USA > Iowa > Lee County > Story of Lee County, Iowa, Volume I > Part 9
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The people of West Point carried out their agreement to build a courthouse, though in after years some of the donors to the under- taking probably regretted that they permitted their enthusiasm to get the better of their judgment, for West Point's honors as a county seat soon faded and the men who built the courthouse were the finan- cial losers.
In the summer of 1843 a movement was started to have the county divided. A petition was presented to the next session of the Legis- Vol. I- 6
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lature and on February 15, 1844, the governor approved "An act for the formation of the County of Madison." By the provisions of the act, the question was to be submitted to the voters of Lee County at the April election in 1844, when those in favor of the new county should write upon their ballots "For Division," and those opposed, "No Division." The proposition was defeated by a vote of 952 to 713 and the county seat fight was renewed.
Those who favored Fort Madison as a seat of justice started the circulation of a petition to the Legislature, asking that body to sub- mit the question once more to the voters of the county. In response to this petition "An act to relocate the seat of justice of Lee County" was approved on June 10, 1845, by which the question was to be voted on at a special election, to be held for that purpose, on the first Mon- day in August. It was further provided by the act that if no point received a majority of all the votes cast at that election, the three places that received the highest number of votes should be voted for at another election on the first Monday in September. Six places entered the lists at the August election and the result was as follows : Fort Madison, 664 votes; West Point, 308; Franklin, 326; Keokuk, 208; Montrose, 287; Charleston, 41.
As no place received a majority, and Fort Madison, Franklin and West Point were the three that received the greatest number of votes, the second election was ordered for the first Monday in September. For one month Lee County was the center of great political activity. When two neighbors met, the county seat question was the topic of discussion. Many bitter arguments and a "few fist fights" occurred during the short but all-absorbing campaign. At the election in Sep- tember the vote was 969 for Fort Madison, 535 for West Point, and 378 for Franklin. Fort Madison having received a majority of 56, out of a total vote of 1,882, was declared the county seat, and in October the county officers were all back in their old quarters in the courthouse in Fort Madison.
By this time the people were generally ready to acquiesce in the decision of the election, though a few still insisted that the seat of justice should be located nearer to the geographical center of the county. On March 3, 1856, a petition signed by 2,238 qualified voters of Lee County was presented to Judge Samuel Boyles, of the county court, asking for an election to vote upon the question of removing the county seat from Fort Madison to Charleston. Judge Boyles granted the petition and ordered an election for the first Thursday in April, 1856. No returns of that election can be found in the records,
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but it is known that Fort Madison was victorious and the county seat was not removed.
The growth of Keokuk and the increase in the population of the southern part of the county, led to the passage of a special act by the Legislature of 1847 establishing a court of concurrent jurisdiction at Keokuk. All the lands in the old half-breed tract, except that portion in Madison and the eastern half of Jefferson Township, are recorded at Keokuk, and branches of all the county offices are main- tained in that city. The old medical college building was bought by the county for a courthouse at Keokuk, so that the city is to all intents and purposes a seat of justice.
PUBLIC BUILDINGS
The first courthouse at Fort Madison-the one erected by the town to secure the county seat-was begun in 1841 and completed in the summer of 1842. The original intention and first order of the board of county commissioners was to locate the building in the "upper public square," now known as Old Settlers' Park, but the two lots on the northwest corner of Third and Pine streets, having been bought by some of the citizens and donated for a site, the commis- sioners in July, 1841, issued the following order :
"That the courthouse and jail for Lee County, commonly called public which are now to be erected by Thomas Morrison and Isaac R. Atlee, undertakers or contractors, shall be erected on Lots No. 534 and 535, situated in the Town of Fort Madison, as will appear by reference to the plat of said town; and it is further ordered by the board that the order made by this board at their special session on the first day of June last past, selecting the upper public square for the location of the courthouse and jail be, and the same is hereby, rescinded."
