History of Butler and Bremer counties, Iowa, Part 33

Author: Union publishing company, Springfield, Ill
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Springfield, Ill., Union publishing company
Number of Pages: 1316

USA > Iowa > Butler County > History of Butler and Bremer counties, Iowa > Part 33
USA > Iowa > Bremer County > History of Butler and Bremer counties, Iowa > Part 33

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).

On the 24th of the same month William Hicks, an Englishman, was the first for- eigner in the county to renounce his alle- giance to the British crown and declare

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. HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.

his intention to become a citizen of the United States. John Palmer and William Glass took like steps toward citizenship the same day. William Gough, a native of England, who had declared his inten- tion in Bremer county, was the first foreigner admitted to full American citi- zenship in Butler county, which was accom- plished on the 6th of October, 1857. Pat- rick Hayes was the next person naturalized, at the same term of court. Pat was an Irishman.

The first school in the county was opened in a little log cabin at Clarksville, in 1855. The first term was taught by Miss Malinda Searles.

The first sermon preached within the limits of Butler county, was in the fall of 1851, at the house of Malon B. Wamsley, near the present town of Clarksville. The preacher was a Methodist, but his name is lost from memory.

The first lawyer in the county was M. M. Trumbull, now of Chicago. See history of bar.

The first physician in the county was Dr. James E. Walker, a native of Maine. He was county clerk for a number of years; but has long since returned to his native State.

The first marriage license was issued by Judge Palmer to Greenberry Luck and Su- san Williams, on November Ist, 1854, and they were married the same day. They were at last accounts living in Beaver township, and had a family of nearly one dozen children. This marriage license precedes all others on the record books in

the clerk's office, although two others bear earlier dates. They are given elsewhere.

FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION IN 1857 AT NEW HARTFORD.

The villagers and citizens of the sur- rounding country felt the necessity of helping to save the Union, so far as man- ifesting their patriotism was concerned, and on the fourth day of July, 1857, the anniversary of the Nation's independence, was celebrated in grand style. The officers of the day were: Martin Bailey, President; E. S. Shaw, Marshal; Judd Bradley, Assis- tant Marshal, and Alonzo Converse, Orator.

At this time the subject of moving the county seat from Clarksville was being considerably agitated, and the southern portion of the county were advocating the nomination of Mr. Converse for County Judge, who was known to be favorable to said removal. When it was known that Mr. Converse was to deliver the oration at this celebration, quite a large number from other parts of the county were in attend- ance to see "what manner of man this re- moval candidate" was. Everything passed off very pleasantly and patriotically, and those who participated went home feeling in good spirits and that the day had been profitably spent.

Mr. Converse-we will say right here- was elected the following August, and during the campaign promulgated the gen- erally accepted "silver rule" of "Do unto others as they do unto you."

This was the first celebration in the county, so far as the historian can find.

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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.

CHAPTER III.

IN EARLY DAYS.

The following account of personal mat- ters is given to show the disadvantages under which the hardy pioneers procured the homes, which now seem so comfortable. Whatever of romance adhered to the hardy colonists, was abundantly compensated for by hard work. Contrast the journey of that devoted party through the roadless and bridgeless tract between their destina- tion and Chicago, with a party on a like journey to-day. Instead of weeks of labor and toil, privation and suffering, with cold and hunger, a seat is taken in a palace car, at noon, in Chicago, an unexceptional sup- per is partaken without leaving the train, the passenger retires upon a downy couch, and in the morning awakes to find himself at his point in central or northern Iowa, having lost only half a'day on the journey. Those who enjoy these blessings would be less than human if they were not filled with gratitude to these early settlers, who paved the way, and actually made the present condition of things possible. At that time the confines of civilization were on the 'lakes; Chicago had not many thousand people, Milwaukee was just beginning to be a village and Dubuque was a mere vidette, as an outpost of civili- . zation. There was nothing in the now great State of Iowa, except the intrinsic merit of the location, to attract people

from their more or less comfortable homes in the East, or on the other side of the water. The hope as to the future, which "springs eternal in the human heart" was what lured them on, and although those that came were usually regarded by the friends they left, as soldiers of fortune, who, if they ever returned at all, would indeed be fortunate. They were a sturdy race, who realized the inequality of the struggle in the old States or countries, and resolved to plant themselves, where merit would not be suppressed by traditions.

