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 50
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Nothing could ever induce him to leave this delightful abode or to practice his profession. For nearly a quarter of a century this kind and honorable man lived in this retreat, honored by his neighbors, and loved by an interesting family. He took a deep interest in art and science, and spent much time in reading and study. He died March 21, 1878, from injuries resulting from being thrown from his carriage. He was returning from McGregor in company with his son-in-law, when a drunken fellow drove up rapidly, striking the carriage so forcibly as to throw the doctor violently to the ground. He never recovered from these injuries.
HON. THOMAS UPDEGRAFF
Woven all through the history of Clayton county, from the early 5os to the close of the first decade of the twentieth century, is the name of Thomas Updegraff. The county has produced many splendid men and not a few who have risen to much prominence, but there were none who had a longer and more honorable career nor who were more widely known and respected than this man who was known as "Honest Tom" throughout the length and breadth of Iowa.
He was born in Tioga county, Pennsylvania, April 2, 1834, the son of William and Rachel ( Smith) Updegraff. As a youth he received an excellent academic education which served as a foundation for the years of study and research which formed a large part of his lifework and which made him one of the greatest scholars and clearest thinkers Iowa has ever known. He came to Clayton county with his brother- in-law, Elijah Odell, and joined the little colony at Garnavillo which at that time contained more brains to the square mile than any other section of Iowa. A short time after his arrival, and as a young man of twenty-two, he was appointed clerk of the district court and for the next few years his residence changed with the changing county seat. Two years later he returned to the east for a short time, bringing back with him to Iowa his bride, Laura A. Platt, to whom he was married in Huron county, Ohio, June 1, 1858, and who was his loving and help- ful wife until her death which occurred on January 2, 1865. During these years Mr. Updegraff spent the time not devoted to his official business to the study of law under the tutelage of Mr. Odell, and, in 1861, soon after leaving the clerk's office, he was admitted to the bar and entered into partnership under the firm name of Odell & Updegraff.
Although a man of large stature and of apparent robustness, Mr. Updegraff did not enjoy good health. During his term as clerk he suffered a severe illness which it was thought at the time would prove fatal. This was undoubtedly the reason that he was not found in the Union ranks, for no man was more patriotic nor more staunch in loyalty to the flag. In 1860 he made McGregor his home and it was there that he died after fifty years' continuous residence. At McGregor he soon made his mark as a lawyer and as a citizen, but, although taking
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an active interest in political events at all times, he was for the next ten years, up to 1870, devoting himself almost entirely to his profession. After the death of Mr. Odell he became a partner with that great pioneer lawyer, Hon. Reuben Noble, and this became one of the most noted legal firms in northern Iowa. He was a member of the school board of McGregor and, from 1870 until 1892, served as city solicitor. During the war and immediately thereafter Mr. Updegraff was strongly republican, but he was among those who "Greeleyized" in the early 7os and he followed the fortunes of the great editorial idealist in his disastrous campaign against Grant. Mr. Updegraff was active in sup- port of Greeley in this campaign and although he soon returned to the republican ranks, this temporary defection was never forgiven by many of his party associates. His re-entrance into public life came in 1878, when he was elected as a representative from Clayton county to the Iowa legislature. Here his great ability came into active play and he soon became an acknowledged leader. It was his prominence and effectiveness in the legislature which led to his nomination for Con- gress from the Fourth congressional district. His candidacy was suc- cessful and he was re-elected, serving in the 46th and 47th congresses, from 1879 to 1883. He was nominated for a third term, but was defeated by L. H. Weller, known throughout the state as "Calamity Weller." This was at the height of the "anti-monopoly" movement in Iowa, but the election of Weller came as a great surprise as his early candidacy had been considered in the light of a joke by his political opponents. For the next ten years Mr. Updegraff devoted himself to his extensive law practice at McGregor, but he was at all times a com- manding figure in the politics of Iowa, standing high in the councils of his party and his forceful eloquence being in demand in each campaign. In 1903 he was again the candidate of his party for Congress, and this time his opponent was Hon. W. H. Butler. The campaign was exciting, there was a series of joint debates which stirred the entire district, and the contest ended with a victory for Mr. Updegraff by 1,500 majority. He was twice re-elected, serving in the 53d, 54th and 55th congresses. He was a candidate for the nomination for a fourth term, and in this he was opposed by Hon. J. E. Blythe, of Mason City, who had been chairman of the republican state central committee and who had behind him the force of the regular organization. This was one of the most bitter pre-convention contests ever known in Iowa and resulted in a draw between the two leading candidates and the nomination of Hon. G. N. Haugen. During the years of contest between the wings of the republican party, designated as "progressives" and "stand-pat," Mr. Updegraff allied himself with the progressive cause and was one of its strongest and most able supporters. In 1888 he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention and was one of the committee to notify Benjamin Harrison of his nomination for the Presidency. At the time of his death, the Register and Leader, of Des Moines, contained an able article of appreciation of Mr. Updegraff's brilliant career, from which the following is quoted :
"After he retired from Congress, Mr. Updegraff chose retirement as far as politics were concerned, and devoted himself to his law prac- tice. He held no public position afterward save that of commissioner
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to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis. In his law practice he made no effort to build up new business-he merely cared for the interests of business firms and families that had entrusted their legal affairs to him for a generation or more.
