USA > Iowa > Adair County > History of Adair County, Iowa, and its people, Volume I > Part 19
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As there were many little incidents happening to the early set- tlers which were of considerable moment to them, and of which it is interesting for them in conversation to recall, it would be interesting to relate them if space would permit. However, I will close by saying that the happiest hours of my life were spent as a pioneer in Adair County.
A BAD WINTER
The following quotation of one of the newspapers in regard to the severe winter of 1880, published at the time:
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"The storm was the beginning of one of the longest and coldest winters on record. It began snowing October 14th, and for three days the blizzard raged, blockading the railroads and highways every- where. The county was quite sparsely settled in this part of Iowa then. The fine big barns and cattle sheds now so common were a rarity. As a consequence the storm coming so early caught everyone unprepared. Cattle and other stock perished by the thousands and many travelers caught unawares lost their lives. There was no Indian summer that year. The blizzard of October was followed by more snow and cold and there was almost no let up until April. Many of the low, hay-thatched barns of that period were completely covered with snowdrifts and it became necessary to cut holes through the slough grass roofs to get feed and water to the animals within. At other places tunnels were dug through the drifts to the doors leading to the stables.
"Fuel was scarce and corn and weeds were often burned in lieu of coal. Corn husking and plowing was postponed till spring, when it was common to see farmers planting corn in one field and others husking in an adjoining field."
CHAUTAUQUA
During the spring of 1908 the Redpath Chautauqua men induced the business men of Greenfield to lend assistance to inaugurate a chautauqua to be held at this place in August of that year. This was the first movement in this direction ever taken in Greenfield. It has never been materialized, however, until 1911, when, and each year since. the Redpath-Vawter Company has conducted successful sessions at which some of the best talent in the country has con- tributed. In 1913 and 1914 Fontanelle has also had successful chau- tauqua sessions.
MILLS
The first houses in the county were built of logs, but early a saw- mill was built on Middle River near what is now Port Union and one on the Nodaway four or five miles west of Fontanelle, which worked up some native lumber, mostly oak or maple, with some basswood, elm cut along the streams. The yielding nature of the soil along the stream banks and the immense volume of flood water caus- ing the streams to overflow and spread over the bottoms in every big rain, made it impossible to construct dams of any permanency, so
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none of the mills were able to continue in business, although native lumber was supplied for a considerable number of buildings, the first courthouse and jail at Fontanelle being built almost entirely of native lumber. Later portable sawmills made some lumber, but the pine shipped in from abroad was preferred to the hard wood of the forests and the demand for native lumber ceased.
In the days before the railroad the people had to haul their wheat for flour to Lewis, Cass County; Mount Etna, Adams County; to Cromwell or Creston, Union County; or to Pearson's, Guthrie County, which meant a drive of from twenty to thirty-five miles for almost all of the farmers of the county.
Upon promise of a bonus of $1,000 a man built a mill for grind- ing grain near where the depot now stands, the power to have been supplied by four huge wings after the style of the Holland mills, but the wind was too uncertain and too erratic to accomplish any- thing except to occasionally grind a little cornmeal. A mill was built at Port Union, which did some business for a short time.
In 1881 Jacob Bahlman and Wendel Mathes, farmers living not far from Fontanelle, built a mill at that place, which cost about seven thousand dollars, which has been operated continuously since, doing good work. This is now owned and operated by J. F. Dory. Bahlman was postmaster at Fontanelle during the first Cleveland administration. He afterwards emigrated to Argentina, where it is reported he died some years since. Mathes has been living in retire- ment in Fontanelle for some years and owns a large farm in Jackson Township.
A grist mill was built at Greenfield several years ago, but soon failed, then sold and torn down.
A flour mill was built on Middle River, a mile east of Casey, near the county line, which did business for several years, but the uncer- tainty of water power compelled a shut-down of the plant.
COAL MINING
At several different times efforts have been made to find coal in different locations in Adair County. A number of prospect holes have been dug near Fontanelle, the deepest going down 400 feet from the surface without finding any workable vein. Drilling was carried on to between two hundred and three hundred feet in Jackson Township without success. The supervisors had offered a bounty of $300 for fifty bushels of coal mined in Adair County and delivered
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at Greenfield. L. R. Cairns sunk a shaft in 1892 in Eureka Town- ship six miles south of Adair Town and at a depth of 240 feet found a three-foot vein of good quality coal. He claimed to have sunk a prospect hole forty feet deeper and found a vein four feet thick, but this was never developed. From the state mine inspector's report there were mined 2,000 tons in 1893. The report of the output for succeeding years is not available, but there was an increase for several years. However, the depth of the mine and the distance from rail transportation prevented it from becoming a profitable business and accordingly mining operations were suspended indefinitely.
