USA > Iowa > Muscatine County > History of Muscatine County, Iowa, from the earliest settlements to the present time, Volume I > Part 24
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
PECULIARITY OF DRESS.
One of the greatest peculiarities possessed by Dean was the manner in which he dressed. He was never "dressed up." His usual raiment consisted of a pair of trousers coming to about four inches above his shoe tops. His shoes were of the coarsest leather. He wore a homespun shirt and a long linen dus- ter, with one button at the top. On state occasions he wore a worn out and bat- tered up silk hat. Around home he went barefooted most of the time and a hick- ory shirt and pair of overalls were all he had on. The story is told that at one time the graduating class of the State University at Iowa City invited him to make the annual address. They appeared in their best "bib and tucker," but were somewhat chagrined to find their orator attired in a homespun with no coat or vest, but a linen duster and a slouch hat. But when he arose before them and began to talk, all thoughts of the appearance of the man left and his mighty eloquence swayed the vast audience.
200
HISTORY OF MUSCATINE COUNTY
George E. Throop, but a recent resident of Muscatine, well remembers hear- ing Dean in the early '7os at Mt. Pleasant, lowa, where he spoke before the graduating class of the Iowa Wesleyan University. It was up in old Union Hall and the class, the students and the townspeople turned out en masse. Dean ar- rived late. He was in characteristic dress. He walked to the platform at the farther end of the hall and tossing his slouch hat in the corner, he began to talk. In a few minutes he walked to the side of the platform and leaned against the wall, with one hand in his pocket. And still he talked. His subject was Reminiscences of the United States Senate. After he got his subject fairly in- troduced, he launched into the true eloquence of the occasion. He had a won- derful memory and he quoted long paragraphs of the speeches that he had heard when in the senate. For two hours he held the closest attention of the audience, then he proposed to stop but the people would not hear to it and called for him to talk longer. He talked for three hours and then suddenly stopped by saying he had talked long enough. He picked up his hat from the floor and left the room, while people marveled at his eloquence.
John W. Palm, the present postmaster at Mt. Pleasant, was personally ac- quainted with Dean. He writes that he never knew a brighter man with a greater intelligence. He says that Dean regretted the publication of his book, Crimes of the Civil War, and once confessed that he wished every volume could be con- signed to the flames. Mr. Palm says that it is the most bitter, caustic, malignant and vitriolic book that he ever read. Dean challenged Horace Greeley to a de- bate once and Greeley replied in his characteristic manner which offended Dean and he opened up his batteries of abuse on Old Horace, lashing him with a scorpious tongue. The correspondence was printed in this book of Dean's. Dean had a son by the name of Charles Dean, who still lives at Rebel Cove, Missouri. Mr. Palm writes that Dean was a noble man at the bottom, kind, chivalrous, honest, impulsive, brilliant and eccentric. He was one of the greatest historic characters of Iowa.
The following interesting recollections taken from a recent issue of the Kan- sas City Star will be of interest :
"Every old lawyer in the first and second circuits of Missouri was well ac- quainted with H. Clay Dean, the wonderfully vitriolic lawyer statesman of Put- nam county," remarked John D. Smoot, of Memphis, Missouri. "Dean was an untamed 'rebel' and he lay awake nights coining sentences to convey his honest opinion of the fellows on the other side. The militia received his earnest and special attention. Of one blue coated captain he said: 'It would require a mar- velous stretch of executive clemency on the part of the devil to tolerate him for the thousandth part of a second in hell.'
HIS HATRED INTENSE.
"Of another, he thought the proper punishment would be to 'load him naked into a red hot cannon and shoot him through the brier bushes into hell further than a crow would fly in a year !'
"Dean was intensely specific in his castigations. He gave places, names and dates with amazing candor. Nothing was left to inference. If the Putnam
AUTOMATIC BUTT AUTOMAT
MANES DE FIL
NORTHEAST FROM COURT HOUSE DOME
201
HISTORY OF MUSCATINE COUNTY
county militia raided a hen house he gave the names of the parties involved and how many chickens fell to each one.
"Besides being a master of vituperation, Dean could draw pictures that would make the angels weep. His voice was well modulated, and when he wanted to thrill he knew how to play the chords as no other platform artist I ever heard.
CONDEMNED TO DEATH.
