USA > Iowa > Cedar County > A topical history of Cedar County, Iowa, Volume I > Part 3
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26
HISTORY OF CEDAR COUNTY
himself. Part of the lumber he hauled from Bloomington ( Muscatine). The old kiln where the brick were burned has disappeared, althought in wet seasons water fills in the old pond. At that time Tipton consisted of two or three dwell- ing houses, a store and a log jail. It gave little evidence then of its future.
"Soon after the building of the house mentioned grandmother was married to John Casebeer. The young folks moved to Sugar Creek, several miles farther south. When I asked her what kind of a house she had, her eyes flashed in reply : 'A log cabin of one room and the corn crib under the bed.' They were often troubled by begging Indians. The squaws teased for flour, for clothes for papooses, for anything their greedy eyes might light upon. The sole want of the Indian buck was tobacco. He had become thus far civilized.
"Fruit was very scarce. The young orchards had not yet reached a fruiting stage, and the wild product was mainly crab apples. Pies were made from beet tops and sheep sorrel until pie plant became known, which was thought so much better. After her mother's death grandmother came back to her father's to care for the younger children. It was a time of bold thieving. Men stole valu- able horses, rounded them up near the Mississippi and shipped them south. Finally the outrages became unbearable and parties of men from Scott and Cedar Counties organized into a band called 'regulators,' to find and punish the guilty ones. The Sopers lived a half mile down the road from the Humphrey home. Ed. Soper, one of the thieves, was found at his home. He made no resistance, but was lodged safely in jail. Gleason could not be found. For several days a mob of angry men rode through the woods searching everywhere. They were armed with almost every conceivable weapon, and were determined on finding and punishing the thief. He was at last captured in the woods near the Burr Oak school house, a short distance from grandmother's home. A girl who was picking berries found him hiding behind a log. She led the 'regulators' to the spot. He was jailed and what happened after that is related in another chapter.
"During the time of the Civil War and when slavery was the chief topic of thought the Humphrey home was a station on the 'underground railroad.' Many negroes, especially at the time of the bloody war in Kansas, ran away north or were helped away, and by assistance on the route finally reached Canada. Fami- lies of colored folk often remained over night at this station. The next day grandfather would put them in a wagon, cover them up with quilts and blankets, and transport them to Posten's Grove, fifteen miles farther on their way. On long, lonely stretches of road curly heads often popped out, but when strangers happened to meet the command was 'to duck.' All promptly obeyed and to all appearances grandfather was hauling bags of grain to mill. Even in the north there were many anxious and willing to send the negro back to his cruel master in the southland if he caught him seeking a route to liberty. These people re- mained sympathetic during the war and were known by the name of 'copper- heads.' " 19
Such were some of the exciting scenes of pioneer life. Their sufferings and privations, their simple joys and wholesome pleasures are alike unknown to later generations. These were the founders of our county, the ones who must be' credited with a pure and earnest purpose to make a real home in a new land.
Lurenda Humphrey Casebeer, a Pioneer Hannah James, Ninety Years, Six Months Old
Miss Surrilda Sterrett, who came to Cedar County in 1836
Mrs. Margaret Jenings, daughter of Hector Sterrett. She was the first white child born in Cedar County
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1
HISTORY OF CEDAR COUNTY
One of the early settled portions of the county was Pioneer Grove in the northwestern part. In 1837 Prior Scott and two families of near relatives came to this part of the county from Indiana. They came up the river to Bloomington, where the teams met them from the overland journey. The usual experiences the first year came to them, the diffculties in getting the necessary food, and iong journey to Illinois to bring supplies. A daughter of Prior Scott relates this experience in these early days: "My father started with his ox team to bring corn for the three families. He was gone three weeks. No news came since there were no mails in those days, and mother was nearly frantic with anxiety before his appearance after the long delay. His delay was caused by the open river and the time it took for it to freeze over that he might cross himself or get his team over. They planted corn on the new sod in the spring of the first year. Our meat supply was secured from the deer that were so plentiful. The log cabin my father built was the curing place for the supply, the venison being hung aloft as it was secured. Indians were plentiful, but harmless. Money was not wanting to enter the land as soon as open for sale. Gold and silver was brought from the former home for that purpose. The usual diet of hulled corn and corn products led to emergencies being met in original ways. When meal supply was exhausted at one time my mother crushed some corn with a hammer until it could be pulverized in a coffee mill, and the bread made from it tasted better than any cake I ever ate. When my Uncle Joseph Caraway saw it he called out, 'Ruth, where did you get your bread?' On being informed he exclaimed: 'We'll have some, too.' In those days the only company we had were Indians, wolves, and deer. Only two of that early group in Pioneer Grove are now living, Mrs. Albaugh,20 the daughter of Prior Scott, and Samuel Gilliland, who in his ninety- seventh year, travels about independently.
