USA > Iowa > Louisa County > History of Louisa County, Iowa, from its earliest settlement to 1912, Volume I > Part 33
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HISTORY OF LOUISA COUNTY
a prominent man in Burlington, who then had a little clapboarded warehouse down on the levee.
"Mr. Key had been a visitor a time or two over Louisa county and was im- pressed with its rich soil and fine timber lands and streams, so, soon after the Black Hawk purchase, he laid his claim in what was afterwards called Virginia Grove. Think this must have been as early as 1834 or 1835, as the family came here across the country in 1837.
"George Key's claim and first entry was a well known stopping place for years for people on their way to Burlington.
"From Crawfordsville, Indiana, to Louisa county, is about 300 miles. They were nearly forty-five days making the trip, averaging about seven miles a day. That seems like slow moving to us, and it was slow progress even for those times, but it was in the spring of the year ; there were few roads and no bridges. They were subject to floods and to oceans of mind. Hardly a day passed that they did not have at least one wagon mired down.
"Theirs was quite a caravan, consisting of three wagons and a two-horse carriage. One of these wagons was an enormous old 'Pennsylvania' wagon as big as an ordinary room. There was an enormous box eighteen feet long, or more, stoutly framed together, the ends being nearly two feet higher than the center, the bottom of the center that much lower than the bottom of either end. To this wagon were attached four yoke of oxen. The other wagon had the old fashioned 'spike' team of three horses; the carriage, two horses. Besides the wagons and their teams were a drove of young horses, cattle and nearly a hun- dred head of sheep. These necessitated several riding horses to carry the drivers. This live stock partly accounted for the slow progress made, as the live stock, especially the sheep, gave them great trouble in crossing the un- bridged streams.
"Then, as we have already stated, mireing down of teams was of no unusual occurrence. Mrs. Mincher, who rode a horse all the way and assisted in driving the live stock, tells us that it was no uncommon sight to see the help waist deep in the mud and water unloading the wagons of their contents and carrying them out on high and dry ground so they could, by doubling up the teams, pull the vehicles out of the mud.
"The party consisted of twenty-one persons. At the head was Mrs. Key, who, by the way, was a sister of Jacob Mintun who came a few years later, and her family, consisting of four sons and six daughters and ten others, a part of whom Mrs. Mincher has forgotten, but among them was Edward Mincher, whom she afterwards married and Jack Reed, who remained with them many years, but who finally made his home with Zaddock Jarvis, where he died. The others were mostly young men who took this opportunity to come west.
"When they came to Iowa they found Mr. Key waiting for them with a genuine summer home. It consisted of a rail pen, three sides built up solid, the other entirely open, the corners held up by rails butting in from the outside. This was covered with elm bark, put on good and thick and weighted down to hold it in place. It. with the covered wagon, made them a comfortable home until fall by which time Mr. Key had raised a fine crop and built a very fair house, made of framed timbers that had been hewn. This was weatherboarded with clapboards, ceiled with clapboards and roofed with clapboards. This house
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HISTORY OF LOUISA COUNTY
looked pretty well, but it was terribly cold, and the huge fireplaces were worked to their limit to keep the noses and toes from getting frosted.
"That winter mess pork, which in those days meant all the hog, nose, jowls. feet and tail, pickeled, was $21.00 a barrel, flour $12.00 a barrel. But by the next year or two, when they began to have pork to sell, they were forced to take a $1.25 a cwt. for dressed hogs and glad to get the cash at that.
"They ate little flour that winter, even the most aristocratic of the settlers. and corn meal was often a luxury. There were no power mills nearer than Lowell, on the Skunk river, and it was a journey of several days to patronize it. as teams were frequently kept waiting, day after day, for their turn.
"Now, the present generation would probably resort to parched corn, but we are told, that becomes very monotonous. So the settlers resorted to the home made grater. This was made by punching nail holes through heavy plate tin which was fastened to a clapboard, the tin slightly curved to let the grit drop through. The Key family kept four of these machines in operation weeks at a time. They worked well when the corn was not too ripe, so it would shell off. When it got this ripe, it was necessary to soak the corn before grating it. "Along towards winter a whole wagon load of corn was shelled, and put in sacks and taken in the old Pennsylvania wagon behind two yoke of oxen to Lowell and ground into meal. This was a real improvement on the grated meal. especially for bread making purposes. The other did pretty well for mush.
