USA > Iowa > Harrison County > History of Harrison County, Iowa : its people, industries and institutions, with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families > Part 41
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Up to about two years ago there was a sort of a tavern kept here, but now there is no business enterprise, all being devoted to farm life. Calhoun is no more, except in memory.
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CHAPTER XXXIX.
ALLEN TOWNSILIP.
The last civil township to be created by the board of supervisors in Harrison county, was Allen, constituted in 1872, which comprises congres- sional township SI, range 43, and was named in honor of one of the carly settlers. It is on the northern line of the county, west of Lincoln, north of Magnolia, and west of Jackson township. It had a population in 1885 of three hundred: in 1890. it had five hundred and seventy-four and, accord- ing to the last. 1910, United States census it was given as six hundred and thirty-three. Until recem years this township worked under the difficulty of being far from towns and railroad places for shipment, but during the last dozen or so years the Mondamin branch of the Northwestern system has given stations at both Pisgah and Orson in Jackson township at the west of Allen. It is an excellent township in many ways, notwithstanding its early draw-backs. The soil is here well suited for the production of the staple crops in the county. The population is mostly American-born and very thrifty and enterprising. There is but a small amount of natural timber within the township, except small groves in the southern part, and Stowe's grove, which extends over into Monona county. Among the small creeks may be named Allen, Stowe's and Elk creeks.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
David Imlay was the first to make his home permanently in this town- ship. He settled in section 34, about 1856. . At the same time came his son- in-law, Samuel Spinks. Imlay died during the Civil War and Spinks sur- vived until 1885. There was but little settlement in what is now Allen town- ship until about 1870.
John W. Widoes, of section 12, came to the county in 1868, locating first in Clay township, where it is stated by others that he shook with the ague for seven long years, and then removed to Allen township, where he had better health.
Asher Servis, an old Mexican War soldier, who came to Harrison county, and subsequently moved to Allen township, located in sections 17
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and 20, where he lived in a rude "dug-out." From that point he removed to Raglan township and there died. He was a great pioneer character. Ile was a prominent member of the board of county supervisors and a man of much native ability, though set and odd in his own peculiar ways.
Fletcher Armstrong came to Allen township in 1871, during the month of March, and settled in section 33, remained five years and removed to Cass township, where he still resided in the nineties.
J. C. MeCabe, who for so many years was county surveyor and pro- prietor of the Logan Observer, the Republican organ, who always spoke his mind freely and stood for all that was good, elevating and progressive in the state and county, came to Allen township in 1871 from Raglan town- ship, settling in section 28, where he followed farming and school teaching for a livelihood until he removed to Logan April 1, 1888.
William Miller and family settled in Allen township in 1872, in section 16. Two years later he died and the family removed to Modale, where the good wife died in 1889.
Merritt Barry came to section 36, about 18;6. John T. Burch came to section 24. in 1877. Simon V. Shearer, of section II, came in 1879. John R. Clark came to section II and made settlement in 1880. Charles Lewis, of section 15. came in 1877. John F. Dick settled in section 18, in August, 1878. William La Seur came to Dunlap in 1868, worked out and rented land until he settled in section 17, 1880.
Early in the eighties came Carl F. Peterson to section 20.
Another settler in 1878 was Conrad Wakehouse, section 29.
A. Massingill settled on the northwest of section 8, about 1878. Ile had lived in this county many years before this settlement, and finally re- moved to Missouri, from this township.
Peter Boleh settled in section 33. in the spring of 1874. He worked by the month for J. C. McCabe, and in 1876 purchased land, where he made a permanent home.
Erastus Chaffee came to section 34 in 1872. After eight years he sold and moved to Boyer township.
In 1862 William Il. McHenry located in section 34. but in 1871 moved to Woodbine.
John Mann, Jr., settled in section 28, in 1876. on eighty acres of will land.
John T. Boone came to Allen township about 1880, locating in section 31. 11. P. Morrow came in 1882. finally locating in section 12.
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Isaac Cox came in about 1880, from St. Johns township. located in sec- tion 34.
Oscar Lewis became a settler in section 4, in the fall of ISSI. He first settled in section 11, later buying land in section 15.
William Griffith came to Harrison county in 1868 and to Allen town- ship in 1882, settling in section 8.
