USA > Iowa > Delaware County > History of Delaware County, Iowa, and its people, Volume I > Part 31
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Reverend Bolles was an earnest, eloquent preacher, a good man, who ful- filled the duties imposed upon him in purchasing the "Colony" land and making arrangements for the "Exodists." That the primary scheme of colonizing Massachusetts families on Delaware County land was a failure was no fault of his. This worthy clergyman preached the first sermon in Sand Spring in 1858, at a frame building erected for a hotel. Other sermons by him were delivered in the homes of the people. That summer a large meeting was held by him at the home of Charles Crocker. About this time Reverends Whit- more, of the Methodist persuasion, and James Kay. Baptist, preached to people in and around Sand Spring.
A school was opened here in the summer of 1858 by Miss buey Battles, daughter of Otis Battles. Later, in 1868, a commodious and substantial school building was erected. E. P. Couser was principal of the graded school.
The Methodists had organized a society and, in 1865, erected a house of worship. A similar building was put up by the Baptists in 1868.
The Southwestern, now under the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul System. failed to reach Sand Spring in the fall of 1858. This was irksome to those who
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had contributed to the building of the road, as they needed and greatly desired railroad communication with the outer world. The spring of 1859 eame and still the rails were three miles distant. This led the farmers and business men, and even their women folks, to pitch in and help the track layers finish their work into the village. It is said that Mrs. Asa C. Bowen, Mrs. Karst and other helpful pioneer matrons, assisted in carrying and placing the ties.
When the Davenport & St. Paul (Milwaukee) Railroad reached Hopkinton a mortal blow was given the growth and aspirations of Sand Spring. The township had voted a tax of 5 per cent to assist in building the road. The payment of this tax was successfully resisted by the taxpayers of Sand Spring by way of an injunction, which was made perpetual by the Supreme Court of the state.
The postoffice at Sand Spring was established in 1858. and T. H. Bowen was commissioned postmaster on the 19th day of June. IS58. The names of his successors follow : William Cline, April 16, 1860; E. H. Sellers, January 30, 1861 : Robert Elliott, April 25, 1863; Orson IIenry, December 17, 1863; S. R. Tuttle. May 18, 1870; G. II. Brown, October 20, 1874; Leonard Loffelholz, April 13, 1886; G. H. Brown, May 9, 1889; O. JJ. MeGinnis, June 30, 1893; Adam Reichart. October 2. 1895: F. E. Wood. Jr., July 30, 1897 ; S. D. Garling- house. March 2, 1903: William J. Gelvin, December 14, 1906; Alexander Blair, March 23, 1909.
For a number of years the manufacture of brooms was an important indus- try at this place, T. II. and Asa C. Bowen, of Hopkinton, giving it an impetus that put the innovation on a substantial footing. Broom making meant rais- ing of the raw product. all of which increased the revenues of those directly interested.
The Wilson dam and sawmill were built soon after the village was founded and supplied lumber to many of the settlers for their homes and outbuildings. This property was totally destroyed by the flood of 1865.
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CHAPTER XXI
RICHLAND TOWNSIIIP
This is township 90, range 6, and was ereated January 6, 1851, taking at the same time the name of Richland. The voting place was the house of Stephen R. Reynolds.
Richland is in the northwest corner of the county, having on its western and northern boundaries Buchanan and Clayton counties respectively. Coffin's Grove Township is on the south and Honey Creek Township on the east. When first settled large tracts of timber were to be found here. Much of this has been cleared and good farms developed. North and northeast of what is known as the "Devils Backbone" the surface is rather hilly, so that the country is better adapted to orchard, timber, vineyards, or small fruit culture. However, Rich -. land is fairly well settled and her people are prosperous.
The Maquoketa River enters the county in Richland Township and flows nearly southeast. finally leaving the county in South Fork Township. Above Forestville the valley for some distance is a rock-walled gorge and this appear- ance obtains two or three miles below that village. The affluents of this stream afford plenty of water for stock and good drainage for the land.
William Turner and his father (name not known) were the first to settle in Richland. choosing for a location a tract of land in the past half of seetion 22, on the east bank of the Maquoketa River. They built a sawmill in 1847 and in the year last mentioned Stephen R. Reynolds became a settler here. Mr. Reynolds had the honor of giving the township its present name.
