USA > Iowa > Lucas County > History of Lucas County, Iowa containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc > Part 71
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HISTORY OF LUCAS COUNTY.
Be it remembered, that on the 16th day of July, 1849, that I, Ezra P. Cone, sheriff of the county of Monroe, State of Iowa, proceeded to the organization of the county of Lucas, in said state, according to the provisions of an act entitled, " an act for the organization of Lucas county," approved January 15, 1849, by setting up three written notices of election in each election precinct, to-wit: One in the place of holding the election, and the other two in the most public places in the said precinct. And making the following orders, to-wit: Ordered, that the east half of said eounty of Lucas, be, and is hereby constituted an or- ganized precinct by the name of "Ireland," and that the place of voting shall be at the house of William McDermit, in said precinct.
Ordered, That the west half of said county of Lucas, be, and is hereby con- stituted an organized election precinct by the name of " Whitebreast," and the place of voting shall be at the house of James M. Brown, in said precinct.
Ordered, That two justices of the peace, and two constables, be elected in each precinct.
Ordered, That Xury E. West, James Roland and Bersford Robinson, be, and are hereby appointed judges of the election in the precinct of Ireland, and that Wm. T. May and James E. Robinson, be, and are hereby appointed clerks of said election.
Ordered, That Peter N. Barker, Wm. Rittgers and John Myers, be, and are hereby appointed judges of the election in the precinct of Whitebreast, and that James M. Brown and Thos. Robbins, be, and are hereby appointed clerks of said election.
Given under my hand and seal, this 20th day of July, A. D. 1849.
EZRA. P. CONE, Sheriff, Per H. B. NOTSON, Deputy.
After this call for an election was issued, the electors without reference to party, assembled at "Buck " Townsends at Chariton Point; and, seated on a log near his house, they selected a county ticket. This ticket was elected at the general election August 6, 1849, as fully shown at page 396-8.
At the close of the chapter on " The Pioneers, etc," it was mentioned that the Waynick brothers came to Lucas county in March, 1849. Dr. Wyatt W. Waynick came to Chariton immediately after its location, and opened an office as the first physician in the county, where he continued to practice his profession for many years, until he retired to the drug trade, which he still continues. His first professional call was upon Mrs. Wil- liam S. Townsend. It was a girl baby, the second born in the county. His next call was upon Daniel Phillips a pioneer, whose sickness arose from eating too much coon. His "eyes were sot " before the doctor reached him-he died from an overdorse of raccoon.
The only road in the county in 1848, was what was called the " Mor- . mon trace," extending westward from Nauvoo, Illinois, some three miles
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south of " Ireland," which was at that early day, lined with Mormon emi- grants on their way to their New Jerusalem, in Utah.
The first religious meeting in the county, was held at the house of James Roland, in "Ireland," in the autumn of 1849, by one Thomas Prather, who is said to have been a reverend. To bring the settlers to this first gathering of worship, a boy was sent out with a bell ringing the tidings at the door of the various cabins. . The meeting is said to have been enjoyed by all, and brought back the recollection of the old homes they had left behind.
The first "inn" in the county, outside of the. hospital homes of all the settlers, was that of Henry Allen, a little unpretentious house standing near the present residence of E. A. Temple. Mr. Allen was the first notary public commissioned for Lucas county, in 1849; who, after a few years' residence in Lucas county, went to Los Angelos, California, where he subsequently died.
The first religious organization in the county, was effected by the Methodists, in 1849, at the house of X. E. West, in Washington township, and was the first formal organization of the Methodist Episcopal church in the county. It became attached to the Albia circuit. In 1854, Monroe, Lucas and Clark counties became one circuit, with Rev. Lyman Briggs in charge.
The first death in the county, tradition tells us, was that of William Louder, who came to "Ireland" in the spring of 1849. He was a young man, unmarried; had been a soldier in the then recent Mexican war. He came to this place among strangers and yielded his life in its brief period to the power that gave it. The generous McDermit gave the ground in which young Louden was laid, which afterward became a permanent cemetery-the first in the county. He was buried in a rude box, made with the best material they had at hand, with no relative to follow him to his grave, nor mourn his death, though kind hearts and willing hands, were present to sympathize, and do all they could in his last hours. This was the first death in the first pioneer settlement of Lucas county. It was an impressive scene.
