USA > Iowa > Butler County > History of Butler County, Iowa: a record of settlement., Volume 1 > Part 30
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Rev. Richard Merrill, a Presbyterian minister, preached the first sermon in the township at the house of John Boylan.
A German, Kniphals, was the first blacksmith in the town- ship. Comfort Williams has been mentioned in connection with one of the earliest marriage ceremonies celebrated in the county. The marriage of his daughter to Greenbury Luck is the first in order recorded on the records of the county court, although two other marriage licenses bear earlier dates than this.
At the time of the Indian scare, in the summer of 1854, the panic caused by fear of an Indian outbreak reached the settlers of this township, and all of them, except the families of W. R. Jamison and James Wood, fled for refuge to Janesville, in Bremer county, where a fort was erected for the protection of the settlers. When it was learned that there was no cause for alarm, the refu- gees gradually returned to their homes. They were delayed, however, for some days from the fact that the water in Shell Rock river had risen to such a height that it could not be forded. As there were no bridges in this section of the country at that time, these people had to wait until the waters had subsided sufficiently to enable them to cross the stream and return to their abandoned homes.
With these settlers, as they returned to the township, came Orson Rice, who made several entries of land in the township, on one of which he built a cabin and lived for a short time before going to Clarksville and taking up the profession of law. Mr. Rice was a native of Ohio. He was very illiterate and at the time he commenced to practice had absolutely no knowledge whatsoever of the law. He depended entirely upon his energy and a rude sort of eloquence, which consisted chiefly of verbosity. It is said that his murdering of "the King's English," his utter disregard of the rules of grammar and his total ignorance of the correct forms of speech often made him a laughing stock. How- ever, in spite of these handicaps, he remained in the county as a practicing lawyer for ten or twelve years, later removing to Spirit Lake, where he practiced his profession, served one term as district attorney and came very near being selected as district judge. A number of rather laughable incidents connected with Mr. Rice are told by those who were conversant with his actions before the early county courts.
The Mckinney brothers came to the county from Indiana. They were natives of the state of Ohio. They located land in
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sections 11, 13 and 14, some of which still remains in possession of the family. The family is of Irish descent. The grandfather of the brothers is said to have assisted in building the first house where Cincinnati, Ohio, now stands. He was a soldier in the War of 1812.
The Boylans and De Mosses were related by marriage and all of them settled in the vicinity of Boylan's Grove.
Henry A. Early was a native of Kentucky, who located on land near where the village of Bristow now stands. A son, T. M. Early, who came to the county at that time, has served as county sheriff and county auditor and is still a resident of the county, now liv- ing in the town of Allison.
Other settlers who came in the latter part of 1854 and early part of 1855 are David Rush, Thomas Jackson, a Mr. Calkins, and Hiram Brotherton. In 1855 George W. Parker and family, Les- ter and Abisha Wickham, Charles L. Kleever, John M. Nichols, B. C. Needham, John Harlan, Sr., and S. R. De Armoun are given as among those who settled in the township. Among the more prominent settlers who came in 1855 were Ancel Durand and M. D. L. Niece. Both of these gentlemen held county offices, Mr. Durand having been elected to the office of county judge, and Mr. Niece that of county superintendent and county surveyor.
Other settlers who came in during an early day were Silas Needham, Henry Ahrens, James Logan, Albert Austin, S. W. Ferris, Samuel Overturf and William P. Woodworth, mentioned in connection with Bennezette township; S. B. Dumont, H. C. Brown and Philip Pfaltzgraff. These latter three gentlemen are noted more at length in connection with the history of Dumont.
OFFICIAL ORGANIZATION
Pittsford township was a part of Ripley according to the first division of the county into townships made by Judge Palmer in February, 1855. W. R. Jamison was appointed to call an election to organize Ripley township. This was done in April of that year, the election being held at the house of Henry A. Early. In 1858 the township was finally given a separate organization of the name of Pittsford by order of Judge Converse, the name being sug- gested by Azariah Needham and other Vermonters, in commem- oration of a town of the same name in their native state. A complete list of the township officers chosen at this election is
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not available at the present time but it is known that Henry R. Early and W. R. Jamison were the first justices of the peace of this township, and Isaac Boylan, constable.