STATISTICS OF POPULATION
The following statistics show that the county as a whole has had a steady growth until the year 1900, at which time the number of people began to decrease and has continued to do so every year since.
The Town of Adair had 463 inhabitants in 1885; in 1890 it had 722; in 1895, 853; in 1900, 879; in 1905, 961; in 1910, 900.
Bridgewater had 365 inhabitants in 1910.
Fontanelle had 923 inhabitants in 1885; in 1890, 830; in 1895, 859; in 1900, 853; in 1905, 847; in 1910, 789.
Greenfield, in 1885, had 1,100 inhabitants; in 1890, 1,048; in 1895, 1,244; in 1900, 1,300; in 1905, 1,445; in 1910, 1,379.
The population of the county as a whole for different years has been: In 1854, 150; in 1856, 663; in 1860, 984; in 1863, 900; in 1865, 1,097; in 1867, 1,594; in 1870, 3,982; in 1875, 7,045; in 1880, 11,667; in 1885, 14,102; in 1890, 14,534; in 1895, 15,504; in 1900, 16,192; in 1905, 15,110; in 1910, 14,420.
The present population of Adair County (1915) is 14,069. The following is the 1915 population of the townships and towns: Adair (town), 1,007; Bridgewater (town), 362; Bridgewater, 29; Casey (town), 107; Eureka, 618; Fontanelle (town), 860; Grand River, 585; Greenfield (town), 1,615; Greenfield, 95; Grove, 608; Harri- son, 667; Jackson, 597; Jefferson, 622; Lee, 467; Lincoln, 654; Orient (town), 450; Orient, 595; Prussia, 635; Richland, 604: Sum- merset, 554; Summit, 550; Union, 545; Walnut, 653; Washington, 585.
PRESIDENTIAL VOTE
In 1864 Abraham Lincoln received 119 votes in the county and George B. McClellan 47.
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In 1872 U. S. Grant received 757 votes and Horace Greeley 211.
In 1876 Hayes got 1,334 and Tilden 593 in the county.
In 1880 J. A. Garfield received 1,606, W. S. Hancock 516, and James B. Weaver, populist, 519.
In 1884 Blaine received 1,814 votes and Cleveland 1,318.
In 1888 Benjamin Harrison received 1,883 votes, Cleveland got 1,178, and the populist ticket received 108.
In 1892 Harrison received 1,836, Cleveland 1,264.
In 1896 William McKinley received 2,127 votes and William J. Bryan received 1,530.
In 1900 McKinley received 2,327 and Bryan 1,618.
In 1904 Theodore Roosevelt received 2,303 and Alton B. Parker got 895 votes.
In 1908 William H. Taft received 2,015 votes; William J. Bryan 1,323.
In 1912 William H. Taft received 1,248 votes; Theodore Roose- velt, progressive, received 890; and Woodrow Wilson, 1,195.
THE ADAIR COUNTY MUTUAL INSURANCE ASSOCIATION
In the last part of the year 1887 a few of the farmers interested in mutual insurance met at Greenfield and organized a county asso- ciation for the purpose of mutual assistance in case of loss by fire or lightning, and in March, 1888, the association first commenced busi- ness with an insurable capital of about sixty thousand dollars, which early in the year was increased to about one hundred thousand dollars. The first officers elected by the association were: L. M. Kilburn, president; E. C. Crawford, vice presi- dent; T. C. Heacock, D. J. Eatinger, E. C. Duncan, directors. The board elected J. E. Brooks as secretary and O. A. Tuttle as treasurer. Some years later G. G. Rechtenbaugh of Jackson Town- ship became vice president in place of E. C. Crawford and upon his decease T. C. Heacock was elected to the place which he held until his removal to Kansas in the early years of 1900. The directors have so far enjoyed the confidence of the membership of the association that vacancies have been made only by death or removal from the county in the twenty-seven years of active business. The president, secretary and treasurer have occupied these positions since the begin- ning. Other directors at present (1915) are: C. J. Eatinger, vice president; J. G. Hendry, Fred Rohner and Loren Sulgrove. The company was incorporated in the year 1888 and reincorporated in
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1909. It has never had a "boom," but has maintained a steady, average growth of around one hundred thousand dollars a year in amount of its risks, until it now has over three million dollars in risks confined to Adair and adjoining counties. It has paid over sixty thousand dollars in over six hundred different losses and has effected a saving of as much more to its patrons. It is distinctly one of the live institutions of Adair County.
