USA > Iowa > Marion County > History of Marion County, Iowa, and its people, Volume I > Part 34
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342
HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
Faris and Sheriff Hawk, of Jasper County, went to St. Louis imme- diately and traced the bank notes to a man named Brannan, who was found at a hotel in company with a Miss Flanders. Sheriff Hawk placed the couple under arrest and more than three thousand dollars of the stolen money was found upon Brannan's person. Upon return- ing home his residence was searched and about fifteen hundred dol- lars more were recovered.
From statements made by the Flanders woman, and also from some documents found by the authorities, John Barcus was impli- cated in the robbery. He was located at Atchison, Kansas, and ar- rested. The three prisoners were tried at the next term of the Dis- trict Court and sentenced to terms in the penitentiary. During the trial it developed that Horry Williams, who had killed Keeton three years before and had escaped from the officer on the way to the peni- tentiary, was in the county at the time of the robbery and was at least an accessory. Search for him was immediately instituted and he was finally located at Mineral Center, about forty miles south of Deadwood, South Dakota. He was arrested in March, 1877, and was brought to Knoxville, but was soon afterward taken to the peni- tentiary at Fort Madison for safe keeping. In May he was brought back to Marion County for trial and admitted having received some of the stolen money. He was sentenced to five years in the peniten- tiary. Altogether about forty-six hundred dollars of the money was recovered, but a large part of it was consumed by the expenses of the pursuit and prosecution. Horry Williams went to Idaho after serving his term and John Barcus died at the home of his daughter- in-law, Mrs. William Barcus, in Des Moines on April 13, 1910, his son William having died about a week before, following an opera- tion for appendicitis. Brannan finally became totally blind and when last heard from, in 1902 or 1903, was a resident of Sioux Coun- ty, Iowa.
JIM LANE'S TRAIL.
The Territory of Kansas was organized under the provisions of the famous Kansas-Nebraska Bill in 1854, and immediately a strug- gle between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery advocates commenced to decide whether Kansas should be a free or a slave state. The direct route from the East to Kansas lay through the State of Missouri and the first emigrants from the free states went via St. Louis and Kan- sas City. The organization of emigrant aid societies in some of the free states was a "thorn in the side" of the slaveholding element and
343
HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
in 1855 the people of Missouri began to harass emigrants from the East and North by arresting them upon trivial charges and otherwise delaying their progress, hoping thereby to intimidate persons from those sections of the country from seeking homes in Kansas.
The aid societies then began looking for a route by which Kansas could be reached without passing through the hostile country. On June 10, 1856, a mass meeting was held at Iowa City for the purpose of awakening interest in the cause of "Bleeding Kansas." After the public meeting a private meeting was held, at which the following address to the people of Iowa was prepared :
"To the friends of the Kansas Free State Cause in Iowa: The undersigned have been appointed a committee to act in connection with similar committees in Chicago, and other states, and with com- mittees of like character to be appointed in various counties of this state. and especially in those counties lying west and southwest of us.
"The plan of operation is the establishment of a direct route and speedy communication for eastern emigrants into Kansas. The com- mittee have appointed George D. Woodin, William Sanders and Capt. S. N. Hartwell to visit your place for the purpose of having a committee appointed there to facilitate the general plan of operations and carry out the details. They will explain to you the minutiæ of this plan at greater length than we are able to do in this communi- cation.
"Captain Hartwell is a member of the Legislature in Kansas and is recently from the scene of the ruffian atrocities which have been committed in that embryo state.
"We have here pledged our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honors to make Kansas a free state, and we shall expect our friends from this place westward to give us their hearty cooperation.
"Yours in the cause of freedom,
"W. P. CLARK, Chairman, "C. W. HOBART, Secretary, "H. D. DOWNEY, Treasurer, "I. N. JEROME, "LYMAN ALLEN, "J. TEESDALE, "M. L. MORRIS."
Pursuant to this address, George D. Woodin made a tour of the counties lying west of Iowa City and established committees to aid any emigrants who might pass through Iowa. The committee in Marion County was composed of J. M. Bayley, James Mathews,
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
Hiram W. Curtis, William M. Stone, James Sample and Joseph Brobst.
