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 6
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Of Mr. Wood let it be said that he was born in 1816, in Ohio, and at the age of manhood went to clerking in a general store in Kingstown, Missouri. In 1846 he came to Kanesville (Council Bluffs), with two yoke of caitle, or rather a yoke of oxen and one of cows, which in those days were frequently pressed into the service of teaming. He had taken up the trade of a wagon repairer and conducted a shop at Council Bluffs. or near that point. In 18448 his house and most all of his furniture was burned. He erected a log house and remained there till 1850 as above noted. The first school in Union township, this county, was in a log cabin owned by Mr. Wood. He saw a train of cars the first time at Mar- shalltown, Iowa, and was frightened at the shrill whistle. He purchased the first cook-stove and kerosene lamp he ever saw. In 1838 he was at the massacre at Hahn's Mills, where the Mormons were massacred and seven- teen were thrown into an old well and covered up, he narrowly escaping with his life. Really, the occasion of his coming west was the disturbance at Nauvoo, Illinois. The name "Uncle Sammy Wood" will ever have a place in Harrison county annals.
In Allen township the first to settle was David, Imlay, who settled on section 34 in 1856. His son-in-law, Samuel Spinks, settled at the same time on the same section. Imlay died during the Civil War and Spinks survived until 1885. There was not much settlement in this township
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until about 1870 and later. See township history of this township for more on the list of pioneers.
Lincoln township was first settled by Henry Hushaw, who later set- ted at Woodbine. He came to the township in the autumn of 1855. locating on section 36. Later in life Mr. Hushaw went totally blind some years before his death. Members of the family still reside in various parts of this county and elsewhere in lowa.
Raglan township was first settled by Orvil M. Allen, who came in from Pottawattamie county, lowa, taking a claim in 1849. and returned to the county named and there remained until the following spring. This claim was located near the village of Magnolia. on Allen creek ( named for him). He remained until 1851. then went to Salt Lake.
LEFT CIVILIZATION FOR FAR WEST.
La Grange township had for its first permanent settler John Harris, one of the Mormon band, and from him was named "Harris Grove," now so well known. His location was section 12, and later passed into the hands of J. D. Mckinney. In western Jowa in 1848 the country was but little known, and usually considered worthless. The Latter-Day Saints, then being in difficuty in Illinois and Missouri, left the bounds of civiliza- tion, seeking homes in the "Far West." Under the leadership of various persons they became scattered and confused. both in religion and destina- tion. Most of this sect stopped in western lowa, and it was this band, which had been driven from other states, that made the first settlements in Lagrange township. They denounced Brigham Young ( leader of the Mormon church ) as a false leader and styled him the "man-devil." Many who first halted in this township, sojourned but a short time, hence their names can not be given, but Mr. Harris became the first actual, perma- nent settler. At Harris Grove, there were about one hundred and thirty persons stopped for a time, some longer than others. From out this colony only the names of the following can now be recalled by old settlers: Harris, Wiemer, Austin, Powell. Noyes, Sufelt. Twitchell, Hodges, Com- fort. Mecham, Thornton, and Milesell. These all built cabins and remained until the spring of 1852 and then went on to the promised land in far away Utah. ( See township history. )
St. John township was first settled by John Reynolds and family. Will- iam Smith, Sr .. Adam Stevens, George Lawrence and the Mongrum fami- lies. all making settlement in "Tennessee Hollow."
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Dr. Robert MeGavren settled here in 1850-that is he settled just over the line in Pottawattamie county, but was always associated in the affairs of Harrison county. He moved to the little hamlet of St. John in October, 1858, and practiced medicine until the starting of Missouri Valley. when he removed to that town, and there spent the remainder of his days. He improved the farm later owned by William Dakan. Doctor McGavren had varied and trying experiences in this county in the fifties. He was not of the Mormon faith and was only called upon as a physician and surgeon when necessity really demanded his services. Ile saw the winter coming on, and without means, bethought himself and packed his medicine chest and hied away to Gentry county, Missouri, where he hung out his shingle and soon had a fine practice. After a few weeks he had an opportunity of selling out his practice for two hundred and twelve dollars and took ad- vantage of it, and returned to his family in St. John. He was absent six weeks. lle was engaged in December, 1850. to teach the school in "Ten- nessee Hollow." It was held in what was styled the "Mormon Taber- nacle," and he received his pay in all sorts of commodities, one patron pay- ing in rails, another in a churn and tub, while others brought him beef, and in one case he took two bushels of turnips-seldom ever seeing any cash. After mingling with the Mormons as teacher and neighbor for some time, he won himself into their good graces and had an excellent medical prac- tice from 1852 up to 1870. The good doctor was a stanch Democrat : a "bright" Free Mason, and his family were an ornament to. society and an honor to their father and mother. He was financially very successful and died leaving a handsome estate.
