USA > Iowa > Poweshiek County > History of Poweshiek County, Iowa: a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume 1 > Part 27
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Rev. J. B. Johnson was the first Protestant minister, preaching in Monte- zuma, and built the first Protestant church there. He owned a fine farm adjoin-
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, MONTEZUMA
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CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, HARTWICK
ENO AND INTO -DAT ONE.
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ing the town on the south. His daughter Abbie was the second child born in Montezuma, Kate Wilson being the first. She was a daughter of Isaac Wilson, whose wife was a daughter of Dr. Malone, one of the first physicians in Monte- zuma. Abbie Johnson married Judge Bain of Lincoln, Nebraska, and after his death went to New York city, where she has since lived.
Father invested $2,000 when he came to Montezuma and after living there one year, he sold out for $4,100 to a Mr. Thorn, and with his wife and son Joe moved back to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, leaving the two daughters, who had come here with him, they having married in the meantime, Anna becoming the wife of Sylvester Johnson and I the wife of Edward Skinner.
We moved on the farm in June, 1856. Our neighbors on the west, one mile away, were Mr. Lambert and John Darlin, who had recently moved here from Indiana. They were fine people and good neighbors and still own their farms, although at present they are living in Barnes City.
In 1856 Mr. Lizor, who had been running a hotel in Montezuma, moved on his farm one mile north. Mr. Skinner built his house, which is still standing. He had a son Otis, who was a lawyer in Montezuma. His son Ed. married Maggie Hall.
The Halls, John and Alex, came about 1857 and located northeast of us, and at the same time Robert Hutchinson located on the farm east of us. Mr. Hutchinson's wife was a sister of the Halls. The way we became acquainted was rather peculiar. Alex Hall had gone with an ox team to Moon creek for a load of wood and while he was getting the wood a thunderstorm came up and filled English creek to overflowing. When he got back with his load he could not ford the stream. After floundering around in the mud and water until he was thoroughly soaked, he gave it up and came to our place to see if he could stay all night. I told him we could take care of him, and he seemed delighted. We gave him some dry clothes to put on and a little wine, and he was as happy as a lark. He forded the stream the next morning and went home and told wonderful stories about the new neighbors he had found. In a few days the two Hall women and Mrs. Hutchinson came over on horseback, riding without any saddle, to make us a call. They were splendid neighbors and we had good times together visiting back and forth and having our "turkey roasts." The Halls left the farm and moved to Montezuma, where John Hall, Sr., was engaged in the banking business until his death, since which time the business has been conducted by his son John, Jr.
Will Hutchinson, son of Robert Hutchinson, has been judge of the district court for many years in the northwest part of the state. His brother John is a prominent attorney and at present mayor of Hawarden, Iowa. In his young days he was a great singer and led the singing in the church and social gather- ings in our neighborhood.
The Hall schoolhouse was located one mile east and in it for many years the Presbyterians held services, which we attended. Rev. Green, a well educated Scotchman, and a very fine man, had preached here for ten or twelve years. Rev. Thorn of Montezuma came out and held a series of revival meetings in this schoolhouse, which resulted in the Methodists organizing a society and building Beulah Chapel, about 1876. Mr. Skinner took an active part with the Vol. 1-16
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Presbyterians until the Methodist society was organized and then he was for many years class leader of Beulah Chapel.
The Allisons came about 1861 and were active workers in the church. Other families who came at different times and took an active part in church and society and encouraged every movement for the betterment of the neighborhood, were the Jacobs, Underwoods, Scaifes, Lizors, Malcoms, Ehrels, William War- wick, S. W. Hatch and many others whose names are worthy of mention. With all the inodern conveniences and social advantages we doubt there being any happier or more social people or better neighbors than those living in that neigh- borhood during the years we lived there. Go where we may, we never expect to find better neighbors or finer people.
Mr. Skinner lived on the land he entered and improved for forty-two years, dying on Christmas eve of 1898. In the year 1902, the land which he entered for $1.25 per acre, was sold for $65 per acre and the money reinvested in one thousand acres of better land in the Sioux valley, in eastern South Dakota, which has since doubled in value.
At present my family is widely scattered. Charles F. Skinner lives at Kirk- wood, California. He is unmarried and has a fruit farm. Nettie is teaching in the primary department of the Castlewood, South Dakota, schools, which position she has held four years. Minnie C. Heath is an osteopathic physician, practicing with her husband, Dr. S. W. Heath, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. W. N. Skinner is an attorney, practicing in Sioux Falls. W. N. Skinner is state's attorney for Hamlin county, South Dakota, living at Castlewood. I am living at 122 North Duluth avenue, Sioux Falls.
