USA > Iowa > Page County > History of Page County, Iowa : also biographical sketches of some prominent citizens of the county, Vol. I > Part 45
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The Methodist Episcopal church dates from 1868, when a class was formed at the Cramer schoolhouse on section 5. The first members were George W. and Sarah Hogan, Major J. Cramer and wife, J. H. Cramer, D. W. Cramer and J. Lytle. In 1882 a Methodist church was erected on the northwest of section 9. It is a frame building twenty-eight by sixty feet. It seats about three hundred people and cost twenty-four hundred dollars.
The Christian church was formed in 1886, at the schoolhouse in district 2, by thirty-eight members. Rev. M. Hardman of Glenwood organized the church.
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HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY
The Swedish Evangelist Lutheran church was organized in December, 1870, with seven families. In 1877 a frame church was built, at a cost of four thousand dollars, inclusive of the parsonage. The church was dedi- cated December 31, 1877, by Rev. B. M. Halland. This society has been the means of much good among the Swedish population, who pay liberally and are devoted to their faith to a high degree. The influence of the church upon the masses is indeed wonderful.
SCHOOLS.
Educational matters have always held a high place in the minds of the population of Douglas township. The first school building built by a subscription of work among the first few settlers, was a log structure "raised" on section 12. As soon as the settlement increased and taxes could be levied, school buildings went up all over the township, as the necessity demanded.
BUCHANAN TOWNSHIP.
Buchanan, one of the earliest setttled parts of Page county, is now con- fined to congressional township 67, range 36 west, and contains about thirty-two sections of land, a portion of the lower tier of sections being cut by the Missouri state line, on account of variations in several boundary surveys. Buchanan is south of East River township, west of Taylor county, north of the Missouri state line, and east of Amity township. It derived its name from an army officer who was drowned near Hawleyville, about 1883, while trying to cross a stream in high water time. This officer's body was eventually taken to Washington city and interred in Arlington cemetery.
For many years subsequent to its organization the south half of its do- main was included in and paid tribute to the state of Missouri, until by act of congress the matter was finally settled and the present southern boundary line established. The township is watered and drained by the Nodaway rivers and Buchanan creek. The East and West Nodaway form a junction on section 7. There is considerable broken land in the township and a good amount of native forests, within which the first settlements were effected.
At first Buchanan embraced the south half of the county and Nodaway township the northern half but Buchanan assumed its present form and size in October, 1860, by order of County Judge Swinton, who cut it down to its present territory by making other civil townships.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
It is in this township, as now defined, that we find the first events of settlement in Page county. It was here that the white man ventured to make for himself a habitation even before the Indian wigwams had all disappeared.
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HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY
The honor, for such it is, of effecting the first settlement in the county, likewise Buchanan township, belongs to the Farrens family. D. M. Far- rens claims G. W. and H. D. Farrens, came to Buchanan township in 1842 and that he David Farrens came in 1843, but records in the hands of H. D. Farrens show that the settlement was made in 1842; hence, the settlement of the three Farrens must have been made in 1843. However, many still contend, and may be correct, that the first settlement dates from 1841. William Hardee, who came, he says, March 28, 1842, and settled on section 1, believes the first settlement should be 1841. The location of the first house was on section 27. Larkin Thompson moved into the town- ship about the same time that Hardee came.
In 1845 Pike Davidson, Jacob Botenfelt, John Snodgrass, Robert Snod- grass, Daniel and John Duncan, came about the same time.
John Griffey and Thomas Nixon came in 1850.
FIRST EVENTS.
The first person born of white parents in this township and county was Oliver Perry Hardee, generally known as Perry Hardee, son of Mr. and Mrs. William Hardee, born September 16, 1842.
The first white woman in this township and the county was Miss Eliza- beth Farley, who married William Hardee. She was also the mother of the first child.
The first marriage was that of George Farren and Miss Martha Hol- land, November 12, 1844.
The first postoffice in Buchanan township was established in 1851, known as Center postoffice. G. W. Farrens was the first postmaster.
The first settler to go on the prairie to make a home was Samuel Nixon. The timbermen all told him he would freeze or starve to death. He planted the first vineyard in Page county.
The first trail ever broken by a white man was in 1843, when G. W. Farrens one wet season hitched four yoke of oxen to a treetop and dragged it over hill and dale to Maryville, Missouri.
Mr. Farrens was peculiarly situated, as he lived in two states, three counties and two townships and yet never removed. It came about on account of the Iowa-Missouri boundary line trouble and the reorganiza- tion of townships.
