USA > Iowa > Boone County > History of Boone County, Iowa, Volume I > Part 19
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Among the first settlers of the township were M. White, J. Rich- ardson, Joel Baker, W. L. DeFore, W. R. Cole, C. Maupin, I. C. Hull, J. B. Godwin, Almon Stinson, Daniel Knight, M. Leininger, C. Castine, J. Crim, Orlin Hinman, H. Friedley, A. Swigart, J. C. James, Peter Nicholson, John Ridpath, Robert Martin, W. C. Mar- tin, Johnson Dawkins, Benjamin Dawkins, Levi Emerson, Joseph Landon, T. J. Johnson, David Aldrich, Henry T. Martin, C. Stotts, Absalom Kelley, John Kelley, P. K. Detrick, Thomas Neal and J. M. Stotts.
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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY
The first school in the township was taught in a dwelling house by Z. J. Vontrees, who was a soldier in the Mexican war and who, in 1870, was chosen a member of the board of county supervisors.
The first sermon was preached by Ezra Rathburn, a Portuguese, who settled upon a claim but did not become a permanent settler. The services were held in a private house.
The first marriage in the township was that of Jacob Baker and Elizabeth Lent, by W. L. DeFore, justice of the peace.
The soil of Dodge Township is very fertile and the best of crops are produced every year. The farmers of the township are up-to- date, industrious and energetic. They have well improved farms and beautiful and substantial homes. There is nothing which brings happiness and contentment like the home. That part of the township situated along the Des Moines River and its tributaries is much broken. In the early settlement of the township these lands were covered with a heavy growth of timber, most of which has been cut off and disposed of at good returns. Some of these broken lands have been put under cultivation, but the greater part of them are now good pasture land, which makes them valuable. By far the greater part of the township is composed of prairie land which has fine drainage facilities and every acre is utilized.
The tax book of Boone County for the year 1853 gives a list of thirty-four names of citizens of Dodge Township who were subject to assessment. There were no real estate assessments in the township for that year and for this reason the personal property only was as- sessed. J. F. Alexander was the largest taxpayer in the township that year. Next to him came W. L. DeFore, John Mitchell and P. J. Nicholson. J. F. Alexander was the assessor of the township for the year 1853. He was four days assessing the people of the township and two days before the county judge completing the assessment list. For his services he received $1.50 per day, or $9.00 for the whole of the work.
The trail and encampment dots on the map of Lt. Albert M. Lea, published in 1836, indicate that the camp of the three companies of United States Dragoons in their march across the Territory of Iowa camped on section 15, township 85, range 26, in Dodge Township, on the evening of June 21, 1835. These were the first white people to set foot upon the soil of the township. Among these Dragoons was C. W. Gaston, who, a little over ten years later, became the first permanent settler of Boone County.
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The first petitioner for a county road was P. K. Detrick, who was a citizen of Dodge Township. Through his efforts the road that runs from the south side of Boone County through Dodge Town- ship to Hook's Point in Hamilton County, was established. The hand ax which was used in driving the stakes and blazing the trees along the route of this historic road is now in the possession of the Madrid Historical Society. This hand ax was a gift from a descendant of the P. K. Detrick family.
The first real estate mortgage placed upon the records of Boone County was made by John Ridpath to P. K. Detrick, to secure the payment of $75. The land mortgaged was situated in section 35, township 85, range 27, in Dodge Township. The date was May 3, 1851. Mr. Ridpath and Mr. Detrick were both citizens of Dodge Township.
In 1857 the necessary steps were taken to organize the first agri- cultural society in the county. A meeting was held at the courthouse in Boonesboro, October 6, 1857. At this meeting five persons of each of the townships in the county were appointed, whose duty it was to organize the society. The five persons appointed for Dodge Town- ship were Robert Martin, John Ridpath, W. L. DeFore, Almon Stin- son and Daniel Dillon.
