USA > Iowa > Polk County > Pioneers of Polk County, Iowa, and reminiscences of early days, Vol. II > Part 8
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JUDGE GEORGE G. WRIGHT
means, and many a soldier and his family found him a friend when needed. In recognition of his patriotic service, the Military Order of the American Legion of Honor made him a member of the Third Degree, one of the only three civilians on whom the degree has been conferred, the others being James Harlan and William B. Allison.
Politically a Whig, until the Republican party was organized, he never sought a political office. His forty years' holding of pub- lie office and of fiduciary trusts was in response to the spontaneity of public demand, regardless of politics.
Socially, he was the embodiment of all that is good and ennob- ling in social life. His sympathies embraced all human interests. His hold upon the hearts of the people was marvelous. At social functions, he was always a favorite; at banquets, as toastmaster or after-dinner speaker, he had few equals. In fact, he was pre- eminent in the social life of the entire state. In every department of civic life, he exemplified the highest type of manhood, an inspi- ration to the young, and the pride of the Commonwealth.
By profession of faith, he was a Methodist, but his broad, cath- olie spirit accepted and cherished the Christianizing influence of all denominations.
His home was the reflection of his beautiful nature. Within its portals there was love, content, and happiness.
He deceased January Eleventh, 1896.
June Third, 1906.
VOL. II-(7).
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JOHN L. SMITH
JOHN L. SMITH
A CONSPICUOUS and familiar personage around town in the early days of Fort Des Moines was John L. Smith. A native of Cazenovia, New York, when sixteen years old, he was forced by the circumstances of a widowed mother to look out for himself. Being of migratory temperament, he entered the service of the American Fur Company, owned by John Jacob Astor, of New York, as disbursing agent and trader, the headquar- ters of the company being in Chicago. He went to the Lake Supe- rior Country, where he remained several years, trafficking with Chippewa and Winnebago Indians, during three years of which he did not see the face of a white man. It was hazardous business, as he had to travel through the wilderness on horseback, carrying large sums of gold and silver from one post to another. The Chip- pewas and Winnebagos often got at war with each other, and he was liable to get mixed up in it through suspicion of being more friendly to one side than the other, and so he did, for he was sev- eral times wounded in their combats.
Subsequently, he traversed the country westward from Chicago, trading with the Sauks and Foxes. He crossed Des Moines River when there was not a white settler in what is now Iowa.
Fur buying in those days was an extensive business. The furs were nsnally floated in canoes down rivers to the lake, and thence by vessels to Chicago. Sometimes wagons, several of them, were required. When a river was reached, the wagon box was removed from the running part, and the furs floated across therein.
He became thoroughly conversant with Indian character, and learned to speak their language fluently ; in fact, he became a "heap big che-mo-ka-man" (pale face) among them.
Tiring of the business in 1840, he went to Ohio, where he rejoined his mother, and engaged in manufacturing fanning mills until May, 1854, when he came to Fort Des Moines, purchased two
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lots near what is now the northwest corner of Eighth and Walnut, "out in the country," and built a commodious one-story-and-a-half seven-room frame house, entirely of Black Walnut lumber, hauled on wagons from Davenport. When the house was completed, it was furnished with furniture purchased in Cincinnati, and shipped by steamboats, arriving here on the Clara Hine, which tied up at 'Coon Point. Some of the furniture was Rosewood, upholstered with fine haircloth, and is in use to-day in the home of two dangh- ters on West Ninth Street.
The house completed and furnished, his family arrived in Octo- ber, and became an integral part of the little community widely scattered over the plateau between the two rivers, and also prover- bial for their hospitality and good cheer. Their latchstring was never "pulled in." For seven years, John A. Kasson made that house his home with the family, and, being a man of public affairs, it was the headquarters for politicians. Frequently, on Sunday, my wife and I used to go there from our boarding-place, where the Morgan House now is, straight through the weeds, across the Com- mons, for a social chat.
