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 38
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HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY.
Charles D. Ellis, of Ellis & Ellis, attorneys of Charles City, is a native of New York, and was born at Rome, Oneida County, April 28, 1850. His parents were Charles P. and Sarah A. (John- son) Ellis; father was born Dec. 19, 1810, and was the son of Daniel and Eliza (Knapp) Ellis; was a farmer and lumberman; he and wife were members of the Baptist church, and had three sons and one daughter; the sons are-Adelbert E., of Ellis & Ellis, attorneys, Charles City; Frank W., resides in Charles City, and Charles D., the subject of this sketch. He attended the Rome Academy and Whitestown Seminary until seventeen years of age, when he came with his parents to Charles City, and remained one winter; then went to Madison, Wis., and attended the State Uni- versity one year; thence to Adrian, Mich., and engaged in the grocery business one year, then began to read law with the firm of Eldridge and Walker during 1871 and 1872. He came to Charles City, and read law with Starr & Patterson until September, 1873, when he was admitted to the bar. He then opened a law office in Charles City, and has been constantly engaged in the practice ever since. In 1878 he formed his present partnership with his brother. Mr. Ellis married Miss Flora A. Wilbur, Sept. 16, 1874; she was born in Otsego County, N. Y., and was a daughter o Hervey and Angeline (Moore) Wilbur. Mrs. Ellis is a member of the Congregational church. They have had two daughters and one son; viz .: Ida M., born June 8, 1875; Katy R., born May 31, 1879, and Melvin N., born July 14, 1881. Mr. Ellis is one of the leading members of Floyd County bar, with which he has been identified since July, 1867. In politics he is a Republican, and has always been a supporter of that party. His family are of Welsh and English descent.
Adelbert E. Ellis, of Ellis & Ellis, was born in Rome, N. Y., Jan. 21,.1848. He attended school until nineteen years of age, when he came to Charles City, and remained a short time; then returned to Whitestown Seminary two years, graduating from this seminary; then went to Adrian, Mich., where he and his brother engaged in the grocery business until 1871; he then returned to Charles City, and engaged in the hardware business until 1874, then read law with his brother until 1878. He was then admitted to the bar, and formed his present partnership; he married Miss Mary Waterman, of Westmoreland, N. Y., September, 1871; she died July 23, 1875. He married Miss Belle Saxton, at Charles City, April 14, 1877; she died, September, 1881. ĮMr. Ellis is also
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HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY.
one of the leading members of Floyd County bar, and in politics is a Republican.
George F. Boulton, of the firm of Boulton & Boulton, attor- neys, Charles City, was born in Columbus, N. J., Feb. 8, 1836, and soon after his birth his parents removed to Mount Union, Ohio, where he attended school until his thirteenth year. The family then went to Marshall County, Ind., settling upon a farm. George pursued his studies there and at Warsaw and Plymouth, Ind., until 1858, when he went to Bourbon and began the study of law with the Hon. James O. Parks. In the fall of 1859 he was appointed Deputy Sheriff of Marshall County, Ind., holding the position until April 25, 1861. He then enlisted in the first company organized in Marshall County, his name being second on the enlist- ment roll. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant of this com- pany, but was never ordered into service. He farmed and practiced law in Marshall County until the fall of 1863, then entered the law department of the university at Ann Arbor, Mich., and one year later came to Charles City, Iowa. In September, 1864, he was admitted to the Iowa bar, and has been actively en- gaged in the practice of his profession here since. He formed a partnership with R. G. Reiniger in1866, which continued two years and in 1881 the present firm of Boulton & Boulton was established.
Mr. Boulton married Miss Sarah Updike at Bourbon, Ind., June 27, 1861; she was born in Chautauqua County, N. Y., and was a daughter of William and Mercy (Loveless) Updike. Mr. and Mrs. Bourbon are members of the Methodist church and have two daughters, viz: Jennie E. L., born Aug. 20, 1864, and Mercy L., born Dec 20, 1869. Mr. Boulton is one of the charter members of the U. A. S. Fraternity, and Iowa Good Templars; he took an active part in the canvass of the constitutional amendment prohibiting the sale and manufacture of intoxicating liquors. In politics was a Fremont boy and has been a strong supporter of the Republi- lican party ever since.
