USA > Iowa > Marion County > Pella > Souvenir history of Pella, Iowa : contains a concise story of the founding and life of Pella, Iowa > Part 5
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The immigrants were glad to stop for a breathing spell at St. Louis, for they deemed it best to wait until a site should be found for their colony. All received a glad welcome from the small band of countrymen who had already passed several months in St. Louis. For so many people not enough dwellings were to be found at once; accordingly, wooden sheds were hastily constructed to accom- modate them. Then early in July, 1847, in a "booming" frontier city of thirty thousand people, they set about to look for work.
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47
FIRST GLIMPSES OF AMERICA
Of the eight hundred emigrants who left Holland, twenty lost their lives upon the Atlantic, and four are said to have died on the journey from Baltimore. At St. Louis, however, the number of deaths was larger. The unusual experiences of the trip, the cramped quarters at St. Louis, the extraordinary heat in that rapidly growing city, the irregular and careless consumption of food and drink, and the disregard by some of Dutch cleanliness caused illness and consequent death.
This history would be incomplete if we failed to mention the hearty and spontaneous hospitality and helpfulness that marked the attitude of the people of America toward our colonists. Everywhere among the Christian people of America Mr. Scholte discovered a hearty interest in the emigration from Holland. "I believe," he wrote, "that in general they cherish too lofty an opinion of us. In their conversation and newspapers we are represented as resembling the God- fearing Pilgrims who first settled in the United States. They regard our coming to this land of civil and religious liberty as one of God's blessings on their coun- try. * Oftentimes a sense of shame and embarrassment comes over me when I stop to look at myself and our association, and then consider the high thoughts which people entertain of us, and see that, while the Germans who come here are less highly esteemed, the Hollanders are held in honor and are often placed on an equality with Americans."
And Scholte could testify that the Hollanders received favorable treatment at the hands not only of individual Christians and Christian churches, but also of state officials and state assemblies. "For," he said, "I myself had an experi- ence of this sort at Albany, where the legislature had just convened and I wished to look on for a moment. Recognized by one of the members I was compelled to take a seat in the midst of them. How different from Holland! In the land of our birth branded and treated as a despised congregation, misunderstood by everyone, shoved aside, trampled upon and bruised; in the land of strangers and above all in its most respectable part, honored and treated as a costly gift of God to improve their country."
At St. Louis, where the Americans did not understand the Dutch language and had scarcely thought of Hollanders before, the immigrants were just as cor- dially welcomed as in the east; and as long as they remained in the city, a Pres- byterian congregation allowed them the free use of a spacious basement room for regular Sunday services, providing heat when necessary, and even helping the needy sick. The Hollanders were also permitted to take advantage of in- struction in English afforded by the Presbyterian Sunday School.
The causes which led up to the choice of Lake Prairie township, as the location for the colony, have already been given; and also the trip from St. Louis to Keokuk and from there to Pella. The limited scope of this book does not permit us to dwell longer on this phase of the history.
STRAW TOWN OR STROOIEN STAD
The first and perhaps the hardest of all to solve was the housing problem. Although Rev. Scholte had contracted for the construction of a number of houses or cabins, which were to be finished before the people arrived, as has already been mentioned, when the several hundred people arrived they were met by the disappointing fact that only one large, shedlike building had been put up. While many of the families moved into the cabins recently occupied by those who had sold their claims and moved away, the greater number were compelled to build straw huts or dugouts roofed over with the long slough-grass that grew here in abundance.
48
SOUVENIR HISTORY OF PELLA, IOWA
The following description of these primitive homes was taken from the his- tory of the "Pioneers of Marion County," written by Wm. M. Donnel:
"In order to afford as much room as possible within these necessarily small struetures, a eellar-like exeavation was first made in the earth, around which was built a sod wall of two or three feet in height, over which was spread the grass roof on a light frame of sticks. In some instances the walls were even less than two feet high and the roof reached nearly to the ground.
"Some of these huts were seattered around on what is now part of Pella, but the real 'Straw Town' was located on the present site of our beautiful Oakland cemetery, on the northwest border of Pella. Mr. Scholte and family occupied the eabin built by Thomas Tuttle in the present Garden Square, till his more sub- stantial and comparatively prineely residenee was completed.
"In such houses as we have deseribed, some of the Hollanders passed two winters. Though sufficiently elose and deep to keep out the eold, it may be sup-
Straw Town in 1847
posed that they were not entirely proof against the damp of a wet season. The grass roofs would leak, the walls would crumble. and the water woutd rise up through the floors and make it necessary to bail out or move out. I am told that one family, on getting up in the morning, found their room half full of water.
