USA > Iowa > Page County > History of Page County, Iowa : also biographical sketches of some prominent citizens of the county > Part 5
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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
INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS.
The industrial school for boys is established at Eldora. By act, approved March 31, 1868, the general assembly established a reform schoo! at Salem, Henry county, and provided for a board of trustees from each congressional district. The trustees immediately leased the property of the lowa Manual Labor Institute, and October 7th following. the school received its first in- mate. The law at first provided for the admission of both sexes under eight- een years of age. The trustees were directed to organize a separate school for girls. In 1872 the school for boys was permanently located at Eldora. Hardin county, and some time later the one for girls was established at Mitchellville. There is appropriated for these schools and their support the sum of thirteen dollars monthly for each boy and sixteen dollars monthly for each girl inmate. The object of the institution is the reformation of juvenile delinquents. It is not a prison. It is a compulsory educational in- stitution. It is a school where wayward and criminal boys and girls are brought under the influence of Christian instructors and taught by example as well as precept the better ways of life. It is a training school, where the moral, intellectual and industrial education of the child is carried on at one and the same time.
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PENAL INSTITUTIONS.
The governor, by an act approved January 25, 1839, was authorized to draw the sum of twenty thousand dollars, appropriated by an act of congress in 1838, for public buildings in the territory of Iowa and estab- lish a state penal institution. The act provided for a board of directors, consisting of three persons, to be elected by the legislature, who should superintend the building of a penitentiary to be located within a mile of the public square in the town of Fort Madison, Lee county, provided that the latter deeded a suitable tract of land for the purpose, also a spring or stream of water for the use of the penitentiary. The citizens of Fort Madison executed a deed of ten acres of land for the building. The work was soon entered upon and the main building and the warden's house were completed in the fall of 1841. It continued to meet with additions and improvements until the arrangements were all completed according to the designs of the directors. The labor of the convicts is let out to contractors, who pay the state a stipulated sum for services rendered, the state fur- nishing shops and necessary supervision in preserving order. The Iowa Farming Tool Company and the Fort Madison Chair Company are the present contractors.
PENITENTIARY AT ANAMOSA.
The first steps toward the erection of a penitentiary at Anamosa, Jones county, were taken in 1872, and by an act of the general assembly, ap- proved April 23, 1884, three commissioners were selected to construct and control prison buildings. They met on the 4th of June, following, and chose a site donated by the citizens of Anamosa. Work on the building was commenced September 28, 1872. In 1873 a number of prisoners were transferred from the Fort Madison prison to Anamosa. The labor of the convicts at this penitentiary is employed in the erection and completion of the buildings. The labor of a small number is let to the American Cooper- age Company. This institution has a well appointed and equipped depart- ment for female prisoners, also a department for the care of the criminal insane.
STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
A state historical society in connection with the university was provided for by act of the general assembly January 25, 1857. At the commence- ment an appropriation of two hundred and fifty dollars was made, to be expended in collecting and preserving a library of books, pamphlets, papers, paintings and other materials illustrative of the history of Iowa. There was appropriated five hundred dollars per annum to maintain this society. Since its organization the society has published three different quarterly magazines. From 1863 to 1874 it published the Annals of Iowa, twelve volumes, now called the first series. From 1885 to 1902, it published the
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lowa Historical Record, eighteen volumes. From 1903 to 1907, the so- ciety has published the lowa Journal of History and Politics, now in its fifth volume. Numerous special publications have been issued by the so- ciety, the most important of which are the Messages and Proclamations of the Governors of Iowa, in seven volumes, the Executive Journal of Iowa, 1838-1843, and the Lucas Journal of the War of 1812.
TOWA SOLDIERS' HOME.
