USA > Iowa > Jackson County > Annals of Jackson county, Iowa, Vol 1-6 > Part 26
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and Jorasley Crawford where Perkins put the lead he had stolen. I then in- quired of them what I should do in such a case, they replied that they would say nothing about it on account of his family. I then from the ad- ice of the three above named persons concluded to say nothing about it. Some days after that time Mr. David Scott and myself were going to Dubu- que, and I still not feeling satistied about the lead affair I named it to him, and advised with him as to what he would do in such a case. He replied that on account of Zopher Perkins family he would let it alone a while. 1 then advised him to say nothing about it, fearing that Perkins would take advantage of it.
Scott, however, afterwards told it to Joshua Beer, and he meeting Perkins asked Beer where he had been. Beer told him that he had been to Goerge Long's to see who it was that followed Perkins and myself from Du- buque. Perkins asked Beer what for. Beer told him something about a piece of lead, then Perkins drove his team on to Thomas Coffee's turned out his cattle, and went back home to get another yoke of cattle. He came back that night bringing no other cattle with him, and went off to Squire Taylor's and filed an affidavit against me for having stolen property in my possession. I appeared on trial and finding there was no signature on the affidavit plead for non suit, the justice refused to grant it, saying the signature to affidavit was not necessary. I told him that was the law de- siring him to refer to it which he refused to do. He gave judgment against me requiring me to give security or go to jail. I gave security and then told Squire Taylor that Zopher Perkins was the man that stole the lead, and de- manded a writ against him which Taylor refused to give. I then went to Squire Nathan Sade and filed an affidavit demanding a writ against Zopher Perkins for stealing the lead. He was brought before the aforesaid jus- tice and succeeded in having the trial put off seven days, on account of the absence of his brother which he wanted for a witness. On the 7th day we appeared for trial, judgment was rendered against Zopher Perkins for stealing the lead, and at the instance of the magistrate he was bound over to keep the peace.
The next morning after this trial Zopher and Xenophon Perkins came over to my house before daylight cursing and swearing, saying Jackson and his wife had sworn to so many damn lies they are holed up and dare not come out. The family being aroused by the noise awak- ened me. I got up put on my clothes and went out and told Zopher Perk- ins he was doing wrong, to recollect that last night he was bound over to keep the peace, he said g-d the peace, and then called out, Xen. come and attend to Jackson, I told him he need not call to Xen. for I did not want any fuss with them. I turned to go into the house when Xen. came running around the yard fence. I passed him going into the house and just as I raised my foot to step over the yard fence Xen. threw something and struck me in the back. I then whirled and pitched at him. Then Zo- pher and Xenophon both ran. In pitching after them down the steep bank of the river I went with such force onto the ice that I could not stop my- self until I got onto the opposite bank. I then turned and walked two or three steps back from them towards my own house. After I had turned I
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turned my face back towards them to see where they were and they both struck me with clubs over the head which knocked me blind. I drew my pistol out of my pocket and tired with a view of scaring them away until I could get out of their reach, having no intention of killing either of them when I fired my pistol. As for Zopher Perkins stating that I took deliber- ate aim, it is false. I do not believe that the lapse of time exceeded five minutes from the time of the conversation between them and myself and the end of the affray. I will now give a statement of the evidence adduced which was incorrect.
"Zopher Perkins stated that they came over to my house peaceably; this was false which you may see from the former statement above made by me. He also stated that I said Zopher Perkins g-d your soul, did I not tell you not to cross the river. This is also false Three or four other times previous to that morning they came over to my house to raise a quar- rel, at which times I went out of the way and would have went out that morning had I been out of bed. To Mrs. Dutell's evidence it is false; as there never was any conversation between her and myself on the subject, having conversed with Peter Dutell previous to the trial he told me that Zopher Perkins was such a liar that he could not be believed, and was a very low character, and his oath should not be taken and now when he was on this trial stated that Perkins was a good character; one of his statements must have been false. Henry G. Mallard came to me personally himself at Corbett's and stated that he was summoned as a witness in my case; he stated to me that neither of the Perkins' could be believed under oath, and that he should have to swear that at the trial, and requested me to tell my lawyer how to put the question to him. He also stated that they were very low characters, but when called on at the trial his evidence was that he would have to believe them, one or the other of his statements must have been wrong. I take the testimony of Elizabeth Perkins to be entirely false from the fact that I believe it impossbile that she could see anything of the affray from where she said she stood.