Z. D. Boulton, senior member of the law firm of Boulton & Boulton, Charles City, is a native of Burlington County, N. J., born near Pemberton, on April 22, 1813. His parents were Will- iam and Mary Boulton, nee Dobbins, natives of New Jersey. They had a family of eleven children, and were members of the M. E. church. William Boulton was first married to Mary Gilbert by whom he had four children. Mrs. Boulton was the widow of Will- iam Jones by whom she had two children. Z. D. was the second
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HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY.
son by the second marriage and his boyhood was passed on his father's farm in New Jersey. When fifteen years of age he went to Philadelphia, Pa., where he served an apprenticeship to a boot and shoe manufacturer there. In 1836 he went to Mount Union, Ohio, and worked at his trade and farming until 1849, when he settled on a farm in Marshall County, Ind. He removed from there to Bourbon, Indiana, in 1857, and embarked in the mercantile business. He was admitted to the Indiana bar and practiced there until August, 1881, when he came to Charles City and the present partnership, with son, George F., was formed. Mr. and Mrs. Boul- ton have a family of six children-G. F .; Mary, wife of A. J. Bair; of Warsaw, Ind .; T. R., a carpenter and contractor of Warsaw; B. E., a farmer residing near Howard, Kansas; William H., drug- gist at Silver Lake, Ind., and J. B., a stone mason at Bourbon, Ind. The law firm of Boulton & Boulton is one of the most popu- lar in the city and they are known throughout the county as gen- tlemen of superior legal ability.
De Witt C. Duncan, ex-Mayor of Charles City, is a native of the Cherokee Nation, Georgia, and where the city of Dahlonega, Lumpkin County, now stands; was born Feb. 27, 1829; his parents were John and Elizabeth (Abercrombie) Duncan, natives of Geor- gia, and members of the M. E. church; they had seven sons and four daughters. D. W. C., the subject of this sketch was the fifth son; when five years of age he removed with his parents to the Indian Nation, where he lived on a farm with his father until 1857, then went to Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, where he grad- uated, in July, 1861. He then went to Beloit, Wis., and married Miss Hellen P. Rosencrans, Dec. 21, 1862; she was born in Wis- consin and was a daughter of John and Mary (Johnson) Rosen- crans. In 1864 he came to Clarksville, Butler County, Iowa, where he remained two years, reading law, and in January, 1866, came to Charles City, where has practiced law ever since. He and wife are members of the Congregationalist church. Mr. Duncan was elected Mayor of Charles City, and held that office one year; has held that of Justice of the Peace a number of years. In politics he is a Republican and voted the amendment prohibit- ing the sale and manufacture of alcohol. He is one of the leading members of Floyd County bar, with which he has been identified since January, 1866.
S. P. Leland, attorney, was born in 1839, in Huntsburg, Ohio. After attending the Orwell and Kirtland Academies, he finished
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in Hiram College under the presidency of Garfield. He married Miss Carrie Weeks in 1862; was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1863, from which time he about equally divided his time between the pursuit of literary studies and practicing in the courts of Chicago until 1867, when he came to Nashua, Iowa; there, for a time, diligently laid the foundation, in closer application to the law, for the reputation he has since won as an attorney.
Desiring to live in a county seat, he moved to Charles City, Floyd County, where he confined himself wholly to his profes- sion until 1877, when he commenced lecturing. His gift of ora- tory and his attainments were soon recognized by the lecture as- sociations throughout the country, and there is not another lecturer whose services are in greater demand than his. He has twice vis- ited Europe, thus enriching and enlarging his repertory of lect- ures with several descriptions of customs, scenes and art, as he saw them while traveling. In 1864 Mr. Leland published a book of poems. The hard, realistic demands of the law drove the muses away, but a listener to one of his descriptions can easily see that he has wooed them back again.
The titles of his present lectures are, "The Words We Use ; " " A Visit to Rome ; " "A Visit to Pompeii ;" " A Trip over the Alps; " "The Grindstone ;" "England and the Irish People ;" " World Making ;" "Factors of Life ; " and "Land of Burns and Scott ;" The multitudinous press notices warrant the strong language used above in regard to Mr. Leland's ability.