"About the middle of the Civil war, he visited Keokuk, Iowa. A strong militia guard was there and the members had writhed under the eccentric south- erner's verbal lashes. They caught him shortly after dark. There was no trial. His death had been decreed many months before. They started with him to a high bluff, over the Mississippi. It was a moonlight night. Dean knew what he was up against and on reaching the place, took off his hat and raised his right hand. 'No speeches! throw him over!' cried the militiamen who did not want to risk his oratory.
" 'I have no speeches to make, gentlemen,' Dean said quietly; 'just a little request here of the captain.'
" 'Out with it and hurry,' the captain said.
"The man pulled out his watch.
" 'This, captain,' he said, brokenly, 'is for my wife; the good woman back in old Missouri who has borne her part in my many troubles and few joys. To- night she is kneeling at the hearthstone praying for her old helpmeet-that God will guard him and bring him back to her. Please, captain, give-give her this for me.'
"He passed his big hand across his thin hair wearily.
"'And this, lieutenant,' turning to another officer and handing him a jack- knife, 'I would bequeath through your care to my boy, a sunny haired little fel- low of six; tomorrow night he will ride his hobby horse to the gate and wonder why papa doesn't come. He always wanted that knife, comrades, to make kite sticks and pigeon boxes. We're poor-very poor, gentlemen-and-and I-I couldn't buy him ready made toys.'
"The condemned man put his hands to his face and bent his head. The militia men released him and began moving off in the dark.
" 'Dean,' said the captain, who was unsentimental, 'when you and Beelzebub meet to argue it out my sympathies are entirely with the devil. You can run along home now.'"
Josiah Proctor Walton was born at New Ipswich, Hillsboro county, New Hampshire, February 26, 1826, and died November 23, 1908. He was of Revo- luntionary stock, his great-grandfather, Josiah Walton, having fought in the Revolutionary army at Bunker Hill, where he was severely wounded. Amos Walton with his wife and two sons, Josiah and John W., came to Muscatine county in June, 1838, settling three miles above Muscatine, at the hamlet then known as Geneva. Soon thereafter Amos Walton was appointed postmaster, which position he held until the time of his death, which occurred April 29, 1841. Mrs. Walton died January 25, 1880. From 1842 to 1847, Josiah was en- gaged in farming on Muscatine Island, after which he located in Muscatine, and
202
HISTORY OF MUSCATINE COUNTY
having a fondness for tools, he soon developed into a first-class carpenter and builder, eventually branching out as an architect and builder, in which avocation he continued until his death. He put up many buildings of importance, the high school buildings of Muscatine and Wilton, the Episcopal church, and other struc- tures. In 1857 he married Mary Elizabeth Barrows, a native of Oneida county, New York, who was also of Revolutionary stock, a woman of culture, refine- ment and high literary attainments. To them were born five children. For over forty years he took meteorological observations of Muscatine for the United States Signal Bureau, continuing the observations of Hon. T. S. Parvin, which had been taken by him for twenty-one years. Mr. Walton was the father of the levee on Muscatine Island. In 1864 he was appointed by Governor Kirkwood and received the vote of the Thirty-seventh I. V. I. for president and state offi- cer, and for a time served as a director of the Muscatine Board of Trade. He was a charter member of the Muscatine Academy of Science and for a number of years its president. Mr. Walton also served in that capacity for the Old Settlers' Association many years. Taking a deep interest in the preservation of the history of Muscatine county, he carefully collected and preserved every- thing of interest written in relation thereto and today the public library, through Mr. Walton's efforts, has a magnificent and invaluable collection of data, pre- served in book and scrapbook form. He was in fact a living encyclopedia of Muscatine events from its earliest history and it is due to his efforts that a great part of that history has been embodied in this work. He was one of the fathers of the republican party in the state of Iowa and one of twelve men to sign the call for the first republican convention of the state of Iowa. A member of the Trinity Episcopal church for many years, he took a deep interest in its welfare and was the author of a history of that old and famous church organization. Few citizens of this county were more widely known or highly respected than this worthy pioneer.
