History of Buchanan County, Iowa, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 65

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 65

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HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY, IOWA.

In personal appearance, Mr. Boggs was tall, had fine, black, curling hair, a very mild expressive eye, a pecu- liarly classical cast of features, and was extremely modest in manner, yet dignified in bearing.

As a Christian minister he was meek and earnest, de- voted and prudent, always striving to promote the peace, unity, purity and spiritual welfare of his charge, and was extremely kind and sympathizing to all classes of his parishioners. He was not gifted in oratory, but his ser- mons were models of pure language, terse composition, sound logic and gospel doctrine. A prominent ex-judge of our State once said to the writer, that he always re- joiced, in travelling his district, to spend the Sabbath at Independence, for he enjoyed listening to the sermons of Mr. Boggs more than any other preaching he had ever heard in Iowa.

As a citizen, his life was so unspotted by the world that his memory remains among all who knew him well, as the most exemplary person of their acquaintance. When the war of the Rebellion came, he promptly stood forth as his country's firm. uncompromising friend. He took an early opportunity, after the attack upon Sumter, in a carefully prepared sermon, to point out the wickedness of rebellion, and the plain, unmistakable duty of all to stand firmly for the unity and integrity of the Govern- ment. The performance of this duty cost him the friendship and support of one of his oldest parishioners : but he lived long enough to have this party acknowledge his error and make up what he had withheld from the pastor's support.

Two incidents may illustrate his fidelity to his sacred vo- cation, and his inflexible devotion to duty and to friends.

In the winter of 1858-9 a course of lectures, infidel in their tendency, were advertised at the court house in Quasqueton. It was a surprise to everybody to learn that Mr. Boggs was regularly present. When the course was about half delivered he quietly announced in his own pulpit that he would reply to the positions taken by the lecturers. A masterly argument delighted his bearers, which, upon request, was repeated in some of the other churches. At the close of the course, by general request, he made his reply also at the court house, to an overflowing audience, delivering a magnifi- cent argument, which was, perhaps, the most noted effort of his life.

Some years later, when his own health had become enfeebled, one of his brothers, then a stranger travelling in the western part of the State, became involved in some personal trouble, knowledge of which accidentally came to be known to the Rev. Mr. Boggs. The weather was extremely inclement, the travelling very bad, with high waters and few bridges. Hastily fortifying himself with certificates as to his own identity and standing at home, he at once set out, by the only possible mode of travel, on horseback, to his brother's relief, under expos- ure, which, to his friends, seemed absolutely to endanger his life. To the writer of this article, who intimated this to him on his return, he said : "Yes I felt it was a risk to my own health, but I should have gone had I known, to a certainty, that I could never return.

Such nien are few. They deserve monuments more en- during than bronze or marble, even an imperishable rec- ord of their noble manhood, as the memory of his is now recalled and warmly cherished by all who knew him.

On May 6, 1851, Mr. Boggs married Adaline Mar- shall, of Richland county, Ohio, a most amiable lady who still resides among us. To them were born five sons, all of whom are living. William S., born Septem- ber 8, 1852, who is now treasurer of the Independence county mills. Thomas M., born September 24, 1854 ; Charles L., born April 22, 1857; Edward, born January 20, 1861; John J., born February 23, 1865.

ASA BLOOD, JR.,

one of the early settlers of Independence, was born at Blood's Corners, Steuben county, New York, October 2, 1823. His native village received its name from his father, who kept a hotel there at a very early date.

Asa Blood, sr., left New York in 1836, when young Asa was thirteen years old, and came to Walworth coun- ty, Wisconsin, bringing his family with him. They remained there but five years, when they removed to Janesville, Rock county, in the same State, where they remained about ten years. There were many Indians in that part of Wisconsin at the time of which we write, and young Asa became very familiar with their mode of life. Whether or not it was owing to this familiarity that he conceived the passionate fondness for hunting, fish- ing and trapping, which has characterized his whole life, we are not informed. Be this as it may, the fondness of which we speak has existed from his boyhood; and though it has not prevented him from devoting himself industriously and successfully to the more legitimate call- ings of civilized life (for he is a practiced architect and builder, an operator in lands, and more recently in mines), yet, indulged only at intervals and for the sake of recreation, it has given a romantic tinge to all his life and character. It was for the gratification of his fond- ness for these pioneer sports that he first came to Iowa, passing through Buchanan county, in the fall of 1844, just after reaching his majority, and about four years previous to his coming with a view to permanent settle- ment. Some of the incidents connected with this visit may be found in the general chapter on "Hunting, Fish- ing, and Trapping."