SCHOOLS.
Though not even fairly educated themselves, many unable to read and write, yet the first settlers saw the need of schools and in 1844 a log school- house was built on section 26, in which both school and occasional religious services were held. From that remote day to this the good people of Buchanan have always been foremost in promoting educational matters in Page county.
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HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY
RELIGIOUS.
The clergy found its way into the wilds of Buchanan township, at first being represented by Rev. Johnson, of the Methodist faith, who held the first religious service at the house of Ephraim Johnson.
The Three Forks Nodaway Baptist church was organized May 16, 1858, by Rev. S. J. Lowe. The original members were W. P. Dougherty, I. E. Stout, Willis Allenbaugh, E. Dougherty, Nancy Stout, Ann Miller and Elizabeth Allenbaugh.
BRADDYVILLE.
This is the important trading point in the township. A small plat was laid out at an early day by Mr. Braddy. The present plat was effected and made a matter of public record in June, 1878, the year in which the Chi- cago, Burlington & Quincy Railway was built through from Clarinda to Burlington Junction, Missouri. James Braddy made the plat. It is lo- cated on section 36, and on the bank of the Nodaway river, which af- fords a mill power at this point. It is now an incorporated place and is one of the oldest trading points in the county. Among the early dealers here were William Beach, who conducted a store in a log house some time in the late '50s. He was followed by T. B. Blackford, R. H. Dunn, R. C. Mason & Son. John Hart & Company came in 1875.
RAILROAD ERA.
The coming of the railway marked a new era for Braddyville, and in 1879-80 Good & Gottbrecht were the general merchandise dealers.
In 1880 Dale & Collins opened a harware store. Butler Brothers and David Dows & Company bought grain. Hotelling & Crane handled lum- ber. A. H. Luddington was the first dealer in furniture. The first to deal in drugs was Raudabaugh & Lawrence. The pioneer hotel was run by J. W. Martin. John Gram had the first shoe shop; John Castle, harness maker; Stuart Henderson, blacksmith; M. Reed, wagon shop; Mrs. Good and Casey Smith, milliners ; Dale & Carson, agriculture goods : Blackford & Failyer, livery business.
POSTOFFICE.
A postoffice was established at an early day. William Krout was an early postmaster. The office was made a money order station. July 21. 1884. The first order was for seventeen dollars and twenty cents, sent by John M. King to Sol Gray, at Williamsburgh, Kansas.
Braddyville was incorporated in 1880.
The Braddyville News commenced its issue January 1, 1890. the proprie- tors being Miller & Grosvenor.
The Bank of Braddyville was opened in 1880 by Good & Webster, who in 1881 sold to Crain, Jefferson & Company, and in May, 1889. J. B.
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Crain bought the concern and carried on a banking and insurance busi- ness.
SCHOOLS.
The first school house was erected in 1873. a one-story twenty-four by thirty-four feet, of frame, which stood on the bank of the river. A school building was erected in 1884, at a cost of twenty-five hundred dollars. It is forty-six by fifty-six feet and two stories high.
METHODIST CHURCH.
Methodism is an old institution hereabouts. Its early history cannot be here noted but a few years after the railway was built, a neat frame edifice, thirty by fifty feet, was constructed at a cost of fifteen hundred dollars.
ODD FELLOWS.
College Springs Lodge, No. 228, was removed from College Springs in 1879. The Lodge owns their own hall.
MORSEMAN AND CROOKS.
These were platted towns on the lines of the Wabash Railway, which line was abandoned in 1890 and pulled up. Morseman's plat was on section 17, while Crooks' was on section 29.
EAST RIVER TOWNSHIP.
East River township is located in the eastern tier of the congressional subdivisions of Page county and is the second township from the southern boundary line. It is south of Nebraska township, west from the Taylor county line, north of Buchanan township and east of Harlan township. From north to south its territory is traversed by the sparkling waters of the East and West Nodaway rivers and derives its name from the first mentioned river. It is also watered along its eastern boundary by Bu- chanan creek, and through its interior by smaller streams. The surface of the land in this township is beautifully undulating and the water courses are skirted by a fine growth of natural timber, embracing nearly all the kinds common to this climate and soil.
The soil is a dark rich loam, from two to three feet in depth, having a firm yellow clay for a subsoil. which prevents what is usually styled "wash- ing." All the grains, grasses, fruits and vegetables grown in this part of the country abound here in abundance and are ripened into maturity with almost a certainty. The climate is healthful and invigorating. The timber serves as an excellent protection in mid-winter, as well as to stop the force of the high winds of the summer months.
