USA > Iowa > Polk County > Pioneers of Polk County, Iowa, and reminiscences of early days, Vol. II > Part 6
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The log cabin in which he resided many years, and in which the United States Government Surveyors made their home when running the lines for civil townships, long ago was supplanted by a fine, commodious residence, which, with his broad, productive acres, splendid orchard of fifteen acres, and fine vineyard, formed the environments of a home gratifying to the taste of the most fas- tidious, and there he is passing the evening of his life, in content- ment and repose, with the consciousness of duty well done, and the esteem of all who know him.
Politically, he is a Republican. He cast his first vote for Presi- dent for Lincoln. In local affairs, the prevailing sentiment in his favor is so nearly unanimous, his consent to take a public office is all that is necessary.
April Twenty-second, 1906.
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GUY K. AYERS
GUY K. AYRES
T HE only living resident of Des Moines who was here when the Dragoons and Infantry comprising the garrison of Fort Des Moines were here, and saw them drilling nearly every day, is Guy K. Ayres, a pioneer from circumstances over which he had no control.
Born in Ohio, when twelve years old his father emigrated to Iowa, in 1843, going down the Ohio River to Saint Louis, thence up the Mississippi to Keokuk, thence by wagon to Fairfield, where he stopped for a time, thence to Ottumwa, until the early Fall of 1845, when, loading his family and household goods into a wagon, hauled them with oxen to Fort Des Moines, landing on the east bank of Des Moines River, a desolate and uninviting place, for there were hut two dwelling-places between the river and the build- ings of the Indian Agency, about two miles down the river, one that of W. H. Meacham, which stood on the bank of the river, near Grand Avenue, and that of Alex. Scott, which stood near the east end of the present Court Avenue bridge. Meacham had made a claim of one hundred and twenty acres extending from about where Walnut Street is, east to Capitol Hill and north to near the line of Des Moines Street. Scott had a claim for all south of that as far east as the starch works. The whole of that section was covered with timber and underbrush. The land was low and wet, especially that of Meacham's, and contained not a building thereon.
Meacham, being a man of genuine hospitality, took Ayres' fam- ily into his cabin, where they remained until the first detachment of infantry left the garrison, when they moved into the fifth cabin from the east end of 'Coon Row in the soldiers' quarters. Ayres being a good tailor, readily found employment as a tailor, and, with J. M. Thrift, the garrison tailor, did the tailoring for The Fort. In that cabin they lived until the cavalry, or Dragoons, as they were officially called, left, in 1846. The Dragoons were required
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to gather up several bands of Indians who had straggled away up the Des Moines and 'Coon rivers, evidently expecting to escape being transferred to Kansas, where the other Indians had been taken. In February, Colonel Grier issued orders to round them up and bring them into The Fort. One lot was found about thirty miles up the Des Moines, and another on Skunk River. There were about three hundred of them. They were corralled down on the bottoms along the 'Coon, and put under guard, no white per- sons being allowed to communicate with them. Guy says they were a dilapidated looking lot. On March Eighth, the Dragoons started with them for Fort Leavenworth, and on the Tenth, Colonel Grier, with the remainder of the infantry, left The Fort, and the military post came to an end. Ayres then moved into the cabin vacated by Captain Allen, corner of Second and Elm.
Guy was a youngster in those days, and took notice of things. He says he remembers the location of every building as distinctly as though it were but yesterday, and that the diagrams of The Fort which have been printed in "Charley" Aldrich's Annals, Will. Por- ter's "History of Polk County," and the newspapers, purporting to have been drawn by the War Department at Washington, are not correct as to the location of the buildings, and especially the flag- staff. He says :
"One of the most attractive features of the garrison was the horses of the Dragoons. Captain Allen rode a beautiful white, full- blooded Arabian. He was a very small man, but a splendid horse- man. He was a strict disciplinarian. When he made an order, every man in the garrison knew that it meant just what it said. There was no talking back, yet he was kind and generous-hearted. The Dragoons all rode bay horses, so near alike it was nearly impossible to distinguish them. So perfectly were they trained that when turned loose on the Commons, as they were frequently, they went at once through the regular drill as perfectly as though under the saddle and bridle, and then they would scatter.
"Colonel Grier was usually in command of The Fort. He was a large, athletic man, weighed over two hundred pounds, of genial temperament, and quite social with the youngsters. He lived in the first cabin of the row along Des Moines River. Captain Allen lived in the fourth cabin. There were five cabins in the row.
