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 5

Author: Union publishing company, Springfield, Ill., pub
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Springfield, Ill., Union publishing company
Number of Pages: 1088

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 5

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Gen. Joseph M. Street established an agency among the Sacs and Foxes very soon after the removal of the latter to their new reservation. He was transferred from the agency of the Winnebagos for this purpose. A farm was selected, upon which the necessary buildings were erected, in- cluding a comfortable farm house for the agent and his family, at the expense of the Indian fund. A salaried agent was em- ployed to superintend the farm and dispose of the crops. Two mills were erected- one on Soap creek, and the other on Sugar creek. The latter was soon swept away by a flood, but the former remained and did good service for many years.

Connected with the agency were Joseph Smart and John Goodell, interpreters. The

latter was interpreter for Hard Fishes' band. Three of the Indian chiefs-Keo- kuk, Wapello and Appanoose-had each a large field improved, the two former on the right bank of the Des Moines, back from the river, in what is now " Keokuk's Prairie," and the latter on the present site of the city of Ottumwa. Among the traders connected with their agency were the Messrs. Ewing, from Ohio, and Phelps & Co , from Illinois, and also J. P. Eddy, who established his post at what is now the site of Eddyville. The Indians at this agency became idle and listless in the ab- sence of their natural and wonted excite- ments, and many of them plunged into dissipation. Keokuk himself became dis- sipated in the latter years of his life, and it has been reported that he died of de- lirinm tremens after his removal with his tribe to Kansas. On May, 1843, most of the Indians were removed up the Des Moines river, above the temporary line of Red Rock, having ceded the remnant of their lands in Iowa to the United States, Sept. 21, 1837, and Oct. 11, 1842. By the terms of the latter treaty, they held pos- session of the "New Purchase" till the autumn of 1845, when most of them were removed to their reservation in Kansas, the balance being removed in 1846.

Before any permanent settlement was made in the Territory of Iowa, white ad- venturers, trappers and traders, many of whom were scattered along the Mississippi and its tributaries, as agents and employes of the American Fur Company, intermar- ried with the females of the Sac and Fox Indians, producing a race of half-breeds, whose number was never definitely ascer- tained. There were some respectable and

HISTORY OF IOWA.

3 excellent people among them, children of some refinement and education. For in- stance: Dr. Muir, a gentleman educated at Edinburg, Scotland, a Surgeon in the United States Army, stationed at a mili- tary post located on the present site of Warsaw, married an Indian woman, and reared his family of three daughters in the city of Keokuk. Other examples might be cited, but they are probably exceptions to the general rule, and the race is now nearly or quite extinct in Iowa.

August 4, 1824, a treaty was made be- tween the United States and the Sacs and Foxes, by which that portion : f Lee county was reserved to the half-breeds of those tribes, and which was afterward known as the " half-breed tract." This reservation is the triangular piece of land containing about 119,000 acres, lying between the Mississippi and the Des Moines rivers. It is bounded on the north by the prolonga- tion of the northern line of Missouri. This line was intended to be a straight one, run- ning due east, which would have caused it to strike the Mississippi river at or below Montrose; but the surveyor who run it took no notice of the change in the variation of the needle, as he proceeded eastward, and, in consequence, the line he run was bent, deviating more and more to the northward of a direct line as he approached the Mis- sissippi river, so that it struck that river at the lower edge of the town of Fort Madi- son. "This erroneous line," says Judge Mason, "has been acquiesced in as well in fixing the northern limit of the half-breed tract as in determining the northern boundary line of the State of Missouri." The line thus run included in the reserva- tion a portion of the lower part of the city

of Fort Madison, and all of the present townships of Van Buren, Charleston, Jef- ferson, Des Moines, Montro. e and Jackson.

Under the treaty of 182+, the half-breeds had the right to occupy the soil, but could not convey it, the reversion being reserved to the United States. But January 30th, 1843, by act of Congress, this reversionary right was relinquished, and the half-breeds acquired the lan Is in fee simple. This no sooner done than a horde of speculators rushed in to buy land of the half-breed owners, and, in many instances, a gun, blanket, a pony or a few quarts of whisky was sufficient for the purchase of large estates. There was a deal of sharp prac- tice on both sides. Indians would often claim ownership of land by virtue of being half-breeds, and had no difficulty in prov- ing their mixed blood by the Indians, and they would cheat the speculators by selling land to which they hal no rightful title. On the other hand, speculators often claimed land in which they had no owner- ship. It was diamond cut diamond, until at last things became badly mixed. There were no authorized surveys, and no boun dary lines to claim, and, as a natural result, numerous conflicts and quarrels ensued.

