USA > Iowa > Harrison County > History of Harrison County, Iowa, including a condensed history of the state, the early settlement of the county together with sketches of its pioneers > Part 8
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
After this time the Indians were very troublesome, and greatly annoyed the settlement, but not until 1853 did they and the whites come to open hostilities ; about which the reader's atten- tion will be directed in other portions of this book.
The writer hereof has oftentimes heard Mr. Brown say, that on his return from the Bluffs, at the time he sold the honey, he felt like Alexander Selkirk did while on the Island of Juan Fer- nandez. He was " monarch of all he surveyed, his right there was none to dispute."
Here on the site selected by the subject of this sketch, in 1847, lived this pioneer from '48 until the time of his death, and here
93
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
the family of two boys and four daughters developed into man and womanhood, all marrying at this place with the exception of one of the sons; yet at this date only two of the children are res- idents of the county, the others having gone on toward the set- ting of the sun, like the father, ever looking to the mighty west for better lands and more genial climate. Daniel Brown was a man of tremendous physical power, and a man upon whom nature had been lavish in the way of intellect. His youthful days were spent in his old North Carolina home without any of the advantages of common schools which the boys of the present age and place possess, yet in him was a mind far beyond many of those who had in early life partaken of the birch limb and small slices of old Kirkham, the Western Calculator and Olney's Geography. And finally, he was at and during all the time of the late civil war one of the most uncompromising friends of the Union, and never could bear to hear any one, at the time the very life of the nation was in peril, say anything against the administration of the sainted Lincoln.
Men of this cast are always needed for pioneer life. Men who never yield to any obstacle and finally never surrender until Father Time with his scythe says "'Tis enough; this is the end."
Following the thought as set out in the matter of the abstract of the life of Brown, I am compelled to trespass on the patience of the reader, by here presenting a few thoughts connected with the life of John A. Parkin, of this county, who died in the spring of 1887. This old pioneer was just one decade in the rear of the one just spoken of. Mr. Parkin was born and matured in the Old Dominion, and when settling here brought with him to this new land many of the ideas and customs of the Virginia state. Soon after settling in this neighborhood he was elected as Justice of the Peace, a position he maintained up to the time of his death, and in regard to his doings as a court, I am con- strained to say, that while his rulings and decisions, at many times, were not as polished as those of the judges of the courts
94
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
of record, nevertheless, they fit as closely to the fact and law of the case. Scarcely had the subject of this sketch settled in his new home in the county, until he suited bis wants to the then sur- rounding circumstances respecting his finance, for there are yet, in the flesh, in the neighborhood, many who very vividly remem- ber the peculiar construction of Squire Parkin's teams.
Isaiah and Jim Dickinson tell me of the fright they had on the afternoon of the first day they arrived in the Harris Grove. Having struck a fire preparatory for the dinner, as it was the noon hour, and just as they were about to surround the table to partake of that kind of a meal which is indulged in with a relish, they heard such an unearthly noise that they felt like stamped- ing for Michigan; it was not like anything they had ever heard or seen; first, there would be a zip-rattle-te-bang-whoopadora. chug, then the screech, etc., etc. Jim was sent out on a tour of inspection, when, following the noise, in a short time he came to a place where there was a large quantity of crushed sorghum stalks, and quietly approaching, found Squire Parkin trying to express the juice from the sorghum stalks, by grinding them through a cane mill of his own manufacture, the motive power in this primitive manufacturing establishment being a bull and a cow attached separately to a long sweep, which was fastened to the grinder, and corn being scarce and no grease in the neigh- borhood, the absence of this liquid caused this unearthly screech- ing, and the rattle and hang being produced by the slipping of cogs, when the male part of the power was taken with a fit of masculine madness. This old pioneer lived an honest, inoffen- sive life, acted well his part, and at a ripe old age was gathered to his fathers, like a shock of corn in its season.
Deeming it part and parcel of the history of the county, I will give as near as possible, the names of the most prominent of the early settlers from the settlement of Hawkins and Brown, the first in 1847 and the latter in 1848, year by year, up to and in- eluding the year of 1854, and possibly some of those of 1855.
