USA > Iowa > Polk County > Pioneers of Polk County, Iowa, and reminiscences of early days, Vol. II > Part 3
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In the Fall and Winter of 1856, Leonard was a teacher in Ives Mark's College at Palestine, Story County; in 1860, he opened a Select School at Avon, Polk County; in the Spring of 1861, he became a teacher in Elder Nash's Forest Home Seminary, on Ninth Street.
After the battle of Wilson's Creek, in August, 1861, William H. Coodrell, who was a student at the Seminary, and had enlisted in the First Iowa Infantry (a three months' regiment ), came home with his arm in a sling from a wound received in the battle, and one day, during a recess of the school, gathered together about a dozen students, marched them single file to Hierb's Brewery, at the corner of Center and Seventh streets, where they loaded up with beer. On returning to the schoolroom, Leonard started to call them down for their action, but they were not inclined to hear him. He requested them to be seated, and when they got sober he would talk with them, whereupon Dave Winter quickly arose, and, bring- ing his fist down on his desk with a whack, said: "Mr. Brown, I am just as sober as any man in this saloon." His blunder caused a vigorous titter among the girls, and the next day every one of the crowd enlisted in the Fifteenth Infantry, and subsequently it was admitted they enlisted because they did not dare to go back and face the girls.
In May, 1864, Leonard enlisted in the Forty-seventh Infantry, for one hundred days. On his return from service, he resumed his school, which had been removed to Seventh Street, between Center and Crocker, and in October, 1865, he was elected County Superin- tendent of Schools, and served one term. In 1870, he opened a
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school in Polk City, and in 1875, was elected a professor in Hum- boldt College, but soon after resigned and entered the lecture field. For twenty years, he canvassed the state as an advocate of social and political reform.
After the close of the Civil War, he published a book of six hundred pages, in memory of the soldiers of Polk County, who had died in the service, and other works of prose and verse-twelve in all. For the last ten years, he has been preparing what he deems his crowning work : "Our Own Columbia That Is to Be!"-social, moral, religious, and economic, and also a collection of his verses, entitled, "On the Banks of the Des Moines."
Among his pupils were Simon Casady, Amos Brandt, "Charley" Rogg, Fred. Getchell, "Dan" Bringolf, Philo Kenyon, George A. Miller, Bruce Jones, Homer and Leander Bolton, the De Ford boys, Mrs. Lona Ingham Robinson, Mrs. Ella Clapp White (wife of the shoe dealer), Mrs. Newton Harris, Mrs. Minerva Jones Hallet (wife of the dentist), and scores of other well-known and prominent citizens of to-day, and they all declare he was a good teacher.
He says his long experience as teacher fully affirms his belief in the adage that you can lead a horse to the trough, but you cannot make him drink ; that there are no bad boys-at least, he has never met one. Give a boy the right ideal, and he will become a good and useful man-a rule with no exceptions.
In the very early days, Leonard was actively identified with Father Bird and Elder Nash in establishing schools, and advocat- ing the educational facilities of the community, and the impress of his earnest zeal and labor can be seen at the present day.
March Eighteenth, 1906.
VOL. II-(3).
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ISAAC BRANDT
1190319
ISAAC BRANDT
O F those who have had something to do with the growth and prosperity of Des Moines is Brandt, known by the "general- ity of mankind in general" as Isaac. To accost him as "Mr." would be a breach of custom. He came here in the Winter of 1856, in one of the "jerkeys" of the Stage Company, and he now can show the receipt for seventeen dollars, dated January Thirtieth, paid for the jolts and bumps received en route from Iowa City. He was reconnoitering. After inspecting the town for a short time-it was not very encouraging, for there were no bridges over the rivers, the town was sparsely settled-he made a four days' walk to Council Bluffs-he was in a hurry to find a better place. His ardor weak- ened, and his walk back was made in five days. He decided to abide here. He went East for his family, to close up his business affairs, and returned in April, 1858. Houses were scarce, but after much quest, he found a small wooden shanty with two rooms, on Seventh Street, on the East Side, where he lived for a time. On seeking a spot for a permanent home, he found a lot at the north- east corner of Twelfth and Keokuk, now Grand Avenue, on which was heavy timber and several Wild Cherry trees in full bloom, near the present Capitol grounds, which pleased him, though unattract- ive for a home. The grounds were covered with dense timber and thicket, in which, the Fall previous, rabbits, quail, and pheasants were shot, and a few rods south on Twelfth Street was Walker's Lake good for duck hunters in season-which is now Franklin Park. Keokuk Street was simply a trail through heavy timber. On the West Side, Sycamore Street ran up against "Charley" Good's orchard, which lay along the river. There Isaac felled the big trees, dug out the stumps, retained the cherry trees, built a house-there were none east of it-and named the spot "Cherry Place."
