USA > Iowa > Allamakee County > Past and present of Allamakee county, Iowa. A record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Vol. I > Part 19
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nerved herself up with whisky and was intoxicated that night. She was event- ually pardoned, and went to Dakota, where she died.
One more unfortunate instance of the taking of human life, that of Mrs. Geddes by Ballzell, occurring as recently as five years ago, and this unpleasant chapter is closed-for the present.
William Ballzell was said to be an industrious and previously inoffensive farmer in Post township, near its northwest corner, where he had lived for a number of years and had become the owner of a ninety-acre farm. His wife had died a few years previously, leaving a family of seven children, the eldest about nineteen. His victim was his deceased wife's sister, Mrs. Geddes, who had sep- arated from her husband and was then employed at the home of Mrs. Henry Boll- man, not far off. She left a little girl of about nine years. Ballzell had urged his sister-in-law to marry him, and was greatly incensed at her refusal. On the day of the murder, January 20, 1908, he drove to Postville, and indulged freely in liquor. Upon returning home he stopped at Mrs. Bollman's for an interview with Mrs. Geddes, which, being unsatisfactory, his talk became abusive and threatening, so that after he left Mrs. Bollman telephoned for her nephew John Bollman, who repaired to her home.
Meanwhile Ballzell had driven to his home, put up his team, and taking a gun and a revolver went back to the Bollman place, where he was met by John in the yard. He had left his gun in the woods and kept his revolver out of sight. This was about 5 o'clock. He obtained an interview with Mrs. Geddes, in the door- way, renewing his plea, and receiving an evasive reply suddenly whipped out his revolver and shot her through the heart. He then hurried to the home of Marshall Bollman, whose people he accused of influencing Mrs. Geddes against him. Unable to gain admission to the house, which they securely closed, the frenzied man set fire to the large barn on the place. The neighborhood was aroused. and as men hastened to the fire he took to the woods.
Sheriff Hall was notified and with Deputy Svebakken drove hurriedly to the scene, about twelve miles southwest of Waukon. The locality is on the head- waters of the Yellow river, and heavily wooded. Realizing the advantage the murderer would thus have in evading capture, and the liability of his committing further bloodshed, in his frenzied condition, and considering the terrorized state of the neighborhood, the sheriff telephoned to Waukon for a number of the militia company. Captain Colsch rounded up four or five of the marksmen of Company I, and started out about 11 P. M., but before arriving on the scene Sheriff Hall had effected the capture. After threatening one home and getting a cup of coffee there, Ballzell had returned to his own place, where his brother had taken his gun from him but was unable to detain him. The sheriff reached the Ballzell home soon after, and learning the direction taken by the fugitive started after him on a pony, overtaking him after a mile or two, when he sub- mitted with but little resistance. The party reached Waukon with the prisoner about six in the morning.
When in jail afterwards Ballzell claimed that he could not recall anything of the time intervening between his leaving Postville and being overtaken by the sheriff in the night. His attorney it is said was preparing a defense on the ground of insanity, when in the night of March 27th following the prisoner became his own executioner, knotting a handkershief about his neck and inserting
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a broomstick which he twisted with such resolute purpose that strangulation ensued, and in the morning he was found dead in his cell.
There is much more that might be recorded here, in the way of near tragedies, and minor crimes; but let the foregoing suffice. Why needlessly reopen old wounds nearly healed, and renew old sufferings once forgot? Those who paid the penalty of misdeeds, and have made good in their efforts to live down the past, should be spared such unkindness.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE PIONEERS
There is a charm in the story of the pioneer settlement of any locality, that holds the interest of almost every reader, especially of those whose former home it may have been, or of those whose fathers or friends participated in its settle- ment. The privations-largely offset by the joys of the simple life-the trials and triumphs, the failures and fortunes, of those seouts of civilization who first peopled the prairies and valleys of our own country, and cleared for themselves homes in its native forests, appeal most strongly to our sympathies. It is well that this interest in the experience of our fathers exists, as it is the incentive to the permanent record of their lives, in form of biography, anecdote and-in fact, history. History is and must be largely biography. History teaches from expe- rienee, and its teachings are always beneficial to a generation that will heed them, either as inspiration or warning. Charles Lever wrote that "any man, no mat- ter how insignificant the part he may have filled in life, who will faithfully record the events in which he has borne a share, even though incapable himself of deriv- ing profit from the lessons he has learned, may still be of use to others-some- times a guide, sometimes a warning." So it is, there is a demand for permanent narrative of the events occurring in the days of our fathers, before the partici- pants have all passed away and nothing remains relative to their lives but tradi- tion, in place of facts, from which to draw our lessons.
