History of Buchanan County, Iowa, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 20

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 20

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The next year (September 7, 1876) the association met in Dickinson's grove, on the west side of the river. The meeting was called to order by O. H. P. Roszell, president, and Z. P. Rich, of Byron township, was elect- ed secretary pro tem., in the absence of J. S. Wood- ward, secretary of the society. The weather was un- favorable and the attendance consequently small.

The election of officers for the ensuing year, resulted as follows:

O. H. P. Roszell, president; J. S. Woodward, secretary; W. A. Jones, treasurer.

The vice-presidents for the several townships were all reelected.

W. A. Jones, A. Risk, Elder Brintnall, Dr. H. Bryant, and Judge Roszell, made brief addresses, replete with interesting reminiscences of old times. Owing to the

small attendance, no additions were made to the mem- bership of the association.

September 6, 1877, the society met on the same grounds, and was called to order by B. C. Hale, of Perry township. The president, Judge Roszell, was present but too feeble in health to preside. This was the last meeting of the society that he ever attended, his death occurring before the close of the year. The weather being propitious, the attendance was large; and the re- sult, as will be seen further on, was a goodly number of accessions to the society.

The following officers were elected for the ensuing year : Henry Sparling, president: J. J. Travis, secretary ; Byron C. Hale, treasurer.

The vice-presidents were all reelected, with the follow- ing exceptions: Gamaliel Walker was elected for Perry township in place of Charles Melrose, deceased; James Fleming for Fremont township; and A. Risley for Mid- dlefield.

Colonel Jed. Lake, David Gill, Henry Sparling, Z. P. Rich, and Mrs. B. N. Morse (the latter having been a resident of the county for the past thirty-five years), made appropriate addresses; and Samuel Harvey, an old resi- dent of Delaware county, favored the society with a song, entitled, "Thirty Years Ago." The following names were added to the list of members :

Curtis Morgan, Mrs. N. Moshier, John McMillan, Mrs. J. MeMil- lan, J. F. Hathaway, Sarah Jane Hathaway, Jesse Kitch, Martha Jakeway, John Merrill, Moses Litts, John Slomens, Mrs. Mary Cates, Mrs. Mary Edgell, Mrs. Dora Gregory, Mrs. Nancy Sheldon, Mrs. Charlotte Potter, Mrs. T. M. Hunt, Mrs. Mary E. Kitch, Mrs. Anna Wagner, Mrs. Rebecca Miller, Mrs. Sarah E. Menshaw, Henry Burn- ham, Mrs. M. C. Burnham, Norman Boyce, Rachel Boyce, William Ramsey, Elizabeth Ramsey, Mrs. C. A. Ridinger, James Henry, Jesse Merrill, Jube Day, George A. Jakeway, Mrs. Martha Logan, Mrs. Ellen Stevens, Mrs. Elmira Hunt, J. B. Edgell, W. G. Miller, T. M. Hunt, Amos R. Blood, M. V. Miller, Kate Frank, N. E. House, S. L. Hastings, Mrs. Amy Hastings, Sarah Biddinger, Elsa Biddinger, Lo- vina Ilathaway, Josiah Brace, Leonard Curley, James Saunders, W. W. Norton, Hugh Hursay, Enos A. Sheldon, Nathaniel Walker, J. F. Cook, William Morgan, Z. P. Stoneman, Mrs. C. H. Stoneman, John Moor, Sophia Moor, A. D. Stoneman, Mrs. Samantha I. Litts, Ella Wilbur, M. S. Ozias, Mrs. J. Day, Mrs. Lovina Sparling, Martha Ozias, Mrs. Huldah Sherwood, Mrs. B. N. Morse, Mrs. Hannah Phelps, Joseph E. Jewell, Mrs. Joseph E. Jewell, J. B. Potter, E. Dick- inson, E. W. Purdy, Charles E. Purdy, Mrs. E. W. Wilson, Mrs. Margaret Mann, Mrs. B. Slomers, S. H. Pierce, Mrs. Nancy A. Litts.

The meeting for 1878 (September 5) was held in the same place (Dickinson's grove) and was opened with prayer by William A. Jones. The exercises were enlivened by music by the Independence cornet band. After the reading of the minutes of the last meeting, the constitu- tion of the society, and the list of members previously enrolled, the Hon. W. G. Donnan was called out and addressed the meeting at considerable length, giving many interesting reminiscences of the early settlement of the county. After some stirring music by the band, Messrs. Asa Clark, Dr. H. Bryant, John C Neidy, Asa Blood, and William A. Jones also made appropriate re- marks. The following names were then reported, and entered on the list of members :

G. W. Smyser. Susan C. Smyser, Mrs. George O. Fair, E. Zinn Mrs M. Zinn, Mrs. A. Zimmen, Adolph Leytze, Mrs. C. Leytze, Louis Metzmier, Mrs. A. L. Metzmier, Charles Swartz, Mrs. B. Swartz, J L.

HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY, IOWA.

Bigelow, Mrs. Harriet Bigelow, J. R. Freeman, Mrs. Cora E. Free- man, Mrs. Emily M. Rich, Mrs. D. M. Moore, Mrs. E. Ogden, G. Dickinson, G. R. Smith, Mrs. Elizabeth Heron, Mrs. Hannah Hay- wood, Mrs. Cynthia George, R. J. Williamson, Mrs. Belle Fonda, C. G. Woodruff, P. H. Goen, Mrs. S. Bitner, Mrs. L. C. Bryant, Mrs. Mary Hathaway, Nicholas Bornheim, G. Walkins, Valentine Cates, Alden Whitney, Mr. G. M. Goen, A. B. Black, Horatio Bryant, L. Fonst, Mrs. Amanda Cutler, Mrs. Susan Brace, Alexander Brace, A. S. Munshaw, John Briggs, Mrs. Ann Briggs, Mrs. Mary Jamison, D. C. Hastings, Mrs. E. D. Whitney, Charles L. Patrick, Mrs. M. A. Patrick.

The following are the names of the old settlers that died during the year:

Hon. O. H. P. Roszell, Captain D. S. Lee, James Jamison, Henry Mead, Thomas W. Close, Mrs. Gaylord, Mrs. Frisell, Mrs. R. R. Plane, Mrs. Baton, Mrs. Apple, Mrs. Beach, Mrs. Blood, Mrs. Croma -all of Washington township-and Mrs. Charlotte, of Perry.

The election of officers resulted in the following choice :

Dr. H. Bryant, president; J. J. Travis, secretary; Henry Sparling, treasurer; J. B. Ward, Madison township; Nelson Bennett, Buffalo township; Samuel Sufficool, Hazleton township; Charles Higby, Fair- bank township; Gamaliel Walker, Perry township; A. H. Fonda, Washington township; James Hamilton, Byron township; Joseph Fleming, Fremont township; A. Risley, Middlefield township; Solo- mon Swartzell, Liberty township; A. C. Blakely, Sumner township; Peter Ham, Westburgh township; George Lauterdale, Jefferson town" ship; El Norton, Homer township; John Newell, Cono township; Charles Hoover, Newton township, vice-presidents.

The fifth meeting of the society, September 4, 1879, in Dickinson's grove, was called to order by the presi- dent, Dr. H. Bryant, and opened by prayer by Josiah Brace. The Independence cornet band was again in at- tendance. After the preliminary business several mem- bers addressed the meeting, the last speaker being Perry Munson, who related incidents in the early settlements of the county, dating as far back as 1842, when he first came here to reside.

The following names were added to the list of mem- bers : ·

Henry W. Oliver, George Mann, George Harriman, Mrs. Antre Ring, Mrs. Doritha Mann, Mrs. Arvilla Gregory, Mrs. Elizabeth Palmer, Mrs. Lucinda Bright.

The deaths of members reported for the past year were as follows:

William Ramsy, September 23, 1878, having been a resident of the county twenty-five years; Mrs. Merrill, of Liberty township, and Adolph Leytze, of Washington.

The following poem, composed by Mrs. E. A. Wood and dedicated to the society, was read by the secretary :

TO THE OLD SETTLERS OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.

Old settlers, who to-day have met To take each other by the hand, Whose hearts have never known regret For all your toils in this fair land-

We welcome you to our glad throng. Who, in the months and years gone by, Have battled manfully and long -- Have bravely stood to do or die.

Strong men, brave women-true hearts all --- A great State blesses you to-day, That, from beginnings crude and small, For empire you have cleared her way.

From eastern homes, with plenty blest, By mountain-side, or sea, or rill,

You left your dearest and your best, The prairie soil untouched to till.

These prairies, as of old, to-day Spread their green bosoms to the sun; But bearing, as they ever may, The honest homes that toil has won.

Each year the harvest time pays back For all the days of toil and pain; And never is there any lack Of stores of fruit or golden grain.

And many a stream that winds its way To join its "Father" of the west, Is taught by skilful hands to stay And turn a mill at their request;

While daily, all the season round, The yellow grain its hoppers fill. There's music in its cheerful sound - O never may that sound be still !