ITiram D. Wood located and made preparations for a new home, on section 26. in 1848. In the spring of 1847, being then nineteen years of age, he enlisted in a cavalry company and served until the end of the Mexican war in 1848. After his discharge he came to Delaware County and located his land warrant npon the land where he resided so many years. Mr. Wood was one of the prominent citizens of this community, held a number of local offices and served as county surveyor. He was the father of a number of children, sketches of whom will be found in the second volume of this work.
C. R. Davis settled on a farm in section 5, in 1850. Forty acres of his land contained excellent limestone, which Mr. Davis converted into the commercial product, having at one time three kilns in operation.
Henry W. Graves came with his parents to Delaware County in 1851, first settling in Colony Township. Later they took up their residence in Richland Township. Mr. Graves married Nancy Cuppett in 1866, and in 1867 settled on section 24.
Franklin Emerson, a native of New York, located in Dubuque in the '40s. In October, 1852, he came with his family to this township and settled on a farm. He had previously served as sheriff of Clayton County.
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William B. Smith, with his family, came from Nova Scotia to the United States in 1850, and in the fall of 1853 located in this township on a farm consisting of 315 aeres. ITis son Henry is now one of Manchester's prominent business men.
John Seriben, of Pennsylvania, came with his parents to the prairies of Delaware County in 1853 and settled in Richland Township. where he married Rozella Bliss in 1857.
George C. Hawley, of Kane County, Illinois, married Aurelia Lake in 1855. Two years previous, however, he settled on section 20 in this township, where he raised a large family of children and became one of the progressive farmers of the community.
Edward Rolfe left England in 1851 and first settled in Illinois. In 1853. coming to Delaware County, he chose a tract of land on section 18 as his future home. This farm he cultivated and brought to a high state of improvement. Mr. Rolfe was a veteran of the Civil war.
E. D. Stone, a Vermonter. settled in the township in 1854.
S. A. Thompson took up land on section 6 in the fall of 1854 and at once began to improve it. For many years he was justice of the peace and a member of the Methodist Church.
Thomas Clark was born in England in 1830. He immigrated to the United States and settled on sections 14, 11 and 24 in 1854. In 1855 he married Eliza- beth Wharton, who was also born in England.
John Durham. of Yorkshire. England, crossed the Atlantic in 1828 with his parents, who settled in Lower Canada. Mr. Durham married Mary Dunham in Vermont and in the spring of 1854 found his way to Iowa, settling on section 13, Richland Township. At the time there was not a house between his and York. On his first trip to Delhi to pay his taxes, he stopped where Manchester now stands to get some crackers and cheese but there was none to be had.
William J. Millett was a pioneer of the '50s, coming from Illinois in 1855 and settling on section 7. Mr. Millett enlisted in the Twenty-seventh Iowa Volunteer Infantry in 1862. Returning from the war, he resumed farming and was elected to positions of trust in the township by his neighbors.
George Hebron, with his family, came from England to this country in 1853 and immigrating from New York State to Iowa, settled in Richland Town- ship on section 1, in 1856. Hlere he carried on an extensive dairy business, having at one time forty cows.
E. S. Cowles, one of Richland's prosperous farmers, entered land in that township in 1856, on which he resided for many years. He was born in Wyoming County, New York, September 27. 1829. Through his efforts the Campton Postoffice was established in 1857 and he was appointed postmaster and held the office so long that he had the distinction of being one of the oldest continuous postmasters in the county. He was sheriff of the county from 1878 to 1881. He served in the Seventh Jowa Cavalry and now, at the age of eighty- five, is quite vigorons, living at Lamont, not far from the old farm.
II. D. Cowles was a native of Massachusetts and came to the county in 1854, where he married Sarah Emerson in 1859. Mr. Cowles for many years was in the creamery business and manufactured both butter and cheese. He is a brother of E. S. Cowles and was also a member of the Seventh Iowa Cavalry.
THE "STAIRWAY" AT THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE IN RICHLAND TOWNSHIP
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IHISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY
William Hebron, also of England, settled in this county in 1857, locating on section 11, Richland Township.
John Dubois came to Delaware County from the State of New York in 1857 and first settled in Delhi, where he married Marian Walters. He later settled in this township and in 1861 enlisted in the Twenty-first Iowa Infantry.
John Seward was born in England, immigrated to the United States and settled in Richland Township in 1857, where he first worked as a common laborer for about a year and then rented a farm for himself. He was soon able to purchase forty acres of land, on which he settled and began to improve. TIe broke the forty, fenced it and erected a shanty 14 by 18 feet, in which he made his home for eight years, when a better home was prepared.