A few weeks after the Iowa City meeting a large number of emigrants crossed the Mississippi River at Davenport and proceeded westward over the new route. The leader of this party was James H. Lane, a native of Indiana and a veteran of the Mexican war, who afterward became United States senator from Kansas. At Sigourney Lane was met by John Brown, who explained fully the conditions in Kansas and urged Lane and his friends to hasten forward as rapidly as possible.
When the emigrants reached Knoxville the main body encamped on White Breast Creek, west of the town, but Lane stopped at the hotel. The next day a large number of people gathered to celebrate the event and Lane made one of his characteristic speeches. It was noticed that the emigrants had in their train a peculiar looking vehicle, carefully covered with canvas, which they explained was a new kind of plow recently invented, and which they were taking to Kansas to "try out on the prairie sod." Some inquisitive persons visited the encampment on the White Breast at night, while the emigrants were all asleep, to have a look at the prairie plow and upon peeping under the canvas found it to be an eight-pounder cannon. This gun was afterward heard from in Kansas.
From Knoxville the emigrant road led through Indianola, Win- terset, Greenfield and other towns to Council Bluffs, where the emigrants crossed over into Nebraska and turned southward, crossing the northern boundary of Kansas not far from the little City of Hia- watha. Other parties followed and the route through Iowa and Nebraska became known as "Jim Lane's Trail."
CHAPTER XXI
STATISTICAL REVIEW
POPULATION-OFFICIAL CENSUS REPORTS-GENERAL INDUSTRIAL CON- DITIONS-CHRONOLOGY-A SUMMARY OF PRINCIPAL EVENTS CON- NECTED WITH MARION COUNTY HISTORY-POSTSCRIPT.
On May 1, 1914, seventy-one years had elapsed since the first land in what is now Marion County was opened to the white man's settlement, and sixty-nine years have passed since the organization of the county under the provisions of the act of the Iowa Territorial Legislature, approved June 10, 1845. The growth in population, as shown by the United States census reports since 1850, the first official census taken after the county was organized, is shown in the follow- ing table :
1850 5,182
1860 16,318
1870 24,436
1880 25, III
1890 23,058
1900
24,159
1910
22,995
From the time the first white people settled in the county until 1850 the population grew to 5,482. Since 1850 the greatest propor- tionate increase during any decade was from 1850 to 1860, when it was nearly two hundred per cent. A glance at the above table shows that from 1880 to 1890 there was a decrease in population, and again between 1900 and 1910. The decrease in population during these periods was due chiefly to the opening of new lands in other parts of the country. As population increases in any community the value of land advances and the man of moderate means finds it difficult to acquire a home of his own. The opening of Oklahoma in the decade between 1880 and 1890 attracted many people to that state; others found homes in Nebraska, Colorado and other states where
345
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
Indian reservations were thrown open to settlement, and some went to Canada. All parts of the county were affected about alike by the decrease, with the exception of a few townships in which the prin- cipal cities are located or the development of the mining industry brought in new inhabitants to take the place of those who moved away. This fact is shown by a comparison of the last three official census reports relating to population, as given in the following table :
Township
1 890
1900
1910
Clay
1,125
1,264
1,321
Dallas
1,066
1,140
980
Franklin
822
789
631
Indiana
1,000
995
775
Knoxville
5,616
5,688
5,626
Lake Prairie
1,621
4,461
4,648
Liberty
1,423
2,431
2,998
Perry
510
553
351
Pleasant Grove
1,495
1,594
1,460
Polk
659
666
555
Red Rock
1,003
824
693
Summit
1,137
1,218
952
Swan
1,055
940
750
Union
540
553
425
Washington
986
1,043
830
Total
23,058
24,159
22,995
In the above table the City of Knoxville is included in Knoxville Township, Pella in Lake Prairie Township, and the several incorpo- rated towns in the townships in which they are located. Since the census of 1910 was taken a new railroad has been built through the western part of the county and it is quite probable that the state census of 1915 will show an increase in the population of Pleasant Grove. Franklin and Dallas townships. Notwithstanding the decrease in population, the wealth of the county, as shown by the tax lists, has not declined.
