USA > Iowa > Buchanan County > History of Buchanan County, Iowa, with illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 67
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129 | Part 130 | Part 131 | Part 132 | Part 133 | Part 134 | Part 135 | Part 136 | Part 137 | Part 138 | Part 139 | Part 140
We insert here Captain Little's farewell to his com- pany, as a fitting close to this brief sketch of his life:
OFFICERS AND MEN OF COMPANY C, NINTH IOWA VETERAN VOL- UNTEER INFANTRY :- Your late commander wishes to bid you adieu as a soldier. Circumstances beyond my control have made it necessary for me to quit the field of strife in which we have for nearly three years together been engaged. We left our homes with the same object in view-the preservation of our once happy country. Many who started with us have died of disease or fallen in battle. Others have become crippled for life, and have been obliged to leave us. In the latter num- ber I am compelled to include myself, and it only remains for me to thank you most sincerely for your considerate and soldierly conduct since 1 have had the honor to be your commander. While in camp you have performed your duties as became soldiers. While on the march you have borne the privations and hardships consequent, with a will and resignation that challenge admiration. And while engaging in the more stern realities of your profession, marching in battle amid
228
HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY, IOWA.
dangers innumerable, where shot and shell fell thick -and fast, piercing the hearts of your comrades on the right and on the left, you have not flinched, but have gone steadily forward, exhibiting a courage and bravery that could not be excelled. You have, in every engagement done honor to yourselves, your homes and your country.
All that I can ask of you is, that you give to my successor, whoever he may be, the same confidence you have shown me. When I shall have left you my mind will ever revert to the color company of the Ninth lowa with a feeling of pride. Our long, weary marches, and, above all, the remembrance of the battlefields of Pea Ridge, Chicka- saw Bayou, Arkansas Post and Vicksburgh, where we fought side by side, will ever be associated with my most dear recollections.
Once more, fellow soldiers, 1 bid you a kind adieu.
UNDER THE OAKS.
The visitor to Oakwood cemetery, Independence, will not fail to be attracted by a group of monuments-that of the soldier hero, whose short but brilliant career we have endeavored to sketch-that of the wife who so soon followed him, and between them a tiny marble, at the cradle bed of the babe of their love. Remembering these, there seems no incongruity in closing this memo- rial of the husband with a final extract, commemorating the virtues of the wife.
The little arbor close at hand where, with book and work, Mrs. Little's favorite hours were passed, standing now with locked door (though, surely, none could be found so wanting in reverence as to profane so sacred a shrine), speaks eloquently of a love which the silence and darkness of the grave could not quench, and which, spiritualized, and made immortal, is still burning with a purer flame, in a clime that knows no death.
The death of Mrs. Alice Little, widow of the late Captain E. C. Little, which occurred at the residence of her father, Dr. P. Tabor, on Tuesday morning of this week, after a lingering illness of many months, of consumption, was an event that struck a pang of sorrow to many hearts not drawn to her by the ties of consanguinity. Mrs. Lit- tle was a noble woman, and the idol of a very large circle of friends. Of sensitive and refined nature, cultured and retiring, though genial in manners, of educated tastes, and with all the characteristics of a true lady, she was at the same time a sincere, unostentatious Christian woman, one who lived her profession, whose tender sympathy went out to all in want or affliction, and whose heart was in every good work.
Mrs. Little idolized her husband-a man well worthy of such devo- tion; and his death, four years since, was a terrible blow to her; too great for her delicate organization; and to it may be attributed the in- ception of the disease that bore her away. Her age was nearly thirty- one. Her married life embraced the short space of four years, during which her cup of happiness was full. She has gone to join the beloved husband and little one that fluttered into the family nest, only to stretch its wings after a few brief days, and depart to that fairer clime, where there is now a reunited family. Let the knowledge that her hap- piness is again complete assuage the grief of almost breaking hearts.
LIEUTENANT E. A. WOODRUFF.
We conclude our chapter of "General Biography" with a brief sketch of one, whose early and heroic death, like that of his compatriots, the lamented Jordan and Little, called forth expressions of the most profound sor- row, not only in his adopted county, but throughout the land.
