USA > Iowa > Jackson County > History of Jackson County, Iowa; Volume I > Part 46
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At a meeting of the Historical Society held in May. 1909. Mr. Ellis was ap- pointed as special committee, to go to Omaha, Nebraska, and have the remains of ex-Governor Briggs exhumed and bring them back and bury them in the family lot at Andrew. And at a subsequent meeting a design for a monument was adopted by the society, and a contract awarded to Hoffman-Bruner Company for a granite monument which was unveiled and dedicated under the auspices of the society in the presence of five thousand people on the 22d day of September, 1909. The society is in a flourishing condition and has a nice surplus in the treasury. The officers for 1910 are: President, A. B. Bowen ; treasurer. Harvey Reid ; sec- retary and curator, James W. Ellis.
Hon. Wm. Graham, one of the early pioneers of Iowa, and who is possessed of a wonderful fund of reminiscences of men and events in the early days, in a recent interview gave the writer an interesting account of two interviews with U. S. Grant and of one with Robert E. Lee.
Mr. Graham said that "One morning in 1858 or 1859, I was walking up a front street in Bellevue, when a friend called me into his office and said: 'Mr. Graham, I want to introduce you to my friend Captain Grant.' I saw a man of medium height, rather stocky built, his face covered with a dark stubby beard. I said,
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'How do you do, Mr. Grant.' He took my hand, raised his eyes to my face. said, 'How do you do,' dropped his eyes, let go my hand and that ended the first inter- view.
"In 1873, President Grant visited Dubuque and I was invited to a reception given in his honor. Grant had grown heavier than when I had first met him, his beard, which was neatly trimmed, was streaked with gray. I was presented to him. He took my hand, raised his eyes to my face, said, 'How do you do,' dropped my hand, turned to someone else, and that ended the second interview.
"In regard to R. E. Lee: In 1845, while attending college in the State of New York, some of the professors and a large number of students, myself in- cluded, went on a picnic excursion to West Point. We went to the ruins of old Fort Putnam, a relic of the Revolution, to have our dinner. There was no water there and I was appointed a committee to procure water. I started out and soon found a man with a team and proposed to hire him to draw a barrel of water to the old fort. He consented to bring the water, but said I would have to get an order from the miltary authorities to cross the reservation. He pointed to a build- ing in which he said I would find the proper officer to apply to for an order. I had heard a great deal about the strict discipline of army officers and approached the office with trepidation, not knowing what breach of discipline or rules of war I was violating. When I entered the building there were three men in the room. One man in the most gorgeous uniform I ever saw, sat at a desk. He had a huge epaulets on his shoulders and so much tinsel I thought he must be a general. Of the other two men I only noticed that they had dark clothes on. I told the man with the showy uniform that I wanted to get an order permitting a team to cross the campus to deliver a barrel of water to a party of ladies and gentlemen who were having a picnic at old Fort Putnam. The man said, 'You will have to address the commanding officer,' pointing to a man who sat on a stool. I saw a man who was past middle age, tall, fully six feet, I should think, his face covered with a silky beard, slightly streaked with gray. He was the handsomest man I ever saw. I repeated my request to him and he said, 'Certainly, young man, certainly,' and said to the man with whom he had been talking: 'Adjutant, give this young man the order that he desires.' He then told me to give his regards to the young people and say to them that if they would come to the ground at sunset they would see something that would repay them for their trouble. That ended my interview with Robert E. Lee.
WM. BURLESON WRITES OF THE EARLY DAYS.
