USA > Iowa > Poweshiek County > History of Poweshiek County, Iowa: a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume 1 > Part 36
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Stephen Bunker came from Indiana, about 1847, and located in Warren township. Mr. Bunker, his wife, and a brother, Jonathan Bunker, constituted this family of early settlers. The names of Stephen and Jonathan Bunker appear in the list of voters at the election held in 1848. After two years' resi- dence here, they, becoming tired of frontier life, returned to their native state.
THE INDIANS.
The Mausquakie Indians were numerous at times along Bear Creek after first settlers came to Warren township. Some say they had a camp on the creek between Victor and Carnforth numbering about eight hundred. This is evidently a great mistake. Most of the Indians withdrew from their lands east of a line running north and south through Jasper county in 1843. Probably there is not a quarter that number of Indians ever spent a winter in this county after that date. They lived in pole sheds, covered with flag, which, when sewed together, would turn water.
These Indians were always friendly with the settlers, and Mr. Snook's house would have as many as twenty of the red men in it at one time. The greater part of the tribe would leave the camp during the summer, and return late in the fall. The winter of 1848-49 is memorable for the deep snow that fell and laid on the ground until late in the spring. The Indians in camp that winter were in great distress for food, and feed for their ponies. Their supply of forage gave out, and then they cut the hackberry trees in the timber. The snow was four feet deep and the trees were cut above the snow. The next few years new comers would ask who had topped the trees in that way. The Indians lost one-third of their ponies that winter from starvation, and their bones lay scattered through the timber for several years.
The boys and girls who were then in the Snook and Talbott families could always tell the names of the Indian boys and girls whom they had for play- mates. The children of the white men and the children of the red men spent many a winter hour riding down hill together on a hand sled. The remnant of this band of Indians is now on the reservation at Tama, and for many years a small number of them would spend a few days in the fall of each year on the old camp ground along Bear Creek.
THE STARVING TIME.
What might be called the "starving time" in the early history of Warren township, occurred in the spring of 1851. That spring is still remembered as the "wet season," and Bear Creek was constantly out of its banks. It was impossible to go the long distance to mill, and flour and meal could not be had. The continued wet weather keeping the roads and streams impassable the supply of food was reduced to corn, to be used in whatever way it could, principally lye hominy and meal ground in coffee grinders.
SAWMILL.
The first sawmill along Bear Creek was one built by John J. Talbott and his sons in 1847. This mill was located on the creek near the east line of Bear
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Creek township. A large amount of lumber was sawed at this mill during the years of its greatest activity. Joshua Talbott, who operated the mill, in one day cut two thousand feet of lumber, rolling the logs to the mill and carrying the lumber away himself. The saws used in those days were sash saws and were not as rapid as the modern circular saws. Mr. Talbott continued to run the mill for about twenty years when it closed down for the want of logs to feed it.
About the same year that Mr. Talbott began operating this mill, James Mc- Dowell was building and beginning to operate a sawmill in the southwest part of the county, this mill being located on the Skunk river.
EARLY MARRIAGES.
The first marriages to occur in the east part of the county are as follows :
William H. Wallace to Rose Ann Talbott, May 9, 1850, Rev. Asbury Collins, officiating.
Thomas Farquhar to Ruth Elizabeth Talbott, October 2, 1851, John M. Talbott, justice of the peace, officiating.
James Manatt to Lovina Snook, March 4, 1852, Joshua Scholes, justice of the peace, officiating.
Charles Wheeler to Maria Fry, July 8, 1852, John M. Talbott, justice of the peace, officiating.
ORGANIZATION OF THE TOWNSHIP.
Early in the year 1855, the people residing within the limits of congressional township No. 80, north, and range No. 13, west, petitioned for the organiza- tion of a separate civil township. The order establishing such township was issued March 5, 1855, and is as follows :
"Now, on this day came the petition of citizens living in Bear Creek town- ship praying for the organization of a new township and thereupon, it was ordered by the court that a new township be stricken off, bounded as follows :
"Commencing at the northeast corner of township 80, range 13, and run thence west on said township line to the northwest corner of said township; thence south to the southern boundary line of said Bear Creek township; thence east along said boundary line to the county line between the counties of Powe- shiek and Iowa; thence north along said county line to the place of beginning, said township, to be called, known, and styled, Warren, and that the first elec- tion in said township be held at the schoolhouse on the land of A. S. Ross."
