History of Scott County, Iowa, Part 28

Author: Inter-state Publishing Company (Chicago, Ill.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago, Inter-state publishing co.
Number of Pages: 1280

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Industry such as this, supported by an economy and frugality from which there was then no escape, necessarily brought its own reward. The hard toil made men old before their time, but beneath their sturdy blows they saw not only the forest pass away, but the fields white with the grain. Change and alterations were to be expected, but the reality has distanced the wildest conjecture; and, stranger still, multitudes are still living who witnessed not only the face of nature undergoing a change, about them, but the manners, customs and industries of a whole people almost wholly changed. Many an old pioneer sits by his fireside in his easy chair, with closed eyes, and dreams of the scenes of the long ago.

WEDDINGS.

The wedding was an attractive feature of pioneer life. There was no distinction of life and very little of fortune. On these accounts the first impressions of love generally resulted in marriage. The

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family establishment cost but little labor-nothing more. The marriage was always celebrated at the house of the bride, and she was generally left to choose the officiating clergyman. A wedding, however, engaged the attention of the whole neighborhood. It was anticipated by both old and young with eager expectation. In the morning of the wedding day the groom and his intimate friends assembled at the house of his father, and after due preparation, de- parted, en masse, for the " mansion " of his bride. The journey was sometimes made on horseback, sometimes on foot, and some times in farm wagons and carts. It was always a merry journey ; and to insure merriment the bottle was always taken along. On reaching the house of the bride the marriage ceremony took place, and tlien dinner or supper was served. After the meal the dancing commenced, and generally lasted until the following morning. The figures of the dances were three and four handed reels, or square sets and jigs. The commencement was always a square four, which was followed by what pioneers called " jigging;" that is, two of the four would single out for a jig, and were followed by the remaining couple. The jigs were often accompanied by what was called " eut- ting out," that is, when either of the parties became tired of the dance, on intimation, the place was supplied by some one of the company, without interruption of the dance. In this way the reel was often continued until the musician was exhausted. About nine or ten o'clock in the evening a deputation of young ladies stole off the bride and put her to bed. In doing this they had to ascend a ladder from the kitchen, which was composed of loose boards. Here, in the pioneer bridal chamber, the young, simple-hearted girl was put to bed by her enthusiastic friends. This done, a deputation of young men escorted the groom to the same department, and placed him snugly by the side of his bride. The dance still continued, and if the seats were scarce, which was generally the case, says a local witness, every young man, when not engaged in the dance. was obliged to offer his lap as a seat for one of the girls, and this offer was sure to be accepted. Dur- ing the night's festivities spirits were freely used, but seldom to excess. The infare was held on the following evening, where the same order of exercises was observed.

SHAKES.

Another feature of pioneer life which every old settler will viv- idly recall was the "chills and fever." "fever and ague," or " shakes," as it was variously called. It was a terror to new comers,

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for in the fall of the year almost everybody was afflicted with it. It was no respecter of persons; everybody looked pale and sallow as though frost-bitten. It was not contagious, but derived from im- pure water and air, which was always developed in the opening up of a new country of rank soil like that of Seott County. The impurities continued to absorb from day to day, and from week to week, until the whole corporate body becomes saturated with it as with electricity; and then the shock came; and the shock was a regular shake, with a fixed beginning and ending, coming on in some cases each day, but generally on alternate days, with a regu- larity that was surprising. After the shakes came the fever, and this " last estate was worse than the first;" it was a burning hot fever and lasted for hours. When you had the chill you couldn't get warm, and when you had the fever yon couldn't get cool. It was exceedingly awkward in this respect -indeed it was. Nor would it stop for any contingency; not even a wedding in the family would stop it. It was imperative and tyrannical. When the appointed time came around, everything else had to be stopped to attend to its demands. It didn't even have any Sundays or holi- days. After the fever went down you still didn't feel much better; you felt as though you had gone through some sort of a collision, threshing machine, or jarring machine, and came out, not killed, but next thing to it. You felt weak, as though yon had run too far after something, and then didn't catch it. You felt languid, stupid and sore, and was down in the month and heel, and partially raveled out. Your back was out of fix, your head ached and your appetite was crazy. Your eyes had too much white in them; your ears, especially after taking quinine, had too much roar in them, and your whole body and soul were entirely woe-begone, diseonso- late, sad, poor and good for nothing. You didn't think much of yourself and didn't believe that other people did either; and you didn't care. You didn't quite make up your mind to commit sui- cide, but sometimes wished some accident would happen to knock either the malady or yourself out of existence. Yon imagined that even the dogs looked at you with a sort of commiseration. Yon thought the sun had a sort of sickly shine abont it. About this time you came to the conclusion that you would not take the whole State as a gift; and if you had the strength and means you would pick up Hannah and the baby, and your traps, and go baek " yander " to " Old Virginny," the "Jarseys," Maryland or " Penn- sylvany."

