USA > Iowa > Poweshiek County > History of Poweshiek County, Iowa: a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume 1 > Part 33
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44
Norman Parks was a settler from Indiana, coming in 1852 and locating on section 3. He became prosperous and a prominent figure in the community. It was at his house the first township election was held.
291
HISTORY OF POWESHIEK COUNTY
1 .. T. Blake came to Jefferson township in 1872 and located on section 6. He was born in Indiana and moved from there to Illinois before coming here.
The state of Illinois gave to the state of Iowa in 1853 a pioneer in the per- son of J. R. Duffield. He located on section 9 and improved it.
There were many others who came to the township in the '50s, but they cannot be remembered nor mentioned in this article. James Sumner comes to mind, as do James Brewer, S. Brewer, Jonathan Boyle, Hulett Davenport and H. L. Ainsworth. The men who answered to these names were of sturdy heart and vigorous mold. They came when the country was new, the people poor, money scarce and with but little to do with. The accomplishment of their purposes as pioneers is evidenced on every side in the township.
Jefferson township was organized on the third day of April, 1854, under the following order issued by Judge Richard B. Ogden :
"Organization of the township of Jefferson, county of Poweshiek and State of Iowa, to-wit: At a meeting of the county court, held at the courthouse in Montezuma, on Monday, the 6th day of March, A. D. 1854, it is ordered by the county court that a township be laid off, by the name of Jefferson, described as follows: Congressional township number eighty-one, thirteen west, bounded as follows: commencing at the northeast corner of Madison township, thence south to the line dividing townships eighty (80) and eighty-one (81), thence east on said line to the eastern line of said county of Poweshiek, thence north on the line dividing the counties of Poweshiek and Iowa, six miles to the place of beginning. And that an election be held at the house of Norman Parker, in said township, on Monday the third (3d) day of April, A. D. 1854, for the purpose of electing township and such other officers as the law directs.
"Witness my hand and seal, this Ioth day of March, A. D. 1854.
"RICHARD B. OGDEN. "County Judge of Poweshiek County, Iowa."
The results of the election showed the following officers had been selected by the qualified voters of the township: Justices, Norman Parker, James Brewer ; constables, Eli M. Doughty, George Lukecart; trustees, G. Lukecart, E. M. Doughty, Norman Parker; assessor, James Brewer; clerk, H. L. Ainsworth ; supervisor, Eli M. Doughty.
Andrew Wilson, one of the earliest settlers of the township, built and oper- ated a sawmill, the first in the township, in 1856. It was situated on Walnut creek, on section 1. It is related of Mr. Wilson that he would work in his mill alone for days at a time, only depending on others to bring the logs to him from the timber.
The pioneer school teacher of this township was Daniel Kennedy, who later became the chief executive of Belle Plaine, in Tama county close by. The schoolhouse in which Mr. Kennedy taught, in 1854, was built of logs. He had twenty pupils. The first frame school building was erected on the northwest corner of section 12, and cost $400. It was considered a great innovation and the contributors to the building fund considered they had made a great stride in the advancement of education.
Rev. Robert Duncan performed the ceremony that joined in marriage J. H. Doughty and Mary Jane Winslow. They were the first couple to be married
292
HISTORY OF POWESHIEK COUNTY
in Jefferson township. Monroe Doughty, son of William and Cornelia Doughty, was the first male child horn in the township and Helen Blake, daughter of George Blake, the first female, of white parentage.
Dr. Edward Barton, who came from Ohio, was the first physician, and Rev. Jamison, of the Methodist church, the first minister. He, at stated periods, came from Marengo and held religious meetings in the schoolhouses.
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
This church originated in a conversation on the cars between a resident of Warren and Rev. S. N. Millard, which resulted in several sermons in Warren by the minister and the organization of the church with Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Korns, Mr. and Mrs. John S. Kizer and others as charter members. Their meetings were held in different schoolhouses for a time, when they erected a meeting house on Jacob Korns' farm, which was dedicated, December 26, 1875, and used in that location until after the Northwestern railroad was built and Hartwick was platted in Jefferson township, when it was removed to that place.
Worship has been maintained by Dr. Magoun, Revs. Buck, Woodworth, W. H. Romig, Frederick Magoun, Richard Harrell and others, and especially by Jacob Korns and R. J. Lavender, who maintained a Sunday school there and at Carnforth, until the Sunday school at Carnforth bore fruit in the organization of the Carnforth church.