January 16, 1838, Edward Johnstone, Thomas S. Wilson and David Brigham were appointed commissioners by the Wis- consin Legislature, clothed with power to settle their difficulties, and to decide upon the validity of claims, or sell them for the benefit of the real owners. The act pro- vided that these commissioners should be paid six dollars a day each. The commis- sion entered upon its duties, and continued until the next session of the Legislature,

HISTORY OF IOWA.

when the act creating it was repealed, in- validating all that had been done, and depriving the commissioners of their pay. The repealing act, however, authorized the commissioners to commence action against the owners of the half-breed tract, to re- ceive pay for their services in the District of Lee county. Two judgements were obtained, and on execution the whole tract was sold to Hugh T. Reid, the sheriff exe- cuting the deed. Mr. Reid sold portions of it to various parties; but his own title was questioned, and he became involved in litigation. Decisions in favor of Reid and those holding under him were made by both District and Supreme Courts; but in December, 1850, these decisions were finally reversed by the Supreme Court of the United States, in the case of Joseph Webster, plaintiff in error, vs. Hugh T. Reid, and judgement titles failed.

About nine years before the judgement titles were finally abrogated as above, another class of titles were brought into competition with them, and, in the conflict between the two, the final decision was obtained. These were the titles based on the "decree of partition " issued by the United States District Court for the Ter- ritory of Iowa, May 8, 1841, and certified to by the clerk on the 2d day of June of the same year. Edward Johnstone and Hugh T. Reid, then law partners at Fort Madison, filed the petition for the decree in behalf of the St. Louis claimants of half-breed lands. Francis S. Key, author of the Star-Spangled Banner, who was then attorney for the New York Land Company, which held heavy interests in these lands, took a leading part in the measure, and drew up the documents in

which it was presented to the court. Judge Charles Mason, of Burlington, pre- sided. The plan of partition divided the the tract into 101 shares, and arranged that each claimant should draw his proportion by lot, and should abide the result, what- ever it might be. The arrangement was entered into, the lots drawn, and the plat of the same filed in the Recorder's office, October 6, 1841. Upon this basis the titles to the land in the Half-Breed Tract are now held.

We subjoin a synopsis of the different treaties made with the Indians of Iowa:

1. Treaty with the Sioux .- Made July 15, 1815; ratified December 16, 1815, This treaty was made at Portage des Sioux of Minnesota and Upper Iowa, and the United States, by William Clark and Ninian Ed- wards, Commissioners, and was merely a treatise of peace and friendship on the part of these Indians toward the United States at the close of the war of 1812.

2. Treuty with the Sucs .- A similar treaty of peace was made at Portage des Sioux, between the United States and the Sacs, by William Clark, Ninian Edwards and Auguste Choteau, on the 13th of Sep- tember, 1815, and ratified at the same date as the above. In this the treaty of 1804 was re-affirmed, and the Sacs here repre- sented promised for themselves and their bands to keep entirely separate from the Sacs of Rock river, who, under Black Hawk, had joined the British iu the war just then closed.

3. Treaty with the Foxes .- A separate treaty of peace was made with the Foxes at Portage des Sioux, by the same commis- sioners, on the 14th of September, 1815, and ratified the same as the above, wherein

HISTORY OF IOWA.

the Foxes re-affirmed the treaty of St. Louis, of November 3d, 1804, and agreed to de- liver up all their prisoners to the officer in command at Fort Clark, now Peoria, Illi- nois.

4 Treaty with the Iowas .- A treaty of peace and mutual good-will was made between the United States and the Iowa tribe of Indians, at Portage des Sioux, by the same commissioners as above, on the 16th of September, 1815, at the close of the war with Great Britain, and ratified at the same date as the others.

5. Treaty with the Sacs of Rock River .- Made at St. Louis, on the 13th of May, 1816, between the United States and the Sacs of Rock river, by the Commis- sioners, William Clark, Ninian Edwards and Auguste Choteau, and ratified Dec. 30, 1816. In this treaty that of 1804 was re- established and enforced by the chiefs and bead men of the Sacs of Rock river, and Black Hawk himself attached to it his sig- nature, or, as he said, "touched the goose- quill."