J. S. Bradley, City Clerk and Justice of the Peace, and for- merly an attorney, was born June 10, 1843, in Paris, Edgar Co., Ill., a son of Andrew and Minerva (Stratton)'Bradley ; he enlisted in August, 1862, in the United States army, in Company C, Seventy-Ninth Illinois Infantry, and served three years, when the war closed. The principal battles in which he was engaged were Stone River, Chickamauga and Mission Ridge. During the last year of the war he organized an independent company for the defense of East Tennessee, of which he was elected Captain. Sept. 14, 1870, in Paris, Ill., he married Susie M., daughter of Rev. S. S. Newell, of that place. Of their two children, Teddie and Neddie, the latter is living. In his younger days, Mr. Bradley attended Edgar Academy a short time, read law at Paris, and graduated at the law department of Michigan University ; also attended the literary course of that institution a short time. He came to Charles City in 1871, and commenced the practice of law ; but in the
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HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY.
fall of that year he was elected Justice of the Peace ; there being no vacancy for that office at that time, he was re-elected in the fall of 1872, since which time he has held that office. He was elected City Clerk in the spring of 1875, and since that time he has also had that office. He is also United States Commissioner. He is a Freemason, a member of the A. O. U. W., and of the Congre- gational church. Mrs. Bradley is also a member of that church.
A. M. Harrison, of the firm of Starr & Harrison, attorneys at law, was born in Venango County, Pa., Nov. 5, 1847, the son of Charles and Catherine (DeWitt) Harrison, the former a native of New Jersey, and the latter of New York State. In 1865 the family removed to Fredonia, N. Y., where Mr. Harrison graduated at the Fredonia Academy. Early in the spring of 1870 Mr. H ar- rison graduated in the law department of the Michigan State University at Ann Arbor, and directly afterward was admitted to the bar. He then came to Charles City, where he commenced the practice of his profession, at first alone, and then as assistant for Starr & Patterson, until 1873, when he was admitted into partner- ship, which relation he has since sustained. He has served as City Attorney three terms, the last of which expired last March (1882). In August, 1873, Mr. Harrison married Miss Lizzie Cha- pin, daughter of Charles and Calista E. (Gage) Chapin. She is a native of Chautauqua County, N. Y. Their children are Gage M. and Martin E.
Jay C. McConkey was born in Walworth Co., Wis., July 29, 1848; his parents, Jacob J. McConkey and Nancy T. (Fowle) Mc- Conkey, moved to McHenry Co., Ill., in the year 1850, where they resided until March, 185-, when his father died. In the fall of 1854, his mother came to Delaware Co., Iowa, where she lived till May, 1856; then came to Mitchell County, where she has since resided. Mr. McConkey has one brother living, who now resides in Bremer County. After he came to Iowa he lived on the farm until the fall of 1866, working summers and going to school winters, till the fall of 186-, when he went to Osage, Iowa, and there attended the seminary for about four years, then taught school a part of the time. In the winter of 1873, he went to Iowa City, and attended the law department of the State University; after taking the two years' course he received the diploma, which gave him the authority to practice in the Supreme Court of Iowa. In December, 1875, he married Lucy U. Charles, of Colorado
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Springs, Col; remained till the spring of 1876, then came to Charles City, where he has since been practicing law.
Col. Anson O. Doolittle, residing on his farm in St. Charles Township, is a native of New York, and was born at Warsaw, Wyoming County, July 8, 1841. His father, Senator James R. Doolittle, late Senator from Wisconsin, is a native of New York, where he was born in January, 1815. Senator Doolittle graduated from the Geneva College and studied law in Rochester, and was af- terward admitted to the New York bar. He married Mary L. Culting, in Wyoming Co., New York; she died, September, 1879; she and husband had a family of four sons and two daughters. Col. A. O. Doolittle, the subject of this sketch, was the second 801. He attended the High School of Warsaw, New York, until nine years of age, when he removed with his parents to Racine, Wis., and attended the high school until fifteen years of age, when he entered the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Minn., for two years; he then attended the Columbia College at Washington, D. C., for one year; then read law in the office of Judge Lyon, now one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin. After studying law with Judge Lyon for eighteen months, he took a course of lect- ures at Ann Arbor, Mich., until April, 1861, when, under the call of the President for soldiers, he, with a number of others, formed themselves into a company, and became members of Co. D, Sec- ond Wisconsin Infantry Volunteers. Col. Doolittle was elected First Lieutenant, and remained with the company until July, 1861, when he was transferred to the regular service as Second Lieuten ant of First U. S. Cavalry, and in 1864 was appointed Colonel of the Thirty-Second Wisconsin Infantry.
In September, 1864, he resigned and returned to Racine, Wis., and was soon admitted to the Wisconsin bar and began to practice law at Fond du Lac. Some months after he took charge of Governor Lucius Fairchild's office at Madison, Wis., for six months, then was appointed an officer in the Custom House Department at New York City, remaining there three years, when he came to Charles City and purchased his present farm. Here he has since been en- gaged in agricultural pursuits.