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He at once went into mercantile business in a two-story brick at the corner of Fourth and Locust, where is now the Lakota House. It was built by Harry Griffith ahead of time, on what was a black- berry patch, and was called "Griffith's Folly." In the Spring of 1862, there was a flood, and the whole East Side was under water. Members of the Legislature were carried in boats from the West Side to the old Capitol. The steamboat Little Morgan came in one day, landing at 'Coon Point. Among her cargo were eight casks of glassware, fourteen cases of dry goods, two boxes of boots and shoes, one hundred barrels of salt, two hogsheads of sugar, and four crates of crockery consigned to Isaac. How to get them to his store was the problem, as teams could not be used, but the steamer solved it. She backed down stream a short distance and headed for the store, where she tied up and the goods were delivered directly into the south door.
Very soon after his arrival, Isaac became interested in educa- tional affairs, and in 1858, at a mass meeting of citizens, he offered a resolution recommending the organization of the Independent School District of East Des Moines, which was adopted, and he was made one of the Directors.
He was a dyed-in-the-wool Abolitionist, and belonged to the original stock. He was a personal friend of John Brown, and dur- ing the exodus of negroes from Kansas and Missouri he was a Con- ductor on the "Underground Railroad," and his house was a regu- lar station. Brown came here very early one morning, with four negroes, covered with cornstalks, in his wagon. After refresh- ments, and discussing the schedule of further stopping-places, they had a parting handshake over a small wooden gate at the back yard. Isaac still has the gate, and the colored people are waiting for him to die, so they can get it, for during life he will not part with it.
The migration of the negroes was attended with many difficul- ties, though the friends of Kansas Free State perfected plans deemed sufficient to get the "emigrants" safely to destination. George D. Woodin, of Indiana, was General Manager, with the late Judge Seevers, of Oskaloosa, and Lewis Todhunter, of Indianola, in the Central District.
There was here a very strong pro-slavery sentiment, in those days, as many of the early settlers came from slave-holding states.
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The country was full of secret agents and slave-hunters, so that the utmost caution was necessary to get the "passengers" through this Division. They were packed in sacks, boxes, barrels, coffins, under loads of straw, or cornstalks, men in women's clothes, and women in men's clothes. There was little daylight travel. It was not uncommon that, secreted about "Uncle Jimmy" Jordan's place, near Valley Junction, could be found a number of "passengers," waiting for a clear track. Then they would come to Isaac's place, thence go to Reverend Demas Robinson's place on Four Mile Creek, thence to "Uncle Tommy" Mitchell's, thence to Grinnell, thence to Cedar County, the terminus of this Division. The old settlers here will probably remember one occasion when Brown came to Grin- nell with eleven negroes, stopped over Sunday, and made a speech in the church, detailing the wrongs of Kansas. The Statesman, the Democratic paper here, came out with a sensational article, headed in big letters: "The John Brown Raid! Hell Broke Loose !! " in which Brown was depicted as a murderer, robber and horsethief.
Sometimes it was necessary for emigrants to be doubled back on their track to avoid detectives who were close on their trail, but none were ever caught and returned, for the doctrine was very early established that there was no property in slaves in Iowa, in the first case decided by the Supreme Court, that of "Ralph," on habeas corpus, in 1839. Ralph made an agreement with Mont- gomery, his master, in Missouri, by which he was to come to Dubuque and earn money and pay five hundred dollars for his free- dom. He worked four years and earned the money, but concluded to keep it. His master then came after him, had him arrested and brought before a Justice of the Peace, charged with being a fugi- tive slave. The Justice was preparing to deliver him when he was estopped by a writ of habeas corpus, which brought the case before Chief Justice Mason of the Supreme Court, who held that it was not an escape, but an emigration by consent of the master; that Ralph owed the debt for his freedom as though it had been incurred for purchasing a horse, and ought to pay it, yet for non-payment, he could not be reduced to slavery as property in Iowa. "But," said the court, as a sort of placation, "if his master can get him
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back to Missouri without the aid of the courts, the Iowa courts will not interfere."
