USA > Iowa > Boone County > History of Boone County, Iowa, Volume I > Part 29
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Garden Township was named from the beautiful lay of its land and the fertility of its soil. The first permanent settler in the town- ship was George Keigley. He built a house on the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter of Section 18, Township 82, Range 25, and moved into it in 1854.
The first birth in the township was that of Norman Keigley, a son of Mr. and Mrs. George Keigley, who was born in 1855. As this son died the same year, his death was the first to occur in the township.
Late in the '5os William Goodrich, a family named Myers, Fred Johnson and a Mr. Armstrong all settled along the west border of Garden Township. But the township did not settle up with any rapidity until 1866. From this date on the settlement was rapid. A man named Robins had for years owned a large body of land in the north part of Garden Township, which he offered for sale in 1866. The sale of these lands was very rapid and the purchasers located upon them with equal rapidity, so that a school became one of the things needed in 1868. There was no schoolhouse at that time,
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but Jesse Goble had an empty dwelling house and it was pressed into the service for a schoolhouse. This house was located about one- fourth of a mile north of where the Garden Prairie Schoolhouse now stands. The teacher was Miss Rachel Patterson, now Mrs. Rachel Reichenbach. This was the first school held in Garden Township and Miss Patterson had the honor of being the first teacher. During the year 1869 the first schoolhouse in the township was erected and is known as the Garden Prairie Schoolhouse. Miss Lucy Lyman had charge of the first school taught in the new building.
In this same settlement the first religious services in the township were held. This was in the summer of 1867. The services were held in a private house, one mile north of the present location of the Gar- den Prairie Church. The services were conducted by Reverend Snodgrass, of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Boonesboro. Two years later, in 1869, Rev. O. C. Dickerson, a Congregational minister, came out from Boone and held the first religious services in the Gar- den Prairie Schoolhouse. Through the influence of Reverend Dick- erson and the families of O. N. Bagwell, Albert Lyman, Jesse Goble, John and Wesley Guthridge, the Garden Prairie Church was organ- ized February 7, 1870, with a charter membership of twenty-seven. Reverend Dickerson was the pastor of the new church until he was called to another field of labor at Marshalltown, Iowa. After him came Rev. A. A. Baker and Reverend Snodgrass, who occupied the pulpit alternately.
In 1875 the Garden Prairie Church was erected and on Febru- ary 6, 1876, it was dedicated by Rev. J. W. Pickett, of Des Moines, assisted by Reverend Hand, of Polk City, Reverend Parmenter, of Madrid, and Reverend Knapp, of Des Moines. Rev. C. O. Par- menter was the first pastor of the church after it became domiciled in the new church building. This was the first and only church building ever erected in Garden Township.
The first postoffice in the township was located at the house of James Irving, near the church building, and James Irving was the first postmaster in the township. A few years later he resigned the postmastership and was succeeded by J. B. Strouse, who moved the office to his house, about one mile west of Mr. Irving's. Mr. Strouse continued as postmaster for about two years, when he, like Mr. Irving, came to the conclusion that there was not compensation enough in the office to pay for the time it took to look after it, so he resigned, and from that time to the present there has never been a postoffice in the township.
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The first justice of the peace in Garden Township was James Irving and the first constable was William Guthridge. For many years George Thrap was assessor and William Tebus was township clerk. T. R. Dresser and J. B. Frise have held township offices.
For a number of years the settlers on the Robins lands in the north part of the township by reason of their numbers took the lead over all other parts. Even the name of the township originated with them.
Worth Keigley, son of George Keigley, the first settler, was born in the township September 16, 1857, and still lives at the place of his birth. There is no one in the township who has been a citizen as long as Mr. Keigley.
In the south part of the township Eric Croft, Cana Green, P. A. Sholand, William and Lewis Bolle settled late in the '6os and made farms. At an early date a man named Barkley settled in the north- east part of the township and built a small house. He lived so far from any settlement that his was called the "lone house." His team consisted of one horse and one ox, with which he did his teaming and farming.
