History of Jackson County, Iowa; Volume I, Part 99

Author: Ellis, James Whitcomb, 1848-; Clarke, S. J., publishing company
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 730

USA > Iowa > Jackson County > History of Jackson County, Iowa; Volume I > Part 99

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Having now given a brief description of the early settlement of Ozark and its vicinity, we will follow the river down stream in quest of another early settlement that was made near the beginning of 1845, and is at the present time best known as Crabbtown, which I will describe in the following article.

CRABBTOWN FIFTY YEARS AGO.

Leaving Ozark, we will now go southeast and follow the river, for in the early settlement of Jackson county as in other places, the first aim of the settlers was to get as near as possible to the water courses; not that the land was better or even as good as on the adjacent ridges, but was almost invariably rough, but the water privileges seemed to outweigh the advantages of the uplands. There was a prevalent idea among the first settlers that the man who owned a good strip of the river had a bonanza, and a mill site, that only needed development to make him rich. So prevalent was this idea that the river land and that which lay along the creeks was the first to be occupied, and in due time the best of the water powers along the Maquoketa Rivers were improved. Sawmills usually preceded flouring mills, and it was about the year 1845 that a Rev. Dr. Blackburn from Licking county, Ohio, built a sawmill three miles below Ozark on the north Maquoketa River.

This gentleman was no exception to the general rule, but like others who im- proved the water power along this stream, was a man of energy and grit, and well calculated for a pioneer leader. A doctor who stood at the head of his profession, and as a teacher his ability was second to none of the pioneer ministers in those early days, and withal a No. I mechanic, and was also in every way affable and easy of approach. On one occasion the writer took the liberty to question him as to his adaptability to the different professions he had acquired. To this he re-

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plied, a man must be a natural mechanic to be a successful doctor or a successful preacher. and if he lacks mechanism he should seek some other profession.

Almost simultaneous with the building of this first sawmill, the adjacent country began to be settled. It was about 1848 when a large portion of the land was set- tled by emigrants from Licking county, Ohio. Among these may be named Shep- herd Caven, Ezariah Clark, Geo. Houston, Thos. Houston, Andy Houston, I. W. Mccullough, Tom Oliver, Tom Saunders, Nathan Said and sons, James and Rev. J. W. Said. But by far the most numerous among these first settlers were the Edwards and Streets families. With these the writer had not sufficient acquain- tance to correctly call them by their given names, but their offspring are quite numerous and still outnumber in name all others in this community.

And now after a lapse of eight years after the first sawmill was built by Mr. Blackburn, it became apparent that a flouring mill was needed at this point, which the proprietor was not slow in building. The new mill was a fine building with a capacity of about twenty-five barrels per day. But this mill did not do the busi- ness that was expected by the proprietor, for the reason that the territory was somewhat circumscribed by other mills above and on the same stream, and for this reason the custom work of the neighborhood was all the patronage that centered at this place.

It was about fourteen years after the first sawmill was built that Dr. Black- burn began to be infirm and old. He sold or traded the mill property to Isaiah and Washington Crabb. They were brothers and practical millers as well as practical mechanics, and were men of energy and push in all their undertakings, and withal were men of unblemished character, strictly honest in business and thoroughly Christian in sentiment. These two brothers conducted the business for a number of years to which they added a fairly good country store. Finally the senior partner died and the property became an estate, and is now operated by the grand- sons of Isaiah Crabb, deceased. The boys seem to have inherited all the char- acteristics of their forefathers and bid fair to perpetuate the good name of their progenitors.

In the fifteen years that elapsed from the first settlement of Rev. Dr. Black- burn, the county was fairly settled. The war of the Rebellion soon followed and patriotism among the boys around Crabbtown ran extremely high as it also did all over the western part of Jackson county. Nearly all the boys who were of proper age and muscle around Crabbtown enlisted at the first call of the government. Al- though Brandon township had at that time a population of less than nine hundred, all told, out of this population seventy-seven men, the cream of the township, went into the service of Uncle Sam during the four years of that war, or nearly nine per cent of the entire population.

