USA > Iowa > Osceola County > History of Osceola county, Iowa, from its organization to the present time > Part 4
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To one who drove over these prairies twenty years ago, the scenery now in comparision is beautiful and magnificent. Where stood the sod house and the usual 8 by 10 shack; there are now commodious and tasty residences, and groves, whose trees, dressed in their green and luxuriant fohage, add to the
-MAN2 = Co.
JOHN F. STAMM.
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HISTORY OF OSCEOLA COUNTY, IOWA.
beauties of nature, and mark the landscape with a fascinating and dignified splendor. Going back in remembrance to 1871 we could see a shack on Section 8, Goewey Township, which straddled the line of three quarter-sections, holding down claims for H. C. Allen, Frances Allen and one of the Thomson boys, not a tree in sight anywhere, and, in fact, not a house. We could see the boys figuring on how to get through the winter, and wondering what the country would amount to anyhow. But forgetting the past and looking at the living present, we saw that same quarter-section on 8, which Henry Allen settled upon in 1871, now under thorough cultivation, with a large barn and nice residence almost hidden in a grove of large trees, and everything about the place showing that its occupant is in comfortable circumstances and in the enjoyment of life.
W. H. Lean came from Wisconsin and in 1871 settled on the southwest quarter of Section 6, Baker Township. Mr. Lean came with some others, previously mentioned, and returned to Wisconsin in 1871, and came back to his claim in the spring of 1872. Mr. Lean still resides on the same land, which now has a beautiful grove and fine residence, with other improvements. He is also the Goewey Postmaster. Mr. Lean found Nagg's body, the party mentioned elsewhere as lost in the February blizzard, 1872.
A beautiful residence greets the eye on the southeast quarter of Section 2, in Goewey Township. The elegant dwelling house and large barn are surrounded with large stately forest trees, and everything betokens thrift and com- fort. The owner is O. B. Harding, who settled on the east half of southeast quarter of Section 2 in 1873, and has lived there since. Mr. Harding has since bought other land around him.
In 1871, W. M. and J. H. Dagel, brothers, came from Clayton County, Iowa, driving through with teams, and between them took the north half of Section 6, in Goewey Township. By work and economy they now own over 2,000 acres of land, and still live on their original claims.
In June, 1871, Mr. Thomas Jackson filed a pre-emption on the northeast quarter of Section 30, in West Holman Town- ship. Mr. Jackson came from Wisconsin and after filing returned there, and came to Osceola County again in the fall of same year and again returned. In the spring of 1872 he drove through with a team, bringing his family with him. On this same section at that time there were settled William
J. W. ORD'S RESIDENCE, SIBLEY.
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HISTORY OF OSCEOLA COUNTY, IOWA.
Jackson, William Anderson, Joseph Anderson, Mr. Aldrich and Charles Kent. Mr. Thomas Jackson broke about thirty acres in 1872, put up his shack in the fall of 1871, hauling his lumber from Heron Lake, Minnesota. Mr. Jackson, after living there about twelve years, moved to Farview Town- ship, where he still resides, and is a successful farmer and a substantial citizen. The perils and troubles of emigration, in traveling some distance from the old home to the new one, are often many.
Early in the seventies there could be seen the emigrant wagons, reaching out for Northwest Iowa. They were called " prairie schooners." and a prairie schooner was, after all a peculiar institution. They navigated, sometimes single and alone, at other times in numbers like a fleet of vessels at sea. A Yankee boy, fresh from Massachusetts, when he saw one for the first time, said, "See that butcher cart, pa," for, sure enough, the meat carts in the cities of New England go about with a white covering. It was astonishing to see sometimes the amount of "truck" they carried and the number of inmates. We saw one in 1873, heaving into Osceola County, that had three trunks, two setts of harness, a sheet-iron stove, several bushels of potatoes, two dozen hens, and its inmates were man and wife and eight children; they also had cooking utensils, bedding, and feed for the team. This mode of trav- elling, too, when the roads are good and the party united and contented, is very enjoyable, and certainly very healthy. These emigrant wagons are now seldom seen, and when they are they are bound for Dakota.
