USA > Iowa > Marshall County > History of Marshall county, Iowa > Part 6
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A Mr. More came a good deal later, about 1855, in this section, and built a good saw mill, which was of much advantage to the people. He owned a large claim of valuable timbered land, but after a few years of contest with western life died, much regretted. Mr. Brown is known, however, as having endured a great deal of privation. He came in 1849.
It is wonderful what powers of endurance many of these old settlers had! They shame us of a later day with our feebleness, for their feet were often frozen taking care of stock and procuring fuel ; they had fevers and agues, but still wrought on their farms, shaking like bean pods in a November breeze. But the ague has almost entirely disappeared, and we have a very healthy country at present, and with the agricultural machinery, farming is now almost like play.
Mr. Silas Chorn is mentioned as coming to Marshall in the spring of 1852, and settling on a farm west
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of the city, near Mr. Johnson Allen's. He is employed at present at Mr. Turner's hardware store ; a man of strict probity in business relations. Mr. Henry Hartwell came in 1854 and lives in that neighborhood. Mr. H. is an exceedingly charitable man. He was known for many years as making the first brick in this section. He is a staunch Universalist, and on all occasions maintains what he believes is truth, without fear or restraint.
About here-sometimes called the half-way house to Marietta, on what is now the edge of the corpora- tion of Marshalltown-lived Mr. Allen. Also Mr. N. Gillespie, well known as a strict temperance man, and devoted Presbyterian. At one time the liquor sellers' minions girdled a splendid orchard belonging to Mr. G., worth two thousand dollars.
Another good family, members of the M. E. Church, and loyal to the government, who came in 1854, and identified with all good works, is old Father Canfield's While living on his farm, the war broke out and three of his sons went into the service, all making their mark as brave, good soldiers.
HENRY ANSON, ESQ.,
Made the first settlement upon the present site of Marshalltown in the spring of 1851, entering the claim at the land office at Des Moines the same year. Previous to this, however, there was a squatter who had a little cabin on the south side of the claim. Taking fifty dollars from Mr. Anson, he left, and went away before Mr. A. built his cabin where Wiley's car- riage shop now stands. His claim, however, was bounded by the north side of Main street ; and between that line and the river, the land was owned by Mr. William Ralls, who sold it to Mr. John Kelly, and he, in turn, sold to Dr. John Childs for four hundred and fifty dollars, property worth now nearly a half million. Mr. Childs lived in a cabin on the north side
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of the claim, but after the town was laid out he moved it upon Main street.
MARSHALLTOWN
Was surveyed in the summer of 1853, long after Marietta, by Mr. Risden of Iowa City, under direction of Messrs. Anson and Childs, we believe. It was named after Marshall, Michigan, Mr. Anson having some pleasant memories of that place.
Mr. Anson was a son-in-law of Mr. Sylvanus Rice, of Trumbull county, Ohio, and he persuaded Mr. R., his sons Wells and Miles, also John A. Kelly, a brother-in-law, to make Marshall their home. This was in the spring of 1852. It is said of Mr. Anson, that after travelling over a considerable portion of Iowa, he came here, and in a fit of enthusiasm swung his hat over his head, "I've found the prettiest place in the world," said he, "Here I'll lay my bones !" The families above-mentioned with Doctor Childs, were the founders of Marshall, the affix of town being added as there was another town in Henry county by the same name.
The first glass window in the township that let in the blessed sunlight, was framed in Anson's cabin. Many of the settlers thought it a useless piece of furni- ture, as they lived with open windows the year round. Mr. Anson was known as the red-headed Yankee, who had a well-sweep, and that machine was talked of as another useless thing, for a rope was cheaper, if not so handy. Some of his relatives coming a year or two after, (Mrs. Anson and " Mike " as he is familiarly called) heard of " Hank's" well-sweep for ten miles eastward. Hank also proved himself quite a dentist, extracting teeth with a pair of bullet moulds. He built the first saw-mill on Linn creek and about the first one in the county, but it was burned in June, 1856, after being of great advantage to settlers. Mr. Anson was also the first Justice, and at the township
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election held in the embryo city, the voters dropped their ballots into a box through the window of his cabin.