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And to-day, the swallows flitting

Round my cabin, see me sitting Moodily within the sunshine, Just inside my silent door, Waiting for the 'ager,' seeming

Like a man forever dreaming ;

And the sunlight on me streaming Throws ro shadow on the floor ;

For I am too thin and sallow To make shadows on the floor- Nary shadow any more!

The foregoing is not a mere picture of the imagination. It is simply recounting in quaint phrase what actually occurred in hnu- dreds of cases. Whole families would sometimes be sick at one time, and not one member at all able to wait upon another. Labor or exercise always aggravated the malady, and it took Gen- eral Laziness a long time to thrash the enemy out. These were the days for swallowing all sorts of roots and " yarbs " and whisky straight, with some faint hope of relief. Finally, when the case wore out, the last remedy got the credit of the cure.

WOLF HUNTING.

" In early days more mischief was done by wolves than by any other wild animal, and no small part of the mischief consisted in their almost constant barking at night, which always seemed men- acing and frightful to the settlers. Like mosquitoes, the noise they made appeared to be about as dreadful as the real depredations they committed. The most effectual, as well as the most exciting, method of ridding the country of these hateful pests, was that known as the "circular wolf hunt," by which all the men and boys would turn out on an appointed day, in a kind of circle, comprising many square miles of territory, with horses and dogs, and then close up toward the center field of operation, gathering, not only wolves, but also deer and many smaller " varmint." Five, ten, or more wolves, by this means, would be killed in a single day. The men would be organized with as much system as a small army, everyone being posted in the meaning of every signal and the ap- plication of every rule. Guns were scarcely ever allowed to be brought on such occasions, as their use would be unavoidably dan- gerons. The dogs were depended upon for the final slaughter. The dogs, by the way, had all to be held in check by a cord in the

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hands of their keepers until the final signal was given to let them loose, when away they would all go to the center of battle and a more exciting scene would follow than can easily be described.

RELIGION.

The religious element in the life of the pioneer was such as to attract the attention of those living in more favored places. The pioneer was no hypocrite. If he believed in horse-racing, whisky- drinking, card-playing, or anything of like character, he practiced them openly and above board. If he was of a religious turn of mind he was not ashamed to own it. He could truthfully sing,

I'm not ashamed to own my Lord, Or blush to speak his name.

But the pioneer clung to the faith of his fathers, for a time, at least. If he was a Presbyterian he was not ashamed of it, but rather prided himself on being one of the elect. If a Methodist, he was one to the fullest extent. He prayed long and loud if the spirit moved him, and cared nothing for the empty forms of religion:

A traveling Presbyterian minister, visiting this region of country at a very early day, thus speaks of the sectarian feeling which then existed.

"In these new religions, too, of the most absolute independ- ence, you see all the wanderings of human thought, every shade of faith, every degree of the most persevering attachment to precon- ceived opinions. You see, too, all degrees of pretension in relig- ion, followed by unhappy manifestations of the hollowness of such pretensions. You meet, it is true, with more cheering circum- stances, and we sometimes are able to see that which we strongly wish to see. At one point you meet with a respectable Methodist and begin to feel an attachment to the profession. He next meets you with harmony and co-operation on his lips, and the next thing which you hear is you are being charged of being a fierce Calvin- ist, and that you have preached that "hell is paved with infants' skulls." While, perhaps, the society with which you are con- nected hear from an opposite quarter, and from a pretended friend, that in such a sermon you departed from the dicta of the great Master and are leading the people to the gulf of Armenianism. The Baptists are as exclusive as in the older regions. Even among our own brethren, it is well known that there is some feeling of a

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HISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY.

questionable nature, some rivalry between the pupils, the doctors and schools of Andover and Princeton. The Cumberland Presby- terians, with all the freshness of a new seet, are not found laeking in this order of things. Lastly, there are the Catholies, abundantly more united in faith, in spirit, and in purpose than we are, who claim a kind of proseriptive right to the ground, on the pretext of prior possession. Add to these the followers of Elias Smith, and the multitudes of men who would be founders of new seets, and you will have some idea of the seetarian feeelings that you will have to encounter."

