USA > Iowa > Ringgold County > Biographical and historical record of Ringgold and Union counties, Iowa, vol. 1 > Part 11
USA > Iowa > Union County > Biographical and historical record of Ringgold and Union counties, Iowa, vol. 1 > Part 11
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On Black Hawk's return from the British
The first fort creeted on lowa soil wasat Fort Madison. A short time previou ly a , andy, he says that Ke kuk was introduced military past was fixed at what is now to lim as the war chief of the braves then in the village. On Equity as to How he borome chi f. fifiry were given Him the particulars of His Having killed : SUMA in Warsaw, Ilinois, and named Fort Edwards. These enterprises caused mistrust am my the Indian . Indeed, Dort Malison has located in violation of the treaty of 1-1. The Indian sent delegations to the wayes at these forts to learn what they were do-
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TRISTORY 00 1011.1.
In person Keokuk was tall and o' portly bearing, and in speech he was an orator. He did not master the English language. however, and his interpreters were never able to do him justice. He was a friend of our Government, and always endeavore ) to persuade the Indians that it was useless to attack a nation so powerful as that of the United States.
The treaty of 1804 was renewed in 1816, which Black Hawk himself signed; but he afterward held that he was deceived, and that that treaty was not even yet binding. But there was no further serious trouble with the Indians until the noted . Black Hawk war" of 1832, all of which took place in Illinois and Wisconsin, with the expected result ---- the defeat and capture of the great chief, and the final, effectual and permanent repulsion of all hostile Indians to the west of the great Mississippi. Black Hawk died October 3, 1838, at his home in this State, and was buried there ; but his remains were afterward placed in the museum of the His- torical Society, where they were accident- ally destroyed by fire.
More or less affecting the territory now included within the State of Iowa, fifteen treaties with the Indians have been made. an outline of which is here given. In 1864. when the whites agreed not to settle west of the Mississippi on Indian lands. In 1815, with the Sioux. ratifying peace with Great Britain and the United States: with the Sacs, a treaty of a similar naluire, tud niso ratifying that of 18 %. the Indians agreeing not to je: their brethren who. no ler Bites Hawk, bad aided tin British; with the Foxes, rabfying the treaty of ise; the In dians agreeing to deliver up all their prisoners ; and with the lowas, a treaty of friendship. In 1816. with the Sa of R.J. River. ratifying the treaty of 19 5. la 12 ;. with the Sacs and Bones, the letter y la. quishing al their lidl in Mio pi: 301 that portion of the southeast carne of the treaties and left, family config .
Jowy known as the " half-breed tract " Was set off to the hal-breeds. In 1825. placing a boundary line between the Sacs and Foxes on the south and the Sioux on the north. In 1830, when that line was widened to forts miles. Also, in the same year, with several tribes, who ceded a large portion of their possessions in the western part of the State. In 1832, with the Winnebagous, ex- changing lands with them and providing a school, farm, etc .. for them. Also, in the same year, the " Black Hawk purchase" was made, of about 6,000,000 acres, along the west side of the Mississippi from the southern line of the State to the mouth of the Jowa River. In 1836, with the Sacs and Foxes, ceding Keokuk's reserve to the United States. In 1837, with the same, when another slice of territory, comprising 1,250 000 acres, joining west of the forego- ing tract, was obtained. Also, in the same year, when these Indians gave up all their lands allowed them under former treaties; and finally, in 1842. when they relinquished their title to all their lands west of the Mississippi.
Before the whole of Iowa fell into the hands of the United States Government sundry white settlers had, under the Spanish and French Governments, obtained! and oc- cupied several important deis within our boundaries, which it may be well to notice in brief. September 22, 1798, Julien Du- buque, before mentioned, obtained a la e of lands from the Fox bolians at the Lon now occupied by the city namedafter him. This tract containe f valuable hall ore, del Dule.que followol mining. His clair. s. however, as well as trueto klan herber word conveyel file were Mitigated for many years, with the final result of his.
miles square whave Meyer s is name it. utol, and his fine strudling trong . 5l
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the Supreme Court of the United States. is the oldest legal title held by a white man in the State of lowa. A tract of 5,86o acres i :. Clayton County was granted by the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Louisiana in 1,25 to Basil Girard, whose title was made valid some time after the preceding caso was settled.
