USA > Iowa > Wright County > History of Wright County, Iowa, its peoples, industries and institutions > Part 35
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).
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 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49
388
WRIGIIT COUNTY, IOW.1.
the last embrace between my mother and her sister Mary, and finally of the reluctant start to the land of promise-our own beloved Iowa.
"We were about five weeks making the journey of seven hundred miles to Benton county, Iowa. The weather was generally nice on the trip -the roads were fair until we reached Indiana. There they would have been impassable for miles at a stretch had it not been for the corduroy roads which consisted of round logs laid side by side in the mud, and over which the wagon jolted with one continuons thud for hour after hour. We camped out nearly every night, sleeping in the wagons, and on the whole, we did not consider it a bad experience. We crossed the Mississippi river at Muscatine, on an old ferry-boat which we did not consider very safe. I remember this was on Saturday evening. We camped just at the edge of town at the farm of a Mr. Horton. At night our best mare "Lydia" was taken sick and though all was done that could be done at the time to save her, she died before morning. This was a sad loss to father and mother and I well remember the tears mother shed over the death of our favorite mare. Mother had an uncle Calahan Dwigans, living near Tipton, Cedar county. Father borrowed a saddle of Mr. Horton and rode the other mare up to Mr. Dwigans and there borrowed a horse to take us to his place, where we visited a week. While we were there mother's brother. B. R. Dwigans and his wife came down there with a two-horse team to visit at Calahan Dwigans who was the father of B. R. Dwigan's wife. When we were all ready to continue our journey we hitched three horses to our "Concord" covered wagon and hitched uncle's wagon behind and so made the balance of the trip to Benton county. The first year spent in Iowa we lived with my uncle, B. R. Dwigans, in a small one-room log house with a loft or attic overhead in which we three children slept.
"In the spring of 1855 father planted a crop of corn on some land which he rented from a David Kirkpatrick, who had been in the county several years and had acquired a large amount of land and was considered the wealthiest man in the community. One would think Benton county was new enough for anyone at that time and so it was, but timber land was in great demand as this was before the enactment of the herd law, and the farm land had to be fenced to protect the crops. Timber accordingly was quite high in price and as father had but little money and desired to enter some government land and also some timber near to his prairie land, he therefore mounted old "Dart" and in June, 1855 started out to find such a place as suited his ideal and also one that would conform to the dimen- sions of his meager pocket-book. He went northwest and the first night he
389
WRIGHT COUNTY, IOWA.
was out camped in Fifteen Mile Grove, Tama county, with a couple of other men who were also looking for government land. They were going up to l't. Dodge, the government land office then being located there. They per- suaded father to go along with them. While at Ft. Dodge he accidentally met a man by the name of James L. Franks, who lived over on the Boone river in Wright county. He told him what a fine country there was over on the Boone, and as father had told him of his desire to enter some land and get some timber near by, he said he had come over to Ft. Dodge to enter an extra nice quarter section of land of which he had the numbers with him and if father wanted to go with him he would let him have the said tract of land and woukl also sell him some timber within one mile of the land, at ten dollars per acre. Father went. with him, entered the tract of land, bought the timber and got back to Benton county about the first of July. It will be seen from the foregoing statements that father's locating in Wright county and on the Boone river, was owing to a couple of acci- dental circumstances. Had he not met those two men at Fifteen Mile Grove he might not have gone to Ft. Dodge at that particular time, at least, and had he not met the man Franks he would not have come to the Boone river or to Wright county.
"We remained in Benton county for three years after father entered his land in Wright county. During the summer of 1856 father built a house in Shellsburg, and the winter of 1856-57 he taught school at Shells- burg. This house was a small one-story affair, built of hewed logs and was situated about one-half mile east of the village. That winter was one of the most severe ones that has ever been known in the state of lowa. The snow was very deep-about two and one-half feet on the level-and was drifted clear over the tops of high stake-and-rider fences. The next spring ( spring of 1857) father sold his house in Shellsburg and bought forty acres of land one mile west of the town and farmed it during the summer. The next spring he sold the little farm and in the month of June, 1858, we started for Wright county. We came with two yoke of oxen hitched to a covered wagon. We camped out and slept in and under the wagon. The summer of 1858 was one of the wettest on record. There were no bridges over the sloughs or streams and our trip was one con- tinuous wallow most of the way from Benton county to Wright. It was no uncommon experience to mire down two or three times -- sometimes three and four times-a day and have to unload the wagon and carry the contents over the sloughs, pull the wagon out of the mud backwards and go over the slough empty at some other place. Finally, after about two
390
WRIGHT COUNTY, IOWA.