Eugene A. Woodruff was born in Avon, Connecticut, November 26, 1841. His parents were William C. and Harriet A. (Hawley) Woodruff. His ancestors, on both sides, as far back as known, were natives of Connecticut. Mrs. Woodruff's grandfather was a Congregational minis-
ter at Avon before and during the Revolutionary war. Her father was a graduate of Yale; became a physician, and practiced for some time in New Haven, where Mrs. Woodruff was born.
Eugene's father died in November, 1849, leaving his widow with four young children, two boys and two girls (of whom Eugene was the eldest), mainly dependent upon her skill as teacher of music for support. The boys spent most of their time with different relatives until the summer of 1857, when all the family came west together, Mrs. Woodruff having made arrangements (as related elsewhere), to unite with Miss S. E. Homans in establishing the Oakwood seminary for young ladies, at Independence. Here Eugene continued five years, in- dustriously assisting in the support of the family, till the breaking out of the war, when, in July, 1861, he enlisted in company E, Fifth Iowa infantry-being elected second corporal of the company.
That he was a "rising man," and that he would have been sure of promotion and distinction as a soldier, had he remained with the regiment, as he expected to do, through the war, is the united testimony of all who knew him during his brief connection with the volunteer ser- vice. But Providence had in store for him something more flattering if not more brilliant and useful. Some of his friends, headed by the noble-hearted editor, Jacob Rich, believing that he was preeminently the man for the place, had united in recommending him for an appointment as a cadet in the military academy at West Point. The privilege of nominating the candidate was placed in the hands of Hon. William Vandever, then member of Congress, and Colonel of the Ninth Iowa.
On the sixteenth of January, 1862, before he had had an opportunity of smelling powder in any noteworthy en- gagement, and when he had been but about six months in the regiment (stationed then in northern Missouri), Eugene was surprised by the receipt of a letter from Colonel Vandever, containing his preliminary appoint- ment as cadet, and an order for his discharge from the volunteer service. The letter contained the following, among other complimentary expressions :
I congratulate you upon being the fortunate recipient of this ap- pointment, for which there have been many candidates-some of them urged by my most familiar friends. The representations in your favor have been very flattering by those who are acquainted with you; and I trust your future conduct may warrant all that has been said in your behalf-and that your career may be one of distinguished usefulness and honor.
One thing which has constrained me to decide in your favor is, that you are represented as being a young man of energy and decision of character, and capable of carving for yourself a name, without any of the adventitious circumstances surrounding those who are born to affluence.
Happy country !- in which poverty, instead of being an obstacle in the way of the young and aspiring, is a talisman that opens to them the arena where the great prizes are to be won !
Recalling some of our youthful aspirations, and the pleasure we experienced when doubt and apprehensions in regard to a cherished hope were suddenly changed to joyous certainty by the arrival of a letter, we have no difficulty in realizing the thrill of delight which Eugene
229
HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY, IOWA.
experienced on the receipt of this communication. And now, when we hold it in our hand and gaze upon it, after a lapse of nearly twenty years-during eight of which that generous heart has been hushed in the silence and darkness of its southern grave-and when we think how brief, though brilliant, was the fulfilment of its noble as- pirations, we cannot restrain our tears.
Sad as it was for Eugene to leave his loved compan- ions in arms; yet, satisfied that, in this instance, the call of inclination was coincident with the call of duty, he accepted the appointment and his discharge, returned to Independence, and set himself diligently to work to pre- pare himself for his first examination-which was to come off the following June. Since his fifteenth year he had had no regular schooling, and, up to that time, only in the common schools of Connecticut. He had, however, done not a little in the way of self-culture-es- pecially in the study of French, in which he had been assisted by his mother, who is proficient in that language. He found no difficulty, therefore, in becoming well pre- pared, and passsed his examination with credit to him- self and to the entire satisfaction of his examiners.
He entered the academy July 1, 1862, graduated the seventh in his class in 1866, received then his commis- sion as second lieutenant in the corps of engineers, and was subsequently, about the year 1868, promoted to the rank of first lieutenant. He continued in the engineer corps to the end of his life. He was stationed first at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, two years; was then sent to Milwaukee, in the beginning of 1869-having oversight (under Colonel Farquhar) of harbor improvements on the Michigan side of the lake. In 1870 he had com- plete charge of the works at the mouth of White river, Michigan.
