USA > Iowa > Johnson County > Leading Events in Johnson County, Iowa, History > Part 52
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Auxiliary to the Odd Fellows are the Rebekahs where they are organized. Carnation lodge No. 376, of Iowa City, was chartered with forty-five members in 1897. Since then the membership has grown to about three times that number.
The Emilie Albert camp No. 265, of the Royal Neighbors, auxiliary to the Modern Woodmen, was organized in Iowa City in 1896 with fifty charter members. Since then it has in- creased to about two hundred members.
An order formally called the Rathbone Sisters, which is the women's auxiliary of the Knights of Pythias and now called the Pythian Sisters, was instituted under the name of Athens Temple, in 1897. The name suggests its location, since there is no other Athens in the county.
While most of these organizations have social purposes in view some and perhaps all may have at different periods, set apart certain times for some form of serious study, and lec- tures, on certain work. Among those that provide for definite purposes of literary character is the national order of the Daughters of Isabella, one of the leading societies of Catholic
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women in America. The society was founded in Utica, N. Y., in 1904. M. F. Kelley, the present national secretary, was knighted by Pope Pious X for his efforts in organizing the Daughters.
Craigie court No. 94 was organized in Iowa City, November 26, 1908. The purpose of the society is to promote unity and charity and develop a practical Catholicity among its members.
Business meetings of the court are held on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month, in the Knights of Columbus hall. On the fourth Tuesday is also held the monthly literary program. Each year the court issues a year-book which con- tains the programs for each meeting. Besides the general and mortuary fund the society also maintains a charity fund and much work is being done among the poor of the city. The of- ficers of Craigie court are as follows: Grand Regent, May Stach; Vice Grand Regent, Mary Brennan; Prophetess, Ella Lenoch; Monitor, Elizabeth Collins; Financial Secretary, Kathryn Novak; Treasurer, Helen McRaith; Historian, Mar- cella Hotz; Organist, Mary Mckinley; Sentinel, Mrs. Frank Englert; Lecturer, Nora Donohue; Trustees, Mrs. James Kane, Mrs. Baptista Hummer, Mrs. M. O'Reilly, Mrs. Frank Cilek, Mrs. Chas. Bauer, Mrs. Mary Reynolds; Chaplain, Rev. A. Cihal.
The P. E. O. sisterhood, a secret order composed wholly of women, was organized in Iowa City in March, 1883, therefore being one of the earliest in the state after the primary chapter at Mount Pleasant. There were five charter members of the chapter, Maggie Holmes Seerley, Emma Nixon Moon, Clara Seymour Clapp, May Robinson Crawford, and Fannie Ed- wards Guthrie.
This organization is in its aim philanthropic and social, the members throughout its history having been among the best to be found in the community. It is not measured by number of members since the membership, locally, has averaged about twenty-five, who have had many good projects in view to add to the good of humanity.
As early as 1842 the temperance people began to form or- ganizations to further the cause of total abstinence. Even to enumerate all the societies from that time to the present is impossible since they have come and gone in great numbers with the prevailing opinions of how best to promote the
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temperance movement, which will not be determined until the forces that are moving in the direction of self control have been fully understood.
The first total abstinence society was organized largely under the efforts of Dr. Enos Metcalf during the first decade of the county's history. The Washington Temperance society was set in motion just previous to this and there seems to have been some difficulty between the two as to the best methods of conducting temperance campaigns. For a long time the discussion continued before any measures were taken to prohibit the sale of intoxicats by law. The Sons of Tem- perance was a division of a large organization and this par- ticular branch was named "Far West No 4," and the meeting to organize the society was held in the council chamber of the Old Capitol. The list of members included some of the well known names of the early settlers.
The Cadets of Temperance was an organization for boys under eighteen years of age, at which age they could enter the Sons of Temperance by special rules. They selected their own officers and conducted their own meetings, the highest officer being the Royal Archon. This office was held for some time by Wm. P. Hepburn, so long the member of congress from the eighth Iowa district. The cadets were pledged to "avoid the use of tobacco in any form," in addition to the same pledge as taken by the Sons of Temperance, which was very strict. Their meetings were held in the Mechanics' Academy, where Judge Coleman, the Patriarch, attended all the meetings of the order.
