USA > Iowa > Jasper County > Past and present of Jasper County, Iowa, Vol. I > Part 5
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5I
JASPER COUNTY, IOWA.
"The following are the boundaries of Newton township: Commenc- ing at the northeast corner of township 81, range 18 west, and run west twelve miles to the northeast corner of township 81, range 19; thence south six miles to the southwest corner of said township and range; thence west two miles to the northwest corner of section 2, township So, range 20; thence south to Skunk river; thence with the meanders of the river to the section line four miles south of township line No. 79: thence cast to range line 18; thence north to place of beginning.
"The following are the boundaries of Elk Creek township: Com- mencing at the northeast corner of section 25, township 79, range IS west. and run west to Skunk river; thence with the meanders of the river to the county line : thence east to range 18, thence north to place of beginning.
"Fairview Township-The boundaries of Fairview township are: Com- mencing on the county line at the southeast corner of section 34. township 78. range 20 west, and run north to the northwest corner of section 22, township 79, range 20 ; thence east to Skunk river ; thence with the meanderings of the river to the county line: thence west to place of beginning.
"Des Moines Township-Commencing at the southwest corner of the county and run north to the southwest corner of section 18, township 79. range 21 west : thence east to the northeast corner of section 21. township 79, range 20; thence south to the county line; thence west to the place of be- ginning.
Poweshiek Township-Commencing at the southwest corner of section 18, township 79. range 21. and run east to Skunk river: thence up the river with the meanders to the section line two miles west of range 20: thence north to the township line 81 ; thence west to the county line: thence south to the place of beginning.
"Clear Creek Township-Commencing at the northwest corner of the county, and run south to township line 81 : thence cast to range line 20: thence north to the county line : thence west to the place of beginning."
ANOTIIER CHANGE IN TOWNSHIP LINES.
In February, 1857. the county judge saw fit to make other changes in the territory and boundaries of the several townships within Jasper county. After that task had been completed the townships of the county were as fol- lows: Rock Creek, Mariposa. Malaka. Clear Creek. Poweshiek. Newton, Buena Vista. Palo Alto. Mound Prairie. Des Moines. Fairview, Elk Creek. Lynn Grove. This made twelve townships in all up to the date this change was brought about.
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JASPER COUNTY, IOWA.
On March 4, 1858, Independence township was formed.
By election time, 1860, the townships had been changed around to as- sume somewhat their present standing, Washington township, however, not having been set off until June, 1861, at request of petitioners from Mound Prairie township. Sherman and Hickory Grove were formed at a later date.
WASHINGTON PRECINCT. 1
In Marion county, to the south of what is now Jasper county, the set- . tlement had increased to such an extent that the commissioners of Mahaska county, in March, 1845, erected the territory now comprised within the bounds of Jasper county into what they were pleased to term "Washington precinct," with the polling place at the house of Mr. Tool. As there were only about a dozen voters within the precinct at that date, it is possible that the vote was smaller than at the election the year before and the officers elected were doubtless the same as those of the previous year.
TIIE GOVERNMENT SURVEYS.
All of the township and range lines north of the correction line and east of the Indian Reserve line were run by Orson Lyon, who also ran the southern and western line of township 78, range 19. The correction line was laid by J. E. Whitcher to the northwest corner of township 78, range 19, and was afterwards prolonged westward by Isaac N. Higbec. The township and range lines south of the correction line, and east of the reservation, were run by William A. Burt of Michigan, son of the inventor of Burt's solar compass. Both Lyon and Burt were employed for several years in the surveys of Iowa. Township 78, range 21, was bounded by John Ball, and the lines of the re- maining townships in range 21 were laid by Isaac N. Higbee. Other parts of the survey in Jasper county were surveyed out by Messrs John D. Evans, Samuel Whitmore, Samuel Jacobs, James Grant and possibly one other surveyor.
DATES OF TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATIONS.
These dates refer to original formation of the several townships of Jasper county, as known today, and not to certain changes in their territory and lines :
Buena Vista township was organized in February, 1857.
Clear Creek township was organized in the summer of 1849.
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JASPER COUNTY, IOWA.
Elk Creek township was organized in May, 1846, one of the original townships.
Fairview township was organized in May. 1846, one of the original townships.
Des Moines township was organized in May, 1846. one of the original townships.
Hickory Grove township was organized in 1864, among the last.
Independence township was organized in March, 1858.
Kellogg township was organized in 1868.
Lynn Grove township was organized in 1846, one of the first sub- divisions.
Mariposa township was organized in February, 1857.
