USA > Iowa > Clarke County > Biographical and historical record of Clarke County, Iowa > Part 45
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LIVER P. ANDERSON, a pioncer of Clarke County, was born in Mad- ison County, Kentucky, March 13, 1832, a son of Alexander and Julia A. (Raborn) .Anderson. He remained with his parents until twenty years of age. when he went to McLean County, Illinois, where 7 THEOBALD KLEIN, deceased, was a native of Bavaria, Germany, born February 22, 1840, a son of Theobald Klein, who is also deceased. Our subject was reared and educated in his native country, remaining there till reaching ma- turity. When a young man he immigrated to America, and first settled in Des Moines County, lowa, where he made his home for a number of years. He was united in marriage May 16, 1868, to Miss Mary C. Stifel, she being a daughter of Jacob Stifel of Burlington, lowa. Of the seven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Klein five are living -- Jacob, Annie, Minnie MI., Emma C. and Kate C. Mr. Klein was a cooper by trade which vocation he fol- lowed the greater part of his life. He be- came a resident of Clarke County, lowa, in the spring of 1876 when he located on sco- tion 4, Madison Township, living there till his death which occurred November 28. 1884. He was a kind and affectionate hus- band and father, and a good citizen and neighbor, and during his residence in the he was employed as clerk in a dry-goods store until 1854. Hc then came to lowa and lived in Marshall County until 1856, when, in August of that year he joined the expedition of James Lane, in behalf of Kansas, as a Free-Soiler, returning to lowa in September, and the 20th of that month settled in Clarke County. He worked at the carpenter's trade until 1862 and then turned his attention to farming. March 31. 1864. he enlisted in the defense of his coun- try, and was assigned to Company F., Sixth lowa Infantry. He participated in the battles at Resaca, Dallas, New Hope Church, Pine Mountain, Kennesaw Mount- ain, Atlanta, Jonesboro, and in Sherman's march to the sca. He was wounded twice in the Atlanta campaign, and was forty- three days under fire of the enemy on the march to the sea. At the battle at Gris. woldsville, Georgia, he received a very severe gunshot wound in the body, pene- trating the point of the left lung, which was supposed to be mortal. May 20, 1865. he was discharged by general order of the ' county won the respect of all who knew War Department at Davenport, Jowa, and : him by his honest and wuright dealitets returned to his home in ( ceola. He has with his fellow citizens. May 14. 1961, never recovered from the effects of his ; Mr. Klein enli ted in Company D. First
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HISTORY OF CLARKE COUNTY.
lowa Infantry, and served three months. December 14, 1863, he enlisted in Company K. Second lowa Cavalry and served until the regiment was mustered out Inne 7, 1865. He was taken prisoner December 17, 1864. at the battle of Franklin, Tennessee, and was held captive until exchanged at the close of the war.
ILLIAM H. ADKINS was born in Pulaski County, Kentucky, Novem- bei 21, 1835. He is the eldest of a family of ten children, six sons and four daughters, two of the sons being the off- spring of a second marriage. His father, Wyatt .Adkins, and mother, Mary Adkins, removed to Monroe County. Indiana, in October, IS40, where, on September 18, 1851, his mother died. In those days, during the carly settlement of the State, the facil- ties for even an ordinary education were poor, there being no public-school system in existence at that time. Consequently, our subject spent most of his school days under the instruction of private teachers, or, as it was termed then, " subscription schools." the terms of tuition being from $1.50 to $2 per pupil for a quarter of thir- teen weeks. The larger proportion of the teachers at that time were poorly educated, and the schools were often taught in churches or private residences, there being but few school-houses erected previous to the year i$50, at which time the public- school system was introduced in that State. The school-houses were usually con- structed of round or hewn logs, with little or no accommodation in the way of light, seats or heating. Such a thing as school- house furniture, apparatus and fixtures known to modern schools was even un- dreamed of then. But in those days they had smging schools, spelling schools and debiting societics, all of which were at- , lowing, his health somewhat improving, he
tended, and their advantages largely real. ized by our then youthful subiect. In addition to this, and socially. the young people had their " chopping," " corn husk. ing." "quilting" and " comfortable-tack- ing" becs, which all attended and enjoyed to the fullest extent. On the zist day of April, 1856, the family started for lowa, and May 19, arrived in Clarke County and settled near Hopeville. Here in August following, of the same year, Mr. Adkins, then twenty years of age, began his career as teacher in the public schools, and also, shortly after, began to teach classes in vocal music. to both of which callings he has de- voted a considerable portion of his life. In the spring of 1850 he entered the Osceola High School, under he principalship of Professor J. H. L. Scott, where he attended five months. In September, 