USA > Iowa > Polk County > Pioneers of Polk County, Iowa, and reminiscences of early days, Vol. II > Part 27
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At the organization of the first Town Council, Lamp. was elected one of the Councilmen. There being no wards, the Councilmen were elected from the body of the people. Father Bird was made President of the Council. The meetings were held in the Court House, where the Union Depot now is. The first meeting was held October Twenty-fifth. The labors of that Council were such as required the exercise of great deliberation and good judgment. There were no bridges, and no money to build them with; ferries had to be provided, and the foundation laid for the government of a civic community. It must be conceded they did their work well. They served one year and four days, without fee or hope of reward,
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and, singularly enough, not one of them was elected to the next Conneil.
In 1851, he was elected Justice of the Peace, and served one year.
In December, 1851, he took a helpmate and began married life in a two-roomed house at northeast corner of Sixth and Mulberry, opposite the street car waiting-room. In 1856, they built a house on Ninth and Pleasant, the place being now occupied by the Cen- tral Christian Church. This was long known as the Sherman home. Its associations and the memory of its hospitality are dear to the hearts of many of the old settlers of Des Moines and Polk County.
In 1854, he was elected Mayor. The town had begun to grow in self-esteem, and the Council to put on dignity. At the first meeting it ordered that "members who fail to attend the regular meeting of the Council shall pay a fine of fifty cents, unless exensed by the Council."
In 1854, he became connected with the Hoyt Sherman & Com- pany Bank, remained with it and its successor, the Iowa State Bank, for several years,
In 1856, when the State House scrimmage came on, he stood up for the West Side, and subscribed three hundred dollars to the "war fund."
In 1867, he was appointed United States Revenue Collector for the Fifth District, and held the office several years.
When the Equitable Life Insurance Company was organized. in 1867, he was one of the incorporators, and was elected its first Vice- President. He took the eighth policy issued by the company.
On leaving the Revenue Office, he retired from active business, In 1858, he was elected City Treasurer, and served one term.
On Christmas evening, 1867, was celebrated his silver wedding, with that of "Billy" Moore, a pioneer merchant, and Doctor W. H. Ward, a pioneer physician, at the residence of "Billy," who was married by Elder J. A. Nash, a pioneer, in the old Winchester House, which stood where the Valley National Bank now is. Sher- man was married by Father Bird, the first preacher in the town, at the residence of James Hall, corner of Court Avenne and First Street. Doctor Ward was married in Warren County, by Sanford Haines, a pioneer Methodist preacher.
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LAMPSON P. SHERMAN
The Old Settlers' Association completely surprised the cele- brants with the presentation of a silver set to each couple, Judge W. W. Williamson making the presentation to Sherman and wife, Judge William Phillips to "Billy" and wife, and Judge Casady to Doctor Ward and wife. Father Nash-Father Bird and Elder Haines having deceased-responded in behalf of the recipients, for such expression of esteem and favor from the old settlers.
Politically, Lamp. was a Whig, without frills or isms. He fought the battles of the party in the ranks, when there were no spoils or emoluments, and sought no offices, yet the records show he was often called by the people of the town to places of trust and importance.
Socially, he was reserved, genial, and popular. He was actively interested in and identified with the inauguration of the public school system, and during the early Fifties was one of the officers of the School Board, who erected the first school building, at the corner of Ninth and Locust streets. Lamp. believed the newspaper, the school, and the church were the most important factors in form- ing the character of a civic community. He was not a member of any secret society.
Religiously, he was educated in a Catholic school, but he never united with any church. His wife being a zealous member of the Baptist Church, of which Elder Nash was pastor, he regularly attended that church.
He died in November, 1900, leaving a widow, the only survivor of the Sherman family of four brothers.
December Seventeenth, 1905.
