USA > Iowa > Kossuth County > History of Kossuth County, Iowa > Part 78
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The term the "Flat" also had its specific meaning and was as well understood by the early settlers of that region as the "Ridge." Standing at any point on the latter and gazing as far towards the south as the eye could see, the settler of the 50's or 60's applied that term to all the land that lay before him. The flat extended from him on the south to Johnson's Point and Owl lake, and on the southeast to Luni and the Packard settlement on the Boone river. The flat com- prised the free grazing lands and hay meadows for all who were in a position to avail themselves of the privilege. When the settlers first obtained their "J. H. Manny Mowers," each was allowed all the grass he saw fit to encircle with two swaths. Sometimes these swaths would be a mile in length. The prairie fires that came up from the south, extending from river to river across the flat which was covered with a rank growth of grass, were among the most destructive of any against which the early settlers had to contend. Much of that territory, now covered by some of the most valuable farms in the county, has caused the term "flat" to lose its former significance.
By degrees settlers located upon the Ridge or on the flat after the river claims had all been taken. Those who hugged the timber tracts, ignoring the prairie portions, were called Hoosiers, no matter if they had been born, raised and educated in Connecticut and had subsisted on a diet of spice and nutmegs. During the long existence of this old Irvington township it had received an inter- esting class of citizens. They represented a peculiar type of manhood that is seldom to be found in such numbers as centered in that region. How so many having the same general characteristics happened to congregate in that com- munity, has always been a puzzle to the curious. Nearly every one possessed some striking peculiarity that fitted him for his place in that community. These characteristics sometimes pertained to habits and actions, sometimes to startling deeds and sometimes to modes of expression. It has been frequently remarked, by those living elsewhere in the county who knew them well, that no such a characteristic community ever settled any other section of the West.
These early settlers were of a hardy, virile stock, having powers for physical endurance that seemed to have no limit. Furthermore, they took pride in testing
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these powers and in having all those under their control do the same. Most of them had been pioneers in other sections of the country before settling there and were used to frontier conditions. But few had ever had an extended ac- quaintance with the school room, but all had been graduated from the school of hard experience. They breathed an air of freedom and independence, and woe unto the man who attempted to shut off the supply. They apparently possessed double natures, each part being antagonistic to the other. Many of them had their regrettable failings while having also their commendable virtues. One day they would resort to fist-cuffs to settle their differences, the next day would walk arm and arm to a neighboring wedding where they would join in the merry- making, and the next they would weep together at the burial of a child. They would knowingly make enemies when more easily they could have made friends.
While the old-time Irvington settlers were envious and jealous of each other's reputation for success along any line, they could always be depended upon to unite to fight a common enemy. They had no love for Algona, the place they believed to be populated by only those who sought to grab every good thing going. Yet in spite of this fact they frequently downed a home candidate at the polls, by supporting an Algona aspirant rather than see one of their number elevated to an official position. The extent to which they cherished envy was re- markable, yet that same envy made them the best farmers in the county, and the Irvington farms the best in any township. During the years in which they used to mark the corn rows both ways with a marker, then plant the seed on the checks by hand, and finally cover it with the hoe, there was an active com- petition to see whose corn rows would be the most regular. Tom Robison had a span of slow-gaited mares which he drove on the marker. With old Queen and Luce he so carefully marked his east field one year that every hill of corn stood in perfect line. Finally his son, Brint, became as expert at marking as his father. Their success was the means of benefiting every farm in the com- munity. The idea of a boy out-doing the old farmers in that kind of work was not to be entertained for a minute ; so they went to work in earnest and all their farms were on that account much improved. It was the frequent custom of Kinsey Carlon to drive by a neighbor's house and call out to him, "Say! the next rainy day I'll bring my hired man over and show you how to clean up your door yard and barn yard." That was the Irvington way of doing things. It was humiliating, but it nevertheless produced good results. Many a yard was much changed in appearance to prevent this hint to clean up the premises from being given. In a few years the community constituted the threshers' paradise.
