USA > Iowa > Lee County > Story of Lee County, Iowa, Volume I > Part 7
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Peter Williams settled on the site of Fort Madison in 1832. The same year, after the Indians vacated their village where Montrose is now situated, Capt. James White inclosed about seven or eight acres of ground there and built a double log house on the slope near the mouth of Jack Creek. Two years later he sold his claim and Fort Des Moines was built there in the early part of 1834.
Among those who came in 1833 were John Whitaker, who settled on the north side of the Skunk River, in what is now Des Moines County; James Bartlett, who landed at what is now Keokuk on the 4th of July, accompanied by his wife, three sons and a stepson. John Box came over from Illinois and located near Fort Madison. He was elected one of the seven representatives from Des Moines County,
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which then included the present County of Lee, to the Territorial Legislature of Wisconsin in 1836.
On June 1, 1833, the title to the lands in the Black Hawk Pur- chase became fully vested in the United States. During the remain- der of that year and the year 1834 a large number of emigrants from the states east of the Mississippi crossed over into the new purchase and several families were added to the population of the district now comprising Lee County. Among them were Alexander Cruickshank, William Skinner, Devore Palmer, George Wilson, Henry Judy, John and James Hellman, A. W. Harlan, Joseph White, Samuel Ross, Benjamin Box and Hiram C. Smith. Although the new pur- chase was open to settlement, the public surveys had not yet been made and each new arrival selected a tract of land to suit his taste and marked the boundaries by "blazing" the trees around the border of his claim. When the government survey was made it sometimes happened that one claim would overlap another and the houses of two settlers would be thrown upon the same quarter section.
To settle questions of dispute over titles, each settlement had a "Claim Association," to which all cases of this character were re- ferred. Each association had certain rules and regulations for the mutual protection of the citizens. After the United States surveys were made, but before regular courts were established, these associa- tions were frequently called on to adjust conflicting interests with regard to title or possession of certain parcels of land. A claim com- mittee would be selected and the claimants and witnesses would appear and give their testimony, but without the formality of an oath or affirmation. After hearing all the evidence, the committee would decide the case and from that decision there was no appeal. And yet there was little complaint over the finding of the committee in such cases. The pioneers had all joined in the organization of the claim associations and their sense of honor was such that they always kept faith and abided by the decisions.
The first government sale of the lands in the Black Hawk Pur- chase was held at the land office in Burlington in November, 1838. The claim associations in the various localities had kept a record of every claim, and the settlers of each Congressional township se- lected a bidder to attend the sale and bid in each particular claim for the occupant. A copy of the record was furnished the bidder, who set out for Burlington to protect the rights of his neighbors against the rapacity of speculators and land sharks from afar. Many out- siders looked upon the settlers who had come into the territory in advance of the survey and sale as "squatters," without any rights
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worthy of the respect of the land speculators or the Government officials. Fortunately for the pioneers General Dodge and General Van Antwerp were on their side and the township bidders had every opportunity to secure the lands. Hawkins Taylor was one of the bidders from Lee County. In the "Annals of Iowa" for July, 1870, he published an article descriptive of the sale. One incident men- tioned by him shows in what spirit the speculator was received and it is regarded as worthy of reproduction here. Says he :
"There were thousands of settlers at the sale at Burlington in the fall of 1838. The officers could sell but one or two townships each day, and when the land in any one township was offered, the settlers of that township constituted the army on duty for that day. They surrounded the office for their own protection, with all the other settlers as a reserve force, if needed. The hotels were full of specu- lators of all kinds, from the money-lender, who would accommodate the settler at 50 per cent; that is, he would enter the settler's land in his own name, and file a bond for a deed at the end of two years, by the settler's paying him double the amount the land cost. At these rates Doctor Barrett, of Springfield, Illinois, and Louis Bene- dict, of Albany, New York, loaned out $100,000 each, and Lyne Sterling and others, at least an equal amount, at the same, or higher rates of interest.
