USA > Iowa > Franklin County > History of Franklin County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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
In closing this section we again would impress upon the minds of our readers the fact that they owe a debt of gratitude to those who pioneered this state, which can be but partially repaid. Never grow
69
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY
unmindful of the peril and adventure, fortitude, self-sacrifice and heroic devotion so prominently displayed in their lives. As time sweeps on in its ceaseless flight, may the cherished memories of them lose none of their greenness, but may future generations alike cherish and perpetuate them with a just devotion to gratitude.
CHAPTER III
IOWA'S FIRST LEGISLATURE-GRAPHIC, AMUSING AND INTERESTING PEN PICTURES BY A VETERAN MEMBER OF THAT HISTORIC BODY- HAWKINS TAYLOR'S PORTRAYAL OF THE FIRST IOWA LAW MAKERS- FRANKLIN COUNTY IN THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Hawkins Taylor was a member of the first Iowa Territorial Leg- islature from Lee county and afterward became a man of note and influence. Prior to his death he spent several years in Washington City and in 1884 contributed the article given here to the State Register :
"I propose to write up the first Territorial Legislature of Iowa that met in Burlington in the old Zion Methodist Church on Third street, on the 12th of November, 1838, now more than forty-five years ago. At this time very few of the members of the present Legislature of the State of Iowa had tasted their mother's milk, and at that time few of the members had ever seen a railroad. The set- tlers did not get free homes as the settlers do now, and they had pre- emption laws, but had to pay $1.25 per acre for their land or risk its being entered by a speculator. Money was scarce and times hard but there was good will, the latch string was out at every cabin, and no one thought of locking the doors of cabin or stable. If one settler from sickness or any other cause needed help, his neighbors gave him the assistance, whether to cultivate his crops or pay for his land. There were few statute laws but the people were a law unto them- selves, and there is never much injustice in such localities, where the ministers of the gospel are a part, and respected part, of the com- munity. It is when civilization and courts assume control that locks are needed. It is the certainty of conviction and punishment that brings terror to the evil doer. There was certainty of pun- ishment then. There is not much fear of certainty of punishment now, if the swag justifies the risk. At that time the man who at- tempted to rob his neighbor was speedily settled with, and without court expense.
71
72
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY
"After this preface, the reader will not be surprised to have me say that no Legislature in the state, not excepting the present one, ever had more talent and honest, earnest work in preparing proper laws for the people than the first Iowa Territorial Legislature in pro- portion to members, and there certainly has never been more digni- fied or efficient presiding officers than Gen. J. B. Brown, of the coun- cil, and Col. W. H. Wallace, of the House. I have never seen in the Senate or House of Congress, with the exception of Vice-President Dallas, the same dignity and observance of the rules as in that first Territorial Legislature, both in the Council and House.
"There were thirteen members of the Council and twenty-six mem- bers of the House, all newcomers to each other, and naturally, among the members some odd characters. They were from all parts of the Union, and each member was interested in incorporating in the laws of the territory the laws of the state of his former residence. The territory had laws under the Territory of Michigan, and then under, or a part of, Wisconsin, but the new Legislature had no code of laws to work on or from. A large majority of the members were from Indiana, Illinois, or the South, and were interesting anti-Yankee, so much so that even Ohio was classed as a Yankee state and unfor- tunately, the Legislature at the outset got into a quarrel, first with the secretary of the territory (Conway) about pocket knives, and then with the Governor about the number of employees of the Legislature. and that quarrel lasted up to the end of the session. Governor Lucas had been Governor of Ohio for two terms, had presided over the Baltimore convention in 1832, that renominated 'Old Hickory.' He wore his hair like Old Hickory and looked like him, and was proud of it, claiming the Roman virtues of that old hero. He was a class leader of the Methodist church and felt that it was his special duty to civilize the swell mob of settlers and legislators that he had been appointed to govern. He was an economist of the strictest Holman order, and the Legislature, following the example of the Wisconsin Legislature, had elected a full corps of officers, some ten in the Coun- cil and a third more in the House, to which the Governor had entered his earnest protest. There had some half dozen followers come with the Governor from Ohio, some of them very indiscreet friends, and they contributed largely to the quarrel. The Council refused to con- firm the Governor's nominees and the Governor would reappoint and the Council would persevere in rejecting them.