Ir. June, 1872, N. W. Emery drove through from Floyd County with a team and wagon, bringing his wife and one child (now Forrest Emery, grown to manhood. ) Mr. Emery settled on the southwest quarter of Section 34, in Horton Township, where he still resides, in easy circumstances and with the respect of the people. The first summer he lived in his wagon; that is, this was his only habitation. In the fall he put up a house, 12×14. Owing to grasshoppers later on, Mr. Emery returned to Floyd County and remained during the winter, where he could find something to do. The follow- ing spring he returned, driving two yoke of oxen, and he certainly had a time of it, for the roads were bad, and until he reached Spencer it was nothing but mud and water. Five other teams were with him, of parties going to Dakota, and they stuck together, for they were useful to each other when one or the other got fastened in the mud when it took strength
F. M. ROBINSON.
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HISTORY OF OSCEOLA COUNTY, IOWA.
to pull the wagon out. Emery's oxen pulled each of the others out several times, and once Emery's wagon was so deep in the mud and water that it took the five teams com- bined with Emery's two yoke of oxen to pull him out. So bad were the roads, that one day they traveled only nine miles, and Emery was delighted when he got back to his claim. The first season Emery did some breaking away from home for several weeks, which left his wife and the infant (Forrest) to keep honse alone.
In all the hardships incident to pioneer life it is not only the men who endure them, but the women also, whose burden is as great, if not greater, to bear. Their work may not be as hard, but it is constant, and, with the care of the family and motherly anxiety, the world does not know, and never will, the mental anguish of a great many of the wives of pioneers who were making a home on these fertile, but then uncultivated, prairies.
John P. Hawxshurst came in March, 1872, from Wis- consin. He settled upon the southwest quarter of Section 22, Township 100, Range 42, and is still a resident of the county. Mr. Hawxshurst helped start the Sibley Gazette-laid the type from the "original packages" into the case, and was with the paper until ISS5. At one time he was sole pro- prietor, and during the grasshopper raid had a hard time of it indeed. At one time, for about a month, he did not take in any money, nor pay any out, nor did he have any in his pockets. His cash account was not hard to keep, and no doubt there was many a country printer then wondering half the time where his next meal was coming from.
In September, 1871, Mr. John L. Robinson landed in Osceola County from Alamakee County. His son, F. M. Robinson, afterwards County Auditor, had preceded him, and Frank met his father and mother and one sister at Algona, and all drove over from there. They took their claims on a different part of Section 28, on what is now West Holmnan, put up buildings and commenced living. Mr. J. L. Robinson is still living in the county, at Sibley, and F. M. Robinson is at Atlanta, Georgia. As will be seen by referring to the Sibley records, F. M. Robinson put up the first building on the Sibley townsite. Afterwards his father moved into the building, and lived there during the winter of 1871 and 1872. While he was living there, in the fall of 1871, the portly form of Elder Webb darkened the doorway, and went into the room while Robinson was putting slough hay and broken
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weeds into the stove. This was the first time the Elder had seen that kind of fuel, and he was surprised that it could be utilized as a warmth producer. Mr. Robinson was the first Justice of the Peace in the county, and the office came to him by appointment. There being some irregularity in the appointment, Mr. Robinson afterwards stepped down and out, but while he was in, some cases came to his court. The first one brought, and, indeed, the first suit in the county, was between Everett and Freeman, over a yoke of oxen; and, like sensible fellows, they afterwards settled it. This was before there were any lawyers here to back up the respective sides of a controversy. Mr. Robinson's daughter, Ellen, who came with him, was afterwards married to Charles M. Brooks, now a lawyer at Sibley. The lumber with which F. M. Robinson put up his first building was hauled from Windom, Minn., and afterwards they did hauling from Cherokee.
CHAPTER IX.
There is much of individual heroism in common life that is lost to history, and which is not blazoned among the dis- tinguished deeds which make some men famous and their names immortal. Some military chieftain in the nick of time, and by natural genius and adroitness as well as personal cour- age, drives the enemy into a general slaughter, and his govern- ment, with fulsome praise, sends his name down the ages, and all time has a hero fearless and undaunted. Sometimes the greatest of all heroic acts are manifested by one in the humblest walks of life, which find no recognition in the record of history, for it is only in the exalted stations of life that the names of men glitter on the scroll of fame, and much that is the most heroic of all heroism dies with the hero. We have an old newspaper which recites the conviction and execution of a negro slave, in which case Henry Clay was the public prose- cutor. The negro was a faithful servant, and had not been accustomed to the degredation of corporal chastisement. Dur- ing a temporary absence of his master, he was placed under the charge of a young and passionate overseer, who, for some slight or imaginary offense, lashed him cruelly with a horse- whip, and brought wicked blows about the head that were unmercifully given. The spirit of the slave was aroused, and, seizing a weapon that was near him, le laid his overseer dead upon the spot. Soon after, he was borne to the place of execution, and the pride of character he there displayed was worthy of a Roman patriot. Being asked whether he was anxious that his life be spared, and, answering under a feeling of the injustice that had been done him and under the fact that he was in bondage, he replied proudly and sternly: "No! I would not live a day longer unless in the enjoyment of liberty." The pages of history might be searched from the beginning to the present, and nothing in the notoriety of preserved events would exceed this personal proudness and bravery of an obscure slave, whose words are lost in the din of pyrotecnic words over names which were prominent with the people.
