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 32
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Another well-known and highly respected citizen of Knox Township is Cyrus True, al- ready mentioned in connection with a num- ber of early enterprises and improvemen s. He was born in Lincoln County, Me., Sep- tember 26. 1829, his father being Samuel True, of that county. The parents of Cyrus True removed to Bradford, Me., when he was only six years old: and when he was eighteen years old, he went to Bangor and learned the trade of carpenter and joiner. When twenty- three, he settled in New Haven, Conn., and lived for three years, and then went to Bos- ton, leaving the latter city and reaching his present home in 1857. He was married to Mrs. S. J. Hunter, also a native of North Yarmouth, Me. The route taken to reach this locality was to Alton, Ill. There they took steamboat to St. Louis: from the latter city they went by rail to Jefferson City, from Jefferson City to Fort Leavenworth by boat; and then again by boat to St. Joseph; and from there to Council Bluffs by stage. Land was selling in the Botna Valley at that date for $5 per acre. Josiah True, the brother of Cyrus, who came at the same time. purchased 400 acres where he now lives, in sight of Avoca. Cyrus bought no land at that time. but went to work at his trade. Josiah True went to Colorado during the Pike's Peak ex- citement, and engaged in mining for about five years, but came back to the county, and has since made Knox Township his home. having one of the finest homesteads in Iowa. Part of the summer of 1852 has been spent by him in Dakota. locating a ranch and en- gaging in the management of stock-raising in that quarter, but his permanent home is where he settled in 1857.
When James A. Sinclair arrived in Knox
Township in 1855, there were only ten fami- lies of settlers in the township. He was born in Indiana in 1826, his father being William D. Sinclair. His mother still lives, at the great age of eighty years. His parents moved to Kentucky when he was twelve years of age. and he remained in that State until after he was married, in 1848, to Miss Martha Adkis. son, a native of Kentucky. He then emigrat- ed to Illinois, living in Warren County six years, when be came to Iowa and settled in Knox Township. Heand his brother crossed the State with one wagon and six horses, bringing their families. They came by the way of Burlington, Mt. Pleasant and Fair- field. They had no idea of any particular locality for settlement-simply that they would come to Western Iowa. On the way, they met their father, who had been out pros- pecting. He turned back, came with them, stayed a few months. and, when he started East again, they were unable to hear what ever became of him. Trading at that date was all done at Council Bluffs, and the mill- ing at Macedonia. Mr. Sinclair has six chil- dren living-three sons and three daughters. He has a fine farm of 425 acres, his principal business being the raising of stock. He has always been a Republican in politics, and a consistent member of the United Brethren Church. He has an orchard of fifteen acres on his farm, doubtless the largest in the county.
H. H. Peterson, whose post office is Avoca. is another Knox Township pioneer, who was born in Maine August 18, 1827, and is the son of William B. Peterson, who died when the son was eighteen years of age. HP learned the tanner's trade, and, until his fa- ther's death-the latter being a cripple - aided in his support. He came West, pass ing through and stopping for a short time in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois; he finally landed in Iowa. where he was married. His was the
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HISTORY OF POTTAWATTAMIE COUNTY.
first wedding ever celebrated in Greene Coun- ty, the bride being Miss Fannie Wood. On coming to Pottawattamie County, he found the public lands bad all fallen into the hands of speculators, and, going into Nebraska, was unable to find a home to suit him, and re- turned to Knox Township and settled. In the spring of 1855, he bought 120 acres from Ira Platner, paying him $12.50 an acre, pay .- ing Platner also 60 per cent interest for six months. At the end of that time, he was able to borrow the money from Dr. S. M. Ballard for 40 per cent and pay off the Plat- ner debt. At the end of four years, he was out of debt, and had his farm all paid for. He was able to do this by stock - raising, which, at that date, with the great range of ' open country, was an exceedingly profitable business. His farm now consists of 265 acres of as fine land as exists in Pottawat- tamie County, ninety acres of it being in cul- tivation, and the rest pasture and meadow. He has also a grove of young timber planted of seventy acres. He has six children living -two sons and four daughters. Mr. Peter- son is a Democrat in politics.