The Irvington settlers soon acquired a reputation for keeping their word in business affairs. They took pride in being on hand at the appointed time to make other arrangements, in case they failed to have the money to pay for some obligation. "There are enough people slack about paying their debts without my being one of them," was an oft-repeated statement by them. One illustration will be cited to show how their reputation for honest dealing had reached other parts of the county. During the winter of 1869-70 the writer taught school in the old Berrian log cabin on the southwest corner of section 35, in what is now Plum Creek. At the end of the second week he came to Algona and went to see James McIntyre, who was running the first hardware store, about getting an ax with which to chop kindling wood. The merchant was quite deaf and kept
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hammering away while the pedagogue was talking. He was informed in a loud voice what was wanted, who wanted it and that no money could be paid on the purchase until the close of the month, when the salary for one month came due. Mr. McIntyre then turned around and viewed the birch wielder from head to foot, and evidently not being favorably impressed with what stood before him, went back to his hammering without saying a word. Just then Mrs. McIntyre, who had overheard the talking, appeared and after asking a few questions laid her hand on her husband's shoulders and said, "James, you let him have that ax. He lives at Irvington and he'll pay you." That did the business. The ax was purchased on time and the merchant received his money in two weeks in order to keep good the reputation of the Irvington community for the prompt pay- ment of debts.
Frontier people generally look with suspicion upon any innovation intro- duced to change the accustomed order of things. Irvington was no exception to that rule. When George Mann and wife announced that on a certain day they were going to celebrate their tin wedding, it set tongues to wagging, heads to shaking and eyebrows to elevating. Nothing of that kind ever had been heard of in that neighborhood before. The very idea! What was the matter with their first marriage? Why was it necessary to have a second marriage? They couldn't understand, and what's more they had no desire to do so. From the earliest times at all public meetings at the hall, the men had always sat on the east side and all of the women on the west side. There had been no mixing of the sexes. Families always divided at the door, the male portion going towards the right and the others to the left. One Sunday Dr. S. G. A. Read and wife drove down from Algona to attend services. The Doctor took his seat with the other men and his wife soon took her seat beside him. She was eyed with astonishment all through the services. More than one woman whispered to her next seat neighbor : "the great calf that can't leave him a minute."
For a good many years after the first settlements were made both men and women sang the same part, but no one seemed to know that there was such a name as soprano. A few years before the war the M. C. Lathrop family moved into the community. It was while they were living in the old Robertson log house, on the Cresco side, which stood near where A. L. Bowen's farm residence stands. that they attended services at the town hall. They were educated people and fine singers. Mary and Martha Mathews, two of the daughters by their mother's former marriage, captivated the whole audience by their sweet toned voices. No alto voice ever had been heard in that hall before. It was the first time that all the young people present had heard such a tone. While all seemed to enjoy the music, no one appeared to understand what it was, what it meant or how it was produced. The general verdict, however, was that it was a tone that ordinary mortals could not produce.
In conducting the polls at school elections, and those held annually in the fall, the Irvington officials went strictly according to law as they understood it. Peace and quiet had to be observed in the voting room even if they had to have two or three knock downs to enforce the regulation. They would tally a few votes for J. E. Blackford and then one for Block ford because the third letter looked more like an "o" than it did an "a." They took no stock in the new-fangled way of tallying for each candidate according to the number of straight ballots cast.
