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 12
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TOO CIVILIZED FOR DAVY.
"An old squatter. Davy Allen, came in one day and said he was going west : it was getting entirely too civilized. My mother did not see it in that way and was not slow in saying so.
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" 'Well,' said Allen, 'it is so to me. You folks have put iron hinges and latches on your doors, and have built a chimney and have the house all to yourselves-beds seven feet long and all that. Now when we first landed here the beds were only four feet long, so that grown folks' legs stuck out about two feet, and the chiekous roosted on them. That was satisfactory for a whole year, but no longer. Yon see. the second year there were two or more roosters, and they always got to fighting at 3:29 in the morn- ing and woke up the family, to say nothing of scratching their legs. They couldn't stand such destruction. I tell you, so they fired the chickens out and lengthened the beds. Besides all that there have been too many changes in this part of the country. Now, when I first came here, that big hill over there was nothing but a hole in the ground.'
"Allen had a big family, but he got them all in a wagon one day and turned the heads of the oxen westward, and we never saw any of them again. The whole family was killed and sealped by the Sioux Indians, save one young man who was in the army.
FIRST TRIP OF "BLACK HAWK."
"In the fall of 1858 the steamer Black Hawk made its first trip up the Cedar river from Cedar Rapids to Waterloo. The boat would always whistle for Remington's Ferry for the reason that it could not run under the cable, which had to be lowered to allow the boat to pass over it. This boat was about a hundred and fifty feet long and with good beam. and carried heavy loads of freight. Ti would run over the apron attached to the bow. I
used to see men with brooms sweeping back the water to keep the boat from swamping. There was a great deal more water in the river then than now, so that it was possible to run such a boat. The channel of the river began to fill soon after the farms were cultivated, and has continued to fill ever since. so that no large craft can be now floated save during very high water.
HARD TIMES.
"Soon hard times were upon us. In 1857 the wheat crop failed entirely. being drowned out by excessive rains. However. we raised a little soft corn, and there was no bread but straight. poor johnnycake for a solid. and never to be forgotten year, until
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the wheat crop of 1858 could be raised and milled. To make matters worse. there was the greatest financial panic this country ever experienced that same year. Gold was about the only money one could be sure of. Many found their paper money worthless. Then on top of all this, we nearly all were sick with chills and fever from drinking surface water from sloughs and shallow wells. There had been no time to dig deep wells in a community struggling to raise and save crops enough to keep off starvation. The squat- ters had some cattle and horses, and being generally lawless, allowed them to feed on the crops of the settlers, on unfenced land, so that all spare time was devoted to feneing. Sometimes whole families were sick in bed with ague, so that none were able to care for the little stock there was. We finally dug deep wells and between those and quinine we got rid of the agne. I believe many people. too, become immune to ague. The squatters were not so much afflicted with it. and I have never seen an Indian with it, nor have I ever heard of any of them having it.
SATISFACTORY SUBSCRIPTION PRICE.
"The Vinton Eagle would get into our neighborhood that summer whenever some daring settler would swim Pratt creek and Mud creek and a lot of sloughs and get back with his life and the wet papers. The Eagle was $3.50 per year then. I believe. and as nobody paid for it. the price was satisfactory. Hanford and Holt used to send out elegantly printed duns once in a while. These aroused the merriment of the settlers. as there was frequently not enough cash in the whole neighborhood to pay one bill.
"A good cow could then be bought for $8.00, and a good man would be hired for about the same price per month.
"The bravest of the settlers looked blue in those dreadful days, and the women shed many homesick tears. Some of them had been well raised in the east. and were nearly overcome by the wildness and hardships of the west. However, most of them were young and filled with the joy of life, which even the desolation and home- sickness could not wholly quench.
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A SONG FOR EVERYTHING.
"One would hear in the stillness of the saddest nights some beautiful soprano-
"There's a land that is fairer than day, And by faith we may see it afar." "No storms ever break on that beautiful shore, While the years of eternity roll."
Or some strong tenor on the trail at night, who had left his sweet- heart in the east. while he came forth to conquer the wilderness-
"Her form was like the dew drop, Her neck was like the swan's,
IIer face it was the fairest that ere the sun shone on."
"There was another special Providence in those days, the border minstrel.