Benjamin Maynard, section 16. lived there from 1874 to 1880, sold and removed to Kansas. In the early nineties he was editing the Courier, a local newspaper at Blair, Nebraska.
E. A. Atherton came about 1876, but later moved to Kansas.
James Beechem settled in section 6. in 1873 or 1874. He moved to Little Sioux in 1880. J. H. Crom settled in section 11, about 1878. His father was an early pioneer in Magnolia township. Taylor Atherton settled in section 27, about 1886. He came from New York in 1891. William Glover made his settlement in 1884.
Francis M. Mill-, of section 27, came to the county in August, 1868, and to Allen township in 1886.
Other settlers were: Noble W. Young, who came to the county in 1881; Lewis J. Sherwood, who arrived in the county in 1876 and bought land in Allen in 1889: Madison C. Stearns bought in 1882; Nels Peterson, of section 20, came to the county in 1870. locating in Raglan township, but in 1886 moved to Allen township: Samuel Nuzum and William Neal came in 1885: Thomas Magnet came to the county in about 1861 : Joseph S. Miles came with his parents in 1868, first locating in Lincoln township. O. L. Mikel came in 1878. Oscar Lewis and W. G. Holman came in 1871.
The schools and churches of this township are included with all others in the county, in special chapters dealing with such topics.
OLYMPUS POST OFFICE.
This postoffice was established in Allen township in 1882 and L. B. Prose was appointed postmaster. He kept the office at his farm house in section 5, until his removal from the township in July, 1890, when P'. 11. Morrow was appointed postmaster; he lived in section 12. Mail was re- ceived twice each week from Woodbine.
CHAPTER XL.
LINCOLN TOWNSHIP.
Named in honor of the lamented president. Abraham Lincoln, this civil township was organized in 1868 and now comprises congressional township 81, range 42. It is bounded on the north by Monona county, on the east by Harrison township, in this county, on the south by Boyer and on the west by Allen township. Willow creek enters the domain in section 3 and leaves the township from section 31. There is a system of natural drainage, made by creeks and rivulets scattered here and there throughout the entire town- ship. The population in 1885 was two hundred and forty-eight; in ISgo it was five hundred and fifty-four, while the United States census reports for 1910 give the township as having a population of five hundred and seventy- nine.
Without towns or villages, the trading has to be done at some market town outside the township, which is usually Dunlap or Woodbine. Until the establishment of the rural delivery postal service, about 1890, the people of this township had to depend upon getting their mail at the Olympus post- office, established in 1882. This is in Allen township and at first was kept in section 7, but later in section 12. Now the mail carriers strike many of the homes of this goodly township, daily.
Aside from about two hundred acres of Four Mile grove, there is no native timber in this township, but there are many artificial groves, planted ly thoughtful pioneer men.' These trees have now grown to large propor- tions, and give the township an entirely different appearance from the scenes in the seventies and eighties, when the broad prairies were almost treeless.
EARLY SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWNSIIIP.
Lincoln is one of the fine sub-divisions in the "Kingdom of Harrison" and is situated along the north line. To have been a pioneer in this section was to undergo many hardships and the work of bringing it to its present high state of cultivation, has cost no small amount of labor, but those who settled here, and their children and grandchildren, have certainly been well rewarded for such toil and sacrifice. The first white men to look over this
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fair and productive territory with a view of making themselves homes came in about 1853. The first to become a permanent settler, however, was Henry Hushaw, who now lies buried in the Woodbine cemetery. He came in the autumn of 1855, locating in section 36. Long before his death this pioncer was totally blind.
Nathan Johnson, the elder, became a settler in section 36 in 1856. He came in from Indiana and died at the place of his settlement about 1879. He was a member of the board of county supervisors several terms.
John Johnson, of Indiana (son of Nathan ), came with Henry Hushaw in 1855. He located in section 36, but later removed to Nebraska.
John Sellick came in 1857, with Hiram Moore, settling in the south- cast quarter of section 32. Hiram Moore came then and settled in section 36. Upon this land was fought the last battle with the Indians.
Sisston Snyder, later a resident of Missouri Valley, settled on the Cherry farm in 1859. This was in section 33.
Isaac Palmer in 1856 entered a quarter of section 31, remained ten years and sold to Elisha Mahoney, who later sold and the place fell into the hands of Nephi Purcell.
