USA > Iowa > Marion County > History of Marion County, Iowa, and its people, Volume I > Part 11
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Francis A. Barker was a native of Dutchess County, New York, where he was born on April 2, 1798. When nineteen years of age he went to Western Virginia, where he was engaged in teaching school for about two years. He then went to Washington County, Ohio, where he married in 1827, and was engaged in various lines of business until overtaken by financial failure. In 1844 he turned over to his creditors all he possessed and came to Iowa to start anew. He selected a tract of land in section 14, township 75, range 18, not far from the Des Moines River, and after undergoing the hardships of the frontier succeeded in amassing a competence. He was elected the first probate judge of Marion County in 1845, and during the legislative session of 1854-55 he was enrolling clerk in one branch of the Assembly. In 1855 he was appointed warden of the penitentiary at Fort Madison, which position he held until in 1858, when he re- turned to his farm in Clay Township. During the Civil war he was
18106
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stricken with paralysis. He then sold his farm and removed to Knox- ville, where he died on January 17, 1871.
A luxury enjoyed by the early settlers in this part of the county was wild honey, which the bees stored up in the hollow trunks and branches of trees. Donnel says that bee-trees were so plentiful the women would sometimes hunt them as a sort of diversion. As most of the land was then unclaimed by private owners, the finder of a bee-tree had no difficulty in appropriating its stores. It was his "by right of discovery."
In the summer of 1849 a man came from Red Rock to the Clay Township settlement and was soon afterward taken ill. With true neighborly kindness the citizens joined in contributing to his com- fort and were soon afterward surprised to learn that his disease was smallpox. About sixty cases resulted, several of which proved fatal. Among those who died of the scourge were Thomas Gregory and Andrew Foster.
First Things-The first house in the township was built by An- drew Foster. It was located in section 33, township 76, range 18, not far from where the Wabash Railroad now crosses the Des Moines River. The first orchard was planted by Benajah Williams, who afterward sold his farm to George W. Harsin and went to Oskaloosa, where he died in 1848. The first postoffice was established at Dur- ham's Ford early in the year 1849, with Charles H. Durham as postmaster. After a few months the office was removed to the Eng- lish settlement, in the western part of the township.
The first school was taught by David T. Durham, but the date when it was taught cannot be ascertained. The schoolhouse was the little cabin erected by Andrew Foster for a dwelling upon coming to the township. Mr. Durham's pupils numbered about a dozen from the few families residing within convenient distance. Accord- ing to the report of the county superintendent of schools for the year 1914, Clay then had eight schoolhouses valued at $4,850, in which ten teachers were employed. In addition to these district schools, four teachers were employed in the Town of Tracy, and four at Harvey, the school buildings in these two towns being valued at $6,200. The number of school children was 413.
Clay is well provided with transportation facilities. The Wabash and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroads both enter the town- ship near the southeast corner and run almost parallel to each other to a point near the Town of Harvey, where the latter turns west. The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific crosses the northern portion. Durham, Harvey and Tracy are the principal towns.
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In 1910 the population of the township was 1,321, an increase of 57 over the census of ten years before. The valuation of the taxable property in 1913 was $1,252,552.
DALLAS TOWNSHIP
Dallas occupies the southwest corner of the county and is co- extensive with congressional township 74, range 21, being six miles square. It was organized by the board of county commissioners on October 3, 1848, and as at first erected it included the present Town- ship of Franklin. When Franklin was attached to Pleasant Grove Township in 1852, Dallas was reduced to its present dimensions of thirty-six square miles. It is bounded on the north by Franklin Township ; on the east by Washington ; on the south by Lucas County, and on the west by the County of Warren. The White Breast Creek flows in a northeasterly direction across the northwest corner, and Long Branch, a confluent of the English Creek, crosses the south- eastern portion. These streams, with their minor tributaries, afford ample drainage and water for stock to the greater part of the township.
As this township lies west of the Red Rock line, where the Sac and Fox Indians remained in possession of the land until October, 1845, it was one of the last in the county to be settled. William Willis, Leander Bennett and Nicholas Helms and his four sons settled in this part of the county in 1846. Bennett remained but a short time, when he sold his claim to Alloys Bauer. Settlement was slow at first, but in 1848 the population was increased by the arrival of Thomas Kirton, Hiram Teakel, Henry Wagoner, Joseph and Alloys Bauer and Peter Yrentz. Other pioneers were Henry Hors- man, Jacob Feight and Jacob Smith.