Col. Doolittle married Miss Bessie Jones, at Racine, Wis., Feb. 16, 1862; she was born in New York State, and was a daughter of Horatio Jones. Mrs. Doolittle is a member of the Episcopal church, and she and husband have had six children, viz .: Kate,
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Henry J. (attending school at Racine, Wis.), Mary, Julia, Bessie and Charley Doolittle.
In politics, Colonel Doolittle has always been a strong supporter of the Democratic party.
A. G. Case, President of the First National Bank in Charles City, is also a member of the present bar of Floyd County.
As an illustration of the serio-comical side of human morality, we copy from the Intelligencer of May 23, 1867, a description of a case or two undergoing trial at the District Court then in session:
"The opening case was a 'calf' case-Wilkins vs. Curry. Mr. Wilkins claims that he purchased a calf, brought it home, and his daughter fed it on 'pancakes' until the grass grew, then turned it out, after which the calf was lost on the prairie. It was subse- quently found with Mr. Curry's cattle. Mr. Wilkins replevined it; hence the lawsuit. The calf in question will certainly make a valuable cow, if it lives. It was subjected to the most rigid ex- amination by the lawyers, especially about the 'flanks' and 'neck.' So nicely was the 'critter' examined, that an estimate was given of white hairs contained in a spot about the size of an old copper cent, which numbered about eighteen, with the pre- sumption that at least a dozen had been pulled out. The case, after occupying nearly an entire day, was given to the jury, who after a couple of hours returned, when the foreman stated they were unable to agree. The Judge looked somewhat astonished, and the audience smiled. The jury were then discharged.
"Following the calf case, came the 'pig' case, which has been tried before. The pig in question is dead, but the parties claiming to own him are determined to law it over his remains. No doubt the pig died from excessive grief at being the cause of so much trouble and expense. The lawyers dwelt on the merits of the de- funct porker with great ability. There was one particular spot on the pig's back that grew small as the pig grew large, finally van- ished, and did not return until the day he died. The case was final given to the jury, who after an absence of two hours returned to the court-room and stated that they were unable to agree. The Judge sent them back again. They wrangled and log-rolled all night, and the next morning they again stated that they could not agree. The Judge then discharged them. During the night the jury had a jolly time playing checkers and indulging in other amusements. One of the twelve, being quite an artist, sketched a picture of the hog in question on the wall of the room with the
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spot on his back. This artist, being a P. D. [printer's devil], and an eloquent young man, lectured to the half-asleep jury on the hor- rors of trichinæ; nevertheless, the jury could not be convinced that pork was not valuable. Some were in favor of dividing the hog be- tween the plaintiff and the defendant; but when they fully under- stood that the pig was happy in everlasting rest, the eloquence of the lecturer on porkers, the exhortations of hungry men whose vitals were gnawing at their very conscience, the happy snores of heavy sleepers, the honor involved in a judicious and fair verdict, were not enough to recompense the jury for wasting time and knowl- edge on a dead hog. The most intricate of all the questions which puzzled the jury was, when the pig ceased to be a pig and became a hog.
"The business brought before the court during the entire term did not amount to much. The value represented in the five jury cases would not sum up $100. Still the plaintiffs and defendants fought the issues with as much determination as if there had been thousands of dollars involved. The expense to the county is very large."
CHAPTER VI.
CRIMINAL.
We take no particular pleasure in accounts of crimes; and this volume differs from a daily newspaper in that it records the good deeds of men rather than the bad. It is a relief to many, and should be to all, to take a look occasionally, if not oftener, at the good side of humanity and the sunny side of life. Nevertheless, this book could hardly be considered a faithful history of a county did it not give short sketches of the principal crimes committed therein, more, probably, to fix dates than anything else, so that a record may be at hand convenient for reference. Very little crime has been committed in Floyd County, compared with many, if not most counties, while the citizens are vigilant and prompt to pursue and convict every offender against the law.
DWIGHT NOBLE, 1859.
Quite a sensation was raised throughout the community by the rumor that this man had voluntarily abandoned his helpless child to the wilds of nature, in the northern part of this county, while traveling with a covered wagon. His story was that he had lost the child and could not find it, believing that it had drowned itself in the creek; but after the case lingered along for a time before the courts, Mr. Noble was not finally convicted. We do not re- cord the case here as one of crime, but one of a frightful rumor that excited the people for a period in the early history of the county.
HORSE-STEALING, 1864.