In June, 1848, but a short time after the town of In- dependence was located, he came here with his father, "prospecting" for a permanent home. They, however, did not make any investment at that time, but returned in the fall of the same year to Janesville. The father took with him a herd of buffaloes and elks, which he had purchased of the hunter, Rufus B. Clark, of Quasque- ton, an account of which transaction may be found in the chapter mentioned above.

The next spring, having in the meantime been married to Miss Susan Penny, of Janesville, he returned to Inde- pendence with his wife and a portion of his father's fam- ily, with the design of making a permanent home. They

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purchased of Stoughton & McCluer the four lots on which the engine house now stands, and toward fall erected there a comfortable wooden house. But owing to the general prevalence of malarial fever, from which Mr. Blood and other members of the family suffered se- verely, they became discouraged, sold back the lots and improvements at a great sacrifice, and returned to Janes- ville. The entire journey was made in a sleigh in the month of December. From Independence to Coffin's Grove, by way of Quasqueton, a distance of twenty-five miles, they drove across the crust where no track had been made, the weather having turned very cold after a thaw and rain. They saw, on the way, several packs of wolves-twenty or thirty in each-which were prudent enough, however, to keep out of bullet range.

In the spring of 1851 the Bloods again decided to emigrate from Wisconsin. The father had got his heart set upon Virginia, and removed thither with all the fami- ly except Asa, jr., who, acting upon the motto that "the best place for a man to look for money is the place where he lost it, returned with his wife to Independence. The health of the town was improving, but the population had very little, if at all, increased during his absence of a year and a half. The only families and adult individ- uals whom, according to his best recollection, he found here on his return, were the following: Dr. E. Brewer, Thomas Close, O. H. P. Roszell (then unmarried), the two Whait families, Elijah Beardsley, Mr. Denton and family, Seymour Stoughton, W. A. and Samuel McCluer, Mr. Coe and family, Charles Cummings, Samuel Sher- wood, Thomas Scarcliff (unmarried), T. J. Marinus, Wil- liam Brazleton, and Jacob S. Travis and son.

The young couple had a pretty rough time of it for the first two years. Mr. Blood worked at his trade, which was that of mason, during the building season, and eked out his living at other times by hunting, fishing, and trapping. The first fall he purchased a frame shanty which had been used as a stable, standing in the middle of what is now Independence street, on the west side, between the present residences of Mr. Pond and Mr. Armstrong. This he made over into a somewhat rude cottage of two or three rooms, finishing the plastering and moving in on the twelfth of November. The weather turned very cold and the snow fell a foot deep that night, and they had to keep up a constant fire for several days, both to dry the plastering and to prevent taking cold.

During a good part of that winter, they kept an in- voluntary Lent, the procurement of meat of any kind being almost an impossibility. The weather was so cold, the snow so deep, and the storms so frequent, that the hunter dared not venture far away from home in search of game; and the deer were not sufficiently obliging to come up to his door to be shot. On one occasion, however, with an appetite sharpened by several weeks' privation, he took his gun in a sort of desperation, and, with little expectation of success, went down the river about a mile to a place where he knew the deer used to have a run-way. To his surprise and delight, he had no sooner come in sight of the place than he espied a fine

doe, which he brought down with an unerring shot; and in less than an hour and a half from the time he left his door, he returned with the prize upon his shoulder. The reader will appreciate the fine condition in which they found it, when he is informed that Mrs. Blood made six dozen full-weight cardles out of its tallow. The fact that the meat was very delicious, made it only the more delightful to share it with others. Therefore, reserving but one quarter for their own use, they distributed the rest gratuitously among their neighbors.