"The men who come to Iowa now cannot realize what the early settlers had to encounter. The hotels were full of this and a worse class of money sharks. There was a numerous class who wanted to rob the settlers of their lands and improvements entirely, holding that the settler was a squatter and a trespasser and should be driven from the lands. You would hear much of this sort of talk about the hotels, but none about the settlers' camps. Amongst the loudest talkers of this kind was an F. F. V., a class that has now about 'give out.' This valiant gentleman was going to invest his money as he pleased, without reference to settlers' claims. When the Township of West Point was sold, it was a rainy, disagreeable day. I was bidder and the officers let me go inside the office. Squire John Judy, who lived on section 32 or 33, whispered to me that he had been disappointed in getting his money, at the last moment, and asked me to pass over his tract and not bid it off. I did so, but the Virginian bid it off. I was inside and could not communicate with anyone until the sale of the township was through. As I did not bid on the tract, the outsiders supposed it was not claimed by a settler and the minute the bid was made, the bidder left for his hotel.
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"As soon as I could get out, which was in a short time, and make known that Judy's land had been bid off by a speculator, within five minutes' time not less than fifteen hundred of as desperate and de- termined men as ever wanted homes started for the bidder. Prom- inent in the lead was John G. Kennedy, of Fort Madison, who enjoyed such sport. Colonel Patterson, now of Keokuk, a Virginian by birth, but a noble, true-hearted friend of the settler, who had been intimate with the bidder, made a run across lots and reached the hotel before Kennedy and his army. Patterson informed the bidder of the condition of affairs and advised him at once to abandon his bid, which he did, or, rather, he authorized the colonel to do it for him. The colonel went out and announced to the crowd that the bid was withdrawn and that the bidder had also withdrawn himself. Both offers were accepted, but the latter was bitterly objected to and only acquiesced in when it was found that the party had escaped by the back way and could not be found. There was no other remedy. This was the last outside bid given during the sale and one heard no more talk about outside bidding around the hotel. The squatters' rights were respected at that sale."
From all over the "Forty-mile Strip" the settlers congregated at Burlington during the sale. They brought tents, blankets, cooking utensils, everything, in fact, for a campaign that would result in every actual settler's claim being made secure. Bound together in a common cause, they went with the determination to stand by each other to the finish. Land grabbers and speculators were not long in learning that it would be a dangerous venture to oppose the hardy, honest yeomanry who had come to Iowa to establish homes and develop the resources of the state. It may seem to some that such a course was rather high-handed, but had the land sharks been per- mitted to purchase the most desirable lands, without regard to the rights of the occupants, it might have been many years before Iowa would have been peopled with the industrious, intelligent and honest population that has placed her among the leading western states.
FORT DES MOINES
Mention has been made of Fort Des Moines, which was estab- lished before the Government surveys were completed and while the Indians still dwelt in the district ceded to the United States by the treaty of September, 1832. In 1833 Congress passed an act "for the better defense of the frontier by raising a regiment of dragoons to scout the country west of the Mississippi River." Pursuant to Vol. I- 5
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this act and by order of the War Department, dated May 19, 1834, Lieut .- Col. Stephen W. Kearney was instructed to take three com- panies of the dragoons-Sumner's, Boone's and Browne's-and "take up winter quarters on the right bank of the Mississippi, within the Indian country near the mouth of the Des Moines."
Kearney sent a quartermaster's force, under Lieut. George H. Crosman of the Sixth United States Infantry, to select a site and begin the construction of the necessary buildings for the accommodation of the garrison. Crosman selected the site where the Town of Montrose now stands and began work, but the barracks were not ready for oc- cupancy until late in the fall. Colonel Kearney's quarters consisted of a house built of willow logs taken from the island opposite the fort. Each company occupied one long building, with a stone chim- ney in the center, the rooms on either side being used as mess rooms and sleeping quarters. The captains of the three companies were Edwin V. Sumner, who afterward became a prominent general in the Union army during the Civil war; Nathaniel Boone, a son of Daniel Boone, the Kentucky pioneer; and Jesse B. Browne, who remained in Lee County after leaving the army and was one of the early attorneys.