COLONEL GEORGE C. TICHENOR
I DO not think old-timers, especially those who had anything to do with politics, have forgotten George C. Tichenor. He was born in Shelbyville, Kentucky, October Eighth, 1838, During his minority, he attended the common school and learned the trade of house painting. At the age of twenty, he decided to strike out for the West, and early in March, 1858, taking the usual route of Kentuckians, by rail and stage coach, he went to Saint Louis, thence by steamboat to Keokuk, where he tarried for a time hunt- ing for a job, his money getting short, but there was nothing doing. Strolling along the river one day, he discovered a steamboat which he was told was bound for Fort Des Moines. Bantering the Cap- tain very urgently to take him on and "work his passage," without success, he planked down ten dollars and became a passenger, entitled to all the rights and privileges thereof. His further prog- ress is best related in his own words, as printed in the Annals of Iowa:
"There were five passengers beside myself. We were eight days and nights making the trip from Keokuk to Des Moines, and we had to run very slowly, particularly nights, not ouly to avoid snags, but also overhanging limbs of trees when we had to hug the eur- rent along the banks, which was frequently the case. We anchored time and again to cut away the limbs of trees to keep them from carrying away the little smokestack, the pilot house and the cabin.
"We landed at 'Campbell's Point,' just at sunset, April Nine- teenth, 1858. Runners for the 'Demoin House,' 'Collins House,' and the 'Morris House' rushed aboard the boat as soon as she landed, and loudly solicited the patronage of the passengers for their several hostelries, each declaring that his was the principal hotel in the city. After some haggling with the representative of the Collins House, he agreed to take my trunk to his hotel for 'two bits,' and to board and lodge me for two dollars and a quarter a
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week, if I would remain a week or longer, or at the rate of seventy- five cents a day if I only stayed a day or two. The Collins House was a long, narrow, low, two-story, white frame house, with adjoin- ing office and parlor, dining-room and kitchen on the lower floor, and about a dozen sleeping-rooms, abont 6x8 feet square, on either side of a narrow hallway on the second floor, and was situated between Third and Fourth streets, near 'Coon River. After eating supper that evening, I took an account of my purse, and found that after paying the 'two bits' for carrying my trunk to the hotel, I had exactly an old-fashioned two-cent piece left, which I invested in a 'Principe' eigar I found in a little showease about two feet square on the counter in the hotel 'office.'
"Thus I found myself, a youth in my twentieth year, with not a cent in my purse, with two very fair suits of elothing, in a strange place, 'a thousand miles from home.' Des Moines was then in the midst of a depression resulting from the panie of 1857, and was about as dead a town as one could imagine. It had been made the Capital of the state a year or so before, and the principal employment of the people on either side of Des Moines River was to abuse each other, according as to whether they resided on the East Side or the West Side. The river was spanned near the foot of Loenst Street with a primitive and quite unsuitable sort of pon- toon bridge, which was the only means of passage, except by a small skiff or eanoe. During a part of that Spring, and in the early Spring and flood season of 1859, the river readily extended from the western shore, or Front Street, in West Des Moines, to the bluffs or Capitol Hill, on the East Side. I remember having made the passage time and again in a skiff from the landing at the Demoin House in West Dest Moines to the Walker House in East Des Moines."
After his arrival at The Fort, Tiehenor engaged in elerking. Being wide-awake and a good mixer socially, he soon became quite popular. When the Civil War eame, in September, 1862, though a Southerner and a Democrat, he joined the Thirty-ninth Infantry, the second regiment organized at Des Moines, and was commis- sioned Adjutant of the regiment. The regiment rendezvoused at Davenport to receive equipments. Soon after, an epidemic of Measles prostrated the regiment until December Thirteenth, when,
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COLONEL GEORGE C. TICHENOR
not fully convalescent, it was ordered to report to General J. M. Tuttle at Cairo. It disembarked at Columbus, spending its first night in mud and rain. Thence, after a few days, it moved to Jackson, and from there marched to Trenton, where it joined the forces to move against General Forrest. On the Thirty-first, they suddenly came upon Forrest's army, at Parker's Crossroads, with his six thousand men, while the Union forces numbered but sixteen hundred. A battle was at once begun, and waged for six hours. The Thirty-ninth, only raw recruits, was in the thickest of the fight. It was engaged in driving back a flanking party of the enemy, and succeeded in repulsing them, winning great praise for its brav- ery. It was its first engagement. Tichenor received high com- mendation for his gallantry.
The regiment fought to the close of the war ; was at the general review at Washington, and there mustered out, June Fifth, 1865.
Tichenor, by his soldierly qualities, activities, and good judg- ment, so won the favor of General Dodge that he was promoted to Major and Aide-de-Camp to the General, and subsequently he was given the star of a Colonel by brevet.