The first importation of whisky in the county was in 1849, by one Major Adkins, hailing from Missouri. He brought to "Ireland" a forty gallon barrel, and "opened out" in a shanty not far from McDermit's. He, however, did not find ready sale for his firewater, nor a fortune looming up in the future in the traffic of Missouri corn juice, and he sold what he had left to one John Yergey for eight dollars, and McDermit gave the major the money in payment, with which he paid his expenses back to Missouri, fully in the faith that the young Hawkeye state was not the place for traffic in Missouri whisky.
Among the pioneer day institutions of Lucas county, was the Settler's
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Club, which organized upon the appearance of land speculators. Its object was to protect actual settlers in their claims to government land, through their right of pre-emption, before they had acquired a certificate of purchase. In some instances the land to which they had made a claim had not yet come in market; or perhaps the settler hadn't the money to purchase when he made his selection or claim, and strangers and specu- lators would come in, look over the country, and oftentimes would select these claims for entry at the land office. Again, claims were made, and improvements made upon them, which would be lost to the claimant should they be "jumped" at the land office. Hence, the combination of actual settlers, and the organization of this club, for their mutual protec- tion against all these contingencies. It was often a risky venture for strangers to come into Chariton in the days of the Settler's Club, to buy land or claims. Every one was watched, and if any of the settlers' rights were invaded, the invaders were dealt with according to the laws of the club.
Here is an illustration. In 1850, David Davis, formerly judge of the United States supreme court, and now United States senator from Illinois, and E. M. Thorpe, now a citizen of Chariton, came to Lucas county for the purpose of purchasing government land. Judge Davis, however, soon found it convenient to speedily leave for home without investing. He is said to have retired with a bountiful flow of "cusses" upon the heads of the set- tlers, as a band of cut-throats, and barbarians. Mr. Thorpe, however, was permitted to remain and look at the country, his team and buggy being held by the " settlers club" as an earnest of his good behavior and non-interference with their vested rights. He frequently had occasion to amuse himself by hunting up the wheels of his buggy, which were missing, and which he suspected were displaced by some of the wily members of he "club." However, in the course of time, after he became better acquainted, he was permitted to select what land he wanted, on the con- dition that it did not interfere with the "vested rights" of the squatters, which he finally did without further trouble, and became a citizen of the county, and still resides in Chariton, in the practice of law. Judge Davis did not venture back again.
It will be remembered that the first clerk of the board of county com- missioners was William H. Moore, chosen at the first meeting, held August 10, 1849. In 1852, he determined to move to Missouri; and on one fine October day of that year, he started on his journey with a team and wagon, in which were his wife and one child, together with some cattle, which he was driving along after. After crossing a stream, some five miles southwest from Chariton, and ascending the opposite bluffs, Mr. Moore saw the prairie on fire, and the leaping flames sweeping toward them. He at once directed his wife to turn the team and retrace their
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course over the stream, while he was attempting to turn his cattle back, to get the team and all back over the stream; but, before he could accomplish this, the flames in their mad fury, overtook them. They first dashed upon the helpless child and enwrapped it in fire, when its mother, in her wild frenzy, seized it and leaped from the wagon; but, alas! not- withstanding the heroic efforts of the husband and father, the little one met almost instant death upon the ground, and the wife was burned well nigh unto death. The remains of the child, and the dying mother were taken back to a room in the court house, where she survived some ten hours only. Thus, the wife and child of Mr. Moore met a terrible death. They went to their rest in the grave, while he, mournful and alone, soon found a home amid other scenes.