The first building was 50 by 48 feet, two stories high, with a basement which was used for a jail. The foundation is of stone and the walls of the first and second stories of brick, and the cost of the original courthouse was about twelve thousand dollars. In 1876 it was thoroughly overhauled and an addition 24 by 50 feet was made to the north end. A new jail having been built, the basement was converted into a place for storing old records, etc. Although not as imposing in appearance as some courthouses, the building is still in service. It is the oldest courthouse in the state, in point of continuous use as such, and when the interior of the building was destroyed by fire on March 29, 1911, the sentiment of the older residents of Fort
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Madison was in favor of repairing the old house instead of building a new one, as some of the younger generation advocated. The old settlers won and the structure was repaired, the money received from insurance companies covering practically the entire cost of rebuilding, so that Lee County can still boast of having the oldest courthouse in Iowa.
The first mention of a jail in the county records was on October 3, 1837, when the board of supervisors ordered that "H. D. Davis be allowed $4.00 per month for a certain house used as a county jail, until the first day of April, 1838." The "certain house" referred to in the order was a small log building on Elm Street, not far from the upper square. It was used by Davis as a shoe shop while at the same time he rented it to the county for a prison.
At the March term of the county commissioners in 1838 it was ordered : "That there shall be built in the Town of Fort Madison, on the north side of the upper public square, a county jail of the follow- ing dimensions, to wit: Twenty feet square, with a double wall of hewn oak timber one foot square, sound and clear of rot or decay; fifteen feet high and two stories in height, the lower story to be built with a double wall, seven feet between the upper and lower floors, which are to be laid of hewed oak timber, one foot thick, with square joints. To be let out on the third day of the next term to the lowest bidder, etc."
No further mention of the jail can be found in the records until October 13, 1838, when it was ordered : "That the jail be received of the undertaker, or contractor, Isaac Miller, and that the clerk grant him an order on the treasurer for $486.58, in full for the same."
This jail was destroyed by fire about eighteen months after it was completed and the county was without a prison until the cells in the courthouse basement were completed. In 1865 the commis- sioners made an appropriation of $2,000 for the erection of a new jail, immediately west of the courthouse. The stone walls were erected, when it was found that to complete the jail according to the original design would require considerably more money than the' board had anticipated. At the October election in 1866 the question of appropriating $7,000 for the completion of the jail was submitted to the people and was carried by a vote of 3,555 to 941. The jail was then finished and with some slight alterations and improvements still forms the bastile of Lee County.
A history of the county asylum, or home for the poor, as well as more detailed accounts of the early settlements, will be found in other chapters of this work.
CHAPTER VI TOWNSHIP HISTORY
CIVIL TOWNSHIPS AUTHORIZED BY THE LEGISLATURE-LEE COUNTY DIVIDED INTO TEN TOWNSHIPS IN JANUARY, 1841-CHANGES IN BOUNDARIES-LIST OF TOWNSHIPS IN 1914-CEDAR-CHARLESTON -DENMARK-DES MOINES-FRANKLIN-GREEN BAY-HARRISON- JACKSON-EARLY SETTLERS IN EACH-PRESENT DAY CONDITIONS- RAILROADS-TELEPHONE LINES-SCHOOLS, ETC.
On January 10, 1840, Governor Lucas approved an act of the Ter- ritorial Legislature providing for the division of the several organized counties of Iowa into civil townships. Pursuant to the provisions of this act, the county commissioners of Lee County, at their regular session in January, 1841, divided the county into ten townships, to wit : Ambrosia, Denmark, Franklin, Green Bay, Harrison, Jackson, Jef- ferson, Van Buren, Washington and West Point. Ambrosia Town- ship has disappeared, the territory once comprising it being now included in the townships of Montrose and Des Moines. Changes have been made in the original boundaries of some of the first town- ships and new ones have been erected until at the present time there are sixteen civil townships, viz .: Cedar, Charleston, Denmark, Des Moines, Franklin, Green Bay, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Madi- son, Marion, Montrose, Pleasant Ridge, Van Buren, Washington and West Point.
CEDAR TOWNSHIP
This township occupies the northwest corner of the county. It was originally a part of Harrison Township, but in the spring of 1844 a petition was circulated throughout the northern half of that township asking the county commissioners to erect a new one. In response to that petition the board, on July 3, 1844, issued an order that "All that portion of Harrison Township included in Congres- sional Township 69 north, of range 7 west, be set off as a separate township, to be hereafter known and designated by the name of Cedar Township." It was also ordered that the first election in the town-
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ship be held at the house of Charles Brewington on the first Monday in April, 1845. The judges at that election were Andrew Dye, Isaac McDaniel and William Mottley; the clerks, John C. Atlee and Ephraim Allen, but the returns of the election and the names of the first township officers then chosen can not be found.
