USA > Iowa > Polk County > Pioneers of Polk County, Iowa, and reminiscences of early days, Vol. II > Part 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34
When it reached "Rattlesnake Bend," about eight miles down the river, the current being swift and tortuous, Dieks and Griffith preferred to walk across the narrow neck of the bend, which is shaped like a horseshoe, and they were put ashore, to be picked up at the other end of the bend, but they failed to make a connection, and the next seen of them was about two hours after the boat tied
.
- - -- : !
-- - - .
1
59
SETH GRAHAM
up at the "Point." They hove into port on the south side of the 'Coon and hailed Seth to come over with a skiff-there were no bridges-and get them. Dicks, who was of very obese construction, short in the legs, was puffing like a porpoise; Griffith, tall and slim, a rapid walker, as everybody knows, having given him a hot pace.
In the Spring of 1854, the Milburn went up Missouri River on a three months' cruise. Then she loaded with freight from Saint Louis to New Orleans, where she was chartered for the cotton trade -- and when crossing the Gulf of Mexico, foundered and sunk.
In the Spring of 1855, Seth came to Des Moines, and went to work in the steam saw mill of Stanton, Griffith & Hoover.
The first Sunday after his arrival, a big commotion broke out in the Irish Settlement, down on the 'Coon bottoms. It was rumored they had all been poisoned. They had suddenly become as "crazy as bedbugs," not violent, but hilarious and noisy. All the physicians in town were called out, and the whole town rushed down there. The victims were singing and dancing, and making more fun than a circus. Asked what the trouble was, they said they had been eating "greens," made from Jimpson Weed. The doctors doped them according to their best diagnosis, the symptoms indicating spirituous frumenti, though they vigorously denied that they had "touched a drap av the craythur, for isn't it locked up wid the prohib'try law, an' Docther Cole has the key ? Indade, it was the weeds."
In a few hours, the excitement subsided entirely.
I recall another case of "greens" which occurred in 1853, on the Fourth of July. A big celebration was had. "Old Bill" McHenry was Master of Ceremonies, and "Dan" Finch did the orating on the steps of the old first Court House. It was a gala day and everybody was happy as lords. A few weeks ago, "Dan," referring to those "good old days," said of some of the doings of that day, that William Marvin, who kept the Marvin House, on Third Street, and was also Clerk of the Courts, sent down to Bur- lington for some choice ingredients to make a drink called "julep," composed of sugar, water, and the stuff he got at Burlington, which was mixed, and some "greens" added. Marvin "set up" the con- coction to his numerous friends, and its effect was most decidedly
60
PIONEERS OF POLK COUNTY, IOWA
exhilarating, for Captain West bought one of the finest resi- dences in town right opposite the Marvin House, paid eight hun- dred cash for it, and the next morning had forgotten all about it, and declared that somebody had robbed him. Hoyt Sherman and R. L. Tidrick, two very dignified and circumspect gentlemen, escorted one of the young ladies home in a buggy, and Byron Rice, the County Judge, a very temperate and economical man, became very much disturbed and disconsolate because he could not find some poor, worthy family to whom he could give a farm. There was something very peculiar about it. Most everybody who drank the stuff felt the same way. I was always inclined to think it was the "greens."
In the Fall of 1854, Seth and W. F. Ayers purchased the steam saw mill at the foot of Des Moines Street, on the east bank of the river, owned by Stanton, Griffith & Hoover. They denuded forty acres of heavy timber on Ed. Clapp's land in North Des Moines, and cleared the section where Mercy Hospital now is. In fact, the whole country north of School Street was heavily timbered. The coal for making steam was burrowed out of the bluff where Saint Mary's Church is, and floated across the river in scows.
In 1857, Seth and Ayers built a three-story steam flour mill where the Edison light plant is. The machinery was shipped from Mount Vernon, Ohio, by rail to Iowa City, thence hauled by teams to Des Moines, with the usual delay in getting across Skunk Bot- toms. The price paid for wheat was seventy-five cents to one dol- lar per bushel. A defect in the apparatus for "smutting" pre- vented making a good grade of flour, and the project was not a success, and in 1859, the partnership in both mills was dissolved. In 1861, the flour mill was destroyed by fire.
