USA > Iowa > Franklin County > History of Franklin County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 5
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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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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY
Mr. Fuller at Mount Pleasant as steward. The work of preparation was conducted so vigorously that July 13th following, the executive committee announced it was ready to receive children. Within three weeks twenty-one were admitted and in a little more than six months seventy were in the home. The home was sustained by vol- untary contributions until 1866, when it was taken charge of by the state. The Legislature appropriated $10 per month for each orphan actually supported and provided for the establishment of three homes. The one in Cedar Falls was organized in 1865. An old hotel building was fitted up for it and by the following January there were ninety-six inmates. In October, 1869, the home was re- moved to a large brick building about two miles west of Cedar Falls and was very prosperous for several years but in 1876 the Legislature devoted this building to the State Normal School. The same year the Legislature also devoted the buildings and grounds of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home, at Glenwood, Mills county, to an institution for the support of feeble-minded children. It also provided for the re- moval of the soldiers' orphans at Glenwood and Cedar Falls homes to the one located at Davenport. There is in connection with this institution a school building, pleasant, commodious and well lighted, and it is the policy of the board to have the course of instruction of a high standard. A kindergarten is operated for the very young pupils. The age limit to which children are kept in the home is sixteen years. Fewer than 20 per cent remain to the age limit. A library of well selected juvenile literature is a source of pleasure and profitable entertainment to the children, as from necessity their pleasures and pastimes are somewhat limited. It is the aim to pro- vide the children with plenty of good, comfortable clothing, and to teach them to take good care of the same. Their clothing is all manufactured at the home, the large girls assisting in the work. The table is well supplied with a good variety of plain, wholesome food and a reasonable amount of luxuries. The home is now sup- ported by a regular appropriation of $12 per month for each inmate, and the actual transportation charges of the inmates to and from the institution. Each county is liable to the state for the support of its children to the extent of $6 per month, except soldiers' orphans, who are cared for at the expense of the state.
FEEBLE-MINDED CHILDREN
An act of the General Assembly, approved March 17, 1878, pro- vided for the establishment of an asylum for feeble-minded chil-
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY
dren at Glenwood, Mills county, and the buildings and grounds of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home were taken for that purpose. The asylum was placed under the management of three trustees, one of whom should be a resident of Mills county. The institution was opened September 1, 1876. By November, 1877, the number of pu- pils was eighty-seven. The purpose of this institution is to provide special methods of training for that class of children deficient in mind or marked with such peculiarities as to deprive them of the benefits and privileges provided for children with normal faculties. The object is to make the child as nearly self-supporting as practi- cable and to approach as nearly as possible the movements and actions of normal people. It further aims to provide a home for those who are not susceptible of mental culture, relying wholly on others to supply their simple wants.
INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS
The Industrial School for Boys is established at Eldora. By act, approved March 31, 1868, the General Assembly established a reform school at Salem, Henry county, and provided for a board of trustees from each congressional district. The trustees immediately leased the property of the Iowa Manual Labor Institute, and October 7th following, the school received its first inmate. The law at first pro- vided for the admission of both sexes under eighteen years of age. The trustees were directed to organize a separate school for girls. In 1872 the school for boys was permanently located at Eldora, Hardin county, and some time later the one for girls was established at Mitchellville. There is appropriated for these schools and their sup- port the sum of $13 monthly for each boy, and $16 monthly for each girl inmate. The object of the institution is the reformation of juve- nile delinquents. It is not a prison. It is a compulsory educational institution. It is a school where wayward and criminal boys and girls are brought under the influence of Christian instructors and taught by example as well as precept the better ways of life. It is a training school, where the moral, intellectual and industrial education of the child is carried on at one and the same time.
