USA > Iowa > Dubuque County > History of Dubuque County, Iowa; being a general survey of Dubuque County history, including a history of the city of Dubuque and special account of districts throughout the county, from the earliest settlement to the present time > Part 5
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The chief object of the first settlers was to work the lead mines and incidentally to secure tracts of land advantageously situated. By the spring of 1834 the village contained 300 inhabitants-set- flers, miners and temporary residents. In the spring of 1833 the first log cabin was built near where Finn's old tavern afterward stood. During this year Milo H. Prentice became the first postmaster and the first sermons-Protestant and Catholic-were preached. In 1833 also Robert Read established a farm on what afterward became the W. G. Stewart place in Dubuque township. Hosea T. Camp,
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whose daughter married John Palmer, brought the first family to reside here permanently in 1833. In June P. Weigel brought his family; three of the children are yet living in Dubuque. Rev. Erastus Kent, Presbyterian, of Galena, and Rev. Burton Randall, Methodist, held services here in 1833. The first raft of lumber was brought down the river by James H. and Ezekiel Lockwood in 1833. Mrs. Camp and Mrs. Susan F. Dean, later Mrs. Law- rence, were the first women to come here for permanent residence- 1833.
In May, 1833, Patrick Quigley arrived in Dubuque. The cabins or shanties were so few that for the first two or three months he was obliged to sleep out of doors more than half of the time. In August he moved into his own house, which had neither doors nor windows. The first flurry of snow late in autumn obliged him to enclose his quarters. He was the first justice of the peace in Dubuque and received his commission front Governor Horner of Michigan territory. The next year the first hotel was built-Bell Tavern-partly of logs-and stood a few rods north of where the Julien House is now located. The houses then were few, poor and huddled together. The growth of the place this year (1833) was rapid. In 1834 the town did not advance in population and appear- ance as rapidly as it had in 1833. Many who had come here to mine, left, not meeting with success. Others were perhaps fright- ened away by the cholera which appeared here. A Methodist chapel was built this year, and a Catholic cathedral of stone in 1835. The masons and carpenters who worked upon it charged $5 per day. Saloons were numerous and nearly everybody drank.
In the summer of 1834 a public meeting was held and attempts were made to change the name of Dubuque to that of Washington. The former had been adopted by common consent and not by any formal act of the inhabitants or the authorities. However, it was not thought wise to change the name, as the place had already become widely known as Dubuque. In 1834, the Fourth of July was celebrated on Bee branch. Simon Clark was the orator and Clark and Lucius H. Langworthy sang the "Star Spangled Banner." On May 18, 1834, Rev. Burton Randall became regular pastor of the Methodist church which had been organized the year before ; he preached in a log building which stood on the present site of the Julien House. The first church was a log structure, which stood where Washington Park now is. By act of June 28, 1834, Congress attached the Black Hawk Purchase to Michigan territory, and on September 8, 1834, the Legislature of Michigan territory formed the two counties-Des Moines and Dubuque. Thus, prior to 1834, Dubuque may be said to have had no law, but it was not altogether lawless. It was a typical mining town, with dramı shops where armed men congregated to drink and fight. Although it is usual to attempt to make the village previous to 1834 appear intensely
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wild and wicked, it was not so in reality, because the lawless were held in check by men like the Langworthys McCraney, John King, Milo H. Prentice and others, who united to secure good order and morals and were immensely aided by the first ministers and the first religious congregations. But moral suasion was supplemented by a set of orders or resolutions drawn up by John King and adopted by the citizens as a guide of law and order to serve until the usual courts could be set in operation.