1859, he re- turned to Indiana, where he taught during the winter, attending the State University at Bloomington during the intervals claps- ing between, until the spring of :861, when he enlisted in the service of his country, and was mustered into Company 1, Nineteenth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. Their regi- inent was commanded lwy Colonel Sol. Merideth when it entered the service, and was brigaded with the Second, Sixth and Seventh Wisconsin regiments during its first year-and-a-half's service, at the end of which time the Twenty-fourth Michigan was added to it. It was then called, and is known in the history of the Rebellion, as the " lron Briga le." Shortly after Sir. Adkins entered the service he was pro- moted to a Corporal; then appointed com- pany clerk, and in the spring of 1862 was promoted to Third Seracant, which rank he held when mustered out, April 23, 1863, by reason of a gunshot wound received Au- gust 28, 1862, in the letile of Gainesville, Vir- ginia. In July, 1853, he returned to Jowa ; in very poor health; but in October fol-
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
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took charge of a general retail store in iamson, second daughter of Edward E. and Hopeville, owned by F. W. Johnson, which he continued to superintend until the fall of 1967, at which time he turned his atten- tion to farming, to which he devoted himself mainly until 18/5. During the time he was farming he taught classes in vocal music pretty much every fall and winter, and occasionally taught in the public schools, both in Hopeville and in the country districts. From 1875 to April I. 1878, he continued to teach, at which time 1
he received the appointment of postmaster in Hopcville, which office he held (except for a year, when he resigned in favor of David Newton) until September 13, 1886, when he was relieved, on account of not being in accord politically with the party in power. In July, 1879, Mr. Adkins entered again the general mercantile business, which he has continued to follow ever since ; and while he has not been eminently successful in this pursuit, he says he has " made a fair living." Mr. Adkins was married Feb- ruary 11, 1866, to Miss Elizabeth A. Will- : Post, G. A. R.
Mary Williamson, pioneer settlers in Clarke County. Since that time they have had ten children born to them-five sons and five daughters. Two sons -- the eldest two -died at the age of two and a half years. The names of the present living children are Effie M., Mary Alice, Bertha S., Emma F. and Jesse JI. (twins). Albert, Nina L. and a little boy about a year old, unnamed, which the family call " Bub," the vocabu- lary of names being so nearly exhausted, so Mr. Adkins says, that they can not agree upon a name. In politics Mr. Adkins is a Republican, casting his first vote for Abra- ham Lincoln, in 1860. Ile has been hon- ored by his township with offices time and again, having been elected to the assessor's office six times. In point of business capacity his qualifications are good. Re- ligiously he is a member of the Disciples, or Christian church, and is an active worker both in church and Sunday-school. Mr. Adkins is also a member of Wilson
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INTAUX CTORY.
4.
ITHIN one brief gene- ¡ of the history of any county in the great ration a dense and Northwest ; and. considering the extent of territory involved, it is as worthy of the pen of a Bancroft as even the story of our glorious Republic. unbroken wilderness has been transform- ed into a cultivated region of thrift and
While our venerable ancestors may have prosperity, by the said and believed
untiring zeal and energy of an en- terprising people. The trails of 6. " hunters and trappers have given place to railroads and thorough- fares for vehicles of every descrip- tion; the cabins and garden patches of the pioneers have been succeeded by comfortable houses and broad fields of waving grain, with school-houses, churches, mills, postoffices and other institutions of convenience for each community. Add to these a city of 2,500 inhabitants and numerous thriving villages, with extensive business and man- ufacturing interests, and the result is a work of which all concerned may well be proud.
The record of this marvelous change is history, and the most important that can be written. For forty years the people of Chrke County have been making a history. that for thrilling interest, grand practical resths, and lessons that may be perused with profit by citizens of other regions, will compare favorably with the narrative
" No pent-up Utica contracts our powers, For the whole boundless continent is ours."
they were, nevertheless, for a long time | content to occupy and possess a very small comer of it: and the great West was not opened to industry and civilization until a variety of causes had combined to form. was it were, a great heart, whose animating principle was improvement, whose im- pulses annually sent forward armies of i Doble men and women, and whose pulse is . now felt throughout the length and breadth , of the best country the sun ever shown upon-from the pineries of Maine to the vineyards of California, and from the sugar-canes of Louisiana to the wheat fields of Minnesota. Long may this heart beat and push forward its arteries and veins of commerce.