The Fraseur family arrived in the county in 1837 and camping west of Tipton, or where it is now, on the banks of the creek, they had a call the very first evening from the natives, who came to borrow flour, their accustomed request, since the white man was supposed to have an abundant supply of that article with which to placate his red friend if necessity required.
Passing along the stream for some distance north of the camping place they selected the spot where the Lunschen house now stands for their cabin. Wolves and deer were very common in the neighborhood, as all the settlers found when they first entered the county. Mr. Montgomery Fraseur relates the adventure of a neighbor who was on his way to Muscatine with a load of wheat when he was attacked by wolves and only escaped by throwing off one sack of grain at a time to delay the hungry brutes.
Land was unsurveyed then and they settled anywhere that seemed suitable, putting a crop into the ground at once-wheat, oats, and corn. At one time Mr. Fraseur took a load of wheat to Chicago, driving a yoke of oxen and bringing in return two stoves and two barrels of salt. The markets were so uncertain that the producer could not tell what his prospects were until he had tried the market .. On one occasion fat cattle, four years old, were taken to Dubuque and brought but thirteen dollars per head.
Very early in the settlement a school house was built and a teacher secured. To this school pupils came from a distance of five miles. This is referred to as a
30
HISTORY OF CEDAR COUNTY
school taught by Mr. Smith in the chapter on Education. One of the stoves brought from Chicago was to serve the school, and so far as records show it must have been the first one to have such a luxruy.
Mr. Montgomery Fraseur made the overland trip to California in 1849. He tells of the trials of that trip, how so many gave up their lives in the attempt to find gold, and even facing the dread disease, cholera, on the journey. A hastily dug grave, a hurried burial, and then a greater hurry to leave the vicinity for fear of exposure marked the journey of the emigrant train. On his return he came by way of Panama to New York, by stage to Rock Island from Chicago, and on horseback to his home in Cedar County.21
It is said that in June, 1835, a party from along the Mississippi River entered this county at Posten's Grove on the east line and took possession of that timber before it had its present name, going from there to Onion Grove, north of the present town of Clarence, staking out their claims so as to include all the timber here. This party, which included the names of some well-known men, and some who are always mentioned in connection with Iowa history, claims to have opened the way for the first land rights in Iowa territory within the limits of Cedar County. Antoine LeClaire, the two Davenports, Wm. Gordon, Alexander Mac- Gregor, Louis Hebert made up this party according to the only authority now available.22 The first inhabitants or inhabitant if we define him as one who comes here to live, probably came in 1836, although others were in the county earlier. Andrew Crawford seems to have the best right to the claim of being the first settler, but preceded others by only a few months. An attempt will be made at the end of this chapter to arrange from the records the order of arrivals of the early settlers. The experiences of these first settlers must be found in the few interviews that can now be reported from the small number who can relate them at this distant date.