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GUY K. AYRES
"There were but very few people here when the soldiers left, but soon after they began to come in rapidly, faster than living- places could be provided, as there were no saw mills in the county. The lumber for some of the first was brought from a mill in Marion County. I am quite certain the first log cabin put up by a settler was a little south of the corner of Third and Market streets. There were three large Sycamore trees near it. The photo of it has appeared in "Charley" Aldrich's Annals, other publications and newspapers as the house occupied by Colonel Grier, whereas he had left the country before it was built, and never saw it. The boarded addition was put on some time after its construction. It was standing as late as 1868. Opposite it, Thomas McMullen built a cabin, in 1847, of hewed logs, which was torn down about 1880.
"In 1849, there was an island in Des Moines River extending from near Court Avenue to a point just below the mouth of 'Coon River, and another large island about one-fourth of a mile lower down. Both were covered with a dense growth of large timber trees. On the upper island was a large Cottonwood, which, in 1851, was twisted and torn by the lightning strokes of that year, but it stood up until the islands themselves were washed away by the floods of the succeeding two years.
"The first brick business building in the town was erected by Doctor James Campbell, down at 'Coon Point, near the covered bridge, for an Eye and Ear Infirmary. It was three stories high. The first floor was used for dry and wet groceries, the wet groceries being dispensed from a bar, by the glass, at the rear end. The sec- ond floor was a billiard room and restaurant. The upper floor was a dancing hall. It was considered a very important improvement and extravagant investment of money. Some of the doings in that building would not be very proper reading for a family paper.
"In 1845, while the soldiers were here, food supplies for those outside of the garrison were sometimes short. Small quantities of flour could be bought of Benjamin Bryant, who was a Trader at the Trading Post, down the river about a mile and a half. The soldiers drew rations regularly and usually had some left over, which they would gamble away among themselves, and the fellow who won the pile would sell it to the settlers, which afforded the few families here then to get sugar, beans, and pickled pork."
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Guy did not like tailoring ; it was too confining, and he turned his attention to teaming, plowing, and whatever he could find to do. Early in 1846, his father made a claim for all the land on the flat from Eighth Street west to what was called Lyon Run, now Inger- soll Run, at Seventeenth Street, north to High Street, and sonth to 'Coon River, and fenced twenty acres west of Eighth Street, between Tenth and Twelfth streets, the original town having been platted to Eighth Street west. The rails for fencing were split from logs cut in the ravine between Eleventh and Twelfth on School. Guy hanled the rails and logs for the cabin.
Perry L. Crossman, the first Clerk of the county, pretended to hold a prior claim to the land, and when Ayres had his twenty acres fenced, Crossman took down an empty cabin which was down on the 'Coon bottoms, and put it up on Ayres' enclosure at Ninth and Market streets. The same night, Guy and his brother, David, another youngster, tore it down, their father being absent. The next morning, Crossman rebuilt it, and hired a man named Lacey to occupy it. The two boys saw him loading up his household goods to move in, when they, with their mother, hustled a lot of bedding, chairs, tables, etc., into a wagon and made a rush for the cabin, beating Lacey long enough to get installed and in possession. Lacey threatened to throw them out, but after a considerable bluster and threats which failed to scare the boys, he retired in good order. Soon after, the cabin was sold to Doctor P. B. Fagen.
In 1849, Avres purchased seven hundred and twenty acres in Franklin Township, at what is known as Ayres' Grove, and began to cultivate a farm, but Gny concluded he wanted an education and remained in town. Hezekiah Fagen, who lived near what is now the corner of Thirty-first Street and University Avenue, asked him one day if he didn't want to go to school. If he did, he could come to his house, help the boys do the chores, and go to school. He accepted the offer. The only school available was a subscription school at Hickman Corners, one mile and a half north, through the timber and brush, kept in a rough log cabin. The seats were a long bench of split Linn timber placed along the wall, for the boys on one side and the girls on the other. It was heated by a large iron stove, the boys cutting the wood for it. The teacher was an
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GUY K. AYRES
old man named Schneider. He taught Reading, Writing, Spelling, Arithmetic, and Gray's English Grammar. A spelling school was held once a week, and there were some mighty good spellers in the school.