EDUCATIONAL
The first schools in Pittsford township were provided for by the formation of two sub-districts, made through the provision of the school fund commissioner of Butler and Franklin counties, and consisting of the east half of Pittsford township and the west half of West Point township, called sub-district No. 1; and the east half of Ingham township in Franklin county, and the west half of Pittsford township in Butler county, called sub-district No. 2. Log schoolhouses were erected in these sub-districts in the spring of 1856. Martha J. Niece was the first teacher in No. 1 and Melissa M. Overturf in district No. 2. The exact location of these schoolhouses is at present unknown.
After the organization of the township several sub-districts were formed in accordance with the changing needs of the peo- ple, and in September, 1866, P. O. Needham and W. R. Jamison were appointed a committee to report a plat and plan for redis- tricting the township, which they did, and the board immediately confirmed and adopted the report. By this report they divided the township into five sub-districts. This form of organization remained in effect with only one change for approximately twenty years. One change made was the formation of a sub-district known as No. 6, out of territory formerly attached to No. 2. In March of 1875 the board voted to form two new sub-districts, to be known as Nos. 7 and 8; No. 8 to be formed from sub-districts 2, 3 and 5, and No. 7 from territory taken from 1, 2, 4 and 6 .
W. R. Jamison filed formal protest against this action of the board with the county superintendent, John W. Stewart, who, after due consideration, made his decision reversing the action of the board. This decision of the county superintendent was based in part upon the fact that the formation of these new sub- districts would leave certain of the older districts without a suffi- cient school population to maintain a good school. In part, also, his decision was based upon the facts contained in the following quotation from the record of appeal:
"The evidence also shows that a considerable portion of the lands in said sub-districts are what is known as wet lands, and for
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that reason cannot become very densely populated. But it is claimed by the appellees that there is a town platted on section 28, within the boundaries of said sub-district No. 7 on the line of the Iowa Pacific Railroad, which road is now graded and ready for the ties and iron, and for that reason said sub-district should be formed. But as the building up of said town depends on the completion of said railroad and as a number of the pupils, taken to form the fifteen pupils in said district No. 7, can as well be, if not better, accommodated in the sub-districts from which they were taken, we are forced to the conclusion that the board erred in forming said sub-district No. 7 at the present time. It is exceed- ingly unpleasant for us to set aside the action of the board, but in this case the law requires it to be done. Therefore, the decision of the board in changing the sub-district boundaries and in form- ing sub-districts Nos. 7 and 8 in the district township of Pittsford is hereby reversed. Dated March 23, 1875. John W. Stewart, County Superintendent."
A further notation on the case is as follows: "The above case was taken on appeal to the state superintendent, who affirmed the decision."
The latter basis of this decision, that of the probability that there would never be a very dense population on the "wet lands" of these proposed sub-districts, is rather interesting at the present time, as these lands referred to now form some of the best farming land in the township. At a later date the change contemplated by this action of the board was actually made and the town- ship was redistricted in nine school districts, district No. 1 having a school house located near the southeast corner of section 1; No. 2 in section 9; No. 3 in section 5; No. 4 in section 20; No. 5 in sec- tion 16; No. 6 in section 14; No. 7 in section 26; No. 8, now the independent district of Dumont; and No. 9 on section 31.
EARLY POSTOFFICES
At the time of the first settlement of Pittsford township most of the settlers received their mail in Janesville, in Bremer county. Later, as the settlers had more business at Cedar Falls than at .Janesville, most of them had their mail sent to Cedar Falls, which was about thirty-five or thirty-six miles distant. Even after the establishment of a postoffice at Coon's Grove, later Clarksville, the settlers at Pittsford township continued to receive their mail Vol. 1-28
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from Cedar Falls, as the mail at Clarksville was only received once a week, when received at all-and there were two streams to cross in order to get there a consideration which was decidedly dis- advantageous in those days of no bridges and no roads.
About 1856, through the influence of George A. Richmond, of Butler Center, who had some influence with the postoffice depart- ment at Washington, Henry A. Early was appointed the first postmaster in Pittsford township. Mr. Early resided, as has already been stated, in the extreme eastern part of the township near Bristow, which was then called West Point. As there was already one postoffice in the state called West Point, W. R. Jami- son suggested that the new postoffice be called Boylan's Grove. This was agreed to and Mr. Early acted as postmaster here for some time. Later the location of this postoffice was changed to Bristow.