W. P. Sheldon, a native of New York, immigrated from, Wisconsin to Dela- ware County in 1858, where he married Julia A. Smith in 1862. For many years he held office in the township and was highly respected by all who knew him.
FORESTVILLE
Forestville is one of the towns that have been forced to give way to the inexorable laws of trade. For some years it was quite a busy little place and drew from a large area a paying clientele. But that has passed away and today all that remains of the place is a few houses and about fifty inhabitants. The town was laid out on section 22, in April, 1854, by Joel Bailey, surveyor, for Daniel Leonard, proprietor, and the plat was recorded July 15, 1856.
The first one to settle here was William Turner, who located on the east bank of the Maquoketa River, in section 22. Here he built a sawmill and in 1847 Stephen R. Reynolds became his neighbor. The mill was swept away by a freshet in 1851. but immediately rebuilt.
William Turner opened a store at his home in 1850 and in the following year he kept the postoffice at his house, the office then having been established. Mail was brought from Coffin's Grove and Mareus Phillips was mail carrier. D. Leonard purchased the Turner Mill in 1852, including the claim, and opened a store in Forestville. In 1853 he put up a grist mill near the sawmill and his days were busy ones keeping up with orders for lumber and corn meal.
The first tavern in the village was built in 1852 by Charles Hall, who came from New York. He afterwards put an addition to the house in which he opened a general store.
In May, 1852, the first schoolhouse in the community .was built of logs, on Lee's farm, in the southeast part of the township. That summer school was opened, for the few children of that section, and was presided over by William Wilson. The next school building was a better one. It was a frame, erected at a cost of $300 in 1854. Elihn Andrews was the contractor and builder. Part of this large (then) amount of money was raised by taxation and the rest was borrowed of the school fund by H. D. Wood, who mortgaged his land in the transaction. This schoolhouse stood just outside the town plot on the east side and the school was first presided over by Mrs. Brayman. Fire destroyed the building in the winter of 1870-1, but the summer of that year saw a new brick building in its place, built by Contractor Henry Doyle. at a cost of $700. In 1872 Forestville became an independent school district.
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Rev. John Brown, who located at Rockville and built the first caravansary there, preached the first sermon in Forestville, in the log schoolhouse. in June, 1852.
At one time there were four creameries in Richland Township. The first established was by Hiram D. Wood, near Forestville, in the spring of 1874. Large quantities of butter were made and shipped to the eastern markets. Loomis & Housman had a creamery in the southwest part of the township in 1875; 1I. D. Cowles in the western portion in 1876; and John Hollister in the northeast part.
Among others who held the position of postmaster here were Thomas Hickox, Enos M. Littlefield, Nathaniel G. Luken, Franklin Emerson, Hiram D. Wood, Charles F. Vincent, William H. Church. Henrietta Van Kuren, Walter Moon, David M. Noland, Vohey Wheeler. The office has long since been discontinued and Forestville is searcely a memory.
DUNDEE
Dundee is a small station on the Chicago Great Western Railroad. situate on section 27. just south of the old Village of Forestville. It came into existence a short time before the postoffice was established, which was in 1887. There is now a population of about one hundred. The town has a general store. a bank and shops. 11. D. Wood was commissioned postmaster, January 14, 1887. The names of his successors follow: Gertie Larrabee, July 27, 1889; Maggie Wood, October 30, 1891 ; Ollie A. Hazelrigg, December 11, 1894; JJ. L. Gilbert, September 14, 1897; A. O. Stone. November 26. 1900: Nelson Gilbert. Sep- tember 11, 1902.
CHAPTER XXII
UNION TOWNSIIIP
January 6. 1551, the County Commissioners' Court ordered the division of South Fork Township as then constituted, separating therefrom that part of it lying on the southwest side of the Maquoketa River. Township 87, range 4, was thereupon created and named Buck Creek, the first "election to be held at the schoolhouse near Aaron Blanchard's." bater the name was changed to i'nion.
This township lies in the southern tier and borders on Jones County. On the north is Delhi Township, on the west Hazel Green and on the east South Fork. The waters of the Magnoketa and its tributaries drain the land and afford ample quantities for stock the year round. Plenty of good soil is found here, which early attracted settlers. Today the township has many fine farms and the prevailing high prices of their generous yields of food stuffs give the surroundings an aspect of prosperity that is really substantial. Union has less area than any township in the county and it is the smallest in population. The absence of any town or village within its confines may, in a measure, account for this.
