USA > Iowa > Buchanan County > History of Buchanan County, Iowa, with illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 10
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H. B. Hatch was the first to venture out after corn. He went with two yoke of oxen and on his return was overtaken by a storm of sleet so severe that the freezing rain blinded not only himself, but his oxen. But hy walking on the off side of his cattle he managed to shelter hin- self somewhat, and after stopping many times to remove the ice from his eyes and those of his oxen, he succeeded in reaching home with his load of corn, much to the joy of the settlers, who had been greatly alarmed for his safety. This corn was immediately distributed, and when exhausted, Mr. Sanford went to the same place and brought an- other load, which he carefully dealt out, sternly refusing any applicant more than one peck at a time; not from any want of kindness or gen- erosity, but to enforce that severe economy in its use, which was abso- lutely necessary. For several months during that winter, venison, honey, and boiled corn constituted the only food of the settlers. Wolves were numerous and bold, and often came to the springs within a few steps from the doors of the settlers, to drink. On the first of April, 1843, the river was still frozen and teams crossed on the ice.
In the spring of 1843, the land in the south part of the county was put in market, and on the thirteenth of March of that year the first entry was made by Edwin R. Fulton, the entry being the west half northeast thirty-four, eighty-eight, eight, and eighty, which Bennett had claimed and settled upon. Fulton was never a citizen of this county, and was probably some friend of Bennett, whom he procured to make the entry for him. Iu May, 1843, Malcom McBane and John Cordell-both with their families-settled in the immediate vicinity of Quasqueton, on the east side of the river. They entered their first land May 2, 1843. Sometime in the summer or fall of 1843, Came James Biddinger, S. V. Thompson, and W. W. Hadden; the former settled near, and the two latter at, Quasqueton. During the summer of 1843, a flouring-mill was erected at Quasqueton by Mr. Stiles, but was probably not completed until 1844, about which time a Mr. Richards settled there and opened the first store. Up to this time the place has been known only as "The Rapids of the Wapsipinicon, " but now it had a saw-inill and grist-mill, a store, tavern and saloon, and had become quite a village, and was named "Trenton," which name it retained until about 1847, when it was regularly laid out into lots and rechristened Quasqueton, which name is euphonized from Quasquetuck, signifying in the Indian tongue "Swift Waters."
The first settlers had now begun to raise wheat as well as corn, and, with a mill in their immediate vicinity where it could be ground, were in little danger of being again compelled to subsist on boiled corn, Fish were abundant in the river, and it is told, and is undoubtedly true, that they were caught of such size that, tied together by the gills and thrown across a horse, their caudal fins touched the ground on each side. It is surmised, however, that the horse was an Indian pony and of not unusual height. The species of fish which attained to such size was the "muscalonge," and some of the same species weighing twenty- four pounds were caught at Independence as late as 1854. During the year 1844 there seems to have been but little additional emigration to the county; but in 1845 quite a number of families arrived, among them one Abbott, James Rundle, and Benoni and Harvey B. Haskins, and, I think, David Merrill; these families all settled near Quasqueton. During that year, also, was made the first entry of land north of the correction line. It was on section 25, 89, 9, a part of what is now known as the "County Poor Farm," and was entered by John Kimmis, December 4, 1845.
Rufus B. Clark, in his hunting excursions, had early visited, observed and admired the site of Independence. He had no means with which to purchase the land, but he laid claim to the place, and in the spring of 1847 built a log house on the east side of the river, at a spot near the present junction of Chatham and Mott streets, and removed his family thereto. After making the claim he had visited Janesville, Wis- consin, and induced S. P. Stoughton and Nicholas A. McClure to pur- chase the land. Stoughton came to Independence the same spring- April, 1847-entered the land, and during that summer built a dam and saw-mill, and brought also a small stock of goods. With him came Samuel Sherwood, Mervin Dunton, and a Dr. Lovejoy. In July, 1847, S. S. McClure, Eli D. Phelps, A. H. Trask, and Thomas W. Close ar- rived, and all settled at Independence. In June of that year three commissioners, appointed by the State legislature for that purpose, visited the county, and on the fifteenth of June located the county seat on section 34, 89, 9, and called it Independence. In 1846 John Boon and Frank Hathaway had settled on the edge of the prairie two miles northeast of Independence, so that the Fourth of July, 1847, saw at Independence quite a little community of settlers, and if the celebra- tion here on that day was not as largely attended as this, it was fully as enthusiastic as this can be. The location being made at a date so near
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HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY, IOWA.
