USA > Iowa > O'Brien County > History of O'Brien County, Iowa, from its organization to the present time > Part 5
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
CHAPTER V.
In 1870, there was quite a flutter among some of the home- steaders, on account of an attempted fraud to deprive them of their lands.
United States land offices were often used by unscrupulous persons, when they could be so used, to perpetrate an injustice.
Certain lands in Liberty and Waterman townships were within the minimum limits of the Milwaukee Railroad land grant, and subject to entry only as double minimum of land, that is, in eighty acre tracts.
In the spring of 1870, the route of the Milwaukee Railroad was changed, so that these lands were placed outside the ten mile limit, and subject to entry in 160 acre tracts. The settlers in Liberty and Waterman had filed pre- emptions, and when this change was made, sixty days notice was given in some obscure paper, and in the meantime the lands were drawn from entry, leaving such as had not been filed upon, subject to cash entry only. This notice required all settlers A. B. CHRYSLER. to file their homestead entries by July 4th, 1870, and an informal notice of this was sent to all these parties, living on these lands. Sixty-one of these settlers filed by July 4th. On the 5th day
78
HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA.
of July, certain Sioux City parties offered to make cash entries of these same lands, tendering their money at the land office at Sioux City, which was rejected. These Sioux City parties then appealed to the general land office at Washington, which reversed the Sioux City land office, and cancelled the home- stead entries of these settlers. Notice of this was sent to each
HIGGINS
Photo by Genelli
ALLEN CROSSAN.
one of them. Then the people got together, formed an asso- ciation and elected J. C. Doling president, and Ed. C. Brown secretary, raised five dollars each among them, and sent Mr. Doling and Mr. Brown to Sioux City to employ counsel.
The well known firm of able attorneys, Joy and Wright, of
79
HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA.
Sioux City, were employed in behalf of the homesteaders, who lost no time in moving upon congress to correct the wrong that had been done, and restore these settlers to their right to file.
Senators Wright and Harlan, of Iowa, and Jackson Orr, of the lower house of congress, were appealed to, and all the facts in the case set before them. George G. Wright, a man ยท of marked ability, and as pure a man as ever graced the sen- ate of the United States, and James Harlan, the same, saw at once the great wrong that had been done, and they, with Mr. Orr, brought the matter before congress by a special bill, which was at once passed. This gave the relief required, and these settlers were soon made happy, in the assurance that the land could not be taken from them, and that this fraudulent attempt to steal their claims, for it was nothing less, unsuccessful. That body of men comprising these sixty-one settlers were not only excited over this at- tempt to steal their land, but were desperate as well, and many of them were old sold- iers. It was believed at the time, if any attempt had been made to take these lands, that somebody would have been F. M. M'CORMACK. killed, for every man of them would have fought for his rights, regarding every invader as an assassin and a plunderer.
The settlers seem to have been kept busy about that time, watching out each one for his own individual interest as a claimant, and individually and collectively, as citizens of the county, against the manipulations of county seat officials. There was also a plot to sell the school land at $1.25 per acre. By the law at that time in force, in 1869, school lands could be sold for $1.25 per acre, but the contemplation of the
80
HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA.
law was, to get all that could be got out of them, as the pro- ceeds went into the school funds in the interest of education, and in selling them, not only their present, but their prospec- tive value was to be taken into consideration. The sale then at $1.25 per acre was a job put up in the interest of individual plunder, but was immediately checked, and upon the matter being presented to Gov. Merrill, and to the Adjutant General of the state, the gallant Attorney General, Henry O'Conner, prepared and filed the required papers which caused an injunc- tion to issue restraining the sale. Upon the strength of this attempt to fritter away these lands, and the action which re- sulted, the Thirteenth General Assembly of Iowa amended the law, making the minimum price of sale at $6 per acre, and otherwise strengthening the law, in the interest of a proper dis- posal of the school lands.
Warren Walker came to the county from Marshall county in 1871. He settled on the northwest quarter of section 6, in Baker township. He did not live on the claim very long, but moved to Primghar when the town started, in 1873. Went into the land business, and was admitted to the bar to practice in 1874. Moved to Sanborn in r880, continued in the land and law business, and was also engaged in the newspaper business there, and moved to REV. W. E. GLANVILLE. Des Moines in 1895. Mr. Walker entered the army of the rebellion at the age of 14; he was identified with the affairs of O'Brien county for over twenty years, established telephone lines, was a member of the board of supervisors, and was quite a prominent citizen of the county during the years he lived here.
