USA > Iowa > Delaware County > History of Delaware County, Iowa, and its people, Volume I > Part 36
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ing were transferred to the Earlville church. I remember some of the ministers saying they could not tell who were Methodists or who were Congregationalists. such a spirit of Christian fellowship was manifested by both societies.
In 1856, through the generosity and untiring efforts of one of the pioneers who has recently passed to his reward, forty-five acres of land were donated to the church. the proceeds of which the society has enjoyed ever since and will continue to do as long as it exists.
From the earliest years of the church a Sabbath school was maintained, and during the period of union services the superintendent was sometimes Methodist and sometimes Congregationalist. The Sabbath school at the present time is in a very prosperous condition and although it is now a Congregational school the present superintendent, F. E. Bell, is a Methodist.
In the spring of 1902, the old church building was found to be unfit for use and it was decided to build a new church. Through the combined efforts of pastor and people the present edifice, costing over twenty-five hundred dollars, was completed that fall and dedicated February S. 1903, free of debt. The church is at present in a prosperous and harmonious condition. The member- ship numbers sixty-nine-the largest in its history. twenty-seven having been added during the past year. May the church continue to grow in numbers and Christian influence, and may many present at this glad anniversary live to celebrate the centennial anniversary of its institution.
CHAPTER XXVII
MILO TOWNSHIP
In March, 1856. S. P. Mosher and others petitioned the County Court for the erection of a new township, to be composed of congressional townships 88, range 5, and 88, range 6, and to be known as Pleasant Valley. The prayer was granted. but the new organization was called Milo.
The Maquoketa and its branches drain the undulating prairie land of Milo. The soil is par excellence for general farming and stock-raising. Splendid homes. highly improved and cultivated farms. modern outbuildings, good fenees. excellent roads, churches, and schoolhouses are in evidence on every hand. Milo takes a high place among her sister townships and the group make a county that is hard to beat in all Iowa.
Joel Bailey was one of the real pioneers of Delaware County. His first intention was to settle in South Fork. at or near the present location of Hop- kinton. but upon his arrival there in March. 1838. he found the Nicholson fam- ily already established on a claim. This swerved him and his companions. Cyrus and John Keeler, towards the northwest, and arriving in Milo Township, they selected land on sections 10 and 15. Here they built a log cabin and broke abont twenty acres of prairie sod. Mr. Bailey then worked during the summer for a Mr. Delong. in Dubuque County. and in the fall, having raised a patch of wheat and corn. Bailey and Delong took a load of each to Sage's Mill, on the Maquoketa. six miles from Dubuque, and had the grain turned into flour and corn meal. This they peddled in Dubuque. and the flour was the first to reach Dubuque from the western settlements. The next fall Mr. Bailey raised a crop of wheat on his own claim. He took a wagon load of the grain, or forty bushels. to Sage's Mill. the wagon being drawn by three yoke of oxen. He reached his destination in two days. and then to his consternation learned the water was low and that several "grists" were ahead of him. While waiting for his turn he worked in the miller's blacksmith shop and thus paid for his "keep." Getting his flour. he again went to Dubuque and disposed of it, procuring ner- essary groceries, clothing and other things. This flour was the first to reach an outside market from Delaware County.
Mr. Bailey was for more than fifty years identified with the growth, pros- perity and improvement of Delaware County. He was born in Otsego County. New York. and was left an orphan at the age of nine years. At the age of fifteen he was taught the trade of making gun barrels. He also had an oppor- tunity to learn surveying. In the fall of 1835 he left the scenes of his childhood and traveling toward the setting sun, landed in Milwaukee when that eity was scarcely a respectable hamlet. Ilere he boarded through the winter. at the first hotel. kept by a half-breed and his squaw wife. In the spring of 1836. attaeh- ing himself to a party of Government engineers young Bailey spent six months
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surveying on Rock River, in Illinois. In the spring of 1837 he came to lowa with a party of Government engineers and assisted in surveying the south half of Delaware County and parts of Buchanan and Dubuque. In January, 1838, he returned to Milwaukee. The following spring, in company with John and Cyrus Keeler, who were from Delaware County. New York, he returned to Delaware County, Iowa, where the party made claims and built a cabin on the south fork of the Maquoketa River, at what is now known as Bailey's Ford.
