USA > Iowa > Crawford County > History of Crawford County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52
It is perhaps well at this place to give some brief information as to the man whose name this county will undoubtedly bear so long as Iowa, and the United States, are known among the people of the earth. William Harris Crawford was born in Virginia in 1772. In his life work, however, he was
Sectional Map
OF CRAWFORD COUNTY, IOWA. from the
Land and Carparing Offire of Morris M' Henry & DENISON, CRAWFORD COUNTY, IOWA.
Range 40.
Range 39.
Range 38.
Range 37.
Suldier
Sel Dodge
Town&5
1
1
.PELOIT
MAXimo Villy
Hasan Grove
Onuwa Ci
BrunchR.R
Des Moines A Borrarberry
Mc River
School
Dunham's Grove
I Town $3
1
School House
Bur
hool ]
ADAMVILJE
school House
Town 82
ouise
C'otterì
Jable of Distances.
Explanations. Roads =
Denison to Fort Dodge 80Miles Des Moines ! 115 Council Bluff 75 Sioux City 75
Timber
Boonesboro
R.R. Lines Surveyed Oct 1863.
verRBLint Town8+
& Imawater
DENISON VED
15
shanabotons
35
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
identified with the state of Georgia. He was a member of the United States senate following the year 1807. Of impetuous southern blood, he was involved in two duels, in one of which he killed his opponent and in the other he was himself wounded. In 1812 he was chosen president pro tempore of the senate in the place of Vice President George Clinton, who was disabled by illness. At the outset he was opposed to the war of 1812 with Great Britain, but finally became an ardent supporter, and in 1813 he was appointed minister to France, where it is said that he became an intimate friend of Lafayette. In 1815 he was made secretary of war and the next year was secretary of the treasury, preceding by eighty-six years the illustrious secretary, Leslie M. Shaw, who was to be called from his namesake county to occupy the same high position. The canker of politics worked its wonted course with William Harris Craw- ford and sent him to the grave, as it has many others, a disappointed, broken- hearted man. He felt that he was in line for the presidency, and he was nomi- nated by a congressional caucus, which was then the accepted method. There were four candidates against him, however, in spite of the caucus nomination, these candidates being Calhoun, Adams, Jackson and Clay. There was no choice in the electoral college, the vote being Jackson ninety-nine, J. Q. Adams eighty-four, Crawford forty-one, Clay thirty-seven. Before the election could be settled by the House of Representatives, as provided by the constitution, Crawford was stricken with paralysis and the hand of the Almighty put an end to this great ambition. His decrepit condition caused him to leave the field of politics and he returned to his own state, where he lived greatly respected among his own people, filling the position of judge with much honor until the time of his death in 1834.
Although having received its name and its boundaries being temporarily fixed, Crawford still in effect was unorganized territory. It was attached to Shelby county for all judicial and fiscal purposes and it was not until the pioneers of our own county awoke to the necessity of local government and in the winter of 1854 agitated the question among themselves that this county became an entity. A petition was circulated among the citizens, addressed to Hon. Mansel Wicks, judge of Shelby county, praying to be set off, separate and apart, and requesting him to order an election for county officers; said election to take place on the first Monday in April, 1855. The petition was granted, the election ordered as requested, and the first voting in Crawford county took place at the house of one Nicholas Friend at what was then known as Friend's Grove, on a branch of Coon creek, about five miles south of Denison. The first officers were E. W. Fowler, county judge; A. R. Hunt, treasurer and recorder ; Thomas Dobson and B. F. Wicks tying for district clerk; Cyrus B. Whitmore, prosecuting attorney ; Samuel G. Kennedy, surveyor ; D. J. Fowler, sheriff; R. D. Butterworth, coroner; John R. Bassett, drainage commissioner. Thomas Dobson was successful in the drawing to decide the tie as to the clerk- ship. We have no record as to the exact vote, but from our knowledge of con- ditions it is safe to say that not more than thirty ballots were cast at this first election held in Crawford county.
CHAPTER VI. THE PIONEERS.
"When over the nursing sod the shadows broke, And the soul awoke."