A young man named Wheeler was tarred and feathered in Dubuque in the spring of 1834. He had been engaged by the citi- zens to take an insane person to his father in Illinois. Upon his return he was charged with having pocketed most of the subscription and with having left the insane man in destitution down the river. Wheeler declared he was innocent and asked his accusers to write to the father of the insane man ; but they refused, tarred and feath- ered and dumped him out of town. A little later the citizens received a letter from the father of the insane man requesting them to thank Mr. Wheeler for the care and attention given his son on the journey down the river. After that not a person who had preferred the charges against Wheeler or was concerned in his tarring escapade could be found. In order to get a fight it was only necessary to charge someone with participation in the outrage .- ( Eliphalet Price in Herald, July 13, 1865. )
"The population almost without exception was of the roughest sort, being composed mostly of miners, whose amusements con- sisted in gambling and drunken frolics on the most villainous whisky. A miner would work until he had accumulated sufficient for a spree and until cleaned out at keeno or some other game he alternated between drunk and drunker-between drunk enough to howl and fight, or too drunk to do either. The standard of morality was infinitely low ; the taking of life or any other species of crime was regarded less a wrong than a pastime. Acts of extreme law- lessness, however, were rare, for there was a regular system of organization among the miners by which was administered a set of laws with inflexible impartiality. The streets such as they were presented different aspects than at present. Then a ragged Sac or Dacotah, blending in his presence the savage dignity of the red man and the unsteady evolutions of a modern top-heavy civilization and barbarity trying to affiliate. A half dozen miners-fierce in unkempt locks and ragged beards, eyes glaring and bloodshot, swaying with unsteady pace from shop to shop, going from bad whisky to worse and varying the performance by an occasional fight."-(Early description of Dubuque, Herald, April 17, 1859. )
During the winter of 1835-6 a small band of Sacs and Winne- bagoes encamped on an island in front of the town, killed one of their number-a large man-and left him, terribly mutilated, lying on the ice. It was thought he was killed for cruelty to his squaw.
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This circumstance was narrated at a later day by Rev. H. W. Reed, who came to Dubuque in 1835. At that time he was the only Protestant minister in this region. His cabin stood eight or nine iniles west of Dubuque and was built of round logs, with a single three-light window with oil paper for glass. The roof was so poor that during storms pans were used to catch the water running through. There his first child was born and there it died. On Sundays he traveled eight miles to the bluffs to preach to the miners at 9 o'clock ; then at II o'clock he preached in the village below the bluffs ; at 3 o'clock at Peru, and in the evening again at Dubuque. At Peru there was no church building and on two occasions he preached in gambling rooms. He preached occasionally at Durango. Card playing was a favorite amusement-Sundays and week days. It was about 1836 that the local paper here advertised for a min- ister-"One who can reason, preach, sing and enforce the fourth commandment."
At the close of 1835 the population of Dubuque was estimated at 1,000. The people were then described by Lieut. A. M. Lee in his "Notes on Wisconsin" as exceedingly active and enterprising, carry- ing on a brisk and lucrative mineral trade and supplying the miners with the necessaries and comforts of life. When the territory of Wisconsin was set off in July, 1836, it was thought that Dubnque, owing to its central location, might become the seat of government. Belmont and Madison competed with it for this honor and Belmont won. The final struggle between Madison and Dubuque was earnest and exciting. The speeches of the Dubuque members of the Legis- lature were effective and eloquent. Patrick Quigley was one of them. He compared the founding of cities here with those in Europe and said, "They traversed the Caspian, the Black and the Mediterranean seas and founded their Constantinople, their Car- thage and their Rome, not as gentlemen are attempting to raise Madison in a wilderness of swamps, but where there were good and commodious harbors and where commerce and population invited." The slowness of travel is shown by the following extract taken from the l'isitor of October 19, 1836: "A goodly number of the Visitors left Dubuque on the 14th of September for Chillicothe, Ohio, but after traveling as far as Indianapolis, Indiana, became worn out and being destitute of covering returned to Dubuque. We have again dressed them in a new livery, put them into an old worn-out, two- horse stage-(we like uniformity), and cautioned them to keep the driver from using them as a seat (which is the common practice ), and they would probably see their friends in Chillicothe in time to receive their New Year's gift."
In the autumn of 1836 a weekly mail was established between Dubuque and Fort Des Moines. Previous to that year no surveys had been made here, except by private citizens, who were aided by subscription. Among these private surveys was one by George W.
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HISTORY OF DUBUQUE COUNTY
Harrison, who laid off between twenty and thirty blocks in the central part of the city. In 1836 Gen. George W. Jones, congress- man, secured a grant of the section, which then constituted the town. By this act public surveys were made and the town was laid off in lots and outlots, the proceeds of the latter to be devoted to the improvement of the former.
In an oration, July 4, 1836, W. W. Coriell, in speaking of the struggle between Madison and Dubuque for the capital, said : "Only three years have elapsed since the white man came into possession of the country in which Dubuque is situated, and already, including the county of Des Moines, it is estimated that we number more than twelve thousand inhabitants on the west side of the Mississippi. being about one-half of the population of the whole country of Wisconsin. Our town and its immediate vicinity has doubtless a population of two thousand industrious and enterprising citizens as any to be found in the broad extent of the United States. Dubuque, from its commanding situation, being easy of access from any point, from the fertility of the soil and the vast mineral resources of the country in its vicinity, from the number of its population, being greater than that of any other town in the territory, may well aspire to be the capital."-(Visitor, July, 1836.)
