USA > Iowa > Boone County > History of Boone County, Iowa, Volume I > Part 27
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Another reason for settling in or near the timber was to secure shelter and protection for themselves and stock from the cold piercing wind of the winters that swept the open prairies. Union Township was only six miles from Amaqua Township, but it had settlers as early as 1849. This was because of the body of timber along the Beaver in that township, known as Buffalo Grove. Amaqua had no groves of timber to attract the settlers .. The few clumps of low willows along the Beaver were rather more of a detriment than a blessing. For these reasons Amaqua Township was not settled until good flouring mills were running in the county, good stores were selling all necessary supplies and good transportation furnished by the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, which was built through the south end of the township in 1866. This saved the settlers of Amaqua Township from the hardships and privations of the pioneer days. The hunters and trappers were often on the banks of the Beaver plying their trade and capturing the fur-bearing animals. The sports- men of Bonesboro and vicinity frequently went out to the Beaver in what is now Amaqua Township to shoot geese, ducks and prairie chickens. Judge C. J. McFarland, Col. John Rose, J. H. Upton, C. Beal, C. W. Williams, Dr. P. S. Moser and George Haskell were the main sportsmen. They usually were out on these hunting expedi- tions two days at a time. The territory now contained in Amaqua was one of their favorite places to hunt.
The Indians who reside in Tama County for years were in the habit of erecting their wigwams on the Beaver, in what is now Amaqua, to trap, hunt and fish. They had many feasts upon the game they captured. But those times have passed and gone, never to return again.
M. K. Beck, in his biographical sketch given by the Union His- torical Association, says that when he settled on Section 4, in Amaqua Township, in 1869, there were not over three houses in sight of his home. This was twenty years after the first settler in Union Town- ship located there.
Amaqua Township settled up very rapidly after getting a start and in a few years the whole township was changed from a wilderness of wild grass to a solid block of farms. Although this township was
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slow in making a start in its settlement, it made up for this in the rapidity of its settlement.
Amaqua is made up exclusively of prairie land. It is an agricul- tural township in the fullest sense of that term. The soil is very fertile, which is evidenced by the crops which are produced every year. The farmers are industrious and energetic, as the splendid farms and beautiful homes in the township abundantly prove. The Beaver is the only stream in the township. It furnishes good drainage facilities for the entire township.
The people of Amaqua have proved their faith in the good of educating their children by locating nine school districts in the town- ship, of building nine schoolhouses and keeping them in repair. They also have eight months of school each year. Their schools are well regulated and their teachers are among the best.
No coal mines have ever been developed in Amaqua Township. The people here are dependent on other parts for their fuel.
Amaqua Township contains 23,040 acres of land, nearly every acre of which is profitably utilized. Under the present drainage system there are perhaps as few acres of waste land in Amaqua as in any township in the county. According to the census of 1910 the population of the township was 803. If the lands of the township were equally divided among the inhabitants, there would be a fraction over twenty-eight acres for each one.
The present township officers are as follows: Clerk, William Heineman ; assessor, William Paulson ; trustees, John Paulson, Albert Rinehart and Will Berger.
In the year 1912 Amaqua Township paid out more money on roads and drainage than any other township in the county. Notwith- standing this, the balance on hand at the end of the year was $395.98.
The postoffice at Beaver is the only one in the township. The people are supplied by the lines of rural delivery, one of the greatest blessings which has come to the people of the country in recent years. The people of the country districts now have daily mails. This and the telephone system have added much to the pleasure and facilities of the country homes.
The Northwestern Railroad is the only one that crosses the bor- ders of Amaqua. It runs across the south end of the township, Beaver being the only station within its borders.
The Methodist Episcopal Church was organized at the Center schoolhouse in 1869, which was the first church society in the town- ship. Reverend Snodgrass was the first minister and at the time of
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the organization of the church the membership numbered twenty- five. The society now has a building of its own.
There are three cemeteries in the township-one in Section 13, one in Section 14, and one in Section 16.
