USA > Iowa > Story County > History of Story County, Iowa: A Record of Settlement, Organization. > Part 13
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In the ultimate, the republicans elected their entire ticket; but they knew they had had a fight. Kirkwood's majority was 37 in the county. Scott, who was running against an outsider, climbed up to 49. In the case of the former being an outsider and Graham a local resident, Rosenkranz and Graham, being outsiders, the former's majority in the county was 3, although Hamilton County added a little to this majority. Evans ousted Kellogg by a majority of 12, and Ross led Statler by 10. Child led the local ticket with 23, while Reese for superintendent had 6. It was a period of straight voting, and the side that could get the largest number of its followers to the election, elected its ticket.
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Preliminary to this election, especial notice should be given of the nomi- nation of Scott for senator. This was the first notable victory by any citizen of the county in a convention of several counties. Scott had been a candidate the year before for the nomination for district judge, but had been defeated by Porter of Hardin, who made an effective combination with Col. Hepburn of Marshall, for district attorney. In the senatorial convention of the republicans at Nevada, Hardin gave its 14 votes to Win- chester of that county and Boone its 7 to Chas. Pomeroy of that county, while Scott had 8 from Story and 5 from Hamilton. In the ultimate, the Boone vote was turned to Scott and nominated him; but before that, there was an apparent mixing of senatorial and representative politics, that may have had much to do with Hamilton's support of Scott. The representa- tive convention of the two counties, of Story and Hamilton, was held here the same day, being composed largely of the same men as the senatorial delegations from those counties, and the 5 delegates from Hamilton being in the representative convention at the mercy of the 8 from Story. Dana wanted a renomination for representative, but he had antagonized Scott in the judicial convention of the year before, and the latter, who was now in control of both delegations, had no hesitation in winning the senatorship with the help of Hamilton, at the price of conceding the representative nomination to Hamilton. So the Hamilton delegation, as stated, supported Scott in the senatorial convention; but in the representative convention, the agreement evidently went no further than that Story should give two votes to a Hamilton County man. The Hamilton delegates were not agreed upon a candidate, and it was some time before Rosenkranz was nominated. This matter is of interest as being the first instance of real convention politics, in which Story County is known to have figured with any success.
This senatorial convention was, by all odds, the most important polit- ical gathering that was held in Story County prior to the Civil war, and perhaps the most important that was ever actually held in the county. Its nominee was elected by about 150 majority, but only as the result of a fight through the four counties of the district. The nature of this fight is il- lustrated effectively by the resolutions of the senatorial convention, which resolutions express the sentiment of the prevailing side in the county and the district, and are therefore, under all the circumstances, fairly to be taken as the most authoritative voicing of Story County political sentiment, upon the first occasion when the county may fairly be said to have had clearly defined politics. The resolutions are as follows :
"Having an abiding faith in the integrity and stability of republican in- stitutions and believing it was the design of the framers and those who adopted the federal constitution that it should constitute the organic law of a government founded in justice, and looking solely to the interests of the people-that it was not expected by them that this government would be turned into a machine of corruption and fraud, in letting contracts and selling property-that it was not their intention that slavery should disgrace
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every state and territory under the American flag; and it never was in- tended by our political fathers that the federal constitution should en- hance or encourage the interests of slavery :
"Therefore, as the tendency and inevitable result of the principles and practice of the present democratic party are to inflict all these evils upon this nation,
"Resolved, that in view of the approaching election of 1860 and in con- sideration of the effect this campaign will have upon the result then, success is our bounden duty ; and we will use every honorable means to secure the triumph of our principles, believing that success is a duty we owe to our- selves, our country and our God."
