USA > Iowa > Butler County > History of Butler County, Iowa: a record of settlement., Volume 1 > Part 5
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This cabin became the nucleus of a settlement here and for a time gave promise of becoming a town. The grove in which this cabin was situated was for some unknown reason called Coon's grove, and the open country to the west was called the "Coon Prairie country." Here in Coon's grove in 1853 was established the first postoffice in Butler county, with Abner G. Clark as the first postmaster.
With the Hicks family came Robert T. Crowell, later the first sheriff of Butler county. Crowell, however, returned for the time being to his old home in Wisconsin. Two years later he came to Butler county again and settled upon a claim near Hicks. Until the spring of 1851 the Hicks family were alone in their enjoy- ment of the new land, their nearest neighbor in the valley being the family of James Newell, who had settled on the Cedar, in Black Hawk county, about thirty miles to the southeast, near the junction of the West Fork and the Cedar. During the winter of 1850-51, Hicks was obliged to carry his provisions overland on his back from Cedar Falls, then the nearest trading point. These were supplemented by what he could secure in the way of game and fish, by hunting, trapping and fishing. In these latter enter- prises he is said to have been ably assisted by his good wife,-a typical pioneer woman, who could handle a rifle as well and shoot as straight as any man.
In the spring of 1851, Henry J. Hicks, father of Joseph, came from Rock county, Wisconsin, and erected the first blacksmith shop in the county near the home of his son. Here was forged the first iron in the Shell Rock valley. Henry J. Hicks entered claims on sections 12 and 13, in Jackson township, on June 24, 1851, his claim being the fourth to be entered in Butler county, and prob- ably the first to be entered by an owner actually in occupation of the premises. Henry Hicks died in the winter of 1854 and was
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buried on his home place. His remains later were removed to Lynwood cemetery, near Clarksville. Another son, John B. Hicks, came with the father from Wisconsin and settled on a claim in Jackson township. One of his daughters, Ida Hicks, married Henry Wamsley.
This spring of 1851 was marked by the arrival of the Wamsley brothers, Malon B. and William S., who came from Ohio and set- tled a short distance northwest of where Clarksville now stands. M. B. Wamsley settled on a claim in section 1, Jackson township, previously taken up by his brother, John Wamsley. Mr. Wamsley commenced to build a log cabin, broke a piece of land and during this first year raised a crop of corn, beans and potatoes, sufficient for the family use. The family, consisting of himself, his wife and two children, in common with the other early settlers, suffered from ague. They were of true pioneer stuff, however, and stayed by their claim, steadily improving it, and within a few years the log cabin was replaced by a substantial dwelling which remained the family home for a number of years. Mr. Wamsley's health failed him about the year 1870 and he retired from active farming, later removing to the town of Clarksville. With this community he was identified from that time until his death. He was one of the incorporators of the Butler County Bank, and was its presi- dent for ten years. Mr. Wamsley was the first justice of the peace in Butler county, having been appointed to this office in the fall of 1853 by the county judge of Black Hawk county, to which But- ler was then for judicial purposes attached. He died Sept. 9, 1887.
William S. Wamsley was a younger brother of M. B. Wamsley. mentioned above, both being natives of Adams county, Ohio. Thrown upon his own resources at an early age, he worked for a time at farming and subsequently entered the employ of the owner of a steam sawmill, with whom he remained until he was twenty years of age. At that time, with his brother, M. B., he purchased a half interest in the mill but as this did not prove entirely a suc- cess, in 1850, accompanied by a younger brother, John N., he boarded the steamboat at Cincinnati and started out in search of a new home somewhere in the boundless West. They traveled by steamer down the Ohio and up the Mississippi to Dubuque, from which point they set out on foot to explore the country to the west- ward. After some rather futile wanderings in search of a satis- factory location, they came upon Henry Moore, son of Aaron
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Moore, better known as "Uncle Aaron," an early settler of the Shell Rock valley. Mr. Moore was looking for some one to help him take a drove of cattle up into Bremer county. As he was enthusiastic in his praise of this section of the country, the Wams- leys agreed to accompany him. Arriving in Bremer county, they assisted in the building of the first cabin in the vicinity of Waverly. Here they heard glowing reports of the fertility and wonderful opportunities of the land to the westward, on what was known as "Coon Prairie." They started out on horseback and after a few hours' ride reached a point on the Shell Rock river. They found the country fully equal to the reports and at once concluded to settle there.
