USA > Iowa > Tama County > History of Tama County, Iowa, together with sketches of their towns, villages and townships, educational, civil, military and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 38
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Abel Childs, Superintendent of the County Poor Farm, was born in Broome county, N. Y., September 4, 1834. Ilis parents, Josiah and Betsey (Aplington) Childs, died when he was a mere child, and he was reared by his grandfather Ap- lington, in Broome county, where he grew to manhood. At the age of twenty-one he left New York and removed to Ogle coun- ty, Illinois, where he engaged in farming. In 1862, he was married to Miss Margaret Lawson, a daughter of John Lawson, a native of Scotland. She was born in Paisley, Scotland. Her father was enga- ged largely in the dyeing business, and at the time of the World's Fair, he took the first premium on Paisley shawls. Mr. and Mrs. Childs are the parents of five child- ren : Mary, Fleeda, Lizzie, Fred. and Ros- coe. In the spring of 1856 Mr. Childs came to Tama county, and located in Car- roll township, remaining until 1876, when
he received the appointment to his present position. In politics he is a Republican, and has held several local offices of trust in the gift of the people.
ATTEMPT TO MAKE A CHANGE.
In the Fifteenth General Assembly which convened at Des Moines, in Janu- ary, 1874, a bill was introduced in the Lower Ilouse to cut off the northwest corner townships of Tama county, and annex them to Grundy county. These townships were Lincoln and Grant. The following extraet from the House Journal relates to the matter:
"Tracy called up II. F. 191, to provide for a submission to the voters of Tama and Grundy counties the proposition to detach township 86, north range 15 and 16 west, from Tama county and attach the same to Grundy county, and moved that the rules be suspended, bill be con- sidered engrossed and read a third time now, and advocated the bill.
" Marlin, of Tama, asked for delay, in order to receive an expression from the people of the townships named. He be- lieved it a plan to make Grundy county square. Thought the people of Tama knew nothing of the matter. He had not heard of it himself until this bill was in- troduced."
After some discussion the bill was laid over. It met with unqualified disapproval in Tama county, it being a scheme to make Grundy county square by disfiguring Tama, and the people in the townships affected, soon manifested their desire to remain as they were. Remonstrances were circulated and extensively signed, which defeated the bill.
292
HISTORY OF TAMA COUNTY.
POPULATION OF TAMA COUNTY.
The population of Tama county is made up of foreigners and Americans in about the same ratio as 1 to 6. They are all a hard working, industrious class, as is abundantly testified by the fact that the county is to-day recognized as among the leading counties of Iowa. The time of a great majority of the citizens is devoted to agricultural pursuits, yet a healthful proportion find employment in manufac- turing and other industrial enterprises, and mercantile pursuits.
In the fall of 1849, the population of Tama county did not exceed 20. In the spring of 1849, there was not a white man within the boundaries of the present county. To show how rapidly the popula- tion increased: In 1852 it was 262; in 1854, 1,163; in 1856, 3,520; in 1859, 5,346; in 1860, 5,285; in 1863, 7,027; in 1865, 7,882; in 1867, 11,165; in 1869, 14,254; in 1870, 16,131; in 1873, 16,343 ; in 1875, 18,771 ; in 1880, 21,585. At pres- ent there are only 23 counties in the State that exceed it in population ; and there are 77 that fall below it.
The population of the various town- ships and towns in the county, as given by the census of 1867, 1875 and 1880, were as follows :
1867
1875
1880
Buckingham
436
668
687
Carlton
707
844
1009
Carroll.
215
575
790
Clark
99
711
1109
Columbia
437
776
818
Cry sta
273
616
747
Geneseo.
327
569
694
Grant .. .
343
599
Highland
193
593
703
Iloward.
836
902
900
Indian Village exclusive of Montour.
1330
1059
912
Lincoln.
38
389
624
Montour, town of.
514
457
1867
1875
1880
Oneida.
272
790
874
Otter Creek.
741
1043
997
Perry, exclusive of Traer.
451
778
812
Richland.
773
870
808
Salt Creek ..
927
1062
960
Spring Creek
239
713
974
Tama, exclusive of Tama
City
292
566
Tama City.
1197
1289
Toledo, exclusive of town.
1374
655
719
Toledo City
805
1022
1026
Chelsea ..
263
Traer, town of.
740
1100
York.
