USA > Iowa > Humboldt County > History of Kossuth and Humbolt counties, Iowa : together with sketches of their cities, villages, and townships, educational, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 73
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Charles Simmons, Sr., was elected in 1869, and re-elected in 1871. Mr. Sim- wons came here from Illinois, and quite recently, while on a visit to his daughter, in that State, died at the ripe age of sev- enty-seven years.
In 1873, John Ratcliffe was elected to the office and served two years, and is still a resident of Humboldt county.
A. B. West was the next incumbent of this office, being elected in fall of 1875, and filled it for one term.
At the election of 1877 C. F. Gullixson, of Bode, was elected to this office, and was re-elected in 1879.
C. F. Gullixson was born Aug. 23, 1844, in the eastern part of Norway. He is the son of H. G. Gullixson, of Delana township. At the age of fourteen he went to Lafayette Co., Wis, and lived upon a farm there ten years, part of the time engaged in the pineries. He came to Iowa in 1866, and lived with his brother, Andrew, two years. He then took a homestead in Delana township, which he afterward sold and went to Illinois, where he staid eighteen months, then returned to Dakota and engaged in the agricultural business in 1871, thence to Fort Dodge, and clerked in the dry goods store of Gregg & Riddle. After this he sold machinery for William Clagg in Fort Dodge. In 1872 he was married to Eliza McNally, of Humboldt county. They have five children-Charles, Sydney L., Arthur, Willie and Edgar. In the fall of 1877 Mr. Gullixson was elected by the republican party to the office of sheriff of Humboldt county, and re-elected in 1879. He has also held several township offices.
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D. R. Miles, the present incumbent, was chosen at the fall election of 1881, and makes a most competent officer.
D. R. Miles, sheriff of Humboldt county, was born in Orleans Co., Vt., Oct 3, 1651, and is the son of T. C. and Al- mira Miles. His father was a prominent business man, and an active politician of Orleans county. He held several local offices of trust. He was collector for forty years, also sheriff of the county. D. R. Miles came to this county in 1872 and en- gaged in the livery business. In 1878 he was appointed deputy sheriff, and in 1881 was elected to the office, and re-elected in 1883.
SUPERINTENDENTS OF SCHOOLS.
A history of this office and sketches of the various gentlemen who have filled the position, appears in connection upon edu- cational matters.
COUNTY ASSESSOR.
This office was created in 1857 to take the place of township assessor, and W. Calvin Beer was appointed, by Judge Hutchinson, as the first official act in- scribed upon the records show, upon the 31st of August, 1857. He was succeeded by George Clark, an oddity in his way. It is told of him that he walked all over the county while engaged in the work of assessing the value thereof, in his bare feet, but with his head covered with a plug hat. A sight he must have been that bordered closely on the ludicrous, and one that will be remem- bered by all who saw him. He was after- wards engaged during the late Civil War as a Union spy or scout, and it is believed that he met his death while in that useful, although often maligned capacity.
The office of county assessor was abol- ished, and the foriner and present system restored shortly after Mr. Clark's term of offices.
COUNTY SURVEYOR.