"As my time is short I must come to a close, and in conclusion I give my religious sentiments. My present belief is that all mankind shall be happy hereafter. But I wish to have the public distinctly understand that what- ever I have done that is wrong in the sad affair that has brought me to my unfortunate condition, or may have done in other respects, is not to be ascribed to my belief, and I would say most solemnly and in the presence of God that I am sorry for these wrongs, and would make all the restitution in my power. I have not been a member of a Universalist church or socie- ty, nor has my life been such in all respects as that of a Universalist."
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in 1859.
Iowa's First Grist Mill a Primitive Affair.
(Written by Farmer Buckhorn for the Jackson County Historical Society.)
When the very first settlers came into the Black Hawk purchase, there was nothing here but the wild sod and wild game. Their rifles and fishing tackle was their main means of subsistence until the wild sod could be turn- ed and a sod crop raised of corn and potatoes. Potatoes were droped in the furrow and the next furrow the plow made covered them. Corn was plant- ed by chopping into the edge of the furrows, the corn dropped into the open- ing and covered by closing the opening by stepping the foot upon it. In that way a little crop without cultivation was gathered the first season. As wheat flour was an unknown quantity, corn bread had to be depended upon. As there was no kind of a mill in the whole territory some device had to be resorted to in order to reduce the whole corn to meal. In many instances only the primitive mortar and pestle of the Indians was used. The first improvement over the Indian method of which there seems to be any account was constructed by Benjamin W. Clark in the fall of 1833. Ac- cording to Capt. W. L. Clark of Buffalo, his father cut a butt off a log about three foot across, hollowed out a mortar by chipping and burning that would hold half a bushel or less of corn. A smallish pole several feet long was bound at one end with a ring and that end driven full of iron wedges of some kind. A hole was bored through near that end and a wooden pin some two or three feet long inserted, the other end of the pole-pestle was fastened aloft to the end of a sweep making a contrivance very much like the old fashioned well sweep that carried the "old oaken bucket." Corn was placed into the hollowed out end of the log but, then two men would take hold of the ends of the wooden pin and work the heavy pestle, by the aid of the sweep, up and down on the grain soon reducing a quantity to meal. (This was about the same mill the Bible spekas of where two women were "grind- ing at the mill and one was taken and the other left.")
This mill was undoubtedly the nearest approach to a grist mill within the present bounds of Iowa in 1833, and was in use over a year until a small motor mill was built on Crow creek by two men, Davis and Haskell. It shows to what straits the earliest settlers were put, in order to subsist.
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Excitement Over Jackson County Gold Finds in 1859.
It was in 1859 that rain was so abundant that farmers found it very difficult to plant their crops. It rained nearly every day for more than three months. The streams and even the dry ravines were full of water most all the time, and were so thoroughly washed that the water was clear instead of being riled with mud. And this constant washing brought out many specimens of lead mineral which might readily be found in the beds of the ravines. These specimens were most abundant in the vicinity of Can- ton and especially along Black Hawk creek, one mile east of Canton, on and around the site where the warrior, Black Hawk, camped in the winter prior to his subsequent defeat in Jones county.