When the Crawfords came to the county they first made a claim on the banks of Sugar Creek, near the south line of what is Centre township. Stephen Toney took his claim precisely where the old building known as the "Finch" school house stood. McCoy first claimed all the territory now and then in prospective, com- prised in the limits of Rochester. The process of getting a start in the new land is briefly told. Having made his settlement or found a stopping place, Andrew Crawford hitched to his breaking plow, which he had brought along, and turned. the sod on several acres on the place afterward owned by the Widow Rice, and now by Mr. W. M. Port. This he planted in corn and beans and other vegetables for early crop, which at harvest time yielded abundantly. The new soil did re- spond well to the hand of the pioneer and such crops as grew then were remark- able for their size, as some now can testify.
When Martin Baker made his claim it comprised the central portions of what is now Rochester township. He first settled where Samuel Slater afterwards lived. As mentioned elsewhere, the first prayer meeting in the county so far as known was held in his cabin at this place of settlement. Mr. Baker afterward preached regularly at Col. Henry Hardman's house, and at the Burnside cabin, which then occupied the place later owned by William Ochiltree. As a general rule the early settlers came, selected a site for a cabin, erected it and leaving it in charge of some friend, returned for their families, and in this way avoided the
4
Samuel Gilliland in his ninety-seventh year. Came to Cedar County in 1836. Served on the jury in 1841. The cabin beside him was made by him as a model of the one in which he was married in 1839
33
HISTORY OF CEDAR COUNTY
unpleasant wait that always must elapse before comforts of shelter and protection from danger could be furnished. Not always was this done, for covered wagons made the stay possible until log cabins could be put together. Then when a few had become established in the neighborhood others found shelter with them while preparing their own home.
It is said that for reasons implied in the foregoing there were very few women in Cedar County at first, the men coming to prepare the way. Several women lay claim to cooking the first meal in the county. So far as records go the differ- ence in time of claimants is a matter of weeks only, and it is safe enough to divide the honors.
Andrew Crawford came in 1836 and Mrs. Phœbe Easten, his daughter, had charge of her father's cabin. She must have come out with him and preceded other women by a few weeks. Cal. Walton came very soon after, and to his wife the honor of cooking the first white woman's meal has often been ascribed. The wife of Stephen Toney probably came soon after this and from that time the women of the household came more frequently and the household knew their comforting ministrations.
Robert Sterrett, on entering the county, selected a camping ground near the stream now known as Mosquito Creek. In those days these insects were very numerous owing to favorable conditions, and at this particular time and place tor- mented the pioneer without any mercy. For this reason the name was given to this small stream and the incident has left its history to the later generation, although its reasons may not now be prominent in the experiences of those living.
Two reasons for the name of Sugar Creek are offered by different authorities. One that the large number of sugar maples growing along its border led to the name, and the second the sweetness of the water. Both are reasonable, since both are true from the early and pioneer point of view. The sweetness of the stream was not necessarily in the sense of taste, but in comforts of other kinds, and one must allow for some sentiment in all these names-an interesting study by itself. Martin Baker, in search of his claim, undertook to trace "Crooked Creek" to its rise, but returned home in disgust before he had performed his task, giving the stream its appropriate name as one must conclude who attempts to follow its windings.
Rock Creek was easily named from the course it follows, as it furnishes a type formation of ancient rocks for the student of the earth's history.
These streams in that early time are described as swarming with fish, the source of food supply for many families. One cannot quite believe all the "fish stories," for that is a common source of error and a temptation to otherwise gen- erally honest men. The people were seldom in want of the best the waters could supply in spring and fall. For instance a pike was caught in Sugar Creek that weighed forty pounds after being dressed, but it is agreed that this was above the average size.
The tricks of the Indians were not different then than when he came and went in quite recent years over the Iowa prairie, stopping at farm houses to beg, borrow, or pilfer whatever the Indian taste appreciated. They liked to trade, and they loved to get the white man's flour and hog meat. It was easier to catch the white man's chickens than to hunt the wild ones. It is said that in some cases they
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HISTORY OF CEDAR COUNTY
offered to "swap" some property for one of the fair members of the settler's house- hold, and it was not without consideration since the bargain hunter was always a leading chief. In one case the chief explained that it would be a great honor to the white settler for his daughter to become the "squaw" of the "big injun." When the settler urged the necessity of keeping his daughter to work, the noble red man offered to substitute his own squaw in her place, who was a heap better to work, a heap better.23
There was no imagination in the trials of the early settler when it came to labor-it was real-the modern implements of agriculture were yet to be in- vented. As one may read farther on in the "county fair" exhibits, the most primi- tive inventions were hailed as the salvation of the agriculturist.