"However, his interests were keenly alive and he followed the events of recent years very closely. By nature independent in thought, his sympathies were with the progressive faction of the republican party and his influence was exerted for them. He did not go with the progressives as far as the tariff was concerned; on the tariff issue he stood pat. He explained his unusual attitude in a recent letter to United States Senator Cummins. 'You know that I am with you in your fight,' he said in effect, 'and I have been all these years. But I can't agree with you on the tariff. But I feel that these other issues of corporation and railroad control and their like are so much bigger than the tariff that I can't afford to part with you on the tariff issue.'"
Mr. Updegraff had natural aptitude for politics, but he sought no office for himself until he had passed into the forties, when he was elected to the seventeenth general assembly, the general assembly of 1877. In that assembly Mr. Updegraff was prominently associated with the efforts to create a state board for the control of state institutions, such as was later created. The lower branch of the legislature acted favorably upon the proposed legislation, but the senate defeated it.
Mr. Updegraff was a large-hearted man and if he had a weakness it was an inability to say no to men who pleaded with him for this or that. He was never known to refuse to help a friend in need, and he attached his name to the notes of friends with a readiness that some- times cost him dearly. He was a man of high ideals in his private life and in his public service both, and he believed in standing by his principles. He was genial in disposition and greatly beloved by his neighbors and fellow townsmen in McGregor, where his home has been since the sixties.
Mr. Updegraff belonged to an unusual group of pioneer attorneys in northeastern Iowa, including Elijah Odell, Reuben Noble, Samuel Murdock, Judge Williams, James C. Crosby, L. L. Ainsworth, and others of their high type. "There never was a finer bar than Clayton county had in those days," said an attorney who knew these men per- sonally. Of this group, James C. Crosby of Garnavillo is perhaps the sole living member, and he insists that he is not growing older, because he hasn't time to grow old.
"Tom" Updegraff and William Larrabee were close friends and political associates for many years. They were together on the St. Louis Exposition board of commissioners, and they cooperated in bringing Clayton and Fayette counties into line for progressive republicanism.
Recently Freeman A. Conway of the Ames Intelligencer, secretary of the St. Louis board of commissioners, set out to arrange a reunion of the commissioners. Governor Larrabee wrote a letter explaining that he doubted if "Tom" Updegraff could come to Des Moines for such a reunion, because he was not in good health and averse to going far from home. Governor Larrabee suggested that the reunion be held
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CLAYTON COUNTY'S MOST NOTED MEN
at Clermont and expressed the belief that he could induce his friend Updegraff to come over there.
"Tom" Updegraff's illness was more serious than most of his friends supposed. It proved to be due to an internal cancerous growth which finally took him out of this mortal world. Mr. Updegraff leaves two daughters, who kept up the home at McGregor. They are daugh- ters of a second wife who died some years ago. W. F. Odell of Des Moines is a nephew. He was as successful in business as in practice of law and politics and leaves a comfortable estate.
