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 41
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" Upon these poles clapboards are laid, or lind bark is interwoven con- secutively from pole to pole. £ Upon this primitive structure the bed is laid. The convenience of a cook stove was not thought of then, but in- stead the cooking was done by the faithful housewife, in pots, kettles, and skillets, on and about the big fireplace, and very frequently over and around, too, the distended pedal extremities of the legal sovereigns of the household, while the latter were indulging in the luxury of a cob pipe, and discussing the probable results of a contemplated elk hunt.
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" We have seen a good deal of solid comfort about them, which we presume to say, in many cases money could not purchase for the million- aire. Still, as ' contentment is happiness,' where one is, the other must follow, as a matter of course, whatever may be the condition or location in life. "
The women, equally with the men, came to endorse the trials, and ad- minister their consolation to earliest settlers. Much, indeed, is due to the women who came with the earliest settlement, and took their part in its upbuilding. "The winds and the wolves might howl without the lonely cabin, but within there burned the pure bright flame of a woman's love."
The woods abounded in wild fruit and grapes in the early days, and much of it was of a delicious quality, and it was many years before tame fruit were generally planted, because they were not needed. These fruits have now almost entirely disappeared. Occasionally the crab apple, the wild cherry, wild strawberry and the blackberry are seen, but civilization has apparently ruined their quality, and they are no longer the rich, tooth- some fruits which the earlier settlers knew.
Wild bees also abounded in those times, and furnished a delicacy to many a pioneer houshold, beside the sport of finding and securing it.
On account of the high price of corn during the first years, and the great inconveniences of procuring it at distant markets, they were com- pelled to be economical and judicious in the use of it, and used every means and effort within their power in making preparations the first year, so as to be sure of the crop the following year; and for this labor and care they were almost invariably rewarded with an abundant harvest. The labor, care and anxiety of one year was generally repaid with pros- perity, peace and plenty during the next, and the majority of the pioneers found more pleasure in thus having a plentiful supply of the necessities of life and being able to give of their substance when the occasion re- quired, to those in straightened circumstances around them, than in being dependent and needy themselves, and thus being on the receiving list. Oftentimes, indeed, such persons had the privilege of realizing the truth and beauty of our Saviour's sweet words of comfort, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."
While the early settlers were generally industrious, honest, generous and sympathetic, moving along peacefully in the even tenor of their ways about their daily duties, and usually temperate in their habits, still their customs and habits were not altogether of the same character as those of the present day.
Customs and habits that are now looked upon as quite improper and degrading by society generally, though practiced yet by a large per cent. of the inhabitants, were considered by many of the early settlers as not so very much out of place, while others of their number-perhaps no
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smaller per cent. in proportion to the population than at present-were faithful to shun and frown down all such improper conduct. Still a good many of them seemed to deem it eminently proper and quite essential in starting off on a journey to take with them a handy-flask in their pockets and sometimes the "wee brown jug " in their wagons, well filled with something to keep them warm and in buoyant " spirits," and also have something along with which to accommodate their particular friends of like tastes and longings whom they might accompany or meet on the way, and thus be able to sustain their title of " hail fellows well met."