The Town of Beaver was laid out June 30, 1879. It is located in the southwest corner of Section 32, Township 84, Range 28, and is in the midst of a rich farming section. It was not long in becoming a trading point of considerable importance. Beaver draws consid- erable trade from Greene County. Thus we see that the town is not altogether dependent upon Boone County for its trade. Beaver has a population of about one hundred. It has two churches and two church buildings, both of which are frame structures. One is a Methodist Episcopal Church, with forty members and a good Sunday school. The other society is of the denomination of Dunkards, with a membership of forty and a well-attended Sunday school. Both of the churches have regular services.
There are two general stores, a barber shop and pool hall and three grain elevators. The Beaver Cooperative Association does a very extensive business in shipping grain and stock and in furnishing supplies to the farmers. It is owned by ninety farmers. Last year, it is claimed that this association transacted over four hundred thou- sand dollars' worth of business. Beaver also has two blacksmith shops, one garage and one bank. It has one school building with two departments. It has a consolidated district of eight sections, four . of which are in Amaqua Township and four in Beaver Township. The name of this district is Dewey, so called in honor of the hero of Manilla Bay. This school has an enrollment of sixty-five scholars. The citizens here are well pleased with the plan of consolidation.
The town was incorporated about three years ago and is now a well-regulated little town. The present officers are as follows: Mayor, H. D. Hagge; clerk, C. A. Black; assessor, Lafe Shadle; marshal, Cleve Starks; councilmen, D. T. Anderson, C. H. Last, Chris Harten and L. D. Henry.
The impression in various parts of the county has been that Senator Justin R. Doran resided in the Town of Beaver. Such, how- ever, is not the case. He resides just across the line in Beaver Town- ship, while the Town of Beaver is in Amaqua Township. Mr. Do- ran's farm on which he resides joins the Town of Beaver and his residence is only a few rods distant. Mr. Doran settled where he now resides in November, 1874. At that time he was the only settler in District No. 3. Beaver Township. He is one of the four
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Boone County men who have been honored with the office of state senator. The first was J. D. Gillett, of Ogden; the second, D. B. Davidson, then of Madrid; the third, C. J. A. Ericson, of Boone, and the fourth, Justin R. Doran, of Beaver Township. Mr. Doran owns large tracts of land in Beaver and Amaqua townships, amount- ing to 3, 100 acres. This land is all under cultivation.
Northeast of Beaver, in Section 16, is located a German Lutheran Church, which has a membership of about fifty and a good Sunday school.
The first citizen of Amaqua Township to be honored with a county office was John Smyth, who, in 1873, was elected a member of the board of supervisors.
The people of Amaqua have as a rule been very peaceable and law-abiding and there is little in the way of criminal proceedings against any of its citizens. But there is a very interesting scrap of history of a stage robbery which occurred in Amaqua Township in the time preceding its settlement. From 1854 to 1866, a period of twelve years, the carrying of the mails and the conveyance of travelers from one point to another in Iowa, and particularly in Central Iowa, was done by the Western Stage Company. Early in the year 1855 it established a line between Des Moines and Fort Dodge by way of Boonesboro, and as the latter point was about half way between Des Moines and Fort Dodge, it was made the division point on this line. About the year 1858 a line was established between Boonesboro and Jefferson, the county seat of Greene County, a distance of about twenty-four miles. This line crossed the Beaver Creek, about one mile north of the present Town of Beaver, and in the present Town- ship of Amaqua. Over half of this line passed through a wild and unsettled country. The route to travel upon was simply horrible. Great complaint was made by the drivers on this line and particularly of the crossing of the Beaver. The authorities of Boone County were appealed to, but nothing was done. Finally the company built a barn a short distance east of the crossing on the Beaver and arranged that the teams should stop over night there, resuming the journey next morning. They also built quarters for a station agent, whose duty it was to take care of the passengers over night. This was called the line barn, or line station. This made the trip from point to point much easier for both drivers and teams. When the construction of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad commenced, there was con- siderable travel between Boonesboro and Jefferson. This made it necessary to put on this line a four-horse stage. M. L. Burke, one
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of the famous drivers, was on this line a part of the time. One fairly nice day the stage left Boonesboro at I o'clock P. M., with the mail and four passengers. It arrived safely at the line barn and lodged for the night. Next morning the start was made for Jeffer- son, but just as the stage emerged from the Beaver and reached the west bank, some robbers came from a clump of willows, and pre- senting their guns, called upon the driver to stop the stage. Instead of doing so, he struck the lead horses with his whip, intending to escape the robbers by increasing his speed. But before he got under headway the robbers shot one of the lead horses, which fell dead upon the spot, and the stage came to a standstill. The robbers entered the stage, cut the mail pouch open and took all the valuables out of it. They next compelled the passengers to turn over all their pocket change and then made their departure. Although diligent search was made, none of them were ever found. The driver left the dead ยท horse and harness and immediately returned to Boonesboro. This was the trip which M. L. Burke should have taken, but other business detained him. Had it not been for this, he would have been the man the robbers encountered instead of the other driver.