The following is a list of the gentlemen who have held this office. The year fol- lowing the names is that in which the parties was elected, the time of service being until the successor qualified:
Wallis J Bradford. 1857
N. S. Ames. . 1861
T. Ellwood Collins. 1863
William Thompson 1869
J. A. Averill. 1871
T. Ellwood Collins. 1873
John E. Cragg. 1879
G. W. Welch. 1880
George Welch, the present surveyor of Humboldt county, was born in Cortland Co., N. Y., Oct. 29, 1830. About 1832, his parents moved to Ohio, locating in Medina county, where they lived until their death. George went to Beloit, Rock Co., Wis., in the spring of 1851, then to Oshkosh, and thence to Baraboo, Sauk county, spending the summer in these three places. The following winter he taught school in Darlington, Grant Co., Wis., then went to Scales Mound, Jo Daviess Co., Ill., where he taught school one year, also did some surveying. He studied the latter while attending Ober- lin College, Ohio. From Scales Mound he went to Cedar Falls, Iowa, thence to Jones county, where he served as deputy county surveyor two years, and was then elected county surveyor for two years. In 1860 he came to Humboldt county to look at eighty acres of land, which he had purchased, then returned to -Ohio and re- mained eight years. During that time he was engaged in the mercantile business four years, then, on account .of failing
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health, he was obliged to retire for a time from active business. About 1868 he went to St. Louis, Gratiot Co., Mich., where he purchased a saw mill, and operated it two years. He then returned to Ohio, broken down in health, remained two years at his old home in Medina county, then spent several months in Canada and Michigan, after which, in November, 1873, he came to Humboldt county, and located in the village of Rutland, where he took charge of the mill, owned by the Rutland Mer- cantile & Manufacturing Company, of which he was a partner, which position he retained until June, 1881. He then moved to his farm in Rutland township, on section 22. He owned, at one time, about 400 acres of land in Humboldt county, but afterwards sold all, afterward buying 160 acres, on which he lives. IIe was married Oct. 12, 1856, to Mary A. Clark, danghter of James Clark, at Iowa City. They have had three children, only one of whom is living-Ira Ernest. Mrs. Welch died May 21, 1868, and is buried at Baraboo, Wis. She was born June 26, 1833, and was a member of the Congre- gational Church. Mr. Welch's father,
Cornelius Welch, died in 1876, and his mother in 1863. In politics, he is a re- publican, and was a member of the board of county supervisors, from 1877 to 1880. In the summer of 1882 he was appointed deputy county surveyor, and in the fall of 1883 he was elected to his present office. Ile has been a member of the Masonic lodge for twenty-seven years, and of the chapter about twenty years, also a mem- ber of the I. O. G. T., of Rutland, Iowa. Mr. Welch is a gentleman of pleasing ad- dress, courteous and affable in manner, and possesses hosts of friends among the citizens of Humboldt county.
DRAINAGE COMMISSIONER.
Eber Stone .. 1861
John Bartholomew 1967
John W. Hewitt. 1888
L. M Brink 1869
E. Coffin
1870
CORONER.
Alexander Coffin. 1861
L. J. Smith.
1863
E. T. Hartwell. 1865
Alexander Coffin 1867
Albert Harvey .. 1869
William Edson. 1870
W. M. D. Van Velsor. 1876
E. A. Wilder. 1877
H, F. Wells. 1879
J. E. Barker 1881
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CHAPTER VIII.
THE NEWSPAPER PRESS.
Humboldt county has had abundant op- portunities to test the value of newspa- pers as aids in building up business centers and making known its resources to the outer world, while the civilizing influence is almost unlimited; and, as a general thing, its citizens have always manifested a liberal spirit or purpose towards the various journalistic enterprises that have been inaugurated in their midst. It must be truthfully said, that in dispensing their patronage to the press, they have been tolerant and magnanimons, as they have been reasonably generous to journals of all parties. It may be difficult to correctly estimate the advantages derived by Hun- boldt county, in a business point of view, from the influence of the press, which at various times has called into requisition respectable, if not eminent talent in the advocacy of local interests, which have had a tendency to inspire its citizens, as well as friends, far and near, with hope and confidence in its prosperity.
In every community there are shriveled souls, whose participation in the benefita of enterprise is greater than their efforts to promote the public welfare. These are the men who will never subscribe for & newspaper, but will always be on the alert to secure, gratuitously, the first perusal of their neighbors' papers. These are the
croakers, who predict evil and disparage enterprise. But, with very few exceptions the press of this region, or the community through which they circulate, has never been cursed with such drones. On the contrary, as patrons of the press, Hum- boldt county citizens have established a good name. As records of current his- tory, the local press should be preserved by town and county governments in their archives for reference. As these papers are the repositories wherein are stored the facts and the events, the deeds and the sayings, the undertakings and achieve- ments that go to make up final history. One be one these things are gathered and placed in type; one by one the papers are issned; one by one these papers are gath- ered together and bound, and another volume of local, general and individual history is laid away imperishable. The volumes thus collected are sifted by the historian, and the book for the library is ready.
There should be some means by which press records might be preserved and made accessible. This is of course attempted in all offices; but as a general thing, files are sully deficient; still by diligent search and much inquiry, enough data has been gleaned to supply a tolerably accurate record of the county press; but if any in-
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accuracies or omissions are noticeable, they may be attributed to the absence of completeness in the files.
