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 9
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Ten Townships Named-In 1847, at the April term of the county commissioners court the county was divided into townships in order that it might avail itself of its share of the school fund of the state. The following is the record of boundaries :
Township No. I, Millville-Fractional township 91 north, range I and 2 west, and fractional township 91, range 1 and 2 east.
Township No. 2, Mallory-Township 91 north, range 3 west, and the southeast quarter of township 91 north, range 4 west.
Township No. 3, Lodomillo-The west half of township 91 north, range 4 west, and township 91 north, range_5 and 6 west.
Township No. 4, Hewitt-Township 92 north, ranges 5 and 6 west, with Fayette county attached thereto, east half of township 92 north, range 5 west, attached to Volga township.
Township No. 5, Volga-Township 92 north, range 4 west, north- east quarter of township 91 north, range 4 west, southwest quarter of township 92, range 3 west, and the east half of township 92, north, range 5 west.
Township No. 6, Jefferson-Southeast quarter of township 92 north, range 3 west, and fractional townships 92 and 93 north, range 2 west.
Township No. 7, Garnavillo-North half of township 92 north, range 3 west, township 93 north, range 3 west, the south half of town- ship 94 north, range 3 west, and the east half of township 93 north, range 4 west.
Township No. 8, Boardman-The west half of township 93 north, range 4 west, township 93 north, ranges 5 and 6 west, the south half of township 94 north, range 5 west, the southwest quarter of township 94 north, range 4 west, and the southeast quarter of township 94 north, range 4 west.
Township No. 9, Mendon-The north half of township 94 north, ranges 3, 4 and 5 west, and the south half of township 95 north, ranges 3, 4 and 5 west.
Township No. 10, Mononah-The north half of township 95 north, ranges 3, 4 and 5 west, and township 96 north, range 3 west.
The voters of the townships were notified that an election would be held for township officers and "particularly for one school inspector for each township". On April 22, James A. McClellan entered upon his duties as clerk of the district court, giving a bond with Samuel
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Murdock and Ambrose Kennedy as security. Reuben Noble also gave bond as prosecuting attorney, Samuel Murdock and Gilbert Douglas signing his bond.« The lots of Garnavillo having sold very well a new subdivision was surveyed and placed on the market by the board. Robert R. Read was elected recorder in August, 1847, and according to law he acted also as treasurer and ex-officio collector.
In 1848, the town lots remaining unsold at Garnavillo were ordered to be placed on sale, "lots to be sold for county orders." These lots were sold July 4, 1848, for a total of $868.50. At this time the boundaries of several townships were altered, the east half of town- ship 92, range 5, was taken from Hewitt township and added to Volga, and 12 sections were taken from Garnavillo and added to Jefferson township. McClellan remained in office but a year and, in August, 1848, Frederick Andros resumed his old place as clerk of the district court. Andrew S. Cooley, James Tapper and John W. Potts consti- tuted the board for the years 1847-48. The office of school fund com- missioner had been created, Eliphalet Price was elected for that office in 1847 and re-elected in 1848 and 1849. In October, 1848, the board fixed his salary at $200 per annum. This was an important office hav- ing to do with funds received from the sale of school lands and from the state. As a result of the sale of lands what was known, later, as the "permanent school fund" was obtained. This fund was loaned under the direction of the auditor, at a later date, and in many counties was the source of much favoritism. In 1849, there seems to have been a change from the rigid prohibition attitude and a number of "grocery" licenses were issued. In 1849, also, a ferry license was issued for a ferry across the Mississippi from the town of Keeleroy.
First County Seat Election-1849. In April, 1849, the first of the long series of elections for the relocation of the county seat was held. The vote was Garnavillo, 254, Guttenberg, 177, Elkader, 113. No town having received a majority of all votes cast, another election was ordered to take place in May. Elkader receiving the lowest vote in April, was excluded from the May contest. The May election resulted, Garnavillo, 279; Guttenberg, 245, and it is declared that Gar- navillo "be and remain the permanent county seat."
It was at this April election, 1849, that Elkader made its first bid for the county seat. A number of citizens agreed to contribute pro- viding Elkader won. The following is a list of subscriptions : Thompson, Sage and Davis $500, also 8 lots to be selected by county commissioners, lots valued at $30 each ; E. G. Rolf, $30; Amos Warner, $50; H. D. Bronson, $50; Elisha Boardman, $50; A. Z. Fuller, $10; A. D. Griswold, $25; W. M. Keys, $10; E. V. Carter, $10; Adam Keen, $30; A. G. Park, $10; John Downie, $10. January 8, 1850, upon petition of William Alloway and others, the township of Cass was cre- ated, elections to be held at the home of James Alloway. The bound- aries of the township were the same as at present.