"An old fellow by the name of King, who kept a tavern where a good many members boarded, was nominated for justice of the peace
73
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY
and rejected almost a dozen times. King was called 'The Bell Ringer.' He had a bell on a post out in the street that he rang before meals. On one occasion, Hempstead, of Dubuque, afterward Gov- ernor, when King had been rejected ten or a dozen times, on the arrival of a message from the Governor, inquired of the President of the Council if the 'aforesaid Bell Ringer was back again.'
"Frierson, a member from Muscatine, was probably more the cause of the continued trouble than all others. He assumed to speak for the Governor and would threaten all measures before the Legislature that he did not like with the Governor's veto; and the Governor's veto was then absolute. The Legislature, by more than two-thirds majority, passed a memorial to the President of the United States for the removal of the Governor. The memorial was prepared by a committee of which J. W. Grimes was chairman, and drawn mainly by Grimes. It was very nearly a copy of the Declaration of Independence, in the following words :
""'He has declared to members of the Legislative Assembly his determination to veto all laws for which he would not vote as a mem- ber of the Assembly, thereby placing his isolated opinion in opposition to that of the representatives of the people, as well as possible in mat- ters of more expediency. He has appointed and nominated to office persons from abroad who were neither domiciled among nor had they any interest in common with the people of Iowa, and some of the per- sons thus nominated or appointed were connected with his excellency by intimate ties. He has manifested such a total want of abilities, not only to govern in time of peace but more especially to command in time of war, as are justly calculated to inspire your memorialists and their constituents with alarm for the security of their country, bor- dering as it does on the very confines of savage, warlike tribes.
" 'Wherefore, and in consideration of the above recited facts, your memorialists are driven to the unpleasant alternative of appealing to the constitutional guardian of this people, who has, they firmly believe, the best interests of the people at heart, although in the language of your excellency, the appointing power cannot always be well advised in its selections and the experience of every county has shown that public officers are not always proof against tempta- tion, and of declaring, your excellency, in the language of the Dec- ยท laration of Independence, their firm conviction that Robert Lucas is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
" 'They therefore, impelled by facts alone, and in nowise influ- enced by party or political motives, most respectfully and earnestly Vol. 1-5
.
74
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY
pray, that his excellency be forthwith recalled from the further discharge of the executive duties of the territory, under the full con- viction that the grievances of the people, whom they have the honor to represent, will not be heard and remain unredressed and that the misrule that otherwise might terminate in the ruin of the fairest and hitherto most prosperous and quiet portion of our common country will be practically and constitutionally arrested.'
"The Governor was not removed and no one expected that he would be when they voted for the memorial, but Congress did change the law creating the territory by allowing the Legislature to pass a measure over the veto of the Governor by a two-thirds vote.
"There had been no politics in the election of the members to either House of the Legislature. Every single member had been elected on a local issue, either the county boundary or county seat question, and mainly on the county seat question. The people then had heard of railroads but no person then expected that they would carry produce to market. They might take people and light bag- gage but never flour and meats. The water courses alone were re- lied upon for the transportation of produce. The Des Moines, Skunk, Iowa and Cedar rivers were all relied upon as navigable streams, especially the Des Moines. That river was to be the Musk- ingum of Iowa, with its banks lined with thriving towns. Farming- ton had been made the county seat of Van Buren county, by the Wis- consin Legislature, and then changed to Keosawqua, but Bonaparte, Bentonsport, Columbus, Farmington and Rising Sun were all ready to take their Bible oath that their town was the proper place for the county seat. Each of these towns had one or more candidates for the Legislature and each elected a member of one or the other House except Columbus. In Lee county the contest was between Fort Madison and the town of West Point. Fort Madison got the Coun- cil and West Point the House members. In Henry the contest was between Mount Pleasant and Trenton. Mount Pleasant elected the two members of the Council and two of the House. In Des Moines, it was Burlington and Franklin, and Burlington got all but one mem- ber. In Louisa, it was Wapello and Columbus City. Wapello got all. In Muscatine, it was Muscatine and Moscow. All the mem- bers lived in or near Muscatine but Moscow elected Hastings. In Scott, it was Davenport and Rockingham. Davenport got the members, as did Bellevue and Dubuque in Jackson and Dubuque counties."
