USA > Iowa > Page County > History of Page County, Iowa : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc. : a biographical directory of many of its leading citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men, history of Iowa and the Northwest, map of Page County, constitution of the state of Iowa, reminiscences, miscellaneous matters, etc > Part 40
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HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY.
people from nearly every quarter were crowding to the front, occupying and cultivating the fertile land and settling the "New Purchase" with representatives from almost every state and nation on the globe. The farming lands were being taken up rapidly by the constantly increasing number of pioneers. Important improvements of the essential kind were being made in every part.
Cabins and mills were being built and roads laid out; schools and places of public worship were being talked of and provided for by the enlight- ened and devout citizens ; and the general cultivation and improvement of the country continued progressing at a rapid rate.
In order to the improvement of a pioneer home in the west, in those days, timber for fuel and fencing and shelter was considered the material thing in importance, second only to the "staff of life," and therefore the timber lands and tracts of prairie adjoining were almost invariably taken first, since these were considered by the early settlers to be the cream of the country.
But in this regard, experience, the effectual teacher, soon worked a rad- ical change in the minds of men. When they began to test the fertility and richness of the prairie soil, they soon found that it was much easier and cheaper to haul timber and prepare shelter and dwell in the fresh, pure air on the bleak, yet fertile prairie, feeling sure of an abundant crop with less labor from a large acreage, than it was to have the best advantages of a timber location, and spend time, labor and money in clearing and grub- bing and fertilizing, and then fall short in the yield per acre, and be con- fined to a limited area of farming land.
The timber settlers slowly but surely became convinced of the fact, and began to reach out and secure, in some cases, large tracts of the prairie land adjoining them, thus combining these two important elements in one large estate, and securing some of the very finest farms in the country. While, on the other hand, very many of the first settlers on timber claims, from want of means or fear of failure in speculation, did not become awake to the real importance of this until the best sections adjoining them were all taken, and they were compelled either to go out, perhaps miles from their homes, to secure more farming land for their increasing families, or to remain shut in upon their original claims.
In different localities throughout our state, many of the first settlers, and best of men, have thus been compelled either to sell their comfortable, hard-earned homes when "the boys grow up," and "move out west for more land," or they have found out at last, perhaps, that they are "timber poor," with limited income and meager support in return for their faithful, arduous labors, while many of their wealthy prairie neighbors, who only a few years before were their hired hands working by the month or the
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day for small wages, are now prosperous and independent on their large prairie farms, which yield them bountiful incomes.
Others, again, soon discovering their mistake in choosing river or tim- ber locations for agricultural pursuits, disposed of their claims as soon as possible at reasonable profits, to their adjoining neighbors, or later arri- vals, and moved on toward the front better prepared by experience to make new and more judicious selections.
Thus the work of settlement and improvement in the new country steadily progressed, and as the close of the three years drew near, crowds of emigrants were again beginning to linger near the western limits, long- ing for the appointed day to come when the last barrier of restraint would be taken away, and the boundaries of emigration would be extended al- most indefinitely westward.
October 11th, 1845, the much desired day came at last, bring to the yet unsettled pioneer the welcome privilege to choose from all the goodly land before him his future home. But to the poor Indian it brought the solemn warning that his lease of home was gone, and in keeping with his record of the past, he must again move on into western wilds, and seek there a new home congenial to his wild, untutored nature, leaving his cherished hunting grounds, so long possessed and enjoyed by him, to pass into the hands and under the full control of his pale-faced neighbor, soon to be stripped of all that was attractive and dear to the red man's heart.
In accordance with the stipulations of the treaty, the greater part of the Indians were removed at the expense of the government, in the fall of 1845, and those who remained until the spring of 1846, were conveyed in United States government wagons to a point on the reservation about sev- enty-five miles southeast of Kansas City, to join their comrades who had gone before. Some of their bark-covered huts still remained after the white settlers came, and the graves, covered by a roof of rude slabs, were yet to be seen; but all these soon disappeared, to be remembered only as things of the past, and now almost every Indian relic is gone, save as the plowman turns from under the soil an occasional arrow-head or hatchet of stone and lays it aside on his curiosity shelf, as a memento of barbarism.
