USA > Iowa > Floyd County > History of Floyd County, Iowa : together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 26
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HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY.
SHAKES.
Another feature of pioneer life which every old settler will viv- idly recall was the "chills and fever," "fever and ague," or "shakes," as it was variously called. It was a terror to new comers, for in the fall of the year almost everybody was afflicted with it. It was no respecter of persons; everybody looked pale and sallow as though frost-bitten. It was not contagious, but derived from im- pure water and air, which was always developed in the opening up of a new country of rank soil like that of Floyd County. The impurities continued to absorb from day to day, and from week to week, until the whole corporate body became saturated with it as with electricity; and then the shock came; and the shock was a regular shake, with a fixed beginning and ending, coming on in some cases each day, but generally on alternate days, with a regu- larity that was surprising. After the shakes came the fever, and this "last estate was worse than the first;" it was a burning hot fever and lasted for hours. When you had the chill you couldn't get warm, and when you had the fever you couldn't get cool. It was exceedingly awkward in this respect-indeed it was. Nor would it stop for any contingency; not even a wedding in the family would stop it. It was imperative and tyrannical. When the ap- pointed time came around, everything else had to be stopped to attend to its demands. It didn't even have any Sundays or holi- days. After the fever went down you still didn't feel much better; you felt as though you had gone through some sort of a collision, threshing machine, or jarring machine, and came out, not killed, but next thing to it. You felt weak, as though you had run too far after something, and then didn't catch it. You felt languid, stupid and sore, and was down in the mouth and heel, and partially raveled out. Your back was out of fix, your head ached and your appetite was crazy. Your eyes had too much white in them; your ears, especially after taking quinine, had too much roar in them, and your whole body and soul were entirely woe-begone, disconso- late, sad, poor and good for nothing. You didn't think much of yourself and didn't believe that other people did either; and you didn't care. You didn't quite make up your mind to commit sui- cide, but sometimes wished some accident would happen to knock either the malady or yourself out of existence. You imagined that even the dogs looked at you with a sort of commiseration. You thought the sun had a sort of sickly shine about it. About this
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time you came to the conclusion that you would not take the whole State as a gift; and if you had the strength and means you would pick up Hannah and the baby, and your traps, and go back "yander" to "Old Virginny," the "Jarseys," Maryland or " Penn- sylvany."
And to-day, the swallows flitting Round my cabin, see me sitting Moodily within the sunshine, Just inside my silent door, Waiting for the "ager," seeming
Like a man forever dreaming;
And the sunlight on me streaming Throws no shadow on the floor ; For I'm too thin and sallow To make shadows on the floor- Nary shadow any more !
The foregoing is not a mere picture of the imagination. It is simply recounting in quaint phrase what actually occurred in hun- dreds of cases. Whole families would sometimes be sick at one time, and not one member at all able to wait upon another. Labor or exercise always aggravated the malady, and it took General La- ziness a long time to thrash the enemy out. These were the days of swallowing all sorts of roots and " yarbs " and whisky straight, with some faint hope of relief. Finally, when the case wore out, the last remedy got the credit of the cure.
WOLF HUNTING.
In early days more mischief was done by wolves than by any other wild animal, and no small part of the mischief consisted in their almost constant barking at night which always seemed men- acing and frightful to the settlers. Like mosquitoes, the noise they made appeared to be about as dreadful as the real depredations they committed. The most effectual, as well as the most exciting, method of ridding the country of these hateful pests, was that known as the " circular wolf hunt," by which all the men and boys would turn out on an appointed day, in a kind of circle, comprising many square miles of territory, with horses and dogs, and then close up toward the center field of operation, gathering, not only wolves, but also deer and many smaller "varmint." Five, ten, or more wolves, by this means, would be killed in a single day. The men would be organized with as much system as a small army, everyone being posted in the meaning of every signal and the ap-
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HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY.
plication of every rule. Guns were scarcely ever allowed to be brought on such occasions, as their use would be unavoidably dan- gerous. The dogs were depended upon for the final slaughter. The dogs, by the way, had all to be held in check by a cord in the hands of their keepers until the final signal was given to let them loose, when away they would all go to the center of battle and a more exciting scene would follow than can easily be described.
