USA > Iowa > Hancock County > History of Winnebago County and Hancock County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 9
USA > Iowa > Winnebago County > History of Winnebago County and Hancock County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 9
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35
Article IX of the "Articles of Confederation"-the first organic law of the American Republic-gave Congress "the sole and exclusive right and power to regulate the trade with, and manage the affairs of the Indians." Under the authority conferred by this article, Con- gress issued the order of September 22, 1783, forbidding all persons to settle upon the Indian domain. The Articles of Confederation were superseded by the Constiution, which likewise gave to Congress the exclusive power to regulate Indian affairs. By the act of March 1, 1793, Congress declared : "That no purchase or grant of lands, or any claim or title thereto, from any Indians, or nation or tribe of Indians, within the bounds of the United States, shall be of any validity, in law or equity, unless the same be made by a treaty or convention entered into pursuant to the Constitution."
The first treaties between the United States and the Indian tribes were merely agreements of peace and friendship, but as the white population increased treaties for the acquisition of lands were negoti- ated by the Government and the continuation of this policy gradually crowded the red man farther and farther westward before the advance of civilization.
TREATY OF 1804
At the beginning of the Nineteenth Century the white man was already looking with longing eyes upon the broad prairies of Illinois, where lived the Sacs and Foxes and some other tribes. When the Louisiana Purchase was made a clamor arose for the removal of the Indians in Illinois to the new domain west of the Mississippi. Gen. William H. Harrison, then governor of the Indiana Territory, negoti- ated a treaty at St. Louis on November 4, 1804 by which the Saes and Foxes ceded to the United States their lands east of the Mississippi, but retained the privilege of dwelling thereon until the lands were actually sold to white settlers, when they were to remove to the west side of the river. At that time it was the custom of the confederated tribes to give instructions to their chiefs or delegates to a treaty convention as to what course should be pursued, or, in the absence of such instructions, afterward confirm the action of the delegates by a vote in council.
One faction of the Sacs and Foxes claimed that the delegates to St. Louis had no instructions to sell the lands east of the river, and a considerable number, under the leadership of Black Hawk, refused to confirm the sale. The opposition to the St. Louis treaty was largely
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responsible for the alliance of Black Hawk and his band with the British in the War of 1812. After that war treaties of peace were made with several of the tribes that had fought against the United States. Black Hawk and his followers were the last to enter into such a treaty. On May 13, 1816, at St. Louis, a number of Sac and Fox chiefs and head men were induced to sign a treaty confirming that of 1804. One of the twenty-two chiefs who then "touched the goose quill" was Black Hawk, who, although he never denied signing the treaty, afterward repudiated the agreement.
It required considerable diplomacy on the part of the United States to induce Black Hawk and his followers to remove to the west side of the Mississippi, but in 1830 they crossed over into Iowa "under protest." Not satisfied with his new home, he recrossed the river in the spring of 1831, with a number of his braves and their families, and took posession of their former cornfields on the Rock River. General Gaines was sent with a force of troops to expel the Indians and Black Hawk was solemnly admonished not to repeat the offense. Despite the warning, the old chief, influenced by a "bad medicine man" named Wa-bo-bie-shiek, again crossed over into Illinois in 1832. Again troops were sent against him and the conflict which followed is known as the "Black Hawk war," which ended in the defeat of the Indians in the battle of Bad Axe, August 2, 1832. Black Hawk and his two sons were captured and held for some time as prisoners of war.
THE NEUTRAL GROUND
Going back a few years, it is necessary to notice a treaty which, though no lands were ceded by it for white settlement, played a con- spicuous part in the subsequent history of Iowa. About 1825 the Sioux on the north and the Sacs and Foxes on the south became involved in a dispute over the limits of their respective hunting grounds and the United States undertook to settle the controversy. William Clark and Lewis Cass were appointed commissioners to hold a council and endeavor to fix a line that would define the boundaries of the different tribes. The council was held at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, August 19, 1825, the chiefs of the Sacs and Foxes, Sioux, Winnebago, Chippewa, Ottawa, Potawatomi, and some other minor tribes taking part. A boundary line was finally agreed upon as follows :
"Beginning at the mouth of the upper Iowa River, on the west bank of the Mississippi and ascending said Iowa River to its west fork; thence up said fork to its source; then crossing the fork of the Red Cedar River in a direct line to the second or upper fork of the Des Moines River; thence in a direct line to the lower fork of the Calumet
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(Big Sioux) River, and down that stream to its junction with the Missouri River."
