USA > Iowa > Pottawattamie County > History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa. Containing a history from the earliest settlement to the present time biographical sketches; portraits of some of the early settlers, prominent men, etc. > Part 15
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Judge Larimer practiced his profession until 1875, and then retired, and since then has had large interests in the Western cattle business in the territories of Wyoming and Montana. Among the causes celebres in which he was en- gaged during his professional career, was the defense of Batcheler for the killing of Pierce, and who was acquitted through the industry, zeal and talents of his counsel. Reference has also been made to other matters of litigation of a local and important character, which will come under its appropriate date, when the his- tory, and development of the Union Pacific Railroad are considered. Judge Larimer, dur- ing his residence here, has had large real estate interests in the city. He was the owner, at one time, of the ground upon which the Casady building stands, opposite where the court house is, and also the ground set apart by the Bishop for the erection of a new Catholic church, at the northwest corner of Centre street and Buckingham street, opposite St. Joseph's Academy. He also was the proprie- tor of the ground on which was erected St. Francis Academy under the auspices of the Sisters, and which is now one of the most im- portant and most flourishing educational insti-
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tutions in the West. Judge Larimer's life has been an active one, in all respects, and his character is positive and decisive. He has left, in the twenty-eight years that he has lived here, a decided impress upon the city, and has a fair share. in the honor of its growth and prosperity.
In connection with the mention of the claim fight, at Fort Calhoun, Neb., was the name of A. J. Poppleton. While he has been a citizen of Omaha for many years, and particularly identi- fied with her interests, the incidents of his residence in Council Bluffs in 1854, must not be forgotten. Ile came here that year, a young lawyer from the State of New York, and opened a law office, intending to settle in Council Bluffs. Being a boarder at the Pacific House, he there formed the acquaintance of Miss Sears, and an attachment sprang up that ter- minated in marriage in 1856. Attracted by the prospects of Omaha, he settled there when it was a mere straggling village, and grew up with it to fame and fortune. When the Union Pacific Railroad was projected and commenced, he was made its resident attorney, and though a Democrat, and identified with the interests of that party in Nebraska, has kept control of the business, and retained the confidence of the management of that road, from Council Bluffs to Ogden, through all its changes and vicisi- tudes. Twenty-five years after the happy marriage of himself and wife, they celebrated the event in 1881, by collecting around them, at their elegant home in Omaha, hundreds of the pioneers of the two cities, and among them, a score of those who had witnessed the real ceremony, when Council Bluff's and Omaha were mere frontier villages without a railroad. and a dim prospect of their early realization.
In the northern borders of Mills County, a rival town to Council Bluffs, called St. Mary's, sprang up about 1853 and 1854, on the east bank of the Missouri River. Its nucleus was a steamboat landing a few miles below Trader's
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Point, in Pottawattamie County. The vicissi- tudes of the Missouri River are illustrated in the fate of the place. At one time, it contained 2,000 prosperous people. Some of its business houses were of brick, and a large and thriving trade was established, not only with the sur- rounding territory, but far inland. Year by year, the Missouri River encroached upon its soft and friable soil, and year by year section after seetion of its town plat was carried away by the "June rise." Its inhabitants looked upon it as doomed, and by 1868 not a vestige of it remained, every foot of ground having been swept into the river by the changing eur- rent; and by the exigencies of the flood, its site was transferred, if such a movement can be called a transfer, to the jurisdiction of Nebras- ka. Some of the most valuable buildings that could be moved, were brought to Council Bluffs, when it was onee seen that St. Mary's was a doomed city.
In referring to this and prior periods, the names of Jones A. Jackson and W. C. James have been used as connecting links of the past and the present. Both were and are marked characters, and exerted their influence in shap- ing the city, and both are known almost wherever it is known. Jackson was the first to come, and the date of his arrival has already been given. He came with the spirit and en- ergy of a pioneer. He was born in Ohio on the 4th of March, 1829 ; removed to Missouri and there lived some years, coming to Council Bluffs in 1851. His business connections here with Milton Tootle, of St. Joseph, Mo., extended to Sioux City, where they controlled a large business with the great country of the Upper Missouri. He and others became the original owners of the town site of Omaha, and his ex- ertions for the establishment of the territorial capital at that point were of the most effectual character. The important and valuable addi- tion to Council Bluffs, called Jackson's Addi- tion, was named after him, by the other joint
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owners with him, as a compliment, growing out of the high regard his business associates had for him.