Like all settlers in those days, the family adapted themselves to circumstances. Although the father was a good provider, the larder sometimes got short, especially of fruit and meat. The great- est scarcity was fruit, Mrs. Smith often saying she could get noth- ing but wild crab apples for preserving, and wild plums for "plum butter." For meat, Hiram Y., their oldest boy, who was a wide- awake, hustling youngster, and who subsequently became promi- nent in county and state affairs, was equal to the occasion. He set traps along the bluff north of what is now High Street, and every morning, before breakfast, he would go to his traps and gather up an ample supply of quail or prairie chickens. His biggest catches were made on the spot where the Congregational Church now stands.
In 1869, Smith built a two-story frame house at Tenth and Walnut, and abandoned the old one.
This house boasted of the first plate-glass front door in Des Moines. The house sat well back from the street in those days, was a pretentious affair, and was one of the show places of Des
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Moines, but it was never so cherished a place as the old home, with its treasured memories, in which the first formal invitational din- ner of ham and eggs was served in the town. Mr. Smith, hearing of the first importation of several dozen eggs and a ham from Keo- knk, cornered the market and shared the dinner with his friends, who lived "within a few doors." Hoyt Sherman was summoned from his home at Sixth and Walnut, where the Utica Building now is. The Robertson family was living at the site of the Chase & West Block, and Mrs. Mills (now Mrs. E. R. Clapp) from around the block on Eighth Street, and as many more as were in personal invitation distance. The first cornmeal mush ever served in Des Moines was held as a highly prized dish for the same com- pany, on another occasion. Mr. Smith received the first sack brought from Keokuk. Mush was all that was served, and the par- takers never forgot that meal.
During the Summer, while he was building the old house, he purchased two lots on Walnut Street, where the Wabash ticket office now is, the price paid I have forgotten, but he traded them to John O'Connor for a pair of "onery" mules and a wagon, and "doubled his money," he used to say.
His first business venture was a general store on Second Street, near Vine, with H. R. Lovejoy's store on one side and J. M. Grif- fith's store on the other. Disliking indoor labor, he soon sold out, and was employed by the United States Land Office for some time in locating lands in the western and northwestern part of the state.
His next venture was the marble business, in which he gained an extensive reputation throughout Central Iowa by his genial, happy temperament, though engaged in a rather sombre enterprise.
He also had the contract for setting the poles of the Western Union Telegraph Company along the Rock Island Road, when their lines were built. In 1866, he was appointed Indian Agent for the Otoe and other Indian tribes in Gage County, Nebraska, to adjust some trouble between them and Uncle Sam. His long expe- rience with Indians enabled him to secure unexpectedly friendly relations with them. He held the place until President Grant superseded the Quaker policy then in force in Indian affairs, which being interpreted, meant that a "good Indian was a dead Indian."
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In 1870, he started a grocery store on Walnut Street, between Sixth and Seventh, but very soon got the migratory fever again- being subject to Asthma, he wanted more air-and he went on the road for the large printing house of Mills & Company, and made the circuit of the County Clerks throughout the country. On one of these trips, in May, 1874, his team became frightened, and, when erossing the railroad track about three miles west of Stuart, he was thrown out, receiving fatal injuries.
Socially, he was of cheerful, sunny temperament, companion- able, possessed great strength of will, had the courage of his con- vietions, vet won and retained the friendship of others to a remark- able degree. His integrity was never questioned. Though of pon- derous physique, he was always active and busy. In social affairs, his labor and influence were given to every moral and educational movement to promote the weal of the community. The home, the church, and the school were with him the only sure foundation of good government.
Religiously, he was a Baptist of the Saint John type. When the first church was organized, and the building of a meeting-house was started on Mulberry Street, where George Dimmitt now sells hardware, he gave many days of manual labor with Elder Nash and W. A. Galbraith, with hammer, saw, plane, axe, and trowel, helping the project along. His home was one of generous hospi- tality, and during church conventions of his faith it was a favorite resort for brethren.
He was an active and earnest member of the Old Settlers' Association.
Politically, he was a radical Abolitionist and Whig, and every- body knew it. He was not a politician, and took little or no part in polities, yet, through the good offices and friendship of Kasson, he was several times given a publie trust, which he executed with striet fidelity and eredit to himself.