South of this line was to be the hunting grounds of the Sacs and Foxes, while the country north of it was to be the common property of the other tribes that agreed to the treaty. It soon became apparent . that the imaginary line thus established was not sufficient to keep the contending tribes from trespassing upon each other's domain. Another council was therefore called to meet at Prairie du Chien on JJuly 15, 1830. In the treaty negotiated at this council the Sacs and Foxes ceded to the United States a strip of land twenty miles wide along the northern border of their hunting grounds, extending from the Missis- sippi to the Des Moines, and immediately north of and adjoining this strip the northern tribes ceded a tract twenty miles wide between the same rivers. The forty-mile strip thus formed was known as the "Neutral Ground," which included a portion of the present County of Winnebago. It remained neutral until 1841, when it was given to the Winnebago Indians for a reservation. A few years later that tribe ceded it to the United States.
TREATY OF 1830
At the council of July 15, 1830, which established the "Neutral Ground," the chiefs and head men of the Sac and Fox confederacy entered into a treaty with the representatives of the United States, in which the allied tribes ceded to the United States a tract of land described as follows :
"Beginning at the upper fork of the Demoine River and passing the sources of the Little Sioux and Floyd rivers to the fork of the first creek which falls into the Big Sioux or Calumet River 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 River; thence along said line from the northwest corner of the state to the highlands between the waters falling into the Missouri and Demoine rivers, passing to said highlands along the dividing ridge between the forks of the Grand River; thence along said highlands or ridge dividing the waters of the Missouri from those of the Demoine to a point opposite the source of the Boyer River, and thence in a direct line to the upper fork of the Demoine, the place of beginning."
Part of the land thus ceded is in Minnesota. That portion in Iowa is bounded on the west by the Missouri River; on the south by the line separating Iowa and Missouri; on the east by a line passing through or near the towns of Estherville and Emmetsburg until it
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struck the west fork of the Des Moines River about ten miles above Fort Dodge. The line along the highlands or watershed between the Des Moines and Missouri passed about ten miles west of Carroll, about half-way between Audubon and Guthrie Center, just east of Greenfield, west of Afton and through the town of Mount Ayr.
The lands so ceded were not opened to white settlement, the treaty expressly stipulating that "The lands ceded and relinquished by this treaty are to be assigned and allotted under the direction of the Presi- dent of the United States to the tribes now living thereon, or to such other tribes as the President may locate thereon for hunting and other purposes."
TREATY OF 1832
While Black Hawk and his two sons were held as prisoners of war, the United States negotiated the treaty of September 21, 1832, with the Sac and Fox chiefs under the leadership of Keokuk, in which those tribes ceded to the United States "all lands to which said tribes have any title or claim included within the following boundaries, to wit :
"Beginning on the Mississippi River at the point where the Sac and Fox northern boundary line, as established by Article 2 of the treaty of July 15, 1830, strikes said river; thence up said boundary line to a point fifty miles from the Mississippi, measured on said line ; thence in a right line to the nearest point on the Red Cedar of Ioway, forty miles from the Mississippi; thence in a right line to a point in the northern boundary of the State of Missouri, fifty miles, measured on said line, from the Mississippi River; thence by the last mentioned boundary to the Mississippi River, and by the western shore of said river to the place of beginning."
The ceded territory obtained by this treaty embraces about six million acres. It was taken by the United States as an indemnity for the expenses of the Black Hawk war, and for that reason it has been called the "Black Hawk Purchase." It included the present counties of Cedar, Clinton, Delaware, Des Moines, Dubuque, Henry, Jackson, Jones, Lee, Louisa, Muscatine and Scott, and portions of Buchanan, Clayton, Fayette, Jefferson, Johnson, Linn, Van Buren and Washington. The Black Hawk Purchase was the first Iowa land obtained from the Indians for white settlement.
