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 36
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Boomer Township is one of the most pros- perous in the county. It is now well settled, and, with its exceeding richness of soil, bids fair to be among the wealthiest, as it is one of the most beautiful, townships in the county.
CHAPTER XXXVIII .*
ROCKFORD TOWNSHIP-ONE OF THE ORIGINAL THREE TOWNSHIPS OF THE COUNTY-FIRST MORMON SETTLERS-OTHER SETTLERS-ORGANIZATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS-FIRST DEATH-TWO MURDER CASES-LOVELAND AND HONEY CREEK, ETC.
TT will doubtless always be interesting to remember the origiral organization of a county, which in area equals almost the States of Delaware and Rhode Island each, and is larger than many of the petty German principalities before their incorporation into the modern empire. Prior to 1853, the county was simply divided into election pre- cincts and had no distinctive township or- ganization and administration. For all pur- poses, it constituted a single township, but in fact no township functions were exercised, except such as related to the holding of elec- tions. On the 12th day of February of that year, the first steps were taken to divide the county into three townships. This was done at a special session of the County Court, which was simply constituted of the County Judge. T. Burdick held that office at that date, and made the necessary order, and S. T. Corg was the Clerk of the Court, and made up the record of the transaction.
The record so made states, in substance. that the former division of the county into precincts was discontinued, and the county
of Pottawattamie divided into three town- ships, viz., Macedonia, bounded on the south by the south line of the county, west by the meridian or range line running north and south across the county, between Range 40 and 41; north by the north line of the coun- ty, and east by the east county line. A glance at the map will show the vast area of territory embraced in this subdivision. The first election in the township was to be held at the house of Calvin Beebe, at or near the post office.
Kane Township's boundaries were fixed as on the south by the north line of Mills Coun- ty, on the west by the Missouri River, north by the line separating Congressional or Gov- ernment Townships, No. 75 and No. 76, and east by the west line of Macedonia Town- ship, just described. The first election was ordered to be held at the court house in Council Bluffs, and this meant the old cotton wood building on Madison street, now First street.
The third township embraced in this order was what is now known as Rockford, then called Rocky Ford, from a rock-bottomed ford
*By Col. John Il. Ktatley.
ROCKFORD TOWNSHIP.
of the Boyer River in the vicinity of Love- land. The west boundary of the township was the Missouri River, the north the south- ern line of Harrison County, the south by the north line of Kane Township, and the east by the western line of Macedonia Township. The first election was ordered to be held at Reel's Mill.
It is not necessary in this place to enlarge upon the history of Kane Township. That is embraced in the history of the city of Council Bluffs, except so far as it may be ne- cessary to give the requisite sketch of those townships which have since been carved out of the older township. Each of these three organizations has been frequently subdivid- ed, and named, and the facts which follow are mainly relating to the townships as they are now constituted and limited.
As to Rockford, or Rocky Ford, as it was first officially designated, the first settlers were members of the Mormon Church, who came about the date of the arrival of the people of that faith at Council Bluffs. Only a few of that class of settlers still remain. Joseph Hill was the first arrival in the town- ship who did not belong to that church, and was designated as a Gentile. He took pos- session of a tract of land in Section 11, on the Missouri River, near what is known as the old St. John's Landing, and has made that spot his home ever since. He came from the vicinity of St. Joseph. Mo., in 1850. He was followed the next year by Joseph Kirby and Arthur Mann. These men are both dead. Samuel Kirkland and Dr. Rob- ert McGavern came the same year as Joseph Hill. Dr. McGavern is still living and is a highly respected citizen of Harrison County, residing only a few miles from the point of his original settlement in Pottawattamie County. Kirkland lived in the township un- til his death, in 1880. The farm he first
cleared out, opened and improved is owned by his son-in-law, James Brookhauser. James Kirkland came to the township with his father, and died at old St. John. just over the Harrison County line, in 1882. Henry D. Cox made a settlement in Rockford in 1851. He subsequently removed into the ad- joining county of Harrison. and is a large land-owner and the possessor of a magnifi- cent farm near the Chicago & North-Western Railway, between Missouri Valley and Logan. Mr. Cox removed from the township in 1854. Noah Harris was a settler cotemporaneous with Cox, but went to St. John in 1857, and subsequently to the Rocky Mountain country, where he died.
