USA > Iowa > Appanoose County > Past and present of Appanoose County, Iowa : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Vol. I > Part 5
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Giard .- in 1795, the Lieutenant governor of Upper Louisiana granted to Basil Giard five thousand eight hundred and sixty acres of land, in what is now Clayton county, known as the "Giard tract." He occupied the land during the time that lowa passed from Spain to France, and from France to the United States, in consideration of which the federal government granted a patent of the same to Giard in his own right. His heirs sold the whole tract to James H. Lockwood and Thomas P. Burnett, of Prairie du Chien, for three hundred dollars.
Honori .- March 30, 1799, Zenon Trudeau, acting lieutenant governor of Upper Louisiana, granted to Louis Honori a tract of land on the site of the pres- ent town of Montrose, as follows: "It is permitted to Louis ( Fresson) Honori, or Louis Honore Fesson, to establish himself at the head of the rapids of the River Des Moines, and his establishment once formed, notice of it shall be given to the governor general, in order to obtain for him a commission of a space sufficient to give value to such establishment. and at the same time to render it useful to the commerce of the peltries of this country, to watch the Indians and keep them in the fidelity which they owe to His Majesty."
Honori took immediate possession of his claim, which he retained until 1805. While trading with the natives, he became indebted to Joseph Robedoux, who obtained an execution on which the property was sold May 13. 1803, and was purchased by the creditor. In these proceedings the property was described as being "about six leagues above the River Des Moines." Robedoux died soon after he purchased the property. Anguste Choteau, his executor, disposed of the llonori tract to Thomas F. Reddeck, in April, 1805. up to which time Honori continued to occupy it. The grant, as made by the Spanish government, was a league square but only one mile square was confirmed by the United States. After the half-breeds sold their lands, in which the llonori grant was included, various claimants resorted to litigation in attempts to invalidate the title of the Reddeck heirs, but it was finally confirmed by a decision of the supreme court of the United States in 1839, and is the oldest legal title to any land in the state of lowa.
THE HALF-BREED TRACT
Before any permanent settlement had been made in the territory of Iowa. white adventurers, trappers and traders, many of whom were scattered along the Mississippi and its tributaries, as agents and employes of the American Fur Company, intermarried with the females of the Sac and Fox Indians, produc- ing a race of half-breeds, whose number was never definitely ascertained. There
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were some respectable and excellent people among them, children of men of some refinement and education. For instance: Dr. Muir, a gentleman educated at Edinburgh, Scotland, a surgeon in the United States army stationed at a military pust located on the present site of Warsaw, married an Indian woman, and reared his family of three daughters in the city of Keokuk. Other examples might be cited, but they are probably exceptions to the general rule, and the race is now nearly or quite extinct in lowa.
A treaty was made at Washington, August 4. 1824. between the Sacs and Foxes and the United States, by which that portion of Lee county was reserved to the half-breeds of those tribes, and which was afterward known as "The Ilalf-Breed Tract." This reservation is the triangular piece of land, contain- ing about 119.000 acres, lying between the Mississippi and Des Moines rivers. It is bounded on the north by the prolongation of the northern line of Missouri. This line was intended to be a straight one, running due east, which would have caused it to strike the Mississippi river at or below Montrose; but the surveyor who ran it took no notice of the change in the variation of the needle as he pro- ceeded castward, and, in consequence, the line be ran was bent, deviating more and more to the northward of a direct line as he approached the Mississippi, so that it struck that river at the lower edge of the town of Fort Madison. "This erroneous line." says Judge Mason, "has been acquiesced in as well in fixing the northern limit of the Half-Breed Tract as in determining the northern boundary line of the state of Missouri." The line thus run included in the reservation a portion of the lower part of the city of Fort Madison, and all of the present townships of Van Buren, Charleston, Jefferson, Des Moines, Montrose and Jackson.