But these sectarian feelings were not to last. Separated from the religious influences of the land of their birth, and seldom hear_ ing the gospel message, they were literally starving for the " bread of life," and the worthy minister, of whatever denomination, that chanced to eall received a cordial welcome. The best the early pioneers had to give was at his service. All they required was that he be a true and faithful follower of Christ, and preach to them of a common salvation.

CHAPTER IV.

COURTS OF SCOTT COUNTY.

When Adam and Eve were placed in the garden of Eden, the Lord gave unto them laws requiring implicit obedience on pain of punishment for violation thereof. The existence of laws implies that there shall be courts of justice and officers to execute the laws.

DISTRICT COURT.

Scott County, on its organization, was made part of the second judicial district of the Territory of Wisconsin, Hon. David Irwin being the presiding judge thereof. In a small but well-preserved court record book, still among the archives of the clerk's office, at the court-house, can be seen the original records of the first District Court held in this county, in the fair hand-writing of the lamented Ebenezer Cook.

The first entry made upon the records of the District Court is a certificate of the appointment of Ebenezer Cook, clerk of the court, bearing date May 30, 1838, and signed by David Irwin, pre- siding jadge of the second judicial district of Wisconsin Terri- tory, and associate judge of the Supreme Court. Mr. Cook accepted the appointment and entered into bonds with John H. Sullivan and Adrian H. Davenport. This appointment was con- tinned by Judge Joseph Williams, the first presiding judge of the second judicial district of the Territory of Iowa, under date Oct. 4, 183S.

It was further ordered by Judge Irwin that the seal " hereunto attached" be until further notice recognized as the seal of the second judicial district for Scott County. This scal, be it known, bears no judicial impress, no scales of Justice, not even a vestige of Justice herself, in her usnal blindfolded condition ; but simply the coat of arms of the United States as represented on one side of a good round silver quarter dollar, such money, in those primitive days being in vogue. As a seal of the court it is believed to have been as good as any other for the time being.

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IIISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY.

So much having been effected in the interest of justice unto some, and law for everybody, nothing further appears to have been done until the following October.

In 1838 Hon. Joseph Williams was appointed judge of the second judicial district. Judge Williams was from Pennsylvania, and settled in Muscatine early in the year 1838. He was a man of good talents, though not of judicial mind. As a public speaker, he was considered one of the best in the Territory. He was said to have been a natural orator, his powers of mimicry and facial expression being almost perfect. While on a visit East some years after, he met an old schoolmate and companion of his boyhood. The two together spent some happy hours in recalling the scenes of long ago. Judge Williams wrote upon one of the books of his friend the following :

'O, Jerry, Jerry, I've found you at last, And memory goes back to the scenes of the past, And I think of old Somerset's mountain of snow, When you were but Jerry, and I was but Joe.

Judge Williams opened court here on the 4th day of October, 1838. The appointment of E. Cook as clerk was re-affirmed, and the " two bit " seal declared in full virtue. The court met in St. An- thony's church, a small building still standing in St. Anthony's church grounds and now used as a part of a school-house. Father Palamorgues, the then Catholic priest in charge, deemed it no dese- cration of the holy place to have it temporarily used as a temple of justice. It was a building of a single room, and small at that, hence afforded no accommodations for juries. Down Front street, three doors east of Main, was a low, two-story building, the prop- erty of Geo. L. Davenport, but partially completed, though the Iowa Sun had been darting its rays from the upper story since the previous August ;- here was found a room in which the first Scott County grand and petit juries held their deliberations. The build- ing was afterward finished, and became the first family residence of Mr. Daveport. 3

Frazer Wilson was appointed deputy marshal for this term of court, the marshal of the Territory not being present.

The first business transacted was the issuing of a venire for a grand jury returnable forthwith, whereupon the marshal sub- ponaed the following named jurors: John Work, James O. Kelley, J. A. Birchard, L. S. Colton, R. H. Spencer, James Mc Intosh, Walter B. Warren, Caleb H. Gardner, James Hall, Andrew Logan,

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HISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY.