May Twenty-seventh, 1906.
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JOHN M. DAVIS
JOHN M. DAVIS
L IVING over on the East Side, very quietly, on Easy Street, undisturbed by the price of flour, cornmeal, potatoes, the uncertainty of Packingtown products, or the tax collector, in a house which was built on the installment plan, when there wasn't lumber enough to build a house complete, can be found John M. Davis, an old-timer, who made his advent to the town with the archives of the state, when they were removed from Iowa City, in 1857, which was an important epoch in the history of the town and county.
Born in Ohio, John, in 1854, got the Western fever, went down the Ohio River, up the Wabash, thence by stage coach to Iowa City, where he entered the service of George McCleary, Secretary of State, as his Deputy. There he remained until the expiration of MeCleary's term, in 1856, and also of his successors, Elijah Sells, in 1863, and Doctor James Wright, in 1867, when he became the Deputy of the Register of the State Land Office, where he remained -except one year-until the office was abolished, in 1883, as a separate department of the Government, but he was retained as Chief Clerk in the office until 1891. During all these years, he was considered and accepted as the main spoke in the wheel of the Government machine. During his service in the Land Office, the business was immense, requiring the most expert management.
In November, 1857, orders were given to remove the archives of the state to Des Moines. It was a big job. There were all the records of the offices of the Secretary, Treasurer, Auditor, and Superintendent of Public Instruction, and four large safes with their contents. There were no railroads, the route a wide expanse of unbroken country, some of the roads mere blind trails, and streams with no bridges.
It fell to the lot of John to do the packing of the contents of the Secretary's office, which, causing him the most concern, was the
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returns of the October election of Governor and Lieutenant Gov- ernor, it being the first election of a Lieutenant Governor in the state. The returns were sent in sealed envelopes from the several counties, to be delivered to the Speaker of the House on the assem- blying of the Legislature, in January. They had not all been received, and John did not want to take any risk in their getting lost or mislaid, so, in accordance with the old adage that "one move is as bad as a fire," he put the returns in his trunk with his cloth- ing and sat on the lid.
Martin L. Morris, a Des Moines man, for many years an asso- ciate editor of the Democratic papers of that day, as Treasurer and Custodian of State Property, contracted with a man named Bowen to haul the contents of the four offices to Des Moines. The roads were bad, and progress was slow. On reaching Four Mile Creek, a severe storm of wind and snow arose, rendering further move- ment of the big treasury safe impossible. It was dumped over- board, to wait the abatement of the storm. It contained a large amount of money, but there was little or no danger of burglary. It was provided with a good combination tumbler lock, and only the Treasurer and his Deputy knew the combination, but the boys were interested in its arrival, for the payment of their preceding month's salary depended on it. The Secretary's safe, a smaller one, also had a similar lock, the combination of which John carried in his head.
After the storm was over, a team of ten yoke of oxen and a big bobsled was made up in town, and the safe hauled to the State House through mud and slush, the snow having melted.
Colonel Hooker, Superintendent of the Great Western Stage Company, proffered the four state officers free transportation. It was his special pride to "do things" on occasions, and early on a clear, cold Friday morning, November Sixth, 1857, he ordered ont the best coach at the station, four fine horses, and put "Joe" Baggs on the box, with instructions to "get there on time." "Joe" was the oldest and best reinsman on the line, and known from Iowa City to Omaha.
With a relay of fresh horses every ten miles, the trip was made nicely, despite a severe snowstorm, and about noon on Saturday,
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"Joe" pulled into Des Moines, crossed Des Moines River on a pon- toon bridge, and rolled up to the Demoin House, which stood where the new Postoffice is to be, his horses puffing like a jack-rabbit with a hound behind him, his passengers jovial, and hungry, but soon satisfied by the sumptuous spread Colonel Spofford, noted for such things, laid before them.