The most interesting point in any such history as this must always be, "Who was first?" Who was the man whose foot first rested on the soil? Who first viewed it either as a passing stranger or as one who attempted to make settle- ment? In passing to this phase of the history, we must first pay our debt of gratitude to the real historian of Crawford county. The real historian is not the man who later edits and compiles and rearranges the information bequeathed by others, but the man who, at the time, had the good sense and judgment to make note of passing events and to preserve them in such form that they might be used by a coming generation. The real historian of this county is Thomas Dobson, and whoever learns to love this county and cherish the memory of its dead, must learn to love also this valiant, clear headed, able man, who, though unskilled in so-called literary work, has done more than all the other men of the county to preserve its traditions and its history. We have before us some of his manuscript, dim with age, yellowed by time, some little more than torn fragments, but all representing time and thought and infinite labor, given not for hope of reward, but because he loved this county as his home. These manuscripts were written from time to time and a portion of them were printed in the Denison Bulletin during the years 1875 and 1876. In literary style, as well as in apparent fidelity to facts, they are excellent and show that this man, though perhaps little schooled, was possessed of extraordinary in- tellect and a rare sense of historic values. Throughout the course of this work we shall perforce quote liberally from his writings, as in many cases they are the first and most authentic sources of our county's history. There are many others to whom we are indebted. To Mr. A. F. Bond, who for a dozen years kept daily record, not only of personal events, but of those things which con- cerned and interested the people of the humble, pioneer community. The vivid pictures of the homely life of the early settlers which he gives us, seem to illuminate and bring back to life all the hardships, the discomfitures, the daily interests and the innocent amusements of the pioneer period. The information given us by Mr. B. F. Wicks, Mrs. M. A. Bruner, Elder Butterworth, Mr.
37
38
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
Thomas Rae, and many others have served to bring back many otherwise for- gotten and unknown incidents. The files of our weekly papers, which have been preserved for many years, have also aided materially in recalling the daily life of the people. No history can be complete, no more than can be the description of any battlefield, for each man sees it through his own eyes, and to him his own experiences must of necessity be the best remembered and to a large extent the most important. It has been our work to gather the best . possible from these many sources of information, to assimilate, and to arrange in as continuous a story as possible, the isolated facts and incidents presented:
The name and personality of the first man who ever saw the wooded streams and rolling hills of Crawford county must forever be shrouded in mystery. We know that the French and English traders penetrated all the vast region west of the Mississippi and north of the Missouri. We know that emissaries of the Hudson Bay Company and the American Fur Company had their agents at work, and that trading posts were established, both east and west of us. We know that some man by the name of Bowyer gave his name to the stream on which we live. Whether he followed the river to its sources or simply saw it at its mouth, as did the members of the Lewis and Clark expedition, we cannot say.
There is a myth concerning the first white resident of the county. It is simply a myth and we have been unable to trace it, beyond the fact that it was printed in an issue of the Denison Bulletin under date of February 24, 1876. Whether it was ever founded in fact, or whether it was but a child of the imagination of that brilliant and erratic genius, A. B. Keith, who at that time presided over the destiny of the Bulletin, we cannot say, but it is inter- esting, whether as history or as fiction, and we give the tradition as it was presented :
THE FIRST SETTLER-WHO WAS HE?
The oldest inhabitant-who was he, where did he come from, what became of him? These questions are repeatedly asked in every western community, and the legendary tales of border adventure and hair-breadth escapes are ven- tilated and rehearsed until the identical gentleman is brought to light. In our own community this problem has long since been solved to the satisfaction of all. The man who first dared to brave the aborigines of Crawford county, and who had the hardihood to plant his foot on our virgin soil for better or worse, still lives, we believe, to attest the fact and rejoice in the honor. To all intents and purposes, the "first settler" of history is entitled to the credit conferred upon him, but a retired Indian agent has disclosed a legendary tale which may seem to detract in a measure from the popular idea as to whom the honor of first settlement may justly be accredited. He learned the story from an edu- cated half-breed, a descendant of a chieftain who once held dominion over this section of country. The legend is substantially as follows :
Many years ago there lived in a rural district of Indiana a family by the name of Yale-a peculiar, mysterious, reticent set of individuals, with whom the neighbors found it almost impossible to affiliate. The family consisted of Mr. Yale, widower, Sarah Yale and William and George Yale. Little was
THOMAS RYAN First Settler of Vail
39
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
known of their antecedents; and after a brief sojourn, the family disappeared one dark and stormy night, taking with them the cash earnings of several neighbors. A few weeks subsequent they crossed the Mississippi river, after which their history was wrapped in obscurity, until about three months ago, when the ex-agent became possessed of the facts. It appears that Mr. Yale was haunted by the memory of some terrible crime, for without unnecessary delay he plunged into the wilds of Iowa resolved to mingle with the original inhabitants, and thus shake off the prospect of receiving his just deserts at the hand of civilized law. After weeks of wandering he finally insinuated himself into the confidence of the Indians sufficiently to obtain a small land grant. This land grant was situated on the Boyer river near where Deloit now stands, and was put under rude cultivation by the enterprising adventurer. From this time the Yale family began to lose their identity. The daughter married a young chieftain and all went well for four years.