Carrying the thought still further, one does not need to go to a battlefield, or to find tragedies in blood, for the world's greatest heroes. Many unknown in life, bearing its
A ZEESE & CO.CHI
E. M. TAYLOR.
4
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HISTORY OF OSCEOLA COUNTY, IOWA.
burdens under difficulties and under depressing circumstances, and under the crushing conditions of poverty and misfortune, are heroes, and the women who toil with them are heroines. The writer in the early seventies knew several families in Northwest Iowa who were without money, without friends- for the world is cold and uncharitable to the borrower-whose crops were an utter failure, and where existence was continued by living on anything that was accessible, and whose diet principally was corn ground in a coffee mill. We who are living in the present progress and prosperity of Osceola County cannot realize the crushed and despondent heart of many a mother whose little ones, in the early days of the county's history, were crying for bread, and where but inch boards protected them from the severity of winter, huddled around a fire made by twisted hay, and whose one hope was in a change, which the future, dark and doubtful, would bring to them. These early settlers who were thus battling against the misfortunes of the county then were heroes.
The early days of Osceola county, from 1871 on, were hard and trying to settlers who were endeavoring to make a home here and establish a farm on the prairie. Most of them came without means, and depended on their grit and muscle to pull through. Those that brought money with them, and were reasonably well fixed to start on, seemed to be the most unfortunate after all, especially when the grasshoppers came, for the reason that they did not hesitate to use their means in building good houses and surrounding themselves with comforts and conveniences, expecting an early return for their investments. But when the pocket-book became empty, and no crops as expected and no value to land, they were not only discouraged but disgusted, and soon got out, while the fellows who started with nothing were more inclined to stay it through, still hoping to realize and get return for their labor.
We can easily see how much grit and determination it took to stay here several years, one after the other, without a crop at harvest time, and still stay another winter and burn hay and take chances on enough to eat. Money could not be obtained only on gilt-edged security at a rate of interest from three to eight per cent. a month, and sometimes at ten. Many a farm and much live stock and farm machinery of these early settlers passed into the hands of these money lenders; we cannot say unjustly so, but as a matter of business, because the money was due, the debtor unable to pay, and that
LEIBLEYI
B., C. R. & N. DEPOT, SIBLEY.
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HISTORY OF OSCEOLA COUNTY, IOWA.
insatiate and inexorable Shylock, the chattel mortgage, must have what its description calls for, and without delay. Some were crushed under the burden of debt, and ran away from it, glad to escape the annoyance of creditors, and into an atmnos- phere of peace.
Others still kept working on, toiling in the hope of better days, and under a feeling that no matter how black and hideous were the clouds of adversity, there was still a silver lining, and that in time the sunshine of prosperity would change the condition of things and gladden their hearts.
The days of Osceola County hardships are over. It has passed the period of settlement, of hard times, debt and ad- versity, and is today one of the most thrifty Counties in the State. In 1870 its beautiful but unbroken prairie land was waiting in mute silence for coming events; today its well cultivated farms, extensive and magnificent forest trees, with beautiful and comfortable residences show the wonderful progress and prosperity that can come to a country by the industry and thrift of a people, who under a government like ours know the value of a home. The county is still advancing, its population increases each year, its unbroken prairie is diminishing rapidly, and before another decade not a foot of wild land capable of cultivation can be found in the county. Its people are full of energy, have the best of social qualities, are intelligent and loyal. School districts and municipal town- ship governments and the County administration, are all in the hands of men who are honest, capable and economical, and the future of the county is brilliant in everything that can lead a people up to the highest conditions of contentment, happiness and success. The older settlers, who have borne the "burden and heat of the day" and are here yet, have a feeling of pride in what the years accomplished, and the later incoming settlers realize that there is no fairer or more fertile agricultural country that the sun shines upon or was ever watered with the dews of heaven. However much of adversity or hardship our early settlers had to contend with the clouds have now rolled by, and other people in the experience of a like mis- fortune cannot only have our sympathy, but would find us charitable enough and sufficiently able to pour into their lap the surplus treasures of our own productive soil.
V
E
J. MANZO(6) }
W. H. GATES.
CHAPTER X.
