USA > Iowa > Union County > Biographical and historical record of Ringgold and Union counties, Iowa, vol. 2 > Part 36
USA > Iowa > Ringgold County > Biographical and historical record of Ringgold and Union counties, Iowa, vol. 2 > Part 36
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47
650
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.
tion, and has held varions school offices. IIe is the present justice of the peace, filling the office to the entire satisfaction of his constitu- ents. Ile was elected to serve a second term in the November election of 1886.
EBASTIAN FOIDEL, an active and enterprising farmer and stock-raiser of Sand Creek Township, and one of the self-made men of Union County, is a native of Ross County, Ohio, born January 21, 1855. fIe received reasonably good educational ad- vantages, receiving his education principally at Central University at Pella, Iowa. He was reared a farmer, which he has followed through life, with the exception of ten terms, when he was engaged in teaching school. October 3, 1852, he was married to Miss I. A. Clark, a daughter of L. B. and Harriet Clark, who were natives of Virginia, and among the pioneers of Union County, Iowa. To Mr. and Mrs. Foidel have been born two children-Alta L., born June 18, 1884, and Howard C., born April 11, 1886. Mr. Foidel has a fine farm on section 34, Sand Creek Township, where he makes his home, which contains 100 acres of good land, and his suc- cess in life has been due to his own industry aud persevering energy, which have also gained for him the respect and confidence of the entire community. In his political views Mr. Foidel is a Greenbacker. His parents were natives of Germany, coming to America in 1851. They were among the pioneers of Ringgold County, coming in an early day and settling on the farm where the father lived 1 till his death. The prairie grass surrounding his dwelling. which then grew thick and tall, was set on fire eight miles to the northwest on one of the most windy days in the fall of 186S. When he saw the fire approaching he went to burning a strip along the road, which was known as backfiring, but his work was of no avail; the fire was approaching with the
speed of a race-horse, and seeing that he could not head it off, he ran to the stable to release the horses, but before he could accomplish anything the fire broke through the roof, which frightened the horses and they became uncontrollable. It being unsafe to remain longer in the stable he left it, and in doing so he ran through about two rods of solid flames of fire. Hay and straw stacks were being torn to pieces and blown in every direction all ablaze and through this he ran. Ilis clothes caught fire and burned him so that he lived only twenty-two hours thereafter. He was a man respected by all who knew him, and his death caused uni- versal regret throughout the neighborhood where he resided. Thus was Mr. Foidel left at the age of thirteen, the eldest of a family of four children, and in very destitute circum- stances, but with willing hearts and hands the family toiled together and with the assist- ance of kind neighbors managed to live com- fortably well, and all received a fair education. The widow and mother still survives and is making her home with her children.
AMES HENDRICK, engaged in agri- cultural pursuits on section 23, New Hope Township, was born in Marshall County, Illinois, the date of his birth being March 14, 1844. His father, William Hen- drick, who is now deceased, was a native of Kentucky, born near the Mammoth Cave, and was among the pioneers of Marshall County, Illinois. He was a soldier in the Black Hawk war. James Hendrick came to Jowa with his parents in the fall of 1835, they locating in Clarke County, and there he grew to manhood, and received his education in the common schools. Ile served over two years in the war of the Rebellion, being a member of Company D, Eighth lowa Cavalry, and participated in a number of battles in- cluding Nashville, Franklin, Dallas, Marietta, and was in all the engagements with Sherman
651
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
from Chattanooga to Atlanta. He came to Union County, Jowa, in the fall of 1865, and in 18CS settled on the farm where he has since followed farming and stock-raising. He was married February 25, 1869, to Mary M. Smith, a daughter of George S. Smith, who came to Union County in 1851, and is now a resident of New Hope Township. Mr. and Mrs. Hendrick have seven children-Burris A., William C. and George C. (twins), Elmer D., Ross B., Frank R. and Felix W. Mr. Hendrick has been successful as an agricult- urist, and by his industry and good manage- ment has acquired a fine property, his home farm containing 173 acres. Mr. Hendrick has served his township as assessor for seven years. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He also belongs to the Anti-Horse-Thief Association. He is a mem- ber of the Christian church.