Under the treaty of 1824. the half-breeds had the right to occupy the soil, but could not convey it, the reversion being reserved to the United States. But on the 30th day of January, 1834, by act of congress, this reversionary right was relinquished, and the half-breeds acquired the lands in fee simple. This was no sooner done. than a horde of speculators rushed in to buy land of the half- breed owners, and, in many instances, a gun. a blanket, a pony or a few quarts of whisky was sufficient for the purchase of large estates. There was a deal of sharp practice on both sides; Indians would often claim ownership of land by virtue of being half-breeds, and had no difficulty in proving their mixed blood by the Indians, and they would then cheat the speculators by selling land to which they had no rightful title. On the other hand, speculators often claimed land in which they had no ownership. It was diamond cut diamond. until at last things became badly mixed. There were no authorized surveys and no boundary line- to claims, and, as a natural result. numerous conflicts and quar- rels ensued.
To settle these difficulties, to decide the validity of claims or sell them for the benefit of the real owners, by act of the legislature of Wisconsin Territory. approved January 16, 1838, Edward Johnstone. Thomas S. Wilson and David Brigham were appointed commissioners, and clothed with power to effect these objects. The act provided that these commissioners should be paid six dollars a day each. The commission entered upon its duties and continued until the next session of the legislature, when the act creating it was repealed, invalidating all that had been done and depriving the commissioners of their pay. The repeal-
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ing act, however, authorized the commissioners to commence action against the owners of the Half-Breed Tract, to receive pay for their services in the district court of Lee county. Two judgments were obtained, and on execution the whole of the tract was sold to Ihugh T. Reid. the sheriff executing the deed. Mr. Reid soll portions of it to various parties but his own title was questioned and he became involved in litigation. Decisions in favor of Reid and those holding under him were made by both district and supreme courts, but in December, 1850, these decisions were finally reversed by the supreme court of the United States in the case of Joseph Webster, plaintiff in error, vs. Hugh T. Reid, and the judgment titles failed. About nine years before the "judgment titles" were finally abrogated as above, another class of titles were brought into competition with them, and in the conflict between the two, the final decision was obtained. These were the titles based on the "decree of partition" issued by the United States district court for the territory of lowa, on the 8th of May. 1841, and certified to by the clerk on the 2d day of June of that year. Edward Johnstone and Hugh T. Reid, then law partners at Fort Madison, filed the peti- tion for the decree in behalf of the St. Louis claimants of half-breed lands. Francis S. Key, author of the Star Spangled Banner, who was then attorney for the New York Land Company, which held heavy interests in these lands, took a leading part in the measure and drew up the document in which it was pre- sented to the court. Judge Charles Mason, of Burlington, presided. The plan of partition divided the tract into one hundred and one shares and arranged that each claimant should draw his proportion by lot, and should abide the result. whatever it might be. The arrangement was entered into, the lots drawn, and the plat of the same filed in the recorder's office, October 6, 1841. Upon this basis the titles to land in the Half-Breed Tract are now held.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS
The first permanent settlement by the whites within the limits of Iowa was made by Julien Dubuque, in 1788, when, with a small party of miners, he set- tled on the site of the city that now bears his name, where he lived until his death in 1810. Louis Honori settled on the site of the present town of Montrose, prob- ably in 1799, and resided there until 1805, when his property passed into other hands. Of the Giard settlement, opposite Prairie du Chien, little is known. except that it was occupied by some parties prior to the commencement of the present century, and contained three cabins in 1805. Indian traders. although not strictly to be considered settlers, had established themselves at various points at an early date. A Mr. Johnson, agent of the American Fur Company, had a trading post below Burlington, where he carried on traffic with the Indians some time before the U'nited States possessed the country. In 1820 Le Moliese, a French trader, had a station at what is now Sandusky, six miles above Keokuk, in Lee county. In 1829. Dr. Isaac Galland made a settlement on the Lower Rapids, at what is now Nashville.
