History of Johnson County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, and its townships, cities and villages from 1836 to 1882, Part 68

Author: Johnson Co., Ia. History. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Iowa City, Iowa.
Number of Pages: 980

USA > Iowa > Johnson County > History of Johnson County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, and its townships, cities and villages from 1836 to 1882 > Part 68

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Wapashashiek was the Fox chief, and was much less intimate with the white people, though we never heard of any bad feeling existing between them.

Some people have a distinct recollection of Kishkekosh, and think him to have been a chief. He was only a leader and a bad one. He was a natural orator, a brave, a perfect specimen of a physical man, but a leader of the bad element. He may be compared to a communist leader among us. Totokonoc was the old prophet of Black Hawk, and noted amongst the Indians, but little known amongst the white people. Clear Creek was called by them Copiheenoc, and the name was for sometime per- petuated in that of Copi P. O., but even that has disappeared, and this

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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.

little sketch may be the last notice of the name so dear to so many people less than half a century age. The name Clear Creek was given to the stream by Col. Trowbridge.

In 1840 a new census was taken and the county of Johnson is credited with a population of 1,504, an increase of more than five hundred per cent in two years. The population of the territory was 43,144. Increase about one hundred per cent.

Under Harrison's administration John Chambers was appointed Gov- ernor, and the territorial capital established at Iowa City, where it remained till sometime after the organization of the State government, the capitol building now forming one of the State University buildings.

In November, 1842, a convention to take the necessary steps for a state government met at Iowa City, but the proposition was voted down by the people the next year.

In October of 1842, a treaty was made with the Sacs and Foxes, by which they sold to the United States, all their lands in Iowa, for which they were to receive an annual interest on the sum of $800,000. The government also assumed all the debts of the tribe, amounting in the aggre- gate to $258,566.

The settlement of Oxford township dates away back in territorial times. The pioneers were James Douglass, Sr., Ebenezer Douglass, Charles Marvin, Henry Brown, Bronson Brown, and William Brown. The Douglasses, Marvin and one of the Browns brought families; all came in 1839. James Douglass settled on the old Douglass place, Ebenezer on the Hamilton place, and Marvin on section 24, Oxford township. The Browns located on the premises now occupied by the farm of Mr. C. Yenter, where they lived till 1842, when they sold their claim to Jonathan Talbott, who bought the mill on Clear Creek in 1849, on the site now occupied by the Stickler factory. In this early period also came the Hulls, Porter and John, and located near the Douglasses.

John L. Heartwell, now familiarly known as " Uncle John," also settled in that locality, but soon returned to Ohio, coming back, however, in 1852, and locating permanently two miles north of the present site of Oxford, where he lived till he became a citizen of the village. In 1841 or 1842, the first business firm in Oxford township was established just below Dutch lake. The stock of the firm was a barrel of whiskey, the business dealing it out to the Indians. The members were Stone, Sprague & Lindley. They did not prosper, we are happy to be informed.

A few words relative to these early settlers will not be amiss. James Douglass always remained upon the premises where he first located, being the first postmaster of Copi post-office, established in 1844. His death

occurred in 1854, and that of his wife, Fannie, in 1879. John, Cyrus, James, David, and William are his sons.

Ebenezer Douglass purchased the saw-mill of John Moore in 1853,

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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.

located just east of township line. He died in 1854, and left one son, Joseph, now residing at Tiffin, and one daughter, Mary, wife of H. Ham- ilton. Aunt Sarah still survives, living with her daughter, Mrs. Hamilton.

Excepting a " trail " sometimes passed over by vehicles in procuring furs from the agency in Iowa county, there were no roads. The pioneers made their roads as they came, following the "divides," where practicable and when a stream had to be crossed, it was done by detaching the team and running the wagon in by hand, and hitching to the end of the tongue and drawing it out on the other side.

Provisions enough to last a few weeks were usually brought by the settlers, and when that was exhausted, a new supply could only be obtained by making a trip to Illinois, where meal could be obtained, that being the "staff of life" in those times. And when inclemency of weather, or other causes prevented their going down into "Egypt," other means must be devised for obtaining breadstuff, and many a time the pioneer has feasted on corn-cake made of meal ground in a coffee-mill, or pounded in an iron kettle. Indeed, the settler who owned a "big kettle " was considered particularly fortunate if he also had a wagon with a big "king bolt," the head of which was used in crushing the corn into meal.

