USA > Iowa > Marion County > History of Marion County, Iowa, and its people, Volume I > Part 8
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Then there was the husking bee, in which pleasure and profit were combined. At these bees the corn to be husked would be divided into two piles, as nearly equal in size as possible ; two of the guests would "choose up" and divide those present into two groups, the contest being to see which side would first finish its pile of corn. Women as well as men took part in this recreation and the young man who found a red ear was entitled to the privilege of kissing the lassie next to him. "Many a merry laugh went round" when some one found a red ear and the lassie objected to being kissed. And sometimes the young men would play an underhand game by passing the red ear covertly from one to the other.
After the orchards were old enough to bear fruit, "apple cuttings" became a popular form of amusement, when a number would gather to pare and slice enough apples to dry for the winter's supply. The husking bee and the apple cutting were nearly always followed by a dance or a "play party," in which "Old Sister Phoebe" would "sit under the juniper tree," or the "happy old miller lived by his mill."
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On grinding days at the old grist mill, men would meet and while waiting for their grists would pass the time in athletic contests, such as wrestling, running foot races or pitching horseshoes. After the public school system was inaugurated the spelling school became a form of entertainment that mingled educational development with social life. At the close of the spelling match the young men could "see the girls home," and if these acquaintances ripened into an intimacy that resulted in a wedding, the proper thing to do was to follow the nuptial ceremony with a charivari, or, as it was pro- nounced on the frontier, a "shivaree"-a serenade in which noise took the place of harmony. The serenade was generally kept up until the bride and groom came out where they could be seen, and the affair ended all the more pleasantly if each member of the shivareeing party was treated to a piece of wedding cake and a glass of cider.
One custom adopted by the pioneers should not be overlooked. and that was the marks by which each settler could identify his domestic animals. In early days there were but few fences and live stock of all kinds was allowed to run at large. To protect himself, the frontier farmer cropped the cars of his cattle, hogs and sheep in a peculiar manner and these marks were recorded with the same care as the titles to real estate. Among the marks were the plain crop, the under and upper bits, the under and upper slopes, the slit, the round hole and a few others, by a combination of which each settler could mark his stock so that it could be easily distinguished from that of his neighbor. The "crop" was made by cutting off a small portion of the ear squarely across the end. If it sloped toward the under side of the ear it became an "under slope," and if in the opposite direction, an "upper slope ;" the "swallow fork" was a fork cut in the end of the car, similar in shape to a swallow's tail, from which it derived its name; the "upper bit" was a small notch cut in the upper side of the ear, and the "under bit" was just the reverse, and so on. If some one found a stray animal marked with a crop off the left ear and an under bit in the right, all he had to do was to inquire at the recorder's office to ascertain who had registered such a mark and thus learn the name of the owner. These marks were rarely violated and they protected the settler against loss as surely as the registered trade-mark protects the manufacturer of some special product.
ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY
Soon after the passage of the act of June 28, 1834, annexing Iowa to the Territory of Michigan, the authorities of that territory began the preliminary work of establishing civil government in the country
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west of the Mississippi River. On September 6, 1834, the governor of Michigan approved an act of the Territorial Legislature creating two new counties in what is now the State of Iowa. The dividing line between these two counties began at the lower end of Rock Island and ran due west. All north of that line was designated as Dubuque County and all south of it as the County of Des Moines. In the latter, Burlington and Fort Madison were designated as the voting places, but as at that time the population did not extend very far west from the Mississippi the results of the first election are not of particular interest to the people of Marion County, which was then unpeopled by civilized man.
When the Territory of Wisconsin was erected by Congress, by an act approved on April 20, 1836, lowa was made a part of that terri- tory, and on December 7, 1836, Henry Dodge, governor of Wiscon- sin. approved an act dividing Des Moines County into the counties of Lee, Van Buren, Henry, Louisa, Muscatine and Cook (now Scott). Two years later Washington County was organized and given juris- diction over all the unorganized territory lying west of it. In 1843 several election precincts were defined by the authorities of that county, and one of these precincts embraced a large part of the pres- ent County of Marion. It was known as "Lake Prairie Precinct" and the first election was held on Lake Prairie on the first Monday in October, 1843.