Four days later the County Judge issued the following order : "The State of Iowa to Edward Griswold, greeting;
You are hereby commanded to proceed to the organization of Warren town- ship, by posting up copies of the accompanying notice, in three of the most public places in said township, at least fifteen days before the day of said election, and fail not under penalty of law.
R. B. OGDEN, County Judge."
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The election notice is here given :
"There will be an election held at the schoolhouse on the land of A. S. Ross, in Warren township, Poweshiek county, Iowa, for the election of commissioners, etc., Register of The Des Moines River Improvement Company, County Sur- veyor, two justices of the peace, three township trustees, one clerk, one assessor, and as many supervisors as there are districts in said township. Also vote taken by ballot for and against the prohibitory liquor law.
R. B. OGDEN, County Judge."
This election for the purpose of organizing the township, was held April 2, 1855. There were forty-two votes cast. The judges of the election were Isaac Drake, Robert Manatt, and William Scott. The clerks were Robert C. Shimer and James Manatt. The officers elected were, county surveyor, Lewis H. Smith; trustees, Robert Manatt, Samuel Drummond, and Isaac Drake; jus- tices of the peace, John Morrison, and Charles Comstock; constables, Thomas Manatt, and William A. Negley ; assessor, Robert Manatt, Jr .; road supervisor, district No. 1, Robert Manatt; district No. 2, James Fry. There were two candidates for clerk. The vote was a tie, and Robert C. Shimer was appointed clerk.
At the organization of Warren township, the north half of what is now Lincoln township was included in Warren township and remained a part of the township until the organization of Lincoln township in 1861.
SCHOOLS.
The first school house in Warren township was built in the summer of 1853. two years before the township was organized. Reuben Scholes built the house, it being a frame structure, 16 by 24 feet, and cost $300.00. The first term of school in the house was taught during the summer and fall of 1853, Miss Sarah Vining being the teacher. The pupils attending were as follows: Joanna Scholes, Sam- uel Scholes, Josua Scholes, John Manatt, Samson Manatt, Sally Manatt, Alpheus Griswold, Julia Snook, John Snook, Wesley Snook, Robert Scott, William Scott, Edward Griswold, Oscar Griswold, John Gwinn, Noah Gwinn, and Rebecca Gwinn.
The winter term of school for 1853-54 was taught by Thomas Rainsburg, who at that time was a young man recently from Ohio. He afterwards became one of the most prominent and honored citizens of the county. The winter of 1854-55 the school was taught by Mr. Westbrook. The next winter term by Rev. William Crow. The term during the winter of 1856-57 was taught by Mr. Smith, who was a railroad engineer and surveyor. The teachers of those days were not required to have a certificate of qualification from a county superin- tendent, or a state officer, and one of these early teachers on being questioned before entering the school as to how to multiply a fraction could give no ex- planation whatever. Beginning with the term of 1857-58 Horace Whitcomb taught for three successive winter terms. Charles Scott gave Warren the best school, perhaps, that it had ever had, and Eunice Langworthy's schoolhouse was
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covered with sod through which the rains poured in fertile streams of earth and water. Eunice was the only teacher "put under the sod" that summer.
The first schools were subscription schools, each patron paying so much for each pupil sent to the school, and each community being an independent district of its own, under obligations to no one. In 1858 the new law came into effect and a great change was made in the schools. A school tax was levied and the schools were supported from this tax. The first school tax levied in Warren township was in 1858, one mill for teacher's fund and four mills for schoolhouse fund. The new law also created the office of county superintendent of schools. Prof. L. F. Parker, of Grinnell, had the honor of first filling that office. It is said that Superintendent Parker went to each township to examine the teachers. When he made his first trip into Warren township to meet some of the teachers here at that time, he asked one gentleman what part of the arithmetic he wished to be examined in, the front part, or the back part, evidently thinking that the young man, who had been a teacher would not want to be questioned about the principles contained and set forth in the latter part of the arithmetic. The young man was somewhat amazed at the superintendent and replied that he could be examined in any part of the book. Supt. Parker sent the young man his certificates marked four and five-eights, a marking of five per cent being perfect.
