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 56
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A school house was built on the present site of Grange Hall, in Lodomillo township, about 1849, and all of Cass township was attached to this district for school purposes. In 1854 a school house was erected on town line near A. R. Carrier's residence and the first school was taught by Miss Jane Weeks.
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CHURCHES
The early settlers gave considerable consideration to church serv- ices and Sunday school. As heretofore stated, the first Sunday school and first preaching services were held in the house of Stephen Gaylord in 1850, and '51. Afterwards, in 1852, Mr. Bieven, moving on the Bemis place, had Sunday school and preaching in his house and when the first log school house was built opposite the cemetery, in 1853, regular preaching services were held there and also in the first frame school house in Strawberry Point, built in 1853. In 1856, the Baptist church was built in Strawberry Point by popular subscription and was a most excellent church edifice. While built as a Baptist church all denominations from time to time held services there. The first Bap- tist minister was Rev. Root, of Delhi, who lived in Delhi and came up and held preaching services at stated times. The first resident pastor was Rev. George Scott, who acceptably filled the position for several years. Mr. Scott is still living in Nebraska. The first Methodist minister was Rev. D. M. Sterns, who came here in 1853, and was a man greatly respected by all. The first minister in this part of the country was Rev. N. W. Bixby.
Rev. J. N. Baker, a preacher of the Disciple church, came here in 1851, and always took an active interest in religious affairs and fre- quently preached.
In 1851, the Grannis Brothers, William, John, Erastus, Harvey and Newton, with their familes, came here. They took up land west of Strawberry Point, including the Arnold and Feulner farms. They were fine musicians and before coming to the state had traveled as a concert company and after coming here occasionally gave concerts in the neighboring towns. John, Erastus and Newton Grannis, died a few years after coming here. John, at the time of his death, lived on the Walker farm, southeast of Strawberry Point. William Grannis entered the army and was first lieutenant of Company D, Twenty- first Iowa regiment. After his return he was a commercial traveler for a number of years and died at Earlville, Iowa, several years ago, where he ran a hotel. Harvey Grannis about 1865 moved with his family to California, where he died. There are none of the descend- ants of the Grannises here now. Myron M. Grannis, son of William, married the oldest daughter of Judge Murdock, who died soon after her marriage. The Grannis family was a large one and they added much to the musical and social circles of the early days.
Job Dalton came in 1851, and located on a farm southeast of Strawberry Point where he resided many years. He moved to Taylor county, Iowa, where he now lives. His son, Whit Dalton, is living in Strawberry Point. Ambrose Carney purchased the claim of Samuel Hines known as Henderson farm. He sold out in 1860 to Thos. Alderson and moved west. Alonzo Carney lived near the C. H. Saurbry place. He was married to a daughter of Samuel Hines, in 1853. He died in 1899. His widow survived him and is now living in Cox Creek township with her son.
In 1851, a man by the name of Woods entered the land on which is located the business portion of Strawberry Point. He erected a log
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building on the land now occupied by the bank and opened up a store. His stock consisted of several barrels of moderately poor whiskey and about a wheelbarrow load of dry goods and notions and groceries. Our friend, Stub Toney, claims that in 1852, when he first visited Strawberry Point, he counted 24 immigrant wagons along Mission street by the Woods' store, his being the only business place in town. And 15 men having the wagons in charge came out of Woods' store each with a jug in his hand. Mr. Toney says he does not positively know, but thinks the contents of the jugs must have been a sort of lotion for the oxen's feet that had become sore. For a year or two Woods did a thriving business and in 1853 he sold out his claim and store to W. H. Stern. Mr. Woods had a son who had a claim of forty acres of land just west of his father's and erected a log house where George Roe's house now stands. He sold out to Rev. D. M. Sterns in 1853, who afterwards platted the land.
In 1851, Rev. J. N. Baker and family and John Bliven and family and David Merritt came from Illinois. Mr. Baker first lived in a small house on the Sloan place the first year and the house burned down. The next season, in 1852, he built a log house in Strawberry Point on the place now occupied by G. N. Steele, where he resided some years. In 1852, he built and conducted a blacksmith shop on the lot across the street where George Alderson now lives. His son, Palmer Baker, assisted him in running the shop.