One incident of this campaign deserves here particular mention and is of permanent interest for several reasons: The beginning of this in- cident, as it shows in the record, was the nomination in the democratic county convention of Jonas Duea of what is now Howard Township, for the office of drainage commissioner. As the matter is now understood, the office was not a very important one. The holder of it had a general authority to settle disputes between the man up the stream who wanted to run the water off of his land, and the man down the stream who was likely to get the water; and certainly, from all that is known of the country at that time and from what has been done to it since and is being done now, there might have been enough for the drainage commissioner to do; but the fact was that the country had not yet progressed far enough to give any systematic attention to the drainage subject; and the nomination to the office of drainage commissioner was therefore, essentially a com- plimentary matter; but during the months and years immediately preced- ing this campaign, the Norwegians had begun coming into the county, and while some of them came direct from Norway and had not been naturalized as yet, the most had made a stopping place in Illinois and had been in the country long enough to have acquired their papers of citizenship. In a campaign which, as already noted, was ultimately to be determined by majorities ranging from 6 to 23, a bunch of votes such as already existed in the north and south Norwegian settlements, might well be a matter of vital consideration, and it is to be recorded on behalf of the democrats in this county, that they made, as noted, the first formal bid for the Norwegian support.
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The bid was not very high, but the particular Norwegian complimented was indeed the one first to be considered in the matter of visiting recognition of this order. Jonas Duea was then a comparatively young man, but he had been the leading spirit of the committee sent out from Illinois to pick, in this part of Iowa, a suitable place for a Norwegian colony; and when the Committee picked what is now known as Howard Township, and was then the east half of Lafayette, and when the colony, in fact, came and the settlement was made, Mr. Duea was justly regarded as the leader of the settlement; but the democratic plan did not work, and the
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fact that it did not work is undoubtedly one explanation why the republi- cans carried the election and established their lasting supremacy in the county. Mr. Duea had not been in Nevada at the time the nomination was made; but he, of course, learned of it soon after, and in the next issue of the Story County Advocate, he published a card declining the nomination. His declaration was emphatic; and insomuch as his political sentiment therein expressed was undoubtedly the sentiment of his associates in the set- tlement, his expression may now be taken as the first authoritative announce- ment to the people of Story County of the politics of the Norwegian settle- ment. Mr. Duea dated his card at Story City, September 14th, and he said :
"Editor Advocate: You will please do me the favor if you please, to publish the following card. I notice that the democrats in this county in convention have nominated me for the office of drainage commissioner. It is a pity that they should have taken so much trouble to place me in such a position. I am not flattered by their notice. I am a republican, and I hereby notify the public that I am a candidate for no office, and would not accept one from the democrats. I would not change my politics for any office in the county, to say nothing of the petty trick or bribe that they have attempted. I love freedom and will support the party that I think does the same." Signed, "Jonas Duea."
Not to be one sided in citations of political expressions of this cam- paign, it is worth while to quote a paragraph from a letter published in the Story County Advocate and written from Iowa Center, by one who subscribes himself as "One of the Old Guards." The reader may, at the start, have a little difficulty in comprehending what was regarded by this veteran as the main issue of the campaign; but further on he will discover that the main grievance was the conduct of the state government under the republican regime, which was then about five years old, and which had been signalized by the addition of other state institutions, to the peniten- tiary, that had been the one state institution when the republicans came into power in the state. Whether the estimate of the amount of the state debt is entirely correct, we have some doubts; but the sentiments expressed were sustained in the ensuing election by a political force that lacked but a few votes of having a majority in the County. The spokesman for the Old Guard said :
WHAT THE "OLD GUARD" SAID.
"Fellow democrats, are you aware that you are on the eve of a guber- natorial election? Are you aware that on the 11th of October next, you are to measure strength with your old inveterate enemy? That enemy, ever changing in name, consistent only in its opposition to the ever onward march of democracy. Yes, on Tuesday the 11th of October next, you will be called upon to exercise the high prerogative of Freemen; to sit in judg- ment, as jurors, on the acts of high functionaries-your servants-who have abused the power which a generous and confiding constituency en-
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trusted to their hands. Are you ready for the conflict? If not, begin now to get ready-brush up your old rusty armor, buckle on your harness, and prepare to strike another blow for your country. It will be no child's play for the enemy will die hard-it will be such a scene as occurs but once in an age, when men fight for their country, their altars and their fires. Remember that 'Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty.'-'Have you hitherto spoken in whispers, speak now, as the tempest speaks, sterner and stronger.'