TREATY OF 1842
The irregular western boundary of the Black Hawk Purchase soon led to disputes between the Indians and the settlers. To adjust these differences of opinion some of the Sac and Fox chiefs were persuaded
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to visit Washington, where on October 21, 1837, they ceded to the United States an additional tract of 1,250,000 acres for the purpose of straightening the western boundary. Upon making the survey it was discovered that the ceded territory was not enough to make a straight line, and again the Indians accused the white settlers of encroaching upon their lands. Negotiations were therefore commenced for addi- tional land to straighten the boundary, and some of the wiser chiefs saw that it was only a question of time until the Indians would have to relinquish all their Iowa lands to the white men. Keokuk, Wapello and Poweshiek especially advised a treaty peaceably ceding their lands to the United States, rather than to wait until they should be taken by force. Through their influence a council was called to meet at the Sae and Fox agency (now Ageney City) in what is now Wapello County. John Chambers, then governor of lowa Territory, was appointed commissioner on behalf of the United States to negotiate the treaty.
The council was held in a large tent set up for the purpose near the agency. Governor Chambers, dressed in the uniform of an army officer, made a short speech stating the object for which the council had been called. Keokuk, clad in all his native finery and bedecked with ornaments, responded. After that there was "much talk," as almost every chief present had something to say. On October 11, 1842, a treaty was concluded by which the allied tribes agreed to cede all their remaining lands in Iowa, but reserved the right to occupy for three years from the date of signing the treaty "all that part of the land above ceded which lies west of a line running due north and south from the Painted or Red Rocks on the White Breast fork of the Des Moines River, which rocks will be found about eight miles in a straight line from the junction of the White Breast and Des Moines."
The red sandstone cliffs, called by the Indians the Painted Rocks, are situated on the Des Moines River in the northwestern part of Marion County, near the town called Red Rock. The line described in the treaty forms the boundary between Appanoose and Wayne counties, on the southern border of the state, and passes thence north- ward between Lucas and Monroe, through Marion, Jasper, Marshall and Hardin counties to the northern limit of the cession. East of this line the land was opened to settlement on May 1, 1843, and west of it on October 11, 1845.
TREATY OF TRAVERSE DES SIOUX
By the treaties concluded at the Indian agency on the Missouri River on June 5 and 17, 1846, the Potawatomi, Ottawa and Chippewa tribes relinquished their claims to "all lands to which they have claim of
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any kind whatsoever, and especially the tracts or parcels of land ceded to them by the treaty of Chicago, and subsequent thereto, and now in whole or in part possessed by their people, lying and being north and east of the Missouri River and embraced in the limits of the Territory of Iowa."
With the conclusion of those two treaties all that portion of the State of Iowa south of the country claimed by the Sioux became the property of the white man. It remained, however, for the Government to extinguish the Sioux title to Northwestern Iowa before the pale-face could come into full possession. This was done by the treaty of Traverse des Sioux on July 23, 1851, when the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands ceded to the United States "All their lands in the State of Iowa, and also all their lands in the Territory of Minnesota lying east of the following line, to wit: Beginning at the junction of the Buffalo River with the Red River of the North; thence along the western bank of the said Red River of the North to the month of the Sioux Wood River; thence along the western bank of the said Sionx Wood River to Lake Traverse; thence along the western shore of said lake to the southern extremity thereof ; thence in a direct line to the junction of Kampesa Lake with the Tchan-kas-ka-da-ta or Sioux River; thence along the western bank of said river to its point of intersection with the northern line of the State of Iowa, including all the islands and said rivers and lake."
The treaty of Traverse des Sioux was agreed to by the Mdewa- kanton band in a treaty concluded at Mendota, Minnesota, on Angust 5, 1851, and by the Wahpeknte band a little later. Thus the great State of Iowa became the complete and undisputed domain of the white man. The period of preparation for a civilized population-a period which began more than two centuries before-was now com- pleted and the hunting grounds of the savage tribes became the culti- vated fields of the Caucasian. The Indian trail has been broadened into the highway or the railroad. Instead of the howl of the wolf and the war-whoop of the red man is heard the lowing of kine and the shriek of factory whistles. Halls of legislation have supplanted the tribal council; modern residences occupy the sites of Indian tepees ; news is borne by telegraph or telephone instead of signal fires on the hilltops, and the church spire rises where once stood the totem pole as an object of veneration; Indian villages have disappeared and in their places have come cities with paved streets, electric lights, stately school buildings, public libraries, newspapers, and all the evidences of modern progress. And all this change has come about within the memory of persons yet living. To tell the story of these years of progress and development is the province of the subsequent chapters of this history.
