USA > Iowa > Benton County > History of Benton County, Iowa. From materials in the public archives, the Iowa Historical society's collection, the newspapers, and data of personal interviews > Part 10
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Most of the carly settlers of Benton county fix upon the carly fifties as marking the virtual division between the old. or primi- tive. and the new, or advanced era of its history. Judge O. M. Gilchrist. in his address of 1904 delivered before the old settlers' reunion held at Shellsburg. presents the following sharp etching of these early conditions leading up to the line of demarkation : "I believe Samuel Lockhart was the first permanent settler in the borders of our county. but in the same year Samnel Parker and Gilman Clark made homes somewhere hereabouts. These very first settlers must have been here by the suffrance of the Indians; for only six years before they were on the war path taking white scalps. Indians were everywhere. The only playmates of the children were Indian boys and girls. No one could then acquire title to the home he ocenpied. for the land survey was begun in 1815 and not completed for two years. The two counties created by Michigan were now divided by Wisconsin into twenty-two. and Benton was .one of them. At the first election held at Park- er's Grove, only twenty-nine votes were cast; at the next, with two voting places-one at the Grove and the other at Marysville -not twice as many votes were cast. Outside of parts of Polk. Benton, Canton, and Taylor townships, few land entries were made until about fifty-two to fifty-five. As a matter of course. there was no market for farm prednets and live stock, except to the immigrant. Schools and churches could not exist much before the fifties because they were so few and scattered."
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
No PERMANENT OLD SETTLERS SOCIETY.
The annual reunions of the old settlers of Benton county are occasions of the heartiest sociability and furnish much valuable and interesting information connecting the past with the pres- ent. The presiding officers, however, are only temporary-chosen from year to year-and there is no permanent organization known as the Old Settlers' Society, as is the case in many other counties of the west. and not a few, of lowa.
The so-called Old Settlers' Society was formed June 15. 1887. its first president being Milton Rickey, of Shellsburg, and its secretary, C. T. Horton, who is now a resident of Texas.
FIRST LAND ENTRIES.
The early '50s in Benton county saw a marked increase of the town population. the main historical interest afterward centering in the villages and cities which were founded and developed. a general way, the pioneers of the different townships are indicated by those who made the original entries. although, in some cases. settlement did not immediately follow entry of land.
BENTON TOWNSHIP (85-9) : George W. Brice, part of section 1. May 6, 1846: Hugh Brawdy. June 26, 1846; Edwin B. Spencer. part of section 7. November 1, 1845: Charles Cantonwine, part of section 31, December 10, 1845.
POLK TOWNSHIP (86-9) : Abner Spencer, part of sections 2. 10 and 11. September 27. 1848; Malinda Lockhart, southwest quar- Ter of northwest quarter of section 24. May 1. 1846; Barney D. Springer, south half of the southeast quarter of section 26. June 15. 1846: Joseph Remington, west half of the northeast quarter of section 34, April 7. 1846; William Mitchell, part of section 34. June 19. 1846; Jacob Remington. October 3. 1846; Caleb S. Hendrys. southeast quarter of the northeast quarter of seetion 36, November 3. 1945 : Samuel M. Lockhart. west half of the northwest quarter of section 36. November 17, 1845.
CANTON TOWNSHIP (84-9) : Daniel Ousted, part of section 3. April 20. 1846 ; Charles A. Belnap. part of section 11. May 13, 1846; Loyal F. North. part of section 12. February 7. 1846; Stedman Penrose. Edward Karlsback, part of section 12. December 30. 1845.
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
FLORENCE TOWNSHIP (82-9) : John Ure, part of section 14. April 1. 1846: Hiram Usher, part of section 18, February 14. 1546: William Thomas, part of spetion 22, February 19, 1846.
TAYLOR TOWN-TIP (85-10) : William A. Bryson. part of section 1. June 20. 1846 : Samuel Morse. part of section 10. March 10. 1546: John Renshaw. Samuel K. Parker, Joseph R. Strawn and Gid-on B. White, entered in 1846.