At last, however, hostilities were resumed by the Indians farther east and the pioneer settlers of Illinois. As the recital of terrible wrongs and atrocious murders traveled westward many a savage warrior dandled his tomahawk and prayed to the great Wacondah for revenge. Unfortunately for the Yales, the daughter died, and thus were the bonds of union with the redmen dissolved. Scarcely a week later a quarrel between William and George Yale and a trio of braves resulted in the death of the two whites. Their bodies were thrown into the Boyer near the mouth of Otter creek.
Mr. Yale comprehended his situation at once, and laid a plan to escape. His suspicious movements betrayed him, however, and notwithstanding the plead- ings and commands of his son-in-law, he was brutally tomahawked and buried in an obscure vale in Mason's grove.
Thus ended the first white settler of Crawford county, according to Indian tradition.
Whatever may be the truth of this story of the first settler, which it must be confessed has all the characteristics of a "penny dreadful," the first real settler who left a stamp upon the county and who was identified with its his- tory, came at a much later date. There were three influences, three separate tides of emigration, which affected Crawford county. One was the natural on-coming of the pioneer, the continuance of that rush for land which first settled the Black Hawk strip, spread over central Iowa, and gradually ap- proached the Missouri slope. The second was what may be called a back water from the great Mormon emigration to the far west. The details of this move- ment are given in an able chapter contributed by Bishop C. J. Hunt, on the history of the Church of Latter Day Saints in Crawford County. Suffice it is here to say that the members of this new sect founded in the east, traveled westward to Illinois, were driven by persecution from their homes and to various places in the state of Missouri. Again driven out by misunderstandings and persecutions and by their stand for freedom as against slavery, the Mormons were compelled to move on. It was at this time that the doctrine of polygamy was first introduced and those members of the old church who declined to accept this doctrine remained scattered through northern Missouri and south- western Iowa, while the others pursued their way across the plains to Utah.
.
40
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
Gradually these members of the reorganized church spread out into adjacent territory, attracted largely by reports of plenteous game and honey and timber stretches. Thus it was that they came east and north of Council Bluffs (or Kaneville, as it was then called), and established themselves in Harrison and Shelby counties and finally in Crawford. The third element was that which found its birth in the origin of the Providence Western Land Company, a com- pany formed for the exploitation of the west and which settled upon the future town of Denison as a favorable scene of activity, on account of its geographical position at the forks of the Boyer, the probability that the new railroad would go by its doors, and the fact that it was about equi-distant from the larger settlements of Council Bluffs, Sioux City, Fort Dodge and Des Moines, and could reasonably be expected to become an excellent trading point. By means of extensive advertising, this company was enabled to sell tracts of lands to residents of New England, and to some extent to force the settlement of Deni- son before other points were built up.