Some idea of the credit rating of the county is found in the follow- ing entry, dated January 9, 1850: "Whereas the county was indebted to the state the clerk was requested to dispose of orders sufficient to raise the amount, according to the instructions the clerk sold orders to Alonzo Petton, of Prairie du Chien, one hundred and fifty dollars, for
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seventy-five dollars in cash." The county indebtedness at this time was $3,412.041/2.
In April, 1850, on petition of S. B. Forbes, township 94, range 7, was created a township under the name of Pleasant Valley. This town- ship lay wholly within Fayette county and shows the wide jurisdiction held by the commissioners of Clayton county. At the same session, a road was authorized from West Union, in Fayette county, to McGregor's Landing. At this session, also, the boundaries of Jeffer- son and Garnavillo townships were again changed and Garnavillo was made to extend to the Mississippi river. The last minute recorded in the old ledger which served the county for a dozen years is that order- ing the payment of $20 to Frank Emerson as advance payment for assessing Clayton county.
COURTS
Judge T. S. Wilson presided over the courts of the county so long as Iowa was a territory. In 1846, Clayton was placed in the second judicial district together with Buchanan, Cedar, Clinton, Delaware, Dubuque, Fayette, Jackson, Jones, Muscatine and Scott counties ; Allamakee and Winneshiek were added to this district in 1847. Black Hawk, Bremer, Butler, and Grundy in 1851, and Chickasaw and Howard in 1853. Over all this large territory Judge James Grant was the presiding judge. At this time there was not a railroad in his entire district. The journey from county seat to county seat was made over- land and the judge was accompanied by a retinue of attorneys who followed him, from point to point, joining with the local bar in the trial of cases. The sessions of the court were of necessity far apart. Judge Wilson held his last term of court here in May, 1846, and Judge Grant held his first term in June, 1847. The coming of the court was, there- fore, a great gala time for the entire county. It was the time to which all the attorneys looked forward and there was a great clashing of wits which was hugely enjoyed by the crowds which filled the rude benches in the court room. In those days attorneys were expected to be com- bative. If they did not display a great degree of firey hatred for opposing counsel the client felt that he did not get the worth of his money. Every lawsuit was a battle, witnesses were brow-beaten, law- yers abused each other roundly, and addresses to the jury were long and fervid. But, this constant sword-play of wits produced keen intellects. The man who could not thrust and parry had no place at the bar, and the result was that these backwoods courts produced some of the braini- est lawyers this country has ever known. Abraham Lincoln must for- ever stand as the highest product of these old time courts ; but in this county they produced such men as Reuben Noble, Samuel Murdock, Elias H. Williams, J. O. Crosby, Thomas Updegaff, Eliphalet Price, L. O. Hatch, John F. Stoneman, and many others. During these court sessions lodgings were at a premium at the little county seat town. There were grand jurors, and petit jurors, litigants and witnesses. The judge had the best room at the tavern, which, after the court had adjourned was the scene of many jovial parties. Outside of the court room and court hours, the pioneers indulged in good natured horse play and tests of strength. Sometimes embittered litigants carried
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their troubles outside and there were fistic encounters which called for more work by the courts. Prisoners were not pampered in those days, anyone reading the specifications for the county jail will note that it was simply a strong box, built solely for security, without provision for sanitation and with almost no provisions for light and air. Prisoners were manacled with heavy home-made irons, fit to have chained an elephant. Sometimes, the chains were riveted to the floor. They were taken to and from the court room in chains and these were worn on the long overland journeys to the penitentiary at Fort Madison where the cells were little less than tombs. Court week was a great time for the merchants of the county seat, for men from fifty miles around were there and there was much buying to be done.
Judge James Grant-Judge Grant was of southern origin and is described as having a broad forehead and small features, he was fond of outdoor sports and was a great student of the classics, as well as of law. It is stated that he left the south because he did not wish to live in a slave state. He came to Iowa, in 1838, after having acted as prose- cuting attorney for the sixth district of Illinois. In 1841, he was a member of the House of Representatives in the Iowa territorial legis- lature, and was a member of both the first and the second constitutional conventions. Governor Chambers appointed him as prosecuting attor- ney and under the state constitution he was elected judge, which office he held for five years. His subsequent life was spent at Davenport and he was one of the prominent jurists of the state.
