USA > Iowa > Franklin County > History of Franklin County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 25
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
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pure water, all of which give the region unusual facilities for stock- raising, which is the prominent industry here. The soil is rich and productive. Some timber is still to be found along the streams. These attributes, abundance of water, considerable timber and a fine quality of soil, make Ingham township a very desirable place in which to live. Farms, in the highest state of cultivation, here abound and they are improved with modern residences, barns and other buildings. To be explicit, Ingham township farmers are more than specially blessed in their possessions and that portion of Franklin county cannot be surpassed anywhere.
David Allen was the first person to settle in this locality, choosing a spot in the northeastern corner in the timber along the west fork of the Cedar river, since known as Allen's Grove. He arrived here in the spring of 1854, with a large family. A son, Jonathan Allen, located on section 1, at that time.
The next settler here was John R. Hartgraves, who had become a citizen of Butler county in 1853. In August, 1854, he entered one hundred and sixty acres of land on section 25 and located there. His claim included land on each side of the creek, which had some of the finest timber in the county. At that time Mr. Hartgraves' nearest mill and trading point was Cedar Falls. He was the father of nine children. A son, David, died while serving his country in the Civil war. The other children were Nicholas T., John R., Peter, Solomon T., George, Elizabeth Jane, Almeda and Olive Caroline. Peter was the first child born in Ingham township.
Joseph Riddle settled on section 25, in 1854, and at once began farming. He continued in this occupation on this place until 1886, when he sold out and removed to Missouri.
James W. Allen was twelve years old when his father, David Allen, arrived in Ingham township. He was a member of Company H, Fifteenth Iowa Infantry and was with Sherman on his noted march to the sea. Returning from the war, James took up the occu- pation of farming on section 16 in this township.
Another of the pioneers of 1854 was Benjamin Jones, who came to Franklin county with his father, Jabish Jones, and a brother, and entered three hundred and twenty acres of land in Geneva township, besides buying eighty acres of school land. In 1879 Benjamin bought eighty acres of land on section 35, Ingham township, and took up his residence there in 1881.
George H. Ingham emigrated to Iowa from Ohio in 1855, and after prospecting through several counties located on the northeast
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quarter of section 32, Ingham township. There he remained until 1863, improving a farm and adding greatly to its value. In the year mentioned he engaged in trade .at Hampton with William G. Beed for a time and again returned to his farm, which he sold to C. J. Mott in 1866. He then returned to Ohio.
There were several came in 1855. Those now remembered were Isaac Stover, who settled at Allen's Grove; Isaac Grandin and John Staley.
In 1856 came Loren Cooley, Simon Selix and Lemuel Armstrong. Cooley remained but a short time and then went farther west. Lemuel Armstrong, long since deceased, was a Pennsylvania farmer and also had some experience in rafting on the Susquehanna river. He removed to Ohio and then to Linn county, Iowa, in 1855, remain- ing there until the next spring, when he came to Franklin county, locating on bottom lands south of Hartgraves' creek, on section 35. In July, 1857, the bottom lands were overflowed to the depth of several feet. The crops were all destroyed along the creek bottoms and the water came into the Armstrong cabin above the window sills, thus endangering the lives of the family, which were barely saved from the rushing waters by the escape of the women and chil- dren to higher land. After two or three years Mr. Armstrong lo- cated on section 16, where he lived until his death, which occurred May 29, 1880. His wife followed him August 16, 1882. This pion- eer was entrusted with the various township offices and at the time of the discontinuance of the Menzie postoffice he was in charge of it. Merrill Armstrong was a son who continued on the home farm, after the death of his father, for many years. His brother, Curtis Arm- strong, was a member of Company H, Thirty-second Iowa Volun- teer Infantry, and died in 1868 from disease contracted while in the service of his country.
Simon Selix removed from Ohio to Bureau county, Illinois, in 1845. In 1856 he came to Franklin county and located on section 13, Ingham township. On this place he erected a good frame house in 1872 but lost it and its contents by fire in 1873. This drove Mr. Selix and his family back into the old log house-their first habitation- - until another building could be erected. He was the father of thir- teen children, most of whom were born in Franklin county. Among them were Justus H., David F., George H., William H., Eleanor E., James N., Cecelia D., Mary S. and Julia A.
There were but few to come and locate in this township in the year 1857. However, Martin Moore was one of the few. Un-
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fortunately, while at a school board meeting on section 16, in 1879, he was killed by lightning.
