USA > Iowa > Decatur County > History of Decatur County, Iowa, and its people, Volume I > Part 4
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If work is estimated to cost $1,000 or over, it must be advertised for sealed bids. And if bids are thought to be too high, all can be rejected and the same put in by day labor if done under the lowest bid received.
CAES
DECATUR COUNTY HOME, EDEN TOWNSHIP
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HISTORY OF DECATUR COUNTY
It is quite probable that a plant for the manufacture of reinforced concrete pipe for culverts will be established in Leon in the near future. These pipes are now being made in one or two counties in the state at prices that are below the same sizes in corrugated tubing.
CHAPTER III SUMMARY OF COUNTY OFFICIALS
COUNTY JUDGES
Samuel C. Thompson, 1852-7; William F. Kelly, 1858-9; L. H. Sales, 1860-1; W. W. Ellis, 1862-3; Luman N. Judd, 1865; Robert Kinnear, 1866-9.
TREASURERS AND RECORDERS
John Brown, 1852; Abner Harbour, 1853; John Jordan, 1854-7; Ira B. Ryan, 1858-9; Samuel C. Cummins, 1860-3; J. C. Porter, 1864.
TREASURERS
J. C. Porter, 1865; Samuel C. Thompson, 1866-71; Charles B. Jordan, 1871; Francis Varga, 1872-7; E. J. Sankey, 1878-9; J. C. Gammill, 1880-3: A. E. Chase, 1884-8; M. A. Gammill, 1888-90; J. A. Caster, 1890-4; Charles H. Edwards, 1894-8; Asa S. Cochran, 1898-1902; W. H. Young, 1902-6; E. G. Monroe, 1906-10; W. C. Cazad, 1910-12; J. V. Arney, 1912-14; Elba Shewmaker, 1914 -.
RECORDERS
Luman N. Judd, 1865; W. W. Ellis, 1866-8; W. J. Sullivan, 1869-76: John W. Leeper, 1876-80; J. H. Garrett, 1881-2; John W. Little, 1883-4: C. W. Beck, 1885-9; John N. Grayson, 1889-91; James Grindstaff, 1891-5; J. J. Evans, 1895-7; Bryson Bruce, 1897-9: Charles H. Brown, 1899-1901: Charles E. Lane, 1901-5; W. A. Poush, 1905-9; Ira B. Officer, 1909-13; Will Gardner, 1913 -.
CLERKS
W. L. Warford. 1852-3: Samuel Dunn, 1854-5; George T. Young, 1856-62: Nathan Perdew, 1863-4; Francis Varga, 1865-6;
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HISTORY OF DECATUR COUNTY
Ed K. Pitman, 1867-70; Nathan Perdew, 1871-2; A. E. Chase, 1873-8; Nathan Perdew, 1879-80; Millard F. Stookey, 1881-4: E. J. Sankey, 1885-9; Millard F. Stookey, 1889-91; T. H. Schenck, 1891-3; John N. Gates, 1893-7; John C. Stockton, 1897-1901; Spencer W. Kehler, 1901-5; A. S. Tharp, 1905-9; John Mendenhall, 1909-13; E. E. Beck, 1913 -.
SHERIFFS
John J. Stanley, 1852-5: Joseph R. Parsons, 1855-7; Harrison Weldon, 1858-9; George Woodbury, 1860-3; Ira B. Ryan, 1864-5; George Woodbury, 1866-9; E. J. Sankey, 1870-3; W. H. Fortune, 1874-5; A. Dilsaver, 1876; J. A. Snyder, 1876; John Backus, 1877; W. A. Kilpatrick, 1878-9: A. J. Allen, 1880-3; W. A. Brown, 1884-5; J. W. Honnold, 1886-90; G. W. Lefollett, 1890-2; G. W. Blain, 1892-4; Charles C. Beck, 1894-8; George F. Wolever, 1898- 1902; R. D. Martin, 1902-4; Thomas Wallace, 1904-9; J. E. Andrews, 1909-13; F. L. Lorey, 1913 -.
COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS
Thomas Johnson, 1858-61; Vincent Wainright, 1862-3; J. C. Porter, 1863; J. W. Penney, 1864-7; Samuel Bowman, 1868-9; W. C. Jackson, 1870-3; J. L. Harvey, 1874-5; J. C. Roberts, 1876-8; Josephine Kellogg, 1878-9; Laura V. Dye, 1880-1; Emmeline Manney, 1882-3: Lon Armel, 1884-5; Mrs. Julia B. Hoadley, 1886-90; A. A. Roy. 1890-6: Joseph E. Cummins, 1896-1900; J. A. McIntosh, 1900-4; Eli Hutchinson, 1904-7; J. W. Long, 1907-13; Mabel Horner, 1913 -.
AUDITORS
George Burton, 1871; Robert E. Dye, 1872-3; W. C. Jackson, 1874-9; W. J. Sullivan, 1880-3: J. F. Scott, 1884-5; T. H. Schenck, 1886-90; Charles Shaffner, 1890-3; John Ledgerwood, 1893-7: George Sears, 1897-1901: James F. Gill, 1901-5: H. G. Scott, 1905-9; J. V. Lemley, 1909-13; R. E. Mclaughlin, 1913-15; Walter Osborne, 1915 -.
SUPERVISORS
A. B. Stearns, R. D. Burnett, Samuel W. Sears, Seth Samson, G. W. Rudibaugh, G. W. Shewmaker, J. D. Brown, W. S. Ammerman, E. Banta, Hiram Chase, Edward Conwell, W. H. H.
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HISTORY OF DECATUR COUNTY .
Clark, D. G. Sears, C. W. Barr, J. D. Strong, J. R. Smith, M. A. Wasson, James R. Smith, J. Lentz, John Allbaugh, J. G. Springer, Harvey D. Day, H. D. Dye, W. H. Paris, Charles L. Rudibaugh, Fred B. Niece, W. H. Campbell, T. Morris, C. W. Barr, W. L. Edmondson, J. F. Hacker, A. B. McClaran, S. H. Covington, S. P. Miley, Patrick Griffin, W. M. Frost, H. L. Northrup, J. H. Hill and L. P. Hastings have all served in the capacity of supervisor. The board is made up of three members, one elected each year for a term of three years.
CORONERS
Owing to the fact that the courthouse records prior to 1875 were burned in the fire of the '70s, the list of coroners before that time is not obtainable. Following is the summary of the men who have served since:
J. A. Snyder, 1875-6; Q. M. Lindsey, 1876-82; C. A. Gillham, 1882-4; H. C. Van Werden, 1884-6; W. A. Gardner, 1886-90; .A. Brown, 1890-4; H. R. Layton, 1894-8; B. R. McAllister, 1898- 1904; F. A. Bowman, 1904-1909; W. G. Jeffries, 1909-11; H. R. Layton, 1911 -.
SURVEYORS
H. W. Peck, 1876-80; W. F. Craig, 1880-4; H. W. Peck, 1884-6; H. H. Flanagan, 1886-8; W. F. Craig, 1888-90; J. M. Hollinger, 1890-6; George Barrett, 1896-8; J. M. Hollinger, 1898-1904; Edward H. Peck, 1904-7; J. M. Hollinger, 1907-11; Frank Mallette, 1911 -.
DISTRICT JUDGES
Samuel Forrey, J. W. Hewitt, E. F. Sullivan, M. A. Mills, D. D. Gregory, John W. Harvey, W. H. Tedford, H. M. Towner, R. L. Parrish, H. K. Evans, have served in this position.
SENATORS
Amos Harris, 1852-3; Nathan Udell. 1854-5: John W. Warner. 1856-9; William E. Taylor, 1860-1; E. F. Esteb. 1862-3; C. G. Bridges, 1864-7; Isaac W. Keller, 1868-71; Elisha T. Smith, 1872-5; Fred A. Teale, 1876-9: Isaac W. Keller, 1880-3: John McDonough, 1884-8: J. B. Hurst, 1888-92; W. H. Robb, 1892-6; George S. Allyn,
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HISTORY OF DECATUR COUNTY
1896-1904; Marion F. Stookey, 1904-9; J. D. Brown, 1909-13; C. H. Thomas, 1913 -.