Keokuk and Mahaska counties were organized in 1844 and the latter was given jurisdiction over all the territory lying to the north and west, including the present counties of Jasper, Marion, Warren and Polk. At an election held on the first Monday in April, 1844, Stephen Drouilard, who lived on the White Breast Prairie, was elected one of the county commissioners of Mahaska County.
In the spring of 1845 a meeting was called at the house of Nathan Bass, on Lake Prairie, for the purpose of taking steps to secure a separate county organization. Donnel says: "The cabin at which this meeting was held stood on the north bank of the Des Moines River, in the northwest corner of section 19, township 76, range 18, now Lake Prairie Township. It has long since disappeared, and repeated freshets have washed away the bank for several rods inland from where it stood. We are thus particular, because it may interest the reader to be able to find upon the map, or know when he passes it, a place rendered in some degree memorable by the scene of the first political movement in the county looking to its distinct organization."
Those present at the meeting at Mr. Bass' cabin were: George Gillaspy, Simon Drouilard, John W. Alley, Isaac' N. Crum,
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Lysander W. Babbitt, Reuben Mathews, Homer Mathews, Nathan ยท Bass, Levi Bainbridge, Joseph Drouilard, John Williams, David T. Durham, and perhaps a few others whose names have been lost. Simon Drouilard was chosen to preside and John W. Alley was elected secretary. The opinion regarding the advisability of asking for a separate county organization was unanimous and the meeting then proceeded to the selection of a name. Reuben Mathews sug- gested "Center," because of the central location of the county; Lysander W. Babbitt proposed "Pulaski," and Simon Drouilard offered "Nebraska." Levi Brainbridge then addressed the meeting and pointed out the doubtful custom of naming counties after Indian chiefs or tribes, or noted foreigners, when this country had so many illustrious men whose names ought to be first considered worthy of perpetuation. He pictured in glowing language the heroism of Francis Marion, one of the distinguished generals of the Revolution, and concluded his remarks by moving that the name "Marion" be adopted. This motion was promptly seconded and the name was adopted by a unanimous vote.
Joseph Drouilard was then selected as a candidate for organizing sheriff and a petition to the Legislature was prepared, asking for the organization of a new county to be known as Marion. The petition was circulated and signed by a large number of the settlers, after which it was sent to the Legislature. In response to this petition a bill was introduced providing for the creation of a new county, which passed the council on May 5, 1845, by a vote of four to eight. Subse- quently it passed the house and on June 10, 1845, was approved by Governor Chambers. The full text of that bill is as follows :
"AN ACT TO ORGANIZE THE COUNTY OF MARION
"Section 1. Be it enacted by the Council and House of Repre- sentatives of the Territory of Iowa, That the following shall con- stitute and be the boundary of a new county, to be called Marion; to-wit: Beginning at the northwest corner of Mahaska County and running west on the township line dividing townships 77 and 78 north, to the northwest corner of township 77 north, of range 21 west; thence south to the southwest corner of township 74 north, of range 21 west; thence east along the township line dividing townships 73 and 74 north, to the southwest corner of Mahaska County; thence north along the range line dividing ranges 17 and 18 to the place of beginning.
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"Section 2. That the County of Marion be, and the same is, hereby organized from and after the first Monday in August next, and the inhabitants of said county shall be entitled to the same priv- ileges to which by law the inhabitants of other organized counties of this territory are entitled.
