USA > Iowa > Linn County > History of Linn County Iowa : from its earliest settlement to the present time, Volume I > Part 15
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71
In 1866 the number of acres assessed was 452,486, and the land, exclusive of towns and villages, amounted to $3,012,754. The assessment for Linn county in 1878 was 449,774 acres, $5,127,133. The actual valuation in 1855 was about three and one-half millions, while in 1900 the taxable valuation of the county was something over twelve millions.
Butter and cheese making were at one time businesses which made the farmers much money, but not till they learned how to prepare good butter and get a market established for it. Soon agents came to Iowa looking over the erops, and presently few towns were without local agents who handled stock and grain on a commission basis.
Henceforth it was the Chicago market and not the local market that governed, and the railroads were loaded down many seasons of the year in hauling train load after train load of corn and wheat and cattle and hogs, the property of the Iowa farmers. Iowa became in a short time the food prodneing state in the Missis- sippi Valley and has so remained till this day.
It was the productiveness of the soil, the manner in which the soil was pre- pared and the prices for farm products that made the land valuable. And it was the outside market that made farm produce worth the price it was for a local market cannot do this. The Chicago market has become the world market on many commodities. and lucky is the person who owns lands within a safe radius of such a market.
CHAPTER XIII
Rural Life
The rural life of the pioneers in Linn county was much the same as it was in any of the adjoining counties in eastern Iowa. The settlers were intelligent. young, active, and enthusiastic, believing in the future of the new State. The men were able to do nearly all kinds of mechanical work without any help or assistance, while the women were equally dextrous in spinning. weaving, and doing all kinds of house work. They were all clad in homespun and no false standards were maintained by the so-called well-to-do.
Wheat was the product for many years until the pest took it. and Indian corn was grown. It was soon found that wheat was expensive to raise, as seed was high, the cost of harvesting expensive, and frequently a shower or a storm when the wheat was ripe destroyed a great deal of it, so the farmer's summer work at times would be entirely gone. It cost less to raise corn, and in course of time a market was found for it, although it scarcely over sold for more than 30 cents a bushel.
"In ye olden times" master and servant had no trouble. They ate at the same table, worked side by side during the day, and it was a sort of partnership affair throughout the season from the early spring until the crops were gathered in the tall. During the entire season the hired man had handled scarcely a dollar and he had taken up at the village store on credit in the master's name goods that would not exceed in value ten or fifteen dollars. While it has been often stated that in the pioneer days the men were overworked and underpaid, which might be true in part, still during these formative years, when everything was new, and there were no classes, all settlers were on the same level - socially and financially. It was not long until the hired man had worked long enough to get sufficient money to make a first payment on a farm, and in a few years the renter became a land owner and well fixed.
The scattered settlers during the early years of their residence in Linn county relied on their own ingenuity for everything they needed ; thus, they were their own blacksmiths, cabinet makers, carpenters, tanners, stone masons, and shoe makers. They would tan their own leather, shoe their own horses and oxen. make their own ernde harness, and get along and be satisfied. While they would depend on the village blacksmith and on the wagon maker, roads were impassable in the spring of the year and a yoke of oxen was not the swiftest means of getting to and from a town twenty-five or thirty miles away. Hence a farmer who had any ingennity at all, would rather do his own work in a erude way, than have to go to town to get anything repaired which was broken.
Much amusement was also had in the early days in the various communities where men and women enjoyed meeting together at social functions. There were quilting bees, spelling schools, barn raisings, log rolling. debating schools. singing schools, and many other gatherings which frequently ended with a barn dance or a house warming supper, provided by the host and hostess.