John Blevin purchased the Bemis farm of two young men named Brownson and he moved on this farm in 1851. Here Mr. Blevin's wife died and he afterwards married a widow named Hysham, mother of Jacob and Hiram Hysham, two well known men in the county in early days. Mr. Blevin sold out to Chancy Bemis in 1855. He was somewhat of an exhorter and took a great interest in Sunday school and church affairs.
David Merritt took up a claim east of Blevin's, now owned by T. Dunning. There were no buildings on the place and he proceeded to improve the same. At this time he was a single man. His sister was the wife of Rev. J. N. Baker. Mr. Merritt built the first frame house in the township. J. C. Tremain was head workman in its construc- tion, assisted by J. H. Deyo and Stephen Gaylord. The house was in late years occupied as a granary on the farm and was burned last fall. Mr. Merritt, after completing his house was married, in 1852, to Miss Jane Clough at the log cabin of her father, just west of Straw- berry Point. Among the invited guests was B. F. Gaylord, still living here. At this time Mr. Merritt was a mail carrier from Strawberry Point to Forestville once a week at the munificent salary of twenty-five cents a trip. He made the trip on foot. Mr. Merritt lived in the township many years and by hard work and frugality accumulated quite a fortune. He moved to New Hampton and afterwards to West Union, where he died last year, leaving his widow and two sons, Frank Merritt of New Hampton and Prof. F. D. Merritt of Iowa City, surviving him.
In the same year, 1851, Alex Blake, Sr., and family, consisting of his sons, Alex., Tylar and James, and his daughters, Sarah Blake-who married James Massey-and Minnie Blake, who married George L.
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Tremain, came from Indiana and purchased the claim of James Allo- way adjoining Strawberry Point and now occupied by Miles Alderson. Mr. Alex. Blake, Sr., engaged in the milling business in 1852. He died in 1863. His son, Alex. Blake, resides in Strawberry Point.
We have heretofore spoken of Garden Prairie. The honor of giving that name to the beautiful prairie extending from the Maquo- keta westward in Fayette county belongs to Mr. Nelson Fenner. In June, 1854, he traveled this prairie, beautiful with the flowers of that season of the year and covered with luxuriant vegetation of the virgin soil. To his companion he exclaimed, "This is magnificent and this locality ought to be called Garden Prairie." And that name has been allied to that section ever since. Mr. Fenner moved from Cass to Lodomillo about 1865 and for a number of years was post master of Edgewood.
AN EARLY INCIDENT
During the summer of 1852 Mr. John Thompson of Clermont had a large gang of men at work grading the railroad up along Bloody Run above North McGregor. These men had received but little pay during the summer, and as the frosty nights of fall and approaching winter came on they began to realize the need of the money due them, that they might provide themselves and families with the necessary food and clothing for cold weather. But for some reason they were put off from day to day until there began to be rumors of serious trouble of some kind unless their just claims were satisfied. The people of McGregor became, if not alarmed, at least a little anxious as to what might happen if the men were not paid off soon.
The stores had laid in good stocks of family supplies and the railroad workmen were willing and anxious to buy if they had the money for they had no credit. But their families were in sore need and their wants WOULD HAVE TO BE SUPPLIED IN SOME WAY. So by invitation of some of our citizens Mr. Thompson came to McGregor one day and put up at Harding's hotel, nearly opposite the present passenger depot. The railroad men very soon learned that he was here and they swarmed into town and surrounded the hotel, some sitting or standing on the sidewalk opposite and others back in the bushes on the bluff, all determined to prevent Mr. Thompson's escape, either day or night until he had made provision for their pay. There must have been one or two hundred of them altogether and not less than a hun- dred on guard at a time, fresh ones taking the place of those who had to go to their homes for food and rest, and each one getting madder and madder as they returned from their empty cupboards and scanty wardrobes at home. The young hickory and white oak along Bloody Run were just the size and texture for a good shillalah and along toward the end of the second day, an occasional one might be seen in the hands of some of the leaders among the men. During these two days good old Father Nagle, the spiritual and to some extent the temporal adviser of most of the men, had not been idle. He well knew their destitute condition and that some means for supplying them and their families with the necessaries of life must be provided at once. He labored with them day and night, keeping their rising anger
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in partial subjection and pledging his personal honor that their claim should soon be satisfied. By his advice, and the orders of the City Fathers, the saloons were closed, while their owners stood within with loaded guns, ready to defend their property against any riotous attack. Loaded guns, revolvers, and other weapons of defense were also within easy reach of the occupants of every store, shop and dwelling in town.