Old friends, your monuments, to-day, Are scattered wide o'er all the land; And you have built in such a way That they forever more shall stand.

Your cities, manufactures, schools, And church spires pointing to the sky, All show that education rules, And teaches how to live and die.

May coming years to you but bring New scenes of joy and gladness, Like the return of nature's spring From out a winter's sadness.

And when your days on earth are o'er, From far across Death's river, May angel hands stretch from the shore To help you home forever.

Last year, September 2, 1880, the sixth meeting of the society was held in the public park, east of the court- house, Independence. The old settlers from all parts of the county came together with baskets filled with choice eatables from their well-stored pantries; and the usual exercises were prefaced by a pic-nic, which was highly enjoyable, not only as an occasion of gustatory pleasure, but as a social reunion of old friends. The proceedings of the meeting were, as usual, enlivened by favorite airs from the cornet band, and, what was quite unusual, by songs from a well-trained choir, under the leadership of Mr. D. D. Holdridge.

The death of the late treasurer, Henry Sparling, was announced, after which the society proceeded to the election of officers for the ensuing year, with the follow- ing result :

William .\. Jones, president; J. ]. Travis, secretary; Colonel Jed Lake, treasurer.

The vice-presidents elected from the several townships were as follows :

Madison, Alden Whitney; Buffalo, Charles Jakeway; Hazleton, Samuel Sufficool; Fairbank, Charles Higby; Perry, Gamaliel Walker; Washington, David Gill; Byron, James Hamilton; Fremont, James Fleming; Middlefield, A. Risley; Liberty, John C. Neidy; Sumner, George Wilson; Westburgh, Peter Ham; Jefferson, George Lanter- dale; Homer, Eli Norton, Cono; John Newell; Newton, Charles Hoover.

Mrs. Chandler, of Independence, read an appropriate essay, dedicated to the society, after which addresses were made by the following members: J. C. Neidy, Charles Jakeway, James Hamilton, Martin Glass ("who is never known to miss a meeting of the society"); Mrs. Brooks, of Byron township; D. D. Holdridge (whose humorous remarks about the establishment of the Inde-

HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY, IOWA.

pendence churches proved conclusively that the " D. I." prefixed to his name must have a different signification from what those letters ordinarily have when used as a suffix); Colonel Jed. Lake, and the Rev. Henry W. Bailey.

The Hon. S. J. W. Tabor, an honored pioneer of the county, who had been absent at his post in the treasury department, at Washington, ever since the organization of this society, and who had returned during the past year to take up again his permanent residence in Inde- pendence, was present for the first time at this meeting with his fellow pioneers, who naturally looked to him for an address. It is no disparagement to the others to say that his was the principal rhetorical attraction of the oc- casion. The speech was without manuscript, and largely extemporaneous, but the speaker having kindly consented to write it out for our use, it will be found in full a little further on.

At the close of Judge Tabor's address, the Rev. C. S. Percival, county historian, who happened to be present as a guest of the society, was called out and made a brief extempore speech, the substance of which may also be found after that of Judge Tabor.

The address of Mrs. Chandler was in manuscript, and was quite brief, owing to the very limited time given her for preparation. It has been kindly placed at our dis- posal, and we insert it here. When it is borne in mind that Mrs. Chandler is in her seventy-fifth year, the merit of her address will be all the more highly appreciated.

FRIENDS AND OLD SETTLERS :- It is with pleasure that I meet you here to-day; and, as I look around, I see many old familiar faces that brighten up this pleasant scene as with the last rays of the setting sun.

Time, with his silent footsteps, has led us down the long pathway of our western life together: and, consequently, this friendly gathering seems more like a family reunion than like a public festival, and awak- ens thoughts that perhaps have long been slumbering-thoughts of old times, when this place was new. Many changes have occurred as the years have glided along, with their burdens of life's heavy cares. Memory recalls the scenes of the past when we meet, as to-day, for social enjoyment; and it recalls, too, painful hours of sickness and sor- row, when death touched many a loved one with its iron finger, and left its impress on form and feature, and a vacant chair stood by the fireside, and we found

" That ties around our hearts were spun

That cannot, will not, be undone."

Many of the old settlers have passed away. We were with them at the bridal and the burial, and still remember the warm pressure of the hand as our tears were mingled together with words of sympathy. They are gone; but their memory still lingers around us, and their good works are embalmed in the hearts of their survivors. And many of those survivors are here to-day, while the frost of old age lies white upon their heads; but their faces are like autumn's ripened fruit set on dishes of silver. Leaving the land of steady habits, they came, they saw, they conquered. They saw that this was a goodly land, and much to be desired. They found it lying like an infant asleep, while the gentle Wapsie sang its lullaby. But while they tended this infant soil, almost before they were aware, it became to them as a nursing mother.