CHRISTIAN CHURCH. BRAADDYVILLE
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. BRADDYVILLE
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HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY
This part of Page county is embraced in what was once the disputed territory between Iowa and Missouri and for many years taxes were levied and collected by both states. This was settled, however, in 1851, in favor of Iowa. When the county was laid off into townships, that now embraced by East River was a part of what is now Buchanan township and so re- . mained until 1861, when the board of supervisors changed it and East River was struck off into a civil township by itself.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
By careful research it has been found that the first settlement in this township was made in 1843 by Jesse Majors, Robert Stafford, Lark and Moses Thompson and Charles Gaston. The following year came Jeremiah Teeters and Gideon Dougherty. These men, together with the families of themselves and those just mentioned, made up the pioneer band of East River township and had to be contented with and endure all the hardships coincident to those early days. Nearly all the goods consumed by these first settlers had of necessity to be freighted in by team from markets situated at a long distance, generally from St. Joseph or Marysville, Mis- souri. It should be remembered that this township was settled about sixteen years prior to the advent of a single mile of railroad within the state of Iowa.
The Pottawattomie and Musquankie Indians were encamped in consider- able numbers on both branches of the Nodaway river, as well as along the winding banks of Buchanan creek, as late as 1854, when they were removed to Kanesville, now Council Bluffs. At that date there were five white fami- lies living in what was styled "the forks" in East River township and seven families additional in other parts of the township. Counting five persons to each family, it gave a population of sixty persons in 1854. Six years later, in 1861, when the township was organized under its present name, it contained a population of two hundred and sixty. Its population in 1876 was a few less than nine hundred.
SCHOOLS.
At the time East River became a township itself, the advantages for obtaining a good common-school education were by no means excellent but as times advanced so did her school advantages. In 1876 there were within this township three hundred and seventy persons between the ages of five and twenty-one years and the average daily attendance amounted to one hundred and seventy-six pupils. There were then eight schools. David Ribble taught the first school in East River in 1852.
RELIGIOUS.
It may in all candor be stated in this connection that in no one particular has this people made more rapid strides than in the matter pertaining to
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HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY
religious worship. In the early times the holy Sabbath was more frequently given over to carousing, hunting and fishing. The wild whoop of the Indians answered by their white brothers was then wont to break the stillness of the quiet Sabbath, instead of the voice of the man of God. Today nearly every denomination of Christians are in some manner repre- sented within the limits of the township, many of them having large socie- ties and regular preaching services. The Methodist Episcopal is thought to be the strongest sect, yet others are large and among them may be men- tioned the denomination of the Church of God. The first religious services held in the township was at Shambaugh's mills, where William Rector preached in the fall of 1851.
THE "BANNER" TOWNSHIP.
It should here be made a matter of imperishable record that no township in all Iowa's broad domain shows a better war record than does East River. whose people won the silken banner for furnishing more supplies and relief to aid the wounded soldiers in the field and to sustain the families they had left at home. It must be remembered that the heroes of Shiloh and Donelson were many from East River township of Page county, Iowa. These men placed themselves between the awful storm of leaden hail and the American republic, which they had been sworn to protect. During those days of darkness and bereavement the Governor of Iowa offered a silk flag to the county that should furnish the most of material supplies and relief for soldiers, and Page county bore away her justly-won flag. and East River township carried off the banner as being the most forward of all the townships in the county in that loyal movement.
SHAMBAUGH'S MILLS.
This was the first mill site improved in the county. Mr. Stonebreaker erected a sawmill here in 1847. Some grinding machinery was also put in operation. In 1849 Mr. Stonebreaker died and the following year the mill passed into the hands of Captain Connor, who soon sold a half to one Reinhart, who later sold to Philip Boulware, who also bought Connor out and run the mill until 1854, when Gordon & Shambaugh bought the prop- erty. In 1857 these gentlemen built a flouring mill proper. This mill is on the West Nodaway river, from which it derives its power. It is on section 7. East River township, and about two miles southeast of Clarinda. The river affords a seven-foot head of water. Steam was added in 1888. The sawmill part was not used after 1870. In 1885 the patent roller system was put in, with a capacity of fifty barrels of flour per day. The mill is known in history as Stonebreaker's mill, Boulware's mill and Shambaugh's mill.
NEBRASKA TOWNSHIP.