6. Treaty of 1824 .-. On the 4th of Angust, 1824, a treaty was made between the United States and the Sacs and Foxes, in the city of Washington, by William Clark, Commissioner, wherein the Sac and Fox nations relinquished their title to all lands in Missouri, and that portion of the south- east corner of Iowa known as the "half- breed tract" was set off and reserved for the use of the half breeds of the Sacs and Foxes, they holding title in the same man- ner as Indians. Ratified Jan. 18, 1825.

7. Treuty of August 19, 1825 .- At this date a treaty was made by William Clark and Lewis Cass, at Prairie du Chien, be-

tween the United States and the Chippe- was, Sacs and Foxes, Menominees, Winne- bagos, and a portion of the Ottawas and Pot awatomies. In this treaty, in order make peace between the contending tribes as to the limits of their respective hunting grounds in Iowa, it was agreed that the United States Government should run a boundary line between the Sioux, on the north, and the Sacs and Foxes on the south, as follows :

Commencing at the mouth of the Upper Iowa river, on the west bank of the Mis- sissippi, and ascending said Iowa river to its west fork; thence up the fork to its source; thence crossing the fork of Red Cedar river in a direct line to the lower fork of the Calumet river, and down that fork to its junction with the Missouri river.

8. Treaty of 1830 .- On the 15th of July, 1830, the confederate tribes of the Sacs and Foxes ceded to the United States a strip of country lying south of the above line, twenty miles in width, and extending along the line aforesaid from the Missis- sippi to the Des Moines river. The Sioux also, whose possessions were north of the line, ceded to the Government, in the same treaty, a strip on the north side of the boundary. Thus the United States, at the ratification of this treaty, February 24, 1831, came into possession of a portion of Iowa forty miles wide, extending along the Clarke and Cass line of 1825, from the Mississippi to the Des Moines river. This territory was then known as the "Neutral Ground," and the tribes on either side of the line were allowed to fish and hunt on it unmolested until it was made a Winne- bago reservation, and the Winnebagos were removed to it in 1841.

HISTORY OF IOWA.

9. Treuty with the Sacs and Foxes and other tribes .- At the same time of the above treaty respecting the "Neutral Ground" (July 15, 1830), the Sacs and Foxes, Western Sioux, Omahas, Iowas and Missouris ceded to the United States a por- tion of the western slope of Iowa, the boundaries of which were defined as fo !- lows: Beginning at the upper fork of the Des Moines river, and passing the sources of the Little Sioux and Floyd rivers, to the bank of the first creek that falls into the Big. Sioux, or Calumet, on the east side; thence down said creek and the Calumet. river to the Missouri river; thence down said Missouri river to the Missouri State line above the Kansas; thence along said line to the northwest corner of said State; thence to the high lands between the waters falling into the Missonri and Des Moines, passing to said high lands along the dividing ridge between the forks of the Grand river; thence along said high lands or ridge separating the waters of the Missouri from those of the Des Moines, to a point opposite the source of the Boyer river, and thence in a direct line to the upper fork of the Des Moines, the place of beginning.

It was understood that the lands ceded and relinquished by this treaty were to be assigned and allotted, under the direction of the President of the United States, to the tribes then living thereon, or to such other tribes as the President might locate thereon for hunting and other purposes. In consideration of three tracts of land ceded in this treaty, the United States agreed to pay to the Sacs 83,000; to the Foxes, $3,000; to the Sioux, $2,000; to the Yankton and Santec bands of Sioux, $3,000;

to the Omahas, $1,500; and to the Ottoes and Missouris, $2,500- to be paid annnally for ten successive years. In addition to these annuities, the Government agreed to furnish some of the tribes with b'ack- smiths and agricultural implements to the amount of $200, at the expense of the United States, and to set apart 83,000 an- nually for the education of the children of these tribes. It does not appear that any fort was erected in this territory prior to the erection of Fort Atkinson on the Neu- tral Ground in 1840-'41.

This treaty was made by William Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and Col. Willoughby Morgan, of the United States First Infantry, and came into effect by proclamation, February 24, 1831.

10. Treaty with the Winnebagos .- Made at Fort Armstrong, Rock Island, September 15th, 1832, by General Winfield Scott and Hon. John R-ynolds, Governor of Illinois. In this treaty the Winne- bagos ceded to the United States all their land lying on the east side of the Missis- sippi, and in part consideration therefor the United States granted to the Winne- bagos, to be held as other Indian lands are held, that portion of Iowa known as the Neutral Grounds The exchange of the two tracts of country was to take place on or before the 1st day of June, 1833. In addition to the Neutral Grounds, it was stipulated that the United States should give the Winnebagos, beginning in Sep- tember, 1833, and continuing for twenty- seven successive years, $10,000 in specie, and establish a school among them with a farm and garden, and provide other facili- ties for the education of their chi dren, not to exceed in cost $3,000 a year, and to con-

HISTORY OF IOWA.

tinne the same twenty-seven successive years. Six agriculturists, twelve yoke of oxen, and plows and other farming tools were to be supplied by the Government.