Judge Bailey was active in the organization of the county, was one of the committee who selected the location for Delhi as the county seat and was the first county surveyor and judge of the County Court. He married Arabella Coffin, daughter of Judge Clement Coffin, of Coffin's Grove, in 1844. Their eldest child, Clement James, was the first white child born in Milo Township. In 1849, young Bailey was in the Government survey of Shell Rock and Cedar rivers in Iowa, and in 1850 made an overland trip to California. returning in 1851 by way of Panama. As school fund commissioner, he sold most of the school lands in the county. Again he was in the Government survey in 1854, this time on Root and Canyon rivers, in Minnesota, and in 1855 in the north part of Wisconsin on the headwaters of the Chippewa River. In the spring of 1855 he was appointed postmaster at Bailey's Ford, then a stopping place on the stage line from Dubuque to Independence. After that time he held the office of county treasurer, county recorder and county judge and twice held the office of mayor at Manchester.
In 1841, Leverett Rexford built a log cabin near the Bailey home, which was later inhabited by John Lillibridge. After his work was completed he helped Mr. Bailey build a new cabin just north of his first one, which long remained oeenpied.
The Legislature, in 1843, appointed Joel Bailey, O. A. Olmstead and Robert W. Green to locate and mark a territorial road, commencing at a point in Buchanan County, thence by the county seat (Delhi) in Delaware County, to intersect the road from Marion, Linn County, to Dubuque County, at or near Olmstead's Mill.
July 7, 1845, Clement Coffin, Henry Baker and Aaron Sullivan were ap- pointed to view and mark a road "from Joel Bailey's to Baker and Coffin's Grove, thence westerly to intersect the territorial road from Buchanan County to Delhi," and Joel Bailey was appointed to survey the road.
About the year 1847 Leverett Rexford, one of the early settlers of this town- ship. began the construction of a dam and sawmill on Spring Branch, near Bailey's Ford. The dam was nearly completed and the frame work of the mill ready to raise when he died, in the fall of 1848. John W. Clark purchased the frame and machinery, removed it onto the Maquoketa at Hartwick, where he built a dam and erected a mill in the spring of 1849.
Jane and Eliza Scott, whose home was near Delhi. upon returning to their employment at the county seat, in the spring of 1853, attempted to ford Spring Branch, a mile above Bailey's, but the water was so high that their horse and wagon were swept into the "deep hole" and the horse was drowned. The eur- rent carried one of the girls safely to shore, but the other was drawn into the eddy but was finally resened by her sister, who succeeded in reaching ber with a pole and drawing her to shore. One of the girls reached Bailey's cabin, but
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY
was so exhausted she could not for some time explain the situation. As soon as she made herself understood, Mrs. Bailey left her and hastened to the local- ity where the other girl was expected to be found. On her way she met John Lillibridge and they together carried the insensible girl from where they found her to Mr. Lillibridge's horse and placing the limp body on the animal's back, she was conveyed to the Bailey home, where both the unfortunate girls were given every attention and later taken to Delhi.
The first stone schoolhouse in Delaware County was erected in 1853, near Bailey's Ford. Some years later it was destroyed by fire.
There were many families settled in Milo Township in the later '40s and early '50s. but only a few of the names of these brave, industrious men and women are available for the purposes of this work. However, those at hand are herewith appended.
John Wood was a native of Ohio and removed with his parents to Illinois when two years of age. He became a resident of Delaware County in 1845 and in 1861 enlisted in the Second Iowa Cavalry.
David Conner was one of the old settlers of Delaware County, coming here in 1846.
William Crozier was a Buckeye by birth and came to Illinois and from there to Delaware County in 1846, settling in Milo Township. He was a veteran of the Civil war and a member of the Freewill Baptist Church.
John Clark, it was said, was the fourth settler of Milo Township, taking up his location here on a farm in 1849, at the time there were but five families in the county. He married Olive Rexford, in 1841, a daughter of another pioneer.
John P. Belcher. son of Miles and Celia T. (Lillibridge) Belcher, left the State of New York in 1850 and settled in Milo Township, entering a traet of Government land.
Mark Hamblin removed from Wisconsin with his wife and son, Edwin M. Hamblin. to Delaware County in 1851, locating in Milo Township.
Martin Lanning settled in the township in 1852.
John Emrich belongs in the category of Delaware's pioneers, having come to the county in 1855.