"How sweetly from the minstrel's throat The tender ballad rang ; And how the banjo's quivering note Came throbbing as he sang! "And yet. tho? with his liquid song. It ne'er shall speak again, Its tender strains shall echo long Within the souls of ment."
"There was plenty of wild gaine. too. I do not know how we could have lived through the first years without it. There were great flocks of wild pigeons and ducks and geese and brants. as well as pinnated gronse. Quails were less plentiful than now. and so were rabbits. The wolves had kept the rabbits down.
EARLY SETTLERS OF THE TOWNSHIPS.
"The first setiler in Le Roy township was J. W. Athey, who entered land a mile south of the site of Blairstown in 1853. A character in Le Roy for many years was Isaiah Morris, who came the same year Mr. Athey did, in 1853. He lived for years in the vil-
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lage of Blairstown and was justice of the peace. He was a man of nmuch intelligence and took a sincere interest in the welfare of the village and in promoting good citizenship. He moved to Joplin, Missouri, some years since. James Bryan came in 1855 and set up a blacksmith shop near the site of Blairstown, the first in this vicinity. although a German, I forget his name, opened a shop shortly after a little further up Prairie Creek. Mr. Bryan ac- cumulated considerable property and was one of the leading citi- zens in Blairstown. He had a daughter, and, I presume, other children. One daughter resides at Denison, wife of George Rich- ardson.
"Isaac Burnett and family came in the same year. 1855. Mr. Burnett was a nephew of Judge Burnett of the supreme court of Ohio, and came here from Cincinnati. He was a well-read. culti- vated gentleman. but his early training did not especially fit him for the rough-and-tumble life of a pioneer. He had an unusually fine family, two boys and several danghters. One of the boys. I think, died in the army; the other I have lost track of, as I have of all the girls except Kitty, the eldest daughter. She was a most lovely and loveable girl, and no doubt was a delight to her husband, Dr. Basil Webster, and a continual benediction upon his house- hold."
TOWNSHIP HISTORIES.
By BRUCE M. B. VAN DUSEN.
"Though not one of the first settlers of Bruce township, my acquaintance with its people, history, etc., dates to the 15th of May, 1858. Having driven overland from northern Ohio in company with a neighbor, Mr. MI. Woodley and son, who had sold out and were coming west with their families that spring. The spring and summer of that year were very wet and the roads. especially in Illinois and Towa, were very bad. We were four weeks on the road. Three brothers of Mr. Woodley had come out the spring before. Two of them, Abram and Jacob, had settled in Bruce township.
"It was at Jacob Woodley's, near Bruce Center. that we land- ed, May 15. 1958. The country at that time was one almost bound- less prairie. So vast in extent that it was the supposition of the
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people for many years that it would never be settled up. If I mis- take not. there were at that time twelve families in the township. coming mostly from Ohio and York State and settling near the timber along the creek and around Brush Grove, some in little log cabins, some in dug-outs or holes in the ground.
"One man, Mr. Fisk, had built a house. 12x18. of boards hanled from Benton City. twenty-five miles away. N. S. Warner had ventured a few miles away into the prairie and lived with his family in a log cabin 6x8 feet. built over a hole in the ground about three feet deep. Mr. Brown and Mr. Carlisle settled in Brush Grove. They were among the first in the township.
HOW THE TOWNSHIP WAS NAMED.
"George Buchan. Sr., a Scotchman coming from Ohio in abont '55, was one of the first to locate in the township, and who had the honor of giving to it the name Bruce, after the noted Scotch orator. Robert Bruce, who was a personal friend of Mr. Buchan before his leaving the mother country.
"After arriving here I at once hired out for the season to Indge Treanor at $12.00 per month. working for my board through the winter. The second season my salary was increased to $15.00 per month. That was under James Buchanan's administration. which accounts for the extravagant wages farm hands were getting at that time.
"There are but few remaining at the present time of the old settlers of 58. Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Woodley are still living on the same farm they settled on in 1856. Mrs. George Treanor. now liv- ing with her daughter. Mrs. Anderson. Mrs. Geo Buchan. with her son on her farm: Mrs. C. V. Young at Bruce Center. A few families that came in the early sixties are still in the neighborhood. These old first settlers who are living have lived to see the most marvelons changes ever wrought in any country. We have lived to see land increase in value from $4.00 to $100.00 per acre. Also to see those log cabins and dug-outs replaced by the finest palatial homes to be seen in any farming country on earth.