According to statistics taken from the Iowa Official Register, the Iowa Year Book and the United States census, Marion County has over fifteen hundred miles of telephone lines, approximately one hundred and twenty miles of railroad, twenty banks, eighteen money order postoffices, 1,948 farms of 144 acres each, two incorporated cities and eight incorporated towns. During the year 1913 the sum
347
HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
of $98,535.57 was expended in the maintenance of the public schools of the county, and nearly fifty thousand dollars on the improvement of the public highways.
CHRONOLOGY
In the foregoing chapters a conscientious effort has been made to present to the reader an account of the progress of Marion County, showing her development along industrial, educational, professional and religious lines, as well the part she has borne in the political and military affairs of the state and nation. Like every county, this de- velopment has been a gradual evolution, influenced by events that at first glance may seem to be only indirect or remotely connected with the county's history, yet each one of which played its part, little or great, in shaping her destiny. As a fitting conclusion to this work, it is deemed proper to include the following list of the principal events leading up to the settlement and organization of the county, as well as many incidents that have occurred since the county was organized, and which have some bearing on local history and should be of interest to the Marion County reader.
June 25, 1673. Marquette and Joliet, while on their voyage down the Mississippi River, landed near the present town of Montrose, Lee County. So far as known they were the first white men to set foot upon the soil of Iowa.
November 2, 1762. Treaty of Fontainebleau, by which France ceded all that part of Louisiana lying west of the Mississippi to Spain.
February 10, 1763. Treaty of Paris, which concluded the French and Indian war and ratified the treaty of Fontainebleau. By this treaty the territory now comprising the State of Iowa became a Span- ish possession.
1778. The British posts at Kaskaskia, Cahokia and Vincennes captured by Gen. George Rogers Clark. Through this conquest of the Northwest the western boundary of the United States was fixed at the Mississippi River by the treaty which concluded the Revolution.
, 1788. Julien Dubuque established a trading house and opened the lead mines at the city which now bears his name. He was the first white man to effect a permanent settlement in what is now the State of Iowa.
1796. Louis Honore Tesson settled on a grant of land
348
HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
obtained from the Spanish Government where the town of Mont- rose, Lee County, is now situated.
October 1, 1800. Louisiana ceded back to France by Spain by the Treaty of St. Ildefonso.
April 30, 1803. Treaty of Paris, by which Louisiana was sold to the United States for $15,000,000.
October 31, 1803. Congress passed an act authorizing the Presi- dent to take possession of Louisiana and establish a territorial gov- ernment therein. The province was formally turned over to the United States commissioners-Gov. W. C. C. Claiborne and Gen. James Wilkinson-at New Orleans, December 20, 1803.
October 1, 1804. Louisiana divided, the northern part, which includes the present State of Iowa, was designated the District of Louisiana and made subject to the government of the Territory of Indiana.
November 4, 1804. Treaty with the Sac and Fox Indians, by which those tribes ceded their lands east of the Mississippi to the United States.
January 11, 1805. President Jefferson approved the act of Con- gress establishing the Territory of Michigan.
, 1805. Lieut. Zebulon M. Pike made a voyage of explora- tion up the Mississippi River under the auspices of the United States. Pike landed at several places along the eastern border of the state, one of which was the site of the present city of Burlington.
, 1807. The territory now included in the State of Iowa was attached to the Territory of Illinois.
June 4, 1812. Iowa made a part of the Territory of Missouri.
September 13, 1815. Treaty of peace with the Sac and Fox In- dians, some of the warriors of the allied tribes having fought with the British in the War of 1812.
July 15, 1830. The Sacs and Foxes and Sioux Indians each ceded to the United States a strip twenty miles wide in Northeastern Iowa, extending from the Mississippi to the Des Moines River. This was the first land in what is now Iowa ceded to the United States. It was intended to mark the boundary between the tribes and was known as the "Neutral Ground."
August 2, 1832. Last battle of the Black Hawk war, resulting in the overwhelming defeat of the Indians.
September 21, 1832. Treaty of Fort Armstrong, by which the Sacs and Foxes ceded to the United States the strip forty miles wide across Eastern Iowa known as the "Black Hawk Purchase."