As is well known the earliest permanent settlement in Allamakee county was at the Indian mission on Yellow river, the building of which was begun in 1833, but was not occupied until 1834, and then by parties in the Government employ. Thomas C. Linton bought this farm of the Government about 1842, and became in 1849 the organizing sheriff of this county. Hiram Francis came to the mission in 1839, and was doubtless the earliest comer who became a permanent resident, living in that vicinity until his death near Rossville in 1890. The first white child born in the county was a son to Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Rynerson at the mission in 1841. More about the "Old Mission" will be found in a separate chapter under that heading.
About 1837 one Henry Johnson made a squatter's claim at or near the site of Johnsonsport. And in 1840 Jesse Danley built a sawmill a short distance below the mission. [See sketch of Fairview township.]
The establishment of a tavern under Government patronage by Joel Post and wife in 1841, was the beginning of the Postville settlement.
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No further settlements are recorded until the removal of the Indians, in 1848. Then came the era of the true pioneers, who struck out independently, some with means and some with very limited resources, to make homes for them- selves and their growing families. Quite a number settled near Post's some of whom are said to have made their claims in 1847, as will be seen by reference to Postville history.
The principal settlers aside from the Post neighborhood in 1848, were: Garri- son, John Haney and son William, later joined by II. H. Houghton, the founders of Lansing ; and Patrick Keenan and Richard Cassiday in Makee township, who removed to Jefferson township the following year. Hugh MeCabe came up through here on a hunting trip with some half-breeds. to Lansing ( when there was no Lansing), and stopped with Keenan, though he was quite a young man at that time and did not make his permanent home here until a year later. Ile worked for a time with the surveying party of J. G. McDonald, who made the government survey of Jefferson and Paint Creek townships in 1849. So far as we are able to ascertain Mr. MeCabe enjoys the honorable distinction of being the only person still living here ( 1913) who visited this region prior to 1849.
In 1849 George C. Shattuck became the pioneer settler of the site of Waukon, with Prosser Whaley and Win. Niblock in the near vicinity. C. D. Beeman and H. S. Cooper located in Jefferson township, James Haney and others at Lansing and vicinity ; Reuben Smith in the northeast corner of Post township, where he a few years later built a big two-story and basement stone house, on Yellow river, which is still standing though now dismantled ; and Win. C. Thompson, at Thomp- son's Corners, Lafayette township. Others had settled near the south line of the county, so there was sufficient timber from which to select the few necessary county officers at the first election in April, 1849, listed elsewhere. Though seem- ingly few, because so scattered, an enumeration in the fall of that year, showed a total of 277 souls within our borders, mostly located in the southern part of the county.
In 1850 there was a considerable increase in immigration, more especially in the eastern and central parts, and along the Yellow river, where the numerous mill sites were rapidly being located for use in the near future. And from 1851 and after, the entire county was rapidly settled up. The sketches of the various townships in another chapter will show some of the early arrivals in their respec- tive localities.
In regard to the settlement of the central portion of the county, the following is quoted from the narrative of Judge Dean, written in 1880:
JUDGE DEAN'S NARRATIVE
"The earliest settlers in what is now Makee and Union Prairie townships came in overland from the south, through Clayton county, there being no town then where Lansing is now. In conversation with the late Elias Topliff he related to me that while living in Clayton county he, with several others, started out to hunt land on which to make a home; they followed an Indian trail north across the Yellow river and on to the Iowa river somewhere, where the party camped over night, and caught and cooked a splendid mess of speckled trout. He thought they traveled across what is now the prairie on which Waukon stands, but could
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not positively identify their old route, for at that time the country traveled over was in a state of nature and there was not a white man to be seen on the trip after leaving the settlements of Clayton county. In the morning they retraced their steps and returned to Clayton county, not finding a single foot of land that suited them. My recollection now is that the judge located this trip in 1847.