REPRESENTATIVES
Abraham Putnam, 1852-3; S. P. Yeomans, 1854-5; Thomas M. Bowen, 1856-7; W. J. Laney, 1858-9; Racine D. Kellogg, 1860-3; John R. Andrews, 1864-5; Thomas H. Brown, 1866-7; Henry W. Peck, 1868-9; Fred A. Teale, 1870-3; Stanfield P. McNeill, 1874-7; W. S. Warnock, 1878-9; J. C. Porter, 1880-1; William F. Kelley, 1882-3; Elijah Banta, 1884-5; Thomas Teale, 1886-90; Guy P. Arnold, 1890-2; Bryson Bruce, 1892-4; Z. H. Gurley, 1894-8; M. Wemple, 1898-1900; B. L. Eiker, 1900-4; E. J. Sankey, 1904-7; C. C. Dye, 1907-9; E. J. Sankey, 1909-11; J. A. Smith, 1911-13; M. F. Thompson, 1913 -.
Vol. I-3
CHAPTER IV HAMILTON TOWNSHIP BEFORE THE WAR
By Duncan Campbell
Hamilton is one of the southern tier of townships of Decatur County, Iowa. It is bounded on the east by Morgan, on the north by Eden and on the west by New Buda Townships. In a few places the west line is indented by the curves of Grand River, and towards the northeast it is crossed by Little River, a tributary of the Grand. Several creeks and small streams carry their waters into these rivers when the flow is not exhausted by dry weather. The surface, gener- ally, is an undulating prairie, broken in places by ravines. The river bottoms were covered with a large growth of timber at the time of its first settlement, but much of it has since fallen before the axe and saw of the woodmen. Later, some portions of the prairie became covered with a dense growth of shrubs and small timber planted by the settlers in order to protect their dwellings, farm buildings and fences, and to keep down the running fires which hitherto had destroyed the incipient saplings. The soil on the few white oak ridges is light, yielding but a meager reward for the toil of the agri- culturist, but elsewhere good crops are raised and the people generally make a good living, many of them becoming quite wealthy.
The first settlers found some bands of Sac and Pottawattomie Indians still making the neighboring river bottoms their winter quar- ters, but spending the summers on their favorite hunting grounds in Kansas. Some of the settlers made considerable money in trading with them, on account of the Indians' poor appreciation of compara- tive values. These traders frequently managed to get the red man much in debt to them and when the Indians repaired to the agencies at Fort Des Moines or Council Bluffs to receive their annuities from the Government these traders usually appeared with them to collect the balance before the Indian had time to spend it otherwise, which he was prone to do.
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HISTORY OF DECATUR COUNTY
The first actual settlers upon the lands now embraced in Hamilton Township appear to have arrived in the '40s. Champ Collier, an uncle of the Missouri statesman, Champ Clark, who was named after him; Allen Scott, Wyllis Dickinson, Aaron and Moses Turpin, Ed Winkle, William Conover, Cole Seymour, Alfred Logan, Martin Casline, John Reid, William Hamilton, William Acton, Asa Burrell and Gideon P. Walker were among the earliest. As most of these came in by way of Missouri they naturally held to the view of that state with reference to the boundary question and supposed they were settling within its limits. This view placed a line six miles or more farther north than the Iowa claim allowed, which was that the Sulli- van line run in 1816 was the true boundary. The Supreme Court of the United States, having decided in favor of the lowa side of the controversy, these settlers found themselves in a different state from that in which they intended to settle, and this will to some extent account for the mixed polities in the township in the early days.
The conditions which obtained in Morgan, Hamilton and New Buda Townships in those times were very much alike; the most primi- tive order of things prevailed in all of them. Ox teams were used instead of horses and these were of the scrubbiest kind. It required a team of six or seven yoke of them to break up the prairie which at that time was covered with a growth of blue-stemmed grass, higher than a man's head. However, it required but little ground to raise the corn needed for family uses. The markets were too distant and the price paid too low to make it pay to grow corn for that purpose. There was little or none needed for the hogs, because they fatted them- selves on the abundant mast which in the little hollows about the trees could be shoveled up by the scoopful. One of the early settlers informed the writer that one fall he had sold $800 worth of hogs, fattened in this way. Hence, about the only corn raised was that required by oxen and for the family bread. Corn needed but little cultivation then, as the famous cockle-burr and other weeds had not begun to take possession of the ground as they have in later times. In many cases the hogs of the different families ran out in the woods together and little discrimination was shown as to which was which. When a family got out of meat one of the men took a gun and shot the first fat hog that came within range, without very close inquiry as to where it belonged. Wild turkey, deer and other game were found in great numbers, and this with the hog meat made the flesh supplies especially bountiful.
