USA > Iowa > Lee County > Story of Lee County, Iowa, Volume I > Part 11
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
In 1795 Louis Honore Tesson (sometimes written Louis Tesson Honore) received a grant of land one league square (nine square miles), at such point as he might select, on or near the Mississippi River and within the Province of Louisiana. The grant was issued by Zenon Trudeau, the lieutenant-governor of Upper Louisiana, and was sanctioned by Baron de Carondelet, the Spanish governor-general at New Orleans. By the terms of the grant Tesson was required to plant trees, cultivate the soil, instruct the Indians in agriculture, and endeavor to convert them to the Catholic faith.
Tesson selected his claim at the head of the Des Moines Rapids of the Mississippi River, where the Town of Montrose now stands, built a house and surrounded it with a picket, planted a garden and set out about one hundred fruit trees-chiefly apples. He also estab- lished a trading post and brought his family to the new grant, where he lived for several years. Through his commercial operations he became indebted to some St. Louis parties, and on March 27, 1803, his property at the head of the rapids was sold at public auction to Joseph Robidoux, one of his creditors, for $150. Robidoux died a few years later and left instructions for his executor, Pierre Choteau, to sell all his real and personal property and divide the proceeds equally among his legal heirs. Pursuant to the will of Robidoux and his last instructions to his executor, the Tesson grant was again sold at auction in 1809 and was bought by Thomas F. Riddick for $64.
In the meantime the Province of Louisiana had passed from Spain to France and had been purchased from the latter nation by the United States. Under the various treaties by which these trans- fers were made, the Federal Government agreed to recognize the validity of certain land grants made by the Spanish authorities, one of which was the Tesson grant on the Mississippi. The question " came before Congress and a commission of three members was appointed to inquire into and report upon the character of the claim and the legality of the title. This commission made a report in favor of confirming the grant, but Frederick Bates, then recorder in the United States land office at Little Rock, Arkansas, declined to issue a settlement right to more than one square mile of the original one league square, his reason being that the Indian title to the lands had not yet been relinquished to the United States. His action was subsequently confirmed by the federal authorities, and on February 7, 1839, President Van Buren issued a patent for 640 acres to the heirs of Thomas F. Riddick. This patent was recorded in Lee County on March 30, 1839.
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
Concerning the old orchard planted by Tesson, it has been stated that the trees were carried from St. Charles, Missouri, on the back of a mule. When the first white settlers came to Nauvoo, Illinois, just across the Mississippi, they would sometimes cross the river to gather apples. In 1834 Lieutenant Crosman established Fort Des Moines upon or near the site of the Tesson Settlement. James C. Parrott, who was a member of Crosman's command and afterward postmaster at Keokuk, in speaking of the conditions at the time the fort was built, said : "We saw many traces of a former settlement around the camp, the most prominent of which was the old orchard of apple trees a short distance below. The orchard at that time contained some ten or fifteen trees in bearing condition. The fruit was very ordinary, being a common seedling. The Indians were in the habit of visiting the orchard and gathering the fruit in its green state, so that none of it, to my knowledge, ever came to perfection. There were also some sage bushes growing in the prairie to the rear of the camp; and there were also remains of dirt or adobe chimneys visible in the same locality ; which goes to prove that a settlement had existed there at some former period."
In 1874, through the influence of Daniel F. Miller, one of Lee County's leading attorneys, the Tesson "Old Orchard Block" was conveyed by George B. Dennison and wife to the mayor and board of aldermen of the Town of Montrose, to be held in trust for the Old Settlers' Association of Lee County as one of the historic points of the county, thus preserving for all time the recollections of the first white man's establishment in Southeastern Iowa.
After Tesson, the next white man to locate in what is now Mont- rose Township was Maurice Blondeau, who established a trading post about half way between the present villages of Galland and · Sandusky. He has been described as "a jolly, good Frenchman, weighing considerably over two hundred pounds, and a great favorite with the Indians."
