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 54
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Bankston was founded at an early day by Colonel Bankston. He seems to have spelled his name as above, but other members left out the "t." The place has usually had a store and one or more shops. Tivoli is another small place. At Squire's Mills is a school and a Methodist church. This place was founded about 1855 by John Bruner. Metcalf and Squires were there early. Abel Bots- ford was an early resident. The water power was the attraction. Bankston now has a general store, one or two mechanics, a saw mill, etc.
Dubuque Township (township 89 north, range 2 east ) was settled as soon as Dubuque city was settled. It was originally a part of Julien township, which first embraced parts of the present Dubuque, Center, Vernon and Table Mound townships, but was cut down in 1849, as stated elsewhere herein.
Luther Poole, George Pote, Amster Pote, Jolin La Place and Mr. Rettler were here in 1832.
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Jesse Yount settled at Center Grove in the spring of 1833 and there his eldest son Allen was born the same year. Jesse had three sons in the Union army. He died in 1865. Michael Dugan was thrown from his horse while hunting cattle about a mile from Du- buque in 1840 and was instantly killed.
In 1833, as soon as the law allowed, there came to Dubuque \V. S. Anderson, H. B. Phillips, H. Smead, L. H. Langworthy, Lemuel Cook, Fred Dixon, John Dougherty, H. Rebman, Mathias Ham, J. M. McCabe, John Paul, S. Lemon, H. Gilbert, Pleasant Ewing, William McDowell, J. L. Langworthy, R. Lamont, Thomas Humes, P. O'Mara, J. O'Regan, W. H. Smith, W. B. Whitesides, E. M. Whitesides, M. Dickerson, J. R. Ewing, J. McPheters, J. O'Mara, H. L. Dodge, John Campbell, J. Curran, J. Whittaker, Antoine Loire, Dr. R. S. Lewis, Thomas Gray, J. B. Jordan, J. Gilmore, H. Egan, E. M. Urn, Owen Reilly, Jesse Yount, A. R. Whitesides, E. M. Urn, S. Streeter, J. Hillis, B. Kilbourne, A. and J. Hurd, J. Wooley, R. Murphy, T. Streeter, M. Dickerson and H. L. Dodge.
Asbury is a discontinued postoffice and has a store. Center Grove is a little hamlet with a few business houses.
The present Dubuque township was, previous to 1878, a part of Julien township. Its settlement was coincident with that of the city of Dubuque. It has two conspicuous groves at the date of the first settlement-Wilson's, later Stewart's, and still later Union park, and Center. From the latter the little village takes its name. The first settlement was almost wholly by miners. A. Balderson was one of the first; he located at Center Grove Spring in 1833 and was at once joined by half a dozen other miners. They explored the old Indian diggings in that vicinity. The natives had worked on the inclines and in a few instances the miners found ladders up which the squaws had brought the ore. George Shannon came early. The township is famous for its mines and caves.
Jefferson Township (township 90, range I east, and part of township 91 north, range I east ) was settled at an early date. The settlers first went to Durango and Peru to poll their votes. In 1840 it was made a part of Durango precinct and so remained until 1843, when it was created and named Jefferson, but at first embraced all of the present Peru and parts of Jefferson, Center and Dubuque townships. No other changes were made until 1849, when it was given its present limits.
Among the first settlers were Adam Sherrill, M. W. Power, S. M. Barrington, John Parker, Clement Cannon, Albert Baker, C. J. Barber, William Hale, Isaac Sherill, Garry White, Milton C. Mc- Craney and others. In 1856 a large steam grist and saw mill was put in operation at Plumbeola. Rickardsville is a smart little place, with stores, school, mechanics, etc. Palltown is a discontinued post-
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office. Oak Grove creamery is in this township. Waupeton, Sherill and Balltown are small villages.