"And another annoyance connected with these earthy habitations was the prevalence of snakes. Attracted by the heat, or by the smell of food, they would creep into the walls and roofs, and sometimes fall inside. Not infrequently one of these sneaking, hateful representatives of Satan, regardless of consequences, would drop himself down the sod chimney into the fireplace, and (as it happened in a few instances) into the soup that was being cooked to make the most, if not the only article, of food for the meal.
"We may here relate an anecdote connected with sod house life in the colony, which, though not a snake story, will be found of equally startling interest. One night some cattle happened to be grazing in the neighborhood of one of these houses, and it also happened that, as the grazing was not abundant, one of the oxen went prospecting about for something better. Seeing the house, he evi- dently mistook it for a small hay stack, and went for it. Not finding the coarse. dry grass very good, he got up on it with his fore feet in search .of better food, when the weak structure gave way beneath his weight, and let him plunge head- long into the regions below. The family were asleep till the crash came and awakened them to a bewildered consciousness of some awful calamity befalling
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FIRST GLIMPSES OF AMERICA
them, and their exclamations of fright added terror to the already terrified beast, who made his exit by the door with all practicable speed, probably resolving, ox fashion, for ever more to keep clear of such hay stacks."
The first child born in the new colony was Albertus Synhorst, son of Jan Synhorst. The place of his birth was the farm, one mile west of Pella, known in later years as the Reineir Dieleman farm. He served as Pella's marshal for a number of years and later moved to Sioux county, where he became a pros- perous farmer. The second birth was that of Dirk Van Baren, son of Baltus Van' Baren. In later years he became a resident of Kansas.
About one-half mile southwest of Straw Town, on the farm then owned by G. Hagens, later the beautiful home farm of our townsman, Nicholas Brand, a large, double log house stood for many years. People did not require as much room as we do today, and this log house for a time served as the home of one of our very first physicians, Dr. J. Roelofzs, and family, as well as for Mr. J. Smeenk and family, who also, in connection with J. H. Wolters, kept the first store there that was opened for business in the colony. Later they removed to Washington street, one block west of the Van Stigt corner, now occupied by the G. Thomassen building. As long as this was the only mercantile house they drove a good trade. There was considerable complaint in regard to the prices charged, but Mr. Wol- ters generally met this by advising them to "go to my neighbor." This rather unsatisfactory condition lasted until E. F. Grafe opened the second store in Pella. This was in a two-room building located where the residence of Dr. Crew now stands. G. A. Gesman, one of the first carpenters and builders, occupied this house of two rooms and a shed attached. Although five men worked for him and lived in the same two-room house, yet it was found possible to vacate one of the front rooms for Mr. Grafe's store. The five men were, W. H. Wormhoudt, Jan van den Oever, Joh's van Nimwegen, Jan van Driel and Jacob Baay.
The third mercantile establishment to be opened in Pella was a hardware store operated by Mr. D. W. Van Sittert on East Franklin street, on the corner west of the office of the Garden City Feeder Company. In later years Mr. Van Sittert had his store and residence on the west side of the square, in the building now occupied by Mrs. P. Johnson and family.
While our brave pioneers were thus adjusting themselves to the crude con- ditions found in the new land, many of their relatives and old neighbors back in the fatherland were preparing to join them, with the result that the Pella colony received a material increase in population, and our people were greatly cheered by having so many of their old friends join them in their new home. The fol- lowing arrivals came in the year 1848:
Baard, van den Jan Baard, van den Jan Mrs.
Dingemans, Daniel Dingemans, Cornelia Dingemans, Matthys
Broekhuizen, Adolph Broekhuizen, A. Mrs.
Jongewaard, Ringert
Jongewaard, Albert
Die, van Cornelus
Die, van Cs. Mrs.
Jongewaard, Nicholaas Jongewaard, Arie
Dingemans, Wouter Jan
Kallemijn, Jan Kallemijn, Jan Mrs.
Dingemans, W. J. Mrs.
Dingemans, Gerrit Dingemans, Hendrika
Dingemans, Jan Willem
Dingemans, Jennike
Langstraat, Cornelus Langstraat, Cs. Mrs. Langstraat, Pieter
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SOUVENIR HISTORY OF PELLA, IOWA
Linden, van der Klaas
Notenboom, Arie
Linden, van der Klaas Mrs.
Notenboom, Arie Mrs.
Linden, van der Lukas
Notenboom, Pieter
Linden, van der Gerrit
Notenboom, Johannes
Linden, van der Gerrit
Notenboom, Neeltje
Linden, van der Dirkje
Notenboom, Huibertje
Linden, van der Antje
Notenboom, Adriaantje
Linden, van der Arie N.