During the second year of their residence in this cab- in, Messrs. Woodward and Dayo, two young lawyers, came to board with them. They had a large melon patch adjoining the house, upon which the wolves, in the latter part of summer, made great depredations by com- ing in the night, gnawing holes in the melons, and eating out the insides. Mr. Blood set a steel trap one night, and caught a large wolf within ten feet of the room in which Mr. Woodward was sleeping. The lawyer, as may well be imagined, was not a little startled on being suddenly roused from his dreams by the howling set up by the wolf, when the stout otter trap caught him by the foot. The "varmint" was kept in the trap all the next day, the pain having apparently subsided; and many of the villagers came to see him; for though wolves were common enough in those days, the sight of one in such "durance vile" was a novelty.

It was about this time that Mr. Blood commenced his speculations in land, the profits of which gave him his first pecuniary start in life. By the end of the sec- ond year, he had purchased a lot and built on it the commodious wooden house in which Mr. Ranson Bar- tle now lives. He moved into this house in the fall of 1853, and lived there twelve years, when he sold it to Mr. Bartle. He then purchased lots three and four, block sixteen, of Stoughton & McClure's western addi- tion, and built there the house now owned by Mr. D. C. Backus, the piano tuner. In that house Mr. Blood and his family continued to live till 1877, when they re- moved to Colorado.

In 1871 he built, for the Wilcox heirs, the celebrated Wilcox block, justly regarded as the finest architectural ornament the town ever possessed, and one hardly sur passed by any other town in the State. In 1874, imme- diately after the great fire, he purchased one of the lots which had been occupied by that block (the purchase being made while the ruins were still smoking), and at once commenced the work of rebuilding; and it is largely owing to his good taste, judgment and persever- ance, that the rebuilt business portion of the place, in the general attractiveness of its appearance, stands un- rivaled by any city of its size in the whole country.

Since going to Colorado he has made his home in Denver, but has been quite largely engaged in mining operations in Leadville, Alma, the Independence min- ing district and Frying Pan gulch. He now owns an interest in thirteen different mines, for which he would not take less than twenty-five thousand dollars. He went to Colorado on account of the health of his wife and son, both of whom were consumptive, Mrs. Blood

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having also suffered from asthma for twenty years. The climate has restored her to perfect health; but Edward's disease had become so deeply seated that his recovery was impossible, and he died at Colorado Springs in May, 1878, aged a little over twenty-one years. He was a young man of hopeful promise, and his death was a severe affliction to his parents. He was the second of three children, the other two being daughters. Both of these are married-Ida, the eldest, to A. C. Sweet, of the firm of Post & Sweet, dry goods merchants, of In- dependence, Iowa; and Leona, the younger, to Frank W. Howbert, paying and receiving teller in the First National bank, Colorado Springs.

PHINEAS C. WILCOX .*

The ancestors of him whose history is outlined in this sketch, were among the early settlers of New England. His maternal great-grandfather, Andrew Lord, was born in 1697-his grandfather, Martin Lord, was born in 1742, and settled in North Killingworth, Connecticut ; a man of great force and dignity of character, patriotic and energetic, he was truly one of "nature's noblemen." He married the daughter of Rev. William Seward, of North Killingworth. They reared a large family of chil- dren, of whom Huldah, the fifth, born in 1776, was the mother of our subject. His paternal grandfather, Abel Wilcox, was of good Puritan stock, and for thirty-three years held the office of deacon in the Congregational church at Killingworth. Of his eight children, the two youngest, born in 1771, were twins. Their history is very remarkable. Their resemblance was so striking, that it was with difficulty that their nearest friends could distinguish them. They were of fine personal appear- ance and dignified manners. They married sisters, were merchants by occupation, and at one time very wealthy, owning vessels engaged in the West India trade, woollen factories and stores. They were very pious men, rigidly orthodox in their belief, and reared their large families in strict Puritan style. They were named Moses and Aa. ron. Moses was the father of our subject. He was a fine reader, and in the absence of the minister, was called upon to read the sermon. He was once a mem- ber of the Connecticut legislature. Meeting with many reverses of fortune, the twins, in 1824, removed to Sum- mit county, Ohio, where they had taken up a tract of four thousand acres of land. Arriving at their destina- tion, after a wearisome journey of forty days by canal and Lake Erie, and thence through the wilderness by marked trees, they called the place "Twinsburgh." They lived, however, but two years after reaching their new home, both dying upon the same day from the same dis- ease, after a few hours illness. Each left a widow and large family, with small means but brave hearts, to face the hardships of life in a new country. Our subject, the youngest of nine children, was born on the sixth of De-