The lowa Soldiers' Home was built and occupied in 1888, at Marshall- town. The first year it had one hundred and forty inmates. In 1907 there were seven hundred and ninety-four inmates, including one hundred and twelve women. The United States government pays to the state of Iowa the sum of one hundred dollars per year for each inmate of the soldiers' home who served in any war in which the United States was engaged, which amount is used as part of the support fund of the institution. Per- sons who have property or means for their support, or who draw a pen- sion sufficient therefor, will not be admitted to the home, and if after ad- mission an inmate of the home shall receive a pension or other means sufficient for his support, or shall recover his health so as to enable him to support himself, he will be discharged from the home. Regular appro- priation by the state is fourteen dollars per month for each member and ten dollars per month for each employe not a member of the home.
OT11ER STATE INSTITUTIONS.
There are at Clarinda and Cherokee state hospitals for the insane and one at Knoxville for the inebriate.
It is strange but true, that in the great state of Iowa, with more than sixty per cent of her population engaged in agricultural pursuits and stock raising, it was not until the year 1900 that a department of the state government was created in the interests of, and for the promotion of agriculture, animal industry, horticulture, manufactures, etc. The Iowa department of agriculture was created by an act of the twenty-eighth gen- eral assembly. In 1892 the lowa Geological Survey was established and the law which provided therefor outlined its work to be that of making "a complete survey of the natural resources of the state in the natural and scientific aspects, including the determination of the characteristics of the various formations and the investigation of the different ores, coal, clays, building stones and other useful materials." It is intended to co- operate with the United States Geological Survey in the making of topo- graphical maps and those parts of the state whose coal resources make such maps particuliarly desirable and useful. The State Agricultural So- ciety is one of the great promoters of the welfare of the people. The so- ciety holds an annual fair which has occurred at Des Moines since 1878. At its meetings subjects are discussed of the highest interest and value and these proceedings are published at the expense of the state.
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THE CELEBRATION OF THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CONSTITUTION OF IOWA.
BY JOHN C. PARISH.
In the year 1907 the state of Iowa closed the first half century of exis- tence under the constitution of 1857. In April, 1906, the general assem- bly, looking forward to the suitable celebration of so important an anni- versary, passed an act appropriating seven hundred and fifty dollars to be used by the State Historical Society of Iowa, in a commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the constitution of 1857. It was eminently desirable that the celebration should occur at lowa City, for it was at that place, then the capital of the state, that the constitutional convention of 1857 was held. And it was particularly fitting that the exercises should be placed under the auspices of the State Historical Society of Iowa, for the same year, 1857, marks the birth of the society. While the convention was draft- ing the fundamental law of the state in a room on the lower floor of the Old Stone Capitol, the sixth general assembly in the legislative halls up- stairs in the same building passed an act providing for the organization of a State Historical Society. Thus the event of 1907 became a celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the State Historical Society as well as a com- memoration of the semi-centennial of the constitution of 1857.
In due time plans were matured for a program covering four days, beginning on Tuesday, March 19, and closing on Friday, March 22, 1907. It consisted of addresses by men of prominent reputation in constitutional and historical lines, together with conferences on state historical subjects. On Tuesday evening Professor Andrew C. Mclaughlin, of Chicago Uni- versity, delivered an address upon "A Written Constitution in Some of Its Historical Aspects." He dwelt in a scholarly way upon the growth of written constitution, showing the lines along which their historical develop- ment has progressed.
The speaker of Wednesday was Professor Eugene Wambaugh, of the Harvard Law School, one of the leading authorities in the country upon questions of constitutional law and formerly a member of the faculty of the college of law of the University of Iowa. Professor Wambaugh, tak- ing for his subject "The Relation between General History and the History of Law," outlined the history of the long rivalry between the civil law of Rome and the common law in their struggle for supremacy, both in the old world and the new. In closing, he referred to the constitution of Iowa as typical of the efforts of the American people to embody in fixed form the principles of right and justice.
Thursday morning was given over to a conference on the teaching of history. Professor Isaac A. Loos, of the State University of Iowa presided, and members of the faculties of a number of the colleges and high schools of the state were present and participated in the program. In the after- noon the conference of historical societies convened, Dr. F. E. Horack, of the State Historical Society of Iowa, presiding. Reports were read from
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the historical department at Des Moines and from nearly all of the local historical societies in the state. Methods and policies were discussed and much enthusiasm was aroused looking toward the better preservation of the valuable materials of local history.