PENAL INSTITUTIONS
The Governor, by an act approved January 25, 1839, was au- thorized to draw the sum of $20,000, appropriated by an act of
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY
Congress in 1838, for public buildings in the Territory of Iowa and establish a state penal institution. The act provided for a board of directors, consisting of three persons, to be elected by the Legislature, who should superintend the building of a penitentiary to be located within a mile of the public square in the town of Fort Madison, Lee county, provided that the latter deeded a suitable tract of land for the purpose, also a spring or stream of water for the use of the penitentiary. The citizens of Fort Madison executed a deed of ten acres of land for the building. The work was soon entered upon and the main building and the warden's house were completed in the fall of 1841. It continued to meet with additions and improvements until the arrangements were all completed ac- cording to the designs of the directors. The labor of the convicts is let out to contractors, who pay the state a stipulated sum for ser- vices rendered, the state furnishing shops and necessary supervision in preserving order. The Iowa Farming Tool Company and the Fort Madison Chair Company are the present contractors.
PENITENTIARY AT ANAMOSA
The first steps toward the erection of a penitentiary at Anamosa, Jones county, were taken in 1872, and by an act of the General As- sembly, approved April 23, 1884, three commissioners were selected to construct and control prison buildings. They met on the 4th of June, following, and chose a site donated by the citizens of Anamosa. Work on the building was commenced September 28, 1872. In 1873 a number of prisoners were transferred from the Fort Madison prison to Anamosa. The labor of the convicts at this penitentiary is employed in the erection and completion of the buildings. The labor of a small number is let to the American Cooperage Company. This institution has a well equipped department for female prisoners, also a department for the care of the criminal insane.
STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
A State Historical Society in connection with the university was provided for by act of the General Assembly, January 25, 1857. At the commencement an appropriation of $250 was made, to be ex- pended in collecting and preserving a library of books, pamphlets, papers, paintings and other materials illustrative of the history of Iowa. There was appropriated $500 per annum to maintain this
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY
society. Since its organization the society has published three differ- ent quarterly magazines. From 1863 to 1874 it published the Annals of Iowa, twelve volumes, now called the first series. From 1885 to 1902, it published the Iowa Historical Record, eighteen volumes. From 1903 to 1907, the society has published the Iowa Journal of History and Politics, now in its fifth volume. Numerous special pub- lications have been issued by the society, the most important of which are the Messages and Proclamations of the Governors of Iowa, in seven volumes, the Executive Journal of Iowa, 1838-1843, and the Lucas Journal of the War of 1812.
IOWA SOLDIERS' HOME
The Iowa Soldiers' Home was built and occupied in 1888, at Mar- shalltown. The first year it had 140 inmates. In 1907 there were 794 inmates, including 112 women. The United States Goverment pays to the State of Iowa the sum of $100 per year for each inmate of the soldiers' home who served in any war in which the United States was engaged, which amount is used as part of the support fund of the institution. Persons who have property or means for their support, or who draw a pension sufficient therefor, will not be admitted to the home, and if after admission an inmate of the home shall receive a pension or other means sufficient for his sup- port, or shall recover his health so as to enable him to support him- self, he will be discharged from the home. Regular appropriation by the state is $14 per month for each member, and $10 per month for each employee not a member of the home.
OTHER STATE INSTITUTIONS
There are at Clarinda and Cherokee state hospitals for the insane and one at Knoxville for the inebriate.
It is strange, but true, that in the great State of Iowa, with more than 60 per cent of her population engaged in agricultural pur- suits and stock-raising, it was not until the year 1900 that a depart- ment of the state government was created in the interests of, and for the promotion of agriculture, animal industry, horticulture, manufactures, etc. The Iowa Department of Agriculture was created by an act of the Twenty-eighth General Assembly. In 1892 the Iowa Geological Survey was established and the law which pro- vided therefor outlined its work to be that of making "a complete
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY
survey of the natural resources of the state in the natural and scientific aspects, including the determination of the characteristics of the vari- ous formations and the investigation of the different ores, coals, clays, building stones and other useful materials." It is intended to cooper- ate with the United States Geological Survey in the making of topo- graphical maps and those parts of the state whose coal resources make such maps particularly desirable and useful. The State Agricultural Society is one of the great promoters of the welfare of the people. The society holds an annual fair which has occurred at Des Moines since 1878. At its meetings subjects of the highest interest and value are discussed, and these proceedings are published at the expense of the state.