"Section 3. That for the purpose of organizing said county, it is hereby made the duty of the clerk of the District Court of said county, and in case there should be no such clerk appointed and qualified, or for any cause said office should become vacant on or before the first Monday in August next, then it shall be the duty of the sheriff of Mahaska County to proceed immediately after the first Monday in August to order a special election in said county for the purpose of electing three county commissioners, one judge of probate, one county treasurer, one clerk of the board of county commissioners, one county surveyor, one county assessor, one sheriff, one coroner, one county recorder, and such number of justices of the peace, and con- stables as may be directed by the officer ordering the same, he having due regard for the convenience of the people, which special election shall be on the first Monday in September next; and that the officer ordering said election shall appoint as many places of election in said county as the convenience of the people may require, and shall appoint three judges of election for each place of voting in said county and issue certificates of their appointment; and the officer ordering said election shall give at least ten days' notice of the time and place of holding said election, by three advertisements, which shall be posted up at three of the most public places in the neighborhood where each of the polls shall be opened.
"Section 4. That the officer ordering said election shall receive and canvass the polls and grant certificates to the persons elected to fill the several offices mentioned in this act; the officer ordering each of said elections shall discharge the duties of the clerk of the board of county commissioners until there shall be one elected and qualified for said county.
"Section 5. Said election shall, in all cases not provided for in this act, be conducted according to the laws of this territory regulating general elections.
"Section 6. The officers elected under the provisions of this act shall hold their offices until the next general election, and until their successors are elected and qualified.
"Section 7. The officer ordering the election in said county shall return all books and papers which may come into his hand by virtue
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of this act to the clerk of the board of county commissioners of said county forthwith after said clerk shall be elected and qualified.
"Section 8. That it shall be the duty of the sheriff of Mahaska County to perform the duties required by this act until the first Mon- day in September next, and until a sheriff shall be elected and qualified for said County of Marion, and the said sheriff shall be allowed the same fees for services rendered by him under the pro- visions of this act that are allowed for similar services performed by the sheriff in similar cases.
"Section 9. That the clerk of the District Court of said County of Marion may be appointed by the judge of said judicial district and qualified at any time after the passage of this act, but he shall not enter upon the duties of said office prior to the first day of August next.
"Section 10. That all actions at law in the District Court for the County of Mahaska commenced prior to the organization of the said County of Marion, where the parties, or either of them, reside in the County of Marion, shall be prosecuted to final judgment or decree as fully and effectually as if this act had not been passed.
"Section 11. That it shall be the duty of all justices of the peace, residing within said county, to return all books and papers in their hands appertaining to said office to the next nearest justice of the peace which may be elected and qualified for said county under the provisions of this act, and all suits at law which may be in the hands of such justice of the peace, and unfinished, shall be completed and prosecuted to final judgment by the justice of the peace to whom such business or papers may have been returned.
"Section 12. That the county assessor elected under the pro- visions of this act for said county shall assess the said county in the same manner and be under the same obligations as now is, or may hereafter be, provided by law in relation to the county assessor.
"Section 13. That Ezra M. Jones, of Van Buren County, Joseph Robertson, of Scott County, and James Montgomery, of Wapello County, be, and they are, hereby appointed commissioners to locate and establish the seat of justice of Marion County. Said commis- sioners, or a majority of them, shall meet at the house of Wilson Stanley, in said county, on the second Monday in August next, or at such other time in the month of August next as may be agreed upon by them, in pursuance of their duties under this act.
"Section 14. Said commissioners shall first take and subscribe to the following oath or affirmation; to-wit: 'We do solemnly swear (or affirm) that we have no interest, either directly or indirectly, in
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the location of the county seat of Marion County, and that we will faithfully and impartially examine the situation of said county, tak- ing into consideration the future as well as the present population of said county, and that we will take into consideration the best interests of the whole people of the county, and that we will not be influenced by any fee or reward, or any promise thereof;' which oath shall be administered by the clerk of the District Court, or by some justice of the peace of said County of Marion, and the officer administering the oath shall certify and file the same in the office of the clerk of the board of county commissioners, whose duty it shall be to record the same.
"Section 15. Said commissioners, when met and qualified under the provisions of this act, shall proceed to locate the seat of justice of said county ; and as soon as they have come to a determination they shall commit to writing the place so selected, with a particular description thereof, signed by the commissioners, which writing shall be returned to the clerk of the board of county commissioners, whose duty it shall be to record the same and forever keep it on file in his office, and the place thus designated shall be the seat of justice of said county.