It is rare that two laymen have done so much toward organizing and sus- taining two churches through so many early years as Messrs. Korns and Laven- der did in Jefferson and Warren until one of them dropped farming to become so successful a pastor as Mr. Lavender did in the service of Gilman and Wittem- berg churches.
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
The Methodist Episcopal church was organized in 1854, with a very few members, whose numbers soon increased in proportion to the growth of the settlement. In 1872 a church was built, at a cost of $900, on the southeast corner of section 2. Rev. J. B. Hardy, probably the first person to preach a sermon in the county, filled the pulpit and was the pastor for some time.
MADISON TOWNSHIP.
Madison township is congressional township No. 81 north, range 14 west, and is bounded on the east by Jefferson, south by Bear Creek, west by Sheridan and north by Tama county. Its soil is varied in character and formation. Walnut creek flows across its center from west to east and at one time the timber was plentiful. A good crop of corn, oats, rye and hay can always be relied on and the raising of hogs, sheep and cattle is a principal feature of the system adopted and followed here. The population of the township in 1910 was 603, forty-three less than in 1900, and 100 less than in 1890. There is no trading point or postoffice in Madison, but Brooklyn is not far away, nor is Grinnell, for that matter.
LOG CABIN HOME OF JOHN L. BAGENSTOS
Erected in 1855, now standing on farm of son, John D. Bagenstos, in Madison township. The third house built in Madison township.
-NY RF ROBLE L'5- ARY δΈ€
RISHOV IND TOD N FICAT ONS.
293
HISTORY OF POWESHIEK COUNTY
The first settler in Madison township was Joseph Enochs, who came from Louisa county and located on section 24. He was soon followed by George Estlick, a native of Ohio. Mr. Estlick located on section 24 also, and built the first house there. The building was constructed of logs and stood for many years after being vacated by its builder, who removed to Nebraska some years after his arrival here.
Uriah Jones also came to the township in 1852 and was its third settler., taking up his permanent residence, however, early in 1853. He came from Indiana and chose section 20 for his home.
Two others now remembered settled in Madison township in 1853. They were Moses Kent and C. N. Fuller.
Madison township was organized in April, 1855, under the following order of the court, issued March 5. 1855:
"Now comes the petition of the citizens of township 81, range 14, asking to be organized into a civil township. Wherefore it was ordered by the court that a township be organized, described and bounded as follows, to-wit: Commenc- ing at the northeast corner of township 81, range 14, on the county line between the counties of Poweshiek and Tama, and run thence west along the said county line to the northwest corner of section 4, township 81, range 15, thence south 10 the northwest corner of section 33, in said township and range; thence east to the southeast corner of township 81, range 14, thence north along said town- ship line to the place of beginning. Said township to be known and named Madison township. And it is further ordered that the first election in said township be held at the house. of ", on the first Monday in April next."
The first election was held in April, 1855, and the following officers elected : Clerk, Joseph Enochs; assessor, Uriah Jones; trustees, C. N. Fuller, Silas Frank, Stephen Young; justices, Daniel Mayer and Archibald Johnson ; county supervisor, Uriah Jones.
The first grist mill in the county to be built was put up on section 13, on Walnut creek, this township, in 1853. It was primitive in dimensions and appurtenances, being but sixteen feet square and instead of having a burr or grinding stones, a "nigger head" rock brought from near Anamosa, in Jones county, was made to perform its full duty. Jacob Lockhart, the patient miller, was able to turn out for his patrons about one bushel of meal an hour, and at that rate, even though liberal to himself, of which he has never been accused, had but little for himself when his "toll" was measured at the end of a strenuous day's grinding.
While living in Illinois, Uriah Jones came to Iowa and entered the land known ever since as Jones' Grove in Madison township. In the spring of 1853 he broke twenty acres of prairie near the grove and planted it to corn, but the deer and prairie chickens got most of it. During this year logs were hewed and hauled to the south side of the grove for a house. In the spring of 1854 the family moved from Linn county and took possession of the house. He had brought fifty cents with him. Five miles away was the nearest house where the family were poorer, if possible, than his. Often without bread, stewed pumpkins and potatoes were made a kind of substitute. Meat was unknown except wild meat. But his family lived and grew fat.
294
HISTORY OF POWESHIEK COUNTY
When the township of Madison was organized Uriah Jones became its first county supervisor. He died April 3. 1893, and thus passed away a splendid specimen of the better sort of pioneers, muscular, warm-hearted, thought for himself and thought vigorously, believed something and believed it warmly, despised sham, and was ready to do a kindness in a bluff hearty way.