At the close of the war, Tichenor came back to Des Moines, and went into the lumber business with "Charley" Getchell, on Seventh Street, between Locust and Walnut. The firm was popular, and did a successful business.
In April, 1867, the military service of Tichenor was recognized by his appointment as Postmaster. The office was then in the Sher- man Block, on Court Avenue, but soon after his appointment was removed to a two-story frame building in the rear of the Sherman Block, on Third Street. In 1870, when the present Postoffice building was ready for occupancy, Tichenor dedicated it to the service. In 1871, he was reappointed, but soon after resigned, and was succeeded by J. S. ("Ret") Clarkson.
In 1868, John 1. Kasson was a candidate for a third term in Congress. The military spirit of the country had not subsided, and General G. M. Dodge was named by friends as his opponent. Frank Palmer, editor of the Daily Register; "Tom" Withrow, attorney for the Rock Island Railroad, and several leading Repub- licans, were opposed to Kasson. The contest grew hotter as it pro- gressed, until it became one of the most acrimonious ever known
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in the state. "Lafe" Young says politics is a great game. It was played to the limit then. Personal animosities were engendered between long-time friends, even kindred and families. Social per- sonal correspondence between individuals at that time would now be interesting reading. I have some of it laid away, gathered together as a newspaper reporter.
Tichenor, who was a shrewd politician, and took a hand in the game whenever it was played in Polk County, naturally, for per- sonal reasons, gave his preference to his old war friend, General Dodge, who finally won out, but after serving one term so disliked the place he refused a renomination, and Palmer was elected.
In 1871, Tichenor was elected AAlderman for the Second Ward in the City Council, and reelected in 1872. The city was then agitated by a movement to secure bridges over Des Moines and `Coon rivers. It involved the expenditure of a large sum of money, which entered largely into the controversy, but Tichenor, as chair- man of the Bridge Committee of the Council, with his energy and business ability, engineered the project to snecess, and the first iron bridge across the Des Moines was erected at Walnut Street, and a wooden truss bridge over the 'Coon at Seventh Street.
In 1873, Tichenor went to Chicago and engaged in business. In 1878, the failure of a bank left him penniless, and he returned to his first love, politics. President Hayes appointed him a special agent in the Treasury Department at Washington, and he served in some official capacity in that department until his death, in 1902. At one time, he was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. He proved an active and efficient official.
When a resident of Des Moines, Tichenor was an active booster in every publie-spirited movement, and being a good mixer socially, he helped materially in the progress of the town. In 1867, when the voters of the city rejected a proposition to purchase a fire engine, and protection was greatly needed, Tichenor, with a few other public-spirited fellows, organized the Rescue Hook and Lad- der Company, and they did good service in saving property from destruction.
April Fourteenth, 1907.
JEHU P. SAYLOR
JEHU P. SAYLOR
A MONG the early comers was Jehu Perkins Saylor, born May Eleventh, 1823, near Valparaiso, Indiana, of German descent on the father's side and English on that of the mother. He came with his father, Benjamin, to Van Buren County in 1836, and helped to clear and improve a small farm. His father was a brick mason, and Government Trader, living always a fron- tier life. Jehu's youthful days were therefore a part of it, with very limited advantages to acquire an education, two months in a common country school being all that was afforded him.
In 1844, he formed a partnership with John B. Saylor to fur- nish beef and hay for Goverment supplies for the garrison at Rac- coon Forks, as Des Moines was then called. He arrived February Twentieth, with Thomas Saylor and Austin Branen. The first white man to greet them was Alex. Scott, who was a distinguished personage in those days. The trio secured quarters in a cabin near the officers' headquarters, and did their own cooking and washing.
As the time for the removal of the Indians to Kansas, and the abandonment of the garrison approached, Jehu began prospecting for a land claim. He selected a tract about one mile west of what is now Saylor Grove, skirted with heavy timber on the north, and extending across the valley to Des Moines River, as an ideal loca- tion for a farm and home.
