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 9
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In 1865 a case was being tried before Joel H. Patch, then a Justice of the Peace; a jury was demanded by one of the parties to the action, venire was issued and the constable went eagerly on his errand to procure a jury, and happened to stumble on Joshua B. Akers, who had only a few minutes previously been married; served the writ on him; when the jury was soon made up and accepted. Of this jury, two of the number being known to the fact that Akers had just committed matrimony, viz .: Nor- man B. Hardy and George R. Brainard; the case was called, evi- dence introduced, argument had, and the case submitted to the
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jury by 4 o'clock P. M., but the jurors last named being instigated by the devil, and not having the fear of God before their eyes, did, then and there, willfully and maliciously "hang that jury " all night until 8 o'clock next morning, so as to play a "goake" on the newly married member. It is said that Akers proposed to pay the plaintiff's claim and costs if the jury would agree to this, but Hardy said the defendant shouldn't have a penny, no matter who paid it, and Brainard was equally as obstinate.
Shortly after, his Honor, James Hardy, was inducted into the . office of County Judge. In 1854, on a certain day, just as the business was being closed up, a young gentleman and lady en- tered the office of the aforesaid official, when the following col- loquy ensued:
Young Man-" Air you the Jedge of this ere county?"
The Court-" Yes sir."
Young Man-" Tobitha and me wants to-a-git married, and I want you to say the wurds, if ye will."
Court-" You are both big enough and that is all that is re- quired at this time; are you both riddy?"
Both answering in the affirmative, the Court was a little non- plussed, not exactly having studied his piece yet, could not repeat the marriage ceremony, and as the " court" was presumed to know everything, braced himself for the occasion and said:
"Stand up. Join your left hands and each of you raise your right hand;" this being performed, the court used the following words, as the marriage ceremony:
"You, and each of you, solemnly swear that you will sup- port the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Iowa, and that you will faithfully and impar- tially discharge the duties of husband and wife to the best of your ability, and never apply for a divorce, here or elsewhere, so help you God-$2.50, please."
This, though a little out of form, unquestionably was strong enough for all practical purposes.
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
John Rogers, (not the one burned at Smithfield) of Cass town- ship, being elected to the position of Justice of the Peace in 1864, like many other persons when elected to office, determined to make the office and personage as exalted as possible, was at one time called upon by Isaiah Dungan to act as a court in the collection of a claim against a man by the name of Wilson, whose initials were not known, but whose residence was on a little stream called the "Pigeon." Notice was issued by the court and the case entitled, "Isaiah Dungan against the youngest Wilson on the Pigeon." The day set for trial arrived, and Court, to be certain that his court was convened in due and legal form, before proceeding with the case, passed out of the door of his cabin, climbed to the highest rail on his fence in front of the cabin, and at the top of his voice, said; "Hear ye, hear ye, the Honorable Court of the Hon. John Rogers will begin business in mighty short meter; come if you want to." The case being thus called the court proceeded to hear the evidence of the plaintiff, when a young scion of the court came to the father and attempted to climb upon his knee, whereupon the court addressed the offending youngster, by saying: "Sonny, stand away; keep off; you retard the administration of justice, besides you are bother- ing his Honor, this ere court." The evidence being heard, the court entered the following judgment, viz .: "It is hereby found that plaintiff git of the defendant, the youngest Wilson on the Pigeon, the sum of ten dollars and six bits and my costs, and the next case is the 'dog case,'" which was a cause set for hear- ing the same day, in which the question to be determined was the value of a "puppy dog," three weeks old, which had been confiscated by one boy from another.
