History of Johnson County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, and its townships, cities and villages from 1836 to 1882, Part 86

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 86

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The Church of God, was organized in 1847. The original members were: Jonathan Hawk, Catharine Hawk, Henry Bechtel, Susanna Bech- tel, John Kepford and Catharine Kepford. They have erected two frame churches; the first was built in 1856, and the present one in 1868, at a cost of $4,000. It is situated on section 12, township 80 north, range 7. It was dedicated Oct. 18, 1868, by Elder H. L. Soule. The pastors have been: E. Logue, J. Lininger, M. F. Snavely, A. J. Fenton, D. Gill, A. Hol- lems, D. Wertz, A. C. Garner, J. J. Richardson, J. S. Miller, J. H. Besore and C. L. Wilson. The present membership is seventy.

The Church of God discards all man-made disciplines, claiming the Bible alone as sufficient rule of faith and practice. They practice the observance of three ordinances-immersion, feet washing and the Lord's supper.

Zion Church, of the Evangelical Association, was organized in 1850. The original members were: David Green, Sr., Mary Green, John Green, Eliza- beth Green, David Green, Jr., Rachel Green, M. Albright, Anna Albright, Elizabeth Myers, Geo. Cramer and Anna Cramer. They have a frame. church situated on section 16, township 80, range 7, which was erected in 1861, at a cost of $1,200. It was dedicated in February, 1861, by Sam- uel Dickover. Its pastors have been William Kolf, Henry Yambert, Henry Esh, J. Miller, A. Turntutcer, J. Schafle, D. B. Byers, J. Givens, J. W. More, D. N. Long, H. J. Bowman, J. Buzzard, C. H. Egge, J. Wag- goner, O. Long, E. F. Mell, C. W. Anthony, Wm. Clinefelter, J. H.

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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.

Graggy, H. A. Gramley, J. E. Stauffacker; and the present pastor D. W. Fink. The number of present membership is seventy-five.

Peter Long furnished the following history of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of North Liberty:

The Rev. H. T. Early was the first minister. The Rev. C. Kuhl, a traveling missionary, preached to them for a time, and after him came the Rev. David Spricker, and in January, 1859, organized a church with six- teen members. The Rev. I. G. Shaffer came to them in August, 1859. The Rev. James Helsell came in 1861, and after him came the Rev. A. M. Tanner, in 1864, and remained until Feb. 20, 1866, and in May, 1866, came Rev. C. Baird and the Rev. W. J. Leslie, in June, 1869, the Rev. W. H. Settlemyer came in 1870, and the Rev. B. T. Hill in Sept. 1873, and the Rev. Loyd Knight in 1877, and left in May, 1881, since which time they have been without a minister, except as the Rev. Ziegler of Iowa City, supplies the charge. The first officers were: J. P. Vonstein and Peter Long, elders; and Martin Group and Jacob Bowman, deacons. Francis Bowman was secretary. The present membership is about 50. The church edifice is a frame building, erected in 1868, at a cost of $3,000. They have a church organ, and the house is well furnished.

The present officers are: Peter Long and James Gilline, elders; Michael Zeller and J. P. Vonstein, deacons.

LODGES.

White Marble Lodge, No. 238, A. F. and A. M., was instituted by Judge Wm. E. Miller, D. D. G. M., June 2, 1868. Date of charter, 1869. The charter members and first officers were: A. J. Miller, W. M .; M. F. Snavely, S. W .; Jacob Zeller, J. W .; Wm. Green, treasurer; David Stew- art, secretary; N. W. Owens, S. D .; T. N. Roberts, J. D .; J. E. Bealer, S. T. McDonald, stewards. The present officers are: D. H. Abbott, W. M .; A. D. Findley, S. W .; J. P. Vonstein, J. W .; C. B. Wray, treasurer; M. F. Snavely, secretary; A. G. Runyon, S. D .; Martin Lininger, J. D .; Sol. Rily and Wm. Puterbaugh, stewards; W. S. Bennett, tyler. The present membership is forty-seven. The meetings are held in a rented hall.

Penn Lodge, No. 282, I. O. O. F., was instituted September 11, 1874; charter dated October 22, of same year. The charter members were: Henry Hackett, secretary; J. Madden, N. G .; J .¿ Beoler, V. G .; Peter Eberly, E. H. Peffer. The present officers [September, 1882,] are: J. F. Ramsey, N. G .; H. P. Stouffer, V. G .; L. W. Alt, R. S .; J. F. Price, P. S .; J. W. Anderson, treasurer; H. A. White, W .; D. W. Green, I. G. The number of members is seventeen; meet in a rented hall.