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SITE OF THE FIRST MILL AND ONE OF THE FIRST BRIDGES OVER THE BLUFFS WEST OF OLD IRVINGTON
THE STATION AT IRVINGTON Site of the old fort (1857), now in the Armstrong-Dutton field
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but persisted in reading to the clerks every name on each ballot from governor down to road supervisor. The candidates full name and exact name of the office for which he was running had to be read just as they were printed on the bal- lots. Hour after hour the judges would proceed in this way in canvassing the vote. "Henry Ford, judge of district court, fourth judicial district," was the way it was printed and the way it had to be called off to the judges. William Carter in the war-time elections usually read the names while Joe Raney and Thomas Robison were other members of the canvassing board. If anyone attempted to give them pointers as to how the votes could be counted the best, he was quickly informed that "We'll count these votes just as we - please and it's none of your - business." Old Joe was generally the spokesman and when he said "no" he could not be forced or coaxed to change his mind. "By dog!" old Tom would say. "It's queer that if you fellows are so smart, no one ever heard about it be- fore." Carter never failed to inform those who sought to give the board advice that he had seen them count votes many a time in Pennsylvania. Tailor John K. Fill's assertion-"I haf seen it dis way in Polo but not in old country"-came when he saw a chance to contribute his advice concerning election methods. Elijah Lane always shouted the same two words whenever a commotion was raised. These two were, "Old hon." Then a giggle would be indulged in for a few seconds. These words suggest a kind of a church trial at which Lige was present, and which he remembered as long as he lived. Malachi Clark went to Fort Dodge to mill with his ox-team. He reached the Humboldt settlement Saturday night and drove home the next day. Old Charley Easton, who did not like Malachi or anyone else in the neighborhood; undertook to make him trouble because, while being a Methodist, he had driven home on Sunday. Easton was a meddlesome Englishman who used to peddle whisky and who was a regular nuisance in the community. He at times was an active church worker and could repeat almost any hymn the Wesleys ever wrote. He preferred charges against Mr. Clark who was a good, conscientious citizen and a consistent member of the M. E. church. The matter came on for hearing at the Crockett schoolhouse that stood in the middle of the road, a short distance north, of where R. J. Skilling lives. Easton spoke first, describing the wickedness of Clark's action in breaking the Sabbath and in violating the rules of the church. Mr. Clark in defense spoke standing in front of Easton. He had on a long tailed coat that had seem better days. In closing he alluded to the character of the one who had preferred the charges. In an instant Easton, grabbing the coat-tail in front of him and nearly lifting himself off the seat, in doing so, cried out "'old hon, 'old hon." The audience went wild at the laughable scene, and the farce ended. Elijah Lane was so amused that he never forgot how the words "'old hon" originated.
For a long term of years the Armstrong store was the central meeting place for the settlers to discuss their grievances. Public meetings, of course, were held at the hall, but those of a less formal nature were down at Doc's. There they met from time to time in groups, some times large and some times small for friendly greetings or pugilistic encounters, just as the occasion seemed to de- mand. Saturday afternoons were favorite times for the farmers to gather, and not one of them knew when he went there what would happen before he got away. They simply liked that kind of a life and were willing to take their chances on any condition that might arise. The central figure in the community was Vol. 1-38
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Dr. J. R. Armstrong. He was the only one having a college education and the only one to whom the settlers went for advice on all matters. All kinds of differ- ences were referred to him for adjustment. He was their dentist, their family physician, their Sunday-school teacher, their principal financial support for relig- ious services, their early-day school teacher, their local notary public, their foun- tain of supply when small temporary loans were needed in case of emergency and was their model of manhood. He was the final arbiter when questions were submitted to him for his decision. His word in time became the law of the community, and he wielded an influence over a wider range of territory than did any other man since the organization of the county. He could have been elected to any official position in the gift of the citizens had he so desired; but he refused every offer excepting one term as superintendent, beginning in 1860, and three years as supervisor, beginning in 1861, at a period when these offices paid but little. From that time on he spurned all political positions. His in- fluence referred to above in no wise pertained to candidates, caucuses or elections. In fact there was a long term of years in which he could not be induced to at- tend a political caucus, even in the interests of a personal friend.
