USA > Iowa > Johnson County > Leading events in Johnson County, Iowa history, biographical > Part 64
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county, and settlers came thirty or forty miles to have their corn ground in it, remaining over night and then returning with their meal. Mr. Dennis erected the first frame house at Walnut, buying the lumber and hauling it from Muscatine, paying $10 per thousand feet for it and selling wheat at thirty- five cents per bushel to pay for it. Muscatine (then. known as Bloomington) was thirty-three miles distant. This old house still stands upon the home farm. A picture of Mrs. Dennis is included in the group of pioneers present at the picnic of the Old Settlers of Johnson County, in 1911, a view of which is found elsewhere in this work. This photograph was taken by Henry Walker, of Grove River Junction.
The long trip overland was one of great interest to the pioneer immigrants, being made in a covered wagon with oxen. The old home in the little town of Portage, Indiana, was left on March first, and forty persons started from South Bend, May 1, 1838. In crossing the Iowa River the wagon had to be taken apart and shipped over in a canoe. An In- dian was paid one dollar to swim over with the oxen. After locating in the new home they were occupied with developing a farm and beginning life in a new country. For the first two years theirs was the farthest west of any home in Johnson county. Mr. Dennis was an enterprising and progressive man and tried to introduce various improvements and modern ideas in his community. He liked to keep abreast of the times in all things, and was a valuable and useful citizen. He did the first type-setting in the county, when he issued a paper known as the "Iowa City Standard," which was Whig in political sentiment. He brought the equipment for printing to Iowa City, and the present "Towa City Republican" is the outgrowth of his paper. Later he established a democratic paper.
The old Fellows homestead was located on Indian land, seven miles outside the regular line of settlement, and that much over the boundary of the Indians' reservation. Powe- shiek, the chief, gave his consent to the arrangement, after the Indian interpreter had discovered the fact, and they never bothered the claim. There were in early days plenty of game, wild deer, elk, turkeys, and clouds of prairie chickens. Below is described the first frame house in the county, which is still
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standing, size 16x32 feet, with two rooms. It was erected of hewed oak cut down on the farm, the siding being made of walnut, and the door two inches in thickness. It was paneled with bass wood and the shingles were of black walnut. The floor was made of oak planks eight inches wide, and the joists under the floor were oak logs, with the bark on the under side. The Fellows cabin was about 16x20 feet, made of round logs covered with bark for the first season, then clapboarded. Mrs. Dennis remembers that during the first summer the window was covered with white paper, which allowed the light to come through. The puncheon door was hung with wooden hinges, and the hospitable latch-string was always hung outside, the weary traveler (be he red or white) being always welcome to en- ter. After the white settlers became more plentiful, they were frequent visitors, and upon their arrival in the region, were con- tent to have an opportunity to sleep on the floor of the little cabin. If an Indian stopped and made a call on them, Mrs. Dennis was able to speak the language, and remembers that race as being always friendly to her family. Smoke could be seen from the Dennis stick-and-clay chimney, which was built by her father. Their first light was obtained from bees-wax which her mother prepared. After beef was killed at the trading house, Mr. Fellows would bring home ten pounds of tallow, and their first candles were made in the old-fashioned method of "dipping," as molds were not then known. They owned a sperm oil lamp, but had no oil. Their cooking was at first primitive, but they were always able to bake, as they had brought from the east the primitive iron and reflector, so that they could bake corn cake.