THE MILLER FAMILY.

A venerable citizen of this township, Rev. Samuel Miller, Sr., was the father of two boys who went out from here and have made a name of

752

HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.

honor unto themselves and the home place of their father. One of these sons, Wm. E. Miller, commenced as a lawyer, and finally became chief justice of the State. He now [1882] resides in Des Moines. Another son is Rev. Emory Miller, D. D., who has been a very popular pastor of the M. E. Church in Iowa City, but is now [October, 1882] stationed in Min- neapolis, Minn. The following sketch of the father of these men was published at the time of his death:

Samuel Miller, Sr., was the son of Henry Miller and Rebecka Kremer, who were natives of Virginia. They immigrated to Somerset county, Pennsylvania, but remained there only one year, returning thereafter to Virginia. This year's sojourn in Pennsylvania, 1796, was the birth year of their son Samuel, hence, though of Virginian parentage he was really a Pennsylvanian; all the more so because his parents moved afterwards to the latter State when he was but seven years of age. They settled and remained in Westmoreland county until their family was reared and death ended their earthly pilgrimage. There, near and in the town of Mt. Pleasant, about three miles west of the most westerly range of the Alle- ghany mountains was spent about fifty-one years of the life just now closed.

Westmoreland county was, during the early part of his life there, really a frontier border and afforded a life of robust struggle in subduing its gigantic forests and stony soil beset with wild beasts and wild men. Here he lived and wrought through the various stages of civilization from crude border life to the old and staid occupancy of the solid Pennsylvania burgher. In 1821, he married Mary Eichar, a grand-daughter of Daniel Eichar, who had, previous to the revolutionary war, bought Staten Island from the British government and colonized it from Holland, and who, dying during that time left the children, tossed by the vicissitudes of the revolution, to drift to the settlements west of the mountains, where Mary was born.

The last seventeen years of his life in Pennsylvania were spent in the capacity of an iron founder. In 1854 he sold his foundry and other prop- erty, and invested in farming lands, and settled in Johnson county, Iowa. In the pursuits of the farm he finished the days of his strength, when meeting with an accident which left him a cripple, he sold the farm and bought a home in North Liberty, where, within a stone's throw of the village church, he spent the last ten years of a busy life, and died April 30, 1881, aged 84 years, 9 months, and 6 days.

Physically, he was compact, active and strong. Intellectually, large, versatile, but uneducated. Morally, he was earnest and conscientious; in religion, positive and fervent; and his will knew not how to yield to any- thing but duty and death. He had been a member of the Methodist Epis- copal Church over sixty years. His understanding was clear to the last, and he spoke with calmness and confidence of his home above.

Penn township has in 1882 only one post-office, North Liberty; Harry A. White, postmaster.

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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.

PLEASANT VALLEY TOWNSHIP.

PLEASANT VALLEY PRECINCT.

July 8, 1845, Ordered, That all that part of Johnson county lying east of the Iowa river and south of township 79, in ranges 5 and 6 west, of the 5th P. M., shall constitute one election precinct, to be known as " Pleasant Valley precinct," and that first election shall be held at the house of Robert Walker in said precinct, on the first Monday in August, 1845, and that notice be given for the election of one justice of the peace and two con- stables in said precinct on the first Monday in August next.

PLEASANT VALLEY TOWNSHIP.

February 10, 1846, Ordered, That all that part of Johnson county lying south of township No. 79 in ranges 5 and 6 west, and east of the Iowa river, be and the same is hereby set apart as a civil township, and shall hereafter be known as Pleasant Valley township, and that the first election be held at the house of Robert Walker in said township.

The above boundaries took in all of the territory which is now divided into the three townships of Pleasant Valley, Fremont, and Lincoln. See history of these last named townships in their own place.

It was called Pleasant Valley township from the fact that it is a pleas- ant and beautiful valley lying upon the Iowa river on the east bank, six sections in length, and about three and one-half sections in width, and contains an abundance of timber and water. The nearest point to civili- zation from the first settlers in the valley was Bloomington (now Musca- tine). The women of this settlement had to prepare all the cloth used for clothing from the raw material. Four yards of the cloth made in those days was sufficient for a dress. Basques, polonaises, overskirts, and lengthy trains were not then essential to a dress. The men tanned their own leather, made their own shoes and leather pants, and did much of the work themselves that is now done for their descendants by tailors and bootmakers.

There is but one church in this township and that is the Methodist Episcopal Church, situated on section 23 in the southern portion of the township, in what is called Morfordsville.