"Butter often sold for 5 cents a pound ; eggs, 5 cents a dozen or less, and no regular market for either at these prices. This condition extended over a great many years. An abundance of goods produced at home, a dearth of those shipped in. The Keys and doubtless their neighbors, made most of their clothing out of wool and flax. Mrs. Key was an adept at this ; she had learned it in Virginia, where it had been the custom to do such things from the first. Besides clothing she made the table linen and all sorts of underwear for the household. The men and boys wore jeans ; the women and girls 'linsey-woolsey. The new made garments were worn on Sundays : the last year's was used for every day wear."
Cyril Carpenter was born in Chenango county, New York, March 25, 1824. and is a son of Cyril and Amanda ( Mason ) Carpenter. At the age of thirteen he went to Indiana where he remained for about three years, when he engaged to drive an ox team to Iowa, and arrived in Louisa county on the 17th of October, 1840, locating in Oakland township. He got his start by breaking prairie in various parts of the county, and subsequently entered considerable government land in Oakland township. His first wife was Mary A. Blake. daughter of Joseph Blake, one of the pioneers of Oakland township, for whom Mr. Carpenter drove an ox team from Indiana to Iowa. Sometime after the death of his first wife Mr. Carpenter married Calista E. Stickney, who was a daughter of Albert and Cornelia (Trask) Stickney, born at Harrison, January 14, 1840. In his early life Mr. Carpenter was a democrat, but about the time the war broke out, he, like Andrew Gamble and many other men of that class. joined the republican party.
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HISTORY OF LOUISA COUNTY
In 1874 lie was elected a member of the Board of Supervisors and served in that capacity for six years. Mr. Carpenter was a firm believer in public improvements, and it was almost entirely due to his efforts that the two bridges across the Iowa river near Columbus Junction were built. The first of these bridges built was the one at Fredonia, and it cost something like $20,000, which was $5,000 more than the supervisors were authorized to appropriate without a vote of the people. At that particular time a vote of the people for a bridge in either end of the county was equivalent to a county seat figlit. Through the efforts of Mr. Carpenter and leading citizens of Columbus Junction, that town contributed $5.000 toward the erection of the bridge. The bridge at Todd Town cost less than the amount to which the Board was limited, and was com- pleted and opened for traffic on the 4th of July, 1879, but it was not built with- out considerable opposition on the part of the people from the south end of the county. Mr. Carpenter was a firm friend of Columbus Junction and spent his time and money freely to make it the county seat, and to build and strengthen its educational and commercial concerns. This is especially true of its first bank ; but he lived long enough to experience the injustice and ingratitude which sometimes control the actions of soulless men and soulless corporations. He died in March, 1900.
Andrew M. Taylor was born at Woodstock, Shenandoah county, Virginia, De- cember 14, 1822, and came to Wapello from Springfield, Ohio, in the fall of 1851. While at Springfield he had invented a wool carding machine, and soon after he came to Wapello he and a man named Jerome Gibbs put up a building near the old grist mill and did wool carding for a while. Mr. Taylor sold the building to Gibbs and afterwards it was used for a saw mill.
Taylor was elected Sheriff in 1853. 1855, 1857 and 1859. He organized Company "G" of the 19th Iowa Infantry and was commissioned captain on Au- gust 21, 1862. He was wounded severely September 20, 1863. at Atchafalaya. Alabama, sometimes called Sterling Farm. He was taken from there to New Orleans to the old St. Louis Hotel, then being used for a hospital, and died there of his wounds November 4th, 1863.
Captain Taylor was one of our most popular and competent sheriffs. At the time lie raised his company he was presented with a magnificent sword and belt. Some years after the war, his son Ed. tried to locate and secure this sword. Through the efforts of Major Merrick, an ex-confederate soldier, of San An- tonio, Texas, it was learned from the man who shot Captain Taylor at Atchafalaya. that the sword was given by him at the time into the possession of Captain Oaks of Columbus, Texas. This sword was in the possession of Captain Oak's widow for a time, and is now believed to be in possession of the Masonic Lodge at Col- umbus, Texas. Efforts are still being made to secure the return of the sword to Captain Taylor's family.
It is in honor of Captain Taylor that the Wapello G. A. R. Post is named.