Between this time and after the conclusion of hostilities between the North and the South but few additions were made to the settle- ments in Ingham township. There were some arrivals in the '6os, before the war, but not many. John Meehan was one of them, com- ing to Franklin county in 1860 and locating on section 1 in this township. In 1862 Mr. Meehan enlisted in Company H, Thirty- second Iowa Volunteers, and served through two years of the hardest service.
James Anway settled in Howard county, Iowa, in 1856, and after a residence of over five years removed to Franklin county and went onto the farm taken by John Staley, one of the earliest settlers. Here Mr. Anway remained and in a fair measure became pros- perous.
James Trindle was a resident of Ingham township as early as 1862, having exchanged a farm of ninety acres in Wisconsin for three hundred and twenty acres of land in Ingham township. His success as a Franklin county farmer became at once assured, from the fact that the first crop he gathered from his land was a most bounteous one. In 1879 Mr. Trindle erected a fine residence on his place and not only became prosperous but also a man of importance in the affairs of the community.
W. K. Tucker, a new Englander, settled in La Salle county, Illinois, in 1858. He arrived in Franklin county in the fall of 1865 and began farming on one hundred and sixty acres of land in Ing- ham township. His ambition was to have a good farm and a resi- dence with modern conveniences. To this end he erected a home but at considerable expense and difficulties, as he was compelled to haul the lumber from Aplington over roads that were almost im- passable.
Jacob Woodley, who came from Wisconsin in 1865 and pur- chased eighty acres of school land on section 16, became one of the leading farmers of Ingham township. His family was installed in a log house 13x17 feet, but by the year 1878 they were living in a fine new residence which Mr. Woodley had built.
Oscar A. Chambers was a Buckeye, who became impressed with the beauties and advantages of Franklin county and located in Ing- ham township in 1866.
Orlando Hilliker was not only one of Ingham township's early farmers but he was also well known for his ability as a stock-raiser.
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He came to the township with his family, consisting of his wife, two sons and a daughter, in 1867. His father, Ellis Hilliker, had bought a farm of two hundred acres in 1877, which later became the prop- erty of Orlando, who made a specialty of stock.
Edward Burnham was another one to make a permanent resi- dence in Ingham township in 1867. He served in the Civil war, as did his son, Remembrance H. Mr. Burnham was a republican in politics and a zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Lyman Hall was a native of Knox county, Ohio, whence he re- moved to Bureau county, Illinois. There Mr. Hall enlisted for the Civil war and in 1867 came to Franklin county, buying eighty acres of land of his cousin, Simon Selix, which he improved and surrounded with all the comforts of life.
T. W. Bailey settled on section 24, in 1869. He came first to Iowa in 1866 and spent three years in Butler county, following farming.
W. Wilkins also immigrated to Butler county in 1866. In Febru- ary, 1869, he purchased a home and a tract of land on section 12 in this township from Wesley Allen.
Gifford Mickel was a native of New York state. He emigrated to Iowa, where he carried on farming and blacksmithing until 1869. In that year he located in Ingham township and in 1875 built the first blacksmith shop in the community. This he moved to another location on section 1, where he plied his trade industriously and remuneratively for a number of years. Mr. Mickel organized the first Sunday school at Allen's Grove and lived to see a large class grow up there.
J. F. Gans was a prosperous farmer of this township and made his first appearance here in 1876. He soon secured one hundred and twenty acres of land, which he began cultivating in addition to the raising of stock.
L. Reed secured a farm in Ingham township in 1871. Here he moved his family and in addition to general farming took up stock- raising, in which he made a success.
Frank Barry was one of the leading stock farmers of Ingham township. He was born in Green county, Wisconsin. His par- ents, however, were natives of Ireland. They came to America in 1845 and settled in Wisconsin. Frank Barry came to Frank- lin county in May, 1869, having at the time a pony, a saddle and $30 in money. Here he associated himself with a brother, William, and bought a tract of land on section 10, Ingham town-
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ship, on which a herd of cattle was placed to fatten, while other portions of the farm were being cultivated for grain.
Samuel Bailey settled in Franklin county in 1869. He bought 106 acres of land in Ingham township, to which other acres were added, and by good judgment in his methods of tilling the soil and raising live stock, he became possessed of a competency. Mr. Bailey was a veteran of the Civil war, serving three years.
