USA > Iowa > Jackson County > History of Jackson County, Iowa; Volume I > Part 50
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W. P. DUNLAP. (Sentinel Souvenir, 1904.)
Editors Sentinel: In compliance with your request asking me to give you a little history of my life, and some of the events that have transpired since my coming to Iowa, I will start out by saying: I was born July 7, 1833, on a farm near Harrisonburg, Rockingham county, Virginia; grew to manhood and re- mained there until after I was twenty-four years old.
On the 10th day of November, 1857, I started for Iowa with my father, mother, two sisters, and four brothers, nine of us, all of whom are dead, with the exception of four, viz. : A. N., of Maquoketa ; John N., who lives on the old homestead north of Elwood ; Mrs. J. R. Twiss, of Meadow Grove, Nebraska, and myself. We came over with a two horse wagon and a big family carriage. The weather was fine when we started ; had not seen any frost that fall.
The night of the 20th of November we stayed on top of the big Sewell Mountain, and it snowed about two feet deep that night, but soon melted and made bad wheeling. When we got to the Ohio River, at Point Pleasant, the ice was running thick in the river. The ferryman charged us five dollars for ferrying us over Near Frankford, Ohio, I saw where a cyclone had passed through that fall and demolished buildings, trees, etc. We came on through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, struck the Mississippi River at Rock Island, on January 3, 1858, and crossed over to Davenport in a ferryboat. There were no bridges over the Mississippi those days, and they had to keep a channel open so the ferryboat could run until the ice was strong enough to carry foot- men and teams over with safety. Rock Island and Davenport were both small towns then.
After leaving Davenport, we came north some eight or ten miles and struck our tent and camped for the night. This was my first night in Iowa. I slept in the tent on the ground and never slept better.
Next morning we struck out and when we got to the Wapsipinicon River, south of Dewitt, found it open, too. A man by the name of Kietley run the ferry and put us across. That evening we reached my uncle's, Eugene An- derson's, six miles southwest of Maquoketa, in Clinton county. We remained with him a short time until we could get a small house up on the prairie that belonged to John E. Phillips, another uncle. He and I went to the timber near the cave, cut and hauled logs to Sears' sawmill and had them sawed in lumber, from which the house was built. The sawmill stood east of where the road now runs, north of Maquoketa, at the foot of Sears' Hill, a quarter of a mile from where the river runs now. There was a large brick flouring mill there also, and quite a little village called Lowell, but there is no signs of mills or village now. That spring, 1858, I put out a crop of corn on E. B. Beard's farm, near what is now Elwood, and the last day of July a hailstorm came and destroyed most all of it, and the wheat and oats blighted badly, con- sequently our crops were poor that year.
In the summer of 1858, I became acquainted with your father, William C. Swigert, the founder of the Sentinel. I found him to be a true Jeffersonian democrat. He was then postmaster of Maquoketa under President Buchan- an's administration. The postoffice was then in the small two story brick building on the east side of Main street, now occupied by Mr. Roberts for
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a barber shop. The printing office was on the second floor in the same build- ing. I subscribed for the Sentinel then, and have taken it ever since. We be- came personal friends and remained so up to the time of his death. At the time I came Maquoketa was small, and but few brick buildings; two large blocks on Main street, opposite each other, and P. Mitchell's corner composed the business part of town. There were but few other brick buildings.
In the fall of 1858, my old friend, Geo. W. Bowman, and myself went to Galena, Illinois, and bought a threshing machine, and as there were no rail- roads to ship it on, we hauled it over from there to Maquoketa with two span of horses, and set it where the courthouse now stands, and threshed grain for John Schinsel, which he had raised on Miss Shaw's farm, now most of the Fourth ward of the city. There were but few threshing machines then in the country and they were eight horse down powers. Mr. Bowman and myself did the principal part of the threshing those days. We threshed on nearly every farm, from Lost Nation to Haylock's Corners, a distance of fourteen or fifteen miles long, five or six wide, commencing about the middle of August and run- ning every day we could up to the Ist of May. We often moved the machine four or five miles after dark, and if we were not ready to start up next morning by the time the sun was half hour high, the farmers thought we were slow. Now the country is full of big steam threshers that cost more than a good farm did then, and not near the grain to thresh, and don't start up until 9 or 10 o'clock to do a day's work. See the difference in former days in Iowa and now-but, never mind, this is an age of improvement.