The finding of the float mineral in these parts in such abundance creat- ed a good deal of interest among the sanguine prospectors, and it was two years later in 1861 at the breaking out of the war, that I left Canton late in the evening with my team, that I overtook an old neighbor, a cooper by trade, who I asked to ride with me. His name was Johnson. When we came to the old Black Hawk camp for the road run through it, Mr. Johnson call- ed a halt and said to me, "Wagoner, I want to tell you a secret if you promise not to give it away." I told him that nothing could induce me to betray confidence unless it would be to uncover crime. But Mr. Johnson told me "there is no crime to cover or uncover, but it is covered lead min- eral, which I covered two years ago not 40 rods from here, that was washed bare in 1859, and exists in large and solid quantities." Now said Johnson, "If you will agree to furnish the means to buy 40 acres of the land that is so rich in mineral which can now be bought for less than $300 dollars, I will show you the place at any time that you will go with me. And I will agree to make you an equal partner in the profits in the mine."
I told Mr. Johnson if the prospect was as good as he represented it, I would furnish the means to buy the land. But this great secret, is still a secret. It was at this time that the government made a call for 300, 000 volunteer to crush the rebellion, that Johnson enlisted entered the army, and I never saw him again, for he died in the service in the same year. But not only was float mineral found in many places but gold dust was also found in the sands washed down the through the gulches that same year, while the wet weather lasted and I saw a large number of specimens that were washed by prospectors who used milk pans for separtaing the shining parti- cles, and on one occasion I met G. W. Martin engaged in washing for gold near Black Hawk creek. I watched him a little while and I saw him wash
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from one pan of sand three particles as large as a grain of sand. He then showed me a vial in which he had 33 specimens that he had washed out that day in his milk pan. These particles were large enough to rattle the vial when shaken. I afterward procured a specimen found by one John Sinkey that he found between some flat stones that were in the .bed of Black Hawk creek, which he raised with a stone pick. I paid him a dol- lar for the sample. It was as large as a small grain of wheat and its intrin- sic value about 35 cents. I sent this sample to my brother who was then living in Pittsburg, Pa. The Pittsburg papers at that time were already full of wild stories of the marvelous finds of gold and lead mineral in Jack- son county, Iowa, and many of these stories were magnified by the report- ers from mole hill to mountain.
My brother took the specimen I sent him to a silversmith who tried its purity and pronounced it a genuine article of pure gold. This nugget as the reporters afterward called it, the jeweler kept in his store on exhibi- tion, one of the reports gave the intrinsic value of the nugget at $5.00, and this put all Pittsburg in an uproar and the newspapers were filled with mar- velous stories of the finds in the newly discovered gold regions of Jackson county, Iowa. But the breaking out of the war quashed the gold excitement and it has lain dorment ever since. But these new gold regions were after- wards examined by practical returned miners from California who said that it was impossible to make a fair test by the clumsy process of the milk pan and that it would require the use of the Long Tom.
This is a device consisting of a sluice box about 100 feet long, one foot wide and six inches or more in depth y In the bottom there are creases cut crosswise which catch the heavier material as it passes through the Tom and lodges in the creases. This process requires an abundant supply of wat- er, and is worked similar to the slacking of lime for plastering purposes. After the day's washing is done through the Long Tom, the miner now gathers his day's work by thoroughly scraping the sand and gold dust out of the creases and by a process in which quick silver is used, separates the gold from the sand. In California where water is not abundant the miners frequenly cart the dirt for miles to some stream where water can be pro- cured.
It is the opinion of the writer as well as some others that if the above decsribed process were tried that gold in paying quantities could be obtain- ed along Black Hawk creek in the western part of Jackson county, Iowa. LEVI WAGONER.
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TERRITORIAL PIONEERS.
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The Rev. Charles E. Brown Who Came to the Forks of the Maquoketa as Baptist Missionary in 1842.
(Written by Farmer Buckhorn for the Jackson County Historical Society.)
When, in writing the past of some prominent man, it becomes necessary as is sometimes the case, to expose only the delightful views as seen on life's broadway screening the alleys with silent lies, it is not a pleasant duty to perform. It is a positive delight to turn to such a man as Charles Edwin Brown, whose whole eventful busy life was as an open book with each side of every leaf turned a clean page. At his own request he was appointed missionary to lowa territory in 1842. He left the comforts of an older community, and brought the gospel into the sparsely settled re- gion of the Maquoketa valley, and spread it into distant wilderness parts, going on foot or by rude conveyances many miles over trackless prairies, through forests and across bridgeless waters, sometimes swimming swollen streams.