For some reason the Wamsleys did not take any definite steps at that time toward taking up claims. M. B. Wamsley, the older brother, remained in the employ of "Uncle" Aaron Moore, while W. S. Wamsley returned to Ohio, where on the 20th of February, 1851, he was married to Ann Eliza Richards. In March, 1851, Mr. Wamsley and his bride, accompanied by his half brother, Martin Van Buren Wamsley, started overland by team for Iowa. They were met at Muscatine by Malon B. Wamsley and his family, who had come down the river by steamboat. Ferrying across the Mis- sissippi, the families journeyed northward together, arriving at Aaron Moore's about the 20th of April. On the 26th of that month, W. S. Wamsley located a claim on the northeast quarter of section 12, in Jackson township. The definite entry of this claim was not made until the 1st of September, 1851, as shown by the records of the general land office at Dubuque. The Wamsley brothers had but one team of horses and one wagon together, which they had brought from Ohio. They each possessed a cow and a pig and a few chickens, and these with a few household goods comprised their entire personal property.
The purchase of eighty acres of land apiece, at $1.25 an acre, took the balance of their cash, so with all their worldly resources invested in the possibilities of this new land, they began their lives on their pioneer farms in the spring of 1851. This season of 1851 proved to be an exceptionally wet one. It was often very difficult, and sometimes impossible, to get to market. In June W. S. Wamsley started for Muscatine. When he arrived at Marion, in Linn county, the constant rain had rendered the streams so nearly impassable that he decided to turn back. Purchasing a few goods, he commenced his homeward journey. The streams
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were so swollen that he was compelled to fasten the wagon box to the running gear to keep it from floating away, while crossing the streams. In order to cross the Cedar river he had to take his wagon apart and transfer it over, piece by piece, in boats and swim the horses to the opposite shore. They experienced all the hard- ships and privations that were the common lot of the pioneers but after weathering through this first and hardest test of their perse- verance, they found life considerably easier. Within a few years the fruits of their toil began to return to them in increasing abun- dance, and Mr. Wamsley became one of the most substantial citi- zens and owners of improved land in Butler county. With his brother he was the founder of the Butler County Bank, and served for a number of years as one of its directors. Mr. Wamsley died October 19, 1905.
OTHER EARLY SETTLERS
The fall of this year 1851 saw several additions to the little group of settlers in this section of the county. Among these were Jeremiah Perrin, an Englishman, who with his wife had emigrated to the United States in 1845 and settled in Pennsylvania. In 1851 he started for the western country, traveling by steamboat down the Ohio and up the Mississippi to Muscatine. He had planned to purchase land but suffering from a temporary illness, he decided instead to rent a farm in the neighborhood of Muscatine, where he remained through one season. During the summer he made the acquaintance of two gentlemen named Taylor and Ensley, who had come from Indiana and were planning to go on farther west in search of land. These gentlemen had only an ox team. Mr. Perrin had a good wagon and a team of horses and he pro- posed to them that if they would bear their share of expense he would take his team and drive them through. This agreement was made and the three men started out. After some journeying, they finally selected a site in what is now Butler township for their future homes. Perrin and Taylor returned to Muscatine and brought their families back with them, settling in their new homes on the 16th day of September, 1851. Ensley brought his family about six weeks later. They all erected cabins on their claims and prepared for the coming winter. Mr. Perrin's farm was located about a mile east of Clarksville, on section 17. Here later he built a home, which at that time was probably the finest house in Butler Vol. 1-4
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county. Mr. Perrin proved to be a very successful farmer and suc- ceeded in accumulating a considerable property in farm lands and business blocks. Mr. Perrin died in 1908. Morrison A. Taylor died on the 30th of December, 1856. Andrew E. Ensley sold his Butler county land within a few years after his settlement here and his subsequent history is unknown.
These gentlemen named above, so far as is generally known, were the earliest permanent settlers of Butler county. In the years immediately following, a constantly increasing number of emigrants came in and took up claims and built homes in the Shell Rock valley .. The limit of this work forbids going more into details of these settlers but they each and all did their part in the founding of a new civilization and the building up of a new com- munity in this previously uninhabited country. More detailed mention of some of these will be made in connection with the separate histories of the townships.