RELIGION.
The religious element in the life of the pioneer was such as to attract the attention of those living in more favored places. The pioneer was no hypocrite. If he believed in horse-racing, whisky- drinking, card-playing, or anything of the like character, he prac- ticed them openly and above board. If he was of a religious turn of mind he was not ashamed to own it. He could truthfully sing
I'm not ashamed to own my Lord, Or blush to speak his name.
But the pioneer clung to the faith of his fathers, for a time, at least. If he was a Presbyterian he was not ashamed of it, but rather prided himself on being one of the elect. If a Methodist, he was one to the fullest extent. He prayed long and loud if the spirit moved him, and cared nothing for the empty forms of relig- ion.
A traveling Presbyterian minister, visiting this region of coun- try at a very early day, thus speaks of the sectarian feeling which then existed:
"In these new religions, too, of the most absolute independence, you see all the wanderings of human thought, every shade of faith, every degree of the most persevering attachment to preconceived opinions. You see, too, all degrees of pretension in religion, fol- lowed by unhappy manifestations of the hollowness of such pre- tensions. You meet, it is true, with more cheering circumstances, and we sometimes are able to see that which we strongly wish to see. At one point you meet with a respectable Methodist and be- gin to feel an attachment to the profession. He next meets you with harmony and co-operation on his lips, and the next thing which you hear is you are being charged of being a fierce Calvan- ist, and that you have preached that 'hell is paved with infants ' skulls.' While, perhaps, the society with which you are connected hear from an opposite quarter, and from a pretended friend, that
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HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY.
in such a sermon you departed from the dicta of the great Master and are leading the people to the gulf of Armenianism. The Bap- tists are as exclusive as in the older regions. Even among our own brethren, it is well known that there is some feeling of a question- able nature, some rivalry between the pupils, the doctors and schools of Andover and Princeton. The Cumberland Presbyterians, with all the freshness of a new sect, are not found lacking in this order of things. Lastly there are the Catholics, abundantly more united in faith, in spirit and in purpose than we are, who claim a kind of proscriptive right to the ground, on the pretext of prior possession. Add to these the followers of Elias Smith, and the multitudes of men who would be founders of new sects, and you will have some idea of the sectarian feeling that. you will have to encounter."
But these sectarian feelings were not to last. Separated from the religious influences of the land of their birth, and seldom hear- ing the gospel message, they were literally starving for the " bread of life," and the worthy minister, of whatever denomination, that chanced to call received a cordial welcome. The best the early pioneers had to give was at his service. All that they required was that he be a true and faithful follower of Christ, and preach to them of a common salvation.
OLD SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION.
There has never been a county organization of the old settlers, though various parties have suggested the idea from time to time. Floyd is yet a new county, and perhaps it is not right to expect her citizens to take as much interest in such matters as those of older counties. In a few years at most, however, Floyd will have her old settlers' association, along with her sister counties.
Through the influence of W. P. Gaylord, a society was formed at Nora Springs, known as the Rock Grove Old Settlers' Association, which, however, had little more than a nominal existence.
The old settlers of Nora Springs and vicinity perfected an organ- ization July 5, 1877, with the following regulations:
" The officers of the Old Settlers' Band shall be a president, a vice- president in each school sub-district where an old settler resides, a secretary and treasurer, all of whom shall be chosen by a majority vote of the Band, which shall meet as often as once each year for that purpose among others, and whose duties shall be the same as in other organizations of a civil character.
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HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY.
" General meetings may be adjourned to a certain day, or may ba ordered at any general meeting, and each meeting may adopt such rules and transact such business as a majority present may deter- mine.