A large part of the people of the township are good, law-abiding citizens, but there have been a number of crimes committed within its borders, as the dockets of the local magistrates and the criminal dockets of the county show. Like the other townships of the county bordering on the Des Moines River, certain transitory citizens took up their abode on the timbered lands long enough to make trouble for the more permanent settlers. Dodge Township has had trouble with many of these transitory citizens. But very few people who build homes with the intention of becoming permanent citizens are lawbreakers. The mining Town of Fraser, like all other mining towns, has had a shifting population, the kind that commits more crimes than any other, and they are places where lawbreakers prefer to go. More crimes have been committed in Fraser than all the rest of Dodge Township.
Dodge Township has thirteen school districts and thirteen school- houses, all in good repair. They have school in all of these districts every year. The teachers are among the best and the schools are in a prosperous condition. There is no township in the county that has as many schools as Dodge. Fraser also has a school building with four departments.
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Dodge Township has the honor of the location of the county poor farm. This county institution for the care of the poor and destitute people of the county had been talked about for a number of years, but no definite action was taken until 1867. The county was at that time in debt and there was strenuous opposition to increasing the debt even to purchase a county poor farm. But the need of such an institution had become so imperative that the board of supervisors submitted a proposition to the people to be voted upon at the October election in 1867, to borrow $12,000, with which to purchase a county poor farm. The proposition carried by a vote of 882 for the proposi- tion and 201 against it. Having thus received authority to proceed with the work the board of supervisors, after looking around in various parts of the county, decided to purchase a farm owned by J. F. Alexander, located in Dodge Township. The farm consisted of 240 acres situated in sections 19 and 20, township 85, range 26. The farm is well located and it has been well managed and is now an institution that every citizen of the county has good reason to be proud of. There was one horrible misfortune which occurred at the county farm in the year 1888, which was a very lamentable one. In some unaccountable way a fire occurred in the insane building, which was some distance from any of the other build- ings, and it was entirely consumed, together with the eight inmates that occupied it. This much regretted accident aroused the pity and sympathy of every citizen of the county. The fire did not reach any of the other buildings on the farm. The burned building was replaced with another one much better than the one destroyed. The other buildings of the farm are ample for the accommodation of all who have been admitted to the farm. There are now thirty- four paupers at the county poor farm and thirty in the insane depart- ment, making a total of sixty-four. It is an honor to Dodge Township to have this most prominent institution in the county within its borders.
Among the citizens who have been called upon to serve the county in an official capacity was Levi Emerson, who was elected county superintendent and served from 1862 to 1864. He was succeeded in office by W. C. Martin, who served from 1864 to 1866. He was then elected representative and served from 1866 to 1868. Almon Stinson was elected county supervisor for Dodge Township in 1860 and served two terms, or until 1865. This was during the period that each township had a member of the board of supervisors. Mr. Stin- son was succeeded by Benjamin Dawkins, who served two terms, at
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the end of which time the township supervisor system was discon- tinued by act of the Legislature and the membership of the board of supervisors was reduced to three. In 1866 A. J. Barkley was elected county recorder and reelected in 1868. In 1888 John S. Friedley was elected clerk of the District Court and was reelected in 1890. In 1906 George Hannum was elected sheriff and was rcelected in 1908.
Of the men whose names appear in the above list W. C. Martin may be noted as a man of considerable ability. He was a graduate of DePauw University of Greencastle, Indiana. He was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church and an able speaker. After leaving Boone County he located in Southwestern Iowa, where he was chosen a presiding elder at least one term. Later on he moved to Indianola, where the title of LL. D. was conferred upon him by Simpson College. Mr. Martin was also a prominent teacher, having taught about fifty terms.
Another citizen of prominence who was called upon to serve as a member of the Legislature was W. L. DeFore. He was elected in 1873 and he took an active part in securing the Granger legislation of 1874, about which so much has been said and written.
One of the most singular formations of land to be found any- where in Central Iowa is that range of hills and bluffs known as the Mineral Ridge. It extends across the north end of Dodge Township., The elevations and peaks of this ridge are high above all the sur- rounding country. They present a striking appearance. The early surveyors could not get the needles of their compasses to work upon this ridge. They said there were deposits of iron beneath the ridge and so they named it Mineral Ridge.