In 1829 Dr. Isaac Galland located about three miles below Mont- rose, where the Village of Galland is now situated. Here he was joined the following year by Samuel Brierly, William P. Smith and Isaac R. Campbell. In 1832 Capt. James W. White took possesssion of at least a part of the old Tesson grant, built a log house and planted a small field of corn. When Fort Des Moines was established two years later, the Government purchased his claim and the house was used as the first hospital for the post. Late in 1834 Stephen H. Burtis built a log house about a mile and a half below the fort. He was elected a member of the first board of county commissioners in
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
March, 1838. From that time the settlement of Montrose Township went steadily forward. The title to the lands of the Black Hawk Purchase had become fully vested in the United States on June I, 1833, and the proximity of Fort Des Moines offered protection to the settlers until it was abandoned in 1837.
The first school in the township-which was also the first in Iowa -- was taught at Galland in 1830 by Berryman Jennings, who after- ward went to Oregon and became a millionaire. The report of the county superintendent for the year ending on June 30, 1914, gives seven school districts, which employ eight teachers, exclusive of the five employed in the Town of Montrose, with an enrollment of 185 pupils in the township and 219 in the town.
Montrose is well supplied with facilities for transportation. Along the eastern border runs the Mississippi River and following its course is the St. Louis & Burlington Division of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway System, which passes through the Village of Galland and the Town of Montrose. Farther west is the Keokuk & Mount Pleasant Division of the same system, which passes through the Village of Mount Clara. These lines provide ample shipping opportunities for all parts of the township. Alto- gether the township has about fifteen miles of railroad and seventy miles of telephone lines give communication with all the surrounding country.
In the order establishing Montrose Township, in July, 1841, it was also ordered that the first election should be held at the Town of Montrose, but no returns of that election are available. The officers of the township in 1914 were: E. B. Crane, John Orth and C. F. Fruehling, trustees ; R. P. Allen, clerk; Allan Philip, assessor ; A. LeFevre, justice of the peace, and William Braton and William Spain, constables. The value of the taxable property in 1913 was $447,548, not including the property in the Town of Montrose, which was assessed at $57,939. In 1910 the population, including the town, was 1,780.
PLEASANT RIDGE TOWNSHIP
The Township of Pleasant Ridge was originally included in the Township of Denmark. Late in the fall of 1842 the citizens living in the western part of Denmark began the circulation of a petition for the establishment of a new civil township, and on January 4, 1843, the board of county commissioners ordered : "That so much of Denmark Township as is included in the congressional township
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
69 north, range 4 west, south of the Skunk River, shall be set off and established as a separate township, to be known by the name of Pleasant Ridge Township."
As thus erected, the township contains all of congressional town- ship 69, range 4, except a small portion of sections 1 and 2 in the northeast corner, which is cut off by the Skunk River, leaving an area of about thirty-five square miles. It is bounded on the north by Henry County; on the east by Denmark Township; on the south by West Point, and on the west by Marion. The land was surveyed in 1837 and the settlers obtained patents in the years 1838-39. Some coal has been mined in this township.
One of the first settlers in this part of the county was Alexander Cruickshank, who "staked out" a claim about two miles from the Skunk River early in 1834 and raised a crop there that season. Dur- ing the summer he was employed for awhile in assisting to build the barracks at old Fort Des Moines. There he burned about six hundred , bushels of lime-the first ever burned in Lee County-which he sold to the government at 1212 cents per bushel. In the fall of 1834 Mr. Cruickshank sold his claim in Pleasant Ridge Township and removed to the Township of Marion.
Other pioneers who came about the same time as Mr. Cruickshank were William and Thomas Clark, Edward, John and David Enslow, George Berry, John Burns, James Foggy, Margaret Damon and a family by the name of Kirkpatrick. Henry Hellman, a native of Germany, came with his family in 1834 and settled in Pleasant Ridge Township. One of his sons, Joseph Hellman, soon afterward became a resident of the Town of Fort Madison, where he resided for many years.
George Berry was a surveyor and laid off several of the early towns in Lee County, among which are Charleston, Saint Paul and Pilot Grove. In 1837 he taught the first school in Pleasant Ridge Township, in Mr. Kirkpatrick's house. The first schoolhouse, a round log structure of the regulation frontier type, was built in 1839 on section 16. In 1914 there were eight school districts, employing twelve teachers and enrolling 117 pupils.
The first sermon was preached by Reverend Mr. Pittner, a Meth- odist Episcopal circuit rider, but the time and place where the meet- ing was held cannot be learned. The first church was erected on section 16, near the schoolhouse, by Methodist Episcopal denomina- tion.