When Mr. A. occupied this cabin in the north of the town, he was also Land Agent as well as Justice, and besides all the business carried on, the cooking for three families went forward under the same roof- the two brothers, Platt and Charley Smith from Iowa City, and the Squires of Marshalltown. Anson's moth- er and sister came in a year or two afterward. While they were building their cabin they lived in a wagon- box, placing the bed under the running gear of the wagon, with a couple of boards for shelter. They used to laugh at their airy dormitory as they bundled up for the night.
Mr. Anson built the present McLean House and has been connected with almost every prominent enterprise of the city and county.
DR. JOHN CHILDS,
Formerly of Ohio, came here the next year after Mr. Anson, and buying the claim of Mr. John Kelly, lived there and dispensed hospitality to many of the new comers. What appetites emigrants used to have in those days! Coming in wagons and through the bracing, healthy air of Iowa, dyspeptics lost their bad symptoms and took another form of disease, called the " Iowa eatables," or consumption, that is, consume all on the table and speak of kissing the cook. Railroad traveling is not half as good for dyspeptics as the old- fashioned canvas-topped wagon.
The first meeting held in Marshalltown congregated in Mr. C's cabin, which was thirteen feet square. A Cumberland Presbyterian minister on his journey stopped with the family, and consented to preach, it being the Sabbath. Mr. Childs moved the furniture outside, but still many were obliged to stand out of doors ; about thirty attended the services, and without
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any flattery to the preacher, he had, indeed a crowded house. Some of the boys and large girls were bare- foot, and a large sprinkling of pasteboard sun-bonnets were to be seen.
We shall speak further of Mr. Childs in the unfold- ing of the history of Marshalltown.
SYLVANUS RICE, ESQ.,
Mr. Anson's father-in-law, came here in 1852 and built a barn which he used as a house until he could do better. There were no mills then, or lumber, so that the primitive logs and puncheons were the building material, excepting that brought from Iowa City. Mr. Rice afterward built a frame store, then the "Rice Hotel," of brick, and the Marshall House, with other enterprises of the kind. Mr. Rice has one of those cheerful happy natures which makes a new-comer feel at home and welcome. When he was landlord, this was very apparent, and his homesick neighbors who came early and had privations, often looked to him for encouragement and cheer. His estimable lady was very much loved in this vicinity; she died in 1863. He has since been united to a Mrs. Lord, relict of the late Doctor Lord, of Hardin county, and is now living there. His son, Miles Rice, is now living here, after two years' residence in Idaho.
WELLS RICE, ESQ.,
One of the founders of Marshalltown, is a citizen who has been more closely identified with her interests than any other for the past fifteen years. We mean no in- justice to any one. Mr. Rice has never left the work of upbuilding the city for the time mentioned, has left no stone unturned, whereupon to lay the foun- dations of Marshalltown broad and wide. He came here in 1852 and lived in a cabin near the north end of what is now Mr. N. Gillespie's farm. The door was mnade of rived shingles, no latch, leaky roof, and
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crevices so large in the puncheon floor, that the little ones crept shyly past, for fear of the snakes and other varmints who sometimes took refuge there. Mrs. Rice came home one day and found a large rattlesnake cosily taking a snooze upon the door step, but she soon obeyed Scripture in despatching the gentleman to his own place, by bruising his head with a garden spade. Soon after the family came here, a beautiful little boy was born to them, whom they named Marshall after the embryo city, but he died after three months of life, and was buried on the Jack Braddy farm.
Mrs. Rice relates a legend of the early times in this wise. A lady had occasion to visit a neighbor, and on her return she found that she had left the door ajar. The woods near at hand were filled with hogs of a peculiar breed called " prairie sharks " brought here by the Indians. This species of hogs is now nearly extinct; they have very long legs and noses, immense ears, and thin as a slab. Upon going into the house, the lady saw to her surprise, standing on its hind legs in front of the cupboard, with its musical jaws in motion, one of these prairie sharks eating bread and butter from the top shelf! It was a sight for a housekeeper, and the broomstick played an im- portant part in the drama afterward.
Mr. Rice was the first Postmaster in the town, and this enterprise was established in the fall of 1854. The mail came upon an old two-horse wagon, at first weekly-then, after a few years have passed away, think of our facilities for receiving intelligence by car and telegraph !
