USA > Iowa > Jackson County > History of Jackson County, Iowa; Volume I > Part 53
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF DR. M. J. BELDEN. (BY DR. A. B. BOWEN, M. D.)
The subject of this biographical sketch, M. J. Belden, M. D., was born in Steuben county, New York, A. D. 1831, and located in the little inland town of Canton, Iowa, in 1855, after exercising all the patience and self reliance that is usual for medical students to bring to bear in the accomplishment of their object and the consummation of their cherished hopes. But the courage and fortitude required to sever the ties of home and embark on his life's mission, the practice of his chosen profession, in the wilderness of the west, on the con- fines of civilization, requires a firmness of purpose and a spirit of philan- thropy that surmounts obstacles and breaks down barriers that would dis- courage one of less firmly fixed purposes.
The little hamlet known by the name of Canton fifty years ago, nestling in the big timber of the forks of the Maquoketa, had few allurements for one who had learned the ways of the world in a more advanced civilization and the more refined social life of Steuben county, New York. But the subject of our sketch evidently did not contemplate reclining upon the lap of luxury and ease, but rather to court fame and fortune from the rugged resources of na- ture. It would seem that the conditions around Canton were not altogether congenial to his tastes, for he resolved to explore and prospect the country westward, and in 1858 he journeyed across the state on horseback, as he once informed me, to acquaint himself with conditions, and perhaps find a spot that offered greater inducements to his tastes and inclinations than his first stop- ping place afforded. But he was not favorably impressed with the broad and timberless Iowa prairies and returned to his "first love" and cast his destinies in the primeval forests that shaded the Maquoketa.
In 1862 Dr. Belden married one of Canton's fair daughters, Miss Cecelia Atkinson, and together they achieved success and carved fame and fortune from this rugged field of action.
Here for over forty years he responded to the calls of those who appreciated his services, and through the vicissitudes of the varying seasons, he was ever a welcome guest at the comfortable home of the thrifty farmer or the lonely cabin of the pioneer. His services were not sought in vain, for he was ever on
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the alert to respond to the call of those in suffering and distress. His mid- night rides through the gloomy forest, that skirted his town of Canton, some- times startled the wild deer from its lurking place, and sometimes these lonely trips at unreasonable hours were serenaded by the howl of the wolf if not by the fierce scream of the catamount.
The practitioner of medicine in an isolated field like Canton, learns to be more self-reliant than he who finds himself located in a more attractive field of labor where doctors by the dozen or score, perhaps, share the honors of the surrounding advantages, while they expect to divide the responsibilities that none are exempt from.
But the physician in the remote field has not a brother practitioner at his elbow to call in consultation at the ever approaching crisis, but in his gladato- rial encounter with the grim messenger, he learns to be self-reliant and re- sourceful, and thus through force of necessity becomes a stronger and abler practitioner. But the time came, as it comes to all "when wasting age and weary strife had sapped the leaning walls of life." In 1898, a stroke of paralysis prostrated his iron constitution and compelled the relinquishment of practice, much to the regret of a large number of patients and patrons. It was my mis- sion to see him during this crisis in his life, and I remember well the philosophy with which he met this trial. A temporary rally of his vital forces enabled him to abandon the scenes of his trials and triumphs and locate in Maquoketa, where he died, in October, 1902, aged seventy-one years, leaving a wife and one daughter who mourn the loss of a kind husband and father.
Dr. Belden took a lively interest in the Jackson County Medical Society, although his attendance upon its meetings required a drive of some forty miles; notwithstanding this hardship he occasionally honored us with his pres- ence and participated in the discussions and read papers on scientific subjects.
Walker, Iowa, August 20, 1906.
My Dear Friend J. W. Ellis.
I have yours of a late date before me, inviting me to meet with the pioneers and old settlers of Jackson county on 22d inst. Though absent from your county for the past twenty-three years, I take it kindly to be remembered as one among you, though not ranking among the very first settlers of the county. I had the pleasure of a personal acquaintance with many of them, and enjoy reading the record of many as detailed in your annals of Jackson county. Other engagements here on the same day of your meeting prevent me from taking advantage of your invitation, yet permit me briefly and hurriedly to give you a few imperfect reminiscences of our early days in Iowa.