The first county fair I attended in Jackson county was held at Andrew. If I am not mistaken, it was held in the fall of 1860; at any rate, I well remem- ber a circumstance that took place. Three of us young fellows, viz .: Reuben Kauffman, John R. Twiss and myself concluded to go to the fair, and took our best girls with us. We enjoyed ourselves very much while at the fair and in the evening about the time we wanted to start home a very heavy rain came up, but we had our old Virginia carriage, and put the curtains on and kept dry. When we arrived at Bridgeport, a little after dark, the streets were blockaded with teams. There was no bridge over the river, and the ferryboat had sunk, and they were trying to raise it. The rain continued to pour down and we concluded there was but little prospect of us getting home that night. A man by the name of Dexter run a small hotel there then. I asked him if he could keep our party of six over night. He said he had room for the horses, but only two beds. I told him that would do. We got in the house without getting much wet, and when it came to retiring the bed he gave us boys was very narrow, and as Rube Kauffman was smallest, we put him in the middle. Next morning he said he felt as though he had slept in a hay press with extra side pressure, for he intimated that he never was squeezed so in his life before. The sequel to this story is that in the course of time the three young men married these three young ladies, and all raised families, and at this writing all six are living, and in as good health as could be expected of people of our ages.
During the war between the north and south, I being a southerner, and feeling that I ought to do something for my country, I made a raid on the Yankees and captured one, and on the 10th day of July, 1862, we compromised and were married. Her name was Miss Adelia L. Bentley, daughter of David and Lorinda Bentley. She was born in Warren county, New York, May 16, 1840, and migrated with her parents to Iowa Territory, arriving at what is now Maquoketa City, November 18, 1841. Her father settled on the prairie, two and one-fourth miles south of Maquoketa and remained there the most of his life. Mrs. Dunlap says when she was a little girl she remembers of her father having to build fires around his yards at night to keep the wolves from carry- ing off his lambs, and pigs. The country was thinly settled at that time. In- dians were plenty, but friendly. The roads and Indian trails across the prairie
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run to all points of the compass those days. The first place she went to school was in a little log shanty that stood south of what is now Wright's Corners. William Burleson, now of California, was her teacher.
If I am not taking up too much space, I will relate what to me is now an amusing incident of early days. About the time I was going to be married, like many young fellows in those days, I wanted to put on more style than I had money to back it up with. I wanted a fine suit of clothes and could not buy ready made clothing then as you can now. I went to Maquoketa and bargained with a little Irish tailor to make the suit, by the name of Daniel Skulley, who ran a tailor shop in a little ten by twelve shanty that stood where Charles Lang's meat market is now. We went over to Shattuck & Reigart's store and bought the goods. He said he would have the clothes finished in two weeks. When the time came around, he only had the pants finished. I commenced hurrying him up. He remarked, "Give ye self no fears. The clothes will be ready in a week more." When the week was up, I was on hand, but he hadn't done much more to them. Said I, "Dan, I must have those clothes by the 10th of July. I am going to be married that day." He said, "Why in the divel didn't ye tell me you were going to get married be- fore this and the clothes would have been done? Give ye self no fears, they will be ready for ye."
As I wanted to put on a little more style and didn't have any buggy, but a fine team, I hired a buggy of Z. W. Crouch, who ran a livery then on Main street. I went down the Thursday afternoon of the 10th, for my buggy and. clothes. When I went into the tailor shop, there lay my coat in two pieces on the tailor's board. You can imagine how I felt and what I said to Dan. I sat in the shop waiting for my coat and after awhile I saw the preacher drive up the street, going out to marry us. I was like a hen on a hot griddle -didn't know what to do. Finally Dan jumped down, slapped the coat on the press board and pressed it out. Said he, "Take yer coat and go on and get married." Said I, "Dan, there is no lining in the back." Says he, "Divil the difference. How will any one know there is no lining in the back? You can get married, then bring it back and I will finish it." I did so and in about two or three weeks he finished it, and the wedding passed off just as smoothly as though the coat was silk lined. Of course I was careful about removing it at the wedding. Respectfully, W. P. Dunlap.
EARLY PIONEERS.
