USA > Iowa > Fayette County > Past and present of Fayette County, Iowa, Volume I > Part 42
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Pleasant Valley township (including Elgin incorporation) has eight and three-tenths miles of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific railroad within its borders, assessed for taxation purposes at four thousand two hundred dollars per mile. There are seven and a half miles of the United States Express Com- pany, assessed at thirty-five dollars per mile, and the same mileage of the Western Union Telegraph Company, valued at eighty dollars per mile. The town and township are traversed by thirty-five miles of telephone, which reach fully half of the farms occupied by the owners. The average assessed value of the four companies doing business in the township is fifty dollars per mile.
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CHAPTER XXXII.
PUTNAM TOWNSHIP.
This was one of the four townships surveyed in 1837, as appears in the chapter on County Organization. The first land entry was made by John C. Folsom, on the 4th of November, 1850. But a man named Serving entered land the same year, sold his claim to a man named Harrows, who, like him- self, soon removed from the township. The settlement of this township was tardy, considering the time the land became available, and this tardiness was probably due to the fact that the land is nearly all prairie, a class of soil and environment not alluring to the first settlers of the county. And this ob- jection will be considered a sensible one, when it is remembered that timber was a staple commodity in early days, there being nothing then available to take its place for fuel, fencing, houses and stock sheds, and even as a protection against the destructive winds which traversed the prairies unmolested. Invari- ably the early settlers chose locations in or near the timber, even though much better land could have been found elsewhere.
J. Brun was the first actual settler, he having purchased the Harrows claim, and made a permanent home on section 24. Some of the first settlers in this township secured their land for seventy-five cents an acre, there being a special provision so providing for a limited time.
EARLY ELECTIONS.
The township was named in honor of the Revolutionary hero, Gen. Israel Putnam. An order was issued by the county judge calling the organizing election in April, 1855. Some informality in making the returns.deferred the organization, however, and another election was held the following year. The electors who voted in April, 1855, were R. Aldrich, Sr., R. Aldrich, Jr., Mr. McNary, W. C. Hicks, J. Hallowell, J. B. Squires, J. L. Bruce and John C. Folsom. The election held in April, 1856 (at which time the township was organized), was held at the house of Samuel Joy, and resulted in the selection of officers as follows: J. B. Squires and Samuel Probasco, justices of the
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peace ; Samuel Westcott, Joseph Hallowell and W. S. Warner, trustees ; Alvah Bush, township clerk ; Samuel Westcott, assessor ; J. Rowley and Mr. Canfield, constables, and Patrick Bears was chosen supervisor of roads. The election officers on this occasion were W. S. Warner, Joseph Hallowell and Alvah Bush, judges, and the two last named also officiated as clerks. The electors attending this election and not at the preceding one were C. G. Wheeland, W. Hicks, Jay and James Squires.
FIRST SCHOOLS.
The first consideration with the pioneers, after organizing the territory in which they live, is the establishment of schools and churches. Putnam township was no exception to this rule. The first board of directors (organ- ized in 1858) was composed of Solomon Joy, J. B. Squires and L. H. Abbott. Mrs. Rowley, who taught the first school in the township, received a salary of one dollar per week !
Three sub-districts were organized by the board in 1858, and the first school house in the township was purchased from Orrville Wood for thirty dollars. The schools of the township were well organized under the district township system, and so continued until October 18, 1873, when eighty-two petitioners asked for a dissolution of the district township system and the establishment of rural independent districts. An election was held in Decem- ber, 1873, and a majority of votes cast were in favor of the change to the independent district system. When the school property was divided and dis- trict boundaries established, the district township board went out of existence, since which time three directors in each district have controlled the school interests. The last of the eleven sub-districts was set off in 1871, and since December, 1873, each district has been self-sustaining. Each district in the township owns a school house of one room, that in No. 3 being the poorest (valued at two hundred dollars). In this district there was no school held during the year 1909, the latest official report. The other ten districts had school from seven to nine months of the year, the average being seven and three-fourths months. Two male teachers were employed (in districts 2 and II), at a salary of forty dollars a month each. Female teachers were em- ployed in the other districts at an average salary of thirty-five dollars and forty cents per month. There are but fourteen persons in district No. 3 between five and twenty-one years, and but five between seven and fourteen, the years of compulsory attendance ; hence it is to be presumed that provisions could be
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made for the attendance of these in adjoining districts at much less expense than in their own. Two hundred eighty-six is the school enumeration of the township (five to twenty-one years), of whom two hundred and twenty-six were enrolled in the schools, with an average daily attendance of one hundred and fifty. The average cost of tuition per month for each pupil was two dollars and sixty-four cents. The eleven school houses are valued at four thousand nine hundred and seventy-five dollars, and the school apparatus in them at six hundred and thirty-five dollars. The school libraries of the town- ship contain six hundred and two volumes.