Early in 1871 he was transferred to Major Howell's department, having headquarters at New Orleans, and continued in that department until the time of his death. In the fall of 1871 he was sent by Major Howell to make a thorough survey of the "raft" obstructions in the Red river, with a view to their removal (if found practicable), and the opening of the channel. On the strength of his report of the survey, in the spring of 1872, Congress made an appropriation of one hundred and fifty thou- sand dollars, to become available for the commencement of operations July 1, 1872.
The work of removal having been decided upon, Lieu- tenant Woodruff was sent north by Major Howell to organize an expedition and purchase a "snag-boat" and other necessary material for carrying on the work. He had entire charge of the survey and of all the operations for the removal of the raft, making his own plans and re- porting to Major Howell. The work of the expedition commenced in December, 1872, with headquarters at Shreveport, Louisiana. Lieutenant Woodruff also had charge of the operations for removing obstructions in
Cypress bayou, Texas, the survey of which included a chain of lakes connecting Cypress bayou with Red river, about two miles above Shreveport.
George S. Woodruff, brother of the lieutenant, joined the latter at St. Louis in the month of September, 1872, as clerk and steward of the snag-boat, and private secre- tary to his brother, and continued with the expedition until its work was accomplished. After the death of the lieutenant, he was appointed superintendent by Major Howell, and remained acting in that capacity to the en- tire satisfaction of the department till the expedition was disbanded, April 1, 1874. The channel was open to navigation, through its entire length, November 27, 1873, for the first time in thirty years.
Having spoken thus briefly of the last great work in which Lieutenant Woodruff was officially engaged, and in which he won an almost world-wide fame as an en- gineer, it remains that we say a few words of the nobler work in which he lost his life and won a more enviable fame as a Christian hero and philanthropist.
Our readers cannot have forgotten the terrible scourge of yellow fever by which Shreveport was attacked, in the latter part of August, 1873. At that time the expedition of which Lieutenant Woodruff had charge was at work some fifty-seven miles (by the river) above that ill-fated city. About the first of September, Lieutenant Woodruff went down to the city on business, unaware that the epi- demic had broken out. He found the city panic-stricken, the citizens, as many as could get away, fleeing for their lives, and hundreds sick and dying, with little or no at- tention to their wants. His generous, sympathetic nature could not hear without heeding the appeal of suf- fering, dying humanity. He joined the " Howard Asso- ciation," and, forgetting his business, devoted himself with tireless assiduity to the relief of the sick. There are many now alive who believe that their lives were saved through the instrumentality of his self-denying care.
Thus he labored for one entire week, when he himself was taken down with the disease. After three or four days he was pronounced convalascent. But many pa- tients were sick and dying in the house where he was, and the excitement and exposure proved too much for his overtaxed system. He suffered a relapse, and died on the thirtieth of September. He was buried from St. Paul's church, his friend, the Rev. Dr. Dalzell (himself a heroic worker among the sick), officiating. There was a large concourse of citizens present, notwithstanding the usual precautions. The interment was in the Shreveport cemetery, in the family lot of Mr. J. C. Elstner, with whom he had made his home during his entire residence in the city.
About a year after his death the citizens of Shreve- port erected a tasteful monument to his memory. No words of oursc an do justice to such a character.
THE TOWNSHIPS AND VILLAGES OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
INDEPENDENCE.
THE LOCATION AND THE ADDITIONS.
In June, 1847, the three commissioners, appointed by the State legislature, visited the county and, on the fif- teenth day of June, located the county seat on section 34, 89, 9, and called it Independence. The location be- ing made at a date so near to the Fourth of July had probably a great influence in selecting the name of In- dependence for the future city. On the twenty-seventh day of November the county platted the southeast quar- ter of the southeast quarter of section 34, 89, 9.