Before the arrival of the dragoons and the establishment of the fort, the honest, industrious settlers were frequently victimized by some of the horde of unprincipled adventurers that hangs upon the margin of civilization to prey upon unprotected communities. The Black Hawk Purchase offered these gentry a favorable field for the operations, owing to the fact that civil law was not established until after the territory was placed under the jurisdiction of the Michigan authorities. When Colonel Kearney arrived at Fort Des Moines, which name had been selected for the new post, one of his first acts was to proclaim martial law throughout the district. By this course he won the esteem of the well-disposed pioneers. Isaac R. Campbell, who lived near the fort, says: "The names of Browne, Boone and Sumner, captains of these companies, will ever be remembered by the surviving pioneers of the half-breed tract, for it was through their vigilance that civilization here received its first impetus. Their bayonets taught us to respect the rights of others, and from martial law we learned the necessity of a civil code."
Kearney was succeeded by Lieutenant-Colonel Mason as com- mandant at Fort Des Moines. Under date of September 18, 1836, Mason wrote: "A town has been laid off at this place, and lots have been sold, which takes in a part of our garrison. This town has been laid off on a tract of land which I am told was granted on a grant
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confirmed by Congress to the heirs of one Reddick. You will at once perceive, under the circumstances, how certain it is that we must come in collision with the citizens of this town, who have already commenced to build."
There had been some talk of establishing a military reservation two miles square for the use of the post. In his letter, Mason refers to this and informs the secretary of war that persons are building within the two-mile limit, "for the purpose of selling whisky to the Indians and soldiers." Fort Des Moines was never intended to be a permanent post, and upon receipt of Mason's letter, the secretary issued orders for its abandonment. The last official communication from Fort Des Moines was dated June 1, 1837, in which Mason said : "The post is this day abandoned and the squadron takes up its march for Fort Leavenworth. It has been delayed until this date in order that the grass might be sufficiently high to afford grazing for the horses, as corn cannot be had on some parts of the route."
This was the end of Fort Des Moines as a military establishment. In its day it served a good purpose in protecting the rights of both the Indians and the white settlers. For many years after its aban- donment, the furniture used by the officers was in possession of the Knight family of Keokuk. Among the subordinate officers were a number who afterward made a place in history. Besides Captains Sumner, Boone and Browne, above mentioned, Robert E. Lee, then a young lieutenant and afterward commander-in-chief of the Con- federate armies; Benjamin S. Roberts, who won distinction as an officer in both the Mexican and Civil wars; Jefferson Davis, presi- dent of the Confederate States of America during their short and unhappy existence; Winfield Scott, who was commander of the United States forces that captured the City of Mexico in the war with that country, and Gen. William Harney were all at some time or another temporarily stationed at Fort Des Moines.
PIONEER LIFE AND CUSTOMS
Looking back over a period of four score and two years, to the time when the United States commissioners met the chiefs of the Sacs and Foxes at Fort Armstrong and negotiated the treaty that re- sulted in the opening of the "Forty-mile Strip" to settlement, it occurs to the writer that the young people of the present generation might be interested in knowing how the first settlers in the Black Hawk Purchase lived. Imagine a vast, unbroken tract of country stretching away westward from the Mississippi River. Here and
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there were forests from which there was "not a stick of timber amiss," and between these woodlands broad prairies, never touched by the plow nor trodden by the foot of civilized man. It was into this region that the Lee County pioneers came
"Not with the roll of stirring drums And the trumpet that sings of fame,"
but with stout hearts, axes and rifles, they came to conquer and subdue the wilderness, build roads, schoolhouses and churches, found cities and build up a state that ranks second to none in the American Union.