At midnight, October Eleventh, 1845, was the hour set for the expiration of the Indian title to land in Polk County. Many "squatters" had come in to wait the event, and an eager crowd was scattered around the country that day, making elaborate prepara- tions to secure the coveted tracts which had been prospected. Land- grabbers and claim-jumpers were also watching their chances to outwit the bona fide settler. Sentinels were stationed at different points, instructed to begin the measurement of claims so soon as the cannon boom at The Fort should sound the toesin, or the min- ute hand of the clock reached the midnight hour.
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Jehu often related his experience of that event. So intently was his mind fixed upon it, and so uncertain the outcome, that all through the day of the Eleventh he did not lie down to rest, as was his custom, but got candles and tallow dips ready, his hatchet sharp- ened and in good order, and anxiously counted the laggard passing hours. When the hands of the clock passed the twelve spot, he plunged into the darkness and heavy timber, cutting and blazing the trees, or driving a stake to mark the boundary of his claim. Away in the distance, in all directions, could be seen the dancing, flickering flare of candles, lanterns and torches of those on the same rushing errand, a weird, fantastic spectacle. It was no child's play nor frolic. It was serious business, with brain and nerve under severe tension. Before the rising sun appeared, thousands of acres were staked out, to be immediately occupied by families and house- hold goods, which had been waiting nearby therefor. The plow- share took the place of the sword, and Civilization was commenced.
Under the land laws, no title to the claims made could be obtained until the Government survey had been made, which was done in 1847, and Jehu's claim became, in Land Office parlance, the "nw qr of nw sec 3, the s hf of ne qr and ne of ne qr sec 4, T 79, R 24." It embraced one hundred and sixty acres.
To understand this description, an explanation of the Govern- ment survey is necessary. As a starting-point, or base line, the mouth of the Arkansas River was selected, from which a line was run due north and south, to be known as the Principal Meridian. Six miles west of it another line was run parallel to it, and the land between the two lines was called "One West," and so on. By that rule, the east line of Polk County is twenty-two west, or one hun- dred and thirty-two miles west of the Principal Meridian.
Starting at the same point, a line was run due east and west as a base line. Six miles north of it, another line was run. That divided the land into squares of six miles on each side, which were designated as Congressional Townships, and numbered from the base line, the south line of Polk County being the seventy-seventh. Jehu's land, therefore, was in the forty-ninth range of townships north and twenty-four west. The townships were again subdivided into thirty-six sections, or squares, containing six hundred and
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JEHU P. SAYLOR
forty acres each, and, beginning at the northeast corner, numbered alternately west and east, so that, knowing the number of a section, the location of a man's farm could be easily determined and found. The land was sold by the Government in tracts of a whole, half or quarter section.
When the midnight race for land was made, the course was, in some cases, decidedly crooked, and the strides in pacing off the rods, not a little stretched, but under the by-laws of the Claim- Holders' Club, all irregularities, overlapping of claims, and dis- crepancies disclosed by the survey were amicably adjusted. There were no courts, the settlers being a law unto themselves.
Early in 1848, Jehu began cutting logs for a cabin. They were then hewed, an innovation in cabin building in those days. It con- tained but one room. There was a fireplace, with a chimney built of sticks plastered with mud. The floor was of the puncheon vari- ety, laid on the ground. The roofing was long shingles rived out of timber by hand. For a door, a heavy wool blanket was hung. The windows were latticed with narrow strips of wood, without frames or glass. The cooking was done in a fireplace, in pots hung on an iron crane, and in shallow kettles on the hearth, covered with hot coals. The walls were plastered with clay mud, and made smooth with a trowel. When completed, it was the largest and most pretentious cabin in the settlement. To secure a mistress of it, Jehu wedded Martha A. Bales, who came to the county in 1846, with her father, Solomon, on horseback, driving a herd of cattle and sheep. (See page 261, Volume II.)
The cabin was not very elaborately furnished. Jehu made a table ont of rived boards, also several stools and benches. A "one- post" bedstead was planted in one corner, composed of a post from which a rail was fastened to the wall at the foot, and another rail at the side made fast to the wall at the head. The slats were rived from timber. Spring beds and mattresses had not materialized then. There were no wardrobes nor bureaus. Clothing was hung on the walls, and covered with a sheet. The young wife's wedding gown and lingerie were carefully folded, and laid away in a new flour barrel.
VOL. II-(24).