Stoughton & McClure's addition was platted and placed on file February 27, 1854. The land on the west side of the river, which was originally platted by Stough- ton & McClure, was called by thein New Haven, which was, by the State legislature, on the twenty-seventh day of January, 1857, changed to Stoughton's & McClure's second addition to Independence. Scarcliff's addition, July 8, 1853; Melone's addition, May 3, 1854; A. & A. B. Clark & Company's addition, June 20, 1854: Fargo's addition, May 7, 1859; Bull's addition, September 15, 1857; Bartlet's second addition, March 5, 1858; Union addition, March 17, 1879; Close's addition, February 21, 1856; Harter's addition, December 23, 1858; Fargo's second addition, June 23, 1868 (this is a replat of Bart- let's second addition); Cummings' addition, January 12, 1857; Railroad addition, March 24, 1858; Railroad addition replatted September 9, 1872; Mathias' sub- division of block sixty; Union addition, August 30, 1860; Card's addition, November 20, 1873; Bar- tel's addition, December 7, 1857; Scarcliff's sec- 1
1
ond addition, June 15, 1870; Woodward's addition; April 12, 1869; Herrick's addition, September 7, 1872, (this is a replat of Bartel's second addition).
INCORPORATION.
Independence was incorporated as a city August 7, 1864, and the first city election was held on the nine- teenth day of December, 1864. The first officers were Daniel S. Lee, mayor; James M. Weart, clerk ; Henry S. Cole, marshal; Charles F. Leavitt, solicitor; Edward Brewer, treasurer ; Oliver H. P. Roszell, engineer.
The present officers are C. M. Durham, mayor ; Rufus Brewer, clerk; L. F. Springer, solicitor; B. W. Tabor, treasurer; H. R. Hunter, chief of fire department ; C. B. Kandy, marshal; V. Cates, night watch; Edward Hammond, bell ringer; A. D. Gurnsey, engineer of steamer.
THE BEGINNINGS AT INDEPENDENCE.
In the year 1846 the site of the present county seat of Buchanan county was occupied by the cabin of Clark, the well known pioneer and hunter, who found amid the solitudes of this portion of the valley of the Wapsipin- icon, and in the deep pools of the river, abundant em- ployment for his rifle and traps. He tilled ground enough to furnish his family with corn bread, relying upon the chase and trapping for the chief means of subsist- ence, and wholly for clothing. His annual or semi- annual visits to Dubuque or the lake cities, enabled him to dispose of his furs and pelts, and furnished him with the means of an honest if not a luxurious living.
230
231
HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY, IOWA.
Though he had chosen the banks of the Wapsipinicon as his dwelling place, or rather as the home of his family, probably from its proximity to eastern markets (for these considerations had their weight even with the western trappers), but his hunting and fishing grounds were not confined to the valley of the Wapsie, where his traps could be watched by the young hunters growing up under his training and dependent upon him for instruction in the profession to which they were born. Despite the In- dians then freely roaming over northern Iowa, he trav- ersed the valleys of the Cedar, the Iowa, and the Des Moines, as well as that of the stream on which his cabin was located.
But this hardy pioneer, though fearing no evil from his red neighbors, or the wild beasts he daily encountered, found himself in peril from the greed of a certain class of men appropriately called "land sharks," who always appear on the confines of civilization, as soon as it be- comes evident that the wave of immigration is setting in, ready to practice upon the simplicity of the hardy pio- neer and rob him of the fruits of his well earned "pre- emption." To save his claim and home from the wiles of these operators, Clark sought the assistance of his firm friend and adviser, N. A. McClure, esq., then a merchant of Milwaukee, and afterwards of Dubuque. With his assistance he succeeded in entering four forty- acre lots, or a quarter section.
Some assert that Rufus B. Clark, so far from being a mere hunter and trapper, was the one who conceived the plan of locating a town at the point now occupied by the county seat of Buchanan county. In his long excursions through the northwest portion of Iowa, though many eli- gible sites for future cities were met with, none struck him so favorably as the water power and surrounding high grounds, covered with groves of oak, on the banks of the Wapsipinicon. In 1856 he was living at Quasqueton, but finding, a few months later, that speculators were al- ready attracted to this fair domain over which he had wandered, enjoying in anticipation the choice of locations in the entries of Government lands, he came from Quas- queton on the eighteenth of March of that year, on the ice, and commenced his house, which he had ready for occupancy early in April. Not having the means for further improvements, or for entering the land at Govern- ment price, he succeeded in interesting N. A. McClure (as already stated), in his enterprise, who recommended N. P. Stoughton as another associate, and the latter named gentleman returned to Iowa with Clark. . Being well pleased with the situation of the proposed purchase, he stopped in Dubuque on his return and made the en- try of the quarter section, which included the water power, and extended some eighty rods east and west from the river, and the same distance north and south of Main street. Clark's house, which was a double log structure, with a hall between the two rooms (a favorite style in Tennessee, Kentucky, and southern Ohio in the early part of the present century), stood in the middle of what is now Mott street, at the intersection of Chatham street, directly south of Dr. House's residence. It was for some time the principal house in the settlement, and,
of course, the headquarters and rendezvous of all new arrivals.