692
1120
1149
Total
11, 165/18, 771 21, 586
FIRST INSTRUMENTS RECORDED.
The earliest entry which affected Tama county land was made while the territory now comprising Tama county formed a part of Benton county, and was first en- tered upon the books of that county, and when Tama was organized was transcribed into Tama county books. It bears the date of January 5, 1849, and is an inden- ture transferring the southwest quarter of section 25, township 83, range 16, now Indian Village township, from Isaac W. Tibbetts of Tippacanoe county, Indiana, to Samuel Opp, of Montgomery county, Indiana, for the sum of $400.
The first deed entry upon the books which were opened for Tama county after its organization bears the date of July 19, 1859. It is a conveyance of 160 acres of land in township 83, range 15, from Jacob S. Staley, of Johnson county, to William Blodgett, for the sum of $200. The wit- ness to the execution of the instrument was Edward Connelly.
The second deed entry is dated August 25, 1853, and conveys a piece of land from Le Grand Byinton to Noah Myers.
The first real estate mortgage entered upon the Tama county records, was made
295
HISTORY OF TAMA COUNTY.
on June 19, 1856. In this instrument Robert Crawford mortgages to Samuel Strouse, for the sum of $258, several pie- ces of land lying in Tama county. The mortgage was witnessed by T. Walter Jackson, and recorded by T. J. Staley, County Recorder and his deputy, L. B. Nelson.
FINANCIAL.
The following are the various amounts of taxes levied from 1856 to 1883.
For the year
1856
$ 15,266,87
1857
16,164 13
1858.
25,094.22
66
1859
21,015.55
6€
1860.
16,543.20
1880. .
120,226.97
1861.
31,148.20
66
1881.
117,655.49
1862.
29,458.35
1883.
172,626.43
66
1868.
85,043.06
1869.
110,630,35
1870
118,448.77
1871
206,056.16
1872.
145,986.47
1873
112.471.49
. .
1874.
102,524,12
1875
120,369,31
1876
126,386 37
..
1877
123,173.25
1878.
119,619.71
1879.
CHAPTER VII.
PIONEER LIFE.
In this chapter it is the design to pre- sent some of the interesting and peculiar phases of frontier life. It is not the pur- pose to here portray conditions and cir- cumstances that apply to every case, but to pick out from the mass of material some of the most extreme cases, and be- longing properly to the extreme frontier. While as a means of variety here and there are stated occurrences and conditions which have existed up to within a very recent day. It is impossible to single out Tama county as an issolated case in the description of pioneer life, for it finds its parallel in almost every county in the
State and throughout the entire west. And it is, on the other hand, just as impossible to limit the portrayed so as to just precise- ly fit and cover given cases, and territory. Pioneer life must be taken as a whole, and as it existed a third of a century ago in the west. Some of the illustrations may not apply to the exact manner in which this or that particular settler got along, nor is it the intention that it should, but it is attempted to show what has been done in the early development of the Great West.
But a little more than a third of a cen- tury ago Tama county was not in existence ;
8
1864.
57;690.86
1865.
59,399 75
1866.
79,376.78
1867
90,749.03
..
35,850.34
1863.
137,229.58
296
HISTORY OF TAMA COUNTY.
the territory comprising it was as wild and desolate as the Indians who inhabited it ; and there was not a white settler within its bounderies. When the Wilkinsons, the Ashers, and the Vandorins, first among the determined pioneers settled here they found an unbroken, uneultivated and un- inhabited prairie. Wild beasts, and but little less wild savages roamed at will over the prairie, through the groves and forests and along the waters of the Iowa river, their domain knowing no bounds. The ininiature forests skirting the prairies were to be felled, cabins erected, homes prepared, mills built, and the river and creeks made to labor for the benefit of mankind. The beautiful prairies were to be robbed of their natural ornaments, and the hand of art was to assist in their dee- oration. Who was to undertake this work? What will be the effect of their labors upon future generations?
Tama county pioneers had many diffi- eulties to contend with, not the least of which was the journey from civilization to their prairie homes. The route lay for the most part through a rough country ; swamps and marshes were crossed with great exertion and fatigue ; rivers were forded with difficulty and danger ; nights were passed on open prairies, with the sod for a couch and the heavens for a shelter ; long, weary days and weeks of travel were endured, but finally "the promised land " was reached.