11. Treaty of 1832 with the Sacs and Foxes .- Already mentioned as the Black llawk purchase.

12. Treaty of 1836 with the Sacs and Foxes .- Ceding Keokuk's reserve to the United States, for which the Government stipulated to pay $30,000, and an annuity of $10,000 for ten successive years, to- gether with other sums and debts of the Indians to various parties

13. Treaty of 1837 .- On the 21st of October, 1837, a treaty was made at the city of Washington, between Carey A. Harris, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and the confederate tribes of Sacs and Foxes, ratified February 21, 1838, wherein another slice of the soil of Iowa was ob- tained, described in the treaty as follows:

"A tract of country containing 1,250,000 acres, lying west and adjoining the tract conveyed by them to the United States in the treaty of September 21, 1832. It is understood that the points of termination for the present cession shall be the north- ern and southern points of tract as fixed by the survey made under the authority of the United States, and that a line shall be drawn between them so as to intersect a line extended westwardly from the angle of said tract nearly opposite to Rock Island, as laid down in the above survey, so far as may be necessary to include the number of acres hereby ceded, which last mentioned

line, it is estimated, will be about twenty- five miles."

This piece of land was about twenty-five" miles in the middle, and ran off to a point at both ends, lying directly back to the Black Hawk purchase, and of the same length.

14. Treaty of Relinquishment .- At the same date as the above treaty, in the city of Washington, Carey A. Harris, Commis- sioner, the Sacs and Foxes ceded to tl e United States all their right and interest in the country lying south of the boundary line between the Sacs, Foxes and Sioux, as described in the treaty of August 19, 1825, and between the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, the United States paying for the same $160,000. The Indians also gave up all claims and interests under the treaties previously made with them, for the satis- faction of which no appropriations had been made.

15. Treaty of 1842 .- The last treaty was made with the Sacs and Foxes October 11, 1842; ratified March 23, 1843. It was made at the Sac and Fox agency (Agency City), by John Chambers, Commissioner on behalf of the United States. In this treaty the Sac and Fox Indians ceded to the United States all their lands west of the Mississippi to which they had any claim or title By the terms of this treaty they were to be removed from the country at the expiration of three years, and all who remained after that were to move at their own expense. Part of them were removed to Kansas in the fall of 1845, and the rest the spring following.

HISTORY OF IOWA.

CHAPTER IV.

EARLY SETTLEMENTS.

The first permanent settlement made by whites within the limits of Iowa, was by Julien Dubuque, in 1788, when, with a small party of miners, he settled on the site of the city that now bears his name, where he lived until his death, in 1810. What was known as the Girard settlement, in Clayton county, was made by some parties prior to the commencement of the present century. It consisted of three cabins, in 1805. Louis Honori settled on the site of the present town of Montrose, probably in 1799, and resided there until 1805, when his property passed into other hands. Indian traders had established themselves at various points at an early date. Mr. Johnson, an agent of the American Fur Company, had a trading post below Burlington, where he carried on traffic with the Indians some- time before the United States purchased Louisiana. In 1820, LeMoliese, a French trader, had a station at what is now San- dusky, six miles above Keokuk, in Lee county. The same year, a cabin was built where the city of Keokuk now stands, by Dr. Samuel C. Muir, a surgeon in the United States Army. His marriage and subsequent life were very romantic. While stationed at a military post on the Upper Mississippi, the post was visited by a bean- tiful Indian maiden-whose native name, unfortunately, has not been preserved- who, in her dreams, had seen a white brave

unmoor his canoe, paddle it across the river, and come directly to her lodge. She felt assured, according to the superstitious belief of her race, that in her dreams she had seen her future husband, and had come to the fort to find him. Meeting Dr. Muir, she instantly recognized him as the hero of her dream, which, with childlike innocence and simplicity, she related to him. Her dream was indeed prophetic. Charmed with Sophia's beauty, innocence and devo- tion, the doctor honorably married her; but after awhile the sneers and gibes of his brother officers-less honorable than he, perhaps-made him feel ashamed of his dark-skinned wife, and when his regiment was ordered down the river to Bellefon- taine, it is said he embraced the opportu- uity to rid himself of her, never expecting to see her again, and little dreaming that she would have the courage to follow him. But, with her infant child, this intrepid wife and mother started alone in her canoe, and after many days of weary labor an l a lonely journey of 900 miles, she at last reached him. She afterward remarked, when speaking of this toilsome journey down the river in search of her husband: "When I got there I was all perished away-so thin !" The doctor, touched by such unexampled devotion, took her to his heart, and ever after, until his deatlı, treat- ed her with marked respect. She always