The first celebration in the town of old O'Brien was July 4th, 1872. L. S. Boughton was president. H. H. Water-
81
HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA.
man Chaplain and B. F. McCormack read the Declaration of Independence. Ira Brasheers delivered the oration, and a glee club furnished the music. There was a picnic dinner, and they had some amusements, horse racing, and a dance in the evening.
A political convention held at Paine's store, July 27, 1872, adjourned until August 10, 1872, because Highland township had no delegates. The delegates at that con- vention were, Floyd township, B. F. Luce and D. A. W. Perkins; Waterman township, A. J. Edwards, J. R. Pumphrey and Ed. A. Nissen; Carroll town- ship, Harley Day and H. P. Holyoke; Sutter township, E. Rinker and D. W. Wellman; Center, J. P. Blood; Grant, C. W. Inman, John Burroughs and J. G. CHRYSLER. Joseph Rowland; Liberty, I. L. Rerick, H. H. Webster, J. H. Alexander and H. A. Hoagland. This convention met at the time to which it was adjourned, August roth, with the missing Highland delegates consisting of H. C. West, C. F. Albright, and William Bascom. There was an effort made in the con- vention to have it considered as a new convention, and as having nothing to do with the one previously held, but the scheme did not work.
W. E. Welch came from Jefferson county, New York, in March, 1871, and as did many others met Archibald Murry at Fort Dodge. Mr. Welch after being told about O'Brien county, rode with Mr. Murry to Storm Lake, and remaining there awhile went to old O'Brien, and stopped with Mr.
6
82
HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA.
Murry about two years. Murry secured the south half of section 28 in Carroll township for Mr. Welch, which he built upon in 1872, and lived on the place for awhile, then traded this quarter for one in Baker township, upon which he resided until 1885, and then moved to Sheldon where he now resides. Mr. Welch was at one time a member of the board of super- visors, and is one of the thrifty citizens of the county. He acted for awhile under Sheriff Nissen as his deputy.
James Roberts, who came from Pennsylvania to Powshiek county, Iowa, came up from Cherokee. He sought out W. H. Woods, who located Mr. Roberts on the northeast of section 28 in Carroll township. Forbes Williamson had the claim covered up, as we call it, by some filing, but Roberts paid Williamson $28 to get rid of him. He wintered in Poweshiek county in the winter of 1871-2, and in Pennsylvania in the winter of 1872-3. He broke one hundred and twenty acres on his quarter in 1875, and in 1875 farmed this, except about seventy acres that he rented out. This being the first year of the grass- hoppers he saved only a portion of his crop, but Levi Allison, who had ten HOMER W. CONANT. acres of Roberts' land in oats, did not harvest a bushel. The threshers that year in Carroll charged $25 a day for threshing, without regard to the yield. In the winter of 1873-4, Mr. Roberts cut wood in Powe- shiek county. When he drove up in the spring of 1874 and got to the Day school house, he saw about forty men there, wear- ing troubled and disconsolate faces, and Jim supposed that some settler had died. Upon inquiry he found they were after
83
HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA.
relief, and there was much concern among them as to the amount each was to get.
The only amusement the boys had in these times, was an occasional dance in the house of some settler. The rooms be- ing small, they could only dance one set at a time, but this was got along with, and they were happy anyway for a while. At one of these dances, George Mennig's, James Roberts, who was from in- fancy a Methodist, thought he would join in, but he was lame from a sprained ankle, yet he sailed into the merry whirl of gaiety regardless of unsound limbs, when some one wanted to know what was the matter with that Methodist foot, which sort of startled Roberts, and he quit JAMES FRISBIE. there and then, and has never danced since. Mr. Roberts now owns a half section of O'Brien county land; he purchased a residence in Sheldon and occupied it in December, 1896, where he now lives, taking life easy.