Michael Uriell-Michael Uriell was born September 25, 1816, in County Tipperary, Ireland, his parents being John and Mary (Gleason) Uriell, where he had few educational advantages and passed his early life on a farm. His father having died previously, in March, 1838, with his mother and two brothers, Patrick and John, they emi- grated to the United States, landing in New Orleans, and thence came to St. Louis and finally came to McGregor, which they reached Novem- ber Ist, 1838. From there they started with an ox team through the timber, Joel Post was the only one before them. They first went to Farmersburg and in the next spring to what was afterward Read town- ship, and located on the farm which was subsequently known as the James Uriell place, where he remained with his brother Patrick, who had entered the land. Joel Post and Elias Miner were the only two settlers before them in what is now known as Read township. In those days Mr. Uriell has said: "There was not a blacksmith in Clayton county and I used to go to Prairie du Chien to get my plow fixed, and to Catfish mill, Dubuque, to get my flour." About this time the gov- ernment had opened a farm near Fort Atkinson for the purpose of teaching the Indians the art of farming and to this place Mr. Uriell was attracted, and there he worked several years, as overseer, until the Indians were taken to Crow Wing river, Minnesota, by Gen. Fletcher, then the agent. After his return to Clayton county he set- tled on the northeast quarter of section 29, Read township, which he had entered some years previous. This farm he has owned fifty-nine years and here he resided until he came to Elkader.
Mr. Uriell was the second justice of the peace elected in his town- ship and for ten years served the county as a member of the Board of Supervisors. In all places of trust he was regarded as a man of high honor and a valuable officer. Upon his retirement from the Board of Supervisors the North Iowa Times, in speaking of it at that time said : "In the retirement of Hon. M. Uriell, the county loses the services of a valuable and honest servant, one who has faithfully discharged the duties devolving upon him with a zealous and earnest desire to benefit those for whom he was laboring. We believe we are but expressing the feelings of the people over the county when we say that in the retirement of Michael Uriell, Clayton county has parted with an honest, faithful, upright servant."
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CHAPTER XVIII
A CHAPTER OF REMINISCENCES
REMINISCENCES-AS WRITTEN BY VARIOUS PIONEERS
SAMUEL MURDOCK-S. T. WOODWARD-GEORGE MONLUX-P. P. OLMSTEAD -GEORGE OATHOUT-MRS. ANN DICKENS-MRS. LOUISA MURDOCK- GUY KINGSLEY-ELIPHALET PRICE.
I N this chapter also the pioneers are speaking for themselves, giving an intimate and personal view such as no one can give unless he lived through, and was a part of the events of which the written history tells. These reminiscences are gathered from many sources and were written at various times and are well worth preserving in this history.
REMINISCENCES OF SAMUEL MURDOCK
I had spent about two years in the Territory of Iowa chiefly at Iowa City when I concluded before settling down for good, I would take a look at other parts of the country. I made my way to Dubuque, presented my letters, and I was soon acquainted with the members of the bar of that county. The district court was in session. I fell in with Dr. Andros and John Thomas, the father of O. B. Thomas of Prairie du Chien. Having between them a good team, a light wagon and a vacant seat they persuaded me to accompany them to Clayton county, an invitation which I gladly accepted. We arrived at Dr. Andros's home, situated about a mile south of the town of Jackson- ville, now Garnavillo, on the 9th of August, 1843. The farm now occupied by Henry Schlake was then occupied by a Scotchman by the name of A. P. McDonald, who with his amiable wife, had wandered into the western wilds in search of a future home, and who offered me the hospitality of their house and home, and it was at the fireside of this noble couple that I spent nearly two happy years of my life. With my trusty rifle I kept the family supplied in meat, and with my good eyes in an abundance of wild honey, and these, with two good cows to furnish milk and butter, we lived on the fat of the land. This family afterward moved to Canada, where Mr. McDonald was elected a member of their parliament, and where he became one of her dis- tinguished men ; and where both lived to a good old age and died at last lamented by all.