Mound Prairie township was organized in February, 1857.
Malaka township was organized in February, 1857.
Newton township was organized in August. 1851.
Palo Alto township was organized in February, 1857.
Poweshiek township was organized in 1847.
Rock Creek township was organized September 4, 1854.
Richland township was organized in 1860.
Washington township was organized in 1861.
CHAPTER V.
EARLY SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTY.
To have been a pioneer in Jasper county, Iowa, while the fair and fertile domain was yet under the territorial government was indeed an honor to those who braved the frontier hardships, away back in the early forties, when the Indian was still in part possession of this section of the "vast, illimitable and ever-changing West." The sons and daughters of these early settlers may well refer to their ancestry with a just pride, for it was they who set the first stakes to a civilization now far surpassing their most sanguine dreams. Then, too, many of the pioneer band and their off- spring went forth in 1861 in defense of the flag of the Union and laid down life on a Southern battlefield, or perchance returned maimed for life. In- deed the pioneer band who first invaded the wilds of Jasper county were men and women of the truest and most sterling type of manhood and woman- hood.
It was on April 23, 1843, a week prior to the legal time set for white men to set their claim stakes in the "New Purchase" in Iowa, that four daring, rugged characters, accompanied by three others, left their families in Jefferson county, Iowa territory, in search of lands on which to build for themselves new homes. These men were Adam M. Tool, William High- land, John Frost and John Vance. Of the three men who accompanied those just named, this narrative will not undertake to trace further than when they parted from the four who are the subjects of this item in the early settlement chapter now being prepared by the compiler of this work.
These four brave-hearted pioneers carried ten days' rations, and blankets on which to sleep at night time, and traveled a distance of eighty miles up the Skunk river. On the night of the 28th of April, 1843, these weary travelers and homeseekers camped for the night at a point where now stands the town of Monroe. They prepared their evening meal, rolled up in their blankets and slept peacefully in that solitude as yet unbroken by the work of the white race. The next day they passed on south to the trading post of Dick Parker, at the red rocks of the Des Moines, then the only house west of Jefferson county. Here they chanced to meet that now historic steamboat. "Ione," which was slowly making its way up the Des
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JASPER COUNTY, IOWA.
Moines river, having on board a company of infantry, commanded by Captain Allen, who was then building a barracks at the Raccoon forks (present Des Moines City). The land seekers were headed for a "squat- ter's" place whose name was Mosier, in the Narrows near where Oskaloosa now stands, but as if by the strange hand of fate, or Providence, they were caught in a drenching, cold spring rain. They walked briskly along the Indian trail till late at eventide, finally reaching their objective point, badly jaded by exposure.
In the morning of the following day Adam M. Tool was especially dis- gusted with his experience and talked of returning to Jefferson county and there purchasing a claim of another. They had been informed (possibly by the trader Parker) that the New Purchase would not be ready for set- tlement for at least twenty years yet. The quartette of homeseekers all seemed to have a bad case of the "blues." Highland was not satisfied. but believed that, on the whole, they could not do better than retrace their steps and stake out claims up the river. Finally a council determined that they should go back to the point of timber in which they had camped on the night of the 27th. Frost and Vance. the other two, being footsore and generally fatigued, thought it best for them to remain at the "Narrows" until the wagon loaded with provisions which was to intercept their wan- derings came in sight, when they would have more provisions and axes and other implements with which to make some needed improvements. Hence it was that Tool and Highland sallied forth and made their way to the Skunk Bottoms, arriving at their former camping spot on the night of the 30th of April. 1843. The next day was hailed with great delight, as that was the day fixed by the government on which claims might legally be staked out. They did not have the opposition met with in later years in Oklahoma land lottery days, but only had to select such choice lands as their judgment led them to believe were most desirable to them.
They went forth at break of day, with tomahawks in hand, and be- gan the work of blazing and staking off their claims, Highland blazing and Tool doing the staking act. That day they staked out two claims and the day following staked the other two out.
On the morning of the fourth day of their residence in the goodly location, which vicinity later became known as Tool's Point, they ate the last of their "grub," but were soon delighted to see the promised supply wagon, with a fresh supply, accompanied by their partners, Vance and Frost. as well as the drivers, James A. Tool, son of the pioneer, and the son-in-law. Washington Fleenor. The son and son-in-law soon staked out
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JASPER COUNTY, IOWA.
a claim, each for himself, adjoining the other four already referred to. This land was about one-half timber and one half prairie, and each claim was supposed to contain three hundred and twenty acres, the prairie land being situated along the south side of the Skunk river.