The western part of the township was settled largely by Germans, part of whom were Lutherans and part were Catholics. Churches of both these denominations were organized in 1854. An account of these early religious organizations will be found in the chapter on Church History.
Probably in no part of Marion County were the hardships of frontier life better exemplified than in Dallas Township. Nicholas Helms and his sons settled in the southwestern part and soon after- ward the elder Helms put up a small hand mill, turned by a crank, which was the only mill of any character within reach of the settlers during the severe winter of 1848-49. The snow was so deep that it was impossible to get to the larger mills, several miles away, and the
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little hand mill was kept going almost day and night grinding small quantities of corn, each customer taking his turn at the crank. Just before the severe weather set in, Joseph Bauer took four bushels of corn to Burch's mill on the White Breast Creek and had it converted into meal. This, with what little grinding he could get done on Helms' hand mill and an occasional mess of pounded hominy, was the only breadstuff of the family until the snow melted off so that another trip could be made to the mill. Some of the settlers were without earthen vessels, barrels, or even boxes in which to store their supplies of provisions, so they dug out troughs from short sections of trees and used them as receptacles for their meal, hominy, etc.
Jacob Smith planted the first orchard in the township, but failed to give it proper attention and most of the trees perished from neglect. The first marriage was that of Jesse Helms and Miss Sarena Wind, whose parents lived in Lucas County. This wedding was solemnized on Christmas day in 1847, and their son Henry, born the following year, was the first white child born in the township. The first elec- tion was held in November, 1848, at which nine votes were cast, but the record of that election has not been preserved. At an election on April 5, 1852, Joseph Bauer and William J. McClain were elected justices of the peace ; Peter Yrentz, Alloys Bauer and Thomas Kirton, trustees; Hiram Teakel and John Clark, constables. The voting place was at the house of Thomas Kirton, in the northern part of the township.
The first school was taught by Asa Davis in 1852, in a round log cabin erected for a schoolhouse, but the exact location of this first temple of learning in Dallas is not obtainable at this late day. Henry R. Klingman was the second teacher. In the school year of 1913-14 there were eight teachers employed in the district schools, exclusive of those in the incorporated Town of Dallas, and the eight school buildings were valued at $6,600.
For many years Dallas was without a railroad, but recently the Minneapolis, Des Moines & Kansas City division of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific system was completed through the township, giving the farmers in that part of the county an opportunity of mar- keting their products without the long haul they formerly had to make. Melcher and Dallas, on this line of railway, and Newbern, in the southwest corner, are the principal towns.
Dallas Township was named in honor of George M. Dallas, who was vice president of the United States at the time the township was organized. In 1910 the population, according to the United States
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census, was 980, and in 1913 the taxable property was valued at $1,247,656, exclusive of the property in the incorporated towns of Dallas and Melcher.
FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP
The territory now comprising Franklin Township was included within the limits of Dallas Township until in 1852, when it was at- tached to Pleasant Grove. In the winter of 1854-55 a petition was circulated among the citizens, asking for the erection of a new town- ship, and on February 28, 1855, Judge Joseph Brobst, judge of the County Court, granted the petition, ordering the erection of a dis- tinct township to be known as Franklin. It was so named in honor of Benjamin Franklin, one of the signers of the Declaration of In- dependence.
Franklin Township includes congressional township 77, range 21, and has an area of thirty-six square miles, or 23,040 acres. The greater part of the township is prairie, less broken than in other parts of the county, and as the soil is above the average in fertility, some of the best farms in the county are in this township. Along the White Breast Creek, which crosses the southeast corner, there is some native timber, and also along Coon Creek, which flows across the northwest corner. The township is bounded on the north by Pleasant Grove Township; on the east by Knoxville; on the south by Dallas, and on the west by Warren County.