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It will be remembered that in pursuance of an act of the legisla- ture the county seat had then but recently been moved from Prairie la Port, and the stake had been stuck about where the old liberty pole formerly stood in the public square at Garnavillo. The morning after my arrival I took a ramble about the future town and a view of the surrounding country, and found the scene wild but beautiful. The town consisted only of one small log hut occupied by Mr. John Banfil, wife; and Miss Cora Patch, a sister of my wife, and the family bade me a hearty welcome as a proposed future settler. It was here that on that day, I first met several old settlers of the surrounding country ; among them were James Watson, John W. Gillett, James Thompson, George Whitman, Richard Only, A. Griswold, James King, with quite a number of others, whose names have now escaped me, and telling them my occupation, they one and all bade me welcome as the first professional man to make his appearance among them.
A term of the district court was to be held here on the first Monday in October next, and Mr. Banfil and wife had come to build a hotel to accommodate the people who would be in attendance, and both were well fitted for the task before them. Banfil himself was a mechanic of the first class, and could work at all trades, besides he was untiring in his labor, and from the time I first struck his cabin until court day, I do not think I slept five hours in the twenty-four. Besides James Thompson, Hiram Parkhurst, and Abram Van Doran, all good mechanics, had commenced the erection of another hotel just south of the public square, in opposition, to be called the Temperance House, and there was a race for completion. Banfil, however, suc- ceeded, and on court day had his building ready for the reception of guests. The front part of this building was moved a few years ago and is now owned by Martin Havill. The rear part is still standing and is still occupied as a hotel by that genial and kind-hearted landlord Schumacher. The old Temperance House, long occupied by the Engler Brothers, is a thing of the past, and Thompson sleeps his last sleep in the old cemetery near it. Parkhurst met a horrible death on the plains, where he was skinned while alive by the Indians. Van Doran informs me in a recent letter, that he still lives, and on the highest peaks of the Cumberland mountains in old Virginia. All of these men were of the mould in which nature casts her nobility. At last the day of court arrived, with the Hon. T. S. Wilson, long known in Iowa as an able jurist, and an honorable man, who has but recently been called to his long home, on the bench; Dr. F. Andros, clerk; Ambrose Kennedy, sheriff. There was a large number of cases on the docket, for at this time the jurisdiction of the county extended to the British line on the north and westward without limit, and the cases had called here men, suitors, witnesses, grand and petit jurors, for many miles around. Foreign lawyers from Dubuque and Wisconsin were present in force, and the temporary courthouse recently erected by the county, failed to hold but a trifle of the number who had busi- ness within it, but who afterward became neighbors and friends for life. How was this vast and hungry crowd to be fed and lodged? Banfil was equal to every occasion for he had his building covered. In every room, both above and below, he had erected temporary board
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tables covered at meal-time with plenty and of the best. These tables he converted into beds at night, while he threw up a temporary shanty across the street, to do the triple purpose of a saloon, a restaurant, and sleeping-room, while the farmers in the country opened their homes to many. It was thus that this good-natured crowd spent one whole week at the first court held at Jacksonville.
Those of our readers who are familiar with pioneer life, can well imagine the acts and doings of such a crowd of men who in the absence of female restraint, had assembled at that spot to inaugurate the first example of a high court on the high prairie and yet they adjourned and parted without a single jar, or mishap of any kind. At this court there appeared for the first time a young man of fine appearance dressed in homespun, with a pleasing countenance, a fine physique and with an intellectual face, who afterward settled in the county as an attorney-at-law, and who became a noted lawyer and an able judge, one who for fifty-three years held a place in the first rank of this pro- fession, and who died at last still in the harness, lamented and regret- ted by all. This young man was the late Judge Reuben Noble, he and Murdock for many years constituted the bar of the county. There is still living in the city of Humboldt, Humboldt county, Iowa, with his old wife, a hale, hearty old man by the name of E. B. Lyons, who in 1842 was the clerk of the County Commissioners' Court of Clayton County, and with this exception, Van Doran and myself, I know of no others of that vast crowd of men who attended that first court who are alive today. SAMUEL MURDOCK.