Mr. Rice lived in Bureau county, Illinois, before coming here, and on the journey the family met with a funny mishap. In crossing the classic waters of an Iowa slough, the horses mired down and wagon too. It was the last one on the trail and consequently was in a fair way to get to China, unless there was a long pull, and a strong pull altogether. After a half
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day's labor, by lifting with fence rails, the vehicle was righted up, but in the operation, overboard went a barrel of sugar, pickles, jars of sweetmeats, and a splendid rocking chair, into the ruins. We will not write further at present of Mr. Rice, but introduce another family to the reader's notice, early known in the village, whose name the pater familias bears, as
JOHN A. KELLY, EsQ.,
Who came here in 1853 and lived on a farm now owned by Mr. Edward Thayer, we believe. He built a cabin and had the usual furniture of those days ; for the experience of others had shown that fine uphol- stery was a poor investment to bring in a wagon for hundreds of miles, as our "Northwestern " was not a carryall for a good many years after. Mr. Kelly has amassed a splendid fortune, and with others has done much to develop the resources of the country, giving material aid to schools, the railroad, churches, and many other institutions.
Mr. Kelly gives the particulars of an exciting elk hunt which came off in 1852 that excels our Wall Lake friends in superiority of game. All of the set- tlers principally were engaged in it, and in the course of the day they brought down three large elk, wolves, deer, and coons without number. As it was in the winter, and snow on the ground, the game tracks were clearly perceptible, and there was a great deal of fun and hilarity on this occasion.
Mrs. Kelly and Mrs. Rice both have held high office in very many of the charitable societies in the city, and are ladies of great personal merit.
In this year came other actors on the stage ; among them,
C. B. STRAIGHT,
From Ohio, and built a cabin near North Main street, had quilts for doors, and the carpenter used wooden 8
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nails instead of Pittsburgh, about the domicil. Mr. Straight helped initiate the contest for the county seat, and was prominent in building the court house and other improvements. He says many laughed at him as he wrought on the masonry of the court house, being so cold at one time that he nearly froze his hands as he laid the wall of the town hall, as it was ostensibly named at the beginning.
Mrs. Straight is one of the largest-hearted women in the world-kind to the poor and distressed every- where.
Mr. Straight built a frame house, now occupied as a kitchen by I. J. Sanford, and then erected the beautiful Gothic residence which he now lives in, on West Main street. They have a nicely arranged flower plat, showing fine taste in its cultivation. In company with this family came Mr. S. Dwight, and upon buying the log house owned by Henry Anson, gave a tea-party soon afterwards to the citizens of the vicinity.
The next spring while Mr. Dwight was drawing rock, his little son, a lad of twelve years, fell from the load, and the wagon passing over him caused instant death. This was the first fatal accident in the county, and caused great gloom in the infant settlement. Mr. D. has a daughter that shows poetic talent, which, if cul- tivated, may make a future worth striving for.
In the summer of 1854 came Father Hoffman, one of the best men that ever lived in the city-is men- tioned as dwelling in a rail pen with a slough-grass roof, and when it rained, Mrs. H. used to walk about her mansion under an umbrella. For a parlor, they arranged the family carriage by unloosening the cur- tains ; and here too, " Mike," our deputy collector, had a long run of typhoid fever. Four of the family had the fever also, in consequence of exposure in this hut. So many settlers coming in, it was impossible to get lumber ; but buying a house afterward, Mr. H. could
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not induce the proprietor to leave until he could obtain another house for his family. This frame house is the one now occupied by Mr. Hoffman. Mr. Yeamans and Mrs. Gillespie, Mr. Dubois, and Mr. Oviatt, who afterward married a daughter of Father Hoffman, came this year. Mr. Mead, also; and we think the good and much lamented Mr. Webster.
DISTILLERY.
About this time, an old gentleman by the name of Haynes, built a rude distillery in the northwestern part of the town, constructing his.receivers of dug-out troughs of wood. Trappers would take a bag of corn and a jug, empty the corn into a heap, and fill the jug from the trough without a graduating scale or measure. Glorious days for topers !
AMUSEMENTS.
The young and old danced on the puncheon floors, and sometimes played "pussy in the corner." Before they had any church or Sunday School, the Sabbaths seemed long and lonely, excepting to a few devout believers. One lady says that they left their "go to meetin's on the other side of the Mississippi." There certainly was a woful lack of church privileges or even prayer meetings.
When Mr. Anson finished his mill, the citizens con- sidered it quite a treat to go down by the brook-side and listen to the tic-tac and clatter of the much- needed institution.