The winter season in "'ye olden times" was not an easy time of it by any means. for the pioneers went to the timber early in the morning and would stay all day and until late at night, cutting wood, making rails and getting big logs to the saw mills. It mattered not what was the kind of weather, the young man would start off to the timber with the thermometer frequently at from twenty-five to thirty below zero. Sometimes it would be pleasant in the morning when they started out, but frequently a severe blizzard would come up before night, and
99
RURAL LIFE
many were the frozen hands and ears they would bring home to thaw out late at night, having been out all day in the most severe weather. But as soon as it was over it was forgotten, and the next day or the next week the young man would again repeat the same performance.
While the men were strong, active, and hardworking, the women were equally active, persevering and industrious. The girls always took care of the milk and butter; the straining of the milk was done by the slough well or in a dark mud cellar, with no stone in it, and which always kept caving in until the entire house had to be put on pillars. The wife frequently had the family washing out by sunrise and the hired girl, if the family could afford one, would work side by side with her mistress and would do both inside and outside work if needed. No one was afraid to work; in faet they were all proud of what they had aceom- plished.
There were not many varieties of dishes on the table in pioneer days, and still the settlers had plenty of good, wholesome food, and were always hungry. Salt pork. johnny cake, honey, and game were the customary foods of the farmer in ye olden times. They scarcely ever tasted fresh meat from spring until fall, unless some of the boys shot a little game now and then. The settlers were com- panionable, good natured, and contented. They traded cattle, horses, mules, and at times farms, only now and then would trouble arise as one would accuse another of smart dealings, and a lawsuit would ensne. It is related of an itinerant preacher who purchased a yoke of oxen from one of the deacons in the church, that while he was testing the oxen on a hot Sunday driving to church with his family, the yoke squatted down in a mud hole and remained there and it was impossible to move them at all. The preacher spied the deacon coming to church and was not slow in telling him what he thought of him as well as the oxen he had sold him. The deacon was not at all worried but replied, "parson, you must not forget to swear at 'em, that is the only thing they know, " and drove on as though not at all offended by the remarks of the preacher.
In the early days the farmers had no cisterns, no wind mills, no deep wells. Rain water was gathered in barrels which dried up in summer and froze solid in winter, so the house wife had scarcely any rain water either summer or winter. The well was generally a ten foot shallow well dug down by the slough, poorly planked, and frequently it caved in; another well was dng much in the same manner as the old one, the new well soon meeting with the same ending as the former one.
There were few, if any, barns in the olden times and straw thatched sheds and stables were universally used. These stables were moved frequently for the reason that the farmers failed to haul out the manure which aceumulated, finding that it was easier and cheaper to move the stable than to haul away the mannre. Nearly all of the hay was staeked out doors and had to be ent and hauled away in order to be fed to the eattle.
The farmers were slow and backward in many things. They possessed no spirit of restlessness and took things coolly, relying, it seems, on the old adage which says that "he who drives with oxen also gets there." While they early built fairly good houses, they were slow in ereeting buildings and comfortable places for their horses and eattle, and it was many years before they began to erect sheds and buildings for their machinery. Wagons without spring seats sold at from $100.00 to $125.00; reapers and mowing machines were very expensive and they were generally only a few of these in each neighborhood. The house- hold furniture was cheap and simple: there were no such things as furnaces or hard coal burners. Mostly old stoves were in use for the burning of wood, and these perhaps were second hand, or at least had seen better days.
The young man in pioneer days generally started out in life with an ox team, a breaking plow, and a wagon. The wages for breaking were from $1.00 to $2.00
100
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
an are, and when he was not breaking he would often be running a threshing machine or working in the saw mill or in the timber getting out logs. When ox teams were used for breaking, it took one to drive and one to hold the plow in the ground. A person generally broke more land than he could fenee, and it was no use to sow wheat and not fence, for in those days the law permitted cattle and horses to run at large.
Corn was not cultivated on the new ground to any extent, except that each one raised enough corn for his own use but no more. The eorn was generally put in by hand, plowed only onee or twice with a single shovel plow pulled by one old nag.