The men who came were, as a rule, enterprising, open-hearted and sympathiz- ing, they were good neighbors, and so good neighborhoods were created, and they illus- trated the idea of the brotherhood of man more by example than by quoting creeds, with a bravery that never blanched in the presence of the most appalling danger, they nevertheless werc tender, kind and considerate in the presence of misfortune, and their deficiency in outward manifesta- tions of piety was more than compensated by their love and regard for humanity. And if this meed of praise is justly due to the men, and it certainly is, what shall be said of the heroic women who braved the vicissitudes of frontier life, endured the absence of home, friends and old associa- tions, whose tender ties must have wrung

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all hearts as they were severed. The devo- tion which would lead to such a breaking away, to follow a father, a husband or a son into the trackless waste beyond the Mississippi, where gloomy apprehensions must have arisen in the mind, is above all praise. The value of the part taken by the noble women who first came to this uninhabited region cannot be over estima- ted. Although by nature liberal, they practiced the most liberal economy, and often at critical times preserved order, re- claiming the men from despair during gloomy periods; and their example of industry constantly admonished him to renewed exertion; and the instincts of womanhood constantly encouraged integ- rity and manhood.

As to the effects of frontier life upon those who have secured homes west of the Mississippi, a few observations may not be inappropriate.

Years ago the Rev. Dr. Bushnell, a noted divine in the east, preached a sermon on the barbarous tendencies of civilization in the West, and on this the Reverend gentle- man predicted an urgent-and we almost said, frantic-appeal to Christianity to put forth renewed and strenuous efforts to save the west from a relapse into barbarism. This tendency was supposed to result from the disruption of social and religious ties, the mingling of heterogeneous elements, and the removal of the external restraints, so common, and supposed to be so patent in older communities. Dr. Bushnell did not have a sufficiently extended view of the subject, for in looking over the history of the past, we find that in a nomadic posi- tion there is never any real progress in re- finement. Institutions for the elevation of

the race must be planted deep in the soil before they can raise their heads in beauty and majesty towards Heaven, and bear fruit for the enlightenment of nations The evils of which Dr. Bushnell was so afraid are merely temporary in their character, and will have no lasting impres- sion. What actually happens is this, at first there is an obvious increase of human freedom, but the element of self govern- ment everywhere largely predominates, and the fusion of the races which is inevi- table, will in due time create a composite nationality, or a race as unlike as it must be superior to those that have preceded it. Even now, before the first generation has passed away, society in the west has out- grown the irritation of the transplanting, and there are no more vicious elements in society here than in the east, as the crimi- nal statistics will abundantly show.

THE INDIAN WAR.

To W. L. Palmer's well written "His- tory of Clarksville," we are indebted for the following graphic description of this memorable time:

"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 flut- ter 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, legitimate territory, and that they proposed to massacre, at one fell swoop, every man, woman and child. Had the shock of an earthquake, or the coming of a second deluge been announced, with as much probable certainty, the panic could not have been more successful, and for days and nights, the most timid might have been seen rapidly running to- ward the south. In some instances everything was left in the rear except sufficient to sustain

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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.

life until a 'heavier settlement' could be reached. But all did not act thus. The bugle was sounded, the standard unfurled, and courageous volun- .teers rallied to its support.