The agent who had charge of the station at the time of the robbery was a man named Shipman. Years after this incident Shipman be- came a transgressor of the law and officers undertook to place him under arrest. He resisted, and in so doing, shot one of the officers. The house in which he took refuge was surrounded by armed men, but he still refused to surrender to the officers. The cellar in which he had taken refuge was flooded with water. He then undertook to make his escape by flight, but in doing so his body was riddled with bullets. It was thought by some that Shipman was a confederate in the stage robbery which occurred in what is now Amaqua Township.
CHAPTER XXVI
PEOPLES TOWNSHIP
Years before Peoples became a township of itself, it was made the component part of other townships on various occasions. At the time of the organization of the county it was a part of Pleasant Township. When Berry Township was organized and named by Judge McCall, March 8, 1852, the present Township of Peoples was included within its borders. This division continued until February 21, 1856, at which date Union Township was organized and named by John B. Montgomery, who was at that time county judge. The boundaries of Union Township as then fixed included the west one- third of the present territory of Peoples Township, while the east two-thirds of it still made up a part of Berry Township. This divi- sion continued until March 6, 1858, at which date the Township of Berry was discontinued and Cass Township was laid out and named by Judge Samuel B. McCall, who succeeded Judge Montgomery in 1857. Cass Township contained the east two-thirds of the present Township of Peoples until 1871. In that year the townships of Cass and Union were reduced to their present boundaries and Peoples Township was established and named.
The first permanent settler was David Peoples, who had located within the present borders of the township in 1855. This was long before the township was established or named. From the time he located here, March 6, 1858, Mr. Peoples was a citizen of Berry Township. From the last-named date to May 12, 1871, he was a citizen of Cass Township. Peoples is the only township in the county named in honor of one of its settlers, a distinction which places much emphasis upon the name of David Peoples. There was one settler who preceded Mr. Peoples. This was Joseph Dart, who located on the bank of the Little Beaver in Section 33, in the year 1854, but he did not become a permanent settler.
W. W. Wade, Jeremiah Williams and Alonzo Bettis were the first settlers in the northeast part of the township. While the east
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two-thirds of the township was a part of Cass, W. W. Wade held the office of justice of the peace.
The first marriage in the township was that of Enos Rhoads to Henrietta Peoples, on the 26th day of March, 1860. William Sparks, the pioneer Baptist minister of Marcy Township, officiated.
The first births were those of Albert B. and Alfred B. Wade, twin sons of W. W. and Lucy Wade, on January 12, 1857.
The first death was that of Albert B. Wade, one of the twin sons of W. W. and Lucy Wade, above mentioned, which occurred Novem- ber 2, 1857.
The first schoolhouse was built in Section 12, in the spring of 1857. This house was erected by the donations and labor of the people who needed it and who would make any reasonable sacrifice for the education of their children. The first school taught in the township was in this schoolhouse by Martha J. Page, one of the pioneer lady teachers of the county.
The first sermon was preached in this schoolhouse by Rev. Wil- liam Sparks, whose services were then in demand in numerous places in the county, and they were always given free of charge.