THE CELEBRATION OF THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CON- STITUTION OF IOWA By John C. Parrish
In the year 1907 the State of Iowa closed the first half century of its existence under the constitution of 1857. In April, 1906, the General Assembly, looking forward to the suitable celebration of so important an anniversary, passed an act appropriating $750 to be used by the State Historical Society of Iowa, in a commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the constitution of 1857. It was emi- nently desirable that the celebration should occur at Iowa City, for it was at that place, then the capital of the state, that the constitu- tional convention of 1857 was held. And it was particularly fitting that the exercises should be placed under the auspices of the State Historical Society of Iowa, for the same year, 1857, marks the birth of the society. While the convention was drafting the fundamental law of the state in a room on the lower floor of the Old Stone Capitol, the Sixth General Assembly in the legislative hall upstairs in the same building passed an act providing for the organization of a State Historical Society. Thus the event of 1907 became a celebra- tion of the fiftieth anniversary of the State Historical Society as well as a commemoration of the semi-centennial of the constitution of 1857.
In due time plans were matured for a program covering four days, beginning on Tuesday, March 19, and closing on Friday, March 22, 1907. It consisted of addresses by men of prominent reputation in constitutional and historical lines, together with con- ferences on state historical subjects. On Tuesday evening Prof.
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Andrew C. McLaughlin, of Chicago University, delivered an ad- dress upon "A Written Constitution in Some of Its Historical As- pects." He dwelt in a scholarly way upon the growth of written constitution, showing the lines along which their historical develop- ment has progressed.
The speaker of Wednesday was Prof. Eugene Wambaugh, of the Harvard Law School, one of the leading authorities in the country upon questions of constitutional law and formerly a member of the faculty of the college of law of the University of Iowa. Professor Wambaugh, taking for his subject "The Relation Between General History and the History of Law," outlined the history of the long rivalry between the civil law of Rome and the common law in their struggle for supremacy, both in the old world and the new. In closing, he referred to the constitution of Iowa as typical of the efforts of the American people to embody in fixed form the prin- ciples of right and justice.
Thursday morning was given over to a conference on the teach- ing of history. Prof. Isaac A. Loos, of the State University of Iowa, presided, and members of the faculties of a number of the colleges and high schools of the state were present and participated in the program. In the afternoon the conference of historical so- cieties convened, Dr. F. E. Horack, of the State Historical Society of Iowa, presiding. Reports were read from the historical depart- ment at Des Moines and from nearly all of the local historical so- cieties of the state. Methods and policies were discussed and much enthusiasm was aroused looking toward the better perservation of the valuable materials of local history.
The history of the Mississippi valley is replete with events of romantic interest. From the time of the early French voyagers and explorers, who paddled down the waters of the tributaries from the north, down to the days of the sturdy pioneers of Anglo Saxon blood, who squatted upon the fertile soil and staked out their claims on the prairies, there attaches an interest that is scarcely equalled in the annals of America. On Thursday evening, Dr. Reuben Gold Thwaites, superintendent of the State Historical Society of Wiscon- sin, delivered an address upon "The Romance of Mississippi Valley History." He traced the lines of exploration and immigration from the northeast and east and drew interesting pictures of the activities in the great river valley when the land was young and the ways full of wonder to the pioneer adventurer.
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY
Friday's program closed the session. On this day Governor Al- bert B. Cummins attended and participated in the celebration. At the university armory before a large gathering, he spoke briefly on the Constitution of the United States, paying it high tribute and at the same time showing the need of amendment to fit present- day needs. He then introduced Judge Emlin McClain, of the supreme court of Iowa, who delivered the principal address of the day. Judge McClain took for his subject "The Constitutional Con- vention and the Issues Before It." He told of that memorable gath- ering at the Old Stone Capitol in Iowa City fifty years ago when thirty-six men met in the supreme court-room to draft the funda- mental law for the commonwealth.