In May, 1871, W. H. Gates arrived in Osceola County from Buchanan County. He started with O. Dunton and T. J. Cutshall, Dunton and Gates having teams and outfit of their own, while Cutshall was sort of a passenger with them. Gates filed on the southeast quarter of Section 26, Township 100, Range 42, and Dunton and Cutshall on the south half of Section 32, Township 100, Range 41. They built, to start on, a sod house on Dunton's claim, and made that their head- quarters. Mr. Gates returned soon after for his family, and brought them out in the fall of 1871, and lived in the Dunton sod house during the winter of 1871 and 1872, and in the spring of 1872 he built a small house on his own claim, which is still there, and Mr. Gates still owns the land. At present he is County Recorder. In the fall of 1871, after Mr. Gates had become settled with his family, he met Mr. Glover for the first time. Glover ventured over to the Gates household, bringing a tin pail, bearing all the marks of a siege in batch- ing. He modestly and timidly inquired if he could get some milk, which was generously supplied him, and John was treated so hospitably he ventured another request, doubtfully asking Mrs. Gates if he could get a piece of pork rind to grease his griddle for pancakes, and the request was accompanied with a skillful gesture of the hand, following the movement usually made in greasing a skillet for that purpose. Glover was surprised with a nice piece of pork from a barrel which Gates had brought with him, and the ex-Representative went home in a feeling of supreme delight. Mr. Gates was very much afflicted that winter with acute rheumatism, and no physician within forty miles. After laying helpless for about a month he got about again.
Cutshall alternated for several years between his claim and cobbling shoes at Sibley. He now lives at Omaha, Neb. Dunton a few years ago went to Dundee, Ills., where he now lives.
During the season of 1871 deer and elk were plenty in Osceola County, and they who were hunters and good marks- men had plenty of it. The next season, of 1872, the incoming railroad and influx of settlers drove them westward, in the
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W. B. STEVENS.
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HISTORY OF OSCEOLA COUNTY, IOWA.
same direction civilization pushes the Indians-towards the setting sun.
This Township, in which Mr. Gates settled, as will be seen elsewhere, was first named Fenton and afterwards Viola. But few of the 1871 and 1872 settlers are left in the Township. In 1871 John Stamm and Robert Stamm came to the County, driving through with teams from Jefferson County, Iowa. John settled on the southwest quarter of Section 34, Viola, and Robert on the northeast quarter of Section 4, Holman. We will now continue as to Viola Town- ship. John Stamm is still a resident of the County, and was elected Sheriff in 1891. Frank Vanamburg settled in 1871 on the southeast quarter of Section 34. The same year Theodore Stage took a part of Section 30. Mr. Stage now lives at Little Rock. Also in 1871, John Smith and his mother took the northwest quarter of Section 20, he taking one and his mother the other eighty. On this same section C. C. Collerson also settled in 1871. H. W. Tinkhum settled the same year on a part of the northeast quarter of Section 26. Mr. Tinkhum is now at Barraboo, Wis. The remaining part of the northeast quarter of Section 26 was taken by Eleazer Headley in the spring of 1872. He is now in Indiana. On this sanie Section 26, J. S. Patterson in 1871 took the northwest quarter. He came from Cerre Gordo County, Iowa, and still lives on the same piece of land. On the southwest quarter of Section 26, J. W. Blair settled in 1871. He still owns the same piece and resides in Kansas. J. W. Nimms filed on the northeast quarter of Section 34 in 1871. On the northwest quarter of same section, J. T. Barclay settled in 1872, and put up the usual shanty. He sold the land afterwards to W. E. Ripley, and Mr. Barclay resides in Sibley. Also in the spring of 1872, H. Jordon set- tled on the southeast quarter of Section 28. Mr. Jordon was afterwards a lawyer in Sibley, and died in The remainder of Section 28 was taken by George Carew, the northeast quarter; D. B. Wood, the northwest quarter; and Mr. Willie, the southwest quarter. Mr. Carew still lives in Sibley, and his claim is now owned by Jacob Brooks. Mr. Wood now lives in Springfield, Missouri.
The northwest quarter of Section 32 was taken by James Dalton in 1871. He now lives in Buchanan County, Iowa, and Mr. Shapley owns the claim. George S. Downend, in the spring of 1872, filed on the northeast quarter of Section 32, and still lives on the land, with good improvements. Mr.
PR.A.
JOHN F. GLOVER.
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HISTORY OF OSCEOLA COUNTY, IOWA.
Downend was from New York, was in the war, and went home on crutches.