II. P. Duffy was a native of Ohio. He married and immigrated to Illinois, where he resided until 1854. In the spring of that year he located in Milo Township and became one of its best farmers. Mr. Duffy left the farm in the spring of 1889 to engage in the feed business at Manchester, purchasing the feed store of D. P. Ballard.
J. M. Akers, Kentucky born, moved with his parents to Indiana about 1827. He married Miss M. F. Wright, in 1843, and came to Delaware County in 1857, locating in Milo Township. George W. Ennis moved with his family from New York to this township in 1853. He was a veteran of the Civil war.
C. P. Dunton lived on seetion 15 many years. He eame to the county in 1858, enlisted in Company K. Twenty-first Iowa Infantry and was mustered ont in 1865. He now resides at Manchester.
Sealey and Mary Kaster, both natives of Pennsylvania, came to Delaware County in 1854, where he became a successful farmer. His son, ITiram Kaster, was given 100 acres of land in Milo Township in 1864, by the father. On this land Hiram Kaster settled and began farming. Six years thereafter
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY
he purchased forty acres more in the adjoining section 2. He was a veteran of the Civil war and held various township offices. Ile was a member of the Spring Branch Creamery Company, which was organized in May, 1889.
Golden is situated on section 31, and is a station on the Illinois Central, which enters the township on that section and running almost due north, makes its exit on section 6. There are but a few houses and a general store in the place.
CHAPTER XXVIII
BREMEN TOWNSHIP
Township 89, range 3, was created and named Bremen. September 29, 1857. George W. Harper, constable, posted the notices for an election, which was held at the house of Franz Shulz, May 3, 1858. The first officers were : Trustees, Joseph Lechtenburg. Anthony Lippert, August Wander: clerk, Clemens Boek- enstedt; justice of the peace, Francis Rubly.
Bremen lies in the second tier of townships from the north and is bounded on the east by Dubnque County, on the south by North Fork, west by Oneida and north by Colony townships.
In parts of this township the soil is quite thin, rock ledges projecting near the surface. Sands presenting a type of soil not very desirable are found in the gentle slopes of the low hills, but the low lands are free from sand and are covered with a heavy black loam.
Bear Creek flows southward through sections 2 and 10. Plum Creek, the largest affluent of the Maquoketa, drains the northwestern portion of the town- ship. This community is well settled, principally by Germans, and it is need- less to say, the land is under a high state of cultivation and prodnees crops in such abundance that the people are prosperons and contented.
John Flinn is credited with being the first person to enter the township and take up a permanent residence. This occurred, as near as can be reckoned. mı the fall of 1837, or spring of 1838. He located near the center of the town- ship, on Bear Creek. He was the only inhabitant of the community for quite a while and then came the Bockenstedts, Clemens, who was the township's first clerk, and his six brothers.
Herman Duthman located here in 1845, but died in a few months thereafter. Ilis estate was one of the first to come under control of the Probate Court. The widow, Caroline Duthman, and Henry Hohenkamp, were appointed adminis- trators of the estate, and A. J. Seroggy. F. Rohenkokle and Barnard Satmire, appraisers.
Among the earliest settlers in Bremen Township was Adam Hildebrand and family, who immigrated from Germany in the spring of 1845 and coming West, located on section 14. Among the children was George Hildebrand, now a resi- dent of Petersburg.
When the Hildebrands arrived here they found George Kropfer and family already settled on section 14. Near by was Joseph Stengel and family and on section 13, Michael Stickel and family were beginning to secure a foothold.
James Le Gassick died suddenly at his home in Bremen Township in 1903. He was born in London and vame with his parents to the United States in 1841. In 1852 the family removed from Cook County, Illinois, to Bremen Township. Mr. Le Gassiek was one of the prominent and popular men of Bremen, having
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HHISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY
served in various official positions with marked integrity. During the progress of the contention for the removal of the county seat, he was a member of the board of supervisors, a position he had held at that time for nine years, and the year before his death he was again chosen to membership in that body.
James Hunt, a native of England, found his way to Delaware County in 1857 and located in this township in section 32. As the years rolled by Mr. Hunt accumulated large traets of land, until at one time he was the owner of 1,600 acres in Bremen, Oneida and Delhi townships. He was also a large dealer in live stock. Among his children were Robert, George, Allen, Wil- liam and James Hunt, not counting the girls.
