USA > Iowa > Allamakee County > Past and present of Allamakee county, Iowa. A record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Vol. I > Part 21
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"'The men soon came back, and Jack Coil came riding up saying the cattle were in our cornfield, the fence having mostly blown down. Then they all took hold and fixed up the fence. *
* The next Tuesday we heard that the Iowa river could be crossed, and they got Jack's team and brought flour and catables from Lansing. We did not suffer for food any further. The crops were soon ripe, and we had both wheat and corn.'
"The Iowa river was not bridged on the Lansing road at that time, but could easily be crossed by teams when the water was low, at a ford. * * * At this period the cultivation of wheat, corn, oats, and garden stuff had become quite general on such acreage as had been brought under plow, but there was as yet little in the way of agricultural machinery. No great amount of wheat could be raised, since it was sown by hand, dragged in by oxen, cut with cradles, and pounded out with flails. The financial panic of 1857 was severely felt. For nearly a year there was little or no money in circulation, and it became hard to get such things as people have to buy at stores."
Coming down to about 1865 there were better conditions existing, described by Mr. Arnold as follows: "The people were fairly well provided with agricul- tural machines and common farm implements. There was a great deal of exchanging of work, particularly in harvest and threshing time. Some who had a limited acreage in wheat hired their cutting done by a neighbor, offsetting the bill as much as possible by an exchange of work. As late as the spring of 1865, scine of the people were still sowing grain by hand, though the broadcast seeder was coming into use. Spring wheat was then the principal crop ; next in acre- age came corn, and then oats. Harvest time was the busiest season, which began in the latter part of July. Some men from a distance came in at this time, but largely the crews were made out by exchanging with neighbors, their grown boys or their hired men. The same usage applied to threshing crews. Various self-raking reapers were in use, the self-binder was unknown, although conceivable.
"There was no threshing in the field direct from the shock. The harvest over the grain was stacked, generally about the stable yards for use of the straw. On the larger farms some stacking was done in the fields and sooner or later the straw burned The steam thresher, although beginning to be used, was never
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seen here during the wheat-raising period. Various horsepower machines were in use, run by four or five span of horses walking around in a circle and attached to the arms of a low machine composed largely of iron gearing, placed back about three rods from the threshing machine, the two being connected by a shaft in loose-jointed sections so it could be slanted from a low level where the horses stepped over its covering. gradually upward to the shaft of the cylinder of the thresher.
"In comparison with the present times it might almost be said that there were no barns. But as the stock required shelter, makeshifts for barns were constructed that served the purpose for those years. They were called 'straw barns.' Crotches placed eight to ten feet apart were set in three rows, the center row being the highest. Large poles were run in the tops of the crotches and smaller poles and fence rails were set leaning against the crotch poles and end rafters all around the outside. Poles or fence rails were used for rafters, and all this formed the framework of the structure. In threshing time a large amount of straw was run upon and banked around it, and what was left would be stacked in the yard against some part of the stable for the cattle to work on. Sometimes the stable had a fence of posts and poles built around it within three feet and straw was tramped into the spaces between, making a straw wall for the sides and ends. The entrance might be provided with a door made of boards. The tops of these straw barns or sheds were rounded up like the top of a rick of hay, so as to shed the rain. In such sheds, horses, cattle, and poultry were warmly wintered. A few had log stables, but they were covered at first as were the others.
"It may be wondered at now that in a section where wheat was the principal croj., how so many had to tide along without granaries. Of course various make- shifts had to be resorted to. One method was to build bins of fence rails, line them with straw, and fill them up with wheat as threshed. Another method was to build bins of scantling and pine boards, blocked up a foot or more above the ground, but in either case roofed over with a rounded packing of straw. Those were times when people had to get along without many things of which they often stood in need.
"The cleaning up of wheat for market or for seeding was attended with some inconvenience. A wagon body had to be lifted off the wheels and placed on the ground near a bin. The fanning mill was placed inside of it, and the wheat run from the bin as needed into a pail or half-bushel measure. At inter- vals, as cleaned and collected in the wagon body, it was shoveled into cotton wove sacks, which at that time cost a dollar apiece. Each sack held a little over two bushels, and eighteen of them made a fair load. The cleaning job over, the body had to be placed back on the wheels, the sacks loaded into it, and it was now ready for the trip to Lansing, which took the most of two days to go and return with horse teams, A part of the crop was marketed in the fall, but many trips being required much of it remained stored in the bins until after corn-planting time of the next year. There was no marketing of corn, oats, or potatoes, these being all used at home.
