USA > Iowa > Cerro Gordo County > History of Franklin and Cerro Gordo counties, Iowa and biographies of representative citizens. History of Iowa, embracing accounts of the pre-historic races > Part 18
USA > Iowa > Franklin County > History of Franklin and Cerro Gordo counties, Iowa and biographies of representative citizens. History of Iowa, embracing accounts of the pre-historic races > Part 18
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 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105
residence. He then said he would take fifty dollars for his claim, which Popejoy paid him without more ado, and thus the grove changed hands. This man's name was Hurlbut C. Holmes, and he lived at that time across the river with one Dr. Crawford, in a cabin on the Brand place. Francis M. Mitchell, heretofore mentioned as making the first entry of land in Frank- lin county, had a family in the same cabin at that time, but was then away, Mr. Popejoy thinks at Des Moines. This was in May, 1854, and these were all the set- tlers on the Iowa in Franklin county at that time, excepting that a man named Dennis Sprague had a claim where Oak- land village is now, although he had neither built a cabin or moved there at this time.
Popejoy and Pearsons went back to Des Moines, and the former bought land enough adjoining his new claim to make a section, before he got away from the land office. They then returned to Illi- nois, Popejoy going back to his home in Ohio.
There does not appear to have been many entries of government land made in 1854 in the county, and among those made in the first part of the season were those of James Van Horn, who made his entries, as mentioned, about May 13, 1854; an- drew Cole, who entered the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 22, township 91, range 20, where his fam- ily now resides; on the 20th of June, the same year, Leander C. Reeve, who en- tered part of section 23, same township; on the 14th of April, William May, who entered the southeast quarter of the north- west quarter of section 27, where Mays-
145
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY.
ville now is, and also the farm where J. H. Bond now resides ; on the 22d day of May, James Newell, who also entered the land that is now a part of the old plat of Maysville, where the school house is and westward of it, on the 13th of May; Sanford B. Mitchell, who entered the northwest quarter of section 27 in township 90, range 22, (Oakland township), on the 27th of April. Also June 26, David Allen entered land on section 12, in Ingham township, at the grove that now bears his name. None of these, so far as we can find out, moved their families into the county before July 4,1854
In June of this year, Charles M. Leg- gett and a man named Loomis, came from Lake county, Ohio, to take a look in Iowa and as he was from the same vicinity as Judge Reeve, naturally bent his steps to Franklin county. From Waterloo they walked up to Maynes' Grove and as it was exceedingly hot weather, they had a hard and tedious trip. For water they were often compelled to drink out of sloughs and to find a hole wherein an elk or buffalo had stepped in the soft ground, leaving a hole that they could drop an empty pint bottle into and have it fill with the lukewarm water was counted a streak of good luck. Leggett selected 120 acres in Geneva township on section 18, where J. A. Pickering now resides and Loomis bought Peter Rhinehart's claim, which it will be remembered is where W. C. Haines now resides, although the house was further west, up the creek, where O. D. Andrews lived for many years. Loomis engaged forty acres of breaking to be done immediately on his
claim and Leggett and Loomis, engaging Judge Reeve to take them to Cedar Falls, returned to Ohio.
About this time Fairchild, who, it will be remembered, had settled op the present Sheppard place, got into a difficulty that had the effect of terminating his residence at Mayne's Grove. Among the settlers "jumping a claim" was called the greatest crime known to the community, and they were consequently banded together in a league offensive and defensive against all speculators and interlopers. Sometimes there was a question as to the legality of the pre-emption by which a settler held his claim, but it was always construed in favor of the settler, such little trifling irregular- ities as failing to properly mark his bound- aries or give the proper notice being overlooked. A speculator came to the grove on a land hunt along in June and took a fancy to the claim occupied by Mayne, and falling in with Fairchild he obtained the information as to wherein Mayne's claim was defective, and accord- ingly the speculator "entered Mayne out" as it was termed. This raised such a feel- ing against Fairchild that he packed up and left the settlement forthwith, and, as one old settler naively remarked : ""T was the best thing he could do, for he would have been shot if he had stayed."
About the middle of May, 1854, Daniel Allen and his sons, James and Jonathan, Wesley Hogan and L. Tatum left Janes- ville, in Bremer county, where they then resided, for a look at Franklin county. They came across to Jamison's Grove and then struck across for the little grove three or four miles northeast of Hampton, now called Beed's Grove. They went up
.