The Reverend Father, besides laboring with his own people for their good, was equally active in his labors with the leading citizens and Mr. Thompson to devise some means by which the just claims of the men might be satisfied. At the close of the second day of his arduous labors, the Reverend Father told the City Fathers that the men were getting desperate, that he had nearly exhausted his influence in pacify- ing them, but that he would stay with them, at least a part of the night, and use his utmost endeavors to prevent any riotous demonstra- tion. They might, however, break away from him at any time and he would not hold himself responsible for any mad act of violence they might commit. The prospect was getting desperate. Those men must be pacified or there would be rioting with the looting of stores, fire and bloodshed in the morning, if not before. In the evening the lead- ing citizens, with Mr. Thompson, held a conference at which, very happily, means were devised for paying off the men in the morning at the opening of the bank. The news was conveyed to Father Nagle and by him to the men, but they wouldn't believe it. They thought it was only a scheme to put them off their guard, and give Mr. Thompson a chance to escape and cheat them out of their pay. Father Nagle redoubled his efforts to keep them quiet, assuring them they would be paid off in the morning. They didn't dare contradict his reverence, but in their hearts they were strongly inclined to doubt him, and with a twirl of the shillalah, and mutterings of determined action if deceived, they were kept in check till morning when they were paid off. Late in the evening of the second day, even after the men had been told that they would be paid in the morning, their actions showed that it needed only a spark to kindle their fiercest passions, so about 10 o'clock at night messengers were sent through the town warning all the citizens in stores, shops or dwellings to be on guard, and ready with such means of defense as they might have to repel any attack and especially to be ready at a moment's call, either that night or the next morning to march to the defense of the town against a bloody riot. The strain, the fear, the anxiety, were in no way relaxed, until it was known at 9 o'clock that the bank was paying off the men and that they had ceased their threatening aspects.
THE OLD DUBUQUE ROAD
For the following interesting word picture of the old Dubuque road and the pioneer days we are indebted to one whose home has been in Clayton county for more than sixty years.
"There is another road in Clayton county quite as old and prob- ably as well traveled as the Military road in early days before McGregor became a busy mart of commerce. This road was origi- nally a trail between Dubuque and St. Paul. Through Clayton county
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it led along the watershed between the Mississippi and Turkey rivers until it struck the Military road a few miles east of Poverty Point, as Monona was formerly called. A portion of the old trail is now marked by a much frequented road which takes an almost straight course from a point a mile above National to two or three miles below Garnavillo.
When Iowa was opened to settlers in 1833 the first rush in the northern part was to the lead mines about Dubuque. Above that place the shores of the Turkey river caught the next wave of immigrants. In that locality at the end of five years a census would have included the names of more than a score and a half of men, a large proportion of them occupying homes with their families. Slowly a feeble stream of the human tide crept northward, the settlers without exception building their homes in the woods or near the edge of it. The first houses distinctly away from the woods were built where Garnavillo now stands. There in 1843 Judge Samuel Murdock found but one log hut.