The first election in the township was held at the house of John Clark on April 2, 1855, when Isaac Capelin, Samuel B. Wilson and Warren McNeil were elected trustees; John McNeil and John Miller, justices of the peace; J. W. Hightree, clerk; John Clark, assessor ; William Sweezy and Samuel Ream, constables.
Nathan Nichols was probably the first white man to establish a home in what is now Franklin Township. In 1846, accompanied by Mrs. Amanda Hewland, a widow and a relative of Mr. Nichols, he located a claim south of the White Breast Creek. After a time a disagreement arose between Mr. Nichols and Mrs. Hewland's grown son, and the former took up his abode in a little cabin a short dis- tance from the one where they had all formerly lived together. Here he was found dead one morning, his death being attributed to exces- sive draughts of buttermilk taken the evening before.
James Frakes, Peter Row and William Frazer settled in the township in 1848; John Clark, in 1849; Daniel F. Smith, in 1850, and J. W. Hightree, in 1852. Twenty years later John Clark and
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Daniel F. Smith were the only ones still living in the township, the others having died or moved away. Clark was born in Tennessee on January 14, 1815. On June 26, 1849, he arrived in Knoxville, Marion County, and soon afterward traded William Frazer a land warrant for a timber claim on White Breast Creek, where he built a cabin and took possession on the 26th of July. At that time there were no near neighbors, and Mr. Clark secured the assistance of some friends in Knoxville in erecting his cabin, three days being required for the "raising."
The nearest mill to Mr. Clark was Haymaker's, on Cedar Creek in Liberty Township -- a distance of some twenty miles through a country that had no roads. In 1855 he went to Beach's mill (now Summerset) in Warren County, accompanied by Nathaniel Brown, and they had to wait for two days to get their grinding. Between Mr. Clark's home and the mill was a broad stretch of uninhabited prairie, without a tree or other landmark to guide the traveler, though someone had set stakes some distance apart to mark the trail. It was late in the day when they left the mill, with their wagon drawn by two yoke of cattle. At Hammondsburg they paused long enough to feed the oxen and then resumed their journey. Darkness overtook them on the prairie and Mr. Clark became so bewildered that he concluded to let the team go its own way, trusting to animal instinct to find the way home. But the oxen were either bewildered or untrustworthy, and toward midnight Mr. Clark found himself in the southwest corner of Marion County, several miles from home. To make matters worse, the wagon here became mired in a slough. Brown wanted to camp out until daylight, but Mr. Clark determined to proceed on his way in spite of the difficulties. After some time the wagon was rescued from its predicament, and then, taking certain stars by which to steer his course, Mr. Clark and his companion reached home about one o'clock in the morning. Such incidents were by no means rare in the early settlement of the country and this one is mentioned that the reader may form some idea of the hard- ships with which the pioneer had to contend.
The first orchards were planted in the township in 1852 by John Clark and Jackson McClain. The first religious services were held by a minister named Colborn. The first postoffice was established at Caloma in 1857 and Daniel F. Smith was the first postmaster. The first political speech was made by William M. Stone, editor of the Knoxville Journal and afterward governor of Iowa, in 1856, in favor of John C. Fremont for president.
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James Frakes, previously mentioned as one of the early settlers, removed to Wapello County, and Nathan Nichols taught a school in the cabin vacated by Frakes. This house was located in section 26, not far from the White Breast Creek and the school was taught in 1853-the first in the township. The first house built exclusively for school purposes was dedicated by a lecture on slavery delivered by Charles Smith, afterward a resident of Pleasantville. In 1914 there were eight independent school districts in the township, in which ten teachers were employed.
Franklin has over six miles of railroad, the Minneapolis, Des Moines & Kansas City branch of the Rock Island system entering the township from the north near Coon Creek and following a south- easterly course until it crosses the southern boundary in section 36. White Breast is the only railroad station within the township.
In 1910 the United States census gave the population of Franklin as 631, and in 1913 the assessed value of property was $1,044,584, or an average wealth per capita of over sixteen hundred dollars.
INDIANA TOWNSHIP
Indiana Township is one of the original ten organized by the board of county commissioners on January 6, 1847, and the boun- daries at that time established remain unchanged. It includes con- gressional township 74, range 19, and therefore has an area of thirty- six square miles. Many of the carly settlers were from the State of Indiana and for this reason the township was named in honor of the state from which they had come. It is bounded on the north by Knoxville Township; on the east by Liberty ; on the south by Monroe County, and on the west by the Township of Washington.