Dr. Armstrong came to Irvington fresh from college in 1857. He came West the year before with the intention of practicing dentistry at Iowa City, but was induced to locate at Waterloo. From there he came to the community where after fifty-four years of residence he died. He was a man of influence and respect from the start. Those who knew him only during the last twenty- seven years of his life knew a very different man from the Dr. Armstrong of the twenty-seven years previous. The closing years of his existence he spent almost in seclusion like a hermit, in striking contrast with his career in the early settlement period .. The writer was intimately acquainted with him for fifty- three years and knew his virtues, whims and peculiarities. He spent the best years of his life in a community of peculiar people, and was in many ways more peculiar than any of his neighbors. This is by no means a startling secret, for the fact has been well known to many of the settlers of the Irvington com- munity. At times he would do the unusual and cause the unexpected while en- tertaining freakish notions which his closest friends could neither understand nor harmonize with the general tenor of his life. He was a mystery to some of his neighbors who never were able to understand him. He was a member of the Baptist church and a firm believer in the old-time theology. Nearly all those who composed the early Irvington settlement had at some time belonged to some church organization, but had allowed their connection with religious bodies to lapse while residing on the bleak prairies in pioneer days. Not so with Dr. Arm- strong. He was one of the very few who found consolation in religion to the last days of his life. An account of his phenomenal success as a teacher, in the days when he wielded such an influence over the parents, has been presented in the chapter, "Evolution of the Public Schools."
The panorama of old-time, Irvington-settlement scenes brings to view many of those people who were characteristic actors in daily life, a long time ago. Jacob C. Wright was a quiet, inoffensive man whose wants were but few. He raised a large family and his son, Gilford sacrificed his life in the army. He was one of the few who could make a prayer in public, and one of the many who could not be driven an inch against his wishes. Old Joe Raney was stub-
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born and immovable and was never known to agree with anyone on any sub- ject when he could find a chance to disagree. His son, Walter, put it about right when he said: "My father and Dick Hodges, while working on the road, argued for an hour and then got mad and like to have gotten into a fight about a matter which neither of them knew a thing about." While he was one of the most obstinate he had at the same time good qualities that were commendable. He was companionable and enjoyed the company of young people. He was at home whether over at the home of Fiddler Bell's or at a dance at the town hall where he played second by thumbing the door. He was one of the unique char. acters that formed the Irvington community. It takes all kinds of people to make the world, and numerous of them had their homes in the region of Irvington. Addison Fisher was one of them. He had a different make-up from anyone else in the neighborhood. Although he cracked dry jokes quite frequently, he never got boisterous. He was sly and cunning and often engineered some project in a confidential way which brought censure to the wrong parties. He invented, but did not execute. Being a constant reader he was well informed. He had a warm attachment for "Bahney" Devine and "Dawk" Armstrong and never labored when he did not feel like "wuk." He held several offices of trust. Rich- ard Hodges and wife lived at first in their pre-emption shanty, but it looked cozy inside. "Ise gollies," Dick had come from Canada and had enough of the Johnny Bull blood in his veins to hew his own road through life. He was a fine neighbor and companionable but as he lived in the Irvington region he could be much easier coaxed than driven. When he settled he pitched his tent far out on the prairie as compared with those who had come before him. Albe Fife was crusty and gruff and not inclined to mix in any social affairs, and never was popular with any class. Philip Crose was at the head of a large family at his cabin home where the bottom of the door always scraped upn the floor and could not be closed. In the coldest weather the cat could go in and out through the opening. In spite of this fact the family was one of the healthiest in the neigh- borhood. He was always on hand when a claim shanty was to be moved, and was one of the principal jokers at the table. Having feeble legs, his gait was of the jick-a-jog order, but he could bind in the harvest field and keep up his station with apparent ease. It was a dull crowd that he couldn't interest by telling of his hunting experiences over on the "Big Boyer."