FIRST LAND ENTRIES
At the time of the earliest land entries in Butler county there were two land offices in the state-one at Dubuque, and one at Des Moines. The dividing line between the territory covered by these two offices was the line running between ranges 16 and 17, thus dividing Butler county equally north and south. The first settlements in the county were all made in the eastern half, and as a consequence, the first entries of land were all filed in the Dubuque land office. It was not until 1853, as will be indicated elsewhere, that the first entry of land was made in the western half of the county through the Des Moines land office.
The honor of being the first man to enter a piece of land in Butler county belongs to an Irishman named John Heery. This constituted 160 acres located on sections 18 and 19, in Butler township, and a similar amount of land on sec- tions 13 and 24, in Jackson township. Both these entries were made on the same day-Nov. 22, 1850. The land entered in Butler township lies just in the bend of the Shell Rock river, adjoining Clarksville on the southwest. Mr. Heery was at that time a resident of Milton, Wisconsin. He first heard of this land from James Newell, who had been trapping along the Shell Rock river. On Monday morning, Nov. 11, 1850, Mr. Heery left his home in Wisconsin for the purpose of locating and enter-
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ing a claim in the Shell Rock valley. He assured his wife before his departure that he would return within two weeks. He made the trip the entire distance on foot. On reaching the Shell Rock valley he was successful in finding the identical piece of land which had been described to him by Newell. On this he staked out his claim and on his homeward journey went by way of Dubuque, where he made the entry in the land office, on the 22nd of November. He reached home on the evening of the second Saturday following the departure, having traversed on foot approximately four hundred miles. In the spring of 1852 Mr. Heery brought his family to their new home.
The second entry of land in Butler county was made on Dec. 21, 1850, by George Kittle, who secured by land warrant the northeast quarter of section 31, in Beaver township. There is no record of the actual settlement upon this claim by Mr. Kittle. He was a resident of Carroll county, Illinois. In 1851 he quit- claimed this quarter section to one Jacob Kittle, of the same county in Illinois, for the consideration of $150. Jacob Kittle remained in possession of the premises until the 30th of April, 1857, when by warranty deed it was transferred to Nicolas Puter- baugh for $800. It would appear therefore that the Kittles were never actual settlers of the county.
The third entry of land was made by Jesse Morgan, on the 10th of April, 1851, who entered forty acres in the southeast quarter of section 36, of what is now Beaver township. No fur- ther mention of Mr. Morgan occurs in the records of the early history of the county and we take it for granted that this entry also was made merely for speculative purposes rather than for those of actual settlement.
The fourth entry by Henry J. Hicks has been referred to above as having been made on the 24th of June, 1851- 160 acres in sections 12 and 13, Jackson township. These claims included the land now occupied by the gravel pits west of Clarks- ville extending thence westward across the river, including 120 acres in section 13 and forty acres in section 12.
A number of other entries were made during the year 1851, in Butler, Beaver, Shell Rock and Dayton townships, which will be noted in connection with the individual histories of these sec- tions. Most of these claims were paid for by soldiers' land warrants.
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During the first two or three years after the actual settlement of Butler county began, the settlers gradually pushed up the valleys.of the Shell Rock and the Beaver, locating their claims along these waters. For reasons already indicated, these tim- bered sections of the country were considered superior to the prairie lands. Later adventurous pioneers began to push out across the prairies, and by 1852 a few log cabins had already been erected in the western portion of the county. For the actual date of these settlements we are dependent more or less upon tradition. The first officially recorded date in the history of the western section of the county is that of the entry by William H. Jamison, who on the 11th of August, 1853, entered 120 acres in section 18, and 160 acres in section 20, of what is now Pittsford township. This entry was made in the land office at Des Moines, being the first original entry of land in the western half of the county, the dividing line between Dubuque and Des Moines dis- tricts being, as has been stated above, on the line between ranges 16 and 17. As Mr. Jamison was one of the earliest and most prominent settlers in this section of the county, more detailed mention of him will be deferred until the treatment of Pittsford township.
From 1854 on, the county filled up rapidly in all its parts, and by the close of 1856, life had lost much of its pioneer char- acter and had begun to assume the aspects of life in the more thickly settled portions of the United States.