BIG GROVE TOWNSHIP (84-11) : Hans Hauson, part of seethe! 11. April 11, 1848.
JACKSON TOWNSHIP ( 85-11 ) : William Helmes. part of section 15. June 26. 1845: Sarah Harris. part of section 12. October 11. 1848: Ebenezer Mullinick, part of section 29. June 26. 1848.
EDEN TOWNSHIP (84-10) : Elias Doan. part of section 7. May 31. 1849.
LEROY TowsSHIP (82-11) : George Tilter, part of section 25. October 24. 1850.
HARRISON TOWNSHIP (86-10) : William Hendrickson, nort !- last quarter of section 25. June 13. 1849.
MONROE TownSHIP (85-12) : Grenville (. Slader, part of section 15. June 30. 1851.
Iowa TownSHIP (82-12): Hyreanne Guinn, part of section: 27. September 3. 1851: Samuel Youmans, part of section 21. Sep- tomber 13. 1851.
UNION TOWNSIHR (83-11) : Sarah Ann Maisinger, part of section 32, October 27. 1851.
C'EDAR TOWNSHIP (86-11): John Koux. southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 25. July 16. 1851 : Stephen King. part of section 25. August 2, 1852.
ST. CLAIR TOWNSHIP (82-10) : William T. Scott. part of se -- tion 26. October 18. 1852.
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
FREMONT TOWNSHIP (83-9) : Edward Connolly, part of see- tion 32, March 12, 1853.
KANE TOWNSHIP (83-12) : Levi Marsh, part of section 32. September 20, 1853.
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BRUCE TOWNSHIP (86-12) : Lewis M. Carlisle, parts of sections 31 and 32. June 29, 1853.
HIOMER TOWNSHIP (84-12) : Benjamin Kunkle, part of sec- tion 29. October 23, 1854.
ELDORADO TOWNSHIP (83-10) : James S. Easley. part of sor- tion 26. September 8. 1854. Nearly all of this township was entered in the fall of 1854.
TOWNS AND CITIES OF BENTON COUNTY.
The progressive platting and founding of the towns and cities of Benton county is set forth in the following facts, and is really supplementary to the foregoing list, which indicated the establish- ment of the landed interests of various pioneers outside the centers of more nrban population.
Marysville (Urbana). located on the north twenty acres of the west half of the northeast quarter of section 34. township 86. range 9, was laid ont May 5. 1847. by F. JJ. Rigaud. county sur- veyor; Joseph Remington. proprietor. Plat. recorded May 10. 1917, at So block A. M. This is the oldest town in the county, and was well known to the carly settlers as "'Hoosier Point."
Vinton was located by the commissioners to locate the count: seat, 1846. on the northeast quarter of section 21. township 85. range 10. and named Northport by the first board of county rout- inissioners. and ordered to be surveyed in July. 1846: but a new board was elected in Angust, and the record was delayed until February 12. 1848. when it was recorded by Irwin D. Shaison. county surveyor. The plat was signed by Sanmel M. Lockhart. Loyal F. North and Thomas Way. county commissioners, and by them named Vinton. in honor of a member of congress from Ohio who was anxions to perpetuate his name in this way. The town has no existence now. and its territory is included in the lim- its of the present city of Vinton.
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
Fremont, located on lots 5, 6, and 7, of the west half of section 16. township 85, range 10. "which point being voted for at the August election. 1849. by a majority. to be the seat of Justice of Benton County." Surveyed by Irwin D. Simison, county sur- veyor, November 24, 1849; James Leverich. proprietor. Plat recorded November 29. 1849. The name of this town was changed to Vinton by aet of the General Assembly of Iowa, approved in January, 1853.
Shellsburg. on the southwest quarter of section 11 and partis on the northwest quarter of section 14, township 84. range 9: surveyed by H. M. Drury, deputy county surveyor, June 16. 1:54: Jacob Cantonwine. Christiana Cantonwine, Emanuel S. Fluke and Mary Fluke. proprietors.