"The first few years after the cessation of the raising of spring wheat was a transition stage which gradually opened up more prosperous conditions than the older times had ever produced. First came creameries in this section of the
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country, followed by an increase in the number of hogs and cattle raised, with attention to good breeds of the same, and a more careful looking after the land. Then came the big red barns, drilled wells and windmills on farms that did not before have them. Many more substantial houses were built, and others more or less remodeled. In the middle nineties the telephone came into the community, and later the rural mail delivery with the possibility of the city daily paper At last children began growing up in the community to whom the hard- ships and privations which their grandparents had experienced were only family traditions. The old times ended with the wheat raising days."
And now, in addition to the telephone and the daily mail, the modern house with bath, steam heat, electric light and power, and to cap the climax the automobile, belong to the country as much as to the town, and the farmer is the most independent being in existence. It paid for him-or his fathers-to suffer privations. Truly the past half-century was a marvelous period !
In the Annals of Iowa, January 1897, Ira Cook tells some of his experiences as a government surveyor, in which he says:
"Early in 1852 the United States commenced the location of the boundary line between lowa and Minnesota. As soon as the commission was well under way, I was sent up there to close up and sub-divide Township 100. I think my district included five ranges in Allamakee and Winneshiek counties. My work was partly in that portion of those counties which a writer in a recent number of the 'Midland Monthly' calls the 'Switzerland of Iowa.' Here among swiftly running streams, deep canyons, mountainous hills, and rocky precipices, I worked for two months, and really here I had the most pleasant and enjoyable time of all my different trips. I found that the brooks and the creeks were pretty well stocked with speckled trout. I had not seen one since a boy of ten years, and I could not resist the temptation to go after them, and go I did. For one whole week a cousin and myself whipped the streams, large and small * enough to say we were satisfied.
"One incident that happened on this survey I must relate as a curiosity. The most of the land that was available had been taken up by squatters, and so there were a good many settlers in my district. This township 100 consists of five full sections north and south, but the sixth section was only about two or three chains wide, say eight to twelve rods. One day in running up my range lines I struck a man's farm which was partly in Iowa and partly in Minne- sota. When I was through running my lines, his cultivated land was situated in two States, four townships, and six sections !
"My work completed, we came down to Lansing, expecting soon to get a steamboat for Dubuque. We were informed, however, there would not be a boat down for five days, * so I decided to build a boat of my own. I bought two Indian canoes about twelve feet long, some two-by-fours and enough lumber to deck my craft. We lashed the canoes firmly side by side, decked them over, loaded our traps, and we seven men stepped on board. When we were all on board we had not more than four inches between the surface of the water and the top of the canoes, but the craft was as steady as a seventy- four gun ship, and we made the trip to Davenport in safety."
In a little book published in Boston in 1856, Nathan H. Parker gives an entertaining description of a trip through this part of Iowa, in which he says:
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"The tourist who would visit northern Iowa should take one of the regular packets at Gelena and Dunlieth, and register himself for Lansing, one hundred miles northwest. If there is a more comfortable way of traveling than aboard the floating palaces of the Upper Mississippi, or a more grand and picturesque portion of country to be seen than is beheld on this route, I have thus far failed to find it; and persons who have traveled extensively on both continents repre- sent the scenery in this section of country as superior to even that of the far- famed Rhine.
"After a very pleasant trip with my namesake, Capt. J. W. Parker, of the Golden Era, I landed at Lansing. The first sight of interest that greeted my eyes was a party of three or four hundred hardy Norwegians, with their goods and chattels piled up on the wharf, awaiting conveyance to the country. As near as I could understand them, a large colony had purchased a tract of land a few miles west, and they were on their way to their new home. They were in good health and excellent spirits, and had not lost one of their number since leaving Norway. From the fact that these immigrants came over in a steamship, as well as from the appearance of a small, well-guarded iron chest in their pos- session, it may be inferred they are a well-to-do and industrious class, who will be a great accession to this portion of the State.