The first person to choose land in that part of Delaware County set off as Union Township was Samuel P. Whitaker, who located here in 1839.
Richard Waller, Joseph Ogilby, Ira AA. Blanchard and Orlean Blanchard located in the township in 1840. Nelson Main, Silas Main, Charles Roff. Green. William Robinson and Aaron Blanchard were not far be- hind those just mentioned. L. D. Cross arrived in 1842, and for many years lived on section 33.
Robert Hogg entered land in this township in 1846. Ile built a cabin. in which he had a small stock of merchandise for barter and sale. Mr. Hogg was a gunsmith and was frequently ealled upon by the Indians to mend their rifles. A daughter, Mrs. I. C. Bacon, was born in this house in 1847. Her husband, I. C. Bacon, came to the township in the fall of 1853. AA son, I. C. Bacon, now owns the homestead.
Nicholas Wilson was a settler of Union Township of 1849. He became one of the prominent farmers and owned several hundred acres of land.
Henry W. Winch was a settler of 1850 and lived on section 32 in this town- ship, where he held various local offices.
James H. Hogg was born in Delaware County and came to this township in 1850. He was engaged in business at Grove Creek a number of years and also was postmaster five years.
William Danford settled in Union Township in 1852. He bought 200 acres of land, on which he ereeted a log house. Mr. Danford planted a cottonwood tree in 1853 that is now five feet in diameter at the base.
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Amos Richardson built a frame house in the '50s, opposite the present Buck Creek Church. During the Civil war this house was the distributing point for mail of families living in that part of the county. Mr. Richardson also built before the Civil war the schoolhouse still standing near the Buck Creek Church.
Christopher Dolley, a native of Prussia, immigrated to the United States in 1843 and spent the winter in Chicago. After a residence of ten years in Cook County he came to Delaware County in the spring of 1853 and located on a farm in Union Township, where he died in 1888. With him at the time was his son Godfrey, who enlisted in 1861 in the Twelfth lowa Infantry. After the war he returned to the Delaware County farm and married Malinda Robin- son, a daughter of William and Olive Robinson, who came to Delaware County in 1846.
Marion E. Davis was brought here in 1854 by his parents, who settled on a farm in this township.
Benjamin Keith, Ir., settled here in 1854 and lived on section 6. His son. George, now lives on the land entered by him. Peter Keith came in 1851 and lived on seetion 7.
Christopher Stanger left the State of Ilinois in 1854 for lowa and settled in Union Township. In the following year a calamity overtook his family when two children ate wild parsnips. The untimely death of the little ones cast a gloom over the whole community.
George II. Dutton came from Washington County, Ohio, to Delaware County. Iowa, in the spring of 1856, bringing a young wife with him. He possessed but limited means but what he had he invested in a tract of forty acres of land on Buck Creek, in Union Township, settled on it and went to work. He afterward removed to Milo Township, where he owned a farm lying on sections 34 and 35.
James Milroy settled in this community in 1856, buying land at the high price of $12 an aere. A son. James Milroy, still owns thirty acres of the original place, and a grandson. John W. Milroy, eighty acres.
Alexander Johnson became a pioneer farmer of Union Township in 1856. He bought 160 acres of land, upon which six of his children are now living.
It is said that during the recruiting days of the Civil war, Union Township furnished to the Union armies seven men over her quota.
The Freewill Baptists built the first house of worship in Union Township in the early days of the settlement, and here both Baptists and Methodists wor- shipped in harmony of spirit and deleetability of soul.
The Methodists organized a society of that creed in the log schoolhouse. built in the '50s near the Buck Creek Church. They ereeted a church about one and one-half miles north of their present buikling and, after using it about twenty years, erected the present Buck Creek Church. L. B. Stanger, a mem- ber of the board of trustees and for many years superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Sunday School, made a bequest to the church of $600, which was paid at his death in 1907 and used for permanent improvements. Mr. Stanger was an ideal citizen and is greatly missed in the church and community. This is one of the very best rural churches in the state, employing a resident pastor
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at a salary of $1,200. The membership is now over one hundred. The present pastor is Rev. G. JJ. Chalice, who was appointed in September, 1914.
The first schoolhouse in Union Township was a log structure, which stood three-fourths of a mile west of Hogg's store. The second was also built of logs and stood across from and below the Buck Creek Church.