Patrick Piesley came to the county in 1871, and took the southeast quarter of Section 32. He returned to his former home in Wisconsin, and was married there July 3, 1873, and still lives in Osceola County on the same piece of land. The southwest quarter of this same section was taken by Abraham Shapley in the spring of 1870. Mr. Shapley drove through by team from Clayton County, and along with him was N. D. Bowles and John Gray. He put up a comfortable house, hauling his lumber from Worthington. Mr. Shapley had a blacksmith shop, and, like the rest, had a hard time at the start. After he had got through June of that year, he had just three nickels left; but he had other capital, consisting of grit, of muscle and ambition. Mr. Shapley still lives on the same place, has fine improvements, owns a section of land in the county, and this year will establish his residence in Sibley, and take life easy.
Asa Vanblorcon settled on the east half of the west half of Section 30, in 1872, and is still living in the same place. On this same section, Mr. Knowlton took the southeast quarter in 1871. Mr. Shapley now owns the land. The northeast quarter of Section 30 was taken in 1872 by Henry Graham, who has since died. On a part of Section 20 Mr. Samuel Smith filed and settled in 1872. He put up first a sod house, and now has a fine residence and is still living on the place.
John Pann also filed on a part of Section 20 in 1872, and sold the land this year ( 1892). On the east half of the north- east quarter of Section 20, Edwin Smith filed in 1872. Mr. Smith still holds the land, and is engaged in the hardware business at Little Rock.
In 1872, A. B. Graves filed on the southeast quarter of Section IS, and has since died. A part of the northeast quarter of Section 18 was taken in 1872 by A. Averhill, who now lives in LeMars, but who still owns the land. Sidney Beckwith and Mr. Barnard took the northwest quarter of Section 18 in 1872, which quarter is now owned by Mr. Beckwith, and upon which he still resides. He has other land around, since purchased. The south half of the south- west quarter of Section IS was taken by Mr. Beeman in 1871. Mr. Beeman perished in the February, 1872, blizzard. He was hauling logs and was lost in the storm.
David Averhill and Obid Averhill took the south half of Section 8 in 1872. David died about two years ago and Obid moved from the county.
ACADEMY
ACADEMY OF MUSIC BLOCK, SIBLEY.
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HISTORY OF OSCEOLA COUNTY. JOWA.
On the west half of the southwest quarter of Section 10, William Rubow filed in 1872. He still owns the land, but lives in Missouri. On this section also, Eugene and Charles Bennett settled in 1872. Charles returned to Illinois a few years after, and Eugene still lives in the county on the same land and is a prosperous farmer. On Section 22 M. D. Hadsell took the northeast quarter, John Hart the southeast quarter, J. P. Hawxshurst the southwest quarter, and C. C. Hadsell and John Joseph the northwest quarter. These all filed in 1872. The Hadsell's are in Nebraska, Josephs in Kansas and J. P. Hawxshurst resides in Sibley. Peter Shaw and Charles Shaw came in 1872, and filed between them on the northeast quarter of Section 14. Prof. J. F. Ranson filed in 1872. He left the county some years ago, and lives in Florence, Kansas. Also, in 1871, C. C. Ogan filed on the southeast quarter of Section 14. He died since in California. On the southwest quarter of Section 14, John H. Douglass filed. This gentleman is elsewhere mentioned.
The Scribner family among themselves took Section 12 in 1872, and have since moved away.
On Section 24 N. J. Wetmore filed on a part of the southeast quarter, Merritt Winchester on the southwest quar- ter, G. W. Ketchem on the northwest quarter, all in 1872. Mr. Wetmore is in DeKalb County, Illinois, Mr. Winchester in Des Moines, and Mr. Ketchem went to Sioux City; he is now preaching on the Pacific Coast. Levi Shell settled on the southeast quarter of Section 36 in 1872. Mr. Shell has been here ever since, and is now in the lumber trade a Sibley. Joseph Ferrin, C. F. Torrey and Rev. Jones also filed in 1872 on other parts of the same section. These parties who filed on Section 36, except Mr. Shell, have been away from the County several years. These settlers in Viola who are still here have weathered the disagreeable hardships of the first years of pioneer life, and are now comfortable and well off. Mr. John Stamm's first wife died in the county in 1885. Viola is a thrifty township, and one of the most prosperous in the County. Among its leading farmers, in addition to those already mentioned, are the following named gentlemen: A. Ackerman, B. Ackerman, W. M. Achenbach, C. Barnum, R. Black, S. M. Bullington, T. Boyenga, C. Bauman, W. Beck- man, H. Branidt, W. Christian, J. W. Councill, Henry Doug- lass, S. R. Dunwoody, W. Downs, D. Dexter, E. Fisher, Geo. Gates, H. Hincuch, H. Hatterman, L. Hoffman, J. Hollenbach, E. D. Hollenbach, H. Hall, H. M. Heindres, H. Houke, John
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