AGRICULTURAL.
For many years past Putnam township has taken high rank as a dairying and stock-raising community. Creameries were established there as early as anywhere in the county, and the product brought high prices in the Eastern markets, for which it was mostly made. This industry continues, though with the invention and general introduction of cream separators among the farmers, and the annual custom of putting up ice, much more home churning is done than formerly. Grain raising has fallen off greatly, and the farmers usually feed up the products of their farms to their growing stock. Wheat raising has ceased to be the money-getting industry, though such was the case in earlier days.
The Davenport & St. Paul branch of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad touches the northeast corner of this township, but there is no station within its boundaries. In fact, Putnam is purely an agricultural township, having neither town nor village. Arlington and Strawberry Point-the latter in Clayton county-are convenient trading places, while the city of Oelwein is within nine miles from the west line of the township.
Sabbath schools and religious services have been a feature of the religious life of the community from early pioneer days, but the near-by towns men- tioned above, being but three miles distant from the northern and eastern boundaries, furnish conveniences not found at the country church or school house.
A number of the prominent early settlers in this township have retired from active labors, and several of them are located in Arlington. Among these we mention John Gladwin and J. R. McDonald, who were prominent in
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the affairs of Putnam township for many years, particularly in educational affairs. Dr. C. G. Wheeland was also one of the earliest settlers in Putnam, now retired.
The taxable property of this township, as listed for taxation, is valued at two hundred and eighty thousand nine hundred and twenty dollars.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
SCOTT TOWNSHIP.
Scott township was organized by order of the county judge in 1858. This was one of the last townships to be organized in the county, on account of the fact that there was no timber in the township, and settlers for the first fifteen years after the land was open to public entry were very few indeed. The resolution ordering the establishment of the township was as follows :
"Ordered that congressional township 91 north, range 8 west, be and it is hereby formed into a new township for all purposes contemplated by law under the name of Scott township. And Prentiss M. Freeman is hereby ap- pointed to discharge the duties, as required by law, necessary to organize said township. The first election in said township to be held at the house of Ed- ward Kniseley in said township on the first Monday in April, 1858, at which election there will be elected three township trustees, one clerk, two constables, two justices of the peace, and a vote will also be taken for school fund com- missioner." This order was made February 5, 1858. The township was named after Gen. Winfield Scott, at that time lieutenant-general of the United States armies, and the leading figure in the war with Mexico.
Land values were quite low in Scott township for many years, as shown in the equalization of real estate for the year 1859, when values for Scott town- ship were placed at three dollars per acre, but there was a rapid increase in the value of land from that time on, and at the equalization in June, 1910, the average value of all the land in the township was placed at about forty dollars per acre for purposes of taxation, which is probably not far from one-half of its actual selling value. The assessment valuation of the township, personal and real, for 1909, was two hundred and seventy-two thousand and fifteen dollars. In recent years the township has developed wonderfully, and now contains some of the best farms in the county. A very large number of groves have been planted, and many of the farm buildings are equal to the best. The township has one trading point, a large general store at Scott Center, where many of the people in the township do their trading. There is also a cream- ery, harness shop and a blacksmith shop there. There is no church building in the township, but there is one, a union church, just over the line of the
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township, on the east, and another, a United Brethren church, just over the line of the township on the north; both are maintained very largely by the people of Scott township. There are eight schools in the township. In 1859, when there were probably but one or two schools, the number of pupils was thirty-seven; and in 1910 the number of pupils was one hundred and ninety-nine. There are no reliable school records showing when and where the first school was held, or who was the first school teacher, but Scott town- ship is well to the front in educational matters. The population in 1859 was sixty-eight, and in 1905, according to the state census, it was five hundred and fifty-seven. In the presidential election of 1860 there were fourteen votes for Lincoln and five votes for Douglas, which represented the political complexion of the settlement at that time.