I first touched Iowa soil at Bellevue on May 16, 1849, and, with the excep- tion of two years spent in Illinois, in 1850-51, I have had my home and choice memories in beautiful and prosperous Iowa, thirty-two of which were spent in Jackson county. You ask me to tell the people something of the pioneers of LaMotte. I have to inform you that my memory is not as keen as it used to be in remembering the incidents and peculiarities of the early settlers who patiently breasted the difficulties of pioneer life and the hardships they had to endure. Let me modify that word hardships, for many of the brightest and best days of my life, and now thought of with greatest pleasure, were those of the pioneer times. I have just been as full of gladness and thankfulness in driving to town or church behind our oxteam as in more recent days behind a spanking span of roadsters in a covered carriage. My song along the road going to and from the grist mill, with a few sacks of flour or cornmeal, was just as vocal and hearty, if not more so than now, when these food products are shipped to us by rail. I was blessed by being a close neighbor to my brother William, but counted it no hardship in going one or two miles to spend an hour or two in the company of friends and neighbors. I recall with
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pleasure the many visits we had with Mr. John Hawkins, one of Richland township's early settlers; of Campbell Smith, Jas. Dully, Deacon Cotton, Jos- eph Hunter (Edward's father), the Wassons, and Parnelee, of Cottonville. The pleasant meetings we used to have with the Campbell families, the grand- father and father of your popular postmaster at Bellevue. I recall, too, with pleasure the names of some of my old friends in Bellevue-Andy Reiling, Andy Wood, Wm. Tell Wynkoop, Eli Cole, Dr. J. D. Watkins, W. A. Warren and others. Let me here remark that I suppose one of the first horticultural socie- ties organized in Iowa was here in Bellevue. At one of these meetings, I think in the fall of 1854, a fine display of fruit was shown, consisting principally of apples and grapes. W. T. Wynkoop, I think, furnished the largest exhibit.
In regard to LaMotte, I mentioned D. O. Montague, George Belknap, Mer- rick and John Chamberlin, as being among the first settlers. D. O. Montague was first postmaster. In order to fix upon a name for the postoffice he con- sulted with W. A. Warren, who at that time had a friend of his visiting him by the name of LaMotte. He had been in former years a lieutenant in the French army, and his name was given the postoffice. Among others who came to that neighborhood were Alex, George and Jonathan McDowell; Jonathan started the first hotel. Caleb McDowell, son of George, started a good wagon and blacksmith shop. William Wright, G. W. Wilson, David Stover (black- smith,) R. F. Morse, John Van Horn, John McQueen, Andrew Noble and fam- ily, Ashley Griffin, Benjamin Hutchins, several Potter families. You will observe that I mention names principally without any remarks to character or peculiarities. My memory does not justify in entering into particulars, and I must not record any false impression. Yet I think it is well enough to have the names, if nothing else, of some of our first settlers. Before closing these few and hurriedly written lines, let me here express my hearty and high appre- ciation of the work that some of your officers are doing, in founding and build- ing up the historical structure of Jackson County Historical Association. From letters I have seen from Mr. Harvey Reid, inquiring after early settlers, some of whom are dead and some have moved to distant portions of our country, shows with what industry he is laboring for the best and most exact informa- tion in regard to the historical incidents of such families. This, to my mind, shows that the annals of the historical association may be considered correct and reliable, judging from the exhaustive character of the articles published in the annals from the pen of your curator, J. W. Ellis, and knowing a little of his worth as an indefatigable collector of rare and valuable articles, as wit- ness the wealth and worth of the material he has gathered together in his mu- seum. I have often wondered if such a grand display is still confined to im- proper and inadequate quarters.
Remember me kindly to friends, Ed Hunter, John Wright, H. Reid, Walter Gregory and others. With every wish for your prosperity, I am yours truly, John Wilson.
CAPTAIN JOHN H. WEBER.
BRIEF SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF A REMARKABLE MAN-DISCOVERER OF THE GREAT SALT LAKE.