cember, 1820, his mother's forty-fourth birthday. He was the darling of her heart and remarkable for his filial devotion and love. He was seven years old when his father died. He had very limited educational advanta- ges at the village academy, and when not in school was employed on the farm; and, when old enough, engaged in teaching during the winter months. His youth was marked by energy and enterprise, and being of an in- quisitive mind, fond of investigation, he often perplexed his pious mother with questions upon what she consid- ered sound theology, which she could not answer. She said to his wife, in her old age, I never could coax Phi- neas to join a church, but I do believe he is the best Christian in the family. Finding farm life ill suited to his tastes, he, at the age of fifteen, went to Painesville and engaged as clerk for Mr. Henry Williams, his brother-in-law. In 1841 he became a partner of Mr. Williams, and carried on a successful mercantile trade. In 1845 he was married to Miss Augusta C. Smith, of New London, Connecticut. Hearing of the excellent business chances offered in the west, he became imbued with a spirit of speculation, and, in 1856, removed to Independence, Iowa. During the financial crisis of 1857, his business was greatly interrupted, but his native energy, his patience, perseverance and financial ability, carried him through.

He began a mercantile trade entirely upon his credit, saying that the earnings of his former life were safely in- vested in mother earth; that he should live to pay all his debts and the lands would be left for his children. His prophecy was fulfilled; he payed his debts, and. by strict attention to business, accumulated a handsome property. His fellow citizens, finding his abilities such as eminently fitted him for official positions, in the fall of 1865, elected him to the general assembly of Iowa, and re-elected him in 1867. His ability was soon recognized and he was made chairman of the committee on ways and means. Acting with Messrs. Donnan & Weart, he was largely instrumental in locating the insane asylum at Independence. He was very active in public enterpri- ses, and had just begun to carry out a long cherished plan of improving the business localities of his adopted city, when his life and plans were suddenly cut off. He died of apoplexy on the sixth of December, 1868, and was buried on his forty-eighth birthday. His death was to his family, a wife and four children, a blow, crushing and terrible; and brought sorrow to the hearts of hun- dreds who had known him personally and enjoyed his friendship. Mr. Wilcox was a man of large stature, strong, muscular frame, with dark hair, large dark eyes, and a massive head, and weighed over two hundred pounds. He was a man of very few words, but with his immediate friends, was exceedingly social and friendly. He was a man of intense likes and dislikes, loving his friends devotedly and never pretending to be saintly enough to love his enemies. He hated shams and utter- ly despised hypocrisy and deception. A thorough reader of human nature, generous hearted, of sound judgment and invincible courage, he fought life's battles success- fully. Few men have passed through the varied walks of

* This sketch is taken verbatim from the "Iowa volume of the United States Biographical Dictionary and Portrait Gallery of Eminent and Selfmade Men."

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life with less of ostentation, or more satisfactory results. His life was a grand success, and at every step reflected the grandeur, the honor, the dignity of labor. Through all the intermediate grades of hope and doubt, embar- rassment and success, he finally gained the prize and the golden wedge lay at his feet. His life was no specula- tion; it was a life of trial, a stern and determined bat- tle for desired results. The battle was long and severe, but he more than won; he conquered. In all his inter- course with the world, he never violated the laws of truth and duty to manhood. While others professed with their lips, he practiced in his daily life, the most sacred requirements of the gospel. In religion, he chose to make his profession of faith silently before God, and we all consent to leave him in silence before the great Creator. A noble and true man, his works live after him, and the influence of his example has left its im- press upon the lives of all who knew him.

WILLIAM H. BARTON.