On June 7, 1861, the first board of supervisors, with one member from each township, assembled at the court house in West Union, with S. C. Crosby representing Scott township. This township was the farm home of Hon. Andrew Addie, who represented the county very creditably in two sessions of the General Assembly of Iowa. He was also clerk of the district court, being elected in 1879, as a Democrat. Mr. Addie is now retired and living in Arlington. For many years he was a prominent and well known resident of this township.
The first entry of government land in Scott township was made by Peter L. Moe, October 16, 1854, by a land warrant. He entered the south half of the northeast fractional quarter of section I. The second entry was made by William Bailiff, November 7, 1854, for cash. He entered the fractional north half of the northeast quarter of section I. These two entries form the first quarter section of land entered in Scott township. The first sale of Scott township land, after being entered, was made by Peter L. Moe, to Wil- liam Bailiff, November 1I, 1854, four days after Mr. Bailiff had entered the north eighty acres of the same quarter section. He purchased the eighty acres for sixty dollars, and paid one hundred dollars for his eighty acres, while the same land today would readily sell for one hundred dollars per acre.
Scott township has one and three hundred and fifty-four thousandthis miles of the main line of the Chicago Great Western railway, and is within reach of stations on three sides, but has no station within its borders. The township is mostly settled by Americans, with probably as few people of for- eign birth as any township in the county. A large amount of tile draining is now being done, and it is probable that within a few years Scott township, which in early times 'was regarded as the poorest township in the county, will turn out to be one of the most valuable. It has always been a township largely
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devoted to stock raising, and has produced some very fine herds of thorough- bred cattle. Coincident with this industry, dairying is carried on extensively, and affords a steady and unfailing income to those engaged in it.
EARLY SETTLERS.
John Powers and his son, Henry Powers, were the earliest settlers at Scott Center, where the early development of the township began. James Carpenter located on section 23, Scott township, in 1855. He was a native of Orange county, New York. A. Ross was a Scotchman by birth and located in this township in 1863. Other pioneers in Scott were: L. W. and H. B. Brownell, Henry A. Burdick, John B. Doctor, C. B. Gardinier, J. W. Hazen, W. C. Hillman, Robert Hunter, James Kernahan, Solomon Knapp, O. Lin- coln, J. C. Miller, John Morehouse, William C. Pond, John Shields, James Spensley, George Stebbins, William O. Sumner. These were among the pioneers who started the wheels of progress in this "prairie township." Its early development was tardy, owing to the absence of timber suitable for building and fencing. But the stranger passing through the township today would not realize how barren the territory was considered in early days. Stately groves, ornamental hedges and profitable orchards dot the landscape everywhere, while the handsome homes, commodious barns, and fattening herds, indicate the general prosperity of the people.
Scott township has thirty-nine and a half miles of telephone lines, repre- sented by four different companies. The Corn Belt Telephone Company has twenty-eight miles; the Interstate, seven and a half miles; Scott Telephone Company, three miles, and the Iowa Telephone Company, one mile.
EDUCATIONAL.