Jacob Wineland, another old settler, was born in Pennsylvania in 1816, but moved to Ohio with his parents when he was a small boy. His father's name was John Wineland. He lived in Ohio until 1852, when be came to Iowa and assisted in the founding of Brooklyn, in this State. He bought the land to constitute his farm in Knox Township July 3, 1854. The only settlers now living in the township when he came are Joseph Bunnell, James A. Sinclair and Henry Peter- son. His wife, who was Miss Mary Ann Hain, was a native of Ohio, and the couple were married in that State. The pair have had four daughters and three sons; two of the daughters are married, and two of the sons. Mr. Wineland, before the organization of the
Republican party, was a Whig, but when that | party disappeared in the contest over the slavery question, Mr. Wineland assisted in organizing the Republican party, and has adhered to it ever since. He bought his land from James A. Sinclair for $5 per acre. He lived for a time in a kind of a tent, made by piling up rails for sides, and making a roof of the wagon cover. He then built a log cabin, with a ground floor. In order to get the Krutzinger Mill in operation, to get the use of it, Mr. Wineland and other settlers gave their assistance in labor for their board. About the time the mill was ready for opera- tion, a flood came and washed it off, and all the work had to be done over. He has now a fine farm of 450 acres, and a home in which to spend his declining years comfortably. When the first winter commenced after his residence here, he possessed only 25 cents in cash. He came through with ox teams from Ohio. He brought to Knox Township twelve sacks of flour, hoping that that would serve him until the new crop would be harvested. but the article was so scarce in the settlement that he had to lend it nearly all to his neigh - bors, and he and his family more than once suffered for the want of it.
AVOCA.
This history of Avoca necessarily grows out of that of Knox Township. It is the bus- iness center of the township, and the place where its general elections are held. It is situated forty-one miles east of Council Bluffs, in the very heart of the Botna Valley, and at the confluence of the East and West Branches of the Nishnabotna River. Its ori- gin is dne to the construction and completion of the Rock Island Railroad through from Des Moines to Council Bluffs in the early part of 1870. The original town plat of Avoca was made in 1869, when the railroad
KNOX TOWNSHIP.
reached that point. John P. Cook, of Dav- enport, and B F. Allen, of Des Moines, laid out an addition in 1870; Davis' Park Addi- tion was added afterward; and the Old Race Track Addition. in the west part of the town, on the bottom. G. Deidrick, acting as agent for the citizens, made a purchase of ten acres for cemetery purposes in the north part of the town in July, 1877. Afterward, ten more acres were added to this; but five acres of the last ten were afterward conveyed to the Catholic Church for cemetery purposes.
Meredith Addition also forms a part of the existing town plat.
The original town was laid off by a town company in 1869, which consisted of John P. Cook, his brother, Ebenezer Cook, John F. Tracey, of the Rock Island Railroad Com- pany, and B. F. Allen, the Des Moines bank- er. Ebenezer Cook was at that time Vice President of the railroad company, and its Land Commissioner; and John P. Cook, who had been a Member of Congress from Iowa, was the Iowa solicitor of the company. The first building erected was by Julius Priester. In the winter of 1868-69, a building was erected where the Pacific House now stands, and was called the Botna Exchange, and this was the first building ever occupied in the town of Avoca. The railroad track reached that point in April, 1869.
The old settlers called the town " Pacific, " but in April, 1869, it was changed to Botna. An excursion of ladies and gentlemen came ont by rail, and going to the hill where the public school building now is, looked up and down the beautiful valley, and the scenery recalling to one of the gentlemen Tom Moore's " Sweet Vale of Avoca," he quoted several of its lines, and, inspired by that circumstance, one of the ladies clapped her hands, with the oxclamation, "That is it," and that be- came the name of the town.
The first general store opened in the place was by Norton & Jones, in a building that stood where the Centennial Mills now are, and the store was opened in July, 1369. They afterward moved to the northwest cor- ner of Elm and High streets. Norton is now in the hardware business at Oakland. Jones & Norton are also in the hardware business at Avoca. Abram Harris, who was afterward Mayor of the place, opened a meat market in March, 1870, buying out a man named Bee- dle, who had undertaken the business first. Mr. Harris may be said to have actually opened out the first regular market in the town. He came to Valley Township in July, 1869, and began opening up a farm. and since then has improved the second one in the same township. He lived, before coming into this section, at Ottawa, Ill .; was a Democrat in 1844, and voted for Polk and Dallas, afterward, the Whig and Republican tickets, and finally became a leader in the Greenback movement.
