USA > Iowa > Clayton County > History of Clayton County, Iowa : from the earliest historical times down to the present : including a genealogical and biographical record of many representative families, prepared from data obtained from original sources of information, Volume I > Part 38
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Death losses among the pioneers in 1915 were as follows: John Van Staden, who was associated with Michael Klein in the brewery at West McGregor and who represented Clayton county in the legislature in 1879; Alvah F. Rogers, who was born in Garnavillo in 1859 and was known as a teacher and as post master of Farmersburg; J. W. Libby, who died at the advanced age of 89, having come to Elkader in 1852 and being a charter member of the Masonic lodge. Although not a resident of this county, C. T. Granger, who died in 1915, was promi- nent in the history of the county. He settled in Allamakee county in 1854 and was admitted to the bar in 1860. He was captain of Com- pany K, Twenty-Seventh Iowa, and after the war was elected district attorney, this county being in his district. Later he served as district judge and was elected to the supreme bench in 1889, and was chief justice in 1885. He was a candidate for congress in this district in 1874. He was a republican and was recognized as one of the ablest jurors of the state.
In March, 1916, occurred the death of Mathew Fitzpatrick. He came as a child to Cox Creek township, in 1865, studied law with. W. A. Preston and was admitted to the bar in 1883. He was deputy treasurer in 1884 and was for three terms recorder of Clayton county. In July, 1916, occurred the death of E. M. Paul, who had been agent of the Milwaukee at Elkader for many years, who had taken an active part in the life of the city and who was the oldest railroad man in the county
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in point of service. In October, 1907, James Schroeder died at Gutten- berg, where he had been postmaster for many years. He came to Guttenberg in 1854; in 1862 he was appointed assistant revenue col- lector. He was appointed postmaster of Guttenberg in 1867 and held the office until the time of his death, with the exception of the years during the second Cleveland administration. He was a warm personal friend of Senator W. B. Allison.
Twentieth Century Politics-Politically the century was opened with the second battle between William Mckinley and William J. Bryan. The Republican party was well united and confident of suc- cess. Although "expansion" was said to be the paramount issue in this campaign, those Democrats opposed to free silver had not forgot- ten the campaign of 1896 and were still opposed to Bryan on that issue. This aided the Republicans in their campaign and Mckinley received a majority of nearly 500. For the major county officers the Republican candidates were nearly all candidates for reelection and they ran well with their ticket. There was one close contest, that between S. J. Beddow, Republican, and John H. Hill, Democrat, for recorder. On the face of the returns Hill was elected by three majority. Beddow brought a contest and H. D. Jenkins, T. J. Sullivan and John Everall were the commissioners who made the recount. The contest took six days and, as a result, Hill was declared elected by a majority of 19. During this, and preceding years, there had been growing divisions in the Republican ranks. Those who had had control of the party machinery came to be known as "stand-patters" and the opposing faction was led by A. B. Cummins. Mr. Cummins was successful in securing the Republican nomination for governor in 1901. It was during this campaign that Mr. Cummins visited Clayton county and in driving from Osborne with his friend, J. G. Hempel, their team became frightened and ran away, both men being hurt, but fortunately neither of them seriously. The Republicans of Clayton county were largely in favor of Cummins and his nomination strengthened their ticket.
In September, 1901, came the news of the assassination of Pres- ident Mckinley, the third president of the United States to fall a victim of the assassin's bullet. The general grief over this national tragedy took much of the ordinary rancor from the campaign. With the death of Mckinley was added a new, unknown but vital factor to American politics when Theodore Roosevelt succeeded to the pres- idency. In Clayton county A. B. Cummins received a majority of nearly 300. J. C. Flenniken, Republican, was elected representative. The popular Democratic officials, Reugnitz for treasurer, Benton for sheriff and Adam for superintendent, were reelected, the Republicans securing the balance of the officers. Henry Meder was elected super- visor over J. F. Schug, Democrat, by seven, and this provoked another contest. Mr. Meder, who was chairman of the board, resigned that he might not be called upon to serve as a judge of the contest. As a result of the recanvass, Meder was declared elected by 5 majority. Mr. Flenniken was the first Republican representative from Clayton county since 1881.