The first child born here was Susan Ann McCraney, who mar- ried John S. Barnes. A Mrs. Butterfield, aged 110 years, died here about 1850. David Stiles, aged 106, died in 1871. George Cubbage taught school in 1833. Catholic services were held at the residence of Patrick Quigley late in 1833. A Mr. Fox died in 1833-the first ; he was probably the first person buried in the old cemetery at Jackson square. Ira Williams, Warner Lewis and Patrick Quigley were the first justices-1834 and 1835. On March 9, 1834, the first temperance meeting was held. In August, 1834, a meeting to sup- press vice and to expel gamblers and other bad characters was held. In November, 1836, William A. Burt made the first county surveys ; he was the inventor of the solar compass. The first brick house was built by Leroy Jackson in 1837. Alexander Levi was the first alien to receive naturalization papers-1837. Saloons were closed for the first time on Sunday in August, 1835. George W. Jones made the first political speech in 1835. George Zollicoffer made the first wine from native grapes in 1834.
In 1836 there were very few buildings north of Fifth street. At Locust and Sixth were two frame buildings which were torn down in 1873. At the corner of Fifth and Locust was the Visitor in a log house. Sixth street was once called Church because it led to the old log church at what is now Washington square. The original Athenæum was built in 1840 by Emerson and Crider at Sixth and Main. Here the Express and later the Herald were issued; this was called "Democratic Corner." In 1846 it became the Key City hotel. In 1863 it was transformed into the Atheneum by W. G.
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Stewart and the public hall therein became famous. Here the the- atrical stars of the country appeared-Sallie St. Claire, Anna Bishop, Edwin Forrest, Lawrence Barrett, Edwin Adams, James E. Murdock, J. W. Wallack, Jr., Daniel Marble, J. B. Rice, Julia Dean, J. B. Booth, W. J. Florence, John Wilkes Booth, E. A. Sothern and others, and here appeared also, under the anspices of the Young Men's Association, Wendell Phillips, J. G. Holland, Horace Greeley, Victoria Woodhull, Anna E. Dickinson, Stephen A. Douglas, E. T. Youmans, B. F. Taylor, L. Agassiz, H. W. Beecher, the Hutchin- sons, Adelina Patti, Ole Bull, and others.
On May 11, 1836, the Dubuque Visitor, the first newspaper in Iowa, and the first west of the Mississippi and north of St. Louis, made its appearance in Dubuque. It was edited by John King, who was assisted in June by William C. Jones, and from the start by Andrew Keesecker.
Its motto was, "Truth Our Guide-The Public Good Our Aim." It was issued at "Dubuque Lead Mines, Wisconsin Territory," and was printed by Mr. Jones on a Smith press which was afterward used on the early newspapers at Mineral Point, Wisconsin; St. Paul, Minnesota, and Sioux Falls, Dakota. The Visitor was first located at Church and Main streets, the former being then a street between Fourth and Fifth. It was a two-story log building, 20x25 feet, erected in 1834 by Pascal Mallet for a residence. In October, 1836, King claimed nearly 1,000 subscribers for the Visitor. In about six months the office was removed to the east side of Main street, just above the Globe building. In 1837 the name was changed to Iowa News and the office was changed to the east side of Locust street near Fifth and there remained until discontinued about 1842. The material for the Visitor in 1836 was obtained at Cincinnati. Both Jones and Keesecker wrote articles for the Visitor. The latter set the first type in the territory ; he continued to set type in Dubuque until his death in 1870. King and Keesecker were Democrats, but Jones was a Whig. Later the latter went to New Orleans and finally to California, where he died in 1867. King was a Virginian and came to Dubuque in 1833, and from the start bore a prominent and useful part in the development of the city and county. He was justice of the peace in 1835, was postmaster about 1839; assisted Plumbe in promoting the first Pacific railway in 1836; was a mem- ber of the city council from 1854 to 1866, and at his death in 1871 was paid great honor by an immense concourse of citizens.
The old graveyard was laid out before the act of Congress was passed, which provided for a survey of the town of Dubuque in 1836. Before that date the citizens had taken possession of the tract, buried their dead there and placed around it a good fence. An act of Congress sanctioned the lots already surveyed, occupied and improved.
"From 500 to 800 head of stock cattle might be advantageously
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disposed of at this place."-(Visitor, May II, 1836.) "Artisans of almost every description are needed at Dubuque and would find immediate employment at good wages, particularly brickmakers and masons."-(Visitor, May 11, 1836.) Great improvements were made in 1836 and early in 1837 ; streets were straightened, cut down, leveled and drained.