Messrs. Swigert Brothers: Your kind favor came to hand requesting me to jot down some reminiscences of my pioneer days in Iowa for your souvenir copy of the fiftieth anniversary of your paper, which I will gladly do subject to your abbreviation. Would I give it at length it would take too much space. I passed over the prairie where your beautiful city now stands on the 26th of June, 1837, and in 1838 Mr. J. E. Goodenow located there and I attended the raising of his log house on the ground now occupied by J. H. Scholl's shoe store, being the first building erected in the town. I have been a constant resident of old Buckhorn, six miles west of there, ever since until the 4th day of April last. and have witnessed the growth of the beautiful city and been identified with its every interest and now, though two thousand miles distant, feel a deep inter- est and ever shall in its prosperity. Nothing ever prompted me to leave there, but the knowledge of a better climate. I have found it and am well pleased in my new home. I find on reflecting that I am the only pioneer of that year outside of the Burleson family excepting Jack Phillips who settled there the same year. Of pioneer days I have no fault to find, as I was only ten years old when I landed there and had the best of fond parents to care for and feed me, leaving me without responsibility. In the year 1838 my wife's father, Esquire Mallard, located with his family one-half mile east of us. His wife was the first white woman my poor
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mother had met for fifteen months, and my wife, whom I have the honor of board- ing with at this time, then six years of age, was the first white child I had seen in that time, and I can remember of seeing mother and Mrs. Mallard sitting and crying for hours when a letter would arrive at the Springfield postoffice (now Maquoketa) and they had not the necessary twenty-five cents postage to get it from the office and they well knew it was from loved ones back at the old home. Such scenes as this were hard to bear. Our nearest trading post was Dubuque or Galena. Our rifles were our only safeguards against hunger-wild game being very plentiful. The first two or three years were the hardest to get over as by that time we began to raise crops, and settlers began to arrive and make it more home- like. They were all good neighbors then. There were plenty of Indians but they were friendly under kind treatment. I was united in marriage to Miss Sarah A. Mallard on the 17th day of March, 1850, so you see that on the 17th instant we will have passed the fifty-fourth anniversary of our wedded life. The greatest difficulty we had to ward off was when the lands came into market and we had not means with which to enter our land and many had spent what little they could rake and scrape and much hard toil in making necessary improvements for their comfort and some heartless speculator actually came in and entered their land and would have turned them out without remuneration, but they resorted to the forming of what was termed "Claim Societies" for mutual protection which soon brought all speculators to time and those who had committed the error were forced to make fair settlements with the aggrieved parties and soon put a stop to all such proceedings. It was the only thing we could do and worked to a charm. As a matter of course there were many wrongs done in those early times, there being no law to restrain the people from wrongdoing. The "Bellevue War," so called, was a most terrible thing and I claim the writeup by W. A. Warren, the sheriff of Jackson county at the time, was not a just version of the matter by any means. W. W. Brown was not as bad a man as Warren made him out to be. The writeup was greatly in the interest of himself as sheriff, and covered up many of his official faults. The hanging of Barger at Andrew by the "Vigilance Committee" was all right and Montgomery should have shared the same fate for the murder of Brown. Jackson was executed by due process of law but many thought he should have escaped, as Perkins, the man he killed, was a very bad and dangerous character. On the day of the execution of Jackson at Andrew, the late Captain Vosburg and myself were appointed by the sheriff to act as guards when Robt. Reed, deputy sheriff, changed the prisoner's clothes preparatory to going to the place of execution. He was confined in the chamber of Mr. Butterworth's log house in Andrew. He was a little slow in getting ready for his doom, when the deputy said to him, "Mr. Jackson, you will have to hurry up, the time is getting short." When Jackson looked up to Reed and said, "It is not best to hurry through life ; I am getting through fast enough." I thought it a pretty bright saying under the circumstances. The growth of your city was slow for many years. The greatest lift it ever got was when it got the county seat. I have ever been proud of the acitve part I took in the county seat contest. I put in twenty days' hard work and it was labor well spent. I guess I have said as much as you can spare room for and wishing you success in your laudable undertaking, I remain as ever,
Yours, WM. BURLESON,
March 9, 1904, Mokelumne Hill, California.
William Burleson was born at Waterford, New York, June 4, 1827. When ten years of age he came with his father, S. Burleson, to Jackson county, where he grew up to manhood and attended school. He was engaged in the mer- cantile business for thirteen years. He held the office of justice of peace, asses- sor and other South Fork township offices, and was ever active and zealous in interests of the republican party. He was a man of more than ordinary energy and business capacity, and accumulated a goodly property. Being among our pioneer residents, he was an encyclopedia of information on matters per-
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taining to Jackson county history. March 17, 1850, he was united in marriage to Anna Mallard and to this happy union were born four children-Chas. M., Frank D. Burleson, and Mrs. A. E. Parody, all of Mokelumne Hill, California, and Martin C. Burleson, of Geddis, South Dakota, all of whom with the devoted wife survive him. Wm. Burleson moved to Mokelumne Hill, California, in 1903, where he died September 16th, after suffering a third stroke of paralysis. Mr. Burleson during his life in Maquoketa was known as a straight forward and honorable man, a devoted husband and a loving father. Many a tear of kindly sympathy was shed by the legion of friends and relatives hereabouts, when the death of "Uncle William" became known. Interment took place in California.