The subject of this sketch was born in the town of Altona, then a part of the kingdom of Denmark, in 1779. The boy received a fairly good education and grew to a vigorous and well developed manhood. While quite young he ran away to sea, and for years sailed the "briny deep." He was captain and commander of a passenger ship before he was twenty-one years old, and in very troublous times, too, owing to the wars then being waged between Eng-
HON. JOHN WILSON
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land and France on land and sea. He commanded sailing vessels for nearly six years. In 1810 he settled in the United States and got married five years later on. About this time he became a resident of St. Louis. In the spring of 1822 a company was organized in St. Louis for the purpose of hunting, trap- ping and trading with the Indians in the Rocky Mountains. The names of the projectors and the proprietors of this "wild west" scheme were Messrs. Ashley, Weber and Henry. Ashley being the rich man of the firm, furnished the outfit, which consisted of two keel boats (steam as a propelling power was then unknown) loaded with provisions, firearms, traps, ammunition, and such other supplies as was considered necessary for the successful prosecution of such an expedition. Fifty men, mostly Canadians, joined the outfit. The party left St. Louis in the spring of 1822 and slowly ascended the Missouri River. They were six months reaching the mouth of the Yellowstone River, where they halted and made a "cache" in which to store the supplies they could not take with them. Each year this "cache" was replenished, and furs shipped to market. Captains Weber and Henry took command of thirteen men each, the others returning or remaining with the boats. Beaver and otter were the furs then mainly sought after by trappers, and they reaped a rich harvest on the Columbia River, where beaver and otter were found in great abundance. Captain Weber was not only a trapper, but he was also a dis- coverer. Of the fifty-three men who accompanied this expedition, his name is the only one remembered. It is remembered because he was the first white man to look upon the great Salt Lake. He was also the discoverer of the Weber River and the now famous Weber Canyon, both of which bear his name. Captain Weber and party roved over the Rocky Mountains for five years, during which time they encountered many dangers, hardships and hair- breadth escapes from Indians and wild animals.
The captain returned to his home in St. Louis in the autumn of 1827, to get acquainted with his family, his son William being born during the first year of his absence. In the spring of 1832 he removed with his family to Galena, Illinois, then far famed for its lead mines, where he continued to re- side until 1844, when he settled in Bellevue, and lived there until his death in February, 1859. Captain Weber, of St. Louis, and Fred Weber, of Mechan- icsville, Illinois. Sarah is the youngest.
Captain Weber was no ordinary man. Nature has done well by him. He was a man of large and powerful frame, of erect carriage and graceful man- ner. His face indicated the superior intelligence behind it. He had a nose on him like a Roman emperor, and an eye as regal and piercing as that of an American eagle. He had the courage of a hero, and the staying qualities of a martyr. Those who knew him well say that they do not believe that he ever experienced such a thing as a sensation of fear. But he was impetuous and peculiar in many ways, and at times disagreeable and unhappy. His was a mercurial nature that went up in hope or down in despair. He made twenty thousand dollars by hunting, trapping and trading in the Rocky Mountains, but was beaten out of what was then a great fortune by dishonest partners. He never made or saved much wealth after that, and died poor. He performed clerical work in county offices and for Bellevue merchants for years before he died. He, at last, became a victim of neuralgia in the face, and suffered all the torments which that dread malady is able to inflict. Life became a bur- den to him and he resolved to shuffle off the mortal coil that bound him to this world, with his own hand. He deliberately committed suicide in 1859, by cutting his throat, and bleeding to death a few moments afterwards. His re- mains lie buried in the North Bellevue cemetery. No stone of any kind marks the grave of this remarkable man who was one of the first pioneers of our now great western empire, the discoverer of the Great Salt Lake, Weber River and Weber Canyon.
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SKETCHES OF PROMINENT CITIZENS.