Table Mound Township (township 88 north, range 2 east) was first a part of the election precinct of Dubuque, but in 1838 was assigned to Catfish precinct, with polling place at the house of John Paul. The opening of the military road in 1839 assisted in the settlement here. In September, 1840, it was made a part of Fer- guson precinct. In February, 1843, it became a part of Julien and Washington townships (see elsewhere) and so remained until Feb- ruary, 1849, when it was given its present boundaries.
Among the first settlers of Table Mound township were James Laughton, John Cunningham, James Fanning, John Sullivan, Daniel Duggan and John O'Regan. Cunningham and O'Regan had an early smelting furnace of the rudest kind. The mines here were very valuable. O'Regan came to the township in 1832-had first come here in 1830-he was thus one of the first settlers of the county. Chauncey Swan was here very early, engaged in mining.
At Rockdale very early were Richard and Robert Waller, Richard Bonson, David Hutton, William Hutton and James Pratt. The Huttons built a grist mill here in 1834-the first in Iowa. It was known by both names-Rockdale mills and Dubuque mills. Thomas Lewis was connected with it in 1838, and it later passed to Pratt, Manson, Watters and Bell. It did an enormous business in the fifties. In 1876, during a flood, Rockdale was washed away and many lives were lost. In 1878 several buildings were destroyed by fire. Table Mound is often called Mt. St. Bernard. Foley's grove was a well known place. James Brennan was killed there by light- ning in 1863 ; he had been plowing and ran under a tree for shelter. The first old Catfish bridge was in this township. Rev. Daniel O'Regan died here in 1869; he was educated in St. Raphael's Acad- emy, of wich Dennis A. Mahony was principal at one time, and possessed unusual powers of mind. In 1860 a Mr. Walter, an old Tyrolese hunter, shot two deer on the military road in this town- ship. They were sold in the market at Dubuque. The Hessian fly appeared here in 1862. Key West and Bally Clough are small places, usually with one or two business men, religious organizations and schools. Among later residents of this township were William Corcoran, Patrick Aylward, Willian Powers, Dennis Donovan, James Regan, Maurice Noonan, Lawrence Powers and Edward Fitzpatrick.
Mosalem Township (township 88 north, range 3 east, and part of township 88 north, range 4 east ) in early times was attached to Du- buque for election purposes. In 1840 it was a part of Ferguson precinct, and in 1843 it was first created and named and then em- braced parts of Table Mound, Mosalem and all of Washington. In 1849 it was cut down to its present limits.
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Among the first settlers were Thomas R. Brasher, J. J. Johnson, Jacob Dreibelbis, John A. Walter, Louis J. Dreibelbis, E. S. Morey, Francis A. Hill, Martin Dreibelbis, Oscar Morey, Thomas Berry, John H. Pattillo, Allen S. Heacock, Richard Whetter, Harlow Glass, Salmon Richards, Isaac Havens, Austin H. Smith, the Beckets, Barrys, Gilliams, Murrays, Cooks, Dolans, Gaspers, and Longuevilles. Dubuque's grave is in this township. St. Cath- erine's church and the cemetery and school are well known improve- ments. King's postoffice and Massy station were established a few years ago.
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BIOGRAPHY AND REMINISCENCE
G OV. STEPHEN HEMPSTEAD was born in Connecticut in 1812, but came West early and was educated partly at Jacksonville, Illinois. He studied law in Missouri and in 1836 was admitted to practice and the same year came to Dubuque. He took a prominent place in this community from the start. In 1838 he was elected to the Territorial Legislature. In 1844 he was a delegate to the Territorial Convention. In 1845 he was a member of the Iowa Territorial Council and served as presi- dent of that body. In 1848 he was chosen one of the commissioners to revise the state laws. In 1850 he was elected governor of Iowa on the Democratic ticket and served with distinction for four years. In 1855 he became county judge. He was closely connected with all the movements which made Dubuque one of the foremost cities of the West. He finally passed away in 1883.