Of these in the immediate vicinity of Crabbtown were, T. J. Houston, Amby Harden, Richard Clark, Alfred Baty, Eli Heath, Daniel Heath, Chas. Said, J. W. Said, James Said, Christopher Barger and brother, Zackariah Said, Tom Edwards, Tom Post, Abe Post, Chas. McCullough, Jacob Lusere, Geo. Johnson, James John- son (nineteen, all told, of the Crabbtown school district). Of the other fifty-seven of Brandon's soldiers no less credit is due. If patriotism can be measured by the large proportion of the brave men who responded to the government's call, then this part of Jackson county stands in the front row with any other district of like population in the state. By far the largest number of the Brandon boys were in the Twenty-sixth Iowa Regiment, and among all these there were killed or wounded from which they died, John Sinkey, Jr., Leonades Miller, Harvey Swift, Chas. Said. Of those who died of disease while in the service were the following: John Cooley, Ambrose Robins, James Johnson, Charles Johnson, Tom Mulford, Admant Cooley, Sam Alberry, and a Mr. Boyd, eight men in all.

It will be readily seen how the industrial interests would be affected by so heavy a drain on the breadwinners of the overpatriotic districts. The young men who composed the bone and muscle which makes business win, were now in the sunny south, and the farmers were hard put to secure necessary help to run their

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business even at reduced proportions. But this difficulty was soon, at least par- tially overcome. The ladies now began to enlist, not as gunners but as plowmen, as drivers on mowers and reapers, as cornhuskers; in short, they took to them- selves all the rights that the men had or could have, except the right to vote at the elections. This same condition was common in all sections of the country and especially so in districts like the western part of the county, where an overdue proportion of the men had obeyed the government call. It is but due to the ladies to here say that to them belongs a full share of credit and honor for the part they took in sharing the burdens, not in the fields of blood but in the harvest fields and other industries that furnished supplies for the vast armies that were battling for the supremacy of the flag of our beloved country.

WASHINGTON MILLS. (By Levi Wagoner.)

It was about the year 1852 that one J. L. Saner, of western Pennsylvania, was looking for a locating in the northwestern part of Jackson county, Iowa, suitable for the erection of a sawmill. This he found on Lyttle's creek on the line between Jackson and Dubuque counties. Along the creek for a distance of six or seven miles was a fine body of timber from one to one and a half miles wide. Here Mr. Saner bought several hundred acres of land, not so much for the land as for the timber that was on the land.

It was in 1853 that he began building the needed sawmill, for this part of Jackson county was beginning to be settled with emigrants from the eastern states, and the demand for lumber was already great, although in the vicinity of Mr. Saner's mill site there were no improvements for several miles. It was here that Mr. Saner set a gang of men to work at building the first sawmill in this part of the county. This gang consisted of sixteen men. Some were carpenters, some millwrights, and some were hewers of wood, and others plied the pick and shovel. It was here that I did my first solid work in Iowa. Mr. Saner had his quarters where his family resided, one mile north of the mill site on the open prairie. His house was a frame shanty, sixteen by sixteen feet, one and one half stories high. Around this were temporary sheds for sleeping quarters for the gang of builders.

It was after considerable progress had been made at the mill, when a stranger put in an appearance where the men were at work. This stranger told the men that he lived five or six miles north on the open prairie for the last five years and congratulated the men because of the noble work they were engaged in, a work that would greatly facilitate the development of that part of Jackson and Dubuque counties. But, said the stranger, you need not be sur- prised if some day when out in these woods you will find a herd of wild hogs. This last was by far the most interesting part of the stranger's talk to our gang, for we had several nimrods in our crew. After hearing of this wild herd of porkers our men never went to the woods without taking several rifles out to where the timber was being hewed for the construction of the dam and for the prospective mill, and every man was anxious to catch sight of the swine.

But after looking in vain for at least two weeks, our gang began to believe that the report was a pure fish story and that there were no such aborigines in these woods. It was when the mill was approaching completion, and the head race conducting the water to the mill, which was a canal about twenty rods long, about five feet wide and four feet deep, was finished. Within a few yards of the place where it was to receive water from the dam, was the un- finished end, its banks slightly sloping. It was the custom in those days to work early and late, and our breakfast was often served by candlelight, and it was after one of the early breakfasts that our gang started millward. Our nim- rods as usual carried their rifles, and after passing through the narrow road

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that had been cut through the thicket that hid from view the dam and the newly dug canal, the wild hogs were discovered.