"Lansing is the most important town in the State, above Dubuque on the river. It is rapidly increasing and will eventually become a city of note, as it is the natural landing for a large section of very fertile country which is being rapidly filled by actual settlers. At the Lansing House you will take a stage for the interior. Yes, there you will find the real old-fashioned stage-coach, and per- haps recognize ere you return, some of the old coaches which have been driven west by the locomotive, and in which you have already traveled in the eastern or middle states.
"What an 'institution' the stage-coach is, to a newly-settled country, and what a convenience is the accommodating driver! Our load embraced fifteen pas- sengers, a large rear boot full of baggage and luggage, while the front boot contained mailbags, mealbags, dogs, jugs, and what not. The road from Lansing to Decorah, for several miles after leaving the river, winds through a beauti- ful valley ; and when at length you reach the table-land the scenery is, we might say enchanting. To the north, beyond the valley of the upper Iowa river, can be seen the graceful hills and green fields of Minnesota, while far away to the south the landscape is checkered with prairies and groves; and on every side the smoke from the humble dwelling of the settler, marking the spots where the wanderers from almost every state, and every country in Europe, are making
new homes. In a drive * * through a beautiful, though rough country we reached Waukon, the county seat, a place of perhaps 300 inhabitants, in the midst of a good farming country.
"Less than ten years have elapsed since this section was in full possession of the Winnebago Indians. How changed the scene! No longer shall these groves and plains be the red man's hunting-ground; no longer the deep ravines serve as lurking-places for the wily foe, nor the bluff-side as a battle-field between con- tending tribes. On these peaceful waters, no longer,
"With tawny limb,
And belt and beads in sunlight glistening,
Does the savage urge his skiff, like a wild bird on the wing.
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* * * *
* *
Look now abroad-another race has filled These populous borders -- wide the wood recedes, And towns shoot up. and fertile realms are tilled ; The land is full of harvest and green weeds :
Streams numberless, that many a fountain feed. Shine disembowered, and give to sun and breeze Their virgin waters; the full region leads
New colonies forth, that toward the western seas
Spread, like a rapid flame among the autumnal trees."
Carlyle D. Beeman was born in Vermont, March 27, 1827, and came to Iowa in his twenty-third year, arriving in Jefferson township September 12, 1849, one of the three or four earliest, where he bought the farm upon which he lived for twenty-five years, and which he owned for over fifty years until he sold it to his son C. M. Beeman, in 1901. October 16. 1853, he married Miss Sarah Martindale. who died in 1893, and he later married Mrs. Jennie Falby. His was a pioneer record, and a record of close application to his calling which was rewarded with large material success. In 1874 Mr. Beeman entered into com- mercial business in Waukon, which he made a success also, and in 1879 erected the brick block in West Waukon, and continued the business there until succeeded by his four sons in 1897. Mr. Beeman was closely identified with the business interests of the town, and took a prominent part in the prosecution of the railroad project to completion, as well as in all charitable work and the good government of the city. He was also a leader in the Grange movement, state and national. Mr. Beeman died May 1, 1903, leaving four sons and one daughter, all prominent in business and social circles.
J. B. Mattoon, M. D., pioneer physician, was a native of Massachusetts, born in Hampshire county, November 14, 1814. His grandfather, Gen. Ebenezer Mat- toon. left college to go into the Revolutionary war, and after the war was for a time law partner of Thomas Paine. His father. Noah D. Mattoon, was a class- mate of Daniel Webster, and graduated from Dartmouth in 1801. At nineteen our subject went to Ohio, and graduated at twenty-six from Willoughby Uni- versity. afterward the Cleveland Medical College. He then practiced twelve years in Crawford county, Pennsylvania. In 1852 he concluded to seek his for- tune in the far west, and went to California. After two years he returned and settled at Freeport, Winneshiek county, Iowa, then a lively village with the promise of becoming the county seat. Here he followed his profession for another twelve years with the exception of a year or two in California again, and in 1866 came to Waukon, which he made his permanent home. During the following twenty-seven years of active practice in Waukon and vicinity Dr. Mattoon endeared himself to the people, by his plain and honest life, being indeed one of "the old school," an ideal family physician, counsellor and friend. Dr. Mattoon was married in 1842 to Miss D. E. Heath, and reared two sons and two daughters. In 1882 they celebrated their fortieth wedding anniversary, and Mrs. Mattoon died the following year. A few years later the doctor began spending his winters in Florida, and made his home there from 1892 to 1897, when he returned to Waukon, where he died April 22, 1900.