He organized and became the pastor of the first Baptist church of the Maquoketa region, which was also the first in the territory embraced in Jackson, Clinton and Jones counties. This church was organized at the house of Wm. Y. Earle, three miles southwest of Maquoketa. He organiz- ed the first Sunday school in Clinton county. His labors were not wholly confined to spiritual needs for he was intensely interested in educational matters. With his own hands he helped fell the trees and hew the logs " and erect the first school house in Jackson and Clinton counties near Wright's corners. He went east to York state to seek aid in building the first academy at Maquoketa, and was one of its trustees. His good wife and others, among them Mrs. J. E. Goodenow and Mrs. Sophia Shaw, boarded free of charge the workmen who worked on the structure in order to curtail expenses of building.
His coming meant much for eastern Iowa, and especially Jackson coun- ty, as undoubtedly it pointed the way to others who became life long resi- dents of these parts and reared families of useful citizens and ornaments to society, and some have become prominent. We believe that neither C. E. Brown's parents, nor brothers, ever came here to reside as his father and
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several of his brothers were ministers of the gospel laboring in other fields. His wife, Frances Lyon-Brown, however, was a sister of Mrs. Truman A. N. Walker, a lifelong and respected resident near Maquoketa.
Their son, Nelson Walker, in company with George D. Lyon, brother of Mrs. Brown, was in the mercantile business in Maquoketa in an early day and died there a the home of C. E. Brown. Another son George Walk- er, in later years was a member of the Washington state legislature and had the honor of naming Idaho. Mrs. Brown was also the sister of Mrs. James O. DeGrush another pioneer and lifelong resident near Maquoketa, mother of Fred DeGrush, Civil war veteran and a lifelong worker here as an
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educator. Mrs. Brown was also the sister of Mrs. Stephen W. Brown (not related to the pastor) of Little Falls, N. Y., who was the mother of the late Mrs. Julia Dunham of Maquoketa.
In the Rev. Brown's own family there were those who like their father became distinguished and useful to the world giving the lie to that old saw, "for a devil give us a preacher's son." Two of his sons served their coun- try during the Civil war. After the war Charles P. Brown was many years a faithful and successful revenue agent and is now a successful business man of Ottumwa, Iowa. James D. Brown was for many years a trusted. respected agent of the C. M. & St. P. R. R. Co. at Lime Springs, Iowa.
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W. C. Brown commenced as telegraph operator and by perseverance rose to be General Superintendent of all the Burlington lines of railroad in Iowa, and is now vice-president and general manager of the New York Central Railway. These sons of the Rev. Brown had no backing only their own efforts and noble qualities inherited and instilled into them by their par- ents.
Though Maquoketa was the Rev. Brown's first tield of labor in Iowa, it was not his only one. He spent several years at Davenport and did much work there and at Rock Island and DeClaire, and afterwards at Vernon and Lime Springs in Howard county. From that county in 1877, he was elected to represent the county in the 17th general assembly of Iowa. In the ses- sion following among other work he introduced a resolution to amend the state constitution so as to authorize a majority of a jury to bring in a ver- dict in civil cases. It passed the House but was pigeonholed in the Senate, as a great many other things are which should become law.
He took the ground that in the early history of the jury system the una- nimity rule governing verdicts was not known, that a majority of the jury was competent to deliver a verdict, was the rule in England for many years and still the rule in different European countries. The unanimity rule was the result of gradual changes in the system by designing self interest to pro- tract litigation and was contrary to the principles of a republican form of government in which, as in this country, a majority must of right rule. It often defeated the ends of justice by hanging the jury or by leading men to return a verdict contrary to their honest convictions rather than be kept virtual prisoners an indefinite length of time. We have not space here to re- produce the entire plea for the measures which was eloquent and fraught with much sound reasoning.