to the Fourth of July had probably a great influence in the selection of the name of Independence for the future city. The overflow caused by the erection of the dam produced malaria, and most of the settlers suffered from fever and ague. Mrs. R. B. Clark and Dr. Lovejoy died in the fall of 1847. In June, 1848, the colony was increased by the ar- rival of Asa Blood, senior and junior, Elijah and Anthony Beardsley, and a Mr. Babbitt. Dr. Brewer removed to Independence also that year, having been elected clerk of county commissioners the year be- fore, and consequently being required to be at the county seat. John Obenchain had settled in the spring of 1848 two miles north of Inde- pendence, on the farm now occupied by C. Dickson. Isaac Hathaway also settled on section 36, 89, 9, about two miles east of Independence; Thomas Barr, six miles north of Independence; Samuel and Orlando Sufficool, William Bunce, Daniel Greeley, and William Greeley, at Greeley's Grove; John Scott, on what is now known as the Smyser farm; Jacob Minton, William Minton, and Gamaliel Walker, on Pine creek; B. D. Springer, half way between Independence and Quasque- ton, on the place vacated by Johnson; Thomas E. Mckinney, on Pine creek; a Mr. Trogden, on the west side of the river, about five miles above Quasqueton; and some fifteen or twenty others, mostly at or in the vicinity of Quasqueton, among them D. S. Davis, George I. Cum- mins, James Cummins, Charles Robbins, Benjamin Congdon, and others, not forgetting to mention Hamilton Megonigle, who came from the banks of the Juniata, in Pennsylvania, a regular, careless, jovial free-hearted, open-handed backwoodsman, who was known to every- body, and loved to be called "Old Juny."
The tax list for 1847 shows eighty-one names as resident tax payers. Among them are Thomas Barr, Samuel and Orlando Sufficool, Wil- liam Bunce, I. F. Hathaway, John Boon, Gamaliel Walker, William Biddinger, N. G. Parker, Samuel Caskey, Ami H. Trask, Thomas W. Close, Samuel Sherwood and Edward Brewer, who are still living and residents of the county. The same tax list shows that there were then sixty forty-acre tracts of land entered in the county, being a little less than four sections. The valuation of all property, real and personal, was twenty-one thousand, seven hundred and nine dollars, and total tax one hundred and sixty-seven dollars and forty cents. Of the eighty- one residents seventy-four were voters. The total moneys and credits assessed were three thousand, seven hundred and seventy-five dollars, of which W. W. Hadden had two thousand, six hundred and seventy dollars. There were two hundred and forty-nine head of cattle, four hundred and seventeen hogs, sixty-eight horses, forty-two wagons, six hundred and forty-two sheep, and not one mule. Few of the settlers indulged in the luxury of watches, for there seem to have been but six in the whole county. The mills and machinery at Quasqueton had at this time become the property of D. S. Davis, and were valued at two thousand dollars. The saw-mill at Independence is put down at nine hundred dollars. W. W. Hadden paid the highest tax, the enormous sum of twenty-two dollars and thirty-nine cents.
The first election of which I find any record was in August, 1847. The county was then divided into two election precincts, one called "Quasqueton " and the other "Centre " precinct. John Scott, Freder- ick Kessler and B. D. Springer were elected county commissioners, and Edward Brewer clerk ; and it is a conclusive proof of his worth and ability that he continued to hold that office twenty-three years. On the fourth of October, 1847, the county commissioners held their first meeting at the house of Edward Brewer, in Independence. Their first official act was to divide the county into three commissioner's districts The first district comprised all the north half of the county. The south half was divided by a line running north and south about one and a half miles west of Quasqueton.
Three road petitions were presented, and viewers appointed at that session. One from Independence east to county line. One from Inde- pendence east to intersect the territorial road from Marion to Fort At- kinson, and one from Quasqueton to Independence on the west side of the river. It was ordered also that a surveyor be employed to lay off a town at the county-seat. On November 3, 1847, the commissioners met and caused eight blocks of lots on the southeast quarter of south- east quarter section thirty-four, to be laid off as the village of Inde_ pendence, and the county-seat. The land was still Government land and not entered by the county until January, 1849, though it was legal- ly pre-empted, and thus secured to the county in January, 1848. The ots were ten rods in length by five in width, and the price fixed for them was five dollars each. In January, 1848, also the three roads first petitioned for, were declared public highways.