These men were all true as steel and not possessed of selfishness or graft, but agreed that, as long as the men Tool and Highland had been the real pioneers in staking out claims there they should have the first choice of claims. Hence it was that the older Tool took the claim farther to the west, at the head or point of the grove, while Highland took the third one toward the east. Then Frost and Vance drew cuts to decide their choice. Vance's lot fell between Tool and Highland.
The law, as well as their own needs and that of their families, which were soon expected on, demanded that within thirty days they each pro- vide themselves with cabins on their several claims. The six men above named set to work and succeeded in building up as far as the plates, one house a day. Highland's was the first built and consequently was the first erected in Jasper county by white men. After having completed their cabins these men went back to Jefferson county to meet their families and tell them of the wonderful country they had concluded to settle in. A happy meeting it must have been, too!
MRS. WILLIAM HIGHLAND FIRST WOMAN.
As Mr. Highland at once packed up and moved his family here, Mrs. Highland was undoubtedly the first white woman to invade the wilds of what is now Jasper county, but which county had not yet been organized. This, the first family to be "at home" in the county, dated its coming in May, 1843. Vast the change in these later eventful decades in Iowa's history !
As the township histories contain much of the early settlement and other matter concerning the various sections of the county, the only further attempt in this chapter to give the comings and goings of the first men and women who settled the county, will be brief sketches of a few of the first men who located in the month of April and May, 1843, closing the chapter with a list of the persons who are found on the tax list of 1847, four years after the settlement was made at Tool's Point.
Willis Green visited this county in 1845, accompanying James Pear- son. Green located a claim while here, but did not succeed in selling his former claim in Mahaska county, so the claim here was taken by David
OLDEST HOUSE IN JASPER COUNTY
THE NEW YORK ;PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTON, LENOX TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
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JASPER COUNTY, IOWA.
Edmundson. Green finally settled in 1847 and for two years thereafter spent most of his time in hunting bees in Marshall and Hardin counties. Joab Bennett was usually his comrade on these bee hunts. Bennett was a genuine frontiersman and it is said of him that he could talk the Indian dialect fluently. Indians frequently visited Newton to sell or trade ponies, and while other settlers were getting ready to buy a choice animal, expect- ing to pay ten or fifteen dollars, Bennett would walk up to the vender and. after a moment's talk, would walk off with the bridle on his arm, having paid two or three dollars for the animal.
Seven claims were made in 1843, but only three can now be definitely fixed as having been made in 1844, one having been that of Manly Gifford. in section 36, township 78, range 20. This man remained many years and made a prominent and useful citizen. Later in life he moved to Keokuk county. John Campbell came to Jasper county in 1844, but whether he claimed land that season is not certain to the writer.
The beginning of a settlement was made in the southeast portion of the county during the summer of 1844, one claim being taken by "Tandy" Mayfield, and another by Wesley Stalling, in what is now styled Lynn Grove. The families of these men probably did not arrive until the spring or summer of 1845.
"TOOL'S TAVERN."
Adam Tool's family arrived at his cabin September 2, 1843, and, among the weeds and pea vines and tall grass, they halted their teams, built a fire by a huge dry log, and there cooked and ate their first supper in Jasper county, happy in the thought that they were on their own land and free to carve out a home worth the having. The cabin being too small to accommodate the whole family of boys and girls and parents, the sons slept in their covered wagon for a while. Soon a shed was built and then more room was had for all hands in the "house." However, very soon the strong sons and rugged father, with ax in hands, went forth to the forest, from which they felled trees and then with a broad-ax hewed out and built a commodious log house of good proportions. Their nearest saw mill was seventy-five miles away, so lumber was not to be counted on, but all was worked out by hard hewing and chopping. It is the oldest house in the town of Monroe and stood many years as a landmark of those days in 1843 when it was built.
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JASPER COUNTY, IOWA.
As it turned out, it came to be a pioneer tavern, for long before it was ready for real occupancy a weary traveler wanted lodging there, and as the government had set about establishing a post at Fort Des Moines, this being the nearest house to the trail from that point to Oskaloosa, it be- came a stopping place for many of the men in government employ as well as strangers looking up locations for homes for themselves. Hence Mr. and Mrs. Tool had to become real landlord and landlady, a thing which they were quite well adapted to, and they had a large patronage for a time.
