USA > Iowa > Madison County > History of Madison County, Iowa, and its people, Volume I > Part 48
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The Whiteds moved over on our side of the river, Bud Whited taking a claim next west of father's, building near where the Union Church, or Chapel, now stands, and Doc Whited a little further west.
At this time there was not a survey line through the county, and less than twenty families in the county, who had come in some months before. William Smith and Mr. Esty had settled on Middle River in the eastern part of the county ; Isaac and Joel Clanton, and Caleb Clark, near where St. Charles now stands; Mr. John Carroll, at the edge of the Jones Creek timber, some two miles southwest from our place; Mr. Henry McKinzie and Ephraim Bilder- back, at the edge of the timber a little west of where the Rogers schoolhouse afterwards stood; Mr. John Butler, and I think another family, on the river near where the Compton's mills were afterwards built ; one, and I think two, families of the Guyes, and perhaps another family or two on Cedar Creek and North River. These were the settlers in the county previous to our coming.,
Our nearest store, postoffice and mill for the first year was on Middle River, in Warren County, about thirty miles from our place. But for over a year we had nothing to grind if there had been a mill. For the first summer we had to go for breadstuff to Oskaloosa, about eighty miles. The first few years the only kind of transportation was the ox wagon, and "walkers' express." The goods were hauled in the same ox wagons, from Keokuk, some two hundred miles.
The first winter-winter of 1847-48-we got along nicely. It was not very cold and but little snow. The cattle wintered on the prairie hay that had been provided, and provisions for the family were secured from a distance. But the second winter-winter of 1848-49-whew! It commenced snowing early, and continued. by spells. We saw but little of mother earth until April. After the snow had become about two feet deep there was formed a crust on it so it would
398
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
bear a footman, but not the ox. There were not enough people to keep the roads, where there were roads, broken. We were "snowed in" for much of the winter. Aside from the paths kept broken around the homes and feeding places, there was going nowhere except as we walked on the crust of the snow.
STRAITS. We had raised some vegetables and some corn. A corn-cracker mill had been started where Compton's mill was afterwards built, but there was no way of reaching it from our place except by foot on the snow crust. The meal gave out, and there was no Elijah near; the vegetables gave out or froze out : everything catable for the family gave out but the corn and some soup beans. The family subsisted, absolutely, for about two months on soup beans, with no seasoning except a little salt (salt cost $5.00 for fifty pounds) and corn hominy. My! but wouldn't we children have danced for joy at the sight of a corn dodger? The hay gave out and from the first of February until grass, my business was to chop down red elm and linn timber that the cattle might browse off the buds. By this means a few of the cattle were brought through until grass, though the most of them perished. By the second winter we had a few hogs. Everything gave out that we couldl feed the hogs, except the corn and beans that were necessary to keep the family. We tolled the hogs along the path that was kept open to the nearby grove, and cutting down the small elms, would scale the small logs and limbs, the hogs soon learning to gnaw the bark ; and so we got a few hogs through on elm bark !
SNAKES? Yes, there were snakes, genuine rattlesnakes. Indeed, our prin- cipal neighbors for the first few years were rattlesnakes and prairie wolves. The first two or three springs, as the snakes would begin to crawl out of their dens, snake hunting was in order. The most successful hunt in which the writer en- gaged resulted in the killing of 122 rattlesnakes in one day ; of the blue racers, which denned with the rattlers, we kept no account.
The first election in the county was for the election of an "organizing sheriff." The candidates were Ephraim Biklerback, democrat, and a Mr. Guye, whig. The electors assembled, out of doors, of course-the writer was present, though not old enough to vote. A line was drawn, the candidates took their positions, one on each side of the line. The voters then took their positions on the side of their favorite candidate, and noses were counted by the honorable judges ap- pointed for the occasion. The democratic candidate was elected.
The next election, which was the first legally called election in the county, was to elect two justices of the peace-at large for the whole county. David Bishop and Mr. John Butler were elected. All I remember of the official acts of these dispensers of justice is, that Mr. Butler married the first couple that were married in the county, and my father married the second couple. Madison County was at this time attached to Marion County. The license was secured from Knoxville ; but how, 1 do not know. But I do know that the justice who solemnized the marriage rode on horseback to Knoxville, fifty miles ( crossing Warren County, of course) to make due returns of the marriage ; that he was about four days making the trip-and received fifty cents for the whole job.