Other early settlers were: Mr. Johnson, an agent of the American Fur Company, who had a trading-post below Burlington. Le Moliere, a French trader, had, in 1820, a station at what is now Sandusky, in Lee County, six miles above Keokuk. During the same year Dr. Samuel C. Muir, a sur- soon of the United States army, built a cabin where the city of Keokuk now stands. His marriage and subsequent life were so romantic that we give the following briet sketch :
While stationed at a military post on the Upper Mississippi, the post was visited by a beautiful Indian maiden-whose native rame unfortunately has not been preserved -who, in her dreams, had seen a white brave unmoor his canoe, paddle it across the river and come directly to her lodge. She felt assured, according to the super- stitious belief of her race, that in her dreams she had seen her future husband, and had come to the fort to find him. Meeting Dr. Mir she instantly recognized him as the Fero of her dream, which, with childlike innocence and simplicity, she related to Her dream was, indeed, prophetic. Courmed with Sophia's beauty, innocence .: : devotion, the Doctor honorally mar- her, but after a while the sneers and alles of his brother officers-less honorable . he, perhaps-made him feel ashamed dark-skinned wife, and when his regi- I was ordered down the river to Ben- aine, it is said that he embraced the munity to rid himself of her, and left F. Lever expecting to see her again, and Het dreaming that she would have the
courage to follow him. But, With her in- fant child, this intrepid wife and mother startedl alone in her canoe, and after many days of weary lab wand a lonely journey of gco miles, she at last reached lit. She afterward remarked, when speaking of this toilsome journey down the river in search of her husband, " When I got there I was all perished away-so thin!" The Doctor, touched by such unexampled devotion, took her to his heart, and ever after until his death treated her with marked respect. She always presided at his table with grace and dignity, but never abandoned her na- tive style of dress. In 1819-20 he was stationed at Fort Edward, now Warsaw, but the senseless ridicule of some of his brother officers of account of his Indian wife induced him to resign his commission. He then built a cabin as above stated, where Keokuk is now situated, and made a claim to some land. This claim be leased to Otis Reynolds and John Culver, of St. Louis, and went to La Pointe (afterward Galena), where he practiced his profession for ten years, when he returned to Keokuk. Ilis Indian wife bore to him four children- Louise, James, Mary and Sonia. Dr. Muir died suddenly of cholera in 1832, but left his property in such a condition that it was soon wasted in vexations litigation, and his brave and faithful wife, left friendless and penniless, becune disc. waged, and, with her two younger children. disan- peared. It is said she returned to her pro- ple on the Upper Missouri.
The gentleman who had leased Dr. Muir's claim at Keokuk subsequently em- plave ! as their agent Moses StifteH. alm arrived with his family in 19 ... 0 3 tonk possession. His brother-in-law, Armand Valorcourt Van Wandel come with him and settled near. Me. Suliwell's daughter Margaret (afterward Mr. Jord, sa. topp in Bar, at the lot of the ni wood the In liars Pochodpay :. She was prob-
120
ably the first white American child born in lowa.
In 1829 Dr. Isaac Gallaud made a settle- ment on the Lower Rapids, at what is now Nashville. The same year James S. Lang- worthy, who had been engaged in lead- mining at Galena since 1824, commenced lead-mining in the vicinity of Dabuque. . 1 few others afterward came to that point as miners, and they soon found it necessary to hold a council and adopt some regulations for their government and protection. They met in 1830 on the bank of the river, by the side of an old cottonwood drift log, at what is now the Jones Street Levce in Dubuque, and elected a committee, consisting of J. L. Langworthy, II. F. Lander, James Mc- Phetres, Samuel Scales and E. M. Wren, who drafted a set of rules, which were adopted by this, the first " Legislature" of lowa. They elected Dr. Jarote as their officer to choose arbitrators for the settle- ment of difficulties that might arise. These settlers, however, were intruders upon In- dian territory, and were driven off in 1832 by our Government, Colonel Zachary Tay- lor commanding the troops. The Indians returned and were encouraged to operate the rich mines opened by the late white occupants.
But in June of the sanie year the troops were ordered to the cast side of the Missis- sippi to assist in the annihilation of the very Indians whose rights they had been protecting on the west side!