Mr. Clarence Weldy, the clerk of Pleasant Valley township in 1882, reports that he has no township records of earlier date than 1855, and this was ten years after Pleasant Valley appears on the county records as an election precinct. We have, therefore, no record of who were the first township officers. Mr. Weldy gives the following township statistics.

For school purposes we have one district township, with six sub-dis- tricts. The school-tax of 1881 was $850 teachers' fund and $300 contin- gent. The equalized value of real estate was for 15,783 acres, valued at $141,859, being nearly $8.50 per acre. The personal property was $44,-

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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.

729. We have eight road-districts. The road-tax levy in the several districts was as follows:

Labor.

Cash.

Road-district No. 1

mills

1 mill

Road-district No. 2

23 mills

1 mill

Road-district No. 3

mills 1 mill

Road-district No. 4.

.2 mills

Road-district No. 5.

mills

. .

Road-district No. 6

mills

1 mill

Road-district No. 7.

mills 1 mill

Road-district No. S.

mills

1 mill

The total amount of road-tax was $510.72, being $126.78 in cash, and $383.94 in labor.

The present township officers (September, 1882) are: Trustees, Alva Oathout, George W. Loan, and George B. DeSellem; clerk, C. Weldy; constable, James Long; assessor, James S. Wilson. We have no justice of the peace at present.

There are two burying-grounds in the township-one on the old John I. Burge farm, and one on Joseph Walker's farm. Both were used in the pioneer days, and are still used.

There is one post-office in the township, Morfordsville, named after a · pioneer settler of 1837, familiarly known as "old Uncle Johnny Mofford." M. Smith is the postmaster.

EARLY EVENTS.

The very first settlements in Johnson county were made within the bounds of the territory now called Pleasant Valley township. The old trading houses were here, and many of the first comers in 1837 took claims in this township. See Chapter IV, Part 2, and Chapter II, Part 2, for many early events which transpired in this township.

The Walker brothers settled here in 1837; Samuel and James arrived in May, along with Eli Myers, Philip Clark, Wm. Wilson and Eli Summy. In August of the same year Joseph Walker arrived. These brothers were from Portage county, Ohio. They all took claims partly in section 25, and partly in section 36; from this fact originated the joke on them-"these Walkers straddle the line."

The first school house was a log one, built by the neighbors clubbing together and doing all the work themselves. It stood on the banks of Buck creek, on James Walker's claim, which was the southwest quarter of section 36. It was very near the line of Fremont township, and was the same one referred to in the history of that township, which see in another place, where the house is more fully described. Jerry Stover taught the first school. It was called the Walker school house.

The first weaving of cloth done in this township is credited to Miss Mary Stover, who also did the first marrying in the county, and became

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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.

Mrs. Benjamin Ritter. [See article on "first wedding, in Chapter IV, Part 2.] But the fact is, the women of the pioneer time all wove cloth and made clothing of it for themselves and children, and men-folks. Joseph Walker says "clothing was hard to get, and we men made buckskin breeches for ourselves, sewing them up with whang leather."

SOME EARLY RECORDS.

The township clerk's records of the election held April 2, 1855, says there were votes cast thus:

For Against

Prohibitory liquor law,

41 54

Hog law,.

21 55

Poor house, ..

.46 9

The township clerk records that "township trustees met at the church, September 9, 1855, and ordered me to exchange the paper (money) for gold, which I did, and it cost $1.35 on $134.00." This was in the days of what was known as "wild cat" bank paper money, and he was lucky if he got gold for it at one per cent. premium.

SCOTT TOWNSHIP.

February 10, 1846. Ordered, that all that part of Johnson county, known as congressional township number 79 north, of range number 5 west, of the 5th principal meridian, be and the same is hereby set apart as a civil township, and shall hereafter be known as "Scott township," and that the first election shall be held at the school house near Mathew Ten Eyck's.

SCOTT AND NEWPORT TOWNSHIP BOUNDARIES ALTERED.

October 4, 1846, Ordered, that section numbers 34, 35 and 36, and the south half of sections numbers 27, 26 and 25, of township number 80 north, range 5 west, be and the same is hereby attached and made a part of Scott township, in said county, for all civil and judicial purposes.

On May 2, 1853, Alexander Waldron presented his petition asking that the northeast quarter of section 5, in township 78 north, range 5 west, on which he resides, be attached to Scott township. And it was thereupon on consideration, ordered, that the boundaries of Scott township be so altered as to include said quarter section.

There is no post office in Scott township, although the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific railroad runs entirely across it. The people go to lowa City for mail and trading facilities.