The next election held in the county, as I remember it, was for the purpose of electing three county commissioners who were to constitute the County Court, to transact the county business, the county now being organized to do its own business independent of Marion County. The commissioners elected were David
399
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
Bishop, William Combs and William Gentry. The township lines have now been surveyed and the state commissioners have located the county seat on the bare prairie at the center of the county. There is a log cabin standing about one- fourth of a mile west of where the courthouse now stands.
THE NAME. It is a cold, blustery February day. The honorable, the County Court, was in session in this log cabin, drawing the plat of the town, arranging for selling the lots, etc. The question of a name for the county seat was under discussion. The state commissioners, when locating, had given it a name, but it did not seem satisfactory to this court. Various names were suggested. Among them my father suggested the name "Summerset." On his pronouncing Summer- set, William Combs, who was looking out of the window, the wind blowing and a snow squall prevailing, with a shiver born of the occasion, pronounced after him, "Summerset! I think you had better say Winterset!" The others at once took it up, pronouncing "Win-ter-set, Win-ter-set." Winterset is just as true to nature as Summerset ; besides, there was not a town or postoffice anywhere of this name, so far as they knew; and so within a few minutes it was mutually agreed to give the county seat of Madison County, Iowa, the unique, euphonious name WINTERSET.
The writer would only add: We spent twenty-two years in Iowa, the most of that time in Madison County, and several years in Winterset, since which, though we have lived in several states, traveled in nearly all the states, as well as some in the Orient, we have never found a place that has grown nearer and dearer to our heart than the town of Winterset, in the County of MADISON, and State of IOWA.
Dayton, Ohio, April 14, 1905.
FIRST CENSUS TAKEN IN MADISON COUNTY IN 1849, AS REPORTED BY TIIE COMMISSIONERS' CLERK
lIeads of Families No. of
Heads of Families No. of
A. D. Jones.
3
John S. Howerton
I
Ephraim Bilderback
3
Benjamin Hillman
5
William Stephenson
3
Charles C. Mendenhall
2
Jonathan C. Casebier 8
Claborn Pitzer
I1
Samuel B. Casebier 3
Edward Wood
2
Alfred Rice
7
Sarah Finler
3
Daniel Chenoweth
3
Lewis Brinson
7
John Butler 12
Robert Oneal
5
Absalom Mckenzie
2
William Brunk
James Brewer
5
Sarah Henshaw
5
Valentine Johnson
4
James Brown
John R. Short.
2
Anderson W. Moor 5
Thomas N. Boyles
3
Samuel Brownfield 3
7
John B. Sterman
4
Major Farris
3
Taylor Sargent
4
John Carrol 6
David Cracraft
12
James Folwell
5
John Cracraft
I
E. R. Guiberson IO
William Sterman
TO
John B. Beedle
400
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
lleads of Families No. of
Ileads of Families No. of
Amos W. Case
3
A. J. Hart
4
David S. Bowman
I
Jackson Casebier 3
John Vanhouten S
A. Q. Smith I 1
Samuel Crawford 7
Alfred Wiggans
David D. Henry
8
William Allcock
4
John Willhoit .
5
Emanuel Hinkley
J
James Thornbrugh
S
Silas Barnes
9
Samuel Fleener
7
Joseph T. Wright.
3
David Fleener
I
Henry Rice 5
Andrew Evans
7
Rachel Waymire 6
Thomas Steward
5
Andrew Waymire.