PETER A. LORIMIER was born in Canada in 1783 and died in Dubuque in October, 1871. He became an Indian trader early and as such came to the western country long before the white settle- ment. He located a trading and mining establishment near Galena many years before the Black Hawk war, and during that trouble, having a stockaded fort and the assistance of his neighbors, did not suffer. Gen. George W. Jones had a similar fort at Sinsinawa Mound. Mr. Lorimier came to Dubuque in 1833 and began mining as well as merchandising with Mr. Gration in 1834. He bought considerable land adjacent and in Dubuque and became one of the foremost citizens. He and others built the famous Lorimier House in 1857, which for a long period remained the largest hotel in the city. He refused office, but served as United States court commis- sioner and was the first man invested with judicial authority in what is now Iowa and a part of Minnesota by appointment of the governor of Michigan territory. His commission was dated Sep- tember 8, 1834. He later served as one of the county commissioners in 1838, his associates being James Fanning and Andrew Bankson. In 1847 he served as mayor of Dubuque and he was again elected in 1851. He was forty years old before friction matches were invented and hundreds of times kindled his fire with flint, steel and
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tinder. He was of French extraction, the original name being De Lorimier. He left a widow, two sons and three daughters. Reso- lutions expressive of the city's loss were passed by the citizens in various capacities.
LUCIUS H. LANGWORTHY died in Dubuque June 9. 1865. He was born at Hopkinton, New York, in February, 1807. In 1827. with his brother James, he engaged in lead mining in Illinois, and in 1830 came to Dubuque for the same purpose. In 1832, with others, he was compelled to leave, but returned during the winter of 1832-3 and first lived in brush shanties on islands in the river, their cabins being occupied by soldiers. They became prominent and wealthy. Lucius H. married first in 1835 Mary F. Ruder, by whom he had two sons. In 1842 he married Valeria A. Bemis, by whom he had six children. He was the first sheriff of Dubuque. receiving his appointment from the governor of Michigan territory in 1834. He was interested in the Dubuque Visitor, the first news- paper west of the Mississippi and north of St. Louis. He was one of the early town fathers and as such did much to finance the town and all harbor movements. He helped to build the first schoolhouse in 1833, and was a contributor to the early churches. Lucius and James Langworthy were partners in their mineral lands and by their indefatigable efforts were already on the high road to fortune when Edward and Solon joined them. For twenty-four years the four brothers were associated under various business and firm names and labored so harmoniously and successfully that the Langworthy Brothers, Bankers, in 1854, owned, including their individual prop- erty, one-twelfth of all the real estate in Dubuque. Lucius H. was genial, approachable, wide awake, honest and generous. His con- tributions to all worthy improvements were large and numerous. Particularly was he active in building railroads. His mining inter- ests were immense. His home life was sweet, kind and elevated. His funeral was largely attended by the old settlers in a body and was very impressive. The funeral was the largest ever held in this city up to that time.
MRS. FRANCES P. (STOKELY) WILSON died here in October. 1868. She came to Dubuque in 1842 to reside with her son, Judge Thomas S. Wilson. Her eldest son, George, was educated at West Point ; her second son was Judge Wilson, of Dubuque ; her third son was Peter F., who for twenty years was an agent in the Treas- ury Department at Washington, D. C. ; her fourth son was David S. Wilson, of Dubuque, colonel of the Sixth Iowa Cavalry ; her fifth son was Samuel M. Wilson, a lawyer of San Francisco ; her daugh- ters were Ann Eliza Wells, of Dubuque : Mary Aull, of St. Louis. and Kate Luke, of St. Louis. She lived to see her great grand- children-and to see all of her descendants prominent where they
Augustin. A. Cooper
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resided. She was an Episcopalian. She married Peter Wilson, in Philadelphia. Her father was Col. Thomas Stokely, of North Carolina, who served the colonies in the revolution.