One thing, however, was much to the advantage of the pioneer, for with his trusty rifle he was sure of a supply of meat, venison and turkey, which were nearly always a part of the settlers' meal. Teams going to the river for supplies brought the mail from Bloomington (Muscatine) and the settlers did not entirely lose sight of things in the busy world from which they had separated themselves to lay the foundation for a new empire.

One thing worthy of mention the writer has observed about the first settlements here as well as elsewhere, nearly all were made in the "woods," and often the new settler might be seen painfully laboring to clear a field in the woods when thousands of acres lay adjoining which might have been prepared for a crop with one tenth of the labor required to prepare the woodland. None doubted the fertility of the soil on the prairies, but the force of habit led him to select the timber land with all the labor required to clear it off and the inconvenience of its cultivation after- wards for their beginning.

We find that as early as 1842 a school was kept at the house of James Douglass, 'the teacher being Mrs. Berry, wife of the Indian gunsmith, who had a shop in the upper end of the grove bearing his name on the present site of the "Cook farm." His name is prepetuated in that of the stream flowing through Oxford, sometimes called the "Raging Rhine."

Orrin Lewis made a claim and settled where the Remley farm now is. He was known by the nickname of "Old Specimen," from a peculiarity

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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.

of conversation. He soon sold his claim to James Simpson, who also sold in a few years to Thomas or Thompson. Henry Springmire located where the Brennans now live, and about 1844 Benjamin Williams located on the place now occupied by Peter Williams. Mrs. Williams still sur- vives and is now Mrs. Merritt, well known in Oxford.

Of the neighbors we might with propriety speak of every one within ten miles, for persons living at that distance then were regarded as near neighbors. And it would not take much space to name them all, but we will mention only those who were well known and remembered. On the east side of Tiffin were the Spragues and Spicers, and Amosa Doud. Further on were Sam. Huston of the Johnson place, John Headley on the Wolf place, Gillilands, Keelers and Nathaniel Fellows, down as far as the Isaac Dennis place. On the south, Burns and Simpson on Oid Man's creek were nearest, and north to one within ten miles, while west the "noble red man" held undisputed sway, till his removal in 1843. In regard to dangers and privation, the pioneers may be said to have been particularly fortunate. The Indians had just been taught by the Black Hawk war, that in a conflict with the pale faces, they would be sure to come out "second best," and like Jack Falstaff, an Indian always consid- ers "discretion to be the better part of valor." Hence they were very quiet except when drunk, when they are no worse than the average white man in the same condition. Of fierce wild animals very few were seen, though the startling cry of the panther was often heard in the groves and along the streams, though we are inclined to think that neither pan- ther nor bear was ever killed by a white man in the township.

As early as '40 or '41, the mill upon the present site of the Stickler factory was built and began to grind grain, being the first erected in the county, and almost the first west of the Mississippi, away from that stream.

The territorial road was located to the Douglass place in 1841 or 1842, and pushed on from that place as soon as the Indian title was extinguished, Marengo being located in 1843, and settlement begun. Copi P. O. was established in 1844, and James Douglass made postmaster. The location of this road through Oxford township, was the first great boom which it received. It became the Grand Trunk line across the state, and no mat- ter if people crossed at Muscatine, Davenport or Camanche, they were sure to take the Grand Trunk line, and on the west it diverged in as many directions, so that if an immigrant was bound for either Iowa, Poweshiek, Jasper, Polk, Story, Marshall, Tama or Benton county, he would come through Iowa City, and on the Grand Trunk.

Quite a settlement sprang up in lowa county about the present site of Homestead, as early as 1844, and of those early settlers "Uncle Billy Spicer" yet remains. He settled where he now lives and put up a black- smith shop, the first in Iowa county. Some of the first entries of land in

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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.

Oxford township, were made at the land office at Dubuque, but about 1845, an office was established at Iowa City, and remained there till the removal of the State Capital to Des Moines. There was no government land in Oxford township later than 1855. About 1852, there was a per- fect scramble for land, not only by settlers, but "speculators," that is men with capital to invest, began to realize that Iowa land was "going up like a rocket," and seeing a chance for a speedy increase in the value of land here, bought land by wholesale, sometimes not even taking the pains to see the tract before purchasing, but usually their investments proved to be profitable, though owing to a kind of panic beginning in 1857, some of them waited much longer than they had anticipated before selling their land.