The last of the county judges of Buchanan county was born in Sheffield, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, December, 1802. His father was Roger Barton, a farmer who emigrated from Connecticut. Being in moderate circumstances, he could give his children only a common school education. In 1818 he removed to Genesee county, New York, and there died. William H. Barton was married at Java, now Wyoming county, New York, in 1821, to Abigail Lane. He continued to reside in different parts of western New York, till about the year 1854, having served as justice of the peace in Erie county sixteen years next previous to leaving the State. From New York he went South, and was there engaged six years as railroad contractor-three years in Missouri and three in Texas. Warned by the muttering thunders of the rebellion to avoid the coming storm, he returned North in 1860, and settled in Independence. The very next year he was elected county judge, and was reelected to the same office three times, making in all eight years of service in that capacity. He also held the office of justice of the peace part of the time during his judgeship, and when the latter terminated he continued to hold the former down to the first of January, 1881.

He was admitted to the bar by Judge Wilson, of the district court, soon after coming here, but never has at- tempted to do much in the way of practice, having held some judicial position nearly all of the time. But now, in his seventy-ninth year, he has hung out his "shingle" anew, which reads as follows:

W. H. BARTON, ATTORNEY AT LAW, NOTARY PUBLIC AND COLLECTION AGENT.

This means courage whether it means success or not.

Judge Barton has had six children, four of them (two sons and two daughters) having lived to maturity and married. The Hon. John Hallet, recently Mayor of Independence, is one of his sons-in-law. All of his chil-

dren, that lived to be married, have had large families; and his descendents are numerous-both grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

STEPHEN J. W TABOR.

[The following sketch is taken mainly from an article which appeared in the Washington Sunday Morning Gazette, in the early part of 1869 :]

Judge Tabor was born in Corinth, Vermont, August 5, 1815. Losing both his parents while still but a mere child-his father when he was eight and his mother when he was but eleven years old-young Tabor was thrown entirely upon his own resources to make his way in the world. Although without fortune or influential friends, such was his indomitable energy and unswerving integrity that he steadily overcame all obstacles in the path of his chosen pursuits. He received the rudiments of education at the academy in Bradford, Vermont, but his refined taste and literary proclivities urged him to enter more fully the flowery walks of liberal learning than he could even in so excellent a school. He speedily ac- quired (largely by private study) an extensive and varied acquaintance with general literature, and in some spec- ialties pushed his researches to an extent not often reached by our profoundest scholars. In common with most aspiring young men in New England, his first essay in the business of life was that of school teaching- "boarding round"-and still pursuing his own studies during the winter evenings at the farmers' firesides. During this period he acquired a high reputation as a graceful, forcible and brilliant writer, by contributing prose and poetical articles of high merit to the press. He also translated a work from the French for a Boston publisher, which was highly complimented. His next pursuit was the laborious but congenial one of editor, he having been engaged to conduct The Beacon, a weekly in New York city. He was, however, soon after engaged as one of the editors of the New York Sun, then recently started by B. H. Day, its founder. He continued at this post until 1837, when failing health compelled him to quit the editorial chair. He removed to Ashfield, Massachusetts, and studied medicine with Dr. Charles Knowlton, whose daughter he married. During the Harrison and Van Buren campaign he took the editorial management of the Hampshire Republican, a Democratic newspaper published at Massachusetts. During this campaign he made his first political speeches, stumping the counties of Hampshire, Hampden and Franklin. In the winter of 1840-41 he graduated as M. D. in the Col- lege of Physicians and Surgeons in New York city, and the following spring commenced the practice of medicine in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts. Here he remained till the death of his wife, in 1846, when he returned to Northampton and became editor and publisher of the Northampton Democrat. He was the Democratic candi- date for Congress in 1847 against George Ashmun, but though he received more votes than any other Demo- cratic candidate in the State, the other party was too

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strong and he was defeated. At the earnest solicitation of his friends he then removed again to Shelburne Falls and resumed the practice of his profession, in which he met with the most distinguished and flattering success. He continued here until 1855. During this period he attached himself to the Free Soil party, and became one of its most prominent leaders, distinguishing himself by his earnest aud enthusiastic devotion to the cause of freedom for all; frequently addressing public meetings and contributing many stirring and forcible articles on the same topic to the public press; but the ascendency of the Whig party prevented his election.

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History of Buchanan County, Iowa, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 65

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