Grand Gulf. on the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section 17, township 85. range 10; surveyed April 17, 1854. 1. HI. M. Drury, deputy county surveyor ; Jobn Alexander and Natey Alexander, proprietors. Now a part of the city of Vinton.
Geneva, on the northwest quarter of the southwest quester and the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section 3. township: 84. range 11; surveyed by Wesley Whipple; R. N. Vas Chief and Susanna Van Clief. proprietors. Plat filed for record March 20. 1855.
Wilmington. located on section 4. towoship $5. range 9: sur- veved by Wesley Whipple. November 9. 1855; Lewis Berry. E'le Berry, Conrad Binkhart and Sarah Binkhart, proprietors. Pla: filed for record. 1858.
Irving, on the northwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section 6. township 82. range 12. October 10. 1855: Samuel Hu- ton. proprietor.
Benton City. located on section 20, township 85. range 9. south of the river: surveyed by JJoseph Owen; John Royal. Catherine Royal. John Graham and Lucinda Graham. proprietors. Plat filed for record Fine 16. 1856. This was then a thriving little town. John Graham built a hotel there in 1855-6. It was probably sur- veyed as early as 1854-5. Dr. S. E. Warner located there in 1855. W. C. Stanberry advertised in August, 1855, at Benton City. "ihr largest and best-selected stock of goods ever offered for sale in Ban- ton county." Benton City Lodge A. F. & A. M. was instituted U D. October 31. 1855, and chartered June 4. 1856, but was removed to Shellsburg prior to 1864. The line of the B. C. R. & N. R. R. was first located to pass through or near the town, but the lova-
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HISTORY . OF BENTON COUNTY
tion was afterward changed. The glory of the town long since de- parted, and it no longer exists save in history.
Eden, south half of the southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 1. and part of section 12. township 84, range 10; surveyed by Newell Colby January 19. 1856.
Guinnville, part of the northeast quarter of section 30, town- ship 82, range 12; surveyed by Wesley Whipple. October 30-31, 1856, John E. S. Guinn and Caroline Guinn, proprietors. Plat filed for record November 8. 1856.
Brooklyn, in Benton and Black Hawk counties; surveyed April 3. 1856, by N. Colby : H. N. Brooks, proprietor. Plat filed for record March 13. 1857. Defunet.
Williamsburg, on section 11. township 86, range 10; surveyed by Wesley Whipple. March 20. 1857; William L. Jones, Abigail Jones. L. W. Bryson and Mary A. Bryson. proprietors. Plat filed for record March 31. 1857.
West Vinton, on the southwest quarter of the southeast quar- ter of section 17. township 85. range 10; surveyed by Wesley Whipple. March 25. 1857 : Edwin Humphreyville, I. C. Rhodabeck. Hannah B. Stoughton and William Stoughton, proprietors. Plat filed for record March 30. 1857. Now a part of Vinton City.
Manatheka. parts of sections 26 and 35. township 86, range 9 near ( Marysville) : surveyed by Wesley Whipple, March 31. 1857; William Remington. Elizabeth Remington. John Fergu- son, Nancy Ferguson. Theodore Stevens and Lucy Stevens, pro- prietors. Plat filed for record April 4. 1857.
Belle Plaine, on the east half of and northwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 20, township 82, range 12. embrac- ing thirty acres; laid out in March. 1862; John I. Blair, pro- prietor; G. F. Kirby, surveyor. Plat filed for record May 12. 1862.
Blairstown. on the southwest quarter of section 13, and the southeast quarter of seetion 14. township 82. range 11; surveyed by G. F. Kirby, in the spring of 1862; John I. Blair, proprietor. Plat filed for record May 12. 1862.
Norway (now Florence). on the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of section 20. township 82, range 9; surveyed June 10. 1863 by P. P. Smith, county surveyor; Ormond Tuttle and Helen Sophia Tuttle, proprietors. Plat filed for record July 21. 1863.