Postal arrangements in the days of which we are speaking were not of the best, in fact quite a change has taken place, in this respect also, during the past forty years. When the first settlers located here the near- est postoffice was Savannah, Missouri, a distance of sixty miles, and as a natural consequence, letters " from home " were somewhat tardy in reach- ing their destination here in the "far west," although the anxiety with which they were looked for can better be imagined than described. After a number of years an office was established at Maryville, a distance of thirty-five miles from the settlements in this county. This made it more convenient, and the letters from loved ones at home were more frequent, though none the less cherished than formerly. In 1850 there was an of- fice established at the mill on Nodaway, Capt. Connor being the post- master. The government furnished the mail sacks, but the settlers had to furnish the carrier, and by this means they were enabled to get their mail as often as once a week at least. This arrangement lasted about one year, when the postoffice department established a route between Mary- ville and Capt. Connor's residence, the name of the office being called Nodaway. Ira Cunning, now deceased, had the contract, the route ex- tending only from Maryville to Nodaway, over which he made one trip a week. Then postage on all letters to be carried one hundred miles or more was twenty-five cents, payable at either the office from which they were sent or at the receiving office. In this connection a good one is re- lated on one of the early pioneers of the county, whose name it is not here necessary to relate. In the early forties he left home and friends in one of the eastern states, and came west for the purpose of making a home for himself and one he had left behind him in his native state, whom he hoped in the no distant future to be able to bring from her pleasant home and loving friends, and set down in his own cabin here on the boundless, though then undeveloped prairies of Page county. Before coming west the young man and his sweetheart pledged one to the other that come weal, come woe, nothing but death could their affections sever. After he had been here quite awhile he received word, through some of the set- tlers who had been to Savannah, Missouri, the nearest postoffice, that a letter there awaited him, on which the usual postage, twenty-five cents,
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was due. How to get that letter out of the office was the uppermost question in his mind from that day on, as he had exhausted what little money he brought to the county with him, and the prevailing currency at that time was wolf scalps and coon-skins, either of which he could trade for almost any of the necessary commodities, but it took cash to pay post- age. What to raise to turn into cash was now the question. At last the idea struck him that he could possibly put watermelons on the market quicker than anything else, so early in the season he planted his melon seed, they came up and grew well, maturing early in the season. Along about the middle of July he pulled a load and started early one morning for Savannah, the nearest market. After arriving there he found the merchants, what few there were, pretty much in the condition of himself, without money; they offered him trade for his melons, but cash they had not. At last, sorely perplexed as to what to do-as on arriving at Sa- vannah he found two letters from his affianced awaiting him-he went to the court house, thinking that if anybody had ready cash it would be the county officers. There he met with his first cash offer, coming from the treasurer and sheriff, who offered him fifty cents for the entire load, and as he could do no better he was compelled to accept it, as he prized the let- ters awaiting him a great deal higher than he did a whole load of mel- ons. A few years thereafter the fondest hopes of both were realized, and he was enabled to replant his fair eastern flower in the pioneer home he had prepared for her, and now, after many years of arduous toil, and as they are both rapidly traveling down the shady pathway of life, they are enabled to sit in their home of plenty and laughingly recount the hardships of their early days.
This is only one of the many incidents that might be narrated, showing the financial straits to which the early settlers of this county were at times reduced. To one looking back over the situation at that time from the present standpoint of progress and comfort, it certainly does not seem very cheering; and yet, from the testimony of some of these same old settlers themselves, it was the most independent and happy period of their lives. At that time it certainly would have been much more difficult for those old settlers to understand how it could possibly be that thirty-five years hence the citizens at the present stage of the county's progress would be complaining of hard times and destitution, and that they themselves, per- haps, would be among that number, than it is now for us to appreciate how they could feel so cheerful and contented with their meager means and humble lot of hardship and deprivation during those early pioneer days. The secret doubtless was that they lived within their means, however lim- ited, not coveting more of luxury and comfort than their income would af- ford, and the natural result was prosperity and contentment, with always
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room for one more stranger at the fireside, and a cordial welcome to a place at their table for even the most hungry guest.