One of the oldest and most prominent set- tlers is Basil Fox. He is still living, and one of the best known and most respected farmers in the county. He was born in Put- nam County. Ind., where he lived until his emigration to this county, in 1852. When the war of the rebellion broke out, Mr. Fox enlisted in the Twenty-ninth Iowa Volun- teers, organized by Col. Thomas H. Benton. Jr., at Council Bluffs, and served until the expiration of his term of three years, and coming home when all the work was done. He has always been an active Republican in politics, and is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, being attached to the Abe Lincoln Post at Council Bluffs. Under the old regime, when each township had at least one member in the Board of County Super- visors, Mr. Fox served a term or two in that office.
Sherman Goss and his family arrived in 1851. Mr. Goss was shot dead in a claim fight which took place at Fort Calhoun. Neb., in 1854, and his widow and children re- mained in the township for many years. Henry W. A. Goss still lives on the old home farm in Section 10. John S. Goss lives at
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HISTORY OF POTTAWATTAMIE COUNTY.
Missouri Valley and Hugh A. Goss in Coun- cil Bluffs, where he is in the employment of the United States Government as a free de- livery mail carrier. All three of these sons of Sherman Goss served in the Union army during the rebellion. Their mother is also dead. Isaac Cox and Peter R. Deel arrived from Putnam County, Ind., in 1851, but only remained a short time, Cox having removed to Harrison County and Deel having died soon after. Thomas N. Copeland, an old and respected citizen of Loveland, arrived with his family in the fall of 1852. He lived in Harrison County during his first winter in Iowa, but came over into Rockford Township in the following spring, and has been there ever since. Hon. Hardin Jones, his brother, John G. Jones, and Joseph Moss, son-in-law of Hardin Jones, and their fami- lies emigrated from Indiana in 1854, made farms and have lived since that date in the township. Hardin Jones was County Judge for the term which expired on the 1st day of January, 1870, when the office ceased to exist by operation of law, and the office of County Auditor substituted for his. He has always been an active Democratic worker, and has taken a personal interest in county politics. Joseph Moss served one term as Deputy Sheriff. under Sheriff Perry Reel, and acted as County Jailer during that period. Joseph Foreman came into the township and settled during the same year as the Jones family. Josiah Skelton, well known and highly re- spected, came in 1854, and at the same time James T. Frazier and his son Alfred. AII of these old settlers are still living.
As near as can be ascertained at this date, Hiram Bostwick and his family were the first Mormon settlers in the township. They lo- cated in the timber bordering the Missouri River, nearly opposite Honey Creek Station, on the North-Western Railway, and almost
west of Honey Creek Lake. Mr. Bostwick was noted far and near for his hospitality, and hundreds of middle-aged men, who were mere youths then, have a lively and pleasant recollection of the country dances at the Bostwick mansion in the early days of the county. People went from far and wide to those gatherings, and fun and frolic always rewarded them for the distance traveled. Mr. and Mrs. Bostwick lived to a ripe old age, in the home carved out by them in the lonely wilderness. Their hospitality was of the genuine backwood's style, sometimes rough, but always generous. Daniel Bost- wick, one of the sons who grew to manhood, and who was as well known as his parents, also died a year or two ago. Samuel, another son, is now a resident of Colorado. Another of these early settlers was an Englishman named Richard Allen and his family. He spent his days near Honey Creek, and died about a year ago at an advanced age. His grandson. Henry Lowe, lives on the tract of land settled by his grandfather. One of Mr. Allen's daughters married William Points. and is still an inhabitant of the township. He also had a son Joseph. who settled and acquired about 600 acres of land, partly im- proved for farming, near Honey Creek Sta- tion. and used and occupied it until his death, about five years ago. He left a large family of sons and daughters, and the estate has been divided among them. His widow, Eliza Allen, has the homestead. The Chicago & North-Western Railway was built north and south through the township in the winter of 1866-67, and the first trains run in Feb- ruary, 1867, two stations. Loveland and Honey Creek, also being established in the township. One of the attractive and promi- nent topographical features of the township is Honey Creek Lake, a beautiful. clear sheet of water, half a mile south of Honey Creek
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Station, about two miles long and half a mile or more wide. It abounds in fish, and has always been an exceedingly attractive spot to sportsmen. Numerous smaller lakes or clear ponds dot the surface of the township, and aside from the Missouri River, which washes its west front, the Boyer River traverses the entire breadth of it, and empties into the Missouri on the west side of Crescent Town- ship.