The history of the Mississippi valley is replete with events of romantic interest. From the time of the early French voyagers and explorers, who paddled down the waters of the tributaries from the north, down to the days of the sturdy pioneers of Anglo Saxon blood, who squatted upon the fertile soil and staked out their claims on the prairies, there attaches an interest that is scarcely equaled in the annals of America. On Thursday evening, Dr. Reuben Goldthwaites, superintendent of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, delivered an address upon "The Romance of Mis- sissippi Valley History." He traced the lines of exploration and immigra- tion from the northeast and east and drew interesting pictures of the activities in the great river valley when the land was young and the ways full of wonder to the pioneer adventurer.
Friday's program closed the session. On this day Governor Albert B. Cummins attended and participated in the celebration. At the university armory before a large gathering, he spoke briefly on the constitution of the United States, paying it high tribute and at the same time showing the need of amendment to fit present day needs. He then introduced Judge Emlin McClain, of the supreme court of Iowa, who delivered the principal address of the day. Judge McClain took for his subject "The Constitu- tional Convention and the Issues Before It." He told of that memor- able gathering at the Old Stone Capitol in Iowa City fifty years ago when thirty-six men met in the supreme court room to draft the fundamental law for the commonwealth.
The members of the convention of 1857 were from various occupa- tions. The representatives of the legal profession led in numbers with fourteen members, among whom were many men of prominence. William Penn Clarke, Edward Johnstone and J. C. Hall were there. James F. Wilson, afterwards so prominent in national politics, was a member, then only twenty-eight years of age. J. C. Hall was the only delegate who had served in either of the preceding constitutional conventions of the state, having represented Henry county in the convention of 1844. There were twelve farmers in the convention of 1857-rugged types of those men who settled upon land and built into the carly history of the state its elements of enduring strength. Among the remaining members were merchants, bankers and various other tradesmen. They were a representative group of men and they attacked the problems before them with characteristic pioneer vigor.
The convention of 1857 chose for its presiding officer, Francis Springer, an able farmer and lawyer from Louisa county. Many were the discus- sions that stirred the convention. One of the first was over the proposition to move the convention bodily to Dubuque or to Davenport. The town of Iowa City it seems had not provided satisfactory accommodations for the delegates, and for hours the members gave vent to their displeasure and
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argued the question of a removal. But inertia won and the convention finally decided to remain in Iowa City and settled down to the discussion of more serious matters.
The constitution of 1846 had prohibited banking corporations in the state. But there was strong agitation for a change in this respect, and so the convention of 1857 provided for both a state bank and for a system of free banks. The matter of corporations was a prominent one before the convention. So also was the question of the status of the negro. The issues were taken up with fairness and argued upon their merits. The convention was republican in the proportion of twenty-one to fifteen. The delegates had been elected upon a party basis. Yet they did not allow partisanship to control their actions as members of a constituent assembly. On the 19th of January they had come together and for a month and a half they remained in session. They adjourned on March 5th and dis- persed to their homes.
That the members of the convention did their work well is evidenced by the fact that in the fifty years that have followed only four times had the constitution of 1857 been amended. Nor did these amendments embody changes, the need of which the men of 1857 could have well foreseen. The first two changes in the fundamental law were due to the changed status of the negro as a result of the Civil war. In 1882 the prohibitory amend- ment was passed but it was soon declared null by the supreme court of Iowa because of technicalities in its submission to the people and so did not become a part of the constitution. The amendments of 1884 were concerned largely with judicial matters, and those of 1904 provided for biennial election and increased the number of members of the house of representatives.
With these changes the work of the constitutional convention of 1857 has come down to us. Fifty years have passed and twice has the con- vention been the subject of a celebration. In 1882, after a quarter of a century, the surviving members met in Des Moines. Francis Springer, then an old man, was present and presided at the meeting. Out of the original thirty-six members, only twenty responded to the roll call. Eight other members were alive but were unable to attend. The remainder had given way to the inevitable reaper. This was in 1882. In 1907 occurred the second celebration. This time it was not a reunion of the members of the convention, for only one survivor appeared on the scene. It was rather a commemoration of the fiftieth birthday of the constitution of the state. Only one member of the convention, John H. Peters, of Manchester. Iowa, is reported to be now living.
The celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of our fun- damental law was marked by a unique feature. There were present and participated in the program three aged pioneers of the state, a survivor of each of the three constitutional conventions. These three conventions met in 1857, in 1846 and 1844, respectively fifty, sixty-one and sixty-three years ago. On the opening day of the celebration, J. Scott Richman ap- peared upon the scene. Sixty-one years ago he had come to Iowa City
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as a delegate to the convention of 1846. Eighty-eight years old, with pa- triarchal beard and slow step, he came as the only living member of the convention that framed the constitution under which lowa entered the Union. On Thursday there came from Marion, Samuel Durham, a tall pioneer of ninety years of age, the sole survivor of Iowa's first constitu- tional convention, that of 1844. His memory ran back to the days of Iowa's first governor, Robert Lucas, for he had reached Iowa from Indiana in the year 1840. On the last day of the program these two old constitu- tion makers of 1844 and 1846 were joined by a third, John H. Peters, who had come from Delaware county as a member of the last constitutional convention of fifty years ago. They sat down together at the luncheon on Friday noon and responded to toasts with words that took the hearers back to the days when Iowa was the last stopping place of the immigrant.
Thus the celebration was brought to an end. From every point of view it was a success. Probably never again will the state see the reunion of representatives of all three constitutional conventions. Time must soon take away these lingering pioneers of two generations ago, but the state will not soon forget their services, for they have left their monument in the fundamental law of the commonwealth.
PAGE COUNTY.
The history of a people of a community is the history of that community. When one speaks of the characteristics of the men and women of this county and in detail relates the salient incidents connected with their lives, he has given to the world the things that are of the most value in relation to this people and preserved for future generations the record of those who have contributed to and made the history of the county what it is. Before the intrepid voyager and hunter left his eastern home, or the husbandman first cast his eyes upon the boundless prairies, beautiful streams and virgin for- ests of Page county, Nature had completed her task. Everything was in readiness for the man of courage, strength and endurance, and his coming to this land of plenty was the beginning of another cpoch in its history. The task of the historian is to make known to the present generations how this history became possible and to acquaint them with the men and women who were the chief contributors thereto.
Some, but a very few of the pioneers, the "first-comers" of Page county are still here to tell the story of those early days, when they first "stuck their stakes" in this their land of promise and beauty. The many and almost incredible changes that have taken place are uppermost in their thoughts. when their memory reverts to the early '50s and a comparison is made be- tv cen the then and now. In those bygone days the road hither was far and tedious, the bridle path being the only passageway for their lumbering wagons and the only means of crossing the many waters that confronted them on their journey was by fording or swimming. The "prairie schooner." with canvas-covered top was the only means in those pioneer days of transporting the family and a few articles of household goods they
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possessed. With little to begin the new life, except stout hearts and willing and capable hands, these builders of a new country set up their habitations on the virgin prairie and soon the smoke might be seen curling heavenward from a log cabin, hastily built by the father and husband of the family, within which the patient, courageous wife and wondering children would gather and give thanks to the Giver of every good and perfect gift for the blessings of a home. In those days "necessity was the mother of invention" in all that the words imply. No labor-saving machinery was extant or thought of. Only with the crudest of tools and labor of the hands were results made possible. There were no stores, mill, or black- smith shop to supply the immediate needs of the adventurers in the wilder- ness, and when the crops failed, Nature in her fields and streams was called upon by the hunter and fisherman to supply the deficiency. The present generation has no adequate realization of the trials and hardships of the fathers and mothers who came to this country when it was the home of naught but the Indian and wild beasts and made it blossom as the rose and give up its bounties at the touch of their magic wand. In place of the weary journey through mud, or dust, or drifted snow, thirty or forty miles to mill or village for the necessaries of life, in many cases the only beast of burden the slow paced oxen, or scarcely faster plodding farm horse, now the iron steed of commerce, with rush and roar, dashes up almost to the door of the farmer, and towns and villages, with stores and mills of the best in the land. dot these verdant hills and plains. He is now enabled to live like a prince and by the use of the telephone, one of the marvels of the twentieth century, he can make his wants known in a trice. His mail is brought to his door daily and now he keeps abreast of the times as readily and conveniently as the dweller in the towns, for before the sun sets each day he sits down to read and digest his daily paper. His home has the modern conveniences of the "town folks." He has the telephone, the house is heated by furnace or steam, with his windpump he distributes water throughout his dwelling and he enjoys the luxury of a bath in a modern tub. No longer does his family take the weekly trip "to town" in a lumber wagon. Today the farmer has his buggy and surrey, and many of them are seen in automobiles. Com- pare all this to the rude appliances of the early settler, both in the farm im- plements and the domestic helps to the labor of both man and wife; contrast the flail with the steam thresher and stacker ; the scythe and cradle with the self-binding harvesting machine ; the sewing machine and the great factory looms with the needle and the spinning-wheel ; and besides these, consider the many makeshifts of the hardy pioneer and his loyal wife to help things along in their efforts to get ahead in the new world.
