peace, road supervisor and township trustee, performing all of his duties in a most prompt and capable man- ner. . \ public-spirited and progressive citi- zen, he has withheld his support from no movement or measure calculated to prove a public benefit. He has been instrumental in securing many of the good roads for which the township is famous and has done very acceptable service in other directions.
He is a man of unquestioned integrity. whose word is as good as his bond. The family is one highly respected in the neigh- borhood and no history of Mills county woukl be complete without mention of this honored. successful and prominent agricul- turist.
WILLIAM W. MORGAN.
William W. Morgan is one of the hon- ored and esteemed residents of Sidney. lowa, where for eight terms he has occu- pied the position of mayor. His control of municipal affairs has been a great practi-
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