USA > Iowa > Louisa County > History of Louisa County, Iowa, from its earliest settlement to 1912, Volume I > Part 8
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The first land sale at Burlington, began on November 19, 1838, and the only Louisa county lands sold at that time, were in township 73, in range 4 and 5 : at the next sale. October 26. 1839, township 74, range 3 was offered, and the re- mainder was not offered until March, 1840. But the pioneers had not waited for the land surveys, or the sales. The lands were there. the Indian's right to possession had ceased. and the settlers were ready to improve them, and did not
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HISTORY OF LOUISA COUNTY
purpose to await the action of congress. They decided to make a few laws of their own, believing that they could do so fully as well, and with much less parliamentary circumlocution than their servants at Washington.
CLAIM LAWS.
It was a trying situation that confronted these men. Their occupancy of the land was in defiance of law, and they had no section numbers by which to identify or describe their possessions, nor any means of knowing where the lines would come. It is difficult for us, with our present day ideas of law, and our absolute reliance on record titles, to understand the anomalous and chaotic situation which confronted our forefathers, or to fully appreciate the bold and businesslike manner in which they met it. We shall find that they established a "government of the people, by the people, and for the people:" that, so far as the settlement extended, organizations were formed, and laws and rules were made and enforced. These settler-made laws, founded in necessity and based on justice, had higher sanction, and greater excuse for their existence, than many judge-made laws of a much later date. It is not probable that they had any fear that congress would ever permit, much less compel, them to be dis- turbed in their possessions. They knew that congress had, in several special cases, granted preemption rights to actual settlers, and they believed that a general preemption law would soon be passed. They also could place some reliance upon the precedent just then established by congress, by the act of July 2, 1836, for laying off Fort Madison, Burlington, Dubuque, etc., which gave the preference in the sales of lots to all persons, "who shall have, by building or enclosure, actually occupied or improved any lot or lots in the said towns," etc.
Lieutenant Lea is an excellent authority on such matters, having traveled extensively throughout the Black Hawk Purchase during the days of its early settlement. He says: "In the District generally, the land titles are in an anomalous condition. The country was freed from its Indian occupants in 1833 ; hundreds immediately flocked in, each selecting such place as suited him best, and each respecting the premises of those who had preceded him. It is now clearly understood what improvement it takes to constitute a claim to any portion of these lands ; and a claim to a farm, regularly established, is just as good, for the time being, as if the occupant had the government patent for it. An emigrant comes into the country : he looks around him, and finds a situation that pleases him : here, he says, 'I will make an improvement ;' and forthwith he goes to work, builds a house, fences a piece of ground, plows and plants it ; he stakes out his half a section of land, one quarter section probably being wood- land, and the other quarter being prairie; and then his home is secure from trespass by any one whatever, until the government shall think proper to prefer its claims. If he think proper to sell his claim, he is at perfect liberty to do so ; and the purchaser succeeds to all the rights of the first settler. It is usual in such sales, for the purchaser to take a bond of the previous occupant, to trans- fer any right that the latter may acquire, in consequence of his previous occu- pancy, under the operation of the laws of the United States relative to occupant titles.
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"Where towns are laid out, as it is not expected that each holder of a lot would be able to obtain a separate title from the government, it is arranged that the proprietor shall secure the fee simple title, in his own name, for the whole site, by the best means in his power : and he gives his bond to make a title to the purchaser, whenever he shall have secured it to himself.
"The people of this whole District have entered into an agreement to sup- port each other in their claims, against any unjust action of the government, or against any attempt at improper speculation by capitalists at a distance. And those who know the potency of such leagues, will feel perfectly assured, that whatever is protected by this one, will be safe from molestation."
Few of the records of these early organizations have come to light, and it may well be doubted if many of them had written records other than the list of those entitled to claims in each congressional township. The records of two such organizations, however, are in existence, one of them being a Johnson county association, and the other, a club having its headquarters at Fort Dodge : and their constitution and by-laws show a very complete and elaborate system of rules and regulations. It may be asked by some what evidence there is of the existence of any such organizations or the enforcement of any such laws in Louisa county. There is ample evidence to this effect. In the first place, the statement of Lieutenant Lea seems to apply to the Iowa district generally. Also Mr. Newhall in his "Sketches of lowa" evidently means the same thing. He says: "In order to prevent unpleasant litigation and to keep up a spirit of har- mony amongst neighbors, and the better to protect them in their equitable rights of claim purchase, each township has its own organization generally throughout the territory, etc."
Mr. Newhall then goes on to say that a called meeting is usually the first step and that at this meeting after a short preamble, resolutions are adopted and a register appointed, whose duty it is to record the name of each claimant, describing his particular claim, and that a bidder is also appointed, whose duty it shall be at the sale to bid off the land registered in the name of each respective claimant.