In the early settlement of the county a great many of the cabins were used as stopping places for travelers, and when this was the case the house could well be said " to be crowded to its utmost capacity." On such an occasion when bed time came, the first family would take the back part of the cabin, and so continue filling up by families until the limit was reached. The young men slept in the wagons outside. In the morning those nearest the door arose first and went outside to dress. Meals were served on the hind end of a wagon, and consisted of corn bread, butter- milk and fat pork, and occasionally coffee to take away the morning chill. On Sundays, for a change, they had bread made of wheat " tread out" by horses on the ground, cleaned with a sheet and pounded by hand. This was the best the most fastidious could obtain, and this only one day in seven. Not a moment of time was lost. It was necessary that they should raise enough sod corn to take them through the coming winter, and also get as much breaking done as possible. They brought with them enough corn to give the horses an occasional feed in order to keep them able for hard work, but in the main they had to live on prairie grass. In giving the bill of fare above we should have added meat, for of this they had plenty. Deer would be seen daily trooping over the prairies in droves of from twelve to twenty, and sometimes as many as fifty would be seen grazing together. Elk were also found, and wild turkeys and prai- rie chickens without number. Bears were not unknown. Music of the natural order was not wanting, and every night the pioneers were lulled to rest by the screeching of panthers and the howling of wolves. When the dogs ventured too far out from the cabins at night, they would be driven back by the wolves, chasing them up to the very cabin doors. Trapping wolves became quite a profitable business after the state began to pay a bounty for wolf scalps. One of the peculiar circumstances that surrounded the early life of the pioneers was a strange loneliness. The sol- itude seemed almost to oppress them. Months would pass during which they would see scarcely a human face outside their own families. The isolation of these early years worked upon some of the settlers an effect that has never passed away. Some of them say that they lived in such a lonely way when they first came here, that afterward, when the county began to fill up, they always found themselves bashful and constrained in the presence of strangers. But when the people were once started in this way, the long pent-up feelings of joviality and sociability fairly boiled over, and their meetings frequently became enthusiastic and jovial in the highest degree. It seems singular to note bashfulness as one of the char- acteristics of the strong, stalwart settlers, but we are assured by the old settlers themselves that this was a prominent characteristic of the pioneers.
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And some of them declare that this feeling became so strong during the early years of isolation and loneliness that they have never since been able to shake it off.
But there were certainly some occasions when the settlers were not in the least degree affected by anything in the nature of bashfulness. When their rights were threatened or invaded, they had "muscles of iron and hearts of flint." It was only when brought together for merely social purposes that they seemed ill at ease. If any emergency arose, or any business was to be attended to, they were always equal to the occasion.
THE LIFE OF THE PIONEER.
The early settlers of this county had their privations and hardships, as also had they their own peculiar joys. If they were poor they were free from the burden of pride and vanity; free, also, from the anxiety and care that always attend the possession of wealth. Other people's eyes cost them nothing. If they had few neighbors they were on the best of terms with those they had. Envy, jealousy and strife had not crept in. A com- mon interest and a common sympathy bound them together with the strongest ties. They were a little world to themselves, and the good feel- ing that prevailed was all the stronger because they were so far removed from the great world of the east.
There was a peculiar sort of free-masonry among the pioneers. New- comers were made welcome, and ready hands assisted them- in building their homes. Neighbors did not even wait for an invitation or request to help one another. Was a settler's cabin burned or blown down? No sooner was the fact known throughout the neighborhood than the settlers assembled to assist the unfortunate one to rebuild his home. They came with as little hesitation, and with as much alacrity, as though they were all members of the same family and bound together by ties of blood. One . man's interest was every other man's interest also. Now this general state of feeling among the pioneers was by no means peculiar to this county, although it was strongly illustrated here. It prevailed generally throughout the west during the time of the early settlement. The very nature of things taught the settlers the necessity of dwelling together in this spirit. It was their only protection. They had come far away from the well-established reign of law, and entered a new country where the civil authorities were still feeble, and totally unable to afford protection and redress grievances. Here in Page county the settlers lived for quite a time before there was a single officer of the law in the county. Each
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man's protection was in the good will and friendship of those about him, and the thing any man might well dread was the ill will of the community. It was more terrible than the law. It was no uncommon thing in the early times for hardened men, who had no fears of jails or penitentiaries, o stand in great fear of the indignation of a pioneer community.