EARLY MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
The young men and women of to-day have little conception of the mode of life among the early settlers of the country. One can hardly conceive how great a change has taken place in so short a time
In a new country, far removed from the conveniences of civilization, where all are compelled to build their own houses, make their own clothing and proeure for them- selves the means of subsistence, is is to be expected that their dwellings and garments will be rude. These were matters con- trolled by surrounding circumstances and the means at their disposal.
Some few of the earliest settlers con- structed what were called " three-faced camps " or in other words, three walls leaving one side open ; but this was, in reality only resorted to by some of the transient squatters who only remained long enough to find a purchaser for their claim to the land, and then move on farther west to repeat the process. These " three-faced camps are described as fol- lows: The walls were built seven feet high, when poles were laid aeross at a dis- tance of about three feet, and on these a roof of elapboards was laid, which were kept in place by weight poles placed on them. The elapboards were about four feet in length and from five to eight inches in width, split out of white oak timber. No floor was laid in the " camp." The structure required neither door, win- dow, or chimney. The one side left out of the cabin, answered all these purposes. In front of the open side was built a large log heap, which served for warmth in cold weather and for cooking purposes in all seasons. Of course there was an abund- ance of light, and on either side of the fire, space to enter in.
They were probably more easily con- structed than the ordinary cabin, but in this region very few are remembered, as having been built. A more common
297
HISTORY OF TAMA COUNTY.
place of abode was what might be called a " four faced camp." This was constructed in a good deal the same manner except that it had four sides.
The cabin was a material advance for comfort, in home life. This was built of logs, the spaces between the logs being filled in with split sticks of wood called " chinks," and daubed over both inside and out, with mortar made of clay. The floor, sometimes, was nothing more than earth tramped hard and smooth, but it was commonly made of " puncheons," or split logs with the split side turned up- ward. The roof was made by gradually drawing the top to the ridge pole, on cross pieces, laying the "clapboards," which be- ing several feet in length, instead of being nailed were held in place or kept from rolling off by "knees " placed against the one below, which served as a prop. For a fire-place, a space was cut out of the logs on one side of the room, usually about six feet in length, and three sides were built up of logs, making an offset in the wall. This was lined with stone, if convenient ; if not, then earth. The flue, or upper part of the chimney, was built of small split sticks, two and a half or three feet in length, carried a little space above the roof, and plastered over with elay ; when finished it was called a "cat and clay" chimney. To describe it more minutely, the sticks are laid just as bricks are, with mortar; the clay is mixed with cut straw or grass to prevent it from crumbling, and then the outside and inside were plastered with the clay and rubbed smooth with the hands. The door was made by cut- ting a space in one side of the room of the required size, the door itself being made of
clapboards secured by wooden pins to two crosspieces. The hinges were also some- times of wood, while the fastenings con- sisted of a wooden latch catching on a hook of the same material. To open the door from the outside, a strip of buckskin or leather was tied to the latch and drawn through a hole a few inches above the latch-bar, so that on pulling the string the latch was lifted from the catch or hook, and the door was opened without further trouble. To lock the door, it was only necessary to pull the string through the hole to the inside. Here the family lived, and here the guest and wayfarer were made welcome. The living room was of good size, but to a large extent it was all -kitchen, bed-room, parlor and arsenal, with flitches of bacon and sometimes rings of dried pumpkin suspended from the rafters.
Sometimes in the more extreme cases a pioneer's cabin was erected of poles that one man could lay together; without " notching," after reaching about the height of a man, it would be covered with the bark taken from some Indian's aban- doned "Wick-e-up," the cracks filled with prairie grass, and skin hung upon the inside and outside to keep the wind from blowing out the grass. The skins thus used were wolf, bear, deer, elk, and fre- quently buffalo. The fire was built on the ground and a hole left in the roof for smoke to escape. No floor was had until the season came to "peel Linn bark." A door would be made, almost always in these extreme cases, of an elk skin. In cases of this kind the beds were made of prairie hay, spread on the ground floor. Sometimes, a forked stake would be driven
-
298
HISTORY OF TAMA COUNTY.