The Good Templars were also represented in the temper- ance societies of the county and by 1855, the subject was well discussed and the education of the people on the question was thought complete.
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CHAPTER XXXVIII
The County in the Nation and State
T HERE have been officers in the national government, claimed as citizens of Johnson county, and among them those who were well known previously in state affairs.
Samuel J. Kirkwood succeeded James Harlan, who might be claimed as a Johnson county representative from pioneer days, in the United States senate in 1865. Senator Harlan had resigned to become Secretary of the Interior. Governor Kirkwood was again chosen senator in 1877, resigning in 1881 to become Secretary of the Interior.
In the forty-fifth and forty-sixth congress, Rush Clark, of Johnson county, was a member of the House of Representa- tives, dying while serving in the first session of the forty-sixth Congress. He represented the old fifth district from 1877 to the time of his death, April 28, 1879. Only one other man from the county, Martin J. Wade, has filled this office, repre- senting the present second district in the fifty-eighth Con- gress, 1903-1905.
Territorial and state officers may be headed by Robert Lucas, although he was the territorial Governor, appointed from Ohio in 1838. The reasons for claiming him as from the county are found in the fact of his continuous residence here in later years, and in that he had acquired real estate here as early as Feburuary, 1839, becoming a member of the Johnson County Claim Association, indicating his preference for this locality and probably also his intention of making this his future home.
As to Samuel Kirkwood, he was first of all a Johnson county citizen, his best years having been spent here and his early interests in public affairs having been expressed here, as his biography will indicate.
The lives of these men have been fully written in recent
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years, and the items here will simply indicate their terms of service, with a few incidents that appear to belong in this record.
Governor Kirkwood served the state of Iowa from 1860 to 1864 as the war governor, and again in 1876 and 1877, resign- ing to become United States Senator in February, 1877.
Morgan Reno was the last territorial and the first state treasurer. This office was created in 1839 and he was ap- pointed in 1840. He served as treasurer of the state from 1846 to 1850, and it is apparent that he was the treasurer from 1840 until 1850. Jesse Williams was appointed territorial auditor January 14, 1840, this office having been created on January 7, 1840. On January 14, 1841, the office of territorial agent was created and he was appointed to that position on the next day. The latter office was abolished in 1845, on May 29, and it appears that Mr. Williams was appointed secretary of the territory in that year although he did not serve con- tinuously in this office, since John M. Coleman was the terri- torial agent from 1842 until 1844, when he was succeeded by Anson Hart, who was in this office when it was abolished.
In 1841 William Reynolds, who conducted a school in Iowa City, was appointed to the new office of superintendent of pub- lic instruction, established February 12, 1841, and abolished March 9, 1842.
Chauncey Swan became a citizen of Johnson county after he came here as the locating capitol commissioner, and he is mentioned in many official records.
From 1839 to 1846 Geo. S. Hampton was the clerk and Easton Morris was the reporter of the territorial supreme court. The office of superintendent of public instruction was re-created in 1847, and Joseph C. Stone was appointed from Johnson county to fill a vacancy on March 4, 1857, succeeding James D. Eads, who was suspended from this office. D. Frank- lin Wells occupied the last office mentioned after its restora- tion a second time in 1864, he having been appointed to fill a vacancy due to the resignation of Oran Faville. Professor Wells was a member of the university faculty and was holding the office at the time of his death, November 24, 1868.
The office of registrar of the land office was created in 1855,
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and the first incumbent was Anson Hart, heretofore mentioned as an officer of the territory of Iowa, as its "agent."
In 1878' the office of railroad commissioner was created. The first members including former Governor C. C. Carpenter, James W. McDill and Hon. Peter A. Dey of Johnson county. The first two of these three resigned within a very short time, Mr. Carpenter in August of the year he was appointed and Mr. McDill in 1881, but Mr. Dey continued, by appointment, until 1889 and thereafter by election repeatedly until 1895. From that time he was the president of the First National Bank of Iowa City, becoming such immediately upon his retir- ing from the office of railroad commissioner and retaining it until his death in 1911.
Thomas Hughes of Johnson county was president of the state senate during the first extra session held in 1848.