BEAR CREEK TOWNSHIP.
The name Bear Creek embraced three-fourths of the entire county when first employed in this region as the name of a locality. Township after town- ship was taken off until it was reduced to its present size of a congressional township, that is, township 80, range 14.
John J. Talbott was the first man to locate in Snook's Grove outside of Warren township. He was the first to enter land in the county and first also " to be buried. He entered the east half of the northwest quarter of section 13, township 80, range 13, in Warren township, August 27, 1847, and made another entry a little more than a year later in what is now Bear Creek. After three years of active service and of benevolent helpfulness, his life ended, February 20, 1849, and he was buried on section 13.
INDIANS GRIEVE FOR TALBOTT'S DEATH.
Mr. Talbott came from Holmes county, Ohio, and built a log house for hinself and family, and its door was kept wide open for the hungry man, whether he was white or copper colored,-the only colors then in that region. The Indians often visited his house during the years before he died, and when they heard he was dead they made a most pitiful lamentation for their friend and gathered about his house to cover their faces in their blankets, as they
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expressed their sorrow. Thus did those simple sons of nature express their admiration and their gratitude for their good friend.
White men, too, might well have expressed the same sorrow as emphati- cally as did the Indians, for his useful life had placed them under great obliga- tion for his public service in general and in building the first sawmill in the grove to aid them in erecting their first buildings.
That mill served Snook's ( Talbott's) Grove about twenty years, and used up all the material for it. Some heavy work was done there, especially when Joshua Talbott cut 2,000 feet of lumber in a day, rolling in the logs and piling up the lumber.
On the authority of "The Census of Iowa for 1880," published by the state, Bear Creek township, as originally laid out, included within its limits all of the present townships in the north three-fourths of the county. It was organized at a term of the commissioners' court, held in April, 1848, and at the house of Henry Snook was designated as the place for holding the first election, and John J. Talbott, Henry Snook and William Harklerode were appointed judges thereof.
Bear Creek "precinct" preceded the "township" and embraced the present townships of Jefferson, Madison, Sheridan, Chester, Grinnell, Malcom, Bear Creek, Warren and Lincoln. Every voter, except Joseph Snyder, voted at the precinct election in April, 1848, and just seven votes were polled, those of three Talbotts, two Snooks and two Bunkers. The Talbotts are still represented in this vicinity, but the Bunkers had the poor taste to return to Michigan in 1848. The name of Snook is still borne by residents in or near the township,-an hon- ored name, although few who have borne it have sought public office.
Henry Snook was the first white man to choose northeastern Poweshiek for a home, but his house was located over the line in Warren township. John J. Talbott was the first man to locate in the Bear Creek of today, in the spring of 1846, three years after Henry Snook chose to locate in Warren. He chose the location, indeed, in 1843, but did not bring his family until 1845.
Henry Snook did not "stick" as Ogden did in Union. It is possible that the Warren man's plans were not as statesmanlike as were his of Union or Bear Creck. At any rate Ogden and Talbott were in about everything that was done in the county in the early days. Evidently they were wide-awake "mixers." They early wanted to have Ogden in some important office of the county and for years after its organization.
Snook suffered another limitation. He was so near the township line when Warren was organized, he was left just a little over on the Warren side. Per- haps Snook's loss was John J. Talbott's gain.
THE FIRST POSTOFFICE.
The first postoffice was established in the township in 1849, and at the time all of ten families received mail at the Bear Creek postoffice, which was the home of the widow of John J. Talbott. A son, Joshua C. Talbott, unmarried, was the postmaster and resided with his mother. He continued in office until 1854.