James Manatt was appointed the first treasurer of Warren township and for the years 1858-59 he received from the county treasurer school funds amount- ing to $1,360.60, and paid out $1,366.81. He gave bond in the sum of two thou- sand dollars. The old bond, which is still preserved, bears the one dollar rev- enue stamp required at that time.
In 1867 A. O. Deihl was chosen treasurer, and in 1869 Robert C. Shimer was elected, and served as school treasurer of Warren township until he resigned in 1898. Mr. Shimer's bond, bearing date of March 15, 1869, for five thousand dollars still had the one dollar revenue stamp attached.
During the years of the subscription schools prior to 1858 no records have been preserved, but the records are quite complete since the new law took ef- fect. Teachers contracts at that time required a ten-cent revenue stamp, and the township secretary was required to give bond in the sum of five hundred dollars.
We give in full a list of the pupils attending Hazel Green school for the term ending February 20, 1862:
Samson C. Manatt, John Manatt, Irving J. Manatt, Edward D. Griswold, Alpheus Griswold, John W. Winchester, William Carmichael, James Winchester, Sylvaneus Winchester, John R. Wheeler, Jacob L. Wheeler, Samuel Scholes, Joshua Scholes, Robert Felton, John W. Manatt, Oscar L. Griswold, Levi Marks, Cary W. Deihl, William L. Snook, John W. Scholes, John Riley, James Cahill, Mary Clark, Lovina Marks, E. A. Clark, Morgan Clark, Mary M. Snook, Sally Winchester.
THE MURDER OF CLAIBORNE SHOWERS.
Within the bounds of Warren township, in May, 1863, was committed one of the foulest murders that has ever occurred in Poweshiek county. But two
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persons were connected with the deed, the murdered boy, and his assassin. As dead men's lips tell no tales, and the lips of the living ever remained sealed con- cerning the tragedy, no account of the murder as witnessed by human eyes has ever been written.
The two persons connected with this tragedy were Claiborne Showers and Kirk G. Vincent. These two men were cousins, being born and raised in Cam- bridge, Henry county, Illinois. Showers was yet in his teens, and Vincent was but a few years his senior. They both came of respected parents, but as young men grew up to be what was termed reckless boys. In the spring of 1863 they procured a team and started for Iowa. As they traveled west they were noticed, and later when inquiries were made concerning them their route was definitely traced.
On the evening of about May 6, 1863, these two young men stopped at the house of Mrs. Robert Manatt, on the state road west of Carnforth, and asked the privilege of camping in the yard over night. This privilege, of course, was granted. They had with them cooking utensils, Vincent doing the cooking and Showers tending the team. Mrs. Manatt's sons were young men, at home at that time, and a very pleasant evening was spent by the boys. Vincent was a violinist, as also Sampson Manatt, while Showers played the tambourine. The evening was spent in harmony, but it was learned by the Manatt boys that the two travelers had had an altercation coming from Marengo, Vincent boasting of having choked Showers, and the finger marks appeared on his throat. It was not learned if the travelers had any particular destination, though some claimed they had relatives here in central Iowa.
The next morning at Manatt's, while Showers was hitching the team, it broke away from him and ran out into the field. Vincent censured Showers for his mismanagement and a clash of words ensued. As they drove out of the yard and turned west on the state road angry words were being used. As the team and covered wagon passed along near the creek, a man in a buggy, coming not far behind, heard a deathly scream issue from the wagon, but he paid no atten- tion to it. The covered wagon crossed the creek and turned to the left on a by-road, stopping not far from the main road. The gentleman in the buggy saw the wagon stop and a man at the side of the wagon reach inside as if to take something out, but he passed on and his suspicion was not aroused. During the forenoon the covered wagon arrived in Brooklyn, and Vincent seeing the gentle- man who had been so near him at the creek, asked as to who he was and what his business was, evidently trying to find out if he had noticed him in the morn- ing. Vincent leaving his team standing on the street in Brooklyn, went to the livery barn, hired a saddle horse, was seen to go to his wagon and conceal some- thing beneath his coat and ride away. Being gone for sometime he returned with the horse, took his own team and left Brooklyn, going west.