"Fathers, here is a field, for you to labor in, worthy of your proudest palmiest days. We want your counsel and your votes. We want your influence in redeeming our loved and beautiful state from republican mis- rule. Your gray hairs will be a proud banner to light the younger democ- racy on to victory. And, to the young but lion-hearted democracy I would say, arouse; your country demands your help; be active, be vigilant; stir up your lukewarm neighbor-tell him an opportunity is now presented to rid the state and county of a set of leeches, who are fattening on their life's blood -prove by your acts, that you are not degenerate scions of a revolutionary stock. Are incentives to action wanted? Tell them that our state debt under democratic rule was only $70,000, and it is now over $500,000; tell them that the republican officials have trampled the constitution of the state under their feet by running the state into debt over $250,000; tell them that the republicans squandered the people's money; tell them that the republicans spent more money in 1857-yes, in one single year, than the democrats did in eight years. Tell them that we now have to pay to keep the wheels of government in motion, interest annually, as much into $5,000 as it took to carry on the government under a democratic administra- tion! Tell them that Gen. Dodge, our standard bearer, has pledged him- self to strike down the corruption and favoritism instituted by Governor Grimes & Co .; and tell them too, that the republican party, say that 'our taxes are not too high !!! ' Tell them we have a ticket composed of men fully up to the Jeffersonian standard, 'honest, capable, and faithful to the con- stitution,' and we look to them with an abiding confidence for their support, believing that when the sun shall rise on the morning of the 11th of October next, and the democratic clarion shall sound to the charge, every man shall be at his post, bringing with him the aged and infirm, that their hearts may once more be gladdened with an opportunity to battle in the cause of their country.
"Remember that a day, an hour of virtuous liberty is worth a whole eternity of bondage. Do your duty, fellow democrats, your whole duty- vote early, and then see your neighbors; assist them to the polls and when the sun shall set you will not have occasion to regret your supineness and apathy, but, on the contrary you will be seen returning from a well fought field, bearing aloft with stalwart hands the time honored standard of democracy, not a star dimmed, nor a stripe defaced-singing the glad song, Iowa is redeemed !
"ONE OF THE OLD GUARDS."
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CHAPTER XII.
COUNTY AFFAIRS BEFORE THE WAR-(CONCLUDED).
It has been noted in connection with the indictment of Barnabas Lowell for the murder of his wife, that the first session of the district court in the county was held by Judge Mckay of Des Moines, at the home of County Judge Evans, on the western border of what is now Milford Township, on September 24, 1853. The second term was held in Nevada in the fol- lowing year, and is understood to have been held in a new store build- ing that was built for a stranger, who contracted for it, but did not re- turn to pay for it, on the corner immediately north of the present court house site, and that was later removed to the location west of the city park. In the course of this year, the first court house was built, under the ad- ministration of Judge Evans as county judge, on the corner where the Lockridge residence now stands, southwest of the court house block, and this building was from that time occupied for the purposes of the county, as well as for a public hall, sometimes for a school, and for various other public uses, until its destruction by fire in the early morning of January I, 1864. Judge Mckay did not continue long in the judicial service, but was succeeded by Judge Cave J. McFarland of Boone.