The members of the convention of 1857 were from various oc- cupations. The representatives of the legal profession led in num- bers with fourteen members, among whom were many men of promi- nence. William Penn Clarke, Edward Johnstone and J. C. Hall were there. James F. Wilson, afterward so prominent in national politics, was a member, then only twenty-eight years of age. J. C. Hall was the only delegate who had served in either of the preced- ing constitutional conventions of the state, having represented Henry county in the convention of 1844. There were 12 farmers in the convention of 1857-rugged types of those men who settled upon land and built into the early history of the state its elements of en- during strength. Among the remaining members were merchants, bankers and various other tradesmen. They were a representative group of men and they attacked the problems before them with char- acteristic pioneer vigor.
The convention of 1857 chose for its presiding officer, Francis Springer, an able farmer and lawyer from Louisa county. Many were the discussions that stirred the convention. One of the first was over the proposition to move the convention bodily to Dubuque or to Davenport. The town of Iowa City it seems had not provided satisfactory accommodations for the delegates, and for hours the mem- bers gave vent to their displeasure and argued the question of a removal. But inertia won and the convention finally decided to re- main in Iowa City and settled down to the discussion of more serious matters.
The constitution of 1846 had prohibited banking corporations in the state. But there was strong agitation for a change in this respect, and so the convention of 1857 provided for both a state bank and for a system of free banks. The matter of corporations
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY
was a prominent one before the convention. So also was the question of the status of the negro. The issues were taken up with fairness and argued upon their merits. The convention was republican in the proportion of 21 to 15. The delegates had been elected upon a party basis. Yet they did not allow partisanship to control their ac- tions as members of a constituent assembly. On the 19th of January they had come together and for a month and a half they remained in session. They adjourned March 5th and dispersed to their homes.
That the members of the convention did their work well is evi- denced by the fact that in the 50 years that have followed only four times has the constitution of 1857 been amended. Nor did these amendments embody changes, the need of which the men of 1857 could have well foreseen. The first two changes in the fundamental law were due to the changed status of the negro as a result of the Civil war. In 1882 the prohibitory amendment was passed, but it was soon declared null by the supreme court of Iowa because of technicalities in its submission to the people and so did not become a part of the constitution. The amendments of 1884 were concerned largely with judicial matters, and those of 1904 provided for biennial election and increased the number of members of the House of Representatives.
With these changes the work of the constitutional convention of 1857 has come down to us. Fifty years have passed and twice has the convention been the subject of a celebration. In 1882, after a quarter of a century, the surviving members met at Des Moines. Francis Springer, then an old man, was present and pre- sided at the meeting. Out of the original 36 members, only 20 re- sponded to the roll call. Eight other members were alive but were unable to attend. The remainder had given way to the inevitable reaper. This was in 1882. In 1907 occurred the second celebra- tion. This time it was not a reunion of the members of the convention, for only one survivor appeared on the scene. It was rather a com- memoration of the fiftieth birthday of the constitution of the state. Only one member of the convention, John H. Peters, of Manchester, Iowa, is reported to be now living.
The celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of our fundamental law was marked by a unique feature. There were pres- ent and participated in the program three aged pioneers of the state, a survivor of each of the three constitutional conventions. These three conventions met in 1857, in 1846 and 1844, respectively. 50, 61
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY
and 63 years ago. On the opening day of the celebration, J. Scott Richman appeared upon the scene. Sixty-one years ago he had come to Iowa City as a delegate of the convention of 1846. Eighty- eight years old, with patriarchal beard and slow step, he came as the only living member of the convention that framed the constitution under which Iowa entered the Union. On Thursday there came from Marion, Samuel Durham, a tall pioneer, 90 years of age, the sole survivor of Iowa's first constitutional convention-that of 1844. His memory ran back to the days of Iowa's first governor, Robert Lucas, for he had reached Iowa from Indiana in the year 1840. On the last day of the program these two old constitution makers of 1844 and 1846 were joined by a third, John H. Peters, who had come from Delaware county as a member of the last constitutional convention of fifty years ago. They sat down together at the luncheon on Friday noon and responded to toasts with words that took the hearers back to the days when Iowa was the last stopping place of the immigrant.
Thus the celebration was brought to an end. From every point of view it was a success. Probably never again will the state see the reunion of representatives of all three constitutional conventions. Time must soon take away these lingering pioneers of two genera- tions ago, but the state will not soon forget their services, for they have left their monument in the fundamental law of the common- wealth.