Death of Chas. Reugnits-The great political sensation of 1902
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was the death of Charles Reugnitz. This occurred suddenly on May 25. Mr. Reugnitz was one of the most popular men the county ever knew. He was treasurer for seventeen years and, at a number of the elections, he had no opposition and when he did he was easily the vic- tor. It was found that his books were in chaotic condition. Hempel, Hill and Hagensick were appointed to investigate and they found a shortage of $9,148, and this was afterwards increased as other matters came to light. Twenty of his bondsmen paid $400 each of this deficit and the balance was made good by the family. It was the unanimous verdict that Mr. Reugnitz did not benefit personally by the sum lost to the county, but rather that he was a too obliging friend and had loaned money which was never repaid.
The prohibitionists placed a full county ticket in the field, in 1902, but the vote was not a considerable factor. The main fight of the cam- paign centered about the office of auditor and there was a close race between J. G. Hempel and Otto German, Mr. Hempel winning by a majority of 18. This was the only close contest, the Republicans carrying the county by 115 and electing Hempel, Costigan and Davidson while the democrats held the offices of recorder and treas- urer with James Carroll and W. F. Reinecke. J. F. Becker, the Republican nominee, had been appointed treasurer upon the death of Reugnitz and Reinecke was elected to fill the vacancy, taking his office in November, 1902.
In the election of 1903, A. B. Cummins was again a candidate for governor. He spoke at Garnavillo during the campaign and was greeted by a large torch light parade. His popularity aided the Repub- licans and they made a clean sweep of the county except that W. F. Reinecke was reelected treasurer and Martin Dittmer was elected sheriff.
The Roosevelt Campaign-Theodore Roosevelt was the Repub- lican candidate in 1904 and Alton B. Parker was the Democratic candi- date for president. Mr. Parker was a conservative Democrat and was not popular with the enthusiastic followers of Bryan. The national contest was one-sided and Roosevelt carried every northern state by large majorities. The sentiment of the nation was reflected in Clayton county and Roosevelt received the largest Republican majority (711) given in this county since Grant was a candidate for president, in 1872. This was a "tidal wave" and the Republicans were largely successful. The Democrats elected T. L. Harvey, auditor, and M. X. Geske, attor- ney, the balance of the ticket being Republican. For recorder J. E. Webb, the popular Elkader school superintendent, defeated James Carroll by 23 votes and L. S. Fisher defeated L. B. Blanchard by 16 votes. Both of these elections were contested and, upon the recount, the majorities of both Webb and Fisher were increased to 35.
At this election a constitutional amendment for biennial elections was voted on. Clayton county gave an adverse majority of 707, but the amendment carried in the state and as a result there were no elec- tions in the odd-numbered years thereafter.
J. G. Hempel had been elected a member of the Republican state central committee, in 1902, as supporter of the Cummins faction and this county had been strong in Cummins' support. At the election of
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1906, however, Mr. Cummins was opposed by C. R. Porter, who had the united support of his party. This, together with the growing divi- sion of the Republican ranks, reduced the majority in this county to 76 and the majority of the Democratic county ticket was elected. C. H. Schulte succeeded Flenniken as representative, Harvey for auditor, Reinecke for treasurer, Dittmer for sheriff, Geske for attorney, Adams for superintendent were among the democrats elected; while the Republicans were Roy Webb for clerk, J. E. Webb for recorder, Ole Nelson for surveyor, W. J. Bierman for coroner and H. A. Mallory, A. S. Houg and L. S. Fisher for supervisors.
Election of 1908 -- Ninteen hundred eight was another presiden- tial election with William H. Taft, Republican, and William J. Bryan, Democrat, as opposing candidates for president. The money panic, in 1907, was a weakening influence for the Republicans, as was, also, the growing contention between the stand-patters and the Progressives of that party. This was reflected in the politics of the state and there was a sharp contest for the Republican nomination for governor. Among the Clayton county men urged for office were J. G. Hempel, who was brought forward as a candidate for state auditor, but who refused to enter the race and for elector B. W. Newberry of Straw- berry Point, who at this time nearly lost his life by being bitten by a rattlesnake.