" Children of those who came to Iowa prior to 1860 may be en- rolled as members, but those younger than 1860 shall not be enti- tled to a vote.
" It shall be the imperative duty of all members to attend each regular meeting of the Band, and to conform to its rules and re- quirements.
"Special meetings of the Band may be called by the president, secretary or treasurer, the notices of which shall be written or printed, and conspicuously posted.
" All proceedings of the Band shall be in conformity to parliamen- tary rules, unless otherwise ordered by a two-thirds vote."
These regulations were signed by the following old settlers : D. Whitesell, Charlotte A. Small, Sarah J. G. Riddell, Sara Jane Shaw, Catharine McHenry, Betsy Swartwood, Mary A. Dean, Sarah E. Gaylord, Harrison Pierce, M. S. Snow, W. P. Gaylord, Aaron Moss, Ann Lindsay, Carr Havens, William Ide, M. H. Nickerson, Hannah M. Blood, Joel E. Jullivan, Edith Quinby, F. M. Yoder, Joseph Woodland, Ira R. Dean, Judson Wyatt, Orrin Shaw, George C. Clark, James Wyatt, Mahala Reynolds, Amos West, Mary A. Fairchild, Harriet Kidder, H. M. Gaylord, J. M. Goble, G. H. Gardner, J. C. Burlingame, Edson Gaylord, Cynthia M. Cutler, Abigail Benedict, Sarah J. Hockman, Rachel Dean, Lydia A. Snow, Louisa J. Dean, Sarah Fleenor, Sylvester Blood, Lyman Gaylord, Jackson Gaylord, Cornelius Bryan, Margaret A. Moss, Jane Havens, Nicholas Fleenor, M. L. Nickerson, Ira Har- rison, Charles Wyatt, Elizabeth Stannard, George A. McHenry, James Wyatt, Mary E. McHenry, Mary A. Dean, C. C. Birney, Harriet C. Birney, Mariah Clark, Abiah Knapp, William F. Fair- child, L. D. Kidder, F. L. Benedict, Joe Palmer, Fred Drew, H. B. Shaw. The society's existence was rather nominal, however, and held but few meetings.
A business meeting was held July 21, 1877, at which the follow- ing resolutions were passed :-
Resolved, That we meet at the public park in Nora Springs, on the first Saturday in September next, at nine o'clock A. M.
Resolved, That all the old settlers in Floyd and Cerro Gordo
-
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HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY.
Counties are invited to unite with us, and have a good, old-fashioned tearing time.
Resolved, That all the children of the old settlers are specially requested to be on hand.
Resolved, That M. H. Nickerson and wife, M. S. Snow and wife, Nicholas Fleenor and wife, James Wyatt and wife, and Edson Gaylord and wife, are a committee to arrange the grounds, the speaking, the music, the dinner and refreshments, and to have a general supervision of the whole performance.
Resolved, That William Dean and wife, John Henry and wife, F. L. Benedict and wife, Joseph Ankeny and wife, H. B. Shaw and wife, Ira R. Dean and wife, and Willie B. Reed and wife, are a committee to make up the old settlers in their respective neighbor- hoods, and ascertain what each will do in regard to said celebra- tion.
Resolved, That to this committee be added, for Rock a lls Thomas Perrett and wife, and Hon. C. W. Tenney and wife; Rock- ford, Joseph Clark and wife, and George Wyatt and wife; Rudd, D. S. Wood and wife, and J. B. Hemphill and wife; Portland, A. S. Pardee and wife, and Orrin Shaw and wife.
Resolved, That these committees meet at Nora Springs, Satur- day, Sept. 4, at six o'clock, P. M., precisely, to make a report of their doings.
Resolved, That these resolutions be published in the Telephone.