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The second settler in this township was Robert Manatt, who came with his family in 1849, and settled on land which he had previously entered, lying just east of "old Brooklyn," where he spent the remainder of his life. Mr. Manatt had emigrated from Holmes county, Ohio, to Washington county, Iowa, two years previous to coming to Poweshiek and when leaving the latter locality he brought with him a good stock of horses and cattle. By the year 1850, so says Prof. J. Irving Manatt, "when the last contingent came on the ground, from the east line of the county to the prairie west of Brooklyn-that is from Charles Comstock's farm to William Manatt's-the whole country was occu- pied by Manatts or their affines. There were enough of them to have peopled a town, had they cared for town building." Among these were the Talbotts, Gwins, Scotts, Comstocks and Feltons, not forgetting William Manatt, who came with his family in the fall of 1850, and had bought a "squatter's" claim, including a one-room log cabin, of Jacob Yaeger, who was at that time one of the only three settlers between what is now Victor and Brooklyn, the other two being Henry Snook, "a famous hunter and the Daniel Boone of that region," and John Talbott. "In that log cabin," continues Professor Manatt, in an excellent family sketch prepared for the Historical Society, "we lived by hook or by crook until my father built a sawmill on Big Bear creek and sawed the lumber for the house, in which he and my mother died and in which my two younger sisters and three brothers were born and all my sisters were married. That old house still stands, sheltering now a grandson and great- grandchildren of the builder."
BAZIL MAXWELL TALBOTT.
Bazil Maxwell Talbott, one of the honored pioneers of Poweshiek county. was born in Holmes county, Ohio, on the 23d of October, 1843, and was but a lad of two years when he came to Iowa with his parents, John J. and Mary (Maxwell) Talbott. It was in the fall of 1845 that they came west and settled in Jefferson county, this state, but on the 7th of April, 1846, located in what is now Poweshiek county, but this was two years before the county was organized. The father secured a tract of land on section 13, in the eastern part of what later became Bear Creek township, and there erected a log house, which he conducted as the Talbott Tavern. It was one mile east of the present site of Brooklyn and was the first stage stop west of Marengo. This district at that time was all a bar- ren waste, covered with native grasses and inhabited only by Indians. Buffaloes at that time were quite common. The claim of Mr. Talbott was staked out be- fore the land had been surveyed by the government. The first postoffice was established at his tavern in 1849 and his eldest son, Joshua C., was appointed the postmaster. His death occurred in Bear Creek township, on the 20th of Febru- ary, 1849, and he was survived by his wife and fourteen children.
Here Bazil Maxwell Talbott was reared and he had not yet reached his twentieth year when, on the 14th of August, 1862, he responded to the country's call for aid and enlisted for service in the Civil war. On the 10th of October following he was mustered into Company H, Twenty-eighth Iowa Volunteer In-
BASIL M. TALBOTT
ASTOR LE OX AND . Y FONDA L
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fantry-known as "Brooklyn Sharpshooters"-with the rank of eighth corporal, and on November I was transported to Helena, Arkansas. From there his com- pany marched to Oakland, Mississippi, under General Harvey, to reinforce Gen- eral Grant, and in January, 1863, he participated in the White River expedition. On the 29th of March of that year his company began the march toward Vicks- burg, arriving at Port Gibson on the 30th of April. On the following day, May 1, occurred the battle of Port Gibson at Thompson Hill, in which Mr. Talbott participated, and he was also present at the engagement at Edward's Station on the 13th of May. He took part in the battle of Champion's Hill on the 16th, after which he marched with his company to the Big Black river and thence to the rear of Vicksburg. At the siege of that city his company was a part of General Mc- Clernand's corps, which led the van of Grant's army, and during the siege oc- cupied a position in the center of the left wing of the army. On the 15th of June, 1863, during the engagement at Vicksburg, he was wounded in the left breast and arm, and being thus incapacitated for further duty at the front, served as guard at the Rock Island arsenal and prison until the close of the war. He re- ceived his honorable discharge on the 7th of November, 1864, and returned home with the most creditable military record. After returning to civil pursuits he es- tablished a land office in 1866, engaged in surveying and also served as notary public. In 1869 he entered into a business partnership with D. R. Sterling, which relation continued until the death of Mr. Sterling in 1910, and during that period they engaged, at different times, in the land, drug, book, lumber and banking business. In April 1873, they established lumber yards and in 1872 organized the Sterling & Talbott Private Bank, which, in 1885, became the First National Bank. Of this concern Mr. Talbott is tiow president and under his careful management and wise control it has continued to grow until today it ranks among the safe and substantial moneyed institutions of the county. It has a capital of fifty thousand dollars and. a surplus of. thirty-five thousand dollars. Coming to this district ere Poweshiek county had been organized, Bazil M. Tal- bott has watched the vast stretches of wild prairie land converted into one of the finest regions of the great commonwealth of Iowa, has seen its cities spring up and has witnessed each step made in the onward march of civilization here, and in this work of transformation and improvement he has borne his share. He was postmaster of Brooklyn from 1870 until 1873, and in 1874 was elected to the office of mayor of the city. He belongs to the Methodist church and fra- ternally is connected with the Masons and the Odd Fellows.
