History of Hardin county, Iowa, together with sketches of its towns, villages and townships, educational, civil, military and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 89

Author:
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Springfield IL : Union Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1002

USA > Iowa > Hardin County > History of Hardin county, Iowa, together with sketches of its towns, villages and townships, educational, civil, military and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 89

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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.

vice during his entire term of service in the army, participating in a large number of battles, including the desperate battle of Chickamauga, and many others almost as severe ... His regiment belonged to the 14th Army Corps, and participated in the full Atlantic campaign, and also in Sherman's march to the sea. In 1863 his regiment was mounted, and served as cavalry during the rest of the war. Colonel VanBuskirk came here in July, 1865, and established his present business in September follow- ing. His wife was Nellie C. McGiven. They have six children-two sons and four daughters.

R. J. O. McGowan, general merchant, established his business in the fall of 1865. He first engaged in business with J. K. Matthews, who lived here but one year, and is now a resident of Ohio. Mr. McGowan was then alone in business till 1872, when he formed a partnership with E. S. Hamlin, which continued one year. He has been alone since. When the latter partnership was formed, the stock of S. G. Gibbs, general merchant, was purchased. Mr. McGowan was born in County Down, in the North of Ireland, in February, 1839, and came to this county with his father, Alexander McGowan, in 1849. The family lived in Ohio one year, and then settled in Waushara county, Wis., where the parents of Mr. McGowan resided till their death. Mr. McGowan enlisted, in May, 1861, in Company G, 5th Wisconsin Infantry. He served in that regiment as a private till December, 1862, when he was discharged for disability. He re-enlisted, in February, 1864, in the 33d Wisconsin Infantry; was assigned to duty in Madison, Wis., for one year, when he was commis-

sioned as Captain of Company B, 47th Wisconsin, and served until the close of the war. He married Edith A. Odell, daughter of Robert F. Odell, of Cedar Falls. They have two children-Robert A. and Lilla.

L. O. Bliss, of the firm of Wilde & Bliss, came to Iowa Falls June 4, 1864. He soon after opened a grocery and crockery store, just west of Woods' hotel. This was the first exclusive grocery and crock- ery store established in the village. He continued in the grocery trade about two years, during the last of which his brother, M. H. Bliss, was associated with him. Mr. Bliss was born at Cayuga Lake, Cayuga county, N. Y. He removed with his parents to Ashtabula county, Ohio, when he was a child. He was engaged as a clerk for some time in Ohio. He went from Ohio to Wisconsin, and thence to Minnesota. He came here, as stated, in 1864. His wife was Miss Ruth Seymour, born in the State of Ohio. They have three children-Byron B., Frank E. and Mary H. Messrs. Wilde & Bliss are num- bered with the prominent and successful business men of Iowa Falls. They are genial and intelligent gentlemen, as well as successful business men.

Mathew Roberts is one of the firm of Roberts & Pollock, dealers in groceries and boots and shoes. The firm was for- merly Caldwell & Roberts. Mr. Roberts was born in the State of Vermont. His father was Joseph Roberts. He removed with his family from Vermont to Fairplay, Wis. Mr. Joseph Roberts came here as early as 1856, but did not settle here with his family till 1860. Mathew came here with his father's family. He learned the

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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.

trade of a miller with Mr. Robert Wright, and worked in the mill for thirteen years. His wife was Ida A. Harp. Her father came to Hardin county in 1864. Mr. and Mrs. Roberts have three children.

Zeno K. Hoag, of the firm of Hoag & Steere, lumber dealers. This is the pioneer lumber yard of Hardin county. Messrs. Hoag & Steere have owned the yard for a number of years, and are having an exten- sive trade in lumber, coal, etc. Mr. Hoag is a representative of one of the most prominent and influential men of the early residents of Hardin county. A sketch of his father will be found elsewhere in this work. Mr. Hoag married Miss Annie Griffith, a daughter of Mr. Daniel Griffith.

R. A. Carleton is of the firm of R. A. Carleton & Co., dealers in lumber and other building material; also, farm imple- ments, wagons, coal, lime and stone. The lumber yard was established by Barber & Gilmore, who were succeeded by George D. Wilson, and he by J. H. Carleton, and the latter by J. H. Carleton & Brother, who were succeeded by R. A. & J. T. Carleton, and they by the present firm of R. A. Carleton & Co. Mr. Carleton is a native of Maryland, and was born in Cum- berland county, in that State, in 1843. His father, J. M. Carleton, came to Iowa with his family in 1852, and settled in Iowa City, where he resided until his death. Mr. Carleton was a member of the 2d Iowa Cavalry during the rebellion; he served in the army four years and three months. He came to Iowa Falls in 1870. His wife was Ellen Moreland, born in Pennsylvania. Her parents settled in Iowa City, but now reside in Cass county. Mr. and Mrs. Carleton have one daughter-Edith. They

have lost three boys -- the last one, Rich- ard Lee, died February 6, 1882, at the age of three years.