There seems to be some confusion as to the date of the first real settlement. The Andreas atlas published in 1875 states that the first settlement was made in May, 1849, by Cornelius Dunham, of Jackson county, Iowa, who brought Franklin Prentice and his wife to the county and left them at the place known as Dunham's Grove, on East Boyer river, about six miles east of the present town of Denison. The atlas goes on to state that Mr. Prentice built the cabin for Dunham, who came with his family in the autumn of the same year, ac- companied also by a man named Reuben Blake. The same year Prentice took a claim at the mouth of Otter Creek, on Boyer river, near Mason's Grove. The next settlers, according to the atlas, were Jesse Mason and family and George J. and Noah V. Johnson, all of whom came in June, 1850, and settled at Mason's Grove. In the fall Levi Skinner and Calvin Horr settled at the same place. The next settler was Thomas Dobson, in the spring of 1851, who also settled in the vicinity of Mason's Grove. In the fall of 1853 Edmund Howorth, with his sons, Edmund and Daniel, located at a place called Three Bee Tree Grove, in the southwest part of the county, not far from Dunlap. In 1854 the settlement at Mason's Grove received the following additional members: Benjamin Dobson, A. R. Hunt, D. J. Fowler, Clark Winans, B. F. Wicks and E. W. Fowler. During the same year Benjamin Dobson erected the first saw mill at this place, and the following located in other parts of the county, to wit: John Gilbreath, John R. Bassett and Moses and Daniel Riddle, at Coon Grove; Mathias Didra at Buck Grove, Charles Kennedy and Robert D. Butterworth at Three Bee Tree Grove, and William H. Jordan at Lost Grove, near the present town of Crawford (Dow City). John A. Dunham and Rufus Rich- ardson also came in 1854. The above were all the settlers in the county up to 1855, during the spring of which year came the following: Reuben and John Vore, S. E. Dow, S. J. Comfort, Cyrus B. Whitmore, James Purdy, Isaac B. Goodrich, S. B. Greek, S. S. Sisley, Edward Van Vleet, James Slater, and H. C. Laub. The last named settled at Mason's Grove and the others at various places in the county. In 1856 there were but few additions to the settlers, the following, with their families, it is believed, comprising all: George C. King, William J. Todd, John B. Huckstep, Edwin Cadwell, Tracy Chapman, Morris
.
J. FRED MEYERS
41
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
McHenry, Esau McKim, and Joseph Brogden, all of whom located at Mason's Grove; and R. B. Alexander, S. Bell, B. B. Bishop, and William Wilkie, who settled in the south and southwest parts of the county. Hon. J. W. Denison came to the county in the fall of 1855, and during that year and the next, se- lected a quantity of land for the Providence Western Land Company, and in September, 1856, commenced .the settlement of the town of Denison. He brought with him Francis Reynolds and John B. Swain, who erected a steam saw and grist mill in the new town.
"The first births in the county," according to the atlas, "were David and George Jesse Mason, twin sons of Jesse and Eliza Ann Mason, born in 1852. The first matrimonial transaction took place at Mason's Grove, October 12, 1853, at which time and place Rev. Thomas Dobson tied three silken knots, binding six willing hearts, as follows: George J. Johnson and Elizabeth Ann Mason; Noah V. Johnson and Jane Mason, and Calvin Horr and Elizabeth Mowery. The first death was that of John A. Dunham, in the winter of 1854-5. The first entry of government land was made August 21, 1854, by John Gil- breath. The first schoolhouse erected was at Mason's Grove, in the fall of 1856, in which Morris McHenry taught the first school, a term of three and one-half months, commencing November 4, 1856. The first sermon was preached Sunday, October 19, 1856, by Rev. William Black, of the M. E. church, and the same day, after the sermon, the first religious society was organized, with seven members. The first Sunday school was organized at Mason's Grove, January 7, 1857, George C. King, superintendent. It was organized under the auspices of the M. E. church and had twenty pupils. The first lawyer was S. J. Comfort, who was also the first acting prosecuting attorney. Dr. David McWilliams was the first physician."
CHAPTER VII.
REMINISCENCES OF THOMAS DOBSON.
"And the ox-wain creaks o'er the buried caves Where the mummied mammoths are."
From the writings of Mr. Thomas Dobson, some published and some until now unpublished, we have made a number of selections bearing directly upon the first settlement of the county and covering the first decade of its growth. We think it is best to let Mr. Dobson tell the story in his own words, and with as little editing as possible. Mr. Dobson says :
"The writer settled in what is now Pottawattamie county about six miles northeast of the present city of Council Bluffs, about the last of June, 1846, and in September of the same year, in company with several others, set out in quest of game and wild honey. Our first camp was at what is now known as Union Grove in the southeast corner of Harrison county on a branch of Pigeon creek. Crossing the creek on a bridge made by ourselves, we next camped at Six-Mile Grove and thence went to Galland's Grove, where we found that Mr. Abel Galland had preceded us and was building a log cabin and cutting hay preparatory to wintering in that far off country, and this was the only mark of frontier settlement that we found, and undoubtedly was the first visible sign of the advance of civilized life in what is now Shelby county.