Up to that time there had been no regularly laid out roads in the county, except a territorial road from Marion to Fort Atkinson, cross- ing the river at Quasqueton, and running thence nearly north through
the county, passing near where is now the village of Winthrop. This was know as the " Mission" road. And another from Marion to the north line of the State laid out in 1846, crossing the river at the same place and passing about two miles east of Independence, at the edge of the timber. The settlers followed such routes as suited their con- venience, from house to house and from neighborhood to neighbor- hood. Indian trails crossed the prairie from stream to stream, leading to fording places, and well worn paths led up and down the river, touching, surely, every hubbling spring. Such trails, which recent settlers suppose to be merely cattle paths, can be pointed out in many places even to this day by the pioneers.
Though in the spring of 1848 several families came to Independence the prevalence of fever and ague was so discouraging that not only they, but most of those who came earlier, left the place, either in the fall of 1848 or spring of 1849, so that in the summer of 1849 only four families remained. In July, 1849, the first entry of land was made in Newton township, by Joseph B. Potter. The first settlement in that township was by Joseph Austin, in the spring of 1847, on section thirty-three. Reuben C. Walton was the next, and built his cabin on the same forty as Austin, in 1848. In 1850 William P. Harris, Aaron M. Long, Henry Holman and a Mr. Ogden settled in the same vicinity on Spring Creek, and James McCanna on section twelve on Buf- lalo creek. John Cordell entered the first land in Cono township in 1843, and Leander Keyes and T. K. Burgess settled in that township just below Quasqueton in 1848. No land was entered in Homer town- ship till 1851, when John S. Williams entered forty acres on section nineteen. The first actual settler in Jefferson township was J. B. Stainbrook, in June, 1850, and his daughter, Martha, now Mrs. Mas- ters, and residing in Brandon, was the first white child born in the township. Mr. Stainbrook yet occupies the same farm he first settled upon, and the first cabin he built is still standing. John Rouse and Abel Cox were the next settlers, and arrived in July, 1850, and in September Nicholas Albert, Philip Zinn and Joseph Rouse. The next year came John Rice, Thomas Frink, Mathew Davis and Hamilton Wood.
In the fall of 1851 a State road was surveyed from Quasqueton to the county-seat of Marshall county. Two of the commissioners were D. S. Davis and John Cordell. The party started from Quasqueton to look out the route, and passed near Brandon, or where Brandon now is. No one, even at Quasqueton, had ever visited Jefferson township, nor did any one of the party know whether there was a settler there or not. It was known that some persons from that direction had crossed the prairie to the Quasqueton mill, but there was no road, not even a discernible track of any kind. Aided by the compass, the party made its way to Lime creek, and found nestled in the brush near that stream, the cabins of Joseph and John Rouse, and close by them went into camp the first night out. From Rouse it was learned that there were two or three families a little south, and by strict search and Rouse for a guide, they found their houses the next forenoon.
No settlement was made in Westburgh township till 1853; nor do I know who was the first settler; but William B. Wilkinson must have been among the first. In 1849 Michael Ginther settled in Sumner township, and, being at a loss to describe the land he desired to enter, he carried the corner stake to the land office at Dubuque, going there on foot for that purpose. This entry was afterward found to be on the wrong section entirely. He had intended to buy the land on which he had settled, and on which is the famous spring known yet as the "Gin- ther Spring, " about half way between Independence and Quasqueton, on the west side of the river; and when he found the entry he had really made was one mile west, and out on the prairie, he was completely dis- couraged, being a poor man, and believing that land so far out would never be of any value whatever. The first settler in Middlefield was P. M. Dunn, who entered his land on section thirty-four, April 24, 1850, followed soon after by Daniel Leatherman and Stillman Berry. Fre- mont township remained unsettled till 1853, when Z. P. and S. W. Rich located on Buffalo creek, near the southeast corner of the town- ship. They were induced to venture so far out from the timber from the fact that at that time the road direct from Independence to Coffin's Grove, Delhi and Dubuque, had begun to be considerably travelled, though almost up to that year the only travelled route had been via Quasqueton; but in 1852 the few citizens of Independence and vicinity had turned out voluntarily and built a bridge of split legs across Buf- falo creek, near the correction line, making the route practicable .- Robert Sutton settled in Byron, on section thirty-two, as early as 1850, if not in 1849; and Thomas Ozias in 1851. The first settlers in Perry township were James Minton, Charles Melrose and Gamaliel Walker, in 1849. Martin Depoy and Jacob Slaughter entered land in that
45
HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY, IOWA.