Luman, M. Strong, Benjamin W. Clark, Jacob Heller, Philip Suites, William L. Cook, Samuel Hedges, A. J. Hyde, John Rob- inson, Isaac Hantley, John Lewis, Ira Cook and Smith Mounts. R. H. Spencer was appointed foreman.

After being charged the jury retired, and after spending some time returned into court, and by their foreman reported that they had no business before them. They were each allowed for one day's attendance and mileage from their place of residence, after which they were discharged from any further attendance at this term as grand jurors.

On motion of Gilbert C. R. Mitchell, Rufus Harvey, of Rock Island, Ill., was admitted to practice at the Scott County bar, the first to be admitted before the local court.

On motion by the same, Simeon Meredith was also admitted, and there being no district attorney, he was by the judge appointed to that position pro tempore.

Jonathan W. Parker was also admitted to practice.

On motion of the district attorney the venire for the original grand jury was set aside, and a venire de novo for a grand jury was awarded, and made returnable forthwith. The sheriff reported as follows :

Wheeler Hedges, W. B. V. Franks, Samuel Hedges, Alfred White, M. J. Lyman, J. M. Robertson, John R. Spicer, Isaac Haw - ley, W. L. Cook, L. S. Cotton, John Forrest, L. M. Strong, John Work, John Robinson, Ephraim Knapp, James Thompson, A. J. Patten, W. H. Patten, Cheney Munger, Seth F. Whiting.

Wheeler Hedges and W. B. V. Franks were excused from attend- ance. The jury as impaneled were sworn in, with Samnel Hedges as foreman. The jury was charged and retired to consider bnsi- ness.

The first term of the Scott County District Court lasted for three days. On the third day the venire which was placed in the hands of the sheriff on the first day for a petit jury was returned. The names of those selected were as follows: Roswell H. Spencer, A. J. Patten, James Mackintosh, Walter B. Warren, Jacob Heller, Ephraim Lane, John Lewis, Andrew J. Hyde, William H. Baker, Caleb A. Gardner, Robert Mackintosh, Daniel Wilson, Richard Peace, John Squires, M. A. Harrington, James Hall, Cheney Munger.

Why there were but 18 is an open question. The jury was re- turned Oct. 6, 1838, but on examination of the records of the county commissioners, we find that on the fourth of the preceding

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HISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY.

May, a panel of 24 was announced as " the petit jury of the first term of the District Court of Scott County." There are no records of such a term being held, and no one now living whom the writer has met can give any account of it. The records of the commission- ers show that of the 24 called by the board only 11 came.

The jury impaneled Oct. 7 was discharged on the same day, and the proper allowance of per diem and mileage allowed.

The first case docketed in the District Court was that of J. A. Birchard, Jr., Administrator, vs. Horatio G. Stone, C. C. Applegate, William Stacy, and Alfred White, in which leave to file declaration was granted.

The second was that of Paul Fullmer. vs. Martin W. Smith and Philip Suiter. The defendants were the owners of a mill, just below the present city of Le Claire. Various cases followed, in which Elias Moore, Jacob Parlin, Benjamin W. Clark, William Gibbous, Otis Bennett, Philana Brown, Smith Mounts, John Hen- ning, and various other parties were mixed up in the meshes of the law. The most interesting one, probably, was that of Alexander W. McGregor vs. John Wilson. In speaking of this case, the Democrat, of Davenport, says: " Now the plaintiff was a lawyer, or had been before his coming West. He came with a considerable stock of goods, which he soon disposed of and then settled on a farm in the lower part of the township. As all men are liable to be elected to places of honor, so was MeGregor elected to the Territorial Legislature which then had its sessions at Burlington. Men had axes to grind in those days as well as in this more advanced gen- eration, and John Wilson had a dull implement of that sort in connection with a coveted ferry franchise between Davenport and Rock Island. The story goes that Wilson induced McGregor to lend him a helping hand in this ferry job, with an understanding that honest toil should not go unrequited. In fact, it is said some notes of hand were passed-the consideration of which had to do with able services to be rendered in Wilson's interest. There is a tradition among the old settlers that the labor was duly performed; but somehow Wilson became a defendant in court, the bone of contention being these promissory notes already alluded to. The suit was brought before John Forrest, Justice of the Peace, who after hearing the testimony and looking up the law points, satisfactorily, decided in favor of the plaintiff.