CHAPTER XIX
TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION
The county records are very incomplete and unsatisfactory as to the organ- ization of the civil townships, and little additional information is to be found in the township records. The order in which they were organized is probably as follows :
Linton, Taylor and Post, in 1851. At the April, 1852, term of the County court the course of Paint creek was officially recognized as the division line between Linton and Taylor townships; a petition for the division of Linton township was rejected; and a petition for the separate organization of "Town- ship 96, Range 4" was also rejected. Linton originally included the whole tier of township 96, but Post voted separately at the April, 1852, election, as perhaps Franklin did likewise.
Lansing in February, 1852.
Makee, Ludlow, Union Prairie, Union .City, Lafayette, Jefferson and Paint Creek, in April, 1852. At the December term, 1853, the boundaries of the fol- lowing townships were established : Linton, Taylor, Paint Creek, Jefferson, Frank- lin and Post. But all these had held separate elections previous to this date. Franklin and Post were taken from Linton. Jefferson and Paint Creek from Taylor.
Fairview, March 5, 1855, taken from Linton.
Hanover and Iowa, March 5, 1855, taken from Union City.
French Creek and Waterloo, March 3. 1856, taken from Union City.
Center (or Village Creek), March 5, 1856, taken from Lafayette. This com- prising the eighteen townships of the county.
Taking up the settlement and progress of the townships alphabetically the first in order is
CENTER TOWNSHIP
At a term of the County court, March 5, 1856, an order was issued appoint- ing O. Deremo as organizing officer to call an election for the organization of "Village Creek Township," comprising Congressional township 98, range 4, to be taken from the township of Lafayette. The election was held April 8, 1856, at the house of Eric Sund, supposed to have been situated on the southeast quarter of northeast quarter of section 20, later belonging to A. G. Oleson and now owned by David Sjogren. At this election the first township officers
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PAST AND PRESENT OF ALLAMAKEE COUNTY
were elected, as follows: Trustees, E. Sund, C. J. Drake, Thomas Gordon ; clerk, A. Drake; assessor, O. Deremo; justices of the peace, Thomas Smith and A. Drake.
Among the earliest settlers in the township, besides those above mentioned, the following names appear : James Bakewell came in 1850 and settled on the east half of northeast quarter of section 5; G. H. Faegre came in '51, direct from Norway, to northeast quarter of section 9; Frederick Lenz, section 4; Abraham Bechtel and Peter J. Svenson, section 5; Samuel Bechtel, section 6; Geo. Griswold and L. T. Fearon, section 7; Peter Johnson, John Winstran, and Mons. P. Ahlstrom, section 8; John H. Ahlstrom, section 17; B. T. McMillan, section 13: Joseph Reynolds, Iver Aslagson, Andrew Anderson, and Andrew E. Amundson, section 33; Andrew Oleson, section 22; Patrick Mullen and Arne Kittleson, section 25; Patrick O'Connor, section 27; O. W. Streeter, section 16; Ole Knudson, Alva Ellefson, Ole Jacobson, and Lars Oleson Rima, section 34; O. Deremo, section 32; John Johnson and John Peterson, section 28; Andrew A. Bakkum, Osten Johnson, Eric Amundson, and Ole John Wolden, section 30; A. G. Olson, section 21; L. Olson and Ole G. Anderson, section 29; Erick Hanson and Andrew Gulicson, section 18; Peter Larson, section 19; Silas Troen- dle, section 9; Willard Bacon, section 22; John Reed, section 31.
Dr. O. Deremo, the organizing officer appointed by County Judge Topliff, practiced medicine as well as farming, and taught the first school in the Thomas Anderson district in the adjoining township of Paint Creek, in the winter of 1854-5. At the time of the organizing election in '56 he had the honor of select- ing the name "Center" for the township in place of the name Village Creek by which the region had formerly been known, derived it is said from the numerous native villages along the valley of this stream when the country was first explored by the whites. Dr. Deremo died September 20, 1903.