In the early days all the cooking was done by the open fireplace; such an article as a stove was not much known. Corn bread and pork, with rye coffee, formed the average bill of fare at the wayside inn and at the farm house. The boarders actually preferred pork to venison ; they got tired of game - it was so plentiful. Many a pioneer farmer could shoot from five to ten deer near his door before breakfast.
In ye olden times nearly everyone would attend church, especially in summer. While many did not belong to any church, yet they were all interested in it. They supported the churches to the best of their ability. The influence of the country church did much in making this a county which still shows the effect of the early training and of the efforts of itinerant preachers and laymen who went from place to place visiting the seattered congregations. Such preachers as Troup, Searles, Ingham, J. Hodges, Hayden. Twing. Maxin. Dudley, Rankin, Boal, Cunningham, Keeler, Phelps, Roberts, Jones. Elias Skinner. Father Emmons and many of the early itinerant ministers did much to build up churches in this county. Then there were a number of laymen in various denominations who maintained in part some of the associations themselves, such as Tom Lewis, Levi Lewis, Chandler Jordan, Henry Rogers, and the Kurtzes. Runkles, Shneys, and many of the early settlers in and around Lisbon. The community around Mt. Vernon was also mueh influenced by the college atmosphere and by the itinerant preach- ers who visited the scattered members in Franklin township. These are only a few of many such communities where an interest was kept up in the small country churches where large congregations gathered weekly for meditation and for prayer. Many old pioneer families did much to help the church.
One can converse with the old pioneer now, and he still loves to reeall the old times. the old haunts and the wayside places. It was by some rail fence that a rural maiden had whispered to him as a young man, that the pain in her heart no human touch but his own could heal. It was here loved ones had spoken as they chattered away in childish whispers, when he came home from ended labors, and it was here that he took his family on Sunday to the little church where they all bowed silently in prayer, full of the faith and the hope which made his heart strong and his footsteps light. The simple mode of living in Linn county in an early date made strong men and courageous women. They were bronght up to withstand the temptations of life and to despise the false veneer of a later genera- tion. They lived up to the ideals of their way of thinking, and left sturdy families who grow up in the simple ways of the pioneer, themselves dutiful sons and daughters of the old settlers who came here in any early day to make homes for themselves and their descendants.
Truly, the pioneers should be remembered for what they accomplished, for well might they sing with the poet :
"Fading away like the stars of the morning. Losing our light in the rising sun ; Thus would we pass from the earth and its toiling Only remembered by what we have done."
BRIDGE AT THE PALISADES
THE PALISADES OF THE CEDAR
CHAPTER XIV
A Hero of the Canadian Rebellion
What promised to have been a war to death in Linn county in the early '40s terminated because one of our old settlers, then a young man, said what he knew to be the faet and was willing to baek it up with force. The interesting story is as follows: Politieal dissension had prevailed in Canada since 1820, and an open rebellion broke out in 1837. In lower Canada it began among the French set- tlers who wanted equality and their rights as Frenchmen, while in upper Canada it was brought about by leaders of the radical party insisting on a democratie form of government. The rebellion was lead by Lyon Mackenzie, a native of Scotland who had taken up journalism in Canada. The spirit of rebellion ex- tended also into the United States, and many so-called filibusters joined the in- surrectionists from a spirit of adventure. The papers mentioned in lengthy artieles these so-called leaders, one especially being given much notoriety, one William Johnson, who, after the rebellion was put down, lived on one of the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence and evaded capture. His daughter, Kate, it was said, brought him food and the soldiers were unable to locate the hiding place of this rebel who defied the government militia.
Robert Ellis met this so-called Bill Johnson at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, in 1842. Jolinson asserted with a great deal of gusto that he had escaped from the Islands and was going to make his home among the free people out on the borders. He was accompanied by a woman he claimed to be his daughter who received as neh attention as the valiant soldier himself. Johnson drifted into Ft. Atkinson and finally located on a elaim two miles above Quasqueton, on the north bank of the Wapsie river. Here he became a sort of feudal lord, told exaggerated stories about his valor, and was surrounded by a number of frontier soldiers who elaimed to have fought in the war of 1812, as well as in the Canadian rebellion. For a time Captain Bill Johnson was idolized as no other person in this part of Iowa, and it is certain that his daughter Kate was laid siege to by more than one border hero under the guise of suitor.