75
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY
The writer then gives in detail a description of the personality of each member of this first Territorial Legislature of Iowa and his method of handling the subject is more than interesting. But space forbids the inclusion of any of them save and except the men who were sent from Muscatine and Louisa counties, which formed this district at that time. An exception will be made, however, in that of Gen. Jesse B. Brown, of Lee county. The narrative, among other things had this to say of him :
FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL
"From Lee, came Jesse B. Brown, the president of the Council. Brown was six feet seven inches in height and straight as an arrow. He has had no duplicate in Iowa or elsewhere. Sam Houston, of Texas, is the only man that had similar traits and the same capacity to attachments warm. But for dissipation Brown would have been the great leader of the people of Iowa and would have commanded any position desired. He never forgot a face or name, and his polished politeness when sober is a lost art at the present day. He was never beaten for any office in Lee county. The people would declare, after his troubled sprees, that they would never again 'support General Brown,' but they would forget their promises the next time he wanted their votes. But he had one remarkable trait. He never excused him- self or made any excuses for his sprees ; he made free concession of his unfortunate habits and evil acts and begged the forgiveness of his friends and he was forgiven. Brown was the Speaker of the House of the first Iowa State Assembly, known as the 'Pappoose' Legislature.
HASTINGS A UNIQUE CHARACTER
"From Muscatine and Louisa came John Frierson, S. C. Hastings, William L. Toole and Levi Thornton. Hastings was from Central New York, tall and as straight as an arrow, dark, oily face, coarse, long black hair like an Indian, strong gutteral voice-a lawyer-and could carry more of the old-fashioned, unadulterated whisky of that day, without losing his balance, than any other member. Of the little money then in circulation a good deal of it was counterfeit and a decently good one dollar counterfeit was never questioned. About the only money in circulation was wildcat and it was not much better than counterfeit. Hastings carried in his pocket several hundred dollars of counterfeit money. He did not try to pass it. He was the:
76
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY
paid lawyer of the organization of counterfeiters and horse thieves and said that they always sent him a bill of each new issue, that he would know that any one arrested for passing that issue, or kind of money, was to be defended by him. Hempstead told a story on Hastings that the latter greatly enjoyed. Two horse thieves had been arrested for horse stealing and were committed to jail in Du- buque. They were in jail several weeks before the meeting of the court, and had applied to no lawyer at Dubuque to defend them up to the day that court met, when they sent for Hempstead. They told Hempstead that they expected their lawyer from Muscatine, but he had not arrived, and that they had been instructed to employ him if Mr. Hastings did not come. The next morning, soon after the court met, a tall, uncouth, long-haired specimen of humanity came into the court room and looking around, inquired for Hempstead, to whom he made himself known as the attorney expected by the horse thieves. The following morning the thieves were arraigned under the indictment and plead not guilty, Hastings making oath that he could not procced to trial on account of the absence of material witnesses. Their case was continued until the next term and bail set at $3,000 cach. Two men swore that they were worth the required amount and Hastings, the two sureties and the two horse thieves marched out of court together. The next that Hempstead heard of Hastings was as a member of the Legislature at Burlington; but he never heard of the thieves and their sureties. Some years later Joe Loverage, who was the head factor in the horse line in the Cedar valley, was indicted for some of his horse operations. Joe was in great trouble and employed General Lowe who then lived at Muscatine. Lowe would not agree to be associ- ated with Hastings. Joe wanted Hastings and continued suggest- ing to Lowe the advisability of employing Hastings. Finally Lowe got mad and said : 'Yes, take your case and employe Hastings.' 'Oh, no, General, I cannot give you up ; you must manage the case. Oh, no, I cannot give you up,' answered Joe, but in a whisper said : 'It may become necessary to steal the indictment.' Lowe told him that he might employ Hastings for that purpose if he wanted to. But the court decided the indictment dead and it was not necessary to steal the indictment.