"Section 16. Said commissioners shall receive the sum of two dollars per day, while necessarily employed in the duties assigned to them by this act, and two dollars for each twenty miles travel in going and returning, to be paid out of the first funds arising from the sale of lots in said seat of justice.
"Section 17. The County of Marion shall form a part of the second judicial district, and it shall be the duty of the judge of said district to hold one term of said court in the same on the twelfth Mon- day after the first Monday in March in each year.
"Section 18. This act to take effect and be in force from and after its passage.
"JAMES M. MORGAN, "Speaker of the House of Representatives. "S. C. HASTINGS, "President of the Council.
"Approved June 10, 1845,
"JOHN CHAMBERS, Governor."
LOCATING THE COUNTY SEAT
Going back to the convention which met at the cabin of Nathan Bass in the spring of 1845, one of its objects, and perhaps the most important one, was to secure the location of county seat at some point
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
on the Des Moines River, which was then supposed to be navigable. Red Rock at once became an active aspirant for the honor. Her friends argued that by means of river traffic she would have a decided advantage over any inland location. Donnel says: "This argument might have secured her the place, but for the overwhelm- ing fact that the town plat was occasionally found to be below high water mark. Evidences of floods that covered the place to the depth of several feet, at some remote period, are still visible upon the bark of the trees."
The proposal to locate the county seat at some point on the river, particularly at Red Rock, did not meet the approval of the people in other parts of the county and they derisively gave the meeting at Bass' place the name of the "Cornstalk Convention." Nearly all the set- tlers were in favor of organizing a new county, however, and after the act of June 10, 1845, was passed many of them became interested in having the seat of justice located near the geographical center of the county.
On August 16, 1845, Joseph M. Robertson and James M. Mont- gomery, two of the locating commissioners, appeared before Lysander W. Babbitt, who had been appointed clerk of the District Court, and subscribed to the oath prescribed by the organic act. Then, starting from the house of Wilson Stanley, on Lake Prairie, they examined several proposed sites for the seat of justice. A week was spent in this work and on Monday, August 25, 1845, they made the following report :
"Territory of Iowa SS.
Marion County
"We, the undersigned, appointed commissioners by the 13th sec- tion of an act entitled 'An act to organize the County of Marion,' approved June 10, 1845, after being duly qualified, agrecably to the provisions of the 14th section of said act, and after having faithfully and impartially examined the situation of said county, taking into consideration the future as well as the present population of said county, do hereby locate and establish the seat of justice of said county on the northwest quarter of section No. 7, in township No. 75 north, of range No. 18 west, in the district of land subject to sale at Fair- field in the territory aforesaid.
"Dated at the place of location this 25th day of August, A. D. 1845.
"JOSEPH M. ROBERTSON, "JAMES M. MONTGOMERY, "Locating Commissioners."
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
In some of the early histories of Marion County the name of Com- missioner Robertson appears as "Robinson," and there is a street in the City of Knoxville named "Robinson" Street in his honor. But in the original act, as it appears in the Session Laws of 1845, the name is Robertson, and in minute book No. I, in the county auditor's office at Knoxville, his name appears on page 3, where he signed the above report, as "Joseph M. Robertson."
The quarter section selected by the commissioners, and upon which the present courthouse stands, has ever since remained the county seat. At the time the selection was made the land was occu- pied as a claim by L. C. Conrey, who surrendered his title without compensation for the benefit of the county, though the land still remained the property of the Federal Government. It was the expec- tation that enough funds could be realized from the sale of lots to enter the land as soon as it was subject to entry, but the people were poor, the sale of lots did not come up to the anticipations, and at the January session of the county commissioners in 1847 the board ap- pointed Thomas Pollock an agent to borrow the necessary $200 to enter the land. Owing either to the general scarcity of money or the lack of confidence in the county's credit, Mr. Pollock failed to negotiate a loan. A minister named Gibson then offered to apply a land warrant that he held, and after obtaining title to the tract turn it over to the county and wait for his money, but upon investigation it was found that the warrant was not available. A Doctor Weir, of Fairfield, then entered the land on time and thus secured to Marion County a clear title to her seat of justice.