Austin M. Caldwell, dealer in books, stationery, wall-paper, notions, etc., estab- lished his business in the spring of 1880. He has the only store of the kind estab- lished here. He is the son of John Cald- well, one of the very earliest settlers of the township of Hardin, a sketch of whom will be found elsewhere. Mr. Caldwell was born in Pennsylvania, August 4, 1841. He came to Hardin county with his father, May 31, 1852. He was brought up on his father's farm. He learned the trade of harness-making, and carried on that busi- · ness here for about five years. He married Adeline, daughter of Silas W. Bond. They have two children-Willard E., born 1870, and Everet B., born 1880. Mr. Caldwell enlisted August 11, 1862, in the 32d Regi- ment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry. He par- ticipated in a number of important cam- paigns and battles; was taken prisoner at the battle of Pleasant Hill, La., and was confined in the rebel prison at Tyler, Tex., . till May 17, 1865.

Robert Cooper is the pioneer furniture dealer of Hardin county. He established his business here in the spring of 1858, and has been engaged in the same since that time, except an interval of five years, when he was engaged in farming. Mr. Cooper was born in Montgomery county, N. Y., November 5, 1828. He removed to Otsego county with his parents, when he was a boy. He learned the trade of a chair- maker, and engaged in the furniture busi- ness in Otsego county. He went to Wis- consin in the fall of 1857, and came here the following spring. His wife was Annie

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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.

C. Wilcox, born in Otsego county. They have three children-Lamond R., Mary B. and Nellie M. They lost three children; one son and two infant daughters.

W. H. Townsend, also in furniture busi- ness, established his business here in No- vember, 1880. He is a native of Galena, Illinois.

J. L. Hoag owns the pioneer drug store of Iowa Falls. The business was estab- lished by Dr. Foster, in 1858. Dr. Foster was succeeded by Arnold & Soule, and they by Foster & Hoag. Mr. Hoag has conducted the business alone since 1877. He was born in Wolfsboro, N. H., in 1834, and came to Iowa Falls in 1855. His wife was Miss Emma Frost, a native of Boston, and a resident of Iowa Falls since 1859. They have one daughter-Bertha, born in 1862.

O. E. Abel was born in Orange county, Vt., in February, 1823. When eighteen years of age he went to Rhode Island, where he learned the trade of a machinest. He went to Chicago in July, 1849, where he worked at his trade in the shop of C. H. McCormick & Co., the noted harvester firm. He came to Iowa Falls in October, 1855. For the last eighteen years Mr. Abel has been engaged in the sewing ma- chine business. He sold the Wheeler & Wilson machine for many years. He has had an extensive experience in the repair- ing of machines, in which he is stili en- gaged. Mrs. Abel was formerly Miss Charlotte Loveley, born in Canada, in 1829, of French parentage. They were married April 5, 1846, and came to Iowa Falls in 1855. A brother of Mr. Abel (G. P. Abel,) settled in this State, and died at DesMoines, about 1870.

G. A. Ivins, harness-maker, entered into business here in August, 1865. This is the oldest established harness shop in the county now doing business. Mr. Ivins was born in Ohio, in 1841. He was brought up in Northern Indiana and Southern Michigan. He came to Hardin county, the first time, on July 3, 1857; he staid at Hardin City a short time, and then went to Iowa City, where he learned his trade. He enlisted at Davenport, in the fall of 1861, in the 2d Iowa Cavalry. He served about two years in the cavalry branch of the ser- vice, and was then transferred to the marine branch, where he served the remainder of his term of enlistment. He came here, as stated, in 1865. His wife was Mary E. Baxter, a native of Pennsylvania. They were married at Iowa City.

Eugene S. Ellsworth established his real estate and loan office in Iowa Falls in the fall of 1870, and has been, since that time, an extensive dealer in wild lands and town property. He is Secretary of the Cedar Rapids, Iowa Falls and North- western Land and Town Lot Company. Mr. Ellsworth was born in Milwaukee, in 1848. His parents were natives of Otsego, N. Y., and settled in Milwaukee in 1836, being among the earliest settlers of that city. His father, Orlando Ellsworth, raised a company in the war of the rebel- lion, of which he was made Captain. This company became Company K of the 24th Wisconsin Infantry, which entered the service in 1862. Eugene S. accompanied his father as drummer boy of the regi- ment. They served about eighteen months, when his father resigned from ill health. The family immediately after settled in Iowa Falls, where the father died June 27,

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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.