Smiley H. Bonham was the speaker of the house of repre- sentatives of the state of Iowa during its second session, which convened December 4, 1848.
Rush Clark was the speaker during the ninth and ninth-ex- tra sessions in 1862, during the war period.
The first state printers under the act of 1849 creating this office were Garrett D. Palmer and Geo. B. Paul, who were ap- pointed January 4, 1849.
In 1878 the seventeenth general assembly created the office of director of the Iowa weather and crop service, and the first appointment to this office came to Professor Gustavus Hinrichs of Johnson county, who occupied the place from 1878 to 1890.
The state historical department at Des Moines, established in 1892, was for a short time after the death of Charles Aldrich under the direction of Dr. B. F. Shambaugh, as curator. Dr. Shambaugh is the superintendent of The State Historical Society located in Iowa City.
Dr. Samuel Calvin, from 1892 until his death death in April, 1911, was for the greater part of the time the state geologist.
In the first constitutional convention, 1844, Johnson county had three delegates, Robert Lucas, Samuel H. MeCrory, and Henry Felkner. In the second convention, 1846, Curtis Bates, and in the third, 1857, Johnson and Jones were represented by William Penn Clarke.
The courts of the state have from Johnson county the chief
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justice of the supreme court, Emlin McClain, who was first elected as one of the judges in 1900, and continued in that of- fice; O. A. Byington, judge of the eighth judicial district, 1903 to 1906; S. H. Fairall, the same district, from 1887 to to 1893; R. P. Howell, from 1907 to the present time; William E. Miller, from 1858 to 1859; and in the circuit court, W. J. Haddock, in 1872 and 1873; William E. Miller, in 1869 and 1870.
Milton Remley was the attorney-general of the state in the years 1895 to 1901. Geo. S. Hampton was the clerk of the supreme court, commencing in 1847 and serving until 1855, although not for the entire state continuously since the supreme court as held in four and five districts from 1848 to 1853, each district having its own clerk. William Penn Clarke was the supreme court reporter from 1855 to 1860.
Among these state officials, the state board of health was represented in the county by Dr. J. C. Shrader in a term of service from 1887 until 1902. James M. Davis was deputy secretary of state and Abel Beach was deputy auditor, the former serving under McCleary and Sells from 1854 to 1863.
The legislative branch of the territorial government in- cluded in the upper house, or council, members who came in part from Johnson county, as representatives of the district. According to official reports, Charles Whittlesey, of Cedar county, represented the district in the first meeting of this body."ยบ S. Clinton Hastings was the member for the third and fourth as well as for the seventh and eighth sessions, which leaves the fifth and sixth for Pleasant Harris, or Judge Harris as he is frequently called, of Johnson county.
In the house of representatives of the territory, Robert G. Roberts, of Cedar county, was the member for the first session only; T. T. Clark appears to have been the member in the second session. Then Henry Felkner was chosen for the fourth and fifth legislatures, while James P. Carleton followed in the sixth; in the seventh and eighth, which concluded the period of the territory of Iowa, Hugh D. Downey of Johnson county was the member.
After Iowa became a state it is not quite so difficult to make a correct record of membership in the assembly since the county from which the member came is particularly men-
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tioned. In the state senate, Thomas Hughes was the first member, serving the first, and the first-extra sessions. John- son county had no member from among its citizenship then until the fifth session when Samuel Workman was chosen, Samuel J. Kirkood succeeded him in the sixth assembly, serv- ing also in the seventh; Jesse Bowen was in the senate for the eighth and ninth sessions; then Ezekiel Clarke served for two sessions. He was followed by Samuel H. Fairall in the twelfth to fifteenth inclusive; Ezekiel Clarke was once more chosen for two sessions, the sixteenth and seventeenth; John C. Shrader served the next two, and he was followed by M. Bloom, in the twentieth and twenty-first. Then no member was chosen from the county until the twenty-sixth session, when C. S. Ranck served in this and the extra session following. During the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth, Geo. W. Ball was the senator from this district, and the last one from this county to hold this office to date.