Frederick Rubly left his native State of Pennsylvania in 1847 and settled in łowa. In 1858 he located in this township and in 1872 in Petersburg, where he became a general merchant, entering into partnership with his brother, John.
PETERSBURG
Petersburg is a hamlet lying on section 4, in Bremen Township, where a postoffice was established March 7, 1874. Barney Sassen was appointed post- master and he kept the office in a little store, which he opened in 1873.
At the present time there are two general stores in Petersburg. a Catholic church, parochial school and a hall. The community is essentially German, as is also the general population of the township. The postoffice long ago was dis- continued.
The settlers of this locality, most of whom are members of the Catholie Church, attended religious services at Louvain and then at Dyersville. Then Sts. Peter and Paul parish was organized and in 1874 the first ehureh building was erected, under the pastorate of Father John B. Weikman. The building committee was composed of Adolf Amenn, II. Bohnenkamp, Clemens Fraley and Theodore Alldoff. The church was completed and dedicated in 1874. In 1905, one of the finest structures in the State of Iowa was erected by this parish-the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul. It is constructed of stone, has two high steeples, has magnificent interior embellishments and appointments and eost about eighty-five thousand dollars. In connection with the church is a large graded parochial school, which is attended by pupils living in the neigh- borhood and several miles distant.
11
> FOUNTAIN SPRING
S. S. l'eter and Paul's Church, Petersburg.
Main Street, Greeley.
Thomas Block, Ryan. Main Street East, Ryan.
The Mill, Greeley
CHAPTER XXIX
IIAZEL GREEN TOWNSHIP
On the second day of March, 1857, township 87, range 5, was established and called Hazel Green. The territory within its limits was separated from Union Township. The County Court appointed as commissioners to call an election, C. L. Flint, Edmund Barnes and Eri Richardson; they were also named as judges of said election.
Hazel Green Township is bounded on the north by Milo, on the east by Union, and on the west by Adams townships : its southern line is on Linn County. Its land is covered with a heavy bed of drift, upon which a soil unexcelled in the Mississippi Valley has been developed during the ages of the world's changes. Bnek Creek and its branches drain the undulating prairie, and near the center of the township the creek's channel is well defined, but it is a mere shallow ditch in the prairie. Under the conditions as stated, Hazel Green has developed into a community of fine, highly productive farms, splendidly improved and good to look upon. The citizens are progressive here and have modern farm buildings, good fenees, roads, bridges and schoolhouses.
James Il. Squires and S. S. Squires left the State of New York in 1852 and settled in this community. The same year Thomas J. Squires arrived here but returned to Jones County in 1853. The year 1867 found him baek in the township on seetion 23, where the other Squires settled.
Preston Midkiff was here as early as 1853 coming from what is now West Virginia.
Christopher L. Flint, a native of the State of New York, moved to Hazel Green in the spring of 1853 and was in charge of Hazel Green postoffice. The office has long since been discontinued. It was established June 18, 1856, and mail was brought from Marion. John P. and William P. Dickey were successors to Flint. Mr. Flint also served as justice of the peace. He was one of Dela- ware County's ablest men. He was a man of large business capacity and at one time owned over thirteen hundred aeres of land. His son, Charles L. Flint, was born here June 1, 1854. Mrs. Flint was matron of the Iowa Building at the World's Fair-Philadelphia-in 1876.
Other early settlers were Bradley Crozier and James Sheppard, who located on section 1, in 1853, and a man by the name of Shellhammer settled on a tract of land not far from Flint's, on the north.
James Wilson arrived in Hazel Green Township in 1854.
Gustavus Merriam was a settler of 1855, coming from Massachusetts with his family in that year. He long resided on scetion 26.
Jacob Mangold, a worthy pioneer of this township, was born in Switzerland and came to the county in 1855. He entered land on section 33 and resided there many years, a respected eitizen of the community. Vol. 1-21
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R. W. Morse settled here in 1856. Ile was a local minister of the United Brethren Church.
John Chrystal was born in Scotland, inmigrated to the United States in 1856 and settled in Delhi Township on section 35. Ile removed from Delhi to Hazel Green Township in 1864 and located on a fine traet of 320 acres on section &. Ilis brother, David, who came soon after, was an ardent republican until his death, September 4, 1910.