AN UNDERGROUND RAILROAD STATION
In the early days of settlement of Adair County, between 1850 and 1861, old John Brown had a line of "underground railroad" from Missouri to Canada, passing through this county, one station being kept by Azariah Root in the grove two miles west of Fontanelle. Abner Root, son of Azariah, a young man, afterwards a soldier in the War of the Rebellion, and later sheriff of Adair County, once related the following incident of that eventful time which shows the high courage, self-sacrifice and devotion to a high ideal in some of the men of those days:
"A considerable part of the early settlers were pro-slavery in sentiment and the utmost secrecy had to be observed in passing fugi- tive slaves from station to station along the line through Southern Iowa. On one cold mid-winter evening, when there was just enough snow on the ground to make good sledding, John Brown called at the door of my father's house with seven negroes. He said, 'Take these people to -'s at Winterset before light tomorrow morn- ing.' With these words he quickly drove away. While father was hitching up the sled my mother took the cold and hungry negroes into the kitchen and gave them some hot food and coffee. The sled once ready the negroes were deposited in the bottom in a prone posi- tion and then covered with heavy blankets, for fear some one would see them while en route to our destination. In this manner we drove the thirty-six snow-covered miles to Winterset and deposited our human freight at the next station.
"At another time I took a load to Johnnie Pearson's, who was an old Quaker with a grist mill several miles beyond what is now Stuart in Guthrie County and whose house was another station on the route. When I reached the mill the miller came to the wagon to unload, but I had the negroes covered and said that the grist was not for the mill but for Pearson alone."
If heroes ever lived, the man, who, living in a hostile neighbor- hood, defying a vicious law which, upon discovery, would subject him
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to a heavy fine and imprisonment, without hope of reward, would take long drives of thirty or forty miles on a lonely trail, on winter nights, to help his fellows from slavery to freedom, deserves to be called a hero; and of such material the pioneers were made.
BORDER RUFFIANS
In the spring of 1864 occurred the murder of a soldier who was home on a furlough in Adams County. It was the result of a neigh- borhood feud of long standing, intensified by the war spirit of the times. The murderer was arrested, claiming that the act was in self defense and justifiable, and was brought to the Adair County jail at Fontanelle to be kept until the trial. As usual in such cases, the clan to which the dead man belonged determined, right or wrong, to avenge their comrade's death, without waiting for the law to deter- mine the right of the matter. They came across country on horse- back to the jail at Fontanelle and against the earnest protest of John Shreves, the sheriff, who was powerless to resist the mob, they bat- tered down the door to the cell, took the prisoner some distance out of town, and hanged him to a tree, also riddling his body with bul- lets. Efforts were made to bring the ruffians to justice, but so ter- rorized were the people that no testimony could be secured against them.
MARRIAGES
The first marriage license issued in Adair County was dated May 6. 1854, and was issued to William Stinson and Elizabeth F. Crow. The ceremony was performed on the next day, probably by Judge Holaday, although the records contain no record of the same. The second license was issued June 9, 1855 to David McClure and Rheu- hama Thompson, who were married the following day. Licenses during the whole of the year 1855 were issued to the following couples : D. M. Valentine and Martha Root; Samuel Thompson and Sarah Garner; Manoah S. Sullivan and Sarah A. Standley; Isaac J. Far- low and Martha E. Bringham. There were only six marriages in the county during 1856 and they were as follows: Natheldron Thomis and Rebecca Tidd; John Murphy and Amelia J. Friend; William Torrents and Ellen Hodson; Joseph W. Betts and Polly C. Thomp- son; John Johnston and Rebecca Davis; Sion Murphy and Polly A. Roberts. In 1857 the following couples received licenses in the county: John Tomkins and Nancy A. Kerby; Joseph L. Ellis and
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Theresa M. Trask; Homer Penfield and Martha Campbell; Philip Augustine and Sarah E. Wilson; J. K. Valentine and Ellen Root; J. R. Pierce and Ruth Love; Redington J. Shields and Mary J. Aldridge; W. W. Starr and Elizabeth Aldridge. Ten marriage licenses were issued during the year 1858 of which the following is a list: Eri W. Chapman and Maria T. Richardson; James Minert and Nancy J. McClure; Jonathan Glossup and Cynthia Love; Will- iam Hiatt and Pamelia Johnson; G. W. Neal and Annie D. Zinman; T. M. Moore and Francis Parr; Leander Garrett and Emily J. Keen; S. W. Armstrong and Celia Brainard; Sylvester Bennett and Dia- dema Lee; Henry Murphy and Susan Lucas.