Immediately after the close of the Black ILak war and the negotiations of the treaty in September, 1532, by which the Sas- and Foxes ceded the tract known as the " Black Hawk Purchase." the settlers, supposing that now they had a right to re-enter the territory, returned and took possession of their claims, bhyt cabins, creete i furnaces anl prepare I large quantities of Fal for market. But the pro pects of var hany and enterprising spiller and mint por.
again rufflessly interiored with by the Government, on the ground that the treaty with the Indians would not go into force until June 1. 1833, although they had with- drawn from the vicinity of the settlement. Colonel Taylor was again ordered by the War Department to remove the miners, and in January, 1833, troops were again sent from Prairie du Chien to Dubuque for that purpose. This was a serious and per- haps unnecessary hardship imposed upon the miners. They were compelled to aban- don their cabins and homes in mid-winter. This, too, was only out of respect for forms; for the purchase had been made, and the Indians had retired. After the lapse of fifty years, no very satisfactory reason for this rigorous action of the Government can be given. But the orders had been given, and there was no alternative but to obey. Many of the settlers re-crossed the river, and did not return; a few, however, re- moved to an island near the east bank of the river, built rude cabins of poles, in which to store their lead until spring, when they could float the fruits of their labor to St. Louis for sale, and where they could re- main until the treaty went into force, when they could return. Among these were the Langworthy brothers, who had on hand about 300,000 pounds of lead.
No sooner had the miners left than Lieu- tenant Covington, who had been placed in command at Dubuque by C Jonel Taylor. ordered some of the cabins of the settlers to be torn down, cal wagons and other pre- eris to be destroyed. This wanton an inexcusable action on the part of a subo-li- nate, clothe l with a little brief authori .. was sternly rebuked ! y Colmel Taylor, " ; Covington was supereled by Li utern. Georg Wilson, who pursue l a just on. 1 Readly come with the mooncars, that we only waiting the the time when they can!
131
.
ILSTORE OF JOW.1.
1833. le troops were withdrawn, and the
Langwerthy brothers and a few offers at | friends, in June, 18:5. once returned and resumed possession of their homes and claims. From it's time mast date the first permanent settlement of this portion of lowa. John P. Shelton was appointed superintendent of the mines by the Government, and a system of per nits to mixers and licenses to smelters was adopted, similar to that which had been in operation at Galena since 1825, under Lieutenant Martin Thomas and Captain Thomas C. Legate. Substantially the primi- tive law enacted by the miners assembled around that oll cottonwood drift log in 1$30, was adopted and enforced by the United States Government, except that miners were required to sell their mineral to licensed smelters, and the smelter was required to give bonds for the payment of 6 per cent. of all lead manufactured to the Goverminent
About. 500 people arrived in the mining district in 1833, after the Indian title was fully extinguished, of whom 150 were from Galena. In the same year Mr. Lingworthy assisted in building the first school house in) lewa, and thus was formed the nucleus of the populous and thriving city of Dubuque. Mr. Laingworthy lived to see the naked prairie on which he first settled become the site of a city of 15,ocoinhabitants, the small schoolhouse which he aided in construct- ing replaced by three substantial offices, Wherein 2.300 children were being trained, churches erected in every part of the city, and rail ouds connecting the wild ress which he threat explore Is half the water world. He died sad lenly on the 13th os March, 1855, while on a trip over the Du- baque & Southern Rifront, at Momie , and the evening train brought the neve be it's death an ! his remains.
Lucius 11. Langwoody, his brother, wie
Jawa. He died greatly lamented by many
The name Dubaque was given to the settle ment by the miners, at a meeting held in IS3.4.
Som after the care of the Black Hawk war in 1832, Zachariah Hawkins, Benjamin Jennings, Aaron White. Augustine Horton, Samuel Gooch, Daniel Thompson and Peter Williams made clanas at Fort Madison. In 1833 Gen ral John H. Knapp and Colonel Nathaniel Knapp purchased these claims, and in the summer of 1835 they laid out the town of " Fort Madison." Lots were cx- posed for sale early in 1836. The town was subsequently re-surveyed and platted by the United States Government. The popu- Iation rapidly increased, and in less than two years the beautiful location was cov- cred by a flourishing town, containing nearly 665 inhabitants, with a large pro- portion of enterprising merchants, mechan- ics and manufacturers.