weeks we arrived safely at our destination. The last day of our travel we came to Eagle creek, on the road or track running from Wall lake to Gold- field, the creek was high and wide, and the question was how to cross it with the family. Father went into the creek and found he could just wade it. So the thoughit occurred to him to ferry the family across in a large wash tub. There were five of us children and the three eldest he took across one at a time in the tub, and the two youngest who were only about three and five years of age, he took across at one trip. When it came to mother he tied a small tub beside the larger one and she was taken across sitting in the big tub but resting part of her weight on her hands in the small tub. When the family were all safely over, he swam the oxen and wagon across and we proceeded on our way rejoicing.
"Well, we were finally in Wright county and on the Boone river at the place father had visited and bought his land three years before. The mos- quitoes were a perfect fright and we suffered greatly from them night and day. There were no such things as screens in those days and we lived in a log shanty about a mile from our place; it was so open that one could throw a cat through it most any place. Father had to go into the timber, cut logs and haul them to the saw-mill and have the lumber sawed to build the house. Luckily, there was a good steam saw-mill within one-half mile of father's timber. He hired a man by the name of Alexander Usher to help him and they soon cut and hanled to the mill enough logs to build a small frame house. He hired two or three carpenters at one dollar and fifty cents a day and they soon had the house inclosed and the roof on and we moved in. The house was built in the most primitive way-the siding being nailed directly on the studding, without sheeting or paper between the siding- being sawed ont of our native timber. It is easily seen that it would not make a very tight or close job. With the house in this condition we spent our first winter in Wright county. Luckily, the winter was an open one and we did not suffer greatly with the cold even though we had no means of heating the house but a cook stove and wood.
"That winter father taught the school in Goldfield, three miles away and my sister Mary, aged twelve, brother Will, aged eight and myself went to his school walking all the time, sometimes through quite a deep snow. We were not warmly clothed like children are at the present time. We had no overcoats and did not know of such a thing as underclothes, but we were young and tough and were as well clothed as the other children of the neighborhood and so we were contented. Father continued to teach school in the winter for quite a number of years and just as soon as he got some
391
WRIGHIT COUNTY, IOW.A.
land under cultivation he raised a patch of broom corn each year and in the winters made his quota of half a dozen brooms each night and two dozen on Saturdays. He also acted, at times, as neighborhood cobbler for which he took in a little money and on the whole got along pretty well for those times. He gave a good deal of attention to the business of cattle raising, and as there was an unlimited range as well as hay privileges, the only limit to the number of cattle one could keep was his capacity to put up hay for them. Cattle brought good prices, too, considering the cost of raising them-a three-year-old steer bringing from thirty to forty dollars. And so the years rolled on-the family was growing up-working on the farm in summer and going to the district school in the winter-thereby get- ting a fair education, as well as learning the essential lesson of industry. Mary and I began teaching when we were sixteen years of age and I taught each winter but one, for seventeen years.
"The fall of 1867 father was elected county treasurer. The county seat had then been located at Clarion and a court house was built. Father, in fulfilling his duties of the office, would walk to Clarion on Monday morn- ing and back Saturday evenings-doing all the work of the office himself. lle slept in the court room at night and was sometimes a little uneasy on account of the responsibility he was under as custodian and guardian of the public funds. There was then in the treasurer's office an old safe which locked with a key and which would have been just a plaything for any safe- cracker who knew anything about his business at all. In this safe the funds of the county were kept. There was not at that time a bank in Wright county and he had to keep an account at one of the banks at Webster City, in order to float the drafts which he continually received in payments of taxes. Most of the land was then owned by non-residents and most all of the taxes were paid in drafts. After leaving the treasurer's office, which he did in 1870, he built a new house on his farm and settled down to enjoy the comforts of a good home and the peaceful employment of agriculture and stock raising. The eldest daughter, Mary, was now married, the two eldest boys were gone for themselves and only the two youngest boys Lon and Ed remained at home to assist father with his farm work.