MARCUS D. LITTELL.
Editors Sentinel : As the fiftieth souvenir anniversary of the Sentinel is close at hand, I thought I would write a few incidents that occurred in bygone days, as I claim to be an old settler of Jackson county. However, not as old as some I know of, for instance, the Burlesons, Wilsons, Geo. Earl, and the three Sears, William, George and Benjamin. David Sears, their father, who has passed away, was interested in milling. He settled where Lowell used to be and built a brick mill, three stories high, and a brick house to live in. In the year 1855, we had high water which cut through the side where the river now runs, and left the mill on dry land about forty rods. I helped to draw the machinery from Davenport in 1848, which was put in the mill. It was bought in Cincinnati and sent down the Ohio, up the Mississippi to Davenport and hauled to Maquoketa. Mr. Sears ar- rived here in 1844, the same year that I came. Iowa was a territory at that time. The land was entered and claimed along the streams and near the timber. Now the best farms are where it was then thought it never would be settled in our day. On the military road from Davenport to Dubuque, mail was carried between the two places. It stopped at Maquoketa, being half way distant. Mr. J. E. Goode- now kept the postoffice which started the town of Maquoketa. In April, 1854, Mr. Wm. Swigert, of Cleveland, Ohio, proposed to start a paper, the Sentinel, on condition that they could get five hundred subscribers. The town was small but he held a meeting and appointed six persons to solicit on subscription in order to get the five hundred, but we did not quite get the amount Mr. Swigert said he would have to have to start the paper. At that time Mr. Swigert was a fine looking man, well dressed, wore a plug hat and weighed about one hundred and forty pounds. Well, he started to work on the paper (his brother Stephen helping. him), and in June the first Sentinel made its appearance. My wife thought the papers would not all be alike and she would exchange so as to see what was in our neighbor's paper. However, I told her they would all be alike. The papers were delivered to the patrons by the younger brother. On the day of publication every one in town went near the printing office, the paper causing as much excitement as Barnum's circus. Ever since that time the Sentinel has been issued and is conducted by Mr. Josiah and Willard Swigert with satis- faction to all patrons. You excuse my long epistle and I will close wishing you much success in your plans for the publication of the souvenir number of the dear old Sentinel. It has been my Bible in politics and may it continue to grow better and better is my best wishes.
OLDEST IOWA PIONEER PASSES AWAY. (Sabula Gazette.)
The death of Joseph McElroy at the home of his daughter, Mrs. J. F. Schram- ling, in this city, Monday morning, marks the passing of Iowa's oldest pioneer, for such Mr. McElroy undoubtedly was, having come to Sabula in 1837, the year that our little city was laid out in town lots. The other sturdy pioneers who
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braved the wilds of virgin Iowa at that early date or within, we dare say, five years of that time, have all passed to the better world.
Joseph McElroy was born on a farm two miles from the city of Erie, Penn- sylvania, on September 2, 1815, and at the time of his death was ninety years, five months and seventeen days old. He was a son of Hugh and Margaret (Dun- can) McElroy, natives of Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, and his father served as a soldier in the war of 1812. He participated in several active engagements and was wounded at the battle of Lundy's Lane, a ball passing through his liver. Notwithstanding this fact he recovered and lived to the advanced age of sev- enty-three years. To him and his excellent wife were born thirteen children, of whom the subject of our sketch was the last to pass away, and he was the eldest of the family.
The earlier years of Joseph McElroy's life were spent in his native county, but in 1837 he decided to investigate the then far west and set out for the Territory of Iowa. He reached Sabula during that year and finding the country to his liking went back to Pennsylvania for his folks, and returned to this county in 1838 and entered two hundred acres of land in Iowa township, west of the town of Sabula. In an exchange afterward with Mr. Grant, he came into the possession of the quarter section of land which he owned to the time of his death. When gold was discovered in California, Mr. McElroy and a number of other Sabula men organized a party, and in 1849 made the hazardous overland trip to that state and engaged in mining until 1852, when they returned to their homes. The return trip was made by way of the Pacific Ocean, crossing the Isthmus of Panama and the Gulf of Mexico, and up the Mississippi River to St. Louis.