95
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
Scarcely had Brown trodden down the tall prairie grass around his cabin door, when Amos Chase, Ezra Vincent, Dick Johnson, Samuel Coon, Ira Perjue and E. T. Hardin located within gun- shot of him. At the present day the accession of a half dozen families to a neighborhood would create but a small ripple on the surface of society; but circumstances alter cases, and this circumstance was hailed with delight by Brown and family. Six additional men in a neighborhood where there is but one, all coming at the same time, figures up an increase of population not frequently met with; and the more especially at a time when there were vast numbers of thieving redskins in the neighbor- hood, watching the time when the corn, calf, potatoes and pigs would ripen so as to furnish them a good meal.
The following year of 1849 only two additional families were added to the entire county, making only ten families in the county, except such as were here for recuperative purposes, in- tending to pass on to Salt Lake at the first call. They who set- tled in the county as last stated were Jesse Wills, Charles Wills, Cyrus Wills, William H. Wills, John Wills, Erastus Wills and George W. Brigham. . During all this time Hawkins was holding the fort on the east side, all alone.
With the ushering in of the year 1850 these twelve families were blessed with neighbors, as follows, viz .: George Mefford of Twelve Mile Grove, together with his sons, W. G. Mefford, Lem- uel Mefford, and "Doc " Mefford; these settled in the neighbor- hood of Uriah Hawkins. Elijah Palmer located at the same time in Bigler's Grove; Charles McEvers, Nathan Neely, Thos. B. Neely, S. W. Condit and Charles LaPontuer at and on the Little Sioux River, where the town of Little Sioux now is situate; Samuel Wood, William W. Wood and Uncle Billy Cox in Union Grove; David Young, Sr., David Young, Jr., Addison Young, Charles Young and Henry Young about two miles east of Logan; and Anson Belden at Calhoun.
In the spring and early summer of 1851 the " prairie schoon-
96
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
ers " began to land, and the following persons, some with fam- ilies, were added to the settler lists, viz .: James B. McCurley, William Howard, W. D. Howard, James Dungan (father of David Dungan, D. D.), J. Z. Hunt, George White, Warren White, Jos. McKenney, Michael McKenney, John A. McKenney, all these settling in the neighborhood or near Harris Grove; Richard Mus- grave, Geo. Musgrave, L. D. Butler, John Jeffrey, Matthew Hall, Evan O'Banion and others, in the regions round about the place where Butler subsequently built what is known as Butler's Mills, near Woodbine; and then Lucius Merchant, Donald Maule, Frank Pierce, Dennis Streeter, and others, in and about the timber lands of Raglan; and last, though not least, William Dakan located on the farm now occupied by Mr. Joseph Culver, nearly tangent to the little village of St. John, and P. G. Cooper, Creed Sanders and W. I. Cooper at Magnolia.
The year 1852 being, as before stated, the time of the Mormon exodus, brought many into the county, in consequence of the cheapness of squatter claims then on the market, and by reason of the further fact that in 1851 the Government had township- ized the county, and were about to sectionize the same during the year 1852 (a job which was completed as per statement), and thereby afford on opportunity for the entry of the lands. The oldest resident, of those who settled here at that time, is Mr. Henry Reel, now in his 84th year, and quietly sliding down the sunset of life; Benjamin J. LaPorte, Henry McHenry and sons, Wm. H. McHenry and O. O. HcHenry, C. M. Hunt, Peter Brady and sons, David L. Brady and E. H. Brady, Kirtland Card, Benj. H. Denice, John Ennis, "Burr" Ennis, Hiram Ennis, Samuel Fuller, Stephen King, Edward Houghton, W. B. Copeland, Thos. F. Vanderhoof, G. W. Fry, D. R. Rogers, A. W. Locklin, H. H. Locklin, Stephen Mahoney, J. W. Chatburn, George Blackman, James Hardy, Jacob Huffman, James W. Bates, Wm. T. Fallon, Virgil Mefford, Theodore Mahoney, Samuel Dungan, Henry Kanauss, and others. The greater portion of all these are yet
ยท
97
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
alive, and remain, at this writing, residents of the county, and well sustain their part in the make-up of citizenship and perma- nency of good society.