Luzerne, on the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter Vol. 1-7
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
of section 24. township 82, range 12, and partly on section 19; B. B. Hunt, surveyor; Isaae B. Howe and Hannah R. Howe, proprie- tors. Plat filed for record April 17, 1863.
Mount Auburn, on the south half of section 14, township 86. range 11; surveyed by P. F. Randall; Milton S. Hall, Sarah A. Ilall. Thomas D. Lewis and Mary A. Lewis, proprietors. Plat filed for record June 19, 1871.
Benton, on sections 28 and 29, township 85. range 11; sur- veved by C. G. Johnson in April. 1873; Jonathan Barkdoll and Susan Barkdoll, proprietors. Plat filed for record July 22. 1873. : Watkins, on the southwest corner of section 23 and the north- west corner of section 26, township 82. range 10; surveyed by Hiram Lipe in May, 1874; Charles G. Turner and Eliza Turner. proprietors. Plat filed for record Angust 16. 1874.
POSTOFFICES IN BENTON COUNTY.
The first postoffice in Benton county was established at Vinton (Northport) on October 1. 1846. with Stephen Holcomb as post- master. This was about three months after the county seat had been ordered to be surveyed. and it remained the only postotice in the county for about two years. In January, 1848, the general assembly of Iowa asked for the establishment of a mail route from Tipton. Cedar county, via Pioneer Grove and Marion. to Vinton : also of another route from Cedar Rapids. via Vinton. to the falls of the Cedar river, Black Hawk county. The postoffice at Marysville was established September 21. 1848. and John S. Forsyth appointed postmaster, and Potato Hill (already noted, October 20, 1851. with Loyal F. North. postmaster. Prior to 1860 the following offices were established which no longer appear in the guide: in fact. some had little existence except on paper, and. with the exception of Benton City. none really flourished or had the making of towns in them :- Burk, established October 31. 1853. Lewis W. Bryson, postmaster: Benton City established JJan- ary 31, 1854. William C. Stanberry, postmaster ; Taylor's Grove. es- tablished Jannary 31. 1854. George T. Hendricks, postmaster (dis- continued August 26. 1863) : Linwood, established August 30. 1856, Anson T. Wilkins, postmaster (discontinued May 19, 1863) : Pickaway, established September 1. 1857. Isaac T. Van Metre. postmaster; Williams, established June 19, 1858. John Tanner postmaster (discontinued March 23. 1865) ; Unity, established
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
June 19. 1858; and Gomeral, established November 13. 1858, J. Emriek Flickinger. postmaster ( discontinued May 24, 1864).
Aside from Vinton, the establishment of postoffices in the chief towns and cities of Benton county of today occurred as fol- lows: Belle Plaine, established as Guinnville, February 29. 1856. John E. S. Guinn, postmaster( changed to its present name August 6, 1862) ; Shellsburg. established November 24, 1856. David Robb. postmaster; Blairstown. established July 21, 1861, Leonard E- Watrons, postmaster; and Garrison, established December 12. 1873, with Edward M. Lewis. postmaster .. Urbana was established November 27, 1857 ( William W. Bartholomew, postmaster) : Mt. Anbarn. February 16. 1865; Florence (Norway). October 2, 1866, ( William F. Atkinson. postmaster) ; Luzerne. August 2, 1870 (John Anson. postmaster) ; and Watkins, December 15, 1873 (Charles G. Turner. postmaster). while Atkins. Van Horne and Keystone were supplied with postal facilities in the early eighties, about the time of the coming of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad into the county.
PROFESSOR TOBIN ON EARLY TIMES.