In the winter of 1854, a public school sys- tem was organized, and a Board of Directors constituted. The school history of the town- ship up to that date is clouded in absolute uncertainty. Basil Fox was chosen Presi- dent of the School Board; Hardin Jones, Secretary; and Thomas N. Copeland, Vice President. The school was opened in an old log Mormon hut, which was repaired, on the northwest quarter of Section 11. The school was first opened there in the winter of 1853. Jacob Cox was the first teacher. The first house originally intended as a school build- ing was a frame one, transported from what was called "Old Cincinnati," in Harrison County, and permanently located on Section 10. As the settlements expanded around this nucleus, houses were added to supply increas- ing wants, the district was subdivided. and now seven substantial. convenient school- houses adorn and accommodate Rockford Township. as an evidence of the public spirit of her people. The second public highway was a road from Crescent City up the valley to " Old Cincinnati." but nothing remains of it now but the tracing on the record. Basil Fox was the first Road Supervisor. The first public bridge built was in 1953, over a branch of Honey Creek. It was constructed of na tive timber and floored with split logs or puncheon. The Mormons had previously. at their own expense, built some bridges over streams. but they were simply temporary
makeshifts. They had also put in a mill on Honey Creek, but it was gone before any of the Gentile settlers got into the country. In 1839, Wiley B. Hatcher built a small mill on Honey Creek, in Section 24, the millwright work being done by Basil Fox and one Popps, but the floods carried the dam out, in 1870, and the structure was allowed to go to ruin. In 1865, E. Loveland and A. J. Bell began the erection of a flouring-mill, at Loveland, and it was put in operation by Mr. Loveland in the winter of 1866. The mill was after- ward rebuilt and enlarged, and is now the property of John Hawthorne & Co. Hey- ward & Amos operated a horse-power saw- mill near Honey Creek Station in the tim- ber in 1834. In 1860, William Arthur and Hoil Carter put in a steam saw-mill. but it has long since been disused.
The first death noted in the settlement was a child of H B. Cox, in the summer of 1852. The first birth was a daughter of Ja- I cob Cox. in January. 1853, and a few days later, on the 5th of February, one was born to Mr. and Mrs. T. N. Copeland. The first marriage remembered by the old settlers was that of John S. Goss and Sophronia Cope- land, daughter of T. N. Copeland, and which occurred in June, 1955. An election was held in a sort of an irregular way. in the fall of 1852. in the log schoolhouse ou the Cope- land farm, Harrison County voters coming there to vote. and it being also a Presidential year.
Among the early prominent settlers is E.l. ward W. Bennett, who has now reached a ripe and venerable age. He was born in Nova Scotia in May, 1805. His father was an old-fashioned Nova Scotia merchant, and at a very early date instilled into the mind of his son two business principles, one never to buy anything except for cash down, and the other, never to go security for another. The
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HISTORY OF POTTAWATTAMIE COUNTY.
son adhering to these points, came to the United States, and engaged in mercantile pursuits for twenty years, in Buffalo, N. Y. Desiring to become a land-owner, he emi- grated to Western Iowa, in 1856, and pur- chased the large tract which has ever since been his home, where he has resided in com- fort and contentment. He and his wife have enjoyed a married life of over fifty-five years, she being one year his senior. They have seen the county expand from a few scattered settlements to a perfect hive of industry.