Harrison township had for its first settlers, James Welch, Henry Olmstead and Ethel P. Brown, who came in the latter part of 1856. and fore part of 1857. Welch came from Indiana, locating in the northwest quar- ter of section 33. where he commenced improving, but in the spring of 1857 he moved to Crawford county, selling out to G. C. Roberts. Brown settled in section 13: served in the Union army in Civil War days in Com- pany C, Twenty-Ninth lowa Infantry. He sold and moved to Shelby county. lowa.
Douglas township was first settled by a Mormon named Pierce, who arrived either in 1851 or 1852. Ile sold a quarter section claim to Thomas Binnell. and he to Mathew HIall in 1853. It was in section 30, and at Twelve Mile Grove. Hall improved the land and remained there until his removal to Woodbine in 1881. Thomas Wild came in 1851: William
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G. Mefford settled in section 29 in 1853, and many more. an account of whom is given in the history of this township.
Washington township had for its original settler Hugh Walker, who arrived in this township in 1849, settling in the beautiful grove that now bears his name. In 1853 came Isaac M. Atkins. He rented land near the Little Sioux until 1854. He finally located in section 17 of this town- ship.
In Taylor township, Robert Hall effected the pioneer settlement in 1853. locating in section 1. The following year came J. C. Willis, and S. J. Oaks. So plenty were deer that Willis related that he counted forty- five at one time, and wild turkeys by the untold thousands. See township account for further information regarding the early settlement of Taylor township.
"GOD BLESS THE PIONEERS."
"We love best the man who dares to do -- The moral hero stalwart thro and thro, Who treads the untried path, evades the rut ; Who braves the virgin forest, builts a hut, Removes the tares encumbering the soil, And founds empires based on thought and toil."
FIRST EVENTS IN THE COUNTY.
Under this heading is given a record, in brief, of many of the first and more important historic events that have transpired within Harrison county, and may be relied upon as being fairly correct. coming as they have from men and women, and present-day records, which were made in the forties, fifties and sixties, by the pioneers themselves :
The first actual settler to remain and become a citizen of the county was Daniel Brown, who located where he later platted Calhoun. This was during the autumn of 1846, and the spring of 1847. Hence it may be said that the county had a settler a few weeks prior to the state being ad- mitted into the Union, which date was December 28, 1846. Then pioneer Brown saw what is now known as Harrison county, while it was yet within "lowa territory." The exact location on which he settled was in section 19, township 79, range 44.
The first land purchased in the county from the government was that bought at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre by Daniel Brown, at
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the Council Bluffs land office. in December, 1852-six years after he made his first .settlement in the county. It was the "eighty" where he platted the first town in the county-Calhoun, which entered the contest for the county seat, but did not succeed.
The first birth in the county was Daniel Brown's son Jerome, born October, 1848.
The first death was that of a Mormon's child, at Harris Grove, in the winter of 1848-49.
The first marriage of a couple, where either party to the union resided within Harrison county, was that of William Brown to a lady of Potta- wattamie county, in 1849. At about that date Alonzo Hunt married a lady who resided in Union township.
The first marriage license here was issued to John Jones and Eliza- beth Outhouse. Junte 9. 1853, by County Judge Stephen King. August 16 .. that same year, the same judge married Samuel MeGavren and Mary Harden.