Eight days after the events above recorded, Mrs. Arabella Tinker, who then lived southwest of Carnforth, was out in the evening hunting her cattle. Riding her pony through a cluster of hazel brush she was horrified by coming upon the body of a man (her attention being called by the barking of a dog), lying in the brush with the head severed from the body. The feelings of Mrs. Tinker can better be imagined than described as she looked upon the ghastly form of the
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dead man, decomposition having already set in. She hastily rode home and gave the alarm. Soon a group of neighbors were upon the scene viewing the lifeless body. A shirt, trousers and socks were on the body, but the head was missing. Two of the men present, while seated on a log about twenty rods from the body, were horrified to see their dog pull out from the forks of the fallen tree on which they were sitting, a human head. This head was at once recognized as that of the younger of the two men who had stayed at the Manatt home over night the week previous. The proper county authorities were notified, and as soon as they could arrive an inquest was held. Between the temples was plainly seen the mark of a blow as from a hatchet, or a small ax. A knife wound just below the chin extended through the throat, and the head had been severed from the body. below this knife wound with a hatchet, or dull ax.
The dead man's lips told no story of the crime and the most reasonable suppo- sition of the case was that the two young men kept up their quarrel on the road after they left the Manatt home that morning, and before reaching the creek, less than half a mile, Vincent struck Showers with a hatchet, possibly not with the intention of killing him, but the deadly weapon in the hands of an angry man doubtless ended the life of the boy. Vincent seeing what he had done evidently drove into the by-road and there left the body. It is believed that after his ar- rival in Brooklyn that he then returned to the dead body and severed the head from the same, from fear that life might not be extinct, or in severing the head from the body to cover up his crime and identity. Then returning to Brooklyn he departed without any suspicion being aroused.
The head of the murdered boy was taken in charge by Dr. John Conaway and preserved. The body was buried at Brooklyn. Some effort was made to follow the covered wagon, but all trace of it was lost a few miles west of Brooklyn, and the case had to drop from the lack of knowledge with which any one could go ahead with the prosecution.
Three years passed and the facts of finding the dead body were being for- gotten. In the month of June, 1865, in the old Wood's hotel, in Brooklyn, Will- iam H. Price, in conversation with a stage driver, was informed that three years previous, two young men had left Cambridge, Illinois, to come west. That one returned and the other had never been heard from. Further inquiries and in- formation from the stage driver, whose name has been lost, showed that the two men who left Cambridge corresponded with the description of the two men who had been in Poweshiek county in May, 1863. Mr. Price secured information which convinced him that he had some clue to the murder and went to Cam- bridge, Illinois. He there laid what facts he had before the County Judge of Henry county, Illinois, who issued a warrant for the arrest of Kirk G. Vincent. Mr. Price accompanied the sheriff out into the country four miles and there found Vincent on the banks of a creek, fishing, his wife by his side. A prelim- inary trial was held, Sampson Manatt being called by telegraph from here as a witness. Mr. Manatt identified the prisoner as one of the men who had stayed at his mother's place three years previous. Mr. Price came home, secured the proper requisition papers, took them to the Governor of Illinois, proceeded to Cambridge, Illinois, and brought Kirk G. Vincent to Poweshiek county to stand trial for the murder of Claiborne Showers.
Vol. I-21
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The trial was held in Montezuma and twelve days were consumed, eight days on examining witnesses, and four days on the arguments in the case. During the trial it developed that in May, 1863, Vincent, after leaving Brooklyn on the morning before mentioned, went out a few miles west of town and then circled off to the south part of the state, and returned to Cambridge, Illinois. At one place, before getting out of the county, he secreted some of the clothes of the murdered man, and at other places along his return route he left other things.
A number of witnesses were brought from Illinois, among them Mrs. Show- ers, who testified that the head which had been preserved by Dr. Conaway was that of her son, Claiborne Showers, who had left Illinois with Vincent. The defense presented Illinois people who testified to the good moral character of the prisoner. When Vincent returned home, and Showers not being with him, he represented that Showers had gone to the army, and to satisfy Mrs. Showers he showed her letters which he claimed to have received from her son. One of the strange things in the trial was the defense presenting one witness who testi- fied that in the summer of 1864 he met Claiborne Showers at Atlanta, Georgia, and talked with him, they both being soldiers.