There never was but one Uncle Tom in the Irvington vicinity. He rarely was called Thomas, but was referred to as Old Tom, Uncle Tom or Tom Robi- son. He usually was good natured and agreeable, but when he put his foot down to emphasize his "no" a whole battery of artillery couldn't dislodge him. When that emphasis came with his fist on the dinner table, the dishes would bound up and begin a jig dance around the pumpkin pie. He provided well for his fam- ily even during the hardest times. At no home could an excellent meal be found more often than at his table.
Samuel Reed was the jobbing contractor and was never satisfied unless he had a gang of men working for him. On his contracts sometimes he made a profit and at other times he lost. He was full of ambition and prided himself on his power of physical endurance. He had a matter-of-fact nature and the usual characteristics of the other early Irvington settlers.
Kinsey Carlon was the largest farmer and the most systematic, was public
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spirited and full of energy, and was quick to take an insult and resent it accord- ing to the old-time Irvington methods. He had many good qualities and was as well known as anyone in that community.
After D. A. Haggard came to the vicinity he made things lively wherever he went and introduced some characteristics peculiar to himself. not observed in any of his neighbors. Henry Curran. John Conner, Aaron Rutherford, Capt. Dodge, G. M. Parsons, A. M. Johnson, David Dutton and others from the south part of the township made a strong force when they united to procure some needed measure.
David W. Sample was the most successful cattle dealer in all that region ex- cept Barnet Devine. His ambition was to own at all times 100 head of steers. He was one of the early teachers, and was one of the most successful in teach- ing technical grammar ever in that community. The young heathen, however, at the Crockett school house used him unjustly when they filled the chimney with frozen snow and smoked him out.
It was more fun to attend the annual township meeting than to see Barnum's circus. The cutting remarks that each could and did make and the replies that came as the result, afforded much amusement for the spectators. When the Lu Verne crowd came up to give the old timers some advice about running the township machinery, then a merry war ensued with startling explosion: Billy Ward was always on hand to bet five dollars that when he was a soldier in Texas he lived for six months on "lasses and ponk." and Geo. W. Mann took pride in giving his views on sanitary necessities that ought to be procured.
At some of the schools the teachers had hard work in keeping the urchins under subjection. One winter at the Wright school house several teachers in turn had a hand in trying to keep them straight, and all but the last one gave up in despair. Among the many of excellence who taught in the township at various times may be mentioned J. L. Martin of Emmetsburg, who taught four terms at the Ridge school.
The first cornet band in the county was organized in that township in the fall of 1868 by the sons of the old settlers. It was called the Irvington Juvenile Band and was composed of B. F. Reed, J. O. Holden. Albert Reed, C. B. Holden. E. P. Crockett, Rolla Bush, Fulton Fill, J. W. Green, Geo. Fisher, J. B. Robi- son and others who came in later. They had purchased the instruments of the old Springvale band and used them until the band was disorganized several years later.
The murder of Emmet Reed occurred Nov. 2, 1887, in Taylor county, Iowa, and his body was later sent back to the Irvington cemetery for burial. He was the youngest son of Samuel Reed, and had been grading that summer on the Great Western line between Des Moines and St. Joseph, Mo., using three of his own teams in the work. On his way home, after being paid off, he was mur- dered at night while camping on the banks of the Little Platte river, and his body sent to the bottom of the stream by means of a heavy chain that was wrapped around his neck. The deed was done by M. B. Foster who was his traveling companion on his way home. The body was discovered a week later after Foster had escaped with Emmet's money, teams and grading outfit. Foster was cap- tured, tried and sentenced to be hanged, but upon getting a new trial was sen- tenced to Fort Madison for life. He died there after being confined for over
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twenty-three years. The Reed family recovered the teams but not the several hundred dollars which Emmet had on his person. The funeral sermon was preached by Rev. Burnard at the Irvington school house.
This old Irvington township, which Geo. W. Hanna has referred to as the Roman empire, declined in power and went to pieces with the advancement of civilization in later years, when the original territory was subdivided into other townships from time to time as necessity demanded. In some ways this was the most noted and far-famed of any of the many townships ever created in the county.
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