And these men went to work and built their shanties, saying by that act, "We mean to possess this land." Then they sent for their wives and little ones. That was well ; for it is these wives and little ones that keep the hearts of men tender and true. But they found them true helpers; and, by their aid, they at length conquered the difficulties that invest pioneer life.

Most of these pioneers were manly and independent men; and so they christened this young child of the west-this infant city which owed its life to their energetic toil, "Independence." It grew so fast that some said it came up in a night, like Jonas' gourd. But look

over this beautiful city, now so thickly dotted with comfortable and elegant homes on its many pleasant streets, echoing with the footsteps of the busy workers. Listen to the voice of the successful mechanic and merchant. See the churches and fine school-houses and business blocks. Listen to the rattle of the type in the prosperous printing- offices, and the pompous array of lawyers' signs, and the doctors' mortars beside them, and all the other indices of civilized life-and then say if it looks like magic or the work of a night. Does it not look more like work done by energetic men who brought their brains with them, when they left the old eastern States, and set their hands to work under the direction of the brain, that skilful alchemist that transformed this place into a thing of beauty, and we trust "a joy forever." Now these old settlers are reaping their reward; for country and city have flourished like a green bay tree.

"And the place has grown human in all the long years, Has been brightened by happiness, hallowed by tears,

By the brides on the hearth, that bless it no more,

By the cradles kept rocking like boats on the shore, By the touchings of hands and the whispers aside- All the charms that survived, when Paradise died."

All the events that have since transpired to make this a queen among the many pleasant cities of the west, and have given it character and prosperity, have come to pass through the guiding hand of the Supreme Ruler of cities and of nations, who has guided heart and hand in all the affairs of our social and religious life, up to the present time. Let us render to Him, therefore, the tribute of prairie and thanksgiving which is justly His due.

We are passing away, one here, another there; and soon the last of the old settlers will be gone. Let us then plant around our homes the fragrant Asphodel, that shall say to us here, and of us when we are here no more, in expressive symbolical language-"Remembrance be- yond the tomb."

The following is

JUDGE TABOR'S ADDRESS.

MR. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: An "old settler" who has not only reached the age of three score, but has passed beyond that boundary, is not so much given to blushes as when he was in his youthful prime. This being the case, I have heard with a comparative degree of composure the encomiums which our presiding officer has so generously showered upon me. He seems to follow the proverb of judging others by himself, and in that manner discovers qualities in me which are his own characteristics. We all know how excellent a repre- sentative he is of the enterprise, the business tact, and the social amen- ity of the county; and, knowing this, we have made him our president, notwithstanding his easy elocution deals out compliments with the same profusion as his purse scatters its contents among so many of our farmers and stock-raisers.

It is with pleasure that I greet the assemblage around me. I see many faces that are strange, but I also see many that are "familiar as household words "-faces that carry me back to the old times, and re- mind me of the great changes that have taken place among us during the last twenty-five years. Now I see here a flourishing town, with a thrifty, prosperous and enterprising population, and throughout the county, fine residences, cultivated farms, good roads, numerous schools, and many villages, full of activity, business, and all the requirements of future growth and success. - I see the various Christian sects represented, all with convenient houses of worship, and, some of them of such elegance as would be no discredit to metropolitan congre- gations. I see all these denominations living in the greatest peace and harmony with each other. I see, too, the Israelite and the heretic have here entire freedom of thought and liberty of speech, and that equal rights are accorded to all, without social ostracism or theological denunciation. Every man can truly sit under his own vine and fig tree, and there is none to molest or make him afraid. This religious brotherhood and this religious toleration has, indeed, ever been most marked in Buchanan county, as none can be better witnesses than more than one of us now in this assembly, who can gratefully testify that neither heterodoxy or orthodoxy were made texts by our citizens in State or national politics, or in our civil government. But the mate- rial prosperity of the various denominations, and of the community at large, has increased and developed to an extent which is very gratifying and which promises to be permanent and yet greater.