The most timber is in the northern part of the township. Higber's grove in the south-western portion of the township, on sections 31 and 32, is a beautiful body of timber. The first settler in the township was Green Hill, who settled there in 1838; Chas. Jones came the same year; also John A. Street; and in 1839 John Parrott came and still lives on the same farm where he first settled. Isaac Bowen, Mathew Ten Eyck, John Mathews and Wm. B. Synder, were among those who followed soon after; and set-

756

HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.

tlers have been coming and going ever since. The C., R. I. & P. R. R. passes through sections 19, 29, 28, 27, 26 and 25, of Scott township; they have no station in this township. The market for the people of this town- ship is Iowa City. There are three churches in this township -- the M. E. Church on section 8, the Presbyterian Church on section 35, and the Quaker Church on section 35. The first named is a brick structure; the other two are frame buildings. The school facilities are good; they levied in 1882, $1,300 for teachers' fund; no school house fund; $800 contingent fund. W. W. Thompson is president of the school board. The majority of the farmers are from Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania.

The first church in Scott township was organized in the fall of 1839, by the Rev. J. L. Kirkpatrick, near what is now called the Brick Chapel, on section 8, four and one-half miles east of Iowa City; the persons organizing this congregation were: John Parrott and wife, Isanc Bowen, A. T. McSwain, and B. M. Horne. It was a Methodist class. May 26, 1853, a frame church was erected, where the present one now stands. It was destroyed by fire in 1855. The present church, called the "brick chapel," was built in 1855, at a cost of $1,000. The membership of this church has been forty, but is now about thirty. Rev. Hindman is the local preacher.

Mr. Mahlon Hollingsworth furnishes the following sketches:

In the autumn of 1868 the society of Friends having held meetings at the house of Mahlon Hollingsworth for about a year, concluded to build a meeting house. They had two sites in view, one where the Franklin school-house now stands, and the other where the meeting house stands; the sites were wild prairie at the time, and surrounded by the same. So the Friends decided on a day to go and view the two sites and make a choice of which they would build on. Aquila Whitacre, Elijah Gregg, R. B. Sanders, Mahlon Hollingsworth, Poakley Monday, John Welch, Jona- than Gregg, met and examined the grounds. They seemed to be about equally divided, so Elijah Gregg made a mark with his foot on the ground between the two sites, and they agreed to decide the matter by standing on each side of the mark. Elijah said he did not care which way it went, and he stood straddle of the mark; then there were only six left, and they were equall divided, but one concluded to come over, and it was thus decided to build where the house now stands.

On the 27th of first month, 1869, Friends were raising a subscription to build a meeting house, and not make three calls around to raise the money as it was wanted; and about the first of the fourth month, 1869, we had erected what we called half a house, at a cost of $433.90, including the price of lot to build on. Aquila Whitacre, while on his death bed, third month, 1876, bequeath the society $500 to build the other end of the meeting house, which was immediately done, superintended by Mahlon Hollingsworth. The house is built on the northeast corner of the south- west quarter of section 35, township 79, range 5.

757

HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.

SCOTT TOWNSHIP BEEF.

In 1875 Mr. Leroy Rundell, of Scott township, "waked up one morn- ing and found himself famous," as the raiser of the best beef cattle in the market. Capt. H. W. Fyffe, of Iowa City, who is an enthusiast on all choice stock questions, investigated the matter in April, 1875, and obtained from Mr. Rundell the following valuable statement of his method of producing " gilt edge " beef, and the results:

" November 1, 1873, I bought twenty-seven calves, the average of their age was about seven months, and up to that time they had run with the cows; they were then weaned, and I commenced feeding shorts, midlings and oats-equal parts-and at each feeding I gave corn in the ear, cut up with a spade; this was the first month. The second I left off the oats and added one-third corn meal, and the third month, corn meal and shorts, equal parts, and all the time some corn in the ear. I neyer allowed feed by them over an hour at a time, with the exception of clover hay, that was where they could get it at all times, as well as salt and sulphur. The average of their weight at seven months was 475 lbs. I sold to the butchers, to be delivered from April to the second of June. The average weight of twenty-three, at thirteen and one-half months old, was 908 lbs., a gain of 433 lbs. One I lost, and three I kept through the summer; turned them out to pasture and reduced their feed to shorts through July and August, then began to increase the same as in the previous winter. Took them to market December 22d, for Christmas. They were then twenty-two months old, and their average weight was 1,410 pounds.

RECEIPTS.