John Acker, the oldest settler in the town, came in March, 1869, before the track was finished to Council Bluffs. He came by stage to Big Grove, and from there up to Avoca. There was not at that date enough lumber to be had to build a house, and sufficient to do so had to be brought by rail from Atlantic. As soon as he could get a building up, he went into the general hardware trade, his being the first business house on Elm street. At that time, there was a little grocery on the east side of the hill, and one hotel and two saloons in the entire town. The first Mayor after the town was incorporated was Milo H. Adams. The present Mayor is G. Diedrich. Capt. C. V. Gardner, who now lives at Dead- wood, Dak., and has there been engaged in sur- cessful mining operations, and Thomas Led- wich, now of Harlan, opened the first lumber yard in Avoca. C. V. Gardner also began the
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HISTORY OF POTTAWATTAMIE COUNTY.
publication of the Avoca Delta, in 1870, hav- ing the composition and press work done outside, and the enterprise being more of a real estate boom than a legitimate journalis- tic enterprise. Shortly after, the railroad company began the regular operation of trains. Stephen Caldwell began buying and shipping grain at that point. When the post office was established and opened, Thomas Ledwich was made the first Postmaster. Jo- seph B. Blake, one of the oldest settlers in the county, and for many years a resident of Crescent City and Council Bluffs, is the present Postmaster of Avoca.
W. B. Peterson sold the land to John P. Cook upon which the town site company lo- cated the station, the tract consisting of ninety-five acres. Clarence M. Peterson was the first child born in the town, or where the town stands, that occurring on March 4, 1869. His father lived on the site at the time. They had began to stake off the town a few days before he was born, and had not finished when the event occurred.
The first public school building erected by the Independent School District of Avoca, after it was set off as such from the distinct township of Knox. was a two-story brick, 36 x80 feet, in 1876. An addition of the same height and same material, 36x64, was made in the year 1880. This building stands on the top of an elevation, giving one of the finest views in the State of Iowa, and the one which so rapturously inspired those who gave the existing name to this prosperous town.
The first meeting of the City Council was held March 15, 1875. Milo H. Adams was Mayor, G. Diedrich, Recorder, and H. O. Seiffert, a member of the Iowa Legislature in 18S2: J. M. Jones, C. H. Norton, W. T. Mead and Stephen Jackson, Trustees. E. W. Davis, the banker, was appointed Treasurer, Orrin E. Beswick, Marshal, and John Cool,
Street Commissioner. At the second meet- ing, March 17, a set of ordinances were adopt- ed. The present officers (1882), besides Mr. Diedrich, as Mayor, are F. G. Hetzel, Re- corder; E. W. Davis, Treasurer; and Coun- cilmen, H. O. Seiffert, N. E. Acker, D. Hig- bee, A. Sterling, P. Desmond and Charles Uhden. The Assessor is M. L. Hardesty; City Marshal, O. E. Beswick; Assistant, Thomas Hardie, and City Attorney, H. J. Chambers.
Byron Bunnell built a house in 1870. In this building, he taught a school, and all the school taught in the town was here until the new brick building was fit for occupancy. All the religious services in the place and Sunday schools were held there until church- es were built for that purpose. In 1877, a frame school building, 24x40 feet, was erect ed, on the south side of the railroad, for the use of the inhabitants of that part of the town. This was enlarged. in 1882, by a two-story adnition, 24x60 feet.
In 1876, a three-story brick building was put up by Consigny & Wath, with the ca- pacity of 7,000 bushels for a steam flouring- mill. An addition has been added as a ware- house, making the capacity 12,000 bushels. This is what is widely known as the Centen- nial Mill, so called for the year in which it was completed and put in operation.
The first religious services held in the place were in July, 1869, when the Rev. Charles W. Blodgett, of the Methodist Epis- copal Circuit of Big Grove and Harlan. preached in the temporary depot of the Rock Island road. In 1870, W. E. Hamilton came upon the circuit, and organized a class of four members, of which E. Fitch was made the leader. In 1871, Rev. E. C. Waynick was sent to take charge of the Avoca Circuit, just then created, and Avoca was made the center of the survey. In the same year, a Method-
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ist Episcopal Sunday school was organized, with Mr. Fitch as its Superintendent. A parsonage for the use of the circuit was com- pleted in 1872. The present church edifice was built in 1874. and dedicated to religious services by Bishop Andrews. The pastor in 1882 is the Rev. D. C. Adams, and the so- ciety has about forty-five members, and the average attendance upon the Sunday school is about fifty.