COUNTY IN 1850
With this we may close the history of the county's development up to 1850. We have seen the beginning of things. Guttenberg, under the direction of the Western Settlement Company had become a strong and vigorous German settlement, the most important town along the Mississippi between Dubuque and Prairie du Chien. Coming direct from the old country the Germans brought with them their language and customs and Guttenberg seemed like a bit of the old world, dropped into the very center of the new. On account of the difference in lan- guage, these people had as yet little in common with the balance of the county. The great melting-pot of Americanism was at work, but up to that time the process had been slow and the Germans were as sus- picious of the strangs customs of America as the Americans were of the peculiar ways of the "foreigners."
Garnavillo was a typical, inland, county seat town. It was fos- tered and boomed by the county. At that time, when there were no railroads, it was on a par with every other town, and while not in the center of the county it was in the center of population. It was located, and is today in one of the finest and most prosperous agricultural sec- tions in all Iowa and it is this which makes it unique as the most pros- perous inland town in Iowa, today.
Owing to the fact that the Indians still ranged, freely, in the north part of the county, the settlement of that portion was retarded. Up to 1850, McGregor contained but a few buildings. Although the first ferry was established by Alexander McGregor in 1836 it was still little
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more than a landing. Elkader was but a few years old. It grew up around, and because of, the excellent water power and the building of the mill. John Thompson, Chester Sage and Timothy Davis had the town laid out in 1845. They built a dam and erected the largest mill in the county. This made Elkader a good market place and gradually attracted merchants, blacksmiths and wagon-makers. Backed by men of enterprise and capital, it had a vigorous growth and, as we have seen, in 1849, it was a contender for county seat honors.
The other post offices in the county were more of the nature of settlements than of towns. The pioneers were beginning to cluster together for the advantage of schools and sociability. Along the edge of the Indian territory there was an undesirable class of citizens. Liquor traffic with the Indians was very tempting as it offered large profits, for the Indians were willing to part with valuable government stores for the sake of a little of the forbidden fire-water. The whiskey venders crowded as near the five-mile limit as possible and the border was the scene of considerable outlawry. Sodom and Gomorrah were two saloons situated near the present town of Hardin, in Monona town- ship, and it is said that they fully lived up to their names. For some time this neighborhood was supposed to harbor a nest of counterfeiters. As soon, however, as the Indians were removed and the country opened for settlement, the character of the population changed; the outlaw followed his prey, the Indian, and the earnest, honest pioneer took pos- session of the land.
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CHAPTER IV
PROGRESS AND POVERTY-1850-1860
LAST COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COUNTY JUDGES-JUDGE WILLIAMS- FIRST NEWSPAPER-VIEW OF COUNTY, 1853-BUENA VISTA-MC- GREGOR-GUTTENBERG-CLAYTON-GARNAVILLO-VOLGA CITY-ELK- PORT-MILLVILLE-MONONA-ELKADER-RIVER TRAFFIC-BUSINESS CONDITIONS -IMMIGRATION -FIRST AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY - ELEC- TION OF 1853-MC GREGOR'S PROSPERITY-BUSY GUTTENBERG-LEAD MINING-MAILS-PIONEER MAIL CARRIER-DESCRIPTION OF COUNTY -BRIDGE BUILDING-PROSPEROUS YEARS-MORE BRIDGE CONTROVERSIES -POLITICAL AFFAIRS-ANNALS OF 1854-ANTI-SLAVERY AGITATION- FIRST RESOLUTIONS-GRAND MEADOW MEETING-CURRENT EVENTS AND COUNTY IMPROVEMENTS, 1854-FIRST COUNTY FAIR-MARTS AND MARKETS-CLAYTON A STATE POWER-NOBLE'S IMPORTANT ROLE- APPROACH OF HARD TIMES-ELKADER WINS COUNTY SEAT-READ AND MORASSER TOWNSHIPS- EVENTS OF 1856-FIELD OF BUSINESS-DU- BUQUE VIEW OF CLAYTON-MC GREGOR AND "THE TIMES"- COUNTY POLITICS-FIRST STEAM FERRY-EARLY HISTORY OF MC GREGOR -JUDGE ELIPHALET PRICE-RAILROAD PROJECTS-GUTTENBERG THE COUNTY SEAT-HARD TIMES-RAILROAD REACHES RIVER-MC GREGOR'S FIRST CITY ELECTION-CLOUDED MC GREGOR TITLES-COMING OF NOR- WEGIANS-POLITICS IN 1857-HARD TIMES REACH MC GREGOR-EVENTS OF 1858-THIRD COUNTY SEAT FIGHT-INDIANS AT MC GREGOR-RIVER PIRATES CAPTURED-POLITICAL UNREST-TRIP THROUGH COUNTY -- ELECTION OF 1858-CLAYTON COUNTY JOURNAL-GOLD DISCOVERY- FIRST TEACHERS' INSTITUTE-YEAR BOOK OF 1859-GARNAVILLO AGAIN COUNTY SEAT-POLITICS-APPROACH OF WAR.