Bazil M. Talbott was married, at Brooklyn, on the 12th of May, 1866, to Miss Sarah J. Ashton, and unto them have been born nine children, namely : Albert B., vice president of the First National Bank of Brooklyn; Charles D., of Los Angeles, California; Edwin H., cashier of the First National Bank of Brooklyn ; Effie E., the wife of Dr. F. F. Coon, of Niles, Michigan; Lena E., who married Dr. C. E. Shifflett, of Los Angeles; and Ada, Frederick, Jennie and William, all four of whom passed away in infancy. Since 1876 the family have had a comfortable and attractive home in Brooklyn, and since 1883 Mr. Talbott and his wife have spent the winter seasons in Los Angeles, California, where, in 1909, he built a new home and intends making that his future residence.
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BROOKLYN.
Greenville was the first name by which the thriving and beautiful little city of Brooklyn was known and designated. The town was laid out in 1849 by James Manatt, on part of the southeast quarter of section 14. in Bear Creek township, and Joseph Allman was the first to purchase two of the sixteen lots surveyed. In the spring of 1850 he built a frame house upon one of them and tradition has it that this was the inception of the city of Brooklyn. But, how- ever high the hopes of Mr. Allman may have risen to see in Greenville the nucleus of a great city, he was doomed to disappointment, for it is said the place never contained over six or seven structures of any kind. This beginning of a town was about sixty rods northwest of the Methodist church in Brooklyn. A short time after Allman's venture at town building, Dr. Reuben Sears secured two acres of land, about sixty rods northeast of the church herein mentioned, which were laid off into lots and sold. After a half dozen houses had been built and upon due and careful deliberation of the citizens, the name of Brook- lyn was given the hamlet, which it has retained to this day, notwithstanding its growth and importance. For the matter of that, the thought of changing the name for another has never been given expression in words nor would the venture be worth trying.
Brooklyn was a lusty child of Poweshiek from its birth and grew to its pres- ent proportions steadily and substantially from the time it first began to toddle. Eventually, additions were made to its environments, which contributed not a little toward stimulating and inducing settlement within its confines. Robert Manatt laid out a part of the town ("old town") and R. C. Shimer platted a half acre into lots, which found purchasers. Then, in 1862, came the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific railroad and soon building made its trend toward the depot, three-quarters of a mile southwest. In the vicinity of Broadway lots were selling at prices considered at the time to be extremely high; hence, the movement of the merchant and others was toward the railroad, or what became known as "Depot" town. William Manatt laid off a generous portion of this section of the town, as did also T. J. Holmes, who sold several lots for business purposes. Talbott's addition on the south side was platted early in Brooklyn's history, and consisted of some forty acres of land. Joshua C. Talbott was the enterprising "booster" of this innovation. He had a close competitor for honors in pushing things along in Colonel Leonard Skinner, who also laid out thirty acres on the south side, which took the name of Skinner's first and second additions. Soon after the railroad made its appearance and in the summer of 1862 the firm of T. J. Holmes & Son built an elevator and warehouse. This was not only the first grain elevator in Brooklyn, but, it is said, the first one on a railroad one hundred miles west of the Mississippi river. The firm of Holmes & Son also built the first elevator at Marengo for the storage of grain.
The first school was taught in the winter of 1853-4, in a building that stood east of Brooklyn, rear the brick house on the Charles Foster place. Joshua Talbott was the first postmaster and distributed the mail at his residence. The office was designated by the postal department as Bear Creek. Dr. Edward
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Methodist Church
Catholic Church
Christian Church
Episcopal Church Presbyterian Church
CHURCHES OF BROOKLYN
TI SHAW YORK MOIC LIBRARY
T H LUX AND JNDATIONS.
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Barton located in the township in 1852 and was the first physician in that locality ; and Edward Aldrich took precedence of all others in the practice of law here, becoming a citizen in 1861.
BROOKLYN INCORPORATED.
Upon the petition of A. J. Wood and some sixty other citizens of the com- munity, which was filed, together with the town plat, with John W. Cheshire, clerk of the circuit court, in manner and form prescribed by the statutes, and presented to the court, Thomas J. Holmes, George W. Blakeslee, Henry G. Cum- mings, Sanford Suits and James D. Haile were appointed commissioners, on March 6, 1869, and authorized to at once call an election. That election was held for the town of Brooklyn, April 5, 1869, and the question of incorporating the town was decided in its favor.