The year 1851 is a memorable one with the old settlers, being some- times refered to, even now, as "the rainy season." An old settler who was here at that time told the writer that it rained for fifteen consecutive days, or that the sun was not seen for that length of time, and we are not sure as to which of the expressions was used, nor does it make much difference, either one giving the same idea of the "deluge." The Iowa river was much higher than has been since known, and it is said that barrels of flour were loaded into a skiff from the second story of Clark's mill, stand- ing on the site of the Coralville mill.

The removal of the Indians was followed by such an abundance of game that to relate all would endanger the writer's "reputation for ver- acity," but we will risk a good deal in that direction while so many of the old settlers remain to certify to the truthfulness of our narative. Dur- ing the winters of 1851-2, '52-3, '53 4, the father and a brother of the writer killed 200 deer, one killing 101, and the other ninety-nine, and that too with ordinary rifles. With such arms as could now be procured they could easily have doubled the number. Though the Cooks were the "boss" shootists they were not by any means the only ones, and others of that time could boast of many a deer and turkey which fell before their unerring aim. We use this term, unerring, advisedly and to show that we do so, will just state a few facts which will make some of the "nim- rods" of to-day stare with wonder. Either of the persons referred to above could with a common rifle bring down a deer at any distance within the range of the piece, running at full speed, as readily as if it stood still, and by far the larger part of those killed were shot while running. It was not called marvelous shooting then, but it has hardly ever been excelled; nor were the two mentioned the only ones who could do this; there were several others probably equally skillful, but who devoted less time to shooting.

Another thing worthy of mention is that with rifles, the ordinary range of which was but little more than twenty rods, they killed many deer at twice that distance by skillful handling of the piece and elevating to make

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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.

it "carry" the required distance. The abundance of game may be inferred from the following incident. The father of the writer returning one evening from a day's hunting remarked: "Well it does beat all I ever saw. I counted eighteen deer all in sight at one time, this afternoon." From an elevated spot about the east line of the Eddy farm he had seen that number-not in a herd, but scattered over the hillsides and bottoms, singly and in groups of two, three or four.

Previous to 1850, a substantial mill was erected on the site of the pre- sent Coralville mills. It was at first called the "Company Mill," being built by a company of Iowa City men, and Mr. Combe of Oxford was a member of the company, and the builder of the mill. In 1851, it was Clark's mill, having passed into the hands of E. Clark, a member of the company, and it was afterwards owned and operated by Clark and Kirk- wood. In 1852-3-4, there was much sickness and suffering amongst the "new-comers," and consequently some depression of spirits, as it was thought that the country would prove permanently unhealthy. The principal part of the sickness was fevers of the intermittent type, and so strong was the prejudice against "quinine" that many preferred to suffer on rather than use a remedy that would get up a volcanic eruption to one's head, and it was popularly supposed to permanently injure the con- stitution. Some of the worst cases, however, demanded the attendance of a physician, and Drs. Vogt, Sanders and White of Iowa City, had quite a practice in Oxford township.

Like the Pilgrim fathers, the first settlers in Oxford gave early atten- tion to matters of education. In the winter of 1851-2 a school was kept in a room of Mr. Williams' house, Miss Anna Mason, sister of Mrs. Lewis Doty, being the teacher. This was the first school kept in the township, except one kept by Mrs. Berry in 1843, at the Douglass place.

During the fall of 1852, however, steps were taken toward the erection of a school house, and by the private enterprise of four men, namely Lewis Doty, Thomas Heifner, Chas. Mason, Sr., and Benjamin Williams, a house was built, occupying a place near what is known as the "Wolf corner," being just west of the residence of L. R. Wolf. T e building was a small log structure, which was quite comfortable and continued to be used for school purposes and as a place of public worship till about 1861, when the school house in district number two was built. When this first school house was erected no organization of any district had been made, and no levy of any tax for school purposes. When the building was raised it was christened "Edge Wood" from its location, and was so known far and wide as the place of worship of the Methodists.