"About this tinie a lyceum or debating club was organized at Goldfield. in which father took a prominent part. That society continued to exist for a good many years, through the winter seasons and there were no questions of politics, finance, ethics or religion that was too big for them to tackle. These were ably debated, too. Some of the ablest discussions to which I have ever listened were held by that debating club. Among those who were
39-
WRIGHT COUNTY, IOWA.
prominent in the society were C. N. Overbaugh, S. M. Huyck, John Hanna, George W. Hanna, Dr. A. B. Brackett and J. W. Parmalee, while among the lesser lights were J. M. Overbaugh, M. Hoover, George Melrose and a few others. I wish here and now to bear testimony to the great benefits of the old-fashioned debating clubs. I do not know of anything that has started so many young men on the road to effective public speaking and shown them the powers that were within them. A good many of those who took part in that lyceum are now in their graves, but those who sur- vive, as well as large numbers of citizens of those times, both old and young, remember the good times they had at the lyceum in that old school house in Goldfield and speak of them with pleasure to this day.
"In his early manhood, Mr. Overbaugh affiliated with the Democratic party. He voted for Franklin Pierce for President, which he regretted later on account of Pierce's disposition to truckle to the institution of slavery. He became a Republican with the organization of that party and voted for Fremont in 1856, and he voted for every nominee of that party for Presi- dent as long as he lived. But while he was a Republican he was a, very independent one and did his own thinking and frequently disagreed with the policies and acts of the Republican party.
"In his religious opinions he was very independent. He refused to be governed or restricted by dogmas or any so-called authority which did not appeal to his reason and his own best judgment. He was an extensive reader; was well informed in the matter of religious history; was a good thinker: a close and exact reasoner and was always ready and able to give a reason for the faith within him.
"Few men were his equal in the discussion of religious questions. Being of an argumentative turn of mind, and also thoroughly posted in the fiekl of religious thought and religious literature, he was no mean antagonist. He was, however, a man of a broadly religious nature. He believed fully in the great and noble doctrine of doing good and no man in the community was more ready than he to give of his means of his time, to minister to the wants of the needy or distressed. When the grasshoppers devoured the whole crop of the people of northwestern Iowa and when the drouth and heat burned up the crop of South Dakota and Kansas, he was the first man in the community to make a move to raise means for their relief. Ile was a man of great integrity of character, strictly honest and honorable in all his dealings as well as in his thoughts and purposes. Ile never contended or stood for anything in which he did not fully believe, nor take or hold to any position just for the sake of argument. In July, 1880, his third son,
393
WRIGHT COUNTY, IOWA.
Alonzo, died, and the next spring his daughter, Hattie, wife of Ed Hart- sock, also went to her grave, and from this time on he seemed, in a measure, to lose his interest in business and also to some extent his hold on life. He soon after had a slight stroke of paralysis, from which he soon recovered. In the fall of 1802, he sold the old farm where so much of his life had been spent and which had been his joy and pride, to D. D. Wood, who had come out from Illinois on a visit to his brother-in-law, a Mr. Green, who resided west of Goldfield. He got forty dollars per acre for the farm of two hundred and eighty acres and this was the top price any farm on the Boone river had brought up to that time.
"The next spring ( 1803) he moved with his wife to Clarion and built a house during the summer. His health was.poor during the time he was building and he also missed and mourned for his old home and farm. He was not contented in town and did not see much comfort after leaving the farm. He got his house finished and moved in but lived only five weeks afterward-dying on the 9th of November, 1893. Ilis remains were buried in the beautiful cemetery at Goldfield in the lot where his son, Alonzo, bad been laid. The Rev. Mr. Findlay of the United Presbyterian church gave a short discourse at the grave and Hon. J. E. Rowen paid a beautiful tribute to his life and character.