Judge Richard B. Ogden, in his official capacity made Joseph Kent and Eliza Enochs one, in the year 1853. This was the first marriage in the town- ship. It is said that Judge Ogden first saw the applicants for his ministration of the law from the top of a haystack, which he was building.
Bailey Kent was the first white child born in that part of the county. He made his initial appearance in 1854.
The first death was that of Robert O. Jones, son of Uriah and Elizabeth Jones. He died at the age of two years, in 1854.
Dr. Edward Barton seemed to have made his professional circuit a wide one, as it seems several localities have claimed him as their first physician. Madison township is one of them.
John Hestwood, a Methodist clergyman, preached at the home of Uriah Jones as early as 1854 and may be said to have been the first minister of Madison.
Early in the '50s the settlers erected a log schoolhouse, which afterwards became known as Kent's schoolhouse. The honor of being the first teacher either belongs to Henry Heckman or John Frazier. However, but $8 a month was the pedagogue's stipend, which shows there was more honor than any- thing else paid the pioneer guardian of the Temple of Knowledge.
SOME EARLY SETTLERS.
Jonathan Boyle and family came from Indiana to Madison township in 1854. There were five children in the family: W. C., Minerva, Ellen, Julia and Norman. Mr. Boyle was a local United Brethren preacher. He died many years ago.
Henry Harman assisted in organizing the township in 1855. He came with his father, Jacob Harman, who was one of the first settlers of that part of Madison now in Sheridan.
Jabez Coulson was a native of Ohio and with his family located in Madison township in the fall of 1855. His father, Hervey, however, preceded him to this locality, first locating in Sheridan township and then in the central part of Madison near his son. Both of these pioneers are gone to their reward. Jabez died in 1910.
Hiram Kent was probably the first settler of this section, taken off Sheridan and organized as Madison. He located about a mile from the eastern line, in Madison township, just north of Brooklyn. Mr. Kent raised a large family and died many years ago.
Daniel Mayer came to Madison township about the same time as the Kents and became their neighbors.
Thomas Squires was a settler in the township a short time after the Kents came and located a little north of them.
KENT UNION CHAPEL, MADISON TOWNSHIP
.
OR
ARY
X AND
TATIONS.
295
HISTORY OF POWESHIEK COUNTY
About 1858 a man by the name of Crisler and another named Enoch located in the southwest part of the township. They are both dead.
Melrose Carpenter came to the township with his family late in the '50s and located in the central part of the township and north of Walnut creek. He brought a family with him.
George McCall came with his family late in the '50s and located northwest of Carpenter. He has passed away.
Thomas Reed and family located in the township in the '50s, near Carpen- ters and on Walnut creek.
Leonard Reams was a Pennsylvanian and came with his family about 1857 or 1858, and settled near the Reeds.
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
This church was organized in 1856 and had for its first members Jacob Har- man, Frances Harman, Jonas Harman, Elizabeth Jones and J. W. Jones. The first pastor was Rev. John Hestwood. Meetings for several years were held at Hickory Grove, Fairview and Bowen schoolhouses. In 1875, when the church was reorganized, a building was erected at a cost of $3,500, and Rev. F. W. Evans, assisted by Rev. R. J. Kenyon, dedicated it. Many pastors have pre- sided over this charge, including the noted veteran, Rev. J. B. Hardy.
DEEP RIVER TOWNSHIP.
The southeast civil township of the county was organized as Deep River, March 7, 1857, as it is now. At first it was a part of Jackson and so named because the stream running through its, north part was not to be admired or feared because the water was so deep, but because it was so far down to the water.
EARLY SETTLERS.
The first settlers to locate in the township were Robert Taylor and family from Ohio; John Sargood, unmarried, whose father came from England ; Albert Morgan and family, from Ohio, in 1848; and the Lights, who came from Vir- ginia in 1849.
In 1849 Nancy Taylor was married to Rev. W. H. Palmer by Rev. W. H. Barnes. In that year James Light and James Rundle settled in the township.
THE CIRCUIT RIDER.
Ministers, and ministers so-called, were in evidence early, as I learned of Rev. W. H. Barnes, who was so conspicuous in those early days, as well as useful in church-building, in weddings, in reformatory movements and in edu- cational business.
