USA > Iowa > Mills County > History of Mills County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc. > Part 59
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 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82
A wedding soon occurred, and the last winter of the pair in their native state was a season of busy preparation for removal to their western home, interspersed with social gatherings and merry-makings among the scenes and companions of their childhood. They sat down to their last Thanks- giving dinner, attended their last Christmas and New Year's festivals with former playmates and school-fellows, and on the approach of spring bade adieu to all the old friends and scenes, and departed for their new home. At length the last settlement was reached. Then they entered at once upon the realities of pioneer life, for now there were no roads to guide them; behind were the last vestiges of civilization; ahead was a strange land and deep privation. The clearing of the summer before is at length reached, and the busy cares of a frontier home life begin. They passed the winter in the woods-for the early settlers of Mills avoided the open prairie. The sound of the husband's axe echoed through the forest
509
HISTORY OF MILLS COUNTY.
by day, and the wife plied her evening care in the cheerful glow of the blazing hearth at night. Their simple fare and active exercise insured them robust health, and though their surroundings were quite different from those in the midst of which they had been reared, this was the home which they had made for themselves, and they were happy in the enjoy- ment of it. During the summer other settlers had come in, some singly, others with their families, and neighbors were more numerous and less distant, and the monotony of their life was varied by an occasional visit from or among these. This social intercourse among the pioneers had none of the bad features which have characterized that of later times. There were among them no conventionalities, no unmeaning expressions of civility, no unkind criticisms of each other's dress and surroundings, no rivalries, no jealousies, and no hypocritical manifestation of interest in each other's welfare. Each rejoiced in his neighbor's prosperity, or sym- pathized with him in his adversity. These visits were anticipated with pleasure, and remembered without regret.
Another summer and winter had passed, and changes indicative of in- creasing prosperity were visible. The clearings had become enlarged and fenced, glass had replaced the greased paper in the window of the cabin, a plank door swung on wooden hinges where formerly had hung a blanket, and some flowering shrubbery was growing beside it. Every- thing wore an air of thrift. The solitude of the wife was enlivened by the prattle of her first born. Immigrants had continued to come, and what was a pioneer residence had become a part of a pioneer settlement. Faster and faster they came flocking in, taking posession of the lands, or pushing into still unbroken tracts, brought new farms into cultivation.
Now pioneer life was lived on a larger scale. The settlers' log cabins more thickly dotted the wilderness, and the clearings about them en- croached more rapidly upon the surrounding forests. Everywhere was heard the ring of the woodman's axe, and seen the smoke from the whirl- winds of flame that were consuming the trees earlier felled. A variety of work went on indoors as well as out, which long ago generally ceased to be done in private homes. Households of those days were in wide contrast with those of the present. Every good mother taught her daughters a broad range of domestic duties, from washing dishes and log- cabin floors to weaving and making up fine linen. For the house was also the factory, and to none of the good wife's multifarious duties did her industrious spirit and proper ambition incline her more strongly than to the making from flax and wool of the fabrics which she and hers might need. For weeks and months the house resounded with the melody of the spinning-wheel and loom and other simple machinery, with which every family answered for itself the question wherewithal it should be clothed. Mother and daughter were proud to appear, even at meetings,
510
HISTORY OF MILLS COUNTY.
in homespun, if they had made it well, and father and son were not ashamed of the suits which loving hands had fashioned for them.
Twenty years rolled by, and brought with them still greater changes. The old house was only the wing of a new one that had been built of squared logs, covered with split-shingled roofs, lighted by glazed win- dows, and closed by a panel door. A lawn appeared in front, tastefully ornamented with flowers, and fruit trees were growing on the former site of the garden. An apiary stood at the margin of the lawn, which was bounded by a neat white fence. A commodious framed barn had been builded, and where the forest once stood were fields of waving grain. Beyond the scattered groves might be seen the homes of other farmers. The stream that ran by was spanned by a newer bridge, and the ding- donging of a saw-mill that had been builded on its bank could be heard in the distance. The first born was now a young man. At the well, which still had its primitive sweep, stood a somewhat portly matron, who seemed to look with motherly pride at her son as he strode sturdily along. A middle-aged man was seen walking down the road that came from the mill. It was he who came here years ago with his knapsack, rifle and ax. The woman at the well was the young wife who had come with him a year later. Their industry and economy had been rewarded. They had acquired an honorable competence. But their sky had not always been unclouded. They had followed the remains of two of their children to the grave.