Not more from choice that from enforced necessity did the old pioneers bid farewell to the play-ground of their childhood and the graves of their fathers. Ore genera- tion after another had worn themselves out in the service of theb avaricious land-
445
HISTORY OF CLARICE COUNTY.
lords. From the first flashes of day light " more than ordinary ambition was required. in the morning, until the last glim ner of the setting sun, they had toiled unceasingly on, from father to son, carrying home cach day upon their aching shoulders the . brow. It was not pomp, or parade, or precious proceeds of their daily labor. Money and pride and power were handed
glittering show that the pioneers were af. ter. They sought for homes which they down in the line of succession from the . could call their own, homes for themselves rich father to his son, while unceasing work and continuous poverty and ever- lasting obscurity were the heritage of the working man and his children.
Their society was graded and degraded. It was not manners, nor industry, nor cdu- cation, nor qualities of the head and heart that established the grade. It was money and jewels, and silk and satin, and broad- I cloth and imperious pride that triumphed over honest poverty and trampled the poor man and his children under the iron heel. The children of the rich and poor were not permitted to mingle with and to love each other. Courtship was more the work of the parents than of the sons and daughters. The golden calf was the key to matrimony. To perpetuate a self- constituted aristocracy, without power of brain, or the rich blood of royalty, purse was united to purse, and cousin with cousin, in bonds of matrimony, until the virus boiling in their blood, was trans- mitted by the law of inheritance from one generation to another, and until nerves powerless and manhood dwarfed were on
Without money or prestige, or influen- tial friends, the pioneers drifted along one by one, from State to State, until in lowa -- the garden of the Union -- they have found inviting homes for each, and room for all. To secure and adorn these homes
greater than ordinary endurance demanded, an ! unflinching determination was. by the the force of necessity, written over every and homes for their children. How well they have succeeded after a struggle of many years against the adverse tides let the records and tax-gatherers testify ; let. the broad cultivated fields and fruit-bearing orchards, the flocks and the herds, the palatial residences, the places of business, the spacious halls, the clattering car-wheels and ponderous engines all testify.
There was a time when pioneers waded through deep snows, across bridgeless riv- ers, and through bottomless sloughs, a score of miles to mill or market, and when more time was required to reach and re- turn from market than is now required to cross the continent, or traverse the At- lantic. These were the times when our palaces were constructed of logs and covered with "shakes" riven from the forest trees. These were the times when our children were stowed away for the night in the low, dark attics, among the horns of the elk and the deer, and where through the chinks in the "shakes" they could count the twinkling stars. Thesc were the times when our chairs and our exhibition everywhere, and everywhere bedsteads were hewn from the forest trees, abhorred. For the sons and daughters of the poor man to remain there, wa. to for- ever follow as our fathers had followed, brought. These were the times when the and never to lead ; to submit but never to rule : to obey, but never to command.
and tables and bureaus constructed from the boxes in which their goods were workingman labored six and sometimes seven days in the week, and all the hours there were in a day from sunrise to sun- sct.
Whether all succeeded in what they undertook is not a question to be asked now. The proof that as a body they did succeed, is all around us. Many individ-
447
INTRODUCTORY.
uals were perhaps disappointed. Fortunes and misfortunes belong to the human race. Not every man can have a schoolhouse on the corner of his farm ; not every man can have a bridge over the stream that flows by his dwelling ; not every man can have a railroad depot on the borders of his plan- tation, or a city in its center ; and while these things are desirable in some respects, their advantages are oftentimes outweighed by the almost perpetual presence of the foreign beggar, the dreaded tramp, the fear of fire and conflagration, and the insecurity from the presence of the midnight burglar, and the bold, bad men and women who lurk in ambush and infest the villages. The good things of this earth are not all to be found in any one place ; but if more is to be found in one than another, that place is in our rural retreats, our quiet homes out- side of the clamor and turmoil of city life.
In viewing the blessings which surround us, then, we should reverence those who have made them possible, and ever fondly cherish in memory the sturdy old pioneer and his log cabin.