In 1859, Seth went to Boonesboro, where he superintended a flour mill one year ; then he went to Perry County, Illinois, where he worked in a lumber yard until 1862, when he returned to Des Moines, and went to Elkhart and ran a saw mill for Joe Hutton one year, when he went to work in the foundry and machine shops of H. N. Heminway, on the East Side, to learn the trade, where he remained until 1868, and became a master mechanic. While he was there, he made for me a very fine machinist's "peen" hammer,
1
-- - -- -----
1
61
SETH GRAHAM
which was stolen by one of the Beve Graves gang of thugs, robbers and murderers, which terrorized the town in 1874-1875.
While Seth was employed in the Heminway shops, a draft was ordered by the Government to fill up some regiments that were deficient. When the war broke out, there was a strong pro-slavery element in the town and county ; many of the pioneers having come from slave-holding states, their sympathies were naturally with their former states. In fact, slaves were owned and held in Polk County in 1845. There was strong opposition to the draft, and Hub. Hoxie, who was the United States Marshal, arrested three men in Story County for resisting it, brought them to Des Moines, and placed them under guard in the third story of the Exchange Building, at Third and Walnut streets. There was in town a large number of members of the Knights of the Golden Circle, who were Rebel sympathizers, opposed to the war, and especially all attempts to coerce men into the army, declaring that, as the Republicans brought on the war, they should fight it out. It was reported to Hoxie that the conclave had planned to seize a lot of guns and ammunition stored in the State House, release the three prisoners, and destroy the Register office, which was on the second floor of the Savery (Kirkwood) House. He immediately selected one hundred trusty, able-bodied men, of whom Seth was one, to guard an attack. They were armed and equipped for duty, with instructions to take no chances ; if they shot, to shoot to kill. The Rebel sympathizers were noisy and demonstrative as to their intent and purpose. The Democratic State Convention was in session down on the old Fair Grounds, at the foot of Seventh Street, near 'Coon River, and there was a big crowd in town. One of the speakers in the convention, a prominent man in the party, reverted to the rumors which were rife, and, recognizing in the audience some of the suspected secret conclave, he, in vigorous terms, advised against any interference with the movements of the Government, for "the man who attempts it might as well make preparation in advance for his funeral, for," he said, "there are more than one hundred Union Leaguers in town, prepared for whatever may happen." As an approach to the State House, Exchange Building and Register office at night was greeted with a look down the barrel of a well-loaded gun, with a man behind it, the raid was not attempted.
62
PIONEERS OF POLK COUNTY, IOWA
Referring to that event a few days ago, Seth said: "When the war broke out, the northern Democrats were an uncertain quantity. Did you know John A. Logan ? He was a pretty good Union man, wasn't he ?"
I replied that I had seen him many times, "but what of him ?"
"Well, I knew him along in the Forties, when I was a schoolboy, and-" Then, twirling a cigar between his lips, relapsed into a reminiscent mood for several moments, as if scanning the picture before his vision, then went on: "He was a rising young lawyer, following the courts around the circuit on horseback, stopping at the various county seats, as was then the custom. When court met at Pinckneyville, the lawyers all stopped at the same tavern, as there was but one, and it was the pride of us boys who could get in the good graces of the hostler to ride their horses to the creek to water, thereby saving the hostler a whole lot of hard pumping, and some of the horses were more or less accustomed to the race track, and would not let anything pass them. It was fun to ride up behind some fellow and make his horse run away with him, but our great delight was to stand around open-mouthed and drink in the yarns told on the porch after supper.
"Logan was dark-complexioned, black-haired, and black-eyed. He was a good talker, spoke with a decided Southern accent, and was an ideal hero for us boys. I think his most impressive yarns were of duelling and horse racing. He lived in the adjoining county of Franklin.
"I left Perry County in 1849, and on my return, in 1860, he was the Representative in Congress from that district, and I did not see him again until June, 1861. Things were hot in that coun- try then. Business was dead; work was played out. The Presi- dent had called for seventy-five thousand one-hundred-day men, and Company A of the Eighteenth Regiment was being recruited with a rush; meetings every day for recruits and drill. Our Rep- resentative's proclivities being pretty well known, he was freely cussed or discussed, depending on the point of view. He started out to make a tour of the southern counties before returning to Washington for the called session of Congress. The day he spoke in Pinckneyville, he did not come on the drill ground, and most of
1
63
SETH GRAHAM
us went down to the lake for a swim before going to hear him. While there, John Kirkwood, the drill master-afterward First Lieutenant, and killed at Fort Donelson-proposed that we fill our pockets with stones and 'rock' him out of the Court House if he advocated Secession or gave any treasonable utterances. The pro- posal met a hearty response. There were about forty of us. We loaded up and went to the Court House, scattered ourselves around the back seats, with Kirkwood up near the front, where we could all see him when he fired the first shot, but we did not get the opportunity. The nearest the speaker come to it was when he said: 'Raise your volunteers and put them in the field, but put them in the harvest field. If Illinois is invaded, I'll fight. I'm going back to Washington City in about two weeks, and if Washington City is invaded, I'll fight, but I'll not go out of my state to fight.'