In July, a thief stole a pair of horses in Franklin County, brought them to Charles City in the night, hitched them to Jacob Leonard's wagon (which stood near his house), and then made off northward, probably into Minnesota.
The Board of Supervisors, at their June session in 1864, decided to offer a reward of $100 to any party in Floyd County who should arrest and finally convict any person as a horse thief, that commit- ted his crime in this county.
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HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY.
ROBBERY, 1865.
June 27, the county treasury was robbed of $4,287. The door of the safe was broken off by the thief during the night, and he es- caped safely with the above amount of money. Some expensive litigation grew out of this case, but no final conviction resulted. Mr. Huntley, the Treasurer, made the loss good to the county.
ELI P. MC CULLOCK, 1865.
This thief stole a horse from Edson Gaylord at Rock Grove on Wednesday, was arrested on Friday at Faribault, Minn., brought back to Rock Grove and had his preliminary examination on Sun- day; was taken to Charles City Monday, where the same day he was indicted by the grand jury; Tuesday he pleaded guilty, and was sentenced Wednesday to the penitentiary for three years, by Judge Fairfield, at the fall term of the District Court in Charles. City. While upon a steamboat the next day on the Mississippi River, on his way to the Fort Madison Pentitentiary, he managed to fasten a life-preserver to his person and instantly leaped over- board. Captain S. O. Page, of Charles City, the officer who had him in charge, seeing the movement, grasped the life-preserver just as he was going over the guard of the boat; it gave way, and McCullock went down, never to rise again, carrying with him upon his ankles a pair of heavy iron shackles belonging to Floyd County. It was a bright moonlight evening, the steamboat was stopped, boats lowered and diligent search made, but the wretch did not come to the surface.
MRS. L. B. NELSON, 1865.
During the months of November and December, 1865, the town of Rockford, this county, was thrown into a high state of excite- ment by the mysterious death of a little child of L. B. Nelson, of that place, and the elopement of the mother. It seems that the child was poisoned with strychnine, and shortly after its death, and while its father was absent at Rock Grove teaching school, Mrs. Nelson, assisted by a Mr. Pierce, of Ulster Township, packed up. her housekeeping goods in part, sold the rest, and disappeared. Pierce, who married a sister of hers, carried her to Waverly, where she took the train for the East, and he returned.
Previous to leaving, Mrs. Nelson contracted debts at the. stores to the amount of some fifty dollars for her husband to pay,.
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and also obtained loans of small sums of money from different neighbors. Just before the child died, one David Davis, who kept a restaurant at the Wells Street Depot in Chicago, and who married Mrs. Nelson's sister, came to Rockford, held a private interview with Mrs. Nelson and immediately left for Chicago, making a visit of only a few hours. The husband, Mr. Nelson, went to Rockford a day or two after his wife had fled, and took from the postoffice a letter addressed to her which had arrived after her departure. This letter was mailed at Chicago, and un- raveled the mystery of the wife's conduct. It came from an old lover of Mrs. Nelson, whose school she had formerly attended in Illinois. It was signed "your affectionate school-mistress, J. E. Whipple, " but the real author was probably J. E. Welch, her former school-master. The letter appointed a place for Mrs. Nelson to meet the writer and made other arrangements. The astonished and heart-stricken husband had no suspicions of the plot until he read this letter. They seemed to have lived happily together and they were regarded as respectable citizens by the people of Rock- ford. They had come there from Cook County, Ill., the preced- ing spring. She had handsome features, and probably her beauty was her ruin.
A SANCTIMONIOUS SCAPEGRACE.
" Elder Buck," a bigamist from Wisconsin, appeared at Floyd in February and March, 1868, pretending to heal the sick, cure the blind, raise the dead, and do other miracles, by religious means. On Sunday morning, March 1, Rev. Mr. Riley, United Brethren, had an appointment to preach at a school-house near Floyd, and " Elder Buck " and a large number of his disciples, hearing of it, went, armed with revolvers and knives, and took possession of the house. Mr. Riley went in, at the hour for service, knowing noth- ing of their intentions, and when about to commence, Buck told him that he (Buck) had an appointment there and was going to preach. Mr. Riley, desiring to have no trouble, gave way to him. In the afternoon of the same day, Mr. Riley had an appointment at another school-house, not far distant. Buck and his disciples went there and endeavored again to drive out Mr. Riley. Here the crowd had a general fight, tore up the seats, broke out the windows, etc. Considerable damage was done to the school-house, but we believe no one was seriously injured.
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