At the second general election, in Lucas county, held in August, 1850, the two political parties organized, which was not the case at the first election in August, 1849, nor at the following April election. Both the whig and democratic parties made up their tickets as follows: The whigs nominated for judge of probate, Allen Edwards; for county commission- ers, Jacob Phillips, Thomas Wilson and James Roland; for clerk of dis- trict court, William C. Drake; for sheriff, Samuel Payne; for treasurer and recorder, James Jenkins; for clerk of county commissioners, J. M. Townsend. The democrats nominated for judge of probate, Allen Edwards; for county commissioners, Joseph Mundell, John Howard, J. G. Robinson; for clerk of district court, Henry Allen; for sheriff, Bev- erly Searcy; for treasurer and recorder, Samuel Mckinley; for clerk of board of county commissioners, J. M. Barnett.
The whig ticket was elected by a large majority-the total vote in the county being eighty-four !
It will be seen that Allen Edwards was placed on both tickets for judge of probate. He was a farmer, in Warren township, where he had moved in March, prior to his election as the first, and last judge of pro- bate. He died in fair circumstances, in August, 1857. His was the farm now known as the Charles Garten farm, and upon which the town of Free- dom is located.
Mr. M. J. Burr, one of the well-to-do farmers of Warren township, and a gentleman of practical observation, gives the writer this following bit of interesting information. He says: "The number of deaths recorded amongst my acquaintances during the period from 1866 to 1876, both inclusive, are forty-one, of which twenty-three occurred between sunrise and sunset, and eighteen between sunset and sunrise; which facts contra- dict the commonly received opinion that the night-time witnesses the most deaths."
In 1851, Mr. D. D. Waynick was chosen assessor of Lucas county, the first one elected by the people. His duty was to assess, to fix a valuation
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upon the worldly effects of his fellow citizens of the county, for the pur- pose of taxation; and also to take an enumeration of the number of people therein, as well, which he found to be a few over five hundred. The law required that this work should be completed and a return thereof made to the county authorities by the first day of July. He relates to the writer, that he recollects the year 1851 to have been a very wet one, and gives some incidents which occurred during his official labors, as corroborative of that fact. He completed his work on the south side of the Chariton river the last of June, and hastening homeward on foot, from his last trip, he approached the river on the Garden Grove road in the evening, and found it so swollen that he dare not venture to wade it there, so tarried over night at a farm house near by. The next morning he found the water from one to three feet deep from bluff to bluff, on this road; and there being no bridge, in fact there was not a single bridge in the county at that time, he determined to wade across. He therefore took off his pants, boots, etc., and secured them about him, and with his assessment rolls in one hand he started on his watery course, aiming to cross just above what was then, and since known as " Granny's hole." Mistaking his course, he suddenly went into this historic hole, some ten feet deep, and went down, but'rising to the surface again, he managed to swim across to a shallow bottom, holding in the meantime his assessment rolls up in one hand so they were not injured. He reached home somewhat moist from his ven- ture, and made a report of his oficial doings in due time. This closed Mr. Waynick's services as county assessor.
There is a tradition concerning this deep hole in the Chariton river, near where the Garden Grove road crosses it. In an early day, an old widowed German woman from Indiania, named Keplinger, had purchased a tract of bottom land, extending across the river and including this deep hole, which soon became a resort for bathing purposes. During the wet season of 1851, Grandmother Keplinger, as she was called, visited Chariton to look after her landed possessions, and going down to view her tract on the river bottom one morning, she found it covered with water to her great astonishment; and, returning to town she sought her agent, Henry Allen, and said to him: " Why, Mr. Allen, I've just been down to take a look at my bottom, and I find it all kivered over with water; 'taint worth nigh so much as I thought it was." "Well, grandmother, this is an uncommonly wet season that you happen to see it. It's dry enough other seasons except this," said her agent, which seemed 'to molify the old lady's disap- pointment. From this circumstance, the deep hole in the river referred to, took its name, and is still known by that cognomen. The old lady finally disposed of her bottom, went to Kansas and died.
This hole has been the scene of much sport for the boys, and occasion- ally for older persons fond of fun as well.