On September 22, 1853, he took unto himself a wife and helpmate, Mrs. Mary A. Winsor, a daughter of G. Gilroy, then a resident of Jackson county. The fruit of this union were four children. They are, George, of Malvern; Mar- garet, who died in infancy; Mrs. J. F. Schramling, of this city, and Joseph, of Norris, Montana. Three step-children who were reared to manhood and woman- hood by the deceased, also survive him-Mrs. G. A. Buzza, of Marion; Mrs. G. A. Hatheway, of Magnet, Nebraska, and Wm. Winsor. The esteemed wife and mother passed away on November 1, 1872, and soon afterward Mr. McElroy moved to a home he purchased in town, where he lived until the past few years when he made his home with his daughter, Mrs. Schramling.
At the time of the rush to Pike's Peak, about the year 1849, Mr. McElroy and Clarke Cook (deceased) started for Colorado but after getting as far as the Platte River returned. Of the Sabula party of "Forty-niners" Mr. McElroy was the last survivor and he was also the last original member of the Sabula Pioneers' Association to pass away. This association was formed on November 22, 1872, by J. G. Sugg, E. A. Wood, James Murphy, J. S. Dominy, John Scar- borough, and Oliver Emerson. All of these gentlemen with the exception of Joseph McElroy passed away over ten years ago.
The latter was always a familiar figure at the annual picnics of this associa- tion until the last one held, when he was confined to his bed in his last sickness, the general breaking down caused by old age. On this occasion several of the old settlers called and spent a short time visiting with him and the parting of these old friends of the early days was a very pathetic one.
For the past three years Mr. McElroy has felt the weight of years, and his health gradually failed until last February (1906) he was obliged to take to his bed and although his condition varied from better to worse it could be seen by those around him that he was gradually nearing the close of a well spent life. Sunday he conversed with the family and appeared brighter than usual, but at 6:25 the end came, and his last moments were marked with peace and contentment and thus he passed away.
Eulogies to the life and character of this "grand old man" are needless ; he was here before any of us and his life is like an open book, one with pages white and clear. He was not a member of any church, but in religious views was a
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Universalist, believing in the free and universal salvation of all. He was honest in all his dealings and treated all of his fellowmen as he would be done by. His company was greatly enjoyed by both old and young and he could tell many stories of pioneer life in this town when it was known as Carrolport, then Charleston and later Sabula.
The funeral services were held at the Methodist Episcopal church at 2 o'clock Wednesday afternoon and were conducted by the Rev. T. H. Sheckler, of Marble Rock, former pastor of the church here. A large number of friends gathered to pay their last respects, among them being Henry Seman, of Spragueville, and Geo. Helfert, of Almont, old pioneer friends of the deceased. The remains were laid to rest in Evergreen cemetery.
ALEXANDER REED.
Alexander Reed, farmer, section 5, postoffice, Bellevue ; born in Ireland, Ty- rone county, in 1804; came to America in 1826, with a brother, Thomas ; parents are dead. Landed in New York, was there a few days, and then went to Phila- delphia ; stayed there about ten days, and from there he went to Norfolk, Virginia, and remained there one week; from there he went to City Point, Virginia, and was there a day or two; from there to Warrenton, in the same state, and from there to Milton, North Carolina, where he got employment as an overseer of a plantation, and remained on that plantation three or four years: was in the gold mines about one year ; also run a distillery at one time, and was employed variously, as an overseer, etc., in the south for about ten years, at the end of which time he came north, to Jo Daviess county, Illinois ; went into the lead mines in Dubuque in April, 1833; was in that line of business a few months, and then came into what was then called Michigan Territory, afterward changed to Wis- consin, and then to Iowa Territory ; came to his present home in 1833. Mr. Reed was the earliest settler in Jackson county, and the man to turn the first furrow of land in the county with a plow. His first neighbor was a man by name of Ship- ton, who afterward shot a man by name of Faber, with whom he had quarreled about a claim; it was some time after that that any white men came into the county. When Mr. Reed came there was nothing but Indians and deer ; during the first fall and winter that Mr. Reed lived here, he killed seventy-five deer ; the village of Keokuk, named for Chief Keokuk, was then standing upon what is now the land and property of Mr. Reed; he saw Chief Keokuk; the latter passed Mr. Reed twice; also saw Black Hawk in Galena. Mr. Reed was in Jackson county two years before he found a wife, and then went to Galena to be married. His wife's father lived in Jackson county for a little time before they were mar- ried. The hymeneal knot was tied by the Rev. Mr. Kent in 1835. His wife's maiden name was Amelia G. Dyas; they have had three children, only one of whom is living, named Samuel.