Thus the Red Rock line of reservation had served its time and purpose in marking the western limits of the white man's domain, and in protect- ing the red man in his rights of home against the advancing strides of emigration until his allotted time had come to move westward again on his roving mission, and add one more proof that his race is fast fading away and must eventually disappear before the restless march of the An- glo-Saxon race, as did the traditional mound builders give place to the predatory red man of latter times.
Thus as those traditionary mound builders were forced to give way to
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the plundering red man of latter times, so must he give place to his pale- faced successor, and his night of ignorance and superstition, in which he so delights to revel, must give place to the approaching light of intelli- gence and civilization as truly as the darkest shades of midnight are dis- pelled by the approaching light of day.
When the last barrier of restraint was thus removed, the tide of emigra- tion, so long held in check, began to come in at a rapid rate over these prairies, and thus it has continued to roll, wave after wave, in rapid suc- cession until it has reached the western shore, carrying with it the energy and talents and enterprise of nations, and washing to the surface the gold from the mountains and valleys on the Pacific slope, and has enveloped our land in the mighty main of enterprise and civilization ; while the hap- less Indian, driven by the advancing tide from shore to shore over this mighty continent, is caught at last in the billows and drifts with the tide, clinging only to the floating dritfwood of his own shattered bark of bar- barism and superstition as his last faint hope, before being lost in the surges and sunk in oblivion.
And thus he soon will perish to be remembered only as a historic name; unless rescued from his uncivilized, savage condition by omnipotent power, through the humble instrumentality of human sympathy and christian love.
EARLY SETTLEMENT AND SETTLERS.
. The history of the early settlement of Page county is one of much in- terest to the citizens of the county at the present time. In fact, an ac- count of the beginning of things is always of interest. In it we see the presence of results, and history is neither more nor less than an effort to trace out the causes, and to grasp the facts which have contributed to form and mould them. So it is in a community. We observe that a state or a county has attained a certain position, and we at once try to trace out the reasons for this position, in its early settlement and surround- ings, in the class of men by whom it was peopled, and in the many chances and changes which have wrought out results in all the recorded deeds of mankind. In the early settlement of Page county can be traced those who left their homes in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Tennesee, North Carolina, Illinois, Missouri, and New York, for the purpose of making homes for themselves and their posterity here on the boundless prairies of southwestern Iowa. Here we may follow the course of the hardy woodman of the "Buckeye" or the "Hoosier" state on his way west to "grow up with the country," trusting only to his
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strong arm and his willing heart to work out his ambition of a home for himself and wife and a competence for his children. Yet again, we may see the path worn by the Missourian in his new experience in a land which to him was a land of progress, far in advance of that southern soil upon which he had made his temporary home, in his effort to adapt him- self to new conditions. We may see here the growth which came with knowledge, and the progress which grew upon him with progress around him, and how his better side developed. The pride of Kentucky blood, or the vainglorying of the Virginian F. F. V.'s, was here seen in an early day, only to be modified in its advent from the crucible of de- mocracy when servitude was eliminated from the solution. Yet others have been animated with the impulse to "move on," after making them- selves a part of the community, and have sought the newer parts of the extreme west, where civilization had not penetrated, or have returned to their native soil. We shall find little of that distinctive New England character, which has contributed so many men and women to other por- tions of our state and the west, but we shall find many an industrious na- tive of Germany or the British Isles.