T HE decennial period from 1850 to 1860 was one of varied for- tunes for the pioneer. The first years were boom years, immi- grants both from the eastern states and from foreign countries rushed to the county by the hundreds; traffic on the Mississippi was the heaviest it ever was and, possibly, ever will be. The towns of Gutten- berg, Clayton and McGregor became important points, not for this county alone but for all northern Iowa. Owing to the wildcat cur- rency, money was plenty and prices were inflated. The outstretching
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fingers of railroads were drawing nearer and nearer and the possibility of the future appealed strongly to the imagination and led to an era of speculation. The reaction came during the later years of this period. The wild cat money became almost valueless and this carried with it an uncertainty and destruction of values which paralyzed all industry. These were among the hardest days the county has ever known. They were also days of great political unrest and fierce partisan strife. The old Whig party broke up and disappeared to be replaced by the Republican party. The question of slavery became a vital issue divid- ing the people of even this northern county. The Abolitionist, the Free Soiler and the Know Nothing flourished in these days. The begin- nings of secession stirred the nation and it was the time when the pas- sions were aroused which made the Civil War inevitable. These great events of the coming years were, mercifully, concealed from the pio- neers and they entered upon the year 1850 with bold courage and high confidence, pursuing the every day work with assurance of success.
LAST COMMISSIONERS
These were the last years under the county commission system, the minutes of the board showing but little of interest. In 1850 Joseph Hewitt took the place of J. W. Potts on the board, and the entries have to deal largely either with matters of new roads or with the ordinary expense bills of the county. The first order for the sale of land for delinquent taxes was made in January, 1851. One of the last acts of the commissioners was to fix the tax levy for 1851 and with this and a few other minor entries the old commission went out of existence, on July 28, 1851.
County Judges-Under the new law, adopted by the legislature, in 1850, the county judge held the most important office ever intrusted to one man in the history of an Iowa county. He took the place of the county commissioners and of the probate judge, and had jurisdiction in many matters which did not rise to the dignity of the district court. The county judge was the sole arbiter as to all the questions which had come before the commissioners, he settled with county officers and was in fact responsible for the entire conduct of county affairs. In such a position it was of the greatest importance that the officer be a man of the highest integrity, and Clayton county was indeed fortunate in this respect. Elias H. Williams was the first county judge. He was suc- ceeded by Eliphalet Price who was followed in turn by O. W. Crary and John Garber, and all of these men distinguished themselves for their honesty and ability and were, for many years after their incum- bency of this office, among the county's most distinguished and honored citizens.
JUDGE WILLIAMS
The first official act of Judge Williams under date of August 13, 1851, is an order to the sheriff to give bond for $5,000. The judge was the great matrimonial bureau of the county and it speaks well for the growth of the county that, between August 13 and October 6, 1851, he issued no less than 16 marriage licenses. In 1852 expense bills were
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allowed for surveying roads from Anamosa to Garnavillo and from Quasqueton to the north boundaries of the state of Iowa. The settle- ment for election expenses for the April election, 1852, shows the following townships, Sperry, Monona, Boardman, Mallory, Cass, Mendon, Jefferson, Volga, Millville, and Lodomillo, and it was ordered by the judge that Elkader be attached to Boardman township for elec- tion purposes. In March, 1853, the county judge announces the bound- aries of the townships as follows: Mendon, including what is now Giard and all of Mendon in township 95, range 3; Monona, the present townships of Monona and Grand Meadow ; Wagner, present townships of Wagner and Marion ; Farmersburg, present township and south part of Mendon and north half of Clayton, Garnavillo, townships 93, 2/3 and 1/2 of 4 which would include parts of what are now Jefferson, Clayton, Garnavillo and Read townships; Boardman, west 1/2 of Boardman and Highland; Sperry, west 1/2 of Cox Creek and Sperry ; Volga, east 1/2 of Cox Creek and Volga ; Jefferson, township 92, range 2 and 3, which would be the same as at present except two north tiers of sections and with one tier added to the west ; Buena Vista, same as at present ; Millville, same; Mallory, same as present and east 1/2 of Elk township; Lodomillo, west 1/2 of Elk and Lodomillo; Cass as at present.