In the days prior to the advent of print- ing, and up to 1622, when the newspaper proper was born, manuscript papers were circulated in England and upon the con- tinent, that they who could afford the ex- pense might keep posted upon current events. And thus it was in the early days of Humboldt county. Before the advent of the printing press in this section, a manuscript paper was in circulation among this community. The name of this pio- neer journal was the Moccasin, and was owned, edited and published by M. D. Collins. The initial number was issued in December, 1856, and is in size a four- page paper, about 8x10 inches. The chi rography is neat and plain, and the jour- nal might well serve as a model for more pretentious sheets. No. 3, of Vol. I, was issued at Sumner, on the 17th of January, 1857, and contains the news of the week, local items, original poetry en- titled "Eight Years Ago," a good lead- ing editorial upon county matters, " An Account of a Sleigh-Ride," by a lady, and a couple of advertisements. The first of these latter is that of M. D. Collins, wholesale and retail dealer in dry good", groceries, hardware, queensware and boots and shoes, located at Sumner. The other, of T. Ellwood Collins, civil engineer and surveyor, who might be found at the office of the Moccasin, "on the south side of Collin's grove, on Lott's creek." The paper is a relict of former times, and is preserved by the owner with religious eare. The editor has a card in this paper which reads as follows:
THE MOCCASIN.
A literary, miscellaneous and amusing journal. Is published every Saturday evening by M. D. COLLINS, editor, pub- lisher and proprietor.
Circulation (not quite) 178, 000.
In lieu of a salutatory, which the paper lacks, the editorial is here quoted at length, that this nuique specimen of jour- nalism may not be covered with the shadows of oblivion. It is as follows:
"It is customary for all papers to give in their editorials a sketch of the most agitated subjects of the day, therefore we propose to give the principal subject of discussion a hasty sketch in ours of to- day. In the first place, we had got up a petition to have the postoffice established on or near what appeared to us to be the center of the present settlement,and also at a store where the people would have to go occasionally, and where it is a general rule to have such offices in the new settle- ment of a county, when along comes Judge Call, from the upper part of the county, (to whose interest it is to not have us succeed well,) and gets up a petition to have the postoffice established at a farmer's house, quite out of the center of the settlement and off of the mail route. A meeting was called at the house of D. Williams, but there was nothing done in this particular, as one or two were obsti- nate, and the others did not wish to act disnnitedly. Now, what we wish our friends to do is to consider this case with- out being prejudiced, and then if they do not think that the town is the place for it, we will submit to it, yet it is our own opinion that the day will come when they
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will wish it there, if it goes to the farm- er's, as is the present prospect."
HUMBOLDT KOSMOS.
This living representative of the press of the county is the lineal descendent of the first paper published in the same. In 1866 a prospectus of a forthcoming paper was generally circulated throughout the county by S. II. Taft, couched in the fol- lowing language:
THE HUMBOLDT COUNTY TRUE DEMOCRAT. "A first-class weekly journal to be de- voted to matters of local interest, politics, literature and general intelligence.
"The undersigned, believing that the time has come when the interests of Hum- boldt county call for a county paper, and that the people are prepared to contribute liberally (by way of patronage) to sup- port one, proposes to publish a weekly journal, to be known as the Humbold. County True Democrat, and to be issuer at Springvale every Friday morning Terms, per annum, 82. The first number to appear about the Ist of June."
In accordance with this circular, the paper made its appearance on the day above designated, a neat seven columi. folio. The editor, Mr. Taft, in compli- ance with the time honored custom of the craft, made his bow to the people of the county, on the inception of the paper, in the following words:
"The undersigned commences herewith the publication of the Humboldt County True Democrat, a weekly journal, the ob- ject of which shall be to promote the material, social and moral interest of that portion of north western Iowa where it may circulate; and while we shall endeavor to make the True Democrat a journal of such
general interest as will make it a welcome visitor at the fireside of the inhabitants of adjacent counties, we shall endeavor to make it in a large sense a county paper.