W. C. Butterfield came to O'Brien county in 1870, having heard of its fertile soil and free homes, and as this was his first coming he was located by W. H. Woods on the southeast quarter of section 4, in Carroll township. He came again in 1871, and moved up permanently with his family in the spring of 1872. He hauled lumber from Cherokee and built his house in the fall of 1871. He was one of the Durant, Cedar county, crowd, having been engaged in the mercantile busi- ness in Durant for several years. He afterward was in the shoe business in Sheldon, and in 1873 being a practical shoe- maker he did a large amount of cobbling for poor homestead- ers, for which he never was paid, and indeed he never asked
84
HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA.
for pay. Mr. Butterfield was a Vermont yankee, of a mild, manly character, and of unbounded generosity of heart. He died in 1895. His widow, Mary R. Butterfield, was an early pioneer with him, and is a matronly woman of much refine- ment and womanly tenderness. Charles F. Butterfield, a son of W. C., came first in 1871, and settled on the northeast of 4, in Carroll township. He worked here breaking in the sum- mer of 1871, wintered in Durant the following win- ter, and returned in the spring of 1872. He made the first track from where Primghar now is to his claim, which for a long time was a regular travel- ed road. C. F. is now en- gaged in the shoe busi- H. B. WYMAN. ness in Sheldon. Another son of W. C. Butterfield, C. W., settled upon a claim in 1872. He left the county for Montana some years ago and died there. The youngest son, George M., was not old enough for filing upon a claim. He taught school for a number of years, and now is in the employ of the Government at the head of an Indian school at the Rosebud agency.
J. J. Hartenbower now a Des Moines capitalist, settled on section 34 on the southwest quarter in 1872. The first time we saw "Jerry," was before Sheldon started, at Dan Mckay's house, when Ira Brasheers was preaching a Methodist ser- mon. He was as poor as the rest of us in those early days, but by tact as a financier has become well off.
W. H. Dorsey, a brother of Senator Dorsey of Star Route fame, settled early on the southeast quarter of section 2. Among other early settlers in Carroll township was J. R.
85
HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA.
Deacon on section 6, one of the best men that ever lived. Gladney Ewers, who now resides in Minnesota, settled early on section 32. L. G. Healey on section 14, who died a few years ago at the Pacific Coast. B. Hutchinson, who settled on section 24, and kept a store there until Sheldon started. A. J. Brock settled on section 10. D. Barrett on section 24. Nancy A. Bush on section 32. R. H. Cook on section 2. E. L. Cook on section 2. Paul Casley on section 22. R. H. Cook now resides in Dakota. E. L. Cook is dead, and Paul Casley is a route agent in the west. Other settlers were John Clements on section 28, Robert Cowan on section 30, Harley Day on section 26, J. F. Frisbee on sec- tion 14, Frank Frisbee on section 14, E. S. Huber on section 23, L. A. Honber- ger on section 34, M. H. Hart on section 37, C. P. Jones on section 18, T. M. Lemaster on section 24, Harvey Luce on section 30, and C. C. Miller on section 4. D. N. McElwain a brother to Mrs. W. C. Butterfield, and father of MILT. H. ALLEN. Mrs. C. F. Albright settled on section 4 in 1872, and died several years ago in the county. " Uncle Nick " as he was familiarly called, was a rugged, sturdy character, who was thoroughly honest and kept the golden rule, to do unto other men as he would be done by.
Dan Mckay settled on section 6, 1871, resided here con- tinuously until a few years ago when he moved to Tacoma. His son George, who was but a small lad when he came here, studied law with the writer at Sheldon, passed a very credit- able examination upon his admission to the bar, and is now
86
HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA.
one of the prominent lawyers of Tacoma, Washington. Mr. Mckay's house being near the town site of Sheldon, was used ' before Sheldon started, for church services, and when Sheldon started and before there was any hotel, H. C. Lane and some others boarded with the Mckay family, and this meant a pleasant boarding place, for Mrs. McKay knows what is genuine housekeeping and genuine hospitality. Mamie Mc- Kay, a daughter, married George Piper, brother to F. T. Piper. John Griffith who died a few years ago, settled on section. 2 and the original farm is still in the family. William Moffitt settled early on section 20, Dan Moffitt on the same section, Frank Moffitt on sec- tion 22, and Erwin on sec- tion 28. Dan Moffitt still lives in the county, worried through the grasshopper period with the rest of us, and is now squarely on his feet. Erwin also made the same struggle to pull through and is now all right. John W. Nelson settled early on section 24, died a few years ago on the same quarter. His widow now resides in Sheldon, with her son Glad- CALVIN R. HURD .- LOST IN THE BLIZZARD. ney. P. A. Nelson made an orginal settlement on section 36, worked at his trade as a mason several years at Sheldon, and died a few years ago at Sutherland. Pete as he was familiarly called, was a prince of good fellows, one of the best of men, and at his death left a host of friends who sincerely mourned his de- parture. His wife now resides with her family at Sheldon, and is a woman who commands the highest respect.