"He was not 'rocked' out, and we unloaded around the corner. He went on his tour, and we got reports that at most of the places where he spoke, parties of men were made up to go hunting or fish- ing, and by some unaccountable accident they all met down on Ohio River, and, as there was about enough to form a company, they concluded to go over and offer their services to the Southern Con- federacy.
"In after years, it was thrown up to him in Congress, and I never knew of his coming out flatfooted and denying it. He always referred to his record in Congress as disproving it.
"However, on his return from that trip, the Eighteenth Regi- ment had gone into camp at Anna, and he wanted to go in and see some of the boys, but, unfortunately, he found some of those same Perry County boys on guard, and they positively refused to admit him or take his name to the commanding officer.
"After the regiment had been mustered into service, we organ- ized a company of Home Guards, similar to the plan later adopted by the Union League. Our headquarters were usually in the field, our drill ground the same.
"About that time, Hawkins S. Osborn, our Representative in the Legislature, attempted to raise a company of mounted horse guards He had said at Salem: 'We can take all south of Mason and Dixon's Line, and go with the Confederacy.' We furnished
64
PIONEERS OF POLK COUNTY, IOWA
him enough recruits to hold him level, and before the Summer was over, they disbanded.
"I have forgotten the precise time we got the report that Logan, Breckenridge, and another Representative had sent a messenger to Richmond to see Jeff. Davis and ascertain upon what conditions he would be willing to compromise, and had been answered, that if they gave him blank paper and allowed him to write his own con- ditions, he would have nothing to do with the Federal Government.
"At the close of that session of Congress, a number of Repre- sentatives agreed to go home, raise a regiment, and go into the field. When Logan arrived, he found the Thirty-first Regiment nearly full, and, with his disposition to 'get there,' it suited him better to be elected Colonel of that regiment than to raise another. Company A, again the company from Perry, voted almost solid against him, but he was elected. Immediately, in Company A, a ring was formed to kill him if he made a move to betray them to the enemy. I think there were ten in the ring, but I only knew one of them positively. I asked one, the first home on a furlough, how they were getting along with John A., and his reply was: 'We are not worrying about John A. now ; he is going to give us all the fight we want.' "
At the close of his five years' service with Heminway, in 1868, Seth had the choice of the superintendency of the foundry and iron works or a partnership with Lester Cate in the transfer business. He chose the latter, and is in it to-day, his son, Fred., having suc- ceeded Cate, who deceased in 1893. During his service, he has distributed an average of one family a day of new-comers to homes in the city, and set them on the way to help Des Moines do things. The first ten years, he paid the railroads one and one-quarter mil- lion dollars for freight charges.
Politically, he is a dyed-in-the-wool Republican, but takes no part in politics, as politics goes. During the War Period, he was an active member of the Union League.
Socially, he is genial, good-natured, unobtrusive, reticent, and enjoys companionship, but gives little attention to social functions. In business affairs, he is noted for sterling integrity, as evidenced by the fact that he has served more years as treasurer and officer of
65
SETH GRAHAM
Masonic bodies than any person in the United States. He was initi- ated in Pioneer Lodge in 1856, and received the degree of Master in 1857. His record stands thus :
Raised in Pioneer Lodge, January First, 1857; elected Treas- urer, 1869.
Exalted in Corinthian Chapter, 1858; elected Treasurer, 1880.
Knighted in Temple Commandery, 1871; elected Treasurer, 1872.
Elected Treasurer of Masonic Temple Association at its organ- ization, 1883.
Elected Treasurer of Masonic Library Association at its organ- ization, 1886.
Elected Treasurer of Alpha Council at its organization, 1897.
There is never a doubt as to the funds of those bodies while Seth holds the key to the box, and it can be truly said he is an exemplar of the tenets of the Masonic order in civic and social life.