R. Woodley was a Pennsylvanian, who removed to Wisconsin and thence came to Franklin county in 1869, at which time he bought eighty acres of land in Ingham township.
G. H. Minert came to Hampton in the fall of 1870, where he lived two years. He then rented a farm in Ingham township and three years later purchased it. He was a man who understood all the cares and duties that came with the conduct of a farm, and being careful and industrious was successful in whatever he under- took to do.
George Sutton settled in Ingham township in 1870. James Le- fever also settled here the same year. G. W. Burns came in 1872 and located on section 22.
J. Darling came in 1873 and bought eighty acres of land of N. B. Claypool; C. Roemer was a settler in the township in 1875, choos- ing a tract of land on section 19; T. H. Stackhouse settled in Ingham township on section 6, in 1878.
Among the happenings of importance which are part and parcel of the early history of Ingham township may be mentioned the fol- lowing: The first birth was that of Peter, son of John R. Hart- graves, February 2, 1856.
The death of a Mr. Jones by suffocating in a well in 1857, was the first to occur in the community.
James W. Allen in marrying Susan Harlan took the initiative in proceedings of that character in Ingham township. The ceremony was performed at the home of the bride's parents in Butler county, September 10, 1857.
The next Ingham township people to be married were George Harlan and Charlotte Staley, who joined their fortunes and happi- ness by marriage in 1858.
The first religious service in the township was held at the house of Jonathan Allen, on section 1, 1855. In 1857 services were held at the Hartgraves schoolhouse.
G. Mickel started the first blacksmith shop in the township, in 1869. Later a shop was opened at Hansell, by W. H. Anway, and one on the farm of J. S. Silvius.
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Leonard Lockwood taught the first school in the township in the winter of 1856-7. The scholars were secured by subscription. The first public school was taught by John A. Ackley, in a schoolhouse located on the southwest corner of section 25, in the fall of 1857. There were only seven pupils at this latter school, most of whom were of the Hartgraves family.
In the early '6os settlers of the Methodist faith held meetings at the Union Ridge schoolhouse, but no class was organized until 1866. At that time Rev. J. G. Wilkinson formed an organization which consisted of T. W. Bailey and wife, M. L. Bailey, James and Mary Trindle, B. S. Chambers and wife and Thomas Lewis and wife. This class was organized as the Second Methodist Episcopal church of Franklin county. In the pastorate Reverend Wilkin- son was succeeded by Reverend Cooley, and others of the early pas- tors were: Revs. Isaac Hall, J. A. Kerr, W. S. Darwin, William Gough, A. J. Northrup, J. W. Gould, M. L. Whitmore, J. M. Beal, G. W. Lutz, O. H. Sproul, W. A. Pottle and S. A. Camp. For a number of years this Methodist society held services in the school- house. It now has a church and parsonage in Hansell. It is a strong organization both in membership and the character of the people. On Sunday, December 15, 1889, a handsome church edifice was dedicated by Rev. DeWitt Clinton, present pastor of the Hamp- ton church. The building cost $1,555, all of which had been paid with the exception of $342. This was subscribed before the close of the dedicatory exercises. E. J. Starr is the present pastor, who with his family moved into a new parsonage in the fall of 1913.
The United Brethren organized a society under the leadership of Elder Stone in 1875. The first members were O. A. Hilliker and wife, father and mother, James Trindle and wife, William Trindle and James Wrightman. For some time meetings were held at the Chambers schoolhouse under charge of Rev. W. R. Benson, who also preached at Bristow. Rev. E. Schaffer is the present pastor.
The German Baptists organized a branch of the Coldwater church, January 1, 1883. Previous to this, however, services had been held from 1875 in the Chambers schoolhouse under the leader- ship of Rev. John F. Eidenberry. The first regular pastor was Rev. J. M. Hanawalt.
A Union Sunday school was organized in the township in 1883, which had an average attendance of over one hundred scholars. The first superintendent was Oscar A. Chambers.
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The Union Ridge Baptist Church was organized January 27, 1865, with fourteen members. The first pastor was T. H. Judson. Adrian Gillett was the clerk, and Calvin Gillett, deacon. The so- ciety lived fitfully until 1868, when it disbanded, while under the pastorate of Rev. C. A. Smith.