Prior to its organization, Indiana was a part of Round Grove precinct. At an election held in that precinct on April 8, 1846, the following persons voted: James Cade, John Campton, Nathaniel Day, David I. Deem, John Greenman, William D. Greenman, Jeremiah Gullion, Sr., Jeremiah Gullion, Jr., Nelson Hill, Allen Lowe, Alexander May, Martin Neel, John T. Pearce, James I. Pennell John Riddle, Benjamin Sherwood, W. T. Smith, Benjamin Spillman, Solomon Z. Tumbleson, James M. Walters, John Whit- latch, Noah Whitlatch, Isaac Wilsey.
This election was held for the purpose of selecting a delegate to the constitutional convention. James L. Warren received eleven votes and John Conrey twelve votes . Mr. Conrey was elected from
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
the district, which was composed of Marion, Iowa, Polk and Jasper counties.
One of the first settlers in the township was Alexander May, a native of Kentucky, where he was born on January 5, 1801. In 1816 he went to Indiana and lived in Orange, Fountain and Montgomery counties of that state until 1843, when he located in Indiana Town- ship. Some years later, while in a reminiscent mood, he gave the following account of his first year's experience in Marion County :
"In the fall, having to lay in our provisions for the winter, John Riddle and I took my ox wagon and four yoke of oxen and drove to the old purchase. Having to work for our grain, we put in three weeks of steady labor, by which we paid for forty-five bushels of fall wheat and thirty bushels of old corn, one barrel of salt, one side of sole leather and one of upper. We got our grinding done at Meek's mill, Bonaparte. No roads from Agency till we got home, only as the immigrant had made them. We were thirty-five days from home.
"The first grain we raised was threshed in the old-fashioned way with horses and fanned with a sheet. As soon as it was ready we took it to Farmington to mill, the trip occupying fifteen days. The first wheat we got ground at Haymaker's we bolted through book muslin stretched over a hoop."
Other settlers who came in 1843 were Noah Whitlatch, William Carlisle, George Henry, John Riddle, Samuel Nicholson, Allen Lowe, William Shanks and Samuel M. Coolly. The next year came James Cade, Jeremiah Gullion, Benjamin Sherwood and David Sweem. Isaac Kelsey and Lewis Pierce joined the colony in 1845, and John Bonebrake came in 1846.
In a previous chapter mention has been made of the claim asso- ciations. An instance of what these organizations could accomplish is seen in the early history of Indiana Township. A man named Jacobs had been employed as a surveyor in that part of Marion County and afterward took up his residence in Fairfield. From that point he wrote to Lewis Pierce, the builder of the first courthouse, for several numbers of unclaimed lands. Pierce forwarded several numbers and either intentionally or by mistake included tracts claimed by some of the settlers, among them the claims of Alexander May, Benjamin Sherwood and Isaac Kelsey. Jacobs entered the land in accordance with the law and when the fact became known in Indiana Township there was great excitement among the mem- bers of the claim association. This was in 1847, soon after the town. . ship was organized. A meeting was called and a committee of
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three was appointed to arrest Pierce and bring him before the club for trial. The committee had no trouble in finding Pierce, but he flatly refused to appear before the club, and backed his refusal by presenting a revolver. The committee returned, made a report and received reinforcements. Pierce then yielded to the demand and explained that he was not guilty of any intentional wrong. He was released upon promising to rectify his mistake, and no doubt made an honest effort to keep his promise. Not long after this Jacobs was apprised of the state of affairs and warned that the association might visit him at Fairfield to demand reparation. He therefore wrote to the claimants that he would deed them the land on receipt of the entrance money with interest at six per cent per annum. The claim- ants agreed to this proposal, which was sanctioned by the association, and the war was over. Just what would have happened to Mr. Pierce had he been convicted of willfully violating the rules of the associa- tion and refused to make reparation can only be conjectured.