" It is pretty generally noticed, even in this day, that when a party in a law suit loses his case, he thinks the judge, or jury, or the attorneys haven't done their duty by him, and he wants to ap-

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HISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY.

peal. If he has property to stand the racket of the law, there are plenty of good attorneys who will stand by him to the end-the end of the cash balance anyhow. Wilson's pocket was thrifty and his blood up. He would appeal. But the justice could see no use in that. He had decided the case just right, as he verily believed, and he would hear to nothing of the sort. But the records of the court show Judge Williams' order, that the inferior court have all the papers and proceedings thereof touching the McGregor- Wilson case brought before him by the opening of the court the next morning, or be attached. It is probable that the papers were forthcoming.

"The judge and the parties to the suit are all dead and gone. The justice, now a venerable old man, is still a good citizen of Davenport. Mr. McGregor, having retired from farming several years after the time hereof written, moved into the city and estab. lished a law office, and in time drifted into the banking business. Speaking of Mr. McGregor, it may be in order to relate a practical joke in which he and Ebenezer Cook had a slight interest. Mc- Gregor being away from Davenport awhile, sought to surprise his friend, Mr. Cook, who, going to the postoffice one day, was sur- prised when Postmaster Eldridge handed him out a considerable pakage, on which the postage amounted to $5.40. Postage was not prepaid then as now. The parcel was from Pekin, Ill. Mr. Cook looked it over in astonishment. He knew;no one at Pekin ; the handwriting. moreover, was not familiar. He was not a Roths- child, and $5.40 for the single item of postage was a good deal of specie. After much hesitation and not without some misgivings, he paid the postage and opened the package. Pebbles and saw- dnst ! that and nothing more, save a mere scrap of writing, which revealed the identity of the sender. Whether Mr. Cook ever re taliated or not is not known.

The cases already mentioned pertained to the first day's session of the District Court of the County of Scott, Territory of Iowa. A grand jury had been called, also a petit jury, and the machinery of the court placed in running order, though the petit jury venire had not been returned when the court adjourned for the day, on the fourth day of October, 1838.

The court convened the next morning. The first case on the docket was that of William Gibbons vs. Otis Bennett, entitled "Trespass in the case"-probably a "claim jumping " case, in- volving, as the plaintiff swears in an affidavit for bail, about

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HISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY.

8700 The parties were Clinton County people, that county being attached to Seott for judicial purposes. The noted firm of Rorer & Starr, of Burlington, appeared for defendant. Plaintiff non-suited and the order of the court entered up"that the defendant go hence without delay, and recover against plaintiff the costs by him, about his defense, in this behalf expended." Whether he ever succeeded in getting even with said plaintiff is no recorded upon the papers at hand. The court papers fail to show the name of the plaintiff"'s attorney, if he had any. Of the defend- ants, Mr. Rorer was regarded as one of the first judicial minds of the commonwealth. Mr. ' Starr is dead. When the lamp of his life went out, one of the rarest, brightest intellects of the State was taken.

Some very important business was transacted on the second day ; for on motion of Gilbert C. R. Mitchell, W. B. Conway, the first Territorial Secretary of Iowa, James Grant and J. Wilson Drury were admitted to practice at the Scott County bar. Conway, dur- ing his short residence here, took up the quarter section now known as the Camp MeClellan traet. He died in Burlington, the Territorial capital, the following year, 1839. His body was brought to Davenport for burial, the funeral rites being performed by Rev. Father Palamorgues, of St. Anthony's Church. James Grant has ever since been a citizen of Scott County, while J. Wil- son Drury has resided here and in Rock Island. Both have become noted lawyers and have occupied the judicial bench, the former in this district, the latter in that of Rock Island. At this time Mr. Grant bad but recently come in from Chicago. then part eorn field and nearly all mud hole. Ile was a farmer also, having located on a farm in Blue Grass township. It will also be seen that Judge Grant's membership of the Seott County bar ante dates all its living members. His practice commeneed with his admission and has continued without interruption ever sinee. On his coming into this district he brought the most extensive law library then in the Territory, and has held the reputation of keeping the best private one ever since.

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History of Scott County, Iowa, Part 28

Author: Inter-state Publishing Company (Chicago, Ill.) Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago, Inter-state publishing co. Number of Pages: 1280

Author: Inter-state Publishing Company (Chicago, Ill.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago, Inter-state publishing co.
Number of Pages: 1280