When the township was established in 1843, it was ordered that the first election should be held at the house of Thomas M. Clark.
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
No official returns of that election can be found, but from outside sources it is learned that Edward Enslow was elected one of the first justices of the peace. Following is a list of the township officials in 1914: Joseph Goody, William Hunold and A. P. Fletcher, trus- tees; J. C. Foggy, clerk; W. J. Niemeyer, assessor; E. A. Snook, justice of the peace.
Pleasant Ridge has but about two miles of railroad, the Fort Madison & Ottumwa division of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy System crossing the southwest corner, but there is no station in the township. There were about fifty miles of telephone lines in 1913, when the property of the township was assessed for taxation at $458,414. The population in 1910 was 588.
VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP
Van Buren is the most southwestern township of the county and is one of the original ten established in January, 1841. It was named in honor of Martin Van Buren, who was at that time President of the United States. As at first created it included the western half of the present Township of Charleston. Since that township was cut off in 1844, the boundaries of Van Buren have been as follows: On the north by Harrison Township; on the east by Charleston and Des Moines; on the south and southwest by the Des Moines River, which separates it from the State of Missouri, and on the west by the County of Van Buren. Its area is about thirty-three square miles.
Some authorities give John Tollman the credit of being the first settler. Early in the '30s, after a short residence on the Mississippi, a few miles below Montrose, he built a cabin on the Des Moines River, but, from some descriptions, this location is probably in Des Moines Township. Among the early settlers, about whom there can be no dispute, were Lewis D. Kent, Abraham Hinkle and Lewis Crow, all of whom were living within the limits of the present town- ship in 1836.
Authorities also differ as to who was the first white child born in the township, some claiming that distinction for Eliza Jane Hinkle, a granddaughter of Abraham Hinkle, and others state that the first birth was that of Lucinda Kent. Both children were born in the year 1836.
Israel Cameron joined the little colony in 1837 and in 1840 he taught the first school, using his door-yard for a schoolroom. He had fifteen pupils in attendance most of the time, but on rainy days the children received a holiday. In 1913-14 the seven school districts
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
employed nine teachers, and the number of pupils enrolled was 125. David Galland came at the same time as Mr. Cameron and was one of the early justices of the peace.
Being situated in the half-breed tract, the settlement of the town- ship was slow, owing to the litigation over land titles, and when it was created in 1841 there were probably not more than a score of families living within its borders. After the title question was ad- justed by the courts, the settlement of the southern part of the county was more rapid, and in 1910 the population of Van Buren compared favorably with the other townships of the county, being then 613.
The only railroad in the township is the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, which follows the course of the Des Moines River-about nine miles of track lying within the township. The people living in the northern part are within easy access of the Burlington & Carroll- ton division of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy System, which runs through the southern part of Franklin Township. There were in 1913 over fifty miles of telephone lines in Van Buren, and the taxable property in that year was valued at $284,206-less than one-third of its actual value.
When the township was established it was ordered by the board of commissioners that the first election should be held at the house of Abraham Hinkle on the first Monday in April, 1841. At that election John Milliken and John Arrison were chosen justices of the peace; John Richards and John Cuppin, constables. In 1914 the officers of the township were : G. W. Warson, S. W. Wells and W. H. Butlin, trustees; T. C. Pollard, clerk; William Shepherd and Robert Anthony, justices of the peace; Winfield Scott and A. F. Thews, constables ; G. W. Ware, assessor.
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP
It would require considerable research to ascertain just how many civil townships, or other political subdivisions, there are in the coun- try that bear the name of George Washington, the first President of the United States and the "Father of his Country." Washington Township in Lee County is one of the ten established in January, 1841, and as originally created it included the present Township of Madison. Since April, 1841, the boundaries of Washington Town- ship have been as follows: On the north by Denmark Township; on the east by Green Bay ; on the south by the Mississippi River and the Township of Madison, and on the west by West Point Township. It includes the congressional township 68, range 4, except a small tract
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
in sections 35 and 36, which is cut off by the Mississippi, and has an area of nearly thirty-six square miles.
John Box, who came to the Black Hawk Purchase in 1833 and located in what is now Washington Township, is credited with being the first white settler in that part of the county. In 1834 he was joined by Ebenezer Ayres, Joseph White, Samuel Ross, Benjamin Box, James Smith, John Gregg, John Small, the Herring family, and a Mrs. Palmer, with her two sons-Devore and Lycurgus.