His influence was felt from the start in any new enterprise calculated to further the inter- ests of the city, and his name is found enrolled as a councilman in 1855 and 1856. When the firm of Tootle & Jackson was dissolved, Mr. Jackson engaged in the hazardous and danger- ous business of freighting to Colorado, over nearly a thousand miles of waste and plains. No conception can now be formed of the true nature of that traffic through a country desti- tute of timber and inhabitants, and with no highway but the trail made by the pioneer wagon, and with a journey of months before the hardy men who risked all in the adventure. In 1865, Mr. Jackson removed to St. Louis, and there established the well-known wholesale gro- cery house of James A. Jackson & Co., and continued in that business there until 1876. In 1877, he transferred his capital to the cattle business in Wyoming Territory, where he and
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his son, Andrew M. Jackson, are the owners of of a herd of 6,000 cattle, at their ranch on the Sweetwater River. James A. Jackson is also the son of Mrs. Rachel Jackson, who died in Council Bluffs in the winter of 1881-82, at a great age, and who was venerated by thousands of persons who have come here and have been ' born here during the past twenty-five years. They are of the family of Jacksons, whose high- est exemplar was the hero of New Orleans. When the latter died, Mrs. Rachel Jackson was included in the family invitations to the funeral at the Hermitage.
Mr. Jackson was married, during his early settlement in Council Bluffs, to Miss Henrietta St. Albans, a native of New Orleans, and the step-daughter of Dr. J. K. Cook, one of the early settlers of this city. Mr. and Mrs. Jack- son have two children-Andrew M. Jackson, who was born here, and who, with his parents, have resumed their residence in Council Bluffs, and Georgia Jackson, now the wife of Judge A. S. Wilson, of Washington, Kan.
CHAPTER XIX .*
COUNCIL BLUFFS -SKETCH OF JUDGE JAMES- HIS HANDICRAFT-WINTER OF 1853-54 - DEATHI OF JAMES McMILLAN-TITLE TO LOTS ACQUIRED-JAMES W. GRIMES-CURTIS', RAMSAY'S AND GRIMES' ADDITIONS -SKETCH OF GEN. SAMUEL RYAN CURTIS- HIS DEATH AT COUNCIL BLUFFS.
A MORE particular sketch of Judge James may be more interesting than that already given to those who may come after us, and the means of such a characterization may all have disappeared. Like many more who came here in those days, he was penniless, but not despondent. He was born at Elmyra, in Lorain County, Ohio, on the 1st day of January, 1830. His father was George F. James, who received a military education at West Point. The son, who, at an early age, was ambitious, was a stu-
dent at Oberlin College, working, as was the wont in those days by farmers' sons in Ohio. upon the farm in summer and pushing their education to the best possible advantage in win- ter. In due time he studied law with Messrs. Wilson and Wade, in Cleveland, and then started to Council Bluffs, reaching here in De- cember, 1852. When he reached Silver Creek Stage Station, east of Council Bluffs, kept by Pleasant Taylor, he paid to the latter the last quarter of a dollar he had in the world for his lodging at night and his breakfast, and entered
*By Col. John II. Keatley.
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the place that day with not so much as a son and a friend upon whom he could call for assist- ance. The first money he earned after his ar- rival was a dollar for cutting a load of wood into stove wood for Dr P. J. McMahon. In the summer of 1853. he turned his hand to brieklaying and plastering. and built the brick house, on Broadway, occupied by J. H. Rogers, of the omnibus line, this being, as before stated, the first brick house in the place. From that date his energies prospered him, and in 1856 he erected the three-story block known as the James Block, at the southeast corner of Broad- way and Main street. He also largely invested in lands, and became the owner of the large and valuable estate east of Big Grove, and im- proved by him into a magnificent farm, now owned and operated by John T. Ballwin. He was also elected County Judge in the fall of 1856, and served with credit to himself and in the true interests of the county. He was also a member of the Council in 1856 and 1857, again in 1872, 1873, 1874, 1876 and 1879. He was also elected Mayor in 1874 and in 1880. In 1872, he was nominated by the State Demo- eratic Convention as a candidate for State Treasurer, and by the convention nominated for Lieutenant Governor in 1877. Judge James and his wife have had three children-Kate Larimer James, who has already won a fine reputation as a singer in opera; Charles James, who died when on the verge of manhood, and Mamie James, who. in January, 1881, was mar- ried to W. V. Wood. of Camp Thomas, Arizona.