With the deputies and clerks, it was different. Treasurer Mor- ris hired a "jerkey," put in it the six fellows, "Dave" Sells, "Dan" Warren, "Tom" and "Bill" Kinsey, George Matthews, aud John, with their baggage. It pulled out immediately after the stage coach left. The first day, they reached Brooklyn. The next day, they were buffeted with wind and snow, so that they got only within about twenty-five miles of Des Moines, when the driver pulled up. The next morning, the snow was so deep the roads were entirely obliterated, and the driver refused to go on, as he did not know the way, and would take no risks-getting lost on a trackless prai- rie was a thing to be considered in those days. Then it was up to the boys. They hunted up a farmer who knew the road to Des Moines, "day or night," piled themselves on his farm wagon, with their trunks for seats, John sitting on his own, "Tom" Kinsey used to say, to be sure those election returns didn't get away from him, and about four o'clock on Sunday were landed at the brick boarding-house kept by Doctor Shaw, which stood where Father Nugent's Catholic Church now is, jolted, bumped, and hungry. The Doctor quickly satisfied the cravings of their vacant stomachs.
Monday morning, they were ready for business. Harking back to that day, John says the outlook was dubious. The State House was not ready for them, and the Legislature coming soon after. Carpenters and laborers were rushing around, and chaos every- where. Boxes and bundles heaped high, with no place to put their contents. Looking out over the surroundings, the scene, compared with the pleasant environments they had left in Iowa City, the prospect was not very "happyfying." The State House, built in the woods and brush, east and south of it heavy timber, in which squirrrels, quail, and grouse revelled, and in the early Spring only the Hoot Owl and plaintive song of the Whip-poor-will broke the silence of the desolation. Between the State House and the river,
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but a few primitive buildings ; not a street leading thereto was little more than a trail; not a sidewalk; the soft, blaek soil, when wet, sticky, slippery, and nearly impassable, often covered with water, and passable only in boats. Where the present Capitol now stands was a forest ; farther east of it, what is now Franklin Park, was a pond, dotted thick with the houses of Muskrats. The only conso- lation to the new-comers was the cordial welcome and kind treat- ment of the residents.
John was retained as Deputy Secretary of State thirteen years, though in the Summer of 1863 he was detailed for duty in the office of the Provost Marshal, to prepare measures for enforcing the draft of men for the army, which had been ordered by Uncle Sam, and which caused the hurried departure of several able-bodied individuals of the community to some place more agreeable to their health.
It was during Wright's term that pocket knives, gold pens, and ink erasers were distributed to members of the Legislature, state officers, and newspaper reporters, the state footing the bill.
In 1867, John became the Deputy of the Register of the State Land Office, serving until 1876, when he resigned. His successor served but one year, when he resigned, and John was re-appointed, solely on his merits, serving until 1883, when the office was abol- ished, but he was retained in the offiee as Chief Clerk until 1891, when he was detailed for service in the Government Land Office at Washington for a time.
It was during his connection with the State Land Department that most of the lands under the several grants were conveyed to the state by the United States, and by the state to the parties entitled thereto. Also, during that period, the office of Surveyor General, located at Dubuque, was discontinued, and all the original field notes and other fixtures of the office were turned over to the State Land Office.
In all business transactions of the office, John was extremely cautions to avoid mistakes, and especially in preparing for publi- cation the biennial reports of the office in which were given a com- plete history of the several land grants, the laws, state and con- gressional, together with judicial decisions relating and pertaining thereto.
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Riparian rights on our meandered lakes and rivers, with all facts relating thereto, were fully set forth, with such suggestions as were deemed advisable.
These reports have been of invaluable service to lawyers and courts, because of their integrity and comprehensiveness in the multifarious litigation by railroads and others, growing out of land grants and land laws.
While the railroads are now vigorously being hauled into courts charged with various acts of malfeasance, a reading of the Acts of Congress and the Iowa Legislature of July, 1856, granting land to the three railroads which now cross the state, in which the roads were unmistakably deemed to be public highways, and to be con- trolled by Congress and the Legislature of Iowa, is pertinent. It provided that the troops and property of the United States shall be free from toll or any charges; that the railroad companies shall at all times be subject to such rules and regulations as shall from time to time be enacted and provided by the General Assembly of the State of Iowa, and the Acts of Congress. They shall make a regu- lar annual report of their proceedings at the usual time and place of electing their officers, exhibiting their expenditures, liabilities, etc., a copy of which shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of State.