Pioneer Adam Tool, who passed from earthly scenes in the seventies, was born in Augusta county, Virginia, July 31, 1794. His father was a teamster and young Tool had to do his share at helping cultivate the soil in order that the large family might subsist. He commenced farming on his own account, with one horse, when but sixteen years old. He was drafted into the military service at the age of nineteen years. He married Susan H. Stinson in 1817 and settled down for the struggle of what proved an eventful but prosperous career. In 1836 they moved to. Coles county. Illinois, where land was claimed, but on account of the fever and ague there, he sold and went to Jefferson county, Iowa territory, where he was reduced in property by reason of sickness, having lost his eldest daughter, and other misfortunes overtook him. It was in the fall of 1841 when he arrived in Iowa. After this his history is known to the reader, if he has read the fore part of this chapter.
William Highlands was born in Pennsylvania in 1803; removed to Ohio when a young man, and married Ellen Slaine. In 1837 he removed to Illinois and there became acquainted with Adam Tool. In September, 1842, he located in Jefferson county, Iowa, to await the opening of lands in the "New Purchase." He reared a large family, all of whom have long since removed from Jasper county to other parts of this (country, one daughter marrying James Fudge and moving to Poweshiek county.
Had the four men who went up the Skunk on a land-hunting expedi- tion in the month of April. 1843. shot a deer they were after for food purposes, their supply then being about exhausted, the chances are that they would never have become first settlers in Jasper county, but such are the strange accidents in all stages of life.
John B. Frost was a native of Virginia, settled in Fairview township in 1843, married Miss McCollum. In 1847 he sold his claim to another and moved on farther toward the setting sun.
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JASPER COUNTY, IOWA.
John Vance, the other named among the four who first located here. was born in Washington county, Virginia : was a bachelor : made his claim and sold to Manly Gifford in 1845 or 1846, himself removing to Mahaska county, Iowa.
Perhaps no better method is now obtainable to give the names of the persons who made up the population of Jasper county four years after the coming of the four men already narrated about, than to copy the list as shown in the assessment roll for 1847, which in substance is as follows, leaving out the amounts which each were assessed for :
Jacob Bennett, Jesse Rickman, Peter Miller, Katherine Good, John H. Franklin, James Edgar. John Campbell, Ezekiel Shipley, M. S. Logs- don, C. C. Thorp, William Chenoweth, Willis Green, James Fry, Henry Hammer, Sr .. David Edmundson, William Edmundson, Sylvester Tiffany, Martin Adkins, Elbert Evans, John B. Hammack, John Ship, John Flem- ing. Nathan Brown, Wesley Brown, Benjamin Browse, Madison Tice, Amanda Tice, James D. Norris. Joel B. Worth, Peter Browse, Joseph Hill, Stephen B. Shelladay, Mary D. Shelladay. Jacob Pudge, John Davis, Mary Baldwin. John Carr, Adam Tool, Manly Gifford, Daniel Mosier, Uriah Robbins, Jeremiah Kintz, John Wyatt. John Thorp, Mary Adamson, John Rodgers, Cyrus Insley. Joseph Slaughter, Andrew Insley, Samuel Sewell, James Guthrie, William C. Harpe, William P. Norris, Robert C. Brown, Andre J. Brown, Stephen Reffel. John A. Mikel, Jacob Bruner, William Hays, Sarah Wyatt, Abner Ray, Alex. McCully, Asher Prunty, Elias Prunty, Thomas Tuttle, Alex. Black, Jacob Booher. John Q. Deakin, Henry Shewer, Daniel W. Shewer, Samuel H. Shewer, George Anderson, A. An- derson, John R. Sparks, Samuel Mor, Hezekiah Northsent, Robert Patter- son, Jesse Hammer. Wesley Stallings, E. N. Parks, William Turner, Elijah Friend, David Campbell. Mercy Shoemake, Sabin Stanwood, J. W. Swan, Henry Sweet, Isaac Myers. A. Davis, Atwell Holmes, William Smith, Ira Hammer, Evan Adamson, Abraham Adamson, Sims Richman, Ballinger Aydelotte, .A. T. Prouty, Washington Logsdon, Nathan Williams, R. B. Dawson, William B. Campbell. Jacob Herring. Samuel McDaniel, Joseph Cooper, A. J. Smith, William E. Alexander, William Peterman, John Sherman. John Bisbee. Joseph Hiner, Silas Sawyer, William Welch, A. B. Miller, George Kryser. Clark Kitchen, Evan Jones, Nathan McCon- nell. William Johnson. AArnold Shepherd, David Shepherd, Hartwell Hays, William Highland, John Reed. Ellison R. Wright, Newton Wright, John C. Baldwin est .. Archibald McCullon, Washington Fleenor, Daniel Spaw, Q. Patterson, James A. Pool, George Binkley, Lann Maradtt, John Snoas,
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JASPER COUNTY, IOWA.