Prior to the year 1843 the soil of Page county was owned by the red man who sang his songs and danced and hunted over its surface, and caught the fish of its streams unmolested by the firm advance of the om- nipresent white man, who was then rapidly pushing the noble savage toward the setting sun. An occasional trapper, perhaps, found his way into the region, only to be repelled by its wildness and driven back to his home on the frontier, though it may have been scarcely less rude than the wigwam of the Indian. The hour had come, however, when a new civil- ization was to advance its flag here and to make these lands, then wild and uncultivated, blossom as the rose. The county was inhabited by the "pale faces," however, as early as 1840, some years before the state of Iowa had been admitted into the Union, and prior to any surveys having been made in the county. The first white man to settle in the county was George W. Farrens, who came from Jackson county, Missouri, in the spring of 1840. He was shortly afterward joined by two of his brothers, Henry and David. They erected a log cabin and made improvements on what afterward proved to be section 27, township 67, range 36, in what is now Buchanan township. At the time they located, all three were un- married, and here alone, comparatively with no means at their command, other than hopeful hearts and willing hands, they commenced the settle- ment of what is now one of the grandest agricultural counties of Iowa. They located near where G. W. Farrens resides, their settlement going under the name of the Three Forks Settlement, being near the junction of the East and West Nodaways and Buchanan creek. Here they re- sided alone for one year, having only the red man, with his necessary ad-
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juncts, the wolf, panther and elk, for neighbors. The next year, however, others began to locate near them, as that spring, George and David Brock settled in the same neighborhood, and the year following, Thomas Johnson, William Campbell and Robert Wilson, all being men of families, located near them; the latter named, locating somewhat to the west of the main settlement, on the Nodaway, near where Braddyville now is. The same year his brother, Pleasant Wilson, settled near him, where he died in 1844, his being the first death of a white man in the county, ex- cept that of Lieutenant Buchanan, who was not a resident of the county at the time of his death.
Thus it will be observed that shortly after the Farrens' came to the county quite a settlement sprang up in their immediate neighborhood.
It would be interesting could we go back, even in fancy, to the con- dition of affairs when Mr. G. W. Farrens first came to Page county in 1840. Could we have but seen the sublimity of this great and fertile region, where but few, even of the red men, were then living; could we but imagine what were the thoughts, hopes, ambitions, purposes of this pioneer as he recalled the home he had left in his native state, and com- pared it with these prairies, waving with naught but the luxuriant growth of wild grasses, the noble forests on these water-courses, all fulfilling the natural conditions of comfort and wealth for man, and only waiting his ad- vent to blossom as the rose with the productions of a civilized race, we might have seen, as he saw, that here, " wild in woods, the noble savage ran," with all that there could be of nobility in his untaught, or rather ill- taught, and treacherous nature, and that suddenly as the face of the white man was seen in the forest, surveying its unimproved wealth, and prepar- ing the way for a mightier and greater people, the taciturn, grunting sav- age heard the unwonted sound of laughter in regions where that melody might not have been heard since the long-forgotten days of the mound builders, and he prepared to move further afield, away from his aggres- sive and more powerful brother. The sound of the axe and the crash of falling timber spoke of new life and animation. For the new-comer in all ยท this wild region there was in every bubbling spring a music sweet as the voices of children.
The first mill built and operated in the county was erected by a Mr. Stonebraker in 1847, and is now more generally known as Shambaugh's mill. It was built for both a grist and saw mill, and here was cracked all the corn and sawed all the lumber used in a radius of, probably, forty miles. The mill was also prepared for grinding wheat, although the flour had to be bolted by hand. At that time there was probably not over thirty families in the entire county, and besides doing the work for them, Missouri, all relied on the mill for their corn-meal and flour. Mr. Stone-
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braker died in 1849, and the mill, the following year, passed into the hands of Captain Connor.
William and G. W. Hardee came and settled near the Farrens', the spring of 1842, and in August following there was born to William Hardee a son, Perry, being the first white child born within the bounda- ries of what is now Page county. The first election held in the county was at his house in 1851. At this time there were but two town- ships in the county, Buchanan, running up the divide between East river and Buchanan creek, and Nodaway, including the balance of the county.
In 1846 S. F. Snyder settled on Snake creek, just above where that stream empties into the East Tarkio. After remaining awhile he re- moved to Montgomery county, remaining a short time, when he returned to Page county, and in 1854 was elected county judge. He resided in the county until 1860, at which time he removed to Washington county, Kansas, there to once more take unto himself the hardships incident to a pioneer life, having lived in the county from almost the time it was first inhabited by the whites until it had begun to rank among the first counties in the state, in point of agriculture, wealth and enterprise.