1872. Mr. Ellsworth took a course at Bailey's Commercial College at Dubuque, and established his business, as before stated, in 1870. His wife was Miss Hattie Northrop, born in Dodge county, Wis. Mr. Ellsworth is a gentleman of excellent business attainments. He has one of the most beautiful residences in Iowa Falls.

Oliver Harp, of the firm of Harp & Cammack, livery, is a son of J. A. and Mary Harp, and he was born in Illinois in 1860. He came with his parents to Har- din county, and helped till the soil until 1882, when he engaged in his present business.

I. L. Townsend, the Iowa Falls photo- grapher, is a native of Knox county, Ohio, born July 19, 1839. He came to Iowa in 1853, and first lived in Cedar county. In 1860 he engaged in a photograph business, and in 1861 located at Iowa City, but he has since continued the business in several different places at different intervals. He came to Iowa Falls in September, 1880. Mr. Townsend, in 1861, at Indianapolis, Ind., married Miss Mary J. Yount, and they now have two children-James A. and Clara.

Daniel Moler, dealer in wind-mills, fanning-mills and pumps. Mr. Moler established the pump business here in 1868. He manufactured pumps exclu- sively for four years, having at that time the first and only institution of the kind in the county. He discontinued the pump business for a time, and engaged in the hardware business, but resumed his former business, at the same time engaging in the sale of fanning and wind-mills. Mr. Moler was born in Ohio, but was brought up in Michigan. His parents, Samuel and

Elizabeth Moler, are still residents of the latter State. Mr. Moler has been twice married. His first wife was Elizabeth Ives. His present wife was Mrs. Sarah Demmons, native of Oakland county, Mich. He has seven children by his first wife and two by his second.

F. Q. Jones, dentist. The first established dentist in Iowa Falls, was Dr. E. P. Whee- ler, who located here about 1858. Dr. Jones served an apprenticeship with Dr. Wheeler with whom he engaged in 1859, and continued two years. He was also engaged in the office of Dr. J. P. Porter of Dubuque. He is the son of H. P. Jones; was born in New Haven, Conn. in 1843, came to Iowa Falls with his father's family in 1858. At the breaking out of the war he was in the office of Dr. Porter of Du- buque. He returned to Iowa Falls in 1862, and enlisted in the 32d Iowa Volunteer Infantry. He remained in the army about three years, doing hospital duty most of the term of his enlistment. He established a dental office here in 1866. Dr. Jones has been three times married. His present wife was Alice Barnett of Butler county, Iowa, a native of the State of New York. He has two children by first wife-Horace N. and Alice M.

MINERAL SPRING.

Siloam Mineral Spring is situated one and a half miles, by road, west of Iowa Falls, on the bank of Elk Run, a high bluff rising, just across the creek, about 50 feet high. This spring, before it was im- proved, was a boiling spring of clear, cold water, the clean sand rising and falling, in constant motion.

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There were properly two springs, about four feet apart, both alike in appearance, one of them, however, showing 8 ° warmer temperature than the other.

These springs were the favorite camping · place for travelers moving West in. emi- grant wagons, and without doubt there are thousands of people settled in Iowa, Kan- sas, Nebraska, Minnesota and Dakota who have drank of these waters. Some four years ago the remedial effects of the waters became known by their speedy work in a case of fever sore, and another, a case of chronic ague. A man having rheumatism in his fect, and almost disabled, was moved to bathe his feet in the waters, and speedily be became cured. People who had kidney troubles drank and found great relief at once. The fame of the waters grew until it was a noticeable fact that on every pleasant day there was a constant stream of travel to the springs. The Sentinel, the pioneer newspaper of this region, be- gan to talk about the spring and its roman- tic surroundings, and its alleged medicinal virtues; and so great was the travel from all the surrounding country and neighbor- ing towns to this resort, that on several Sundays over three hundred different bug- gies and wagons were counted as a result of the day's arrivals.

Finally a stock company was formed in the spring of 1881, and the following Board of Directors were elected: O. W. Garrison, J. A. Collins, J. A. Martin, S. P. Smith, H. C. Miller, A. L. Ettinger, Z. K. Hoag. Twenty acres of land, embracing the springs and the bluff south of it, were secured, and the spring was enclosed with solid masonry and raised about four feet, and since then has discharged continually,

over a beautiful waterfall, at the rate of two barrels a minute. The waters were sent to Prof. Bode, of Milwaukee, a cele- brated chemist, and analyzed. The water is similar to the Waukesha Springs.