In the fall of 1832 Simpson S. White crected a cabin on the site of Burlington, seventy-nine miles below Rock Island. During the war parties had looked long- ingly upon the " Flint Hills" from the op- posite side of the river, and White was soon followed by others. David Tothers made a claim on the prairie about three miles back from the river, at a place since known as the farm of Judge Moram. The following winter the settlers were driven off by the military from Rock Island, as intrulers upon the rights of the Inl'an .. What's cont was burn by the soldiers. Hereturned to Minis, where he retinol
summer, as soon as tie Indian tidlo wis es- tingrni he 1, returne i and rebuilt his cabin. White was joined by his broch ost-ton. Doolittle, and det cut off the town of Burlington in respon a beautiful area of
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HISTORY OF 1OR
formed by the surrounding hills, which were crowned with luxuriant forests and presented the most picturesque scenery. The same autumn witnessed the opening of the first dry-goods stores by Dr. W. R. Ross and Major Jeremiah Smith, cach well sup- plied with Western merchandise. Such was the beginning of Burlington, which in less than four years became the seat of government for the Territory of Wisconsin, and in three years more contained a popu- lation of 1,400 persons.
Immediately after the treaty with the Sacs and Foxes, in September, 1832, Colonel George Davenport made the first claim on the site of the present thriving city of Davenport. As carly as 1827, Colonel Davenport had established a flat-boat ferry, which ran between the island and the main shore of Iowa, by which he carried on a trade with the Indians west of the Missis- sippi. In 1833 Captain Benjamin W. Clark moved from Illinois, and laid the founda- tion of the town of Buffalo, in Scott County, which was the first actual settlement within the limits of that county.
The first settlers of Davenport were An- toine Le Clairc, Colonel George Davenport, Major Thomas Smith, Major Willian Gor- don, Philip Hambough, Alexander W. Mc- Gregor, Levi S. Colton, Captain James May and others.
A settlement was made in Clayton County in the spring of 1832, on Turke, River, by Robert Hatfield and William W. Wayman. No further settlement was made in this part of the State until 1836.
The first settlers of Muscatine County were Benjamin Nye, John Vanater and G. W. Kasey, all of whom came in 1831. E. E. Fay, William St. John. N. Fullington, 1. Reece, Jonas Pettibone, R. I. Low ; Stephen Which er, Abijah Whitney. J. L. Fletcher, W. D. Abernethy and Alexis Smith were also early settlers of Musca- tine.
1
As early as 1824 a French trader named Hart had established a trading-post, and built a cabin on the bluffs above the large spring now known as " Mynster Spring," within the limits of the present city of Council Bluffs, and had probably been there some time, as the post was known to the employes of the American Fur Company as " La Cote de Hart," or " Hart's Bluff." In 1827 an agent of the American Fur Company, Francis Guittar, with others, encamped in the timber at the foot of the bluffs, about on the present location of Broadway, and afterward settled there. In 1839 a block house was built on the bluff in the cast part of the city. The Pottawat- omie Indians occupied this part of the State until 1846-'7, when they relinquished the territory and removed to Kansas. Billy Caldwell was then principal chief. There were no white settlers in that part of the State except Indian traders, until the arri- val of the Mormons under the lead of Brig- ham Young. These people on their way westward halted for the winter of 1846-'7. on the west bank of the Missouri River, about five miles above Omaha, at a place now called Florence. Some of them had reached the eastern bank of the river the spring before in season to plant a crop. In the spring of 1847 Brigham Young and a portion of the colony pursued their journey to Salt Lake, but a large portion of them returned to the lowa sitle and settled mainly within the present linvits of Pottawaton ie County. The principal settlement of this strange community was at a place first called " Miller's Hollow," on In lien Creek, and afterward moved Kanesville, in h . r of Colonel Thomas 1. Kane, of Pemail- watis, who visited them soon afterward. The Mormon seulement extended por the county and into night ing copies, whenever timber and water foni bol de- ver and culture, was installed at present
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HISTORY OF IOWA.
of the Quorwh of Twelve, and all that part of the State remained under Mormon Con- trol for several years. In 1847 they raised a battalion numbering 500 men for the Mexican war. In 1848 Hyde started a paper called the Frontier Guardian, at Kanesville. In 1849, after many of the faithful had left to join Brigham Young at Salt Lake, the Mormons in this section of Jowa numbered 6,552. and in 1850, 7,828 : but they were not all within the limits of Pottawatomie County. This county was organized in 1848, all the first officials be- ing Mormons. In 1852 the order was pro- mulgated that all the true believers should gather together at Salt Lake. Gentiles flocked in, and in a few years nearly all the first settlers were gone.