The following extracts are taken from Professor T. F. Tobin's address, delivered at the Old Settlers reunion, held at Shellsburg, June 16. 1904:
"Early in 1839 George Wright and John Smith located in township 24. range 9. They were young men of adventurous spirit, who as the scouts of civilization penetrated far beyond the firing line of forest and field. built a cabin and broke some prairie. This was probably the first cabin built by white men in Benton Comfy. Soon after or about the same time James Scott came and erected his humble pioneer home. The same year a little later Sam- uel Lockhart and his family settled in the northeast part of the county on section 24. township S. range 9. Others came in slowly and soon after we find that James Downs, Thos. Way. Price Kend- rick and Thomas Kendrick located in the neighborhood of Lock- hart's home and this little settlement was called Hoosier's Point.
"This is the spot where some eight years later a town was laid out and called Marysville. Beal Dorsey also came in 1839 and Charles Hinkley along about 1840. Sanmel K. Parker located in township 84. range 9, and the place is now called Parker's Grove. Many of these names are well known today in Benton county and are an honor to it.
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
"Jacob Bonsal settled here in 1840. After two or three years residence he moved away. Gilman Clark located here in the same year, 1840, about a mile and a half east of the present site of Shellsburg. Stedman Penrose. A. D. Stevens, J. M. Filkins and Joseph Remington came in the same year.
"The first death in the county was that of Reuben Buskirk. October 10, 1842. It is told that there was no humber with which to make a coffin and the few settlers felled a linn tree and cut off a log of suitable length and split it in two pieces. One half of this was placed in the grave and on it was placed the body of the deceased. Blocks were placed at his head and feet and the other half laid over him and the grave filled up. . There were five men and three women at the funeral.
"In April, 1842. Lyman Boardwell came to the county and purchased the claim and improvements of Wright and Smith. where he lived until 1849, when he removed to the location on which he afterward lived for many years. It would be a pleasure to mention the names of all those who came in the early years, but of the many important facts of Benton county early history.
that is out of the question This paper can be but a brief outline
"For eight or ten years the population increased very slowly. but the spirit of extension was upon the people and from out the settled east, from homes where there was more of comfort and of case, from the enduring friendships of a lifetime, came the hardy and adventurous pioneer to sublue the forest and make the prairie blossom as a rose.
"Many whose names are familiar to yon and some of whom are possibly present today, came between the years of 1843 and 195A and I give a few of them as I have gleaned them from vari cos sources: Hyreanis Guinn, Hugh Brody. F. Bryson. Steph -!! Brody, Joseph Bryson and Jesse Brody in 1843; S. R. Prix. George MeCoy, D. G. Harris in 1844; J. R. Pratt, Chauncey Lever- ich, Stephen Holcomb in 1845: A. Il. Johnson and David Jewel in 1846; George Sander, John Epperson. H. T. Epperson. Elija Evans. Charles Moberly in 1847; J. S. Forsyth in 1848; J. S. Traer in 1851.
"If my information is correct, the first white child born in Benton county was William Penrose. son of Stedman Penrose. and was born March 26, 1852. The next was Mary North, daughter of Loyal North, born in June. 1843. The third was Lucinda Bordwell, daughter of Lyman Bordwell. born in July. 1814. The first marriage was that of Charles Hiss-
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
ley and Mary Hehns, by Perry Olliphant in 1859. The marriage license was obtained in Marion. The first marriage licenses after the organization of the county was issued by David Pratt, deputy clerk of the district court, to Joseph Onstott and Miss Lena Patch. and they were married June 20. 1847. by Lyman Bordwell, justice of the peace. The first death was that of Christian Kensinger, Mrs. Bordwell's father, who came to the county in the fall of 1843 and died May 5, 1844. The first school house erected in Benton county was built of logs on section 23, township 80, range 9, and was known to the carly settlers as the Johnson school house. "It was built in 1845-46 and the first school in the county was taught in this building in 1846-7 by a man named T. J. Rigaud. Mr. Rigaud lived in a log cabin near what was more recently known as Wilmington. He died there in 1848.
