USA > Iowa > Marion County > History of Marion County, Iowa, and its people, Volume I > Part 12
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34
Conrad Walters was a member of the first board of county com- missioners, elected in September, 1845. He was born in Pennsyl- vania in 1794; removed in 1814 to Wilmington, Ohio, where he learned the printer's trade; worked in various places until 1839, when he located at Mount Pleasant, lowa, and in October, 1844, settled about six miles southeast of Knoxville. Subsequently he became a resident of Knoxville, where his death occurred on July 28, 1870.
It is believed that Tyler Overton planted the first orchard in the township. In the latter part of May, 1843, he and Henry Miller came to the southern part of the township, each carrying a supply of provisions they had obtained in the Welch settlement north of the Des Moines River. After staking out their claims they erected a bark shanty in a little piece of timber and kept bachelor's hall while im- proving their claims. In the spring of 1844 Mr. Overton went to Henry County and bought sixty apple trees, which he planted on his frontier farm. On December 19, 1844, Mr. Overton married Miss Rebecca, daughter of Alexander May, of Indiana Township.
John Conrey settled a few miles south of the City of Knoxville in March, 1845. He was a native of Clermont County, Ohio, where he was born in June, 1811. Upon coming to Iowa in 1839 he first settled in Henry County, where he followed farming until his removal to Marion County. Mr. Conrey took an active part in the
110
HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
affairs of the county and was a delegate to the constitutional conven- tion of 1846. His death occurred on December 14, 1885.
The first election in what is now Knoxville Township was held in April, 1846, while it was still known as Knoxville precinct. Twenty- five votes were cast. Richard R. Watts was elected justice of the peace and Michael Livingston, constable. At the election in August, 1846, only four months later, sixty-four votes were cast, which will give the reader some idea of how rapidly the population of the county was increasing.
F. Monahan taught the first school in Knoxville, in 1846, in a cabin that stood not far from the present Chicago, Burlington & Quincy passenger station. He had twenty-five pupils enrolled. Mr. Monahan, who was a native of Ohio, came to Knoxville in the early part of 1846 and a few months later took up a claim on the White Breast Creek. Another pioneer teacher was John Shearer, who also came to the township in 1846. His school was taught in a little cabin originally built by John R. Welch for a stable. Mr. Shearer received two dollars per scholar and "boarded round," thus enabling some of the parents to pay their children's tuition by boarding the teacher. The teacher was a good marksman and spent his leisure time in hunt- ing. On one of his expeditions he secured enough venison to last the family with whom he was stopping for several weeks. Concerning his school Donnel says: "Rabbits were numerous in the surrounding brush and so tame that some of them would frequently come into the house during school hours, to the great amusement of the twelve young ideas that Mr. Shearer was trying to teach how to shoot. At times, when the weather was warm and there was no excitement to keep the scholars awake, some of the younger ones would stretch themselves on the narrow benches and go to sleep. Occasionally one would fall off, which circumstance would keep the others awake for awhile."
The old log schoolhouse and the old time teacher have disap- peared and in 1914 Knoxville Township was divided into twenty school districts, exclusive of the City of Knoxville. Thirty-eight teachers were employed, 590 pupils enrolled, and the value of school property was $15,700. Over eight thousand dollars were paid to the teachers of the township during the school year of 1913-14.
The township has two lines of railroad. The Chicago, Burling- ton & Quincy enters it from the east a little north of the center and after passing through Knoxville turns more northwardly, leaving the township about a mile and a half south of the northwest corner.
JOHN M. JONES
First white man to settle in Marion County.
TILILLN
Nº
111
HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
Almost parallel to this road is a branch of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific system which has its western terminus at Knoxville.
Knoxville is not only the largest township in area, but it is also the most populous and wealthiest in the county. In 1910 the popula- tion (not including the City of Knoxville) was 2,496, and in 1913 the valuation of property outside of the city was $3,096,492. (See Chap- ter VIII for the history of Knoxville City.)
LAKE PRAIRIE TOWNSHIP
When the county commissioners, on March 2, 1846, divided the county into election precincts it was ordered: "That township 77 and all of townships 75 and 76 of range 18, north of the Des Moines River, shall constitute Lake Precinct." On January 6, 1847, the northern part of this precinct, embracing township 77, range 18, was erected into a township called Jefferson, and the southern portion was named Lake Township. These two townships were consolidated by a special act of the Legislature of 1847-48, under the name of "Lake Prairie." Donnel says: "This name was taken from the long lake extending two miles below Amsterdam, between which and the river lies an extensive and beautiful prairie."