Eighteen hundred and fifty-three ushered in the year of the great rush for lands in western Iowa; and as a result, immigra- tion that year far exceeded all that had been in the five preced- ing years. At that time there was no difficulty in entering lands, provided the person wishing a paper blanket, signed by his Ex- cellency, the President of the United States, had the $1.25 per acre. That year there settled in the county the following named persons, viz .: Stephen Hester and family and Thos. A. Dennis; these were the first to locate in the southwestern corner of the county; then J. B. Lytle, Samuel Spinks, Luke Jefferson, J. W. Jefferson, Thomas Thompson, Alma Ellison, Calvin Ellison, M. A. Ellison and Levi Ellison, James H. Farnsworth and Samuel Farnsworth, James Henderson, P. C. Henderson, J. W. Hender- son, Alfred Longman, Sr., Alfred Longman, Jr., James Longman and Wm. Longman, Samuel McGavren and sons George and Scott, Ezra Perry, William, Albert T. and "Doc" Cutler, Peter Deal, Joe. H. Deal, John Deal, John W. Deal and Jas. E. Deal, Samuel Jack, Jeremiah Motz, Levi Motz, George Birchim, Wm. Spencer, Champion Frazier, Henry Earnest, John Earnest and Henry Earnest, Jr., Lowry Wilson, B. A. Divelbess, Sol Barnett, Peter Barnett, Frank Weatherly, and others. At this time the settlement of the county began to assume an air of independence, and during the early part of this year perfected her organization as a county. Those whose names are last above mentioned, came to stay, from the fact that there is not a name mentioned of those who settled here in 1853, but still remain in the county, or dying, left such estates that their heirs are yet in the county, well to do in life and honored members of society.
The year 1854 experienced a much greater crystalization of permanent moneyed settlers than any two of the former years herein named, because many of those who had formerly located
7
98
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
here had written to their relatives or acquaintances what a goodly land this was; and doubtless many had visited this place and carried back into the home-land a portion of the grape clus- ters, a taste of the honey, or perchance an ear of corn, sample of wheat, or a statement of the prodigious growth of grass, the everlasting qualities of the soil, and a story of the pureness of the water; these being rehearsed, and believed, caused the white canvass, sheltering the voyager from the sun and rain, to be spread, and the home-seekers of the far east are soon here, mak- ing such selections as best fit their fancy. Those coming and locating here at this time were, as nearly as memory serves, the following, viz .: Hon. Phineas Cadwell and family, S. B. Card and family, Sarah Hall, Jacob Kirk, James D. Rogers, David Gamet, Saul Gamet, David Gamet, Jr., Isaac Gamet and Gilbert Gamet, Dr. J. H. Rice, A. R. Cox, Jacob Cox, H. B. Cox, Wm. H. Branson, Logan Crawford, Wm. McDonald, John Mathews, Job Ross, Wm. H. Sharpneck, David Barnum, Marvin Adams and family, viz .: Frank, Byron, Joe, Addison, Reuben and Evilla (now Mrs. Gaylord of Woodbine); Isaac Childs and family, Col. Asher Servis, and hosts of others, whom I have not the time or space to name. These, though thirty-three years have passed and gone, are still residents of the county, save and except Mr. David Gamet, Mr. Marvin Adams, Mr. Wm. McDonald and Col. Servis, who, within the last decade, have passed the confines of this life, at ripe old ages, leaving behind them names respected by all, and exemplary lives worthy of imitation.
Then in 1855 came William Acrea, Thomas J. Acrea, Eras- tus Brown, German Brown, Charles Brown and Willis Brown, Abe Ritchinson, James Evans and William Evans of Bigler's Grove, Henry Hushaw and family, Dr. Cole and family, David Selleck and family, James Selleck and family, and Ellises almost without number, viz .: Ephraim, Samuel, John, Dan, Andrew, and Clark; these all settling in Jackson and Little Sioux townships; Henry Hannaman, John Case, James Case, Jacob Case, and an
99
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
army of Purcells, viz .: Jesse, the old father, and boys, Alexander, Samuel, Benjamin, Lewis and William, all locating on the Willow; William Martin, and William Allen on the Soldier, and last but not least Mr. Solomon Smith, who located on the margin of the lake named for him in Little Sioux township. In 1856 the settle- ment was increased by William Mc Williams, Jacob Fulton, Isaac Bedsol, Sr., O. M .Bedsol and Isaac F. Bedsol, Jr., A. H. Glea- son and father of Little Sioux, Jack Conyers, Patrick Morrow, William Morrow, George Main, Silas Rice, Rev. H. D. King, etc .; time and space failing to name others.