His next step toward an education was a term in Elder Nash's school in the Court House. He boarded with John Hays, who kept the Cottage House, at the corner of Fourth Street and Court Avenue, opposite The Register and Leader building, and did chores for his board.
In 1855, Guy's father came into town, purchased two hundred and twenty-one acres on the river bottom, back to the bluffs, cleared the bluffs of timber, and erected a two-story frame dwelling where the Benedict Home now is, and one day he asked Guy how he would like to go into the milling business. It suited him, but four hundred dollars was all the money he had. His father said that was enough. They formed a partnership, purchased the saw mill of Griffith, Stanton & Hoover, which was on the east side of the river, at the foot of Des Moines Street, moved it to the west side of the river, rebuilt it at the foot of North Street, and began to cut up the heavy timber which skirted the river on both sides. Logging was good business in those days. I think Ed. Clapp has not for- gotten some log hauling he did to that mill. Slabs were used for fuel for the engine. They did not then know that coal was under- lying the whole of Polk County. In 1857, the mill was sold to a man who could not pay for it. It was dismantled, sold in parcels, and a new flouring mill built where the Edison electric light plant now is, at the foot of Chestnut Street. It was burned in 1861.
Guy then began buying or building mills on his own account, starting at Iowa Center, thence to Swede Point, Moingona, Shel- dahl, Missouri, and other places, including Seattle and Tacoma. He did the machinery engineering for the glucose works which G. M. Hippee, J. J. Towne, "Charley" Weitz, Doctor Eaton, and others started, at Eighth and Vine, on the West Side. He also invested several hundred dollars in the enterprise. The factory turned out good glucose, and promised a good market for corn, but the exhalations from it became so obnoxious to the residents in that section, it was closed as a nuisance. A site was then purchased
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down where the starch works were, a four-story brick 160x140 erected, and the business resumed on a larger scale, but in 1883 went out of business.
During the thirty years building mills, or buying them and swapping them for farms, he has acquired a competency sufficient to enable him to take a rest, on Seventh Street, opposite Crocker School, without worry as to the crops or the money market. His principal diversion is to swap yarns with some old-timer downtown on a street corner.
May Sixth, 1906.
JUDGE CHARLES C. NOURSE
JUDGE CHARLES C. NOURSE
A N early settler who has been prominently identified with the public affairs of the state, Polk County and Des Moines, is Charles Clinton Nourse, or "Charley," as everyboy in the state calls him-in fact, he says that's his name.
A Marylander by birth, he received his education principally from his father, who for fifty years was a prominent teacher, and in 1850, graduated from the Law Department of Transylvania University, at Lexington, Kentucky. The year following, he decided to come West. Going down the river to Louisville, thence up the Mississippi, he landed at Burlington, where he was kindly received by the minister of the Methodist Church, of which he is a member. The Supreme Court then being in session there, he was taken to the hotel where the judges stopped, and introduced to them, of whom was Judge Joseph Williams, well known to old- timers as a man of "infinite jest," "a great joker, story-teller, and player on many musical instruments, especially the fiddle."
"Charley" was cordially received by the judges. During the visit, they learned that he held a sheepskin as a full-fledged lawyer, and Judge Williams wanted to see it. "Charley" promptly pro- duced it, but not one of the judges could read it, as it was written in Latin, the judges in those days in Iowa being better versed in equity and justice than in dead languages. "Charley," however, read it to them in English. The next morning, a motion was made in court to admit him to practice in the state, and for a committee to examine him, whereupon Judge Williams said a committee was unnecessary, and directed the Clerk, James W. Woods, known to every lawyer in the state in those days as "Old Timber," to make out his certificate. He then decided to go to Keosauqua, in Van Buren County, and open a law office. It was the year of the big flood, when the valleys of the rivers were overflown as they never were before nor since. Communication between towns and villages,
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which were mostly along the streams, was difficult, or was cut off entirely. He had trouble in getting to Keosauqua, being compelled to abandon the jerkey and foot it about ten miles through mud and water, arriving there in a very unpresentable condition, a stranger, with less than a dollar in his pocket. Applying for board in a private family, the housekeeper did not seem to like his appearance, and "turned him down," but he was kindly taken in by "Father" Shepherd, at his tavern, where he remained until he took to himself a housekeeper.