One of the early settlers of this county who deserves special mention is George Gillaspy, though in the early county records the name is misspelled in var-
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HISTORY OF LOUISA COUNTY
ious ways. Of him, Hon. Edward Johnstone, writing in the lowa State Register soon after his death, said: "Evidently reared amid surroundings of a somewhat rude life, without early or late privileges for education, a rail-splitter, wood- chopper and bull-whacker, he grew up to be one of the most noted men of the state. By constant contact and struggle with the world, and a keen observer of men * he made himself a fair scholar, a public speaker of unusual force, and one of the most attractive talkers I ever heard." From the foregoing it may be imagined what his life was in the early days in this county. He was frequently engaged in quarrels and fights, but usually came out of them with the respect of those who knew the circumstances. He occasionally served as bailiff of the Court. On one occasion he was indicted for an assault with intent to com- mit murder. He was found guilty by a jury, and his punishment fixed at a fine of $15.00 and imprisonment for one hour. He took a sudden notion to abandon his will life and began work for a farmer. He persevered, and after accumulating a little means, went to Ottumwa, and was for many years the leading citizen of that city, and died there in the winter of 1881-82. He was a member of the Constitutional convention in 1857. and was at one time the Democratic candidate . for Governor, and made an active campaign over the entire state.
Samuel K. Helmick, one of the honored pioneers of the county, whose por- trait we present in this connection, came to Louisa county in 1840. At that time he was twenty years of age. He was a man of more than ordinary education, and this, combined with his high character and intelligence, soon won him a posi- tion of prominence and influence in the county. He was one of the clerks of the first constitutional convention held at Iowa City in 1844. He was sheriff of the county during the years 1850. 1851, 1852 and 1853. During part of his term as sheriff, the sheriff was ex-officio county assessor. In private life he was a genial, whole souled man and was always ready to give his time and use his in- fluence for the good of the community. He was a prominent Mason and was one of the leading members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Columbus City.
DANIEL H. REYNOLDS.
It is not generally known that a Louisa county citizen became a Confederate general, but such is the fact. Daniel H. Reynolds, was born near Centerburg, Ohio, Dec. 14, 1832, of Virginia and Maryland parentage. Came to Louisa county in 1854, and while here read law. He went to Tennessee in 1857 and was admitted to practice law at Somerville, in that state, in 1858. Soon after he re- moved to Lake Village, Ark. In 1861 he entered the service of the Confederate states in Company "A" of the First Ark. Cavalry. He became Captain on June 14, 1861, and was rapidly promoted, becoming major and lieutenant colonel in 1862 and colonel in 1863; in 1864 he was made brigadier general and assigned to command Reynolds' brigade.
He was in many notable battles of the war, in several of which Louisa county soldiers were engaged. One battle he was in was called by the Confederates the
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HISTORY OF LOUISA COUNTY
battle of Oak Hills, Mo., but we know it as "Wilson's Creek"; another was called Elkhorn, Ark., but we speak of it as "Pea Ridge." He was also at Chickamauga, Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain, and through the Atlanta campaign in the summer of 1864. He was in the battle of Bentonville, N. C. on March 19, 1865, and like our own Capt. W. G. Allen, lost a leg at that place.
For the foregoing particulars in regard to Gen. Reynolds we are indebted to the Confederate Veteran of Nashville, Tenn., of date May II, 1911 ; that paper also stated that he was then living at Lake Village, Ark., but in response to a letter addressed to him, we learned from his widow that he died March 14, 1902. She also stated that he came to Louisa county in the fall of 1854, taught school for some months and read law, and removed to Tennessee in 1855.
CHAPTER XVII.
VILLAGES AND TOWNS.
Louisa county has never lacked for towns or town sites, but many a once pretentious town or prospective city has long since given way to the corn field or the pasture. The county now has Wapello, Columbus Junction, Morning Sun. Columbus City, Oakville. Grandview, Lettsville, Cotter or Cotterville, Wyman, Cairo, Fredonia, Elrick Junction, Toolsboro, Marsh, Gladwin, Newport and Bard, being seventeen in all. A few of these places are little more than railway stations, and can hardly be said to have any special history distinct from that of the neighborhood in which they are situated; others doubtless have some inter- esting matter connected with their growth which has escaped us. In addition to existing towns, there are those which are past and gone. The list of these is as follows : Cuba City, Tecumseh, Sterling, Yellow Banks, Iowa Town, Florence, Harrison, Pittsburg. Cateese and Port Allen, all on the Iowa River; Burris City, Port Washington and Port Louisa on the Mississippi; the list also in- cludes Hillsboro, Lafayette, Altoona, Odessa. Virginia Grove, Hope Farm, Can- nonsburg, Clifton, Spring Run, Oakland. Palo Alto and Forest Hill. Perhaps we should also include Walling's Landing, as this existed before Port Louisa was started and was quite a well known shipping point in the early days. There was also the old town site of Columbus City. There were two Port Louisas, one of them sometimes called West Port. We should also include Lower Wapello, as that was probably entirely distinct from the present city.