A fine bath-house has been erected near the spring, but is as yet unfinished. A hotel, costing $3,000, has been erected on the elevation north of the spring, amid the beautiful natural oak grove, and a wind-mill, placed midway between the spring and hotel, forces water to the large tank near the hotel.

That this spring is to enjoy a noted his- tory, no one doubts. A beautiful and ro- mantic road from town, over a well grav- eled bed, forms one of the most pleasant drives to be found in the West. Iowa Falls abounds in fine scenery, and the sur- roundings of Siloam Spring are such as pleases every lover of the beautiful in Nature. In the near future this "Wauke- sha of Iowa" will receive its invalids from the four quarters of the globe, and its healing waters will find their way along the railroads to far distant towns and homes.

PAPER TOWNS.

George B. Senter, on the 15th day of November, 1856, filed for record the plat of a town to which was given the name of Georgeton. It was described as being situated on the southeast quarter of section 14, and the northeast quarter of section 23, in township 89, range 21. This was about a mile and a half southwest of the present town site of Iowa Falls. One dwelling 'house, a stable, and a few stakes to mark off the blocks and lots, were all that was ever shown to the enquiring stranger as he

Joseph white.

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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.

asked for Georgeton. Mr. Senter was subsequently Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, and it is hoped that he made a better Mayor than engineer of Western town.

ADDRESS OF M. C. WOODRUFF.

By request of the committee and a num- ber of the leading citizens of the town, the following address of Hon. M. C. Woodruff, before the Old Settlers' Society of Iowa Falls, is here given:

IT was on a bright, warm, cheery day, the 7th of August, 1855, that I first saw Iowa Falls, or rather what was to be Iowa Falls, for the town had yet no existenee. I was unloaded at the log cabin hotel, standing about where Mr Buttolph's barn now stands, kept then by that princess of landladies, Mrs. Phoebe Lane-Jerry doing the chores and taking the pay. I was conveyed here from Cedar Falls by Addison A. Wells, of whom I shall have a word to say fur- ther on. No stages ran here then-indeed, there was neither stage road nor other highway. So enticing was the day, and so quiet the hotel ---- not a soul in the public room-that I strolled about the place (that was to be), and soon I came upon an ancient and rickety saw-mill, situated a few rods below the present mills. There I saw what ailed the hotel. The boarders and all hands, including the voters of the township, flf- teen or twenty in all, were in the mill, holding an election. Under the old constitution, the State elections were held in August, and on the day I reached Iowa Falls the people of Iowa for the first time recorded an anti-Democratic ma- jority, and elected that honored statesman, James W. Grimes, Governor. Under Democratic rule up to that time, as under Republican rule since, the affairs of Iowa were honestly and wiscly managed, and in the control of both par- ties alike, the record of Iowa is almost without blemish, and a shining example of public econ- omy and integrity.

Having made a hasty inspection of the spot, on my return to the cabin hotel, I stopped on

the brow of the hill, about where S. P. Smith's store is, and, with my new-made Hawkeye, I swept the whole landscape, and, like the Indian chief of old, exclaimed: "This is the spot!" I went out over the town site an aimless. adven- turer in search of a Western home. I returned to supper a fixed resident of Iowa Falls.

Pretty much the entire block east of this onc was a corn-field. This block, at the south boun- dary, marked the timber limit, which extended . north to the present cemetery. From the north line of the public square, and east of Main street, there was a harvest field of grain shocks-wheat and oats-and many a bag of prairie chickens and pigeons did I get on that field during the fall and winter.

A short time after I arrived, Mr. Estes, one of the town proprietors, who came in June, and myself, surveyed all that portion of Iowa Falls south of the public square-Mr. Estes doing the work, and I looking out for an eligible corner lot. I selected the lot on the southeast corner of this block, and at once began the erection of the first frame building in Iowa Falls. That building still stands, a splendid monument to the architectural genius of Mark Woodruff. It has for years been a part of the residence of Mrs. J. J. Cobb, on the hill, near the Illinois Central Railway depot. About the same time, Allen Thompson built a frame house, near where widow Bingham's house now is.

Uncle Joseph Wells also put up, a little later, a variegated cabin, displaying a wonderful va- riety of architecture, part of logs, part of slabs, the remainder being of the rough board shanty order, but altogether became for two years the most famous house in the town. Here it was that Mrs. Wells, that blessed mother in our early Israel, used to practice her marvelous witcheries in cookery, whereby she soon won the patronage of a house[full, and their hearts, too, for who so bold as to deny that the heart and stomach are first cousins in relationship ?