Another early settler was Thomas Guthrie, who arrived in the county in 1856. A son, William S., served in the First Cavalry during the Civil war, and Albert A. in the Fourth. Thomas L. was a member of Company K, Twen- ty-first lowa Infantry.
Joseph A. Thomas was one of the largest landowners of Hazel Green Town- ship. He was born in Connectient and came to Delaware County in 1862 and bought 160 acres of land on section 16, Hazel Green Township. Previously he had driven a flock of 950 sheep from Michigan to Jowa, the largest floek except one in Iowa at that time. He kept this flock for seven years. He accu- umulated large tracts of land both in Hazel Green and Adams townships, being able to buy a farm almost yearly from the sheep industry, general farmning and dairying. Some years ago he erected the Thomas creamery on land which (Ventnally became part of the townsite of Ryan. He was also postmaster at that enterprising little village and a stockholder in the bank.
Newton Green was one of the early settlers of Delaware County, coming from Maryland in 1846 with his family, a member of which was Newton Green, Ir. They settled in Union Township on a farm and there the elder Green died in 1883. The younger man in 1868 purchased land in section 24, llazel Green Township, on which he moved in that year. Ile enlisted in Company K, Twenty- first lowa Infantry, and was a good soldier.
The birth of Sarah Shellhammer, in the spring of 1853, was the first in the community ; that of Matthew Sheppard, October 15, 1853, was the second.
The first school taught in Hazel Green Township was opened by Mrs. Ed- ward Pierce, at her home, in the winter of 1858-59. A schoolhouse was built in Distriet No. 1 the following summer.
A. R. Dickey started a small general store at the hamlet of Ilazel Green in 1878 and soon thereafter had a creamery in operation in a small way.
The Presbyterian Church was organized in Milo Township about 1863 and was immediately transferred to Hazel Green Township. Services were first held in the Guthrie schoolhouse, where the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered in the summer of 1864. The first members were Thomas and Mrs. Elizabeth Guthrie, Alexander and Jean Wilson, John McCullom and Jean Me- Cullom and John Wilson. The organization dissolved May 1. 1870, and from it sprang the Congregational Society, organized that year by Rev. Alvah Day. In 1874, a church edifiee was built and dedicated in 1875.
CHAPTER XXX
PRAIRIE TOWNSHIP
Prairie Township was created March 3, 1858, on petition of John S. Barry and others. It is composed of congressional township 88, range 6, and at the first election held in October twenty votes were polled.
Prairie is the last township to be brought into the group as a separate organ- ization and lies on the border of Buchanan County. On its north is Coffin's Grove Township, on the sonth, Adams, and on the east, Milo.
The greater part of the surface of Prairie Township does not reveal a single well defined water course. Robinson Creek and branches on the west and an affluent of the Maquoketa on the east, afford but little water during the year. However, the soil is excellent here and the cereals grow to perfection. The rais- ing of live stock is also profitable. As in other parts of this notable county, the farm buildings are unexcelled by other farming communities in this section of Iowa, and the people are, as the saying is, "living on easy street."
Johnson Robinson was born in Ireland, immigrated to this country when twenty years old and in the fall of 1854, with his family settled in Prairie Town- ship. He was the third settler here. In 1865 he located on section 20.
Alfred Durey settled here in the spring of 1856. A son, William A., who was born in the township, cast his first vote here and thereby gained distinction, being the first person to exercise the right of franchise as a native born son of the community.
Thomas Hillier was a native of England. He immigrated to the United States in 1852. spent four years in Illinois, and in 1856 located on section 2 in this township. In the following year he built a residence, which became a very popular place for religious meetings and Sunday school.
Patrick Ilealey located in this township in 1857.
At the time Prairie Township was organized in 1859, there were twenty votes polled. Among those resident here were John S. Barry, James Robinson, J. F. MeKay, Thomas Hillier, John Nethereutt. T. A. Farrington, R. M. Mat- sell. the MeClouds and Alfred Durey.
James Robinson entered land in this township in 1854 and John S. Barry and J. F. MeKay in 1855. Barry came here in the spring of the year mentioned and cultivated his land, prospered and at one time was the owner of upwards of eight hundred acres of tillable soil. When the Barry postoffice was estab- lished he was appointed postmaster in 1857 and held the position a great many years.
Prairie was one of the last townships to be created and organized, and un- fortunately for the historian, sources of information relating to its early schools and its churches, are not obtainable. The settlers, however, like their neigh-
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