A Good Templars lodge was organized in 1867, with thirty-eight members, and held at the Union Ridge schoolhouse. The first offi- cials were : O. A. Chambers, worthy chief; Justus Selix, secretary ; R. S. Chambers, chaplain. Like other Good Templar lodges this one has ceased to exist.
The first postoffice established in Ingham township was presided over by Isaac Stover, in 1860. It was called Union Ridge and was located in the northeast part of the township. After several changes in postmasters, the office was moved to the residence of the post- masters. James Harlan was the next to follow Stover. He, how- ever, held the office in Butler county. When the railroad was built, the office was removed to Dumont, and the name changed.
Cream Hill postoffice was established, with a man named Smith as postmaster, but in 1880 it was discontinued and removed to Han- sell.
Menzie postoffice was established in 1867, with Lyman Hall as postmaster. He was followed by Lemuel Armstrong, who held the office until it was discontinued.
VILLAGE OF HANSELL
George W. Hansell and his wife, Laura B. Hansell, caused to be laid out and platted, in the fall of 1880, fifteen acres on the north- west quarter of section 28 and a part on section 29. The Dubuque & Dakota railroad, now known as the Chicago Great Western, had established a station there about 1873 and named it in honor of Mr. Hansell. At the time the town was platted, M. L. Whitmore was established as a general merchant. A blacksmith shop was in opera- tion by W. H. Anway, and an elevator with a capacity of 14,000 bushels, had been erected by Mr. Hansell in 1880. This was under his control, together with a lumberyard.
In 1883 George W. Hansell erected a large store building, which was stocked with a line of general merchandise and managed by the firm of Hansell, Son & Sweet. A line of agricultural implements was added to the business and installed in a large warehouse built
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the same year. The town is still a busy little mart, with good trans- portation facilities, and has probably 150 inhabitants.
M. L. Whitmore, Hansell's premier merchant, was raised on a farm and became an itinerant minister of the Methodist church. He arrived in Franklin county in 1880 and engaged in the mercantile business at Hansell. In the meantime for two years he had charge of the Union Ridge Methodist Episcopal Church in Ingham town- ship.
A postoffice was established here in 1880 and George W. Hansell was appointed postmaster.
Vol. I-18
CHAPTER XX
THE TOWNSHIPS CONTINUED - GENEVA - OAKLAND - HAMILTON GRANT-LEE-GENEVA EARLY SETTLED-JOB GARNER CAME TO THIS TOWNSHIP IN 1854 AND WAS FOUNDER OF HAMPTON-DATES OF TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATIONS.
GENEVA TOWNSHIP
The locality in which Geneva township now lies induced some of the first settlers of Franklin county to make the locality their homes. The land is of a most excellent quality and in value is prob- ably as high in the estimation of those who are experts as any in Franklin county. The territory is well watered, Mayne creek run- ning across its lines from west to east, which with its small tributa- ries waters and drains the entire township. Considerable timber was found by the pioneers at what afterwards became known as Four Mile Grove and Highland Grove.
Geneva township was erected out of Reeve township in 1858 and the first officials were appointed by the county court. They were William H. Thompson, clerk; Daniel Tillman and William B. Johnson, trustees. Later in the spring of that year an election was held in a log schoolhouse on section 16. This subdivision of the county has now the following boundaries: On the north, Ingham township; on the east, Butler county; on the south, Osceola town- ship; and on the west, Reeve township. The Minneapolis & St. Louis railroad, formerly the Central Iowa, enters the township at the southeast corner of section 2 and makes its exit from the north- west corner of section 18. Geneva is the only station.
The first settlements in the township were made in 1854. Those locating here that year were Job Garner, Amon Rice and Peter Rhinehart. Garner chose a tract of land on section 15, where he built the first house in the township. He only remained a year, however, disposing of his property to Martin Boots. Mr. Garner then entered land, which afterwards became the site of the county seat and gave forty acres to the county.
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Jabish Jones came with his wife and son, Benjamin, and another son, and together they entered a tract of land in Geneva township, in 1854. Here the father lived until his death, which took place in 1882. Benjamin remained until the fall of 1881, when he moved to a farm he had purchased in Ingham township.
Among those who came in 1855 were Martin Boots, J. E. Per- due, Silas Moon, Charles Leggett, Henry Smith, George Hansell, William H. Thompson, Q. A. Jordan, Rufus Benson, Samuel Car- baugh and William Ward.