At one time there were two blacksmith and repair shops in the township, one at the north end operated by a man named Churchill; the other at the south end operated by A. Holcraft. In the east part of the township the last settlements were made. Here August Skort- man, Henry Anderson, A. J. Cromwell, John Applegarth, L. D. Norris, Chester Norris and many others whose names cannot now be recalled, settled and made homes. A large per cent of settlers of Garden Township were Swedish people who have made nice farms, erected good buildings and have become prosperous and happy. It will be impossible to mention all the names of the settlers who have contributed to the upbuilding of the township. But it must be said that through their industry and energy they now have an agricultural township the equal of any in the county.
There are nine school districts in the township and nine school- houses, all of which are in good repair. The schools are all in a pros- perous condition.
Before Garden Township settled up there was a road which started from Madrid and ran northeast diagonally across the town- ship, terminating at New Philadelphia, near the present Town of Ontario, in Story County. This was the first road in Garden Town- ship. It now has three east and west and three north and south roads that run through the township.
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No town was ever laid out in Garden Township. The Town of Sheldahl extends over the county line and takes in a small piece of land in the southeast corner of Garden Township, on which some houses of that town are built, but this is the only shadow of a town within its borders.
It has but one railroad-the main line of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul-which runs across the south end a distance of six miles, but there is no station in the township. The people of this township have been very law-abiding, no serious crimes having been charged against any of them. But there was an incident which occurred in Garden Township which raised considerable excitement.
Late in the fall of 1878 two young men, named respectively Gar- rison and Martin, came across the prairie from the northeast, appro- priating turkeys, chickens and other portable property along the route unto themselves. It was Sunday evening and they arrived at the Garden Prairie Church at the hour in which the services were in progress and when all of the attendants were inside of the church. Numerous teams were hitched to the racks, silently awaiting the return of their owners. It occurred to the young criminals that it would be a good plan for them to visit the buggies and wagons standing there and take from them such articles of value as they might find. So they passed around and took whips, robes and blan- kets, enough in addition to what they had already stolen to fill their wagon box, and got away with them without being seen or heard. The next morning a search for the property and thieves was insti- tuted. The property was found and restored to the owners and the petty thieves were arrested, tried, convicted and punished. They were not citizens of Garden Township.
In the spring of 1878 a disagreement arose between A. Richhart and Asahel Rutherford, both of whom were citizens of the south part of Garden Township. A few days later they met in a store at Swede Point (now Madrid), where the trouble was renewed. So abusive and insulting was the language used that Rutherford seized a weight from the scales in the store and threw it with all his strength, striking Richhart near the right eye. The result caused Richhart much pain and the loss of his eye. Some legal proceedings were insti- tuted, but the matter was settled without going into court. The affair caused much excitement at the time.
In the early settlement of Garden Township the Indians located in Tama County were in the habit of coming around and camping at Hat Grove, sometimes remaining there for three weeks. During
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their stay they would hunt, fish and trap in the grove and surrounding country. At one time while encamped here sickness invaded their wigwams and carried off some of the inmates. There was much weeping and wailing among them at that time. Tradition has it that they buried their dead in the edge of the grove, but there is no mark to indicate where the final resting place is.
In the east part of Garden Township there were hundreds of acres of swamp lands. Section 13 and parts of 14, 23 and 24, Town- ship 82, Range 25, were surveyed as swamp land and were for the most part covered by a body of water called Goose Lake. In the spring of the year this lake abounded with swans, geese, ducks, mud hens and sandhill cranes. Here, too, the muskrats built their houses and multiplied in great numbers. In the proper season the lake was a famous resort for hunters and trappers. William Guthridge, Byron Fish and George Abraham spent the winter of 1869-70 hunt- ing and trapping at Goose Lake. Their winter's catch was 135 mink, 1, 500 muskrats, 27 weasels, 29 skunks, 10 prairie wolves and + gray wolves. But a great change has taken place at what was once the site of Goose Lake. A great open ditch now runs through the bed of the lake and out across the county line into Story County, taking with it all the waters of this swamp land region and discharging them into a tributary of the Skunk River. This great ditch and its branches were made by the Board of Supervisors of Boone County at a cost of $100,000. Goose Lake is no longer known except in memory. The site it once occupied and the surrounding country no longer produces mosquitoes, frogs, snakes, turtles and wild fowls, but is now cut up into beautiful farms, the fertility of which is unsur- passed by any in the world.