F. HAMILTON, stock-dealer and pro- prietor of meat market at Creston, Iowa, succeeded Henry Burns in No- vember, 1882. He was at first associated with W. I. Stephen, but in the fall of 1883 purchased his partner's interest in the busi- ness and also his town property. He does a large business, which is constantly increasing. In 1886 he again formed a partnership with W. I. Stephen and opened a wholesale slaughtering and packing house at Omaha, Nebraska. This new enterprise promises to be successful and cannot fail to be so under the direction of Mr. Hamilton, who has gained the reputation of being one of the best business men of Southern Iowa. Mr. Hamil- ton was born in Durham County, Canada, February 28, 1847, and when nineteen years of age came west as far as Chicago, Illinois, where for a year and a half he drove a stone track. He then worked on a farm in Ken- dall County two years and a half and then rented & faria three years and a half. For ten years he was engaged in the meat busi-
ness in Morris, Grundy County, and while there furnished meat to the penitentiary at Toliet, several years, by contract. Mr. Ham- ilton commenced life a poor boy, but has been universally snecessful in all his operations, and now, in addition to his capital in his busi- ness, owns much valuable real-estate, including a beautiful home on the corner of Spruce and Adams streets, Creston. Ile was married in Morris, Illinois, in 1873, to Anna V. Mason, a native of Montreal, Canada. They have one danghter --- Blanche.
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OHN HALL, is president of the Creston Ice Company, which was organized in ISS3. He, with IT. M. Spencer and T. J. Potter were the pioneers of the ice busi- ness in this city, having commenced when the reservoir was completed, in 1874. The organ- ization was formed with a capital of $25,000. Mr. ITall was elected president; James G. Bull, vice-president; and U. M. Spencer, treasurer. Mr. Hall is the only president the company has ever had. At present O. E. Phelps is vice-president and J. H. Duggan, secretary. Mr. Hall was born in Stark County, Illinois, in 1815. He came to Jowa in 1867, and lived in Des Moines two years before coming to Union County. In 1869 he bought a farm of 472 acres in Douglas Town- ship in company with HI. M. Spencer. Mr. Hall located on his farm in 1870. No im- provement:, had been made when they par- chased the property. Mr. Hall remained until 1874, and Mr. Spencer continued to re- side there until the farm was sold, in 1851. The father of Mr. Hall. William Hall, settled in Stark County in 1936, and resided there until his decease. He was a native of England. The mother still lives at the old homestead. Mr. Ilall was married to Ella Hammers, a native of Pennsylvania. She removed with her parents to Bellevue, Iowa, when a childl. Mr. and Mrs. Hall have three children-Daisy, Lillian and Clifton C.
652
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTT.
LILLIP A. DERR, merchant, Creston, was born in Schuylkill County, Pennsy !- ? vania, in 1853. Ilis parents, Phillip and Christina (Huntsinger) Derr, were natives of France, and immigrated to America about forty years ago, settling in the Keystone State; at present they reside in Colorado. Our subject is the fourth in order of birth of their six children, and the third son; they are all living, his two brothers being both in business at Creston. In 1865 their parents settled in Cedar County, Iowa, where the sub- ject of this notice grew to manhood. At the age of eighteen years be entered a dry-goods store as clerk for Wyman & Muller, in Mar- ion, Linn County, Iowa. After two years' service for them he came to Creston, in 1873, and was clerk in the dry-goods store of George W. Cartlich for seven years; then, buying an assortment of stock from Mr. Cartlich, he opened a store, which he is at present con- ducting, in partnership with his brothers, George and Edward. June 1, 1886, he bought
out his brothers, and he is now managing the business alone with success and satisfaction, carrying a well-selected stock of dry-goods and notions, and keeping five clerks in con- stant employ. Having no means with which to make his start in life, his present status is a high testimonial to his business abilities. Ilis stock is estimated at about $15,000, while his sales annually amount to about $60,000. Ile also has the agency for the Bonaparte Woolen Mills. In his political sentiments Mr. Derr sympathizes with the Democratic party. He is a member of the orders of Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias. He was married in Creston, in 1877, to Miss Florence E., daughter of H. W. and Jane (Blair) Car- ney, natives of Canada; she was born in 1856, in London, that dominion. Her grandfather recently died; he had been city collector for that municipality for many years. Mr. and Mis. Dorr have three children-Edith F., Ralph and Eva M.
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GENERALY
HISTORY
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INTRODUCTORY.
INTRODUCTORYG
ITHIN one brief gener- ation a wild waste of unbroken prairie has been transform- ed into a cultivated region of thrift and prosperity, by the us- tiring zeal and energy of an enter- prising people. The trails of hunters and trappers have given place to railroads and thoroughfares for vehicles of every description; 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 institu- tions of convenience for each community. Add to these the prosperous cities of Creston, and several thriving villages, with extensive business and manufacturing interests, and the result is a work of which all concerned may well be proud.