3
Seth Adamson
9
Joel Garns IO
6
Philip Esley
S. M. Watson 9
5
Leonard Bowman
7
David Simmerman
8
Samuel Guye
9
Joseph B. Evans
5
William Combs
4
John M. Evans. 2
Jacob Combs
6
M. W. Jones. 8
William Gentry
IO
Robert Deshaser
7
Asa Mills
6
David Brinson
7
Rebecca Ann Eles
4
Joel M. Clanton
6
Joseph R. Moor
3
Isaac Clanton
9
Enos Burger
6
Joshua Wickley
3
Joseph Baker
2
Elijah Perkins
I
William Harman
Samuel Peter
7
William Phipps
IO
Hiram Hurst
5
Reuben Thanner
3
Stephen Trimble
5
Joshua C. Casebier
4
Joseph Trimble
I
Absalom Thornburg
7
Thomas .Ansbery
5
Daniel Vancel
8
Henry Simmons
6
Charles Wright
Elizabeth Bens
5
Lemuel Thornbrugh
6
O. M. Boyle.
3
Thomas Cason
IO
William Compton
5
David Smith
2
N. S. Allcock
9
William Smith
6
George Smith 6
David Worley
Isaac Smith
7
George W. MeClellan
3
Reuben I.ca
4
Joseph Bishop 3
Dr. Whited
7
Samuel Bishop
Pleasant Bollans
5
Noah Bishop
4
David Bishop
Q
A. J. Shank. 5
John Wilkinson
IO
John Donnel
Henry MeKenzie
IO
Irvin Baum
Caleb Clark 0
Charles Clanton 8
Asberry Burns 5
Total
.501
Calvin Randall
3
Nathan Vina
401
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
I do hereby certify the within to be a true and correct copy of the census of Madison County, Iowa, as returned to my office by the assessor of said county on oath.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the temporary seal of the Board of County Commissioners, this the 6th day of October, A. D. 1849. JAMES THORNBRUGH, Commissioners' Clerk.
[County Commissioners' Seal]
INCIDENTS OF EARLY IOWA TRANSPORTATION
(Paper read by Mrs. Charity Lothrop Kellogg, before Madison County Historical Society.)
I am pleased to meet and greet you. You are sustaining the reputation of Iowans.
An authority says: "From the foundation of Iowa the character of Iowans is such as was rare to meet in a new territory. With few exceptions, there was not a more orderly, industrious, energetic or intelligent people. They were not surpassed, as a body, by any equal number of citizens in any country in the world." Our symbolic name is "Hawkeye," from the name of one of the noblest Indian chiefs, and our state very appropriately named "This is the land!"
Our territorial birth was July 4, 1838, but eight years before that birthday we built a schoolhouse, 1830, where Keokuk now stands.
July 4, 1834, three flags waved over the "to be" state. An Irishman named Nicholas Carroll, living in the vicinity of Dubuque, first unfurled the Star- Spangled Banner in Iowa. It was made by a black woman who was a slave, and cost $10. It was run up at 12 o'clock in the morning. The other two were at Davenport and Burlington. They were raised soon after sunrise.
The beginnings of transportation were similar throughout our country. The first requisite was roads. It is said that we form our estimate of the compara- tive degree of the civilization and enterprise of a country by its roads. The ancients' roads were principally for military purposes ; ours are for peaceful intercourse.
Our fathers determined the most feasible routes by marking trees to guide until a path was worn and became a carriage road; and these roads were later followed by the engineers in laying our great wagon and railroad routes to the far West. We couldn't blaze trees. Our state consists of broad, ocean-like, treeless prairies, but we first traveled on horseback over the whole state-more often without a compass than with one-fording the streams, or improvising ferry-boats out of canoes. Sometimes the traveler would ride in canoe and the horse swim, or lash two canoes together and the horse be taken aboard, his fore feet in one canoe, his hind feet in the other. The Mormons did us a good turn in the early day. It was before their heaven-sent polygamous message, but we were kind to them. When they were persecuted in Illinois and Missouri they sought refuge in our state. Word was sent to our governor from Washington, D. C., not to allow them to stay. He replied that as long as they were law- abiding citizens he should not join their persecutors. Their objective point was Salt Lake, and many perished on the way. It was recommended that a few families should stop, build sod or log houses and barns, and raise crops, at stated Vol. 1-26
402
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
intervals of thirty or fifty miles, and in that way play the "good Samaritan" to all who should pass their way; but later when the state became more populous the Mormons became a little exclusive, and if the applicants for shelter were not of their creed "there was no room in the inn." With the other settlers it was seldom, if ever, that a traveler was told to "move on," without regard to the hour of day or night or the number of applicants. They were sharers of all their store.
Some of our road making was unique. We thought Ben Franklin did well when he set up milestones from Philadelphia to New York, but we surpassed that. When lowa City was chosen as the capital, there were no roads leading to it. The site was on a big prairie, on which was one log cabin. A man named Lyman Dillon started from that place with his huge breaking plow, drawn by five yoke of oxen, a two-horse emigrant wagon, carrying provisions, cooking utensils and bedding for the journey following him. For nearly one hundred miles he marked the way to the Mississippi River, the longest furrow on record. There was soon a beaten road beside the furrow, made by the white-topped prairie schooners of the coming settlers. The town built up fast, but there was no established mail between the new capital and the outside world. Letters and papers were brought from Muscatine by anyone who happened there on business. In 1846 a weekly mail was carried on horseback.
Inland transportation was largely by water. The first settlers in the south- western part of the state went down the Ohio and then up the Missouri River. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent on the Des Moines River to make it navigable.