It cannot be said that the people of Garden Township, or any considerable number of them, have been aspirants for county offices. But three of them have ever held county office and each of them was a member of the board of supervisors. These were Jesse Goble, O. N. Bagwell and G. H. Simmons. Not one of these is now a citi- zen of the township.
The present population of Garden Township is 914. Of this number 95 are in the limits of Madrid and 35 within the limits of Sheldahl.
There were three volunteers who entered the army during the Civil war from what is now Garden Township. These were William Goodrich, W. C. Chambers and Cyrus Myers.
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The present officers of Garden Township are as follows: Trus- tees, V. F. Lundahl, A. E. Check and George Burkey ; township clerk, J. B. Frise; justices of the peace, W. O. Anderson and R. P. Toll; constables, Peter Harleen and Edward Johnson.
Vol. 1-21
CHAPTER XXX UNION TOWNSHIP
Union Township is bounded on the north by Beaver Township, on the west by Green County, on the south by Dallas County and on the east by Peoples Township. At the time of the organization of the county the present Township of Union was a part of Pleasant Township and so continued until March 8, 1852. At this date Berry Township was organized and Union Township was contained within its borders. This division continued until the 21st of February, 1856, when Union Township was organized by Judge John B. Montgom- ery and named by him. It contained all the territory within its present limits and twelve sections off of the west side of the present Township of Peoples. This division continued until 1871, when the township was reduced to its present size. Thus the township came into being step by step, until it came into its present permanent boundaries.
The first settler in Union Township was John Moore and his family, in October, 1849. He located on Section 35 and lived there the remainder of his life. Two of his sons, John D. Moore and Charles R. Moore, also located with him. They came from Cham- paign County, Illinois.
On Beaver Creek in Union Township there was a prominent little body of timber which was known from the earliest settlement as Buffalo Grove. This name was applied to it before the Moores settled there. There is a tradition which comes down to us that a party of hunters found a small herd of buffaloes in this grove and succeeded in killing one of them there, and from this event the name originated. There is not much doubt but that this grove of timber presented an inviting appearance at the time the Moores settled there. John D. Moore, one of the sons of John Moore, who settled in the edge of Buffalo Grove in 1849, is now an aged man, living in the Fifth Ward of Boone.
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Some of the citizens wanted the township named Buffalo Grove Township at the time of its organization in 1856, but this name was rejected by Judge Montgomery.
In 1848 a man named Carson Wood took up his abode at Buffalo Grove and broke eight acres of prairie, intending to return the next year and make a home there, but he did not do so. To him belongs the honor of turning the first prairie sod in Union Township.
Within five years from the time the Moores settled at Buffalo Grove in Union Township numerous other settlers came and made permanent locations. Among these may be mentioned James Carnes, Larsford Mills, John Carnes, George Burgett, John H. Moore, Isaac Moore and Abel Lum.
On April 7, 1856, the first election, to elect township officers, was held at the house of James Carnes, and the following officers were elected : Justices of the peace, James Laughridge and Calvin F. Brown; township clerk and assessor, Edward Vail; trustees, Isaac Moore, Abel Lum and James Carnes ; constables, Isaac Crable and Moses Rolorson. At that election there were twenty-eight votes cast, which was a very small beginning.
At this first election one member of the Moore family was chosen township trustee. It was a very appropriate thing that a member of the first family that settled in the township was one of the first officers chosen. Some of the descendants of the Moore family still live in Union Township and they own considerable real estate in Sections 25 and 36.
About the year 1858 a town was laid out by Edward Vail and Calvin Brown, which they named Unionville, but they failed to make it materialize, and for this reason it was never honored with a place on the map of the county.