The first white settlements in the township were made in the year 1836. It is not certain just who was the first settler, but the honor is claimed for Isaac McDaniel, a North Carolinian, who came from his native state and located in that part of Lee County, where he continued to live for more than forty years. He was soon joined by Nathaniel Anderson, William and Benjamin Warren and Paul Brat- ton, all from Illinois. Perry McDaniel, a son of Isaac, was the first white child born in the township and the second was a daughter of Nathaniel Anderson. The first marriage to be solemnized was that of Ephraim Allen and Aylsie Rowland. George Holt and Jane Warren were united in marriage a little later. Nathaniel Anderson died in 1834-the first death to occur in what is now Cedar Township.
In 1837 a log schoolhouse was erected by the settlers in section 6, near the northwest corner of the county, and the first school was taught there in the fall of that year by a man named Hall. In that year the government survey was completed through that part of the county and the settlers secured the title to their lands in the fall of the succeeding year at the land sale in Burlington.
The first church building was erected by the settlers, without regard to denominational affiliations, in 1843. It was a log house and stood near the schoolhouse erected in 1837. The Baptists were the first to use the building, though religious services had been held in the homes of some of the pioneers some time before the house of worship was built.
Cedar Township is six miles square, embracing Congressional Township 69 north, range 7 west. It is bounded on the north by Henry County; on the east by Marion Township; on the south by Harrison, from which it was taken, and on the west by the County of Van Buren. Its area is thirty-six square miles, or 22,040 acres, nearly all of which is capable of being cultivated.
In the auditor's report of the financial condition of Lee County for the year 1913 the value of taxable property in Cedar Township is given as $625,639, the highest of any township in the county, except Madison and Jackson, which include the cities of Fort Madison and Keokuk, and higher than these if the two cities mentioned be excluded. The township has a little over ten miles of railroad, and nearly seventy miles of telephone lines. It is divided into ten school dis-
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tricts, in which fourteen teachers are employed. The ten school- houses are valued at about one thousand each, exclusive of the ground upon which they stand, and the enrollment for the year ending June 30, 1914, Was 171.
The officers of Cedar Township, elected in 1912, were as follows : Peter Mertens, A. E. Dick and R. S. Pease, trustees ; A. B. DeRosear, clerk; R. E. Bell, assessor; A. H. Heaton, justice of the peace; Allan H. Heaton and Fred Smith, constables. According to the United States census for 1910 the population of the township was then 863, and Cedar enjoys the distinction of being the only township in the county to show a gain over the census of 1900.
CHARLESTON TOWNSHIP
On January 2, 1844, the board of county commissioners issued and entered upon the records the following order: "That portion of Jefferson and Van Buren townships lying in Township 67 north, range 6 west, be stricken off and form a new township, which shall be known by the name of Charleston Township." It was also ordered that the first election should be held at the house of R. B. Robinson on the first Monday in the succeeding April, but the returns of that election seem to have disappeared.
As established by the above order, Charleston Township includes all of the Congressional Township 67 of range 6, and has an area of thirty-six square miles. It is bounded on the north by Franklin Township; on the east by Jefferson; on the south by Des Moines, and on the west by Van Buren. Sugar Creek flows through the western part and Jack Creek through the eastern part, the latter rising near the Town of Charleston. Along the streams the land was originally well timbered, the central portion being chiefly prairie. Through this prairie now runs the Keokuk & Mount Pleasant Divi- sion of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, upon which New Boston and Charleston are stations.
The first white settlements within the limits of Charleston Town- ship were made in 1834, when Thomas McGuire, William Kilgore, David Coon, George Moore, John Robinson, Robert Grewell, and perhaps one or two other families located in the Sugar Creek Valley. William Simmons was the first white child born in the township. At the time the first settlers came the half-breed tract, which includes the greater portion of Charleston Township, had just been placed on the market, under an act of Congress approved on January 30, 1834. It was not long, however, until litigation over titles to the land arose,
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and this retarded the settlement of all the southern portion of Lee County. This is the main reason doubtless why the Township of Charleston was not erected and organized until some years after the establishment of the first civil townships in the county.
