History of Buchanan County, Iowa, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 110

Author: Williams bros., Cleveland, pub. [from old catalog]; Riddle, A. G. (Albert Gallatin), 1816-1902
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Cleveland, Williams brothers
Number of Pages: 574

USA > Iowa > Buchanan County > History of Buchanan County, Iowa, with illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 110

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In the fall of 1850, came Peter Albert (the father-in law of J. B. Stainbrook), his wife and four children : Nicholas Albert and family (wife and four children), and Phillip Zinn with his wife and four children. When the winters of 1850 and 1851 came, the above named com- pleted the colony. They obtained their supplies from Cedar Rapids, some thirty miles away. Sent a man once a week to Marion for their mail, forty miles away; had plenty of wild game that supplied them with delic -. ious food. We should call this hard life. But, with all the deprivations incident to pioneer life, they claim, that never in their lives did they enjoy themselves better. Phillip Zinn is dead. Peter Albert is still living there, although he has passed his eighty-first birthday. He was born in Bavaria, Germany, December 25, 1799 ; married in Germany; came to the United States forty-four years ago with his wife and four children; settled in Pennsyl- vania, and, in the fall of 1850, came to Iowa, and has lived here from that time. He can, now gather about him six children, thirty grandchildren, and thirteen great- grandchildren. He and his good wife, who is two years his junior, still live happily and in full enjoyment of health. While living in Germany, and about fourteen years of age, he saw Napoleon I, while on one of his expeditions into the German country. He is a member of the Reformed church.

Jacob Fouts is entitled to a notice among the early settlers, as one of those who gave vigor and enthusiasm to the young colony, by his kindness of heart and busi- ness-like abilities. He was born in Ohio, June 25, 1808, received a common school education, and married De- cember, 1827. He came to Iowa in 1852 and was largely interested in real estate, owning at one time ten hundred and ten acres of land in this township. This, at his death, he equally divided among his children. He died May 27, 1874, and his wife followed him August 20th, in the same year. His children are as follows: Mahala, who married W. W. Morton, and now resides in Nevada; Davis Fouts, who married Julia Albert (said to have been the first wedding in the township), six children be-

ing the issue of the marriage. They now reside in Wood- bury county, Iowa; W. H. Fouts married Mary Romig, and has two children, a boy and a girl. He still resides in the township, having passed the most of his days as a merchant in Brandon. He has now retired to his farm, three miles northeast of that village, where he spends his days in peace and quiet, with his happy family. Eslie married C. C. Morton and is now living on a farm near Brandon; they have six children: Susan, married G. W. Short; they have six children and live in the town- ship. Albert F. Fouts, a hardware dealer in Brandon, is married to Amelia Muchmore, by whom he has three children. Emeretta J., is married to D. B. Stickman, a farmer in the township, and has four children. Thus the reader will notice that the Fouts family is a numerous one.

William Rouse settled here in February, 1851, on land which he afterward entered from the Government, and now lives on it. He is a Tennesseean, having been born in May, 1813. When a boy he emigrated to Indiana and married there. He was at one time the owner of three hundred acres of land in this township, but he has divided it up among his sons, reserving for himself, a homestead of a hundred and twenty acres. His children are: Margaret, Joseph, John, Andrew, William, Elsy, and Jacob, all married except two. He has thirteen grandchildren and all boys but one. When he first came to the township his whole property was a span of horses, a wagon, and two hundred dollars in money.

John Rouse, or Jack, as he was familiarly called, father of William, became a resident of Iowa in 1851, and set- tled in section thirteen, where he owned and tilled a little

farm of twenty acres. He was a native of South Caro- lina, and in early life, emigrated to Tennessee, where he was married. Then he removed to Indiana, and from there to Iowa. He was a great hunter and spent most of his time hunting deer, wild turkeys, wolves, rac- coons, etc. In his hunting expeditions he almost invaria- bly travelled on horseback. As the country became settled up, game became scarce and he grew dissatisfied. So, in 1862, he moved to Nebraska, where he now resides, at the age of ninety-one years. The first election of the township was held at his log house, and he was elected one of the magistrates.

· Abel Cox, a son-in-law of John Rouse, and a native of Indiana, came in the spring of 1851, settling near Rouse's, on a part of the same section, a farm of one hundred and sixty acres. He was also a Nimrod of no mean order, his unerring rifle having brought down many a fleet deer. When hunting, his invariable custom was to walk. In 1860, he sold out and left for better hunting-grounds, in Nebraska, where he still resides, often pursuing the swift- footed game.