146
7
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY.
and down the stream that runs through the grove, looking for a spring, as old Mr. Allen was bound never to locate until he found a spring of pure water to suit him. Finally they abandoned the idea of find. ing one there, and crossing over, looked along the north side of Van Horn's Grove but not as far down as C. J. Mott's place, and then went back to Jamison's Grove, crossed the West Fork and upon discover- ing the large spring on the present Gour- ley place about half a mile north of the county line bridge in Ingham township, the elder Allen forthwith drove his stake, declaring himself satisfied at last. Tatum went up the stream and found another spring on the Hoxie place, where he located, Hogan going further back from the river and locating where James Ray lives, just over the line in West Fork township. It was Saturday night when all had their claims made, but time was precious, and on Sunday they cut the logs and put up the walls of Tatum's house on the Hoxie place, covered it with basswood bark and on Monday morning were ready to commence on Mr. Allen's house, which they did, and when that was finished up, all returned to Janesville.
On the second of May they all returned with their families, and became the first settlers in Franklin county outside of the settlement at Mayne's Grove and the two families of Downs and McCormickin the southeastern corner of the county. No
one was above them on the West Fork and only two families at Jamison's Grove.
David Allen was born in North Carolina, in 1804, and when about ten years of age, removed with his parents to Indiana where he resided until nearly thirty years of age, when he moved to Kentucky and while there married, and after residing there a few years returned to Indiana. About 1849 he moved from Putnam county in that State to Wapello county in this State and two years later to Bremer county where he had resided about three years when he came to Franklin county in 1854. He has lived always on the frontier until now in his old age he is fairly overtaken by civilization, and as he is advanced in years and somewhat broken down by hard work and priva- tions incident to pioneer life, it will probably not be his lot to go further west. He has now, at this writing, re- sided in Franklin county almost a third of a century, and he has seen more changes within its borders in that in- terval than usually falls to the lot of any man to witness in a lifetime.
This brings the settlement of Franklin county up to a time when immigration set in rapidly, and it is impossible to trace it further in this chapter. In the histories of the various townships, the settlement is treated more at length and carried to a much later date.
147
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY.
CHAPTER IV.
THE BEGINNING.
James M. Marsh, a surveyor, must go into history as the first white man who ever set foot on Franklin county soil. The records state that he had a surveying contract, in pursuance of which about the 20th of Au- gust, 1849, he began running the township, lines of this county finishing in the latter part of September, 1849. Those who as- sisted him were: William M. Dean and N. P. Cook, chainmen; B. H. Springer, flagman; James Casteel, axman. Mr. Dean was for many years a resident of Cerro Gordo county. Whether the little party had any trouble with the Indians or not cannot be stated.
In September and October, 1849, John G. McDonald, the deputy sur- veyor, sub-divided into sections the following territory:
Township 90, range 19; township 90, range 20; town- ship 90, range 21; township 90, range 22. This territory now comprises the civil townships of Osceola, Grant, Lee and Oakland.
Nothing further was done toward the sub-division of the other townships until 1851. In June, July, August and Septem- ber, 1851, Alonzo Shaw ran out the sec- tion lines of the following territory: Township 91, range 20; township 91, range 19 and township 92, range 19, now comprising civil townships Reeve, Geneva and Ingham.
In 1852, John T. Everett began work and surveyed into sections, township 91, range 21; township 92, range 21; town- ship 93, range 21; township 93, range 20 and commenced township 92, range 22, but did not complete the work until May, 1853. He did the work in the fall and was probably stopped by cold weather. In April and May, 1853, he ran out township 93, range 22. The territory referred to now embraces the civil townships of Ham- ilton, Marion, Richland, Ross, Clinton, Scott and Wisner.
In October, 1852, Charles Gilliam sub- divided township 91, range 2, now Morgan township. In the middle of the winter of 1852-3, Leonard B. Hodges sub-divided township 93, range 19, now West Fork township. He began work December 25, 1852, and closed Jannary 7, 1853.
CREATION OF TIIE COUNTY.