The first nine years after Page county was settled it was in the earliest stages of pioneer life. All that can be known of this period is drawn solely from tradition. The county was yet unorganized, and there is not a page of record of any kind to be found of the history of the county during this time. Most of the men who lived here during that time have departed, and the few that remain have their memories obscured by the mist of thirty-five years. People in those days took very little, in- deed we might truthfully say no pains to preserve history-they were too busily engaged in making it. Historically speaking, those were the most important years of the county, for it was then the foundation and corner stones of all the county's history and prosperity were laid. Yet this period was not remarkable for stirring events. It was, however, a time of self-reliance, and brave, persevering toil, of privations cheerfully en- · dured through faith in a good time coming. The experience of one settler was just about the same as that of others. They were almost invariably poor, they faced the same hardships and stood generally on an equal foot- ing.
In Page county the people were fortunate in having a mill built at a very early day, more fortunate in this respect than the early settlers of most other counties, in that the first mill built anywhere in the country was in their own borders, and a distance of not more than thirty miles from the farthest point in the new settlement. They have, therefore, had few of those experiences of going seventy-five miles to mill, as have those of the others. Being both a saw and grist-mill, for a long time all the meal, flour and lumber used, not only in Page county, but in all the adjoining counties as well, were manufactured here; and being the only mill in all these parts, as a consequence it was crowded night and day with anxious customers, each desiring to get his grist done first so as to return home. Going to mill in those days, when there were no roads, no bridges, no ferry-boats, and scarcely any convenience for traveling, was no small task where so many rivers and treacherous streams were to be crossed, and such a trip was often attended with great danger to the traveler when these streams were swollen beyond their banks. But even under these cir- cumstances some of the more adventurous and ingenious ones, in cases of emergency, found the way and means by which to cross the swollen streams and succeed in making the trip. At other times, again, all at- tempts failed them, and they were compelled to remain at home until the
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waters subsided, and depend on the generosity of their fortunate neigh- bors.
1
The year 1848 was, generally, a fruitful, prosperous one for the county. Careful preparation and faithful efforts had been made, during this and the previous year, by almost every one present, for securing a crop for the har- vest of this year, which would be at least sufficient to supply all the set- tlers and their now increasing stock with all the essentials of living, and, if possible, have some to spare for those coming in, so that the community would be supplied with breadstuffs and common home products, without going so far from the settlements to secure these necessaries at high prices and with great difficulty of transporting. For this faithful labor and care- ful preparation the settlers were bountifully and almost universally re- warded with a fruitful harvest, and with an excellent quality of grain and other products raised. This was, of course, a great source of encourage- ment as well as comfort to those in this new country, and gave them suffi- cient assurance that they could very readily be able not only to com- fortably support themselves, but could raise quite a surplus to sell to the new-comers for cash with which to purchase the groceries, clothing and other essential articles for family use and farm improvements. By this means, also, emigration was encouraged and greatly increased, which brought in more or less money, created a demand for more and more sup- plies such as could be raised abundantly by any and every settler, in- creased the number of settlements, and made quite an extensive and en- couraging home market for the surplus of all that was raised. During this year (1848) the population of the county was more than doubled, and the amount of civilization and improvement was more than trebled, greatly increasing the convenience and comfort of the settlers. Small stocks of goods, consisting of the essential commodities, were being brought in, and pioneer stores or common supply posts were beginning to be established right at home. Schools and church privileges were being talked of, and the necessary steps taken to secure them in due time, and, taking it all together, the year 1848 was one of the eventful years in the early settle- ment and history of Page county. And it was fortunate indeed that the harvest of 1848 was so bountiful, and the general advancement in improve- ment so great, for the winter which followed was a fearful one, and brought one of the heaviest snow storms that ever had been known here. Without the preparation and plentiful product of the past year, that winter would have been the sad occasion of a great deal of suffering in these parts and all along the frontier.