Nicholas Albert, a native of Germany, born in Bavaria, March 21, 1806, settled in this township in the fall of 1850. He came to the United States April 11, 1832; was a shoe-maker, having learned the trade in father- land. His sister and another lady came with him, the latter of whom, on landing at New York city, he mar- ried. His money being exhausted, she furnished the

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wedding fee and paid the expenses of herself, husband, and sister to Pennsylvania, where they first settled. Soon after his arrival he built a log house (for no others were then in fashion), into which the family moved and passed the winter. He has now retired from business and lives in a neat cottage near where he first settled. The names of his children are, Louisa, Henry A., Peter T., Cath- arine, and W. A. Albert, who is a carpenter, unmarried, and lives at home with the old folks. The youngest is Maggie.

John Frink settled here in 1852, coming from Illinois. He had a family of grown-up boys. He first settled in a grove, three miles north of Brandon, which still bears his name. He was a native of New York, and one of the first magistrates in the township. His sons were John, Alonzo, and George. Alonzo and George left soon after, not remaining here but a few years. John, the father, died in 1860, then one of the oldest in the place. The son, John, still remains, and was married to Miss Pella. In those early days he kept a hotel, and as it was on the State road, he did a large business. He also had the honor (such as it was) of keeping the first and only whiskey shop ever kept in Jefferson township. In that locality, in those days (we are sorry to say), but little regard was paid to morality. Alonzo Frink, after leaving, together with his family, settled in Minnesota; and we have of him a sad, but true tale to relate. His wife and children were killed by the Indians, without any provocation whatever. Then it was that Alonzo swore eternal vengeance against the red man. He now follows the life of a hunter, and many are the Indians that have fallen before his unerring rifle. The dread of the In- dians, he refuses friendship from their hands.

ORGANIZATION,

Jefferson was set off as a separate township, by order of the county judge, March 1, 1852, the record of the transaction being as follows: "It is ordered by the court that township eighty-seven, range nine, and town- ship eighty-seven, range ten, of the county of Buchanan, compose one precinct to be called Jefferson precinct, and that an election be held in said precinct, on the first Monday in April next, at the house of John Rouse. A change was made in the township on the twenty-ninth of July, 1858, when congressional township eighty-seven, range nine, was severed therefrom and constituted one township, under the name of Homer.

The first election was held at the house of John Rouse in accordance with the above order, and cleven votes were cast. J. B Stainbrook, Abel Cox, and Joseph Rouse, were elected trustees; John Rouse and John Frink, justices; Alonzo Frink, assessor; and John Rice, township clerk. The second election was held where Brandon now stands, on Lime creek, with about the same number of votes. The present officers are as fol- lows: John Bain and Joseph Bunce, justices; Eli Fouts, H. F. Miller, and John Kipford, trustees; W. T. Bryan, township clerk; B. B. Brown and E. W. Sweet, constables.

RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.

The pioneer church in Jefferson township was the Methodist. In an early day religious services were had

at private houses, and it was some time before a house of worship could be obtained. In May, 1856, Rev. D. Donaldson organized the first society at the house of J. G. Williams, with only five members-J. G. Williams, Caroline F. Williams, Thomas Brandon, his wife, and daughter Maria. It may not be out of place to state the circumstances under which this society was formed. Mr. Williams was one day standing in the street when he noticed a person passing on horseback, and, thinking from his clerical appearance that he might be a minister, he hailed him. The minister stopped that night and held religious services and organized (as above stated) the first Methodist class in the township. They now own a good meeting-house and parsonage, and have an organ. Their property is valued at one thousand five hundred dollars, and is all out of debt, and have a mem- bership of seventy-five persons. Rev. B. A. Wright is the present pastor.

The Wesleyan Methodist was organized in February, 1867, with some twenty-five members, and D. P. Parker as their preacher. The present number is about twenty, located in the southeastern part of the township. Rev. George Allen is the present preacher.

Reformed church in the United States was organized December 1, 1860, with twenty members, being mostly composed of Germans. Rev. Joshua Raile was the first preacher. They are now the owners of a good house of worship, with a bell and organ, and have services and a Sabbath-school each Sabbath. The present membership is about forty, and the Rev. Thomas Lund is the pastor.

BRANDON.