Hon. L. R. Bolter and P. D. Mickel, at and during the first half of the sixties, tried a case before a county justice by the name of Isaiah Dungan, on the east side of the county, wherein the pivotal point in the case rested on the time of the happen- ing of a certain event. It was necessary for Mr. Bolter to show
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that such event happened at and on Christmas day, or his case was lost. To prove this circumstance Mr. B. put on the witness stand a man by the name of Draper, who testified that he knew the matter to have taken place before Christmas-when Mr. M. in cross-examination urged the witness to tell how he knew that the act took place before that time; to which the witness replied: "I know it took place before Christmas, because it took place on the 27th of December, and any fool knows that the 27th of December is just before Christmas." Mickel now thought he had his man, and that the backbone of plaintiff's case was broken, and when it came to the argument of the case to the jury, and when the case had been argued by Mr. B., the first sentences uttered by Mr. M. in opening his argument, were these, viz .: "Great God! Gentlemen of the Jury. How can you place any confidence in the statements of the witness Draper? That man Draper is either an unmitigated liar or else a profound ignoramus. Can you believe any man who is so supremely ignorant as not to know the day on which Jesus Christ was mur- dered?" This was a heroic dose dished out to the jury, and as a result Mr. B. won his case; but the sequel showed that Bolter had a willful and malicious intent towards Mickel, even after distancing him in the trial of this case, because he sent Mickel down to stay all night with Eldridge Graham, while he took up his evening quarters at the home of a Mr. Smith, near by, where the beds were good and the food eatable. On the next morning Mr. Bolter drove around to see how Mickel was getting along, and coming in sight of the Graham mansion, saw Mickel stand- ing a few rods from the door, and as soon as Bolter came up, addressed him in this language: " Bolter, you have been guilty of conduct unbecoming a lawyer and Democrat. You infernal hound, you have sent me to a place inhabited, and where the entire family have the itch." Apologies were offered and inno- cence urged, whereat the parties became reconciled.
Captain Wm. M. Hill, who for a long time in the early days
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acted as clerk of the courts, had some pretensions to a knowl -. edge of the law, and would take cases and attempt to try them before what he called "prairie courts." In the trial of a case before Sam Sharpneck, a Justice of the Peace in and for Clay township, Hill appeared for the defendant, Michael Wallace, and Joe Smith appeared for himself; this ante-dating the present law permitting parties to the action testifying, the case being brought upon a book account. Hill, when Smith produced his book, and was about to testify to the correctness of the account, objected to Smith testifying, and based the objection on the ex- ceptions to the provisions of section 2388, of the Code of 1851, viz .: "But an Indian, negro, mulatto or black person shall not be allowed to give evidence in any cause wherein a white person is a party." "Now," says Hill, after reading the exception, "look at Smith and determine if the objection is not well taken." The court inspected the plaintiff and attorney, and sustained the objection; whereupon Smith hurled a copy of the Code at Hill's® head, telling him if he would again open his face he would land, the Code in his stomach, and thereby he would have more law than he ever had. A small row was then in being, when Levi Motz interfered, catching each by the collar, restored order; and the court, without any evidence, rendered judgment for the plain- tiff for half the amount of the claim.
In the selection of a jury, in the case of the State of Iowa vs. James Long, brought from Shelby county on change of venue, a long, gaunt fellow, from "Sandy Point," was called into the jury box and interrogated, on his voir dire, as to his qualification to act as a juror in said case. Among other questions put to him touching his competency, the following was propounded:
Question by the attorney: " Are you of foreign birth, or are you a native-born citizen?"
Answer by juror: "No, sir; I'm a Missourian."
The juror was by both parties excused.
A case was being tried before a certain justice in the " Gumbo"
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district, on the south side of the county, the parties to the action being Seth Chase, plaintiff, vs. Mary Case, defendant. The plain- tiff having introduced his evidence, and the defendant but one witness-the defendant having testified in her own behalf; her testimony being somewhat damaging to the plaintiff, the plain- tiff attempted to impeach her, and in this attempt called a cer- tain witness on the stand, and propounded the usual interroga- tories respecting such conditions, among which questions and answers the following was had, viz .:
By the attorney: " Mr. D., are you acquainted with the defend- ant's reputation for truth and veracity, in the neighborhood in which she lives?"
Witness: "Well, Squire, she'd tell the truth; but about her veracity, some say she would, and some say she wouldn't."