The same authority says further: "On this prairie were once a couple of beautiful springs that were resorted to by the Indians of the village near by and attracted the attention of the settlers by their peculiar appearance and character. They were from ten to fifteen feet wide and one of them of unknown depth, filled with a very light sediment, through which no solid bottom could be reached by sound- ing with the longest poles. The water would rise and fall, and from the subterranean depths would occasionally come a sound resembling thunder. The Indians called it Thunder Spring."
It is believed that the lake from which the township took its name was at some remote period the bed of the Des Moines River, and that a drift or ice gorge at the upper end forced the river to cut a new channel. Gradually the old bed filled up and on modern maps the lake is no longer shown.
Lake Prairie Township occupies the northeast corner of the county and next to Knoxville is the largest township in the county. It is six miles wide from cast to west and on the eastern boundary line of the county is fourteen miles long. Its area is a little over seventy square miles. On the north it is bounded by Jasper County; on the east by Mahaska County; on the south by the Des Moines River, which separates it from Clay Township, and on the west by the town- ships of Polk and Summit. Skunk River crosses the northeastern
112
HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
part and Thunder Creek flows in an eastward direction through the center of the township. Along the streams there was originally a heavy growth of timber, but the greater part of the surface consisted of rolling prairie.
The first attempt to form a white settlement in what is now Lake Prairie Township was in the fall of 1842, when George Henry, James Carnilius and another man selected claims and built three small pole cabins, after which they returned to Missouri to spend the winter. Upon returning the next spring they found that their cabins had been destroyed by the United States dragoons who were guarding the Indian lands against intruders. When the land was opened to settle- ment on May 1, 1843, a number of persons selected claims in this part of the county. Among them were Levi and Wellington Nossaman, George Gillaspy, John B. and Robert Hamilton, William Welch, Thomas Tuttle, Wilson Stanley, Jasper Koons, Green T. Clark, John Gillaspy, John and William George, Jacob C. Brown, Ose Matthews, Sr., Ose Matthews, Jr., Reuben, Homer, Simpson B. and Warren Matthews, George Reynolds, William Cayton, Asa Koons, Ray Alfrey and William Bainbridge.
The Matthews family was of New England stock, Ose Matthews. Sr., having been born in Massachusetts in March, 1784. His two sons, Reuben and Homer, were physicians. George Reynolds and Ray Alfrey were sons-in-law of Mr. Matthews and the latter's daugh- ter, Amanda L., who was born on January 18, 1844, was the first white child born in Marion County north of the Des Moines River. In 1846 or 1847 all the members of this family sold their lands to the Hollanders and the elder Matthews took a new claim in what is now Union Township. He died at the home of his son-in-law, George Reynolds, in Summit Township, December 20, 1865.
At the first election for county officers, on the first Monday in September, 1845, Green T. Clark was elected assessor and Welling- ton Nossaman, coroner. Mr. Nossaman was born in Monroe County, Virginia, in 1817. When two years of age his parents removed to Kentucky and in 1832 to Indiana. Ten years later Wellington came to Jefferson County, Iowa, and later to Mahaska County, where he assisted in building the first courthouse. In April, 1843, he made a claim in the southern part of what is now Lake Prairie Township, built a pole shanty with a bark roof, planted a patch of corn, and then erected a permanent cabin. His wife and Mrs. Levi Nossaman were the only women in the settlement until late in the summer of 1843. Mr. Nossaman was also the first constable of Lake Prairie Township, and William Bainbridge was the first justice of the peace.
113
HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
William Welch was born at Huntsville, North Carolina, January 1, 1800. In 1827 he went to Wayne County, Indiana, and from there to Illinois. In 1836 he located at Bonaparte, Van Buren County, lowa, where he established a pottery-the first in the Territory of Iowa. In 1844 he settled about four miles south of the present City of Pella, in a tract of timber. Here he erected a pottery and in connec- tion with Wellington Nossaman built what they called a "stump mill" for grinding corn. It was operated by horse power and had a capacity of about one bushel of corn per hour. Later in the year they added a saw mill-also run by horse power- and made the first lum- ber north of the Des Moines River. Some years later Mr. Nossaman, in connection with Joseph Porter, built a steam saw mill in Pella, which was the first concern of any kind in the county to be operated by steam.