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CABIN IN INGHAM TOWNSHIP BUILT IN 50'S OCCUPIED BY WINFRED BROTHERTON AND FAMILY
OBADIAH SMITH, PIONEER CABIN
CHAPTER II
THE LOG CABIN WAS THE PALACE OF THE PIONEER-CHINKED LOGS, COVERED WITH CLAPBOARDS-RIFLE AND SPINNING WHEEL-AL- MOST ANYTHING WAS A BEDROOM-COOKING WAS PRIMITIVE FOR SHARP APPETITES-WELCOME FOR THE WAYFARER-PRAIRIE FIRES AND WOLF HUNTS-AMUSEMENTS FOR THE FRONTIER PEOPLE WERE NOT LACKING-WHAT UNREMITTING TOIL HAS ACCOM- PLISHED.
PIONEER LIFE
Most of the early settlers of Iowa came from older states, as Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio, where their prospects for even a competency were very poor. They found those states good to emi- grate from. Their entire stock of furniture, implements and fam- ily necessities were easily stored in one wagon, and sometimes a cart was their only vehicle.
THE LOG CABIN
After arriving and selecting a suitable location, the next thing to do was to build a log cabin, a description of which may be inter- esting to many of the younger readers, as in some sections these old- time structures are no more to be seen. Trees of uniform size were chosen and cut into logs of the desired length, generally 12 by 15 feet, and hauled to the spot selected for the future dwelling. On an appointed day a few neighbors who were available would assemble and have a "house-raising." Each end of every log was saddled and notched so that they would lie as close down as possible; the next day the proprietor would proceed to "chink" and "daub" the cabin, to keep out the rain, wind and cold. The house had to be redaubed every fall, as the rains of the intervening time would wash out the greater part of the mortar. The usual height of the house was seven or eight feet. The gables were formed by shortening the logs Vol. 1-4
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY
gradually at each end of the building near the top. The roof was made by laying very straight small logs, or stout poles, suitable dis- tances apart, and on these were laid the clapboards, somewhat like shingling, generally about two and a half feet to the weather. These clapboards were fastened to their place by "weight poles" corre- sponding in place with the joists just described, and these again were held in their place by "runs," or "knees," which were chunks of wood about eighteen or twenty inches long, fitted between them near the ends. Clapboards were made from the nicest oaks in the vicinity, by chopping or sawing them into 4-foot blocks and riving these with a frow, which was a simple blade fixed at right angles to its handles. This was driven into the blocks of wood by a mallet. As the frow was wrenched down through the wood, the latter was turned alter- nately over from side to side, one end being held by a forked piece of timber.
The chimney to the western pioneer's cabin was made by leaving in the original building a large open place in one wall, or by cutting one after the structure was up, a stone column, or a column of sticks and mud, the sticks being laid up cob-house fashion. The fireplace thus made was often large enough to receive fire wood six to eight feet long. Sometimes this wood, especially the "back log," would be nearly as large as a saw log. The more rapidly the pioneer could burn up the wood in his vicinity, the sooner he had his little farm cleared and ready for cultivation. For a window, a piece about two feet long was cut out of one of the wall logs, and the hole closed, sometimes by glass, but generally with greased paper. Even greased deer hide was sometimes used. A doorway was cut through one of the walls if a saw was to be had, otherwise the door would be left by shortened logs in the original building. The door was made by pinning clapboards to two or three wood bars and was hung upon wooden hinges. A wooden latch, with catch, then finished the door, the latch being raised by any one on the outside by pulling a leather string. For security at night, this latch string was drawn in, but for friends and neighbors, and even strangers, the "latch string was al- ways hanging out as a welcome." In the interior over the fireplace would be a shelf, called the "mantel," on which stood the candle stick or lamp, some cooking and table ware, possibly an old clock, and other articles. In the fireplace would be the crane, sometimes of iron, sometimes of wood. On it the pots were hung for cooking. Over the door, in forked cleats, hung the ever trustful rifle and pow- der horn. In one corner stood the larger bed for the "old folks,"
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