The snow commenced early in November, before the ground had be- come frozen, covering the earth with a heavy coat of white, and con- tinued at a depth of nearly three feet on the ground until toward the last of the following February. It came in heavy, driving storms, after inter-
1
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vals of a few days' cessation off and on, all winter, often coming with such drifting, driving force as to render it impossible for the settlers to venture out or to get from place to place without danger of being lost or frozen to death. There being yet comparatively few settlers in the county, and not a great deal of marketing to be done, or foreign trading to be transacted, travel was not sufficient to keep the ways open or form a beaten track in any direction. And if anyone found it necessary to venture out any dis- tance from home, the driving winds on those great unobstructed prairies only filled up his tracks with the drifting snow almost as fast as he made them, so he was unable to follow the same track in return. The inhab- itants of the pioneer cabins were completely snow-bound all winter, never venturing out only in cases of absolute necessity, and then it was at the peril of their lives, or at least of frosted ears and toes, especially if they had any great distance to go. It afforded splendid opportunities for enjoy- ing the inestimable blessings of home life to those who were fortunately favored with any such earthly luxuries, but to those who were not thus favored it was certainly a terrible winter.
It was no unusual thing to make several unsuccessful attempts, through desperate blockades of snow-drifts, in order to reach a mill with a few bushels of corn as a load. Many still relate with delight-and yet with an air of triumph and astonishment at having endured such trials-how that they had made three or four such vain attempts successively to carry off a grist or haul a load of corn from another neighborhood, but each time became so overwhelmed in the snow-drifts that they found it impos- sible to go further on their errand, and were compelled to dig their way out of the drifts and retrace their track as best they could to their humble cabins, which were nearly covered in the drifts, and scarcely visi- ble to the wandering traveler at any great distance from home. The set- tlers generally aimed to take advantage of the milder weather to go to mill, and get their extra provision and mail matter, and other necessary errands, always clubbing together as much as possible on such occasions, and allowing the stronger, hardier ones, who were the best fitted, and, perhaps, the most delighted, to undertake such an excursion, to go on these distant errands for the neighborhood, while the more feeble and de- pendent ones remained to take care of matters at home. This all worked very well, with comparative comfort and satisfaction to those who had been fortunate in raising a crop during the past summer, and exercised forethought and precaution enough to lay in a supply ahead during the better days to serve them through the stormy, blustering weather. And though the heavy snow banks did block them in from getting to mill for several weeks, they could live at home in comparative happiness and con- tentment on their abundance of boiled corn and hominy, or exercise their genius and skill in trying to invent some new plan of grinding or grating D
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their corn, and preparing their home products for a palatable diet. But for those new-comers, who had arrived late in the fall, and especially for those who had come in just before the heavy fall of snow came, so that they had no time or opportunity for making preparation for the approach- ing storm and cold weather, this winter was a most terrible and gloomy one. They could not get away any distance to supply themselves with corn or any of the necessaries of comfortable living, on account, of the heavy snow and driving winds, and, as a general thing, they had no great supply of these things on hand. Their only hope and relief in this ex- tremity was to depend on their generous and more fortunate neighbors, who had been there long enough to have raised and harvested a crop, both for supplies for their families and their stock. And, in all such ap- peals in cases of emergency, those seeking aid and relief seldom, if ever, failed to have their requests granted abundantly, with cheerfulness on the part of their more favored neighbors, and most generally without remu- neration. One of the greatest difficulties and severest trials these new- comers had to undergo during that hard winter was that of procuring the necessary food and shelter for their stock which they had brought along with which to make a comfortable commencement on improvement during the coming year. This stock necessarily suffered a great deal dur- ing the cold and stormy weather from want of sufficient food and shelter, and much of it died from hunger and constant exposure, causing serious loss and inconvenience to the owners. In the absence of hay, corn, stalk- fields and straw-piles in this extremity the settlers were obliged to cut down lind and elm trees in the most convenient and sheltered places from the tops and branches of which the hungry stock could browse, as a sub- stitute for the more nutritious food, and behind whose bushy tops the poor animals could find a partial shelter from the chilling winter winds. In this way many of the settlers who came in late succeeded in bringing the most of their stock through the hard winter, but could not have endured the siege much longer, as they found in the spring that there was not much more vitality and locomotive power than was absolutely necessary on the part of these dumb brutes to enable them to get around and graze upon the new grass sufficiently to recruit their diminished strength and wasted bodies.
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