For twenty-three head, 20,884 lbs. at 5} cts. $1,148.62

For three head, 4,230 lbs. at 6} cts. 274.95

Total receipts. $1,423.57

Mr. Lee Thorpe of Scott township, states that in 1875, in the month of May, a cow on his place had a calf that had the appearance of a wolf. He says it had two tusks, two pointed ears that stood straight up, and when it attempted to bawl it made a noise like a fox; it had a large short tail that was hairy and bushy two-thirds of the way up, and of a whitish gray color; it was about the size of an ordinary dog. He says he was bothered by a prairie wolf that winter that played through his barn; he killed the wolf Jan. 25, 1875, and the cow had this calf the following May. It was weakly, and after feeding it for about one week he killed it. It never sucked the cow.

The State Press of July 13, 1881, rela' es the following: A couple of years ago on Hon. Jno. Hindman's farm in Scott township were two mares with colts by their side. One of them died and left her foal motherless, and about the same time the colt of the other died and the bereaved dam adopted the colt of her dead mate and reared it. Last week he lost

758

HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.

another valuable mare by an attack of colic, and she left a colt. The mare which two years ago foster-mothered the orphan has no colt of her own this year and was not milking, of course; but soon as the motherless colt began to cry she adopted it voluntarily; it began sucking her dry paps and the maternal fountain closed by nature opened to affection and she is now giving a full feed of milk to her second foster foal and makes as much fuss over it as though she had borne it herself.

SHARON TOWNSHIP.

February 1, 1858: And now on this day comes George T. Davis, Esq., and presents a petition signed by himself and other citizens residing in township 78 north, of range 7 west, of the 5th P. M., asking the county court to form a new township for civil purposes, embracing the boundaries of said original surveyed township, to be called "Sharon township." And the court being fully advised in the premises; therefore, it is

Ordered by the court, that township 78 north, of range 7 west, be and the same is hereby organized and formed into a new civil township to be called "Sharon township;" the first township election to be holden at Bonn's school house on section 16, in said township, on the first Monday in April, 1858, for the election of township officers therein.

Josiah Griffin was chairman of the first township meeting; J. P. Rock- well was the first township clerk.

The present officers are, J. J. Durst, John Butterbaugh and R. M. John- son, trustees; G. R. Hall, clerk; J. R. Roberts, assessor; N. B. Ford and T. D. Davis, J. P .; A. S. Ford and August Zager, constables.

Sharon township is an independent school district, with nine sub-dis- tricts, and three directors for each sub-district.

The road tax was four and one-half mills on the dollar on all taxable property for the year 1882.

Sharon originally formed a part of Liberty and a part of Washington · townships, as will be seen by referring to the boundaries of those town- ships in different stages of their history. Sharon has in 1882 one post- office-Sharon Center, of which G. Hertlein, is postmaster.

This township has five churches-the Lutheran Church on section 16, with a grave-yard connected; the M. E. Church and grave-yard on sec- tion 22; the German Methodist Church, reported by D. W.Fnk; the United Brethren Church and grave-yard; the M. E. Church near George Hartsock's, and grave-yard near by.

Rev. D. W. Fink furnishes the following particulars: The Sharon Evangelical Church was organized in 1866. The church building was erected in 1869, on section 22, township 78, range 7, and cost about $1,400. It was dedicated by Rev. N. Lageshutte and others. The original mem- bers were: A. Schwemley, J. Repler, Merritt Schroater, Nordhaus F. Zager, and others. The number of members in 1882 is about 41. The following have been the successive pastors: Revs. J. Bussard, D. N. Long, J. J. Miller, H. Cole, H. Kluzing, I. Wagoner, E. F. Mell, C. W.

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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.

Anthony, Wm. Klinefelter, J. N. Zaggy, A. J. Gramly, J. E. Stauffacher, and in 1882 D. W. Fink is the pastor.

The St. Johns' Church .- The German Lutheran St. Johns' Church is situated on section 21, township 78, range 7. The original members were: M. Herman, J. Memmler, F. Ratzlaff, and F. Schmidt. It is a frame church, built in 1875, and was dedicated by the Rev. C. Ide, of Iowa City, in the same year. The pastors of this congregation have been Rev. Hoer- lein Ide, Hertleir Lupp, and Rev. C. Hartman. The number of member- ship in 1882 is sixty. The congregation built a fine little parsonage, but it is not occupied at present, for the reason that the congregation is not able to support a resident preacher, and they are supplied from Iowa City by the Rev. C. Hartman, who supplies three charges in Johnson county.

The Sharon Cheese and Butter Association was organized as a joint stock company, and began operation June 18, 1881. The officers are: G. R. Hall, president; T. D. Davis, vice president; J. J. Marun, secretary; J. R. Roberts, treasurer ; superintendents, J. O. Spencer and wife.

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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 86

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