The first female child born within the county. as far as any krowl- edge can be had. was Amy Amplin Chase, daughter of Amos S. Chase, by his wife, Sarah Chase. The date of her birth was October 30, 1850. .
EARLY SCHOOLS.
The first term of school (private subscription ) was taught in the win- ter of 1849-50, in a log building, made for that purpose, on the bluff overlooking the old village plat of Calhoun, the first town of the county. Ten scholars were usually in attendance. The Browns and Allens fur- nished most of the pupils. Mrs. James Cummings, wife of a Mormon missionary, who at the time was in England, was the teacher.
Dr. Robert McGavren taught in the winter of 1850-51, on section 35. in "Tennessee Hollow."
Judge Stephen King taught in Cass township in 1852-53. in an okl forsaken Mormon cabin, at Six Mile Grove.
James McCurley taught in an old Mormon cabin, on section 6. of Union township, in the winter of 1851-52.
The first district school was taught at Elk Grove, in the autumn of 1853, by Miss Silva Harris, who became the wife of B. F. LaPorte, of Logan.
The first district school building in the county, was erected by John Thompson, in 1853. It stood near the residence of C. I. Cutler in Mag-
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nolia township. Hon. T. B. Neeley taught the first school in that building. It was a hewed-log structure. What little lumber it contained was drawn from Reel's mill on the pigeon, over in Pottawattamie county, by ox teanls.
The earliest religious services ( aside possibly from Mormon meetings) were by the Methodist Episcopal people, under the faithful leadership of Reverend Tarkington, in 1851-52, at Harris Grove. The Reeder families were members of this pioneer church or class.
The first Fourth of July celebration in Harrison county was held at Harris Grove in 1852. Not a single United States flag did they have. but they were full of the true spirit of patriotism. Judge Stephen King and L. D. Butler made the speeches.
The first county fair was held in 1858, at Magnolia, and one of the attractions was a foot race between Judge Stephen King and Phineas Cad- well, which race created much amusement-the former being very tall, while the latter was rather under height.
The first attorney in Harrison county to practice law was "Dick" Humphrey, who, it is related, commenced as soon as there was anyone to practice on! The date was 1853.
The first physician in the county was "Bog Hay" Doctor Libbeus Coons. The first regular physician. aside from this man, was Dr. Robert MeGavren, who resided in Pottawattamie county until 1858, near the Har- rison county line, at old St Johns.
The first banking concern in the county was that of William Pelan & P. D. Mickel, established in March. 1869, at Missouri Valley.
The first grain shipping point in Harrison county was Woodbine, in 1867 ..
The first postoffice in the county was established at Magnolia, in 1853. with P. G. Cooper as postmaster.
The first newspaper in the county was the Harrison County Flag. which was established at Calhoun in 1848, by Hon. Isaac Parrish. After three issues it was removed to Magnolia, sold to Captain William Hill, and its name changed to Magnolia Republican.
The first orchard set in the county was the experiment of Asher Servis. in Cass township, who, in 1863, took the apple premiums at the county fai. These apple trees were set out just before the Civil War.
The first mill in Harrison county to do practical business was built in 1854. on the Willow, near Magnolia, by Judge Jonas Chatburn and Stephen Mahoney. It stood on section 34, and was run by the waters of
HARRISON COUNTY, LOW 1.
the Willow river. The mill of pioneer Allen, on a ereck named for him, failed a few years before the above date for lack of sufficient water- power.
The first district court in this county was held in May. 1855, by Judge S. H. Riddle. The first case tried was that of William Kennedy vs. D. Pate. The total number of cases the first term was four, one of which was a criminal suit.
The first grand jury impaneled was as follows: Creed Saunders, James Garnett, John Conger, Chester Staley, H. Lockling. T. Meadows, P. R. Shupe, Thomas Sellers. S. A. Lyman. Solomon Barnett, John Deal, J. H. Holton. Silas Rice, D. E. Brainard. The last mentioned served as foreman.
The first person to be naturalized in this county was John Jeffray. and the second, Thomas Thompson.
The first train of cars through the county passed over the Chicago & Northwestern line in 1867.
The first citizen to enlist from this county in the Civil War was Henry Clay Harshbarger, who was the first county auditor, as well. He died some years since in Idaho, having spent many years at Woodbine.