Religiously, he is an Episcopalian. In the early days, he was active in church work, holding the office of Vestryman for some time.
He is still in business, vigorous and healthy; lets Fred. do the heavy work ; takes three square meals a day; carries a cigar in his lips every day from morning to night, half the time unlighted; enjoys life and the esteem of his fellow citizens.
November Twenty-fifth, 1906.
VOL. II-(5).
REV. | M. T. CORY
I. M. T. CORY
A MONG the pioneers of Polk County were several named Cory. I use the term pioneer in its strictest sense, for the old Pioneers' Association will not admit any to the distinc- tion who came to the county after 1848-49.
The Corys came early in 1846, before the state was admitted to the Union, from Elkhart County, Indiana. From them, the well- known Cory's Grove, a beautiful belt of timber which extended out from Four Mile Creek, was named. They made their claims in what was then Skunk Township, put up log cabins, and at once began to develop the barren prairie. At that time, Polk County was not laid out in civil townships, the first Board of County Com- missioners having simply divided the county into six townships for election purposes. Skunk Township embraced what now comprises Douglas, Elkhart, Franklin, and Washington townships.
The new-comers wrote to home friends most glowing accounts of the new country, and the place of their adoption ; that sometime the Capital of the state would be removed westward to a more cen- tral point, and that Cory's Grove was just that point. Accord- ingly, early in October, 1846, more of the family started for the Promised Land, and among them was Isaiah Martin Thorp Cory --- I think that is all the name he brought with him-a lad of nine years. They came, with horses and oxen, through Vermillion County, Illinois, crossed the Mississippi at Burlington, camping wherever night overtook them, with only one mishap, the drowning of an ox while fording a stream in Illinois. From Burlington, they followed the route used by freight haulers to "Uncle Tommy" Mitchell's tavern, the resting-place of pioneers on entering Polk County. Skunk River Bottoms was crossed by good management and a severe struggle in its cavernous mud, and on the second day out from "Uncle Tommy's" they reached their destination. The outlook was not very attractive, for, said Isaiah one day: "There
67
68
PIONEERS OF POLK COUNTY, IOWA
was nothing there but Indians, deer, elk, turkeys, otter, beaver, and 'coons, but there was not a rabbit or rat in the whole county."
The first demand was for shelter. A small log cabin was put up, the walls chinked with mud, and a chimney built of sticks and clay. Isaiah passed his boyhood days going to school and to mill with a sack full of grain before him on a horse. His leisure hours were devoted to fitting himself for active business and preaching.
In 1848, the Corys, with their accustomed energy and enter- prise, decided to have a township more circumscribed, with some form of local civil government. They accordingly held a meeting organized a township, named it Elkhart, in honor of their Indiana home, and elected officers. The meeting was held at the base of a large boulder brought down from the far North by glacial ice, and which, by the subsequent cutting and carving of territory, is now the northeast corner stone of Douglas Township. That was the first civil township organized in that part of the county.
Skunk River runs through that section, and there are also sev- eral small streams. It was, in the early days, a favorite resort for hunters and trappers, as fur-bearing animals abounded.
Bands of Pottawattamie and Musquakie Indians, the latter rem- nants of the Sauk and Foxes, who refused to go to Kansas when the tribes were removed from the reservation around Fort Des Moines, frequently visited it, and, though considered peaceable, they caused considerable uneasiness in the Settlement, which was isolated, being the farthest north in Skunk Valley, for they were sometimes impudent and threatening, especially if none of the male members of a settler's family were present. There was constant alarm among the women and children, who had little knowledge of Indians except as savages, for, however peaceable an Indian may be, when soaked with "fire water," he is mighty uncertain. With few exceptions, bucks, as well as squaws, would drink it if they could get it . "Whiskey" was usually the first word they learned to speak in English. The women and children could not be divested of their fears.
Isaiah probably has not forgotten the Winter of 1848, that of the deep snow and severe storms, in which occurred the only real Indian scare in Polk County, of which I have any knowledge, and
69
I. M. T. CORY
it occurred in his Settlement. The snow was so deep, and the bliz- zards so frequent, it was nearly impossible for settlers to communi- cate with one another, or get anywhere for several weeks. A band of Musquakies had camped near Cory's Grove; the snow and storms had prevented them getting game for food, and they only escaped starvation by begging from the settlers corn, potatoes, and the car- casses of farm animals that had died from exposure to the elements.