AN 'ODD LOOKING FISH'
"At the opening of the Legislature the Speaker adopted a rule that has never been followed since, I believe. He called members
77
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY
to the chair alphabetically. The result was that a good many mein- bers were called upon to preside that had no fitness for the position and was the cause of many amusing incidents. Wallace as Speaker established and required a courteous order that I have never seen equalled in any legislative body since, and least of all, in the House of Congress. When the House had been in committee of the whole and rose, the speaker, would walk up on one side of the rostrum, while the chairman would go down on the other, proceed to his desk, report the action of the committee of the whole, the most per- fect silence being required during the report-in fact, perfect order was required at all times. There were twelve double desks and one single desk. I occupied a desk with Van Delashmutt, a man full of humor. Robert G. Roberts, of Cedar county, did not get to Burlington for several days after the meeting of the Legislature. Roberts was a character-a man of good sense but rough, uncouth, unlearned and sensitive. He was a burly, rugged fellow. He wore a coarse suit of cassanet. His coat in breadth was large but in length was of the present dude style and very odd at that time. His shoes were of the brogan kind, now out of fashion. His hair was long and loose, with no evidence of ever having seen a comb.
"All in all, he was an odd looking fish. He had never before seen any of the brother members but Hastings. The speaker, learn- ing that he was in the city, sent for him to be sworn in. I never saw a man that seemed to be worse scared than Roberts. Van Delashmutt would whisper to me loud enough to be heard by other members near, 'He'll run, he'll run!' but Roberts did not run. He took a seat at the single desk and was the subject of much amusement during the session."
THE FIRST BILL INTRODUCED BY HASTINGS
The first bill was introduced by Hastings for the benefit of Robert G. Roberts, legalizing his acts as justice of the peace. He had been appointed justice of the peace by the Governor and had acted as such without being sworn in.
HASTINGS BEWILDERS A STUTTERING MEMBER
"Sam Parker was from West Virginia and had at one time held the dignified office of constable. . He was a fellow of quick wit and feared no one, was rough and uncouth in manner but naturally kind
78
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY
and clever. The first time that Sam was called to the chair, and the committee arose, Sam went to his seat but made no report to the House. The speaker looked dignified and the members were in a broad grin but Sam did not understand it. Colonel Patterson went to him and told him he must report the action of the committee to the House. Sam jumped up and in a noble voice said : 'Mr. Speaker, the House in committee on the whole have considered the bill, have amended it and have told me to ask you to concur.' The Speaker without a smile put the question : 'Will the House authorize the Speaker to concur in the amendment made?' and the House told him to concur. Sam was again in the chair during the fight for the capital location. The fight between Burlington as the temporary and Mount Pleasant as the permanent location, and a central location by com- missioners, was bitter in the extreme, lasting two days. Sam was for the Burlington and Mount Pleasant combination and the vote stood 13 for Mount Pleasant and 12 for commissioners. Hastings was one of the most active members of the minority and the whole of the two days had been spent mainly in voting down amendments, striking out Mount Pleasant and inserting the name of some other town unheard of. Name after name had been proposed by Hastings and voted down. Sam's patience was exhausted, when Hastings pro- posed the name of Mississippiwonoc. Sam rose and said : 'The gen- tleman from Muscatine proposed to strike out the name of Mount Pleasant and insert the name of Mis-sis-sis,' and down sat Sam. Hast- ings got up and pronounced the name, when Sam made another at- tempt but got no further than 'Mis-sis-sis,' and again sat down. Hast- ings again got up and repeated the name slowly and in a very sonorous voice, when Sam jumped up and with his shut fists and in a furious voice said : 'That may be the name, Mr. Hastings, but if it is it is d-d badly spelled.' Up to this speech the members had been fighting mad but all shouted with laughter at Sam's decision. Sam had re- stored good feeling and Laurel Summers, of Scott, changed his vote from the majority to the minority and the commissioners were appointed who located the capital at Iowa City. Swan was chair- man of the commission and had charge of the laying off of the town. He settled there, built and kept Swan's Hotel, and if all that was said and done in that hotel could be written, it would be a readable book. Tom Johnson always stopped at the Swan and said many witty things. It was in that hotel that Breckenridge met the defeat that sent him back to Kentucky. He wanted to be the 8th of January orator but that post of honor was given to Mills, who was killed in
79
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY
Mexico, and Breckenridge left the Yankee country. In that hotel a Lee county Senator raised a row because they numbered his cow- hide boots 13 (the number of his room). He said his boots were only tens and that if he was to be so insulted he would leave the house.