Colonel Abner Eads, at that time Superintend- ent 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 campaign, and promptly set himself about organizing, drilling and reviewing two companies of volunteer 'dra- goons.' During the organization, M. M. Trum- bull, who was a sergeant of artillery in the Mexican war, and who had distinguished himself in the battles of Palo Alto, Monterey, Chepulte- pec, etc., was honored, by the Colonel, with the position of Adjutant-General and Chief-of-Staff. Eu. Brown was captain of the company from Black Hawk, and Jerry Farris of that from Bre- mer. 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 'fall- ing-in' of strong-hearted recruits from the way- side. 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 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 de_ tachment 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 manfully 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 maraud- ing band of Sioux. The troops bivouacked for the night, and many were the disappointed he- roes 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 exter- minate the very name of 'Injun' from the face of the earth, by pouring [out their lifes' blood in defense of their homes and firesides. During the home march of the veterans they were not so careful of their powder as on their northern trip, and occasionally amused themselves by dis- charging a shot at some wayside object, the reports of which 'panicized' the remaining set- tlers, 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 purpose of bathing. While enjoying the refreshing bath, he chanced to ob- serve a woman, near the bank opposite, washing clothes. An idea struck him. He would ruslı wildly into camp and report that Indians, thou- sands of them, were on the opposite side of the river, and were preparing an attack. The dis- closure had the desired effect. 'Boots and sad- dles' 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 arrival 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 and children! Brave hearts almost ceased to perform their pro-

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per functions! Timid women wrung their hands and fainted, while the children wept at behold- ing the fearful carnage! Quietude was at length restored; a hearty laugh indulged in; the war ended, and all returned to their peaceful homes. Thus closed the Indian massacre of 1854.

THE SCARE IN THE NORTHERN PART OF THE COUNTY. By W. A. Griffith.

In the early settlement of Coldwater township, when the telegraph was nın- known, with no newspaper published nearer than Dubuque, and the nearest postoffice between thirty and forty miles distant, news came rather slowly, and unreliable when it was received; each man had to rely upon his neighbor for intelli- gence, which very often got mixed, as the following will show:

One stormy night in the month of June, in 1854, when the rain was pouring in tor- rents and the thunder shaking the very earth, Mr. James Griffith, in Coldwater township, was aroused by a cry of distress, warning himself and family to flee for their lives, as the cruel Sionx were rushing on toward him, massacreing and scalping his neighbors as they advanced. William Choate, his informant, told him he had no time to lose or his scalp, with those of his family, would soon be dangling from the belt of the savage warrior. Mr. Griffith, having no team by which to save his fam- ily, concluded to take them to the cabin of John H. Miller, who, being absent from home that night, had left his folks in Mr. G.'s charge. On getting to Mrs. Miller's he found his neighbors all gathered there, preparatory to fleeing the country; but Mr. Griffith, having two families on his hands, persuaded them to halt, and there those

brave men decided to facc deatlı, defend their wives and little ones, and sell their lives as dearly as possible.

They stood guard all night, hourly expecting to hear the hideous yells of the unmerciful demons, and the breaking in upon them, until at length, after a night of deathly terror, the welcome dawn appeared, when, still as the silent grave, the men gathered their loved ones, ready to flee a country where every bush appeared to hide a lurking enemy, to a place of safety. Mr. John M. Hart, John V. Boggs and James Griffith decided to stand their ground, and not run; but their neighbors told them if they wanted to expose themselves to certain death, they did not, and the greater part of the resi- dents of Coldwater left-some of them never stopping this side of the Mississippi line, and some of them, I fear, are running yet, for they never came back. In the morning, John H. Miller-having returned home in the meantime-and James Griffith, determined to risk their lives, ascertain the danger, and see to what extent the savages had devastated the country. They went up the river as far as "Beelar's Grove"-now Marble Rock -and found the citizens still in bed, unconscious of their danger; so they came back home, and went down the river as far as "Coon's Grove"-now the village of Clarksville-for the purpose of organizing a band for self-protection, and just as they were about to return home, M. M. Trum- bull, now Colonel Trumbull, of Dubuque, arrived from the frontier, greatly excited, and on being interrogated about the local- ity of the Indians, he could not tell the exact locality, but that they were not far

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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.