Judge Arthur Washburn came from New York state and located in Musca- tine county in 1835. He was appointed to the first postmastership created in Muscatine county, while it was yet a part of old Des Moines county. This was in 1836. The office was located near "the mouth of Pine" and was called Iowa. The office was kept in a little trading store whose proprietor was Major William Gordon. In 1838 after Muscatine county had been regularly organized, Gov- ernor Lucas appointed Mr. Washburn judge of the probate court. The office of county judge was created in 1851 and Judge Washburn was elected to fill the position. This made him financial agent of the county as well as adminis- trator. Besides the offices named, Judge Washburn filled other positions of trust to his own credit and the entire satisfaction of his constituency. His death oc- curred early in 1856.
In Drury township, Illinois, on the 11th of January, 1897, in the ninetieth year of his age, passed away Err Thornton, who came to Muscatine in July, 1834, and was the second permanent settler of Muscatine. On the 10th of May, 1834, he arrived on the prairie near New Boston, Illinois, and on the 4th of July following crossed the river at that place into Iowa. With his brothers, Lot and Levi, both of whom preceded him to the grave, he made a claim on the bluff about nine miles below what is now known as Muscatine. At the time of
203
HISTORY OF MUSCATINE COUNTY
his arrival he was twenty-seven years of age. At the first public land sales in the territory, which took place in November of 1838 at Burlington, Err Thorn- ton, John Vanatta and Aaron Usher as commissioners for the county of Mus- catine, selected the quarter section of land on which the court house now stands. Err Thornton represented Muscatine county in the legislature which met in Iowa City, December 5, 1842. He was a man of prominence in the affairs of the early days of this section and up to the time of his death held the esteem of all who knew him. He was a fine specimen of manhood physically, standing six feet two and a half inches and weighing one hundred and seventy pounds.
William Leffingwell came to Muscatine county in 1836, almost at the very beginning of the town's history, where he at once began the labor of improving a farm in Wapsinonoc township. He became a resident of the town proper in 1844. He served as county commissioner, clerk of the county, justice of the peace, city treasurer and mayor, and left behind him a most honorable record.
A pioneer of Muscatine was Moses Couch, who settled here in 1836. In the original records of Bloomington is transcribed an abstract of the first elec- tion held in this place at the house of R. C. Kinney, May 6, 1839, which shows that Moses Couch was elected recorder, receiving twenty-nine of the thirty-nine votes polled. He was subsequently appointed city treasurer. He was a painter and glazer by trade, following the craft for many years. In religion he was an Episcopalian and in politics a stanch republican. He died September 23, 1879.
Colonel T. M. Isett came to Muscatine county in 1836. He was born in Huntington county, Pennsylvania, and died at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. Clara Marston, of New York city, on the 25th of July, 1883, in the seventy- fifth year of his age. He early acquired large landed interests in Muscatine and during his residence continued to be the largest proprietor in real estate. The first business in pork packing was by Isett & Blaydes in 1844. In the spring of 1855 the banking concern of Isett & Brewster commenced business and con- tinued ten years, when Colonel Isett removed to New York and became the head of the banking house of Isett, Kerr & Company. When he removed to New York from Muscatine he was estimated to be worth at least $200,000. Through speculation in Wall street his effects dwindled to almost nothing.
Adam Ogilvie was born in January, 1804, in Keith, Scotland. He came to the United States in the spring of 1836 and in company with relatives set out for the "far west," arriving in Muscatine, then a trading post, known as Blooming- ton, on the Ist of September of that year. Here he purchased several lots and established a home. In 1837 he opened a general store in a log cabin on Water street, the second mercantile house in Bloomington, the old trading post as the first. The log cabin was soon supplanted by a substantial two-story structure, the lower story of which he occupied as a store, using the upper floor as a resi- dence. Thirteen years later on the same site he erected a brick building. Adam Ogilvie was enterprising and public-spirited and made many substantial improve- ments in Muscatine and its suburbs. In the early settlement of the county Mr. Ogilvie was the business agent of the county to receive payment and convey to purchasers tracts of land or lots belonging to the county. His death occurred on the 5th of February, 1865, in the sixty-first year of his age.