WHOLE TOWNSHIP A NEIGHBORHOOD.
"To say that those first settlers were a social people comes far short of expressing the whole meaning. The whole township was one neighborhood and it was not infrequent that they would
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all gather together at some one's cabin of a winter afternoon and evening. And say ! John Perkins never forgot to take his fiddle. and such never-to-be-forgotten musie and tripping of the 'light fantastic' on those puncheon floors! Sometimes a blizzard would come along and the whole company would be compelled to stay all night. There was always lots of room and no rheumatism in those days.
TAKING THE GRISTS TO MARKET.
"The wheat crop, which was about all the crop raised in those days, was a good crop in '57 and '58, but owing to excessive rains and sultry weather it blighted and was a failure. The nearest market was Iowa City, when anything would sell for money. The Rock Island Railroad had been built to that point the year before, so there was a market 75 miles away. A company of five of us with abont twenty-five bushels apiece started on the 5th of July for Iowa City. Camping out wherever night overtook us. we reached there the third night, and on account of a very heavy rain we had to stay there two nights. We disposed of our wheat at 41 vents a bushel and loaded back with lumber and building material. We reached home the evening of the eighth day. We often had to 'double' and sometimes 'tribble' teams to get through the sloughs. It was an experience not to be forgotten.
"Another little experience lingers in my memory, and is a trip to Vinton on the 7th of January. 59, with a grist of wheat to ex- change for flour and to bring groceries and also several bunches of green oak shingles. On returning I had to cross Rock Creek at a fording place. It was not frozen over sufficient to bear a team. The ice gave way and I was stuck. One of my horses got down and I was obliged to phinge into three feet of water to save the horse. It was a cool proposition. I had to carry my load out. get my słed out and load up again. Had four miles to go plodding through the deep snow and no track. Only now and then could I see a mark made the day before. I rode and walked as I could stand it. boots full of water. I reached home about dusk with both feet frozen solid to the ankle joint. I put them in cold water till the frost was ont. Then came the experience that one seldom forgets. No doubt but there are many of the old pioneers that could re- late similar experiences. Mr. Burnett made his home with Dr. Webster for several years before his death, which occurred about the 10th of November. 1904.
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"Perry Wood came in 1856; he was a brother-in-law of James Bryan. For several years he was mayor of Blairstown, and is fair- ly prosperous, having the appearance of one on whom the cares of life rest lightly.
"S. IT. Lee and J. S. Sterling came in 1856. Mrs. Sterling was a more than ordinarily attractive lady and things looked nice about their home. Mr. Sterling is now living in Blairstown at the ripe old age of 82 years. The Lees had no children. at least not while I was in the county. Some old settlers could tell some good stories on Mr. Lee. but my memory is not sufficiently sure to warrant me to play the role.
"O. J. Simmons and Thomas and Hiram Miner eame in 1856. Mr. Simmons and Hiram Miner are here yet. Mr. Miner lives on a farm two miles south of town. Another old settler still here is Joseph Haines, who came in 1855. He had two sons on farms near Blairstown and one living in the village.
"Over in Kane township, which had no name at the time I write of, not yet having been organized, the carly settlers, like those of Le Roy and Iowa townships, were neighbors at Piekaway. A. M. Drake was the first man to build a house in Kane township. It was built on S. W. one-quarter section 30, township 84. range 12, in the spring of 1854. Ile did not enjoy it very long, for in about a year he died. A year or two later his widow married Henry Van Dyke. I think he was a son of old Mr. Van Dyke, who lived over the Tama line. Old Mr. Van Dyke and a J. P. Henry were great readers and frequently stopped at our house to enjoy iny father's library, which was an unusually good one for the time. Mr. Van Dyke took an active part in Kane township and county polities for years.
"The second honse built in the township was that of E. W. Stocker. built on N. W. one-half section 36. Mr. Stocker still ours the land. although for several years a resident of Blairstown. Mr. Stocker. a quiet, plain man, making no display, has always been one of the most successful and influential men on the Southern Slope. He celebrated his eightieth birthday a few years ago at which a number of his old cronies, men and women, were present. Ile continues to enjoy fairly good health, and, with his wife, lives contented at Blairstown. He has one son and two daughters liv- ing. The oldest. Mrs. George Kirk, recently widowed, lives in Blairstown; the other daughter lives with her husband on th- home farm, and Jacob. the son. on one of his father's farms in U'nion township.