Let usturn our eyes and thoughts back to the log-cabin days of a quarter ofa century ago and contrastthose homes with confort- abledwellings of to-day. Before us stands the old log cabin. Let usenter. Instinctively the head is uncovered in token of reverence to this relic of ancestral beginnings, early struggles and final triumphs. To the left is the deep, wide fire-place, in whose com- modious space a group of children may sit by the fire, and up through the chimney may count the stars, while ghostly stories of witches and giants, and still more thiill- ing stories of Indians and will beasts, are whisperingly told and shudderingly heard. On the great crane bang the old tea kettle and the great iron pot. The huge shovel and tongs stand sentinel in either corner, while the great andirons patiently wait for the huge back-log. Over the fire place
hangs the trusty riffe. To the right of the fire-place stands the spinning wheel, while in the further end of the room is seen the old-fashioned loom. Strings of drying apples and poles of drying pumpkins are overhead. Opposite the door in which you cater stands a huge deal table ; by its side the dresser, whose pewter plates and "shining delf" catch and reflect the fire- place flames as shields of armies do the sunshine. From the corner of its shelves coyly peep out the relics of former china. In a curtained corner and hid from causal sight we find the mother's bed, and under it the trundle-bed, while near them a lad- der indicates the loft where the older chil- dren sleep. To the left of the fire-place and in the corner opposite the spinning wheel is the mother's work stand. Upon it lies the Bible, evidently much used, its family record telling of parents and friends a long way off, and telling, too, of chil. dren
"Scattered like roses in bloom, Some at the bridal, some at the tomb."
Her spectacles, as if but just used, are in- serted between the leaves of her Bible. and tell of ber purpose to return to its comforts when cares permit and duty is done. A stool, a bench, well-notched and whittled and carved, and a few chairs complete the furniture of the room, and all stand on a coarse, but well-scoured floor.
Let us for a moment watch the city visitors to this Lumble cabin. The city bride, innocent but thoughtless, and igno- rant of labor and care, asks her city-bred husband, " Pray. what savages set this up?" Honestly confessing his ignorance, he re- plics, "} do not know." But sce the pair upon whom age sits "frosty, but kindly." First, as they enter, they give a rapid glance about the cabin home, and then a mutual glance of eye to eye. Why do tears start and fill their eyes? Why do lips quiver? There are many who know why,
HISTORY OF CLARKE COUNTY.
but who that has not learned in the school of experience the full meaning of all these symbols of trials and privations, of lonc- liness and danger, can comprehend the story that they tell to the pioneer? Within this chinked and mud-daubed cabin we read the first pages of our history, and as we retire through its low door-way, and note
the heavy-battered door, its wooden hinges and its welcoming latch-string. is it strange that the scenes without should seem to be but a dream? But the cabin and the palace, standing side by side in vivid con- trast, tell their own story of this people's progress. They are a history and a pro- phecy in one.
.LL
EARLY ANAN CIVIL. HISTORY.
ARLY AND
CIVIL
HISTORY.
URING the Territorial period of Jowa's his- tory the region How known as Clarke Coun- ly was in undisputed possession of the ln- dians, and the other children of nature, lower in the scale of creation, which lived and died and left none to tell the story. During this time it was nomi- nally a part of the county of Des Moines. January 13, 1846, by act of the Territorial Legislature, it was established as a county, though then totally uninhabited, and named in honor of James Clarke, then Governor of the Territory. It then lacked its pie .ent casternmost tier of townships, but included the castern half of the present county of Union, making it five townships long and three wide. The present boundari 's were established in 1849.
DESCRIPTION.
Clarke County is bounded on the east by Lucas, south by Decatur, west by Union, and north by Madison and Warren Coun- ties, and contains 432 square miles, 01 275,- :So acres. The assessment, however, only shows 274.035 acres, as town lots, with
wagon roads. school and church lots, and other exemptions, absorb 1.5444 acres.
The county has twelve congressional townships, cach of which is six miles square (thirty-six sections), but any congressional township can be divided into as many civil townships as may be agreed upon by those interested. This county, with all others. except Henry and Des Moines, in the second tier from the southern boundary of the State, contains from one-third to two fifths loss territory than ninety other coun- tics in the State, a fact to be borne in mind when making comparisons of wealth, popu- lation, etc.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
The first whites to claim this county as their residence were stragglers from the Mormon army that, not being cordially treated in Illinois, found it best to leave Nauvoo and cross the plains to a region remote from other settlements. This was in 1817. A large body spent the following winter at Garden Grove, Decatur County, but a few families, losing their way, fixed their winter residence at a point since ap- propriately called " Jest Camp." about six miles south of where Oiecola now is, and in the present township of Green Bay. Four families were in this catap-this of John and Jeans Conver, and John and
45
HISTORY OF CLARE COUNTY.