The first settlement in Lee county was made in 1820, by Dr. Samuel C. Muir, a surgeon in the United States army, who had been stationed at Fort Edwards. now Warsaw, Illinois, and who built a cabin where the city of Keokuk now stands. Dr. Muir was a man of strict integrity and irreproachable char-
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acter. While stationed at a military post on the Upper Mississippi, he had married an Indian woman of the Fox nation. Of his marriage the following romantic account is given :
The post at which he was stationed was visited by a beautiful Indian maiden -whose maiden name, unfortunately, has not been preserved-who, in her dreams, had seen a white brave unmoor his canoe, paddle it across the river and co ne directly to her lodge. She felt assured, according to the super-titions belief of her race, that, in her dreams, she had seen her future husband and had come to the fort to find him. Meeting Dr. Muir, she instantly recognized him as the hero of her dream, which, with childlike simplicity and innocence, she related to him. ller dream was indeed prophetic. Charmed with Sophia's beauty, innocence and devotion, the Doctor honorably married her but after a while the sneers and gibes of his brother officers-less honorable than he, per- haps-made him feel ashamed of his dark-skinned wife, and when his regiment was ordered down the river to Bellefontaine, it is said he embraced the oppor- tunity to rid himself of her, and left her, never expecting to see her again, and little dreaming that she would have the courage to follow him. But with her infant child, this intrepid wife and mother started alone in her canoe, and after many days of weary labor and a lonely journey of nine hundred miles, she at last reached him. She afterward remarked when speaking of this toilsome journey down the river in search of her husband, "When I got there 1 was all perished away-so thin!" The Doctor, touched by such unexampled devotion. took her to his heart and ever after, until his death. treated her with marked respect. She always presided at his table with grace and dignity, but never abandoned her native style of dress. In 1819-20 he was stationed at Fort Edward, but the senseless ridicule of some of his brother officers on account of his Indian wife induced him to resign his commission.
After building his cabin, as above stated, he leased his claim for a term of years to Otis Reynolds and John Culver, of St. Louis, and went to La Pointe. afterward Galena, where he practiced his profession for ten years, when he returned to Keokuk. llis Indian wife bore to him four children: Louise, who married at Keokuk but is deceased : James, who was drowned at Keokuk ; Mary, and Sophia. Dr. Muir died suddenly of cholera in 1832, but left his property in such condition that it was soon wasted in vexations litigation and his brave and faithful wife, left friendless and penniless, became discouraged, and with her children. disappeared, and it is said, returned to her people on the Upper Missouri.
Messrs. Reynolds & Culver, who had leased Dr. Muir's claim at Keokuk. subsequently employed as their agent. Moses Stillwell, who arrived with his fam- ily in 1828 and took possession of Muir's cabin. His brothers-in-law, Amos and Valencourt Van AAnsdal, came with him and settled near. His daughter. Mar- garet Stillwell, afterward Mrs. Ford, was born in 1831, at the foot of the rapids, called by the Indians Puch-a-she-tuck, where Keokuk now stands. She was probably the first white American child born in lowa.
In 1831 Mr. Johnson, agent of the American Fur Company, who had a sta- tion at the foot of the rapids, removed to another location and Dr. Mnir, having returned from Galena, he and Isaac R. Campbell took the place and buildings vacated by the company and carried on trade with the Indians and half-breeds
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Campbell, who had first visited and traveled through the southern part of Iowa, in 1821, was an enterprising settler and besides trading with the natives carried on a farm and kept a tavern. Dr. Muir died of cholera in 1832.
In 1830 James L. and Lucius H. Langworthy, brothers, and natives of Ver- mont, visited the territory for the purpose of working the lead mines at Dubuque. They had been engaged in lead mining in Galena, Illinois, the former from as early as 1824. The lead mines in the Dubuque region were an object of great interest to the miners about Galena, for they were known to be rich in lead ore. To explore these mines and to obtain permission to work them was therefore eminently desirable.
In 1829. James L. Langworthy resolved to visit the Dubuque mines. Cross- ing the Mississippi at a point now known as Dunleith, in a canoe, and swim- ming his horse by his side, he landed on the spot known as Jones Street levee. Before him spread out a beautiful prairie, on which the city of Dubuque stands. Two miles south, at the mouth of Catfish creek, was a village of Sacs and Foxes. Thither Mr. Langworthy proceeded and was well received by the natives. He endeavored to obtain permission from them to mine in their hills but this they refused. He. however, succeeded in gaining the confidence of the chief to such an extent as to be allowed to travel in the interior for three weeks and explore the country. He employed two young Indians as guides and traversed in dif- ferent directions the whole region lying between the Maquoketa and Turkey rivers. He returned to the village, secured the good will of the Indians, and. returning to Galena, formed plans for future operations, to be executed as soon as circumstances would permit.