"Remaining with Father Galland at his cabin over night we made our next camp at North Grove, camping down in the ravine just below where Mr. Dear- duff now lives. At this time the country here was known as the Pottawattamie country, but was soon afterward ceded to the United States; and in the fall and winter of 1847-8 the Indians were removed to Kansas. We remained camped in North Grove about ten days, during which time we visited Lost Grove near where Dowville now stands, and also the grove where Cornelius Dunham, Sr., afterwards located, near the town of Dunlap. After securing some game and a considerable amount of honey we returned to our families.
"In December, 1846, I again returned to Galland's Grove to find that Mr. Galland had not moved as he had anticipated doing. I camped for the night in his cabin. Spent only a short time in the vicinity as the weather was so cold that the bees would not fly out; of course, we got no honey. Returning home we went down into the state of Missouri, near Oregon, and worked part of the
43
44
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
winter at a saw mill drawing logs, obtaining corn, pork and a little flour, but failed to get the corn ground as the mill froze up. We took our corn home and pounded it in a mortar made by splitting a log into halves and troughing-out one end and cutting the other down square and then pinning it together again and using a pestle with an iron wedge stuck into the end thereof. By this means we made our breadstuff until the next harvest, when a Mr. S. E. Wicks got a corn cracker and commenced operations on the Mosquito creek where Mr. Parks has since built a substantial flouring mill."
During the year 1847 nothing of particular note transpired except some in- cidents peculiar to frontier life. But in August, 1848, Jesse Mason, the great hunter of Western Iowa, set out from his home in company with others, for a town in this upper country, coasting the groves in quest of game and honey until luckily he brought up at the largest grove in what is now within the bounds of Crawford county, and which, by common consent, was named "Ma- son's Grove," in honor of the mighty hunter.
Mr. Mason, after obtaining a bountiful supply of elk meat, venison and honey, returned home, but only for a short time, however, for his olfactorys were so sharpened upon his late trip that he must needs shoulder his trusty rifle, yoke up his oxen, and hitch them to his covered wagon. We might here ob- serve that this was the manner in which all the early pioneers and hunters traversed the then trackless prairies of western Iowa-so much so that it be- came proverbial that a man could go almost anywhere in this country with a yoke of oxen, a wagon, a spade, an axe and a corn-dodger.
On this occasion Mr. Mason was accompanied by several others to the grove bearing his name, and to this region of country which was fast becoming famous as a hunting ground. This was about the last of September, 1848.
After a visit of some days' duration the party started across the country westward, going as far as Ida Grove and thence down the Maple Valley to its junction with the Little Sioux river, a region of country then entirely unknown except to the red man, or, perhaps, to some half-breeds and Frenchmen that had intermarried with the Indians. During the year 1849 several parties visited this section, but it was so isolated and distant from the then settled parts of the country from which supplies would have to be brought, that those who might have had a desire to settle here were deterred from doing so, and it was not until the spring of 1850 that any permanent settlement was made. Early in the spring of this year, Mr. Cornelius Dunham, Sr., accompanied by his son Cornelius and his daughter Sophrania, brought out Mr. Franklin Prentice and his wife and located on the East Boyer river at what is known as Dunham's Grove near where Tracy Chapman now lives. After remaining a short time and contracting with Mr. Prentice to build him a house, Mr. Dunham returned to his family in Maquoketa, this state; meanwhile Mr. Prentice and Cornelius, Jr., set about getting a crop in the ground, building log cabins and hunting. Mr. Prentice being quite an expert as a hunter, they were well supplied with venison, and coupled with the fact that they were monarchs of all they sur- veyed, they enjoyed themselves hugely. The nearest white settlement was at Galland's Grove, thirty miles distant and the nearest place at which supplies could be obtained was Council Bluffs, about eighty miles distant.
DR. U. B. EVANS. ARION
DON J. BUTLER. ARION First white child born in the county
45
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
Mr. Dunham returned with the remainder of his family about the middle of October, bringing out a large stock of cattle and hogs. As the range in the grove and along the creeks was excellent, both cattle and hogs did well until late in the season. Mr. Prentice, having assisted in placing Dunham's family in comfortable quarters for the winter, took a claim at Mason's Grove and built a cabin a little south of the present farm residence of Mr. Mason's, and resided there during the winter of '50 and until the spring of '51.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.