REMINISCENCES BY HON. S. T. WOODWARD
We found the prairie in the township mostly unsettled, wild and unbroken. It seemed beautiful beyond description, covered with wild flowers and surrounded by groves and woods. The settlement at that day was along the edge of the Mississippi timber mainly, and I often then used to hear men say that the prairie about Center Grove would not soon be settled, because it was too far from timber. The earliest settlers, judging by the entries of land, were Henry D. Lee, Daniel W. Barber, Peter Eastman and Joseph Tusrow, who entered land in 1841 and 1842, along the edge of the Mississippi timber. The Barbers both died about the time we came to the country, and the widow married P. W. Lown, who now lives in Grand Meadow township, and the widow of Daniel married Wm. C. Linton, who still lives in the township. Harry D. D. Lee was one of the Government surveyors in 1837-38, and undoubtedly made his selection of land while engaged on that survey. Peter Eastman afterward moved to Mendon town- ship, where he died many years ago. Wm. C. Linton, S. W. Buck, Geo. A. Whitman, Sidney E. Wood, P. R. Moore, John Hamilton, I. W. Shaff, Obadish Brown, Orrin Keeler, Wm. King and M. B. Sherman entered land in 1844, '45, '46, and most of them commenced improvements about that time. Sidney Wood was a Methodist preacher, a son-in-law, I think, of John Francis. He sold out to Dr. I. H. T. Scott, who now lives in Monona, and Wood, I believe, then moved to Oregon. Dr. Scott, when he moved to Iowa, had his
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diploma as a physician, and first moved with his young wife, an excel- lent woman, by the way, long since deceased, to Garnavillo, where he went vigorously to work, at first shaving shingles to earn a living, till he should become known in his profession. Wm. C. Linton, and M. B. Sherman still live in the township; Geo. A. Whitman and Nathaniel Wood sold out and moved to Minnesota; Joseph Neill and Orrin Keeler died many years ago, and Hoskins, P. R. Moore and Hamilton moved away. After the above named settlers, the next batch were: Cyrus A. Buck, who bought I. W. Barber's farm, James Woodward, Wm. Scarf, Edwin Sherman and Major Jenkins, in 1848, and Judge Crary and Hon. M. L. Fisher came in 1849 and entered. The new board cabin of the former was one of the prominent land- marks of the prairie when first built, and the present residence of the other must have been built soon after. Wm. L. Newton, F. G. Cook, Wm. S. Scott, Geo. L. Cook, Danford Eddy, James Jones and Levi Angier must have been among those who commenced making farms there in 1849-50, and doubtless many others whose names I can't now recall. In 1853, '54, '55, '56, settlement was rapidly made, and land was brought under cultivation very fast. Most of us in those days lived in log cabins, built with our own hands. The teams used were mostly oxen, and many a time did we go to social gatherings, "sleighing with the girls," with oxen and sleds. A span of horses and double wagon was at that time an aristocratic outfit. Farmersburg precinct at first, after we came to Iowa, embraced McGregor, and I think part of the Giard elections were held in the log school-house near where Norman Hamilton now lives, which was, I think, the first school-house built in the township. I remember seeing Alexander McGregor and others from McGregor's Landing, as it was then called, at elections at the school-house. At that early day all roads to the woods were known as railroads, that is, roads on which rails were hauled. The first postoffice established in the township must have been in 1850 and Dr. I. T. H. Scott was the first postmaster. Afterward Wm. Scott, Charles Watkins and Wm. Feed held the office. The postoffice at National was established about 1854, and Nathan Slaughter, I think, was the first postmaster. The township has furnished several officers for the county, and at least one for the State. Hon. M. L. Fisher was senator four years, and was superintendent of public instruction for, I believe, two years. Hon. O. W. Crary was county judge, and after- ward senator. Hon. Thos. D. White has been representative for two years, and John Everall, Esq., has been county superintendent of common schools for the county. Sidney Wood once represented our county in the legislature, and I. W. Francis was probate judge for several years.
REMINISCENCES OF GEORGE MONLUX
In 1915, George Monlux, a pioneer of Wagner township, wrote from his new home in Rock Rapids a series of reminiscences of Clay- ton county, from which the following concerning agricultural methods and other interesting facts of the early days are taken: "When we came to Elkader, in May, 1858, I had never seen a reaper. In Ohio, we always cut our grain with a cradle and sometimes with a hand sickle, but here we found the old blue McCormick which would cut
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