Judge McFarland was a member of a family that were then and have for the most of the time since, been prominent in Boone affairs, and he was a representative upon the bench of the early democratic regime in this portion of the state. He was a man of whom many stories were told, and it is evident that he was a very striking character. That he was of judicial temperament, probably never would have been claimed for him; but in a rough and ready, and distinctly frontier fashion, he administered justice as he regarded it, without very much attention to form of law. One story is of his meeting the sheriff on the road with an admitted horse thief, from whom he then and there accepted a plea of guilty, without the formality of an indictment by the grand jury, and whom he forthwith committed to the penitentiary for a five year sentence, which the un- fortunate horse thief duly served. Another story is of his suspending court to go out and shoot a covey of prairie chickens that were seen through the window to fly up from the prairie. His capacity for the absorption of intoxicating liquors was large, and he is credited with having taxed it well Vol. 1-8
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to the limit ; but this was a habit that in those days was more readily toler- ated by public sentiment than would be its exercise in similar situations now. Notwithstanding his own attitude on the liquor question, the judge instructed a grand jury that they were not responsible for the law, and that it was their business to bring in indictments against any one selling liquor, closing with the reminder that there was plenty of liquor being sold in town. He was always accompanied by his dog and gun in journeying from one county seat to another ; and upon his arrival in town, or upon his return to town after an early adjournment of court, there would be a liberal distribution of chickens. He was more distinctly typical of the mixture of frontier standards with the forms of official procedure, as un- derstood in old settled communities, than any other one man whose name has come down from that period in this county. But the habits which characterized him and which have secured for him so definite a place in the county's history, so undermined his constitution that he did not live out his term, but died at an early age.
The early comer in the county had undoubtedly the proper interest in the matters of religion, but, distinctly church edifices were not erected in any number until the county had progressed considerably in population and material development. The first church in Nevada was built in 1855 by general co-operation, at the solicitation of the organization of Cum- berland Presbyterians. It was located on the west side of Elm street between First and Second avenues south. That particular church organi- zation, however, proved to have the most of its effective strength in the Mullen settlement and after a time the church property was disposed of and a new church built by the congregation at the center of Nevada Town- ship. The second church was at Iowa Center; and the Norwegians very early built a Lutheran church in the vicinity of Huxley and another about 1862, a mile east of Story City. The number of churches in this period, however, was not indicative of the amount of preaching. A church, in a sense, is an evidence of wealth as well as religion, but religious services would be and were held in the school houses, court house and other edi- fices that would serve for the purpose.
In the pioneer days, there was no denomination more active among the settlers on the frontier, wherever that frontier might be, than the Methodist church, and the Methodist circuit riders were very early in the county or on its borders. Rev. John Parker conducted services at Iowa Center on February 24, 1855, and in 1856 a quarterly conference was held in the Parker neighborhood between Nevada and Cambridge, Rev. J. E. Hestwood being the pastor in charge. Mr. Hestwood appears to be re- garded as really the Father of Methodism in Story County; as he was the first minister to take up the work of that church definitely in this field. He was himself the son of a Methodist minister, and one of four brothers who engaged in the same profession. He lived until April, 1908, and the Northwestern Christian Advocate, in an obituary notice, says: "Indian
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trails enabled him to make the journeys around his next circuit, the Story mission, which was 53 miles long and 30 miles wide. In each of these charges, the parsonage was a log cabin built by him. The Story mission circuit allowed him to be 36 hours at home each week during the year. These are samples of his strenuous pioneer life. He and others like minded gave Methodist tone to Iowa in the early days," Mr. Hestwood was a man who left a strong impression on the people who knew him; but it was not until after the Civil war that the churches he founded, even in Nevada, built a church edifice of their own. Similarly, the Presby- terians built their first church at Nevada, after the war; but it was not until some time later yet, that the Catholics became sufficiently numerous to put upon a definite footing their churches at Nevada and Colo.