"There were but two counties west of the Mississippi, while a part of the Territory of Wisconsin (then spelled Oisconsin), Des Moines and Dubuque dividing at Pine river between Muscatine and Davenport, and at the session of the Wisconsin Legislature in 1837-8, held at Burlington, the members of the old county lived in that part that remained after the new counties of Lee, Van Buren, Henry, Slaughter (now Washington), Louisa and Muscatine had been taken off, and they gave all the offices in the Legislature to citizens of the old county. When the members from the new counties met in the Iowa Legislature they determined to retaliate on the old county. There were duplicate candidates from Des Moines for all the officers of the Legislature but the members from the new counties apportioned out the officers, giving Des Moines county the fireman they would not have. The Legislature met in the Zion Methodist Church, then just built and not finished. It was the finest church in the territory and had been built under many trials. I. C. Sleeth had charge of the church and would gladly have taken the place of fireman. It paid three dollars a day and Sleeth could have hired a man to do the work for one dollar and besides he was most anxious to guard the building from fire. If there was any insurance on buildings in Burlington at that time, I never heard of it. There was no insurance on the church.
"The Des Moines delegation had candidates for all the offices down to fireman but were beaten by the combination for fireman. There was no nomination. The Des Moines delegation would not name a man and no other member would. Sleeth and others in Bur- lington wanted the place but Grimes and the other members refused to name them. Finally Hastings nominated an old Frenchman by the name of Dupont, who had been a sort of hanger-on among the Indians, and was a perfect specimen of an ill-spent life but, as Hastings reported, he had a very handsome wife. The first ballot Dupont got one vote and Blank twenty-five. It was about the seventh ballot that Dupont got a majority and an election and not until all were satisfied that the Des Moines delegation would not name a man. It took Hastings and the consumption of a good deal of whisky and several days to get Dupont sober enough to be able to perform his
80
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY
duties as fireman but he sobered up and made a good one. Sleeth carefully looked after him and the building."
FRANKLIN COUNTY IN THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
The men who were from Franklin in the General Assembly of Iowa were of high character and sterling worth. They had fitted themselves for broader and more responsible activities during the years that called for their energies and abilities at home. Most, if not all, of them had been trained to a greater or lesser extent in finesse and the intricacies of governmental affairs, so that they went to the Legislature equipped for the duties before them in that wider field.
Chauncey Gillett, according to the Iowa Official Register, was the first person to represent Franklin county in the General Assem- bly, whose home was in the county, and only those will be here men- tioned. He represented the legislative district in the Eighth Gen- eral Assembly and was present in an extra session held before the expiration of his term. The names of others from Franklin in the Legislature follow: Michael A. Leahy, fourteenth and fifteenth ; Lorenzo D. Lane, sixteenth; Rufus S. Benson, nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first; John W. Luke, twenty-second and twenty-third ; W. F. Harriman, twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth; C. F. Johnston, twenty-sixth, twenty-sixth extra session and twenty-seventh; D. J. Patton, twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth; D. W. Dow, thirtieth, thirty-first, thirty-second and thirty-second extra; Nathaniel W. Beebe, thirty-third and thirty-fourth; Frank A. Thayer, thirty-fifth. Mr. Thayer died February 28, 1913, and Orson G. Reeve was elected to fill the vacancy. Elisha G. Howland, of Otisville, was sent to the Senate for the Fourteenth General Assembly. He afterwards moved to Belmond, Wright county, and from there was returned to the Senate for the Fifteenth General Assembly. The present Senator from the Forty-third Senatorial District is Thomas J. B. Robinson, of Hampton.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.