Despite this decision, slaves were held in Des Moines as late as 1845, without objection. Joseph Smart, who had a Fox squaw wife, was Indian Interpreter for Beach, the Indian Agent for the Government. He went to Missouri, bought two slave women, brought them here, and when he got through with them, took them back and sold them.
Isaac has always been a teetotaller, never having tasted alcoholic liquor, ale, wine or beer, nor tobacco. He early identified himself with the Order of Good Templars, which flourished extensively at one time, and in 1862, was elected Worthy Chief of the Grand Lodge of the state, and served five full terms.
In 1867, he was appointed Deputy State Treasurer, and served six years. In those days, the Legislature was very liberal with grafts. Members and newspaper reporters were supplied with newspapers, gold pens, and pocket knives.
Being largely engaged in the real estate business, Isaac, in 1870, became a "Granger," and was made Master of Capital Grange, Number Five, Patrons of Husbandry.
In 1873, he was elected as Representative to the Legislature, known as the "dead lock" or anti-monopoly General Assembly. The House consisted of fifty Democrats, forty-five Republicans, and five "on the fence." To elect a Speaker and organize the House required fifty-one votes. How to get them was the problem. The men "on the fence" held the balance of power, and must be reck- oned with. Jake Rich, Chairman of the Republican State Com- mittee, an astute politician of Dubuque-what he didn't know about politics was not worth learning-and leading Republicans held a council to select a candidate for Speaker. John H. Gear, of Burlington, was selected by the Republicans. The Democrats selected J. W. Dixon, of Wapello County, as their candidate. The first ballot gave Gear fifty votes and Dixon fifty votes, to the great surprise of the Democrats, and the satisfaction of the Republicans. For ten days the balloting went on without change of a vote, when Gear received seventy-nine votes.
Isaac was highly commended for his management, and on mak- ing up the committees, he was made Chairman of that of Ways
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and Means, and Cities and Towns, and a member of the committees on Compensation of Public Officers, and of Insurance. The session was a strenuous one from the start to finish. The Anti-Monops were out for reform, and retrenchment of salaries and expenses. The previous Legislature having ordered the erection of a new Capitol, and appropriated one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars per year to build it, they denounced it as an extravagant waste of public money. I can still see-being daily on the spot- Lucien Quintellus Hoggatt, the spectral member of the House from Story County-shaking his long, bony fingers at the Republicans in protest against their contemplated "robbery of the farmers of their hard-earned dollars."
Isaac kept quiet. It was not long before some of the reformers had axes to grind. Isaac ingratiated himself into their good graces by assisting them in all possible ways, and if any of their special bills came before his committees, they were invariably recom- mended for passage, and later, on the floor, he would favor them with his voice and vote. I also think he used the "grip" of Grange Number Five to some advantage. For his good offices, they pledged him their support when he needed it.
The opportunity came when he introduced his bill for an addi- tional appropriation of two hundred thousand dollars to hasten the erection of the Capitol. It astounded the Anti-Monops, and Lucien Quintellus Hoggatt was inexpressibly indignant, but they were under obligations to Isaac that they could not honestly repudiate, and the bill passed by a vote of seventy-two to sixteen, twelve mem- bers dodged. The Senate cut it down to one hundred and twenty- five thousand dollars, and Isaac let it go at that.
Soon after the House was organized, Mr. Madden, the other Polk County member, introduced a bill to let the public printing to the lowest bidder by contract. Isaac was accused of being the author of it. Frank Mills was doing the public printing, and as it was a very fat job, there was a vigorous stirring up of the members over the bill. It went to the Committee on Printing, which reported adversely to it, but Isaac secured its placement on the calendar for a special day hearing, and when it was taken up, he disproved the accusation against him by getting the bill so amended as to fix the
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printing at ninety per cent and the binding at eighty-five per cent of the cost then paid, and as amended it passed.
As Chairman of the Committee on Cities and Towns, Isaac engineered through the House a Senate bill authorizing cities and towns to improve alleys by contracts let to the lowest bidder, a measure which has proved to be of great benefit to Des Moines.
He also secured the passage of a bill requiring all lands when laid out in town lots to be free from all incumbrances before being platted, thus assuring the purchaser they were not plastered with judgment liens, mortgages, or delinquent taxes.