The Rev. George Carroll, of the Presbyte- rian Church, preached at Avoca on the 24th day of July, 1870, and organized the society there at that date. The first pastor was the Rev. D. M. Hughes, who also had charge of the church at Atlantic, and preached alter- nate Sundays, at the latter place and at Avoca. The church at the latter place was organized with thirteen members, consisting of Mr. and Mrs. F. Waterman. Mr. and Mrs. C. V. Gardner, Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Halstead, Mr. and Mrs. I. Culbertson, Miss M. E. Knowles, Mrs. H. Jones and Mrs. Annie Sharp. F. Waterman was the first Ruling Elder. In 1871, a building committee, consisting of Rev. Mr. Hughes, F. Waterman, Thomas Ledwich, J. M. Halstead and C. V. Gardner were appointed. The church was begun in the fall of the same year, and finished and dedicated in July, 1872. The dedication sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. Thomp- son, of Jamestown, N. Y. The services up to this time were held in the schoolhouse. Mr. Hughes severed his connection in the spring of 1873, went to New Mexico and died soon afterward. He was succeeded by the Rev. Andrew Herron, who was in time succeeded by the Rev. John Kennedy. The present minister is Rev. F. X. Miron; the membership is forty persons, and the Sunday school is attended by eighty pupils. The Rev. John A. Walker occupied the pulpit for some time during this interval, but trouble
having arisen between him and the congre- gation, he went back to his native country. Ireland.
The Catholic Church of Avoca was organ- ized by the Rev. Father MeMenony, priest of St. Francis Church of Council Bluff's, in 1876. It soon afterward passed into the charge of Father Edward Gaul, of Atlantic. At the organization of the church, there were only six Catholic families in the town, but now there are about three hundred persons who receive the administration of that church in Avoca and the surrounding country. 1 church was erected and dedicated in 1876, and a large Sunday school is also conducted un- der the direction of the Bishop of the dioceso.
The First Congregational Church of Avoca was organized June 12, 1870. This was the first church organized in the place. Rev. ('. D. Wright was the first minister. The memu- bers were James M. Jones and his wife, J. C. Norton and his wife, E. W Pearl and his wife and the Rev. C. D. Wright and Nettie D. Wright. The present membership is seventy-five persons. The present church edifice was built in 1874 and 1875, and dedi- cated May 23, 1875. A comfortable parson- age was bought by the society in 1880. The names of the different pastors who have had charge of the society since the Rev. C. D. Wright, are the Rev. George Hindley, Rev. J. G. Sabin and Rev. George G. Perkins. The Rev. J. G. Sabin simply supplied a va- cation of a year, taken by Mr. Hindley.
A union Sunday school was organized on the south side of the railroad on the 16th of September, 1877; the first Superintendent was J. T. Hazen. It was organized under the anspices of J. S. Love, the missionary of the American Sunday School Union. It has a class of ninety members. with J. T. Nelton as Superintendent.
HISTORY OF POTTAWATTAMIE COUNTY.
Avoca has a flourishing Masonic lodge . called Mt. Nebo. No. 297. It has a member- ship of sixty-five. Only two deaths have oc- curred since its institution, that of Dr. Thomas E. Fowler, March 6, 1873, and E. Wolf. December 27. 1880. Both were buried with the usual and customary Masonic honors. The present Master is J. C. Adams, and the Secretary, Fremont Benjamin. There is also a Royal Arch Chapter and an Eastern Star. The latter was organized January 29, 1879, under the title of Queen Esther Chapter, No. 50, with F. Waterman, W. P .; Mrs. D. Hunt, W. M .; and Mrs. A. M. Gardner, A. MI. Mt. Nebo Lodge was organized June 7, 1871, with P. B. Hunt, as Master; Josiah True, Senior Warden; John Cool, Junior Warden; Daniel Hunt, Secretary, and R. G. Harlow, Treasurer.
Delta Lodge, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, was organized March 8, 1878. J. M. Jones was the first N. G .: J. C. Het- zel, V. G. ; M. B. Nelson, P. S .; F. M. Hoopes, R. S., and H. O. Seiffert, Treasurer. They have an excellent hall in the second story of the building occupied by Weise as a drug store. The present membership is fifty-six, and one death has occurred since organization, that of M. B. Nelson.
Avoca Lodge of the same order was insti- tuted April 19, 1871, where the work of the order is conducted in English. Its place of meeting is the same as that of Delta Lodge. Its present membership is sixty-four, and its present officers are: J. H. Arnold, N. G .; L. H. Sanders, V. G .: S. B. Richards, Secretary, and F. G. Hetzel, Treasurer. A. W. Coff- man was the first N. G .; Steve Jackson the first V. G .: O. H. P. Shoemaker, M. D., the first Secretary, and J. H. Arnold, the first Treasurer. Two deaths have occurred since the lodge organized, those of G. W. Hart and George Warner.