One day, they came to the Settlement greatly agitated and excited, declaring a large party of Sioux was coming to take them, and massacre the whole Settlement. They urged the settlers to flee and save their lives. So intensely vehement and excited were they, the settlers were of course greatly disturbed, though doubtful of immediate danger. But, soon after, they were shown a campfire some distance away, in the northwest, which was certain evidence of the approaching Sioux. Instantly, the Settlement was aroused, and hurried preparations were made for protection and safety. The women and children, with everything that could be used for defense, were gathered at the cabin of J. W. Cory, where they were soon joined by the Musquakies, who volunteered to help defend the garrison. Not long after, Sioux scouts were seen in the grove not far away, and the shrill war whoop was heard. The women and children, paralyzed with terror, huddled close to the floor in a corner of the cabin, expecting every moment to hear the crash and cry of onslaught, not daring to make a sound for fear of adding to the terror of the situation. Every few moments, some- thing occurred to intensify the horror. The men had equipped themselves as best they could for defense, and were stationed at the most vulnerable points, prepared for the worst.
Early in the evening, the Musquakie begged that their squaws and papooses, left in the tepees some distance away, be taken into the house with the white women and children, but it was refused. They were finally permitted to go into a rail pen near the cabin, where they were covered with straw. The squaw movement was also another cause of alarm and suspense, fearing there was treach- ery in it.
The night wore on-a night of absolute horror and suspense no pen can describe, the memory of which time will not obliterate
70
PIONEERS OF POLK COUNTY, IOWA
from the minds of that little group. It was the longest night they ever passed.
Finally, when daylight began to dawn, and all was quiet, the Indians were charged with trickery, but they firmly denied it, declaring they had seen Sioux in the timber. Soon after, the squaws began to crawl out of the straw pile, and the chief's wife declared she had seen and heard the Sioux, whereupon one of the bucks, known as Mike, told her she lied, that she had not seen a Sioux. He turned to go away, when she quickly drew a knife and made a savage thrust at him, which he parried with his arm, and then struck her across the chest. She started to run away, when he siezed her, took her knife from her, and plunged it and his own knife into her back, and she fell to the ground. Mike then fled, but was pursued by the chief and his son, amid great excitement of the settlers and Indians. The trio had not gone far when the sharp crack of two rifles was heard. But Mike outwitted his pursuers by spreading out his blanket at one side, and the bullets went through the center of it, missing him. He surrendered, a pow wow was held, and, after a long talk, it was agreed that he give twelve ponies to the chief for the injuries to his squaw if she recovered; if she died, he was to give his life. She died not long after, in Four Mile Township, but Mike had made his get-away.
What the motive of the Indians was for their action will never be known, but the settlers were finally convinced that it was a scheme to frighten them from their homes, yet fearing more des- perate means, even massacre, might follow, they at once ordered the Indians to leave the county, and never come back, with such posi- tiveness and determination they went, and thus ended an event sub- sequently often recalled by the participants with humor, but to the actual terror, suffering and anguish of that one night, even mas- sacre would not have added a single pang.
Life in the early days was fraught with many hardships and privations. Fever and ague were often prevalent, which would wrench and rack every bone in the body, debilitating the system, and making life miserable. The nearest physician was Doctor Grimmel, at The Fort, and to get him often required great expos- ure to the elements. Sometimes the flour sack got empty, and the
!
-- ------- i 1
1 1
71
I. M. T. CORY
nearest mill was at Oskaloosa, sixty-two miles away, requiring a week to make the trip. "Meanwhile," said Isaiah one day, "we lived on 'coon and squash."
As Isaiah grew to manhood, he very early identified himself with every enterprise to improve the social condition of the com- munity. The church and school were objects of his special endeavor. A man of kindly impulses, intelligence, business capacity, public- spiritedness, and integrity, he became one of the most progressive and substantial citizens of the county. He laid out and organized the old, or first, town of Elkhart, and boosted it with great energy as the nucleus of the new Seat of Government when it was removed from Iowa City. He was early elected Township Trustee, held the office fifteen years, and in the meantime the entire list of town- ship offices from Constable to the highest, the duties of which he most faithfully executed six days in the week, and on the seventh preached the Gospel according to the Campbellite, or Christian, Church, of which he was an exemplary minister.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.