These men and women whom the present writer has in mind were real heroes and heroines. They braved untold hardships and horrors to trans- form a wilderness into a garden spot, to make an abiding place for them- selves and their children, so that they might develop into worthy citizens of this great republic. These people have earned a place in history and to give them that place is the object of the writer and this volume. The annals of the lives of these "Pilgrim Fathers" of Page county surely read like a
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romance, and have within them all the elements of tragedy and comedy, and the story of their conflict with nature and the vicissitudes of pioneer life shall be the principal theme of this history. In this connection the individual life histories of the early pioneers and their representatives, and those who have come to the county in later years and have taken up the work where others have left off, are deemed worthy of preservation and many of them, of the living and those passed to "the beyond," will here be given, that the narratives of their life work may be read, to the end that emulation of their worthy deeds may be quickened in the hearts of the young reader and induce him to strive to do as well, if not better than the one whose history is before him. These men and women are, or have been, factors in the settlement and development of Page county, and by inserting these sketches, together with other matter, is preserved not only the recital of historic facts but a subcurrent of individual deeds that runs through it like some minor chord in the grand melody, giving a realism to the narrative which could be imparted in no other way.
LOCATION.
Page county takes its name from a distinguished young officer, Captain Page, who was killed in the Mexican war. The county is situated in the southwest corner of the state, Fremont county alone separating it from the Nebraska line. On the north of Page is Montgomery county, on the east Taylor, and on its southern boundaries are the counties of Nodaway and Atchison, in the state of Missouri. The two first townships of Page county were surveyed under the direction of the surveyor-general of Missouri, and the work of surveying was accomplished prior to the settlement of the boundary line diffculty, which was caused by making a mistake in the sur- veys. The constitution in defining the boundaries of that state had defined her northern boundary to be the parallel of latitude which passes through the rapids of the Des Moines river. In the Mississippi river, a little above the mouth of the Des Moines river, are the rapids which had been known as the Des Moines rapids, or the rapids of the Des Moines river. Just below the town of Keosauqua, in Van Buren county, there are rapids, though very slight and inconsiderable, also in the Des Moines river. The Missouri authorities claimed that the latter rapids were referred to in the definition of her boundary, and insisted on exercising jurisdiction over a strip of terri- tory some eight miles in width which Iowa claimed as being a part of her territory. At the first court held in Farmington, Van Buren county, in April, 1837, by David Irwin, judge of the second judicial district of Wisconsin, an indictment was found against one, David Doosc, for exercising the office of constable in Van Buren county, under authority of the state of Mis- souri. This and other official acts by Missouri officials were the origin of the dispute which resulted in demonstrations of hostilities and very nearly precipitated a border war. Governor Boggs of Missouri called out the mil- itia of that state to enforce its claims, and Governor Lucas of Iowa called out the militia of the territory to maintain its rights. About twelve hundred
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