. One of the first things necessary to a pioneer in a new country is shelter for himself and family. Sometimes two or more families came at the same time. In such cases a log cabin would be built, in which all would live together until each settler could stake out his claim and erect a dwelling of his own. No saw-mills were con- venient for the manufacture of lumber; there were no brick yards; hence, frame or brick houses were out of the question, and the log cabin was the universal type of dwelling. The first cabins were built of round logs, but a little later some of the more aristocratic of the settlers erected hewed log houses. And what an event was the "house-raising" in a new settlement!
After the settler had cut his logs and dragged them-probably with a team of oxen-to the site of the proposed cabin, he invited his neighbors, some of whom lived several miles distant, to a "rais- ing." When all were assembled at the place four men were chosen to "carry up the corners." These men took their stations at the four corners of the cabin and as the logs were lifted up to them they cut a "saddle" upon the top of one log and a notch in the under side of the next to fit upon the saddle. The man having the "butt end" of the log must cut his notch a little deeper than the man having the top, in order that the walls might be carried up about on a level, the butt and top ends generally being alternated on each side and end of the structure. No openings were left for the doors and windows, but these were sawed out afterward. At one end was an opening for the fireplace, just outside of which was constructed a chimney of stone, or, if stone was not convenient, of logs and clay. The roof was invariably of clapboards, the floor, if there was one, of punch- eons-that is slabs of timber split as nearly as possible of the same thickness-and smoothed off on the upper surface with an adz after the floor was laid. The door was also made of thin puncheons and was hung on wooden hinges and provided with a wooden latch. Nails were a luxury and not infrequently the entire cabin would be finished without a single article of iron being used in its construc-
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tion. The clapboards of the roof would be held in place by a pole running the full length of the cabin and fastened to the end logs with wooden pins.
The furniture was usually "home-made" and of the simplest char- acter. Holes bored in the logs of the walls were fitted with pins, upon which were laid boards to form the "china closet." The table was made of boards, battened together and supported upon two trestles. When not in use, the top of the table could be leaned against the wall, or set outside of the cabin, and the trestles could be set on top of the other to make more room.
Stoves were unknown and the cooking was done at the great fire- place, an iron teakettle, a long handled skillet and a large iron pot being the principal utensils. Often "johnny cake" was made by spreading a stiff dough of corn meal upon one side of a smooth board and propping it up in front of the fire; when one side of the cake was sufficiently baked, the dough would be turned over, so that the other side might have its inning. A liberal supply of "johnny cake" and a mug of sweet milk often constituted the only supper of the pioneer.
Somewhere in the cabin, two hooks, formed from the forks of small trees, would be pinned against the wall to form a "gun rack." Here rested the long, heavy rifle of the settler, and suspended from its muzzle, or from one of the hooks, hung the bullet-pouch and powder- horn.
After the "house-raising" came the "house-warming." A new cabin was hardly considered fit to live in until it had been properly dedicated. In nearly every frontier settlement there was at least one man who could play the violin. The "fiddler" was called into requisition and the new dwelling would become "the sound of revelry by night." No tango, maxixe or hesitation waltz was seen on these occasions, but the Virginia reel, the stately minuet or the old- fashioned cotillion, in which some one called the figures in a sten- torian voice, were very much in evidence, and it is quite probable that the guests at a presidential inaugural ball never derived more genuine pleasure from the event than did these people of the frontier at a house-warming. If the settler who owned the cabin had scruples against dancing, the house was "warmed" by a frolic of a different character, but it had to be "warmed" in some way before the family took possession.
At the present time, with plenty of money in circulation, when any one needs assistance he hires some one to come and help him. When the first white men came to Lee County, money was exceed-
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ingly scarce and the pioneers overcame the difficulty by helping each other. After the cabin was built, the next step was to clear and fence a piece of ground upon which to raise a crop. The trees were felled by the settler and cut into such lengths that they could be handled, when the other settlers in the vicinity were invited to a "log-rolling." By this means the logs were piled in great heaps, so that they could be burned. Enough valuable timber was destroyed in this way to pay for the land upon which it once grew, if it could be replaced at the present time.