This, the only village in the township, is in the south- western part. The village was platted and laid out by S. P. Brainard, Jacob Fouts, and E. C. Wilson, in 1854. The first stock of goods and store kept there was by S. P. Brainard, who soon after took as a partner W. H. Fouts; subsequently sold to Fouts, who continued the business for a number of years. The following are some of the principal business establishments; and nearly every business and profession is represented, except the legal-there is no lawyer, but there are four physicians: Wagon-shops, Robert Mclaughlin and William A. Albert; drug stores, Benjamin Muchmore and Hyde & Bissell; dry goods, McLeish, Edwards & Co .; grocery, J. N. Bissel; hardware, A. F. Fouts; blacksmiths, Robi- son Lamb, and S. Ackman & Brother; houses of wor- ship, Methodist Episcopal church and Reformed church ; a large public school-house; physicians, Benjamin Much- more, Merrill J. Hyde, John Bain, and Dr. Stevens; a cornet band, with W. Bryan as leader ; harness-shop, William Bain; hotel, D. L. Brown; creamery, R. J. Jackway. This latter was established in the summer of 1880, and is operated upon the plan of gathering the cream from the farmers instead of the milk. Thus far it seems very satisfactory. One thing strikes the stranger as out of the general order of things, and that is an entire absence of drinking saloons. The people are certainly to be congratulated. The population is between one hundred and fifty and two hundred. The first white child born here was Martha J. Stainbrook, daughter of

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HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY, IOWA.

J. B. Stainbrook and granddaughter of Peter Albert. She was born August 27, 1850, and is now the wife of Simon E. Masters. She still resides in the township and is the mother of five beautiful children, whose names are as follows: Mertie C., Carrie B., Jessie D., Joseph B., and Minnie S. Mr. Stainbrook had not been in the township but a short time before Martha Jane's birth.

Jacob Fouts built a saw-mill at Brandon on Lime creek in 1854, which remained standing for some twenty years, when the business not proving remunerative the building was taken down.

A cemetery was established here, on a Mr. Beachler's farm about a mile from Brandon, in 1853, and the first person buried there was a little girl by the name of Pella, who was accidentally burned to death. She was out in the yard with her father, who was burning brush, and her dress taking fire, before assistance could be rendered she was so badly burned that she died in a short time. This was the first death since the settlement of the town- ship, in June, 1850. The second was Noah Naylor, a promising young man of eighteen years of age, in 1854. In 1859 a second cemetery was established near Bran- don, and joining the plat on the west. A third is located two miles east of Brandon, at Green Wood chapel, under the control of the Wesleyan Methodists.

The postmasters were appointed in the order given, as follows: S. P. Brainard being the first, W. H. Fouts, A. B. Edwards, James Romig, J. N. Bissell and Nellie Bissell. There has never been but one office in the township and there is a tri-weekly mail.

Darwin Youndt & Co. have an establishment here for the purpose of making sorghum, located two and one- half miles east of Brandon. Each fall they make some two thousand or three thousand gallons. The busi- ness is of great advantage to the people. A. W. Jewell and J. C. Williams were the pioneers in the manufacture of this article in the township. They made a machine with their own hands, which is reported to have done good work, although somewhat rude in its structure.

SCHOOLS.

The earliest school in the township was a private or subscription school. We have seen a paper that was circulated in the township for the purpose of raising money to hire a teacher and buy a stove; and Jacob Fouts gave them the use of a log house in what is now the village of Brandon. The school was taught by Mrs. William Boyles. Under such circumstances twenty scholars gathered for instruction, ten of whom are still living in the township and heads of families. This was in the winter of 1854-55. The first school-house was built in Brandon on Lime creek, by Ed. Webster. Soon after the building of the one in Brandon another was built in the Lizer district and one in the Boone dis- trict. In 1880 a large, fine school-house was built in Brandon. There are now ten schools in the township. Among the early teachers are R. P. Nelson, a resident of the township, and Wellington Town.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.

The pioneer physicians were B. F. Muchmore, J. B. Darling, and Dr. Stimpson. The first hotel was kept by

E. C. Wilson. The first blacksmith was Fred Youndt. The first entry of land was made by William McCay, in section twenty-eight. The first wedding that we can find any account of was solemnized August 5, 1852, between Davis Fouts and Julia Albert. They resided in the township until February, 1877, when they moved to Sloan, Woodbury county, Iowa, where they are now living. Six children were born to them. George Frink, George Lauderdale and C. O. Morton have good but small orchards, all young and growing. Frink and Lau- derdale have made cider in small quantities.