off. Some one asked, "Are they at Rock Grove?" His reply was "Nearer than that." "At Beelar's Grove?" "Nearer than that!" "At Coldwater?" And his reply was, "Gentlemen, I was on an Indian trail, and saw their fires this side of there!" Horror! Think of our Coldwater friends! What agony arose in their breasts, to think that their homes were destroyed, and all they held near and dear cruelly butchered or carried away captive. They accordingly mounted their horses, and ran them

home. When north of Flood creek they discovered the fires, and marched straight to them; they proved to have been built by Mrs. Levi Burress and girls, who were washing on the banks of the Shell Rock river. They then came home, and found everybody alive and well, which greatly relieved our heroes.

The basis of the scare proved to be that a couple of Sioux and Winnebago Indians had got into a quarrel, which terminated in one of them being sent to the "happy hunting grounds," and the whites had no part whatever in the fight. Such was the great Indian scare of 1854.

HUNTING BY THE PIONEERS,

One of the earliest settlers has kindly written and contributed the following, which will be found interesting:

" When our county was new and thinly settled the settlers had hard times to live; yet this was somewhat relieved and interspersed by the pleasant times passed in hunting buffalos, deer, elk and other animals of the forest and prairie, on which the pioneers chiefly depended for meat, and in connection with their corn- bread, managed to eke out an existence.

From 1851 to 1856, hunting was the main employment of a great many of them, among whom were the Goheen brothers, E. R. and James, and one Tobias Miller, familiarly called 'Tobe,' who could bring down the buck at almost every shot. E. R. Goheen, has been so successful as to shoot twelve deer and one buffalo in a day. At one time he made a contract for fur- nishing deer for what the hides were worth, as they could shoot them standing on their door-steps. During the winter of 1853 and '54, E. R. and James Goheen surrounded a large buffalo on the present site of the Dunkard church, shot so as to cripple it. It was storming so that the game escaped, but was captured the next morning by Mr. Winchell, of Marble Rock. Thus deer meat was the staple article of food, and the poor pioneers got very tired of it; flour bread being a luxury in which but few indulged. In Octo- ber, 1853, Mr. John Hart and James Griffith went to the nearest mill, which was located at Cedar Rapids, to get some flour, taking a four-horse team. The trip took one week, and when they got back their families lived in high style on white bread for a time, and it is stated that when 'we could get flour at Cedar Falls we were a happy people.' The pioneer struggled on until he is now reaping his reward, and can have his luxuries without the in- conveniences of former times."

THE PRAIRIE FIRES.

The prairie fires during an early period were very damaging, and grew to be a ter- rible dread to the unprotected pioneers, whose only safety lay in the "fire-break," -a few furrows plowed around their farms

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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.

-- and often the fire would "jump" the widest of them. Especially is this remem- bered by the pioneers of the southern tier of townships, as in one of the fires a little girl of Jacob Codner's was burned to death. In the fall of '56, the worst fire ever known to pass over this region, ravaged the country for miles. It started somewhere on the prairies of Grundy county, and the wind, blowing a perfect hurricane, drove the tempest of fire northward with lightning speed, reaping a swath of destruction miles in width. It came into the Parkersburg timber, and killed the greater part of it. Mr. Curtis, who lived just in the north edge, across the Beaver, had to fight for life against the elements. Its progress was not stayed in the least by the stream, and the fire swept around to the north, jumping the West Fork, south of Butler Center, and Samuel Gillard, who had set- tled in this locality in the fall of '55, was nearly burned to death.

THE FERRY LOST.

The Mr. Curtis, mentioned, came in the fall of 1855, and was one of the earliest settlers of Monroe, living just over the line. He kept the ferry across the Beaver at this point for some years-transporting travelers and mail across the stream. During the wet season of 1857 Mr. Curtis ferried many goods across the stream, and upon one occasion, when he attempted to carry the passengers and mail, he swamped and lost his boat and came near losing his life. As a rule, however, the Beaver could be forded, as it had rather a sluggish flow, and, as one old pioneer suggests, "there was more danger of getting stuck in the mud than being drowned."