The record of this marvelous change is his- tory, and the most important that can be written. For more than thirty years the peo- ple of Union County have been making a history that for thrilling interest, grand, prac- tical results, and lessons that may be perused with profit by citizens of other regions, will compare favorably with the narrative of the history of any county in the 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. While our venerable ancestors may have said and believed
" 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 corner of it; and the great West was not opened to in- dustry and civilization until a variety of causes had combined to form, as it were, a great heart, whose animating principle was improvement, whose impulses annually sent westward armies of noble men and women, and whose pulse is now felt throughout the length and breadth of the best country the sun ever shone upon-from the pinerics 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 than from enforced necessity did the old pioneers bid farewell to the play-ground of their childhood and the graves of their fathers. One generation after another had worn themselves out in the serv- ice of their avaricious landlords. From the first flashes of daylight in the morning till the last gliimmer of the setting sun, they had toiled unceasingly on, from father to sou,
656
HISTORY OF UM'ON COUNTY.
carrying home each day on their aching shoulders the precious proceeds of their daily labor. Money and pride and power were handed down in the line of succession from the rich father to his son. while unceasing work and continuons poverty and everlasting obscurity were the heritage of the working- man and his children.
Their society was graded and degraded. It was not manners, nor industry, nor educa- tion, nor qualities of the head and heart that established the grade. It was money and jewels, and silk and satin, and broadeloth 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 per- mitted 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 perpetu- ate 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 transmitted by the law of inheritance from one generation to an- other, and until nerves powerless and man- hood dwarfed were on exhibition everywhere, and everywhere abhorred. For the sons and daughters of the poor man to remain there was to forever follow as our fathers had fol- lowed, and never to lead; to submit, but never to rule; to obey, but never to command.
Without money, or prestige, or influential friends, the old pioneers drifted along one by one, from State to State, until in Jowa-the garden of the Union-they have found invit- ing homes for each, and room for all. To secure and adorn these homes more than or- dinary ambition was required, greater than ordinary endurance demanded, and unflinch- ing determination was, by the force of neces- sity, written over every brow. It was not pomp, or parade, or glittering show that the pioneers were after. They sought for homes
which they could call their own, homes for themselves and homes for their children. Ilow well they have succeeded after a strng- gle 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 pala- tial 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 rivers, and through bottomless sloughs, a score of miles to mill or market, and when more time was required to reach and return from market than is now required to cross the continent, or traverse the Atlantic. 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 right in the low, dark atties, among the horns of the elk and the deer, and where through the clinks in the "shakes " they could count the twinkling stars. These were the times when our chairs and our bedsteads were hewn from the forest trees, and tables and bureaus con- structed from the boxes in which their goods were brought. These were the times when the workingman labored six and sometimes seven days in the week, and all the hours therewere in a day from sunrise to sunset.
Whether all succeeded in what they under- took is not a question to be asked now. The proof that as a body they did succeed is all around us. Many individuals were per- haps disappointed. Fortunes and misfort- unes belong to the human race. Not every man can have a school-house on the corner of his farin; not every man can have a bridge over a stream that flows by his dwell- ing; not every man can have a railroad depot on the borders of his plantation, or a city in its center ; and while these things are desir- able in some respects, their advantages are oftentimes outweighed by the alnost perpet-
INTRODUCTORY.
nal presence of the foreign beggar, the dreaded tramp, the fear of fire and conflagration, and the insecurity from the presence of the mid- night 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 outside 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 us turn our eyes and thoughts back to the log-cabin days of a quarter of a century ago, and contrast those homes with comfort- able dwellings of to-day. Before us stands the old log-cabin. Let us enter. Instinctive- jy the head is uncovered in token of reverence to this relic of ancestral beginnings, earle struggles and final triumphs. To the left is the deep, wide fire-place, in whose commodi- ons 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 thrilling stories of In- dians and wild beasts, are whisperingly told and shudderingly heard. On the great erane hangs the old tea-kettle and the great iron pot. The huge shovel and tongs stand senti- nel in either corner, while the great andirons patiently wait for the huge back-log. Over the fire-place hangs the trusty rifle. To thy night of the fire-place stands the spinning wheel, while in the farther end of the room is seen the old-fashioned loom. Strings of dry- ing apples and poles of drying pumpkins are overhead. Opposite the door in which you enter 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 relies of former china. In a curtained corner and
lid from casual sight we find the mother's bed, and under it the trundle-bed, while near them a ladder indicates the loft where the older children 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 inch used, its family record telling of parents and friends a long way off, and telling, too, of children
" Scattered like roses in bloom, Some at the bridal, some at the tomb."
Her spectacles, as if but just used, are insert- ed between the leaves of her Bible, and tell of her 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 eity visitors to this humble cabin. The city bride, inno- cent but thoughtless, and ignorant of labor and care, asks her city-bred husband, "Pray, what savages set this up?" Honestly confess- ing his ignorance, he replies, "I do not know." But see 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; but who that has not learned in the school of experience the full meaning of all there symbols of trials and privations, of loneliness and danger, ean 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 doorway, and note the heavy bettened 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, stan.1- ing side by side in vivid contrast, toll their win story of this people's progress. They are ; a history and a prophecy in enc.