"The first white settlers in Makee township were Patrick Keenan and his brother-in-law, Richard Cassiday. They lived together, and in October, 1848, settled on Makee ridge, where they grubbed out and broke up about three acres of land, built a log cabin, and in 1849 abandoned it and made themselves farms in Jefferson township, where they lived until they passed on to the better country.' Mr. Keenan was the first man in the county of his nationality ever made an American citizen through the naturalization law [in 1849]. He died in March, 1878, leaving a large and respectable family and a handsome property, and was buried at Cherry Mound. Mr. Cassiday died in 1879, and was buried at the same place.
"In the spring of 1849, there was born to Mr. and Mrs. Cassiday a daughter, Margaret, now ( 1880) Mrs. Murphy, living in McGregor, and she was the first white child born in Jefferson township.
"The selection first made by these men on Makee ridge was subsequently owned by one Doctor Lyon, Wm. K. Martin, Joseph Burton, and is now owned by the county and used as a home for the unfortunate. Mr. Keenan built the first house here ever erected in Makee or Union Prairie townships, near a spring in the timber south of the dwelling house and barn.
"In June of 1849, W. C .- Thompson was up through this region prospecting and pitched his tent near the big spring on James Reed's farm (northwest of Waukon), and from there looked around to find something that suited him for a stock farm, and in his wanderings found Mr. Keenan on his claim hard at work, making improvements. This log house was then built but not chinked. Mr. Thompson afterward made a selection at what is now known as Thompson's Cor- ners, in Lafayette township.
"The next white settlers were Geo. C. Shattuck and Prosser Whaley, who came in August, 1849. Mr. Whaley made his claim on section 32, cut and made hay enough to keep his stock over winter, and returned to Wisconsin for his family, bringing them here in October of the same year. He made a house for them by putting a pole from one tree to another, then setting shorter poles all around it with one end on the ground. the other end resting against the main pole, and coverng the whole up with hay. In this house they lived about six weeks, cooking at a fire outside, the cooking utensils being a long-handled frying pan, an iron dinner-pot, and a tin bake-oven. The coffee mill was nailed to one of the trees.
"During this six weeks Mr. Whaley built a house 16x18, and after moving into it the hay house was set apart for a stable. This log house was a general stopping place for newcomers until the settlement grew so that other accommoda- tions were provided, and it has sheltered as many as thirty-two persons of a night : on such occasions it was necessary for the men to make their toilet early in the morning before the women were awake, and the women to make theirs after the men had gone out to see what the weather was likely to be for the com- ing day. Every old settler understands from personal recollection that a log
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cabin is like an omnibus or street car in this, that there is always room inside for one more. This house was the second one in Makee township, on the farm now the property of August Meyer just east of Waukon.
"In the spring of 1850 Mr. Whaley cultivated the three acres of land that Mr. Keenan broke up on the poor farm before abandoning it, by putting it into corn, and raised a good crop, notwithstanding the fact that it was not fenced, and this was the pioneer corn crop of the settlement. This crop was very acceptable to the family, and Mrs. Whaley commenced to cook it as soon as it was roasting ears, and after it was glazed she prepared it for cooking by grating it. If our women now-a-days had to go through this, they would agree with the Hoosier emigrant woman, that a new country was powerful hard on women and horses, and power- ful easy on men and dogs.
"During the winter of '49 and '50 Mr. Whaley killed seventeen wolves, and venison enough to keep the family in meat, and being blest with new country appetites they put away full rations of it.
"Mr. Whaley, or Uncle Prosser as he was generally called, died in May. 1866, but lived long enough to see a flourishing settlement spring up around him with its churches, schoolhouses, and other conveniences of civilized society. Mrs. Whaley is still living in Waukon and from her personal recollections we gather many of these particulars. | Mrs. Whaley died June 10, 1883 .- Ed.]