It was not long until the arrogant ways of Captain Bill Johnson, who jumped a elaim, offended an old settler by the name of Henry Bennett, who resided near Quasqueton, and who was one of the first settlers in that community. Attempted arrests were made pro and con, but the Bennett party was successful and they drove Captain Johnson out of the community. after a sound flogging. He drifted into Marion and put up at the Phillips Hotel, telling stories of Bennett's abuse, how his property had been taken, and how he had been driven out of the county like a criminal. He wanted redress. The good people of Marion believed these stories, and soon a company was organized and provided with weapons of war to surround Bennett and demand restitution. A number of the old settlers of Marion were mustered into this company, such as George Patterson, Col. Durham. and others of the well known residents. It was in the winter of 1843, but that did not keep any of the company away from a foreed march to Quasqueton. Bennett had friends and admirers also, and being made aware of the proposed attack he fortified his camp, laid in a supply of food, and had his guns ready. The attacking party demanded restitution, but the old man shook his head and told them to come on. The besiegers had to camp out, while Bennett's followers were well housed and warm. Finally the attacking army ran out of provisions,
102
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
and after a eouneil of war in which the peace loving spirit prevailed, they decided to return to the quiet haunts of Marion.
Johnson still kept up his abuse of Bennett and his friends, and when that did not satisfy would resort to tales of his wonderful escapades on the St. Lawrence and how he had evaded the British officers with the assistance of his daughter, Kate. The good people at first entertained him as a guest, and he was always willing to accept of their hospitality, but stories were circulated that this so-called daughter, Kate, was not his daughter at all. But Bill Johnson still remained, having a number of supporters.
One night Robert Ellis entered the Phillips Hotel while Johnson was heaping abuse on the Bennett party and on the courts of Iowa, telling Gen. James Wilson. who was surveyor-general of the territory, the story of his abuse. He said, that the day before he and his crowd had tracked Bennett as far as Delhi where the party escaped, being assisted by William Abbe, a prominent settler of Linn county. This was too much for Ellis, and he replied as follows: "That is not true, as Win. Ahbe drove from Ft. Atkinson with me, and we arrived in Marion today, and we were together all of the time." Johnson was full of "wrath and cabbage." He arose and in a much injured manner said, "Yon might as well call me a liar as to say that, " to which Ellis replied, "If that suits yon any bet- ter I can eall you a liar, because that is what you are, if you want us to believe what yon have been saying here tonight. You have been telling lies about my friend Abbe " Johnson pulled off his coat and was about to strike him, when Mr. Ellis spied a hickory stiek in the wood box. With that he went after John- son, who quietly retreated, put on his coat, engaged in conversation with Wilson, and the matter for the time dropped. The story leaked out that this Canadian hoaster was nothing but a coward, and there were grave doubts as to whether or not he was the person he claimed to be. Finally so mueh opposition arose against him that he left Marion - mueh to the satisfaction of the people of the county for they had seen and heard things which reflected against Johnson's relations with his so-called danghter.