"In conclusion I will say that I regard C. N. Overbaugh, my dear father, as one of the best, noblest and truest men I ever knew. llis influ- ence was potent for good in his family and in the community, and I am glad to have derived my origin from such a good, true and able man."
HON. E. A. HOWLAND.
This biography relates to one of the pioneers who laid well the founda- tion stones of the government in Wright county and the state of Iowa, as well. E. A. Howland was born in Watertown, New York, in 1832. This family traces back to John Howland who came to America on the "May- flower." He was reared to farm labor on his father's farm, receiving his education at the common schools. In 1855 he went to Joliet, Illinois, and in April, 1856, to Ft. Dodge, lowa. On reaching Iowa Falls on his journey, the stages were unable to go through and Mr. Howland and others started on foot, but finding the streams badly swollen only Mr. Howland and George Crosby went through. He did not locate at Ft. Dodge, however, but
394
WRIGHT COUNTY, IOWA.
returned to Webster City, where he purchased an interest in the old Will- son House, later the Hamilton House.
In January, 1858, E. A. Howland was married to a lady of Ohio. They then went to Ft. Dodge, and conducted the old St. Charles hotel. In the spring of 1859 he turned his attention to farming and stock raising at Otis- ville, Wright county. Here he made a specialty of dairying and his pro- ducts became widely known for the excellence of their quality. He bought a farm containing three hundred acres, was very successful as a farmer and drifted into the real-estate business.
Mrs. Howland died in 1870 and the following December E. A. Howland married S. Lou Myatt, of Ohio. In the fall of 1871 he was elected to a seat in the lowa Legislature, being senator from the Forty-ninth senatorial dis- trict, serving through two sessions of the General Assembly. In October, 1873, Mr. Howland sold his farm and removed to Belmond and engaged in merchandising, following that until December, 1882, when he engaged in the hotel business at the new town of Eagle Grove, operating the Caldwell House, commencing in August. 1884. Senator Howland was a Republican and in church connections a Congregationalist.
HON. SUMNER BARSTOW HEWETT.
The name which introduces this sketch is familiar to all citizens of Wright county. Sumner Barstow Hewett was born on June 22. 1833, at Northbridge, Massachusetts, son of S. B. Hewett, Sr. The father and son were among the first settlers in what is now Eagle Grove township, and in their log cabin the county was organized. His brother-in-law, N. B. Paine, came in at the same date and is mentioned in a biography in this work. The old Hewett farm was known throughout northwestern lowa at an early date. It contained six hundred acres and was well improved. It was stocked with Shorthorn and Jersey cattle.
S. B. Hewett was appointed county judge in 1861, hence always went by the name of Judge Hewett, and was elected as county judge in October, following his appointment. In 1862 he was appointed revenue collector for the sixth district of Iowa, and held the office until he was turned out by President Andrew Johnson. Ile served as engrossing clerk in the state Senate in the session of 1862-63, and was also assistant secretary in the Senate. In 1871 he was elected as a member to the General Assembly,
395
WRIGHT COUNTY, IOWA.
where he did excellent service, being chairman of numerous committees. Ile was also one of the directors of the lowa State Fair. He was a shrewd party worker and held many public offices to his credit and for the upbuild- ing of the state.
Mr. Hewett was made a Mason in 1862. Much of the credit for locating Eagle Grove city is due to his untiring energy and influence with officers of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company. The place was finally platted about one mile from his pioneer farm home. He worked for the town's uplift and spent much money in building and beautifying the place and its environments. For all this Judge Hewett was finally amply rewarded, financially. After making a fortune he and his good wife, Abbie (Parker ) Hewett, removed to California, where he enjoyed the land of sunshine and fruit until called by death, June 12, 1906. Perhaps the best public work he ever accomplished in lowa was his zealous efforts in trying to secure railroads through the Northwest. He was one of the first men to suggest the construction of the lowa & Pacific railway, now a part of the Chicago Great Western system. Judge Hewett was not without his enemies, but all men who accomplish anything in life have enemies as well as friends. He was a man of fine appearance, a true gentleman and had many virtues worthy of emulation.
HON. JOHN E. ROWEN.