The winter of 1853-54 was spent by the in- habitants of Council Bluffs much as other win- ters had been. Horse racing during the season that was fit for such amusements was a favorite pastime. Col. Babbitt was a great admirer of the horse, and spent a great deal of time and money on the turf. He also had a character in his employment who looked after the interests of his stock. Ilis name was James MeMillan. The latter was a wiry, supple individual, and
of indomitable pluck. When not ready for a horse race he was on hand for a free fight. In those days there was a race track in the south- ern part of the city, where the Kansas City roundhouse and railroad yards now are. Sat- urday was a gala day, and the excitement al- ways ran high. Whisky was in free use, and it frequently occurred that at the close of the race the distance between the race grounds and Broadway was a battle-field, groups here and there being warmly engaged in fisticuffs in dispute over turf matters. It was very seldom that any more powerful weapon than the fists was used. McMillan fell a victim to his own pugilistic tendeney on the day of the Presi- dential election (1872) at Honey Creek, on the North-Western Railway. He and Alfred Frazer on that day became involved in a dispute over election matters in Frazer's store. The par- ties clinched in some kind of an encounter. McMillan was either thrown or fell to the floor. and never breathed again. Mr. Frazer was sub- sequently put on his trial for the murder of McMillan, but the jury properly brought in a verdict of not guilty.
On the 6th of April, 1854, Congress passed an aet to enable the citizens of Council Bluffs to acquire title to their lots. It authorized County Judge Frank Street, under rules pre- scribed by the Legislature of Iowa, to execute deeds to bona fide claimants, provided the claims for the same were made within twelve months from the passage of the act. On the 10th day of May following the approval of the aet by the President, Judge Street made an entry of two forty-acre traets in Section 30, that is, embracing what is now known as the Old Town plat, and also two forties in Section 31, in Township 75, Range 43 West. He also en- tered for the same use, at the same time, 240 acres in Section 25, and the same number of aeres in Section 36, in Township 75, Range 44. This substantially included the territory em- braced in the Bayliss claim, in the Old Town
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plat, and in that east of Madison street, so as to include the George Kuline property. There were numerous disputes to settle before the titles to claimants could, in all cases, be perfected. Thomas and David Tostevin, natives of the Isle of Guernsey, in the British Channel, and residents of Brooklyn, N. Y., from childhood to manhood. came to Council Bluffs at about the date of the arrival of Judge Street, and began the practice of their profession, that of land surveyors. Both of these gentlemen are still residents of the place. Thomas Tostevin was employed by Judge Street to make an accurate survey of the lands held in trust by him for the uses of the claimants, as just described, and to plat the respective lines. This was done, and the map so constructed at that time, and now known as the Tostevin Map, is taken as accurate in all questions where a reference is made to that date.
Thomas Tostevin was afterwards Treasurer of the County, and Mayor of the city in 1868. Now (1882) he is City Engineer. David Tos- tevin also held the office of County Surveyor for several terms, and the accuracy of his work has always inspired the utmost confidence where claims have been in dispute.
Stutsman's Addition, immediately east of the Old Town Plat; Mills' and Mynster's additions, on the north side of Indian Creek; Jackson's Addition. embracing Bancroft street, south of the Old Town plat lines; Hall's, Beer's and Grimes' addition, in the western and north- western sections of the city, were also platted and recorded during that year. James W. Grimes, the great Iowa United States Senator, became owner of the tract of land which now constitutes the addition bearing his name. and having the utmost confidence in the future of the city, he caused it to be laid out into lots. Gen. Samuel Ryan Curtis and Dr. Ramsay, of Illinois, became the owners of a tract of land extending to a point touched by the track of the North-Western Railway Company, from
the Broadway Depot to the Union Pacific De- pot, and laid the same out into an addition bearing their names, and including a street named Curtis street, it being now the third ave- nne south of Broadway. Gen. Custis was not only thus historically connected with the found- ing of the city, but his long and memorable ca- reer as a citizen and a soldier makes his name the common property of the nation, and de- serves something more than a mere passing ref- erence in these annals.