There was no meat stall nor vegetable market here in those primitive times; only the regula- tion baeon, potatoes and corn bread. How these

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primary articles could be transformed into such an infinite variety of dishes, each of them at once a seductive and very satisfying cheat, puzzled my head. Of the three or four meats upon the dinner table, each unlike the other in appearance, preparation and etceteras, all were cut from the same hog; but like good counterfeits, they were well calculated to deceive. What is more, they were excellent, and in all the years since then, I have never seen such wonderful displays of skill, ingenuity, industry, cunning, invention and perseverenee combined as Mother Wells used to show in the culinary line. I used to wonder whether she possessed the magic secrets of the Black Art. May her years yet be many, and may they bear her substantial bless- ings, as she bore them to me in the long, long ago.

It was on a bright September or October after- noon that I met a tall, broad-shouldered, serious- faced man, of uncertain age, down by the old mill. Neither waited for a formal introduction, but exchanged the simple "How d'ye do ?" in true Western style. He was a sun-burned, sub- stantial, pleasant-eyed and rather careless look- ing man. Like everybody else, he wanted a corner lot, a quarter-section and an Iowa home. When he told me he was a physician and of Quaker parentage, I was doubly glad to welcome him; but when, a few minutes later, he told me he had been a member of the Territorial Legis- lature of Oregon, I excused myself, and hastened to my room and locked my trunk. It was Doc- tor Foster, and what one of us all, good friends, of whatever age, vocation or sex, has. seen so much of Iowa Falls, or is so widely and inti- mately interwoven into the very web and woof of this village, as he ? With those of us who wear gray hairs, he has been the patient, skillful and ready healer; with the younger he has been the physical guardian from the cradle to this hour, and to all, the kind friend and generous neighbor. His goodness-I like that honest Saxon word-has given Dr. Foster an endearing title to the gratitude and affection of us all.

On a cloudy October morning, in 1855, I saw a tall, spare, calm-faced, scholarly-looking young

man pass along through the woods, on what is now Main street, above the Square, driving a . sleek, black horse with a buggy. To me he seemed like a college professor or a divinity student. His physique indicated impaired health, and his measured step, the consciousness of a somewhat slender hold upon life. We were introduced, and I found the fresh recruit to the young settlement, to be a gentleman of great candor and frankness, of intelligence and enter- prise, of Yankee shrewdness and manful ambi- tion. He told me he had cast his lot with our new town, and had already on the way hither, a stock of general merchandise. At once he pro- cured a business lot, and began the building of a store, and, before Christmas, a very substantial, well-filled store stood where, but a few weeks before, a crop of corn was growing. This gentle- man pursued his business with that quiet care and diligence which always wins confidence and success. The example of his business and private life has always been one which I unre- servedly commend to every young man in this audience. This was your present Mayor, Mr. James S. Smith.

Another of the characters of the infant Iowa Falls, was Addison A. Wells, whose industrious handiwork is more largely seen in your village, than that of any other man. His energies seemed to be like Nature's untamed forces, tireless alike and exhaustless. The structures of your town, of whatever kind, that do not contain more or less evidence of his industry, are the exception, rather than the rule. The sweat of his brow, during the past twenty-six years, would almost suffice to temper the mortar for a mighty cathe- dral. Such a man cannot be too highly honored by the Old Settlers Association.

Among others of the first settlers whom I now recall, are, Hosmer Stevens, J. L. Estes, and J. R. Larkin, a trinity of pioneers who owned the town site. All of them filled their places well, and two have gone to their reward, while the third still lives an honorable life among you.

Sam Parkinson had a hundred dollars' worth or so of mercantile odds and ends, in an old,

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tumbled-down log cabin, situated about where Wells' lime kiln is. It had no plate-glass windows, no gilt sign, no cut-stone entrance. This store, like a bumble-bee, was the largest at birth. and it soon dropped from sight.

Benjamin I. Talbott was a Quaker farmer, who lived on the brow of the hill, a hundred yards or so south of the Illinois Central depot. When the Gentiles began to flock into the infant town of Iowa Falls, Uncle Ben wore a far-away, drab. colored air, for, be it known, he was part propri- etor of the town of Rocksylvania, hard by, face- tiously called "Pegtown," because of its thous- ands of pegs, which marked the boundaries of the lots. Uncle Ben still survives in a hale old age, but in its early infancy poor "Pegtown " pegged out.

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History of Hardin county, Iowa, together with sketches of its towns, villages and townships, educational, civil, military and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 89

Author: Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Springfield IL : Union Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1002

Author:
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Springfield IL : Union Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1002