11. 31. Wheeler ( not a desirable citizen) came from Council Bluffs, and commenced to improve land claimed by him as his, in section 20. It turned out that he did not own the land, but simply ran it for the crop he could raise on it. He was detected in making whisky illegally, at Wood- bine, and left under a cloud for unknown parts. He was a bright, intelli- gent, though very foppish fellow, says the record of his day here. He left in 1880.
Just at the close of the Civil War came "Squire" J. S. Mchain, who took land in the north half of section 16. In 1885 he moved to Nebraska. Mike Hopkins settled in section 25 and died in 1880.
Nephi Purcell came here in 1868. He purchased land in section 31 and still held the same in 1890. He settled in Harrison county in 1856. Ile now has many descendants in and around Woodbine and other parts of this county.
Charles Mills came in 1868, settling in section 32.
William Buzzell located along the Willow at a very carly day, but re- mained only three years.
Sometimes before the Civil War came that well-known citizen, Hugo Holdoggle, a German, who settled in section 33. He served in the Twenty- ninth lowa Infantry Regiment in Civil War times. He sold out later and moved to Dunlap, where he followed gardening.
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Benjamin P. Marks came to the county in 1865 and to Lincoln town- ship in 1868, settling in section 13.
Homer D. Hulburd came to section 15 in 1868. His father was Daniel Hulburd.
In 1873 Abel Powley located in section 36 in 1873. He made many farm improvements and became a well-to-do farmer. He died several years ago.
James A. Roberts settled in section 32 in 1872. He remained in the county many years, but, on account of ill health, moved to Missouri and later to California. He was a single man and very progressive and ener- getic as a corn and stock man.
John S. Edwards settled in sections 2 and 3 in 1877.
In 1880 came W. A. Stewart of section 17. He later removed to Allen township.
The same year came I. C. Evans and settled in section 9.
Thomas Mann settled in section 29, in 1880, on what was then styled the Wheeler farm.
Gus Turno settled in section 30 early in the eighties.
During 1881 came L. B. Prose to the south half of section 7. He re- mained until February, 1891, when he traded his land for the Lusk Hotel at Logan. and conducted the same a few years. When he arrived in Lin- col township in 18SI he said that A. Ballard, of section 3. William Evans, of section 3. D. G. Smith, of section 9, Wheeler Mendenhall, section 33, were all there and making improvements. Mendenhall is now long since a retired farmer in Woodbine.
From 1881 to 1884, Lincoln township rapidly increased in population. In 1883 ninety votes were cast at the general election. William S. Burch dates his settlement from January, 1878. He rented land in Allen township three years and. in 18So, purchased land in Lincoln and moved there in 1881.
W. H. Barsby bought two hundred and eighty acres of land in section 6. in the fall of 1884. He now lives at Woodbine and is still owner of his valuable farm, which is operated in part by his son. They make fancy stock a specialty, while the father is agent for the Fairmont Creamery of Omaha.
Thomas Mann came to this county with his parents, when sixteen years of age. He grew to manhood and located in section 29, Lincoln township.
Osear L. Smith, of section 31, a blacksmith by trade, brother of Frank Smith, formerly a jeweler of Woodbine, settled in section 31. He canic in 1881, worked a short time at his trade and then commenced farming.
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Edgar Taylor, in section 20, came to the county in 1873.
Abel Powley also came in January, 1873, and bought his land in this township.
Marion Purcell came to the state in 1856, from Indiana, and located in Pottawattamie county, but a year later moved to Harrison county.
Janies R. Hawk came to this county in 1882 and located near Dunlap, but the next year moved to Lincoln township.
John Emge. in section 4. Lincoln, was another early settler.
William Elliott came to the county in 1871.
Charles Cleveland came in 1885, locating on his present farm in sec- tion 15 which is operated in company with his son. Mr. Cleveland, "Charlie Cleveland," so well and commonly known, now resides in Woodbine at an advanced age. He was in the navy in Civil War days; was a boiler-maker later in Council Bluffs, and has had a wonderful experience in his time, hav- ing sailed around the Horn many times and been in all foreign ports. He is the only known living charter member of Lodge No. 1, Washington, D. C., of the Order of Knights of Pythias, formed at the close of the war.