PART TWO
WINNEBAGO COUNTY
CHAPTER I. EARLY SETTLEMENT
PROGRESS OF WHITE SETTLEMENTS IN IOWA-FIRST COUNTIES-WINNEBAGO ORIGINALLY A PART OF DUBUQUE COUNTY-THE FIRST SETTLERS IN WIN- NEBAGO-SOME FIRST THINGS-PIONEER LIFE AND CUSTOMS-SWAPPING WORK-AMUSEMENTS AND PASTIMES.
As stated in a former chapter, the first white men to behold the State of Iowa, or to set foot upon her soil, were Marquette and Joliet, who visited some Indian villages in what is now Lee County in the summer of 1673. The first white settlement within the present borders of the state was founded by Julien Dubuque in 1788, where the city bearing his name now stands. Eight years later Lonis Honore Tessou received from the Spanish authorities of Louisiana a grant of land at the head of the Des Moines Rapids of the Mississippi river, where the Town of Montrose in Lee County is now located. The titles of Du- buque and Tesson were afterward confirmed by the United States Gov- ernment, but with these exceptions no settlement was legally made in Iowa prior to June 1, 1833, when the title to the "Black Hawk Pur- chase" became fully vested in the United States.
A few French traders had established posts along the Des Moines and Mississippi rivers about the beginning of the Nineteenth Century; Fort Madison was built in 1808 by order of the Government, where the city of that name is now situated; a trading honse was built and a small settlement was made upon the site of the present City of Keokuk in the early '20s, and Burlington was founded in the fall of 1832, soon after the lands of the Black Hawk Purchase were ceded to the United States. But, with the possible exception of Fort Madison and the set- tlement at Dubuque, none of these settlements had the sanction of the United States, and from a legal view-point the occupants were tres- passers upon the Indian lands.
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On that first day of June, 1833, when the Black Hawk Purchase was thrown open to white settlement, hundreds were waiting on the east side of the Mississippi, and they lost no time in crossing over and se- lecting claims. During the next ten years the settlements were ex- tended rapidly westward and in 1843 Fort Des Moines was built upon the site now occupied by the city of that name. A census taken in 1844 showed the population of Iowa to be 75,150.
The first counties-Dubuque and Des Moines-were authorized by an act of the Michigan Legislature in September, 1834. The former included all that portion of the present State of Iowa lying north of a line drawn due westward from the foot of Rock Island, and the latter embraced all that part of the state lying south of the same line. The present County of Winnebago was therefore originally a part of Du- buque County. In many of the older counties of the state settlements were made before the boundaries of the county were defined or a name adopted. Not so with Winnebago. When the state was admitted into the Union in December, 1846, there were but few organized counties west of the Red Rock line established by the treaty of October 11, 1842.
THE FIRST SETTLERS
As early as 1853 Leander Farlow, with a few companions, came into Winnebago County as a hunter and trapper, though no attempt was made to found a permanent settlement. The next year came Philip Tennis on the same kind of a mission. The reports of the country he carried back to Cerro Gordo County induced Thomas Bearse to bring his family to Winnebago with a view to making it his home. He set- tled upon a tract of land belonging to John L. McMillan, of Mason City, early in 1855 and was doubtless the first actual settler. However, Gue, in his History of Iowa, gives that credit to George W. Thomas, who came early in 1855, "took a claim and opened a farm at Rice Lake." Thomas Bearse located on the east side of Lime creek, about three-quarters of a mile east of where Forest City now stands and re- mained in the county until about 1867, when he removed to Hancock county. In 1882 he returned to Winnebago and settled in Norway Township.
William Gilbert was another settler in the spring of 1855. He settled in the southwest corner of what is now Mount Valley Town- ship and lived there until about 1862 or 1863, when he went to Dakota. In the fall of 1855 came John Maben, James C. Bonar and John Gil- christ, with their families, and all settled in the southeastern part of the county. Mr. Maben was at one time the sheriff of Winnebago County. Subsequently he removed to Hancock County, where he was
DR. W. H. JONES
ROBERT CLARK
DAVID SECOR
Born in Putnam County, New York, January 6, 1836, Came to Forest City in 1860. Died Septem- ber 14, 1907.