FIRST NEWSPAPER
In 1853, Clayton county took a long step in advance when its first newspaper "The Clayton County Herald" was published in Garnavillo, Jan. 28. It was a four-page, six-column, paper and, being published before the day either of ready prints or of stereotype plates, all of the reading matter was set at home. Despite the many difficulties, the scarcity of exchanges, the lack of facilities and the ever present pov- erty which harassed these early publishers, the pioneer newspapers were excellent. They give to the history of the county that intimate touch of friendly relationship which is absent from the cold-blooded official record. This first paper was published by H. S. Granger, who came to Garnavillo from Ohio in 1850. He studied law under Judge Murdock and was admitted to the bar in 1851. He began the pub- lication of the Herald, in 1853, and continued with the paper for a year and a half, when he sold to A. W. Drips. Mr. Granger was school fund commissioner from 1852 to 1855. He moved to McGregor in 1856, was taken with the gold fever in 1860 and made a prospecting trip to Colorado. Three days before his return he was elected clerk of the district court, which office he held for twelve years, making his home at Elkader.
The first page of these pioneer papers was devoted to literary matter, which consisted of verses, short stories and the most blood- curdling accounts of murders and accidents. No matter how important the news it was seldom given a place on the first page. One reason for this was that the presses used would print but two pages at a time, the process of printing was slow, and, as it was customary to print the outside first, it was, necessarily, several days older than the inside pages. Newspapers were scarce and furnished almost the only reading matter which reached the homes. The editors were bitter par-
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tisans, and abused each other as roundly in their columns, as the law- yers abused each other in court. At the same time they were friends at heart and had much fellow feeling. It was not uncommon for an editor to call another editor a rascal or worse in one issue, and to style him "our esteemed friend" in the next. Obviously there was but little local news in a village of the size of Garnavillo in 1853, and the means of getting news from other parts of the county was limited. The surprise is that these papers were so good; coming in many ways up to present standards. Editorial was given much more prominence than it is today and the pioneer papers of Iowa exerted a tremendous influence throughout the state. The day of modern display advertising had not come and advertisements were uniformly of single-column width and, with the exception of a few lines of black type, were set in the ordinary type of the paper. It was also before the day of so- called advertising ethics, and newspapers published, freely, advertise- ments which would not now be allowed in print; these included lot- teries, patent nostrums and the wildest kind of fakes. The first issue of the Herald contains the professional cards of Samuel Murdock, Reuben Noble, E. H. Williams, lawyers; Andros and Linton, doctors; also the card of the Western Hotel; of R. C. Drips, Justice of the Peace; of Drips and Holladay, blacksmiths, and of Clark and Rogers, warehouse men in Clayton. The Garnavillo Cash Store, D. G. Rogers, proprietor, announces that he sells as cheap if not cheaper than any one else and (in italics) "the river towns not excepted." Mr. Rogers also announces that he takes daguerreotypes with neatness and dis- patch. E. P. Atkins, advertises many patent medicines and his stock of general merchandise and there are lengthy exchange advertise- ments for such publications as the Saturday Evening Post, Godey's Lady's Book and Graham's Magazine. There is but one local item in this first newspaper and that is concerning a young man, name not given, who was killed by a falling tree while chopping wood near Millville. Notices of two lodges are given, the Odd Fellows, with H. S. Granger, E. Hurd, R. Noble and R. R. Read as officers and the Sons of Temperance, headed by T. G. Drips and L. Angier.
The postal news shows mail twice a week, from Dubuque to Garna- villo, and from Garnavillo to Prairie du Chien. Also weekly mails from Garnavillo to Hardin and from Patch Grove, Wisconsin, to Garnavillo. The southern mail, from Tipton to Prairie du Chien via Anamosa, Delhi, Elkader and Garnavillo arrived on Sunday, from Tipton, and returned on Monday from Prairie du Chien. The county officers are given as follows : Elias H. Williams, county judge ; Robert R. Read, recorder and treasurer ; Dr. F. Andros, clerk; S. Murdock, school fund commissioner ; Joseph McSperrin, supervisor ; Ezra Hurd, surveyor ; Thomas Drips, sheriff ; O. F. Stevens, attorney.
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