The Douglas house, which had been noted for many years as a way- side "inn" was discontinued as a public house about 1834 or '55, the Erie house and Kentucky house becoming the popular stopping places. The former kept by J. J. Hartwell was built in 1853, or '54, and opened as a

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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.

public house, becoming at once popular, being frequently spoken of as the half-way house, fifteen miles from Iowa City and Marengo. The Ken- tucky house was kept by E. H. Morton, a Kentuckian, who began to keep hotel in a log shanty 14x16 in 1851, and often had as many as could find sleeping room on the floor. His room increased and patronage with it till he had plenty of both. Peter Brant now occupies the place.

Immigrants to Oxford continued to arrive and in 1854 and 1855, the nucleus of our German settlement was formed by the arrival of the Klenks, the Wagners, and Jacob Floerchinger. Of these families and relatives and friends who followed them here, there are now quite a host forming a substantial element in the population of Oxford. In the fall of 1855, Benjamin Williams erected a saw mill just at the lower end of Dutch Lake which was expected to be of great benefit to the public, but Williams died and the mill passed into the hands of the Amana Society, then just beginning their settlement on the site of the village of Amana, where they moved the saw mill and where it may be seen yet doing effect- ive work. In the spring of 1856, the Doty's bought a saw mill and erected it near the present home of John Delaney, where it was operated for several years, sawing great quantities of fencing and framing timber, being one of the great factors in the prosperity of the township. Besides the timber which was sawed by the Doty saw mill, we are sorry to add, that it sawed off a hand for a worthy young man, Mr. Cyrus Andrews. The mill was bought and removed to Pleasant Valley in 1860 by Isaac Hilborn.

There were no school districts, and Clear Creek and Oxford townships (then all Clear Creek) constituted but a single road district, and the citi- zens of what is now the West District of Oxford were called upon to work as far down as Tiffin. Mail was obtained from Copi P. O., at the Bond place, or from Homestead. The farms were new and of course the amount of land in cultivation was comparatively small and the manner of doing the work was entirely different from what is seen now. Neither reapers nor mowers were used in Oxford township before 1856, grain being cut with a cradle, and grass with a scythe. Corn was cultivated with the old single shovel or a small diamond plow. The term "dia- mond" was used on account of the shape of the mould board. With these plows, farmers with a single horse went along first on one side of the row and then on the other; and finally, if desiring to do neat work, once more to take out the middle making three times through the field for each row.

Two and a half acres made a huge day's work under those circum- stances. And so we might go on and enumerate the many things in which farm labor of those days differed from that of now, but forbear lest our readers think we are copying from a history of the " dark ages." As Copi P. O. had been removed to Bondea in 1854, Oxford township had

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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.

no postoffice. But Homestead had been established in 1853 or '54, and as there was a rule of the department that postoffices on such routes must be no less than five miles apart, it was a very close shave to get an office in the township. At last, however; all difficulties were overcome and the papers sent on to the department and came back in October, 1855, establishing Oxford postoffice at the Erie House, with J. J. Hartwell, P. M., where the office remained till 1860, when the mail began to be car- ried by the M. & M. R. R.

In the census of 1856, Oxford township is credited with 73 voters, but not over fifty voted at the first election, and of those voters we can only call to mind the following persons who yet remain as residents of Oxford township : Lewis Doty, J. J. Hartwell, C. Yenter, Thomas Harper, W. H. Cotter, H. A. Cook, David Clodfelder, W. H. Hilborn and Hezekiah Hamilton. And of those who were residents but not voters, we can name Mrs. Merritt, Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Yenter, Mrs. Cook, Mrs. Foster, Peter Williams, M. W. Cook, Wm. Eddy, L. Harington, John Wagner, Cyrus Douglass, James Douglass, Jr., C. A. Wagner, Jacob Floerchinger, E. A. Doty, Charles Doty, and Ed. Heifner. Yet the population was 309.

A copy of the census of 1856, is before us and gives much information that will be interesting to our readers :

Population of the State. 519,055

No. of townships.

Population of Johnson County .

14,475

Dwelling houses

No. of families 54

Native voters 61

Naturalized

Aliens . .

Owners of land.

Acres improved land.