into the ground at an equal distance from two walls which were at right angles, and poles laid through the fork to the walls. On this would be laid " shakes" and brush until quite a fair bed stead would be the result. For bed clothes, when quilts were wanting, skins and robes would make up the deficiency, and in cases like those just mentioned, skins were almost wholly used. In a great many instances all of the house- hold furniture was home-made, blocks being used for chairs, and rude benches, which were made from "shakes" with the "easy side up," holes bored in the bottom and rude legs inserted. A place for cooking utensils was made by boring holes in the wall, placing a smooth shake upon pegs which had been driven in, and a shelf was complete. In these extreme cases the pioneers usually had a few knives and forks and plates, but there were many who had neither. Rev. S. W. Ingham, who was the pioneer Methodist preacher in this part of the State, told the writer that he bad many times, notwith- standing he was given the best, sat upon a rude block, which he doubted not conformed to the usual rule of " easy side up," and in eating, cut his venison upon a piece of bark laid on his knees, using his own jack- knife. It is difficult to describe some of the tables used, they were of all shapes and sizes, sometimes a " shelf " would be made upon which the victuals were served. Sometimes a box or two in which the clothing was stored, pegs would be driven into the log walls and clothing hung upon them. Books were very seldom found in these extreme cases, except probably a fraction of a book here and there, which was well thumbed. In one corner was
placed the trusty rifle, and just above it were hung the powder horn, shot flask and hunting pouch. Often a loft was made to the cabin for a sleeping place and the storage of "traps " and articles not in common use. This was reached by a lad- der secured to the wall. Sometimes the bed rooms were separated by sheets and blankets suspended from the rafters, but until the means of making these partitions were ample, they all lived and slept in the same room. If a stranger was present, partaking of the hospitality, the light would be blown ont when the old folks wished to retire ; the children would un- dress while the " stranger was looking the other way." Frequently the pigs and chickens inhabited the same room.
Familiarity with this mode of living did away with much of the discomfort, but as soon as improvement could be made, there was occasionally added to the cabin an ad- ditional room, or a " double log cabin," being substantially a "three faced camp," but generally the old cabin was replaced by a better one.
The furniture in the cabin corresponded with the house itself. The articles used in the kitchen were as few and simple as can be imagined. A "dutch oven," or skillet, a long-handled frying pan, an iron pot or kettle, and sometimes a coffee pot, constituted the utensils of the best fur- nished kitchen. A little later, when stone formed the base of the chimney, a long iron " crane " swung in the chimney place, which on its "pot-hook " carried the boil- ing kettle or heavy iron pot. The cook- ing was all done on the fire-place and at the fire, and the style of cooking was as simple as the utensils. Indian, or corn
Z
299
HISTORY OF TAMA COUNTY.
meal, was the common flour, which was made into " pone " or " corn-dodger, " or "hoe-cake," as the occasion or variety de- manded. The "pone " and the " dodger" was baked in the Dutch oven, which was first set on a bed of glowing coals. When the oven was filled with the dough, the lid, already heated on the fire, was placed on the oven and covered with red hot coals. When the bread was done it was taken from the oven and placed near the fire to keep warm while some other food was being prepared in the same "oven" for the forthcoming meal. The "hoe-cake " was prepared in the same way as the dodger-that is, a stiff dough was made of the meal and water, and, taking as much as could conveniently be held in both hands, it was moulded into the desired shape by being tossed from hand to hand, then laid on a board or flat stone placed at an angle before the fire and patted down to the required thickness on the "johnny_ cake board." In the fall and early win- ter, cooked pumpkin was sometimes added to the meal dough, giving a flavor and richness to the bread not attained by the modern methods. In the oven from which the bread was taken, the venison or ham was then fried, and, in winter, lye hominy, made from the unbroken grains of corn, added to the frugal meal. The woods abounded in honey, and of this in pioneer times, the early settlers had an abundance the year round. For some years after the very first settlement, corn meal formed the staple commodity for bread ; but as soon as the settlers began trading at Cedar Rapids, flour could be obtained more easi- ly than corn meal, for the reason that it was easier to grind.
These simple cabins were inhabited by a kind and true-hearted people. They were strangers to moek-modesty, and the traveler seeking lodgings for the night, or desirous of spending a few days in the community, if willing to accept the rude offerings, was always welcome, although how they were disposed of at night the reader may not easily imagine; for, as described, often a single room would be made to serve the purpose of a kitchen, dining-room, sitting room and parlor, and many families consisted of six or eight persons.
CHARACTER OF THE PIONEERS.