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HISTORY OF DECATUR COUNTY
Cattle were raised cheaply and with little trouble. Thus plenty of butter could be had at the cost of the labor of making it. There was little inducement to manufacture it for sale at the frequent price of 3 cents per pound. Eggs were very plentiful and so cheap that they were often fed to the hogs by the bucketful. Many times there was no market for them at any price. For sweets honey was obtained from the bee trees by the barrel and was a source of consid- erable revenue, even at the low price of 20 cents a gallon. In the way of fruit wild apples, plums, grapes, black haws and many kinds of berries made satisfactory relishes. Sorghum was introduced in 1857 or 1858 by a Mr. Fields who lived about a mile west of Pleasanton. He sent to Washington for the seed.
A portion of the clothing of the men was made from buckskin, and being nicely dressed looked quite well. Woolen clothes were made by the women, who carded the wool, spun it, wove it and made it into clothes of such enduring quality that a new dress did not have to be made every other day.
The first land to be occupied was in the timber or adjacent to it. This was because of the facility afforded for getting material for dwellings, barns, fences and fuel. The first houses were log cabins with puncheon floors and clapboard roofs. The puncheons were logs split and dressed or hewed on one side to a flat surface and laid close together on log sleepers. The shingles were made from blocks of oak about three or four feet in length, quartered and then split into clapboards by a froe. These were laid on the rude logs and then weighted and held in place by other logs. The doors oftentimes hung on wooden hinges and fastened with wooden latches. The windows consisted of openings between the logs over which pieces of oil paper or muslin were stretched. The stick and clay chimney, with its open fireplace and wide hearth, was a distinctive feature of those primitive homes and no happier memories cling around the recollection of any hearthstones in the world than do in the thoughts connected with these lowly cabins. The minds of many of those now in middle age hearked back to the times when, if as by chance, the young people of the neighborhood gathered in one of those 16 by 18 dwellings of an evening and the stove and the table, the beds and the cupboard were hustled outdoors to make room for the dance.
From a short biography of John E. Logan, who settled in Morgan Township in 1844, we take the following: "The Indians had not then been removed and the county was then in a primitive state. His post- office was at Trenton, Mo., forty miles away, and the postage on
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HISTORY OF DECATUR COUNTY
each letter was 25 cents, which was invariably demanded when the letter was taken from the office. Money was scarce and with but little silver to make change and beeswax was used as a sub- stitute, which was in good demand at 25 cents a pound. A small gristmill had been erected about four miles below Princeton, Mo .. a distance of about twenty-five miles. This was of very small dimen- sions, but much better than none and was a blessing for which the pioneers were thankful. His dwelling was a cabin of hewed logs, 18 by 20 feet in size. He had been here the previous autumn and had engaged his location and engaged a man to build the above men- tioned, he returning to Missouri and bringing his family the following spring. This cabin forms a part of his present residence, it having been clapboarded on the outside and sealed within. This is the oldest residence in the township. Here Mr. Logan and wife had lived for a period of forty-two years. A generation has passed away since they settled here. It was a beautiful timbered country, with no under- brush, and deer and other wild game were abundant."
But there were other wild animals in the woods besides the deer ; coyotes or prairie wolves roamed about in great numbers and made night vocal with the chorus of their prolonged howls. Many a calf, pig, lamb and chicken fell a victim to their raids on the pens and corrals of the settlers.