The third General Assembly convened at Iowa City, December 2, 1850, and ad- journed February 5, 1851. Until this time the greater part of Iowa was unorganized territory.
The records state that there were forty- two counties represented in this General Assembly, although several of these coun- ties were not organized. Among the first bills introduced during this session was one to create about fifty new counties, which was passed and approved by Gov.
-
148
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY.
Stephen Hempstead, Jan. 15, 1851. That portion of the act which related to Franklin county was as follows: .
"SECTION 12 .- That the following shall be the boundaries of a new county, which shall be called Franklin, to-wit: Begin- ning at the northwest corner of township 93 north, range 18 west, thence west on the line between 93 and 94 to the north- west corner of township 93 north, range 22 west, thence south on the line between ranges 22 and 23, to the southwest corner of township 90 north, range 22 'west, thence east on the line dividing townships 89 and 90 to the southwest corner of town- ship 90, range 18 west, thence north to the place of beginning."
The most diligent inquiry and investiga- tion has failed to unearth any information in regard to the name of the county further than that it was named after Benja- min Franklin.
ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY.
Prior to organization, Franklin county was for a time attached to Hardin county, for civil and judicial purposes. It was subsequently made a part of Chickasaw county for the same purposes, and the re- turns of the first election held here were made to the latter county. But there seems to have been a conflict of jurisdic- tion, both claiming it. It is known, how- ever, that in July, 1855, the county judge of Chickasaw county issued an order for holding an election in Franklin county, and that on the 5th of August, 1855, the election was held at the house of James B. Reeve. It is believed that there were forty-eight votes cast. The following was the result: James B. Reeve was elected county judge; Isaac Miller, treasurer and
recorder; Dr. S. R. Mitchell, clerk of courts; Solomon Staley, sheriff; Henry Shroyer, school fund commissioner; John I. Popejoy, assessor; H. P. Allen, survey- or; Q. A. Jordan, prosecuting attorney; C. M. Leggett and J. Jones, justices of the peace. The ballot box was a small nail box, covered with a shingle having a hole cut through it.
One of the judges of this election was John Mitchell, who the others were can- not be stated. After the election, Mitch- ell went to Bradford, then the county seat of Chickasaw county, with the returns, and Miller and Reeve went to Davenport after books and blanks for county pur- poses. A. P. Luse & Co. furnished the supplies, and on the 19th of December, 1855, an order was drawn to pay for the same, amounting to $489.50. Among them were several books that have never yet been used, and, in fact, the only one that ever has been used to any great ex- tent is the minute book "A," which still exists in a good state of preservation.
Solomon Staley, who had been elected sheriff, went over to Bradford and quali- fied and upon his return swore in the bal- ance of the first officials, and each one re- ceived the books alloted to him and took them home. Ellis Parker, county judge of Hardin county had assessed Franklin county, and he copied and certified the same to Isaac Miller, county treasurer.
LOCATION OF THIE COUNTY SEAT.
After the organization of the county had been effected, the principal place for the transaction of public business was at the house of the county judge, James B. Reeve. This, in fact, was headquarters for Franklin county. It was .not long,
149
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY.
however, until the attention of the people was directed to the question as to where the county seat should be permanently located. Cave J. McFarland was then district judge, and to him Dr. Mitchell went with a petition to have the commis- sioners appointed. The settlers had decid- ed upon whom they wanted appointed as commissioners, but this counted for noth- ing with Judge McFarland. Imperiously waving Dr. Mitchell aside, with an oath, he said : "I appoint Dr. Ault one of the commissioners, and I don't care whether the people of Franklin county like it or not. And I also appoint M. M. Trumbull, of Butler county, and J. D. Thompson, of Hardin county, who voted for me, as the other two commissioners."
The first record of any move by the commissioners, is found in the county judge's record under date of January 26, 1856. It reads as follows :
"Adam T. Ault, M. M. Trumbull and J. D. Thompson, commissioners appointed by the district court to locate the seat of justice for Franklin county, appeared before me and were sworn to perform the duties of their appointment to the best of their knowledge and ability, and the re- quirements of the law.
JAMES B. REEVE, County Judge."