W. P. WARD.
At the home of his daughter, Mrs. John Anderson, near Fulton, 2:45 p. m., July 1, 1903, W. P. Ward died, aged seventy-eight years, eight months and seventeen days. Descended from Scotch-Irish parentage, who originally set- tled in Maryland, W. Paul Ward was born in Berkeley county, Virginia, Oc- tober 13, 1824. When yet an infant his parents moved over the mountains and settled in the dense woods of the Miami (Ohio) River Valley. The In- dians were so threatening that they moved back to Morgan county, Ohio, and there John Ward died, when his son Paul was fifteen years of age. The wid- owed mother, whose maiden name was Harmon, consented to Paul's leaving home. And, by the way, this mother lived to the ripe old age of ninety-eight. Paul set out for the sparsely settled region of Indiana at sixteen years of age and pushed on westward to what is now Springfield, Illinois, and about the time the capital was located there. He found work at various things and finally landed at Sabula, in this county, June 3, 1843. Always hardy and greatly given to walking, he set out the next day on foot for what is now Maquoketa. Arriving at J. E. Goodenow's cabin, he stopped over night with him. Next day he struck out through the big timber north of us and walked to Dubuque. There he put in his winters working in the lead mines and his summers as mate on the Mississippi River steamers, and it was during that time that he and U. S. Grant had a little "set to" in a matter of local authority. In 1846 he came to Fulton, in Jackson county, and as a millwright apprentice to his uncle, James Ward, began his long residence in Jackson county, and, no doubt, performed more public work in the way of bridge, dam and mill building than any other man who ever lived in the county. His judgment was especially good with regard to these matters, and if he had not the con- tract was often consulted on large jobs. His first stroke of paralysis occurred after a visit to the Barnes Dam, as advisor, several years ago.
April 20, 1849, he married Mary V. Morden, daughter of Hon. Wm. Mor- den and a sister of Wm. C. Morden, of this city. She came with her parents from Sandusky, Ohio, in 1840, and died November I, 1877, a most excellent woman in all respects. To this union were born four sons and three daugh- ters, of whom the following survive and were present at the funeral: John, of Audubon, Iowa; Harvey, of Tecumseh, Nebraska; Morden, of Sac City ; Mrs. J. H. Anderson, of Fulton ; Mrs. A. C. Beedle, of Algona; Henry and Susan died some years ago.
Mr. Ward was a very intelligent, well read man, and though he never ac- cepted public office, assisted many friends to places of preferment. He was a member in high standing of the Masonic order of this city and for fifty-two years resided on the very forty acres near Fulton on which he died. The funeral took place from the house Friday afternoon, Rev. Sam'l Shepherd offi- ciating. Burial took place under Masonic rites in Mount Hope cemetery, Maquoketa, Helion lodge and Tancred commandery attending in a body. Peace to his ashes.
THE PHILLIPS FAMILY. By J. W. Ellis.
A. J. Phillips, one of the oldest pioneers of the Maquoketa Valley, came here with his father, William Phillips, in the month of May, 1837, and is still living hale and hearty (1910). William Phillips, John Clark and Isaac Mitchell were undoubtedly the first men to settle where the city of Maquoketa is now located. In the fall of 1837, four other men came to this locality and settled. A man by
A. J. PHILLIPS
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the name of Parmeter, or Parmenter, took up a claim in what is now the heart of Maquoketa and built a cabin near what is now the junction of Main and Platt streets, and the next spring, 1838, sold the claim, including cabin, to John E. Goodenow. Isaac Mitchell took up a claim which he afterwards sold to William Current which is also in the city limits, in the southwest quarter of the city. William Phillips' claim was in the northeast quarter of the city, and is owned in part at least by Eugene Hatfield. Phillips and his family lived in a tent until he could build a cabin. John Clark claimed the land where the fair grounds now are, and built a cabin near Mill Creek and as early as the spring of 1838 there were six cabins within the present limits of Maquoketa.
William Phillips had the forethought to bring a small hand mill with him, and when he had raised some corn, the little mill was fastened to a post set in the ground near the corner of the house and for two or three years Mr. Phillips and his neighbors managed to grind enough corn in this little mill to make their bread. The little mill had two cranks and two men could get up considerable motion. Mr. A. J. Phillips says that when his father took his claim and pitched his tent near the river about half a mile above the forks, there was a cabin on the north side of the river below the forks in which three men lived who were regarded with a great deal of suspicion by the elder Phillips and his neighbors. They were known as Banner, Jim Burnett and Orsemus, but assumed other names at differ- ent times and places. Banner, who seemed to be the leader, tried on several occasions to get Mr. Phillips to go hunting or fishing with him, but Phillips was suspicious and would not have anything to do with him.