These men herein named as settling in the county from 1847 to 1856, were of the true American type and the sons and daughters of these now with us to day are the offspring of a brawny stock; from men who tilled the fields, traversed the hills and valleys in pursuit of game, lined the banks of the streams with their traps, loved the companionship of the ox and horse, and looked upon the rifle and musket in their possession as sym- bols of their manhood and bulwarks of their liberties.
The early settlers were not puny men, were not effeminate, were not indoor people, pale of countenance and slender of build, but tall, stalwart, and muscular; some perhaps awkward by reason of excessive development in joints and bone, yet none were feeble, and while the excessive culture of this day and age might laugh at them on the sly, nevertheless they would admire that which seemed to provoke their mirth.
LAND ENTRIES,
During the days of December, 1852, and the first half of 1853, were attended with many difficulties, as the following will show: When the days of entries arrived there was such a rush at the land office at Council Bluffs, that all could not be accommodated the same day; hence, to meet the demands, each person on arriving at the land office registered his name, and by this rule was forced to await the serving of those who were there first in time.
100
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
Henry Reel, Esq., who located and entered the land on which the site of the town of Logan is located, tells me that in order to get an opportunity to enter his claims here, he was com- pelled to wait in Council Bluffs three weeks before his name was called. The reader must not think that by reason of this method they who were first in time had the opportunity of making any selection they pleased, irrespective of the right of settlement or occupancy. Each community had its friends to watch what entries were being made, and one who attempted to take certifi- cate of entry on lands occupied by a settler was immediately mobbed.
He who had settled on lands wanted just such land only as he had squatted on, and when this was obtained he was content, and wishing his rights respected was, per force of circumstances, com- pelled to respect the rights of others. There never yet was a better measurement to human conduct than " do ye unto others as ye would that they should do unto you." The time when this precept will be obeyed by all has not been approximated to by either Millerite or Adventist, yet let me say to the legal fra- ternity, that when this time does come, courts of justice will be closed, the politician a thing of the past, and the perambulating minister of the gospel left without another soul to save, or the skeleton of another regulation chicken to denude.
The Shylocks of this period were as numerous as they were covetous; for be it known that many of the early settlers were not men of great financial standing, so far as dollars were con- cerned, and when it came to the entering of the claim. the government never accepted a written or verbal promise to pay for lands. It was the cash in hand they were selling the land for, and to procure their homes they would permit Mr. Shylock to enter the land in his own name, and this when done, the settler would repurchase it for the money-lender, allowing and promis- ing him forty per cent per annum on the $200 until paid. It only took two years and a half until this interest had doubled
101
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
the purchase of the land, and as a sequence, the money-lender who had come west with a pocket full of land warrants, which had cost him ninety cents an acre, if the squatter paid at the end of two and a half years, was getting $400 for an outlay of $144. That these entries would be eaten up by usury and tax was most evident, unless the location was of such character and worth as to command an immediate sale, which in the fewer instances hap- pened, but in the most cases, the land remained in the name of the party furnishing the warrants for entry.
THE INDUSTRIES
Of Harrison county until two or three years after the organiza- tion of the county were very meager indeed, and never have the people of this locality made any pretensions, other than as an agricultural people. The field and herd are the dependence of all. If the field groans under the weight of the crop produced, and this either in turn in the form of the raw article, or when con- verted into hog or beef, brings a good remunerative price, the producer is happy and they belonging to the tradesman and mer- cantile or professional classes are correspondingly pleased, from the fact, as above stated, this is an agricultural country, and the hopes of the entire country depend on the cereal, either in the raw form or in manufactured condition as found in the hide of Mr. Hog or Steer.
A woolen mill was once, I think about 1866, erected, fur- nished and put in operation at Dalley's mill, near Woodbine, and the proprietor, after repeated endeavors, closed the same, because he could not operate it and save himself. The most singular fact in regard to this experiment was, that they of our own vicinity would not patronize the product of this mill because they could purchase the goods of other mills, such as Marshall- town, or Cedar Rapids, and the manufacture of some other mills both in and out of this state, at a few cents per yard cheaper ; and let it be remembered that these mills put their goods upon
102
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
the market here at quite a reduction when comparing the selling price of their goods, to that of the selling price of the same at the place of manufacturing.