According to the county auditor's report for the year 1913, Charleston Township had at that time five school districts, with an enrollment of 156 pupils, five teachers employed and five school- houses, the estimated value of which was $4,700. There were eight miles of railroad and about seventy-five miles of telephone line, and the taxable property of the township was assessed at $397,920. The population in 1910, as reported by the United States census, was 786.
Jacob Hopp, Fred Heiser and Charles Klingler were the trustees in 1914; J. H. Vermazen, clerk; J. G. Renz, assessor; H. G. Kirchner and D. A. Hancock, justices of the peace, and W. C. Pickard, constable.
DENMARK TOWNSHIP
Denmark was one of the original ten townships established by the county commissioners in January, 1841, and the first election was ordered to be held at the house of L. L. Thurston. At that election, which was held on the first Monday in April, 1841, Daniel Newton and James N. Hamilton were chosen justices of the peace, and John G. Field and Thomas M. Clark, constables. These were the only officers elected.
This township is situated in the northeastern part of the county and embraces that portion of Congressional Township 69, range 4, lying south of the Skunk River. It is bounded on the north by the Skunk River, which separates it from Des Moines County; on the east by the Township of Green Bay; on the south by Washington, and on the west by Pleasant Ridge. Its area is about twenty-four square miles.
Some of the earliest settlements in Lee County were made within the present limits of Denmark Township. As early as the spring of 1833 John M. Forrest located on section 25, near the present Village of South Augusta. He was a native of Tennessee, a surveyor by profession, and came to Iowa with the expectation of assisting in the survey of the lands of the Black Hawk Purchase. In 1837 he sold his claim and removed to Arkansas.
John O. Smith, who is credited with being the second settler, came in March, 1835. His experience in getting located and pro- viding shelter for his family shows the hardships to which the
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pioneers of Lee County were sometimes subjected. Mr. Smith was a native of North Carolina, but was living in Hancock County, Illinois, when the Black Hawk Purchase was opened to settlement. Hearing flattering reports of the country he started upon a tour of investigation, selected a claim about a mile east of the present Town of Denmark, cut logs for a cabin and then returned to Illinois for his family and team to haul the logs to the place he had selected for his dwelling. With his wife and child he set out with an ox team and wagon, taking what he supposed would be sufficient corn to feed the team while the cabin logs were being hauled, but he encoun- tered so many delays that the corn was all gone before they reached their new home on April 1, 1835. As there was no feed to be had west of the Mississippi, Mr. Smith sent his oxen back, split rails and built a pen, which he covered with clapboards, and this was his first dwelling place in Iowa. The cracks in the pen were covered with quilts, blankets, etc., and in this rude shelter the family lived for nearly two months before a better house could be provided. Mr. Smith afterward became one of the prosperous and influential citi- zens of that part of the county and was for a time the postmaster at Denmark.
The next settlers, of which there is any authentic account, were Joshua Owen and Isaac Briggs, relatives of John O. Smith, who came some time in the summer of 1835 and settled on Lost Creek. Briggs. soon afterward removed to Washington Township and Owen was the first sheriff of Lee County.
In 1836 Timothy Fox, Curtis Shedd and Lewis Epps came with their families and settled where the Town of Denmark now stands. A little later they were joined by William Brown, of Massachusetts, and the four men laid off the Town of Denmark a year or two later, Other early settlers were Samuel Briggs, David Tibbetts, Carroll Payne, John Wren, Silas Gregg and Barzilla Mothershead. The first death was that of a man named Pedigo, who settled near the Skunk River, his death occurring in the fall of 1835. A son of John O. Smith died in August, 1837, and a funeral sermon was preached by Rev. Micajah Rowland, the first sermon of that nature in Denmark Township.