Another interval of twenty years passes. 1880 is at hand-is here. An elegant mansion stands on the site of the old log cabin, and all its surroundings show that it is the abode of wealth and refinement. The stream passes under a new bridge, the old saw-mill has gone to decay, and the broad prairie is thickly dotted with the homes of new comers. Spacious fields and elegant farm-houses are seen upon the extended land- scape. A train of cars speeds over the plain, and the tall spires of churches point skyward from amongst the houses of the county seat near by. A gray-haired man is busy with the cattle in the farm-yard; a portly woman sits by the stove-which has superceded the fire-place-busy with her knitting, while some of the grand-children are playing on the floor, and others eugaged in various kinds of work. Another of their children has been added to the group in the cemetery, another has settled in an adjoining town, and two have gone to seek their fortunes in the moun- tains. Thrice honored, thrice exalted family. The toil of years has brought a rich harvest; the consciousness of a well-spent life brings peace to your whitened locks; and the memory of the trials of other days adds zest to the enjoyment of the present.
511
HISTORY OF MILLS COUNTY.
EARLY SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS.
There is not a little truth in the trite adage "tall oaks from little acorns grow." Few enterprises have borne the marks of success at their incep- tion, and still fewer reforms that succeeded in revolutionizing public sen- timent or correcting glaring wrongs otherwise than by long and patient presentment. A single word has sometimes been fraught with the genius of change; a single man been able to direct; and a single nation the most important factor in directing the destinies of a world. It is never possible to foretell all the events, nor all the consequences that hinge upon a single action, or upon a single epoch. It seems, sometimes, that the sole ele- ment of success is the ability or will to do and to dare. At such times men of courage alone can succeed, alone can control. It is not always the righteous cause which triumphs nor the most justifiable ends that win; much depends on the character and mind behind these. In this respect Christianity presented the ideal character which, through all the changes of eighteen centuries, has inspired the heart of men with an impassioned love, has shown itself capable of acting on all ages, nations, tempera- ments, and conditions, has been not only the highest pattern of virtue, but the strongest incentive to its practice, and has exercised so deep an influ- ence that it may be truly said that the simple record of three short years of active life has done more to regenerate and soften mankind than all the disquisitions of philosophers, and all the exhortations of moralists. The fact stands prominently forth that an activity born of disinterestedness and noble purposes, may and does draw within the pale of its influence kin- dred natures, while it may repress opposing tendencies in lives of the most variant nature. New countries have the stamp of individual character impressed on them in a manner that older sections would not brook. This is due, perhaps, to the fact that the inhabitants are few and scattered, and in times of imminent peril or distress the most individualized person- age assumes control. To him, then, ever after the people look, and his views become gradually to be public property. It is thus that the early history of any county becomes largely a component part of the history of its first men-the men who give character and coloring to all its early legislation.
"The pioneer settlers of 1836, when they first looked upon the broad acres and beautiful forests of Mills county, had in reality no compelling reason for believing that they were not created especially for them, and for the trial of the manhood that was soon to reclaim them. They came, not to scenes of pleasure, but to places of most arduous toil. The land was new, its advantages still unknown, its resources undetermined, its ancient owners still here. To enter a country so wild, and engage in
512
HISTORY OF MILLS COUNTY.
its settlement, implied not only a willing heart, but the ability to do and to dare, that in other and long settled lands, has made the monarch trem- ble on his throne, or placed in peril a nation's life. Pioneers are always brave; and the exigencies continually arising demand a quality of man- hood that ensures the success of plans of colonization. It is, therefore, useless to eulogize the early settlers of this county. All were brave, but all were not good men.