In the lower house of the state assembly we find Smiley H. Bonham, the first member from Johnson county, and he has been mentioned as the "speaker of the house." He and Joseph E. Harrison both appear to have represented Johnson in the second assembly when Gilmon Folsom followed in the third and fourth assemblies. Then Samuel H. McCrory and Rolla Johnson were the numbers in the fifth and fifth-extra, Geo. D. Woodin in the sixth, James Cavanagh and John Clark in the seventh, George T. Davis and Rush Clark in the eighth, and the latter member in the extra session following. Davis, however, was succeeded by J. C. Culbertson in the extra ses- sion of the eighth assembly. Rush Clark and S. H. Fairall were the members in the ninth, while R. S. Finkbine and Warner Spurrier were the representatives in the tenth as- sembly, the former also serving with G. E. DeForest in the eleventh. John P. Irish and Jacob Y. Blockwell were from this county in the twelfth, and the former continued in the thir- teenth and fourteenth assemblies. A. B. Cornell was chosen to the thirteenth assembly, as it appeared, but his seat was con- tested and the case decided in favor of David Stewart from Johnson county. George Paul served in the fourteenth with John P. Irish and in the following assembly George Paul and John Hindman. Rush Clark appears again with Chas W. Mc-
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Cune in the sixteenth; George Paul and Moses Bloom in the seventeenth, and the latter continued during the next assembly, while Lewis R. Wolfe was a member in the seventeenth also. E. W. Lucas and L. R. Wolfe represented the county in the nineteenth assembly and so far as records appear, he and C. S. Ranck served in the twentieth. The last named member, with George W. Ball, were members of the twenty-first, and George W. Wagner of the twenty-second. J. M. Barta Letovsky was the representative alone from Johnson county in the twenty- third assembly; John Springer in the twenty-fourth. C. S. Ranck appears in the house again in the twenty-fifth as- sembly, and O. A. Byington followed him at the next elec- tion. Joe A. Edwards served one term in the twenty-seventh, and then George W. Koontz began the long term of seven continuous assemblies, closing with the thirty-fourth in 1911.
Public officials in the early days were not so common as in the present and their coming and going caused more or less comment, which is illustrated in the following items, which includes the coming of the first governor to the new capital, and the entry into politics of another.
It was on a fine day in September in 1839 that the first territorial governor of Iowa entered the future capital and where he should spend his later days. A party of two gentle- men and two ladies left Bloomington on horse back to cross the intervening country to Iowa City on this particular day, and arriving towards evening they dismounted at the home of Matthew Teneyck, which stood upon the corner where the grocery store of Wm. Pohler is now located. One of the party, acting as guide, was addressed by Mr. Teneyck as General Fletcher, and the gentleman introduced his traveling com- panions as Governor Lucas and his daughters. The long ride and uncommon accommodations were not mentioned by the party in any unhappy way and after the good supper fur- nished they held an informal reception in the sitting room of the boarding house. General Fletcher introduced the gov- ernor to the visiting people and after the night had been far spent in this reception the only unexcited man in the town, Matthew Teneyck, led his guests up the ladder to the attic, where rooms had been put in readiness for them.
The governor remained in the place for several days and
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AT THE HOME OF GOVERNOR KIRKWOOD, 1892
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ASTOR. LENOX TILD N FOUNDATIONS
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purchased a tract of land from John Kight, which transfer was recorded in the transactions of the Johnson County Claim Association, on page forty-five of their proceedings, which states that he possessed the deed to the southwest quarter of section fourteen and the part of the south half of section fif- teen that lies east of the Iowa river. The price was $200 ac- cording to notes on the record. This was later the home of the governor. The governor participated in the laying of the corner stone of the capitol on the fourth of July, 1840, and delivered the address on that occasion. With the removal of the territorial government here he became a permanent resi- dent after his retirement from the governor's office. His biography has been written and does not belong here in any other sense than to place him as a citizen of the county.