RIDGEPORT
Two towns have been laid out in Dodge Township. One of these is Ridgeport, situated near the summit of the Mineral Ridge. It was laid out in May, 1854, by John Ridpath and Absolom Kelley and is located on section 18, township 85, range 26. A postoffice was established the same year and J. F. Alexander was appointed post- master. Ridgeport has never put on much of a growth and its population will not now exceed one hundred people. It has one general store, operated by Mr. Condon, one blacksmith and wood- work shop, two churches and a number of good residences.
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The oldest church in the village is of the Baptist denomination, organized in 1853, with a membership of sixteen. A brick church was erected in 1869, at a cost of $2,300. Their present membership is said to be seventy-five. They have a good Sunday school. Rev. William Sparks, of Marcy Township, was the minister who organ- ized this church. The other church is of the Methodist Episcopal denomination, which was organized in 1866. The charter members were H. Condon, D. Sterrett and wife, Lorenzo Skinner and W. C. Martin and wife. With this small beginning the number has in- creased until it has now reached about fifty. They have a frame church of sufficient dimensions to accommodate the church and Sunday school.
Of the old-time settlers who located in the early 'sos there remains but one and this is Jonathan Buechler, who is now ninety years of age.
FRASER
The second town laid out in Dodge Township was Fraser. It was platted September 21, 1893, by the Fraser Coal Company, the chief man being Hamilton Brown. Fraser is situated on the west half of the southeast quarter of section 35 and on the southeast quarter of section 34, township 85, range 27. Much coal was taken out and shipped from the Fraser mines, between the years 1894 and 1912, a period of eighteen years. The place was never anything but a mining town and the population has been of the shifting kind, but it grew to such proportions that according to the census of 1900 it had nearly one thousand people. Ten years later, in 1910, the population had fallen to a little over four hundred. It is claimed by some that at one time Fraser had a population of miners and floaters of 1,200 people, but such is not the case at the present time. The mines are now worked out and nothing is being done. A visit to this town on the 20th of June, 1914, found the population reduced to less than three hundred. Half the buildings, both business and residences, were empty. There is still a store of three departments, one for groceries, one for clothing, and one for boots and shoes; a hardware store, a billiard hall and a barber shop; but the hotels, boarding houses and restaurants have all closed. The streets have never been graded and no sidewalks have been made and the town is anything but inviting.
Fraser still has a schoolhouse of four departments, and for a number of years they were all used. At present only two of them
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are needed. There are two church buildings in the place, but the membership is much reduced. One of these is of the Methodist Episcopal denomination and the other is, or rather was, a colored church. Since the mines are worked out the members have all left but one, and he is the minister. He still preaches to a small gather- ing of white people who, out of courtesy, go to hear him. They say he is a very good man and has the respect and confidence of all his acquaintances.
It will not be long until the houses of Fraser will be sold, torn down and hauled away. That part of Fraser which is on the west side of the river in Yell Township is in a more prosperous condition than that on the east side, but it is only a small part of the town. There are two industries on that side. One of these is the tile factory which employs about forty hands. The other is a pumping machine, which takes up sand and water from the river bed. In the process the sand is separated from the water and conveyed into a receptacle, while the water flows into the river again. Much of this river-bed sand is used in the tile factory, and during the cement season an average of about eight carloads per day of it are shipped to other places.
The names of those who enlisted in the Union army during the Civil war were, as near as can be ascertained, as follows: Samuel Coe, James W. Higby, G. S. Stark, J. F. Alexander, W. S. DeFore, H. P. Coe, George Huxford, John W. Harris, A. Shafer, Philip Zim leman, Robert Royster, W. L. DeFore, Joseph Bone, Samuel Bone, Edward Eckley, Tyler Higby, Thomas Kelley, J. L. Starr, Edgar Starr, John Segrin, Martin V. Huxford, Thomas Dawkins, Nelson Stark, A. T. Silver, Jesse Stark, William Wilson, B. F. Nicholson.
The following are the names of those who served in the North Border Brigade: Franklin Richardson, Joseph Landen, F. M. Nich- olson, S. S. Payne, Columbus Richardson, William Wilson, H. M. Lucas, Robert Musgrove. All of these were citizens of Dodge Town- ship but S. S. Payne and H. M. Lucas, who were citizens of Worth Township.