The early dwellings were temporary structures. The first per- manent cabin, built of round logs, was erected by John B. Hamilton late in the summer of 1843. Mr. Hamilton was also one of the first settlers to plant an orchard, he and Green T. Clark setting out some apple trees in the spring of 1847. He went to Kansas in 1862.
Thomas Tuttle located near where Pella now stands in May, 1843. His wife helped him to build a small cabin in the timber north of the town, and soon afterward he took up a claim that included part of the site of the city, erecting his claim pen on what afterward became "Garden Square." This pen, or cabin, remained standing and was occupied part of the time for several years after the city had grown up around it.
In August, 1843, Abram, James, Samuel and William Buffington settled about three miles north of Tuttle, not far from the Skunk River, and the neighborhood was known for years as the "Buffington Settlement." They were Mr. Tuttle's nearest neighbors for more than a year.
John W. Alley, who settled near the old Indian village, not far from Durham's Ford, was the first lawyer to become a resident of Marion County, and Dr. James L. Warren, who was also a Metho- dist minister, was probably the first physician to practice his profes- sion in the county.
Many of the early settlers sold their lands to the Hollanders and removed elsewhere. A history of the Holland colony will be found in the chapter devoted to the City of Pella.
A branch of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad passes through the township from southeast to northwest a little south of the center, and the Wahash Railroad follows the course of the Des Vol. I-8
114
HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
Moines River in the southwestern part. Pella on the former line and Howell on the latter are the only railroad stations within the township limits.
In population and wealth Lake Prairie occupies the second place in the county. According to the United States census of 1910 the population then was 4,648, including the City of Pella, and in 1913 the assessed value of property was $2,251,960, not including the prop- erty of Pella. The township is divided into sixteen school districts, which employed twenty-two teachers during the school year of 1913-14.
LIBERTY TOWNSHIP
Liberty Township occupies the southeast corner of the county and is coextensive with Congressional township 74, range 18, having an area of thirty-six square miles. Cedar Creek flows in a northeasterly direction diagonally across the township and in the vicinity. of this stream and its tributaries are a number of coal mines, some of the veins measuring ten feet or more in thickness. In 1846 one of these veins in the southern part of the township (section 32) was found to be on fire. How long it had been burning before the fire was dis- covered is not known, but it continued to burn until the flood of June, 1851, when the fire was extinguished by the heavy rains. Along the streams the first white men found a heavy growth of timber, with smaller groves here and there, so that the area was about equally divided between timber land and prairie.
When the county commissioners divided the county into election precincts on March 2, 1846, the territory now comprising Liberty Township was included in Cedar precinct, but on April 15, 1846, it was ordered that township 74, range 18, be made an election precinct by the name of "Liberty." Thus it remained until January 6, 1847, when it was designated as Liberty Township, with its present boun- daries, to-wit: On the north by Clay Township; on the east by Mahaska County; on the south by Monroe County; and on the west by the Township of Indiana.
It is quite probable that Martin Neel was the first white man to establish a domicile within the present limits of the township. Just when he settled on Cedar Creek, not far from the present Town of Marysville, is not definitely known, but the date is supposed to have been before the Indian title to the land was extinguished on May 1, 1843. Mr. Neel was a Kentuckian by birth and in establishing his home so far in advance of the margin of civilization he invited all the
115
HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
hardships and privations incident to life on the frontier. On one occasion, when the household supplies ran low, he found it necessary to leave home for a short time to work in some of the older settle- ments to obtain the money with which to replenish the larder. He went to Burlington, leaving his wife and two children in that cabin in the wilderness, with no human beings except Indians anywhere ncar. After an absence of two weeks he returned with half a bushel of corn meal that he had carried all the way from Burlington, making the journey on foot. Some years later he removed with his family to Missouri and became an officer in the Confederate army in the Civil war.
Horace Lyman came to what is now Liberty Township in April, 1843, in company with Stanford Doud, and for a time the two men lived in a camp on Cedar Creek, near where Haymaker's mill was afterward built. On the first day of May, 1843, he established his claim and in the fall of that year sowed a small field of wheat-the first ever sown in this part of the county. In 1864 Mr. Lyman removed to Mahaska county, where he became a prosperous farmer and stock dealer.