THE FIRST ELECTION
Pursuant to the provisions of the organic act of June 10, 1845, William Edmondson, sheriff of Mahaska County, proceeded to organize the county. He divided the county into five voting pre- cincts and appointed the voting places and judges of election in each. In the Knoxville precinct the voting place was at the house of Landon J. Burch. John Babcock, William Burch and Richard R. Watts were the election judges in this precinct. Another precinct was in what was known as the "English Settlement," where the election was held at the house of Thomas Nichols, with Thomas Nichols, Thomas Tong and David T. Durham as judges. In the Red Rock precinct the judges were James Chestnut, Edward Billaps and Robert D. Russell and the election was held at the house of Robert Stevenson. In Cedar precinct, in the southeastern part of the county, the election
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
was held at the house of Conrad Walters and the judges were David Sweem, Conrad Walters and Garrett W. Clark. Lake Prairie pre- cinct's voting place was at the house of Wilson Stanley and the judges were Wilson Stanley, Asa Koons and Levi Bainbridge.
At the election, which was held on September 1, 1845 (the first Monday), 187 votes were cast, divided among the above precincts as follows: Knoxville, 28; English, 38; Red Rock, 48; Cedar, 30; Lake Prairie, 43. Conrad Walters, William Welch and David Dur- ham were chosen county commissioners; Stanford Doud, commis- sioners' clerk; Francis A. Barker, judge of probate; David T. Dur- ham, treasurer; James Walters, sheriff; Reuben Lowry, recorder ; Green T. Clark, assessor; Isaac B. Power, surveyor; Wellington Nossaman, coroner.
Stanford Doud for some reason failed to qualify as commission- ers' clerk and at the first meeting of the board Lysander W. Babbitt was appointed to fill the vacancy. The other officers elected all qual- ified and held their respective positions until the next general elec- tion, which occurred in August, 1846.
The first meeting of the county commissioners was in called session at the new county seat on September 12, 1845. There was then but one house of any kind upon the quarter section selected by the locating commissioners. That was the cabin of L. C. Conrey, a cabin of the most primitive type, constructed of poles, with clapboard roof, etc. It was about sixteen feet square and in one side a hole was cut through the wall to admit the light, but the opening was without either glass or sash. In this rude structure the first official business of the County of Marion was transacted. At this session the report of the locating commissioners was received and placed on file, and arrangements were made for surveying the Town of Knoxville, after which the board adjourned until the second Monday in October.
The most important business to come before the commissioners at the October session-at least the business that created the most gen- eral comment-was with reference to the negro woman, Rose Ann McGregor, and her white husband, who had located in the southern part of the county. A full account of this peculiar case will be found in another chapter of this work. At this session preparations for the first sale of lots in the Town of Knoxville, were completed and the sale was held on October 21, 1845.
ELECTION PRECINCTS
At the March term in 1846 the commissioners divided the county into election precincts and appointed judges to conduct the coming election as follows :
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1. Lake precinct, which included township 77 and all of town- ships 75 and 76 of range 18 lying north of the Des Moines River. The house of Samuel Peters was designated as the voting place, and Samuel Peters, Asa Koons and Jacob C. Brown were named as judges.
2. Red Rock precinct, embracing township 77 and all of town- ship 76 of range 19 north of the Des Moines River, and all of town- ship 77, range 20, east of the old Indian boundary line north of the river. Robert D. Russell's house was named as the voting place, and James Chestnut, Claiborne Hall and Reuben Mathews were ap- pointed judges.
3. Gopher Prairie precinct, which included all west of the old Indian boundary line and north of the Des Moines River. Asa Hughes' house was named as the voting place and the judges were Asa Hughes, Joshua Lindsey and Alfred Vertrice.
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