In 1830, with his brother, Lucius 11., and others, having obtained the con- sent of the Indians. Mr. Langworthy crossed the Mississippi and commenced mining in the vicinity around Dubuque. At this time the lands were not in the actual possession of the United States. Although they had been purchased from France, the Indian title had not been extinguished, and these adventurous persons were beyond the limits of any state or territorial government. The first settlers were therefore obliged to be their own law-makers, and to agree to such regulations as the exigencies of the case demanded. The first act resembling civil legislation within the limits of the present state of lowa was done by the miners at this point, in June, 1830. They met on the bank of the river, by the side of an old cottonwood drift log, at what is now Jones Street levee. Dubuque, and elected a committee, consisting of J. L. Langworthy, H. F. Lander. James McPhetres, Samuel Scales and E. M. Wren. This may be called the first legislature in lowa, the members of which gathered around that old cottonwood log and agreed to and reported the following, written by Mr. Langworthy, on a half sheet of coarse, unruled paper. the old log being the writ- ing desk :
"We, a committee having been chosen to draft certain rules and regulations (laws) by which we as miners will be governed. and having duly considered the subject. do unanimously agree that we will be governed by the regulations on the east side of the Mississippi river, with the following exceptions, to wit :
"Article I. That each and every man shall hokl two hundred yards square of ground by working said ground one day in six.
"Article 11 We further agree that there be chosen, by the majority of the
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HOME OF GOVERNOR FRANCIS M. DRAKE, CENTERVILLE
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miners present, a person who shall hold this article, and who shall grant let- ters of arbitration on application having been made, and that said letters of arbitration shall be obligatory on the parties so applying."
The report was accepted by the miners present, who elected Dr. Jarote, in accordance with Article 11. Here then we have in 1830 a primitive legislature elected by the people. the law drafted by it being submitted to the people for approval, and under it Dr. Jarote was elected first governor within the limits of the present state of lowa. And it is to be said that the laws thus enacted were as promptly obeyed, and the acts of the executive officer thus elected as duly respected, as any have been since.
The miners who had thus erected an independent government of their own on the west side of the Mississippi river continued to work successfully for a long time, and the new settlement attracted considerable attention. But the west side of the Mississippi belonged to the Sac and Fox Indians, and the govern- ment, in order to preserve peace on the frontier, as well as to protect the Indians in their rights under the treaty, ordered the settlers not only to stop min- ing, but to remove from the Indian territory. They were simply intruders. The execution of this order, was entrusted to Colonel Zachary Taylor. then in command of the military post at Prairie du Chien, who, early in July. sent an officer to the miners with orders to forbid settlement and to command the min- ers to remove within ten days to the east side of the Mississippi or they would be driven off by armed force. The miners, however, were reluctant about leav- ing the rich "Jeads" they had already discovered and opened and were not dis- posed to obey the order to remove with any considerable degree of alacrity. In due time. Colonel Taylor dispatched a detachment of troops to enforce his order. The miners, anticipating their arrival, had, excepting three, recrossed the river and from the east bank saw the troops land on the western shore. The three who had lingered a little too long were, however, permitted to make their escape unmolested. From this time, a military force was stationed at Dubuque to prevent the settlers from returning. until June, 1832. The Indians returned and were encouraged to operate the rich mines opened by the late white occu- pants.