The early settlers state that it was not hard to see that the people of Franklin county were to be made the victims of a county seat ring, and that the county seat was to be located without consulting their convenience or wishes. Thomas B. Abel, of Marietta, Marshall Co., one of the sharpest business men in the State, owned a tract of land about one mile south of the present site of Hampton, comprising
the farm which, in 1883, was owned by G. C. Hyndman, and eighty acres lying near by. Abel, together with William Lough- ridge, of Oskaloosa, and a man named Farner entered into a tripartite ar- rangement whereby they became joint owners of this tract, and several hun- dred acres in other sections of Reeve township, and they proposed to control the location of the county seat to mutual advantage. What the people of the county then surmised, has since turned out to be true-that Farner's interest was really owned by J. D. Thompson, as a sub- sequent assignment from Farner to Thompson shows. Dr. Ault was, to all intents and purposes identified with Mc- Farland, Abel & Co.
In 1872, there appeared in one of the Hampton papers a sketch of the early set- tlement of the county, and the statements therein made regarding the location of the county seat, called forth the following letter from M. M. Trumbull, one of the commissioners for its location. The letter appeared in the Hampton Free Press, of February 16, 1872, and as it contains the gist of the whole matter it is here pre- sented :
"DUBUQUE., IOWA, Feb. 13, 1872. Hampton Free Press :
In your issue of February 9, appears a sketch of the early history of Franklin county, in which my name appears as one of the commissioners to locate the county seat, but my action in that matter was not fairly stated. Although I care nothing about it, still what is worth making into history at all may as well be made up right. I thank you for your kindness in adding a note, at the foot of the sketch, which sets
-
150
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY.
me right so far as my vote is concerned, but it does not fully explain my action.
"A. T. Ault, J. D. Thompson and myself were appointed commissioners to locate the county seat of Franklin county, and were ordered to meet, on a certain day, at the house of Mr. Reeve to proceed to per- form our duties. We did meet there, and adjourned for a few days. We met again and adjourned. I could not tell why, but the reason will appear in the seequel. At last we met. We had liberal offers from many persons. S. M. Preston had a town, W. G. Loughridge, I think, had some land upon which a town might be built. Mr. Abel had one also. After looking at the sites, we went to Reeve's to decide the question. Uncle Job Garner had, in my opinion, the most available site, taking into consideration, as our oath required us to do, the present and future wants of the people of Franklin county. ] I gave my voice and vote emphatically for Gar- ner's. I was out-voted by the other two, and they located the county seat on the Abel place. They called it Jefferson, I think in compliment to Judge Reeve, whose former home in Ohio was near Jefferson. I may be wrong in this latter point, as I speak from memory. It was thought that we had postponed the loca- tion of the county seat until it was too late to give the requisite notice of a peti- tion to the county court to order a vote on the question at the next April election. On a careful examination of the law, I became satisfied that if the notices were got out that day, there would be time enough. To leave the county seat at Jefferson one year might fasten it there forever. There was no time to lose.
Instead of going home I wrote the legal notices and had them posted that day. I then made ont the petition and left it in good hands to obtain signatures; and when the proper time arrived I returned to Franklin county, laid it before the court, a vote was granted, and at the April elec- tion the people of the county ratified my choice of a location by a nearly nnani- mous vote. I think Jefferson had but two votes. The satisfaction of being endorsed by the people of the county was all the reward I ever received for my ser- vices, and it was all I wanted. I had not one dollar's worth of personal interest in the matter, and did not own any property in Franklin county.
"If any of the old pioneers should read this they will remember the facts-George Ryan, L. Reeve, Squire Leggett, Ike Mil- ler, Dr. Mitchell, H. Allen, or any of them. If you should take the trouble to examine any of the old records you will find the petition and notices in my hand-writing.
"The people of Hampton (which I am told is now a fine town) will never know how much they owe to Judge Reeve. He was a magnificient specimen of western production; a great, big, brave giant of a man, with a heart tender as a woman's. He was hospitable and generous to a fault, if such a thing can be. He was an incor- ruptible officer, and a thoroughly honest man. He was a great reader, and had rare practical sense. He had no interest at Garner's, but he thought the loca- tion at Jefferson was not a good one, and was determined that the people of the county should have fair play. If he had lacked the proper nerve and spirit, or had been willing to make something out of
1
1
151
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY.
-
his position, the county seat might never have been at Hampton.
Very respectfully yours, M. M. TRUMBULL."