Shortly after the appointment of Mr. Early as postmaster in the eastern part of the township, Isaac Stover, a resident of the eastern edge of Franklin county, applied through the same George A. Richmond to the postoffice department and succeeded in secur- ing the establishment of a postoffice at a town named Union Ridge. This was located about four miles northwest of Dumont. The Union Ridge postoffice was not located on any mail route, so the postmaster was obliged to carry the mail himself, sometimes on foot, and other times the patrons of the office would hire some one to carry the mail once a week. The Union Ridge office was supplied from the village of Geneva, in Franklin county.
A few years later Mr. Stover informed the postoffice depart- ment that he desired to remove to some other place and requested the appointment of another postmaster. He was directed to inform the patrons of the office to select a postmaster by ballot. An election was called and held at the house of Mr. Stover. There were two candidates, James Harlan and W. R. Jamison. The contest was quite an exciting one and would have resulted in a tie had it not been that Mrs. Stover decided the matter by casting a ballot for Mr. Jamison, who was declared duly elected post- master at Union Ridge. This may be considered the first instance of woman's suffrage in Butler county. Mr. Jamison held the position of postmaster at Union Ridge for some time, carrying the mail, or having it done, at his own expense. Later Samuel Jamison, Isaac Stover and James Harlan were in turn postmas- ters at Union Ridge. James Harlan was appointed in 1862 and
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held the office until 1868. At that time a regular mail route had been established and mail was delivered at Union Ridge twice each week.
In 1868 a general store was established by J. H. Playter at Jamison's Grove, in section 20. Mr. Harlan resigned the post- mastership and secured the appointment of Mr. Playter, who held the office until about 1870. Ross Jamison was then appointed postmaster and held the position until April 28, 1875, when he was succeeded by W. R. Jamison, who served his second term as postmaster until some time in 1877, when he resigned in favor of James Harlan. There were other aspirants for the office, how- ever, and A. L. Bickford was appointed postmaster and removed the postoffice to the town of Dumont, about four miles to the southeast of Union Ridge.
The population of the township, as shown by the records of the census, is as follows: 1860, 246; 1863, 272; 1865, 341; 1867, 349; 1869, 385: 1870, 512; 1873, 479; 1875, 528; 1880, 730; 1890, 782; 1900, 1,202; 1905, 1,183; 1910, 1,286.
GENERAL ITEMS ..
Hannah Boylan, a daughter of Isaac Boylan, was the first child born in Pittsford township. This birth occurred in the fall of 1853.
The first death was that of a man by the name of Calkins. The first sermon in the township was preached by Rev. Rich- ard Merrill, a Presbyterian minister.
VILLAGE OF DUMONT
In the southern part of Pittsford township, on section 28, a village was laid out and platted in 1879 for Samuel Beekman Dumont, a prosperous business man of Dubuque who had with his family come here in 1864. The land originally had been entered by a man named Young, in 1856, but no effort had been made to improve it. Mr. Dumont, upon taking up his residence on the property at once began putting the soil in order for plant- ing and employed his time and that of his son, T. A. Dumont, in farming until 1879, when he engaged in handling lumber in the town which he had established.
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The plat of Dumont contained eighty acres of land, lying upon a beautiful knoll, between the West Fork of the Cedar river and a tributary. The outlying country, blessed with soil of the high- est fertility, presaged a flattering future for the new trading point which, in a measure, has been realized by its pioneer citi- zens. The new city was named in honor of its founder, Samuel B. Dumont, who became its leading citizen, always to be remem- bered as a man of the utmost probity and of sterling virtues.
Shortly after his arrival on section 28, Mr. Dumont built a pretentious residence on a spot which now faces the northern terminus of the town's main thoroughfare and here he passed a life of activity and enterprise. About the year 1899, all that remained of the founder of Dumont was taken to the local burial ground for interment. Some six or eight years later his wife's body was laid in a grave beside him.
It was in the year 1879 that the Dubuque & Dakota Railroad, now the Chicago Great Western, reached the town site of Dumont, and no little credit must be given Mr. Dumont for making this happy consummation possible. He also was first in the local field as a business man, building that fall an elevator and making the initial move in buying and storing grain. This first elevator was sold to A. A. Robertson, of Iowa Falls, in 1882, who managed its affairs for many years and then handed the property down to several successors.