The sketch of Dodge Township would be incomplete without mention of Hon. C. J. A. Ericson. He came to Ridgeport and opened a store in March, 1860. His stock was very small when he commenced, but his prosperity was so rapid that at the end of ten years he had a large store and did a good business. At that date he was persuaded, rather against his will, to purchase the store of Hon.
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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY
Jackson Orr, in Boone, who had received the nomination for Con- gress. Mr. Ericson then moved to Boone and took charge of the store purchased there, but the respect and good will of all the people of Dodge Township followed him. His banking and official careers commenced after he moved to Boone.
According to the census of 1910 the population of Dodge Town- ship, independent of the Town of Fraser, was 1, 135.
The township officers at the present time are as follows: Trustees, Herman Lindmark, John Schmidt and Robert McVicker; assessor, T. J. Ridpath; clerk, J. F. Condon; justice of the peace, G. V. Mayfield.
CHAPTER XVII
JACKSON TOWNSHIP
Jackson Township is bounded on the west by Des Moines Town- ship, on the south by Colfax Township, on the east by Story County, and on the north by Harrison Township. It contains a full con- gressional township. At the time of the organization of the county, in 1849, the south two-thirds of the present Township of Jackson was included in Boone Township, and the north one-third was in- cluded in Boone River Township. This division of the township continued until March 8, 1852, at which date Boone River Town- ship was discontinued. The boundaries of Boone and Pleasant town- ships were changed and the Townships of Berry, Yell and Dodge were organized.
In the changes of this date the two tiers of sections on the north side of the present Township of Jackson, which were formerly con- tained in Boone River Township, were equally divided between Dodge and Boone townships. The north tier was included in the new Township of Dodge and the second tier from the north was annexed to Boone Township. These changes were all made in March, 1852, by County Judge S. B. McCall.
Five years later, in 1857, Jackson Township was established and named by County Judge J. B. Montgomery. At this date it con- tained all of the territory within its present boundaries and all that of the present Township of Harrison. Within these boundaries it continued until 1871, when it was reduced to its present boundaries. Thus we see that this township was in process of formation for twenty-two years. Judge Montgomery was an admirer of General Jackson and this accounts for the name of the township.
The first settlers of Jackson Township were the families of Milan and William Zenor, who located in Section 12, in the spring of 1851. They came from Clay County, Indiana. They settled in the edge of the beautiful belt of timber along Squaw Fork, a tributary of the Skunk River. The next year John Mitchell and Thomas Eads also settled in Section 12.
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IHISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY
In 1855 Amos Blunk, Moses Blunk, Charles Weston, King Weston, Henry Latham, Andrew Houghton, John Lundy, Samuel Musgrove and Charles Hunt all settled in the northeast part of the township, near the little stream above named.
These people made up a school district, and in 1856 the first schoolhouse in the township was erected. The work of construction was performed by Milan Zenor and William Bell. The first school was taught by William Bell, which was a three months' term, and for which he received a compensation of $55 for the term. At the close of this school term Mr. Bell returned to Ohio.
The first township officers elected .in the township were: Trustees, Milan Zenor, John Lundy and Samuel Musgrove; clerk, Charles Hunt; assessor, John Mitchell. The first official meeting of the board of trustees was held at the house of Thomas Eads.
The first birth in the township was that of Sarah Zenor, a daughter of Milan and Amanda Zenor, which occurred in 1853.
The first death was that of Mary J. Zenor, which occurred in 1854.
The first marriage in Jackson Township was in 1855. This was the marriage of Michael Zenor and Amanda Zenor, a daughter of William Zenor, both of whom were natives of Indiana. The mar- riage ceremony was performed by Judge J. B. Montgomery, who was also a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
The first religious services in the township were held at the house of Milan Zenor and were conducted by Rev. Willis Reynolds, a United Brethren minister. Reverend Reynolds was the means of doing much good in the early settlement of Jackson Township.
The first physicians to attend to the wants of the people in Jack- son Township were Doctor Mathews, of Polk City, and Dr. M. A. Parr, of Boonesboro.