Uncle Job Garner had named his pro- posed town Benjamin, but he was after- words induced to change the name to Hampton. At the time he made his proposition to the county, his plat em- braced the eighty acres bounded on the north by First street, on the east by Main street in front of Harriman's Opera Hall; on the south by Fifth street, and on the west by the division line between the original plat and Kingman's addition. George Ryan, who was something of a speculator, owned a quarter section of land adjoining the proposed town plat The arrangement prior to the location of the county scat here, was that Ryan deed over to the county one-half of the land; but when the time for platting came, he deeded the county an undivided half of the eighty acres platted, that is, every other lot. Ryan's and Garner's lands were platted the same day.
Early in March, 1856, the matter cul- minated, as will be seen by the following extract from the county judge's minute- book:
"Be it remembered that at a regular term of the county court in and for the county of Franklin, State of Iowa, held on Mon- day the 3d of March, A. D., 1856, a peti- tion was filed, signed by S. C. Brazzelton and ninety others, praying that the court order a vote to be taken, at the next April election, on the question of removing the county seat of said county from the present location to the proposed town site situated on the south half of the north-
east quarter, and the north half of the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 33, township 92, range 20 west, and it appeared by the affidavit of Job Garner, a creditable witness, that the peti- tioners are legal voters of said county, and it appeared to the satisfaction of the court that the notices required by law have been duly posted up, and that the petitioners constitute a lawful majority of the legal voters of said county, and all other things required by law in relation to such publi- cations having been done, it is therefore ordered by the court that the prayer of said petitioners be heard, and that a vote be taken at the next April election between said proposed site and the present county seat, in accordance with the prayer of petitioners.
JAMES B. REEVE, County Judge.
The election was accordingly held. It seems that the town of Jefferson did not have many friends, and only two votes were cast in favor of it as the county se it. The county judge made the follow- ing order in accordance with the vote :
"April 15, 1856. At an election held in Franklin Co., Iowa, on the 7th day of April, 1856, in pursuance of an order made by the county judge that a vote be taken on the question of removing the county seat from its present location to the pro- posed town of Benjamin, and it appearing from the whole number of votes cast, that the proposed town of Benjamin had a ma- jority of all the votes cast, it is therefore declared the county seat of said county.
JAMES B. REEVE, County Judge."
This, however, was not the end of county seat struggles, for again at the February
3
152
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY.
term of court in 1857 a petition was pre- sented by James G. Curry, signed by 110 voters asking that at the April election the question of removing the county seat be submitted to the voters of the county. A remonstrance was sent in against the proposition, and after weighing the ques- tion with all of its bearings the county judge decided in favor of the latter, and the question was not submitted.
Another attempt was made to change the location of the county seat at the Jan- uary term of county court in 1858, by the presentation of a petition to Judge Reeve, signed by S. C. Brazzelton and others. H. L. Huff, an attorney from Eldora, ap- peared with a remonstrance signed by James McManes and others, and again the prayer of the petitioners was denied.
At the March term of the county court in 1860, another attempt was made to re- move the county seat from Hampton. A petition signed by A. T. Reeve, and others, was presented to Judge Henry Shroyer, praying that the question be submitted to a vote at an election in April, as to whether the county seat should not be removed from Hampton to Maysville. The same day a remonstrance was pre- sented by George Ryan, and others, for the consideration of the court. The case was argued for several days, both parties becoming much animated over the subject, but finally the court decided against the prayer of the petitioners, thus leaving the county seat matter quiet again. But at the June term the same year the matter again came up for hearing before the same county judge. This time the petition was presenttd by E. HI. Sparling, signed by 162 voters, asking that the county seat be
removed to Maysville. The same day a remonstrance was presented by C. Gillett and others, against its removal. The case was argued for four days, the proceed- ings of which covers nine pages in the court records. The petitioners employed Baker & Bridgeman, and the remonstra- tors had N. B. Chapman as counsel. During the trial of the case before Judge Shroyer, he was requested to vacate the bench, as they considered the judge was personally interested in the matter, hence was unqualified to decide the case. But his honor held a different opinion, and remained in his seat. The case was taken under advisement, and finally an order was issued by the county judge to the effect that the question should be sub- mitted at the April election, 1862.
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.