In 1877, he was elected City Alderman, in the Fifth Ward, and the West Siders-not so much as a mark of respect as fear of his influence and persuasive powers-got him elected President pro tem of the Council. They wanted to keep him "off the floor."
In 1880, he was a candidate for Mayor, but he very soon ran up against Des Moines River. He was on the wrong side of it. The old river feud was still extant. The West Siders rose up against him, and he was defeated by Colonel W. H. Merritt, a Democrat, though he carried the East Side by a large majority.
In 1884, the Twentieth General Assembly appropriated fifty thousand dollars to purchase ground for the permanent location of the State Fair, this location to be given to the city donating a like amount for buildings and improving the grounds.
Instantly, there was a vigorous contest for the prize. Cedar Rapids was in it, with the most effusive declarations and promises, but Des Moines, with the prestige of six continuous successful Fairs, her central position, and the promise of the required dona- tion, won the prize. The grounds were purchased, two hundred and sixty-six acres, at a cost of forty-six thousand and nine dollars and twenty-five cents. An effort was then made to raise the dona- tion fund from the city, but it failed. Isaac, always ready to help the town, took hold of the proposition, and secured subscriptions to the amount of fifty-five thousand, six hundred and ninety-six dol- lars, of which he collected fifty-one thousand dollars and delivered it to the State Agricultural Society.
The permanent location of the Fair Grounds led to notable changes in the geography of the city and improvement of streets.
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Somewhat elated with his success, Isaac was one day standing with some of his friends on the highest point on the grounds, which he called "Inspiration Point," and, looking westward at the splendid vista, he suggested the establishment of a boulevard one hundred feet wide, direct from the grounds to the city, to be called Grand Avenue, and soon after he secured the right of way for it, to the east end of Keokuk Street, at Eighteenth Street. From this point, Keokuk Street extended to the river ; on the West Side it was Syca- more to Arch (now Fifteenth), thence Greenwood Avenue west to the city limits. Isaac then persuaded the City Council to change the names of these three streets to Grand Avenue, thus giving the city a beautiful street nine miles long through its center.
Were the present city dweller to read the names of the streets as given in the first City Directory, publised in 1866, which I com- piled, so great have been the changes, he would not know where he was at. In fact, there were then many families who did not know what street they lived on, so widely scattered were they.
In 1883, President Arthur appointed Isaac one of three com- missioners to inspect two divisions of the Northern Pacific Rail- road, and in 1890, President Harrison, in recognition of his long, active, influential service in the Republican party, appointed him. Postmaster, and for four years he did good service.
Religiously, he is not a churchman. Though thoroughly instilled with all the tenets of the Westminster Catechism, by a good Pres- byterian mother, and Biblical precepts by a rigid Dunkard father, he is tied to no sectarian creed. He believes in honesty, equity, justice, right-living, and giving every person a fair deal. He uses very mild "swear words" sometimes, for emphasis, in conversation.
And he has fads. He delights in gathering facts and incidents which make history, always accessible, and valuable to newspaper scorpions. He has sample copies of every national, state and county ticket of political parties from 1858 to date; the vote of each county and town election in Polk County from 1858 to date; the rules and regulations of each Legislature. with the name and post- office address of each member, from 1858 to date. He formerly had three sample tickets that his father cast for William Henry Harrison for President, in 1840, but he gave one to Benjamin
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PIONEERS OF POLK COUNTY, IOWA
Harrison when he was making his noted Presidential tour of the country, and his car was making a stop at the depot in Des Moines. He also has the record of the height and weight of his six "kids," taken on their birthdays, the girls from seven years to eighteen, the boys from seven to twenty-one years.
March Twenty-sixth, 1905.
CURTIS LAMB
CURTIS LAMB
A FEW days ago, I visited Curtis Lamb, a pioneer of Iowa, who, with his wife, was spending a few weeks with their daughter, Mrs. T. L. Blank, on Jefferson Street. I found him, eighty-seven years of age, active, hale and hearty, social, and prolific with incidents of pioneer days.