One of the very early pioneers of Jackson county was John Forbes, who came to Bellevue in the spring of 1836. He secured a ten year charter for a ferry across the Mississippi at a point just below the mouth of Spruce Creek, and operated a ferry there for ten years. In 1838 he was appointed a justice of peace for Bellevue by the governor of the territory. He was a quiet, digni- fied, scholarly gentleman, and seemed a little out of place among the rough people who made up a great majority of the first settlers of the Iowa Territory. He was born in Wilmington, Vermont, April 14, 1806. Married Mary Trow- bridge, in the town of Preble, Cortland county, New York, March 5, 1829, She was a daughter of Daniel and Dorothy Trowbridge, born November 18, 1809, in the province of Lower Canada. Some time in the early fall the wor- thy couple removed to Newburg, Ohio, and in 1831 came west to Chicago by way of the lakes, on the "Queen Charlotte," Commodore Perry's flagship, which had been sunk in the battle of Erie, and had lain in the bottom of the lake twenty years, to join an elder brother of Mr. Forbes, Stephen Van Rennseler Forbes, who came to Chicago in 1829.
The Forbes genealogy has the following interesting sketch of Stephen Forbes: "Mr. Forbes first came to Chicago in the summer of 1829, and re- turned to Ohio in the ensuing fall. Came back to Chicago in the spring of
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1830, taught school three months and then went to Ohio again, and returned to Chicago with Mrs. Forbes, in the month of September of that year. They lived in the Dean House, so called, just by the outlet of the Chicago River. The house was a block of timber built, being of logs hewn on two sides with two main rooms with an addition of one room. The school was kept by Mrs. Forbes and her class occupying one room, and Mr. Forbes and the boys in the other. The scholars were mostly French, or half breeds, only one pupil coming from Fort Dearborn. Later in 1831, Mr. Forbes moved to where Riverside is now, or near there, but returned to Chicago in 1832, in conse quence of the Indian troubles. Mr. Forbes was elected the first sheriff of Cook county, December 13, 1830, and collected the first tax paid in that county. He died in Chicago, February II, 1879.
John Forbes took a claim on the Desplaines River, twelve miles west of Chicago, where he resided until the fall of 1834, when he removed to Galena, and from there to Bellevue in the spring of 1835. Their children were : Daniel Webster, born in Preble, Cortland county, New York, March 5, 1830, who married Susan Usher, of Jackson county, Iowa; Henry Clay, born on the Des- plaines River, Cook county, Illinois, May 26, 1834, married Orpha Ann Waldo, in Council Bluffs, Iowa; John Francis, born on the west bank of the Missis- sippi River, in Jackson county, Territory of Iowa, July 4, 1841, married Ellen Eads, in Jackson county, Iowa.
Sometime in the early forties, John Forbes removed to land he had bought about one mile east of Andrew, and lived there several years, removing from there to a farm in section 26, Farmers Creek township, and about 1852 re- moved to Council Bluffs, and from there to Central America, securing twelve hundred acres of land near Greytown. He was there during Walker's filibus- tering expedition and bombardment. Came back here on account of the dis- turbed condition of affairs, expecting to return when peace was restored over there, but never did. He died in Davenport, Iowa, the 22d of February, 1862. All three of his sons served as volunteers during the war of the rebellion. Henry C., father of the writer's wife, served three years in Company B, Twen- ty-sixth Iowa, was wounded in thigh during the Black River campaign. He died in Utah, January 2, 1878. Daniel W. died May 28, 1894, at Ida Grove, and John Francis died January 13, 1904, at Redfield, Iowa. Mrs. John Forbes died at the home of the writer, January 5, 1898, aged ninety years.