The early contests with the elements are told in many stories of adventure, some of them in this chapter and the most of these stories have come from the sources of all such things, and must vary with the individual experiences of men, yet in the main be true for all. A writer in the old Cedar County Post of April, 1872, has collected most of the data now available for drawing conclusions beyond a few personal accounts of the same nature that are told by those now living, in most cases children when they came, and children who were very young. Only one in the county who came in the '30s, Samuel Gilliland, was a young man at that time.
Andrew Crawford, the father of Charley Crawford, whom every one knows, who has been long in this county, met with a stirring experience one time during the winter of 1836-7. The winter was severe and provisions must be brought, as has been said, from the source of supply at the mouth of Pine. Crawford started to wade home through the snow, some two feet deep, for a distance of forty miles. During the journey a blinding storm set in, causing him to lose his way. Com- ing to the course of Sugar Creek after dark he did not dare leave this landmark until morning, so he patrolled the ice during all that time to keep from freezing. To stop or lie down was certain death, as all know who have read of those who lose their lives by exposure to cold.
Morning revealed to him his situation and he set out for home through the deep drifts, although well-nigh worn out by the long night of suffering. On the way he was about to give up in despair when, noticing a break in the snow ahead, he made one supreme effort to reach it, when he found it to be a path made by Mr. Burnside to get his cattle to water at the creek. This enabled him to find the house of friends, where he dragged himself more dead than alive, and where he was kindly cared for. He was very badly frozen, yet lived to tell the tale until 1856.
Other experiences of this kind could be recounted without limit, but these are typical and must answer. It has been said that Cedar County was thirty years in settling, that is until occupied fully by those who were to form the first settlement on its prairie lands. No one ventured to make a prairie claim until about 1850, since such a procedure would have been looked upon as the "height of folly." One of the pioneers who considered the possibilities of this prairie was regarded as somewhat visionary, yet by 1854 it is safe to say a very little of this prairie land was left in the hands of the government.
35
HISTORY OF CEDAR COUNTY
Early in the history of the county the speculator, or perhaps that is a name altogether too mild, made life extremely miserable for the honest seeker after a home. The timbered portion of the county was most desirable from the point of view of the settler who came from the older states, where he had been taught these things, and this portion the ring of claimants set out to possess. When a claim was staked by the farmer this gang demanded of him that he vacate or pay for his right. Argument availed nothing since witnesses were always at hand to prove anything necessary to establish a previous claim. To avoid trouble the settler might comply or move on as he chose. Frequently he paid a sum sufficient to satisfy the greed of the would-be claimant, and when the time came the opera- tion was repeated in some other locality.24
1236871
After this had been repeated for a time the population grew to sufficient extent to make such operations unsafe, and the defrauding agents learned that the people were resolved to take matters into their own hands for mutual protection against such nefarious practices, and see what a taste of "lynch law" could do for such unprincipled men.
Leagues were formed to secure justice at the land sales held in Dubuque in 1840, and while the robbers of honest settlers, who were innocent of their methods, were present at this sale in force, they dared not make any attempt to enforce their false claims when they came into contact with a body of frontiersmen armed with rifles and determined to fix the first bidder against the rightful settler of any claim already located. This seemed the only remedy then, since the police powers of the United States government then were scattered over so much terri- tory that this region seemed left to its own resources, like similar regions in other parts of this big country.