In a reminiscent conversation Capt. A. B. Cree gave an account of the organization of the republican party and in- cidentally the introduction of Governor Kirkwood into "polit- ical circles." It appears from the conversation that occurred that the meeting which culminated in the political organiza- tion was held in Iowa City. "I remember it," he said, "as well as though it happened yesterday, and it was held Feb. 22, 1856, forty-three years ago [1899]. I recall a number of incidents, one, a red hot verbal battle between Hon. H. W. Lathrop, and a politician named Wallace. We nominated a Johnson county man for treasurer of state that day. His name was M. L. Morris, of Pleasant Valley. He later re- moved to Kansas. I remember vividly, too, the first appear- ance in political circles of our war governor and former secre- tary of the interior, S. J. Kirkwood. He was a partner of the late Ezekiel Clarke in the milling business, and he came into the convention hall straight from the mill. He was dressed in his working clothes, and was bepowdered from head to foot with flour. He was a stranger to all except the Iowa Cityans present, and as I was fresh from the east with some memories of 'dude' orators, I wondered with lots of others who that uncouth laborer was. A 'change came over the spirit of our dreams' pretty soon, let me tell you. He hadn't spoken many minutes before the sound sense, convincing logic, and forceful oratory, not spread eagle eloquence, captivated every auditor and held our fixed attention until his great speech
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closed. Ever after Iowa knew Samuel J. Kirkwood as a mas- terful logician and splendid orator."
Two hundred and seventy delegates from forty counties as- sembled on that twenty-second of February, nearly fifty-five years ago, to take up the problems of a new party. Transpor- tation was mainly by river and horseback, as only one railroad was in operation then, and that was from Davenport to Iowa City. Travel was slow, tiresome, and often dangerous, so that nearly half of the distant counties had no representation in this convention. Who issued the call for this convention is not known exactly. It was signed by "Many Citizens."
And then "after many years," when records were almost closed for some of those who came into service in the days mentioned by Captain Cree, some had not forgotten and came to remind the former governor of their loyalty.
It was a notable gathering that assembled on September 28, 1892, to greet ex-Gov. Samuel J. Kirkwood. Ex-Gov. Buren R. Sherman took the initiative in this matter and the war governor, then almost eighty years of age, received the distinguished company who called upon him in Iowa City. It was at first intended to surprise him, but later plans changed this and the former governor was informed that "a number of old friends and associates would call upon him." H. W. Lathrop was selected to receive them.
The company assembled at the Saint James Hotel and in carriages were taken to the home of the governor where they found the man they had come to visit seated in his favorite chair. When all were seated about the governor, Judge Wright delivered an address both witty and wise, to which the aged governor responded very briefly. Among the company were: Buren R. Sherman of Waterloo, formerly auditor and governor of Iowa; George G. Wright, of the supreme court and United States senator ; W. H. M. Pusey, of Council Bluffs, member of the state senate with Governor Kirkwood; Geo. F. Wright, Chas. Aldrich, John Russell, a life-long friend of the governor; S. S. Farwell, ex-congressman of the old second district; Jas. H. Rothrock, chief justice of the supreme court; G. S. Robinson, also of the supreme court; Gen. Ed. Wright, formerly speaker and state auditor; B. F. Gue, formerly lieu- tenant governor; Wm. T. Smith, of Des Moines; Dr. J. M.
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Shaffer, of Keokuk; W. G. Thompson, ex-congressman and a member of the house many years before; R. S. Finkbine, formerly of Iowa City; James A. Williamson, of Washington, D. C .; M. L. Elliott, of Marion, and many of his neighbors in his own city.
Only once, perhaps, in the experience of a small city is it called upon to receive a delegation from the congress of the United States, sent to pay the final respect of the membership to a dead member, so that the incident here related is not common.
On April 28, 1879, a telegram came from Washington, D. C., announcing the death of Hon. Rush Clark, the member of congress from this, the 5th then, district. He died very sud- denly, having occupied his seat in the house of representatives but the day before. He had been a popular citizen of John- son county since about 1853, when he came, a young man, from his college graduation in Pennsylvania to become an active partner in the law with his brother, Geo. W. Clark. For a time he was the editor of the Republican, then one of the lead- ing Whig papers of the state. At twenty-six years of age, in 1860, he was elected as a member of the legislature from this county and after reelection in 1862 he was chosen speaker of the house, being probably up to that time the youngest man ever called upon to fill this important office. It was while oc- cupying the chair of the speaker that he made his famous ad- dress in accepting for the state the flag carried by the gallant Second Iowa through the charge at Fort Donelson. One who heard him said: "I never heard the speech surpassed, which aroused a perfect blaze of excitement and enthusiasm among those who assembled to witness the ceremonies."
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