349
HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
-- , 1832. In the fall of this year Samuel White settled within the limits of the present city of Burlington.
June 1, 1833. Title to the lands of the Black Hawk Purchase becomes fully vested in the United States. This was the first land in the state legally opened to white settlement.
, 1833. First postoffice in Iowa established at Dubuque, with Milo H. Prentice as postmaster.
June 28, 1834. President Jackson approved the act of Congress attaching Iowa to the Territory of Michigan.
April 20, 1836. Act of Congress making Iowa a part of the Ter- ritory of Wisconsin approved by President Jackson.
May 11, 1836. First number of the Dubuque Visitor, the first newspaper in Iowa, issued by John King.
- -, 1837. The steamboat Pavillion, Capt. William Phelps, master, ascended the Des Moines River to Fort Dodge. This was the first steamboat to pass through what is now Marion County.
November 6, 1837. A convention assembled at Burlington to memorialize Congress for a division of Wisconsin and the establish- ment of a new territory west of the Mississippi.
June 12, 1838. President Van Buren approved the act of Con- gress creating the Territory of Iowa, the act to become effective on July 3, 1838.
October 3, 1838. Chief Black Hawk, the most renowned chief of the Sacs and Foxes, died.
March 15, 1842. Chief Wapello died at the Sac and Fox agency (now Agency City) in the county which bears his name.
October 11, 1842. Treaty at the Sac and Fox agency, by which the allied tribes ceded to the United States a large body of land in Central Iowa, including the present County of Marion.
May 1, 1843. The eastern half of Marion County opened to white settlers.
May, 1843. Fort Des Moines established by the Federal Gov- ernment where the City of Des Moines now stands.
August 23, 1843. Birth of Frances Ruple, the first white child born within the limits of Marion County.
February 12, 1844. The Iowa Legislature passed an act author- izing the election of delegates to a constitutional convention to meet at lowa City on October 7, 1844.
, 1845. In the spring of this year a meeting was held at Nathan Bass' cabin on Lake Prairie to take the preliminary steps for the organization of a new county to be called Marion.
350
HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
June 10, 1845. Governor Chambers approved the act of the Legislature erecting Marion County.
August 25, 1845. Commissioners appointed by the Legislature to locate the seat of justice of Marion County reported in favor of Knoxville.
September 1, 1845. First election of county officers.
September 12, 1845. First meeting of the Board of County Com- missioners of Marion County.
October 11, 1845. The western half of the county was opened to white settlers.
January 29, 1846. Contract let to Lewis M. Pierce to build a courthouse for a consideration of $450.
March 2, 1846. Marion County divided into eight election pre- cincts by the county commissioners.
March 30, 1846. First session of the District Court begins in Knoxville, Judge Joseph Williams presiding.
April 14, 1846. The county divided into road districts by the county commissioners and a supervisor appointed for each district.
May 4, 1846. The second constitutional convention met at Iowa City. John Conrey was the delegate for the district composed of Marion, Iowa, Polk and Jasper counties.
July, 1846. The first mail route opened to Knoxville.
December 28, 1846. Iowa admitted to the Union as a state.
January 6, 1847. Marion County divided into ten civil town- ships by order of the county commissioners.
-, 1847. The first members of the Holland colony arrived in Marion County and settled in Lake Prairie Township.
April, 1848. Chief Keokuk died in Kansas. In 1883 his re- mains were brought to the City of Keokuk, Iowa, and buried on a high bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. A monument was erected over his grave in 1913.
August 19, 1848. A claim association organized in Perry Town- ship.
-- , 1851. A bill was introduced in the Iowa Legislature to make. Pella the capital of the state, but it failed to pass.
June, 1851. Great flood along the Des Moines River.
August 4, 1851. Joseph Brobst elected the first county judge, superseding the board of county commissioners.
January 27, 1853. Meeting at the courthouse in Knoxville to take steps to secure a railroad through the county. Two hundred and fifty-three shares of stock were subscribed for at the meeting.
June, 1853. Central University at Pella founded.
351
HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
April 7, 1854. Knoxville incorporated as a city.