At this sight the mill gang was jubilant and quickly placed a strong guard at the place where the swine had entered, and it was believed that the entire herd might be captured by closing up the entrance. But this calculation had to be given in. less time than it takes to tell it. No sooner had the porkers caught the scent of the mill gang when they immediately made a wild rush through the canal and easily scaled its banks in their mad flight for liberty. Although our party fired several shots into the herd without effect, one of the largest of the razor backs had a little difficulty in getting out of the canal and therefore was behind time in getting away. In the meantime the guns had all been discharged except one in the hands of John Croft, who was a crack shot, and who now leveled his long rifle at the fleeing porker, and at a distance of over thirty rods brought his game to the ground. The ball broke the animal's back and the capture was easy. After the usual blood letting, the huge porker was inspected by the whole party and Mr. Saner was also on the ground and soon deployed two out of our gang to take the ox team which was already in sight, and carry the carcass home and dress it for future use. The specimen now secured was apparently one of the finest in the herd and would weigh probably three hundred pounds. It was in fair flesh, and of a dull brown color with here and there a small spot of gray. Our crew were now in ecstacy. The thought of now having plenty of fresh pork made the men feel good, for of the many good things to eat, fresh pork was greatly lacking and could not be ob- tained short of Dubuque, sixteen miles distant. But we were all disappointed for the meat was not nearly so good as had been expected as it was coarse in grain and ill-flavored, but the novelty of having native pork to eat made it palatable.

But we were not confined to native pork or smoked bacon, for Lyttle's Creek was literally alive with the finest fish, fish of large size and of different varieties, and often our boys went to the water after nightfall for an hour's angling and in this way secured all the fish that our large family could use, and this family consisted of twenty-eight persons including women and children.

It was about October Ist, when the dam and mill was completed and our large family began to break up. The carpenters and millwrights went in quest of other jobs, but John Croft, of wild hog notoriety, and the writer, were re- tained to assist the proprietor in odd jobs and running the mill. But this John Croft was of a hunting disposition and was not satisfied to allow that herd of swine to entirely escape without a thorough search of the woods, thinking per- chance he might get another sight of the natives.

But in this he was disappointed but succeeded in finding the place where they had their shelter and sleeping quarters. About a mile northwest from the mill in a deep ravine with bluffs in either side was a cave under the rocks that ran into the hill fifty feet or more, this was a fine shelter with an abund- ance of room for the entire herd. In this cave there was an abundance of dry leaves and grass that had evidently been carried in for bedding, and was to all intents and purposes a good hog nest. But this was all that Mr. Croft found. He never saw the herd after the affair in the canal. This herd as seen by the mill crew numbered about twenty and appeared to represent at least three generations; there were shoats of about sixty pounds, and others about one hundred pounds, and again others of one hundred and fifty pounds, and a few of the herd would tip the beam at three hundred pounds. It was not at all difficult to see how these wild rooters could live here from year to year and keep in thriving condition summer and winter, for in this belt of timber all kinds of mast was so abundant that a time of scarcity could hardly occur. The acorn of the white oak literally covered the ground, and then there was the burr oak, the shellbark hickory, and the hazel thickets, all of which contributed to the supply of food during the year.

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It was after this first sawmill had run about five years and much of the adjacent timber had been cut, and the country around began to be settled, that Mr. Saner sold his interest to a company composed of Oliver Bossart and David Kifer. These men, in addition to the sawmill, built a large flouring mill that did a large business for a number of years, or until wheat raising in these parts gave way to corn raising and corn and hogs became kings, and have reigned ever since. The place where, at these mills, I did my first hard work, is the present village of Washington Mills, and is on the narrow gauge, Bellevue and Cascade Railway. The first settlers in the vicinity of the mills were: P. Miller, Geo. Gallager, the Sweeny brothers, the Stantons, Mr. Hugh, Mathias Scholian, D. Kifer, Oliver Bossart, J. L. Saner, Henry Burke, Mr. Canon, Mr. McLaughlin and others. Of these first named settlers there is not now any that are living, except Oliver Bossart, of Essex, Page county, Iowa. (1907.)

ZWINGLE IN 1846. (Wagoner.)

Having been on a ramble of three weeks' duration, most of the time outside of Jackson county, I now return to my first love where I spent my first night in Iowa.

Here I am right among my old friends of childhood and youth. Here for ? distance of five or six miles, north and south, and as many east and west, lived the first settlers from Pennsylvania, from the neighborhood of Adamsburg, Wil- kinsburg and Pittsburg. If I am somewhat tedious in my narrative, I trust the reader will bear with me, for this is to me a sacred spot.