You ask, " Why did they do such a thing?" This was done in order to starve out the only mill on the slope, and the strategy succeeded as was anticipated, the result being old John W. Dalley could not buck against his own neighborhood and the combined cross lifting of the mills of the State.
With the closing of this mill the many flocks of sheep which were growing up in the county and increasing from year to year rapidly, the natural increase as well as the indriving of hundreds of other flocks, were sold to the butcher or shipped to a Chicago market, and as a consequence there is not to-day in the entire county a half a thousand head of sheep.
THE INFERIOR COURTS OF THE COUNTY
Only have origin from the organization of the county, from the fact that there were no courts in the county prior to the organiza- tion, except Judge Lynch's court, and that was then a court which might be termed a supreme or superior court by reason of the pecul- iar rules of practice which governed. There was no appeal allowed to any human tribunal when verdict was returned and sentence pronounced. To the honor and intelligence and humanity of the people of this county, it can be truthfully said that "no impromptu hanging bees" have ever been had. True, there have been occasions when it appeared to certain persons that they were in dangerous proximity to such taking-off recreation, but the calm and humane spirit which often actuates the human mind always found a way out of these conditions, without the shedding of human blood.
" Big Jim," the over grown brute who accompanied a sort of perambulating show which crossed this country by teams in 1870, and who attempted to rape a young girl at the graveyard at Magnolia, after being arrested and brought back, was taken
103
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
from the officer when going from the place of examination to the place where the officer kept him-a rope put around his neck, and barely escaped being hung by reason that too many persons were assisting in the hanging bee. They acting without concert of action-no leadership. Mr. Jacob S. Fountain and some eight others, of Cincinnati township, acting as a court of first resort, in 1862, when the other boys of the county were out in the field, wearing the blue and doing duty at the front, organ- ized an impromptu court near Loveland Mills and determined that the defendant, a man of very pronounced " secesh proclivi- ties" should ascend the golden stairs. When adjusting the rope around his neck and in the act of placing the same over the limb of a tree near by, the prisoner by a quick move released himself from the cord, leaped into the willows and has not been heard of from that date up to the present writing.
The individual who jumped the timber claim between Calhoun and Magnolia in 1855, would have ended his earthly career had he not assigned to the lawful owner all his right and title to the claim and cut dirt for a foreign locality, by first being shown his way out by an opened window.
Many of the peculiar rulings of the Justices' courts could be reproduced here at this time which would somewhat amuse, but as there is so little improvement on these courts since that time, it might cast some reflection on these by now stating what was done in the past ; however I will relate a few of the many wise rulings of these courts.
A certain Mr. Walden being a Justice of the Peace in Calhoun was, in 1857, called upon to try a case of attachment. The peti- tion of the plaintiff, which stated the cause of action was not sworn to by any one and no prayer was made for the issuance of the writ of attachment in the said petition ; whereupon the law- yers, one on each side, appeared, and the counsel for the defend- ant filed a motion to "quash the writ " for reasons stated in the motion. The motion was argued with as much force as ability,
104
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
and when the court came to pass on the motion, he sustained the same, and in order to " quash the writ " he laid the piece of paper called the writ on the table or box in front of him and said-" by virtue of authority vested in me as a Justice of the Peace I squash ye," then striking his hand heavily on the offend- ing writ caught the same in his hand and tore it to fragments. It was "squashed."
In the summer of 1861, after the Legislature had passed the act called the " dog law," which shelved for the time being so many politicians, and gave very many others an opportunity to enter the military service and win name and fame on the battle field, a case for killing a dog was tried before one Lorenzo Dow Pate, a Justice of Raglan, when the court, after hearing the case and being informed by the attorney for the defendant that there was no law prohibiting a man from murdering his neighbor's dog, took up the Code of 1851, and read about fifty pages-read until urged by counsel and clients for a ruling or finding, said, " Gentlemen, I can't find any law here but that the defendant had the right to kill the dorg; it can't be murder, for that must be the premeditated killing of a human being, etc., nor can this be manslaughter, but I think, to the best of my knowledge and belief, that this is a case of dogslaughter, and the defendant is hereby ordered to get another dorg for the prosecutor, a dorg a leetle bigger than the one he killed-provided he can get one."
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.