William Renolds settled early on section 22 in Carroll, a mason by trade and one of nature's noblemen. He died several
87
HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA.
years ago at Sheldon. J. F. Stone settled early on section 8, but left the farm several years ago, was in the furniture business at Sheldon, and after an absence of about a year, has become again a resident of that city.
Isaac Sprague an early settler on section 34, now resides at Sutherland. John Stone on section 36 was an early settler. Isaac Toothaker and C. W. Toothaker settled early on the west half of sec- tion 12. Forbes Williams on section 28, Henry Whitemore on section 4, and Louie and Nick Youn- GEORGE A. MILLER. ger on section 30. C. D. Pottinger on section 16, Silas Poole on section 26, and Mary Priest on section 14, were early settlers in Carroll. Geo. W. Schee who has been prominent in the county, settled on the southeast quarter of section 26, in 1872.
George Mennig, who lived in Davenport, Scott county, came first to O'Brien county in 1869. Mr. L. A.Worth, also from Davenport, and who was a member of the same com- pany as Mr. Mennig during the war, had been in the county the year previous, and by his advice Mr. Mennig came. He first settled on a claim in Liberty township, filed a preemption on this, returned to Davenport and came again in the spring of 1870. Then he built a shack of sod and broke thirty acres, and that year made final proof. Mr. Mennig brought his family in the spring of 1870, and the winter of 1870-71 he lived in the Burnside house in Waterman township. In the fall of 1870 he filed a contest on the southeast of section 18 in Carroll township, which being decided in his favor, he settled on this quarter as a homesteader in April, 1871. They lived
88
HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA.
first in a tent, then built a house and occupied this until June. Mr. Mennig still resides on the same quarter. He went through all the county trials and tribulations, and in addition to the grasshoppers, he lost all his crops by hail three different seasons. Mr. Mennig was on the police force in Davenport in 1866 and 1867, is now the owner of considerable property, takes life easy, and is one of the best men in O'Brien county. Along with Mr. Mennig in the spring of 1871, came Claus Klindt and family and C. P. Jones and family. Mr. Klindt settled on the north- east of section 18 in Car- roll township, and Mr. Jones on the northwest of the same section. They both built houses, Mr. Klindt a frame house and Mr. Jones a log house. This log house is still on the claim, and in place of it as a residence there has been put up an elegant building. Claus Klindt was a peculiar man; he ALFRED MORTON. seemed always to be kind and pleasant with other people, but with his family there was often trouble. He moved to Hyde county, South Dakota, in 1883, with his wife and one son, and a few years after that committed suicide by shooting himself through the head. The writer remembers in the winter of 1873, while living on his homestead, on a cold and bitter night, someone outside was calling for help.
C. F. Butterfield who was in the house, and the writer, went out and found the noise was made by Mr. Klindt who was lost, and did not know where he was; he was also about give out with the excessive cold. He had left home in the
89
HISTORY ,OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA.
early evening on horse back to attend a grange meeting, and when he was returning home had completely lost his bearings, got turned around as men will after dark on the prairie, and got lost. He was taken in and put to bed, but was all right in the morning. C. P. Jones also went to Dakota the same year with Mr. Klindt, and afterwards to the Pacific coast, where he now resides. A nephew of Mr. Mennig's, S. L. McCallum, while here in 1896, was curious enough over Jones' log house, to make a picture frame out of the wood.
The writer came to O'Brien county in the fall of 1870, and having boarded with the family of W. C. Butterfield at Durant, did, upon Mr. Butterfield's return from O'Brien county in the summer of 1870, catch some of the O. M. BARRETT. pioneer spirit and enthusiasm with which Mr. Butterfield was thoroughly imbued. I came up with Mr. Butterfield in Sep- tember, 1870, and selected the southwest quarter of section 32 in Floyd township, and a part of which is now an addition to Sheldon.