In 1849 Robert Ellis drifted into the gold camps of Sacramento Valley on the American river, and who should he find out there but the danghter of Bill John- son, now the wife of one of the miners. He learned that Bill Johnson had drifted into Southern Jowa and Missouri, where he assumed his old attitude. expecting free board and considerable consideration, but the pioneers in that community had to be "shown" and cared not much for what Johnson had been : the question was what he was then. A suitor in Mahaska county eame to see his alleged daughter, but Bogus Johnson opposed and threatened him with dire disaster if he came within shooting distance. The suitor was not at all seared, having lived on the frontier longer than Johnson The woman may have regretted the double life she had been living, and perhaps with her assistance - no one knows - Johnson was killed in a quarrel hy the suitor, it was alleged, and prosecutions followed. The suitor and Kate after a long trial then drifted to California, and there Robert Ellis found them and heard the story that Captain Bill JJohnson, onee the terror of this part of Iowa, was a bogus Bill Johnson, and the light haired Kate was not the Kate of story and fiction at all. If it had not been for the obstreperons Bennett on the Wapsie and for the hickory stick in the hands of Robert Ellis bogus Bill Johnosn might have terrorized this community much longer than he did.
Another story was also told shortly after Johnson left by one of Johnson's henehmen, an old soldier, which shows the bad character and disposition of Johnson. William Abbe, one of the early settlers, and at one time a member of the legislature of Iowa, being in the employ of the government, having a contract to deliver provisions at. Ft. Atkinson, was abont to return to his home in Linn Grove, which faet was known to Johnson. The soldier related after Johnson's
103
A HERO OF THE CANADIAN REBELLION
hasty departure that he and Johnson had entered into an agreement to blackmail Abbe and get some money out of him by inviting Abbe to remain in the Johnson cabin over night and then to threaten Abbe that he had assaulted the daughter of Johnson while accepting of his hospitality. Johnson was to remain in hiding while the soldier was set out on the trail to watch for Abbe and invite him to the cabin. This was done and the soldier sat out in the timber watching for Abbe during the afternoon and evening, but fortunately Abbe failed to make his appear- ance as expected and the deep laid plan fell through.
Bill Johnson, whatever he may have been, was certainly an expert in his line and seemed to ingratiate himself into the good graees of many prominent people. He obtained the assistance and help of Governor Chambers, as well as Surveyor- General James Wilson, and many others in the various law suits which he had with the members of the Bennett party. General Wilson, as is well known, was a native of New Hampshire and on account of the personal friendship of Daniel Webster had been appointed to this office by President Harrisson. Webster had intended to slate his friend Wilson for Governor of Iowa, but Harrison had ap- pointed his private secretary and former aide-de camp, Colonel John Chambers. Thus General Wilson had to accept the only vacancy left, that of surveyor-general. On his trip over Iowa, General Wilson was accompanied by his daughter, Mary E. Wilson, better known as Mrs. John Sherwood, who later became one of the best known writers and society women on two continents. It was at Marion, according to the report of Robert Ellis, that Johnson first met General Wilson and that the friendship sprang up between them, and it seemed as though Johnson had known a number of Wilson's relatives and a great inany of the prominent men in New England. It is thought, of course, that Johnson imposed upon General Wilson and no doubt used the names of parties he had known of in some way to further his own selfish purposes.
The following may be quoted from the History of Washington County, Vol. I, p. 326, as told by H. A. Burrell :
"A Mahaska county murder case of Job Peck, the murderer of Wm. Johnson, came here on a change of venue September 9, 1843; it was a melodrama : A culti- vated Canadian revolutionist, a beautiful girl Kit claiming to be his daughter, horsethieves, etc., being the personæ dramatis, an elopement and kidnaping constituting the action of the piece The Canuck was shot in his cabin and a lover of Kit was held for the crime. Kit was spirited to Pittsburg, Pa., and the lover proved an alibi; he had married Kit near Fairfield. While in jail here he did not know his bride's whereabouts nor for several months after, but he finally found her with fine people. They lived near Oskaloosa for years when they went to California. Who she was, was never known; she denied that Johnson was her father; he may have been her husband. After Peek's death she married again and had a noble family and was called the Queen of the Thousand Isles - in oil business? Johnson was the subject of state correspondence between the United States and England A British subject, he revolted, turned renegade and spy in 1812, and robbed the mails to get information. Both countries offered a reward for him and he fled to the Isles."