One Collins was a Protestant Methodist circuit rider of that olden time, whose circuit was so large that it took him six weeks to get around to Deep River. Perhaps he thought a six weeks' circuit was a small one. It is certain
296
HISTORY OF POWESHIEK COUNTY
that the pioneer minister whom the young Abraham Lincoln invited to preach his mother's funeral sermon, had a much larger one.
One of the "so-called" Christian ministers stopped at Mr. Harklerode's. He claimed to be a Protestant Methodist (as Mr. Harklerode was). His riding horse was a horrid "good-for-nothing." Mr. Harklerode had a very fine rider. The pretender asked Mr. Harklerode to keep his horse a fortnight till he could rest and let him ride the splendid animal over a part of his circuit. Mr. Harkle- rode, an accommodating man, readily consented. The scrub was "in clover," but, alas! where was the "angel of the churches?" Where the equine pride of the family? Only echo answers. No one ever saw "angel" or "horse" in that vicinity again. After that Mr. Harklerode avoided the Protestant Methodists and all the churches, as great a mistake as the army at West Point would have made if it had deserted when Benedict Arnold turned traitor in the Revolution.
If the ministerial peripatetic ever joined any church it was done when he was in the state prison, probably.
"BOBBIE" TAYLOR.
"Bobbie" Taylor, as he is called in sincere respect, has a very clear memory of early events here, e. g., the "claim" law, or "club" law, and of its enforce- ment by a call at night on a man who had violated the law and locked his door against the outsiders. Sanford Taylor "unlocked the door with a fence rail," and it is possible that the gentleman, in his haste to restore the land to the rightful owner never stammered quite so vigorously as just then.
Taylor could joke if he tried. He sometimes yielded to the temptation. One night he thought he heard a call as from one in distress. He went toward its source and found a man who had lost the way and wanted to stay with him all night. Taylor replied that glad as he would be to gratify him, he would be utterly unable. Request and refusal followed a little time, on the one side with growing sadness, on the other with unyielding firmness, until "Uncle Bobbie" broke the ice by saying, with a laugh, "Too much of the night has gone to leave it possible to keep you all night."
When asked in Pasadena, California, to describe his hardest experience as a pioneer, his son R. H. wrote for him that the winter of 1848 was the time of "the deep snow." The last particle of flour was baked, the last of corn gone and it was thirty miles to the nearest mill in any direction. The wife's only reply, when this information was given to her was, "The Lord will provide."
That very day Mr. Harklerode and Mr. Huston called, by walking on snow shoes. Although the white men had lived within five miles of each other a year, they had not known each other, but the Indians had just informed the two of Mr. Taylor's condition. They had corn to spare.
The Taylors, father and sons, were off at once and brought the corn. It was sod corn and would support life. But how shall they grind it?
"Necessity is the mother of invention." A length of stove pipe was taken apart, punched full of holes, and on it they grated their corn. The father of the family had a supply of groceries such as sugar, tea, molasses, coffee, rice, things the country did not produce.
297
HISTORY OF POWESHIEK COUNTY
A lot of pork engaged at Oskaloosa early in the season was not delivered till spring. "Now we must preserve it."
A trough was dug out, puncheon covered over it, and a fence built around it, and it was well salted and protected from dogs inclined to help themselves when occasion demanded.
Is it any wonder that pioneers going through such experiences remember their old-time neighbors with a respect and tenderness unknown to those whose early years have been of luxury ?
DRESDEN.
This hamlet was laid out in 1856, near the northwest corner of section 10. The postoffice was called Deep River. The Whitney brothers opened a store there in 1856. It was the chief business center for about twenty years.
The first township election was held in April, 1857, and the first meeting of the board of township trustees was held in Whitney Brothers' store.
The first officers elected were: Ephraim Cox, Asa Cohoe and John Morgan, trustees ; Myron Whitney, clerk ; L. Mayo, C. M. Wolcott, justices of the peace; H. Armstrong and C. Barber, constables ; and James Hillman, road supervisor.
Railroads build and tear down towns and villages, and so did the Chicago & Northwestern when, in 1884, it began its building and destroying process. When that road began to plan to haul coal for itself and for northern Iowa, it began to turn Dresden down and to turn people's thoughts toward building a railroad station elsewhere. It had a population of about 140 at one time. The fates favored
DEEP RIVER.
When the spur of the Northwestern from Belle Plaine to Muchakinock was being built, it was to make a depot in Deep River. Horace Phelps, with a long head and a discriminating eye for business, built a depot for the railroad and gave the company $1,500 to secure the location there.