Mr. Fellows had to go to Muscatine with his produce, fac- ing Indians and fires on the way, and upon his arrival was obliged to take his pay in exchange. One evening after he had just started on one of these trips, two men came along the Indian trail, stopped at their cabin and asked to be sheltered over night, and being hungry. Mrs. Dennis saw these men coming and talked the matter over with her mother, for as they had only one small corn cake and a little milk in the house, they dreaded to have visitors. However, they were given such hospitality as the house afforded, and in the morning gave their names as Eli Myers and Henry Felkner, early pio-
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neers. This was considered a joke on the Fellows family. On another eventful night, a cold one in January, 1839, when a storm was raging outside, Mr. and Mrs. Fellows were roused about midnight by a noise around the cabin, and he dressed hurriedly. A knock came, and upon his asking who was there, the answer came, "Poweshiek's son." Mr. Fellows had his stick in hand, prepared for any emergency, and upon finally deciding to open the door, was surprised to see an Indian standing there, with a gun in his hand and blankets almost frozen to him. He begged to come in and was admitted, and one by one his companions showed up and were admitted, un- til there were twelve altogether, each with a gun and nearly frozen. As each one passed through the door he handed in his gun and took his blanket off and hung it up to dry. A bright fire was made, and when Mrs. Dennis came in and learned their story, she suggested to her father that he take up a plank in the floor and get some potatoes, as the most sub- stantial food he could offer his guests. A half-bushel of those vegetables was taken up and put in the ashes to roast, and the Indians were so hungry they could scarcely wait for them to be ready to eat. Mr. Fellows then told them to help them- selves, and great was their enjoyment of the feast. While their blankets were drying the family asked them questions and learned that they were twelve Indian braves who had been hunting big game, and at Old Man's Creek had got lost in the storm, so that if they had not been sheltered it was probable all would have perished in the snow. After they had finished, Mr. Fellows spread a buffalo robe on the floor, and the twelve stretched out on it and slept until daylight, when they thanked their benefactors and departed, with their arms. Sometime later Chief Poweshiek told Mr. Fellows he would come some day and show the family how many braves he had, and they arrived one day, one hundred strong, all mounted. With their shining weapons and feathers, they looked very gay. They halted in front of the Fellows cabin, and the chief passed the pipe to the old pioneer, then passed it out among the braves, and afterwards they rode away - a gallant sight.
On this farm Mr. Fellows made his own tools, plowed with oxen, and later used the siekle, cradle, and other primitive equipment for harvesting his grain. He raised the first flax
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and the first of it spun and woven into linen, in the county, was done at their home, by Mrs. Fellows, the machines being manufactured at North Liberty. On their farm is a sycamore tree which has for years been used as a smoke house. It is ten feet high and four feet across. The farm is known for miles around as the "Old Hunting Ground." Mrs. Fellows spun and wove, and Mrs. Dennis remembers when she wore the linsey dresses and her brothers the jeans of her mother's weaving. In childhood she lived in the days of the bow and arrow, the old flint-lock musket and the spining wheel, but in her later years has enjoyed modern inventions, and in the summer of 1911 rode to the Old Settlers' picnic, above men- tioned, in an automobile. She was one of seven girls who at- tended the Rufus Choate school-house, a log building with primitive furnishings, others being Angeline Moore and the eldest daughter of Squire Henry Walker. Her advantages were limited, but she made the most of them. During the war she was a useful member of the Ladies' Aid Society. In sharp contrast to the crude methods followed in her early life, let us consider the modern farmer, he of the twentieth century, who rides the plow, uses all the latest improved machinery in his subsequent operations, including the corn planter and the threshing machine which is run by motor power.
The entrance to Evergreen Farm, located about one-quar- ter mile from the main road, is beautifully shaded by ever- green trees, and is one of the landmarks of the region. At the end of this handsome driveway, the visitor's first point of in- terest is the old cabin, the first of its kind in the county. On the right of this is the farm house, with its modern conven- iences and comforts. Mrs. Dennis' son has a fine collection of shells, minerals and Indian curios, enough for a small museum in themselves, and well cared for. Mrs. Dennis her- self has a collection of photographs of old pioneers, including one of Phil Clark, the founder of the first home in the county. She is a woman of remarkable intellect, and her stories of early days are full of vitality and interest, bringing scenes of those times vividly to the mind of the listener. It is given to but few to have the privilege of living from the time of the tomahawk, bow and arrow, and spinning wheel, to the time of the automobile and electric cars, and to take an active part in
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the life about them during the time of this gradual change. She has witnessed the transformation of the trackless prairie and woodland to a prosperous farming community - from the scene of the Indian cabin and hunting ground to the home of villages and cities, with electricity and factories, and with rail- roads replacing the oxen trails. The story of such a life rivals that of any tale of fiction in its living interest. The priva- tions endured in pioneer homes, without murmuring, with happiness and content prevailing, should be a lesson and an inspiration to the present generation. Throughout these pio- neer days the social occasions were represented by spelling bees, cabin raisings, corn huskings and like gatherings.