The first road running from the first settlement in Jackson Town- ship to the county seat was not located with any regard to section lines, the object being to shun all the ponds and travel on the high grounds.
The second settlement in Jackson Township commenced in the fall of 1854. At that time John Dinwiddie, Joseph Dicas, William Beard and George Beard settled in Section 31. About the same time William Harmon, Lafayette Harmon and Isaac Harmon settled near where Jordan Station is now located. In fact, the station is on the farm owned by William Harmon.
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The first settlers of Jackson encountered many of the hardships and privations that the other pioneer settlers of the county did. They had to go a long distance to find mills to manufacture their grain into bread stuff, and they had to haul their fuel and other supplies a long distance. It took work, patience and suffering to withstand the hardships that existed before the building of good mills in the county and before the coming of railroad transportation.
The settlement of the township was not very rapid until the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad was built. After this home- seekers came and in a short time every acre was placed under culti- vation or in pasture. The soil is very fertile and it produces good crops of all kinds. The farmers of this township are industrious and energetic and their homes are nice and inviting. From an ex- panse of wild land in 1853 it has been changed to a block of nice and fertile farms.
With the exception of a small belt of timber along the Squaw Fork, in Sections 1 and 12, there was no native timber in the town- ship at the time the first settlement was made.
The Chicago & Northwestern Railroad was built across the south end of the township in 1864 and 1865. There is one station on the line in the township. It was first called Harmon's Switch, but since then a small town has grown up under the name of Jordan, which will be more fully mentioned further on. The Newton & Northwestern runs across the extreme southwest corner of the township.
The streams of this township are the Squaw Fork and Onion Creek. A short sketch of these streams will be found in another part of this work.
From the humble little schoolhouse built in Section 12 by Milan Zenor and William Bell in 1856, Jackson Township now has nine good schoolhouses in good repair, in each of which eight months of school is taught every year. This is a glowing proof that the people of Jackson are friends of progress and education.
The lay of Jackson Township is generally level, with here and there rises and slopes; but none interfere with the cultivation of land except a small acreage along the breaks of the Squaw Fork.
The territory contained in the present Township of Jackson was surveyed into two sections in 1847 by Thomas Harley, deputy sur- veyor, and certified to by Henry A. Wilse, surveyor general, at Dubuque, Iowa.
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In the assessment of Boone Township in 1853, which included all of the present Township of Jackson except the north tier of sec- tions, there were only two citizens then residing within its present boundaries assessed. These were Milan and William Zenor. Milan Zenor gave to the assessor the east half of the northeast quarter of Section 13, Township 84, Range 25, valued at $240, and the south- east quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 12, Township 84. Range 25, valued at $60. William Zenor gave the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 12, Township 84, Range 25, valued at $100, and the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 12, Township 84, Range 25, valued at $100. These assess- ments of lands were very moderate when compared with the present assessments of lands. We may state with certainty that this 200 acres of land was all that had passed from the Government in the present bounds of Jackson Township when this assessment was made in the spring of 1853. All the other lands in the township were then subject to entry at $1.25 per acre.
Mitchell's Grove Cemetery was laid out in 1854, and is still in use.
Sparsely settled as the township was during the Civil war, ten of its young and middle-aged men volunteered their services and went to the front to sustain the union of the states. The names of those who did so were as follows: William K. Atkison, James Atki- son, Moses Blunk, James Eads, Malen Madden, Isaac Stine, Robert Atkison, John Atkison, Samuel Blunk, Amos Blunk and Isaac Hughes.
But few crimes have been committed by the citizens of Jackson Township. The records of the criminal dockets of the county con- tain but little in the way of criminal charges against any of them. In 1877 a criminal assault was made upon a nice and respectable young lady named Duckworth by two tramps, who approached her while she was picking wild strawberries. This young lady lived with her father and mother in the southeast part of the township. The tramps fled after the fiendish assault was made. Diligent search was made and one of them was captured, indicted, tried, convicted and sent to the penitentiary.
In 1879 a miner in one of the coal camps near Zenorville was killed in a drunken row. The name of the man who committed the crime was Ed Curran. He was sent to the penitentiary at Anamosa for a term of years. While working on a house there he fell and broke his neck.
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