South of Jacksonville, as the new county seat was first called, lived Dr. Frederick Andros and Mr. A. P. McDonald; to the west of it Mr. William Schulte; extending northward to the Military road were scattered half a dozen or more log cabins sheltered by the woods, their owners believing it foolhardy to build upon the prairies where their homes would certainly be wrecked by the wind. Thus they cau- tioned Mark B. Sherman, who with his wife and child arrived from Prairie du Chien in the spring of 1845 at a location on the old trail four miles north of Garnavillo. A temporary cabin was occupied dur- ing the summer while a substantial frame house was erected. It was one of the first frame houses built beside this road and was occupied the longest of all. It still stands, used by its present owner, Otto Hamaam, as a garage. In 1847 a barn 30 feet by 50 feet was built which has been in daily use ever since. In its basement may be found cedar posts sixteen inches in diameter which were placed as supports when the barn was built. For a number of years the Sherman home was a well-known landmark on the Dubuque and St. Paul trail. It was not intended as a tavern nor kept as a public house, yet in the wilderness one cannot turn the cold and hungry from his door, so the little house was sometimes crowded to its utmost capacity, sheltering as many as thirty-two people; one night fourteen travelers slept upon the kitchen floor.
The first summer that Mrs. Sherman spent upon the farm she was often left alone. No sign of human habitation was in sight. Her first caller was a Winnebago chief; he spoke the Indian word for bread, signifying his hunger. Food was set before him, and the young mother, with her baby in her arms and terror in her heart, watched him eat. Having finished he arose and with a polite bow laid a silver quarter on the table. and pointing to his pony he emptied the contents of a salt cellar into the corner of his blanket, then departed. He was dressed in a fine suit of broadcloth but wore the customary blanket over his head. Like many of the Indian visits in those days the only harm done was in the fear inspired.
But changes sometimes come quickly in the wilderness as well as
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elsewhere. The land was ere long taken up by settlers, and within a few years many homes similar to the one described were built along the old trail. Some people of the younger generation receive wrong impressions regarding the conditions of the settlers in those days. They were people of energy and courage for none others are wont to become pioneers. They were not poverty-stricken, as an inspection of their homes would prove. Their wardrobes would disclose a silken gown or two for the wife, probably a broadcloth suit for the husband, his wedding coat, no doubt. Their chests held linen and woolen goods, spun and woven in the eastern homes for the women when they became brides; occasionally there could be found a choice piece of furniture, sometimes of mahogany, or of beautiful maple or cherry; and both cooking and heating stoves were to be found in all of these frame houses."
One reason that this road was so well traveled in early days was because the Government land office was located at Dubuque, where those desirous of entering land were obliged to present themselves, and another journey became necessary when they paid for their lands. Soon land in counties to the westward came into demand and a flood- tide of immigrants poured along the old trail. In a company there would be a half dozen, even as high as sixty, "prairie schooners," sometimes drawn by horses, but more frequently by two, four or six oxen. Looking out from under the canvass of each wagon were women and children. A man walked beside the oxen; in the rear, more men and boys drove the cows ; a crate of chickens was fastened to the back of a wagon ; wooden pails and iron kettles swung from the hind axles and beneath the wagon trotted the family dog. Such were the moving pictures that almost daily gladdened the sight of the chil- dren of the settlers, and as they timidly peeked through the picket fences at these caravans, to more than one of them a chance to travel in a "prairie schooner" appeared more attractive than now would be a cross-continent trip.
Changes still are taking place along the old road. A whiz and a streak of dust mark the passing of the automobile where in early days plodded the patient oxen ; and in the old barn that sixty-five years ago was lighted at night by the feeble rays of a tallow candle that struggled through the perforations in a tin lantern, the turn of a button illuminates the ancient spaces with a flood of light.
THE STORY OF BLOODY RUN
An old settler is favoring the readers of the Prairie du Chien Courier with a well written and highly interesting history of early events as they transpired around that locality. In the last Courier we find the following account of "Bloody Run." It will well repay perusal though the conclusion to which the writer comes as to North McGregor surpassing its mother, is merely a matter of opinion which the future may or may not confirm. "Bloody Run" is so called from an incident of backwoods life which I will relate as it was told to me by a person who was born in these parts, and who is now living in Prairie du Chien. The name applies to a large ravine or valley, on the
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west side of the Mississippi in Iowa, opposite Prairie du Chien, and one mile north of McGregor, a stream of pure, cool spring water, clear as a crystal, and thickly skirted with a growth of timber, meanders along through the valley, over its pebbly bottom towards the Missis- sippi, into which it flows. This stream winds between high wood- covered bluffs that bound the valley on either side; and at a distance of more than seven miles from its mouth it furnishes power to run Spalding & Marsh's mill.