When the civil war broke out in 1861, Gen. Curtis was a member of Congress from one of the two districts into which Iowa was then di- vided, his residence being at Keokuk. His birth- place was in Ohio, on the 3d of February, 1807, and from which State, he was sent to the West Point Military Academy, where he graduated in the class of 1827. He was appointed a Brevet Second Lieutenant in the Seventh In- fantry, on the 1st of July, 1831, and after about a year's service in the regular army was permitted to resign. He adopted the profes- sion of civil engineer, for which he was pecu- liarly fitted by his West Point studies, and the Federal Government then having entered upon a great system of internal improvement in the construction of a turnpike, among other names called the National Road, from Balti- more to Wheeling, Gen. Curtis was employed in that work. He was afterwards assigned to duty as chief engineer of the Muskingum improvement, and held that position from 1837 to 1839. Desiring to change his life-work, he commenend the study of law, and was admit- ted to the bar at Wooster, Ohio, in 1841. There he remained until the event of the Mexi- can war again changed the current of his life. He was appointed Adjutant General of Ohio for the purpose of aiding the Governor in the formation of the volunteer forces tendered and accepted for service in Mexico. The First and the Second Regiments were sent to the field, and when the Third was ready for service, Cur-
N. J. Band
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tis was made Colonel, and dispatched to the Rio Grande, beyond which line Gen. Taylor was then operating. Col. Curtis, with his regi- ment, was principally employed in garrison duty, and in keeping open the communications between Taylor's column, and his base at Matamoras. Curtis was made military Gov- ernor of the latter place, and of Camargo and of Monterey, respectively.
When Gen. Taylor was in a most critical po- sition, and virtually surrounded at Buena Vista by the overwhelming force of Santa Anna, his communications were severed by Gen. Urrea with an irregular foree of Mexieans, number- ing about seven thousand men. Col. Curtis, with a small column of about twelve hundred men, undertook to re-establish the lines, and sneceeded in driving Urrea in upon the rear of Taylor's forces. When they reached the latter, Curtis was about to make a charge, but the timely display of the American colors grate- fully told the mere handful of men in his com- mand that Taylor's way was again open. As soon as hostilities ceased, and satisfactory ne- gotiations for peace began. the regiment was mustered out and sent home, but by Gen. Tay- lor's order Curtis was retained in the service to do duty on the staff of Gen. John E. Wool. When the army of occupation returned to the United States, at the conclusion of peace, Col. Curtis returned to civil life and the prac- tice of the law. He was, however, soon sent to Iowa as Chief Engineer of what is known as the Des Moines Rapids Improvement of the Mississippi River, an extensive work for the improvement of the navigation of that stream. He made his home at Keokuk. His restless and energetic disposition soon also impelled him to take part in political affairs in the new State. lle was elected Mayor of the city in 1-55, and also gave close attention to the de- velopment of railroad enterprises, especially in a line of railway from the Mississippi River to the Missouri, at Council Bluffs. He took part
in the organization of the Republican party of Iowa, and in the fall of 1856 was elected to Congress from the First District. He was not only a member of the Military Committee of the House, but was chairman of that on Pacific Railroads. The Republican party had made it a distinctive feature of its policy to construet a railway under national patronage and eharter to the Pacific coast, and as representing that interest, Gen. Curtis introduced a bill for a Union Pacific Railway on the Platte Valley route, with branches at either end. This was the basis of the system eventually formulated when the Republican at last obtained control of the Federal Government in all its depart- ments.