All the evidence was taken into account and carefully weighed by the attend- ing lawyers, the defense having some of the best lawyers in Illinois. Hon. M. E. Cutts, well known to the people of Poweshiek county, led the prosecution. Those who knew him well say that his plea to the jury in this case was the strongest he ever made before the bar. The jury returned a verdict of murder in the sec- ond degree and the prisoner, Kirk G. Vincent, was sentenced to eight years in the penitentiary. This sentence was materially shortened by good behavior.
Vincent, after his return to Illinois from this county in 1863, and before his arrest in 1866, married. As his wife was coming to Brooklyn to attend the trial she was in a railroad wreck near Davenport, in which her child was killed. She had secured a divorce from Vincent during his imprisonment. Vincent, after his release, married again, and is said to have lived an honest and respected life.
FIRST DEATH.
The first death to occur within the present bounds of Warren township was that of Mr. Bivens. He had no family, but stayed in the community with no permanent occupation. While out hunting he was lost in the timber and re- mained out over night. From this exposure he died at the home of Jacob Yeager in 1848. He was buried in a newly laid out cemetery, but the grave was not marked.
FIRST MARRIAGE.
The first marriage to take place in Warren township was on March 4. 1852. Mr. James Manatt and Miss Lovina Snook were the contracting parties. The marriage was solemnized at the home of the bride's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Snook, Joshua Scholes, justice of the peace, officiating. A large num- ber of guests were present on this occasion and the wedding festivities were duly celebrated. Mr. and Mrs Manatt, the bride and groom of that day, lived for many years in the township, and later located in Brooklyn where both have died.
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THE POST OFFICE.
The Carnsforth post office was opened for the delivery of mail in Novem- ber, 1884. The office was first named Manatt, but this is now called Carnforth. The office was opened before the mail trains were running over the railroad, and for a short time the mail came from Victor. Mrs. M. E. Martin was the first postmistress. During the early years of the office the sales reached as high as $40.00 per quarter.
THE ROCK ISLAND RAILROAD.
The first survey for the railroad was made about 1856. Then for two or three years nothing was done. A second survey was then made along Bear Creek about 1859. Another survey was also made through the south part of the county, and the settlers at Brooklyn and Grinnell were fearful lest they would lose the road. The road was graded in 1860, and during the year 1862 the rails were laid as far as section 18 in Warren. Here a turn table was put in and for one year this was the western terminal of the road. The soldiers from the west, during the first two years of the war, came this far and took the train here for Davenport. In 1863 the track was laid on west through the county. Soon after the track was extended the name was changed to that of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific, and has so remained. There is 25.68 miles of track of this railroad in the county, and just a trifle over six miles in Warren township. The assessed value of the road in the county in 1900, was $11,000.00 per mile, making the assessed value of the C. R. I. & P. railroad in Warren township at that date $66,000.00.
THE CHICAGO & NORTHWESTERN RAILROAD.
The Chicago & Northwestern railroad, crossing the east part of the county runs through Warren township. This line of road was surveyed and was to be known as the Ottumwa, Cedar Falls & St. Paul railroad. Before the line was completed the North Western company secured control, and made it a branch of the main line south from Belle Plain. The object of the North Western in securing control of the road was to reach the coal fields in the south part of the state. The road was surveyed in 1883 and built the next year. In its somewhat zigzag route through the county it extends 27.21 miles. Its as- sessed valuation in the county in 1900 was $3,000.00 per mile. Its total as- sessed valuation in Warren township on that date was $19,000.00. When the road was built across the township the company established the depot on sec- tion 22, eighty rods south of the crossing of the C. R. I. & P. R. R. The twc lines jointly maintain a ticket office and waiting room for the accommodation of the traveling public at the crossing. The company since the road was built has put in two water tanks, also a stock yard. In 1895 the interlocking switch tower was erected at the crossing.
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CHESTER TOWNSHIP.
Chester was a part of Washington township in 1854, when William Sher- man bought his first land in the township. It was included in Grinnell town- ship, when Grinnell was organized in 1855, and had been a part of Sugar Creek, July 3, 1848, and at the organization of the county it was made a part of the immense township of Bear Creek, which embraced three-fourths of the county.
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