In April, 1835, Peter P. Jones, a native of New York, and William M. Davis, of Ohio, located lands in the township. D. F. Box, who was born in March, 1835, was the first white child born in the township, where he resided for many years. In October, 1836, John Sawyer came from Massachusetts and settled near the present railroad station of that name.
By order of the county commissioners in January, 1841, the first election for township officers in Washington was held at the school- house on section 16, on the first Monday in April, 1841. At that time Samuel Ross and David Wilson were elected justices of the peace, and Charles Field and William C. Paine, constables. In 1914 Her- man Vogt, S. F. Hughes and Gus J. Miller were the trustees ; Alex- ander Foggy, clerk; William Mansheim, assessor; S. F. Hayes, justice of the peace, and S. F. Ritter, constable.
The schoolhouse on section 16, mentioned above, was the first schoolhouse built in the township, but the name of the first teacher seems to have been forgotten. In 1914 the county superintendent reported nine school districts, with an enrollment of 120 pupils.
Washington has a little over seven miles of railroad, the Fort Madison & Ottumwa division of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy System crossing the southern boundary near the center and running in a northwesterly direction until it enters West Point Township. Benbow and Summit Sidings and Sawyer are the stations in Wash- ington. The township had about seventy-five miles of telephone lines in 1913, and the taxable property was then valued at $488,856. In 1910 the population was 910.
WEST POINT TOWNSHIP
This is one of the best agricultural townships in the county. It was established in January, 1841, and was made to include congres- sional township 68, range 5, giving it an area of thirty-six square miles. It is bounded on the north by the Township of Pleasant Ridge; on
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
the east by Washington; on the south by Jefferson, and on the west by Franklin. Sugar Creek flows through the southwestern part.
So far as can be learned from authentic sources, a young man named Whitaker was the first white man to locate a claim in what is now West Point Township. In 1834 he selected a tract of land in section 5, though the survey had not then been made, and later sold out to John L. Cotton and John Howell. This tract is now the site of the Town of West Point, an account of which will be found in Chapter X.
In 1835 there were several new arrivals. Among them were two brothers, William and Isham Burton, who came from Indiana and settled in the northwestern part. They made the bricks with which the old Presbyterian Church at West Point was built. In April, 1835, Lewis Pitman came from Kentucky and settled on the creek which still bears his name, where he lived until his death in 1862. About the same time Zedekiah Cleveland, a New Yorker, located near the western boundary of the township and the following year married Anna Ware, whose father lived in what is now Marion Township. Some time in this year William Hunter opened a black- smith shop at West Point-the first disciple of Tubal Cain in that part of the county.
During the year 1836 the population was increased by the arrival of William Patterson, Green and John A. Casey, R. P. Creel, Haw- kins Taylor and a few others. Patterson was a Virginian; the Caseys came from Illinois, and Creel was a Kentuckian. Both Patterson and Creel afterward removed to Keokuk. Casey, after locating a claim, returned to Illinois and remained there over winter. In 1837 he again came to West Point and made preparations for bringing his family the following season, but soon after returning to Illinois a second time he died. In May, 1838, his widow came to the claim her husband had located, bringing with her two sons-John A. and Joseph M. The latter was at that time about eleven years of age. He after- ward became one of the prominent attorneys of Southeastern Iowa and served with distinction as judge of the District Court.
Pursuant to the order of the board of commissioners at the time the township was created, the first election was held in the Village of West Point on the first Monday in April, 1841. William Alex- ander and Peleg H. Babcock were elected justices of the peace, and John H. Rickey and John McDonald, constables. The officials of the township in 1914 were as follows: John Rueter, J. G. Honadel and Theodore Vonderhaar, trustees ; Herman Lohman, clerk; Henry
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
Harnagel, assessor; John Kempker and Herman Brinck, justices of the peace; Joseph H. Fedler, constable.
Peleg H. Babcock, who was one of the first justices of the peace, came to Lee County in the winter of 1837-38, having been married but a short time before. After a short sojourn in Fort Madison, he removed to a claim north of West Point, but two years later became a resident of that village. He served as clerk of the territorial council of Iowa and as a member of the Legislature. In 1844 he removed to Fort Madison and four years later was elected clerk of the Dis- trict Court. In 1859 he was appointed inspector of the penitentiary at Fort Madison, a position he held for several years. He was a prominent Odd Fellow and when he died members of that order came from all parts of the state to attend his funeral.