The following sketch of the life of John F. Rowen, a distinguished citizen of Wright county, was written by J. M. Overbangh, of Goklfiekl. lowa, who made one of the two addresses at his funeral at Rowen, where he died on May 1, 1914, aged seventy-seven years :
John E. Rowen was born on the 26th of July. 1837, at the town of Thompsonville, Connecticut. He came of good old Irish stock, his parents having emigrated from Ireland and settled in Thompsonville a short time before the boy, J. E. Rowen, was born. His father, Robert Rowen, and his mother, Elizabeth, were substantial, industrious people, and during their lives raised quite a numerous family and also accumulated quite a nice for- tune.
They came to Wright county, lowa, in an early day and remained here during the rest of their lives. They remained in Thompsonville. Connecti- cut, however, until John E. Rowen was fifteen years old. During the child- hood of John he had had but little schooling, attending the public school for
396
WRIGHT COUNTY, IOW.A.
only about two years up to the time he was fifteen, so his education was almost all acquired by his own efforts outside of school. At the age of nine years he commenced to work in the woolen and carpet-mills and con- tinned to so work until he came to lowa with his parents in 1852, and settled in Cedar county, about four miles from Tipton, at Red Oak Grove.
Here he worked on a farm to help support the family. His parents were poor, bringing with them to Cedar county only fifty dollars in money. When a child he had a great thirst for reading and read everything within his reach, including Neal's "History of the Puritans," Shakespeare, Alli- son's "General History of Europe," "History of the Indian," "New Eng- land Wars," etc. Before he was twelve years old he had read the histories of Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, Greece, Egypt, Rome and Carthage. Ile also read "flistory of the Crusaders" and works on natural history. This same penchant for reading continued all through his life. Ile made himself familiar with the great works of fiction, including Dickens, Thackeray, George Elliot, Charles Lever and many others, but for the 'trashy and superficial class of fiction he had no use. The writer heard Mr. Rowen deliver a lecture many years ago on the subject of literature, in which he showed a fine judgment and discrimination.
Mr. Rowen always had a religions cast of mind, commencing with the little prayers at his mother's knee. He was converted at a camp meeting in Benton county, lowa, when he was twenty-one years old, and united with the United Brethren church at Belmond almost immediately afterward. He was licensed to preach at lowa Falls and given work in Butler and Franklin counties. During the early part of his ministry he was known as the "Boy Preacher." For fourteen years he labored in the ministry with success- hokiing many important revivals, in which about one thousand two hundred people were converted. During this time he organized and started twelve churches, several of which are still in a flourishing condition. In trend of thought Mr. Rowen's mind was liberal and tolerant of the opinions and views of others. Ile was at one time owner and editor of the Belmond Herald, in which field he was quite successful-doubling the circulation and largely increasing the advertising patronage in a short time. It was, per- haps, in the field of fire insurance where he made his greatest success in a business way.
For twenty-two years Mr. Rowen was agent for the Hawkeye Insur- ance Company, and during that time he did business for that company to the extent of a quarter of a million dollars, and in all of this time there was no friction between him and the company, nor was his integrity called
397
WRIGHT COUNTY, IOWA,
in question. Mr. Rowen served four years as state Senator from the Wright, Hamihon and Hardin county district, during which time in one session of the Legislature he succeeded in getting nine bills enacted into laws, being surpassed in number by only one senator. He has also served fourteen years as United States consul-ten years at the Falkland Islands and nearly four years at Punta Arenas, Chile. As consul, Mr. Rowen attained eminent success, giving perfect satisfaction to the people among whom he labored, as well as to the government which he served.
When Mr. Rowen finally gave up his position at Punta Arenas on account of old age, and that he might spend his declining years in quiet and retirement. he received a letter from the state department expressing the fullest satisfaction with his entire work and greatly regretting that he felt compelled to give up the position. Everyone who was acquainted with John E. Rowen knew of his great liberality, his unbounded hospitality and his readiness to help the needy and distressed. His home was always open to anyone in want and many are those who have been fed and cheered on their way in his hospitable home. He bore in mind the saying of Jesus, "Inas- much as ye did it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye did it unto Me."
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.