township the same year, but did not become settlers till 1850; and in that same year Alexander Stevenson, and John and Thomas Cameron settled in the same township, all in the northeast corner, near Littleton. Melrose had made an error in his entry, entering in the north part of town eighty-eight, ten, instead of eighty nine, ten, being near the pres- ent village of Jessup, and not supposing land in that locality would ever be valuable, hy much effort and the aid of the then United States Senator, G. W. Jones, a special act of Congress was passed vacating his entry and placing it on the section intended, where Mr. Melrose now lives. Of the first settlement in Hazelton township I have already spoken. William Jewell settled and made the first entry of land in Buffalo township, in 1849, where now lives C. H1. Jakeway. Abiathar Richardson and Silas K. Messenger came next, in 1850; and Thomas and Rockwell Jewell and A. J. Eddy, in 1851. In Madison township, Silas Ross, L. R. Ward, and Seymour Whitney settled at nearly the same time, in 1853, and were the first comers. They located in the east part of the township, near the place now known as Ward's Cor- ners.' In Fairbank township, William S. Clark was the first to locate, settling in the south part, just above Littleton, in 1848 or 1849, and was the very first settler in that region. He went to California about 1856, but the house he built is yet standing .- Thomas Wilson must have found his way into the timber west of the little Wapsie very soon fter, for I remember finding him and one Mckinstry settled there in 1850. Robert Wroten located near Clark, in 1850.
In 1849, S. P. Stoughton and S. S. MeClure returned to Independ- enee, and with them came the writer of this sketch. There were then in Independence only Dr. Brewer, Thomas W. Close and E. Beards- ley and a Mr. Horton, each with their families. Samuel Sherwood, though still reckoned a citizen of Independence, was absent that winter building a mill at Cedar Rapids. There was an unenclosed saw-mill, and no other building on the west bank of the river. On the east side, besides the buildings oeeupied by the families named, a vacant black- smith shop and three vacant dwellings, among them the house built by Rufus B. Clark, who, after the death of his wife, had sold his interest in the place to Stoughton & McClure, and removed to the Cedar river, in Chickasaw county.
The families in the north half of the county could almost be counted on one's fingers. W. S. Clark, James Newton Charles Melrose and Gamaliel Walker were up the river near where Littleton now is. Jacob Minton, Thomas Barr, Joseph Ross and Isaac Hathaway, on the creek five miles north of Independence; the Greeleys, William Bunce, John Kint, and Samuel Sufficool, still further north in Hazleton township; William Jewell, A. Richardson, and Silas K. Messenger, at Buffalo Grove; and John Obenchain, Carmi Hickox, Frank Hathaway, John Boon, Isaac Sufficool (who had bought the lsaae Hathaway farm), and H. Megonigle, located around the edge of the timber north and east of Independence, and that completes the list.
Quasqueton had become quite a village. It had a flouring-mill, to which came settlers from the west and southwest with their grain, for sixty or seventy miles; also a saw-mill, a store, grocery, hotel, and blacksmith shop, and really was a growing, prosperous town. But In- dependence was a forlorn looking place, indeed. Four families only, and they anxious to leave, but too poor to get away; an idle saw-mill, and not a store or shop of any kind and little prospect of either. The county had laid out forty acres into lots, and Stoughton and McClure a few blocks on each side of Main street. There was nothing to dis- tinguish streets from lots; even Main street was only a crooked wagon path through the brush. There was a wagon road cut through the timber to the Hickox farm (now known as the Smyser farm), and one more crooked still, out to the prairie east, which crossed the first little creek near the Brewer place, and the next at the old Sufficool place (now occupied by Elzy Wilson), and irom it followed the edge of the timber down to Quasqueton, about where the travelled road now runs. There was also a track north, via of the Obenchain farm and thence across the prairie toward Thomas Barr's and up Otter creek, but so faint as to be hardly discernible. Neither road nor track up the river, except an Indian trail, and not even that west across the prairie, nor east beyond the timber, nor to, or toward Brandon or Buffalo Grove To venture two miles west on the prairie was about as dangerous as to venture to sea out of sight of land without a compass. Thomas Close carried the mail once each week to Cedar Falls, on an Indian pony. There were no marks of any kind to guide him, and if by eare- ful observation he kept within a mile of the direct course, it was quite a feat of prairie eraft. Wolves prowled about the houses, and bands of them made night vocal with their howling. The cast bank of the river was where is now the middle of the bridge, and large trees were growing where now stands the centre pier.