AUGUSTIN A. COOPER, by reason of his long residence in Dubuque and his intimate connection with its civic and commercial prosperity, is one of the city's foremost citizens. His life is so closely inter- woven with Dubuque's history that one could not well be written without the other. Born on Chess creek, in Susquehanna township, Cambria county, Pennsylvania, on November 9, 1829, he is a son of Leonard and Julia Ann Cooper, whose respective births occurred in 1797 and 1804. In the year 1634 Lord Baltimore brought a Catholic colony from Great Britain to America in the ships "Ark" : and "Dove," and having secured a special charter from King George, located his colony in Maryland. In this band of pioneers was the progenitor of the Cooper family in America. As time passed the colony prospered and numerically increased, and even- tually the descendants scattered throughout the country, ever carry- ing with them the industry and probity for which they were noted and loyalty to the religious faith of their fathers. Dr. Gallatzin, the first fully ordained Catholic priest in the United States, early in the nineteenth century, together with a number of families from the original settlement, moved to the mountainous region of Penn- sylvania. Accompanying him were the families of the two grand- parents of A. A. Cooper, the immediate subject of this sketch, their names being Henry Cooper and Mary Green on his father's side, and Walter Elder and Priscilla Elder on his mother's side. In Maryland they were the owners of slaves, which he liberated except those who wished to go with them, but these, on being taken to the rigorous climate of Pennsylvania, for the most part sickened and died. Henry Cooper was born sometime during the sixties of the eighteenth century. When the colonies declared their independence from the mother country he volunteered his services in the cause of the new government, but, owing to his youth, was rejected. He persisted in his offers, however, and eventually was accepted and served in the army until the conclusion of the revolution. In his latter years he took great delight in telling his descendants of his experience in the Continental army, the hardships and privations endured, the fortitude and bravery of the soldiers and the glorious results in winning independence from the oppressive British rule. These reminiscent talks have been handed down to his descendants and have no doubt instilled a great love of loyalty for America and its institutions in their hearts. In 1824 Father Gallatzin married the parents of A. A. Cooper, and the family continued to reside in Pennsylvania many years. It was in a one-room, one-story log schoolhouse there that Mr. Cooper received his primary education, and in a neighboring little log Catholic church, presided over by
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Father Lampkee, lie first went to religious service. His wearing apparel was made from flax and wool and was spun into cloth and manufactured into clothing by his mother. In the spring of 1838 his uncle, Charles Elder and family, with another uncle, Dr. Stark and his family, immigrated West, the former first settling at Long Grove, Scott county, Iowa, and the latter finally locating at what is now Ottumwa, Iowa. Through the influence of these pioneers, Leonard Cooper with his family in the spring of 1839 moved West, coming by wagon, a short distance on the first railroad ever built, stage coach, canal, and steamboat, finally locating near Long Grove, Scott county, Iowa, where Charles Elder had made claim to a tract of land for them. This house was built of logs, chinked with mud, puncheon flooring, clapboard roof and a wide fireplace for warmth and in which to cook. Here for years the family lived, enduring the hardships and privations incident to pioneer life, of which the present generation has but a faint conception.
A. A. Cooper came to Dubuque in 1846, and here began learning the trade of blacksmith at $35 per year for his services. At that time Dubuque had about 2,000 people. He completed his appren- ticeship January 1, 1850, and continued working as a journeyman at his trade for $26 per month, this unusually large amount being paid him because of his superior skill. After two months he bought out one of his employers for $50, and from this small beginning gradually prospered and added wagon-repairing to his general work. In time the business changed to wagon manufacturing largely, the material being obtained by felling trees in the woods, sawing and drying same to suitable conditions and eventually manufacturing them into wagons, buggies and sleds. It was this humble beginning that has blossomed into one of the largest manufacturing concerns in the country. Today the company employs about four hundred hands, occupies several city blocks and is a monument to the skill and shrewdness of its founder. During this long period of sixty- five years, through the ups and downs, the panics and rumors of panics, wars, and disturbances in money markets, Mr. Cooper and the company he established have paid one hundred per cent on every dollar's worth of business they ever contracted, which is a phenom- enal record, and an achievement of which he is justly proud. While prospering in material welfare, Mr. Cooper has taken an active part in civic affairs, having served as alderman and as mayor pro tem of the city. In politics lie is a gold Democrat. For sixty-five years he has been a member of St. Raphael's Cathedral Parish. January 22, 1851, he was married by Bishop Loras, first Bishop of Iowa, to Miss Mary J. Smith, daughter of Owen and Mary Smith, who were among the early pioneers of Dubuque, having moved here from New York in 1837. Seven children have been born to this mar- riage : James Albert, who died in 1879, aged six years; Regina Isabell, who died as the wife of Paul Gilmore in 1899; Mary Ellen,
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Charg. J. Cooper
Peter direne
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the widow of John R. Waller, well known in banking and com- mercial circles; Elizabeth A., wife of D. A. Sullivan, formerly of the Sullivan & Stampfer Department Store; William F., president of the A. A. Cooper Wagon & Buggy Company; Catharine Jose- phine, and Austin A., secretary and treasurer of the above concern. No family stands higher in the esteem of the public than that of A. A. Cooper. In the evening of his life he can look backward with contentment to his success under adverse conditions, and with the satisfaction that he has honorably filled the niche appointed unto him.