658
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.
GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY.
Union County is situated 175 miles west of the Mississippi, and eighty miles east of the Missouri, on the high table-land lying be- tween the two rivers, and in the second tier of counties north of the Missouri State line. It contains about 275,000 acres, divided into twelve Congressional townships, and, at the highest point, is 1,280 feet above the level of the sea. The climate is pleasant and healthy, and at all seasons of the year breezes fan the prairies, with never a day so sultry but that a cooling breath brings comfort to laborer or traveler. The evenings are delight- fu), however heated the day may have been. The weary artisan may lie down to rest at night and in the morning rise refreshed and prepared for his daily toil.
Old settlers say that consumption was never known to attack a victim here, and chronic or constitutional diseases are not trequent. Malarial diseases, while more frequently met with, are of rare occurrence as compared with localities badly drained and supplied with poor water, good water being here readily obtained by digging wells from fifteen to thirty feet deep.
The larger portion of the county is a gently undulating prairie, resembling the waves of the ocean suddenly arrested in their swell and changed into soil, there being, however, a suf- ficient amount of timber and bottom lands to give variety to the face of the country and to gratify the tastes or prejudices of all who may
wish to locate here. Grand and Platte Rivers drain the greater part of the county, and in the immediate vicinity of each is considerable broken land, much of which is or has been covered with a fine growth of native timber. principally oak, ash, elui, hickory, maple and cottonwood.
NATIVITY OF THE POPULATION.
The present inhabitants are chiefly derived from the Eastern States-men who, catching the spirit of cmigration, dissatisfied with the circumscribed limits of the old home and its surroundings, chose to struggle for a while with poverty to the end that homes of com- fort and plenty might cheer their declining years. Hundreds of smiling cottages, well fenced, and 'cultivated farms, and other evi- dences of thrift and happiness, to-day bear eloquent testimony to the wisdom of their early choice.
While the great majority of the people are American born, there are many others, frugal, honest and prosperous, who have come from across the ocean and cast in their lot with the others; and the fair-haired sons of the great German Fatherland, the warm-hearted, im- pulsive Irishman, the men of muscle and sinew from the rugged shores of Scandinavia, the frank, ingennous Englishman, the canny Scot, the impetuous Frenchinan and the stolid Russian, all have cast their lot together and are working harmoniously for the devel- opment of Union County.
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EARLY AND CIVIL, HISTORY.
EARLY AND GIVIL HISTORY.
HE greater part of what follows in regard to the Mormons, Indians and Early Settlement is taken from the admira- ble work of C. J. Colby, entitled "Centennial Sketches, Map and Directory of Union County," published in 1876. Some additions and correc- tions have been made.
MORMONS.
Before the first permanent settlement of Union County took place, its territory was the temporary abiding place, of a large body of whites who considered themselves (with some truth) persecuted by the Christians of civilized Illinois, and were on their way to seek an undisturbed home in the far West. These were the Mormons.
In the year 1945 the troubles between the citizens of Hancock and adjoining counties and the Mormons who had settled at Nauvoo- Illinois, enlminated in an aggressive warfare made with the avowed object of driving out every Saint in the district, and it soon became evident that no peace or personal safety could be hoped for by thein so long as they remain- ed in Illinois, and it was finally decided to seek a home in the wilderness of the far West, whither a band of Danitos had been sent some months previously on a tour of exploration.
Accordingly, in September of that year, the vanguard crossed the Mississippi and commenced their journey toward their far-off destination- the wilds of the snow-capped Sierras; these were followed, the succeeding winter, by a still larger number, who were not permitted by their relentless persecutors to await the opening of spring, but were driven out of their comfortable homes in mid-winter to face the pitiless storms of a bleak and dreary wilderness. Crossing the Mississippi on the ice, they commenced a journey which, under the most favorable cirenistances, was fraught with toil and danger; but undertaken as this was, with but slight preparation, and without adequate clothing or protection, must neces- sarily prove disastrous. The cold was intense wood was scarce, the howling winds, drizzling rains and drifting snows must be faced day after day-what wonder then that sickness and death should be their constant companions? The strong. hardy man; the frail, gentle woman and the prattling babe, alike became victims to the terrible exposure to which they were subjected. The only coffins obtainable were made from the bark of trees, and hundreds of graves marked the line of travel of the unfor- tunate emigrants. With provisions almost exhausted. roads next to impassable, and disease and death making such terrible in- roads upon their numbers, it was finally do- cided to press forward to some suitable spot where they could cump, recuperate, and raise
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