"The next white settler was Mr. Geo. C. Shattuck, who came in the same time Mr. Whaley did and made a claim on sections 30 and 31, where Waukon now stands, and like Mr. Whaley he cut and made hay enough to feed his stock and went back after his family, bringing them in in November of the same year. He built a hay house for his family and occupied it until himself and boys could build a log house, when they moved into it. This was built near a fine spring on what is now the field of Michael Deveny, in town, and lies between the residences of Mr. Duffy and Samuel Peck. This house stood until within a few years, and was the nucleus around which the town gathered. and like Uncle Prosser's was often filled to its utmost capacity. Mr. Shattuck was born September 9. 1787, and died near Platteville, Wisconsin, April 6, 1876.
"At this time Prairie du Chien was the trading point for the settlement, but there was however a small grocery in what is now Monona, kept by one Olmstead, but it was very small, and one was not certain of getting supplies there.
"When these two families came in, the nearest settlers were Wm. C. Thomp- son on the east, Tim Fuller about ten miles west, Pat Keenan on the south, Mr. Post [Postville] on the southwest, and Mr. Haney [ Lansing] on the northeast. There was at Columbus, on the Mississippi, an Indian trader by the name of Stevens, but he soon followed the departing Indians.
"The early settlers were generally men of limited means, and as soon as they had secured some land, and made a place for themselves and families to live in, they broke up some of it and the first crop was generally buckwheat, sod corn, ruta-bagas, turnips, potatoes, and if the breaking patch was large enough some spring wheat and oats were sown; but buckwheat was the staple, and buckwheat pancakes baked on a griddle was a standard dish. In many families there was not fat enough to grease the griddle and the women soon learned that by rubbing it with a rag between every griddle full they could give it a polish that would pre- vent the sticking and burning of the cakes. In 1850 there was a small pair of
MOUNT HOPE. ONEOTA VALLEY, IN UNION CITY TOWNSHIP. PIONEER LOCATION OF BENIAMIN RATCLIFFE, NOW THE HOME OF BENJAMIN HARTLEY
4
MOUNT HOPE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, UNION CITY TOWNSHIP
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burrs near Decorah for grinding, but no bolt attached, and our settlers from this locality with their ox-teams hauled their little grists up there; but soon after one Ellis put in a small pair of burrs, without bolt, on Paint creek, just around . the bend below where Waterville now stands, and this settlement then went there to mill, where they waited with patience the slow process of flouring the grist. The remains of this first mill in the county still stand just around the bend of the stream below the town. [ 1880.]
"In the spring of 1850 the following families came into the settlement, and perhaps others that we have failed to note. Seth Patterson, Darwin Patterson, Archa Whaley, William Niblock, James Gillett. Horace Gillett, Christopher McNutt. James Conway, David Whaley, David Whaley, Jr., Richard Charles, and Robert S. Stevenson, of whom the following settled in what is now Makee township.
"Archa Whaley on section 33. on the farm now owned by Mr. Bronsmeier ; Mr. Whaley now lives on Village creek, and is the proprietor of Whaley's mills.
"Mr. Niblock on section 32, on which he built a log house near a spring and near the south line of the farm, which is still standing but used of late years as a slaughterhouse. In the spring of 1851 he sold this claim to Thomas A. Minard, who sold to James Maxwell, who lived and died there and it is known as the Maxwell farm to-day. [ Now the Petit farm.]