In that season of the year when vegetation and verdure is at its height, a picturesque sight is presented to the tourist, as he wends his way along the stream, through the valley of "Bloody Run." The lover of nature has never imagined a wilder, more beautiful place than was Bloody Run when I was there in 1834. No wonder that Martin Scott chose this as his favorite hunting ground. His true sportsman instinct lead him to this place, to watch for the red deer as it came down from the bluff at mid-day, to slake its thirst and cool its panting sides in the crystal waters of the run ; here it was his brag gun dealt death among the woodcock, wood duck and pheasants that were very abun- dant in the valley ; and here, too, transpired a scene of blood-shed that gave to this beautiful spot it ominous name. There is not a stream, point, bluff, wood, coulee, or cave in the west but has attached to it some associations that are alone peculiarly historical; and as I pos- sessed a natural curiosity to learn the derivation of names that to me seemed peculiar, my probings have often brought to light mines of leg- endary lore and antique history. It was years ago, before the English were guided to and captured Prairie du Chien, and before the traitor- ous guide hid himself in a cave in Mill coulee-when Prairie du Chien was inhabited by only a few French families and Indian traders- that an event occurred which gave to the Coulee, wherein North McGregor is now being built, the name of "Bloody Run." A couple of traders lived on the prairie, named Antoine Brisbois and George Fisher, and as was the custom with those extensively engaged in the fur trade, these two traders had their clerks or agents whom they sup- plied with goods to dispose of to the Indians. Among other clerks were two who lived with their families in Bloody Run. Their names were Smith Stock and a Mr. King. King's wife was a squaw from the Sauk tribe, while Mr. Stock and wife were English, and both families lived on a little beach or table-land, about a mile and a half from the mouth, on the north side of the valley. Their cabin was situated a few rods west of the log house now standing, and I can show you the stones of the old-fashioned fire-place, lying where they fell after the cabin went to decay.
The clerks had sold a quantity of goods to the Indians on credit, who were backward in cancelling the debt. Among other Indians who had got in debt for goods, was a Sauk chief, Grey Eagle. The chief had been refused any more credit, and would not pay for what he had already obtained. This dishonesty on the part of the chief made King impatient, and he told his wife that he would go to Grey Eagle's village, and if the chief did not pay then he would take the chief's horse for the debt. His wife told him it would be dangerous to treat a chief that way, and warned him not to go; but he said he had traded
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too long with the Indians to be afraid of them and started to collect the debt.
On his way to the village he met the chief unarmed, riding on the very horse he threatened to take. Approaching him he dragged the chief off, gave him a beating and got on the horse himself and rode it home and tied it before the shanty door. When he told his wife what he had done she said she was afraid the chief would seek revenge and warned her husband to be cautious. Soon after Mrs. King rushed into the cabin and said that Eagle was near at hand with some of his people. . Upon hearing this King arose to go out to the horse, but he had scarcely reached the door before a bullet from Eagle's rifle pierced his brain and he fell across the threshold a bloody corpse. The Indian took the horse.
Mr. Stock, the remaining agent, persisted in his refusals to give the Indians credit, which so enraged them that they shot him through the heart. After this last tragedy the surviving members of the two families removed from the claims and for years after no white man lived in the valley, which from the murders perpetrated there by the Indians has ever since been called "Bloody Run."
Such is a description and history of the place where I went to live twenty-four years ago and it remained about the same until within two or three years. I lived there two years and raised two good crops and spent the pleasantest two years of my life. The Indians were very numerous, their reservations being close by and they sometimes stole my corn and potatoes and killed my hogs, but I should have continued there had the title to the land been good. But an advantageous offer was made to me to go up into Menominee Pineries, and I left Bloody Run.
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