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"Soloman Snow, who came to Kane with Mr. Stocker. was a man of much greater pretensions. He had enjoyed some advan- tages and was well informed and ambitious for place, but this he never seenred. He died a few years since, after undergoing an operation at Cedar Falls, where he was temporarily staying for that purpose.
"This township was organized in 1857, E. W. Stocker having been appointed commissioner to attend to the matter by Judge Douglass. Mr. Stocker said that Judge Douglass probably thought he was a Democrat, from his rough exterior. There were ten votes cast at the first election, held in August of that year. There were others early in the township. The Harrisons and Sheets, who lived two miles west of Stocker ; and John and Cy Caholm, who made their home with Mr. Sheets, who was their brother-in-law, but were generally working for some of the other settlers. Both of the Caholms made quite a success for a while in the profession of law and in business incidental to it, but I do not know what their final outcome was.
"Andy Stein was the first settler in Iowa township. Ile was probably one of the first settlers west of the Mississippi; a hunter, a trapper. an Indian trader. After a varied experience in these several vocations. he settled in Iowa township. In what year I do not know, but I think that it was in 1859. Ilis house was open to all comers; his hospitability was unstinted. Ile was a man of large intellect and shrewd. but had enjoyed but little education. In some way he picked up a remarkable knowledge of the law, and knew the 'Code of Iowa' practically by heart. He was successful in securing justice for the county, and it was through his un- wearied efforts that he. more than any other, secured the injunction restraining the issue of the $200.000 railroad bonds and thus saved the people of the county hundreds of thousands of dollars. The bonds were to have drawn ton per cent interest, and it is easy enough for the people of Benton to see what a load the taxpayers of to-day would have hanging over them except for the earnest efforts of this neglected and forgotten old settler. He made sev- eral efforts to obtain from the county the amount of expenses in- curred and some remuneration for the labor given to this end, but to no purpose. Finally. through the efforts of Jacob Springer, an appropriation of $100 was made him by the board of supervisors for a bridge more or less imaginary. An appropriate monument to the memory of Andy Stein is dne from the county for having
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saved it from practically bankruptcy, or the people a million or more dollars in taxes.
"A family of Guinns settled early and laid out a town, Guinn- ville, a few miles off' in the lowa valley, near where Belle Plaine now stands. The chief one among them was Hyreanus, a tall. fine- looking fellow with the air and breeding of a gentleman. A Mr. Trueblood was quite a man among the early settlers. Two of his daughters live south of Belle Plaine. Squire Dan Coder, leading Democrat. His son, Phil. was county treasurer after his return from the army, and the G. A. R. at Vinton is named in honor of his memory. Jolm Travis. another. His son. Jeff. keeps a livery in Belle Plaine. B. F. Kelley, a capitalist, father-in-law of Doc. Worth, well known in Vinton, who blossomed out as an attorney. became so much the terror of delinquent debtors that he gained the name of 'Prairie Wolf.'
"A little later many others came to the township named. In Union the Barrys might well be named : some of the sons are among the best people of the county. In Iowa there were Mr. Hutton, who came over from West Irving in Tama and was one of the founders of Belle Plaine; Seth Price, for years a leading business man and Republican politician. In Le Roy were John Kellar, who came from Johnson County with the Howards. of whom there were several, and who left many descendants. Squire Lunone, a man of prominence and successful in business. Forty years, fifty years. is a long while to keep in memory names and events, and it is more than likely that there are errors of omission, if not of commission, in the narrative.
"As near as I can recall the general understanding of the facts at the time. Thomas Keenan. Patrick Kelley, Andy Ryan and John Kirby were the first permanent settlers in Union township; they vame, entered land and built cabins in 1854. Others came with them, the Burkes, the Cummins and some whose names I do not recall. They were poor, though some of them had teams and a few head of cattle, which they had accumulated in a year or two's resi- dence in Illinois. Thomas Keenan, to all outward appearance. had more property than any of the others.