"David Whaley made a claim on section 20, but soon after sold it to C. J. White, and he to Mr. James Hall, who owns it to-day. Mr. Whaley after selling this entered the land that is now the farm of Balser Fultz, just north of town and after selling this removed to Minnesota where he died about 1867. David Whaley, Jr., made a claim near his father's which he sold to Almarin Randall, and he to James Nichols, and it is owned by Mrs. Nichols today. | Now by C. R. Williams.] Randall lives in Minnesota at this time, and Mr. Whaley lives in Waukon at this date. James Conway made a claim on section 28, where he still lives. [Now owned by 1 .. L. Meier. ]
"Robert Stevenson became a lawyer, married Mr. Geo. C. Shattuck's daughter Minerva, and subsequently removed to Wisconsin, and during the late war was among the first in that state to enlist for three years or during the war. He was a private in Company C, 2d Wisconsin Volunteers, and now fills and honors a soldier's grave on the bloody field of Antietam. During the first battle of Bull Run, while our forces were everywhere scattered, and confusion and disorderly retreat was the rule, he volunteered to relieve the color sergeant of the regimental colors and bore them safely out of the conflict, knowing that the colors in an en- gagement are always the rallying point for the regiment. In the severe battle of Gainesville, on the 28th of August, 1862, where his regiment in eighty minutes lost over two hundred and fifty officers and men out of the 450 engaged, and when every man of the color guard had fallen, he rushed to the post of danger, seized the colors, and after the enemy were driven back bore them from the field and car- ried them all through the two days fierce contests of that bloody engagement. At South Mountain, September 14th, though too unwell for duty he was there to float his favorite flag in the face of the foe. At Antietam in the early morning of September 17th, as the sound of the first gun announced the opening of that memorable conflict, he left a sick bed in the hospital at the rear, and disregarding the protests of the medical officers, sought his regiment then in line of battle under
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fire, and saying to his commanding officer, 'Captain. I am with you to the last,' took his post with his favorite colors and within sixty minutes fell. fairly riddled with bullets, as brave a soul as ever was ushered into the presence of his Maker. After the engagement the National colors showed two bullet marks on the staff and twenty-two in the colors ; the state flag showed three in the staff and twenty- four in the colors ; and besides these a portion of the colors were shredded away from hard usage.
"The following families made claims in Union Prairie. Seth Patterson and Darwin Patterson on section 23: each built a log house near a large spring that is the source of Patterson creek, but at this writing there is nothing left to mark the spot but a mound of earth. The creek was named after them and still bears their name; it runs northwest and empties into the Iowa river in Hanover town- ship. Seth Patterson is dead, and Darwin is a merchant in Minnesota.
"Richard Charles made a claim on section 24, and built a log house near a spring that is the source of Village creek. This creek runs northeast and empties into the Mississippi river at Columbus. This farm is now the property of Mr. James Reed, and his dwelling stands near the spot where the original log house stood. [ Now owned by S. J. Blagen. ] The present whereabouts of Mr. Charles are unknown to the writer. James Gillett made a claim on section 26, and, with his son Horace, and son-in-law MeNutt. built a log house near the spring that is the source of Coon creek, which runs northwest and empties into the lowa river in Winneshiek county. This claim afterwards became the property of Edward Eells, and is now owned by his sons .A. J. and G. P. Eells. [Now owned by John Conrad.] Of all these first families in Union Prairie, not one is living in the county to-day.
"All these families spoken of in both townships came in previous to June ist, and as the 4th of July approached the settlement decided that the day should be duly honored; so Mr. Niblock and Pitt Shattuck were detailed to prepare a liberty pole for the occasion, and on the 3rd they cut a tall, straight, young tree in the Paint creek timber, near where Gay Penfield now lives, and hauled it to the head of Union l'rairie, where it was erected by the men of the settle- ment, and on the next day. July 4th. 1850, the whole settlement, men, women and children, gathered around the pole where they listened to an oration from Darwin Patterson. Esq., delivered from the stump of a tree close by : after which they had their picnic dinner, and on this occasion Mr. Shattuck gave the prairie the name of "Union." All these exercises were carried on with much Fourth of July patriotism and sociality, and this was the first public picnic dinner, and the first Fourth of July celebration that history records in Makee or Union Prairie townships. The main traveled road from steamboat landing on the Mississippi river at Lansing. to Decorah. in Winneshiek county. ran past this pole: and before this region was tapped by railroads it was a much-traveled thoroughfare, and this pole stood for many years as a landmark, and was known far and wide. The owner of the land on which it stood recently committed an act of vandalism by cutting it down. not knowing or not caring about the early associations that chistered around the spot, and were it not for this record of the historian these facts would soon be forgotten.
"In the fall of 1850, Azel Pratt and Lemuel Pratt came in, and settled on Makee ridge. Azel building a little log cabin south of the road near a spring. on
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what is now the farm of Mr. John Kasser. In this they lived, and Lemuel having brought in a small stock of goods, they were opened out in the chamber, or up- stairs part of the house, and customers supplied therefrom. Thus Deacon Pratt owned the first building used as a store in Makee. He is to-day an honored and respected citizen among us, and the treasurer of our Early Settlers' Association. [Deacon Pratt died in 1881.]
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