REV. J. D. MASON The first Congregational minister to settle in Forest City.
WINNEBAGO COUNTY PIONEERS
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erected to the office of county treasurer. Mr. Bonar also removed to Hancock County and lived there for a few years, when he went to Minnesota. In 1883 he went to Kansas and died there some years later. Mr. Gilchrist was an Indianan and after a residence in Winne- bago of about three years he returned to his native state.
The year 1856 saw quite an addition to the population of Winne- bago County. Among those who came in that year were Edward and Henry Allen, Thomas Andrews, John S. Blowers, Josiah T. Bray, Francis M. and John Byford, Robert Clark, Allen T. Cole, James L. Hitt, John Jeffords, John Lamm, Daniel Martin, Archibald Murray, Ira Phummer, Robert Stephens, Philip and Samuel Tennis.
The Allen brothers settled near Forest City, but they remained in the county only a short time. John S. Blowers settled near the center of what is now Forest Township, where he lived for about eighteen months, when he removed to Forest City. He was the first sheriff of Winnebago County and his son, George R. Blowers, was the first white child born in Winnebago County. Josiah T. Bray, also located in Forest Township, where he lived for about three years. He then turned over his farm to his father, Darius Bray, and went to Colorado.
Robert Clark located a claim where Forest City now stands and laid out the town soon after his arrival. He was the first county judge of Winnebago County and while serving in that capacity made the contract for the erection of a courthouse, which was never built. He was also the first postmaster in the county and was one of the active and enterprising business men of Forest City.
Allen T. Cole was a native of Franklin County, Ohio, where he was born in December, 1833. When he was five years old his parents re- moved to Adams County, Indiana, where he received a good common school education. In July, 1855, he came to Iowa, first settling in Cerro Gordo County, and in March, 1856, came to Winnebago. In 1862 he was elected one of the county supervisors, but in August of that year he enlisted as a private in Company B, Thirty-second Iowa In- fantry, and served until July 7, 1865, when he was mustered out at Fort Tyler, Texas, being at the time a paroled prisoner. Mr. Cole was a blacksmith by trade and was one of the early members of the Masonic Lodge at Forest City.
The two Byfords left the county after a short stay-one of them un- der a cloud. He had formed a partnership with Mr. Blowers and was engaged in the mercantile business ; collected all the cash he could and decamped, leaving his partner "to hold the sack." James L. Hitt went to Nebraska after a few years, and John Lamm went to Missouri a few years after the close of the Civil War. John Jeffords and Philip Tennis both laid claim to the same tract of land in Forest Township.
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The contest was settled by arbitrators in favor of Mr. Jeffords and Mr. Tennis then located in the northern part of the county. Robert Stephens returned to his native State of Indiana in 1858.
Other early settlers were : Matthew Heath, John M. Furney, G. W. Campbell and Philip A. Pulver, all of whom came in 1856 and settled in or near Forest City. Heath went back to Indiana after about a year; Furney went south in search of a more congenial climate; Camp- bell left after a residence of about one year, and Pulver left the county in 1859. Charles D. Smith, William Porter and John Anderson all settled near the present Town of Lake Mills in the latter part of 1856.
Avery Baker, the Beebe family, Darius Bray, William Lackore, Charles and David Lutz, Martin Bumgardner and a few others came in the spring and summer of 1857. About the same time several fam- ilies of Norwegians settled in the northeastern part of the county. Among them were Christian Anderson, John Iverson, John Johnson, H. J. Knudson, Colburn Larson, Louis Nelson and Oliver Peterson.
Martin Bumbardner was of German extraction and was born Feb- ruary 5, 1821. Soon after he arrived in Winnebago County he married Miss Caroline E. Church, which was the first marriage to be solemnized in the county. He built the first courthouse in Winnebago County and later removed to Hancock County. His death occurred on January 30, 1884. His widow is still living in Winnebago County.
SOME FIRST THINGS
The first cabin in the county was built by Philip Tennis in 1854, about half a mile east of Forest City.
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