M. H. NICKERSON, President. W. P. GAYLORD, Secretary.
The old settlers rallied in force at the appointed time and place. Being at a very busy season of the the year, many were compelled to remain at home, their work being of that peculiar character which could not be delayed. President Nickerson called the meet- ing to order at eleven o'clock, and introduced Hon. J. G. Patter- son, of Charles City. This gentleman took the stand, and addressed the audience in a manner peculiar to himself, and inter- esting to all. When he concluded his speech, dinner was ready, and was eaten with a zest by all.
At one o'clock the meeting again came to order, when W. P. Gaylord read a condensed history of Floyd County, reaching down to the first day of September, 1877.
Speeches were then made by D. S. Wood, of Rudd, Capt. O. H. Lyon, of Rockford, G. B. Eastman, of Charles City, and Edson Gaylord and M. H. Nickerson, of Rock Grove. The vocal music,
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HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY.
led by Jackson Gaylord, assisted by O. P. Waterberry, Mrs. A. B. Tredway, Mrs. G. W. Hall, Mrs. V. W. Albee, Miss Alice Vliet, and Miss Ida Means, was very appropriate. The martial music, under the direction of Prof. Drew, assisted by Robert Morris, of Rock Falls, John Kellogg, of Charles City, and Joseph Miner, of Nora Springs, was loud, lively and inspiring. Everything moved on through the entire day with the precision of clock-work, and to the supreme satisfaction of all the settlers in attendance, old or new.
In the Reveille of Jan. 30, 1879, appeared a call for a meeting of the old settlers of the Shell Rock Valley, signed by Edson Gay- lord as President, and Oscar B. Allen as Secretary. The following extracts are made from the call:
" The Pioneer Band of the Shell Rock Valley and its surround- ings, will meet in force at the M. E. church, in Nora Springs, on Friday, Feb. 7, at 2 r. M., and continue the session until midnight. A picnic supper will be had in the class room of the church, from 8 to 10 p. M., and all the well-to-do old settlers are expected to furnish whatever they may want for themselves, and a little some- thing more for their less fortunate neighbors. W. P. Gaylord will deliver the oration, not to exceed twenty minutes in length, after which there will be an invitation for all to relate their experience, or whatever else they may choose, in speeches not to exceed five minutes in length. Good music, and plenty of it, will be inter- spersed through the entire proceedings.
" All who came to Iowa prior to Jan. 1, 1860, are old settlers under the rule. The children of old settlers, born since 1860, in- herit the title from their parents. Those who, by marriage, have united with those who came to Iowa since 1860, can claim their husband or wife as one of the Band. For convenience of those from a distance, and others who prefer oysters, they will signify by postal card or otherwise, directed to Oscar B. Allen, or T. E. Bryan, Nora Springs.
"The following are the committees appointed for the occasion: On arrangements, James Wyatt, Nicholas Fleenor, H. Gage, William Dean, W. S. Sweat, Benjamin F. Wise, David Hardman, Jr., F. L. Benedict, Peter Warburton, M. S. Snow, S. D. Powers, F. C. Trevitt, John Henry, W. P. Gaylord, M. H. Nickerson, Harrison Pierce, and their wives. On toasts, M. H. Nickerson, Jackson Gaylord, Joseph Ankeny, E. R. Heisz, J. S. Childs, D. S. Wood, C. W. Tenney, Lorenzo Reed, Amos Pardee, William H.
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Johnson, Hervey Wilbur, J. B. Hemphill, S. B. Starr, H. D. Sprague, John West, William McEwen, H. Rosenkrans, Thomas Perrett, William B. Towner, W. Howard, Jesse Conner, and their wives. On music, Jackson Gaylord, Aaron Moos, R. E. Fleenor, John Fleenor, Miss Lucia Hall, Mrs. Carrie Tredway, Miss May Gage, Miss Ella Fleenor, and Miss Edna Boyington. Chaplain, Rev. D. B. Mead. Bunks will be arranged for the babies, and old settlers everywhere are invited. All new settlers are also invited to come out and see who the old settlers are, and what is going on."