This subdivision of Page county is situated in the eastern tier of town- ships and is congressional township No. 69, and is part of range 36, being
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HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY
the smallest township of the county. It was among the first townships organized into a civil government. It presents an excellent diverse surface, due to the Nodaway streams, one of which flows southwest throughout the entire extent of the township. It is a rich, highly cultivated and thickly populated township and contains the oldest village in Page county-Haw- leyville.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
The honor of making the first settlement in this township belongs to Joseph Buckingham, who together with John Buckingham, John Daily and Aaron Wise, came in about 1845. Joseph Buckingham died in the vicinity of Hawleyville in 1872.
In 1849 Elisha Thomas built the first mill at the present site of the Hawleyville mills. It was here where Sylvester Thomas, the first county treasurer and recorder, lived.
In 1848 A. B. Quimby settled on the farm later owned by Charles Hakes. This was the most northern settlement in Page county at this time.
John Rose and John Ross both came in during 1847-48. Men named Gregg and Henry Martin settled in 1849 in the north part of the township.
In 1850 George Baker purchased the claim afterward constituting the farm of John McDowell, on section 3.
Edward Hollis made a settlement at the same time in Valley township.
In 1850 A. B. Quimby and James Foster went to St. Joe, Missouri, to mill. the high water having washed out the mill in Page county.
Henry McAlpin came in and settled near Hawleyville in 1851, also Claiborne McBee and William Robbins. The last-named was the second sheriff of Page county.
McCagy Thomas, son of Elisha Thomas, committed the first suicide in Page county. He shot himself with a gun in the mouth, out in a secluded brush patch in 1849.
Rev. Carl Mean, afterward a member of the Iowa legislature, lived on the road to Clarinda and kept a few articles of merchandise for sale at his residence. These were truly the first goods sold in Nebraska township.
From 1850 to 1860 a majority of the following made settlement in Nebraska township. All named came prior to 1860 and a few perhaps even prior to 1850: Daniel McAlpin settled at Hawleyville. Robert Mc- Alpin settled at Hawleyville in 1854. Thomas McAlpin settled a half mile south of Hawleyville in 1854. C. G. Hinman started a wagon and black- smith shop about 1855. John Whitcomb settled at Hawleyville and opened the pioneer hotel, and his brother, Joel Whitcomb, was among the early blacksmiths there, coming in 1854-55. D. Q. Kent located a short distance up the Nodaway from Hawleyville. He is now deceased. Warren Hul- bert, later of Clarinda, was among the early comers. Nat Shurtliff operated a steam sawmill during that decade. J. M. Hawley, from whom Hawley- ville was named, came from Missouri in 1853, and opened the first regular store in Page county. E. M. Gilchrist, Stephen E. McAlpin, D. A. Thomp-
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HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY
son, Dr. A. H. East and his brother, T. H. East, were connected with the milling interests of Hawleyville. They are now both deceased. Luke Rawlings, Wash. Rawlings and Thomas Schooley all came during the above named period, also B. R. Tanner, David Morgan and J. M. McFarland.
SCHOOLS.
The pioneer school of Nebraska township was taught in a log building erected for school and church purposes at Hawleyville in 1854. The con- trast between that day and this in educational matters has been great.
VILLAGE OF HAWLEYVILLE.
This is the oldest village in Page county. It is situated on the northwest quarter of section 13, township 69, range 36 west of the 5th principal meridian, and is in the civil township known as Nebraska. It is a quaint, old-fashioned place, with the waters of the East Nodaway river flowing upon its western limits. It is upon ground sufficiently elevated to prevent overflow from high waters. It is seven miles to the northeast of Clarinda, the county seat.
The first attempt at business at this point was in 1853 and during the month of January, when James M. Hawley, who had been in trade in Andrews county, Missouri, and sold out on account of a two years' siege of fever and ague, came to this section with a few hundred dollars' worth of goods, loaded upon a wagon and drawn by a fine team. He came into the county for the purpose of trading his goods for venison, furs, game, etc., with which the country then abounded. But upon arriving where Hawley- ville now stands he concluded it a good point at which to open a general store, which he did. His first goods were sold from an improvised counter, made by placing a slab or plank across the heads of two barrels. For some time Mr. Hawley was the only dealer in general merchandise in four coun- ties, namely: Adams, Taylor, Montgomery and Page. He did a large and paying business, laying the foundation for the goodly fortune he afterward possessed. He had his goods, which consisted of everything from a cambric needle to a cook stove, cradle or bedstead. freighted by team from St. Louis; St. Joseph, Missouri, or Ottumwa, Iowa. He frequently paid five dollars a barrel to have salt brought from one of these three points. He sold the same salt at nine dollars a barrel. His stock consisted of enough fabrics of one sort and another to keep his few customers clothed, and he also made out to supply them with sugar, tea, coffee, "lasses" and tobacco, with a small supply of patent medicines, of the Jaynes and Ayers variety.