It is said the first frame house in the township was built by O. W. Streeter, in 1850 or '51, on the southeast quarter of section sixteen, the farm later owned by P. J. Swenson, and now by Eddie Larson. Streeter sold out about 1854, trading his land to Bell & Co. of Dubuque, for a stock of dry goods, with which he opened a store at Caledonia, Minnesota. In the year 1900 he was prac- ticing law in the city of Superior, Wisconsin, where he had been for many years we believe, and where he was then conducting a suit in the Federal court involv- ing the title to fourteen quarter sections situated within the limits of that city, having a value of several millions. According to his account he was considerable of a lawyer, and had already had two decisions in his favor in this case, but it was just then being appealed to the Supreme court, as he stated in a letter at the time to this writer.
According to Mr. Deremo, who looked up some matters of the early history of the township, the first funeral was that of Joseph Reynolds, who was a soldier of the war of 1812. He entered the southwest quarter of section 33 from the government, and was buried thereon. Rev. E. Howard conducted the services.
The first school meeting was held at the house of this Mr. Howard, on the later Deremo farm, in section 32, May 14, 1855, and Mr. John Reed was secre- tary. Mr. Howard was a Methodist minister who had preached at Postville as early as 1848. He had preached also at Lansing and Waukon. The first
Harper's Ferry church, Taylor township
New Swedish Baptist church. Center town-hip Bethlehem Presbyterian church. Ludlow township Zalmona Presbyterian church, Ludlow township
Presbyterian church. Jefferson township Lycurgus Catholic church. Makee township
Wexford church. Lafayette township
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PAST AND PRESENT OF ALLAMAKEE COUNTY
school was taught the following winter, 1855-6, by Miss L. Stillman, a daughter of John Stillman who had come here that year. It was held in a log school house situated in what was later sub-district No. 4, near west line of section 32.
The first church building was begun in 1856, by the Norwegian Lutherans, where the East Paint Creek Church now is, near Dalby.
CHURCHES
In August, 1853, Rev. Gustav Palmquist, then pastor of the Swedish Bap- tist church at Rock Island, Illinois, visited Village Creek, or the Swedish settle- ment in Center township, and on August 10th twelve were baptized-a significant number. Immediately after, the Swedish Baptist Church of Center township was organized with these twelve members. A. G. Swedberg was chosen pastor, and Eric Sanderman, deacon. No secretary was chosen until 1855, when John Peterson was chosen.
The first four years the meetings were held in private houses, and in 1857 a small log house was bought, for $50, which was fixed up and used for a church for ten years. In 1867 a frame church was erected valued at about $1000, and was considered as a remarkable edifice at that time. This house stood on the creek bottom, but owing to the high water at times it was removed to the present site. In 1884 a small farm of twenty-two acres, with a six room house, was purchsed for a parsonage.
This old church building served its purpose for forty-four years, when it was torn down and a new modern church built in its place, in 1911, valued at some $7000, which was dedicated September 22, 1912. Considering the few Swedes tributary to this church it may be truly said that it has made progress fully up with the times. It has the distinction of being the second oldest Swedish Baptist Church in America. During the sixty years of its existence some four hundred have been enrolled as members. At present the membership is about seventy. During this time the church has been served by the fol- lowing pastors: A. G. Swedberg, A. Levin, U. P. Walberg, F. Fors, Hamren, Sjogren, C. J. Ericson, Floden, C. W. Broms, L. E. Peterson, C. F. Lindberg, Paul Johnson Sjoholm, J. R. Lindblom, A. Paulson, John Lundin, and G. D. Forsell. Rev. Paul Johnson is the present pastor.
There are three years during the history of the church that are memorable as revival years. In the spring of 1862 twenty were added to the church. In the fall of 1873 Rev. Sjogren came and preached, not as pastor. During the following January fifty were baptized, and by May seventy-four had joined the church by baptism, and not a few were restored. Rev. Sjogren was called as pastor and served eight years. In 1886 through the instrumentality of Rev. Paul Johnson twenty-seven were added by baptism.
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