Of some of these ancient villages we know even less than we do of the works of the Mound Builders, for in regard to the latter, we at least know their loca- tion, and this is more than we know about a few of our early towns.
Mr. Toole in the Annals of Iowa for 1870 says: "In its early days it (Louisa county ) had a full share of speculative or prospective cities, in the eyes of the proprietors, that are now dead or extinct towns and embraced in boundaries of corn fields, viz : Beginning at the mouth of the Iowa river it had first, Cuba City. next Sterling, Tecumseh, Yellow Banks, Iowa Town, Florence, Harrison, Pitts- burg and Cateese all on the Iowa river."
We may assume that Cuba City was quite near the mouth of the Iowa river, and it was probably at this place where Lieutenant Lea was refused shelter in February, 1836, "in the only house there, occupied by a drinking crowd of men and women." Sterling, sometimes called Mt. Sterling, was afterwards added to Toolesboro as Frank's addition.
We have no information as to the exact location of Tecumseh, nor of Yellow Banks, but it is probable that Yellow Banks was situated on the north side of the Jowa river near the Oakville bridge, as that place has always been known as
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Vol. 1-19
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HISTORY OF LOUISA COUNTY
Yellow Banks. The early settlers claimed that there was a French trading house at Yellow Banks long before the Black Hawk war, and that the remains of the buildings were to be seen there when the county was first settled.
IOWA TOWN.
Iowa Town was one of the very earliest trading points in the county, and was probably situated in section 27-73-3 just west of Iowa slough on the bank of the Iowa river. At the first term of Court in April, 1837, Rufus P. Burlingame procured a ferry license to run a ferry across the lowa river at lowa Town.
The first tavern license issued in the county was granted to William Dupont July 11, 1837, and was for Iowa Town for one year from that date. This tavern license was granted by the Board of Supervisors, our first county board, and at the meeting at which it was granted, the tavern rates for Louisa county were established. The price for a night's lodging was 121/2 cents ; for a meal 371/2 cents, and for board by the day, $1.00. At that time a tavern license included also the right to sell liquor, and the board fixed the price for every drink of liquor at 121/2 cents.
An election was held at "Iowatown." on March 5th, 1838, and, from the names of the voters it is likely that this was then the voting place for all of the present township of Eliot, the lower part of Wapello township, and probably a part of Jefferson, because Christopher Shuck was one of the judges of the election. Iowa Town was in Florence precinct, beyond a doubt, but the precinct boundaries were not defined at that time, so far as we can find.
From the records of one of the early lawsuits we can obtain a fair idea of the kind and quality of goods kept in a "town" store at the first settlement of the County. It appears that Rufus P. Burlingame, who owned the Ferry at lowa Town, also had a store there, and that in June. 1837, while this county was in Wisconsin territory, Samuel Smith, our first sheriff brought an attachment suit against Burlingame for $750.00. The writ was served by Isaac Parsons, cor- oner, and the return shows that he levied on a stock of goods, and that this stock was inventoried by Charles B. Field and William Guthrie. The total inventory, including a $25.00 ferry boat amounted to $2.913.76. We take the fol- lowing items from the inventory :
Palm Leaf Hats $ 8.20
Coffe 25.00
Fur Coats
20.00
I Box Prunes 2.00
Razors & Straps
32.37
Mackeral 8.00
Tobacco
62.00
Seal Caps
37.50
Calico 199.00
Silks & Crapes.
18.75
Cutlery &c
45.00
Ready-made clothing
334.75
Circassian
11.30
Shell & Horn combs
78.25
Bombazetts
4.78
Beaverteens
10.56
Cambrick 20.88
Blankets
80.00
Vesting
45.45
Cloaks 12.00
Cassamere
23.00
Mereno cloth and Bombazetts. . 41.77
Silk Hats 88.00
Satinetts 57.00
Lace and Muslin
312.04
Satinetts 32.24
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HISTORY OF LOUISA COUNTY
Broad cloth
85.20
Handkerchiefs
17.50
Camlet
33-75
Ribbons
10.00
Tea
37.50
Brown Holland Cotton Flannel
Bar soap
2.00
& lincey
84.85
Sugar
96.00
Firedogs
1.25
Shirts & Stockings
63.56'
Nails
15.00
Socks & Stockings
25.72
Shawls & Hdkfs. 42.2I
Crockery
70.87
Gloves
21.75
About this same time William Dupont was granted permission to build a bridge across Iowa Slough on the road to New Boston, and the rates of toll were fixed at one half of the ferry rates on the Iowa river, but whether the bridge was ever built, or not, it is certain that Iowa Town soon disappeared. If it was ever "laid out" or platted, the record can not now be found.