Concerning this kind of law, Mr. Newhall has this to say: "Although claim law is no law derived from the United States, or from the statute book of the territory, yet it nevertheless is the law made by and derived from the sovereigns. themselves, and its mandates are imperative."
In his recollections, published in the "Annals" for January, 1897, Francis Springer, in speaking of the early courts of Louisa county refers to the claim courts in this way: "Referring to early courts, I may speak of a sort of pro- visional court organized by settlers in congressional townships of government lands prior to being first offered for sale-which would be at public auction, at a minimum price of $1.25 per acre. In order to settle claim controversies that might occur among the settlers, and to prevent adverse bidding at the land sales, a 'township claim committee' was appointed, composed of three capable men (of the settlers) whose duty it was to hear and decide upon all contested claims. The parties on due notice would appear before the committee (some- times with attorney) make their statements, present their proofs, when, after hearing the case, a decision would be made, and whichever way it went the losing party was bound by honor and the unwritten law of the township to
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HISTORY OF LOUISA COUNTY
acquiesce in it. He knew he must do this, or expect rough handling at the land sales from the settlers who would be present in force, one of them acting as township bidder for all, as the tracts were called by the register of the land office, giving the name of the settler entitled. The tracts were called and struck off with great rapidity. It would have been dangerous for any one (settler or outsider ) to make a bid against the township bidder. This was well understood."
We may suppose that the same custom which prevailed in Des Moines county also prevailed in this county, and for that reason the statement of Dr. C. 1. White, an early resident of Burlington, will be interesting. In an article on "Early Homes and Home Makers of lowa," in the "Annals" for October, 1899. Dr. White. after referring to these settler organizations and their method of quit claiming lands before the government land sales, says: "The chief agency of the agreement for mutual protection and the execution of the provisional system of real-estate transfer was an organization called the Squatters' Club, which had its headquarters at Burlington. Every proved holder of a claim upon government land or a town lot was eligible to membership whether he was the original squatter upon his claim or had purchased it from one. The club made regulations which had all the force of laws because the members yielded willing obedience ; and it also acted as arbiter in such disputes as might arise between members concerning claims upon other than their already recorded parcels. The members were pledged to protect one another in the tenure of their approved claims, in the transfer of the same if they should desire to sell, and against overbidding at the approaching government sale. They also protected one an- other, as far as possible, in those cases of ruinously extortionate interest which was charged by the 'land sharks' to every poor squatter who had to borrow money to eke out the payment of government price for his land. But most of these cases could not be remedied, and the squatter lost his claim or sold it at a sacrifice to obtain enough money to start again as an emigrant and make a new claim farther west. I do not certainly know the date of organization of the club, but I am confident it was not later than early autumn of 1836. My father became a member of it in 1838, he having bought a squatter's claim to eighty acres of land near Burlington and a buildling lot in the town ; and many mem- bers of the club thus became personally known to me. He once admitted to me that the club was a secret society, and I have no doubt that their compact was con- firmed by solemn oath."
But it is not probable that the making of these claim laws was done by the settlers at first, nor that it could have been accomplished at all until shown to be necessary by the continued influx of newcomers and the numerous disputes and quarrels that occurred over claim locations. More than one tradition has come down. to us of cabins destroyed and lives endangered in this county by these land quarrels ; but the particulars cannot be obtained with any certainty.
A noted encounter occurred just a few miles southwest of Wapello, near the sand mounds in Ed Jamison's field ; this has sometimes been called the "Joy War" and was participated in by Angelo Driskall, the Joys, Gregorys, Lewins and some others. A few shots were fired, but no one seems to have been hurt. Mrs. McDill relates an interesting story of a supposed attempt at claim jump- ing in the early days. It seems that a Mr. Erwin took a liking to a piece of land in the William Kennedy neighborhood, and went over and plowed a furrow
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HISTORY OF LOUISA COUNTY
around the part that he wanted in order to indicate that he laid claim to it. The land around which the furrow was plowed was a part of William Kennedy's claim. That night the settlers in the neighborhood, of whom Mrs. McDill's father. John Ronalds, was one, got together and went out and turned back the sod in the furrow which Mr. Erwin had made. It seems that this was notice enough to Mr. Erwin and he made no further claim to the land.