In all his thirty-eight years of service as a public officer, John was true to his trust; his integrity never doubted; was unvulner- able to the many opportunities for self-aggrandizement, so that to-day his only compunction of conscience is the acceptance of a pocket knife in 1864, through the blandishment of his superior, Doctor Wright ; but they all did it.
John was economical, frugal in habits, "salted" his surplus earn- ings, and soon after he came to Des Moines loaned Alex. Scott, who had built the State House and got into financial straits, some money-land was cheap, lots of it to the acre, and money scarce. The loan was secured by mortgage on the most cherished tract of all the land Scott owned on the East Side, which, after several exten- sions, he could not redeem. It fell to John, and there he built a home. But a few rods away rest the remains of Scott, neglected, undesignated, covered with rubbish, a shame and disgrace to the
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great State of Iowa, to which he gave the ground on which the State House was built, and a portion of the money to build it; died in poverty, and was buried by the charity of friends.
John was a Whig from the start. He cast his first vote in Iowa in 1855, for John C. Lockwood, the Whig candidate for Registrar of the Des Moines River Improvement Company, which became bankrupt, after squandering the proceeds of millions of acres of the public domain, for which the state received three uncompleted dams, two old scows, no river improvement, and numerous other damns all over the state.
Socially, John is unobtrusive, genial in temperament, and ever enjoys a quiet conversation with some old-timer. He spends his time mostly about his home, contented and happy.
June Twenty-fourth, 1906.
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WILEY C. BURTON
O NE of the early settlers of Des Moines was Wiley C. Burton. The date of his coming, I do not know, but he started a store down on Second Street when all business of the town was done on that street. He took an active part in the affairs of the little town, with Doc. Campbell, Cole Noel, Granville Holland, and other old-timers.
In 1855, he was elected a member of the Town Council, when Barlow Granger was Mayor. There were no Wards, the Council being elected from the body of the people. The office was one more of honor than profit or labor. There were no chances for grafting in those days, as the town possessed little or nothing.
The same year, Wiley, with Byron Rice, Lovell White, A. New- ton, and a few others, built the Exchange Block, at the northwest corner of Third and Walnut streets, the first brick building on that street. On the first floor were three dry goods stores, one grocery, Doctor Shaw's drug store, and a bank. On the second floor were the United States Land Office, the headquarters of the River Improvement Company, offices of lawyers and Justices of the Peace, and a very expensively equipped saloon. The upper floor was for small offices. It was in that building the Iowa State Reg- ister had its first home, and there the first daily paper of the city was issued.
In 1856, when the location of the State Capitol question came up, he was one of the leaders of the West Siders. He circulated a subscription to raise a fund of two hundred thousand dollars, to be donated to the state if the Capitol was located on the West Side, and put himself down for three thousand dollars.
The contest was vigorous on both sides. The East Siders declared the subscription fund raised on the West Side was not worth the paper it was written on, but the East Side won. The West Side was mad, and requested the Legislature to make an
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investigation, which was granted, and a committee appointed there- for, but it did not meet until February, 1858. Several persons were called before the committee, and gave testimony under oath. J. T. Baldwin testified that he was here during the time the Com- missioners were here, and that his business was to influence them in making a fair and just decision in locating the Capitol; that three of them put up on the East Side, and he ate and drank with them, and slept with one; that West Siders gave them the cold shoulder, while the East Siders were more hospitable and friendly, but he refused to answer any questions tending to self-incrimina- tion. Harrison Lyon testified that he owned a portion of the land on which the location was made, and that he turned over to Bald- win ten lots, to be put where they would do the most good in secur- ing a location.
J. A. Williamson, a lawyer, was another East Side promoter. He testified that he spent a year and a half, using all lawful and legal means, and lots of whiskey, to get the location on the East Side; that fifteen lots were intrusted to him to be used for that purpose. He refused to tell what he did with them. He said Pegram received notes for ten thousand dollars, secured by fifty lots.
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