"Congress accordingly passed an act on July 2, 1836, giving the inhabitants of Dubuque and other towns in Wisconsin named in the act, pre-emption rights to the town lots occupied and improved by them, so that title by occupation and improvement will be per- fectly good. There is no Spanish or French grant to lands at or near Dubuque. The claim of the heirs of Dubuque and Chouteau is but a baseless fabric which was decided upon by Albert Gallatin when that gentleman was at the head of the Treasury Department and declared to have no validity. It appears from the papers in that case that Julien Dubuque was only a tenant at will of the Fox Indians by the permission of the governor of Louisiana and held by no tenure which ever could entitle his heirs or assigns to the fee simple. Dubuque died in 1810 and the country which he occupied was abandoned to the Foxes in 1812 and not again settled upon until the year 1832."-(Iowa News, June 17, 1837. )
Early in 1836 the citizens were informed by George W. Jones, their delegate to Congress, that if they would prepare a petition to that effect he would cause the sale of the public lots in Dubuque and the expenditure of the proceeds upon the harbor. This petition was duly prepared and forwarded.
Great complaint was made against the irregularities of the mail, which, according to contract, should have been conveyed three times a week between Galena, Dubuque and Peru, as shown by the following :
"The mail that was due on Wednesday last came the next day and the carrier, fatigued with his extraordinary exertion, leaving his mail bag in town, took a small jaunt into the country by way of recreation and did not return until the next day ; consequently our papers and letters were detained from Galena twenty-four hours. The mail was due again on Sunday, but the carrier being probably conscientiously opposed to traveling on that day, it did not come until brought by a steamboat passenger on Monday. The variety of times in which the mail makes its trips is only equaled by the variety of means used in its conveyance. It comes on horseback, in wagons, big and little, in carriages, occasionally in stages, and not infre- quently in order to have an easy trip, is retained at Galena for the arrival of a steamboat ; and sometimes, to save trouble and expense, it waits till next time."-(Visitor, May 18, 1836.)
Thomas Graffort kept the Washington hotel at Oak and Locust streets. At a citizens' meeting it was "Resolved, That the persons who first selected the present place of burial be a committee to lay
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off and superintend the fencing of this piece of ground, viz. : James L. Langworthy, Thomas McCraney and Hosea T. Camp." John Ewing, Hosea T. Camp and James Smith were appointed to collect subscriptions to defray the expense. It was asked at this time, why not remove the graveyard to the bluffs back of town? Another meeting was held in July, 1836, to consider the proposition of "cut- ting a canal through the isthmus." James L. Langworthy, Hiram Loomis and James Cox were appointed a committee to call for pro- posals to cut a canal that should "connect the main sloughi with the bayou-sixty feet wide at the top, forty feet at the bottom, an average of six feet deep and 1,600 feet long.
"The tide of emigration is pouring in upon us an immense number of families this spring. Every steamboat from below is crowded with passengers. We have had twenty-five different arrivals by sixteen different steamboats, as follows : Galenian-Captain Rogers ; Wisconsin, Du Buque, Olive Branch, Heroine, Banner-Captain Dickerson; Cavalier-Captain Patterson ; Missouri, Fulton, Palmyra-Captain Cole: Warrior-Captain Gleim; Far West, Envoy, Frontier-Captain Harris ; Quincy-Captain Cameron, and others."-(Visitor, 1836.)
The congressional act of July 2, 1836, for laying out Dubuque and Peru made the following requirements: That lots and streets previously laid out should be properly observed ; town lots to be not more than half an acre and outlots not over four acres each ; lots to be offered at public sale within six months; no town lot to be sold for less than $5 : the lots to be divided into three classes according to relative value ; persons who had complied with the law as regards claims and improvements to have first chance to buy their lots; no person could buy more than four acres unless he had made actual improvements thereon; "that a quantity of land of proper width on the river banks of the towns of Dubuque and Peru and running with the river the whole length of said towns shall be reserved from sale (as shall also the public squares) for public use and remain forever for public use as public highways and for other public uses." The grant at Dubuque embraced a section of land and the original survey was made by G. W. Harrison. In August, 1837, Thomas S. Wilson resigned as trustee and John Plumbe, Jr., became his suc- cessor. Thomas C. Fassett was elected president of the board. The act of March 3. 1837, provided for the laying out of Dubuque and Peru by commissioners.