One more citation and I will close this already too lengthy subject. It is this: At a certain election a certain individual was elected to the exalted position of Justice of the Peace, and be- tween the day of election and the first Monday in January fol- lowing, the time when they appeared before the county judge and qualified, there appeared before this "quasi" court two indi- viduals, a gentleman and lady, and requested the official to marry them. He had some compunctions of conscience at first, and was not really settled in his mind whether at and during this "ad interim " he was clothed with sufficient legal authority to pronounce the ceremony; but a legal friend at his elbow sug- gested that he could marry them now, and when he had " qual- ified " he could date the marriage certificate back, and no harm would be done. This counsel was accepted as a legal verity, and the marriage, so far as the saying of the ceremony was concerned by the court, and the assent of the pair uniting their destinies by this act, was to the satisfaction of all considered consummated, when the bride demanded a marriage certificate; whereupon the court gave one, being nearly in the words following, viz .:
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" This is to certify that Mr. A. B. and Miss C. D. appeared before me this .. day of .... , 1858, and wanted to git married; whereupon I then and there properly, legally and solemnly pro- nounced to you the marriage ceremony, which you both gladly assented to. This, then, is to permit you to live in this town- ship and do as old folks do, until I get qualified, and when that occurs I will give you a certificate, and date it back to this date, so as to kiver accidents."
(Signed) Dated .... , A. D. 1858.
B .... W .... , J. P.
POST ROADS AND POST ROUTES,
As well as mail facilities, were luxuries which the early settler did not anticipate, and no matter as to the anticipation, if anticipated, the bottom soon fell out of the anticipation on arriving and settling. From the date of the selecting of the first claim in the county, viz ..: in the early spring of 1847, up to and until the month of June, 1855. there was not a postoffice in the entire county. There were here at that time not less than one thousand of a population, and the nearest postoffice Kanesville, or as now known, Council Bluffs; and this under a Democratic administra- tion. From 1847 to 1855 the only means of obtaining letters from the far off home in the east or from the "faderland," was to patiently wait until the spirit moved some adventurous mind in the neighborhood to journey to Council Bluffs, and while there if perchance he thought of it, call at the office, and having ob- tained the letters or newspaper, carry them to the person addressed in the crown of his hat. The only mail sack used for eight years after the first settlement was the hat-crown route, which during the days of cheap "non-prohibition," very often failed to be on time and make timely connection.
During the month of June, 1855, the Western Stage Company put on a daily line of hacks between Council Bluffs and Sioux City, which event was hailed with more delight than was the
..
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
puffing of the locomotive as the railroad train swept grandly down the Boyer valley in 1866, connecting Chicago via Clinton and Cedar Rapids with Council Bluffs and Omaha, and the govern- ment, at the time of the establishment of said hack line, con- tracted with the stage company to supply the different places along the route with a daily mail. Upon the happening of the above there were only three postoffices in the entire county, viz .: Magnolia, Calhoun and Fontainebleau, the latter being the name of the office at the place where Col. Cochran now occupies as a farm, a little distance up the Little Sioux river, on the same side on which the village of the same name is now located.
This Western Stage Company at this time was more arbitrary and dignified than the railroads of the present day, and scarcely had they made a dozen trips by way of Magnolia until Brown, Meeches, and divers other persons of Calhoun, sub- sidized the company, and the result was that the county seat at Magnolia was " star routed " and supplied by a side mail from her rival, Calhoun, and subsequently furnished by a by-path from the old "Oaks Station " at the foot of the bluffs, at the point where Allen creek debouches into and is lost in the Mis- souri bottoms. This treatment to the people of Magnolia was accepted as an unpardonable insult, and to make up for this defect, they went earnestly to work building churches, school houses, a court house, and by these means out rivaled their enemy; for be it known, that Calhoun, though more than thirty years old has never possessed sufficient religious enthusiasm to have a church building; dispensing with this, she has fallen into inoc- uous desuetude; the other, though a distance of six miles from railroad, telegraph or telephone, still holds a hand unnerved by time or other adverse circumstances.