The people of West Point Township have always believed in education. Subscription schools were taught there as soon as enough settlers had located to make it profitable to a teacher, and in 1839 an academy was incorporated. Its history will be found in the chapter on Educational Development. In 1914 there were six school districts, in which seven teachers were employed, and the number of pupils enumerated was 291.
West Point has about five miles of railroad, of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy System, and there are over thirty-five miles of telephone lines in the township. In 1913 the value of taxable prop- erty was $371,819, and in 1910 the population was 1,342, which includes the incorporated Town of West Point.
HON. NELSON C. ROBERTS
CHAPTER VIII FORT MADISON
LOCATION AND SURROUNDINGS-THE OLD MILITARY POST-DIFFERENT STATEMENTS REGARDING ITS ESTABLISHMENT-ITS CORRECT HIS- TORY-ITS DESTRUCTION AND ABANDONMENT-MONUMENT ON THE SITE-PETER WILLIAMS-THE KNAPPS-EARLY SETTLERS- FIRST TOWN PLAT-THE GOVERNMENT PLAT-TOWN INCORPORATED -BECOMES A CITY IN 1842-LIST OF MAYORS-FIRE DEPARTMENT -WATER WORKS-PUBLIC LIGHTING-STREET RAILWAY-POST- OFFICE-COMMERCIAL CLUB-MISCELLANEOUS FACTS.
The City of Fort Madison, one of the seats of justice of Lee County, is pleasantly situated on the west bank of the Mississippi River, about twenty-five miles above the mouth of the Des Moines, on the site of the old fort erected early in the nineteenth century by the United States, from which the city takes its name.
For many years the early history of the old military post was veiled in uncertainty and various statements have been made as to the time when and by whom it was established. No less an authority than Gardner's Dictionary of the United States Army states that "Fort Madison was erected by Lieutenant Pike in 1805, a few miles above St. Louis." The same authority also states that the fort was "evacuated and rebuilt in 1813." Rufus Blanchard, in his Discovery and Conquest of the Northwest, published in 1880, says: "The United States built Fort Madison in 1804, on the west bank of the Mississippi, opposite the Des Moines Rapids." Appleton's Ameri- can Cyclopedia, under the title Fort Madison, says the town "derives its name from a fort erected in 1808, and named in honor of James Madison." The article on Fort Madison in Johnson's Cyclopedia is signed by the editor of the Fort Madison Plain Dealer and says the town occupies "the site of a fort built in 1808 and captured by the Indians in 1818." Old gazetteers describe Fort Madison as "A United States Military Post, on the west bank of the Mississippi River, about twelve miles above the Des Moines Rapids; the site of the present Town of Fort Madison, in Lee County, Iowa. Lati- tude, 40° 36'; longitude, 14° 15', W. Washington." Vol. I-8
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From these statements the reader can see that early writers on the subject were widely at variance, both as to the exact location of the fort and the time when it was erected, as well as the name of the officer under whose direction it was built. It appears that one or another of these errors has been perpetuated in later historical pub- lications, owing to the authority consulted, and some have maintained that the old fort was built by Zachary Taylor, while he was a lieu- tenant in the regular army. In July, 1897, an article prepared at the War Department in Washington was published in the Annals of Iowa, and purports to give the official history of the old fort.
In order to understand how some of the errors above mentioned crept into the history of Fort Madison, it will be necessary to notice briefly some of the events that preceded and led up to its establish- ment. On March 9, 1804, the territory of Upper Louisiana was sur- rendered to the United States by France, under the treaty of April 30, 1803. The territory thus surrendered embraced the present states of Missouri and Iowa, and all the unexplored region north and west of those states included in the Louisiana Purchase. By an act of Congress, approved March 26, 1804, its name was changed to the "District of Louisiana," which was attached to the Territory of Indiana for all political purposes. In November of that year Gen. William H. Harrison concluded a treaty with the five leading chiefs of the Sac and Fox Indians, in which the United States agreed to protect these Indians in the possession of their lands west of the Mississippi. The date of this treaty no doubt led Blanchard to make the statement that the fort was erected in that year.
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