While the men were rolling the logs, the women folks would get together and prepare dinner, each bringing from her own store some little delicacy that she thought the other might not be able to supply. Bear meat and venison were common on such occasions, and, as each man had a good appetite by the time the meal was ready, when they arose from the table it "looked like a cyclone had struck it." But each man had his turn and by the time the work of the neighborhood was all done, no one had any advantage in the amount of provisions consumed.
The same system was followed in harvest time. Frequently ten or a dozen men would gather in a neighbor's wheat field, and while some would swing the cradle the others would bind the sheaves and shock them, after which the whole crowd would move on to the next ripest field until the wheat crop of the entire community was cared for, or at least made ready for threshing. No threshing machines had as yet made their appearance and the grain was separated from the straw by the flail or tramped out by horses or cattle upon a smooth piece of ground, or upon a barn floor, if the settler was fortunate to have a barn with such a floor.
Just now it is an easy matter to telephone to the grocer to send up a sack or barrel of flour, but in the early days going to mill was no light affair. Mills were few and far apart and the settler would frequently have to go to such a distance that the greater part of a week would be required to make the trip. To obviate this difficulty various methods were introduced for making corn meal-which was the principal bread stuff of the first settlers at home. One of these was to build a fire upon the top of a large stump of some hard wood and keep it burning until a "mortar" had been formed. Then the charred wood was carefully cleaned off, the corn would be poured in small quantities into the mortar and beaten with a hard wood "pestle" until it was reduced to a coarse meal. In the fall of the year, before the corn was fully hardened, the "grater" was brought into requisition. This was an implement made by punching holes
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through a sheet of tin and then fastening the edges of the sheet to a board, with the rough surface outward, so that the tin would be slightly convex on the outer surface. Then the corn would be rubbed over the rough surface, the meal would pass through the holes and slide down the board into a vessel placed to receive it. A slow and tedious process was this, but a bowl of mush made from grated corn and accompanied by a generous supply of good milk, formed a repast that was not to be criticized in those days, and one which no pioneer blushed to place before a visitor.
Matches were exceedingly rare and a little fire was always kept somewhere about the cabin "for seed." In the fall, winter and early spring, the fire was kept in the fireplace, but when the weather grew so warm that it would render the cabin uncomfortable, a fire was kept burning out of doors. If, by some mishap, the fire was allowed to become extinguished one of the family must go to the nearest neigh- bors for a fresh supply.
How easy it is at the present time to enter a room, turn a switch and flood the whole place with electric light! It was not so eighty years ago in the Black Hawk Purchase. The housewife devised a lamp by using a shallow dish, in which was placed a quantity of lard or bear's grease. A loosely twisted rag was immersed in this grease. the end of the rag was allowed to project slightly over one side of the dish and this projecting end was lighted. The smoke and odor emitted by such a lamp could hardly be tolerated by fastidious per- sons now, but it answered the purpose then. Next came the tallow candle, made in moulds of tin. Sometimes only one set of candle moulds could be found in a new settlement and they passed freely from house to house until all had a supply of candles laid away in a cool dry place, sufficient to last for many weeks. Often, during the winter seasons, the family would spend the evening with no light but that which came from the roaring fire in the great fireplace.
No one wore "store clothes" then. The housewife would card her wool by hand with a pair of broad-backed wire brushes, the teeth of which were slightly bent all in one direction, then spin the rolls into yarn upon an old-fashioned spinning wheel, weave it into cloth upon the old hand loom and make it into garments for the members of the family. A girl sixteen years of age who could not manage a spinning wheel or make her own dresses was a rarity in a new settlement. How many girls of that age now can make their own gowns?
Too busy to visit during the day, one family would often go over to a neighbor's to "sit until bed time." On such occasions the women
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would either knit or sew while they gossiped and the men would discuss crops or politics, while the children cracked nuts or popped corn. And bed time did not mean a late hour on such occasions, for all must rise early the next morning for a fresh day's work.
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