204
HISTORY OF MUSCATINE COUNTY
Suel Foster was born in Hillsboro, New Hampshire, August 26, 1811, and died January 21, 1886. He was raised on a farm and attended school. At the age of twenty he started out for himself, working on a farm near Rochester, New York, where with his brother he bought some merchandise which he peddled around to the country people, continuing in this pursuit for three years. After some months spent at Middlebury Academy he joined his brother, John H. Foster, in 1836 in a journey to the west. At St. Louis they separated, the brother going to Chicago and Suel to Rock Island. There he became acquainted with the noted Indian chief, Black Hawk, whose village was near, and he wit- nessed the crossing of the Mississippi by the Sacs and Fox tribes of Indians on their first removal to Iowa. That year he came down the river, accompanied by his brother, to where two log cabins marked the site of the city of Blooming- ton, now Muscatine, where they purchased an undivided one-sixth of the town- ship for $500. The following year Suel fixed his residence at the place so in- dissolubly connected with his name. In 1842 he engaged in the grocery busi- ness, following the same for four years. In 1846 he married Sarah J., a sister of Hon. S. Clinton Hastings, and in the winter of 1849 escorted Judge Hastings' family to California, remaining there until 1850 as a clerk in the Sacramento postoffice and also as an assessor in taking the census of the state. The latter year he returned to Muscatine and established the "Fountain Hill Nursery" in one of the most beautiful suburbs of the city, which for many years was his home. It is difficult to pronounce upon the special benefactions of Suel Foster, which entitled his memory to the greatest public regard. He was the father of the Iowa State Agricultural College. His was the first voice and the first pen to demand this institution and it was by his advocacy of the measure that in 1856 the legislature passed the bill providing for the college. He was elected to the first board of trustees and acted as president of the board for five suc- cessive years. He was elected to directorships and other prominent offices of the State Agricultural and Horticultural Societies and his speeches and essays form not the least important part of the records and publications of those bod- ies. In Muscatine he figured largely in the organization and support of the Agricultural Society, County Grange and Farmers' County Alliance as a horti- culturist. His name is well known throughout the state, but greater than all else is his fame as a western pioneer. He was a great moral force. His views upon slavery and temperance, court abuses, monopolies and other wrongs of the day were forceful and always right. He early became a member of the Congre- gational church of Muscatine, one of the associate members of the Scientific Club and as a local historian he had no superior. It is not necessary to go into a brilliant sketch of Mr. Foster's life, for by perusal of this history from cover to cover the reader will discover that Suel Foster was a predominant factor in the affairs of this community over a half century.
One of the first settlers in Bloomington was David R. Warfield, who was born at Eastern Shore, Maryland, March 19, 1816, and died in April, 1872. Mr. Warfield came here with his cousin Charles in 1837 and purchased all that tract of land north of the east part of the city from Eighth street, for one mile back, and from a few rods west of the Iowa City road a mile east, including about one-half of the Chester Weed farm. In the spring of 1838 'Asbury and David
205
HISTORY OF MUSCATINE COUNTY
Warfield built a sawmill on Mad creek, where considerable lumber was sawed. In 1841 he married Miss Josephine Steinberger. He was a man who exerted a wide and beneficial influence. The last years of his life were devoted to farm- ing. His wife was a niece of Governor Lucas and filled a most enviable and desirable place in society in early times. She came to Bloomington in 1840, and died January 8, 1875.
Pliny Fay died at Santa Cruz, California, August 14, 1886, when seventy- five years of age. He was among the earliest settlers of Muscatine, coming here in 1837. He bore a prominent and influential part in the social, business, politi- cal and religious movements in this community from the time of his arrival until the fall of 1873, when he went to California. He filled many important posi- tions of trust and while a resident of Iowa was United States assessor for this district under Presidents Lincoln and Johnson but he is best remembered as "Deacon" Fay, having held that position of trust in the Congregational church for many years. Deacon Fay figured very largely in the early history of Mus- catine.
Colonel George W. Kincaid was born in West Union, Adams county, Ohio, April 24, 1812, and died October 24, 1876, at his home on the farm near this city. He was of Revolutionary stock, his grandfather having been one of the first to take up arms against the British, serving in the engagement on the crest of Bunker Hill by the side of General Warren. Colonel Kincaid was a tanner by trade and followed that pursuit until twenty-seven years of age, when he came to Muscatine county in 1838 with his wife, and settled upon land on High Prai- rie, in Seventy-Six township. About twenty-five years before his death he pur- chased his well known place on the Slough road, about three miles below the city, which was his home during the remainder of his life. When the Civil war came on, the famous Thirty-seventh Regiment of Iowa Volunteer Infantry was raised at his instance and specially commissioned by the secretary of war. He became its colonel. This regiment was known as the "Graybeards" and acquired a national reputation, from its being composed of men whose ages averaged nearly sixty years. After the war the Colonel settled upon his farm. His wife was Louisa Steinberger, a niece of Governor Lucas. He was the father of five children.