PETER KIENE, SR., was born at Tamins, Switzerland, on December 15, 1819. Arrived in Dubuque, Iowa, on August 15, 1840. On August 15, 1857, founded the firm of Peter Kiene & Son. Died at Dubuque, Iowa, on April 14, 1898.
PETER KIENE was born on November 2, 1846, at Dubuque, Iowa. Enlisted February 2, 1862, at Dubuque, Iowa, in Company "E," 16th Regiment, Iowa Infantry-"Crocker Iowa Brigade"-17th Army Corps. Mustered out of service on June 20, 1865, at Daven- port, Iowa. Senior member of the firm of Peter Kiene & Son, of Dubuque, Iowa, founded by his father, the late Peter Kiene, Sr., on August 15, 1857.
The Beaubiens were the descendants of an old Detroit family of noble French origin. They were among the founders of Chicago, keeping there one of the first stores, hotels and livery stables. Four brothers, Mark, Joseph, David and George, came to Dubuque in 1846. Mark and Joseph died at Hannibal, Missouri; David and George remained in Dubuque and each married and reared families.
CHARLES HYPOLITTE GREGOIRE was born in 1798 in this country. His father was a native of France and was concerned in the French revolution. Charles H. grew up mainly at Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, and was early engaged in trading in furs, merchandise, etc., on the Mississippi. In 1820 he married Eulalie Pratte and they had one son, Charles H. J. Gregoire, a well known citizen of Dubuque. He lived many years in the lead country of Wisconsin and came to Dubuque in 1852 and here died in 1859. He projected the lower Harbor Company and carried it through the panic of 1857, and owned the fine ferry steamers at Dubuque. His remains were taken to Ste. Genevieve for interment.
FRANK CARNEY, engaged in the tobacco and cigar manufacturing business in Dubuque, is a native of the state of New York, his birth occurring February 15, 1851, at St. Johnsville, Montgomery county, and is a son of Peter and Julia Carney. The parents were natives
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of Ireland and came to the United States on their wedding trip. They realized that greater chances for success in life existed in this country and accordingly determined to make their future home on this side of the Atlantic. The date of their advent in the East was about 1836, and in 1853 they came West to Dubuque, and here the father for years followed his profession of roofer. He died in January, 1872, aged sixty years, and was followed by his widow in June, 1890, aged seventy-six years, and both are buried in Mount Olivet cemetery. Frank Carney, the immediate subject of this sketch, came to Dubuque with his parents when but two years old, and was one of the first scholars enrolled in the Fifth Ward (Audubon) school. When seventeen years old his education was completed, and for two years thereafter he worked as a farm hand near Dubuque. Mr. Carney well remembers having seen during his boyhood days Indians traveling over the country with their families and wigwams, sights which to the present generation are but dreams of the past. After working on the farm he became a brakeman for the Dubuque & Sioux City railroad, which at that time reached only as far as Cedar Falls, and then was employed as conductor. He later went with the Illinois Central road and continued with that concern as conductor until 1894, or for a period of over thirty years. At that date he was elected on the Democratic ticket as justice of the peace and held that position for three terms ; he also was the first police commissioner of the city of Dubuque. In 1904 he embarked in the tobacco and cigar manufacturing business at 69 Eighth street and has been thus successfully engaged ever since. Mr. Carney is a Roman Catholic in religious views and socially is identified with the Dubuque Catholic Benevolent Society, the Inde- pendent Order of Foresters, and the Mystic Workers. On January 30, 1870, in Dubuque, he was united in marriage with Miss Mary A. O'Brien, daughter of John and Ellen O'Brien, natives of Ireland, and now deceased and buried at Patch Grove, Wisconsin, and Mount Olivet cemetery, Dubuque, respectively. To Mr. and Mrs. Carney three sons and two daughters have been born as follows : Ellen Lester, the wife of B. J. Schwind, of Dubuque, who is appro- priately represented elsewhere in this work ; Frank R., of Dubuque ; Grace M., a teacher in the local public schools, and William S. and Alexander D., both deceased.