William L. Toole, in the "Annals" for January. 1868, in speaking of the country about Toolesboro and Wapello says: "In this location, as in others. great strife and contention was kept up here in those early days, through con- flicting interest in claims or the encroachments of unprincipled adventurers. Cabins were burned, torn down or unroofed, and the lives of persons frequently in jeopardy in consequence of these contentions for claims. At one time in 1836, contending parties numbering some twenty or thirty on each side met near here on a disputed piece of land, armed with guns, pistols, knives, etc., intending to decide the right of possession by a battle, the victors to be the possessors. Fortunately, however, a worthy and peaceable old gentleman, E. Hook, with some two or three other persons, friendly with both parties, appeared on the battleground, and by their influence prevented a commencement of the conflict. otherwise blood would have been shed on this occasion, and perhaps lives lost. Serious difficulties like this often occurred in regard to ownership of claims, and sometimes occurrences or cases in regard to claims occurred which were more amusing than serious. One I will state wherein a defeated party. through our claim law or regulations refused to leave or give possession of a cabin thereon, and the successful party with a few friends kindly took the opposing individual out of the cabin and carried him from the premises, notwithstanding his struggling, kicking and threatening, greatly to the amusement of the lookers-on, but he finally made a virtue of necessity and submitted to our claim laws, and was protected afterward himself by these claim laws in a claim diffi- culty. These difficulties continued more or less until the public sale of land by the government. Just previous to the public sale all disputes and difficulties concerning claims were amicably arranged, and the settlers entered into a league for common protection and opposition to speculators, then secured their claims and went on prospering and, making comfortable homes."
Long before the land sales, hard times prevailed not only on the frontier but all over the country. This was about the time of the panic, brought on either by President Jackson or the banks, or both, when it was almost impossible to get gold or silver and when the banks were failing so fast that paper money was a dangerous commodity. It was even impossible for the government in June, 1837, to get specie with which to make the payments due the Sac and Fox Indians under the treaties made with them. And this fact caused great dis- satisfaction among the Indians and came very near leading to hostilities in the neighborhood of Burlington and in and about the forks of the Iowa and Cedar rivers. But among the early settlers times were much harder than anywhere else in the country, for the reason that, beginning a long time before the land sales, every settler sacredly hoarded every dollar that he could get, so that he would be able to pay for his home when the time came to buy it. When the land sales came at Burlington. the settlers from all this part of the Black Hawk Purchase assembled there. We may suppose that nearly the entire male popu-
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HISTORY OF LOUISA COUNTY
lation of Louisa county took up their abode in Burlington for several days at that time. The hotels would not begin to hold the people. Bar rooms, dining rooms, kitchens, and even wagons, were converted into bedrooms to accommo- date the vast crowd of people gathered there to buy what they called their own homes.
As both Mr. Newhall and Dr. White attended these land sales, we will let them describe them: Dr. White says of the land sales: "The crucial test of the squatters' compact was to come at the time of the government land sales, and it did come then. The club prepared an engrossed copy of its list of mem- bers with the descriptive formula of each member's claim opposite his name. They then appointed a public bidder who should, with this list in hand, in the presence of the settlers assembled at the sale, bid off cach parcel or lot in the name of its recognized claimant the instant it was offered by the register. No other bids were to be allowed, and even the claimant himself, if he were present. was required to remain silent. I did not witness the sale which was held at Burlington in November, 1838, which was the first sale of public lands held in lowa, but I was present at the second one held there a few months afterward, in 1839. The land office then occupied a one-story frame building, long since removed, which stood on the lot at the southeast corner of Third and Columbia
streets. When the hour appointed for the sale arrived, Bernhart Henn, the register, took his stand at an open window facing the yard within which many settlers and citizens were assembled. The club's bidder had a small stand erected outside in full view of the assembly and close to the window where the register was standing, each having the list before him. Those lists tallied exactly with each other because they had been carefully compared before the day of sale arrived that there might be no confusion while the sale was in progress ; a fact that showed the club and government officials to have been in good and proper accord. The sale began by the register offering a parcel of land, reciting its well understood descriptive formula, and the instant response of the club's bidder who, in a distinct voice, named the claimant and the minimum price. The register at once accepted the bid and the entry was checked off on both lists. As there was no waiting or invitation for higher bids the sales were rapidly and almost perfunctorily made. Still, it was possible for an outsider to get in a higher bid if he spoke quickly and was willing to take the risk of personal injury, which every one knew he would incur. I was listening to the monotonous progress of the sale when a violent commotion suddenly took place near me. Some one had dared to risk an overbid, but before it was distinctly uttered he was knocked down with hickory canes, which many of the settlers then carried, for his intention was suspected and they were ready for him. He was not killed, but his injuries were such that he could take no further action that day, and when he recovered he did not press his demand for government title to the land he coveted. Here was apparently a dilemma, but the case was promptly met by the register who ignored the outside bid and accepted that of the bidder appointed by the club. When his attention was afterward called to the matter he declared that he heard no other bid than that of the club's bidder, and his decision was final."