A native of Posey County, Indiana, in 1827, when nine years old, with his parents, he went to the lead mines near Mineral Point, Wisconsin. The trip was made down the Ohio and up the Missis- sippi on a flat-boat, so crowded with household goods and live-stock of immigrants as to make traveling disagreeable and uncomfortable. While going up the Mississippi, the boat became disabled and was laid up for repairs two weeks. The passengers were landed on what is now the Iowa side of the river, glad to escape their over- crowded quarters, so he may be rightfully cited as a pioneer of the state. He resided in Wisconsin until 1850, when, with his family, he started for California, but stopped for the winter at Kanesville, now Council Bluffs, with the Mormons. During the Winter, he went on a hunting trip northward and discovered the Little Sioux River. He decided the country there was good enough for him, and in the Spring of 1851, went back, made a claim, lived in a tent while he built a log cabin, the first in what is now Woodbury County, and became the first white settler.
In 1855, having heard of the new town of Sioux City, he con- cluded to go and look at it. Of that, he said :
"After looking at the site, I decided to move there, and in the Summer went over to cut hay and put it up, to feed my oxen while I cut logs for a house during the coming Winter. I drove into Sioux City along a ridge between the Floyd and Missouri rivers, thinking I could get down near the point, but it was too steep. I turned back, and finally, about nine o'clock, got to Doctor Cook's, who kept a kind of stopping-place in a hewed log house, which stood
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PIONEERS OF POLK COUNTY, IOWA
on the east side of Perry Creek, near the mouth. The next day, I made arrangements for my hay and returned home. The next Winter, I went back, chopped down trees on the Nebraska side of the river, there being none suitable on the east side, and my little boy, with oxen, hauled the logs on the ice to where I wanted to use them. The next Spring, in 1856, I went over with 'Abe' Liver- more, James McGinn, an Irishman, and one other man, to hew the logs and build the house. 'Abe' made the shingles by hand out of Black Walnut. 'Jim' and I sawed the boards for the sheathing with a whip saw, from Maple logs, enough to cover a house 16x20, the first sawed lumber made in that county. The flooring was shipped from Saint Louis, and cost seventy dollars. In May, I moved my wife and four children into the completed house. I can now only conjecture where it stood, but it was on the second bot- tom, and about two blocks from the Missouri River. I took in a few boarders and some transients, land speculators, free with their money, the Land Office being nearby, and the house was always full. At the end of six months, I sold out to Judge Moore, one of my boarders, for fifteen hundred dollars. A. M. White had a pre- emption claim for one hundred and sixty acres where the city now is, and, as someone had to live on it, he offered me a ten-acre inter- est in it and the use of a new frame house if I would take it and board him. I accepted the offer late in the Fall. On the Eighth of January, my second daughter was born, the third white child born in Sioux City. During the Summer of 1857, several frames for houses were brought in and put up, one large one was put up by a man named Benham, and furnished for a hotel, which he named the Pacific. Soon after, Judge Moore traded the town of Niobrara, which consisted of a lot of stakes driven in the ground, and several imposing plats, for the hotel, and persuaded me to run it a year for a rental of one thousand dollars. No papers were drawn for transactions in those good old days. A man was almost insulted if asked to sign a note. A man whose word was not as good as his note was very much looked down upon."
Asked if he had any experiences with Indians, he replied :
"Yes, I read your sketch in The Register and Leader several months ago, in which you stated that you met Ink-pa-du-a-tah at
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Wabashaw a short time before the Spirit Lake Massacre. I think you are mistaken, for he camped on my place in Woodbury County, and went from there up to Cherokee, and from there to Peterson, then to Spirit Lake, where the killing commenced. I traded with him and his tribe for three successive Winters, they camping on my claim not far from my cabin, two miles north of where Smithland now is, in Woodbury County. The second cabin I built is still standing, and is preserved by the Woodbury County Old Settlers' Association.
"In my dealings with Ink-pa-du-a-tah, I found him perfectly honest, a good neighbor, and true friend.
"In the Spring of 1856, after Sioux City was started, I moved there, to send my children to school. I rented my farm to Mr. Liv- ermore, and when the Indians came down the next Fall, as usual, they found me gone, and the new settlers did not want them there. A company of white men formed and went to Ink-pa-du-a-tah's camp while the men were out hunting (some were hunting with bows and arrows) and there were nineteen guns left in the camp. When the white men appeared, the squaws and children took to the woods. The white men tore down the tepees, took the guns and ammunition, and went home, intending, it was said, to go back later and return the guns and tell the Indians what they wanted. They evidently did not understand Indian nature, for when they went back the next morning, the Indians were gone, having moved in the night.
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