In 1843 Joseph Thompson, Moses Thompson and Larkin Thompson, now all deceased, and Jesse Majors settled a few miles southeast of Cla- rinda; Larkin Thompson settled near where Alexander Davis now lives, while Jesse Majors and Moses and Joseph Thompson located near where Mr. Campbell now resides, all being in East River township.
Early in 1850 Capt. R. F. Connor removed into the county from Mary- ville, Missouri. That year he purchased of the Stonebraker estate the mill commonly known as the Boulware mill. Shortly after purchasing it, he sold a half interest to a man by the name of Rhinehart, who subse- quently sold to Philip Boulware, he afterwards purchasing Capt. Connor's interest and running the mill until Gordon & Shambaugh, its present own- ers, purchased it. Mr. Connor was elected county judge in 1851, being the first man elected to that office in the county. Although not one of its first settlers, Capt. Connor has seen much of the growth of Page county, and since he first settled in the county has been prominently identified with its interests, and now, with the old settlers, those who have known him at all times and under all circumstances, there is no more popular or thoroughly esteemed man in the county.
The particulars of the death of Lieutenant Buchanan, heretofore alluded to as the first within the limits of Page county, are about as follows : In 1833, with a small detachment of troops, he was passing across the country to the Missouri river, and while crossing the East Nodaway on horseback, about one mile northeast of where Hawleyville now stands, was drowned. The stream was considerably swollen from recent rains, and there being at that time no roads, not even so much as a trail to guide
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the troops on their way to the westward, the unfortunate officer, with his horse, became entangled in the brush and driftwood, and before aid reached them, the Lieutenant being at some distance down the stream from the balance of the troops, both horse and rider were drowned. His comrades recovered his body and buried it on the east bank of the river, near the mouth of a small stream. A monument was erected to his mem- ory, but it was afterward destroyed by the Indians, although fragments of the tombstone are yet in existence. He was a young Virginian, his home being at Winchester. Buchanan creek was afterwards named in his honor by the government surveyors, they mistaking the stream for East river, where the sad occurrence took place. Buchanan township was also named after the young Lieutenant, and not, as is generally supposed, in honor of President Buchanan.
In 1845 Joseph Buckingham and his two sons, John and Joshua, John Daily and Aaron Vise, settled in what is now Nebraska township. Jo- seph Buckingham died in 1872. John Buckingham was one among the first county clerks.
Elisha Thomas removed from Ohio in 1846 and located where Haw- leyville now stands. About 1851 he erected a mill near where the flour- ing mill is now located, at that place. Erastus Thomas, a son of Elisha, was the first treasurer and recorder of the county. He removed to Ore- gon about 1852. Both Mr. and Mrs. Elisha Thomas are now deceased.
John Ross settled in Nebraska township in 1847, where he remained until 1851, when he sold out and removed to Montgomery county. At the time he removed to that county it had but comparatively few settlers, and his shanty was probably twenty miles from any settlement. He used to bring his grain to the Boulware mill to have it ground, bringing as much as twenty-five bushels of corn at a time. One day Capt. Connor, who was then running the mill, asked him why he brought such a large quantity, and he replied by saying that he did not care much about work, and he was fearful that some time he might run out of meal just as one of his working spells overtook him, in which event he would not be able to raise anything to live on, it being so far to mill. At the time he re- moved from Page county there was probably not more than a half dozen families in his neighborhood, yet it was too thickly settled to suit him, as he afterwards told a friend he could not stand it to be bothered by hearing his neighbors call their cattle and hogs. By 1858 civilization began to en- croach upon him in Montgomery county, and he was thus forced to sell out once more. This time he sought a home in the wilds of Kansas, where he was unmolested by the advance of civilization, but there he en- countered more troublesome neighbors, as a few years after removing there, and while out on a hunting expedition with some other parties, he was murdered by the Indians.