HISTORY OF IOWA.

presided at his table with griee and dig- nity, but never abandoned her native style of dress. In 1819-'20 he was stationed at Fort Edward, now Warsaw, but the sense- less ridicule of some of his brother officers on account of his Indian wife induced him to resign his commission He then built a cibin, as above stated, where Keokuk is now situated, and made a claim to some land. This claim he leased to Otis Rey- nolds and John Culver, of St Louis, and went to La Pointe (afterward Galena), where he practiced his profession for ten years, when he returned to Keokuk. Ilis Indian wife bore to him four children- Louise, James, Mary and Sophia. Dr. Muir died suddenly of cholera, in 1832, but left his property in such a condition that it was soon wasted in vexatious liti- gation, and his brave and faithful wife, left friendless and penniless, became discour- aged, and, with her two younger children, disappeared. It is said she returned to her people, on the Upper Missouri.

The gentleman who had leased Dr. Muir's claim at Keokuk, subsequently em. ployed as their agent Moses Stillwell, who arrived with his family in 1828, and took possession. His brothers in-law, Amos and Valencourt Van Ansdał, eame with him and settled near. Mr Stillwell's daughter Margaret (afterward Mrs. Ford), was born in 1831 at the foot of the rapids, called by the Indians Puekasbetuck. She was prob- ably the first white American child born in lowa.

In 1829 Dr. Isane Gallaud made a set- tlement on the Lower Rapids, at what is now Nashville. The same year James S. Langworthy, who had been engaged in lead mining at Galena since 1824, resolved

to visit the Dubuque mines The lead mines in the Dubuque region were an objeet of great interest to the miners about Galena, for they were known to be rich in lead ore. To explore these mines, and to obtain permission to work them was there- fore eminently desirable. Crossing the Mississippi at a point now known as Dun- leith, in a canoe, and swimming his horse by his side, he landed on the spot known as the Jones Strcet Levee. Before him was spread out a beautiful prairie, on which the city of Dubuque now stands. Two miles south, at the mouth of Catfish creek, was a village of Sacs and Foxes. Thither Mr. Langworthy proceeded. and was well received by the natives. He endeavored to obtain permission from them to mine in their hills; but this they refused. Ile, however, suceceded in gain- ing the confidence of the chief to such an extent as to be allowed to travel in the interior for three weeks, and explore the country. He employed two young Indians as guides, and traversed in different diree- tions the whole region lying between the Maquoketa and Turkey rivers. He re- tu ned to the village, secured the good will of the Indians, and, returning to Galena, formed plans for future operations, to be executed as soon as the circumstances would permit. In the following year, with his brother, Lucius H., and others, having obtained the consent of the Indians, Mr. Langworthy crossed the Mississippi and commenced mining in the vicinity around Dubuque.

Although these lands had been pur- chased from France, they were not in the actual posession of the United States. The Indian titles had not been ex-

HISTORY OF IOWA.

tinguished, and these adventurous persons were beyond the limits of any State or Territorial government. The first settlers were therefore obliged to be their own law-makers, and to agree to such regula- tions as the exegencies of the case de- manded. The first act resembling civil legislation in Iowa was done by the miners at this point, in June, 1830. They met on the bank of the river, by the side of an old cottonwood drift log, at what is now the Jones Street Leevee, Dubuque, and elected a committee, consisting of J. C. Lang- worthy, H F. Lander, James McPhetres, Samuel Scales and E. M. Wren. This may be called the first Legislature in Iowa, the members of which gathered around that old cottonwood log, aud agreed to and re- ported the following, written by Mr. Lang- worthy, on a half sheet of coarse, unruled paper, the old log being the writing desk:

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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 5

Author: Union publishing company, Springfield, Ill., pub Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Springfield, Ill., Union publishing company Number of Pages: 1088

Author: Union publishing company, Springfield, Ill., pub
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Springfield, Ill., Union publishing company
Number of Pages: 1088