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THE INDIANS IN BUTLER COUNTY
So far as is known, Butler county was never the site of any permanent Indian villages. It had been, however, from time immemorial a hunting ground for the various tribes that occu- pied this territory before the coming of the white man. Mention has already been made of the series of treaties by which grad- ually the Indians were led to dispose of their right and title to this land and relinquish its possession. The three tribes of Indians whose claim to this territory was recognized by the United States in these treaties were the Sioux, the Sacs and Foxes, and the Winnebagoes. The cession of the "Neutral Strip" by the Sioux and the Sacs and Foxes in 1830 marks the relinquishment of title to what is now the greater part of Butler county on the part of these two tribes. The remaining portion, not including
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the "Neutral Strip" was secured by treaty with the Sacs and Foxes in 1842.
The Winnebagoes had entered into a treaty of peace and amity with the United States in 1816, following the conclusion of the War of 1812. In 1832 they joined Black Hawk in his war against the United States and at its termination, as a punishment for their breach of faith they were required to give up their lands in Wisconsin in exchange for a tract in Iowa included in the por- tion of the "Neutral Strip" east of the Shell Rock and Cedar rivers. This territory they occupied until 1846, when they were induced to cede their Iowa lands for a tract in Minnesota, to which they soon after removed. They were induced to make this change largely because of the fact that while occupying the "Neutral Strip" they found themselves constituting a sort of buffer between the Sioux on the north and the Sacs and Foxes on the south. For many years, however, parties of them returned to hunt and trap along their favorite Iowa rivers until most of the game had disappeared.
INDIAN BATTLE IN BENNEZETTE
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The early settlers in the northern part of Butler county have left rather a fragmentary record of a battle between the Winne- bagoes and the Sioux, which occurred in the northern part of Bennezette township. The location of this battlefield is given as on section 5, about where Coldwater creek enters the township from the north. The battle seems to have been the concluding one of a campaign that had begun between the tribes sometime previous and somewhere to the northward of Butler county. The Winnebagoes in retreat took their stand here and are said to have thrown up earthworks and fortified themselves as best they could. The Sioux greatly outnumbered their opponents and attacking them from behind their fortification, brought on a terrific con- flict. The Winnebagoes are reported to have been overwhelm- ingly defeated. The date of this battle is given as 1853 but this is probably a mistake, as after 1846 there were rarely any large bands of warriors of either of these nations in this territory. Early settlers in Bennezette township used to visit the scene of the battle and find there many Indian relics, such as knives, broken guns, arrow heads and Indian jewelry.
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The Winnebagoes annually made a journey through the west- ern part of the county on their way from Clear Lake, in Cerro Gordo county, to a camping ground in the vicinity of James Newell's on the Cedar. Their route led them through Jamison's and Boylan's groves, thence down the West Fork, to its junc- tion with the Cedar. Occasionally parties of Sioux traversed the same route. These annual incursions continued for some years after the county began to be settled. When finally the game became scarce, these Indians were rarely seen. For years after- ward, however, little groups of Musquakie Indians from the Tama reservation were accustomed to traverse the county, begging their way from house to house. These Indians were semi-civilized and constituted a nuisance rather than a menace. Occasionally com- ing upon some outlying farm house where only women and chil- dren were at home, they were the cause of some fright, but these fears were usually groundless. No instances of unusual outrage are recorded against these Indians.
INDIAN SCARE OF 1854
In January of 1854, a desperado, Henry Lott, who had some trouble with a band of Sioux Indians, treacherously lured a Sioux chief away from his home and killed him from ambush. That night with more than savage cruelty and deceit, Lott butchered the Indian women and children belonging to the family of this chief. A brother of the murdered chief, with another band of Sioux, discovered the dead and mangled bodies a few days later and learning from some children who had escaped the massacre, the identity of the murderer determined upon revenge. This was the beginning of the troubles between the Iowa settlers and the Sioux Indians, which eventually culminated in the Spirit Lake massacre. The story of this tragic event forms one of the most remarkable series of incidents in the history of this or any other western state. It is not, however, distinctly germane to the history of Butler county. It is indicative, however, of the fact that this possibility of an invasion by hostile Indians was ever present in the minds of these early settlers. It is easy now to minimize its danger and to laugh at the sometimes rather ludicrous incidents that grew out of the fears which these pioneers sometimes entertained. But a study of such events as those occur-
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ring at-Spirit Lake will justify in the minds of any fair-minded person the presence of such fear.