JOHN F. BURNS is properly considered the pioneer of the fancy grocery business in Dubuque. He is a son of John F. and Bridget Burns, who were of Irish ancestry and came from Paterson, New Jersey, to Dubuque in the thirties and consequently were among the earliest pioneers in this locality. These parents were hard-working and God-fearing people and were devout adherents of the Roman Catholic religion. Here the father died in 1861, and the mother in 1897, when seventy-six years old. John F. Burns, the subject of
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this sketch, was born in Dubuque, July 16, 1858, and has passed practically his entire life here. His career has been quiet and unostentatious and has gained for him many warm and lasting friendships which are so essential to the happiness of this passing existence. In early youth he attended the public and parochial schools, and when fourteen years old entered the grocery store of Retallick & Burns as a clerk. He thus continued until 1881, and then succeeded to the business and successfully conducted it until 1908, when he retired from active participation in business life. Mr. Burns is unmarried and resides with his sister, Johanna, in their beautiful home at 61 Wilson avenue. He is a life-long member of St. Raphael Cathedral, and is also a Knight of Columbus and a member of the St. Vincent de Paul Society.
GASSOWAY S. WEAVER, a contractor possessing rare skill and ability, who devotes himself principally to the erection of fine resi- dences, has been for the past forty-three years a resident of Dubuque. Born November 15, 1846, in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, he was a son of Benjamin and Mary Weaver and descended from an old German family of three generations' residence in this country. Benjamin Weaver was a contractor of some repute in the eastern states, and there died in 1886, aged sixty- seven years, preceded by his wife in 1851, when thirty years of age. After graduating from the public schools of his native county, Gassoway L. Weaver entered Paradise Academy, which he attended until nineteen years old. Then, under the tutelage of his father, he spent seven years as an apprentice to the carpenter trade, thereafter spending four months in Ohio as a journeyman carpenter. In 1868 he came to Dubuque, which city has since been his home and the scene of his active business career. He first spent eight years in the employ of Mr. B. W. Jones, an early contractor, and then, after being connected with several other firms, formed a partnership with Mr. S. Alexander, continuing thus for two years. In 1892 he embarked in the contracting business alone and has been unusually successful. During the above mentioned partnership he constructed the West Dubuque schoolhouse, but later turned his attentions to the erecting of beautiful private residences, one of which was that of Senator N. J. Schrup. In politics Mr. Weaver is a Republican. and since 1867 he has been an active member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. To his marriage with Miss Julia Semper, solemnized September 12, 1872, at Dubuque, two sons were born, Que dying in infancy, and Clarence J., local ticket agent for the Chicago Great Western Railroad Company. Mrs. Weaver was the daughter of Michael and Margaret Semper, who came to Dubuque from Quebec, Canada, in 1835, descended from old French fami- lies. The father was a farmer and owner of considerable property.
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