JOSEPH KIMBALL HEMPHILL (Deceased)
The late Joseph Kimball Hemphill was a typical pioneer of Johnson county, one of that noble band who so ably prepared the way for future generations and the development of the region. His journey from his birthplace to the unsettled country in the Hawkeye state was an interesting chapter in his useful and eventful life. He was born in Oneida county, New York, November 16, 1823, a son of Robert and Lucy (Kimball) Hemphill. He was reared on a farm and educated in the public schools and as a young man accompanied a friend, William L. Clarke, west to Towa, where they hoped to make a start in life that would result in their financial success. They came down the Allegheny river in a skiff, and at Pitts- burg took passage on a steamer down the Ohio to Cairo, Il- linois, thence up the Mississippi to St. Louis, and from that city took another steamer up to Bloomington, now Muscatine, Iowa. They walked from there to Iowa City, a distance of some thirty miles, arriving at their final destination, July 12, 1845. William L. Clarke was an early school teacher of the region and was the first teacher under whom Mrs. Hemphill studied.
For five years after reaching Johnson county, Mr. Hemphill worked by the day and month, and in 1850 he crossed the plains to California. He left there and went by way of the Niconto, crossing Central America and thence by
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steamer, to New York, visited his parents and the old home, and then returned to Johnson county. He purchased eighty acres of land on Section 31, Penn township, and later added to his holdings. He became the owner of a 160 acres of land which is now the property of Dr. A. J. Burge, a surgeon on the S. U. hospital staff at Iowa City. The Hemphill school- house is located on the corner of this farm. Mr. Hemphill immediately set about making improvements on the place, and occupied the same from Christmas, 1893, until May 1, 1894. In 1875 he purchased a farm in Section 6, West Lucas town- ship, where his widow now resides. He continued to improve and develop this place until his death, January 23, 1904. His
RESIDENCE OF MRS. MARY E. HEMPHILL
death was deeply deplored by the whole community, who mourned him as a kind friend and neighbor, and as a public- spirited and useful citizen. He was well informed on general subjects and kept abreast of the times on the events and issues of the day.
Mr. Hemphill's marriage occurred on August 14, 1853, when he was united with Miss Mary E. Ward, born at North Henderson, Illinois, in 1837. Her parents are given extensive mention in a succeeding portion of this sketch. She was edu- cated in Johnson county, her first teacher being Mr. Clarke, as above mentioned. She was well educated, making the most of her opportunities in this direction, and is a woman of re-
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markable memory, whose account of early days is both in- teresting and instructive. Their first meal was eaten in the hewed log house, after which they went to the home of the hospitable friends, Mr. and Mrs. I. V. Dennis, where a pleas- ant party was given to the newly-wedded pair. Mrs. Dennis, a venerable and highly esteemed pioneer, has been a close friend of Mrs. Hemphill from that time to the present.
Seven children were born to Mr. Hemphill and wife, namely : Lucy J., wife of J. S. Dean, of Toledo, Iowa; Frank H., is unmarried and operates the home farm; Effie M., wife of M. W. Scales, lives on the west side in Iowa City; Addie M., at home; J. B., a farmer of Penn township, married Miss Mey- ers, whose father, Isaac Meyers, is given a sketch in this work; Archie W., an employe of the Postal Telegraph Cable Company, married Millie Paintin, and they have one son, Robert Kimball, and one daughter, Mary Elizabeth; Ray Clymer, at home.
Mrs. Hemphill has lived through a wonderful period of growth in the region where she has made her home from early childhood. It has been transformed from an unbroken wilder- ness to a region of pleasant farm homes, and cities and vil- lages have sprung up where the Indians were camped in her early days there. She was but four years of age when her parents made the move to the new country, and she well re- members when the Indians held a dance near the old Walter Butler Hotel in Iowa City. She is proud of the part taken by her husband and also by her parents in the development of eastern Iowa, and has herself taken an honorable part in this regard. At the time of her husband's death he owned a half-section of land, which he had made very valuable. He was prominent as a member of the board of trustees of his township, also served frequently on the school board. He cast his first presidential vote for John C. Fremont and was always a loyal republican after the inception of the party. A part of this farm now occupied by his widow was formerly owned by his brother, Harry Hemphill, who sold it and moved to Denver, Colorado, where he died March 20, 1906 (two years after his brother Joseph K.), having been born in 1836. An- other brother, George Hemphill, lives on the old homestead in
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New York, and his sister Addie, who married Mr. Newman, now deceased, lives at Hornell, N. Y.