James H. Crim came to Harrison county in 1853, when eight years old. He became a pioneer settler in this township.
John Bloch was quite carly in the township, a farmer of section 16.
The township has its full share of schools and these, together with the churches, etc., are all mentioned in special general chapters on such topics within this volume. (See index.)
CHAPTER XLI.
INTERESTING REMINISCENCES-LOCAL WRITERS.
Perhaps no section of any county history is read with more intense in- terest than the articles, or reminiscences, penned by local men and women who have passed through the trials and hardships, together with the joys and hopes found only in the pioneer's breast. As was promised in the prospectus of this work, all historic volumes and every bit of "good history" available were to be searched out and made use of, to the bringing forth a work, covering the past as well as the present of Harrison county, hence it is that the author has concluded to incorporate into this chapter numerous sketches which have appeared in previous works, believing that the names of the able writers at their head, will be recognized as authority for what the articles may contain.
BEFORE AND AFTER THE RAILROAD.
By Mrs. W. T. Preston, Harrison Township.
All the following reminiscences of "ye olden time" are of an carlier date than my personal knowledge. because I came after the railroad. But if one would realize the contrasts in Harrison township, it is necessary to go back to the commencement of the thirty-five years of its inhabitancy. (This was written in 1891.)
Conversations with some of the old-timers have resulted in giving clues as to their manner of living, the struggles and hardships of pioneer life. They came here from New England with no railroad facilities this side of lowa City. a distance of two hundred miles as the crow flies, and farther by wagon trail, through bridgeless streams and almost trackless forests. Through muddy valleys and over treeless prairies. They brought no luxuries and few necessities with them. Their nearest trading point was Council Bluffs, more than fifty miles away, with traveling similar to that east of them. Three days were consumed in going there and back. Time was precious and money was scarce. Exchange of articles and labor was the order of the day. Anything was legal tender. The "coin of the realm" was as scarce as the new spring bonnets of the ladies. Furniture was hand-made and
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lucky the woman whose husband had an axe, hammer and saw, with skill to use them. Unplaned black walnut made rude chairs, tables, bedsteads and stand, and time and wear polished them. A saw-mill in Shelby county, with primitive machinery, furnished rough boards for their cabins. No nicely-matched edges made close joints in walls and floors, but frequently the green lumber shrunk until the cracks were wide enough to render doors and windows almost unnecessary. No "ten-cent counter" supplied them with culinary tools and no china store furnished them with its gilt-edged ware. Thin pieces of boards supplied any lack of plates and whittled-out wooden forks sometimes took the places of their steel or silver sisters. No chenille or madras curtains draped their windows, but perchance an old Hartford, Connecticut, Courant with a fancifully notched edge added an air of refinement and hinted at the comforts and luxuries left behind. Un- planed boards with generous cracks between them did not call for Brussels carpets, and so they did not have them. A Shelby county brick kiln sup- plied them with material for chimneys, and sometimes firc-places were used in place of stoves. One lady told me that when she was coming across the state, she stopped for the night where there was an old lady and gentle- man sitting in front of a huge fire-place in which there was a back-log and two other logs with one end on the fire and the other in the middle of the room. As fast as they burned off they were given a shove and thus time and labor were saved in preparing fuel, but this did not happen in Har- rison township. The settlers from New England, who came here, were too thrifty and tidy to burn fuel in any such shiftless way as that. One room, or at most two. contained and sheltered the whole family, and maybe two of them. Yes. there was always room for one more. They were like street cars in state fair time, never full. No stranger was turned away and the strangers knew it. They would put their horses in the shed unasked and walk into the house with the air of proprietors. They well knew that the floor occpuants coukl lie a little closer and the loft made of loose boards reached by a ladder, would accommodate those who might come later. No matter if the larder was empty and the flour bin scraped; no matter if the cows were dry and the chickens were roosting high, they knew that Yankee ingenuity, combined with Yankee hospitality, would see that they had some- thing to eat.
CORN TEN CENTS A BUSHEL.