The First Primary-Nineteen hundred eight was the year of the first primary election. The first primary petitions in this county were filed by George Fletcher as a'candidate for attorney and by George Losch as a candidate for sheriff. The supreme contest among the Republicans was for the office of United States senator, with William B. Allison and A. B. Cummins as opposing candidates. This was the most bitter contest any party has ever known in Iowa and served to widen the breach between the two wings of the party. In this county Cummins received a majority of 144, but in the state Allison won by 20,000. In the primary there were contests in the Democratic party for congress, between A. J. Anders and M. B. Guiser with Anders the victor an this county, although not in the district. For county officers among the Democrats, D. F. Willmes defeated T. L. Harvey for audi- tor, M. B. Bishop defeated O. C. Friend for clerk, Martin Dittmer defeated P. J. Ryan for sheriff and the balance of the Democratic ticket was not contested. Among the Republicans B. F. Carroll defeated Warren Garst for governor, C. J. Cords defeated C. H. Williamson for auditor, Embertson won over J. A. Kramer for clerk, G. Losch defeated J. H. Schmidt for sheriff, D. E. Livingood defeated D. M. Dahn for superintendent and .F. J. Corlett defeated A. S. Houg for supervisor. Less than 60 per cent of the vote was cast at this primary.
Before the election, in November, William B. Allison, the aged senior senator from Iowa, died and the question of the senatorial suc- cession was reopened. Friends in this district urged G. N. Haugen as a candidate but he refused to run. A special session of the legislature was called and a law passed which permitted the republicans to hold a primary for senator in connection with the regular election of Novem- ber, 1908. The opposing factions of the party lined up, with A. B. Cummins as the representative of the progressives and congressman
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J. F. Lacey as the leader of the stand-patters. In this primary Mr. Cummins was an easy victor, but these battles among themselves, con- tinuing to the very eve of the election, left the republicans in no trim to meet the Democratic opposition. Another factor in this county was the increasing activity of the prohibition campaign, H. C. Barber, pres- ident of the Iowa anti-saloon league, touring the county in the early months of the year. In Clayton county, therefore, in 1908 the Demo- crats won a sweeping victory, carrying the county for Bryan by 253 and electing every candidate, except J. W. Forward, who was defeated by C. F. Meier for treasurer in the closest election ever held in this county, Mr. Meier's majority being but a single vote ; and L. A. Zearley who was defeated for coroner by 60 majority, by W. J. Bierman. By 1910, the breach in the Republican ranks had widened. In the pri- maries Warren Garst carried the county by 136 over B. F. Carroll for governor. In other Republican contests Douglas Brown defeated George Losch for sheriff and L. S. Fisher defeated F. J. Corlett for supervisor. Among the Democrats there were no primary contests except for sheriff, E. Bergemeyer winning, by 36 plurality, in a three- cornered contest with D. L. Barton and J. K. Molumby.
Murphy-Haugen Contest-Early in 1909, the name of D. D. Murphy had been proposed as the democratic candidate for congress. Mr. Murphy stood well with the Democrats of the district, was a brilliant orator, a successful lawyer and known as one of Iowa's leading educators. On the other hand the position of Republican congressmen between the two factions was exceedingly critical. Neither Haugen, Republican, nor Murphy, Democrat, had opposition for the nomina- tion, but in the election Mr. Murphy gave Mr. Haugen the only close race he has had in his long congressional career. At the November election, 1910, Clayton county had a Democratic landslide. Porter carried the county for governor by 754, while Mr. Murphy for congress received the large majority of 1,402. The only Republican elected was C. F. Meier who, for his second term for treasurer, received a majority of 679. Mr. Murphy at the urgent request of his Democratic friends contested the election with Mr. Haugen and this contest was not decided until May, 1912, when Haugen was declared elected by the committee of the House of Representatives.
Campaign of 1912-By 1912, matters had gone from bad to worse with the Republican party. At the Chicago convention, W. H. Taft was renominated, but not until after there had been a most bitter con- vention fight which resulted in the withdrawal of the progressives under the leadership of Theodore Roosevelt and his nomination at the head of a third party. Very naturally, this affected Republican poli- tics in every state and county. In August, 1912, H. L. Griffith issued a call for a progressive county convention. This was held and H. L. Griffith, F. L. Wellman, C. F. Meier, Charles Monlux, R. G. Kingsley, O. O. Johnson, F. S. Richards, F. L. Williams and E. O. Glesne were the delegates to the Progressive state convention. Mr. Griffith was chairman of the county committee. The Progressives placed no county ticket in the field, but made an aggressive fight for their national ticket. A. J. Carpenter was chairman of the Republican central com- mittee and, at the county convention, F. C. Gilmore, D. W. Meier, W.