How much truth there is in the above it is difficult to say. It is at least based on hearsay. Colonel Durham knew Johnson well and was one of his friends in the Quasqueton affair, and Robert Ellis also knew him, as well as the members of the Abbe family. Whether Johnson was a Canadian or a citizen of the United States or had anything to do with the war of 1812 is uncertain. At least in Linn county he claimed to be the Bill Johnson of Canadian fame. For that reason he introduced this young woman as his daughter to carry out the story, as the original Johnson did have a daughter who carried news as well as food to him in his hiding.
104
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
To supplement the above account may be mentioned the following from the "Early History of Dubuque," as written by b. H. Langworthy, and printed in the lowa Journal of History and Politics, July. 1910:
"In 1843 a most ludicrous affair occurred. A villainous fellow palmed him- self upon the people of Buchanan county as the renowned patriot and celebrated hero of the Thousand Isles, Bill Johnson. This man, with his daughter Miss Kate Johnson, was suspected, it seems, of being any other than the l'ar-famed Canadian patriot, by the citizens of Buchanan county, who thought fit to take Johnson out in the night, tie him to a tree and whip him severely with fifty lashes on his naked back. The offenders were arraigned before Judge Wilson. The court house was crowded by hundreds of eager spectators who listened with intense interest to the proceedings: all anxious to see the laws of our country adimnistered faithfully. The prisoners' names were Evans. Spencer. Parrish. and Rowley, charged with burglary and riot. It appeared that these defendants accompanied by several other white men and five or six Indians after lynching Johnson, ordered him and his daughter to pack up their goods and be off in two hours, and not to return at the peril of their lives. Great sympathy was felt for this Johnson and the two tender females of his household, who were thrown out in the depth of winter and obliged to travel twenty-five miles over a cold and bleak prairie ; so cold that it froze one of the lynehers themselves to death. another lost his feet, and several others were severely frozen. The citizens here declared that Johnson looked as if he was born to command, and betokened in every action that he was the same old Bill Johnson. the hero of the Thousand Isles, the Canadian patriot, and the great friend of human liberty and republican institutions; while all the young bloods of the town declared that Miss Kate Johnson was a very intelligent and interesting young lady. with rare accomplishments, agreeable manners and the worthy daughter of a gallant sire. The case was conducted on the part of the prosecution by James Crawford and General James Wilson ; on the part of the defense by James Churchman and I. M. Preston : the counsel on both sides in their speeches were truly eloquent, they were fine efforts of legal talent, and so great was the interest taken in this trial that the ladies attended in goodly numbers until a late hour at night, determined to hear all the proceedings and speeches to which the occasion gave rise. Miss Kate Johnson received great attention and unequalled admiration as the celebrated heroine and daughter of the renowned patriot of the Thousand Isles. The jury after being out a short time returned a verdict of guilty ; one was senteneed to the penitentiary for two years and the others to a fine of two hundred dollars, which imprisonment and fines however were afterwards remitted ; for lo, and behold ! the next thing we hear of the hero of the isles, is that he has grossly imposed himself upon the citizens of the place, he being a different man altogether from the Bill Johnson whom he represented, of a different name and style of character. a great thief and scoundrel. Letters were received showing these faets. The next news received from him by our crestfallen beaux of Dubuque, was that a Mr. Peek, a respectable man in Mahaska county, the place to which the family had removed. fell in love with Johnson's daughter, the heroic Kate, who returned his love. But old Bill would not give his consent to the marriage. So the two turtles ted to an adjoining county where they were united in bonds matrimonial. It was some time before the reputed father know where his reputed daughter had gone. But as soon as he did, he pursued her and entered the house of Peck with pistol in hand and took her away unmolested. But a few days afterwards while Johnson was sitting in his own house he was shot through the heart with a rifle ball from between the chinks of the logs. Peck was arrested, but on trial acquitted. The lineage of the heroine was traeed back to an obsenre family in Ohio, her history and romance closing alike in contempt and infamy.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.