John J. Mudgett, James Blake. P. M. Sparks, M. T. Mather, William T. Mayfield, J. M. Trease. Walter Turner. Jabez Starr, John E. Copp, David E. Cooper, William J. Buffington, Thomas Mitchell, Curtis Dooley, William Logsdon, Wilberger Logsdon, Calvin Wolf, Zimri Hinshaw, David Hin- shaw, Elijah H. Barton, Lewis Adamson, Alvin Adkins, Thomas Pearson, Matthew Campbell, William J. Asher, Joseph Davidson, Joseph Logsdon, Maria Prouty, Thomas J. Adamson, Seth Hammer. Henry Ham- mer, Rachel Hammer, Elisha Hammer. G. W. Halley James Elliott, Mitchell Robertson, William C. Smith, Blakely Brush, J. M. Ferguson, James Asher. Moses Hames, Henry Hammer, Jr., A. S. Cox, William P. Cox. Joshua Kent, John Wilson, Jesse Amos, Moses Lacy, Shelby Wyatt, Simon Ballard, Philip Ballard, John Duke. James Miller, Cavender Gear, Shelton Gear, John Ballarrd. Thomas Garden, Isaac Asher, William Ballard. E. B. Bush, Washington Asher, Lemuel Perrin, James Richman, David La Follett, Joseph Kintz. William B. Meacham, James Finwick, George Howell, Eleanor Maggert. David \. Maggert. Josiah Cox. E. R. Wyatt est., Richard Barker, A. J. Berry, A. A. Cummings, Daniel Cox. Evan Henshaw. Lewis Herring, John Moss, Joseph Dodd, David Mckinney, William D. Allen, Henry AAdamson, Benjamin Adamson. George Dooley, Silas Dooley, Thomas Rees, William M. Springer. Joseph Jones, Albert Ship. William Thomson, Ira Adamson, Samuel K. Parker, Edwin Terril, Abraham Peer. Hart Spring, William Howell. Willian Rickey, John C. Kartchmer, Charles A. Dolson, Joseph Stobaugh, Samuel Morrow, Milton Edwards, Joseph Hewitt, Joel B. Worth, Charles Fry.
THE HOLLANDERS IN JASPER COUNTY.
As a result of the religious persecution in Holland in 1835, as between the government and the Reformed church (one class of its members), a colony was formed under the leadership of Rev. Henry P. Scholte, who in 1846 landed with four boatloads of these people in Baltimore. They went to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, by canal boats and on down the Ohio and finally landed in St. Louis, where they recruited and finally wended their way to Marion county, Iowa, the objective point had in view by their leader. They settled up many of the northern townships in Marion county, Iowa, and it is their sons and daughters who today are known as the "Hollanders" of the southern townships of Jasper county, among whom are many of the best, truest citizens within the county, being industrious, religious, temperate and in all ways fit subjects of their adopted country.
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JASPER COUNTY, IOWA.
THE PIONEERS.
The following gem of a poem was read by its author, the editor of the Neroton Herald, in 1904, at the Louisana Purchase Exposition, at St. Louis, on the Fourth of July occasion that year. It was in the Iowa build- ing, before an intelligent lowa audience, and is very befitting in this con- nection, hence will be given, both as a setting to the chapter now at hand, as well as to show the literary talent of one of Jasper county's young authors and publishers at that date, George F. Rinehart :
We love best the man who dares to do- The moral hero, stalwart through and through, Who treads the untried path, evades the rut; Who braves the virgin forest, builds a hut; Removes the tares encumbering the soil, And founds an empire based on thought and toil.
Within his veins the blood of humble birth, His purpose stable as the rock-bound earth. His mind expansive and his pulsing brain Resolving problems not of selfish gain- This man will never servile bend the knee- He feels the uplift of the century.
Leviathans for him forsake the main, And monsters leave the forest and the plain; The future holds no terror for his soul; No avarice collects its robber toll; No social caste, no party creed nor clan, To make him more a slave and less a man.
With wants but few, no pioneer will crave A crown in life nor plaudits at his grave; Hle leaves behind the slavery of style. The myrmidons of pride, deceit and guile; Enlisting with the cohorts of the free, The motto on his shield is "Liberty."
What cares he for the monarch's jeweled crown? For prince or plutocrat, for fame's renown; The turmoil and the strife of endless greed, When honest toil supplies each simple need ; lle seeks not glory, yet the future years Weave brightest laurels for the pioneers.
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