The first act was to build a shack which Mr. Butterfield and myself erected in a day. It was 6 by 8, that is, the walls, and we laid a few boards across the top for a roof. A piece of an old horse blanket constituted the floor, and a window frame with every light out, was inserted among the sods in the south wall for a window, while a piece of board, laid up against the building, where there was an aperture, we called a door. In filing at the land office it was required to state that the building on the claim had a roof, a door, a floor and
90
HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA.
a window, and as the government at that time was not ex- acting, and no one to cross question, this sod shack answered the same purpose as would an elegant structure, with mansard roof and bay window accompaniments. While we were building the sod shack, Mr. Butterfield discovered some one working on a claim about a mile away, in which he was inter- ested, and was trying to hold for some relative soon to come out. He discovered this towards night, and left the writer to put on the finishing touches to this first habitation, while he
-
RESIDENCE OF F. W. CRAM, SHELDON.
went to drive off the invaders he had discovered. The writer then met Mr. Butterfield at supper time at his own claim where a house had been built, but could get nothing out of him as to the result of his visit. I learned afterwards that when he had gone to investigate he found Geo. Klock and E. F. Parkhurst. Klock was digging a hole in the ground and was down about five feet throwing the dirt out, when Mr.
91
HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA.
Butterfield arrived. Klock had a pair of overalls on held up with a rope, a red shirt torn in places, and his face was cov- ered with the prairie soil dust. Mr. Butterfield was a mild mannered man, but when he saw this interference with a claim he supposed was secure, his indignation knew no bounds, and for him he opened up quite a fusilade of words at Klock, and threatened everything he could think of. Klock stopped shoveling, straightened up so that Mr. Butterfield could get a square look at him, and the effect was terrible. Soon a volley of words went back mingled with oaths, and Mr. Butterfield was informed by Klock that he and Diligence would hold the claim. Mr. Butterfield inquired who Diligence was, and was informed that Diligence stood up against the wag- on, which was a shotgun. Anyone who knows the parties can see there was nothing else for Mr. But- terfield to do but go, and this he did. Klock held the claim and proved up on it.
The writer returned to Wilton, in Muscatine county, where he was liv- ing, after completing the sod shack and filing in the land office. In the spring W. H. WEBBER. of 1872, with some others of Dubuque I returned, drove up from Cherokee, and about the first of April landed on the claim again. As we drove in sight of it we could see a building on the claim, which had been placed there during the writer's absence that winter.
' Truly here was a dilemma, a difference in opinion as to who had placed that building on the claim, whether he was a pigmy or a giant, an innocent member of the Young Men's Christian
92
HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA.
Association, or a cow boy. Upon inquiring, however, in a few days we learned it was a Methodist preacher with only one arm. This, of course, settled the question of muscular su- premacy, for we felt if we could not get away with a one- armed preacher, he was entitled to that quarter section, with the sod shack and its belongings thrown in. About two weeks after that we went to Cherokee for provisions, and while at the depot when the train came in from the east, the writer saw a one-armed man get off the train. He had the garb of a preacher, and the thought was, of course, here was the offen- der and the cause of all our prospective trouble, and not even his clerical position shall save him from a going over, and per- haps a trouncing if he has the slightest inclination to talk back. Some one knowing the circumstances and the parties, brought the preacher and the writer face to face and introduced us. The preacher at once, with- out fear of man or God be- fore his eyes, said, "So you are on my claim, are you ?" The gall of the fellow was immensely audacious and for a moment we were par- alyzed, not with fear but sur- prise. We recovered, how- ever, enough to say we had moved a building up against his building and against its door; that we had three win- C. L. SOYSTER. chesters, four bowie knives, an oak club with knots in it, and a bull dog, and that the first attempt he made even to go on the claim he would be slaugh- tered right there, and his miserable carcas thrown to the prairie wolves. This was said with dramatic pose, and in such a way that the preacher walked off, muttering to himself. He did come around, however, in about two weeks and mildly inquired if he would be permitted to haul his building away,
93
HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA.
and was mildly told that he could. He sold it to Ed. Bache, in Floyd, where it still stands on Ed.'s claim.
The preacher was vanquished and peace restored. This was Rev. Ira Brashers, who was pastor of the M. E. church at Sheldon, and Sanborn afterwards, and was also postmaster at Sanborn.
&
RESIDENCE OF H. C. LANE, SHELDON.
Patrick Carroll, an honest, well disposed and substantial man, came to O'Brien county in the spring of 1870 from Illinois. He started with two teams and wagons with his entire family, a wife and eight children. They were three weeks on the road from their home in Illinois, to Cherokee, Iowa. They met several land agents in Cherokee, and in a multitude of these, the land seeker remains for a while un- settled in his convictions. One of them[palmed off a obgus
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.