John A. Parvin came to Muscatine April 18, 1839, from New Jersey, where he had taught school for several years. No school or church graced the life of the community of his adoption. To show the spirit of the new immigrant and the little delay in getting to his work, a Sunday school was opened a month fol- lowing his arrival, and in July was organized a Methodist Episcopal church of seven members, of which he was one. A day school soon followed, Mr. Parvin teaching in one log cabin and living in another. In April, 1840, he purchased the business and variety stock of Adam Ogilvie and conducted a general store for four years. In 1844 Mr. Parvin was appointed clerk of the district court and elected to that office in 1846, when Iowa became a state. In the meantime he occupied himself with civil engineering and surveying. While prostrated with cholera he was informed of his election on the democratic ticket to the general assembly of Iowa in 1850. At this session of the assembly he prepared and conducted the final passage of the bill changing the name of Bloomington to
206
HISTORY OF MUSCATINE COUNTY
that of Muscatine. In 1854 he was elected as temperance candidate for mayor of Muscatine and by the last of July of that year every saloon in the place was closed. In 1855 Mr. Parvin returned to a farm in Sweetland township, three miles from Muscatine. The following year he was elected to the constitutional convention which met in 1857 and assisted in framing the present constitution of the state. He was chairman of the convention and was appointed chairman of the important legislative committee. Among the provisions reported and car- ried by him is the one providing for biennial sessions of the legislature at its meeting on the Ist of January. In 1863 Mr. Parvin was elected to the state senate to fill a vacancy and was elected to the full term of four years in 1865. One of the measures introduced by him was a bill creating the Reform School of Iowa, now known as the Industrial School. For many years Mr. Parvin was the leading trustee of this institution. He served also on the committee for the erection of the Orphans' Home. He died March 16, 1887.
Cyrus Hawley was born in Norfolk, Connecticut, in 1808, and died in 1877. In 1840 he came to Muscatine and joined his brother-in-law, Dr. William Wil- son, of Pittsburg, in a speculation which proved disastrous, losing everything that he had. In 1850, having accumulated a few hundred dollars, he built a brickyard, where he manufactured brick until 1857. He then spent six years on a farm, after which he returned to Muscatine and established a fire and life in- surance agency, which became one of the leading concerns of the city. Written on a slip, pasted in one of J. P. Walton's valuable scrap books, is the following : "Mr. Hawley built the distillery in Whiskey Hollow in 1840. It was probably the first one in Iowa."
Ansel Humphreys came to Bloomington in the spring of 1840 and was ad- dressed as "General," from the fact that he had gained that title by a commis- sion of major general in the Connecticut militia .. He was one of the active men of the early settlement of Bloomington and in 1851 was appointed United States commissioner for the state of Iowa, which position he held until the date of his death. He was widely known as a prominent Mason and filled the highest po- sitions known to the craft. When in 1844 the grand lodge of Iowa was formed, he presided over the convention and drafted the constitution of the present grand lodge. He was three times elected grand master, besides serving as grand secretary and grand senior warden. He died 'April 27, 1872.
Chester Weed was one of the energetic and prosperous business men of early Muscatine. He was a son of Dr. Benjamin Weed, who emigrated from the old town of Canton, Kentucky, to Muscatine, in 1839. Chester followed his father in 184I and was for some time engaged as clerk in the store of Joseph Bennett. In 1840 he formed a partnership with his brother-in-law, Joseph Bridgman. The well known firm of Weed, Bridgman & Company was one of the great mercan- tile houses of the city of that day. He was a man of superior business attain- ments and in 1858, when the State Bank was organized, was called to the presi- dency of the institution, where he remained until 1860. He was a director of the Muscatine branch of the State Bank from its beginning and also a director of the Muscatine National Bank from its organization to the day of his death. Mr. Weed was a very popular man in the business and social life of the com- munity. He was widely known in this section as a great buyer of stock and
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.