The schools of the township are organized under the rural independent district system, there being eight districts, in seven of which schools were taught during the last year. No. 4 had no school, but the attendance of the eighteen pupils was provided for in other districts. Of the one hundred and ninety-nine pupils of school age in the township, one hundred and forty-seven were enrolled in the schools (seven), making a total average daily attendance of one hundred and six. The average cost of tuition for each pupil in the seven schools was two dollars and forty-eight cents. Four non-resident pupils were enrolled in district No. 3, and six were enrolled in district No. 6. These
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contributed sixty-three dollars and fourteen cents to the respective district funds. The eight school houses are valued at four thousand and seventy-five dollars. The school apparatus in the eight schools is valued at four hundred and thirty dollars, and their school libraries represent three hundred and sixty-eight volumes.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
SMITHFIELD TOWNSHIP.
The territory which subsequently became Smithfield township was occu- pied in the early forties by several persons whose later history is not indentified with the township. William Orrear and James Beatty located in Smithfield in 1838, and, being unmarried men, lived together and kept "bach." It was their cabin which sheltered the Teagarden children after the murder of their father and little brother, as mentioned elsewhere in this volume. Orrear mar- ried and became a successful farmer and dairyman.
William Van Dorn settled in this township in 1843, and three years later married Miss Messenger, the first wedding in Smithfield. Andrew Hensley became a resident of the township in 1844. The next year he hauled a portion of his crop of winter wheat to Dubuque and sold it for one dollar and forty- five cents per bushel. Dubuque was his trading point and postoffice until 1849, and when a store and postoffice was established at Yankee Settlement, twenty-five miles away, he felt that he was almost living in town. Mr. Hens- ley sent some of his children to school at Yankee Settlement before there was a school established in Fayette county. (He located his land on the line be- tween Fairfield and Smithfield in 1842.)
Chauncey Brooks, a young man of twenty-one, brought his bride to Smithfield township in 1847, and in 1848 their daughter, Amanda, was born. This was the first birth in the township and a close rival for first birthday honors in the county.
Rev. John Brown held a religious meeting in the Orrear cabin in 1848- probably the first gospel sermon preached in the township.
The first land entry made in Fayette county was made in this township on the 17th of January, 1847, as appears of record. This was the William Orrear and James Beatty claim, which was entered by Horace Bemis. It was in the extreme northern limit of the surveyed lands in the county.
Smithfield was one of the four townships in this county acquired through the Black Hawk purchase, and was surveyed by Orson Lyon in the summer of 1837. The sub-dividing lines were established by James Videtto in the same year.
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TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION.
While there were numerous settlers in Smithfield in the forties, gradually increasing with passing years, the formal organization of the township did not occur until 1858, as shown by the following order of the county court : "That township 92 north, range 8 west, be and the same is hereby formed in a new township, for all purposes, as contemplated by law. Said first election is ordered to be held at the house formerly occupied by Joseph Hobson, in said township; and that Alden Mitchell is hereby appointed to discharge the duties, as required by law, necessary to organize said township; said election to take place on the first Monday of April, 1858, at nine o'clock A. M. ; and that there be elected three township trustees, one clerk, two justices of the peace, one con- stable, and a vote to be taken, also, for school fund commissioner. Said town- ship to be called Smithfield."
The reader is referred to the article on early history in the Miscellaneous chapter for further discussion of events in this locality. The writer of that article was a participant in the history recorded, and tells it in his own quaint and interesting style.
Though lacking the formal organization to fully legalize their proceed- ings, the people of Smithfield had a nominal organization, and public affairs were carried forward for some years before the county court came to their rescue. A school house was established on section No. 1 in 1852, but a school had been taught in a settler's house the previous year. The school house above mentioned was to accommodate the patrons of the "farm-house" school. Iantha Hendrickson was the first teacher in the new school house.
EARLY SCHOOLS.