The father of this subject was also John Forbes, son of Stephen, Aaron, Thomas, Daniel, born April 1, 1769, at Wilmington, Vermont. Married Anna Sawyer, daughter of a Captain Sawyer, born about the year 1748, who was a famous Indian fighter, and served with distinction in the Revolutionary war, had a large grant of land along the Delaware River. Our grandmother Forbes, who lived with us for many years, related many anecdotes of old Captain Sawyer. She said that on account of some great injury done them by Captain Sawyer, a certain tribe of Indians hated him with an undying hatred. Long after these Indians had been driven to a remote distance from the settlement where the captain lived, a band of them returned to that local- ity, penetrating a quite thickly settled country to get revenge on him. They did not disturb other white settlers except to compel one of his neighbors to guide them to his cabin. The old captain had three grown up sons, and two large savage dogs, and when the Indians approached the cabin the dogs were turned loose and created quite a panic among the redskins, but were soon dispatched and a determined attack was made on the cabin, which met with a stout resistance until the Indians succeeded in firing the house, and the family were obliged to surrender. The Indians assured Mrs. Sawyer they would not harm a hair of her head, but were determined to burn the captain alive. They burned and destroyed all the captain's property, and then set out with Mr. Sawyer and one other white man with them. The Indians made long and rapid marches, and when they laid at night would make the prisoners
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lie down and would cut branches from trees and lay across the whites, and an Indian would lay down on each side of the whites on the ends of the branches, so it would be impossible for the captives to move without disturb- ing their captors. As they approached the Indian towns, the Indians divided into small parties to deceive the whites in case they were pursued. All the time the old veteran had been watching for an opportunity to escape; each day they were allowed to step to one side, together ostensibly to pray, but in real- ity to' exchange a few words in a whisper. They found they could easily re- move their bonds, and they planned to attempt to escape the last night before they would reach the Indian town, by slaying their guards, of which there were but four in the party. About midnight, after a long, weary march through the forest, the captain was assured by the heavy breathing of his captors that they were sleeping soundly, and carefully freeing his hand he secured a hatchet from one of the Indians. He soon found himself entirely free. He signaled to his fellow prisoner and found him awake. At one blow from the hatchet he dispatched one of the sleeping Indians and before the other had recovered his feet he buried the tomahawk in his brains. The Indians guarding the other prisoner, whose courage failed him at the critical moment, were awakened by the blows that had slain their companions, sprang to their feet to face the captain with an uplifted bloody axe. Not at all dismayed by the situation, he attacked and killed one of them while the other fled from the spot as though pursued by demons. The captain quickly released his less nervy companion, and securing the weapons of their late captors, they started on their return to their homes, using all the strategy of woodcraft to cover their trail, and very much to the surprise of their friends, returned to their homes just thirty days from the time of their capture.
For years afterward the Indians hunted the settlement where the old cap- tain lived, but he was always on his guard and was too wary for them. Finally during his last illness a band of Indians came to the captain's house, and re- quested to see him. They were told that the captain was very sick and would soon be dead. The chief insisted on seeing him and was allowed to enter the room where his ancient enemy lay, unconscious, emaciated and struggling for breath. The old chief stood and gazed on him several minutes, then went out and joined his waiting warriors, making a short speech to them, after which the band departed, never to return to that part of the country again.
My grandmother had the story from her husband's mother, Anna Sawyer Forbes, a daughter of the old captain, who also gave as a reason for the hatred of the Indians for her father, that on one occasion he had discovered an In- dian in the act of stealing meat or something from an outhouse, and had fired his gun, as he averred, to frighten the thief, but in reality had fatally wounded a squaw, who had strength enough to crawl back to the band of Indians to which she belonged that were encamped near by and tell her story before she died. The feud engendered by the act of the captain cost the Indians many lives and only ended with the death of their hated foe.
A REMINDER OF OLD TIMES. (Sentinel.)
From a business point of view, insurance is uppermost with Jas. W. Ellis, but the Ellisonian Institute is a very close second, and Mr. Ellis has an eye out for anything ancient or curious that may be added to his collection. Last week while at Andrew, adjusting a fire loss with Mrs. M. E. Carnahan, he came across an old paper and through the intervention of A. S. Butterworth, secured it for the institute. This document has been in the possession of N. B. Butterworth, one of its signers, since its origin, and as it may recall fond memories of the long gone past to some of our readers, we reproduce it.
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Washingtonian Pledge .- We, whose names are hereto annexed, having a de- sire to carry out the true principals of temperance, do hereby mutually pledge our honor to each other that we will refrain from all intoxicating drinks as a beverage. M. H. Clark, Nathan'l Butterworth, Wm. Brown, S. S. Fenn, Jonas Young, Silas Walworth, Camuel Knapp, John Wiser, Dennis Daugh- erty, John C. Cheeney, Samuel Littlefield, Zalmon Livermore, C. M. Doolittle, M. H. Bennet, - Corbett, J. B. Daniels, J. B. Lawless, Joseph F. Brown, Wm. P. Johnson, Alex McNear, Wm. Reid, Myron Taylor, J. L. Dells, Wm. Jonas, Ashley Griffin, John C. Wood, George Sherman, H. Q. Jamison, James Simms, J. G. McDonald, J. K. Moss, Wm. P. Barger, Rinn Cormach, Isaac Jonas, Hazen Chase, Platt Smith, J. S. Mallard, Wm. A. Warren, Harley Morgan, Carmel Cheeney, Abigail Gould, Adaline M. Cheeney, Laura A. Butterworth, Martha J. Hadley, Jerusha Hadley, Z. Washburn, Sarah Jane Cotton, Stephen J. Palmer, Alber B. Cheeney, N. B. Butterworth, Andrew J. Cheeney, N. S. Warren, Caroline Corbett, Dewitt C. Brown, J. H. Daugherty, Reuben Riggs, Robt. McNeir, H. W. McAuley, G. C. Clark, C. H. Tubbs, Thos. Marshal, E. A. Wood, Thos. W. Deneth, James Canfield, A. W. Pence, Walter Wood- worth, Mathias Cleek, Geo. Watkins, James Mitchell, T. S. Wilson, J. H. Smith, J. Pangborn, Levi Decker.