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In the early days of the county, lawyers frequently came from the older localities to attend the terms of the district court, among whom was Judge Knapp, of Van Buren county, in his younger days. One warm evening during a summer term, it was proposed by some wag of the local bar that they go down to the Chariton, and bathe in "Granny's Hole," which was also a good place for diving. The proposition was accepted by several of the attorneys, including Judge Knapp, who was somewhat portly and peculiar. On the way down to the river a banter was made, that each fellow should, as soon as disrobed, dive into the hole, and that the last one thus diving should treat the crowd on their return to town, which was acceeded to. Hence, there was an apparent scramble, great haste, on the part of each to perform the feat first, though it was generally understood that Knapp was to be allowed to take the lead. When the river is high-a freshet at hand-this hole is some ten feet or more deep, with two or three feet of soft mud at the bottom. On this occasion it was not so deep, and the judge was the first to plunge in head foremost, and, being a somewhat heavy man, he went to the bottom, sub- merging his head and shoulders in the mud, where he struggled until. others plunged in, and, by the heels, relieved him from his perilous dilemma. He arose, badly besmeared, conscious that he dove too deep. Through the relief rendered in extricating him, the tables were turned, and the treat was upon Knapp, which was gracefully extended.
This chapter closes the history of Lucas county, and with it, the work of the writer. The "biographical sketches," which follow, are prepared by others.
The writer has been earnest and faithful in the preparation of the fore- going work, that it might embody as complete a history of the county as the material, both record and traditional, would make. He has sought to make it a correct and interesting narrative of the physical character, set- tlement, development, and prosperity of the county, from its primitive period to the present time, in all its phases-industrial, moral and social. If the judgment of those who may become its readers shall accord this, he will be content.
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Biographical Sketches.
"Human greatness is neither a mystery nor an accident. There is a class of minds, envious or ignorant, which insists that the greatness of men is without reference to any well settled orders of merit; that it is often the fruit of chance; that it is subject to no well defined rule or analy- sis, and that fame is a lawless and irregular thing. We dissent from this view and disclaim any share in its self-complacency. We believe that human greatness, as interpreted by intelligent fame among mankind, is regulated by well-known laws, is subject to a clear analysis, and is capa- ble of a precise definition, especially in modern civilized society, with its multitude of concers, its intricate organization, and its constant and char- acteristic multiplication of restraints and difficulties upon the self-assertion of the individual, it is impossible for a man to obtain anything like per- manent fame without the possession of some substantial and well-defined merit or some extraordinary quality. To be sure, in the experience of every people there are hasty judgments of the mob, fits of fickle admira tion, short triumphs of charlatanism, ephemera of the newspaper. But equally certain it is that no man succeeds to real and lasting fame, and obtains a permanent place in the regard of his fellows, unless he has some visible mark upon him, some true excellence, and only after a severe test and a precise measure have been applied to those qualities in which he asserts an extraordinary character. Thus character may be one of great virtues or of brilliant vices. We do not discuss the moral question here; we only insist that the man designated for historical reputation and the fee of fame must have something that really distinguishes him from his fellows. Affectation and pretension can never accomplished a per- menant name. There is no such thing as being great by accident, and enjoying fame without good reason therefor. Weak men may sometimes make undue noise, and occupy for a little while eminences to which they do not belong; but the sober judgment of mankind soon passes upon the pretender, and reduces him to his proper position. It is the certain and inevitable law of history. Mind, like water, will find its level. We may appear to live in a great confusion of names, amid disordered currents of popular fame, in storms of unjust and turbulent opinion; but, after all, we may be sure that there is an ultimate order, that the reputation of men will be finally assigned them by extact rules, and that they only will
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enter the temple of history, who have real titles, by extraordinary virtues, or by extraordinary vices, to its places."