The first assessment in the county was made by "Bill" ( William) Cooper, acting as deputy treasurer and recorder for P. G. Cooper. He also collected taxes ( of those who had the money to pay) at the time he made the assessment.
The first criminal case docketed in the county the State of Iowa vs. Aaron Earnest, charged with larceny. The case was tried by the first petit jury, which was composed of the following gentlemen: Isaac Ellison, Thomas B. Neeley. Jacob Mintun. George W. White, H. H. Lockling, James Hendrickson, George Thorpe. Warren White. Eli Coon. G. Feril, Andrew Allen and E. T. Hardin. They soon brought in a verdict of "not guilty."
The first brick burned within Harrison county was in the kiln owned by Lorenzo Kellogg in 1857. From part of these brick he erected the first brick house in the county. It stood on section 27, township of Harrison, the same being built in 1857.
The first man initiated into the mysteries of the Free Masons was William Hefford, of Magnolia township. The date was April, 1858.
The first to be buried by Masonic rites was Hon. Isaac Parrish, on August 17, 1860. Ile also was the first to reprsent the Magnolia lodge in the grand lodge of Iowa.
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THE LOG CABIN OF PIONEER DAYS.
In the Iowa state historical rooms, at Des Moines, may be seen a biography of that excellent Iowa citizen-United States Senator James Harlan, who died many years since-and in it is given a minute description of an old time Iowa log cabin, not unlike several erected, or "raised" by the pioneer settlers in Harrison county. Hence it is here given to the readers, some of whom, perhaps, never saw the like :
"The building of the cabin was watched with great interest by the boy James : and the very event seemed to have been impressed very firmly on his memory. He tells how his father cut down the great trees for the house-logs from the forest. hewed out the rafters, joists, and flooring puncheons. When the materials were all in readiness, the six neighbors assembled early in the morning, and by night the cabin was raised. Then my father for several days was busy in completing the details, filling the chinks between the logs, laying the floors, building the fire-place and constructing a rude stairway to the loft. The house was completed in about six or eight days from the date of their arrival, with no tools other than a common chopping axe, an anger, frow and hand-saw, and without a single nail, screw, or other metallic material of any description."
This description is in accord with the building of a cabin of a settler who came to Jefferson county in 1845. and who had settled in the timber some distance from the Des Moines river. The site selected was in the timber, near a thicket of crab-apples, which were then in bloom. A few neighbors had heard of his arrival with two ox teams, wife and three children. The wagon was used for a sleeping place and a tarpaulin was stretched in a temporary way for the cooking stove and dining table. The neighbors in the vicinity made some calls and found the new comer getting out logs for the cabin, and hauling them to the spot, by the aid of his vokes of oxen. They said to him in the usual hearty manner: "When you have the material ready, send us word and we will come and help you raise the cabin." Two days before the appointed time the eldest son was put on the old family horse and started off to notify the neighbors and the invitation was general rather than individual, and on the day appointed a. dozen or more stalwart men assembled. The "rais- ing of a cabin" in pioneer times in lowa, was looked up more as a "frolic" . than as a heavy piece of work: for it gave the pioneers an opportunity to show their feats of strength and endurance. Four experts were ap- pointed to carry up the corners, which meant notching and beveling the ends
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of the logs so they would fit snugly together Eight men pushed up the logs on smooth skids to the workers on the building with many a "heave-ho -- and up she goes." When the required number of logs were put up then came the putting up of the rafters and their supports, fasten- ing by holes bored by different sized augers, and fastened with wooden pins. Not a nail, screw, or any fastening of iron was used in those early days. From a straight-grained white oak, cuts were made of suitable length with a cross-cut saw. the clap-boards were riven with a frow and when placed on the roof held down by weight-poles, the exterior was finished and the interior, such as cutting out space for windows and fire-place and chimney occurred a little later: the most important of all things seemed to be. "To have a roof over our heads!" The wives of these cabin raisers came to help in a culinary way and the best meal the neighborhood af- forded. was cooked and caten in the open air, spiced with many jokes and witticisme, and was the leaven which crowned the day with happi- ness and homely joys that knit hearts together in a bond that death alone could break. Happy, helpful, primitive days. You old battered door with wooden latch and a "latch-string which always hung on the outside" as a mute invitation to come in, you have passed away; but you have taken with you many of the joys of pioneer lives. You can never make us quite forget pioneer joys.