Mrs. Childs relates a pleasing incident of going to the Iowa river one day with her little girls on a fishing expedition. It was her first trial. They had asked for fish, should she give them a scorpion ? No! So, taking line, hook and bait to the running water, and hushing her partners in the expedition to a proper degree of silence, she succeeded in taking a huge red-
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horse, quite corpulent enough for the family's supper. Such self-reliance would have made a successful quar- termaster even in the desert of Sahara.
It was splendid days for housekeepers then-no two weeks of spring cleaning, no ruffles to make or yards of tatting to crotchet ; they did not skate or turn up their noses at a mechanic's wife; they did up their housework in short time and in order, then read over old letters and the New York Tribune, while the day ended with a social chat among their neigh- bors. It would be exceedingly dull now-a-days thus to live.
Henry Anson and Mr. Wells Rice, restless and amb- itious, were not satisfied with their place being a suburb of Marietta, and as far back as 1853 commenced war on the aforesaid, with no more remorse than if pluck- ing an owl in the forest. Atwater, of Marietta, was a keen lawyer, and one day he was approached by these powers behind the throne, and forthwith became a most devoted follower of Marshalltown. Then came a long argument that the location of the county seat at Marietta was illegal, as there were only two commission- ers instead of three, according to legislative action. There were three more talked of, and when they were appointed by Judge McRay, each received a splendid shot-gun, so it was reported. Marshalltown then claimed the county seat to all new comers, which was as stoutly denied on the other hand by Marietta. These stakes were set in 1853. Finally, a writ of mandamus came from the District Court compelling Marietta to remove the records. All being bosh on the part of Marshalltown, just to keep the thing in law until they could control public sentiment to carry the question.
Anson and Rice, afterwards assisted by Mr. Wood- bury and others, carried on this contest through seven long years, and finally their pertinacity was crowned with success.
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It was the theme of many an anxious conversation among the citizens of the little village-let them but once get this advantage, the certainty of Marshalltown becoming a city was beyond doubt. There was nothing done by halves, everybody was treated hand- somely, and an agreeable impression was sought to be be made upon the stranger, so that he might be in- duced to turn around his four-wheeled emigrant-ship with its freight of pigs, chickens and tow-headed children into the Marshalltown harbor.
Wells Rice built the first respectable building in the city, being made of lime, sand and gravel mixed to- gether and called grout. This was in the fall of 1852. Dr. John Childs, of the firm of Choate & Childs, built the first frame house in the following summer of 1853. They celebrated its grand appearance on the corner of Main and Center streets, by a house-warming-without chamber floors, but with a "glorious supper and dance," as an actor in the festivities reports.
The first two-story frame store, (now occupied as a meat market near Dr. Cummings) was built by C. B. Straight, in company with Mr. Sylvanus Rice, the gentlemanly, stirring citizen who did so much in an early day for our city. The first brick building was put up by Charley Davis, and is still standing on the corner opposite Mr. Straight's residence on Main street. Mr. Child's building has been transplanted within a ·few years to the lot westward of Levi Page's cottage house, to make room for Abbot & Knisely's brick block.
Mr. Rice's cement store did not last but a few years in our Iowa winds, for it soon cracked, and went into disintegration and ruin. The two-story house now occupied by Mr. Hoffinan was one of the first dwelling houses.
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BIRTH AND DEATHS.
The first white child born in Marshalltown, was Adrian Anson, son of Henry Anson, Esq., in 1851.
The first funeral in the village was that of a little daughter belonging to Mr. Silas Chorn, on the 10th of August, 1853. It was a gloomy hour to the family, for there was scarcely a word of ceremony-they parted the wild grass and the yellow autumn asters at the corner of Jack Braddy's farm, with no prayer or death-song, but laid the little one to sleep in a pine coffin till the prophesied bright morn of the future. On the 10th of September following, her sister, a sweet child of seven years, was placed beside her in the same prim- itive manner. There was not a professing Christian in the neighborhood. At this funeral, Mrs. John Smith, mother of Mrs. Ralls, remarked she could not rest easy thus buried, but in the following January, she was interred in the same way. Mr. Caleb Braddy also buried a child the next spring without a word of ceremony, no shroud, nothing but its little calico slip for its grave cerements, and they drove away to the spot where the others found a resting place at a quick pace, and the last rites were soon despatched by the family.
WEDDING.