Samuel B. Dumont, it seems, was determined that his infant town should grow and secure a place on the map, even though it became necessary that he should engage in a multifarious line of industries. To further his purpose, he also secured a stock of lumber and in the fall of 1879 sold one hundred carloads of the material to his neighbors, who were constantly accumulating in numbers.
At the close of the year that brought Dumont into existence the village consisted of a group of thirteen buildings, the founder having furnished a major portion of the means and material for their construction. Among them was one in which a stock of drugs was installed by young Dumont, now Dr. T. A. Dumont, a practicing physician of the place.
In the late fall of 1879 or early in the year following, the firm of Smith Brothers opened the first store with a stock of general merchandise.
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The earliest hardware establishment was opened for business by Samuel B. Dumont, in a building erected by Martin Griffith. S. McMannes built a small store room in the fall of 1879, and here O. A. Chambers had the first grocery in Dumont. That same autumn Mr. Chambers put up for himself and family a dwelling house. Later, he removed to his farm in Franklin county.
Others who were active in town building in the fall of 1879 were William Schulenborg, a carpenter; John Ryan, J. Kruse, A. N. Arnold and James Stewart, all of whom erected residences for themselves.
One Nicholas Huss put up a building for saloon purposes, and A. L. Bickford, son-in-law of S. B. Dumont, erected a house to be used as a store.
The year 1880 was a notable one for the growing town, the advance being very gratifying to all concerned. In the early spring, William Francher moved to the place from Waterloo an elevator and presided over its destinies several years. S. Mc- Mannes opened a furniture store. S. B. Dumont erected the first brick building, two stories in height and having a frontage on the main street of eighty feet. This he arranged for a hotel and public hall and it is still known and designated as the Dumont block. All during the year carpenters and masons were busy and the establishment of another important trading point in But- ler county was assured.
By the year 1882 there were permanently engaged in business the following: Patterson & Cole; Dr. T. A. Dumont, drugs; Smith Brothers, general merchandise; S. B. Dumont, lumber; S. Mc- Mannes, furniture; W. T. Scott, meat market; A. A. Robertson, grain and live stock; D. W. Williamson and Philip Pfaltzgraff, hardware; I. M. Nichols, farm implements; A. L. Bickford, live stock; D. Richmond, shoes; Moses Barnes and S. E. Allen, black- smiths; Charles Coryell, livery; Robert Schmitz, collection agent and justice of the peace; M. S. Needham, hotel; Nicholas Huss and William Schulenborg, saloons.
The first lawyer to locate in Dumont was W. R. Jamison, but when he came to the town the records do not show. That is not the case of the first physician, T. A. Dumont, for he made his entry with his father, founder of Dumont, in 1864, and was then a lad of fourteen years.
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The first birth to occur in Dumont was that of a child, of which Nick Huss, the saloon keeper, was the father. This addition to the population was in the year 1880.
The first death in the village took place January 3, 1880. On the day mentioned, Mrs. Sarah F. Townsend passed away, at the age of eighty-nine years.
DUMONT INCORPORATED
While the onward move of Dumont was not in any way rapid or sensational, the growth was steady and substantial, so that by the year 1891 the population was estimated to have reached 350. Then it was that certain of the leading citizens determined on a movement to separate the village from the township organization and to further the new departure circulated a petition, to be pre- sented to the district court, asking for articles of incorporation of the town of Dumont. The petition was quite generously signed and in the year 1896 the prayer of the petitioners was granted. An election for municipal officers thereupon was held and John Barlow chosen by the electors as the first mayor, and Richard Pecht, clerk. However, doubts soon arose as to the legality of the incorporation of the town and in order to avoid uncertainty and troublous litigation the matter was taken to the State Legis- lature, which august tribunal passed the following act:
CHAPTER 187. H. F. 227 .- An Act to legalize the incorpora- tion of the Town of Dumont, Butler County, Iowa; the election of its officers and all acts done, and Ordinances passed, by the Council of said Town, from March 27, 1896, to January 1st, 1898.