Of those whose names are signed to the pledge, a few still live in the coun- try, but many of them have either moved away or been called to their reward. T. S. Wilson, whose name appears as one of the signers, was territorial judge, living at Dubuque, and held court at Bellevue. J. K. Moss was a merchant of Bellevue, was the second representative that Jackson county had in the territorial legislature and was prominent in the Bellevue war.
S. S. Fenn was at one time recorder of this county, and later went west, where he was elected to the United States senate.
Wm. P. Barger was hanged in Andrew by a vigilance committee, in 1857, for murdering his wife.
WV. A. Warren lived in Bellevue, and was the first sheriff in Jackson county.
James Mitchell is the same man who killed James Thompson in Bellevue, Jan- uary 8, 1839.
E. A. Wood is a physician, now residing in Sabula, where he has lived since 1836.
J. G. McDonald was a surveyor, and staked out all the land around here for the government, in 1837.
C. M. Doolittle was a resident of Maquoketa at one time and laid claim to most of the land about this city, holding all he could of it.
Jason Pangborn lived many years in this city, at the corner of Main and South Summit streets, and was owner of Pangborn's Addition to Maquoketa.
Zalmon Livermore, Levi Decker, of this city, and the Butterworths, Chee- neys and others about Andrew, are people well known and remembered by many of our citizens.
The name of Platt Smith will call to mind a queer character. He was a shrewd fellow and was advised to take up a study of law. After six weeks reading he appeared before Judge Wilson at Dubuque for examination to practice. After learning of the time of study the Judge refused the examina- tion. Smith returned and soon went to Tipton on the same errand, but before another judge. This time he was successful, and at the next session of Judge Wilson's court, surprised that man by appearing before him with the necessary papers admitting him to the bar. Of the thirty-three cases brought up at this term, Smith was in charge of twenty-six, and history has it that he won in each and every case.
M. H. Clark was publisher of the Jackson County Democrat, a copy. of which, dated Andrew, Friday, September 21, 1849, was secured by Mr. Ellis, together with the above pledge. The paper has four pages, two of which are
JOHN E. GOODENOW-THE FATHER OF MAQUOKETA Born in Springfield, Windsor County, Vermont, March 23, 1812. Settled in Maquoketa, March 10, 1838. Died Sep- tember 3, 1902, in his ninety-first year
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covered with paid advertising. Various ferries as far west as the Missouri River are advertised, for the benefit of those who were contemplating a trip across the plains.
THE FATHER OF MAQUOKETA. (MRS. MARY [GOODENOW] ANDERSON.)
John Elliott Goodenow was born in Springfield, Vermont, in 1812. He was one of fourteen children, all of whom lived to be men and women. Hungry for learning, he early began to acquire knowledge from every available source, and the limited opportunities of the country schools in eastern New York only whet- ted an appetite which fed and fattened on what other minds, lacking the assim- ilation of his, let pass untasted. Too full of the spirit of progress to "tread the paths his fathers trod," he started at the age of twenty-five, for the then Terri- tory of Wisconsin, and after an overland journey of sixty-five days of hardship, he halted where Maquoketa now stands and said, "Surely here is an Eden ; here I will abide." Two years later he returned to New York, married Miss Eliza Wright, and again made the long overland journey, this time shortening it by two days.
To tell the young people today all that these two earnest, brave, faithful souls have done for this community would take more time and eloquence than I have at command. Their lives have been as open books for all who would read, and succeeding generations shall call them blessed. The old log house, with its rude furnishings, was a model of cleanliness, and had the air of refinement which nothing but true womanly tact can supply. The latchstring was out to all who came its way, and they were father and mother to all who needed such care then, as ever since and now. God bless them.
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