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HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY.
John Rose came from Missouri in 1848 and settled in the same neigh borhood. He died about 1868.
George Baker settled on the farm now owned by John McDowell, in 1850. He came from Indiana. He removed to Missouri some years since.
W. L. Birge, the first elected prosecuting attorney, came in 1851, from Bloomfield, this state. He remained for a short time when he pushed on farther west.
William Lavering was one of the first settlers in what is now Lincoln township, locating there in 1846, where he remained until 1868, when he removed to Kansas.
In 1850 John L. King removed into the township, and was followed the next year by H. H. Litzenburg, now deceased, William Loy, deceased, Joshua Akin, deceased, Samuel Phifer, Joshua Skinner, and Samuel Peters. They all located in the township before it was surveyed by the govern- ment.
In 1850 Alexander Montgomery settled in what is now Colfax town- ship, he being the first settler. He removed into the county from Ken- tucky and is still residing on the farm where he first settled.
Pike Davidson settled in 1845, where he now lives, east of Braddyville, and was followed by Wayne Davidson, William Shearer, Sr., William Shearer, Jr., Jacob Bottenfelt, John and Robert Snodgrass, Daniel and John Duncan, John Griffey and Thomas Nixon, who settled in the same neighborhood.
When the first settler came, the Indians had not abandoned all title to this territory, but by the time the great body of settlers came in 1846, 1847, and 1848, they were nearly all gone, although they were to be seen occasionally even for a few years afterward when returning to visit for a short time their former happy hunting grounds. Quite a number of them would come back on hunting expeditions, even as late as 1852, during which time they would camp near the mill in great numbers and remain weeks at a time.
The agricultural implements of the early settlers were much in con- trast with those of the present time. The only plows they had at first were what they styled " bull plows." The mould-boards were generally of wood, but in some cases they were half wood and half iron. The man who had one of the latter description was looked upon as something of an aristocrat. But these old " bull plows" did good service and they must be awarded the honor of first stirring the soil of Page county.
It was quite a time after the first settlement before there was a single stove in the county. Rude fire-places were built in the cabin chimneys and they served for warmth, cooking and ventilation.
The first buildings in the county were not just like the log cabins that
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immediately succeeded them. These latter required some help and a good deal of labor to build. The very first buildings constructed were a cross between "hoop cabins " and Indian bark huts. As soon as enough men could be got together for a " cabin raising " then log cabins came in style. Many a pioneer can remember the happiest time in his life, as that when he lived in one of these homely, but comfortable and profitable old cabins.
A window with sash and glass was a rarity, and an evidence of wealth and aristocracy, which but few could support. They were often made with greased paper put over the window, which admitted a little light, but more often there was nothing whatever over it, or the cracks between the logs without either chinking or daubing, was the dependence for light and air.
The doors were fastened with old fashioned wooden latches, and for a friend or neighbor or traveler, the string always hung out, for the pio- neers of the west were hospitable, and entertained visitors to the best of their ability.
It is noticeable with what affection the pioneers speak of their old log cabins. It may be doubted whether palaces ever sheltered happier hearts than these homely cabins. The following is a good description of these old land-marks, but few of which now remain:
" There were round logs notched together at the' corners, ribbed with poles and covered with boards split from a tree. A puncheon floor was then laid down, a hole cut out in the end, and a stick chimney run up. A clapboard door is made, a window is opened by cutting out a hole in the side or end about two feet square, and it is finished without glass or trans- parency. The house was then 'chinked ' and 'daubed ' with mud made of the top soil.
" The cabin is now ready to go into. The household and kitchen fur- niture is adjusted, and life on the frontier is begun in earnest.
" The one-legged bedstead, now a piece of the furniture of the past, was made by cutting a stick the proper length, boring holes at one end one and one-half inches in diameter, at right angles, and the same sized holes corresponding with these in the logs of the cabin the length and breadth desired for the bed, in which are inserted poles.
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