Whereas, Doubts have arisen as to the legality of the incor- poration of the Town of Dumont, Butler County, Iowa, the elec- tion of its officers and the Ordinances passed by the said Council of said Town; therefore
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Iowa :
SECTION 1 .- Valid and binding .- That the incorporation of the Town of Dumont, Butler County, Iowa; the election of its officers, and all official acts done, and Ordinances passed by the council of said Town up to January 1st, 1898, are hereby legalized, and are hereby declared to be valid and binding, the same as though the law had in all respects been strictly complied with in the incorporation of said Town, and in the election of its officers;
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provided that nothing in this act shall in any manner affect pend- ing litigation.
SEO. 2 .- In effect .- This act, being deemed of immediate importance, shall be in force and take effect from and after its publication in the Iowa State Register, and the Butler County Tribune, newspapers published respectively at DesMoines, and Allison, Iowa, without expense to the state.
Approved March 19, 1898.
I hereby certify that the foregoing act was published in the Iowa State Register March 22, 1898, and the Butler County Tribune March 24, 1898.
G. L. DOBSON, Secretary of State.
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Unfortunately, for the town of Dumont and the continuity of its corporate history, the ordinances which the above legislative measure purported to legalize, were destroyed by fire in 1901, together with the first minute book recording the official acts of the council and the several elections held up to that period of time. However, a list of the mayors and clerks since the year 1901 is available and is as follows:
1901-02, mayor, C. R. Martin; clerk, A. L. Gillett; 1902-03, mayor, M. St. Peter; clerk, D. Pecht; 1903-04, mayor, M. St. Peter; clerk, D. Pecht; 1904-05, mayor, D. W. Williamson; clerk, D. Pecht; 1905-06, mayor, C. R. Martin; clerk, F. J. McGreevy; 1906-07, mayor, H. Z. Babcock; clerk, F. J. McGreevy; 1908-09, mayor, F. P. Finn; clerk, W. E. Thomas; 1910-11, mayor, Fred Linde; clerk, J. A. Barlow; 1912-13, mayor, Fred Linde; clerk, J. A. Barlow.
The town of Dumont does not, as yet, own what is usually called a city hall. It has, however, a good waterworks building where the council holds its meetings. The fire department is of the volunteer order and practically every able-bodied man in the place is a member and as a rule there is no shirking of duty when an emergency call is sounded. One police officer, termed the city marshal, is sufficient, for the people are of an orderly class and law-abiding.
WATERWORKS SYSTEM
Recognizing the virtues of pure water and plenty of it, from a standpoint of sanitation and convenience, the council made pro-
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visions for a special election, which was held October 12, 1911, when the electors decided, by a large majority, that a system of waterworks should be built. To meet the cost of the improve- ment the legislative body was also granted authority to issue bonds in the sum of $7,000. To be more exact the vote for water- works was 147; against, 25. Before the year expired the citizens of Dumont were being served with a splendid quality of water, pumped from a group of six wells having an average depth of twenty-two feet. These wells have six-inch casings and are prac- tically inexhaustible. The water is conveyed to two underground tanks, whence it is forced through the mains by an air pressure system. The pumping station is constructed of cement blocks and here is installed a double-stroke Union pump. The suction pipe is 4 inches; discharge pipe, 3 inches in diameter. Two tanks as reservoirs have been constructed, each 8 feet in diameter and 36 feet in length. One is used for domestic purposes and the other in cases of emergency. Their combined capacity is 22,000 gallons; 7,000 feet of 4-inch street mains, 13 double fire hydrants, complete the system. The domestic pressure is 60 pounds; fire pressure, 80 pounds. It might be well to state in this connection that a very disastrous fire overtook Dumont in 1901, which wiped out almost every business house in the place. The fire started in a livery stable in the night time and by morning the main street was a scene of ruins and confusion. Nothing daunted, every man who had lost his business place and stock of goods-grocery man, hardware, dry-goods merchant, druggist, lumber dealer, banker and others- began at once removing debris left by the conflagration and it was but a short time until Dumont arose, phoenix-like, from its ashes and presented a newer and thrice better town than before. The loss by the fire was probably $60,000; more than that amount . of money was expended in new buildings alone. Today Dumont is a well set up little trading point, with a whole block of new and modern brick buildings and several frame business houses that have some claim to pretentiousness. Transportation facilities are excellent, as there are two lines of railroad, the Chicago Great Western and the Chicago & Northwestern.
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