The appointed day, Feb. 7, was a most beautiful one; it seemed that nature, in order to honor the pioneers of Floyd County, had put on her best garment and her sweetest smile. From all direc- tions swift and slow teams were approaching Nora Springs, where, at three o'clock P. M., the President, Edson Gaylord, welcomed the vast throng of old and new settlers at Trevitt's Hall. Vice-presi- dents and secretaries were chosen, and then music was furnished by a choir.
Eulogies were then offered in honor of the dead pioneers. Dr. Smith, of Charles City, first spoke of the late Hon. John G. Pat- terson, and bestowed upon the memory of the departed a just tribute. Edson Gaylord spoke in high terms of Benjamin Reed, who came to this county in 1854, and who is said to have brought the first apple-tree into Floyd County. Mr. Reed died in 1878. H. Gage recalled in fitting language the well-known Ira Dean, of Rudd, who came to Floyd County in 1854, and died in 1878. W. P. Gaylord spoke of the late R. N. Mathews, as only a true friend could speak of another, and M. H. Nickerson, and Edson Gaylord praised highly the virtues of Mr. Ide, another of the old pioneers, who, though not generally known, must have been a worthy mem- ber of the fraternity, which, diminishing from year to year, will be always gratefully remembered by coming generations.
Then followed a fine piece of music, after which Horace Stearns, of Rockford, responded to the toast, "Our first pioneers." He gave a list of the first settlers of the valley, made fitting comments on most of them, and told what had become of each one.
The meeting was then adjourned till after supper, which was heartily enjoyed by all. The evening session began at seven o'clock, when Trevitt's Hall was crowded to overflowing. After music, officers were elected, with the following result : President, William Dean; Secretary, Oscar Allen ; Vice-Presidents, W. Wag-
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HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY.
ner, E. R. Heisz, David Hardman, Joseph Ankeny and John Henry.
The following oration of W. P. Gaylord's was then listened to with close attention by all :
" Mr. President, and ladies and gentlemen of the Old Settlers' Band, and ladies and gentlemen of the new :
" After the sunshine and storms of nearly a quarterof a century, we are once more in council. We are here to grasp each other by the hand of fraternal brotherhood, to forget our griefs and forgive the wrongs of other years. We are here to review the pleasant and the mournful experiences of the past, to consider the momentous present, and to prophesy in relation to the eventful and unfolding future. But all are not here. Some of our associates of other years, alarmed by the 'handwriting on the wall,' have returned to the land of their childhood. Some, allured by the deceitful dreams of a better land, have clambered over the rocky hills, and are now fanned by the gales that sweep over the Pacific coast. Some are delving in the gulches for gold, others are chiseling for riches under the cliffs of the mountains. Some, shivering with cold, have gone to the sunny South. Some, sweating with heat, have gone to the frozen regions of the North. Some have fallen on bloody battle-fields, with their arms of warfare in their hands and their defiant faces to the foe. And there were those whom we once loved as dearly as we loved ourselves-those who exulted with us in our prosperities and mourned with us in our griefs- those who shared with us the comforts, the drudgeries, and the deprivations of life. But they are not here to-night. Their work is done-their eyes are closed-they have gone down the dark valley to death, to the everlasting presence of their God.
" In glancing over this audience, we see the deep furrows which care and sorrow and anguish have plowed over many a brow. The desolate widow and grief-stricken orphan are here ; and the graves are here where fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, are wasting away, wrapped in their shrouds, in the silence of death. Those who have withstood the shocks and survived the storms now stand like the isolated oaks, amongst the forest trees of younger growth. Our children stand like cions shooting up from the places where their parents stood in the meridian of their power. Stand- ing thickly amongst us and surrounding us on every side like the thrifty undergrowth, choking out the old and scattered oaks, are
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those who have swiftly followed up our trail, and who, clasping hands with our children, have given life and vital force, intelli- gence and refinement, folly and fashion to the sons and daughters of the old pioneers. And now, finding our former forces scattered, our ranks decimated, and hedged in on every side by those who have followed us to this new and beautiful land, we turn with anx- ious eyes and quivering nerves to a review of the morning, and noonday heat, and evening shades of life.