TOWN PLATS
The following records from the plat book of Adair County give the dates of the platting of the different towns and additions in the county. Some of these towns were what is known as paper towns, having existed on paper only.
Summerset, now Fontanelle, was laid out during the month of May, 1855, and the plat recorded upon the 30th of the same month. This belonged to the county.
Greenfield, the present county seat, was filed for record upon September 30, 1856, by Milton C. Munger.
Manchester was filed for record December 19, 1855, by Albert W. Mathews.
Nevins was filed for record August 17, 1857, by Roswell W. Turner and Richard B. Smith, both from Boston, Mass.
Rutt's Addition to Fontanelle was filed December 19, 1857, by Abram Rutt.
Arnold's Addition to Fontanelle was filed August 20, 1857, by Douglas F. Arnold of Madison County.
Ballard's Addition to Fontanelle was filed by Cal Ballard on May 14, 1860.
Casey was filed for record October 20, 1868, by A. G. Weeks and R. H. Marshall. -
Union Addition to Stuart was filed by Henry Royce, B. F. Allen and Charles Stuart on December 29, 1870.
Adair was filed August 20, 1872, by George C. Tallman, of Brooklyn, N. Y.
Waggener & Morgan's Addition to Greenfield was filed May 20, 1875, by Judson Morgan and J. S. Waggener.
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Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company's Addition to the Town of Adair was filed October 28, 1873.
Second Union Addition to Stuart was filed August 3, 1874, by Charles Stuart, B. F. Allen and H. F. Royce.
Patton's Addition to Adair was filed February 23, 1876, by J. M. Patton.
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company's Addition to Adair was filed August 24, 1876.
Patton's Second Addition to Adair was filed October 18, 1877.
Southwest Addition to the Town of Greenfield was filed May 6, 1880, by B. M. McArthur, W. M. Rodgers and D. W. Church.
Heaton's Addition to Greenfield was filed October 30, 1880, by D. Heaton.
Myers' Addition to Greenfield was filed by E. V. Myers on June 20, 1881.
John Don Carlos' Addition to Greenfield was filed August 2, 1881, by John Don Carlos and O. G. Pratt.
Hunt's Addition to Greenfield was filed January 11, 1882, by C. B. Hunt.
Orient was filed for record March 12, 1879, by Charles E. Per- kins.
Colby's Addition to Orient was filed October 21, 1880, by J. N. Colby.
Henderson's Addition to Greenfield was filed April 10, 1882, by Oliver S. Henderson, of Henry County, Ill.
Taylor's Addition to Greenfield was filed May 20, 1882, by Henry Taylor.
Manning's Addition to Greenfield was filed October 31, 1882, by Edwin Manning, of Van Buren County, Ia.
Clark's Addition to Adair was filed March 30, 1883, by Thomas M. Clark.
The original plat of Bridgewater was filed October 13, 1885, on land owned by C. E. Perkins. The first addition to this town was filed on May 7, 1889; the second on April 29, 1890, and the third on March 16, 1893.
Walsh's Addition to the Town of Adair was filed July 8, 1913. Patten's Fourth Addition to the town was filed March 3, 1890. Eby's Addition was filed September 7, 1896. Patten's Third Addition to Adair was filed May 10, 1884.
The plat of the now defunct Town of Carbondale was filed Octo- ber 12, 1892, by William S. and Caroline Chenoweth. It was located Vol. I-14
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on the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section 33, town- ship 77, Range 33.
Hetherington's plat of subdivision of out-lot 9 to Fontanelle was filed August 27, 1908.
Sprague's Addition to Orient was filed April 19, 1897, by E. H. and Martha A. Sprague.
Brown's Addition to Orient was filed August 9, 1901, by L. D. and Rebecca B. Brown.
Miars' Addition to Orient was filed June 19, 1902, by Isaac and Mary E. Miars.
Wiley's First Addition to Orient was filed April 27, 1900, and Wiley's Second Addition was filed April 15, 1910.
Martin & McCollum's First Addition to Greenfield was filed August 11, 1893; Martin & McCollum's Second Addition was filed April 14, 1894; Martin & McCollum's Third Addition was filed April 4, 1895. Littleton's Addition to Greenfield was filed August 23, 1897. Littleton's Second Addition was filed November 9, 1899.
The plat of a town to be named Lieth City was filed July 22, 1902, by Charles L. and Mary Waltz, John D. and Hannah S. Showers. This was located in township 74 north, range 30 west, between sections 20 and 21.