1,678

Acres of spring wheat 228

Bushels harvested . . 4,044

Acres of corn. 582

Bushels harvested .

26,040

No. of hogs marketed.

363

No. of cattle marketed .

Pounds of butter made.

3,890

Pounds of wool produced

128

Of the people there were :

Farmers.

Carpenters .

Blacksmiths

Laborers .

Wagon makers

Engineers

Sawyers.

Of the nativity of the inhabitants we make the following note : Ohio, 85; Iowa, 51; Pennsylvania, 40; New York, 33; Germany, 23; Ire-

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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.

land, 18; Indiana, 12; Kentucky, 8; Connecticut, 8; Illinois, 6; Canada, 4; Michigan, 2; Vermont, Massachusetts, England, Scotland, North Carolina, Missouri, and Tennessee, 1 each.

Thus it will be seen that our people were nearly all engaged in agri- culture, and there were more owners of land than heads of families, but that there was not quite an average of thirty acres in cultivation for each family. This gives a good idea of the condition of things. A beginning had been made, but as yet it was only a beginning.

It will be seen that while wheat averaged above the crops of recent years, corn fell considerably below. Ohio laid the foundation and still retained the lead in the population, but Iowa came next with fifty-one natives, mostly born in the township, being about one-sixth of the whole population. Quite a goodly number come from the east, too, of whom Governor Kirkwood once said, " they make first-rate citizens when they get the varnish rubbed off." Of foreigners there were less than ten per cent., while at present they number from thirty to thirty-five per cent. of the population.

In 1859, the first railroad route was explored through Oxford township, and after surveys and re-surveys, for about a year, the work began west of Iowa City, and went along slowly, being several months in building from Iowa City to Marengo. And still Oxford existed only in imagina- tion. A tank was built to supply water for the use of the engines, but there was a deadness about the place that nothing could overcome.

In the spring of 1860, while all kinds of staple merchandise cost nearly double what they can be procured for to-day, wheat would only bring thirty cents, corn fourteen or fifteen cents, and oats ten or twelve cents. Nor was this all. All the money paid out by the railroad, or by dealers in grain or other produce, was bank notes, liable to be worthless in twenty- four hours. In fact it looked as if it was systematically planned by the railroad and the banks to swindle the people, and with all the increase of conveniences, it seemed as if there was but little improvement in the con- dition of the settlers.

For several years after the building of the road, there was but two trains daily each way, being " mixed," that is freight trains, with one or two coaches for the accommodation of travel. But it must be remem- bered, too, that the road was only finished for a short distance west of Marengo, till 1865.

In 1855 the second school-house was erected, on the State road near the present residence of Peter Brant. This was a public school-house, and there were now three districts organized in the township, the first being on the "bottom," their school-house having been erected by private enterprise. The third district made all the needful preparations to erect a building, even to getting the material on the ground, when it was dis- covered that the funds had been squandered by the treasurer, and that

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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.

nothing could be recovered, so the project was abandoned. The house was to have been built near the present site of the school-house in No. 7. The school-house near the Brant place was destroyed by fire in 1868 or '69, and a new one erected, some distance farther west than the old one. This old one was the most notable school-house in the township, being a kind of literary headquarters for the entire community. Here the "Oxford Lyceum" held its sessions for several years. Dr. G. M. Proctor, a phy- sician who had located in the township, usually took the lead in these dis- cussions. He was the first resident physician. He was succeeded by Dr. W. L. Hustin, who came in December, 1859.

In 1867, Oxford township had one postoffice, and it was called Nemora. Just how it happened that the change of name occurred is a matter that very few persons know anything about, but that such change occurred while E. C. Vaugh was P. M., is a fact known to many, and it is also well known that the name was changed back to Oxford at the emphatic demand of the people. Next we find that there were 134 dwelling houses, and a population of 749, of whom 150 were voters, an increase of more than 100 per cent since the organization of the township. Dur- ing the same time the population of Johnson county had only increased about fifty per cent, so that the showing for Oxford was very good so far as population was concerned.

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History of Johnson County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, and its townships, cities and villages from 1836 to 1882, Part 68

Author: Johnson Co., Ia. History. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Iowa City, Iowa. Number of Pages: 980

Author: Johnson Co., Ia. History. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Iowa City, Iowa.
Number of Pages: 980