Lime creek passes from the north in a southwesterly direction through the township. Bear creek is in the southeast part; Mud creek in the centre; in the north Spring creek. About one and one-half miles east of Brandon is a small pond, covering half an acre of land. which has never failing water.

In 1855 the corn crop was entirely destroyed by an early frost coming August 31; and in 1856 a terrible hail storm passed through the township, coming from the north, destroying the entire erop, nothing being left to harvest and scarcely a grain shrub remained standing. Roofs of houses were blown off, and one or two houses were blown down. Even the bark on the north side of the trees was torn off. It was the most severe and de- structive hail storm that has ever visited this township or county in the recollection of the oldest settlers. The following winter was a very severe one, the settlers suf- fering for the common necessities of life. A very deep snow came-four feet on a level; and after it fell, it rained and then fioze, making a very thick, hard erust on the snow-hard enough to bear up a horse. Many of the settlers subsisted on boiled corn, which they obtained in Linn county, for one dollar and twenty-five cents per bushel. Many of the young children were without shoes and boots, and the brave settler was compelled to sell his trusty rifle to buy bread for his starving family. The deer, not able to run upon the crust, became an easy prey. The wolves were bold and fierce.

The first fruit was raised in the township by John S. Bouck. He is said to have started here the very first fruit nursery in the county ; and here at one time he had a good orchard, located in the northwestern part of the township. But now that once beautiful and productive orchard is dead, killed by severe weather in winter.

Those who first settled in this township became so well satisfied that they, for the most part, have remained in it, and they and their descendants have peopled it. And we venture the closing remark, without fear of con- tradiction, that there is not another township in the county that has retained so large a number of its old pioneers as Jefferson.

PERSONAL MENTION.

Lyman N. Bissell was born in Ticonderoga, Essex county, New York, October 26, 1854. He was educated in an academy at Ticonderoga, in the public schools of Independence, and at lowa City. In 1868 he came with his parents to Independence. In 1873 he came to Brandon, Jefferson township, where he engaged in gen- eral merchandise business with his father, though devoting

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a part of his time to teaching, and was at one time prin- cipal of the Brandon schools. In March of 1880 he en- gaged in general merchandise and drug business with Dr. M. J. Hyde, with whom he is building up a large trade. In politics he is a Republican, though he was a Demo- crat until a year ago, when he had "his eyes opened."

Dr. M. J. Hyde was born in Isle Lamoile, in Lake Champlain part of Addison county, Vermont, April 2, 1854. When seven years old he went to New Haven; and, seven years later, he again moved to Plainwell, Al- legan county, Michigan. His education was obtained at Plainwell and the State university, Ann Arbor, from which he graduated M. D., March, 1876. After graduating, for a short time he located at Brandon, Buchanan county, Iowa. In March, of 1880, he went into the drug busi- ness with Lyman Bissell, also continuing his professional duties.

D. A. McLeish was born in Perthshire, Scotland, Febru- ary 28, 1844. In 1848 he immigrated with his mother-his father having been lost at sea two years before-to the County Perth, Canada. He was educated in the com- mon schools, attending for a short time the Stratford high school. When about eighteen he began teaching, and continued this profession after he came to Iowa in 1865, teaching some eleven terms in Buchanan county. During the fall of 1873 was elected county auditor and served two terms. During the spring of 1878 he engaged in the mercantile business with Thomas Edwards and A. T. McDonald, buying out the store of J. M. Ramsey. They have increased the trade done by their predecessor and are still increasing the amount done the first year. In 1868 was married to Lena N. Bowersock of Brandon, Iowa, a native of Ohio, and an adopted daughter of A. Oler, by whom he has four children: Mary Louise, Mar- garet, Harriet Webster, and William Oler. He is a mem- ber of the Reformed German Lutheran church. In pol- itics he is an earnest, working Republican, though he was elected auditor on the Anti-monopoly ticket.