In the fall of 1858, Isaac and Enos Cole came from Illinois, and bought of James Goss the farm now owned by Isaac Cole. When they arrived, James McIntosh lived on the prairie between the Boyer River and the timber. John S. Goss, two miles north of McIntosh; old Mr. Bush, on the Joseph Hill farm, on the Missouri River, and old Mr. Davis on the present David Henderson place, and these were then the only settlers in that part of the township west of the Boyer, ex- cept Butterfield, who lived on the bank of this stream where Loveland now is. The Coles landed in the country with about $100 in money, a yoke of oxen, a pair of horses, a log wagon and a common wagon, and began work. Ague took hold of them, but they managed to put up their hay. They had a stack of wheat and one of beans, but the prairie fire destroyed their wheat. The next year they raised a small wheat crop, and threshing it with a flail, took it to Reel's mill and had it ground, and this was the first of that kind of flour they had for a year. Of the six boys in the family, three of them went into the military service, in the Union army during the rebellion, and one of them (lied while thus serving his country. When they came to Iowa, there were twelve of them in the family, ten children. The young men of this family broke the raw prairie for
George McIntosh, the original owner of what is now the town site of Missouri Valley, at the junction of the North-Western and the Sioux City and Pacific Railroads. Joseph Buffington, who still survives the many inter- vening changes in the township, is a native of Indiana, but emigrated from Illinois in 1853. When he reached there, many of the tracts of land that are now beautiful farms, were under water from the Missouri River overflow, and the country had, in conse- quence, a most discouraging outlook. Game in the timber and on the prairies was abund- ant, as many as seventy-five deer in a herd being frequently seen, and the woods abound- ed in wild turkeys. The old trees standing were, in scores of instances, occupied by wild bees, and the settlers supplied themselves from this source. This, in fact, gave the name to the creek. which it still retains. Mr. Buffington came to the West with only a small sum of money, but out of the wild lands of Western Iowa has made himself a comfortable home for his old age, in Section 24. He and his wife have reared nine chil- dren, and in the long interval have never had more than five visits from a physician. William Points, who was born in Kentucky, removed with his parents to Missouri, and then into Eastern Iowa, is another long resi- dent of the township. With the exception of a short residence in Nebraska, about 1862, he has lived almost continuously in the town- ship since 1852, having been married in No- vember of that year, to Catharine Allen, daughter of Richard Allen, already men- tioned. His wife was born in England. They have only one son living, who remains still with his parents on their fine farın. Jo- siah Skelton is a native of Tennessee. re- moved to Indiana, and thence to Western Iowa in 1853, settling where he now lives, on a tract of land having a small log house,
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ROCKFORD TOWNSHIP.
fourteen by sixteen feet in dimensions. They were compelled to endure considerable hardship during their early residence in the county. The nearest point where lumber could be procured was at the Thomas Dennis saw-mill, on Soldier Creek, twenty-two miles north, and the roads, where there were any, were execrable. The winter of 1857 was a peculiarly hard one, to them, the snow hav- ing drifted to a depth of fifteen feet in places. Two of his sons narrowly escaped death, in a snow storm, while on their way from Coun- cil Bluffs, whither they had gone as their market town. The mother, to save the feet of one of the boys, T. M. Shelton, amputated two of his toes with a common table knife, no surgeon being within reach in those days. As it was, the boy lost nearly all of his toes from being frozen.
The people of the township were thrown into intense excitement in the winter of 1871 by the news that John S. Goss had shot and dangerously wounded his cousin, Sherman Brown. The facts, as disclosed at the trial of Goss for the murder of Brown wero sub- stantially these: Brown had lived in North- western Missouri, in Clay County, during the rebellion, and had acquired the reputation of being a bushwnacker. About a year before his death, he removed with his wife, mother and brother to Rockford Township, and be- came a tenant on Goss's farm, occupying a small house near the road, and some distance west of the dwelling of Mr. Goss. Difficulty arose between him and Mr. Goss, during the summer of 1871, and on ono occasion, he made an assault on Goss with a large knife, at milking time, in the cow-yard in the morning, and in chasing Goss, cut a gash in the latter's felt hat. On various occasions afterward, he threatened to others that he would in the end have revenge, and that he would kill Goss. These threats were con-
veyed to the knowledge of Goss, and he placed a revolver in his pocket with which to defend himself in case of attack. No diffi- culty again occurred until in the following winter. Goss startod, one very cold morn- ing, to the timber west of the Brown house, got his load and was on his way past the house, walking by the side of his team, when he saw Brown coming toward him with a club in his hand. Acting on appearances, keeping in mind Brown's threat, and regarding the attitude of the latter as menacing, he kept a sharp lookout. He stated on the trial that Brown raised the club to strike a blow, and did strike, but without effect, when he drew the revolver from his overcoat pocket, with his mittened right hand, keeping the reins in his left, and fired, the shot taking effeet in the right thigh of Brown and severing the femoral artery. This ended the encounter, and Brown lingered for fourteen days, and died. Goss surrendered himself, and was admitted to bail, after a full preliminary ex- amination. He was indicted and tried for Brown's murder, at the May term of the Dis- triet Court, 1872, before Judge Reed, the prosecution being mainly managed by Hon. B. F. Montgomery and W. S. Shoemaker, and the defense by Sapp & Lyman, I. W. Ross and John H. Keatley. When the evidence was all submitted and the charge of the court given to the jury, counsel for the defendant were so confident of acquittal that they sug- gested that the jury should take the case without any argument and this was done. They were out abont an hour, aud returned a verdict of not guilty.