What was done and how is merely the office of our task to described. In the hearts of many still surviving the memories of these men live, and that they live to fame and to history is the object of this sketch.
About the year 1844 a series of disturbances occurred in the State of Illinois, which were not only the forerunners of more serious embarrass- ments to the general government in later years, but were also of great moment in the settlement of this county. A new religious sect had been called into existence in 1827, in western New York, founded by a young named Joseph Smith, who professed to have received a special revelation from heaven, giving him knowledge of a book which had been buried many centuries before, in a hill near the village of Palmyra, whose leaves were of gold, and upon which were engraved the records of the ancient people of America, and a new gospel for man.
The east was an extremely unfavorable locality for the growth or re- ception of these doctrines; hence, those who espoused the new faith re- moved at an early day to the west. They settled principally at first, in the State of Missouri, but they were soon driven out, without good rea- son and without the semblance of authority. Crossing the Mississippi, they settled in Hancock county, Illinois, founding the city which they called Nauvoo, and where they built a stately temple. Their number in- creased rapidly by immigration from nearly every country in Europe; the new comers unfortunately being mainly though not entirely, persons of low position and without education. Conscious of their strength they raised troops and set out at defiance the authority of the State of Illinois. In the endeavor to reduce them to obedience public opinion turned, as it had previously done in Missouri, against them. They were unpopular because of their religious tenets, but for no other reason whatever. They were prosperous when others were needy, and diligent when others were idle. Opposition developed itself at the polls in denying to them the privileges of citizens and the rights of suffrage. Matters at length reached the point of open resistance to the authorities of the state. Public attacks were made upon the city, and in one of these Joseph Smith, the celebrated founder of the sect, was captured, as was also his brother Hiram, and in- carcerated in the jail at Carthage the county seat, and while lying there were murdered by the mob in July of 1844. Joseph was in the act of get- ting out of the window when he was fired upon and fatally wounded. He
513
HISTORY OF MILLS COUNTY.
was taken into the yard of the jail, placed against the well-curb and rid- dled with bullets in a most brutal and fiendish manner. This attack upon Nauvoo* brought matters to a crisis, and the people of Illinois determined to drive the murderers across the Mississippi.
In 1845 an attack was made upon the city, and its many residents com- pelled to leave the state. The Mormon exodus was one of the most won- derful events on record, when considered in all its phases. The celebrated historian, Lossing, thus alludes to it.
" In September 1846, the last lingering Mormons at Nauvoo, Illinois, where they had built a splendid temple, were driven away at the point of the bayonet, by 1,600 troops. In February, preceding, some sixteen hundred men, women, and children, fearful of the wrath of the people around them, had crossed the Mississippi on the ice, and traveling with ox-teams and on foot, they penetrated the wilderness to the Indian coun- try, near Council Bluffs, on the Missouri. The remnant who started in autumn, many of whom were rich men, feeble women, and delicate girls, were compelled to traverse the same dreary region. The united host, under the guidance of Brigham Young, then temporal and spiritual leader, halted on the broad prairies of Missouri the following summer, turned up the virgin soil, and planted. Here leaving a few to cultivate and gather for wanderers who might come after them, the host moved on, making the wilderness vocal with preaching and singing. Order marked every step of their progress, for the voice of Young, whom they regarded as a seer, was to them as the voice of God. On they went forming Tab- ernacle Camps, or temporary resting places in the wilderness. No obsta- cles impeded their progress. They forded swift-running streams, and bridged the deeper floods; crept up the great eastern slopes of the Rocky mountains, and from the summits of the Wasatch range, they beheld on the 20th of July, 1847, the valley where they were to rest and build a city, and the placid waters of the Great Salt Lake, glittering in the beams of the setting sun. To those weary wanderers, this mountain top was a Pisgah. From it they saw the promised land-to them a scene of won- drous interest. Westward, lofty peaks, bathed in purple air, pierced the sky; and as far as the eye could reach, north and south, stretched the fer- tile Valley of Promise, and here and there the vapors of hot springs, gushing from rocky coverts, curled above the hills, like smoke from the hearth fires of home."