I came here from a busy, thriving, manufacturing village and county in Massachusetts, where manners and customs were stereotyped, and where precision and etiquette were the order of the day. The barber's trade was there very flourishing, and tailors found plenty of employ-

HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY, IOWA.

ment for needles, shears and goose. A smooth-shaved face overtopped an unexceptionable coat and a pair of fashionable pantaloons. A full beard and moustache were unknown in that Massachusetts region, and if an individual had made his appearance in the streets with his coun- tenance so garnished and adorned, he would have frightened the child- ren and been a spectacle of wonder to the adults. It would have been doubted whether he was Lorenzo Dow resuscitated, whether one of the old Hebrew prophets was on a voyage of discovery, or whether Satan himself was again going about, to and fro, and was hiding his cloven foot in a well-shaped boot. What was my surprise, then, on getting to Independence, to find four-fifths of the men with heards of flowing luxuriance, and with mustaches worthy of a Hindoo devotee ! But, alas ! there is a certain book which tells us most truly that " Evil communications corrupt good manners," and what is true of vice is true of custom: "We first endure, then pity, then embrace." So it was with the well-shaved Yankee who had always abhorred a full beard and mustache, like a Roundhead in the time of Cromwell; but was now viewing the unsightly enormity for the first time with his own eyes, and was making his first acquaintance with western men and western manners. He became a renegade. He joined the Philistines. He enlisted in the army of Esau. Verily, he became a hairy man, and, what is more, though twenty-five years have since passed over his head, a hairy man he still remains, and now stands before you the same, and yet changed. The "silver threads" are not the exception, but the rule, in his locks; and his beard and mustache have taken that hue which they will never lose. The fact of my so immediately adopt- ing the full beard and mustache is a proof that I heartily relished western comfort and western disregard of fashion, which interfered with ease or business.

I found the same western style in regard to dress. While the ladies -as a good Catholic on certain occasions always bows his head and crosses himself, so when the fairest part of creation is mentioned, I al- ways have an exclamation, "Bless the dear souls!"-the ladies did then, as they do now, dress most bewitchingly, but the men were as in- dependent of tailors as of barbers. It was almost a fact that every masculine garment from the time of Adam down to 1856 could be found in Buchanan county. The craniums of the citizens were adorned by every variety of hats and caps-bell-crowned, peaked, broad- brimmed, narrow-brimmed, beaver, felt, round, square, white, black - brown, and grizzled - and every man considered himself a Beau Brummel in style and outfit. There were "long blue coats," like that of old Grimes; there were short, jaunty coats, like that of an Irishman at Donnybrook fair; there were tight coats, loose coats, swallow tails, blouses-all sorts, and every one just fitted for the man who wore it, for the time, and for the occasion. Other garments were after a similar fashion-every man for himself, and God for 'em all.

Oh, you old settlers, those were the days worth living ! Those were the days of hearty frankness, downright friendship, absolute equality, and contempt of shams. Oh, how I enjoyed it! Freed from the restraints of New England formality and staid exaetions, I fairly rioted in the universal sociability which here united one to another, where ceremoni- ous introductions were unnecessary, where sight was acquaintance, and acquaintance was friendship. For myself, though not "a native here, nor to the manner born," if I may quote Shakespeare with a little vari- ation, yet I took to these free and easy ways, this unostentatious and cordial intercourse, as a duck takes to the water, or the red man to his native woods. Yes, old settlers, I became one of you at once, and in manners, garments, thoughts, and feelings, I was emphatically a pio- neer. Never before had I enjoyed myself so well; never again do I expect to experience the beatitude of being

"As free as Nature first made man."

Those were days that could not last. The increase of wealth, the prevalence of comforts, the influx of newcomers, the greater and greater number of persons with whom we had no intimacy, our appor- tionment more and more into a larger number of sects, our devotion to business, and various other social interests have assimilated us nearly to the habits and customs of our eastern kindred and progenitors. Farewell to the old pioneer days! They are gone. But for one I am glad that I participated in them, and if I cannot say with Eneas,

"Et quorum pars magna fui-" "In which so large a part I bore-"

I know that I was an Arcadian, that I was one that helped to develop the resources of the county, and to aid in its culture, its affluence, and prosperity.

I have some eurious reminiscences of those old times which sharply illustrate the difference of then and now. Whether my earnest and

cordial love of my pioneer environments, and my intuitive acceptance of their social exactions-whether nature had no power to mold me into a fashionable man-and so my fellow old settlers instinctively re- cognized me as one of themselves, I know not; but I do know that without solicitation or expectation on my part, and to my surprise as well, they made me the recipient of their official confidence for a num- ber of years, and in fact until our relations were terminated by Presi- dent Lincoln assigning me to new duties and with greater responsibilities. But as an example of the thoroughness of my pioneer habits, and of the ways of those with whom I lived, I will relate a curious circum- stance which happened to me while I was county judge.

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History of Buchanan County, Iowa, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 20

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