HIe very soon made himself known in the community, being a good mixer, always bubbling over with quaint humor, and the fol- lowing year was elected Prosecuting Attorney for Van Buren County, and at once took rank with the leading lawyers of the time. A quasi prohibitory law then being in force, the Grand Jury of Lee County found a large number of indictments for viola- tions of the law. C. J. McFarland, who subsequently became the notoriously noted Judge of the District Court of Polk County, was the Prosecuting Attorney. He was a lover of whiskey, and imbibed it freely. The uselessness of attempts to prosecute the violators through him was so apparent changes of venue were taken to Van Buren County, where "Charley" was known to be a relentless foe of whiskey, but at every term of court, McFarland came up, put in dilatory motions and pleadings, got the cases continued, until the court got tired of it, and wiped them from the docket, not one being tried.
In 1854, "Charley" began to get into polities, and was elected Chief Clerk of the Lower House of the Fifth General Assembly, in the old Capitol at Iowa City, the most notable event of which session was the retirement of the nestor of ancient Democracy, Gen- eral Augustus Cæsar Dodge, from the United States Senate by sub- stituting James Harlan, and the passage of the first prohibitory law in the state. It was a pivotal point in the politics of the state, and the Democrats, foreseeing their waning power, fought desperately for supremacy and the election of Dodge, but the Free Soil Whigs won out.
In 1856, "Charley" was elected a delegate to the Republican State Convention, which organized the Republican party in Iowa, and was also elected by the convention one of the secretaries.
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JUDGE CHARLES C. NOURSE
At the session of the Sixth General Assembly, the last held at Iowa City, he was elected Secretary of the Senate. It was during that session the so-called "Black Laws" came into prominence. Up to that time, neither a negro, mulatto nor Indian was a competent witness in any court where a white man was a party to the action. A bill was introduced to repeal the law. The Democrats and Anti- Nebraska Whigs opposed it, and made desperate efforts to defeat it. As an indication of public sentiment at that time, for there were Anti-Nebraska Whigs right here in Polk County, at the August election, soon after the Legislature adjourned, Polk County voted sixty-five yeas to five hundred and fifty-seven nays to strike the word "white" from the Constitution and give the negro the right to vote. The proposition was defeated, but in 1880, the county voted again on the same proposition, giving three thousand and fifty-two yeas and six hundred and seventy-eight nays.
While "Charley" had no voice respecting these measures on the floor of the Senate, there was no bar to the expression of his opin- ions privately in the "Third House," and he usually had the cour- age of his convictions.
At the session of the Seventh General Assembly, the first held in Des Moines, January, 1858, he came as the hold-over Secretary of the Senate, to serve during the organization proceedings. He stopped at the old Grout House, which stood at the foot of Capitol Hill, on Walnut, where many of the Legislators domiciled, as they did not like floundering through the mud and ferrying across the river in the darkness to the West Side, the days being short, and no sidewalks nor bridges. Many times, the only way to get to the State House from the West Side was in boats. Some of the mem- bers placed cots in the garret of the rookery and slept there. It was a dismal change from the pleasant surroundings at Iowa City; but they were a wide-awake, gay old crowd, some of them subse- quently acquiring national fame. There were among them Eli- phalet Price, the star-gazer poet and notorious wag; "Old Timber" Woods, with his quaint ways and his foghorn voice; "Old Black Hawk" (Zimri Streeter), full of wit and humor; Sam. Kirkwood, J. B. Grinnell, James F. Wilson, W. W. Belknap, W. H. Seevers, B. F. Gue, George W. McCrary, and Ed Wright, none of whom VOL. II-(6).
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are now living. They lambasted the Town Council, and passed resolutions demanding the building of a sidewalk of two twelve- inch planks, one foot apart, from the river to the foot of the hill, which some of them, at times, could not have walked had they tried, or that they be furnished gum shoes or ponies to ride.
A couple of new members, without any experience as Legislat- ors, had been placed on the Committee on Banking, and one day an old farmer in the back part of the hall arose and offered a reso- lution requesting the Committee on Banks to prepare a couple of bills on banks, and went into a long discussion of the powers and duties of the Legislature thereon, whereupon one of the new-com- ers said to the other: "Who is that old fellow ? I am opposed to that resolution." "So am I," was the reply. "He is an old farmer ; what does he know about banking? Let's have some fun with him." They soon learned that they had run up against Sam. Kirk- wood. Though both of them subsequently became Judges of a District Court, they were a long time after often reminded of their "fun with that old farmer."