D. L. Brown was born in Maytown, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, December 31, 1824. He was raised on a farm, receiving his education at the common schools- being able, on account of threshing, to attend school but five days one winter, and twelve another. When seven- teen he was apprenticed to learn the shoemaker's trade; worked at it but one year after serving his time of three and a half years. In 1850 he commenced farming on the old home place, where he remained until the spring of 1855, when he sold out and came to West Union, Fay- ette county. The colony that came out with him took the cholera, and some seventeen died from it. Abraham Hess' death deranged the plans of the colony, so that within a week they left West Union and went to South Bend, Indiana, where he bought and managed a farm and engaged in the manufacture of bricks. In three years he returned to Pennsylvania, and then farmed for three years, and was engaged in distilling for three years. He went, in 1867, to Lock, Clinton county, where he engaged in the wholesale liquor business until March 10, 1871, when he was financially ruined by fire. He then was without regular employment until he came to Bran-

don, in the spring of 1878. Here he engaged in the hardware business for two years, when he bought the Exchange hotel, of which he is now the genial host. On March 10, 1846 he was married to a lady of York county, Pennsylvania, by whom he has had seven children-El- mira, born March 5, 1847; Emma, born April ro, 1849; John W., born May, 2, 1851; Zulime, born January 7, 1853; David, born June 15, 1855; Lovada Mabelle, born November 20, 1857 ; and Henry, born February 14, 1862, and died in August, 1863.

Dr. B. P. Muchmore was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, February 7, 1827. In 1834 he moved with his parents to Fayette county, Indiana. His common school education was received in the public schools of Ohio and Indiana. When about sixteen years of age he began reading medicine with Dr. Parker, of Fayette county, Indiana, and attended lectures at the Eclectic Medical college, of Cincinnati, when nineteen years of age, and graduated from this institution in 1845. He located as practicing physician at Selma, Delaware county, Indiana, remaining three years. In the fall of 1854 he located in Spring Creek, Black Hawk county, and two years after- ward at Brandon, where has remained until the present time. In 1874 he purchased the stock of drugs of John Bain, and, with an interim of one year, has conducted the store to the present time. On September 28, 1846, he was married to Elizabeth J. Hardesty, of Fayette county, Indiana, by whom he had six children-Stephen C., born June 8, 1847; Frances, born August 4, 1849; Mary Ellen, born July 13, 1851; Sarah Jane, born Sep- tember 9, 1853, and died in October, 1854; Oliver Ed- win, born March 31, 1867; and Elizabeth Alice, born January 3, 1869, and died September 9, 1869. In Feb- ruary, 1869, his wife died, and on December 15, 1869, he was married to Nancy J. Clements, of Laurel, Fayette county, Indiana, a pupil and teacher of Brooklyn college, Indiana, by whom he had two children-Isaac B., born October 9, 1871, and Charles K., born August 1, 1876. He is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in politics he has always been a Republican.

J. M. Romig was born in Richfield township, Wash- ington county, Wisconsin, May 29, 1849. When thirteen years old he removed to Jefferson township, Buchanan county, Iowa. His education was received in the public schools of Wisconsin. When seventeen he clerked for his father in a general merchandise store, and when twenty-one bought the stock of his father and continued in trade until 1878, since which time he has been en- gaged in farming. He has a farm of one hundred and eighty-eight acres under good cultivation, one-half mile northeast of Brandon. This he manages as a grain farm. On November 25, 1870, he was married to Sarah New- comb, of Independence, and a native of Westfield, Chautauqua county, New York, by whom he has three children: Myron I .. , born April 2, 1873; Frank Guy, born October 20, 1877; Lyma G., born May 4, 1878.

A. F. Fouts was born in Greene county, Wisconsin, January 23, 1847. In the fall of 1862 he went with his parents to Harrison township, Benton county, and three years afterwards his father moved to Jefferson township,

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Buchanan county, and located near Brandon. His edu- cation was received in the Brandon schools, and his oc- cupation has been that of farming. In 1868 he bought an eighty-acre farm which, after working for a time, he sold and bought three forties, which he sold about five years ago and engaged in blacksmithing. About one year ago he bought a stock of hardware of J. M. Romig, and is now engaged in that business. On July 4, 1865, he was married to Miss Muchmore, of Brandon, Iowa, by whom he has three children: Arthur E., born April 6, 1867; Alice May, born March 24, 1870; Adelbert E., born December 24, 1872. In politics he is a Democrat and an active worker, having been a number of times a delegate to the county conventions. Mr. Fouts has in- creased the amount of the stock that he originally pur- chased, and is steadily building up a good trade.

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History of Buchanan County, Iowa, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 110

Author: Williams bros., Cleveland, pub. [from old catalog]; Riddle, A. G. (Albert Gallatin), 1816-1902 Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Cleveland, Williams brothers Number of Pages: 574

Author: Williams bros., Cleveland, pub. [from old catalog]; Riddle, A. G. (Albert Gallatin), 1816-1902
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Cleveland, Williams brothers
Number of Pages: 574