W. L. Palmer, in a "History of Clarksville," gives a graphic description of the Indian scare of 1854 in Butler county :
"In the spring or early part of the summer of 1854, the nerves of the whole population of North-central Iowa were set into a terrible flutter by the announcement, heralded throughout the country, that the noble 'red men' were greatly incensed by the appearance of numerous pale faces within their, to them, legiti- mate territory, and that they proposed to massacre, at one fell swoop, every man, woman and child. Had the shock of an earth- quake, or the coming of a second deluge been announced, with as much probable certainty, the panic could not have been more suc- cessful, and for days and nights, the most timid might have been seen rapidly running toward the south. In some instances every- thing was left in the rear except sufficient to sustain life until a 'heavier settlement' could be reached. But all did not act thus. The bugle was sounded, the standard unfurled, and courageous volunteers rallied to its support.
"Colonel Abner Eads, at that time superintendent of public instruction for the state, happened to be in Cedar Falls. Having been an officer in the army, during the war with Mexico, he was immediately elected impromptu commander-in-chief of all the forces that were about to engage in the prolonged and bloody cam- paign, and promptly set himself about organizing, drilling and reviewing two companies of volunteer 'dragoons.' During the organization, M. M. Trumbull, who was a sergeant of artillery in the Mexican war, and who had distinguished himself in the battles of Palo Alto, Monterey, Chapultepec, etc., was honored by the Colonel with the position of adjutant-general and chief-of-staff. Ed. Brown was captain of the company from Black Hawk and Jerry Farris of that from Bremer. So soon as the roads and weather would permit, 'Brigadier' Eads headed his noble column and boldly struck out for the frontier. When the column had reached Clarksville, its ranks were considerably swollen by the gradual 'falling-in' of strong-hearted recruits from the wayside. At Clarksville it halted for supper, a night's rest and a council of war, after a forced march of twenty-five miles. The refreshments were generously furnished by the remaining citizens who were so extremely patriotic that they would not 'take a cent'; but when the troops proceeded the next day, found they had been eaten out
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of 'house and home.' The decision at the council of war no man knew, save those in authority, but were compelled to 'guess' from the proceedings which followed. A small detachment of 'regulars' was left with the citizens, under orders to erect a fort-on the hill where Mr. Baughman's residence now is-and not delay a moment until its completion. The noble little garrison went man- fully to work, detailed two-thirds of their number for picket duty, while the rest began sinking trenches and throwing up breast works, never stopping a moment except to eat, drink and sleep. During the progress of this work, the main column had proceeded as far northwest as Clear Lake, and frightened a few whites and a number of Winnebagoes almost out of their wits, who thought them red-skins. All the excitement was caused by the murder of a 'skinaway' and the scalping of an old 'squaw' belonging to the Winnebago tribe, by a marauding band of Sioux. The troops bivouacked for the night, and many were the disappointed heroes who would be compelled to return the next day bearing the sad tale to their friends that the Indian war was a myth, and that they were not permitted, by kind Providence, to wholly exterminate the very name of 'Injun' from the face of the earth, by pouring out their life's blood in defense of their homes and firesides. Dur- ing the home march of the veterans they were not so careful of their powder as on their northern trip, and occasionally amused themselves by discharging a shot at some wayside object, the reports of which 'panicized' the remaining settlers, who flew to the protection of Fort Eads, at Clarksville. Adjutant-General and Chief-of-Staff Trumbull, when the troops went into camp for the night, strolled away in search of the Shell Rock river for the pur- pose of bathing. While enjoying the refreshing bath, he chanced to observe a woman, near the bank opposite, washing clothes. An idea struck him. He would rush wildly into camp and report that Indians, thousands of them, were on the opposite side of the river and were preparing an attack. The disclosure had the desired effect. 'Boots and saddles' was immediately sounded and the bold soldiers were off in a trice; not toward the enemy, but each upon his own hook, bound to receive shelter behind the protecting walls of the little fortification. When the headlong retreat of the troops, who had all been 'cut to pieces,' was known at the fort by the arri- val of the better mounted dragoons-the only ones who escaped with their 'har'-the scenes in the fort could not have been better imagined than described; for there were assembled the women
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