Others who settled in this part of Marion County in 1843 were : David Haymaker, Andrew McGruder, Stanford Doud, Jacob Hen- dricks, Silas Brown, Lewis Jones, Benjamin Spillman and David Gushwa. In 1844 William Simms and Thurston Day located in the township; James A. Rousseau and Isaac Wilsey came in 1845, and H. H. Mitchell and William Bridges in 1846.
Stanford Doud came from Ohio and at the first election after the organization of the county was elected clerk of the Commissioners' Court, but failed to qualify. He was foreman of the first grand jury cver impaneled in the county. In 1847 he was elected county surveyor and in that capacity he laid out several of the early towns.
Rhoderick Peck and two men named Sadorus and Pyatt settled in the northern part of the township at an early date, but after a short residence sold their claims and went back to Illinois. When gold was discovered in California in 1849 they went to the Pacific coast The first election in what is now Liberty Township was held at the house of Rhoderick Peck, but no record of the event can be found.
The earliest election of which the record has been preserved was held at the house of Martin Neel on the first Monday in April, 1850, when Isaac Wilsey, William H. Brobst and Daniel Sampson were elected trustees; Joseph Brobst, clerk; Horace Lyman, treasurer; Isaac Wilsey and Andrew McGruder, constables. Thirty-one votes were cast.
116
HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
The first postoffice established in the township was called Elm Grove, with James A. Rousseau as postmaster. It was established about 1845 or 1846, but the exact date is uncertain.
David Haymaker taught the first school in the winter of 1846-47 in a claim pen near Haymaker's mill. The first house erected for a schoolhouse was a hewed log structure, in which the first school was taught by a man named Turk. The building was afterward pur- chased by a Mr. Gregg and occupied as a dwelling. In 1914 there were four school districts, exclusive of the schools in the towns of Bussey, Hamilton and Marysville, and in the four district schools were employed six teachers. The four school buildings were valued at $3,250.
Liberty has two lines of railroad-the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and the Wabash. These two lines run almost parallel to each other through the eastern part, passing through the towns of Hamil- ton and Bussey, and a branch of the latter leaves the main line at Tracy and runs up the Cedar Creek valley to Everist. There are also a few short spurs running to the coal mines.
The population of Liberty Township in 1910, according to the United States census, was 2,998, a gain of 567 during the preceding ten years. In 1913 the assessed valuation of property, exclusive of the incorporated towns of Bussey, Hamilton and Marysville, was $1,005,004.
CHAPTER VII TOWNSHIP HISTORY, CONTINUED
PERRY TOWNSHIP-PLEASANT GROVE-POLK-RED ROCK-AN INDIAN VOTER-SUMMIT-SWAN-AN EXAMPLE OF FRONTIER JUSTICE- UNION-WASHINGTON-HISTORICAL SKETCH OF EACH TOWNSHIP -PIONEERS AND THEIR EXPERIENCES-EARLY SCHOOLS AND ELEC- TIONS-RAILROADS-POPULATION AND WEALTH.
PERRY TOWNSHIP
Perry is the smallest township in the county. It occupies the northeast corner of the county and embraces that part of congres- sional township 77, range 21, lying north of the Des Moines River. On the north it is bounded by Jasper County ; on the east by Red Rock Township; on the south by the Des Moines River, which separates it from Swan Township, and on the west by Polk County. Its area is about twelve square miles.
This is one of the original ten civil townships established by the county commissioners on January 6, 1847, when it was erected under the name of "Cincinnati Township." The only record that shows how the name was changed is the erasure of the word Cincinnati in the commissioners' minute book and the word Perry written above. It is said, however, the name Perry was adopted, soon after the town- ship was organized, in honor of Commodore Perry, who won the decisive naval battle on Lake Erie in the War of 1812.
As originally created, the township included all of township 77. range 21, embracing, in addition to the present Township of Perry, all of Swan Township. The early elections were held north of the river and the great flood of 1851 caused some dissatisfaction among the settlers in the southern part and in 1852 Perry was reduced to its present size.
The surface is generally somewhat hilly, except in the bottom lands along the river, and was originally covered with a growth of timber. Coal deposits are found along the Des Moines River, but the mines have not been developed to any extent, except at Morgan
117
118
HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
Valley, on the Wabash Railroad, where the Wild Rose Company formerly operated large mines, now exhausted.