The first municipal election was held in Brooklyn, May 29, 1869, and L. L. Littlefield was chosen as the chief executive of the newly created corporation. That was almost a half century ago. Today the office is most capably filled by A. E. Anger.
For several years after Brooklyn was incorporated and beginning with the first year, licenses were issued to liquor dealers. But, for the past several years this busy mart and most endurable place of habitation has been free from the saloon-the liquor traffic-and no good citizen of the place has lost any- thing thereby.
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
This church was organized in 1853. Among the first members were Wil- liam Melvin, John Swaney, Edward Griswold, James Barnes, and Mary Sluimer. The first meetings were held at the home of Mrs. Mary Talbott, one mile east. The first house of worship was a frame one and was built in 1858, at a cost ot $2,800. The present building, a brick structure, was built in 1877 and dedi- cated December 23d of that year, by Bishop E. G. Andrews, who was assisted by Revs. D. C. Smith, G. M. Powers, N. Reasoner and the pastor, W. G. Thorn. The pastors serving this church were as follows: Revs. - Collins, George Bamford, A. C. Barnhart, F. M. Slusser, - Casebeer, P. F. Brasee, J. R. Carey, J. T. Simmons, C. P. Reynolds, C. Morey, C. P. Reynolds, C. S. Jennis, J. B. Hardy, O. P. Light, L. P. Causey, W. G. Wilson, W. G. Thorn, E. L. Schreiner, D. C. Smith, J. B. Blakeney, J. C. W. Coxe, R. A. Carnine, C. A. Cowan, J. A. Boatman, R. L. Patterson, J. W. Lambert, A. V. Kendrick, E. C. Brooks, J. E. Newsome, W. L. Clapp, F. C. Edwards. In the summer of 1911 a beautiful pipe organ was installed in this church, at a cost of $2,000, $750 of which was defrayed by the noted philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie.
ST. PATRICK'S CHURCH.
The first Catholic church was built in Brooklyn in 1863, and was attended by communicants from Iowa City and Marengo. Rt. Rev. J. Hennessy, bishop of Dubuque, appointed the first pastor. The present St. Patrick's church was
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erected in 1883, to accommodate the increasing congregation, and in 1901 a new parochial residence was built. The priests who have been in charge here are the following: Revs. P. A. McCabe, 1873-80; J. M. Day, 1880-82; J. F. Kemper, 1882-83; John O'Farrell, 1883-92; J. J. Cassidy, 1893-94; T. P. Mc Manus, 1894-97; J. J. Curtin, 1897 to the present time.
On Wednesday afternoon, August 2, 1911, and during the absence of Father Curtin, in Europe, St. Patrick's church took fire and was practically destroyed. The priest in charge, Father P. M. Rochrhoff, while the building was enveloped in flames, in order to save the eucharist, rushed into the flames and accom- plished his purpose but at a serious sacrifice to himself. He was badly burned about the body and for some time thereafter was confined to his house in a critical condition. The loss of the building amounted to $5,000.
CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
The Church of Christ, or Christian church, was organized October, 1902, by thirty-six persons, among them being George W. Graham, and Annie, his wife, John R. Howie and Jennie, his wife, Mrs. Frank Gates, Mrs. Thomas Graham, and P. P. Pimlot. The church building, of frame, was erected in 1903, and together with the lot, cost $2,700.
The pastors who have served this church were: R. M. Bailey, who remained one year; L. W. Spayd, two years; Stephen J. Eppler, four years; C. D. Houghan, one year; G. Douglass Serrill is the present pastor and came to Brooklyn in May, 1911.
The church at one time had about 200 members. At the present time there are 125, and an average attendance in the Sunday school of fifty.
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
On the 20th day of May, 1855, in the old schoolhouse of Brooklyn, this church was organized by Reuben Sears and wife, Cynthia Ann, Robert Manatt and wife Margaret, Braddish Cummings and daughter, Mary Frances, John Fry and wife Barbara. Henry Broadbrooks and wife Almira, and daughter, Ann Elizabeth, and Margaret Scott. Braddish Cummings was chosen ruling elder. The organizing minister was Rev. W. W. Woods of Iowa City, who was assisted at the first services by Rev. James Lowry.
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