The town of Fontainebleau, or La Ponteur's town, having been laid out contrary to the wishes and expectations of the original settlers of the vicinity of the place, and the obtainment of the postoffice at that place, precipitated the building of a bridge
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
across the Little Sioux river near the site where the present bridge is now located at the town of Little Sioux, and as soon as this was completed, Hon. Thos. B. Neely, S. W. Condit, David Gamet, et al., all being grade Democrats, brought their united strength to bear upon the department at Washington, and had the postoffice changed from Fontainebleau to Little Sioux. The travel then turned from the foot of the bluffs across the Little Sioux river at Little Sioux town, and from this place on north to Ashton, then the county seat of Monona county. This circumstance happen- ing in 1857, the postoffice has remained at the latter place ever since. Fontainebleau lapsed back into her virgin condition and now constitutes a part of one of the best farms in the county.
The town of St. Johns, on the left bank of the Boyer river, nearly opposite the present site of Missouri Valley, being laid out in the summer of 1857, soon after birth began to assume metro- politan airs, and by the spring of 1858 had sufficient settle- ment and population to be entitled to postal facilities, and then, as now, the inhabitants being largely of the Democratic political faith, demanded of the bachelor President, James Buchanan, the establishment of a postoffice at that place, which request, as soon as received, was promptly granted, and the Western Stage Com- pany were ordered to supply this place with mail facilities, which was accordingly done, until Missouri Valley swallowed up the sur- rounding country and made such changes that a postoffice at the old town was no longer needed.
In the month of May, 1858, two additional routes were let and put in operation, viz .: One from Magnolia to Adel in Dallas county, passing through by way of Butler's Mills, Olmstead, thence to Galland's Grove at Shelbyville, the then seat of justice of Shelby county, and on east through Audubon and Guthrie counties to the terminus last named. At this time postoffices were established at Butler's Mills and Olmstead, and supplied semi-weekly. Several individuals of recent settlement in the county have inquired as to the origin of the name of the
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
town of Woodbine, and why so named. In reply I will say, as did old Adam in the garden of Eden, when a certain question was propounded to him, " A woman did it." . Mr. L. D. Butler at this time was the owner of and resided with his family at the Butler Mills, and in the spring of 1858, when the question was asked " what shall be the name of our postoffice," Mrs. Butler, who was born in merry old England, and had never forgotten the clusters of woodbine that ran up and clambered around the doors and windows of the old far off home, promptly requested that she should be permitted to name the new postoffice, and when assent was given, she promptly gave the same the name of Woodbine, in consequence of the conditions last above stated. This line was so changed in 1863 as to leave Wood- bine and Manteno off the route, and ran from Magnolia to Whitesboro-then a postoffice; thence to Jeddo, Jason Z. Hunt postmaster; thence direct to Havlan and on to Adel as above stated.
Henry Olmstead, who settled in the spring of 1857, at the place where this postoffice was established, had the place or office named after himself, but upon the completion of the Chi- cago & Northwestern railroad down the Boyer, this office was discontinued, and the mail sent to this office was ordered to be sent to Dunlap.
The other line, established in 1858, as before stated, had its initial point at Magnolia, and ran semi-weekly towards the west, to De Soto, in Washington county, Nebraska, a distance of quite thirty-five miles by the route then traveled, and many of the settlers of that time will yet remember the "carry-all " of Mr. Jerome Seely, who at that time was the servant of the Demo- cratic administration which compelled him to wade, swim or boat the country through from the edge of the bluffs on the Iowa side so as to land the United States mails safely on the Nebraska side at the place of destination at any bluff where there was sufficient dry land to afford opportunity for distribu- 8
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tion. These routes were continued until the running of mails on the cars on the Chicago & Northwestern railroad, and on the S. C. & Pacific railroad, a circumstance which took place in 1866-7.
At the inception of the year 1864, the postal department established a post-route from Council Bluffs via Crescent City, Harris Grove, Reeder's Mills, Woodbine, Manteno, and from thence to Olmstead and then on to Ft. Dodge. The first contractor on this route was one James Billings, known hy all persons as "Laughing Jim," (the music of whose laughter was more forcible than elegant), which provided for a semi- weekly service and continued up to 1866.