The congressional act of July 2, 1836, provided for surveying the lots and streets of Fort Madison, Burlington, Bellevue, Dubuque, Peru and Mineral Point, and $3,000 was appropriated to cover the expense. On March 3, 1837, an amendatory act was passed by which three commissioners were appointed to hear all evidence under the claims made pursuant to the act of July 2, 1836. The act of March 3, 1839, provided that said commissioners should be paid
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HISTORY OF DUBUQUE COUNTY
$6 per day for their services. The latter act made it the duty of the register and receivers to expose and sell the lots provided for by the act of July 2, 1836. The act further provided that the receivers should pay over any residue to the town authorities. The following amounts were received by the receivers: Mr. McKnight received for lots sold in Dubuque $5,573.26; Dr. S. Langworthy, $1,200.90; Col. George McHenry, $34.70; Major Mobley, nothing. Of the receipts $3,000 went at once to the commissioners for surveying the towns mentioned in the act-six towns. The sum of $1,404 was applied to the survey of Dubuque, which sum was deemed too large -- nearly one-half of the whole. Nearly complete settlements were made by 1847.
The Fourth of July, 1836, was elaborately celebrated. Hiram Loomis was chairman and W. W. Coriell, secretary, of the meeting called to make arrangements. Ezekiel Lockwood was marshal of the day ; D. Gillilan, assistant marshal; Rev. S. Mazzuchelli, chap- lain ; M. H. Prentice, reader of the Declaration; W. W. Coriell, orator; Dr. S. Langworthy was president of the day and Patrick Quigley, J. M. Harrison, Dr. Timothy Mason and W. C. Jones, vice presidents. Toasts were offered by Dr. Langworthy, Rev. Mazzuchelli, W. W. Coriell, Patrick Quigley, James McCabe, John King, Augustus Coriell, Leroy Jackson, J. M. Harrison, David Sleator, William Blake, M. H. Prentice, S. W. Masters, W. B. Green, William Cardiff, J. H. Swan, Eli Chittenden, A. Morgan, Charles Corkery, B. F. Davis of Peru, William Hutton, Ezekiel Lockwood, Michael Norton, E. G. Chittenden, W. Vance, Cyrus Harper, William Allen. H. W. Sanford, Davis Gillilan, William C. Jones, Peter Davis, W. W. Chapman, David Sleator, D. F. Blythe, T. C. Fassett, Capt. Francis Gehon, John King and Warner Lewis. R. C. Bourne, P. A. Lorimier, Dr. F. Andross, P. Samuels, Hosea T. Camp, Edward White, John Ewing. L. Wheeler, John Loraine, Hiram Loomis, Thomas Fassett and others were also present.
On November 30, 1836, the Miners' Bank of Dubuque was char- tered with a capital of $200,000, the subscribers being Ezekiel Lock- wood, Francis Gehon, John King, William Myers, Lucius H. Lang- worthy, E. M. Bissell, Robert D. Sherman, William W. Coriell and Simon Clark; they were authorized to sell the stock.
In October, 1836, Dubuque contained about 1,200 population ; it had three churches, two or three schools, fifty stores of all kinds, including shops; fifty-five dwellings, one warehouse built in 1836, and was spread over four principal streets and seven cross streets- approximately from First to Seventh and from Locust to Clay. The number of votes polled in October, 1836, was 621 in Dubuque village and over 1,000 in Dubuque county. The original survey of the village embraced thirty-five blocks which were subdivided into 220 town lots. Among the business men in 1836 were D. Gillilan, dry goods ; F. K. O'Ferrall, real estate ; O'Ferrall & Cox, merchan-
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HISTORY OF DUBUQUE COUNTY
dise ; A. Levi & Co., groceries and provisions ; John M. Davis, tailor ; Dubuque Tavern, Jeremiah Penix, proprietor ; L. Bruly, boot and shoe maker ; W. M. Baker & Co., liquors; E. Lockwood, merchan- dise ; Philip C. Morheiser, sign painter; William Myers, merchan- dise ; Emerson & Crider, merchandise ; Timothy Mason & Co., drugs ; Wheeler & Loomis, merchandise; George S. Nightingale, merchan- dise ; Dr. R. Murray : C. H. Gratiot, merchandise ; Fassitt & Sher- man, merchandise; Quigley & Butterworth, groceries; Baptiste LaPage, confections ; Sleator & Swoker, merchandise; John Regan & Co., merchandise ; Gartrell & Dougherty, liquors, groceries, hard- ware, etc .; R. C. Bourne, groceries; S. C. Parish, bakery, confec- tionery ; Swan, Webster & Co., merchandise; McClay & Bellows, merchandise ; F. B. Everett, merchandise ; John Amer, merchandise ; H. L. Massey & Co., merchandise.
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