Daniel Court was the first settler at the present Zwingle in 1846. Albert Court, his brother, came two or three years later, also settling near Zwingle, these two being the first in, gave it the name of the Court neighborhood, and made it a sort of a nucleus around which to gather. Dan Court being a man of push, soon hewed out for himself a comfortable home and was among the most promi- nent citizens, and was twice elected representative of Dubuque county in the state legislature. His family consisted of four children, three girls and one son. The eldest, Elizabeth, was married to Rev. F. Bowman in 1855, both of whom are still living (1905). The second daughter, Emeline, married W. C. Simpson about the year 1856, and are both now living, and next, Sarah, married Abe Ir- win, this couple are also living. The son, Albert, was married to Kate Foster, the youngest, Mary M., was married to John Bowman, brother of Rev. F. B. But in looking the field over I found scarcely any of the original householders remain- ing, and for the most part it is the third generation that now occupy the stage of the old stock of settlers. The Rev. F. Bowman is perhaps the oldest now liv- ing (1905). It was in the spring of 1855 that he preached my father's funeral sermon, as also that of my father-in-law, Philip Saner, whose death occurred three weeks before that of my father on May 5, 1855.

It is worthy of note that the same Rev. F. Bowman of fifty years ago was al- ready installed pastor of the German Reformed church at Zwingle and is today still at his post, doing the work of a pastor for over fifty years to the same con- gregation. This is without doubt the longest continued pastorate that the writer has any knowledge of in this section.

James Simpson, Jr., came in 1852, and settled three miles west of Zwingle, his father with his family came in 1854. His son, Washington, had preceded his father three years, coming in 1851. The remainder of Sr. James Simpson's family consisted of William C., who afterward married Miss Emeline Court about 1856; Hiram, I think, enlisted among the first in about 1861 or 1862, and contracted disease while he was in the army and died soon after returning home.

But I cannot be sure as to the correctness of this statement. Of the Simpson boys only two are now living, Rush, who recently had a farm near Buckhorn, and

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who also made the writer a short visit. I had not seen him for over thirty years. The girls in the Simpson family were: Amanda, who married one Job Miller. both have been dead a good many years; Mary Ann, married George Scholian, and she is also dead; two more girls, Harriette and Martha, the youngest I have lost track of, but I think that they too are dead.

The Alshouse family consisted of Jonathan, the eldest, who I think came in the spring of 1849 or '50, together with his family and sister, Miss Dianna, who afterward became the wife of the late Washington Simpson in 1857. She is still living and for the last twenty years has been a resident of Maquoketa (1905). I am indebted to her for much of the above information. Lebus Alshouse, who served from first to last in the Mexican war, came home at the end of that war to his father's place, the father kept a hotel for a number of years in Wilkins- burg, a suburb of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and on account of the congenial dis- position of the landlord, Joe Alshouse, already an old man, made his hotel a fa- vorite place for travelers and teamsters. His house was always crowded with guests.

It was on one such occasion that I formed my first acquaintance with the re- cently returned soldier. The hotel as usual was crowded with guests, and Lebus, the soldier, early became the central figure and was soon called upon for a speech, but he felt disposed to decline the honor but after a unanimous second call from the audience, he consented to give a few reminiscences of his two years' experi- ence in Mexico, among which were vivid descriptions of the bombardment and capture of Monterey and Vera Cruz, but he was much too modest on that occasion to say that he was the first man that got inside when the walls were scaled at Chepultapec. After the war the government issued land warrants to the returning soldiers, which gave the holder free choice of any government land in Uncle Sam's domain. And now armed with such warrant, he came to Iowa in 1848 or 1849 and located his warrant near Zwingle on the Jackson county side of the line. and here began life as a bachelor which he continued for two years, more or less.

In 1850, his sister Diana came here from the east and kept house for her brother Leb, for a year or more. Later on he made a visit to the land of his na- tivity but soon returned bringing with him a wife of his own. Soon afterward he sold his now improved farm to Washington Simpson, who also became the hus- band of the aforesaid Diana Alshouse in 1857, and Lebencus, the soldier, with his family removed to Illinois a year or two previous to the war of the Rebellion. And now the great war was on and Mr. Alshouse, true to the government call, again enlisted at McComb, Illinois, as a private but was soon promoted to the rank of lieutenant. Mr. Alshouse was a man of more than ordinary courage and intelligence. But it fell to his lot through the vicissitudes of war to find his way to Libby prison where he died toward the close of the war. It is now but natural that we should inquire of the whereabouts of the family of so brave a soldier. These we find well staked down in North Dakota. His son, a chip off the old block, a prominent citizen and a member of the state legislature for two consec- utive terms.