The first school election in Smithfield township was held at the house of William McNaul, May 3, 1858. The voters participating in this election were J. A. Hogue, L. M. Stranahan, F. Ball, F. Hodges, William Bonine, Ira Potter, George Guard, James Bonine, E. B. Nichols, T. W. B. Stevenson, Har- rison Gage, A. T. Liggett and Charles Hoyt. The last named was elected president, Elisha De Mott, vice-president, L. M. Stranahan, secretary, and A. T. Liggett, treasurer. By this time there was a considerable settlement in the township and every neighborhood wanted a school house, or at least all wanted to be the first in the distribution of such favors. Applications were made ap- parently, without any consideration of results, should all be granted, and it
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was fortunate for the people that they had elected a conservative and far-see- ing board of directors. This restriction as to expenditures for school houses -which was hardly justifiable during all the years that it was kept up-finally led to the abandonment of the district township system and the adoption of the rural independent schools, as now in vogue in the township. But this change did not occur until 1876, at which time there were nine schools in the township. During the year ending July, 1909 (the latest official report), there was school taught in nine of the ten school houses in the township, an average of eight months, by female teachers, who received an average of thirty-five dollars and fifty-seven cents per month. District No. 10 had but two months' school, paying the teacher thirty-five dollars per month. (The average daily attendance in this school was six.) There are two hundred and forty-five pupils of school age in the township, of whom two hundred and two were enrolled in the schools, with a total average daily attendance of one hun- dred and twenty-two in the township. The estimated value of the ten school houses is four thousand six hundred and seventy-five dollars. (One of these is reported as worth twenty-five dollars.) The school libraries contain eight hundred and nine volumes, and the school apparatus is valued at five hundred and fifteen dollars.
CHURCHES.
Religious services were held in the homes of the people or in the school houses from the coming of the first pioneers until the building of churches in 1876. There were classes of the Methodist Episcopal and United Brethren denominations organized in early days, and they maintained their identity and religious zeal throughout the discouragements which met all pioneer enter- prises. In 1876 each of these societies erected a comfortable church building and were usually supplied with pastors from near-by towns.
Among the early settlers of Smithfield, none were more prominent in the development of its agricultural resources than the family of James Smith. Mr. Smith came to Smithfield in the early fifties, locating on the bleak prairie with not a house or tree within the range of human vision. He entered a large tract of land, accumulating as the years passed, until he had over a thousand acres. He was one of the organizers of the township, which was named in his honor. His children, and especially his daughters, were successful teach- ers in their home township and elsewhere for many years.
Among other early pioneers who have been identified with this section
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of the county, were J. W. Hobson, William Pangburn, William Price, the Babcock family at Bear Grove (of whom one son, Q. C. Babcock, is a promi- nent resident of Fayette), J. E. Budd, also of Fayette, Charles Hoyt, who was county surveyor for many years, and father of the late Judge W. A. Hoyt, G. WV. Baker, D. P. Dawson, D. W. Chittenden, F. Snedigar, A. Mitchell, Lyman E. Mitchell, Richard Badger, John Bills, James Conrad who, with five broth- ers, served in the Union army, Andrew Harkin, Joseph Hahn, Finley Smith, William Thompson, D. Underwood. It is not assumed that the foregoing is a complete list of early settlers of Smithfield, as the preparation of such a list seems impossible at this late date.
There is no town or village within the boundaries of Smithfield town- ship, the nearest market points being Arlington, three miles east, Maynard, two miles west, and Fayette, about the same distance north, these distances being calculated from the respective township boundaries. Seaton postoffice was once located in the southern part of the township, but this has given place to the rural free delivery system, now so universally in vogue throughout the country districts.
This is distinctively a prairie township in which there is little timber except that artificially grown. It is rolling prairie land, very fertile, and in a high state of improvement. Dairying and stock-raising is the principal busi- ness in which the prosperous farmers are engaged.
STATISTICS.
The resources of this township, and the value of its property for taxation purposes, are shown below :
Of the Davenport & St. Paul branch of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad, there are four and eighty-two hundredths miles traversing the northeast corner, valued for assessment purposes at nineteen thousand two hundred dollars; the Western Union Telegraph Company has the same mile- age, and is assessed on the basis of three hundred and eighty-six dollars in the township; there are three telephone companies in operation. The Iowa Tele- phone Company has ten miles of line, valued at nine hundred and fifty dol- lars ; the Interstate has six miles, valued at three hundred and twenty-three dollars, and the Corn Belt Company operates twenty miles of line in Smithfield, valued at eight hundred and thirty-seven dollars.
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