In June, 1832. the troops were ordered to the east side to assist in the anni- hilation of the very Indians whose rights they had been protecting on the west side. Immediately after the close of the Black Hawk war and the negotiations of the treaty in September. 1832, by which the Sacs and Foxes ceded to the United States the tract known as the "Black Hawk Purchase." the settlers, supposing that now they had a right to reenter the territory, returned and took possession of their claims, built cabins, erected furnaces and prepared large quantities of lead for the market. Dubuque was becoming a noted place on the river, but the prospects of the hardy and enterprising settlers and miners were again ruthlessly interfered with by the government, on the ground that they had withdrawn from the vicinity of the settlement. Colonel Taylor was again ordered by the war department to remove the miners, and in January, 1833. troops were again sent from Prairie du Chien to Dubuque for that purpose. This was a serious and perhaps unnecessary hardship imposed upon the settlers. They were compelled to abandon their cabins and homes in mid-winter. It must now be said, simply that "red tape" should be respected. The purchase Vol 1 3
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had been made, the treaty ratified, or was sure to be; the Indians had retired, and after a lapse of several decades, no very satisfactory reason for this rigor- ous action of the government can be given.
But the orders had been given and there was no alternative but to obey. Many of the settlers recrossed the river and did not return. A few, however, removed to an island near the east bank of the river, built rude cabins of poles, in which to store their lead until spring, when they could float the fruits of their labor to St. Louis for sale, and where they could remain until the treaty went into force, when they could return. Among these were James L. Lang- worthy and his brother Lucius, who had on hand about three hundred thousand pounds of lead.
Lieutenant Covington, who had been placed in command at Dubuque by Colonel Taylor, ordered some of the cabins of the settlers to be torn down, and wagons and other property to be destroyed. This wanton and inexcusable action on the part of a subordinate clothed with a little brief authority was sternly rebuked by Colonel Taylor, and Covington was superseded by Lieutenant George Wilson, who pursued a just and friendly course with the pioneers, who were only waiting for the time when they could repossess their claims.
June 1, 1833, the treaty formally went into effect. the troops were with- drawn and the Langworthy brothers and a few others at once returned and resumed possession of their home claims and mineral prospects, and from this time the first permanent settlement of this portion of Iowa must date. John P. Sheldon was appointed superintendent of the mines by the government, and a system of permits to miners and licenses to smelters was adopted. similar to that which had been in operation at Galena since 1825, under Lieutenant Martin Thomas and Captain Thomas C. Legate. Substantially the primitive law enacted by the miners assembled around that old cottonwood drift log in 1830 was adopted and enforced by the United States government, except that miners were required to sell their mineral to licensed smelters and the smelter was required to give bonds for the payment of six per cent of all lead manu- factured, to the government. This was the same rule adopted in the United States mines on Fever river in Illinois, except that until 1830 the Illinois miners were compelled to pay ten per cent tax. This tax upon the miners created much dissatisfaction among the miners on the west side as it had on the east side of the Mississippi. They thought they had suffered hardships and privations enough in opening the way for civilization, without being subjected to the imposition of an odious government tax upon their means of subsistence, when the federal government could better afford to aid than to extort from them. The measure soon became unpopular. It was difficult to collect the taxes and the whole sys- tem was abolished in about ten years.
During 1833, after the Indian title was fully extinguished. about five hun- dred people arrived at the mining district, about one hundred and fifty of them from Galena.
In the same year Mr. Langworthy assisted in building the first schoolhouse in Iowa, and thus was formed the nucleus of the now populous and thriving city of Dubuque. Mr. Langworthy lived to see the naked prairie on which he first landed become the site of a city of fifteen thousand inhabitants, the small schoolhouses which he aided in constructing replaced by three substantial edi-
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fices, wherein two thousand children were being trained, churches erected in every part of the city, and railroads connecting the wilderness which he first explored with all the eastern world. He died suddenly, on the 13th of March, 1865, while on a trip over the Dubuque & Southwestern Railroad, at Monti- cello, and the evening train brought the news of his death and his remains.
Lucius H. Langworthy, his brother, was one of the most worthy, gifted and influential of the old settlers of this section of lowa. He died, greatly lamented by many friends, in June, 1805.
. The name Dubuque was given to the settlement by the miners at a meeting held in 1834.
In 1832, Captain James White made a claim on the present site of Mon- trose. In 1834 a military post was established at this point, and a garrison of cavalry was stationed here under the command of Colonel Stephen W. Kcarne. The soldiers were removed from this post to Fort Leavenworth, Kan-as, in 1837.
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