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PIONEERS OF POLK COUNTY, IOWA
The passing of a few years brought a wonderful change. A new house, barns, sheds, fruit trees, ornamental and flowering shrub- bery, added comfort and beauty to the place, for Jehu was a man of good taste, a generous provider, energetic and active. He raised fine stock, especially horses. A fine, well-matched team was his ideal, and he usually had them ready for delivery, and sale. Isaac Kuhn, who was selling clothing down on Second Street, used to say: "If you want to buy a good horse, go up to Jay Saylor's farm. He can give you the pedigree of it so close as to give the number of white hairs in its forehead and on its hoofs."
In 1854, Jehu built a store and stocked it with dry goods and groceries hauled by teams from Keokuk, and joined the boosters of the settlement, which was assuming some consequence. Manifest Destiny was in the air. The removal of the Capital from Iowa City was stirring the public mind. The activities of the Saylors, who gave notice that they had provided a site for the Capitol-a beau- tiful spot, etc., and so forth-disturbed the staid and stately old- timers at The Forks considerably, and caused hurried conferences with Judge Casady, the State Senator from this district, with a warning to keep his eye on the Saylors.
In 1861, when the Civil War came on, Jehu, conscious of his physical weakness, yet desiring to do what he could to aid the Gov- ernment, traversed the country to raise recruits for the Tenth Iowa Infantry, but after four weeks' exposure and toil, broke down, and was confined to his house for four months.
In 1864, under a call for more troops, it was found that some of the townships in Polk County were short of their quota, and that a draft would be necessary to fill it. Immediately, there was a hegira of able-bodied men to other states. Government officers were sent here to corral the delinquents. Jehu was caught in their net as a reserve for a fellow who had skedaddled. He promptly presented himslf at the office of the Government Enrolling Board, in the building adjoining the Register and Leader office, to wait further orders. The army surgeons, however, rejected him for physical disability, and he went back to his farm.
In 1870, he sold out and sought a location more congenial to his health, in Kansas, but the drouths and grasshoppers were too
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much for him. In 1873, he returned and bought the Carpenter farm, one mile south of the Army Post, where he lived until 1882, when he was laid to rest in Woodland Cemetery.
Politically, he was a Republican, but not a politician. He had no taste for politics, nor desire for public office. He used to say : "You cannot get an office, from Road Supervisor to President of the United States, without having your pedigree published all over the country," yet so actively and zealously interested was he in the school and church he was several times unanimously elected School Director.
Characteristic traits of him were public spirit, integrity and honesty. His word was as good as his promissory note.
Socially, he was of nervous, sanguine temperament, so acute it overworked the physical supply of force to keep the machine run- ning. He was benevolent, genial, social, and companionable; ever ready to aid in all good works. He was a special favorite with young people. Nothing gave him more pleasure than, with his smart teams, carry them to church on Sunday, to singing and spelling-schools in the neighboring districts, and, in bad weather, to gather up the little tots and carry them to the day school. His home life was an ideal one. To promote the weal of his family and neighbors was his paramount object.
Religiously, he was an active and exemplary member of the Methodist Church.
July Twenty-eighth, 1907.
A. S. KINGMAN
A. S. KINGMAN
I T is a pleasure to historize a pioneer of Polk County who so impressed his personality on the body politie and left a name so imperishably stamped upon it as Albert Smith Kingman, the founder of one of the beauty spots of the eity-"Kingman Place." He was born in Riga, Monroe County, New York, October Elev- enth, 1827, of Scotch-Irish ancestry, who emigrated to America in 1500, and settled in New York.
His parents were born in Hampshire County, Massachusetts. His mother, whose maiden name was Sophia Smith, was one of the family from whom the historic "Smith Ferry" was named.
Albert's father was a farmer and a man of considerable promi- mence. He was a member of the Legislature of New York one term, declining a second term because of impaired health.
Albert passed his boyhood days on a farm, doing whatever he could, his principal stunt being to piek np stones and pile them up in fence rows to get them out of the way, which, in some of the old, rock-bound states was a continuous performance, for so soon as a field was eleared it was again covered. For variety, his father would send him to the woods to eut timber. One day, he found Albert's dinner pail hanging on a peg in the barn, empty. When he came back at night, his father said to him: "You had no dinner to-day." "Oh, yes, I did ; I ate it before I started, to save earring the pail," was the rejoinder.
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