Our men began to talk and plan for railroads as early as 1833; none mate- rialized until 1856. When in 1853 the Chicago, Rock Island began to be con- structed across unsettled prairies, lowans kept their hawk-eyes on the work and progress. March 14, 1853. a passenger train on the C., R. I. & P. Railroad began to run daily, Sundays excepted, to La Salle, there to connect with steamers to St. Louis ; and with stage coaches to Davenport, lowa, north to Dixon, Galena and Dubuque. Our men's minds were full of plans on a large scale, and three lines were planned east and west across our state. The Chicago, Rock Island reached Rock Island in 1852, bridged the Mississippi River in two years, and we were ready with a railroad track to Iowa City in 1856, and within five years we had 393 miles of railroad in lowa.
In 1850 began staging as we knew it. We gave it the name of "stage" coach because the stage line was divided into short distances, or stages. The first stage routes in Towa were in the early 'Jos on the Mississippi River, and one on the Missouri River from Council Bluffs to Kansas City. The first mail contractor was Ansel Briggs, afterwards Governor Briggs. The first mail stage line was from Davenport to Dubuque; the second from Davenport to Iowa City. This latter line in 1855 extended across the state. When on our jour- ney into Iowa, we accompanied the stage on this route to Des Moines, it took eight days to make the trip. The mud was a yard deep in some places ; many of the large creeks were not bridged, and the old-fashioned sloughs were very much in evidence, and at their worst we thought that Skunk Bottom ought to have been called Skunk "Bottomless." Father walked most of the way. The stage coach was a few rods ahead of us, and kept us informed as to the depth of the mud. In the coach were four men, two women and a bird-cage. It
403
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
seemed as if every third woman that took a coach carried her bird in a big cage, and if the coach upset or swung so as to throw the passengers together, some- one's face was cut or mutilated by that bird-cage. Those four men both paid for and worked their passage, for they walked miles every day, carrying rails on their shoulders to pry the coach wheels out of the mud, while the driver un- mercifully lashed his four horses. Sometimes a horse lunged, sunk in the mud to his body; that frightened the other horses, and then the men at the end of the rails dropped them and sprang for the horses, while another assured the women that there was really no cause for alarm. So it went every day. We didn't become stalled ; we were "fore-armed." Often our horses were unhitched and used to help pull out a stalled prairie schooner.
It was not long after this that mails were carried from Des Moines to Adel, Fort Dodge (father ran a hack to Fort Dodge weekly), Winterset and Indianola, mostly on horseback, then in small open buggy and buckboard. In the times of bad roads or high water the weekly mail was doubled, two weeks.
In 1861, father (Colonel Lothrop) contracted for the mail line from Keokuk to Fort Kearney. The roads across this state were bad enough, but across "the plains" were fierce! The Platte River changed its bed every day. The stage was often "held up," the driver knocked off and told to "Git!" while the passen- gers were relieved of their valuables. The poor horses suffered the most. Two months were as long as a horse could do his work there ; then he had to be brought home and recuperated. This was the last straw. They used to joke father about his horse-frames. He re-let the line from Lewis to Fort Kearney. I couldn't learn when the Great Western Stage Company put on a daily from Des Moines to Winterset, but I think it was 1860. That road had portions that were dreaded by all who passed over it. Tip-overs were common, although the road was being worked, for Iowa is no laggard on road making. Father had the route from De Soto when cars reached that point. On the way was a hill that was a terror to the people who had to drive down it. In times of bad roads, father often went along to pilot and teach the men how to make a certain curve in the road so as not to tip over. That route came the nearest to keeping him awake nights of anything I ever knew of. In these years I've seen loaded wagons stalled on the east and west sides of the square. In '61 I cannot recall a foot of sidewalk in this city! There was none in front of the St. Nicholas-just big cobblestones sunk in the mud, from which your feet often slipped into the mud ankle deep.
But it was a bustling town, with a good many young people. We had jolly times-but we girls didn't go to meet the stage as girls meet the trains now ; but when the crack of the driver's whip and the rumbling of the coach wheels over the stony road announced the approaching stage coach, men and boys could be seen hurrying toward the hotel, where it made its first stop, from all direc- tions, from all points of the compass ; so by the time the coach was swept up to the hotel, the galloping horses reined in "all of a sudden," there was quite an audience. The passengers climbed clumsily down from the high coach, hobbled over the cobblestones into the hotel, and Sam Holiday asked them "what they wanted." The agent was in the meantime promptly yelling to the driver to "Hand down that way-bill!" Eight persons could ride comfortably in the coach, but there was often a boisterous command from the agent to "make room for
404
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
three more in there!" "Pleases" and "beg pardons" didn't permeate our sen- tences as at present.