The first house erected by Mr. Hemphill was most primitive. He hauled pine lumber from Muscatine, for sidings, casings, windows and doors, and the main part of the structure was 16x24.
The ancestors of Mrs. Hemphill have been in America for five or six generations. Nathan Ward was a son of a sea captain, who lived in London, and was descended from a long line of seafaring men. He came to America and returned to London, England. Upon his return, he joined the forces of General Washington, and was a member of the band that be- came famous for their memorable trip across the Delaware river. His son Cyril, grandfather of Mrs. Hemphill, married Irene Knott, and their children were as follows: Franklin, Chauncey, Cyril, Mary and Harriet. Of the preceding, Chauncey married Martha T. Clymer, and they were the parents of Mrs. Hemphill. His parents moved to Ohio in 1814, and are buried near Chillicothe, having been early pi- oneers there.
Chauncey Ward was the second child of his parents, and was born in Oneida county, New York (or Steuben?), and received but a limited education. He was nine years old when the family made the removal to Ohio, and as a youth learned the trade of millwright, in which he became an expert. This was the father's trade also, and all the sons were skilled mechanics. In 1827 Chauncey Ward was married, in Chilli- cothe, and nine years later brought his wife to Henderson county, Illinois. He became a contractor in the line of build- ing mills, and in this connection hired some twenty men to work under him. His first building of the kind was the An- drew Jack mill at North Henderson, and it was at this vil- lage that his daughter, Mary E., first saw the light. The next mill he put up was for his brother Cyril, being a grist mill at South Henderson, which he subsequently owned himself. Prior to 1839, on a trip up the Mississippi from St. Louis, their boat was frozen in the ice. He went up the river to what was then a part of Wisconsin Territory, now Johnson county, Iowa. He took a claim on Old Man's creek prior to 1839, and in that year, with his wife and six children, left for
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the new home, with ox teams. He crossed the river at Bur- lington, and after reaching his claim, sickness overtook the family, the mother becoming seriously ill. Mr. Ward erected a log cabin 14x16 feet, of round logs, with only one room. The chimney was a rude one of sticks and clay. There the mother lay seriously ill for six weeks. Fortunately, their old family physician while they lived in Henderson county, Dr. Russell, was visiting in the neighborhood, and upon first see- ing smoke from the Ward chimney, remarked that there must be some more new neighbors arriving, and came to the new home, and prescribed for Mrs. Hemphill. Mr. and Mrs. Hemp- hill were both very much pleased, indeed, to see the kindly and familiar face of Dr. Russell.
After the family had removed to Iowa City, in 1841, Mr. Ward built a saw mill on Rapid Creek. The first house the family lived in at Iowa City stood south of the present site of St. Patrick's Catholic church, and in this pioneer home Mrs. Ward gave birth to twins, in 1842, Jennie and Gertie. The oldest son in the family, George, lives at Montour, Iowa. Gertie Ward married Attorney George Channing Sonugeour, native of Arbroth, Scotland, resides at Belle Plaine, Iowa. Jennie W. is widow of William W. Brown, of Carlyle, Eng- land, resides at Monticello, Iowa. An interesting fact is that the great-great-grandmother of this family, whose maiden name was Ruth Hawthorne, died a eentennarian, in 1863, at Henniker, New Hampshire.
In 1845 Chauncey Ward started to build Nathaniel Mc- Clure's gristmill, but on account of rheumatism was obliged to abandon the work until 1846, when he resumed it and com- pleted the structure. His youngest daughter, Emeline Thressa, died at English River, while he was working in that region. In December, 1845, he installed the first smut machine for the company mill at Coralville. During that year he had moved with his family to what is now known as the Cost place, and remained there until the spring of 1846, when he removed to North Bend. In 1849 he came to Coralville and while there made most of the improvements in the equipment of the Ezekiel Clark mill. In 1850 he removed to the other side of the creek and was living there in the flats in the same year, the time of the great flood, which overtook them in their
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home, as so vividly described to our representative by Mrs. Hemphill. They stepped from the second story window of their home into a canoe, and although all escaped with their lives, the loss of their property was complete. A somewhat detailed description of this flood appears in Volume One of this work. This was the first time Mr. Ward had ever built on such low ground, and it was a bitter lesson to him. Dur- ing the season of high water, he erected a hewed log honse on the farm in Section 31, Penn township, with the assistance of his son, and this was the home until 1854. They then moved to Tama county and there he built the Christian Bruner mill. Some years later he returned to Johnson county for one year, then went to Belle Plaine, and there passed his declining years, with his youngest daughter, and died in May, 1885. His wife, who was a native of Berkley county, Virginia, died Au- gust 19, 1877.