When Decatur County was organized April 1, 1850, William Hamilton, Asa Burrell and Josiah Morgan were named as commis- sioners and their first meeting as such was held May 6th. Henry B. Noston was chosen clerk and Andrew Still was allowed $30 for his work as organizing sheriff. The county seat was not yet located and it was ordered that until that was done the district courts, the probate court and the commissioners' court should be held at the home of Daniel Moad about six miles southeast of where Leon now stands. In July following the commissioners held a meeting in which they organized Garden Grove, Morgan, Hamilton and Burrell townships, naming the last three in which they severally lived after themselves. In the organization of Hamilton Township William Hamilton, William Eaton and Jefferson Dimiek were chosen judges and Wyllis Dickinson and Gideon P. Walker, clerks. In those days the township business was transacted in a most simple and informal manner. At the first election held in Woodland Township the ballot box was a tin pail with a cover and the tickets were written by one of the clerks.
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HISTORY OF DECATUR COUNTY
With the '50s many new settlers came in. From 1852 to 1857 more new people came in than in any other equal period since the first settlement. David Purden, William Snook, A. W. Moffett, Daniel Bartholow, George Morey, G. M. Hinkle, John Keown, William Loving, Austin Cowles, Robert Booth, James Dunleavy, John Henderson, James Gammill, Dr. David Maey, Dr. Glenden- ning, Dr. Mullinnix, Fleming, James, Ambrose and Meredith Dale, Wilson Stone, Ebenezer Robinson, Amasa Bonney, W. S. Warnock, William Alden, Royal Richardson, John Park, Isaac Waldrup, Rich- ard Holden, Andrew Scott, T. J. Graves, John Mark, Henry Laney, Fields, James Alfrey, Hartman, John Mills, with their families. No doubt there were a number of others whose names have been over- looked.
In the days before grist and sawmills were erected various expe- dients were employed to meet the needs of the people. It is said that Champ Collier went out to the timber, cut down a large walnut, split it up, dressed the boards, and put together a very respectable coffin for one of his neighbors who had died. For making corn meal the grating method was sometimes used. By this means the corn was scraped off the cob by hand on a contrivance like a huge nutmeg grater. Others used a sweep. On the lower end of a suspended pole was a block of wood in which an iron wedge was inserted, with which the corn placed in the cavity hollowed out of the top of a stump was pounded into mcal by working the sweep up and down.
In the course of time Allen Scott put up a horsemill for grinding corn. The patrons usually supplied the power, which was at first more frequently by oxen than by horses. In the latter half of the '50s several mills were ereeted, some of them run by steam and others by water power. In 1854 D. C. Cowles built a sawmill at Davis City for William Davis, and two or three years later Royal Richard- son. William Snook, John Mark and John Clark put up mills in the south and east part of the township.
Calicos, blankets and coffee and such things were sometimes obtained from the Indians, who brought them from Council Bluffs and Fort Des Moines, when they went to those agencies to draw their allowances from the Government. Allen Scott opened the first store, which he kept at his farmhouse, and in partnership with him for a time was a man named Foster. The first postoffice was also kept here, and was named Nine Eagles, of which Governor Ejhazy, a Hungarian refugee, was the first postmaster. The mail was brought by way of Princeton, Mo.
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HISTORY OF DECATUR COUNTY
The first school was taught in a vacated cabin on the Hamilton place, about a mile northwest of where Pleasanton is now. Cole Sey- mour was perhaps the first teacher, followed by Jim Dunkerson, Mr. Tillery and Gideon P. Walker, the latter teaching several terms. The teachers were paid by subscription and the length of the terms depended on the amount of money raised in this way.
The Village of Pleasanton was laid out in the spring of 1854 by Daniel Bartholow, and named Pleasant Plains. One-half of the land was given by Bartholow and the other half by William Snook. The first store was kept by G. M. Hinkle, who lived on a farm now occupied by John McCormick about a mile and a half northwest of the town. Later there were stores by Greenville Watson, Jeff Gardner, Isaac Waldrup and James Alfrey, who first served in a store belong- ing to Dallou & Pritchard, and afterwards set up for himself. Tom Majors, afterward candidate for governor of Nebraska on the repub- lican ticket, had a large stock of goods in 1859. The goods were at first brought in by ox teams from Keokuk and Burlington, on the Mississippi, and from Brunswick and St. Joe, on the Missouri. Later they were hauled from Ottumwa after the main line of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad reached there. The hauling of the goods from those points gave considerable occupation to men and teams, helping materially to piece out the means of living and giving a start in the acquiring of property.