The assessment roll for 1849 shows ninety-seven resident taxpayers of which about thirty lived in the north half of the county. That of 1850 shows only eighty-three resident taxpayers in the county, thirty- three being in the north half. At the August election in 1848 Washing. ton township polled twenty-three, Spring fifteen, and Liberty thirty-two votes; and in August, 1850, Washington nineteen, Spring nineteen, and Liberty thirty, in all sixty-eight votes. The tax book of 1850 shows the total valuation of property, real and personal, to have been forty-six thousand nine hundred and fifty-eight dollars, and total tax assessed, three hundred and seventy dollars and twenty cents. Twelve thousand six hundred and eighty-one acres of land were entered -- about twenty sections in all. The total value of merchandise was nine hundred dollars, and that was all at Quasqueton. Mills and ma- chinery were valued at four thousand three hundred dollars; three thousand dollars at Quasqueton, one thousand one hundred and sixty- seven dollars at Independence, and five hundred and thirty-three dol- lars at Pine Creek. There were six watches, valued at one hundred and eighty-eight dollars; forty-three wagons, valued at one thousand six hundred dollars; seventy-four horses, valued at three thousand seven hundred and sixty dollars; two hundred and forty-one cattle, assessed at three thousand six hundred and seventy dollars; two hun- dred and eighty-eight sheep, valued at four hundred and three dollars, and five hundred and fifty-five hogs, valued at eight hundred and sixty- four dollars.
There was a post office at Quasqueton and at Independence, and the mail came from Dubuque once a week, via Quasqueton, in a one-horse wagon. There was not a bridge in the county, nor across any stream between this and Dubuque, nor any regular ferry. If streams were too deep to be forded they must be crossed in eanoes, or by swimming, or by rafts. All houses in the county were of logs, save a few at Quas- queton and at Independence. Almost every farm thus far selected was so located as to embrace prairie for tillage, and timber for fencing, fuel, and shelter, and on some little stream, and a spring near which to build. No special pains were taken to construct warm houses, and fuel was used as prodigally as though the whole country had been tim- hered. Pork and bread were abundant, and honey, venison and wild fruits, in their season. There was no market for surplus produce, and little surplus produce to market, except pork, and if that was hauled to the Mississippi it would bring two dollars per hundred. But every- body had plenty of good wholesome food to eat, and they didn't trouble themselves about luxuries. Everybody in the county knew and was neighbor to everybody else, no matter how far apart they lived.
In 1849, the California gold excitement prevailed, and the fever siezed many of the settlers here, and in the spring of 1850 several of them crossed the plains to that ElDorado. Among them were William Bunce, John Obenchain, Kessler, B. D. Springer, Trask and Phelps and Stoughton. Some of them returned, others remained, and some died there. Among the latter was Kessler. Stoughton returned the next year, but died shortly after, of consumption, in the south, where he had gone hoping to benefit his health. In May or June, 1850, Hor- ton and Beardsley left the place, and there remained but two familes, Close and Brewer, and two young men, McClure and Roszell, to keep the village alive. MeClure caused the land belonging to Stoughton and MeClure, on the west side of the river, to be surveyed into lots, and named the place New Haven. In July of that year, William Brazelton moved to Independence from Jones county, and soon after, James A. Dyer, and a young man, George Counts; and in September, Thomas Denton and family arrived. John Vargason and James Bige- low came to the county also that summer, and McClure tried to induce them to settle in Independence, offering to give them any lots they might select, if they would build on them and remain there; but the inducement was not sufficient, and they settled five miles north.
In June, MeClure traded fractional block number one and the east half of block number two, on the west side of the river, to Andrew Mullarkey for a barrel of gin and a box of cigars, and thought it a good trade. With this assistance, we had a grand celebration on that fourth of July. Samuel Sherwood, Samuel S. MeClure, Dr. Brewer, Alexander Hathaway, and O. H. P'. Roszell were officers, orators and procession.
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