At the time of its organization Union Township had a popula- tion of seventy-five people, divided into seventeen families.
The first marriage was in 1858, in which the contracting parties were Samuel Weeks and Miss Matilda Johnson.
The first birth was that of Hannah Moore, a daughter of Charles Moore, in 1858.
The first death in the township was Sarah Moore, wife of John Moore, in 1852.
John Moore, the first settler, was himself a practicing physician and he was the first to ply the profession in the township.
The first lawsuit in the township occurred in 1856, in which Francis Johnson was plaintiff and Jesse Petts defendant. It seems
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strange that a lawsuit should originate in a community of early set- tlers consisting of only seventeen families.
The first religious services in the township were held by Claiborne Wright, a Campbellite preacher, in the spring of 1854, and the first person baptized was Mary McKeon, also in 1854. This shows that the early settlers were religiously inclined.
As soon as there were children and youths enough in the town- ship to make up a small school, the necessary steps were taken to form a district and erect a schoolhouse. The first meeting for this purpose was held at the home of James Carnes, on October 14, 1855. The result was that Isaac Crable, James Laughridge and James Carnes were chosen as a board of school directors. Early in the spring of 1856 a log schoolhouse was erected on the land of James Carnes (in Section 27), 16 feet square. This was a log school- house, which was not built by taxation, in the common and usual way schoolhouses are built, but each man interested furnished from one to three logs and helped to lay up the walls and finish up the house ready for the children and youths to assemble in. This old log house still lingers in the minds of some of the children who attended there in those primitive days. The first school commenced in this historic log house on the 5th of May, 1856. It was taught by Miss Caroline Palmer at a compensation of $1.75 per week, board included. The number of pupils in attendance was fifteen. The picture of this old log schoolhouse, with the teacher and scholars in front of it, would be a relic worth having.
On the 22d of August, 1856, Union Township was organized into a school district to be known as No. I by A. L. Speer, school fund commissioner of Boone County. The little log schoolhouse con- tinucd to supply the wants of the people until June 17, 1859, at which date the board of directors divided the township into two districts, and on the 17th of June, 1861, it decided to build two new school- houses, one in each of these districts. On the Ist of July, 1861, the contract was let at $700. The house in District No. I was named Lincoln, and the house in District No. 2 was named Douglas. The number of pupils in 1861 was fifty-an increase of thirty-five since the first schoolhouse was built in 1856. In 1865 the number of schol- ars enrolled in the township was eighty-five. In 1871, the date at which the township was reduced to its present size, it contained five schoolhouses and the number of children and youths between the ages of five and twenty-one years, according to the census of 1875, was 159. In 1875 the district township was divided into nine independent
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school districts. In each of these nine districts there is now a good schoolhouse, kept in good repair, with from seven to nine months of school every year. They have as good, up-to-date teachers as any township in the county. It will be seen from the foregoing that the people of this township have from the beginning taken an active interest in building up and sustaining the common schools.
Although Union Township was but sparsely settled at the out- break of the Civil war, it furnished eighteen soldiers, as follows : Francis M. Burgett, Ariel S. Collins, Manford Paige, John E. Carnes, William Peoples, Orin Mills, Calvin Johnson, Charles R. Moore, Joseph Elliot. None of the above named men returned to their homes and fields again. The following nine men were per- mitted to return: Lewis Athey, Thomas Athey, William R. Moore, John D. Moore, George Lum, James Mills, Abraham Tulk, Nathan Mower and John Ricketts.
The only stream that has a name and a place on the map of this township is Beaver Creek. A history of this stream is given in another part of this work, under the heading of The Small Streams of Boone County.
The native timber along the Beaver furnished the fuel and building material for the first settlers of the township. There was also much wild game found along the Beaver in the beginning of the settlement. O. D. Smalley, the Christopher Columbus of Dallas County, often spoke of the number of deer he brought down with his rifle near Buffalo Grove from 1846 to 1850. At one time Mr. Smalley ran out of patching for his rifle bullets and had to use a portion of his shirt for that purpose.