The character of the pioneers of Tama county falls properly within the range of the historian. They lived in a region of exuberance and fertility, where Nature had scattered her blessings with a liberal hand, The fair supply of timber, the fertile prai- rie, and the many improvements constant_ ly going forward, with the bright prospect for a glorious future in everything that renders life pleasant, combined to deeply impress their character, to give them a spirit of enterprise, an independence of feeling, and a joyousness of hope. They were a thorough admixture of many na- tions, characters, languages, conditions and opinions. There was scarcely a State in the Union that was not represented among the early settlers. All the various religions seets had their advocates. All now form one society. Says an early wri- ter : "Men must cleave to their kind, and must be dependent upon each other. Pride and jealonsy give way to the natural yearn- ings of the human heart for society. They begin to rub off the neutral prejudices;
300
HISTORY OF TAMA COUNTY.
one takes a step and then the other ; they meet half way and embrace; and the society thus newly organized and constitu- ted is more liberal, enlarged, unprejudiced, and, of course, more affectionate, than a society of people of like birth and char- acter, who bring all their early prejudices as a common stock, to be transmitted as an inheritance to posterity."
They were bound together by a feeling that all were equal and were laboring and striving for a common end. They had all left more or less comfortable homes in the eastern States, and cast their lot in a country where there was nothing save the intrinsic merit of the location. lIere they were all on equal footing ; riches could give no advantage, even had they existed, and the absence of the aristocratic element that is now so painfully apparent in society, must alone have been a great source of comfort to the pioneers. They all felt an equal interest in the improve- ment and development of the country, and to the softening and smoothing over of the rough edged disadvantages against which they had to contend. Everyone was thought of and treated as a brother. Their public gatherings were like the re- union of a parted family, and the fact that there was no rivalry, made the occasions donbly joyous. Their hospitality knew no bounds. If a traveler pulled the latch string, it was considered that, as a matter of course, he should receive an equal share with the rest of the household, be it much or little.
CLOTHING.
In this respect the settlers differed con- siderably, but were dressed as a rule as plain and simple, as their houses were
built. Necessity compelled it to be in conformity to the strictest economy. The clothes which the early settlers brought with them were worn smooth, and darned until it was impossible to tell from what material the garment was originally made sometimes, and in fact in the cases of squatters, almost always, the men were dressed as much in skins as anything else. In summer, nearly all persons, both male and female, went barefooted. Boys and most men, never thought of wearing any- thing on their feet, except during months of the coldest weather, when buckskin moc- casins were worn. These useful articles were made by taking a tanned piece of skin, cutting it after a pattern to the right size, then it would be stitched and puek- ered with deer sinew. The latter came from the neck of the deer, and was small enough to run through a darning needle, yet strong enough to " hang a man." The moccasins were very common until the set- tlement was quite well advanced. It is a fact that Rev. S. W. Ingham, who for many years travelled this region as the pioneer Methodist preacher, was ordained elder with moccasins on his feet.
Clothing was but one of the many things in which the pioneers stinted themselves. Every move they made was hindered by some disadvantage, which constantly re- minded them of labor to be performed and time which must pass to evolve comfort and convenience from the former condi- tion of affairs. It is well for "young america " to look back on those early days. It involved a life of toil and hard- ship, but it was the life that made men of character. Tama county to-day has no better men than the immediate descend.
301
HISTORY OF TAMA COUNTY.
ants of those who labored thus, and the actors themselves have not yet all passed away. One who had passed through pio- neer life in the eastern portion of the State, wrote that " the boys were required to do their share of the hard labor of the clean- ing up the farm, for much of the country now under the plow was at one time heav- ily timbered, or was covered with a dense thicket of hazel and young timber. Our visits were made with ox teams, and we walked, or rode on horse-back, or in wagons, to ' meeting.' The boys ' pulled,' ' broke' and ' hackled' flax, wore tow shirts and indulged aristocratic feelings in fring- ed ' hunting-shirts' and ' coon-skin caps,' ' picked ' and ' carded ' wool by hand, and ' spooled ' and ' quilled' yarn for the weav- ing till the back ached."
Industry such as this, supported by an economy and frugality from which there was then no escapes, necessarily brought its own reward. Change and alterations were to be expected, but the reality has distanced the wildest conjuncture ; 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 long ago, in sympathy with the poet describing eastern pioneer life, and seeing here and there strains that are parallel to his own experience.
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