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W. Davidson, A. Porter, A. C. Boyle, V. T. Price, E. C. Spaulding, J. E. Reilly, Charles Newberry, J. E. Robertson, J. F. Widman and W. J. Bierman, Jr., were delegates to the judicial convention. At the primary election, June, 1912, the Republicans had contests for United States senator, governor and congressman, and the Democrats for governor and for congressman. There were no contests for county nominations and the vote was very light on this account, less than 2,000 votes being cast in the county. P. G. Holden carried the county by a plurality of 31 for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.
In the November election the Republican vote was divided almost in two, Roosevelt, Progressive, having a majority of 232 over Taft, Republican, and Wilson, Democrat, receiving a plurality of 1,448. The Republicans were more united for governor and the plurality of E. G. Dunn, Democrat, was 846. On the county ticket Adam, Graf and Becker, Republicans, were elected for auditor, treasurer and superin- tendent, the balance of the ticket was Democratic. Shortly prior to the election Superintendent T. R. Roberts had resigned to take the superin- tendency of the McGregor schools. At the election, in 1912, C. W. Bean was elected to fill the vacancy. The result of the presidential election was the election of Wilson, and, owing to the division of the Republican vote, he received a large majority in the electoral college and had a plurality, but not a majority, of the popular vote.
At the primary election, held in June, 1914, the Progressives did not participate, and the Republican primary vote was less than 1,000 and the Democratic vote was less than 1,200. Among the Democrats there were but two contests, Vina Katschkowsky defeated J. J. Finne- gan, for recorder, by 96 and J. P. Meyer won the three cornered fight for supervisor by a plurality of 33. Among the Republicans, A. B. Cummins carried the county for United States senator by 338. The only contest on the Republican county ticket was for recorder, which was won by John Foster by a majority of 53. The election of 1914, was a reflection of the spirit of the times, which was for a breaking away from party ties. Thus, while A. B. Cummins, Republican, carried the county for United States senator by a plurality of 226, John T. Hamil- ton, Democrat, for governor, carried the county by 81. Again on the county ticket Republicans and Democrats were elected by large major- ities. For auditor John Adam, Republican, received the largest major- ity (1,876), ever given in a contested election ; while E. Bergemeyer, Democrat, for sheriff, had 1,689 majority, and G. J. Graf, Republican, for treasurer, received a majority of 1,525. There were at this time three elections to fill vacancies, for the office of attorney, of coroner and of supervisor. The only close contests were for supervisor, George Pixler, Republican, defeating C. H. Heubner by 7, and E. W. Kregel, Republican, defeating L. D. Moser, who had been appointed to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Supervisor Groth, by a majority of 71.
Recent Politics-In April, 1916, the first primary was held under the presidential preference law. As there was but one avowed candi- date on each ticket, A. B. Cummins, Republican, and Woodrow Wilson, Democrat, little interest was taken and the total vote did not exceed 1,000, although the expense was almost as great as at a regular elec- tion. The only contest which aroused any interest was for national
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committeeman. In this county John T. Adams, Republican, received a majority of 126 and W. W. Marsh, Democrat, a majority of 81. The primary of June, 1916, attracted the largest vote of any yet held. Among the Democrats there were contests for the nominations for auditor, which Fred C. Seemann won over E. G. Pebler by 436; and for sheriff, which was a three-cornered fight, in which E. Bergemeyer won over D. L. Barton and E. Bergman with a plurality of 125. Among the Republicans there were no contests on the county ticket except for sheriff in which John G. Reidel defeated F. A. Robinson by 69. The chief interest among the Republicans centered on the governorship for which there were four candidates. W. L. Harding, who campaigned the county, in 1912, received a plurality of 209 over Carl F. Kuehnle, while Joseph H. Allen ran third and George Cosson fourth. By the leg- islature the mulct law was repealed, in 1915, and this left the old pro- hibitory law effective throughout the state after January 1, 1916. This closed the saloons of the county which had been in operation for more than twenty years under the provisions of the mulct law.