May 9, 1843, Captain James Allen, with a small detachment of troops on board the steamer Ione, arrived at the site of the present capital of the State, Des Moines. This was the first steamer to ascend the Des Moines River to this point. The troops and stores were landed at what is now the foot of Court avenue, and the Captain re- turned in the steamer to Fort Sanford to . arrange for bringing up more soldiers and supplies. In due time they too arrived, and a fort was built near the mouth of Rac- coon Fork, at its confluence with the Des Moines, and named " Fort Des Moines."! Soon after the arrival of the troops, a tred. ing-post was established on the east side of the river by two rated Indian traders named Ewing. from Ohio. Among the first settlers in this part of lowa were Ben- jamin Bryant, I. B. Scott, James Drake ( unsinith). John Sturtevant, Robert Kin 0. Alexander Turner, Peter Nes cordel and others.
PIONEER LIFE.
Most of the carly settlers of lowa came from older Stacy, at Pennsylvania, Nen York and Onto, where their progouts for
even a competency were very poor. They found those States good-to migrate from. Their entire stock of furniture, implements and family necessities were easily stored in one wagon, and sometimes a cart was their only vehicle.
After arriving and selecting a suitable location, the next thing to do was to build a log cabin, a description of which may be interesting to many of our younger readers, as in some sections these old-time struct- ures are no more to be seen. Trecs of . uniform size were chosen and cut into logs of the desired length, generally twelve to fifteen feet, and hauled to the spot selected for the future dwelling. On an appointed day the few neighbors who were available would assemble and have a " house-raising." Each end of every log was saddled and notched so that they would lie as close down as possible; the next day the proprietor, would proceed to " chink" and "daub " the cabin, to keep out the rain, wind and cold. The house had to be re-daubed ev- ery fall, as the rains of the intervening tim: would wash out a great part of the mortar. The usual height of the house was seven or cight feet. The gables were formed by shortening the logs gradually at each en. 1 of the building near the top. The roof was made by laying very straight smalllogs or stout poles suitable distances apart. and on . these were laid the clapboards. somewiet like shingling, generally about two and a half feet in the weather. These chy boar is were fastened to their place by "wel.i. - poler" corresponding in place with the joists just described, all these again woord 1.1. in theig glave by " runs" or " kne." which were chunks of the' med hin or twenty inches long Bro1 10. 3. ti. ner the ends Clapbeads were 1. from the nicest oke in the vicinity. changing of swing to mc inty for! Mode and riving the water front, tlf
1.34
HISTORY OF LOW ..
its handles. This was driven into the , cleats, hung the ever-trustful rifle and pow- blocks of wood by a mallet. As the frow ? der-bon; in one corher stood the larger bed was wrenched down through the wood, the latter was turned alternately over from side to side, one end being held by a forked piece of timber. for the "old folks," and under it the trundle-bed for the children; in another stood the old-fashioned spinning-wheel, with a smaller one by its side; in another the heavy table, the ouly table, of course, there was in the house; in the remaining was a rude cupboard holding the tableware, which consisted of a few cups and saucers, and blue-edged plates, standing singly on their edges against the bach, to make the display of table-furniture more couspicu- ous: while around the room were scattered a few splint-bottom or Windsor chairs, and two or three stools.
The chimney to the Western pioneer's cabin was made by leaving in the original building a large open place in one wall, or by cutting one after the structure was up, ; and by building on the outside, from the ground up, a stone columin, or a column of sticks and mud, the sticks being laid up cob house fashion. The fire-place thus made was often large enough to receive fire-wood six to eight feet long. Sometimes this wood, especially the " back-log," woukl be nearly as large as a saw-log. The more rapidly the pioneer could burn up the wood in his vicinity the sooner he had his littic farm cleared and ready for cultivation. For a window, a piece about two feet long was cut out of one of the wall logs, and the hole closed, sometimes by glass but gener- ally with greased paper. Even greased deer- hide was sometimes used. A doorway was cut through one of the walls if a saw was to be had; otherwise the door would be left by shortened logs in the original building. The door was made by pinning clapboards to two or three wood bars, and was hung upon wooden hinges. A wooden latch, with catch, then finished the door, and the . latch was raised by any one on the outside by pulling a leather string. For security at night this latch-string was drawn in, but for friends and neighbors, and even ovan- gers, the " latch string was always imagine out," as a welcome. In the interior over
These simple cabins were inhabited by a kind and true-hearted people. They were strangers to mock modesty, and the traveler seeking lodging for the night, or desirous of spending a few days in the community, if willing to accept the rude offering, was always welcome, although how they were disposed of at night the reader might not easily imagine; for, as described, a single room was made to answer for kitchen, dining-room, sitting-room, bed-room and parlor, and many families consisted of six or eight members.
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