There is much in our own recollections and more in that of other old settlers to eulogize the Rev. Brown, who often preached here at Buckhorn. For the details of his coming and pioneer work we are especially aided by a brief account written by himself to please his children and a few copies pub- lished in book form at their expense to distribute among immediate mem- bers of the family as souvenirs. The copy I have been allowed to use is in the Walker family. It is brief but every page calls up to intelligent minds so much endured by pioneers, so much of historical interest not only to the student of theological history but civil as well, that volumes seem passing before the mental vision. It is a modest, simple description of a noble life's work, and is of great value to those interested in early religious and civil history of eastern lowa and reads like romance If it was twice as long it would be well worth a place in the Annals of Jackson County. We will copy mostly form it as it is much better compiled than one like me can do, who only received a little "oil of hickory" and district school education with grammar entirely left out as a not to be endured atlliction.
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES WRITTEN BY REV. CHARLES BROWN 1813-1893
"To the memory of my beloved wife, Frances Lyon Brown, who for nearly half a century shared with me the trials and hardships of pioneer life, whose loving, cheerful presence made the frontier cabin the happiest of
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homes, and whose happy hopeful disposition found a silver lining to every cloud, however dark, these reminiscences are lovingly inscribed.
I write this at the solicitation of my children and commence it this 23d day of February, 1893, the 80th anniversary of my birth. For several con- siderations I am admonished to be brief. I was born the 23d of February, 1813, in the town of Augusta, Oneida county, N. Y. My father, the Rev. Phillip Perry Brown, was born in the town of Bennington, Vt., and died September 1876, at Madison, Madison Co., N. Y., aged 86. For over fifty years he was a successful pastor of Baptist churches in central New York. My mother, Betsy Dickey, born in Weatherstield, Vt., was a descendant of the Scotch-Irish Dickey, who emigrated from Londonderry, north of Ireland and settled in Londonderry, New Hampshire, before the Revolutionary war. My good mother died in Hamilton, N. Y., April, 1862, aged 74. I am the second of nine children-six sons and three daughters. The two youngest and myself are the only ones now living (1893). Two brothers are buried at Port Byron, Rock Island Co., Ill .. one brother at St. Louis, Mo.,one in Newport, Herkimer Co., N. Y., one sister in Litchfield, Herkimer Co., N. Y., one sister at Lime Springs, Howard Co , Ia. My parents are buried at Madison, Madison Co., N. Y.
Before my recollection my parents moved to Smithfield, Madison county, N. Y., a new country heavily timbered. In the midst of poverty, or very limited means, and the hardships incident to such a new country I lived un- til past 18 years of age. Our sugar was made from the sap of the maple. Our luxuries were the flour short cake, the nut cake and the sweetened Johhnnie cake, luxuries not often indulged in. In the fall, we were favored with samp and milk-sometimes had a mess of brook trout. Our youthful sports consisted in apple pearings, snap and catch buttons, drop the hand- kerchief and like sports, sliding down hills and attending spelling schools. Our school books consisted of Webster's spelling book, the English reader, and Daboll's arithmetic. The family was blessed with good health the phy- sician was seldom called. My father became pastor of the Baptist Church in Augusta in the fall of 1829. During the summer and fall of 1831 I work- ed as a farm hand for a farmer by the name of Danford Armour.
The Armour farm was at the summit of what was known as the "mile hill," the grade commencing at Lelands Tavern afterwards known as the "Five Chimney House, " near the top of the 'mile hill" the road forked the main road for quite a distance running southwest. then south the other running due west.
The Armour farm lay along the west side of this west road, and was bounded on the east by the main road, then called the "Peterboro turn- pike." The house was a small one, being one and a half story and unpaint- ed. A small kitchen and two small rooms below and a kind of a store room and one small bed room above. An old-fashioned chimney and fireplace in the south end, with a ladder leading to the chamber standing at the side of the fireplace.
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