Mr. Newhall says: "The sale being announced from the land office, the township bidder stands near by with the register book in hand, each settler's
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name attached to his respective quarter or half section, and thus he puts in the name on the whole township for each respective claimant. A thousand settlers are standing by, eagerly listening when their quarter shall be called off. Finally, when his quarter or half is reached and called off to him by the register, with an independent step he walks into the land office, opens the time worn saddle- bags and counts out the two hundred or four hundred dollars of silver or gold. takes a certificate from the government and goes away rejoicing."
At the time Wisconsin territory was organized it ought to have been, and perhaps was, evident that it would not be long before a division would become necessary. It was three or four times as large as the average of the states in the Union and was divided by the great Mississippi river. Besides this, the popu- lation of the territory was diverse in character and so scattered in locations as to make it almost certain that the purely local laws and customs suitable to one community would not be suitable to the others. The people of the lowa District were enthusiastic for a division of Wisconsin territory from the very start, and the people of Louisa county did their part to agitate and carry out the project.
The first public meeting was held in Des Moines county in September, 1837. The committee on resolutions was composed of David Rorer, W. W. Chapman, William Morgan, Arthur B. Inghram and Dr. George W. Teas, and their report. which was adopted, urged the organization of a separate territorial government west of the Mississippi river as the only means of immediately and fully secur- ing to the citizens thereof the benefits and immunities of a government of laws.
These resolutions also referred to the efforts of Missouri to extend her northern boundary line. They also declared that settlers on public lands were entitled to the protection of the government in their homes and to the improve- ments made by them, and recommended that county meetings be held in the counties west of the Mississippi to appoint delegates to a convention to be held in Burlington in November following. The next county meeting was held at Dubuque, October 13, 1837; and on October 21, 1837, a public meeting of the citizens of Louisa county was held at Wapello, the proceedings of which were published in the Wisconsin Territorial Gazette and Burlington Advertiser, of November 2. 1837, but we copy them from the "lowa Journal of History and Politics" for July, 1911 :
".At a large and respectable meeting of the people of Louisa county, held in the town of Wapello, on Saturday the 21st inst. in pursuance of previous notice. William Milligan, Esq., was called to the chair. and Z. C. Inghram appointed secretary. The object of the meeting was briefly and appropriately stated by James M. Clark, Esq. It was moved by Daniel Brewer, and seconded by J. M. Clark, that a committee of five be appointed to draft resolutions expressive of the sense of the meeting: whereupon the chair appointed Daniel Brewer, John II. Benson, R. S. Searls, Isaac H. Rinearson and William H. R. Thomas said committee, who, after having retired for a short time, returned and presented the following resolutions, which, after due deliberation, were unanimously adopted.
"1. Resolved. That we highly approve of the objects and motives of the Territorial Convention, to be holden in Burlington : and that so far as lies in
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our power we will heartily cooperate with our brethren in the adjoining counties, in carrying these motives into effect.
"2. Resolved, That we deem it highly essential to the interest and conven- ience of our Territory that a division of the same take place, and that, in our opinion, the Mississippi suggests a very natural and proper line of separation.
"3. Resolved, That the deficiency of postoffices, the inequality of mails, and the apparent gross delinquencies of mail contractors in this western part of our Territory, are evils, which call loudly for redress, and that we would suggest to the Territorial Convention the propriety of using their influence and exer- tions to have these abuses ferreted out and corrected.
"4. Resolved, That we look upon the attempts of a portion of Missouri to encroach upon our Territory, as highly unjust and aggressive, and that however much we may regret that any difficulties should arise between us, we are de- termined to resist her encroachments by every just and honorable means.
"5. Resolved, That, as settlers upon these frontiers, enduring the privations and hardships always incident to the settling of new countries, we are justly entitled to be secured in the possession of our homes and improvements by the passage of a preemption law in our behalf.
"6. Resolved, That we would suggest to our own delegates, and the con- vention at large, the propriety of calling the attention of Congress to this sub- ject by memorial or otherwise.
"7. Resolved, That we deem this a fitting occasion to express our entire satisfaction with the present boundaries of our county, and look upon those who are endeavoring to effect a division of the same as acting contrary to the best interest of the county at large.
"The committee reported the following list of delegates, viz: William L. Toole. James M. Clark. Esq., and John J. Rinearson, who were chosen by the meeting.
"8. Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be published in the Burlington Gazette.
"WILLIAM MILLIGAN, Chairman, "Z. C. INGIRAM, Secretary."
We may note in passing, resolution No. 7, opposing any change in the bound- aries of the county as they then existed. This indicates that the movement to divide the county had already gained some force, and later on we will find that the county was despoiled of more than one-half of its territory.
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