THE SILENT CITY
By Myrtle Rivenburgh
While in the employ of the Greenfield Transcript several months ago I became interested in a special way in the Greenfield Cemetery. One day as I walked among the graves on a visit to the cemetery and read the inscriptions on the stones, they brought many questions to my mind which bore no answer, also expressed a new and curious meaning. I spelled out the names of some of the boys and girls who had once attended school and skipped along these streets together. Then there were others who had walked those paths with me in former days without the slightest thought that they would so soon be sleeping with the rest. As I beheld the city of the dead on South Hill and the city of the living on North Hill, I wondered which of the two had the largest population.
Upon investigating the matter I found that there were over twice as many graves on South Hill as persons residing in the Town of Greenfield, on North Hill.
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From the time of the first settlers until April 6, 1877, the citizens had used as a burial ground, with the permission of A. P. Littleton, a space of land south of where the county bridge yard now stands. During the intervening years, January 22, 1871, the county super- visors had purchased forty acres of Mrs. Amy McWhinney, the land lying southeast of town, to be used as a county poor farm. However, the supervisors decided later to buy northeast of town for this pur- pose. They then sold thirty-five acres of the former tract to W. B. Martin, April 8, 1885, for $2,450, reserving five acres, the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 18-75-31, which was sold by warranty deed on April 6, 1877, to the Greenfield Township trus- tees for the sum of $85, the small tract to be used as a cemetery.
Of the bodies moved from the former burial ground were those of Isaac Myers (father), Mrs. Mary Vance (sister), Mrs. Valina Myers (sister-in-law), Prentice Myers (nephew), Ida Littleton (niece of Joe, Ham and James Myers of this place), Doctor Edging- ton, Mrs. Dow Parker and child, Mrs. Perry Parker, Mr. Bagg and Mrs. Swan. Other citizens give the information that there were probably not more than a dozen bodies buried at this place and so far as possible all were moved to the new location.
In the year 1891 the township trustees (Richard Smith, O. A. Tuttle and R. H. West) deemed it necessary to enlarge the boundaries and, in order to meet the required wants, it became necessary to con- demn the following tract of land: Commencing at the northeast cor- ner of the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section 18, in township 75 north of range 31 west, and running west 50 rods, thence south 64 rods, to the place of beginning; except so much of said land as is now occupied as a cemetery. This proceeding was attended to at the November term of court, 1891. The verdict of the jury set aside the sum of $917 as the price to be paid for the tract, which includes fifteen acres. Since that date there has been no addi- tional land purchased.
In June, 1892, County Surveyor Sargent and a force of men worked several days surveying and plotting the new part. About four hundred lots, fourteen by twenty-six feet in dimensions, were plotted and the work of fencing began. The cemetery now includes twenty acres of land and about one thousand two hundred lots, vary- ing in size from ten to twenty-five feet. . A portion of it is not yet laid out in lots.
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EARLY FINANCE
Like most of the other counties in the state the early settlers got the general idea that the "speculators," as the people who bought land which they did not improve were called, were legitimate objects of graft effected through taxation. Many of the early contracts of county and township officers carried exorbitant bills for services ren- dered. It is related as an instance of the way things were done under the old system of county government, when each township elected a member of the board of supervisors, and when each bill before approved should be sworn to by the party making it, that at one time the son-in-law of one of the members of the board put in a bill for $10 for work rendered the county. The father took it and wrote 100 before the 10, but the son said that he could not swear to it. When the bill came up for action the father said to the board, "Here is a bill not sworn to. I move we cut it down $10 and allow it. We will teach him not to put in a bill not sworn to." The board promptly voted accordingly, thinking they had a good joke on the person pre- senting the bill.
SHORT SKETCHES
A. P. Littleton was born in Fayette County, Ohio, and drove from his home in Ohio to Greenfield with a single horse and buggy, arriving here in June, 1859. He married Kate Myers of the County of Fayette, O., in Greenfield, in September, same year. They were the first to be married in the town. Mr. Littleton started the first store in Greenfield, which was located on the corner lot just north of the First National Bank. At that time he bought the goods for his store in St. Joseph, Mo., driving an ox team, loaded with products grown here which he sold there, returning with a load of dry goods and groceries. In this way it took two weeks to make the round trip. For twelve years he had the only store in Greenfield and he con- tinned in this line of business for a total of twenty years. In 1880 Mr. Littleton was one of the organizers of the Citizens Bank, now the First National. In 1898 he purchased the entire stock of this institution and on June 1, 1900, the Citizens Bank became the First National Bank, with Mr. Littleton as the first president. In the early history of the town Mr. Littleton was often called upon to manage the affairs. During the time the county seat was moved to Greenfield from Fontanelle Mr. Littleton was chairman of the board of supervisors and his position was a very important one during those
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