Mr. Stoughton, who had returned to Wisconsin after entering the land, as above related, was again on the ground after a lapse of a few weeks, bringing with him Samuel Sherwood and T. Dolton, who were prepared to proceed at once with the building of the dam and the mill. Dr. Lovejoy, the first physician of the place, was also one of the Stoughton party. Soon after the little community was again nearly doubled by the addition of A. H. Trask, Eli Phelps and Mr. Babbitt, who all boarded with Clark. In the following June Thomas W. Close came, who continued a resident until his death, in 1874. S. S. McClure, and some others, came during the summer, but returned before winter.
The second building erected was a store, which stood somewhere on the north side of Main street, and east of Chatham. It was occupied by S. P. Stoughton with a small stock, comprising the plainest, most common, and necessary goods, but sufficient for the wants of the pop- ulation at that time, and, doubtless, a great convenience, as there was no other market nearer than Dubuque. The dam and saw-mill were completed, probably during the autumn of the first year; and the first slabs were used in putting up the third building, but second dwelling house, in Independence. This was built by Elijah Beardsley near the site of W. R. Kenyon's handsome hardware store. The fourth house was built by Dr. Edward Brewer, and stood for many years, that is, considering the character of the building, which seems to have been remarkable principally for the multiplicity of purposes which it served at one and the same time-a private dwelling, a post office, a boarding house, and all the offices known to law and to courts, besides a real estate and broker's office, and, as we have not been informed to the contrary, we may take it for granted that, in the number of its rooms, it did not exceed the manor house (as it will be quite proper to style the residence of the founder of the city), and there is really no proof that Dr. Brewer's house contained more than half the number of rooms contained in that house, which, whatever may be said of it, is sure of the distinction of having been the first built in Inde- pendence.
It is believed that the persons already mentioned, with two or three young men, comprised all the permanent in- habitants previous to 1848. In the spring of that year there were some additions and the number of families increased to eight, viz: Dr. Edward Brewer, Rufus B. Clark, Asa Blood, Elijah Beardsley, 'Thomas W. Close, Almon Higley, William Hammond, and Dr. Lovejoy.
Although there were many newcomers and the place became of some importance as a trading point, little ad- vance was made in the permanent population for several years. In consequence of the building of the dam, ague and other malarial fevers prevailed to such an extent that few had the courage to remain after the first season.
Before the fall of 1849, all the families had left ex- cept those of Brewer, Close, and Beardsley, and one family had been added-that of Mr. Horton. In the spring of the following year Beardsley and Horton left,
232
HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY, IOWA.
reducing the population of the embryo capital to two families, those of Dr. Brewer and Mr. Close. In 1848 a small log building was erected a little east of the pres- ent location of the People's National bank, in which Dr. Brewer taught the first school established in the county. At its opening there were twenty pupils in attendance. and the Dr. was said to be no less successful in his at- tention to the mental needs of those committed to his care, than, afterwards, in the eradication of those physi- cal ailments, which, if they do not emigrate with the pio- neer, are, it would seem, deterred from doing so, by some sort of telegraphy which shows the ground to be already occupied by a legion of indigenous diseases, ready to dispute the occupancy of new territory, inch by inch, and to yield only after a protracted struggle, which has been marked by many victories on the part of the malign forces. It was about this time, as has been al- ready stated, that victory perched upon the standards of the native belligerents and the discomfited fled, so that, before the close of the first year, the school closed and the temple of science became a blacksmith shop. The fact that a prosperous community had been growing up at Quasqueton, during the three or four years covered by our narrative, should not be lost sight of; nor the other fact, that, as spokes or their equivalent are neces- sary to a wheel, so these centres or hubs of activity and enterprise must and will surround themselves with their necessary feeders ; and farms were already beginning to radiate from both the lower and more vigorous settle- ment on the Wapsipinicon, and also from the younger and more feeble aspirant for immigration honors.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.