HARD TIMES.

Van E. Butler, in his well written his- tory of this township, published in the Clarksville Star, says: " This history would be incomplete without reference to the first settlers, who dared the trials and hardships of pioneer life, when they were obliged to haul their supplies from Du- buque or Iowa City. The nearest grist mill was at Independence or Quasxucton, when a barrel of salt was worth $9.00, a bushel of corn $1.50, and a pound of bacon 25 cents. Our people were then compelled to accept what they could get from the inill owners and post agents, who supplied us with the necessities of life, and it was frequently very light returns, as was the case on one occasion, when Phillip J. Ebersold, of Dayton, in com- pany with Charley Angell, of the same town, came home with the grist of twenty bushels of wheat-consisting of only three sacks of flour, and Charley remarked, jo- cosely: 'you're lucky they didn't chase you clear home for the empty sacks.' "

The same writer, after commenting at length upon various matters, continues:

"In the year 1854, James Blake entered 320 acres on section 25 of Dayton, and erected a cabin. Mr. Blake was born near' Augusta, Maine, but in early youth emi- grated to Virginia, where he imbibed all the characteristics of the true Virginian; of commanding presence, a nian of strong likes and dislikes, either a devoted friend or a bitter enemy; there were no half-ways in his conduct; a man who liked to do everything on a large scale. He gloried in the biggest cattle and the biggest horses in this part of the country, and he was a sight worth seeing, with his four yokc of

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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.

cattle and a span of mares in the lead that would weigh 3,200, turning over the sod with a thirty-two inch plow.

"As we came to where the old gentleman was one day plowing up the prairie and leaving it very much kinked, we ex- claimed: 'Hello, Mr. Blake! Why do you kink the sods so much?' 'Why, you see, the boys like mighty well to shoot chickens, but they ain't worth shucks to take 'em on the wing, so I thought I would kink it enough for 'em to crawl up behind the sods and take 'em a settin.'

"Equally characteristic was the reply to the writer, who one day accosted Mr. Blake as he was plowing a field that had been rented to tenants for a number of years, and consequently was so foul that the last crop was not worth cutting. ' Well, Uncle Jimmy, you're plowing those weed seeds under pretty deep, I see?' 'Yes, I'll plow 'em under deeper'n h -! ' And sure enough the next crop was deep enough to satisfy any advocate of deep plowing, even if he wern't ambi- tious to go quite as deep as Mr. Blake.

"During the rebellion his two oldest boys went into the army, and Uncle Jimmy rented his farm and moved to town, and prided himself much on a neatly kept vegetable garden. While thus employed, the numerous porkers running at large would make frequent raids into his truck patch. He re-nailed his pickets; he remon- strated with the owners of the hogs, all to no purpose. One morning, in making a survey of his 'sass garden,' he caught one of the marauders in the act. He had com- mitted sad havoc among his cabbages; his potatoes looked as though an army of Colorado beetles had swept over them; his

peas looked curious; his sweet-corn had soured on him; his tomato vines hung in graceful festoons over the back of the depredator-is human nature perfect? Is philosophy always at hand to guide our .actions in the path of right, or is swift justice not sometimes excusable, though it may take a crooked path to strike a well- merited blow ?. In grim silence he walked to the woodpile; a respectable sized boom- erang swept in graceful curves through the air, and the perpetrator of this Cartha- genian ruin 'went where the woodbine twineth.' Taking the defunct porker by the leg, he chucked lim over the fence, exclaiming, 'There, confound you, if we have a liog law, lets abide by it,' and tlie recording angel dropped a tear upon the word, and blotted it out forever."

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History of Butler and Bremer counties, Iowa, Part 33

Author: Union publishing company, Springfield, Ill Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Springfield, Ill., Union publishing company Number of Pages: 1316

Author: Union publishing company, Springfield, Ill
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Springfield, Ill., Union publishing company
Number of Pages: 1316