Thus writes one whose reputation as a biographer cannot be excelled. His reflections lead to many suggestive thoughts, sure to arise in the minds of all who follow his remarks. All men cannot be great; each has his own sphere, and the success of his life is to be measured by the man- ner in which he fills it. But men may be both trne and good, may be morally great, for in true living there are no degrees, there is no respect of persons. The word sketch, as here used, implies an outline or delineation of anything, giving broad touches by which only an imperfect idea, at the best, can be conveyed. It is not designed to include all the several and separate acts of a man's life, important or otherwise, for that would neces- sarily be both comprenensive and minute; nor is any single sketch purely biographical, which would imply a review of the life and character of each person. The design is to give the merest outline, with particular reference, however, to the public life of the persons named. To go into each man's private life, or into his home life, would be both unwarranted and valueless. Few care to know these facts, and many of them, per- haps, had best be forgotten. As a rule one's neighbors know full enough about him, and to afford them correct data for information may deprive them of the topic of quondum conversations.
Here will be found few, if any, who are not entitled to a place in public confidence. The names are, in great part, those of men who have been closely and for a long time identified with the interests of the county and their respective townships. If in their lives no mention appears of the hardships they endured in the early days of the county's history it is because these are the common experiences of pioneer life, were not exceptional in their character, and have already been referred to in other pages of this volume. A repetition here of individual experiences would by absolutely devoid of both interest and aim. To the residents of the county the names of none of its earliest settlers are without interest. So far as they could be gathered they illustrate quite fully the character of the early settlers; if the names of any such do not appear in these pages it is because facts were not accessible, or that an inauspicious destiny had arrested their career. Their place was already marked To have obtained sketches of their lives, at first-hand, would have been, next to the consciousness of duty fulfilled, the highest of gratifications. Their lives would obtain, and justify all sympathy, and even their names recall heroic examples of which the men of to-day, with better fortunes, though with less daring, are neither the companions, the rivals nor the masters. In the great majority of instances the battles in which many persons named have been engaged are suppressed, not because they are valueless, but because the engagements of the several Iowa regiments may be found in another por-
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tion of the volume. This has not been generally the case with regiments outside of the state, except in an occasional instance when some one, ambitious to share the glory of war, represented himself in remarkable battles in different and widely removed states, but occurring the same date. Each one of this class selects for himself the place of glory, and makes of his own person the pivot on which the fortunes of battle revolved. It has, in a word, been a paramount object that men should be sketched as they are, rather than as they think they are, or wish, per- haps, to be.
BENTON TOWNSHIP.
BEALS, A. S., dairyman, post-office, Russell. Born in Orleans county, New York, September 2, 1836, where he lived until grown, obtaining his education in the common schools. Moved to Noble county, Indiana, in 1853, and in autumn of 1863, came to his present home. Was married, January, 1858, to Miss Ella Armstrong, of Richland county, Ohio. Of this union were three children: . Charles A., Harry C., and Laura C. Mrs. Beals died January,1866. He was married again, January 1870, to Mary C. Douglas, of Orleans county, New York, by whom he has also had three children: Albert D., Laura G., and Mary H. He owns a first rate farm of 183 acres, well improved, good dwelling, barn, and orchard. Mr. Beals is a member of the Baptist Church, and a man of straight republican politics.
HOUSTON, S. D., post-office, Chariton. One of the pioneers of Benton township, and commands the respect of his neighbors. Born in Green county, Tennessee, November, 1826. When four years of age his par- ents moved to Hendrix, Indiana, where he resided until 1849, on a farm, . being educated in the common schools, and also attending Danville Academy. Came to Iowa in the spring of 1849, and entered 120 acres of land in this township. Returned to Indiana, and came again to Mon- roe county, Iowa, making the trip on horseback. He remained there two years, teaching in winter and farming in summer. In August, 1851, he moved to his present location, being the third settler in the township. He was married April 10, 1851, to Miss Marrena J. Mckinley, whose par- ents were the first settlers of Washington township. Are the parents of ten children, Melissa J., Charles T., Ellen E., Tillman H., (deceased) Lucy B., Samuel W., Anna F., Walter G., Ethel F. and Carrie L. Mr. Hous- ton owns a fine farm of 230 acres, well improved, and adorned with orna- mental trees; good barn and all the necessary facilities for stock-raising. Has filled various township offices, and been county clerk. Is a member of the M. E. Church.
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