The first clection of which any authentic record has been pre- served was held at the house of Benjamin F. Williams, in Attica, April 5, 1852. Fifty-three votes were cast and the following officers were elected : Nathaniel Cockelreas, Jacob Bonebrake and Samuel M. Coolly, trustees; W. T. Smith and Harvey Manners, justices of the peace; Noah Bonebrake, clerk; Allen Lowe and John Campton, constables.
The first marriage in the township was that of Samuel Nicholson and Miss Eleanor, daughter of Alexander May, which occurred on June 1, 1844. The first religious services were held by Dr. James L. Warren at the house of Noah Whitlatch in the summer of 1843. The first postoffice was established at an early datc at the house of Alex- ander May and Benjamin Sherwood was appointed postmaster. Mails were received weekly from Knoxville.
The first school was taught by Fletcher Cain in 1845. His school house was a little cabin near the present Village of Attica and he had sixteen pupils enrolled. Two years later Harvey Manners taught a term in the same place and John B. Hays taught about two miles south of Attica. Miss Hessey May was also one of the early teachers. In 1914 there were ten school districts in the township, in which fourteen teachers were employed, and 234 pupils were enrolled.
Indiana has no railroad. Away from the streams the prairie is nearly level and easily cultivated, hence agriculture is the principal occupation. Along the streams there are rich deposits of coal. Mines were formerly worked in the southern part, near the north branch of Cedar Creek, and a short distance south of Attica, but for lack of
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transportation facilities they have been abandoned. The population of the township in 1910 was 775, and the assessed valuation of the property in 1913 was $1,079,324.
KNOXVILLE TOWNSHIP
This is the largest and most centrally located township in the county. Concerning its organization Donnel says: "At a called session of the Commissioners' Court, in November, 1846, it was ordered that town 75, and all of 76, lying south of the Des Moines River, both of range 19; also towns 75 and 76, range 20, be declared a township, to be known as Knoxville Township. This included, besides all of the present township, all of Polk on the south side of the river, all of Union up to the line of 77, and all of the present township of Pleasant Grove included in town 76, range 20. Elections to be held at the county seat."
By the order of January 6, 1847, Knoxville Township was reduced in size to "township 75 and all of 76 south of the Des Moines River in range 19." Polk was organized in 1848 and Union in 1850, which reduced Knoxville to its present dimensions. It is bounded on the north by the townships of Union and Polk; on the east by Clay; on the south by Indiana and Washington, and on the west by Franklin and Pleasant Grove. Its area is a fraction over one hundred square miles.
The surface is undulating- timber and prairie originally being about equal in area-and the soil is well adapted to agriculture. The White Breast Creek flows in a northeasterly direction across the west- ern and northern portions, and in the southeastern part is English Creek, which follows the same general course as the White Breast. The City of Knoxville is situated on the ridge between these two creeks, near the center of the township. Coal is abundant along the streams. Mines are worked near the White Breast in the southwest corner of the township and along English Creek above the Village of Flagler. Some coal has also been mined near Knoxville.
Prominent among the pioneers of this township were John M. Jones and his four sons-John, Isaac, George and William-Elias Fuller, John Conrey, L. C. Conrey, Tyler Overton, Conrad Walters, R. S. Lowry, John R. Welch, Landon J. Burch, William Burch, John Essex, Lysander W. Babbitt, Christopher Cox, Lawson G. Terry and Michael Livingston, all of whom had located in the township by 1845.
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John M. Jones, credited with being the first white man to locate in the county, was a native of Ohio and a wood turner by trade. Prior to his settling in Marion County he had been an employee of the American Fur Company. He selected his claim on the White Breast Creek in 1842 and spent the winter in a camp there. As soon as the land was opened to settlement he brought his family to the new home in the wilderness. Soon afterward he built a lathe and began the work of turning wooden bowls out of walnut timber. When he had a wagon load ready, his son John would start out to peddle them among the settlers in the older settlements farther east. A load of this wooden ware would buy a load of corn, which John would have ground into meal at Keosauqua, and by this means the family was kept supplied with breadstuff. Mr. Jones afterward became the proprietor of the Knoxville Woolen Mills.
Landon J. Burch, accompanied by his brother William, came to the Des Moines Valley early in the year 1844, and after looking around for awhile selected a claim on the White Breast, where he built a grist mill the next year. This was the first mill in the township.
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