The Avoca Delta, a Republican weekly newspaper, was established by Thomas Led rich and C. U. Gardner, the first number making its appearance January 1, 1870. One side of the paper was printed at that time in Chicago, and the other in the office of the Harlan Herald, in Harlan, Shelby County. August 1, 1870, it changed hands, becoming the property of its present owner, J. C. Adams, who fitted up the office with new material and press. In 1873, the office was destroyed by fire, but the citizens of Avoca at once raised $550 and made it as a dona- tion to Mr. Adams. in order to enable him to regain his feet and resume the publication of his paper. The paper was also enlarged from a six-column folio to a seven-column, and in fourteen days from the date of the fire re-appeared. In January, 1882, it was again enlarged to a seven-column quarto. It is still Republican in political views, but has made the interests and welfare of the town its principal mission, in all instances seeking the establishment of manufacturing indus- tries as the permanent basis of prosperity. The Avoca Heruld, a Democratic weekly newspaper, a nine-column, neatly printed and ably edited journal, was established by A. P. Cramer, in August, 1880, and it has continued to prosper from the date of its first issue. Like the Delta, it adheres to the in- terests of Avoca with commendable and praiseworthy tenacity.
The society of the V. A. S. was organized here on the 24th of May. 1880, with ten charter members. The first officers were: O. B. Nelson, Rector; Charles Uhden, Vice Rector; Peter M. King, Usher; F. K. Dab. ney, M. D., Scribe; H. B. Crofts, Speculat- or, and Rev. George D. Wright, Questor.
In November, ISSO, a German musical so- ciety was organized, called the Avoca Man- nerchor, with a membership of twenty per-
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sons. The President is Mayor Diedrich; the Secretary, Charles Unden, and the Treasur- er. H. Hebbelm.
The fire organization or department con- sists of a company composed of fifty-four members, called the Red Jackets, and having a first-class hand- engine.
The Avoca Brewery was established by Ja- cob Kampf, in 1874, and has a capacity of about 800 barrels per year. The cost of the building, which is of brick, and the machin- pry was about $20,000.
The creamery is another institution of which the people are proud. It is owned by a joint-stock company, and was put into operation in February, 1882. It collects milk from a district of about fifteen miles in extent.
The Harlan Branch of the Rock Island Railroad, north to Harlan, was built in 1878, and the Carson Branch, southward, down the valley, was put into operation in the early part of 1880.
The favorable situation of Avoca in the very midst of one of the finest agricultural regions in the world, makes its business in- terests of the highest importance. Those engaged as leading merchants, carrying gen- eral ¿tocks of goods, are G. Diedrich, O. B. Nelson, Charles Uhden and H. Stevens; in drugs, P. Weise, Maxwell & True; agricult- ural implement dealers, Hart & Co., T. O. Meredith and W. H. Van Brunt; the lumber dealers are Ainsworth & Waterman and Seiff- ert & Weise; hardware, C. H. Norton, and harness, Wilson.
In 1870, the Rock Island Railroad Com- pany built an extensive hotel and railway dining-hall at the Avoca Station for the ae- commodation of their passenger trains. As soon as it was completed and ready for occu- pancy, John Jones, the former proprietor of the Pacific House at Council Bluffs, leased
it, and for many years continued to manage it, until the railroad company modified and entailed its patronage by adopting the dining- car system.
Among those who came as physicians were Dr. O. H. P. Shoemaker, an eclectic, who opened an office in the fall of 1869. Here. mained until 1881, when he removed to Des Moines to take a professorship in a medical college there. Dr. J. H. Corman arrived in the winter of 1869, and died in March, 1881. He was of the regular, or allopathic school. Dr. H. S. Knowles, an homœopathie, eame in June, 1870, and is the oldest member of the medical profession in the place. Dr. B. L. Nye arrived in 1872, and died in Mareh. 1882.
Personal mention may be here made of some of the citizens of Avoca, to whom ref- erence has not yet been made. H. W. Wil- son came from West Liberty, Iowa, to Avoca in 1874, and engaged in the harness and sad- dlery business. He came from Ohio to West Liberty in 1866. He was born in Ohio in April, 1847, and enlisted in Company F, of the One Hundred and Eighty-fourth Regi- ment of Ohio Infantry, in 1864, and served with the regiment in Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama. He remained in the service until the war closed, and then came to Iowa. His father was Robert Wilson, an English- man; he is also a member of the Masonic Chapter and the lodge of Avoca. Mr. Wil- son was also Mayor of Avoca in 1879, 1850 and 1881. He was married, in 1870, to Miss Emma Givens, of West Liberty, and of this marriage two daughters have been born- Myrtle and Mary. Mr. Wilson has prospered in business.
H. Stephens came to Iowa in 1844, settling first at Davenport, then moving to Cedar Rapids, and from Cedar Rapids to Avoea. His business and trade are second to none in
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