In 1863 there was also established a weekly route from Mag- nolia to Smithland on the south line of Woodbury county, fur- nishing Preparation, Mt. Pisgah, Belvidere and Castana with postal facilities, which continued up to and until 1867, at the time the Sioux City road began the carrying of the mails.
In the fall of 1866, at the time at which the C. & N. W. rail- road hegan her regular trips down the Boyer Valley and had reached Council Bluffs, the Western stage from the last named place to Sioux City was dispensed with so far as the Magnolia mail was concerned, and Magnolia was supplied with mails from Woodbine by a daily service run and operated by George R. and Orville Brainard, which service was continued up to and until a postoffice was established at Logan, which was in the fall of 1867. And here let it be remembered that the railroads, with all their boasted magnanimity, passed and repassed the town of Logan for nearly one year from the time of the first trip, before any mails were given off for the accommodation of the citizens of the community. Not until there were orders from the postal department of a peremptory character, did this neighborhood receive any benefits from this important factor of the Government.
From 1867 up to the present Magnolia has been supplied with a daily mail from Logan, a place which is the depot of, or the
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greatest distributing point in Harrison county. From this place at the present, the mails for one fourth of the county, at the present, are separated and forwarded to the places of destination. Here all the mail matter for Reeder's Mills, Valley View, Persia, Needmore, Beebetown and Magnolia is sacked and forwarded to the respective places of destination. The Calhoun, Whitesboro, Jeddo, Raglan and Harris Grove postoffices are discontinued, and in lieu of the old order of things, Dunlap, Woodbine, and Mis- souri Valley are furnished with four mails per day, viz .: two east and two west, alternating morning and evening, so that no better accommodation could now be had either as to the times of mails or gentility of the postmasters. While this is a Demo- cratic administration, no more competent man ever filled the position of postmaster than Doc. Massie, the present official at Logan.
California Junction, Modale, Mondamin, River and Little Sioux are equally accommodated in this respect, and all goes merry as a marriage bell. If the reader will pardon a little digression I will relate the thoughts of a few of the " gentler sex " on the old order of postoffices and time of getting letters as to the early days of western Iowa : "Why," says one, "I could never wait for my fellow to go thirty-five miles to a postoffice to obtain my letters, carry them home and then travel a distance of thirty-five miles more to mail the answer-think of the poor fellow travelling 140 miles to hear from me and answer my let- ters - this life is too short for such circumlocution." The other said, "I would go to my male by the most direct mail route and stay."
LIFE ON THE PRAIRIE
In the years 1848, 1849, 1850, 1851, 1852, 1853, 1854, and up to 1866, was very different from that of the present day. At the present date, little if any difference exists between the advan- tages of the Slope counties and that of the most refined location of the most fastidious East. But do the people of the present
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for one moment think of the embarrassments, barren privileges, isolations from society and hardships the fathers and mothers were compelled to endure while this part of the country was merging from nature's primitive state into that of civilization, a crystalization of society? How many of the present generation would be willing to forego the pleasures and comforts of home and go on a pilgrimage of seventy miles to procure a half bushel of seed corn, so as to have something to place in Mother Earth, in order to have the roasting ear, or when the same became ripened by the lapse of time into the full-fledged ear; then when ripe for the sickle, to pluck the same and then return, either on foot or by ox team the same distance, viz .: seventy miles, in order to have the same crushed into meal to be used for corn dodger, hoe-cake or mush.
Daniel Brown, Uriah Hawkins, E. T. Hardin, Ira Perjue, Ezra Vincent, Lucius Merchant, George Blackman, Amos Chase, the father of the Cutler boys, Jerry Motz, Levi Motz, George Mefford, John Jeffrey, and all others who settled in this county prior to 1853, were by force of circumstances compelled to go to Coolidge's mill on the Pigeon, which was two miles north of the town of Crescent City, or to Coonsville (now known as Glenwood), in order to have any meal ground by the process now in opera- tion. A biscuit of wheaten bread was a luxury that the parents and children of that day and generation did not aspire to, and in case there were such a delicacy as a loaf of wheat bread or a dish of wheat biscuit set upon the table, the immediate inquiry from the children was, Where did this come from, or Who has been married ?
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