The driver was a man of note, often notorious. The skill with which he cracked his long-lashed whip was the envy of the boys. His whole arm move- ment fascinated them. They spent hours practicing, which kept ladies' nerves on edge. The regular stage driver's "make-up" was striking. When equipped to mount his throne, he usually wore a light slouched hat, a wee bit on one side, his face adorned with a big mustache, out of which protruded a cigar, for he had much attention-treats of various sorts. He sported a gray cravat, woolen shirt, turn-down collar, plaid coat, his feet encased in big, long-legged, red-topped boots, into which his pants were tucked ; over all a long fur coat. in winter, and "tippet" of three or four yards in length, wound several times around his neck, one end thrown gracefully over the right shoulder and streaming bravely out behind; he also sported large gauntlet gloves. His position while driving was impressive. With reins between his fingers, leaning to one side, his elbows bowed, every lineament of his body expressed his satisfaction. He exempli- fied one driver's answer to a critical passenger. "While I drive this coach I am the whole United States."
At the time of our war, draft stage drivers were exempt. as already being in their country's service, and many cowards were sworn in as stage drivers. who couldn't have mounted a coach and driven two blocks without an accident. This law was so abused that it was soon repealed. Father had one southerner who had sneaked north and taken advantage of this act. He was a good driver : his horses he kept in good order, but at the repeal of the "exempt" law he hur- ried to Canada, and from there on to the ocean. After he had gone, they found that he had done what they called "doped" his horses, and it took some time to bring them back to their normal condition.
The stage line entered Madison County at the southeast, stopping at St. Charles, which was a worse mudhole than Winterset. The first stop west of Winterset was out seven miles-a postoffice, I think, kept by a MeHockenberry. In those days the mail bag was dragged into the house, unlocked, and its con- tents poured on the floor as you'd empty a sack of flour. Some made quick work of finding their portion, while in other places the whole family knelt around the mail matter, and each one examined every letter and package, shaking the letters to learn if there was any money in them. Such place received all the driver's spare time, by request of mail contractor. MeHockenberry wasn't of this sort. He could be depended on for prompt action. It don't take much space to say, "That man attends to his business," but it means a long paragraph.
Fourteen miles out of Winterset was Arbor Hill, where driver and horses were changed. The drivers and agents were too often changed to remember their names. One 1 knew was John Dennison. He was a large. good-natured. knowing man. His wife was a fine cook. When greenbacks first became a "legal tender." father went over the road to "pay up," and laid out the greenbacks. Mr. Dennison said: "What's them things. Colonel?" Father explained. "No, you don't get me. I won't have nothin' but goldl!" More explanations followed. "Don't make no difference-I won't take nothin' but gold." Father's patience was tried : he sprang to the door, called in the driver and said: "See here. Bill. I call you to witness that I offer this man this money. Now. Mr. Dennison, I've
405
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
fulfilled the law, and you can take this money or your nothin'." He took greenbacks.
The next was a postoffice at Greenfield. We usually went through there in the night. Fontanelle was the next point. It was a small but growing town, with a good hotel, grocery, blacksmith shop and a nice large schoolhouse, in which they had preaching occasionally. The town was not very devout. Here again was change of driver and horses. No one was anxious for this stage, as it included a sixteen-mile prairie, without one house to break the monotony. The out trip across it was made during the night. To lose the road was too common for comment. Father would often come in saying: "Get me my big blanket. I must go up the road. The driver at Fontanelle wants to quit"-or is a new one, or a horse is sick, lame, or it's too dark, muddy or snowy to trust a driver alone across that prairie. One night the snow had covered the ground, and three times the driver called, "Colonel, I'm off the road!" Father would get out, walk back and forth in opposite directions of the road, and so find it. One of the passen- gers remarked : "Who is that accommodating fellow? They would find the road themselves for all me!" After the sixteen-mile prairie came Whitneyville. Frank Whitney and his little, pretty and deaf wife owned a fine farm there. Frank became ambitious and laid out a town on it, built a good schoolhouse, hired a young lady teacher at $35 a month, as there was plenty of money in the school fund for the three pupils in the school district. Last I knew of the town there had been two houses built. The last stop and "Face about !" was Lewis. There were very good people there- no saloons, but one grocery sold beer. There were no licenses then.
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