" Well do we remember the interesting scenes of our childhood, the rocky hills and swift running streams, the laurel and the hem- lock that shaded the mountain's brow, 'the old oaken bucket that hung in the well,' and the toll-gate that swung in the turnpike, the flax crackle and the flail, the rattling loom and the humming spinning wheel, and the old conventional Puritan with his undevi- ating habits of great industry and stingy economy. And the old red school-house was there with its prison-like windows and its long narrow benches, on which the mischievous urchins were im- paled while thumbing over old Daboll, or consulting Olney in re- lation to the great Northwestern Territory from which the States of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa have been created. When in our school days we looked with surveying eyes and inquiring minds over this grand domain and saw in miniature its rivers and its lakes and its broad and uncultivated territory, little did we dream then that in the year 1879 we should be here in a reunion of old pioneers, surrounded by our children, and in council with the children of nearly every State in the Union, and with almost every nationality on earth.
"Not more from choice than from enforced necessity, the old pioneers bid farewell to the play-grounds of their childhood and the graves of their fathers. One generation after another had worn themselves out in the service of their avaricious landlords. From the first flashes of daylight in the morning until the last glimmer at night, they had toiled unceasingly on, from father to son, car- rying home each day upon their aching shoulders the proceeds of their daily labor. Money and pride and power were handed down in the line of succession from the rich to his son, while unceasing work and continuous poverty and everlasting obscurity were the heritages of the working man and his children.
" Their society was graded and degraded. It was not manners nor industry, nor education, nor qualities of the head or heart that es-
J. B. Starr
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HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY.
tablished the grade. It was money and jewels, and silk and satin, and broadcloth and imperious pride, that triumphed over honest poverty and trampled the poor man and his children under the iron heel. The children of the rich and poor were not permitted to mingle with and to love each other. Courtship was more the work of the parents than of the sons and daughters. The golden calf was the key to matrimony. To perpetuate a self-constituted aris- tocracy, without power of brain, or the rich blood of royalty, purse was united with purse, and cousin with cousin, in bonds of matri- mony, until the virus boiling in their blood was transmitted by the law of inheritance from one generation to that of another, and until nerves powerless and manhood dwarfed were on exhibition everywhere, and everywhere abhorred. For the sons and daughters of the poor man to remain there was to forever follow as our fathers had followed and never to lead ; to submit, but never to rule ; to obey, but never to command. Without money or prestige, or in- fluential friends, the old pioneers drifted along one by one, from State to State, until in Iowa-the garden of the Union-they have found inviting homes for each, and room for all. To secure and adorn these homes more than an ordinary ambition was required, greater than an ordinary endurance was demanded, and unflinching determination was by the force of necessity written over every brow. Not a dollar could have been squandered, not an opportu- nity to earn a dollar could have been neglected. It was off with their coats and work to live. There were no jewels, nor emblems of fashion then, no useless ceremonies nor conventional style, no idle recreation nor wasteful extravagance. Then there were no physicians here to cure us with their medicines until they could kill us by science, nor lawyers to involve us in trouble for the sake of pulling us out. Our medicines were extracted from the herbs, our law coined from experience, reason, and logic, and much of our religion was taken from the Dubuque Herald and the New York Tribune. There were no organs or pianos here then. Our music was the elegant clatter of the wash-board, and the cheerful vibrations of the frying-pan. No troublesome dreams over imper- fect securities or absconding debtors ; no locks, or bolts, or bars, to repel the invasions of the midnight marauder. It was not pomp, or parade, or glittering show, that the old pioneers were after. They sought for homes which they could call their own, homes for themselves and homes for their children. How well they have
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