Notwithstanding, the more or less primitive conditions of the time which we are now considering, it is to be recorded of the people of this com- munity that they did what the present generation finds it difficult satis- factorily to keep doing; that is, they held a county fair. This fair was held at Nevada in October, 1859, very shortly following the close of the political contest of that year; the state election then being held on the second Tuesday in October. The 'livestock exhibit was about two blocks west of the present court house, and the in-doors exhibit was in the old court house. It is recorded that there were altogether 114 entries, and that the fair was a decided success, and went off better than the most sanguine had expected; that the ladies' department was far superior to calculations, and that none supposed that such an array of fine articles was to be found in the county; also that the display of horses was ex- cellent, and so was the cattle. The editor of that time further notes that, it being the first attempt at anything of the kind, there was great timidity in regard to bringing better stock or produce ;- which last expression dem- onstrates that the original editor was called upon to set an example, which his successors have often found occasion to imitate, of apologizing for the very numerous class of people in the county who might bring exhibits to the county fair and do not do so.
After Barnabas Lowell had been duly disposed of for the murder of his wife in 1853, the county appears to have been singularly fortunate as to matters of criminal proceedure; for, while there were doubtless the usual number of lesser crimes and while horse-stealing was a practice from which the people more or less suffered and for which they were occasionally able to inflict due punishment, yet it was not until near the close of the Civil war period that the county had occasion for a second murder trial. In the matter of accidents, however, the story is not so gratifying. A daughter of Henry Bailey was killed by lightning in Nevada, and Major Hawthorn's eldest daughter was struck at the same time, but recovered.
The most shocking of accidents, however, pertained to prairie fires. Tradition is to the effect that the modern inhabitant of the well grazed country, has no conception of the great mat of grass that could be accu-
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mulated on the surface of the prairie when there was nothing to remove it excepting an occasional fire. Under such conditions, fires once started, progressed rapidly and were likely to sweep all that was before them. The one successful way to fight one of the fires that was well started, was by starting a back fire, and the back fires themselves sometimes proved to be nearly as dangerous as the original fires. It was from one of these back fires that came the first death that is reported in the local paper, as having been occasioned in the county, at least, after the local newspaper had been started. This death was of a six year old daughter of Peter Larson of Lafayette Township, who in November, 1859, was caught in a back fire, that was started by a neighbor woman to fight a greater fire, which the little girl and her mother had been helping to fight. The little girl was burned to death. Much more notable, however, was the destruc- tion of John Swearingen and his family of a wife and four children, to- gether with their team and dog on the prairie in the northern part of Mil- ford Township. This disaster will be further noted in connection with reminiscences of persons in the neighborhood, later on, but the incident is to be here noted as one that greatly stirred the people of the county. Mr. Swearingen was a brother of one of the earlier Methodist circuit riders in this county, and he was bound with his family for his new location west of Webster City. It was in the fall of 1860, they were overtaken by a fire which had started down in Grant Township, and which swept for many miles northward across the prairie. He was in the wagon asleep when the fire overtook them; and before he could get his family out of the wagon, he and his wife were both knocked down by the excited horses; and, when he recovered himself, there was nothing he could do for his family but to watch them burn, and he himself died from his injuries ten days later.
Of the general appearance of the country, in the latter fifties, we have a couple of editorial expressions from the editor of the Advocate, the one pertaining to a trip for a week and spent with friends at Johnson's Grove in July of 1859. At that time, he advises us, there were several fine farms, both on the prairie and near East Indian creek, along the route. Mr. James C. Lovell's prairie farm and frame residence were sightly and made the passer-by think that comfort is located there with thrift. J. P. Pool's farm was in a beautiful location and his crops looked very promis- ing, it being situated on the east side of the creek. Micah French's man- sion was seen to the southward on a commanding elevation, attracting the attention of the traveler. Mr. Watt Murphy had a good farm, immediately east of Mr. Pool's, but his growing crops generally were not quite so for- ward. To the northeast of Mr. Murphy's was past John Counihan's place, situated in the southeast corner of the grove, and well sheltered from the northwest winds. The crops appeared as good as any observed. In the distance were noticed Page's, Kelley's, O'Niel's, and other gentleman's farms in the northeast portion of Johnson's Grove. Situated in a pleasant
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