Jame . Langley. In the spring of 1818 the that year was the Hopeville colony, in Doyle Township, composed of the follow. ing persons: David Newton and Thomas Gregg. yet living in the county : William Koplinger, William R. Osman, J. B. Nunn, Langleys made farms in Fremont Town- ship, about two miles apart, while the Con- yers remained near Lost Camp, and broke ground on section 17, Green Bay. The heads of these families were all vigorous : E. G. Lamson, M. R. Lamson and Wilham men, from thirty to thirty-five years of age, ! Prior, all dead; Amos Lamson, now in Dakota, and Allen Darnell, living in Mis- souri. In Ward Township settled George with small families. They had no idea of remaining here permanently. They merely wanted to get a stock of provisions and | Coon, now living in Camnesville, Missouri, domestic animals, with which to make the long overland journey and make a start on 1 the deserts of Utah, and perhaps they were waiting for fuller reports from those who | had gone before. They remained here about three years, selling out to others who came to stay in Clarke County.
The next comer was one Wilson, in 1848. Hle settled in Franklin Township, near the Lucas County line, and resided there three or four years, when he sold to a man named Glenn. George G. Glenn, one of his sous, was elected assessor of the county at the first election for county officers. The family left the county some years later, their farm being next occupied by Martin llood. Alonzo Williams came Here with Glenn, who was his father-in-law.
and William Vest, now dead. Madison re- ceived Lewis F. Perry and James Cadle, now dead: Robert Beckett, living at Osce- ola, and Sam. Saint, removed from the county. In Fremont settled Dickinson Webster, living at Osceola, and Archibald Ratcliffe, now dead. To Green Bay came Jerome Bartlett, who was the first physi- cian in the county, practicing until 1864; Jesse Bartlett and Thomas Harper, now dead. John Lewis, living, settled in Jack- son this year, as did John Baldwin, dead, and Nicholas Johnson, whose death in 1852 was the first in Clarke County. W. G. Evans settled in Washington, and is yet living. William Bell, yet living, and Jolm Kennedy, now dead, settled in Ward. John Shearer and George W. Howe were the pioneers of Osceola. William Vest settled in Osceola Township. In Fremont Town- ship Ben. Woolman and Isaac Farley bought the Langley claims; the former is living in Nebraska, and the latter is dead. Alfred Rhodes and his son-in-law, John Campbell, settled in Liberty Township: both are living, the latter in Nebraska. Richard Williamson als , settled in Liberty, in 1851, and yet resides there.
In the spring of 1850 several settled in Clarke County. Robert Jamison, who is yet living. the oldest settler of the county, located in Franklin Township, as did also Jolm Kyte, who is yet living. William Rook settled in Liberty in May, 1850, and is now living in Washington. In Green Bay Township settled Bernard Arnold and Ivison Ellis, both of whom were prominent in county affairs, Ellis being the first sheriff; they are now dead. Alexander Collier, dead ; and William and Levi Gardner, living. All ; beginning toward settlement. After 185! of these were men of families except the ! the new arrivals were very numerous for about five years. Gardner boys, who afterward married and reared families.
The county now had made a respectable
ORGANIZATION.
A little army of pioneers came in during 1851, almost every township receiving some The Legislature of 1850-'51 ordered the permanent settlers. Among the arrivals of organization et the county. The first ciec-
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EARLY AND CIVIL. HISTORE.
tion was held in August, 1851, at the resi- dence of William Vest, about three mil.'s ' southwest of the present county seat. Thirty-seven votes were polled, and the tol- lowing were the officers elected : John . 1. Lindsley, County Judge ; Alonzo R. Will- iams, Clerk : Perez Cowles, Treasurer and Recorder: George G. Glenn, Assessor : Ivison Ellis, Sheriff; Robert Jamison, School- Fund Commissioner; Jerry Jenks, Sur- veyor, and Dickinson Webster, Sr., John Shearer and Bernard Arnold, County Com- missioners.
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