"John Kirby was the largest landholder. having 400 acres. Mr. Kirby claimed to be the rightful owner of Castle Kirby and a great estate thereto belonging and appertaining. His face bore marks of having gone through serions broils, but he was widely read and highly intelligent. His children were especially bright. He lost his boy, which grieved him greatly: one of his daughters, one of
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a pair of twins, also died. The other twin married Jerry Lynch and some years after his death married the late John Shane. The two other girls married two brothers named Early, intelligent and thrifty young fellows, now wealthy men in Chicago. I believe that Mrs. Shane. too. resides in Chicago. One of Mr. Keenan's daughters was married to Michael Smith, who was one of the best informed men in the township and had a very ereditable knowl- edge of business acquired as deputy clerk of Cook county, Illinois. He was for years a leading man in the township. Another married a Mr. Cummins-I can't recall his name, but he was a man of business and made a success of life. I mention these two. al- though I do not see any reason to leave out the daughter, who mar- ried Mr. MeCormick, or the other children, only that I cannot give a family history of all the early settlers.
"Patrick Kelley I have already mentioned; the genial old soul should have a biography of himself alone. His children who are all playing important parts in the busy life of their several communities, might have one written by a hand competent to do the venerable pioneer justice.
"Some of the early comers were able to enter only a forty- acre tract. One of the Burkes was one of those, I think it was Tim. It is worth recording, as he became one of the wealthier farmers in this section of the county. Others followed in 1855-6-7. Among those added to the Irish settlement was Mr. Tomey. Considering the opportunities they had. most of the women were good cooks and fairly good housekeepers, but Mrs. Tomey was a model for any house or country. The Tomey cabin was always a picture of neat- ness and order. There was an air of refinement and cultivated taste in and about the house which indicated carly favorable as- sociation and environment. They had a son and daughter. JJohn and Mary, fine children. but I do not know to what extent fortune smiled upon or neglected them. after they passed from under the parental roof.
"For several years there was but one Republican vote cast in Union township. I regret the fact that the name of the fore- sighted gentleman who cast it has slipped my memory. The or- ganization of the township was effected. I think, in 1859. though that is a matter of record; but prior to the organization the vot- ing was done at the polls in Le Roy township.
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POLK TOWNSHIP.
"Polk township is one of the early pioneer settlements that is deserving of special mention. Settlements were formed there in the carly forties. The most we can do is to mention a few of the early pioneers who are still alive and live in the township at this time. Many of the early pioneers who suffered the privations of that day, have gone to their long reward and their bodies are at rest in the Urbana cemetery and the headstones tell the tale of their carly settlement.
"We have but a few of the early pioneer families, among whom are the following: A. V. Taylor came to Polk township with his parents in 1853 when he was nine years old. He is still hale and hearty. A. A. Fetherkile was born in the township in the early fifties. His parents came to the township in the early fifties. Three Nossman families settled in the township in 1854, Hugh, Francis and William, and some of their descendants are still living in that township and Vinton. Hugh was the father of James and B. F. Mossman, who are still living in the county. Francis has no de- seendants living in lowa. William was the father of Mrs. J. L. Tinkham, who is living in Vinton, and A. P. Mossman, who is still living in that township. John Bryson and wife, who are still liv- ing, settled in the township in 1848. Henry Todd, who is still living. also settled in the township in 1848. Mrs. Sarah JJ. Fulton settled with her husband in the township in 1855. Sam Brody, who is still living, was born in the township and is past sixty years old. Ile is of the same family as Stephen. William. John, Alex. and Henry, and all of them are still living in the township. Mrs. Ma- linda Lockhart Houser, who is now 58 years old, was born in the township and is still living there. John Ronse, who is still living. settled in the township in 184S."
CHAPTER VII.
MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION.
BUILDING OF THE FIRST REAL BRIDGE -- DAILY STAGE COMMUNI- CATION-STEAMBOAT ERA, 1858-1860-DOINGS OF THE STEAMER "EXPORT" -- BECOMES THE "BLACK HAWK"-LAST TRIPS OF THE "BLACK HAWK"-EARLY STATE ROADS IN BENTON COUNTY -- RAIL- ROAD'S OF BENTON COUNTY-FIRST RAILROAD FOR THE SOUTH SLOPE -BENTON COUNTY'S NORTHERN ROAD-IRON HORSE TROTS INTO VINTON -- BRANCH WEST FROM VINTON. .
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