Suffrage Election-Early in 1915 agitation for woman suffrage was commenced. The legislature authorized a vote of the people and a vigorous campaign was made by the suffragists throughout the state. A meeting at Elkader, March 15,, 1916, was addressed by Mrs. Elsie V. Benedict who also spoke at McGregor. Meetings were also held by those opposed to equal suffrage and it was one of the chief features of the primary campaign. The amendment was defeated in Clayton county by 987, and in the state by 6,000. At the county conventions, held according to law on July 1, 1915, the Democrats filled vacancies on their ticket as follows: For representative, A. B. Albrecht ; coroner, Michael Regan ; supervisors, L. D. Zahrndt and Adam Erbe. The Republicans completed their ticket by the nomination of Charles Monlux, for recorder, and left the nomination for clerk to be filled by the county committee. At the national convention, Charles E. Hughes was nominated for president by the Republicans and Theodore Roose- velt by the Progressives. Mr. Roosevelt declined the nomination and announced his support of Hughes. At the Democratic convention, at St. Louis, Woodrow Wilson was renominated for president without opposition. As this campaign is now on and as this history is intended to avoid any suspicion of partisanship, nothing is said as to the issues involved or the party alignments or candidates.
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CHAPTER XIII
A CHAPTER OF BEGINNINGS
BRIEF REVIEW OF ORIGIN OF TOWNS AND TOWNSHIPS AND FIRST SETTLEMENTS
M ANY matters related in this chapter have been given before from time to time for it has been the purpose to tell the story of the county in narrative form, giving the events in the sequence in which they occurred. However, to condense as a matter of reference these few pages are devoted to a brief statement of the origin of the different towns and townships of the county.
Boardman Township was named in honor of Elisha Boardman, who, with Horace D. Bronson, first settled the township, in 1836. Other early settlers were Baldwin Olmstead, Freedom Howard, John Downie, Jerry Gould, Joel Post, Michael and John Stence, John Roberts P. R. Moore and H. H. Singer. Miss Malissa Howard taught the first school in a log school house in Pony Hollow. The first election was held in Mr. Boardman's house in 1838 and the first Fourth of July celebration was on the table rock back of A. D. Cook's residence. The first Protestant services were held by Rev. Sidney Wood and the first Catholic services by Rev. Father Cretin.
Elkader was surveyed in 1845 by John M. Gay for Timothy Davis, John Thompson and Chester Sage, who wished to establish a town near the site of their mill. The town was named after Abd-el-Kader an Algerian hero. The first dwelling was built by Chester Sage and the first store and the first hotel were built by Thompson, Sage and Davis. The mills were commenced in 1846 and completed in 1849. The first bridge was built in 1851 and prior to that time passengers crossed below the dam by boat attached to a line stretched across the river. The first newspaper was the Tribune with Mr. Belfoy as editor. This paper was established in 1855 in order to aid in the fight for the county seat and lived but two years. The first school house was built in 1847 on land donated by Thompson, Sage and Davis and was taught by Miss Woodward. The first church edifice was the Congregational church on Main street, built in 1857 and the first lodge was of the Masonic order established in 1855. The first and last steamboat was the "Elkader," which landed freight here in 1854. The first building of importance aside from the mill was erected by E. G. Rolf in 1853. which building was for ten years used as the court house. The first
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brick residence was built in 1851 and is now the home of Hon. R. E. Price.
The postoffice at Elkader was established February 17, 1848. The first postmaster was Amasa A. Briggs. His successors and the dates of their appointment are as follows: H. D. Bronson, July 11, 1849; E. D. Stockton, February 8, 1855; John Partch, October 16, 1855; Robert L. Freeman, May 19, 1856; Buel Knapp, October 2, 1857; Fielding Snedigar, March 29, 1861 ; A. F. Tipton, October 6, 1868; F. W. Shannon, February 10, 1873; T. G. Price, February 24, 1881 ; D. G. Griffith, September 10, 1885; J. M. Leach, May 14, 1889; J. G. Hagensick, October 20, 1893; Gideon Gifford, October 5, 1897; Vellas L. Gilje, January 31, 1907; F. H. Soll, March 23, 1915; Carl Reicecke, Jr., January 27, 1916. The money order business was established August 6, 1886, and rural routes were established in July, 1903. The office has had a record of steady growth and the service at this time is excellent both as to equipment and the office efficiency.
Buena Vista Township was the first set apart in the county. It was first occupied by miners who were not settlers and who left but little trace save in the rocks in which they dug for ore. Among the first real settlers were Syrus Henderson, Joseph Heinrich, William Foster and Robert Bunker. The dwelling of George Cleaveland was bought by the township and was the first school house, the school being taught by Miss Mary Shipton. For many years the principal merchants were R. and E. Meuth who established themselves in 1857. The township was named from the great American victory at Buena Vista during the war with Mexico.
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