On one occasion a man came to Phillips' place and wanted to stay over night with him. Said that he had stopped at the cabin occupied by the three men at the forks of the river and asked them to set them across the river in a boat they kept for that purpose, but the men insisted that he should stay over night with them and urged him to stay so strenuously that he became suspicious of them. He noticed that they talked to each other aside in a low voice and his suspicions being aroused, he became very discreet. He finally told them that he thought that he had better accept their hospitality and remain with them until morning, and after conversing with the men for a time he strolled out to the river, and along its banks and when out of sight of the cabin stepped into the water, waded across and made his way to Phillips' tent.
Phillips told him that he thought if he had stayed over night at the cabin he never would have got any farther. The three men, finding themselves objects of distrust among the settlers, suddenly disappeared. Some time afterwards the Phillips boys were fishing near the forks, and discovered bones sticking out of the river bank, where the high water had caused the bank to cave in, and upon investigation the bones proved to be human bones, and the settlers believed that they were the bones of some unfortunate wayfarer whom the occupants of the cabin had made way with. Some time after the disappearance of the three men from this locality, they were heard from as living on the Fever River near Galena, under different names, and they were objects of distrust there also. A citizen of Galena disappeared and could not be found and his friends for some reason believed that the three men had something to do with his disappearance, and thought of having them . arrested. The men in some way learned of the suspicion, and of their contem- plated arrest and again decamped, and later the body of the missing man was found buried near their cabin.
Mr. Phillips says that at the time of their arrival in the valley, there was a large Indian village just below the present site of the saw mill at Hurstville, and he remembers that the Indians buried their dead on the sand ridge where the village of Hurstville is now located. He says that he recalls that there were some large elm trees standing there with large roots above the ground, and that in some cases two or more Indians were placed between the roots with body reclin- ing against the tree and pens built about them to protect the bodies from wild animals. He said that the Indians explained that during the small-pox epidemic,
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the people died so fast that they could not be properly buried. He mentions one Indian that his father sometimes employed to spear fish for him, who said that after their terrible experience with small-pox, he had made up his mind never to live with the Indians any more.
William Phillips built the first saw mill in this locality on Mill Creek, nearly two miles east of the village. He selected a place on the creek where there was a rock bottom, and a rocky bluff on the east side and a heavy body of timber on the west side, thinking the roots of the trees would protect the dam on that side. The mill when completed did a lively business for a time, as there was a big demand for lumber, but after a time rainy weather set in, and one day a neigh- bor, who was fishing below the dam, noticed muddy water coming out of a small hole that he thought must be a crawfish hole. Later in the evening he again noticed the muddy water coming out of the same place, and then thought it must be a muskrat hole. The rain continued to fall and next morning it was discov- ered that the water had undermined the trees on the west side and upset them and made a new channel, and the dam that had cost so much hard labor had to be replaced.
Mr. Phillips had a very unpleasant experience with the outlaws that infested the country in its first settlement. On one occasion three men came to his cabin and requested dinners. and horse feed, and as Mr. Phillips was noted for his hospitality, no one was ever turned away from his door cold or hungry. When the wants of these men had been supplied, they insisted on paying for their en- tertainment, and tendered a fifty dollar bill which Phillips examined, and know- ing that the bank was good, he changed the bill. When the men had left, one of Phillips' girls spoke about one of the men having but one thumb, and this fact excited the suspicion of Mr. Phillips, as at that time a man known as "One Thumbed Thompson" bore a bad reputation in the county. Phillips took the bill up to Mr. Goodenow's and showed it to Goodenow and others, and all of those who saw it pronounced it a spurious bill. Phillips then went to Dubuque with it and had his suspicions confirmed. He never got a cent out of the transac- tion.
At another time he was told by a friend that he had heard W. W. Brown, of Bellevue, tell a couple of men that a man by the name of Phillips living near the forks of the Maquoketa, had a good team of horses that were worth looking after. Phillips had a pasture fenced off for his horses with a very strong rail fence, into which he turned his horses at night. The horses were high mettled and were pretty hard to catch when running in the pasture.
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