I will now name as many of the old settlers as I can recall to memory who settled in the vicinity of Zwingle prior to 1855: Daniel Court, Albert Court, Jacob Buckman, Jonathan Alshouse, Lebeus Alshouse, John Kemerer, Dan Kemerer. Chris Denlinger, Dr. J. Biglow, Mr. Kennedy, Phillip Miller, Tob Miller, John McClurg, Jacob Koons, Matthias Scholian, John L. Saner, Geo. Saner, Michaei Beck, Sr., James Simpson, Sr., James Simpson, Jr., Wm. V. Simpson and Wash- ington Simpson. The remainder of the Simpson family are all minors, I will not give their names here.

This settlement all before 1855 was composed almost exclusively of former Pennsylvanians and nearly all from the same neighborhood. But we must here add the names of Oliver and Dan Bossard. These were the pioneers who settled in Dubuque and Jackson counties around the present Zwingle, prior to 1855. But

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their offspring are so numerous that I will not attempt to follow them but will leave the account to some future historian.

Zwingle being the first place I visited after coming to Iowa in 1850 where I felt at home among my old friends, was not my abiding home, I was still foot loose, and in search of land suitable for a home which according to my idea at that time, must be timber land, which I found in the eastern part of Jones and the western part of Jackson counties, some of it east and some of it- west of Canton.

EARLY DAYS IN AND ABOUT BRIDGEPORT.

Sentinel Souvenir.

Fifty two years ago this month my father, Abijah E. Wray, with my mother and self moved from Washington county, New York, to Iowa, traveling by rail as far as Chicago, thence by stage to Dubuque, from there in wagon to Maquo- keta, and settled on a farm south of Maquoketa which has since been known as the Bagley place. About four years thereafter he purchased a tract of wild land one mile east of Bridgeport, erected a house, brought the land under cul- tivation, and occupied the same until the close of the Civil war, when he sold it to Mr. Peter House who lived there until his death.

When the Jackson County Sentinel was established my father was one of the subscribers. It is yet received by our family, and has been a welcome weekly visitor to me in all parts of the world to which my business has taken me.

In the early days that country was full of game, plenty of rabbits, squirrels, quails, prairie chicken, pheasants, wild turkeys and wolves, and to the hunter of today it would have been a perfect paradise. That part of Jackson county was sparsely settled, but very soon every farm was occupied. Our school for that district was held in a small frame building opposite the residence of Henry Hilton, Sr., in Bridgeport. My first teacher was Miss Margaret Chandler, who afterward became the wife of Phineas Beeman, and the second one was Mr. John Orr, who taught the winter school for several years in succession. The school consisted of thirty boys and about eight girls. The boys were : Bethel, Edgar, and Harman Farr; Titis, Kemper, and Gordon Whitmore; Louis and Chas. Haskell; Philo Nims; Henry Garlough; Samuel and Robert Grant; Geo. Hofius, George and Albert Miller; Weed, Creon, and Nott Nims; Morris and Orange Gardner ; Albert and Henry Hilton ; Henry Meyers; Cline Lyall ; Frank, William and John Keeley ; Frank Elsner ; Edgar Wells and myself. A more mischievous and intractable lot of boys have never been found together in any school. But Mr. Orr was equal to the emergency for he always kept a stock of green crab apple gads stored in the loft, and whenever we were disobedient, or were so indolent in not having our lessons perfect, he would take one of those down, run it into a bed of live coals in the old box stove in order to make it tough and pliable, and would give us a flogging that none of us have ever for- gotten. In fact, there was where we received our first lessons in dancing. While we thought it perfectly tough at first, nevertheless I can now see where it was a benefit to us all, for this discipline materially aided in making these pupils successful in the various walks of life.

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History of Jackson County, Iowa; Volume I, Part 99

Author: Ellis, James Whitcomb, 1848-; Clarke, S. J., publishing company Publication date: 1910 Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 730

Author: Ellis, James Whitcomb, 1848-; Clarke, S. J., publishing company
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 730