One day, a minister from Nebraska happened to be in the Lower House, and the Speaker invited him to make the opening prayer, which he did, to-wit: "Father of all good, bless this grand, young state with righteous laws, with an undefiled religion, with good women, true men, pure water, and a sound currency. Amen !"
So soon as the Legislature was organized, "Charley" went over to the House to take the place of the Chief Clerk elect, who was sick, where he remained until the Clerk's convalescence. He also remained some time after to assist in promoting the interests of the people down the river in securing the completion of the Slack Water Navigation project, and getting a move on the Navigation Company, whose chief purpose seemed to be to do nothing.
In March, 1858, he decided to make the Capital his future home, and, with his wife in a buggy, his household goods hauled by a pair of mules, after four days' wrestle with horrid roads, arrived on Saturday, and unloaded themselves into two rooms of a small frame house which stood on the southwest corner of Sixth and Locust, at twenty dollars a month rental. The next day, he and his wife lay in bed all day enjoying a vigorous shaking up
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JUDGE CHARLES C. NOURSE
with "Fever'nager," without food or drink, except a cup of tea which Mrs. R. L. Tidrick brought them late in the day, she having followed the custom of the early settlers to "stand not upon the order of their going," but introduce themselves to new-comers at once.
Immediately, he formed a partnership with Judge W. W. Wil- liamson, and entered into an active practice of his profession.
In 1859, Sam. Kirkwood was a candidate for Governor against Augustus Cæsar Dodge. "Charley," who was a power on the polit- ical stump, and a crowd-getter, took the field for Kirkwood. One of the leading issues of the campaign was that of eleomosynary institutions. The Democrats were united in opposition to the alleged extravagance of the Republicans in ordering public build- ings, especially the Insane Asylum at Mount Pleasant, which had been commenced. Dodge and his friends vigorously opposed any more being expended on it, declaring it was an extravagant waste of the people's hard-earned dollars; that there would not be enough crazy people in the state of Iowa to fill the enormous building in one hundred years. "Charley" punctured their sophistry with that pungent wit, sarcasm, and ridiculosity which made him famous as a stump orator, citing them to the only public building they had given the people, an inadequate Penitentiary at Fort Madison.
In 1860, he was elected Attorney General, and during his term he wound up the tangled claims of the state known as the "Eads defalcation," or "Eads Fund Claim."
When the association was formed by the East Siders to get the State House located on that side of the river, a large number of lots, including that on which the old and new Capitol were built, were put into a pool to secure the location. The State Commis- sioners having fixed the site, after being liberally bonused, as the West Siders alleged, the pool had a number of lots left, but no money. John D. Eads, then Superintendent of Public Instruction, was persuaded to loan the pool, without lawful authority, from the Public School Fund, the money necessary to built the State House, for which a blanket mortgage was given on the lots in the pool. The building was turned over to the state as partial payment of the loan some time later, and practically went into bankruptcy.
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"Charley" foreclosed the mortgage on what lots could be identi- fied, and secured several thousand dollars to reimburse the School Fund, but the debt was never paid, and was carried on the records of the State Treasurer for nearly twenty years, when it was finally ordered stricken from the record by the Legislature.
In 1860, "Charley" was selected one of the thirty-two delegates to represent Iowa in the Republican National Convention, at Chi- cago, which nominated Abraham Lincoln for President and organ- ized the National Republican Party. It was the largest and most imposing body of statesmen ever assembled in a political conven- tion in this country.
In 1862, he was reelected Attorney General, and served two years.
In 1865, Judge Gray, of the District Court, deceased, and "Charley" was appointed to fill the vacancy. The following year occurred the memorable contest between the friends of John A. Kasson and General G. M. Dodge, respecting the nomination for Congressman, in which the most bitter animosities were engen- dered between citizens, even in social life. "Charley," who was of positive temperament, and not afraid to express his opinions, gave his influence to Dodge, who was nominated by the Congressional Convention. The Judicial Convention to nominate a candidate for Judge to fill the vacancy convened two days later. "Charley" was the logical candidate, and by the customary rule he would have received the nomination without opposition, but the friends of Kas- son were angry ; they packed the convention; they freely admitted his eminent fitness for the place, but they were determined to avenge the treatment given to Kasson, and H. W. Maxwell, of Warren County, was nominated, when "Charley" at once resigned and returned to the practice of law, which he found vastly more remunerative than office-holding.
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