"The first election was held at Parkers Grove, according to tradition, and that Beal Dorsey, Stedman Penrose, and Lyman Bordwell were the judges and David S. Pratt and John Royal were clerks, but there is no record of this. The first election re- corded was held on the first Monday in April, 1846. The candidates for the county commissioners were Edwin B. Spencer, Stedman Penrose and Samuel K. Parker. John Royal was elected sheriff. Some of the other officers elected were Irwin Simison, recorder; Beal Dorsey, collector and treasurer; J. R. Pratt, judge of probate court ; Isaac Onstott, assessor. All the officers elected took the oath of office and entered upon their duties during April.
"It was at this time that the first county seat was located. There is considerable obseurity about this part of our history, but it seems that it was the intention of the commissioners to call the comity seat Northport and to locate it on section 21, township 85, range 11."
JUDGE G. M. GILCHRIST ON "THE PIONEER. "'
."It was only about twenty-four years before Shellsburg was platted that Chicago was but a hamlet with only four families residing there permanently; only about twenty-one years before the first white woman became a permanent resident of central Iowa, the first school house was erected by the miners of Du- buque, the first J. P. was commissioned and the first postoffice opened.
"In the same year the treaty with the Indians of the Black- Hawk war became effective and opened up to settlement the eastern
.
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
part of Iowa. We stand now very near the western border of this strip for I am advised it is almost identical with Polk. Benton. Can- ton, Fremont and Florence townships. You must stop and think be- fore you can believe that no church or Sunday school existed in the state until about eighteen years before the time I have mentioned : that no newspaper was published until about sixteen years before. It was about this time that the state was divided into two counties by the legislative body of Michigan. One was all that part of the state sonth of a line drawn west from Rock Island, called Des Moines, and the other was the remainder of the state called Du- buque. As late as December, 1855. there was no operated railway in the state. The only means of transportation was the old stage coach remembered so well by some of you, or the farm wagon. Some of von. I doubt not. have made trips to the river then to lowa City and then to Cedar Rapids with loads of wheat, oats and pork. and brought back loads of merchandise. It was in 1855, July, that I first came into the country, traveling all the way from Davenport in the stage. Though it was more than a year after your town. here, was laid ont. can't remember that it made any impression upon me. I do not remember seeing any houses except that of Mr. White; nor can I recall. that I saw any of the stakes marking street and lot lines. But if I found nothing in your town tha; was impressive I did find much that was expressive in the dinner Mr. White furnished us, for my waist belt required lengthening when I rose from the table . * *
"I have always thought well of the old pioneers that I have- known. especially those of them who came from Indiana: first he- cause they came from that great state and secondly because I believed that. as a rule, they are not only honest men but good citizens. One thing. however, raised a doubt in my mind. the fact that one of these acquired the name of 'Honest John.' One of the maxis of the law is that the mention of one is the exclusion of the others. I have not been able to get around the thought that the calling of one by a name indicating that he. at least, was honest impliedly excluded all of yon. Nor does traditional local history aid me any in my doubt for it says that 'Honest John' and his friend owned the land on which Vinton was first laid out and de- sired to seenre the county seat here: that they could not do this except by securing the consent of all the residents. The plan de- vised was that both a petition and romentrance should be prepared and both be presented to each voter. That seemed fair and honest. so 'Honest John' took one paper and his friend the other and on
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HISTORY . OF BENTON COUNTY
one or the other secured every name. Unfortunately, the heading of the one and all the names appeared on the other. History does not say which but the county seat was located as we have now.
"I believe Samuel Lockhart was the first permanent settler in the borders of our county but in the same year Samuel Parker and Gilman Clark made homes somewhere hereabouts. These very first settlers must have been here by suffrance of the Indians, for only six years before they were on the warpath taking white scalps.
"Indians were everywhere. The only playmates of the chil- dren were Indian boys and girls. No one could then acquire title to the home he occupied, for the land survey was begun in 1845 and not completed for two years. The two counties created by - Michigan were now divided by Wisconsin into twenty-two and Benton was one of them. At the first election held at Parker's Grove, only twenty-nine votes were cast; at the next with two voting places, one, the Grove. the other. Marysville, not twice as many votes were east.
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