Perry is situated west of the old Indian boundary line and was not subject to settlement until the fall of 1845. In that year the fol- lowing persons located claims: Joshua Lindsey, Robert Allison, Mordecai Yearns, Daniel Kyger, Asa Hughes, Charles Owen, Alfred Vertrice and Hezekiah Jay. (The last name appears in some of the early histories of Marion County as "Gay," but in book A, page 66, in the county recorder's office, the name is written "Jay" in connection with the founding of the Town of Perryville.) In 1846 came Thomas Carr, William Hughes, Joseph McWilliams, William Gregory, Samuel Waterman, Peter Braus and his two sons-James M. and Benjamin.
In the establishment of election precincts, on March 2, 1846, all that part of the county "west of the old Indian boundary and north of the Des Moines River," was made the Gopher Prairie Precinct, with the voting place at the house of Asa Hughes. When Cincinnati Township (now Perry) was erected the following January it was ordered that the first election should be held at the house of William Markly. Mr. Markly lived south of the Des Moines River, in what is now Swan Township. The first township officers were: Asa Hughes, Joshua Lindsey and Harrison Freel, trustees ; Daniel Kyger and Hezekiah Gay (or Jay), justices of the peace; James M. Braus, clerk; Joshua Lindsey and James M. Braus, constables.
Among the pioneers was a family named Moon. It seems that Mrs. Moon had all the qualifications required by a woman of the frontier. One day, during her husband's absence, she learned that their young dogs had a deer at bay not far from the house. Taking a rifle, she started out to reconnoiter, and in order to see over the tops of the tall weeds climbed upon a log that lay over a stump and was elevated some distance from the ground. From this point of vantage she could see the deer plainly, only a short distance away, and taking deliberate aim fired. But just then she lost her balance and fell to the ground, before she had time to discover the effect of her shot. For- tunately she was not hurt, and she hurried forward to look for the game. She found the deer down, apparently dead, but when she went a little closer to make sure the wounded and enraged animal offered combat, knocking her down and tearing off part of her clothing with its sharp hoofs. Mrs. Moon, though somewhat bruised, did not lose her presence of mind, but rolled under a log, where the infuriated deer could not reach her. Then emerging from the other side she quickly reloaded the gun and shot the deer through the head, putting
119
HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
an end to its suffering and laying in a supply of venison for the family.
The first religious services in the township were conducted by a Methodist minister named Kline. The first school was taught by Miss Patience Drouillard at her residence in 1850, with from fifteen to twenty scholars in attendance. James M. Braus taught the second school and had about thirty scholars enrolled. The first regular schoolhouse, a hewed log structure, was built by William Cowman, at a cost of about one hundred dollars. In 1914 there were four school districts, in which six teachers were employed and 106 pupils were enrolled.
Perry, being the smallest of the townships, is naturally the lowest in wealth and population. The United States census for 1910 gives the population as 351, and the assessed value of taxable property in 1913 was $365,336.
The Wabash Railroad runs through the township, following in a general way the course of the Des Moines River. Percy and Morgan Valley are the railroad stations. At the latter place the railroad com- pany has run a short spur to some coal mines north of the village.
PLEASANT GROVE TOWNSHIP
Pleasant Grove is one of the western tier of townships, being situ- ated northwest of the center of the county upon the highest land within the county limits-a beautiful prairie, interspersed with small groves, from which the township takes its name. It embraces con- gressional township 76, range 21, and has an area of thirty-six square miles. On the north it is bounded by Swan Township; on the east by the townships of Union and Knoxville; on the south by Franklin, and on the west by Warren County.
This is one of the ten townships erected by the order of January 6, 1847. As at first established it included townships 75 and 76, range 21-the present civil townships of Franklin and Pleasant Grove. It was reduced to its present dimensions by the organization of Franklin Township in 1855.
Shortly after the land was opened to settlement in the fall of 1845, William D. Halsey settled in section 21, about a mile southwest of the present Town of Pleasantville, and is credited with having been the first white man to establish a home within the limits of the town- ship. Mr. Halsey was a bachelor and came to Marion County from Ohio. His death occurred on April 27, 1855, at the home of Lewis Reynolds.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.