FLORENCE.
John B. Newhall, of Burlington, in his "Sketches of Iowa" says that he was at one time a part owner of the town site of Florence, and that it was at one time the home of Black Hawk and Keokuk. According to Mr. Newhall, it was the rallying point for the followers of Black Hawk before they crossed over into Illinois to begin the war of 1832. It was also the place known in the Indian treaty of 1832 as "Keokuk's Principal Village."
The town of Florence was not laid out, of course, until after September, 1836, but if it was ever platted there is no record of it now. It was a place of some importance from about 1838 until 1846.
William Phinney began keeping tavern there in April, 1838. Philip B. Har- rison was granted a ferry license by the District Court in April, 1837 "at the town of Florence."
John Deihl was appointed postmaster July 5th, 1839, and continued in that office, until it was discontinued on Feb. 11th, 1846. During most if not all of this time Mr. Deihl kept a store there. Silas Foster also kept store there in 1839, and Calvin Donaldson began mercantile business there in January, 1841.
TOOLESBORO.
Toolesborough was laid out by William L. Toole on the northwest quarter of section II, township 73, range 2. It appears from the certificates on this plat that the original was filed for record with J. S. Rinearson, recorder for Louisa county, Wisconsin Territory, on July 23, 1837, and was re-entered for record on May 7, 1840. There is a certificate of John Gilliland, county surveyor, dated May 2, 1840, stating that he had examined by actual survey and admeasure- ment the plat and plan of the town of Toolesborough heretofore laid out by William L. Toole, situate in the northwest quarter of section II, 75-2, and that it corresponded "with the plan to which these marginal notes are annexed."
Frank's addition to Toolesborough was laid out by Franklin Bras, May 10, 1856, on lot No. 6 of section 11, 73-2.
Shirts &c
49.92
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HISTORY OF LOUISA COUNTY
Toolesboro was the first place settled in the county and at that time was called Black Hawk. It was for many years the manufacturing and commercial center of the county. When it was first settled the Iowa river ran close under the bluff and near the town, and there was good river communication for seven or eight months in the year. It was the pioneer port of entry for Louisa county. It also had the first postoffice in the county, having been established May 27, 1837. with William L. Toole as the first postmaster. Elisha Hook was appointed post- master May 5, 1838, and William L. Toole was again appointed May 3, 1842. Charles N. Cleveland was appointed June 26, 1845. Jared H. Trask was ap- pointed February 2, 1846. Nathaniel G. Fitch was appointed January 21. 1847. William L. Toole was again appointed April 20th, 1848. Jared H. Trask was appointed a second time on February 28, 1851. William L. Toole was appointed for the fourth time on August 4, 1852. Robinson C. Palmer was appointed June 10, 1856. Albert W. Parsons was appointed July 17, 1856. George W. Graves June 25, 1858, George H. Mosier September 18, 1861.
Toolesboro is one of the most beautiful locations to be found anywhere. There is probably no more sightly place anywhere on the Mississippi river. Standing on one of the mounds that fringes the brow of the bluff, the eye can sweep across tree tops and river fully ten miles to the bluff on the opposite side, and up and down the Mississippi for twenty or thirty miles.
In its palmy days Toolesboro had two distilleries, three mills, for grinding corn, one for wheat, as well as some good stores and a fair sized warehouse.
John llale said that when he came to Toolesboro in 1839 the following houses were to be seen, viz: On the hill were W. D. Palmer's, then Cadwell's, who kept a little store and a big barrel of whiskey, and afterwards had a dis- tillery under the hill; William L. Toole's store and postoffice ; then Elisha Hook's and a log schoolhouse opposite. This was the first school building built in Louisa county ; a cabin near Hook's, occupied by some family forgotten. Nearby was a double log cabin occupied by Maximillan Eastwood, and in flaming red letters the sign: "M. E. Inn." This was probably the first tavern in Louisa county. Close to this was another cabin occupied by Simeon Bartemas and wife.
Under the hill were the following buildings: One occupied by a family by the name of Mitchell; next George W. Fleming's, then Henry Sheets, his wife and sister, Mrs. Ruth Guest ; Jonas Ruffner's house, and nearby his grist mill. He ground both corn and wheat but couldn't bolt the flour; this was sifted by the housewives at home. William Medler's and another cabin, and a sort of tenement house completed the list.
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