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CHAPTER XXIII
ELK TOWNSHIP
Elk Township was organized in 1853 and is congressional township 90, range 4. It lies in the northern tier, with Clayton County for the northern boundary line. On its west line is Honey Creek Township, on the south Oneida Township and on the east Colony Township.
In its primitive state this township had considerable timber, principally along the streams. Plum Creek. the largest tributary of the Maquoketa in Delaware County, has a number of ramifying branches in the southern part of the township. The northeastern part is drained by branches of the Turkey River or Elk Creek. Thus the land conditions, in so far as water and drain- age are concerned, are very good. Alluvial plains, but of no great width, border Elk Creek and its branches, which make for fertile fields. And there are many of them here, as the fine buildings, fences, roads, bridges and other improve- ments attest.
It definitely has not been determined who was the first settler in Elk Town- ship, but as far as can be learned Richard T. Barrett was located here about 1840 or 1841. This name is on the tax list of 1842, which is some indication of his early settlement.
Squire Stancliffe, one of the township's first justices of the peace, came as rarly as 1842 and located on seetion 1. Benjamin Lakin was also here about this time and was one of the pioneer justices of the township.
Herman E. Steele was accompanied by his son of the same name, to this county from the State of New York, in 1845. and settled in this locality, where there were but few white men but plenty of Indians, as well as an abundance of game and wild animals of all kinds.
Jerome Baker was one of the first, if not the first, wagonmaker to locate in Greeley. He, like so many of the early settlers in Elk Township, was a man of character and lived an honest upright life. He married a Miss Witter and the daughter of this worthy couple married A. B. Holbert, the noted importer of horses and the present candidate for state representative. Mr. and Mrs. Baker and Mr. and Mrs. Holbert are still residents of Greeley.
Amos Wood, one of the first settlers in this section of the county, came here in 1845. A daughter, Julia, was married in 1847 to James II. Robinson, who came here in 1845. He met his death in 1874 by being gored to death by au infuriated bull.
About the year 1846, James Stalmaker and Mebain located on section 29 and Stalnaker erected a cabin on the land, near the future Town of Greeley. Both settlers remained but a short time and disposed of their hold- ings, in 1847. to Sammel Lough. About this time Grant Stebbins and one Balch located in the neighborhood. Then came Elias IFutton.
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John Grant became a citizen of the township in the "forties," and donated land for burial purposes, now a part of Grantview Cemetery, at Greeley.
John Corell settled in Elk Township in 1849, coming from the State of New York. His death took place at Greeley in 1860, and his widow, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Risden, followed him to the grave in 1878.
Henry C. Drybread was the first blacksmith to permanently locate in Greeley. Ile was not only a good horseshoer, but he was one of the splendid citizens that helped to make Delaware County an ideal place in which to live. Every old settler in the vicinity of Greeley has only good words for Henry Drybread.
Samnel Penny and his wife, Elizabeth Le Lascheur, came to Delaware County on Christmas day of 1850, and settled near Greeley. Mr. Penny died in 1860 and his widow married John Harris in 1864.
Robert Hunter and his wife, Mary H. Hunter, came with his father, James Hunter, to Illinois in 1845. At Rockford, Illinois, Robert enlisted in Company A, Sixteenth United States Regular Infantry for the Mexican war and served in the Army of the Rio Grande under General Taylor until mustered out at Newport, Kentucky, in August, 1848. He came to Delaware County in 1850 and located on a quarter section of land on seetion 25, Elk Township, where he resided for more than fifty-seven years. The land warrant entitled him to 160 acres of land, which was offered and received in part payment for the farm upon which representatives of his family still reside, under the original patent for the same issued by the Government and still an honored possession of the lhunters.
Eli W. Le Lascheur came from Prince Edward Island in May, 1850, and with him was his wife, son Elisha, and daughter Elizabeth, who married Samuel Penny. The family settled in this township near Greeley.
MALLORY'S TAVERN
In the early history of Delaware County one of the central lounging places in Elk Township was Mallory's Tavern, located on the stage road about three miles east of Greeley. It was owned by Elder Mallory who was a preacher as well as landlord. The four-horse stages running between Dubuque and West Union made Mallory's Tavern the half-way house, and as a rule this tavern in those early days was crowded to the roof every night by passengers who came in on the stage. Elder Mallory had two sons, Ira and John. all of whom have gone to their reward and the old tavern was long ago put to other uses.
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