The people of Dresden began to move their houses to Deep River, and Dresden faded out as a village, while Deep River flourishes in the favor of business men and of the Northwestern. It is a weary walk for an invalid to go from the depot to the summit of the elevation, along whose sides the village has grown up to. the beautiful outlook, with a broad expanse for a city.
AN ALL AROUND RASCAL.
In 1864 there was a very good looking young man, but shiftless and lazy, living near Dresden. Thomas Neal was his name, a hypocrite and a villain, a member of the church and a teacher in the Sunday school, who ought to have been in the state's prison and trained to some useful employment within its walls.
His good looks and treacherous falsehoods won the confidence of the belle of the town, but aroused the opposition of her father. As is often true in such cases, the girl surrendered herself to him more absolutely with pledges of
298
HISTORY OF POWESHIEK COUNTY
everlasting fidelity. Elopement was promised and planned for, but the idle wretch must raise the money by horse-stealing.
He stole two horses, started to sell them in a neighboring town, but lost the road at night, inquired the way at a farm house, giving himself a fictitious name. He was very kindly urged to wait till morning, with the encouragement that the farmer would buy one or both horses in the morning.
"Good morning, Mr. Neal," was the morning salutation at the breakfast table from the minister who had admitted him to the church. The liar was in a trap. He tried to lie out of it but was too well known to succeed. He was promptly arrested, but allowed to escape.
He concealed himself for a time, until the father of the young lady was informed that she was holding secret meetings with the horse thief. Letters, too, were found which disclosed their plans for an elopement. At the time fixed, the father was on guard. A shrill whistle was heard from a clump of trees ; a decoy whistle was given in response. Soon a horseman came out.
"Who comes here." said the father.
"Tom Neal," was the bold reply.
"What do you want?"
"I want M ---. "
"You can't have her tonight."
"Then there'll be bloodshed," answered Neal, "for I am desperate." He drew his revolver.
The father drew his gun and pulled the trigger but it missed fire.
Neal fired, but the pistol was knocked aside by the father's companion. Neal wheeled away and escaped. A carriage was heard to rumble away. They had failed to get their bird.
A careful watch over the daughter was maintained after they found her that evening in full dress on her bed, apparently asleep. A fortnight of diligent watchfulness followed but it was believed that the lovers, so called, were having constant communication with each other.
One evening she obtained permission to visit her grandfather, diagonally across the street. The parents accompanied her. They returned soon, leaving her there. In a little time she concluded that she should go home to study her Sabbath school lesson, and asked her grandfather to go with her. In the middle of the road she said, "Grandfather, you won't need to go farther. You can wait here till you hear me inside the gate."
He accepted the suggestion, went home, told his daughter there what the plan was, but the daughter suspected that something was wrong and hastened to her home to find that she had not been there.
The little town was aroused to search. They visited the home of Neal, were met sympathetically and they said they knew nothing of the girl, but all the time she was hugging up to Mrs. Neal in bed for the night. The Neals were thoroughly lamb-like! Our shrewd little miss was undiscoverable.
Eventually, it was time for threshing on the farm occupied by the Neals. The thresher was placed beside a fine stack and work begun. A merry fellow was on top of the stack. A few bundles were thrown from the top, when the
299
HISTORY OF POWESHIEK COUNTY
pitcher was astonished to find himself dropping into the very heart of the stack, into a fine room down there. Investigation began.
"Hello boys, what is this? A pair of drawers, with one leg gone, as sure as you live. A pair of scissors, chicken bones, scraps of bread, a silver thimble, a gold necklace." It had been given to the indiscoverable miss by her grand- mother.
The secret was out. Their assistants admitted that they had gone to Missouri and had been married there.
The outcome was that two years later the fellow, who was fit only for the fellowship of the false and the faithless, abandoned the wife, who was welcomed to her father's house again, and eventually gave her hand and heart to a respectable man in honorable and happy wedlock, while the traitor is said to have voluntarily ended his life, which had so long been worse than worthless.
When James II of England came to the throne of England and Ireland it was in the wrestle between political factions. He should have borne himself so as to calm the strife, but instead of that, he managed to convert political strifes into religious wars, worst of all bloody conflicts. The men of Ennis- killen were the opponents of James and the friends of William of Orange in 16 -. The men near by who sympathized with the little hamlet, strengthened the brave men of Enniskillen in their hours of peril, butt battles went on else- where in Ireland. The men of Enniskillen were in them.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.