EARLY POST ROADS AND ROUTES.
Smith's History of Harrison county. published in the eighties, speaks of the early mail routes and mail facilities, after this fashion :
The early mail facilities were luxuries which the pioneer 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 this county, viz .. in the spring of 1847 up to and until June. 1855, there was not a postoffice in the entire county. There were here at that date not less than one thousand popu- lation, and the nearest postoffice was at Kanesville, or, as now known, Council Bluffs: and this under a Democratic administration. From 1847 to 1853, the only means of obtaining letters from the far-off home in the East. or from the "Fatherland" 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, hav- ing obtained the. letters or newspapers, carry them to the person to whom
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addressed in the crown of his hat. The only mail sack for eight years after the first settlement was the hat crown route which, during the days of cheap "non-prohibition," never failed to be on time or make final con- nection.
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 puffing of the locomotive, as the railroad train swept grandly down the Boyer Valley in 1866, connecting Chicago via Clinton and Cedar Rapids, as well as Council Bluffs and Omaha. The government at the time of the establishment of the hack line, contracted 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 post offices in the entire county, viz. Magnolia, Calhoun and Fon- tainebleau. the latter being the name of the office at the place later occu- pied by Col. Cochran 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, subsidized the company and as the result Magnolia was "star-routed" and supplied by a side mail from her rival Calhoun, and subsequently furnished by a by-path from the old Oak station at the foot of the bluffs, at the point where Allen creek debauches into and is lost in the Missouri bottoms. This treatment of 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 outrivaled their enemy. For be it known that Calhoun, though more than thirty years old (now sixty), has never possessed suf- ficient religious enthusiasm to have a church building: dispensing with this, she has fallen into "innocuous desuetude." The other, though a dis- tance of six miles from a railroad, telegraph or telephone, still holds a hand unnerved by time or other adverse circumstances. The town of Fon- tainebleau. or La Ponteur's town, having been laid out contrary to ex- pectations of the original vicinity of the place, and the obtainment of the pest office at that place, precipitated the building of a bridge across the Lit-" tle Sioux river near the site of the present bridge, at the town of Little Sioux, and as soon as this was completed Hon. Thomas N. Neeley. S. W. Condit. David Gamet, et al .. all being brave Democrats, brought their united strength to bear upon the departirent at Washington. and had the
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post office changed from Fontaineblean to Little Sioux. The travel then turned from the foot of the bluff across the Little Sioux river, at Little Sioux town, and from this place on to Achton, then the county seat of Monona county. This circumstance happened in 1857, the post office 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, near the present Missouri Valley, being laid out in the summer of 1857. soon after birth began to assume metropolitan airs and by the spring of 1858 had sufficient settlement and population to be entitled to postal facilities, and then. as now. the inhabitants being largely of the Democratic political faith, they demanded of the bachelor president. James Buchanan, the establishment of a postoffice at that place, which request, as soon as re- ceived, was promptly granted, and the Western Stage Company was or- dered to supply this place with mail facilities, which was accordingh done until Missouri Valky swallowed up the surrounding country and made such changes that a postoffice at the old town was no longer needed.
A WOMAN DID IT. -
In the month of May, 1858. two additional routes were let out and put in operation. viz: One from Magnolia to Adel, in Dallas county, passing through by way of Butler's Mills, Ohinstead, thence to Galland's Grove at Shelbyville, the then seat of justice in 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. Sveral individuals of recent settlement in the county, have inquired as to the origin of the name of the town of Woodbine, and why so named. In reply I will say as did old Adam in the Garden of Eden: "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 post office?" 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 be permitted to name the postoffice. and when assent was given, she promptly gave it the name of Woodbine, in consequence of the condi- tions above stated. This line was so changed in 1863 as to leave Woodbine
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