"That the best interests of Humboldt county call for the publication of a well conducted newspaper, all admit; our ob- jeet shall be to meet this demand, but in order to do this, we shall need the co- operation of the people in different parts of the county. Items of news for- warded to us by patrons, will be gratefully received. We desire to have the farm- ing, dairying, wool growing, and stock growing interests represented by commu- nications from those persons who are de- voted to them. Communications on the great moral questions which challenge the attention of the public mind, will be gladly received and published, to such an extent as the size and best interest of the paper admit. Communications truthfully representing what is being done in the way of improvement in different parts of the county, will find a welcome place in the columns of the True Democrat. So let the people of Dakota, Hand's Grove, Lott's Creek, the two Homestead settle- ments, McKnight's Point,the Rider settle- ment, and the two districts on the Des Moines below us, keep us advised of their progress.
"On the question of temperance, we stand irrevocably committed against rum selling and rum drinking, and our sharp- est arrows shall be let fly at Bacchus.
"Politically we hope to make the True Democrat what its name indicates. As democracy is a government of the people and for the people, we shall insist upon the great principal of impartial suffrage,
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and the right of all unconvicted of crime to equal protection before the law. As we are to preserve our country and in- crease her glory only by electing to office men governed by principle, measures, not men, shall be our motto in political can- vasses.
"Hoping to merit the favorable regard of all who shall make its acquaintance, the Humboldt County True Democrat in- troduces itself to the reading public, and respectfully asks a place on the great plat- form of American journalism."
The True Democrat was printed at Fort Dodge, on the press of the Iowa North- west, of that town, until November, 1869, when its name waschanged to the Spring- vale Republican. A new press was then purchased and the paper, thereafter, was printed in Springvale, as Humboldt was then called. About this same time J. N. Weaver, now circuit judge, became part owner and associate editor of the paper. The following are the reasons given for the change of name from True Democrat to Republican:
"TO OUR READERS.
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"We this week present to the patrons of the True Democrat an enlarged sheet, with a new name, a new motto and a new editor, who is to be associated with us in the conduct of the paper, and we hope and believe that the above changes will be approved by our friends. Of the en- largement of the paper, we need say noth- ing, as all will acknowledge that as an improvement. The motto, too, we believe, will be approved by our friends. With regard to the change of the name, there may be a difference of opinion, ax true democracy is the most advanced and
Christianized government of the world, and a true democrat is one who prays and works to establish and sustain a govern- ment which extends its protection alike to all, regardless of nationality, race or sex; but the name democrat has so long been borne by a party thoroughly de- bauched by the despotism begotten of American slavery, that it seems almost impossible to win back for it the respect of mankind. During the three years which we have edited the True Democrat, we have received numerous communica- tions from persons with whom we had and could have no political affinity, ask- ing us to aid them in their war upon the republican party, they evidently suppos- ing from our name that we were one with them. Among these correspondents, we might name the business managers of Brick Pomeroy's paper, as also the chair- man of the democratic National committee. Now, since we do not wish to be mistaken for a modern democrat, and since the name republican has come to signify much the same as democrat used to, we have, with the fullest approbation of our brother editor, substituted the former for the latter, which change we hope will meet the approbation of our friends."
In January, 1870, Mr. Taft severed his connection with the paper altogether, in doing which he said:
"Having transferred to Mr. Weaver our interest in the Springvale Republican, we embrace the opportunity to speak a part- ing word to our friends, not chiefly be- cause custom makes it proper, but because we desire to acknowledge our apprecia- tion of their abiding confidence and many words of cheer.
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"During the nearly four years of our connection with the paper, first under the title of the True Democrat, and lately bearing its present name, we have en- deavored to make it speak for the right and true with a distinctness which should leave no one in doubt of its position on any of the great questions which properly claim the attention of a journalist of the present day.