Notenboom, Gerrit
Linden, van der Pieternella
Notenboom, G. Mrs.
Molenaar, Pieter Molenaar, Pieter Mrs.
Oever, van den Wm.
Muilenburg, Huibert
Sluis, van der P. Mrs.
Muilenburg, H. Mrs.
Sluis, van der Leendert
Muilenburg, Jannigje
Sluis, van der Pieter Jr.
Muilenburg, Jan
Sluis, van der Cornelus
Muilenburg, Jan Mrs.
Muilenburg, Jenneke
Visser, Willem
Visser, W. Mrs.
Muilenburg, Willem
Visser, Johannes
Visser, Geertje
Visser, Maarten
Visser, Willem Jr.
Visser, Gerrit
Visser, Aaltje
Noordzij, Grietje
Wyk, van Johannes
-
The old log house which still stands on the O. H. Viersen farm northwest of Pella. Built among the first homes in the community.
Muilenburg, Antonie
Muilenburg, Cornelia
Muilenburg, Pieter
Nieuwenhuizen, van Marunis Nieuwenhuizen, van M. Mrs.
Sluis, van der Pieter
Early Years in Pella
THE FIRST ELECTION OF TOWNSHIP OFFICIALS HELD IN PELLA
Soon after the settlement of the colony it was deemed necessary to organize some kind of government for judicial purposes, in accordance with the state and general government. As but a few of the Hollanders could speak or understand English, it was indispensable that at least a majority of the township officials should be chosen from among them. In order to make this possible, Rev. Scholte appealed to the General Assembly, and a special enactment resulted, enabling the colonists to elect their own officers as soon as they should take the oath of allegiance, indicating their intention of becoming citizens.
Immediately following this, L. W. Babbit, clerk of the District Court, ad- ministered the required oath, and on the first Monday in April, 1848, an election was held in the old log house in the Garden Square. The following men were elected :
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE H. P. Scholte
Green T. Clark
Stelman Elwell
CONSTABLES Cornelus v. d. Berg
TRUSTEES
A. J. Betten P. Welle
TOWNSHIP CLERK Isaac Overkamp
SCHOOL INSPECTOR H. P. Scholte TREASURER J. Roziersz
OVERSEERS OF THE POOR
Corn's den Hartog
H. Barendreght
ROAD SUPERVISORS
Wellington Nossaman Win. van Asch G. van der Wilt
Cornelus 't Lam P. van Meveren Dirk Synhorst
FENCE VIEWERS
A. de Visser
Jan Toom
During the first two years the peace officers had very little to do. The set- tlers were too busy erecting their homes, fencing their garden plots and farm lands, breaking sod and otherwise providing for the present and future produc- tion of the necessities of life, to indulge in lawlessness or litigation.
A. P. Koelman and his son, Philippus Koelman, laid out the beautiful English garden for Rev. Scholte, north of the Scholte residence, which became a show
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G. Awtry
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SOUVENIR HISTORY OF PELLA, IOWA
place that people came from long distances to see. They also planted the walnut grove on the same premises and planted the first shade trees in and around the Garden Square.
THE STORM OF 1848
We have been unable to learn the exact date of this storm, but know that it occurred some time in the latter part of May. The first winter had been un- usually mild and this storm was the first experience our colonists had of the climatic possibilities of Iowa. From all available accounts it must have been one of the most severe wind and electric storms that has ever visited this locality.
Coming about midnight, it caught the people entirely unprepared. Several houses in the course of construction were destroyed. Just east of the American House, where the express office stood in later years, a heavy farm wagon and a buggy had been left out on the street. These were both lifted bodily and carried over a high picket fence into the adjoining yard. On the corner across the street west from the G. Thomassen building on Washington street, Jacob van de Rovaart and A. Veenman had erected what at that time was a large building, which served these men as a wagon factory and cooper shop, and was also used as a residence. Mr. Veenman, who was unmarried at the time, was living with Rovaart and family. This building was entirely destroyed, but fortunately both Veenman and the Rovaart family escaped from the wrecked building without any serious injury.
The family of G. H. Overkamp, discovering the wreck of their neighbor's home, were promptly on hand to help them to escape from the ruins and took them into their own home. In the morning, when the news of the disaster be- came generally known, people came from all around to offer their help, with the result that a new and better building was erected within a very short time. Thus early in our history we have a manifestation of the helpful, neighborly, commu- nity spirit that today remains one of Pella's outstanding characteristics.