Gen. Curtis frequently visited Couneil Bluffs, during his residence at Keokuk, and during his career in Congress. Settlements in a narrow belt had been begun in Nebraska, along the Missouri River, and the territory by that name had just commenced to take on political shape. Omaha was a mere village. Florenee, a few miles above, was quite a thriv- ing town, and had acquired a savory reputa- tion by the reason of the flood of "wild cat " paper money which it had sent out into the west. Now, Omaha is a large, thriving city, and Florence is a mere wreck. Gen. Curtis came to Council Bluff's in the summer of 1858, and found an ineipient Indian war on foot on the Elkhorn, a short distance west of the Mis- souri River. The Omahas were dissatisfied and discontented, and the Governor of the Ter- ritory, Samuel Black, had organized the militia, under John M. Thayer, afterward a distinguished Union General and a United States Senator, for the purpose of punishing the hostiles. It was just such an opportunity as Curtis would himself seek, and he was at once made an aid-de-camp, on the staff of Col. Thayer and went to the front. Gov. Samuel Black was from Pennsylvania, and one of the finest stump orators in the Democratic C
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party. He had been made Governor of Ne- braska as a reward for the services performed for the party in 1856. He sought an interview with the Indian head men, on the Elkhorn, be- fore resorting to the dire necessity of blood- shed. He and his official retinne left Omaha, the capital of the Territory, in carriages, with a liberal supply of whisky for their own use, intending to visit the military lines on the Elk- horn, and have a council with the Indian chiefs. By the time they reached the frontier, the party were well under the infinence of their generous supply of liquor, Black, as was his habit, more than the rest. The Indians were on hand for the "talk," and the interpreter ready for business. Black dismounted, and straightening himself up to his full height, with great dignity asked the interpreter if the "Big Injun" was ready for the talk. The interpre- ter replied that he was. "Then," said Black, tossing his hat to the back of his head, "ask the old son of a sea-cook what he thinks of me?" After this preliminary, the council pro- ceeded and hostilities were avoided. Black eventually returned to Pittsburgh. and at the breaking-out of the rebellion, took the Union side, was made Colonel of the Sixty-Second Pennsylvania Regiment, and was instantly killed in action, at the battle of Gaines' Mill, under Gen. Fitz John Porter, on the Peninsula in June, 1862.
In the Elkhorn campaign, Gen. Curtis saw no actual service, but gained an extensive knowl- edge of one of the richest agricultural terri- tories in the world. His duties, until the breaking-ont of the rebellion, were those that fell to the ordinary lot of a member of Con- gress, during the exciting times which preced- ed the great civil conflict.
Congress had adjourned, and he was at home in Keokuk, when he heard the intelligence of the fall of Fort Sumter. His soldierly educa- tion and his patriotic instincts did not allow him to remain idle amid so much public dis-
tress and alarm, and the road through Balti- more being blocked by the burning of the rail- way bridges, he started at once for Philadel- phia, hoping to reach Washington by that route. He proceded to New York and there found the famous Seventh Regiment ready to start for the seat of war, and, availing himself of that opportunity, went with that regiment to Annapolis, Md., where Gen. B. F. Butler, with the Massachusetts men, was making preparations to open that route to Washington. In this enterprise, which was of a marked and an important character at the time and under the circumstances, Gen. Curtis gave impor- tant and necessary aid, and when the troops, repairing the railroad as they went, entered Washington with colors flying and bands play- ing, he was met and warmly greeted by Presi- dent Lincoln for the service that he had thus rendered at that critical moment.
Gen. Curtis, though then holding no mili- tary commission, was immediately invited by Gen. Scott to assist in the work of organ- izing the defense. In a very short time, however, he was directed to come back to Iowa, to take control of the preparations of the First, Second and Third Iowa Regi- ments of Volunteers for the service. He was made Colonel of the Second Iowa on the 1st day of June, 1861. J. M. Tuttle, after- ward a distinguished Major General of volun- teers, was chosen as Lieutenant Colonel of the same regiment, and the gallant Marcellus M. Crocker, also afterward a general officer of volunteers, was selected Major of the regiment at its organization. Curtis was ordered, on the 12th of June, 1861, through a special messen- ger from Gen. Lyon, to move from Keokuk to St. Louis, and from that date that gallant regi- ment began to make a history which is indeli- bly and honorably impressed for all time to come. Curtis was soon made a Brigadier and then a Major General, and assigned to the com- mand of a division in the army in Missouri,
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under Gens. Fremont and Hunter. It is as the hero of the battle of Pea Ridge in the spring of 1862 that he is best known, where, with a force far inferior to that of Sterling Price, Earl Van Dorn, Albert Pike and Ben McCulloch, he defeated them in the mountains of Northern Arkansas. and achieved the first decisive vic- tory by the Union troops west of the Missis- sippi River, and in truth, saved the State of Missouri to the cause by breaking the back of the most formidable enterprise organized by the Confederates during the war, to obtain its control. His remarkable raid through Arkan- sas in the summer of 1863, terminating at Helena, is another illustration of the military vigor of Gen. Samuel Curtis. Gen. G. M. Dodge, for years a citizen of Council Bluffs, and who still maintains this as his home, was a gallant participant in the "famous fight" of Pea Ridge, and was at the head of his regi- ment, the Fourth Iowa Infantry, organized in 1861. in the camp just south of the city, on the ground ocenpied by Mr. Rice, west of the paper mill.
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