The pilgrims entered the valley on the 21st of July, and on the 24th the president and high council arrived. There they planted a city, the new Jerusalem-the Holy City-of the Mormon people.
*The temple at this place was subsequently blown down. The site of old Nauvoo was settled by a French population, after its desertion by the Mormons, who used the material of the temple for new buildings, and for flagging, some of the finest stone being used for that purpose. R. E. C.
13
514
HISTORY OF MILLS COUNTY.
But many of these persecuted people did not cross the Missouri-they remained at divers points in the state of Iowa, attracted by the pleasant climate and beautiful woodlands. Among their stopping places were Kanesvile, (now Council Bluffs) Silver Creek, Traders Point,* Keg Creek, the Missouri bottom, and wherever good soil, water, and timber were found conjoined. Kanesville formed so important a factor in the early history of Mills county, being the metropolis of western Iowa, that a brief sketch of the naming of the place may not be out of order. It was named for Dr. Elisha Kent Kane, the celebrated Arctic explorer, and who was, at one time, a resident of that place. Dr. Kane was born in Philadelphia, in February, 1822, and was educated in the medical univer- sity of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1843. He entered the American navy as assistant surgeon, and was attached as a physician to the first American embassy to China. While in the east he visited many of the islands, and met with many wild adventures. He returned to the United States in 1846, but was soon after sent to the coast of Africa, where he narrowly escaped death from fever. After his recovery he went to Mexico, as a volunteer in the Mexican war, earning the title of Colonel. He then went to Salt Lake, returning soon after to Council Bluffs. On the Grinnel expedition in search of Dr. Franklin, he was appointed as naturalist, and after his return published the results of the natural history of the voyage in two superb volumes. In October of 1856 he sailed for England, in the hope of regaining lost health, and thence he sailed to Havana, where he died February 16, 1857. On his return eastward from Salt Lake City, he remained, for a long period, at Council Bluffs, suffering greatly from severe sickness. During his res- idence in that place the only abodes were tents, not even a log house hav- ing yet been erected on the site of that present growing city. When the place was founded, and a name desired, what better could be done than give it the name of him who was so prominent a man, and destined to afterward become famous for his voyages to the frozen ocean?
Kanesville was a most important point to the early settlers of Mills county. The general government had, at an early day, erected a flour- ing mill for the benefit of the Indians on Mosquito creek, and this mill was the main source of supplies for some years. Another feature of value to the early settlers was the gun shop at Kanesville, which the government also kept in operation in behalf of the red men. When supplies were needed, when that necessary of pioneer life-the rifle-required repairs, Kanesville was the objective point, and thither the pioneer farmer went. Previously to the coming of the Mormons there were no pioneers in the
*This place has long since been washed away by the Missouri. The same fate was the lot of Bethlehem, the present east Plattsmouth, the town of the present being situated far to the eastward of its older site. St. Mary's shared a like fate.
515
HISTORY OF MILLS COUNTY.
county who could properly be called settlers. The first white man, who afterwards became identified with the county's earlier history, was Henry Allis. In 1851 he was missionary in behalf of the American Board of Foreign Missions to the Pawnees in Nebraska, and in 1836 was known to have been in this county at Trader's Point. He found here at that time Colonel Peter A. Sarpy, who was engaged in trading with the Indi- ans at a point on the Missouri river near the site of old St. Mary's. Sarpy had been in the county at least two years prior to this time; he remained for many years, and at length became noted as a ferryman over the Mis- souri. His was the first steam ferry established on the Missouri north of Nebraska City. He died in January, 1855.