There was a still earlier settlement made in Galland's Grove, four miles to the southeast of Dunlap, by Mormons from Nauvoo, Illinois. Harrison
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township's first settlers obtained some corn from them the first year and paid two dollars per bushel. When they had raised a crop of corn and wheat, they hauled it to the Bluffs and got ten cents a bushel for the corn and thirty cents. for the wheat. It hardly paid expenses. One year they had no wheat on account of blight, so they learned to use corn meal for everything. They sprinkled a tin with meal and filled it with pumpkin and so made_pies. Brown corn made nutricious coffee that was not enervating. Sugar-cane made sorphum that served all purposes for sweetening. Invigorating air and the aroma from newly turned sod. with plenty of exercise, created an appetite that gave flavor and relish to food, that the pampered sons of lux- ury never enjoy.
In war times one dollar would buy three pounds of loaf sugar, and that would last a year, as it was never used except in sickness or for some distinguished guests. Dame nature furnished the children shoes and stockings in the summer and motherly fingers knit the winter hose, while a load of wheat would buy the winter shoes. Out of doors all sorts of appliances were used. Ingenuity was taxed to the uttermost to And ways and means to do work and supply deficiencies. One man, at least, had a saddle and bridle made of the bark of a tree. Snow storms that were bewildering, sometimes overtook them on their freighting tours, and when the sun came the glistening snow was literally blinding for man and beast. Darkness sometimes came before they could find shelter. One gentleman told me that he was out with another man, and lost the trail, but listening, intently heard a dog bark. It was their only clue to a human habitation, and so they made a hee line for the sound. The dog continued to bark, and it became more and more distinct until they finally reached a friendly shelter. It was customary among the settlers to place candles in the windows after night- fall. for the guidance of belated travelers.
One wagon-trail from the end of the railroad to the Missouri river lay through the Boyer valley and sometimes the wagon trains would be a mile and a quarter long. This was in 1859 and 1860, when "Pike's Peak or bust" was the motto of thousands of fortune seekers. We cannot now hardly realize what a dreary waste of prairie stretched out before the gaze of the early settlers, with scarcely a tree and hardly a fence to break the monotony. As one lady remarked: "Girls and dogs were used for fences because they were cheaper than posts and rails." Her husband replied, that while now he could haul posts and wire for a half mile of fence in a half day, then it would take him all winter to cut and haul material enough for the same. Sometimes the fall prairie grass caught fire and the flames would sweep
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with relentless fury for miles through the valley and over the hills, licking up any precious bit of fence or pile of hard-earned rails or anything else that stood in its way.
Previous to 1860, probably there were not a dozen houses in Harrison township. The nearest neighbors were out of sight and hearing.
Some time previous to 1860 a mail route was established, running from Magnolia to Adel. in Dallas county, connecting Magnolia with Council Bluffs, and from Adel to Des Moines and Iowa City.
TIIE MAILS.
James Billings, of Dunlap, told ine he carried mail for quite a while, sometimes on horseback and sometimes in a two-wheeled cart. He did not carry passengers, unless some chance stranger wanted to go his way, but one time he brought three "school ma'ams" from Harlan to Manteno. They inade themselves as comfortable as possible on the one seat, while he mounted the horse. The people of Harrison township then received their mail twice a week, which was a wonderful advance beyond previous accommodations. There were some risks in carrying mails during all sorts of weather and traveling through a lonely country, with never one bridge over any stream on the road. One time Mr. Billings broke through the crust of snow and ice that covered the Mosquito creek. He succeeded in extricating himself and mail bag but could not get the horse out. He ran five miles to the near- est house for help and returning they found the horse yet alive and saved it. Another time he was capsized in Indian creek and hunted all day in cold wet clothing for his mail bag. At last just at night, when he was almost frozen, he found it and putting it on his horse he made all possible speed to the nearest house, twelve miles away. Arriving at his destination he was carried into the house almost dead. Upon recovering a little he sent for the postma-ter to examine the mail and see if anything was ruined. Only one letter was injured and in that they were enabled to learn the name of the writer, which was A. N. Warren, who yet resides near Dunlap. Mr. Billings returned the letter with the request that he re-write it.
These early settlers made a desperate effort to keep up a semblance of New England customs in religious lines. They met at each other's houses on Sundays and read sermons and sang songs. They prayed to the same God that guided and guarded their Pilgrim ancestors on the bleak New England shores. They had Sunday schools, and laid the foundations for that superior mental and moral growth, which distinguishes Harrison town-
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