At an early date William Snook entertained travelers, and later Joel Painter kept a licensed hotel on the lot where the Pleasanton Bank now stands. Royal Richardson opened his hotel in 1861.
Dr. David Macy was the first physician and located in Pleasanton in 1855. Doctor Glendenning was at Pleasanton for a year or more when he first entered upon the practice of his profession about 1856. Dr. P. E. Mullinnix located for practice here in 1859. Dr. W. E. Peters also that year.
When W. S. Warnock, who had been admitted to the Ohio bar in 1853, struck Pleasanton in the fall of 1865 on his way to the West in the search for health and incidentally looking for an opportunity to teach school, there was no school building in the village. Some of the public-spirited citizens, learning that he wished to teach, asked him to tarry for a few days while they erected a schoolhouse. He did so. The men of the village went to work with a will. repaired to the timber, cut logs, hauled them to a site just back of where Mr. Richardson's present residence is. and in less than two weeks had a building ready for occupancy. True, it hardly came up to the
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HISTORY OF DECATUR COUNTY
standard of a modern city school, with its log walls, puncheon floor and clapboard roof, its seats of split logs with wooden pegs for legs. Nevertheless, it served a good purpose, being used as a meeting house for religious services as well as for day school. There were meetings for Bible study and later a Sunday school. Isaac Waldrup, mer- chant of the town, preached there with much acceptance.
Doctor Forbes had a school in a log cabin on the site of the Inter- state Index office. The floor of the cabin had not been laid and the log sleepers were used for seats, yet the instruction imparted served its purpose in the development of the youthful mind as well as that given today on seats of the latest design and mechanism.
Education was considered of such great importance by the citizens that a building known as the College was erected for educational pur- poses in the late '50s. It was a 2-story frame building, 40 by 60, and was built by private subscription. The attendance of students varied from fifty to a hundred. But little more than the ordinary English branches were taught. E. Lewis and wife, George Stanton, John W. Crawford, W. S. Warnock and John Sallee were among the instructors. Myra Snook, afterwards the wife of Dr. E. C. Macy, helped in the teaching while attending the school as a student. The building was also used for church purposes, and soldiers were drilled in it during the war. With thirteen other buildings it was destroyed in a fierce tornado which devastated the town in 1864. It never was rebuilt, being a more advanced step than the community could support at that early time.
There were no church buildings erected before the war. The Methodist Episcopal people began one, but it went no further than the erection of part of the frame, which was neglected and destroyed in the excitement attending the opening of the war. There was a Methodist organization which struggled along and religious services were held in the school buildings by Isaac Waldrup, John Mark, Elijah Crawford and Doctor Glendenning. The Latter Day Saints people effected an organization in 1859, and preaching services were maintained by George Morey, A. W. Moffett and Ebenezer Robin- son. Their usual place of meeting was at a schoolhouse on the farm of A. W. Moffett, but services were occasionally held at other places.
The men carried their arms to the place of meeting and wore moc- casins, or more often, when the weather permitted, came barefoot. Those from a distance came in ox wagons.
The legal fraternity was represented by Gideon P. Walker, W. S. Warnock and James Alfrey. Walker was reared and educated in
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HISTORY OF DECATUR COUNTY
New York, where he read law and was admitted to the bar. On reaching his majority he located in the southern states, remaining there for several years, teaching school and practicing law. He came to Hamilton in the spring of 1849, and on the organization of the township in 1850 he was chosen one of the first clerks. W. S. War- nock was a native of Ohio, in which state he studied law and was admitted to the bar. He came to Pleasanton late in 1855, where he taught school, kept postoffice and practiced his profession. In 1872 he moved to Davis City, and in 1878 was elected to represent the dis- trict in the Seventeenth General Assembly of Iowa. James Alfrey, a clerk, storekeeper, school teacher and county superintendent, read some law and practiced in justice of the peace court, but present information does not indicate whether he was ever admitted to the bar or not.
When the postoffice was moved from Allen Scott's place to Pleas- anton in 1858 the old name Nine Eagles was retained for several years. Early postmasters were Isaac Waldrup and W. S. War- nock; some say the one was the first, some say the other.
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