J. E. Perdue left his home in Illinois in 1855 and coming further west found Franklin county to his liking and settled on section 17, where he lived until 1868 and then moved to Southern Iowa.
Silas Moon came from Indiana and settled on section 17, in 1855. He did not remain long and with the desire of making a change moved to Oregon territory.
Charles M. Leggett in 1855 selected a tract of land for a home, on which he lived for many years. The farm was afterwards owned by J. A. Pickering. Mr. Leggett was elected justice of the peace in 1855 and held the office for fifteen years. He was the first justice in Franklin county. Selling his farm in 1870, 'Squire Leggett moved on to another at the west end of Mayne's Grove. After a residence there of six years he retired from the farm and became a citizen of Hampton, where he remained until 1888 and then became a mem- ber of his son's family, at Smithland, in Woodbury county, where he died November 27, 1901.
Henry Smith was in the township as early as the fall of 1854, but did not locate permanently until the following spring, when he entered land on section 17. This property he afterward sold to J. E. Perdue.
George Hansell came west from Ohio in the spring of 1855 and stopped a while in Cedar county. In July of the same year he located on sections 6 and 7, in Geneva township, where he lived until 1873. That year he removed to Ingham township, and the station on the Chicago Great Western in the township is named for him.
William H. Thompson was one who took up his fortunes with Geneva township in 1855, coming here in the fall of that year and locating on sections 7 and 8. Here he improved the land which he had purchased of the Government and there remained until his death, which occurred August 26, 1913. Mr. Thompson was known and designated as one of Franklin county's grand men, a gentleman
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of rare mental capacity, one who always stood in the front ranks for the best interests of her people. Few men were more loyal to duty and few left a cleaner life record. At the time of his decease he had lived continuously on his farm for fifty-eight years.
David Church was a Geneva township farmer as early as 1855, having located here in the fall of that year and hired a house. In the following spring he built a habitation into which he moved his family. Mr. Church settled on section 9 and in a few years was the posses- sor of several hundred acres of the finest land in Franklin county. His neighbor, William Ward, put up the frame house for him. Mr. Church became quite active in the affairs of the county. He served on the board of supervisors six years and after becoming a citizen of Hampton in 1882 he assisted in the organization of the Citizens Bank of Hampton and was one of its directors. He died May 14, 1909.
William Ward, a Pennsylvanian and a neighbor of David Church while living in the Keystone state, immigrated west in 1855 and coming to Franklin county located on section 18 and there improved a farm, which is now known as the J. H. Butson place. About 1873 Mr. Ward moved to Hampton and for two years was in the livery business. He then bought the Shobe place in Sheffield and farmed it for some time, when he moved to Texas.
Q. A. Jordan arrived here early in 1855 and located on section 16. He was a good farmer and worked diligently to improve his place. Mr. Jordan remained until about the outbreak of the Civil war, when he removed to Kansas.
Martin Boots at the age of twenty-one married and began farm- ing in Ohio. In the fall of 1854, with the object of bettering his condition, he came west and spent the winter near Waterloo. The following spring he purchased and opened a farm in Geneva town- ship. In his house was held the first religious service in the town -. ship. He was a member of the United Brethren Church.
Rufus S. Benson was from Madison county, Ohio. He immi- grated to Franklin county, Iowa, with his parents, Isaac and Eunice Benson, in 1857, and settled near Four Mile Grove on a farm on sec- tion 16, which is still in possession of members of the family. In 1862 he helped raise Company H, Thirty-second Iowa Infantry ;. this being the only exclusively recruited company from Franklin county. He was elected its second lieutenant and after the death of Captain J. B. Reeve was promoted to the rank of captain, which office he held until mustered out in August, 1865. Captain Benson.
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was elected clerk of the district court in 1866, and in 1873 clerk of the board of supervisors. In 1873 he became county treasurer, hold- ing the office four years. In 1876 Captain Benson bought an interest in the Franklin County Bank and served as its vice president until 1880, when he was elevated to the position of its president. He served this district in the Legislature in 1881 and was his own suc- cessor to the office in the years 1883 and 1885. Having made invest- ments in Kansas City, he removed there in 1890 and after living at that place six years, took up his residence in Florence, New Mexico, where he had a considerable body of land and large cattle interests. There he died in March, 1905. His remains were brought back to Hampton and now lie in Hampton cemetery.
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