The first wedding here was a double one, and a joyful day it proved to the young couples, for they went down to Timber Creek, had a good supper, and came back to town in a two-horse buggy in great state. Everybody was on the lookout to see them return. The happy duos were Miles Rice and Miss Anson ; Mr. Horace Anson and Miss E. Smith. This was on the 17th of September, 1854. In the same fall, old Mr. Rice started up a couple of deer near Linn Creek, turning them westward they took a gallop down Main street, printing their cunning
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little hoofs on the future mart of business. Many deers promenade there yet, but are not quite so shy.
PRIMITIVE LIVING.
Mr. Edw. Willigrod came in 1854 and built his cabin upon the site of Doctor Statler's present home. There was not a nail in it, and the slabs which covered the roof blew off one night in a terrible storm, and the family were obliged to rouse up in the pitchy darkness and find out the extent of the programme arranged by the storm king. Down went the chimney and away flew the chairs which set outside of the house, it being too small to hold the furniture and beds. This storm also blew down a house belonging to Mr. Web- ster which was in process of erection.
Mr. David Parret's family lived in the back room of the store occupied by Mr. Parret. It was a kitchen, parlor, music room, and dormitory for a family of seven persons. As these pioneers now occupy splendid residences, they can well laugh over their former mis- haps. Many others lived in the same manner.
SABBATH SCHOOLS.
A Sunday School was organized this summer, with Mr. Yeamans as superintendent and John Kelly as librarian. This little nursery of the church counted but seven members at first. Father Dunton and Mr. Hoffman were often seen there, and almost everybody in the little town labored more or less for it, regardless of sect. It held sessions for sometime, but finally went down, and the effects were turned over to the Meth- odist Episcopal Church.
SINGING SCHOOL.
The first singing class in the town, was taught by Mr. Childs, composed of young folks, although some were " keeping company " and generally "sparkin'"
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Sunday nights, so that they were learning lessons of Cupid, as well as the "do, re." One chap got jealous, and threatened to horsewhip the teacher if he inter- fered with some arrangements he had made with his sweetheart.
After this school, in 1853, Mr. Childs sold out the most of his claim to Mr. Webster, who was an excel- lent man, very benevolent, gave city lots away to poor men, and died in 1863, much lamented.
Mr. Childs became discouraged and went to Iowa City. He was sadly missed in the little village, and often regrets his "change of base," as his claim is now the center of the world.
The singing school had no leader until Professor Heighton came a year or two afterward.
Music was often enjoyed as one of the fine arts at the social gathering, and in little expeditions to the forest for berries and wild apples, the voices of sing- ing boys and girls rang out on the summer air. We record a laughable affair which we name the
BLACKBERRY HUNT.
There had been rumors of fruit across the river, so Mrs. Willigrod, Mrs. Bissell and a few others started out with a team, Mr. Pratt as driver. Mrs. Willigrod prudently put on a pair of her husband's boots for fear of snakes. On arriving at the canoe the whole party arranged themselves with Mrs. Willigrod in the stern. They amused each other by laughing and singing, also by plashing water on Mrs. W. She, to avenge her- self, threw many handfuls from the river into their faces, but just as the boat struck the opposite bank, in reaching to give them a final baptism she fell back- ward into the river, boots and all. The party laughed, but like the frog in the fable it came very near being the death of her, for she rose the second time before the stupefied Mr. Pratt could rescue her from the peril-
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ous situation. Coming out of the water like a drowned kitten, she was glad to make her way home without any blackberries. Mrs. Willigrod has such a vein of genial humor, one enjoys an hour of her experiences in border life.
We cannot chronologically arrange many things illustrating the pioneer times, but in this connection we mention a
TEA DRINKING
At Mr. Sylvanus Rice's hotel, when the chamber floors were not laid, or the partitions up. All the ladies in town were there, and Mrs. Rice had a quilt in the frames. Mrs. Calvin Straight wore a very pretty black and white gingham, and one of the neighbors hung back and would not go, for Mrs. S. was dressed so finely, that it " shamed her calico," she remarked. This was before the age of hoops, waterfalls, seventy-five dollar dresses, etc., which we see at the tea-parties of to-day. Among the ladies present, was Mrs. Polly Gillespie of the M. E. Church, who came in the spring of 1854. There was also Mrs. Oviatt, who died not long after. Mrs. Henry Anson, whom everybody loved and ad- mired, also Mrs. Willigrod and Mrs. Bissell. It was a happy day, but alas! hostess, and more than half of her guests, have gone to the land of forget- fulness.
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