"Necessity being the mother of invention," as one learns through bitter expe- rience, led the settler to methods of his own in making improvements. "Cabin construction," as they called it, exemplifies the old truth expressed in the begin- ning. The pioneer built his cabin of any desired dimensions without nails, screws, bolts, bars or iron of any description. Fireplaces and brick chimneys were often made without lime and often without stone or brick. The logs for the building being cut and collected on the proposed site, the owner would make a "raising," to which he summoned the entire surrounding community within hailing distance, and that meant miles in those days. The jug was always a prime necessity at these gatherings, and after it was sampled the work began.
Four of the best axmen were placed at the four corners of the house, whose business it was to match and adjust the logs as they were rolled into place under the direction of the "boss." One window and one door were allowed generally, and the last two logs laid at the top of the house were made to project on both ends and in these extensions notches were cut to hold a log laid in them.
At regular intervals from and parallel to this cross beam other timbers were laid, one above the other, making rafters for the roof. Upon these the clapboards were laid, very much the same as modern shingles, only fewer courses, as the clapboards were about four feet long. Each course was secured in its place by means of a heavy pole placed directly over the rafter beneath and kept in place by braces. The first at the eaves was kept in place by pieces of wood placed with one end against the log and the other against the "staying pole." The next pole
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HISTORY OF CEDAR COUNTY
above was stayed from this and so on to the top. The fireplace was built of rock or of wood lined with rock, or of wood and a heavy covering of clay. The chimneys were nearly always built of slats of wood lined with clay. The door was sometimes a thatched framework, but generally two large clapboards or puncheon pinned with cross pieces and wooden pins and hung on wooden hinges with a wooden latch. The door was opened on the outside by means of a string which passed through a hole in the door above the latch, and when pulled would lift the wooden bar. The floor was of puncheon or large slabs about six feet long and dressed with an ax to fit as closely as possible.25
In houses like these the people lived, and happily, too. So much for circum- stances and standard of living as it changes from generation to genera- tion. John Ferguson of Red Oak was the first man so far as known to apply water power to machinery. In the years of 1837-8, with the help of his neigh- bors, he constructed a mill on Rock Creek not far from his home. Shortly after this Aaron Porter built a mill on Crooked Creek.
Mr. Porter made the mill stones and also the boxing for the larger shafting ; the latter were made of flint rock and answered the purpose well. This was the second flouring mill in the county. These mills could not bolt their flour. The bread was whole wheat and of a kind good enough for anyone.
Sometimes these mills got out of repair or were frozen up or the dam washed away, when the settlers were obliged to go long distances to find supplies of flour, even to Dubuque, a distance of eighty miles, if they could do no better.
Farming in the early fifties was still primitive. Horses were few. Oxen were used in cultivating the fields and conveying products to market. There were no stoves until about that time. Farm implements consisted of a wagon, plow, scythe, fork, spade, and a hoe, besides the very essential axe. August Petersen in the summer of 1855 brought the first reaper to the neighborhood of Lowden. It was a McCormick hand rake reaper. He cut his own and his neigh- bors' grain that year. He went with his reaper as far as Col. Parr's, on what is now the Anton Hoeltke farm. Exchange of work was the custom in those days and purchases and sales a mere question of barter. The money was wanting and articles of immediate use were given for products of the farm. Mr. Philip Schnei- der, the father of our present county auditor, one of the very earliest settlers in this party of the county, related not long before his death the following: He came with his father and two brothers from Germany in 1847 and settled in Ohio. In '51 they came to Davenport and were taken with ox team and sleigh from there to the region now comprised in Springfield township. Settlers were very few, log houses were scattered along the edge of the timber, and land could be had for one and a quarter dollars an acre, now worth one hundred times that amount. Among the hardy pioneers of this section is Henry Heiner, who, at the advanced age of eighty-five or more, is able to relate vividly his pioneer experiences. He came to this neighborhood in 1856 from southern Illinois. He hauled the first load of lumber in 1857 from the Wapsie to this place for Mr. Dugan. He was to unload it at a stake driven in the tall grass where the stock yards of Lowden are now located. After it was removed from the wagon the grass hid it entirely from view, such was the growth in its wild state. There was only one house near and that was not in the limits of the town as then surveyed. The lumber went
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