DISCOVERS AN OLD GRAVE. (By J. W. Ellis.)
Something like fifty-seven years ago, Peter Jerman, while digging a well on the land then owned by him, in South Fork township, two miles north of Maquo- keta, now owned by A. J. York, was killed by the well caving in on him, when about fifteen or twenty feet deep. Mrs. Jerman, who was a relative of the writer, told the neighbors afterward that Mr. Jerman dreaded for some reason to go down in the well to work on that particular morning, but was anxious to complete the well and went down to work. The ground was very sandy and caved in. The alarm was given and the settlers gathered at the place and made heroic efforts to rescue the poor fellow alive, but were unable to do so. The tragedy created a great deal of excitement at the time. Mr. E. D. Shinkle, who is a resident of Maquoketa at this writing, was present at the funeral of Mr. Jerman, who was
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buried on his land, about two hundred feet from where he was killed, by the side of a little son who had preceded him. About two years after Mr. Jerman's tragic death, his wife died and was buried by the side of the husband. The graves were fenced and the fence kept up for many years, but after a lapse of forty of fifty years the land was sold and the sons moved away, and the fence rotted down.
The land where the graves were was pastured, and in time all marks that would have led to the identity of the graves were obliterated, but in August, 1906, Joseph Jerman came back to visit relatives and take a look at the old place where he first saw the light in 1845, and learning the conditions of the graves of his par- ents and little brother, determined to try to recover their remains. On the 23d of August, he repaired to the spot with proper tools for digging, and with aid of some of his relatives, discovered the graves and recovered the bones and ashes of the dead, finding the black walnut coffins still holding together, after a period of considerably more than half a century. The child was buried about 1847 or 1848, the father in 1849, and the mother in 1851 or 1852. Mr. Jerman deposited the remains in the Esgate cemetery and had them suitably marked while here.
Peter Jerman was one of the earliest pioneers of Jackson county, his name ap- pearing on the records as early as 1838. At the time of his death he had one of the best improved farms in the forks of the Maquoketa. He was a French Can- adian and came to this locality with a French colony, among whom was his brother, Oliver Jerman, Henry Jarrett, Charles Bilto, Charles Gadwaugh, Abram Daniels, a Mr. Fredrick, Mr. Bywaters, and others whose names have escaped my memory.
S. D. TUBBS.
One of the early pioneers of the Maquoketa Valley and one who was identified with early movements for the improvement of Maquoketa and its vicinity was S. D. Tubbs, who came here in 1843-44, arriving from New York state. He built the Rockville mills in 1865, and a sawmill prior to that date. When railroads were contemplated no man was more ready with time or money than Mr. Tubbs. He cleared up a fine large farm, planting a border of maples around it, which he lived to see grow to large trees. In addition to his mills he conducted a store in Maquoketa during the Civil war. He died in Rockville, the village that he had built up, one mile north of Maquoketa, after a very short illness on the 21st of September, 1875, aged about fifty-six years. He left a family of eight grown up sons and daughters to comfort and sustain his widow.
Mrs. William Keeley, a daughter of Mr. Tubbs, says, "I was born here No- vember 21, 1847, and commenced going to school in Maquoketa when schools were kept in any old building they could get, and the scholars had to furnish their own seats to school in the village of Lowell, when the school was in a cooper shop. Sometimes the school was kept in a private dwelling, in any room that could be spared. Went to school in that old brick house that stood on the hill. We didn't have things then as they do now."
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