Mr. Ward was one of the most noted millwrights of his day in Iowa, and erected structures for millers all over the state. He was active in many other lines as well. He was the very first of the class-leaders of the Methodist church, being well known for his piety and high character. The family was well regarded wherever they lived and representative of the high- est interests of their community. George B. Ward of Mon- tour, Iowa, is a son of George T. Ward, of Des Moines, Iowa.
JOHN NORWOOD CLARK
Perhaps no man in his day entered more largely into the gen- eral life of Iowa City than the subject of this sketch, and cer- tainly no couple were ever more highly esteemed and honored in the University City by multitudes of affectionate friends than John Norwood Clark and Jane Sturtevant, his marital companion for upwards of half a century. In the unpublished lexicon of personality a man's friends are defined as the un- conscious affinities of his soul, drawn to him and bound to him by the invisible but substantial threads of congeniality, the strength of which is increased by the companionships of the years. Surely, if the number and character of a man's friends
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are the index of his being, then John Norwood Clark is entitled to registration in the University of Immortal Good Fellows as an Alumnus in Perpetuity. The data of Mr. Clark's life's orbit and that of his cultured companion make the task of the biographer a pleasure.
The crowning event in the career of Mr. and Mrs. Clark in Iowa City, undoubtedly, was their "Golden Wedding Recep- tion," held at their residence, 320 Linn street, Wednesday evening, July 28, 1886. A few extracts from the comprehen- sive account given by the historian of the occasion, will serve to illustrate the brilliant character of the event :
"As the day approached, the many acceptances received in- dicated that the gathering would be a large and brilliant one. It had been the intention of Mr. and Mrs. Clark to have, in con- nection with the social features of the evening, a simple devo- tional service, and remarks from their friend and former pas- tor, Rev. O. Clute, of the Unitarian church. It seemed to Mr. Clute hardly right not to include, in the public utterance of congratulation, representatives of those honored bodies with which our venerable friends had been for so many years closely identified, so he sought and obtained consent to arrange such a program as the friends in general desired. The result, as is shown by the record, was a brilliant musical and intellectual feast, coupled with such hearty words of friendship and appre- ciation from many different quarters, as were a grateful sur- prise to the aged and modest couple on whom they were show- ered.
"The cards of invitation contained the command 'no pres- ents,' an injunction against which there were from the first strong protests. The friends in general finally agreed among themselves that they would individually obey, and collectively disobey. They desired to give to Mr. and Mrs. Clark a few gifts, in themselves beautiful and serviceable, that might al- ways be souvenirs of friendship and affection. The citizens in general chose a gold-lined tea service; the Knights of Pythias a beautiful watch charm containing symbols of the order; the Sir Knights of Palestine Commandery a gold-headed cane ; and friends in the church a coffee urn. These, suitably inscribed, were presented at the appropriate moment. . The Odd Fellows gave no gift as an order, but the individual members
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of the order were represented among the Knights of Pythias, the Masons, the citizens, and members of the church. Some of the friends not living in Iowa City, and hence not in fear of the direct consequences of disobedience, sent souvenirs by express or mail.
"The labor and responsibility of the home arrangements came largely upon Mrs. Amanda Webb, the only surviving child of Mr. and Mrs. Clark, upon her daughter, Miss Ada, and upon Mrs. Lou Benjamin, of West Liberty, a friend of Mrs. Webb. To their assistance came not a few volunteers, whose skiful fingers and good taste were everywhere displayed. Tents were disposed on the lawn, and attractively trimmed with flowers and evergreens. The walk to the front door was arched with flowers and evergreens, and the piazza was gaily festooned. A large platform was built at the north side of the house to serve as a place of gathering for the literary part of the exercises, and for dancing. The further end of this plat- form was surmounted with the legend, '1836. Clark-Sturte- vant. 1886.' Multitudes of Chinese lanterns of many designs hung everywhere from piazza, platform, trees, and from wires suspended along the walks. Within the house the rooms were tastefully adorned.
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