The first postoffice was located on the southwest corner of Sec- tion 12. It was called Prairie Hill and was established in 1867. Alonzo Bettis was the first postmaster.
Everything thus far written under this heading occurred before Peoples Township was organized and named. The settlers men- tioned in the foregoing and their neighbors of that time suffered the hardships and privations in common with the other frontier settlers. Like the other pioneers they had to haul their supplies a long distance, going many miles to find good mills, and living without any mail facilities such as the people now have and enjoy.
Peoples Township settled up very slowly until the close of the Civil war. Many homeseekers then came, and it was not many years until all the land was changed from prairie sod to fertile farms. The only thing in the way of a stream in Peoples Township is the Little Beaver. With the exception of a few scattering willows and white elms along this little stream there is no native timber in the township. This little stream is mentioned in an article found else- where in this work under the heading of The Small Streams of Boone County.
There are no towns within the boundaries of Peoples Township, nor has any effort been made by any of its citizens to lay out and build a town. There is not a railroad that touches any of its borders.
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The Milwaukee east and west line runs near its south border, but nowhere touches it. Peoples is exclusively an agricultural township. Its surface is nearly level, its soil is rich, its drainage is good and the result is that it produces crops of all kinds in abundance. From a state of nature only a few years ago the township has been changed to a solid block of nice farms and beautiful homes, all of which present a nice and inviting appearance. These homes, these farms and their products of grain, hay, horses, cattle, hogs and poultry all speak well for the industry, energy and intelligence of its men and women.
Among those who became citizens of the township may be men- tioned Levi and William Colvin, Capt. Marion Brooks, James R. and John B. Swain, Miles Becket, Duncan Grant, Enos Rhoads, J. G. Spurrier, Fred Miller and many others equally prominent, whose names cannot be mentioned for the want of space.
That Peoples Township has manifested a friendly attitude toward public education is evidenced by the nine school districts and the nine schoolhouses that stand within its borders. Their schools are up-to-date and the equal of any in the county.
The first general election in Peoples Township was held at Elk- horn schoolhouse, October 10, 1871, at which time the following officers were elected : Justices of the peace, W. W. Strickling and W. W. Wade; trustees, J. G. Vernon, J. F. Craig and E. H. Smith ; clerk, James R. Swain; constables, M. Shepherd and J. P. Colvin.
At this election there were eighty-two votes cast. The population of the township at that time was 300. On the 4th of July, 1868, the people of the township celebrated Independence Day at Peoples schoolhouse. This is a common thing in a country township.
The first official meeting of the township trustees was held at the house of J. B. Swain in Section 16, on the 3d of February, 1872. In the way of holding county offices the records show that the people of this township have been more aspiring than any of the neighboring townships. The first citizen of Peoples Township to be honored with a county office was Levi Colvin. He was elected a member of the first board of county supervisors under the law which reduced the membership of the board from one member for each township to three members for the whole county. It was at the first session of this board of supervisors that the organization of the townships of the county was completed. It was Levi Colvin who named Peoples Township. His father-in-law, David Peoples, was the first settler of that township. Mr. Colvin said it was right and proper that the
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township be named in his honor. Mr. Vontrees and Mr. Page, the other members of the board, also thought so, and, therefore, the official sanction to that name was given. William Colvin, J. G. Spur- rier, Miles Becket and Duncan Grant each filled two terms as treas- urer of Boone County. Capt. Marion Brooks had two terms in the Legislature and Schuyler Spurrier had two terms in the clerk's office.
No coal mines have yet been developed in Peoples Township and no claim has yet been made that the township or any part of it is underlaid with coal. There are some of the veterans of the Civil war who are citizens of Peoples Township and who came from other states. Their names, of course, do not appear in the roster of those who went from Boone County. As Peoples Township was not organ- ized until after the Civil war, the names of those who lived in its present boundaries at the time of enlistment will be found in the list of Cass or Union townships.