AMSTERDAM
The original townsite of Pella was platted early in May, 1848, and hardly had this been accomplished, when the hope of improving the transportation facilities of the colony led to the platting of Amsterdam. The townsite was located on the south half of section 20, township 76, range 18. This land later formed part of the farm owned by J. A. Toom.
As the only means of transportation at that time was the old State Road, and all the merchandise as well as the products raised in the colony had to be hauled by wagon a distance of 116 miles to Keokuk, it was considered of great im- portance to develop water transportation via the Des Moines river. For this reason there was great enthusiasm in regard to the "Port of Amsterdam" that the Hollanders hoped would in time grow into an abridged edition of the Am- sterdam of their native land.
In 1850 a store opened at Amsterdam; many people bought lots and built houses; while two brick kilns and a lime kiln gave the appearance and promise of an important future industrial center. But in the midst of this enthusiasni came the memorable floods of the spring of 1851, which convinced the promoters that their dream of an important industrial and shipping point would never be realized.
However, steamboating on the Des Moines river continued to appeal to the pioneers of lowa, and several boats succeeded for a time in navigating the uncer-
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EARLY YEARS IN PELLA
tain channel at different times. But as a permanent and satisfactory means of transportation it proved a complete failure. Mr. A. E. D. Bousquet, one of the most public spirited men among the Hollanders, met with serious reverses in his efforts to further the interests of the colony by making the Des Moines river a suitable outlet and waterway. During the flood year of 1851 he and other Pella merchants conceived the idea of shipping great quantities of corn down stream in flatboats to St. Louis. Their plan was only partially successful and was soon abandoned as impractical.
Two years later Mr. Bousquet organized the Des Moines Steamboat Company, and again met with disappointment. It has been written of him that he "loved the new country in which he had cast his lot," and as he had considerable means he deemed it the better part to spend his money in developing the country rather than in buying great quantities of land to enrich himself by advancing prices. "If I should do this I should be as great a curse to this community as the eastern speculators." He also undertook to lay a plank road from Keokuk to Pella, and is said to have completed from twenty to twenty-five miles.
THE SECOND WINTER, 1848-49
The first winter was so mild that the Hollanders, thinking this was a sample of the usual Iowa winter, made no preparation for the one that followed; but, as is often the case, they were severely punished for taking too much for granted.
For severe and long-continued cold the winter of 1849-49 broke all records as far as the knowledge and experience of the white settlers was concerned; and the snowfall surpassed anything we have experienced up to the present day. From November, 1848, to May, 1849, the snow averaged from two and one-half to three feet on the level, while along the fences it reached a height above that of the fences; so that it was a common occurrence to walk and ride over the fences without knowing they were there.
The result of this unpreparedness was that a large part of the standing corn in the fields was never gathered. The men who were compelled to engage in out- door work suffered severely and frozen toes and fingers were the order of the day. One of the chief hardships was that of getting corn meal ground at the Dunkard mill. It was not an uncommon experience for men to lay around the mill for a week, waiting for their turn; that they suffered severely is readily understood.
In those days and for years later, candle-wicking was an important article in the life of the pioneers. Not only did it serve in the making of candles, the only illumination by night, except where the still more primitive tallow-dip was used, but it also furnished the material of which mittens were knit. In those early days ready-made mittens were practically unknown, and besides, the money to buy them with was scarce and hard to obtain.
While "women's rights" had not yet been heard of by our early pioneers, nevertheless it is an historical fact that men had to knit or crochet their own mittens. In later years rag parties became very popular, but in the winter of 1848-49 mitten parties were all the rage. At that time a social event in one of Strawtown's palatial dugouts was something like this: The men would come armed with a goodly supply of candle wicking and a wooden crochet hook (made by themselves). Gathering round the fireplace where a roaring fire of hickory logs fought valiantly against the severe cold which would seep in from the out- side, the men would crochet mittens while the women gathered around the table (generally consisting of a wooden box) where they busily engaged in knitting, darning and patching, and incidentally discussing the news of the day. Even
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SOUVENIR HISTORY OF PELLA, IOWA
in this early day the chief topic of conversation among the mien was that of land. And he who knew of a good eighty or of a quarter section that could be bought at the right price, was sure of an interested audience. While the average Amer- ican pioneer, being accustomed to an unlimited quantity of cheap land, did not value it highly, the thrifty Hollanders, coming from a country where land was very high and almost unattainable, had a keen sense of its value, and a determina- tion to "git aplenty" while the opportunity was there.