"Freedom is now the assured law of the republic. Manhood suffrage is soon to be incorporated in the constitution, and we have reason to believe that but few years more will have passed before woman's right to the ballot will be recog- nized and guaranteed by the sixteenth amendment; but ere the attainment of this important victory, much work must be done and we have no doubt but that the Re- publican will do its due proportion. While in our town and county the cause of temperance is nobly in the ascendant, there remains to be fought in our State and Nation a great battle, in which our successor will, we believe, be found on the right side, we part with our readers the more cheerfully. We have ever felt and often said that a public journal should receive the undivided attention of who- ever proposes to conduct it. Such atten- tion we have never been able to devote to this paper, on account of other pressing business claims, and have from the first designed to put it into other hands as soon as a favorable opportunity occurred; and we pass the pen, scissors and sanctum over to Mr. Weaver the more cheerfully because of our confidence in his ability and purpose to continue the conduct of the paper on a high moral plane, as also
to make it speak potentially in behalf of the business interests of our beautiful town and rapidly growing county. Now, let the people of Humboldt county give the Republican that cheerful and hearty support that shall assure its continued and enlarged success. If a well conducted journal of high moral aims was important for the well being of our county four years ago, such a paper is even more im- portant now. Let all then who would do what would benefit the editor much, the county mure, and themselves most of all, subscribe for the Republican. Thanking our friends for their numerous tokens of regard and confidence, and expressing the hope that the acquaintance we have formed shall ever prove mutually pleasant and profitable, we pass the editorial clair to our successor, who has so signally proved his ability to honorably fill it dur- ing the time he has jointly occupied it with us."
J. N. Weaver remained owner and edi- tor of the Republican until May, 1872, when he disposed of it to its old proprie- tor, S. H. Taft, who in his genial way thus addressed his old patrons, on again mount- ing the editorial tripod:
"As stated in last week's issue, we have purchased the Republican, and again greet our old friends who cheered us with their kindly patronage at the first, together with those who had become its friends and patrons while under the control of Mr. Weaver. This change of proprietorship has been made, on Mr. Weaver's part, be- cause he wishes to enter more fully upon the practice of law, and on mine because I have ever felt an interest in the Republi- can akin to that which a parent feels in a
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child. I expect however to have associ- ated with me an able man, as chief editor, and had hoped that he would ere this have been on the ground.
"The Republican will continue, as ever, to represent the interests of the great and growing west in general, and of Hum- boldt county in particular. Great changes have taken place in our county since the Republican (or its predecessor, the True Democrat) was established.
"Its population is greatly increased, its number of organized townships have doub- led, its farms quadrupled, its school houses still more increased, while three new flour- ing mills have been erected-may we not hope that the moral and religious inter- ests of the people have kept pace with their commercial and temporal growth.
"Of the changes in our own town, we hardly know what to say as we look out upon its wealth of beauty; its well filled stores, tidy dwellings, pleasant parks, its thousands of trees, and above all, as crowned queen presiding over so much of beauty, its elegant college. This we will say, it is more than the most enthusiastic would have thought possible six years ago, and is full of promise for the future. With a wise use of our natural and acquired ad- vantages, Springvale is destined to become one of the leading towns of Iowa, and Humboldt county a peer of any other in all that is attractive and noble. With an earnest desire to do what we can to pro- mote so desirable, so important an end, and heartily reciprocating the good will expressed by our predecessor in his good- by, we resume a seat in the editorial sanc- tum."
The interests of Humboldt College, of which Mr. Taft was president, made it im- perative that he should spend much of his time in the east, and he was necessitated to deputize his editorship to various par- ties. Among those, thus employed by him, were Albert M. Adams, now editor of the Dakota Independent, Frederick H. Taft, J. Dixon, Iowa's blind editor, Rev. Julins Stevens and George Elliott.
After the name of the town was changed to that of Humboldt, it seemed to the proprietor that it was desirable to change that of the paper also, and while he was in the east on matters of business, gave the subject some thought. What should the name be? That was the question. It reached a solution in the following man- ner :
When at the residence of John E. Wil- liams, the well-known president of the Metropolitan Bank, of New York, at Irvington, N. Y., he met the Rev. C. T. Brooks, the poet-preacher of Newport, R. I., and detailing the facts to him, asked his suggestion of a name for the newspa- per. To this Mr. Brooks replied: "Give me until to-morrow to think npon the matter," which was done. The next morn- ing he entered the parlor, where all were assembled, clapping his hand and trip- ping in all the lightness of youth, al- though far advanced in years, and with a face fairly radiant with delight, exclaimed, "I have it! I have it! Humboldt Kosmos, a name noble in its association, compre- hensive as the universe, and borne by no other journal in the world." To this Mr. Taft replied, "Humboldt Kosmos it shall be," and writing as a motto: " Darkness wus upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit
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