There are two churches in Peoples Township. One of these is a Baptist Church, the other a Methodist Episcopal. The Baptist Church first organized was a branch of the Perry Church in 1874. In 1879 it was reorganized as an independent church. The original members were E. R. Swain and wife, David Peoples and wife, Levi Colvin and wife, James R. Swain and others. Their church building is located on the northwest corner of Section 8, Township 82, Range 27. They have services every Sunday, with a membership of forty, and a good Sunday school.
The Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1875. The original members were Daniel Woods and wife, John Kirby and wife, Nathaniel Noland and wife, Richard Grant and wife, Enos Rhoads and wife, Mrs. L. Spurrier, Mrs. Stewart and Mrs. A. Por- ter. The church building was erected in 1875 and is located on the corner of Section 15, Township 82, Range 27. They have a fair sized membership and a Sunday school, but they have no local preacher. It is at present supplied from Bouton. The construction of the church was largely done through the work and energy of Capt. Marion Brooks and G. M. Burrington. These men hauled the frame timbers from the Des Moines River and hewed them out ready to be placed in the building -- a start which secured its com- pletion.
Captain Brooks still lives at the home, where he settled in 1867, and he owns 400 acres of fine land. Years after the erection of the church, G. M. Burrington moved to Perry and died there.
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The present township officers are as follows: Trustees, Marion Burrell, Emanuel Burk and Miles Peoples; clerk, Mathew Francis; assessor, James R. Swain. The township has no justice of the peace and no constables, and they say they need none because they have no lawsuits and do not commit any crimes. This is a fine record.
One of the trustees in the above list is a descendant of the Peoples family, which has the honor of being the first one to settle in the township and it also has the honor of the name of the township. It speaks well of this family that one of its descendants is yet called into service in the transaction of the business of the township. It must be noted also that in the above list of township officers appears the name of James R. Swain, who is the assessor of the township. At the first election held in the township, October 10, 1871, James R. Swain was elected township clerk. It is said that Mr. Swain has held more township offices than any other citizen of Peoples. That he was among the list of the first officers chosen and is still an officer of the township is a compliment to Mr. Swain.
CHAPTER XXVII
COLFAX TOWNSHIP
Colfax is the only township on the east side of the Des Moines River in Boone County that did not have a native grove of timber within its borders. Its lands were exclusively prairie, the lay of which was beautiful and inviting to the settlers. From August, 1849, to March, 1858, the south one-third of Colfax Township was a part of Pleasant Township, and during the same period the north two- thirds was a part of Boone Township. From 1858 to 1871, Colfax was a part of Worth Township. At the last-named date Colfax Township was organized and its present boundaries established. It was named in honor of Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana, who at that time was vice president of the United States. Z. J. Vontrees, one of the three members of the board of supervisors, proposed that it be named Croy Township in honor of Samuel A. Croy, who was the first settler in the northeast part of the township. Mr. Croy was present at the time the board established the township and he refused to have the honor of the name conferred on himself, but as he was an admirer of Mr. Colfax and had an acquaintance with him he insisted that the new township be named Colfax, and from this suggestion it took its place on the county map under that name.
The first settler in Colfax Township was William Francis, who located in the north part of Section 6, Township 83, Range 25, in the spring of 1855. He was an Englishman by birth and a ditcher by trade. The land he located upon is now a part of the Menton Farm. The second settler in the township was Mr. Fitzpatrick, father of Senator Joseph A. Fitzpatrick, of Nevada, Iowa. In the spring of 1855 he erected a house and improved a farm in the west part of Section 20. The next year Thomas Reed and T. A. Duckworth cach built a house and commenced the improvement of a farm in pioneer fashion. Mr. Reed's improvement was in the northwest part of Section 20 and that of Mr. Duckworth was in the southwest part of Section 5.
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In 1858 Joseph Tarplee built a house and commenced to make a farm in Section 28. About the same time Samuel A. Croy built a house and made a farm in Section 12. Mr. Croy was a Christian minister and the first one to locate in the township. He moved here from the State of Illinois, and while living in that state, had filled the office of state treasurer.
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