The early settlers of Union Township encountered the hardships of frontier life the same as the pioneers of other parts of the county. For years they had to haul all of their supplies from the Mississippi River towns, a distance of 200 miles. They also had to take their wheat and corn a long distance to find mills to manufacture their grain into bread stuff. It must be remembered that in that day there were no graded roads nor bridged streams to make traveling easy and rapid, like it is over the good roads and bridged streams of the present day. It took patience and courage to surmount the dif- ficulties of the pioneer times.
Like the other townships of the county, the soil of Union Town- ship is rich and productive and the farmers raise large crops. Horses, cattle and hogs are extensively raised and placed upon the markets by the farmers of Union Township. Their homes are nice, substan-
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tial and inviting. For a number of years the early settlers of Union Township were separated from the county seat and from the settle- ments along the Des Moines River by miles of unsettled prairie, over which there were no laid out roads to travel upon. From 1849 to 1852 the voters at and in the vicinity of Buffalo Grove had to go to Belle Point, a distance of sixteen miles, to cast their votes.
The first citizen of Union Township to be honored with a county office was Peter Mower. In 1860 he was elected by the voters of that township a member of the board of county supervisors. This was at the time and under the law giving each organized township the right to elect a member of the board of supervisors. Mr. Mower was at the time a man advanced in years, but he filled the office in such a careful, honest and dignified manner that he was elected for a second term. Dr. A. M. Mower, a son of Peter Mower, was for many years a practicing physician in Union Township. Some of the Mower family still reside in the township.
There are two railroads in Union Township-the Des Moines & Fort Dodge and the Minneapolis & St. Louis, and two railroad sta- tions-Angus and Berkley. These roads and stations have helped very materially in the development of the township.
Another citizen of Union Township who was honored with a county office was Lovell W. Fisk, who was elected superintendent of schools in 1869, and ran for reelection, but was defeated. L. W. Fisk and his son, J. A. Fisk, were among the early teachers in Union Township. Mr. Fisk owned at one time a large body of land and for a number of years he was supposed to be quite wealthy. But suddenly he became financially swamped and took his departure from the country and never returned. The young Fisk died a few years before this financial disaster of his father's occurred.
The coal development in Union Township presents the most interesting, remarkable and romantic history of any township in the county-perhaps in the state. A full history of the coal develop- ment in Union Township and of the Town of Angus, its growth and its decline and of its newspapers is here given in a write-up clipped from the Register and Leader a few years ago, which is entitled "The Rise and Fall of Angus." The article follows :
RISE AND FALL OF ANGUS
"The old Des Moines Valley Railroad, which in the early '70s built a northward extension to its line running from Keokuk to Des
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Moines, was the pioneer railroad, north and south, in lowa. Of the numerous towns which sprang up along its line was one called Coal- town. Coaltown is not on the map today, because the name was later changed by Hamilton Browne, now of Geneva, Illinois, to Angus, in honor of one of the railroad officials. In turn, Angus is in danger of losing its place on the map, not because some one is dissatisfied with the nomenclature, but because of lack of inhabitants.
"Angus was in 1885 by far the largest coal mining town in all Iowa. It rose in a boom that extended over a period of five or six years. At the zenith of its prosperity it contained something over five thousand inhabitants. After 1885 the decadence set in and now there is almost nothing left. The municipal incorporation was abandoned four years ago and would have been abandoned sooner had not fiscal difficulties prevented. The jerry built houses and stores have all been moved away. When Angus began to decline they were sold in bunches, sometimes for a mere song, were torn down or put on rollers and shifted to neighboring towns. The mining industry has com- pletely run out, save two or three country pits, which combined do not hoist enough coal to keep a large-sized furnace hot.
A PATHETIC STORY
"The rise and fall of Angus is rather a pathetic story. The town has struggled bravely these twenty years against adverse fate, but its struggles in the last half of this period have been very weak and indeed very hopeless. The downward movement has been practically continuous, save for two or three spurts that turned out to be mere flashes in the pan.
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