October 25-27, 1854. First lowa State Fair held at Fairfield. In this year the Marion County Agricultural Society was organized.
January 15, 1855. Governor Grimes approved the bill locating the state capital at Des Moines.
February 1, 1855. The Pella Gazette, the first newspaper in Marion County, makes its bow to the public.
August 20, 1855. Pella incorporated as a city.
October, 1855. The Knoxville Journal founded by William M. Stone, afterward governor of Iowa.
September 15, 1856. Contract for a new courthouse awarded to the firm of Dyer & Woodruff for $17,500.
January 19, 1857. Third constitutional convention assembled at Iowa City. Hiram D. Gibson was the delegate from Marion County. The convention finished its labors on March 5, 1857, and the con- stitution was ratified by the people at an election held on the 3d of August following.
November 6, 1860. The first board of supervisors, consisting of one member from each township, elected.
April 12, 1861. Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, fired upon by the Confederates.
April 17, 1861. Proclamation of Governor Kirkwood calling for a regiment of infantry to suppress the rebellion.
June 10, 1861. First Marion County company mustered into the United States volunteer service as Company B, Third Iowa Infantry.
November 3, 1863. William M. Stone, of Marion County, elected governor of Iowa and reelected two years later.
October 1, 1864. Josiah M. Woodruff, of Knoxville, assassinated in Poweshiek County while serving as deputy provost marshal in the enforcement of the draft laws.
December 15, 1865. The board of county supervisors purchased the Elliott farm, southwest of Knoxville, for a poor farm.
February 9, 1867. The county treasury robbed of over $30,000.
January 1, 1868. Marion County Old Settlers' Association organ- ized.
October, 1870. First board of county supervisors, consisting of three members, elected.
January 14, 1871. One of the most severe snowstorms in the his- tory of Iowa. The snow drifted to the depth of six or eight feet in places, impeding travel for several days.
December, 1875. The first railroad train arrived at Knoxville. Great rejoicing in the town and vicinity.
352
HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
October 10, 1876. Second robbery of the county treasury.
1879. The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad completed through the county and to Des Moines.
February 27, 1888. Beginning of the great strike on the Chi- cago, Burlington & Quincy lines.
July 17, 1893. Ex-Gov. William M. Stone died at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and was buried at Knoxville on the 21st.
October 7, 1895. Contract for a new courthouse let to Charles A. Moses for $76,991. The building was accepted as complete by the board of supervisors on December 30, 1896.
October 4, 1897. Death of Matanequa, the last war chief of the Sacs and Foxes, at Tama City, Iowa.
May, 1898. Marion County furnishes a company for service in the war with Spain.
-, 1900. B. L. Miller's report on the geology of Marion County published by the Iowa Geological Survey.
November 5, 1912. Presidential election. The vote in Marion County was as follows: Taft (republican), 1,191; Wilson (dem- ocrat), 2,276; Roosevelt (progressive), 1,419; Debs (socialist), 297; Chaffin (prohibitionist), 72.
POSTSCRIPT-IN LIEU OF A PREFACE
To write of the events of by-gone years; to preserve the record of our ancestors' mistakes as well as their achievements; to rescue from obscurity the deeds of the brave men and true who built up a civilization in the wilderness, and to tell the story of accomplish- ment during the last three-quarters of a century have been the objects kept in view in the preparation of this history. In the endeavor to carry out these objects, the editors and publishers desire to say that no effort has been spared to give to the people of Marion County an authentic and comprehensive history-authentic, because so far as possible the official records have been used as sources of infor- mation, and comprehensive because, it is believed, no important event in the county's history has been neglected.
The work has been one involving great care and labor and much of the credit is due to old residents for their ready and willing assist- ance in the collection of information concerning many of the events herein recorded. The editors and their assistants take this oppor- tunity to express their obligations to the various county officers and their deputies, the editors of several of the county papers, and the
HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY 35:
librarians of the public libraries at Knoxville and Pella for their uniform courtesies while the work was in preparation.
In bidding the reader good-by, the editors and publishers further desire to express the hope that their work may meet with the popular approval of the citizens of the county, and that this volume may, in the years to come, be referred to as a reliable account of the develop- ment of Marion County:
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