Until 1846 there were no additions to the white population of the county. As has been above narrated, that year witnessed the advent of many per- sons of the Mormon faith coming originally from Illinois. Among them were Rufus O. Jackson, Franklin Stuart, A. J. Stuart, Otho Wells, James Eldridge, Frank Eastman, Almond Williams, R. K. Hamar, Russell Rog- ers, Joseph Harker, George Gates and William Britain. These persons all settled along Keg creek, at a point which they named Rushville; William Britain was perhaps the very first man to locate at that point, and may justly be regarded as the oldest and first settler in the county. He is still living, at an advanced age, in Oak township, hale and hearty, and proud to be considered one of the few who helped to redeem Mills county from a wilderness. The town or borough of Rushville had a very short existence. It died almost as soon as it was born, and the place that once knew it will know it no more forever. Later in the same year there came to Lyons township * Messrs. Rix, Whittle, Eggleston, Mat- thews, McDonald, Burns, Steel, Burdick, Baker, Woth and Rooks, all of whom were Mormons, and the most of whom came from Illinois. Later, a number of the Rushville people went on to Utah, whither the majority of the Nauvoo population had gone. Joseph Harker and George Gates, who have both been previously mentioned, built log cabins in the south- west part of the county, near where Egypt was, and these are supposed to be the oldest houses erected for dwelling purposes next to that of Wil- liam Britain. The year 1846 was a momentous one for this county. The coming of the Mormons and increase of population brought the usual cir- cumstances of birth and death. The first child born in the county was A. J., son of A. J. and Eunice Stuart, which event occurred in October of this year. So far as known, this the only birth of the year. The peculiar doctrines of the Mormon faith were presented by James Eastman, an elder of that faith and the first preacher in the county, if we except the visit of Henry Allis, the missionary. The place of service was
*In this and all other mention of townships their area as at present defined is meant. The townships were not so named at the date of first settlement.
516
HISTORY OF MILLS COUNTY.
a log cabin at Rushville. It is interesting to note in this connection that the settlers did not await the erection of houses consecrated to divine wor- ship, but gathered at one another's homes to listen to the tenets of their various faiths. Gathered from every land and speaking many tongues, the earliest people of Mills county entered heartily into the exercises im- posed by the new departure. The quaint and curious but interesting ser- vices of the Mormon church were the very first ever held in this county. This year of 1846 should also be remembered as the one in which the first ferry over the Missouri was established. Its eastern terminus was at Trader's Point, and the owner was Colonel Peter A. Sarpy. He seized upon the necessities of the newly arrived Mormons as a means to enrich his purse, and carried over all who came through this portion of Iowa on their way to the Promised Land.
The year 1847 was marked by two features deserving of mention. First, a large number of those who settled at Rushville and its vicinity recom- menced their weary march to Utah. Second, those who remained scat- tered to various parts of the county, and were further strengthened in numbers by many of their brethren from Kanesville and vicinity. In April of this year, W. H. Shepperson located in Silver Creek township, and broke the first sod that plow ever touched in that neighborhood. There came to Indian Creek township in the same year H. Abel, Joseph Fletcher, and Lewis Dalrymple, from the eastern portion of the state. Mr. Abel located on what is now known as the Betts farm; the others located on Silver Creek, but the precise point cannot be determined. Mr. Abel came from Hancock county, Illinois. The only settlement of mo- ment in this year, was Cutler's Camp, on the farm of Daniel Hews, along Indian Creek. A number of persons under Alpheus Cutler there located, but a permanent settlement was not contemplated. Many of them under the same leader subsequently moved within the borders of Fremont county, and founded the old village of Manti. The first settler within the present limits of Rawles township came also in the year 1847. His name was Joseph Rawles, and from him the township was called. He came from St. Joseph, Missouri, and laying out his claim on section six, made the first farm in that township. Subsequently he went to California, where he died. William Bickmore also settled in Rawles township, but finally removed to Salt Lake City. Whether he improved any land is not known. In the present limits of Center township a farm was commenced by Ster- ling Davis, who was probably the first white settler in that township. The second birth in the county, and that of the first female child was the daughter of William and Mary Britain, Caroline L., now Mrs. Dewell. She was born in a log house at or near Rushville, January 12. Among other incidents of a notable character connected with this year is that of the first death in the county. Rev. James Eastman died and was buried
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.