The above formed the beginning of a village, which was platted in 1853 by Henry McAlpin. and named in honor of Mr. Hawley, the pioneer merchant of the county, who still is one of its honored residents, living at Clarinda. No record appears of a platting until May 17, 1855. when James M. Hawley and Mr. McAplin owned the plat. Hawley's store was about all there was to give the spot a village-like look for a few years.
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HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY
In 1856 John Whitcomb bought a log house, which Elisha Thomas built in 1848, and converted it into a hotel, in which he cared for the weary travelers who chanced that way.
POSTOFFICE.
A postoffice was established at this point in 1854 or 1855, and James M. Hawley was appointed postmaster. The mail was at first brought from Quincy, Adams county, Iowa, by a carrier who walked and carried the mail in a hand satchel.
FIRST EVENTS.
The first merchant at Hawleyville was James M. Hawley in 1853.
The first blacksmith was Thomas Goodman, who came in 1853. He removed to California years later and there died.
The pioneer wagon maker was C. G. Hinman, who came into Hawley- ville in 1854.
The second school building was erected in 1861 by Thomas Goodman. It was a two-story brick building and was replaced by a new one in 1890.
THE MILLS.
The first mill in this part of Page county was a sawmill, erected about 1849 by Elisha Thomas, on the north bank of the East Nodaway river, which at this point gives a head of nine feet. In 1851 Henry McAlpin and A. M. Collier purchased the site and added rude grinding machinery, in- cluding a run of buhrs and a home-made bolt, which was run by hand. In 1854 the mill was sold to Dr. A. H. Thomas and Thomas H. East, and from their hands went after several changes to Truman Curtis and Thomas East, who in 1859 erected a new flouring mill, from which they took flour by wagons to St. Joseph, Missouri, and sold it there at a dollar and a half per hundred.
In 1866 A. M. Collier purchased the mill. In 1889 he added steam power and put in the "roller system." with a daily capacity of fifty barrels. The engine was a thirty horse power, which, with the Leffell turbine water wheel, affords sufficient power to run at all times of the year.
RELIGIOUS.
The first preacher to proclaim gospel truth in these parts was Rev. Samuel Farlow. Some claim Carl Means. Farlow was a Methodist and succeeded in forming a class at a very early date. Rev James ("Uncle Jimmy") Stockton, a Cumberland Presbyterian clergyman, living in Taylor county, also preached to the people at Hawleyville. There was one laugh- able scene at the old log church away back in the '50s: After forenoon services all ate dinner and within the pioneer assembly might have been found a dozen rollicking girls, of marriageable age, who planted their robust
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HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY
forms outside the log "meeting-house," and all provided with clay pipes, took their usual after meal smoke.
The Methodist people held meetings in the log school house until 1870, when a frame chape! was erected, in which services are still conducted.
The Seventh Day Adventists organized at Clarinda and here in the fall of 1889 the meeting commenced in tents, conducted by Elder Washburn and C. B. Gardner, and from these meetings the two societies were formed.
HAWLEYVILLE IN 1909.
Owing to the fact that other towns have sprung up all around Hawley- ville and it has been missed by all the lines of railroad so far, the place has gone back to a great extent, and what was Page county's brisk pioneer trading point has now come to be a small hamlet, which is made up of a few hundred people.
VALLEY TOWNSHIP.
Valley, the extreme northeastern township of Page county, is congres- sional township 70, range 36 west. It is bordered on the north by Mont- gomery county, on the east by Taylor county, on the south by Nodaway and Nebraska townships, and on the west by Douglas township. It is a very well improved section, having many of the wealthiest farmers in the whole county. The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway traverses the township from north to south, en route from Villisca to Clarinda, with the village of Hepburn located on section 20. The Nodaway river courses its way in a direct north and south direction. Along this stream here and there is found considerable timber. The broad valley on either side is an excellent and well improved farm district. Valley was at one time known as Dyke township, after one of the first settlers within its limits. It has been known as Valley since 1858, when it was changed by County Judge S. F. Snider.
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