THE FIRST CHURCH BUILDING
The first church building to be erected in Pella was finished in March, 1848, and was located west of the Star Garage, on the lot now occupied by "The Chapel." Its dimensions were twenty-five by fifty feet and it was built out of native lum- ber, unplaned. The seats on both sides of the aisles consisted of boards nailed on trestles and in addition there were eight school desks, of the same model used in Holland. For years this building was used for church services, public meet- ings, and served also as a day school. When we take in consideration the fact that this building was completed within seven or eight months from the time that the first Hollanders arrived, and that many dwellings and other buildings had already been built, besides which a brick kiln, a lime kiln, sawmill, etc., were already in operation, we cannot aceuse our pioneers of lacking in ambition and energy.
DROWNING OF TWO HOLLANDERS
In the spring of 1849, E. F. Grafe, already mentioned as the second merehant of Pella, was doing an extensive business in a building located just east of the present location of the Pella Motor Company. Owing to a fatal epidemic among cattle, the buying of hides was an important business at that time. In order to secure as large a part of this business as possible, Mr. Grafe sent his clerk, Hendrik Dingemans, into the country to buy hides from the farmers.
On the 22d day of March, 1849, he arrived at Elwell's Mill on the Skunk river. There Pieter Klein (uncle of our townsman, A. T. Klein) started to take Dinge- mans across the lake in a boat. For some reason Dingemans tried to stand up in the boat, with the result that it capsized and both men were drowned.
Second Important Emigration to Pella
The largest number of arrivals from Holland came to Pella in the summer and fall of 1849. The fact that these newcomers brought considerable gold with them meant much to the struggling colony, where practically all the money brought in the "Iron Chest" had been expended. Below we give the names of those who arrived in that year:
Andel, van C.
Baay, Cornelus Baay, Pietje
Berkhout, J.
Berkhout, J. Mrs.
Bezemer, Arie
Bezemer, Arie Mrs.
Bezemer, Gerrit
Beuzemkum, van
Bergsma, Jelle
Bikker, Gerrit Brandt, H.
Berge, van den Jan Berge, van den Jan Mrs.
Berge, van den Adrianus
Berge, van den Jacobus
Berge, van den Pieter
Berge, van den Willem
Berge, van den Mijntje
Blanke, Hein Blanke, Hein Mrs.
Bok, de Mrs. Bok, de Dingeman
Boot, Arie Jr.
Boer, den Pieter Boer, den P. Mrs. Boer, den Geertrui Boer, den Susanna
Boer, den Leendert
Boer, den Elizabeth Boer, den Jan Boer, den Cornelia
Bouman, Adrianus
Bouman, Ads. Mrs. Bouman, Jacob L.
Boogaard, Arie
Boogaard, Arie Mrs.
Boogaard, Nicholaas
Boogaard, Herman
Bousquet, A. E. Dudok
Bousquet, Henrietta M. Mrs.
Bousquet, Pierre Henri
Bousquet, John J.
Bousquet, Henry L.
Bousquet, Herman F.
Bos, van den Cornelus
Bos, van den C. Mrs.
Bos, van den Cornelus Jr.
Bos, van den Dirk
Bos, van den Antje
Colet, Jacobus
Colet, Jacobus Mrs.
Colet, Mietje
Colet, Kaatje
Colet, Antje
Dam, van Herman
Dam, van Antontje Dam, van Herman D.
Elschot, Jan
Gorkom, van Isaac Jr. Gorkom, van I. Mrs. Gorkom, van Maria Gorkom, van Antonella
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SOUVENIR HISTORY OF PELLA, IOWA
Grundman, Hendrik Grundman, Antje
Gorkom, van Sophia Wilhelmina Gorkom, van Antonetta
Gorp, van Frans
Gorp, van Frans Mrs.
Gorp, van Pieter
Gorp, van P. Mrs.
Gorp, van Maaike
Hartog, den Antje
Haan, de Hendrik
Haan, de Hoeke
Haan, de Hoeke Mrs.
Haan, de Jacob
Haan, de Pietje
Haan, de Cornelia
Haan, de Teunis
Haan, de Dingeman
Haan, de Rogina
Haan, de Cornelus
Haan, de Mattheus
Hittenga, Anna
Houten, van H.
Houten, van H. Mrs.
Houten, van Neeltje
Houten, van Eilko
Houten, van Jaantje
Houten, van Ipe
Houten, van Willem
Hospers, John
Hospers, John Mrs.
Hospers, Maaike
Hospers, Cornelia Geertrui
Hospers, Nicholaas
Hospers, Teunis de Gelder
Hospers, Eva E.
Hospers, Willem H.
Hospers, Pieter
Jelsma, J. Y.
Jelsma, J. Y. Mrs.
Jelsma, Ible
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