The first school was taught in 1837 by a man named Williams. The schoolhouse was a log cabin on the farm of David Tibbetts. At the close of the school year of 1913-14, the county superintendent of public schools reported five schoolhouses in Denmark Township, valued at $4,300, exclusive of the ground. There were nine teachers;
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employed at salaries ranging from forty to eighty-five dollars per month, and 180 pupils were enrolled in the five districts.
Denmark is the only township in Lee County without a railroad. Sawyer is the most convenient railroad station for the people living in the western part, and Wever for those living in the eastern part. The township has about twenty-five miles of telephone lines and the value of taxables for the year 1913 was $235,717. In 1910 the population was 674. The officers for 1914 were : J. P. Klopfenstein, C. E. Lewis and Harry Houston, trustees ; Joseph A. Maxwell, clerk ; T. H. Bur- ton, assessor; F. P. Whitmarsh, justice of the peace.
DES MOINES TOWNSHIP
As stated in the opening paragraph of this chapter, Des Moines Township was originally a part of the Township of Ambrosia, which " was one of the original ten ordered by the board of county commis- sioners in January, 1841. At the first election in Ambrosia Township, on the first Monday in April, 1841, Cyrus Peck and Moses Martin were elected justices of the peace, and William W. Willis and Samuel Smith, constables. These men were still in office when, on August 4, 1842, the commissioners ordered that "the Township of Ambrosia shall hereafter be known as Des Moines."
This township is situated in the southern part of the county and includes that part of Congressional Township 66, range 6, lying in the State of Iowa. It is bounded on the north by Charleston Town- ship; on the east by Montrose; on the south by Jackson; on the south- west by the Des Moines River, which separates it from the State of Missouri, and on the west by the Township of Van Buren. Its area is about thirty-three square miles, or 21, 120 acres.
The first settlers in Des Moines Township came in 1836. Among them were Charles Stearns, James and William Allen, William and Robert Mix, John Billips, Johnson Meek and Samuel Hearn. Mary Billips, who was born on March 23, 1837, was the first white child born in the township. The first marriage was that of Robert Meek and Mary Ann Allen, in 1838. Samuel Hearn settled near the state line and established a ferry across the Des Moines River. "Hearn's Ferry" was a favorite place for holding meetings in early days. At the first election for officers of Lee County, in 1837, Mr. Hearn was elected one of the commissioners of highways and his residence was one of the voting places. John Billips and Johnson Meek were judges at that election.
Des Moines Township is well supplied with transportation facili-
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ties. Along the southern border runs the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, through the villages of Vincennes and Hinsdale, while the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe runs from northeast to southwest across the northern portion, via Argyle, and crosses the Des Moines River not far from Hinsdale. Altogether, the township has a little over nine miles of railway. Telephone service extends to all parts of the township, there being about fifty-five miles of telephone lines.
According to the county superintendent's report for the year end- ing on June 30, 1914, there were then six school districts in Des Moines Township, the six schoolhouses being valued at $4,600-a very low estimate. Seven teachers were employed during the pre- ceding school year, at salaries varying from forty to sixty dollars per month, and 139 pupils were enrolled in the schools.
The value of the taxable property in 1913 was $574,700 and the population in 1910 was 799. The officers of the township for 1914 were as follows: F. J. Brodsky, L. Meister and J. W. Sunden, trus- tees; John Cruze, clerk; Vandale Marsh, assessor; Gust Peterson, justice of the peace; Frank Roush, constable.
FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP
Franklin was one of the first ten townships, authorized by the board of commissioners in January, 1841, and the first election was ordered to be held in the Town of Franklin on the first Monday in the following April. At that election John Gandy and Jesse H. Catting were chosen justices of the peace ; James McVey and Andrew Sample, constables, no other officer being elected.
The township is situated in the central part of the county, embrac- ing Congressional Township 68, range 6, and has an area of thirty- six square miles. It is bounded on the north by Marion Township; on the east by West Point; on the south by Charleston, and on the west by Harrison. The Government survey was made in 1836-37 and the settlers obtained patents for their lands in 1838. Charles B. and Edley McVey, Alexander Cruickshank, George Perkins and Miles Driscoll were among the first settlers. Edley McVey and Miles Driscoll settled near the present Village of Dover, but subsequently removed to Jefferson County. In 1836 Henry and Jacob Abel, Germans, located claims near Franklin.
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