Shortly after this, a tragedy of a totally different character occurred in the same township, resulting in the death of an old citizen by the name of Samuel Fickle. At- tracted by some noise on the outside of his house, he went to the door opening in the
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HISTORY OF POTTAWATTAMIE COUNTY.
direction of a corn-crib. It was after dark, and the room was brightly lighted, and as he stood for a moment, listening, in the full glare of the light, in the open doorway, he was pierced with buckshot and instantly killed. A subsequent examination of the surroundings showed fresh tracks at the cor- ner of the corn-crib, and other circumstances indicating that the person who had done the deed had fired from that spot, where he was in perfect shelter in the darkness. He had married a widow by the name of Kirby some time before that, having several children, one of them a young man by the name of George Kirby. He had had a difficulty with his step- father, and no cordial feeling existed between them, and he was living from home at the time. Several witnesses saw him an hour or so before the killing moving across the open prairie in the general direction of the Fickle house, with a shotgun on his shoulder. Tracks were found in the soft mud, on the line traversed by him when seen by these witnesses, and there was also some corre- spondence between those tracks and the pe- culiarity of one of the heels of his boots. The tracks, however, could not be traced to the spot where the shot was fired, although the ones found there bore a strong resem- blance to those about which there was little dispute. There were other circumstances de- veloped in the train of evidence, there being no direct proof, but they played a secondary part in the trial. In the first trial the jury disagreed, and the case was again tried at another term. No new discoveries of evi- dence were made in the meantime. and the jury rendered a verdict of acquittal.
On the evening of the Presidential election of November. 1872, Alfred Frazier and a man by the name of James McMillan got into an altercation in the store of Mr. Fra- zier, and it reached to the point of their
clinching. In a moment, McMillan was dead. There is uo certainty that any blows were struck or-anything done by Frazier that could certainly cause death, but he was tried on the charge of murder and fully acquitted.
It was not a long time after the settlement of the township that attention was paid to its religious interests, a Baptist Church har- ing been organized where Loveland now is, in 1856. The original membership was twelve persons, viz., W. A. Reel and wife, John Deel and wife, Hardin Jones and wife, Mary M. Frazier, Cynthia Mace, Edward Latham and Josiah Skelton. Its present membership is seventy-five. Their present edifice was erected in 1880, at a cost of $1,- 300, and is thirty by fifty feet in dimen- sions. The Rev. John Case was the first pastor of this church. William L. Jones and Isaac Skelton are regularly ordained ministers of this religious organization. They claim it as the oldest Baptist society west of the Des Moines River. At the date of its organization and for years afterward, its pastor and the delegated laymen had to travel more than two hundred miles on land, before the era of railroads, to attend the an- nual meetings of the church association.
The inhabitants of the township constitute especially an agricultural community. It contains no large towns. It has two villages at the railroad-Loveland and Honey Creek A hamlet grew up about the mill, but it was not until December, 1879, that Judson & Brodbeck, surveyors, laid off and platted the town, at the instance of John Hawthorne, the owner of the land now constituting the site. The first house was one moved to the site, late in the summer of 1880, by D. A. Mace. The first lot sold was in the spring of ISSO, to J, A. Copeland. The town is in Section 3 of that township. Considerable business has grown up about that nuclens, among them the
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CRESCENT TOWNSHIP.
merchant milling business of Mr. Hawthorne, Kelsey Bros. and M. H. French & Co., gen- eral merchants. E. C. Kelsey conducts a lumber yard; Joseph Moss sells agricultural implements; Bert Evans is the proprietor of a grain elevator; J. A. Champion conducts the "Excelsier Creamery;" W. E. Hoit has a restaurant, town hall and a boarding-house; J. A. Mason has a harness shop, and in ad- dition to that the place has a blacksmith shop and a fine railroad depot in charge of J. E. Kellogg, station agent.
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